PARLIAMENT HAS, by majority decision, okayed the collateralisation of the nation’s emerging oil resource, satisfying the desire of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to use petroleum revenue as collateral to contract loans.
After shouts of “sit down” and animated debates from both sides of the House over the collateralisation on floor of parliament yesterday, the First Deputy Speaker, Edward Doe Ahjaho directed that a head count be taken.
The majority NDC, which was in favour of the collateralization, obtained 97 votes whiles the Minority, after stiff opposition, got 87, giving government the green light to use future revenues from oil as collateral in accessing loans.
The decision by Parliament has gone against a nationwide survey in which 83 percent of Ghanaians were not in favour of the collateralisation.
Samia Nkrumah, the lone MP representing the Conventions Peoples Party (CPP), abstained.
Clause 5 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill, which the governing NDC approved, “Prohibits the use of the Petroleum Holding Fund for the provision of credit to government, public agencies, and private sector entities or any other person or entity and as collateral for debts, guarantees, commitments or other liabilities of any other entities.”
However, NDC MP for Nabdam and Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy, Moses Asaga, amended the clause to allow for collateralisation, generating heated debates from the two leading political parties.
With the amendment carried, 70 percent of the oil revenue can now be used as collateral, while the remaining 30 percent goes to a proposed Heritage Fund and Stabilisation Fund captured in the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.
The Minority NPP had vehemently opposed the wholesale collateralization of Ghana’s future oil revenue because of what it described as inherent dangers in allowing the nation’s oil resources to be used as collateral for loans, particularly when oil is a finite commodity.
According to the Minority, led by Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, if government was allowed to collateralize the oil revenue, there would be indiscriminate borrowing which could create problems for the economy in the future.
Collateralizing the oil revenue, the Minority explained, was not a prudent measure since Ghana’s credit rating had gone high internationally and could attract any amount of loan for development.
Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, former Minister of State at the Ministry Finance and Economic Planning, cautioned the ruling NDC to be guided by the experiences elsewhere, citing Angola, Nigeria and Venezuela, which suffered adversely due to the collateralisation of oil.
But Haruna Bayirga and Dominic Azuma, MPs for Sissala West and Garu/Tempane respectively, suggested that anybody who was against the collateralisation was against the development of the country, upsetting the Minority side who thought the comment was unfair.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrested in London
The founder of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by police in London.
The 39-year-old Australian, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant, denies allegations he sexually assaulted two women in Sweden.
Mr Assange is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later.
A Wikileaks spokesman said Mr Assange's arrest was an attack on media freedom but it would not stop the release of more secret files.
Kristinn Hrafnsson told Reuters on Tuesday: "Wikileaks is operational. We are continuing on the same track as laid out before.
"Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today and in the coming days."
Secret locations
He said Wikileaks was being operated by a group in London and other secret locations.
Scotland Yard said Mr Assange was arrested by appointment at a London police station at 0930 GMT.
Mr Assange is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of rape, one of unlawful coercion and two counts of sexual molestation, alleged to have been committed in August 2010.
If the district judge rules the arrest warrant is legally correct, he could be extradited to Sweden.
But the process could take months.
Police contacted his lawyer, Mark Stephens, on Monday night after receiving a European arrest warrant from the Swedish authorities.
An earlier warrant, issued last month, had not been filled in correctly.
Mr Stephens said his client was keen to learn more about the allegations and anxious to clear his name.
He said: "It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law.
"Julian Assange has been the one in hot pursuit to vindicate himself to clear his good name."
Mr Stephens said Mr Assange had been trying to meet the Swedish prosecutor to find out the details about the allegations he faces.
Mr Assange has come in for criticism in the last week for the revelations made on Wikileaks.
On Monday Foreign Secretary William Hague criticised the website for publishing details of sensitive sites, including some in the UK, saying they could be targeted by terrorists.
Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Mr Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands".
Wikileaks was forced to switch to a Swiss host server after several US internet service providers refused to handle it.
It has also come under cyber attack and several companies, including PayPal and Amazon, have refused to supply it.
Mr Assange is expected to appear before a district judge at City of Westminster Magistrates Court before 1230 GMT, unless special permission is given for a later hearing.
City of Westminster deals with most extradition cases but there are huge differences in the time it takes.
Extradition can be extremely swift if the accused waives his legal rights.
But some cases, such as the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States, have been going on for years because of legal challenges.
A European arrest warrant is designed to speed up the process but there can be delays.
Last week a district judge finally agreed to extradite British businessman Ian Griffin to France 18 months after he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in a Paris hotel.
Gerard Batten, a Ukip MEP, said the Assange case highlighted the dangers of the European arrest warrant because the judge has no power to listen to the evidence to judge if there is a prime facie case.
He said: "What concerns me is that it could be used against political dissidents. I don't know of the quality of the evidence in Mr Assange's case but it does seem that he is involved in political turmoil and intrigue and there are a lot of people keen to shut him up and there is nothing a court in the UK can do to look at the evidence before they extradite him."
Mr Assange is an Australian citizen and his supporters have written an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard asking her to protect him.
One of the signatories, prominent barrister, Julian Burnside QC said: "First and foremost Julian Assange is an Australian citizen who is entitled to the protection of his country and does not deserve to be betrayed by his country.
"Julia Gillard has been making it virtually impossible for Assange to return to Australia where he is entitled to be. And she has even threatened to cancel his passport. That is an outrageous stance to take."
The 39-year-old Australian, who was the subject of a European arrest warrant, denies allegations he sexually assaulted two women in Sweden.
Mr Assange is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later.
A Wikileaks spokesman said Mr Assange's arrest was an attack on media freedom but it would not stop the release of more secret files.
Kristinn Hrafnsson told Reuters on Tuesday: "Wikileaks is operational. We are continuing on the same track as laid out before.
"Any development with regards to Julian Assange will not change the plans we have with regards to the releases today and in the coming days."
Secret locations
He said Wikileaks was being operated by a group in London and other secret locations.
Scotland Yard said Mr Assange was arrested by appointment at a London police station at 0930 GMT.
Mr Assange is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of rape, one of unlawful coercion and two counts of sexual molestation, alleged to have been committed in August 2010.
If the district judge rules the arrest warrant is legally correct, he could be extradited to Sweden.
But the process could take months.
Police contacted his lawyer, Mark Stephens, on Monday night after receiving a European arrest warrant from the Swedish authorities.
An earlier warrant, issued last month, had not been filled in correctly.
Mr Stephens said his client was keen to learn more about the allegations and anxious to clear his name.
He said: "It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law.
"Julian Assange has been the one in hot pursuit to vindicate himself to clear his good name."
Mr Stephens said Mr Assange had been trying to meet the Swedish prosecutor to find out the details about the allegations he faces.
Mr Assange has come in for criticism in the last week for the revelations made on Wikileaks.
On Monday Foreign Secretary William Hague criticised the website for publishing details of sensitive sites, including some in the UK, saying they could be targeted by terrorists.
Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Mr Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands".
Wikileaks was forced to switch to a Swiss host server after several US internet service providers refused to handle it.
It has also come under cyber attack and several companies, including PayPal and Amazon, have refused to supply it.
Mr Assange is expected to appear before a district judge at City of Westminster Magistrates Court before 1230 GMT, unless special permission is given for a later hearing.
City of Westminster deals with most extradition cases but there are huge differences in the time it takes.
Extradition can be extremely swift if the accused waives his legal rights.
But some cases, such as the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States, have been going on for years because of legal challenges.
A European arrest warrant is designed to speed up the process but there can be delays.
Last week a district judge finally agreed to extradite British businessman Ian Griffin to France 18 months after he was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend in a Paris hotel.
Gerard Batten, a Ukip MEP, said the Assange case highlighted the dangers of the European arrest warrant because the judge has no power to listen to the evidence to judge if there is a prime facie case.
He said: "What concerns me is that it could be used against political dissidents. I don't know of the quality of the evidence in Mr Assange's case but it does seem that he is involved in political turmoil and intrigue and there are a lot of people keen to shut him up and there is nothing a court in the UK can do to look at the evidence before they extradite him."
Mr Assange is an Australian citizen and his supporters have written an open letter to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard asking her to protect him.
One of the signatories, prominent barrister, Julian Burnside QC said: "First and foremost Julian Assange is an Australian citizen who is entitled to the protection of his country and does not deserve to be betrayed by his country.
"Julia Gillard has been making it virtually impossible for Assange to return to Australia where he is entitled to be. And she has even threatened to cancel his passport. That is an outrageous stance to take."
Monday, December 6, 2010
Assange may surrender to British police
LONDON – Julian Assange's lawyer was arranging to deliver the WikiLeaks founder to British police for questioning in a sex-crimes investigation of the man who has angered Washington by spilling thousands of government secrets on the Internet.
Lawyer Mark Stephens told reporters in London that the Metropolitan Police had called him to say they had received an arrest warrant from Sweden for Assange. Assange has been staying at an undisclosed location in Britain.
"We are in the process of making arrangements to meet with police by consent," Stephens said Monday, declining to say when Assange's interview with police would take place.
Scotland Yard refused to comment.
The 39-year-old Australian is wanted on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion in Sweden, and the case could lead to his extradition. Interpol placed Assange on its most-wanted list on Nov. 30 after Sweden issued an arrest warrant. Last week, Sweden's highest court upheld the detention order.
Assange has denied the accusations, which Stephens has said stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex." The lawyer has said the Swedish investigation has turned into a "political stunt."
Another Assange lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said the WikiLeaks founder had voluntarily offered to cooperate with Swedish prosecutors because he "is very keen to clear his name," but his offers have been refused. She said it was "disproportionate" to seek an arrest warrant rather than a formal summons for his interrogation.
"Mr. Assange still has not seen the full allegations against him or the potential charges he faces in a language which he understands, which is English, and this in clear breach of his human rights under the European Convention of Human Rights," Robinson said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The pressure on WikiLeaks mounted from other quarters Monday: Swiss authorities closed Assange's bank account, depriving him of a key fundraising tool. And WikiLeaks struggled to stay online despite more hacker attacks and resistance from world governments, receiving help from computer-savvy advocates who have set up hundreds of "mirrors" — or carbon-copy websites — around the world.
In one of its most sensitive disclosures yet, WikiLeaks released on Sunday a secret 2009 diplomatic cable listing sites around the world that the U.S. considers critical to its security. The locations include undersea communications lines, mines, food suppliers, manufacturers of weapons components, and vaccine factories.
Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan called WikiLeaks' disclosure "dangerous" and said it gives valuable information to the nation's enemies.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard told a news conference Tuesday that it is "grossly irresponsible" for WikiLeaks to publish items like critical infrastructure lists.
But she backed away from her comment made last week that posting classified U.S. government documents on the WikiLeaks website was an "illegal" act.
After being pressed by reporters to distinguish between leaking the documents and posting them, Gillard said their publication would not have been possible "if there had not been an illegal act undertaken" in the United States. She said police were still investigating whether Assange has broken any Australian laws.
WikiLeaks has been under intense international scrutiny over its disclosure of a mountain of classified U.S. cables that have embarrassed Washington and other governments. U.S. officials have been putting pressure on WikiLeaks and those who help it, and is investigating whether Assange can be prosecuted under espionage law.
In what Assange described as a last-ditch deterrent, WikiLeaks has warned that it has distributed a heavily encrypted version of some of its most important documents and that the information could be instantly made public if the staff were arrested.
For days, WikiLeaks has been forced by governments, hackers and companies to move from one website to another. WikiLeaks is now relying on a Swedish host. But WikiLeaks' Swedish servers were crippled after coming under suspected attack again Monday, the latest in a series of such assaults.
It was not clear who was organizing the attacks. WikiLeaks has blamed previous ones on intelligence forces in the U.S. and elsewhere.
WikiLeaks' huge online following of tech-savvy young people has pitched in, setting up more than 500 mirrors.
"There is a whole new generation, digital natives, born with the Internet, that understands the freedom of communication," said Pascal Gloor, vice president of the Swiss Pirate Party, whose Swiss Web address, wikileaks.ch, has been serving as a mainstay for WikiLeaks traffic.
"It's not a left-right thing anymore. It's a generational thing between the politicians who don't understand that it's too late for them to regulate the Internet and the young who use technology every day."
Meanwhile, the Swiss postal system's financial arm, Postfinance, shut down a bank account set up by Assange to receive donations after the agency determined that he provided false information regarding his place of residence in opening the account. Assange had listed his lawyer's address in Geneva.
"He will get his money back," Postfinance spokesman Alex Josty said. "We just close the account."
Assange's lawyers said the account contained about $41,000. Over the weekend, the online payment service PayPal cut off WikiLeaks and, according to Assange's lawyers, froze $80,000 of the organization's money.
The group is left with only a few options for raising money now — through a Swiss-Icelandic credit card processing center and accounts in Iceland and Germany.
Monday marked the first day that WikiLeaks did not publish any new cables. It was unclear whether that had anything to do with the computer attacks.
Lawyer Mark Stephens told reporters in London that the Metropolitan Police had called him to say they had received an arrest warrant from Sweden for Assange. Assange has been staying at an undisclosed location in Britain.
"We are in the process of making arrangements to meet with police by consent," Stephens said Monday, declining to say when Assange's interview with police would take place.
Scotland Yard refused to comment.
The 39-year-old Australian is wanted on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion in Sweden, and the case could lead to his extradition. Interpol placed Assange on its most-wanted list on Nov. 30 after Sweden issued an arrest warrant. Last week, Sweden's highest court upheld the detention order.
Assange has denied the accusations, which Stephens has said stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex." The lawyer has said the Swedish investigation has turned into a "political stunt."
Another Assange lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said the WikiLeaks founder had voluntarily offered to cooperate with Swedish prosecutors because he "is very keen to clear his name," but his offers have been refused. She said it was "disproportionate" to seek an arrest warrant rather than a formal summons for his interrogation.
"Mr. Assange still has not seen the full allegations against him or the potential charges he faces in a language which he understands, which is English, and this in clear breach of his human rights under the European Convention of Human Rights," Robinson said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The pressure on WikiLeaks mounted from other quarters Monday: Swiss authorities closed Assange's bank account, depriving him of a key fundraising tool. And WikiLeaks struggled to stay online despite more hacker attacks and resistance from world governments, receiving help from computer-savvy advocates who have set up hundreds of "mirrors" — or carbon-copy websites — around the world.
In one of its most sensitive disclosures yet, WikiLeaks released on Sunday a secret 2009 diplomatic cable listing sites around the world that the U.S. considers critical to its security. The locations include undersea communications lines, mines, food suppliers, manufacturers of weapons components, and vaccine factories.
Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan called WikiLeaks' disclosure "dangerous" and said it gives valuable information to the nation's enemies.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard told a news conference Tuesday that it is "grossly irresponsible" for WikiLeaks to publish items like critical infrastructure lists.
But she backed away from her comment made last week that posting classified U.S. government documents on the WikiLeaks website was an "illegal" act.
After being pressed by reporters to distinguish between leaking the documents and posting them, Gillard said their publication would not have been possible "if there had not been an illegal act undertaken" in the United States. She said police were still investigating whether Assange has broken any Australian laws.
WikiLeaks has been under intense international scrutiny over its disclosure of a mountain of classified U.S. cables that have embarrassed Washington and other governments. U.S. officials have been putting pressure on WikiLeaks and those who help it, and is investigating whether Assange can be prosecuted under espionage law.
In what Assange described as a last-ditch deterrent, WikiLeaks has warned that it has distributed a heavily encrypted version of some of its most important documents and that the information could be instantly made public if the staff were arrested.
For days, WikiLeaks has been forced by governments, hackers and companies to move from one website to another. WikiLeaks is now relying on a Swedish host. But WikiLeaks' Swedish servers were crippled after coming under suspected attack again Monday, the latest in a series of such assaults.
It was not clear who was organizing the attacks. WikiLeaks has blamed previous ones on intelligence forces in the U.S. and elsewhere.
WikiLeaks' huge online following of tech-savvy young people has pitched in, setting up more than 500 mirrors.
"There is a whole new generation, digital natives, born with the Internet, that understands the freedom of communication," said Pascal Gloor, vice president of the Swiss Pirate Party, whose Swiss Web address, wikileaks.ch, has been serving as a mainstay for WikiLeaks traffic.
"It's not a left-right thing anymore. It's a generational thing between the politicians who don't understand that it's too late for them to regulate the Internet and the young who use technology every day."
Meanwhile, the Swiss postal system's financial arm, Postfinance, shut down a bank account set up by Assange to receive donations after the agency determined that he provided false information regarding his place of residence in opening the account. Assange had listed his lawyer's address in Geneva.
"He will get his money back," Postfinance spokesman Alex Josty said. "We just close the account."
Assange's lawyers said the account contained about $41,000. Over the weekend, the online payment service PayPal cut off WikiLeaks and, according to Assange's lawyers, froze $80,000 of the organization's money.
The group is left with only a few options for raising money now — through a Swiss-Icelandic credit card processing center and accounts in Iceland and Germany.
Monday marked the first day that WikiLeaks did not publish any new cables. It was unclear whether that had anything to do with the computer attacks.
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