Ghana Public-Sector Workers Receive 20% Pay Rise, Graphic Says

Ghana will give its public-sector workers a 20 percent pay rise in their base salary, the Daily Graphic reported, citing a statement from the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and the Trades Union Congress.

The increase, which is for workers who are part of the so- called Single-Spine Salary Structure, will be retroactive to January, the Accra-based newspaper reported.

Kwesi Pratt laments inaction in gov't

Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Mr Kwesi Pratt, has said that though he has no shred of doubt about the moral integrity of President John Evans Atta Mills, he believes that alone is not reason enough for Ghanaians to want to retain his administration in power.

He said a lot more is needed to be done to improve the livelihoods of the people to convince them of voting to preserve the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in power.

During a discussion on Radio Gold’s current affairs programme Alhaji & Alhaji Saturday, Mr Pratt stated that it was time for the government to move forward in terms of its handling of the bread and butter issues of the citizenry.

According to him, the upcoming elections in 2012 – which many commentators believe is going to be a watershed in the country’s political history – will be based on issues affecting the living conditions of the people.

“The 2012 elections should not be taken for granted because this is going to be a keenly contested election and there are so many variables that need to be looked at properly,” said Mr Pratt.

One of the major features of the campaign, he noted, would be the level at which prices have risen since the Mills-Mahama administration took office in 2009.

“Have prices risen? What are the factors which have compelled prices to rise? Could something have been done about it? What is the rate of increases now as compared to the rate of increases in the Kufuor administration and previous administrations as well?” He asked.

Mr Pratt therefore urged the government to pay particular attention to the clarion call of the people in relation to the level at which prices rise thereby making life’s survival very difficult for many.

Mr Pratt quizzed: “What will be the message of this administration come 2012 with regards to increases in prices…?”

Further, the 2012 elections, according to him, is also going to be crucially decided based on the manner in which decongestion exercises, especially in the capital city Accra, is being done. He admitted that the city had to be decongested to pave way for waterways and also for the purposes of beautification.

However, the editor minced no words when he noted that “sending bulldozers around to Chokor and other places to demolish houses and push people into the rain without any consideration what happens to them thereafter is particularly reckless, politically reckless.”

Kwesi Pratt stressed that the issue of decongestion was very critical since it could have very serious repercussions on the 2012 elections; “it can, to a very large extent, determine who becomes president and who does not become president.”

The editor emphasized that it was important for all to understand that those who sell in the streets do so because they have no option “and they do so as a matter of survival.”

“You think that these boys selling chewing gums in the streets…have no ambitions? All of them would wish that one day they would also be ministers and be saluted by policemen…,” he argued.

Mr Pratt also noted that the role of ministers is to inspire for productivity but expressed disappointment that too many of government appointees have been glued to their seats.

He insisted that it is time for the appointees to reach out to the people and explain to their understanding government policies.

“…It is not sufficient to go out there and create the impression that everything is rosy rosy rosy rosy, it is time to compel people in the administration to focus attention on the needs of the people,” he persisted while lamenting the fact that in a tropical rainy belt like Ghana, people had to continue going round in search of water.

He claimed that the moral authority of the President is being chipped at gradually by the opposition and thus, advised the President to reinforce his authority by showing non-performing appointees the exit door.

“I have full confidence in the personality of John Mahama, I still believe in the moral integrity of the President but these are not enough, things need to be done,” maintained Kwesi Pratt.

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Loans, Loans, Loans - endless Loans

LOANS, LOANS, LOANS - COMMUNITIES SURROUNDING SUHUM, TESHIE/AGBLEZA, MADINA AND KARACHIE CRY FOR HELP AND ACCOUNTABILITY ?


Ghana signs $13 bln in Chinese loan deals: government



Ghana taps China loan for $2.85 billion road project





World Bank Approves Ghana Water Privatization Loan

In July, the World Bank approved a new $110 million structural adjustment loan for Ghana



Ghana-Foreign Assistance and Loans



Government secures $ 273 million loan to improve water supply




World Bank Approves Loan for Ghana
Wednesday, 08 September 2010 18:01






Ghana: What Has the U.S.$5.3 Billion Loan Done?





Loans & Credits




Ghana Contracts Awarded




Government secures $166m loan for road construction



World Bank Approves Ghana Water Privatization Loan. In July, the World Bank approved a new $110 million structural adjustment loan for Ghana



NDC Contracts $600m Loan From A Clay-Maker




Ghana-Foreign Assistance and Loans




Government secures $ 273 million loan to improve water supply





World Bank Approves Loan for Ghana Wednesday, 08 September 2010 18:01




Ghana: What Has the U.S.$5.3 Billion Loan Done?





Loans & Credits




Ghana Contracts Awarded




Ghana Government secures $166m loan for road construction
The Government has secured a $166 million loan facility from the African Development Bank to construct the Fufulso-Sawla road.
Part of the loan will also be used to develop infrastructure around the Mole National Park to boost tourism.
Signing on behalf of the government, Deputy Finance Minister, Seth Tekper said the facility will help the Mills administration achieve its developmental goals in the Northern region.
“The mobilization of concessionary resources such as yours will play a very vital role in accelerating the goals of government. We are also paying close attention to the micro economy which is also very important,” he said.
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr. Joe Gidisu, said his ministry will ensure smooth commencement of the project.



Ghana Signs New Loan Agreement With France




Korea to give Ghana $67m loan to expand electricity supply‎




Government secures loan to fund Science and Research related projects‎ Vice President John Dramani Mahama, has announced that government has secured a seventeen million dollar ($17 million) loan from the World Bank, a significant amount of which will go into funding of Science and Research related projects




Ghana Government, Chinese Delegation discuss terms for $9bn loan from China

Nigeria, Shell under fire after UN details oil devastation

Nigeria's government and oil giant Shell Friday came under heavy pressure following the release of a landmark UN report detailing oil pollution that may require the world's biggest ever clean-up.

The report set out scientific evidence for the first time of devastating pollution in Ogoniland, part of the country's main oil-producing Niger Delta region where Shell and the state petroleum company have operated.

"UNEP believes that oil contamination in Ogoniland has created an environmental crisis of unprecedented proportions," Joseph Alcamo, UN Environment Programme chief scientist, told journalists in London.

"The problem is quite clear and now the question is what's the way out."

Anglo-Dutch Shell was forced to pull out of Ogoniland amid unrest in 1993, though pipelines for its Nigerian joint venture, which includes the state oil company, and other facilities remain there.

The UNEP report, which details urgent health risks such as badly contaminated drinking water, led some to raise the possibility of lawsuits that could now be brought against Shell or others with scientific evidence to back them.

"This is a wonderful intervention on the part of the United Nations, and this has also in a way confirmed the cries of the Ogoni people over the years," said prominent Nigerian rights lawyer Femi Falana.

"There is now a scientific basis backed by the UN.... I think this now provides an opportunity for people to make legitimate demands."

Shell faced criticism from UNEP, which said "control and maintenance of oil field infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate: the Shell Petroleum Development Company's own procedures have not been applied, creating public health and safety issues."

UNEP also called for the oil industry and the Nigerian government to contribute $1 billion to a clean-up fund for the region, adding that restoration could take up to 30 years.

"The environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world's most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken", it said.

Shell maintained its stance that most environmental damage has been caused by oil theft, sabotage and illegal refining.

The managing director for its Nigerian joint venture, Mutiu Sunmonu, says in a Shell video posted on YouTube that until illegal activity is brought under control, "there is little that can be done to bring an end to the problem of spills."

A UNEP spokesman told journalists Friday that the agency could not support Shell's assertion.

"UNEP would challenge that," said Nick Nuttall. "We don't have the data to say where the oil came from in any kind of comprehensive way, either historically or currently.

"... The fact is that the assertion of SPDC yesterday that it's largely or mainly from illegal activities, well, we can't support that statement."

SPDC is Shell's Nigerian joint venture, the Shell Petroleum Development Company.

The study of the effects of pollution in Ogoniland follows a two-year assessment by UNEP in the region of mainly farmers and fishermen.

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, which has long pushed for action in the region, said it was not nearly enough.

It said in a statement that "what is needed and the Ogoni expectation is the cleanup of our devastated environment and not a mere study to tell us what we know."

The group also called for Shell's licence in Nigeria to be revoked.

Ogoniland was the native region of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the renowned environmental activist who was executed by a Nigerian military government in 1995 after what was widely considered a show trial, drawing global condemnation.

His activism and execution drew the world's attention to Ogoniland.

His son, Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr, now works as an adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, the first head of state from the Niger Delta.

He called the report a "vindication" and expressed confidence the government would take action.

"I think he is looking down on the whole thing and smiling widely to himself," Saro-Wiwa Jr told AFP, speaking of his father.

Spokesmen: Islamist militia leaving Somali capital

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Islamist fighters withdrew overnight from almost all their bases in the famine-struck Somali capital, the most significant gain for the embattled U.N.-backed government in four years. Commanders toured newly abandoned positions Saturday, including a former sports stadium where the militia's tire marks were fresh in the grass.

The militants have denied many aid agencies access to their territory and their presence in the capital has complicated famine relief efforts. The government said humanitarian agencies now were welcome to come and distribute aid, but many still insist on serving only precooked rations at guarded kitchens.

"It is of major significance, but the war is not over yet," said Somali Defense Minister Hussein Arab Esse as he stood amid the rubble and graffitied walls of the stadium.

Tanks belonging to the African Union peacekeeping force surrounded the former militia base as gunfire crackled outside. Government soldiers draped in bandoliers of bullets lounged on smashed concrete pillars, staring as Somali and AU officials embraced.

Somalia has been a failed state for more than 20 years. Its lawless wastes are a haven for pirates and international terrorists and the conflict has caused two major famines. Hundreds of thousands starved to deaths in 1992 and the current emergency is believed to have cost tens of thousands of lives already. It is set to worsen, partly because the Islamists, who call themselves al-Shabab, have banned many aid workers.

Al-Shabab controlled around a third of the capital until Saturday morning. They carried out public amputations and executions, and forcibly recruited children as fighters. They still hold most of southern Somalia, where tens of thousands are estimated to have starved. Desperate families are streaming into the capital from the country and setting up shelters made from twigs and tattered plastic bags.

Sodio Omar Hassan, who was seeking treatment for her child's malaria at a free hospital set up by AU peacekeepers, said people were incensed because al-Shabab had refused to allow aid agencies to distribute food.

"People are angry now they are dying," she said, as other patients nodded around her. "They (al-Shabab) don't bring us anything."

A year ago, even mentioning the word al-Shabab in the heavily guarded hospital — one of the most secure places in Somalia — would make patients fall silent or hide their faces. But in recent interviews with The Associated Press, men and women fleeing the famine gathered around to denounce the militia, which they said had tried to prevent families from seeking help, and stopped and sometimes killed the male family members.

"They tried to stop us so we came the back way around," said Mumino Bury Adan, waving her hands to demonstrate how she weaved through the streets with her three children into government-held territory. "They don't want to give us food and people do not agree. They just want us to stay there and die."

More than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are in need of immediate food aid, including nearly half the Somali population. The U.N. says 640,000 children are acutely malnourished in Somalia, where the U.N. has declared five famine zones, including the camps for displaced people in Mogadishu.

There have been two deadly shoot-outs in the past week after aid agencies tried to hand out sacks of food. Both incidents involved government forces, some of whom are poorly trained and disciplined.

It's still unclear why the militia retreated or what its next move will be. There are several possible reasons: the drought and the movement of population away from areas it controls; the diversion of foreign fighters and funding to the Arab Spring; or infighting among its top leadership. It could simply be a change of tactics by a heavily outgunned force to a guerilla-style campaign of suicide bombings and hit and run attacks.

Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamed Rage told a local radio station that the forces had made a tactical withdrawal and would soon launch a counter attack.

"We shall fight the enemy wherever they are," he said.

The militia's withdrawal appeared orderly and coordinated, following a four-hour assault on several AU positions overnight. Witnesses spoke of seeing large numbers of al-Shabab fighters moving in vehicles or on foot with their weapons.

Mohammed Ali said he saw about 150 al-Shabab fighters leaving the northwest part of the capital. He said they may have left town due to a lack of money and disagreements between top leaders, explaining that he had an insight into the militia because "our brothers are that side."

Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali estimated the militants now have vacated 90 percent of the capital and said forces were checking the rest. Ali said the government wants to send security forces into the new areas vacated by al-Shabab, describing the withdrawal as the "first phase of the new war."

In recent years, the Somali government has made little effort to provide services to its citizens despite receiving tens of millions of dollars in cash from foreign donors. Ali said he would declare such donations in the future, making it easier to see how the government was spending the money.

Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the 9,000-strong AU force, said the al-Shabab has melted into the population and will become more difficult to deal with. Since it was born from the ruins of another radical Islamist group in 2007, al-Shabab has never abandoned Mogadishu entirely.

"We need more troops now than ever before. The area has become too big for the force to cover," Ankunda said, looking out at the ruined city from behind a thick pane of bulletproof glass.

Quarter-million Israelis march for economic reform

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - A quarter-million Israelis marched on Saturday for lower living costs in an escalating protest that has catapulted the economy onto the political agenda and put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu planned to name a cabinet-level team on Sunday to address demands by the demonstrators, who in under a month have swollen from a cluster of student tent-squatters into a diffuse, countrywide mobilization of Israel's burdened middle class.

Israel projects growth of 4.8 percent this year at a time of economic stagnation in many Western countries, and has relatively low unemployment of 5.7 percent. But business cartels and wage disparities have kept many citizens from feeling the benefit.

"The People Demand Social Justice" read one of the march banners, which mostly eschewed partisan anti-government messages while confronting Netanyahu's free-market doctrines.

Police said at least 250,000 people took part in Saturday's march in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities, a greater turnout than at marches on the two previous weekends.

Demonstrations on such a scale in Israel -- population 7.7 million -- have usually been over issues of war and peace.

In a "Peace Index" poll conducted by two Israeli academics, around half of respondents said wage disparities -- among the widest of OECD countries -- should be the government's priority, while 18 percent cited the dearth of affordable housing.

Some 31 percent cited the stalled Middle East peace talks, Israel's international image, or the need to bolster the armed forces.

The demonstrations have upstaged Netanyahu's standoff with the Palestinians ahead of their bid to lobby for U.N. recognition of statehood next month. Protests also deflated his celebration of Israel's stability as citizen revolts rock surrounding Arab states across the Middle East and North Africa.

"There has been nothing like this for decades -- all these people coming together, taking to the streets, demanding change. It's a revolution," said Baroch Oren, a 33-year-old protest leader.

The conservative coalition government has vowed to free up more state-owned land for development, build more low-rent housing and improve public transport. It also wants to lower dairy prices with more imports and boost medical staff numbers to address demands by striking doctors.

But the demands submitted by the National Union of Israeli Students go much further in calling for an expansion of free education and bigger government housing budgets.

Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon, named by a Netanyahu spokesman as a likely member of the cabinet troubleshooting team, said a solution was required even if it "cost billions" at a time when Israel is watching the debt jitters of the United States and parts of Europe. Israel's debt burden is 75 percent of GDP, lower than that of most major Western economies.

Interviewed by Israel Radio on Friday, Kahlon floated tax cuts and a breakup of cartels to benefit the middle class.

"If anything, this demonstration is a demonstration of trust in Netanyahu -- though that may sound upside-down: 'Sir, we demand of you, we insist, you know how to, you are capable of fixing this,'" Kahlon said, noting the lack of support for the centrist political opposition.

But he faulted Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz for trumpeting Israel's macroeconomic indicators.

"On the one hand we say we have a strong economy, on the other hand large groups of people are seeing that it is not reaching them. Hence the frustration and the outcry," he said.

London rioters battle police after shooting protest

LONDON (Reuters) - Rioters throwing petrol bombs battled police in a economically deprived district of London overnight, setting patrol cars, buildings and a double-decker bus on fire in some of the worst disorder seen in the British capital for recent years.

About 200 people rained missiles and bottles on riot officers near Tottenham district police station after a street protest over the fatal shooting of a man by armed officers earlier in the week turned violent.

Mounted police and riot officers on foot in turn charged the crowd to push them back.

Eight officers were taken to hospital, one with head injuries, as rioters smashed windows and looted buildings including banks, shops and a supermarket and torched three police cars in the main road near the local police station.

The trouble broke out on Saturday night following a peaceful demonstration over the shooting of Mark Duggan, 29, who was killed after an exchange of gunfire with police on Thursday.

Duggan had been in a taxi when it was stopped by armed officers as part of a pre-planned operation. One policeman escaped unhurt after a bullet struck his radio. Duggan's death is being investigated by the independent police watchdog.

Although there have been riots in other European countries linked to austerity measures to tackle large national debts, London police and local community leaders said anger at Duggan's shooting was the cause of the riot.

Tottenham has a large number of ethnic minorities and includes areas with the highest unemployment rates in London. It also has a history of racial tension with local young people, especially blacks, resenting police behavior including the use of stop and search powers.

NOTORIOUS RACE RIOT IN 1985

The disorder was very close to where one of Britain's most notorious race riots occurred just over 25 years ago.

In 1985, police officer Keith Blakelock was hacked to death on the deprived Broadwater Farm housing estate during rioting in which around 500 mainly black youths rampaged through the streets, assaulting police, looting and setting fires.

Classford Stirling, a youth worker from Broadwater Farm, said there had been growing anger recently over stop and search practices by police. "It wasn't just black kids. It was the youth in general who are frustrated at the way the police are treating them," he told BBC TV.

"Everybody's now thinking of the way Mr Duggan was shot and they want answers. It's very difficult to turn round and say to them this is the wrong way because they believe this is the only way that they're going to get attention."

Television pictures showed a blazing bus surrounded by rioters and hooded youths pelting an abandoned police car with rocks and missiles. Media reported some locals had to flee their homes to escape the violence.

While the bulk of the disturbance had been brought under control early on Sunday, pockets of trouble were still erupting nearby. Buildings were smoldering with plumes of smoke billowing across the skyline.

"The rioting in Tottenham last night was utterly unacceptable," a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said. "There is no justification for the aggression the police and the public faced, or for the damage to property."

Police Commander Stephen Watson said the scenes were "very distressing" for Londoners and perpetrators would be brought to justice. "Our intention ... is to bring things to as swift a conclusion as we can. Our absolute aim is to restore normality."

Local member of parliament David Lammy said: "The Tottenham community and Mark Duggan's family and friends need to understand what happened on Thursday evening when Mark lost his life. To understand those facts, we must have calm."

London also saw riots at the end of last year when protests against government plans to raise tuition fees for university students in the center of London turned violent with police and government buildings attacked.

During the most serious disturbances last December, rioters targeted the limousine belonging to heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, kicking its doors, cracking a window and reportedly jabbing Camilla with a stick.