Accra, Ghana - Ghana on Friday announced that it has extended diplomatic recognition to the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) as the legitimate ruling authority in that country.
In an official statement here, the Deputy Minister of Information, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said in arriving at the decision, the government had “taken due account of the political and security situation in Libya particularly, the NTC’s effective control over a greater part of the country and the commitment of the NTC to democratic and pluralistic elections”.
Ghana called on the NTC “to work towards a fast and smooth transition to constitutional and democratic governance and ensure the safety and protection of African immigrants in Libya”.
The NTC now controls nearly all of the North African country and plans to start operating from Tripoli, the Libyan capital, soon.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Ferry with 500 plus passengers sinks off Tanzania
ZANZIBAR (Reuters) - A ferry carrying more than 500 passengers from Zanzibar to Pemba island off the east African country of Tanzania has capsized and scores of people are missing, police said on Saturday.
Zanzibar, also known as Unguja, and Pemba are the two main islands of the Zanzibar archipelago, a popular destination for tourists visiting their pristine white Indian Ocean beaches.
"The ship's manifest shows that the vessel traveling from Unguja to Pemba islands had more than 500 passengers on board," Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa told Reuters.
"Some 260 passengers have so far been rescued ... we have recovered several bodies but I can't give you the exact death toll at the moment because the situation is very volatile," he said.
Pemba is about 40 km (25 miles) from Zanzibar. Passengers who regularly take ferries between the two islands said the vessels are in a poor state of repair and are often overcrowded and loaded with cargo.
"They normally pack us in like sardines in a can. And for that I really fear this could be a very big disaster," said resident Mwnakhamis Juma.
The government in Zanzibar said last month it planned to invest in bigger, more reliable vessels to ferry passengers between the two islands.
"We are fearing the greatest calamity in the history of Zanzibar. This is a disaster," said a government official, who declined to be named.
Two small overloaded boats capsized and were swept away in high seas off Tanzania's coast in January this year and in May 2009, a vessel just off Zanzibar sank with dozens aboard, killing six.
Mussa said rescue workers with the aid of some fishing boats in the area were helping to rescue more passengers and recover bodies to bring them to Zanzibar's main town for post-mortems and identification.
"Because of strong ocean winds, some of the bodies could even be washed up in Tanga (mainland Tanzania)," he said. "The cause of the accident cannot be confirmed at the moment."
A parent in Mkoani on Pemba island was already mourning his three children, who were aboard the vessel capsized MV Spice.
"I had two sons and a daughter coming back to Pemba from a school holiday break ... and I am fearing for the worse," said Juma Bakar
Zanzibar, also known as Unguja, and Pemba are the two main islands of the Zanzibar archipelago, a popular destination for tourists visiting their pristine white Indian Ocean beaches.
"The ship's manifest shows that the vessel traveling from Unguja to Pemba islands had more than 500 passengers on board," Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa told Reuters.
"Some 260 passengers have so far been rescued ... we have recovered several bodies but I can't give you the exact death toll at the moment because the situation is very volatile," he said.
Pemba is about 40 km (25 miles) from Zanzibar. Passengers who regularly take ferries between the two islands said the vessels are in a poor state of repair and are often overcrowded and loaded with cargo.
"They normally pack us in like sardines in a can. And for that I really fear this could be a very big disaster," said resident Mwnakhamis Juma.
The government in Zanzibar said last month it planned to invest in bigger, more reliable vessels to ferry passengers between the two islands.
"We are fearing the greatest calamity in the history of Zanzibar. This is a disaster," said a government official, who declined to be named.
Two small overloaded boats capsized and were swept away in high seas off Tanzania's coast in January this year and in May 2009, a vessel just off Zanzibar sank with dozens aboard, killing six.
Mussa said rescue workers with the aid of some fishing boats in the area were helping to rescue more passengers and recover bodies to bring them to Zanzibar's main town for post-mortems and identification.
"Because of strong ocean winds, some of the bodies could even be washed up in Tanga (mainland Tanzania)," he said. "The cause of the accident cannot be confirmed at the moment."
A parent in Mkoani on Pemba island was already mourning his three children, who were aboard the vessel capsized MV Spice.
"I had two sons and a daughter coming back to Pemba from a school holiday break ... and I am fearing for the worse," said Juma Bakar
Friday, September 9, 2011
Ghana Law May Require State Approval for Oil Loans
Bloomberg
The Ghanaian government may require oil companies to seek its approval before obtaining loans for their operations if a draft petroleum exploration and production bill becomes law, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
A section of the law, to be debated by the lawmakers, said that loans taken by contractors must be approved by the minister of energy, Darcy White, a tax leader at the company’s Ghana office, said in a presentation on the bill at a meeting in Accra today.
“That can delay efforts,” he said, citing a lack of provisions in the draft policy for a loan-approval timeline. Interest on loans will be treated as a non-deductible expense on taxes, according to White.
Ghana became Africa’s newest oil exporter in December with the start of production at its offshore Jubilee oil field. Companies including London-based Tullow Oil Plc (TLW), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) of The Woodlands, Texas and Eni SpA (ENI) of Rome operate in the West African nation.
The draft law will be presented to lawmakers when Parliament returns from its recess next month, Moses Asaga, chairman of the parliamentary sub-committee on mines and energy, said in a telephone interview today. He declined to give details on the policy.
The requirement may be meant to ensure that international oil companies procure only loans that are competitive, Alex Mould, chief executive officer of Ghana’s fuel-retailing regulator National Petroleum Authority, said at the forum.
The Ghanaian government may require oil companies to seek its approval before obtaining loans for their operations if a draft petroleum exploration and production bill becomes law, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
A section of the law, to be debated by the lawmakers, said that loans taken by contractors must be approved by the minister of energy, Darcy White, a tax leader at the company’s Ghana office, said in a presentation on the bill at a meeting in Accra today.
“That can delay efforts,” he said, citing a lack of provisions in the draft policy for a loan-approval timeline. Interest on loans will be treated as a non-deductible expense on taxes, according to White.
Ghana became Africa’s newest oil exporter in December with the start of production at its offshore Jubilee oil field. Companies including London-based Tullow Oil Plc (TLW), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) of The Woodlands, Texas and Eni SpA (ENI) of Rome operate in the West African nation.
The draft law will be presented to lawmakers when Parliament returns from its recess next month, Moses Asaga, chairman of the parliamentary sub-committee on mines and energy, said in a telephone interview today. He declined to give details on the policy.
The requirement may be meant to ensure that international oil companies procure only loans that are competitive, Alex Mould, chief executive officer of Ghana’s fuel-retailing regulator National Petroleum Authority, said at the forum.
NDC Has No Shame - Kufuor
Modern Ghana
FORMER PRESIDENT John Agyekum Kufuor has finally broken his silence on government's decision to purchase five planes for the military, describing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as 'people who have no shame.'
'The NDC has no shame…they vehemently opposed, criticized and protested against our (NPP) decision to purchase only two planes for the same military but immediately they assumed office they said they were going to purchase not even two but five…can you imagine?' he asked Ghanaians.
President Kufuor was speaking at his residence in Accra when the Traders Union of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) from Kaneshie Market called on him to congratulate him on his World Food Programme Award.
He said the deal the NPP entered into in efforts to retool the military was the best for the country adding 'in our time the cost of one plane was around $39 and $40 million but theirs is around $55milion which can't even be compared to ours.'
'The NPP's plane could travel from Ghana to New York non-stop. It could use six hours to London, Germany and other places. The NDC's has to stop in the middle of the way,'
'In our time, the NDC's propaganda was that Ghanaians were suffering and things were hard…these conditions they claimed were their reason for opposing the purchase…have they changed now…it is still the same if not worse.'
On the Jubilee House (Presidential Palace) which the NDC has reverted name to the name Flagstaff House, Mr. Kufuor said 'it is their (NDC's) hypocrisy which is making the Mills/Mahama government hesitant to use the facility.'
'When we were constructing the facility, the NDC attacked our government and my personality and even went to the extent of saying they will use the place for poultry farm and it is because of the bad things said about the project that they are feeling shy to use it.'
On the politics of insults, the former President Kufuor advised the NPP not to get involved but rather address issues and not personalities.
He said he did not subscribe to the menace adding that it was a very dangerous trend. 'Where we have reached as a country, we need sensible argument on issues not on personalities and insults.'
He recalled how NDC bigwigs like Alban Bagbin, Tony Aidoo and Ama Benyiwa Doe went on an insults spree and making unsubstantiated allegations against him and his appointees and succeeded in throwing dust into the eyes of the good public.
'We should not let them drag us into their politics of insults or join their gutter politics. Don't forget that if you have a notorious sibling, you would always be inundated with trouble but it is up to you to keep your head above the water.'
He said the NDC's style of politics during the NPP regime was counter-productive to the nurturing of democracy and development saying 'our opponents were obstructing every good thing we were doing without justification.'
He said the NPP brought laudable social intervention programmes like free maternity health care, national health insurance, school feeding programme, mass transportation programme, impressive infrastructural projects and the model schools concept but the NDC is collapsing all of them.
'We are happy that most Ghanaians are now aware of the NDCs tricks and could not been easily be deceived.'
When Daily Guide asked him when he would hit the campaign trail, Mr. Kufuor said 'I have already joined the campaign trail. I am always there and I am very much involved but in a different strategy. In fact Nana and I are constantly in touch.'
'I give him advice and he takes my advice. I want to assure you that Nana's chances are bright. I am confident he will make a good candidate in 2012.'
Members of the union took turns appealing to ex-President Kufour to use his vast experience to admonish the NPP leadership to foster unity within the party.
Yaw Sekyere, Chairman of the union said the AMA guards were making life difficult for ordinary traders and appealed for restraint.
By Stella Danso Addai
BMW Saloon gift to Mr Joe Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways, from a Chinese construction firm
Accra, Sept. 9, GNA- Mr Solomon Nkansah, Deputy Propaganda Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has reaffirmed government’s position that the BMW saloon car received by Mr Joe Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways, from a Chinese construction firm, was strictly for his official use.
He said the car was bought by an agency under the Ministry, that is, the Ghana Highways Authority, with documents covering the request and the delivery of the vehicle to the Ghana Highways Authority on behalf of the Ministry.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Nkansah noted that upon reports that the car was meant to bribe the Minister, President Mills advised that the vehicle should be surrendered to the state.
The Deputy Propaganda Secretary said President Mills has established an office of accountability with the aim of ensuring transparency and reducing corruption in government sectors especially, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
He noted that President Mills does not view ‘zero tolerance of corruption’ as mere a rhetoric as he constantly reminds his Ministers to discharge their duties with fairness and that any Minister who falls foul of the law, would be dealt with without fear or favour.
Mr Nkansah said the resignation of Mr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, former Minister of Health, after being cited in the Mabey and Johnson bribery saga and Mr Muntaka Mubarak, former Minister of Youth and Sports for alleged misappropriation of funds, was an indication of the President’s resolve to fight corruption in the country.
He said the two Ministers were made to vacate their positions for pave way for investigation to ascertain the truth of the case which would serve as deterrent to potential offenders.
Mr Nkansah said the “news in the media that seem to portray Mr Joe Gidisu as taking bribe from the Chinese firm was a deliberate plot by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to throw dust into the eyes of the public” adding, the President and Minister should be applauded for that bold step.
He said the NPP Government introduced the Presidential Special Initiative (PSI) and the Venture Capital where there was no accountability.
Mr Nkansah said President Mills was deemed as slow because” he is an embodiment of law” and the law is an act that grinds slowly and would not rush adding, there was an improvement under the Mill’s government as compared to the NPP government in the entire sector of the economy.
He said under the tenure of the Mills administration, there has been an improvement in the road sector and that work is underway on the Legon-Adenta road construction among others.
Mr Nkansah said in the Western Region, the Tarkwa- Ayamfori road is under construction for 98 million dollars while the Enchi- Asankragua road is also under construction for 48 million dollars.
He said the Secondi Takoradi road expansion which was captured in the 3 billion dollar loan agreement would give the region a new lease of life in development adding, 500 million dollars of the loan would be used to lay pipes from Bonyere to the Aboadzi Thermal plant and help reduce electricity tariffs in the country.
Reacting on the graduates’ unemployment, he said government is reactivating the Ghana Consolidated Diamond Limited in Akwatia, the Kumasi Shoe factory, Tomato Cannery at Pwalugu, and resuscitating Darko Farms and the Aveyime Rice Projects to provide employment for the youth.
He stressed that for a nation to be industrialized, there was the need to have a strong and booming agricultural sector.
Mr Nkansah said President Mills’ administration has initiated Mathematics, Science and Technology scholarship scheme of which 41,000 Ghanaian students are benefiting.
He noted that President Mills as chairman of the economic management team in 1997, established 110 Science Resource Centres and has now started the computer laboratory project to facilitate Information Communication and Technology which is the fastest growing industry in the world.
According to him, the 2012 election would be won by performance since the NDC Government had invested in the country’s human resource base and said the NPP government came to “do visual politics, erecting bill boards”.
GNA
NDC Has No Shame - Kufuor
Mosern Ghana
FORMER PRESIDENT John Agyekum Kufuor has finally broken his silence on government's decision to purchase five planes for the military, describing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as 'people who have no shame.'
'The NDC has no shame…they vehemently opposed, criticized and protested against our (NPP) decision to purchase only two planes for the same military but immediately they assumed office they said they were going to purchase not even two but five…can you imagine?' he asked Ghanaians.
President Kufuor was speaking at his residence in Accra when the Traders Union of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) from Kaneshie Market called on him to congratulate him on his World Food Programme Award.
He said the deal the NPP entered into in efforts to retool the military was the best for the country adding 'in our time the cost of one plane was around $39 and $40 million but theirs is around $55milion which can't even be compared to ours.'
'The NPP's plane could travel from Ghana to New York non-stop. It could use six hours to London, Germany and other places. The NDC's has to stop in the middle of the way,'
'In our time, the NDC's propaganda was that Ghanaians were suffering and things were hard…these conditions they claimed were their reason for opposing the purchase…have they changed now…it is still the same if not worse.'
On the Jubilee House (Presidential Palace) which the NDC has reverted name to the name Flagstaff House, Mr. Kufuor said 'it is their (NDC's) hypocrisy which is making the Mills/Mahama government hesitant to use the facility.'
'When we were constructing the facility, the NDC attacked our government and my personality and even went to the extent of saying they will use the place for poultry farm and it is because of the bad things said about the project that they are feeling shy to use it.'
On the politics of insults, the former President Kufuor advised the NPP not to get involved but rather address issues and not personalities.
He said he did not subscribe to the menace adding that it was a very dangerous trend. 'Where we have reached as a country, we need sensible argument on issues not on personalities and insults.'
He recalled how NDC bigwigs like Alban Bagbin, Tony Aidoo and Ama Benyiwa Doe went on an insults spree and making unsubstantiated allegations against him and his appointees and succeeded in throwing dust into the eyes of the good public.
'We should not let them drag us into their politics of insults or join their gutter politics. Don't forget that if you have a notorious sibling, you would always be inundated with trouble but it is up to you to keep your head above the water.'
He said the NDC's style of politics during the NPP regime was counter-productive to the nurturing of democracy and development saying 'our opponents were obstructing every good thing we were doing without justification.'
He said the NPP brought laudable social intervention programmes like free maternity health care, national health insurance, school feeding programme, mass transportation programme, impressive infrastructural projects and the model schools concept but the NDC is collapsing all of them.
'We are happy that most Ghanaians are now aware of the NDCs tricks and could not been easily be deceived.'
When Daily Guide asked him when he would hit the campaign trail, Mr. Kufuor said 'I have already joined the campaign trail. I am always there and I am very much involved but in a different strategy. In fact Nana and I are constantly in touch.'
'I give him advice and he takes my advice. I want to assure you that Nana's chances are bright. I am confident he will make a good candidate in 2012.'
Members of the union took turns appealing to ex-President Kufour to use his vast experience to admonish the NPP leadership to foster unity within the party.
Yaw Sekyere, Chairman of the union said the AMA guards were making life difficult for ordinary traders and appealed for restraint.
By Stella Danso Addai
FORMER PRESIDENT John Agyekum Kufuor has finally broken his silence on government's decision to purchase five planes for the military, describing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as 'people who have no shame.'
'The NDC has no shame…they vehemently opposed, criticized and protested against our (NPP) decision to purchase only two planes for the same military but immediately they assumed office they said they were going to purchase not even two but five…can you imagine?' he asked Ghanaians.
President Kufuor was speaking at his residence in Accra when the Traders Union of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) from Kaneshie Market called on him to congratulate him on his World Food Programme Award.
He said the deal the NPP entered into in efforts to retool the military was the best for the country adding 'in our time the cost of one plane was around $39 and $40 million but theirs is around $55milion which can't even be compared to ours.'
'The NPP's plane could travel from Ghana to New York non-stop. It could use six hours to London, Germany and other places. The NDC's has to stop in the middle of the way,'
'In our time, the NDC's propaganda was that Ghanaians were suffering and things were hard…these conditions they claimed were their reason for opposing the purchase…have they changed now…it is still the same if not worse.'
On the Jubilee House (Presidential Palace) which the NDC has reverted name to the name Flagstaff House, Mr. Kufuor said 'it is their (NDC's) hypocrisy which is making the Mills/Mahama government hesitant to use the facility.'
'When we were constructing the facility, the NDC attacked our government and my personality and even went to the extent of saying they will use the place for poultry farm and it is because of the bad things said about the project that they are feeling shy to use it.'
On the politics of insults, the former President Kufuor advised the NPP not to get involved but rather address issues and not personalities.
He said he did not subscribe to the menace adding that it was a very dangerous trend. 'Where we have reached as a country, we need sensible argument on issues not on personalities and insults.'
He recalled how NDC bigwigs like Alban Bagbin, Tony Aidoo and Ama Benyiwa Doe went on an insults spree and making unsubstantiated allegations against him and his appointees and succeeded in throwing dust into the eyes of the good public.
'We should not let them drag us into their politics of insults or join their gutter politics. Don't forget that if you have a notorious sibling, you would always be inundated with trouble but it is up to you to keep your head above the water.'
He said the NDC's style of politics during the NPP regime was counter-productive to the nurturing of democracy and development saying 'our opponents were obstructing every good thing we were doing without justification.'
He said the NPP brought laudable social intervention programmes like free maternity health care, national health insurance, school feeding programme, mass transportation programme, impressive infrastructural projects and the model schools concept but the NDC is collapsing all of them.
'We are happy that most Ghanaians are now aware of the NDCs tricks and could not been easily be deceived.'
When Daily Guide asked him when he would hit the campaign trail, Mr. Kufuor said 'I have already joined the campaign trail. I am always there and I am very much involved but in a different strategy. In fact Nana and I are constantly in touch.'
'I give him advice and he takes my advice. I want to assure you that Nana's chances are bright. I am confident he will make a good candidate in 2012.'
Members of the union took turns appealing to ex-President Kufour to use his vast experience to admonish the NPP leadership to foster unity within the party.
Yaw Sekyere, Chairman of the union said the AMA guards were making life difficult for ordinary traders and appealed for restraint.
By Stella Danso Addai
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
President urges chief executives to ensure access to sanitation facilities
Accra, Sept. 5, GNA – President John Evans Atta Mills on Monday tasked Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives to implement bye-laws that would ensure that every Ghanaian household have access to appropriate sanitation facilities.
In addition, the assemblies should co-ordinate their policies and projects in harmony with the Local Government Act (Act 462) and National Development Planning Systems Act (ACT 480), to eliminate the prevalent incidence of households without sanitary facilities.
President Mills gave the directive in a speech read on his behalf at the on-going three–day Third Ghana Water Forum organised by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing in Accra.
It is on the theme: “Water and Sanitation Services Delivery in a Rapidly Changing Urban Environment.”
President Mills advised members of the Assemblies and their Regional Co-ordinating Councils to implement the Community-led Total Sanitation approach as well as the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programmes to address the deplorable sanitation problems facing the country.
“This will give a quantum leap towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on sanitation,” he said.
President Mills said though the required MDG target for water was 76 per cent and 53 per cent for sanitation, government was committed towards exceeding the set target for 2015.
“…Government will spare no effort to ensure that we do better than the targets set for us by 2015. Government’s target is 85 per cent by 2015.”
President Mills expressed the hope that completion of water projects supported by the World Bank and China would “see a rapid improvement in the delivery of water supply to urban centres”.
Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, Associate Professor at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, called for a “Water Fund” to serve as a safety net to cater for the marginalised and disadvantaged in the society who could not afford to pay for water.
“My preference is for a Water Fund along the lines of the Ghana Education Trust Fund and the Road Fund,” he said.
Prof Ahwoi said Ghana’s rapidly changing urban population meant that the country could not continue to use systems that were designed to provide water and sanitation services to an urban population that was half the number of the current population at the time they were designed.
He observed that major problems of urban water supply and sanitation services were that the two sectors, together with environmental hygiene, were not holistically managed and controlled.
Prof Ahwoi, said: “The monopolistic control of urban water supply by Ghana Water Company Limited and the phenomenon of ‘human settlement before planning’ made it difficult for water providers to plan for future water and sanitation needs.
He said there was the need to decentralise the water and sanitation sector in order to manage the local level with the participation of the citizenry.
Prof Ahwoi proposed the production, transmission and distribution of water to be undertaken by different bodies or organisations.
He called for ‘regionalisation’ of urban water supply and management by clustering urban settlements around water production and treatment sources.
Prof Ahwoi was optimistic that introduction of a public private partnership system would inject competition and efficiency in the water sector.
In addition, the assemblies should co-ordinate their policies and projects in harmony with the Local Government Act (Act 462) and National Development Planning Systems Act (ACT 480), to eliminate the prevalent incidence of households without sanitary facilities.
President Mills gave the directive in a speech read on his behalf at the on-going three–day Third Ghana Water Forum organised by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing in Accra.
It is on the theme: “Water and Sanitation Services Delivery in a Rapidly Changing Urban Environment.”
President Mills advised members of the Assemblies and their Regional Co-ordinating Councils to implement the Community-led Total Sanitation approach as well as the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programmes to address the deplorable sanitation problems facing the country.
“This will give a quantum leap towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on sanitation,” he said.
President Mills said though the required MDG target for water was 76 per cent and 53 per cent for sanitation, government was committed towards exceeding the set target for 2015.
“…Government will spare no effort to ensure that we do better than the targets set for us by 2015. Government’s target is 85 per cent by 2015.”
President Mills expressed the hope that completion of water projects supported by the World Bank and China would “see a rapid improvement in the delivery of water supply to urban centres”.
Professor Kwamena Ahwoi, Associate Professor at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, called for a “Water Fund” to serve as a safety net to cater for the marginalised and disadvantaged in the society who could not afford to pay for water.
“My preference is for a Water Fund along the lines of the Ghana Education Trust Fund and the Road Fund,” he said.
Prof Ahwoi said Ghana’s rapidly changing urban population meant that the country could not continue to use systems that were designed to provide water and sanitation services to an urban population that was half the number of the current population at the time they were designed.
He observed that major problems of urban water supply and sanitation services were that the two sectors, together with environmental hygiene, were not holistically managed and controlled.
Prof Ahwoi, said: “The monopolistic control of urban water supply by Ghana Water Company Limited and the phenomenon of ‘human settlement before planning’ made it difficult for water providers to plan for future water and sanitation needs.
He said there was the need to decentralise the water and sanitation sector in order to manage the local level with the participation of the citizenry.
Prof Ahwoi proposed the production, transmission and distribution of water to be undertaken by different bodies or organisations.
He called for ‘regionalisation’ of urban water supply and management by clustering urban settlements around water production and treatment sources.
Prof Ahwoi was optimistic that introduction of a public private partnership system would inject competition and efficiency in the water sector.
Nigeria deports 115 illegal aliens amid security clampdown
Nigerian authorities have in recent days deported 115 illegal immigrants from the northern city of Kano amid increased security after an attack on UN headquarters in the country, an official said Monday.
Authorities however declined to comment on whether the deportations were linked to the August 26 bomb attack at the UN in Abuja or other violence blamed on an Islamist sect in the country's northeast.
"We have so far repatriated 115 illegal aliens from five West African countries that have been staying without valid papers despite repeated calls for them to document their stay with the immigration service," Umar Nasir, spokesman for the Nigeria Immigration Service in Kano, told AFP.
The expelled immigrants were from Niger, Chad, Togo, Cameroon and Benin, Nasir said.
"The repatriation exercise, which will be a continuous process, followed the expiration of the three-month window period granted all illegal aliens from the sub-region to legalise their stay by registering with the immigration service," Nasir said.
Three more immigrants from neighbouring Niger were being held by immigration awaiting deportation, he added.
Kano immigration officials were acting on orders from their headquarters in Abuja to send back any immigrants overstaying their permits, he said.
The Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack on UN headquarters that killed at least 23 people.
There have been growing fears that Boko Haram has formed links with extremist groups outside of Nigeria. There were however no indications of a link between the deported immigrants and the Islamist group.
Authorities however declined to comment on whether the deportations were linked to the August 26 bomb attack at the UN in Abuja or other violence blamed on an Islamist sect in the country's northeast.
"We have so far repatriated 115 illegal aliens from five West African countries that have been staying without valid papers despite repeated calls for them to document their stay with the immigration service," Umar Nasir, spokesman for the Nigeria Immigration Service in Kano, told AFP.
The expelled immigrants were from Niger, Chad, Togo, Cameroon and Benin, Nasir said.
"The repatriation exercise, which will be a continuous process, followed the expiration of the three-month window period granted all illegal aliens from the sub-region to legalise their stay by registering with the immigration service," Nasir said.
Three more immigrants from neighbouring Niger were being held by immigration awaiting deportation, he added.
Kano immigration officials were acting on orders from their headquarters in Abuja to send back any immigrants overstaying their permits, he said.
The Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the suicide bomb attack on UN headquarters that killed at least 23 people.
There have been growing fears that Boko Haram has formed links with extremist groups outside of Nigeria. There were however no indications of a link between the deported immigrants and the Islamist group.
Libya: Kadhafi Rumoured Aboard Convoy into Niger
A Libyan military convoy with Moamer Kadhafi rumoured aboard has crossed into Niger, a military source said, as new regime fighters were poised to strike at one of the toppled strongman's last bastions.
Kadhafi's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, however, insisted the fugitive dictator is in top health and planning his country's defence, and that he and his sons were ready to fight to the death, though he gave no clue of their whereabouts.
"I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey" late Monday, the Niger military source said, referring to the northern Niger city of Agadez.
"There are persistent rumours that Kadhafi or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source added.
A journalist from a private radio station in Agadez said he saw "a convoy of several dozen vehicles crossing the city and heading towards Niamey", the Niger capital.
Another Nigerien government source earlier said prominent regime officials had fled across the border on Sunday. They included Kadhafi's internal security chief Mansour Daw, who was earlier reported to be in the loyalist stronghold Bani Walid with at least two of the fallen strongman's sons.
Anti-Kadhafi fighters were ready on Tuesday to strike at Bani Walid, an oasis town southeast of Tripoli, at the slightest provocation.
Kamal Hodeisa, a Libyan defence ministry official, told AFP in Tripoli that anti-Kadhafi fighters would "move if there is an act of aggression by Kadhafi's forces against our rebels inside Bani Walid or if they attack civilians.
"There is debate among rebels whether to go forward or to stay but I think in the end they will respect the deadline," he said, referring to a truce until September 10 to try to negotiate the surrender of the last Kadhafi strongholds.
Abdullah Kenshil, the chief negotiator for Libya's new government, said civilians were being held hostage in the centre of the town, in administrative buildings and in five or six nearby villages.
"Kadhafi's soldiers have also closed the gates of the town and are not letting families leave," he said. "That worries us, we don't want to kill civilians in the attack."
Negotiations for the surrender of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, broke down late Sunday but there was little movement on that front on Monday despite concerns that local families could be held as human shields.
Operational commander Abdulrazzak Naduri told journalists at Shishan, north of Bani Walid, that the National Transitional Council (NTC) does not "want any more bloodshed."
Kadhafi spokesman Ibrahim insisted however that the toppled leader was busy planning to re-take Libya.
Kadhafi is "in excellent health and planning and organising Libya's defence," Ibrahim told Syria's Arrai television channel on Monday.
"We are still powerful," he said, adding that the sons of the fugitive dictator "had assumed their role in the defence of and sacrifice for" their country. He however did not name them.
Pledging "a fight to the death or until victory," Ibrahim, who is thought to be in Bani Walid, said: "We will fight and resist for Libya and for all Arabs."
Branding the new rulers "NATO agents," he accused them of "committing crimes, above all rape, murder and looting."
He said: "Libya will never fall and the worthy tribes are defending and will continue to defend each of the free town and recapture those that have been raped."
Local officials said most senior figures had fled Bani Walid with Kadhafi's most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, who according to Naduri left a few days before for Sabha, further south, that is still in the hands of regime loyalists.
Two other sons of Kadhafi, Saadi and Mutassim, were also reported to be in Bani Walid and it is suspected that the strongman himself crossed through the oasis town although it is unclear when.
No clashes were reported on Monday in Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte or the southern oases of Sabha and Al-Jufra.
China meanwhile denied reports of offering Kadhafi arms at the fag end of his regime. In Beijing, the foreign ministry acknowledged Libyan officials had visited in July for talks with "interested companies" but insisted no arms contracts had been signed nor any direct or indirect exports made.
"Chinese companies did not sign arms sales contracts and they did not export military products to Libya," spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists, adding her country "does not allow any actions that contravene UN resolutions."
Citing secret documents it had obtained, The Globe and Mail reported that state-controlled Chinese arms companies were ready to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million to Kadhafi in late July.
Britain on Monday re-established its diplomatic mission in Tripoli.
The UN Security Council is on Friday to discuss the launch of a wide-ranging mission to Libya to help tackle police reform, justice and election preparations, a UN diplomat told AFP on Monday
Kadhafi's spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, however, insisted the fugitive dictator is in top health and planning his country's defence, and that he and his sons were ready to fight to the death, though he gave no clue of their whereabouts.
"I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey" late Monday, the Niger military source said, referring to the northern Niger city of Agadez.
"There are persistent rumours that Kadhafi or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source added.
A journalist from a private radio station in Agadez said he saw "a convoy of several dozen vehicles crossing the city and heading towards Niamey", the Niger capital.
Another Nigerien government source earlier said prominent regime officials had fled across the border on Sunday. They included Kadhafi's internal security chief Mansour Daw, who was earlier reported to be in the loyalist stronghold Bani Walid with at least two of the fallen strongman's sons.
Anti-Kadhafi fighters were ready on Tuesday to strike at Bani Walid, an oasis town southeast of Tripoli, at the slightest provocation.
Kamal Hodeisa, a Libyan defence ministry official, told AFP in Tripoli that anti-Kadhafi fighters would "move if there is an act of aggression by Kadhafi's forces against our rebels inside Bani Walid or if they attack civilians.
"There is debate among rebels whether to go forward or to stay but I think in the end they will respect the deadline," he said, referring to a truce until September 10 to try to negotiate the surrender of the last Kadhafi strongholds.
Abdullah Kenshil, the chief negotiator for Libya's new government, said civilians were being held hostage in the centre of the town, in administrative buildings and in five or six nearby villages.
"Kadhafi's soldiers have also closed the gates of the town and are not letting families leave," he said. "That worries us, we don't want to kill civilians in the attack."
Negotiations for the surrender of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, broke down late Sunday but there was little movement on that front on Monday despite concerns that local families could be held as human shields.
Operational commander Abdulrazzak Naduri told journalists at Shishan, north of Bani Walid, that the National Transitional Council (NTC) does not "want any more bloodshed."
Kadhafi spokesman Ibrahim insisted however that the toppled leader was busy planning to re-take Libya.
Kadhafi is "in excellent health and planning and organising Libya's defence," Ibrahim told Syria's Arrai television channel on Monday.
"We are still powerful," he said, adding that the sons of the fugitive dictator "had assumed their role in the defence of and sacrifice for" their country. He however did not name them.
Pledging "a fight to the death or until victory," Ibrahim, who is thought to be in Bani Walid, said: "We will fight and resist for Libya and for all Arabs."
Branding the new rulers "NATO agents," he accused them of "committing crimes, above all rape, murder and looting."
He said: "Libya will never fall and the worthy tribes are defending and will continue to defend each of the free town and recapture those that have been raped."
Local officials said most senior figures had fled Bani Walid with Kadhafi's most prominent son, Seif al-Islam, who according to Naduri left a few days before for Sabha, further south, that is still in the hands of regime loyalists.
Two other sons of Kadhafi, Saadi and Mutassim, were also reported to be in Bani Walid and it is suspected that the strongman himself crossed through the oasis town although it is unclear when.
No clashes were reported on Monday in Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte or the southern oases of Sabha and Al-Jufra.
China meanwhile denied reports of offering Kadhafi arms at the fag end of his regime. In Beijing, the foreign ministry acknowledged Libyan officials had visited in July for talks with "interested companies" but insisted no arms contracts had been signed nor any direct or indirect exports made.
"Chinese companies did not sign arms sales contracts and they did not export military products to Libya," spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists, adding her country "does not allow any actions that contravene UN resolutions."
Citing secret documents it had obtained, The Globe and Mail reported that state-controlled Chinese arms companies were ready to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million to Kadhafi in late July.
Britain on Monday re-established its diplomatic mission in Tripoli.
The UN Security Council is on Friday to discuss the launch of a wide-ranging mission to Libya to help tackle police reform, justice and election preparations, a UN diplomat told AFP on Monday
Monday, September 5, 2011
Libya probes China-Kadhafi arms deal
Libya's new government said Monday it was investigating documents that appear to detail secret Chinese efforts to sell a vast quantity of weapons to Moamer Kadhafi's regime despite UN sanctions.
The papers disclosed by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper purport to show how state-controlled Chinese arms firms tried to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million (141 million euros) to Kadhafi in late July, in the thick of Libya's civil war.
The texts were discovered in a pile of rubbish sitting at the kerb in a neighbourhood known as Bab Akkarah, where several of Kadhafi?s most loyal supporters had homes, the Globe and Mail said.
The papers do not confirm whether the arms -- including rocket launchers and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles -- were delivered, but the revelation has sparked anger and unease in Tripoli.
"It is very possible that these documents are authentic," National Transitional Council military spokesman Abdulrahman Busin told AFP, adding that legal advice is being sought as the matter is investigated further.
"We are examining all the evidence, we have a team of lawyers who are also examining the issue, and based on what they find they shall be taking it from there," Busin said.
Earlier the Globe and Mail reported that Omar Hariri, chief of the NTC's military committee, reviewed the documents and concluded they explained the presence of new weapons on the battlefield.
"I'm almost certain that these guns arrived and were used against our people," Hariri told the paper.
Beijing denied the allegations, but said Libyan officials had visited China in July for talks with "interested companies."
"In July the Kadhafi government sent someone to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government to make contact with the representatives of interested companies," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists.
"Chinese companies have not provided military products to Libya in any direct or indirect form. Chinese companies did not sign arm sales contracts and they did not export military products to Libya."
But the allegations threaten to further strain already testy relations between the new Libya and Beijing.
For much of Libya's crisis China had refused to fully recognize the now-ruling NTC and opposed NATO's mission in support of it.
"Those involved are trying to prolong the suffering of the Libyan people," said NTC spokesman Jalal El-Galal.
The papers appear to show that Kadhafi?s top security aides made a trip to Beijing in mid-July, where they met with officials from China North Industries Corp. (Norinco), the China National Precision Machinery Import & Export Corp. (CPMIC), and China XinXing Import & Export Corp.
The Chinese companies offered the entire contents of their stockpiles for sale, and promised to manufacture more supplies if necessary.
The companies also noted that many of the items the Libyan team requested were already held in the arsenals of the Algerian military and could be transported immediately across the border.
South Africa was also mentioned as a possible intermediary.
Appendices stapled to the main memo show that the parties discussed truck-mounted rocket launchers, fuel-air explosive missiles and anti-tank missiles, among others items, the report said.
The Chinese apparently also offered offered Kadhafi?s men the QW-18, a surface-to-air missile which is roughly similar to a US Stinger and is capable of bringing down military aircraft.
According to the papers the hosts thanked the Libyans for their discretion, emphasized the need for confidentiality, and recommended delivery via third parties.
Libya's new leaders have long accused Algeria of supporting the Kadhafi regime with military hardware, but the prospect that South Africa may also have been used to ship arms has come as a surprise to some.
South Africa has also been reluctant to recognise the NTC and has opposed NATO's mission
The papers disclosed by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper purport to show how state-controlled Chinese arms firms tried to sell weapons and ammunition worth at least $200 million (141 million euros) to Kadhafi in late July, in the thick of Libya's civil war.
The texts were discovered in a pile of rubbish sitting at the kerb in a neighbourhood known as Bab Akkarah, where several of Kadhafi?s most loyal supporters had homes, the Globe and Mail said.
The papers do not confirm whether the arms -- including rocket launchers and anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles -- were delivered, but the revelation has sparked anger and unease in Tripoli.
"It is very possible that these documents are authentic," National Transitional Council military spokesman Abdulrahman Busin told AFP, adding that legal advice is being sought as the matter is investigated further.
"We are examining all the evidence, we have a team of lawyers who are also examining the issue, and based on what they find they shall be taking it from there," Busin said.
Earlier the Globe and Mail reported that Omar Hariri, chief of the NTC's military committee, reviewed the documents and concluded they explained the presence of new weapons on the battlefield.
"I'm almost certain that these guns arrived and were used against our people," Hariri told the paper.
Beijing denied the allegations, but said Libyan officials had visited China in July for talks with "interested companies."
"In July the Kadhafi government sent someone to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government to make contact with the representatives of interested companies," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told journalists.
"Chinese companies have not provided military products to Libya in any direct or indirect form. Chinese companies did not sign arm sales contracts and they did not export military products to Libya."
But the allegations threaten to further strain already testy relations between the new Libya and Beijing.
For much of Libya's crisis China had refused to fully recognize the now-ruling NTC and opposed NATO's mission in support of it.
"Those involved are trying to prolong the suffering of the Libyan people," said NTC spokesman Jalal El-Galal.
The papers appear to show that Kadhafi?s top security aides made a trip to Beijing in mid-July, where they met with officials from China North Industries Corp. (Norinco), the China National Precision Machinery Import & Export Corp. (CPMIC), and China XinXing Import & Export Corp.
The Chinese companies offered the entire contents of their stockpiles for sale, and promised to manufacture more supplies if necessary.
The companies also noted that many of the items the Libyan team requested were already held in the arsenals of the Algerian military and could be transported immediately across the border.
South Africa was also mentioned as a possible intermediary.
Appendices stapled to the main memo show that the parties discussed truck-mounted rocket launchers, fuel-air explosive missiles and anti-tank missiles, among others items, the report said.
The Chinese apparently also offered offered Kadhafi?s men the QW-18, a surface-to-air missile which is roughly similar to a US Stinger and is capable of bringing down military aircraft.
According to the papers the hosts thanked the Libyans for their discretion, emphasized the need for confidentiality, and recommended delivery via third parties.
Libya's new leaders have long accused Algeria of supporting the Kadhafi regime with military hardware, but the prospect that South Africa may also have been used to ship arms has come as a surprise to some.
South Africa has also been reluctant to recognise the NTC and has opposed NATO's mission
Nearly 40 percent of Europeans suffer mental illness
LONDON (Reuters) - Europeans are plagued by mental and neurological illnesses, with almost 165 million people or 38 percent of the population suffering each year from a brain disorder such as depression, anxiety, insomnia or dementia, according to a large new study.
With only about a third of cases receiving the therapy or medication needed, mental illnesses cause a huge economic and social burden -- measured in the hundreds of billions of euros -- as sufferers become too unwell to work and personal relationships break down.
"Mental disorders have become Europe's largest health challenge of the 21st century," the study's authors said.
At the same time, some big drug companies are backing away from investment in research on how the brain works and affects behavior, putting the onus on governments and health charities to stump up funding for neuroscience.
"The immense treatment gap ... for mental disorders has to be closed," said Hans Ulrich Wittchen, director of the institute of clinical psychology and psychotherapy at Germany's Dresden University and the lead investigator on the European study.
"Those few receiving treatment do so with considerable delays of an average of several years and rarely with the appropriate, state-of-the-art therapies."
Wittchen led a three-year study covering 30 European countries -- the 27 European Union member states plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway -- and a population of 514 million people.
A direct comparison of the prevalence of mental illnesses in other parts of the world was not available because different studies adopt varying parameters.
Wittchen's team looked at about 100 illnesses covering all major brain disorders from anxiety and depression to addiction to schizophrenia, as well as major neurological disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
The results, published by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ENCP) on Monday, show an "exceedingly high burden" of mental health disorders and brain illnesses, he told reporters at a briefing in London.
Mental illnesses are a major cause of death, disability, and economic burden worldwide and the World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease across all ages.
Wittchen said that in Europe, that grim future had arrived early, with diseases of the brain already the single largest contributor to the EU's burden of ill health.
The four most disabling conditions -- measured in terms of disability-adjusted life years or DALYs, a standard measure used to compare the impact of various diseases -- are depression, dementias such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, alcohol dependence and stroke.
The last major European study of brain disorders, which was published in 2005 and covered a smaller population of about 301 million people, found 27 percent of the EU adult population was suffering from mental illnesses.
Although the 2005 study cannot be compared directly with the latest finding -- the scope and population was different -- it found the cost burden of these and neurological disorders amounted to about 386 billion euros ($555 billion) a year at that time. Wittchen's team has yet to finalize the economic impact data from this latest work, but he said the costs would be "considerably more" than estimated in 2005.
The researchers said it was crucial for health policy makers to recognize the enormous burden and devise ways to identify potential patients early -- possibly through screening -- and make treating them quickly a high priority.
"Because mental disorders frequently start early in life, they have a strong malignant impact on later life," Wittchen said. "Only early targeted treatment in the young will effectively prevent the risk of increasingly largely proportions of severely ill...patients in the future."
David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology expert at Imperial College London who was not involved in this study, agreed.
"If you can get in early you may be able to change the trajectory of the illness so that it isn't inevitable that people go into disability," he said. "If we really want not to be left with this huge reservoir of mental and brain illness for the next few centuries, then we ought to be investing more now.
With only about a third of cases receiving the therapy or medication needed, mental illnesses cause a huge economic and social burden -- measured in the hundreds of billions of euros -- as sufferers become too unwell to work and personal relationships break down.
"Mental disorders have become Europe's largest health challenge of the 21st century," the study's authors said.
At the same time, some big drug companies are backing away from investment in research on how the brain works and affects behavior, putting the onus on governments and health charities to stump up funding for neuroscience.
"The immense treatment gap ... for mental disorders has to be closed," said Hans Ulrich Wittchen, director of the institute of clinical psychology and psychotherapy at Germany's Dresden University and the lead investigator on the European study.
"Those few receiving treatment do so with considerable delays of an average of several years and rarely with the appropriate, state-of-the-art therapies."
Wittchen led a three-year study covering 30 European countries -- the 27 European Union member states plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway -- and a population of 514 million people.
A direct comparison of the prevalence of mental illnesses in other parts of the world was not available because different studies adopt varying parameters.
Wittchen's team looked at about 100 illnesses covering all major brain disorders from anxiety and depression to addiction to schizophrenia, as well as major neurological disorders including epilepsy, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
The results, published by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ENCP) on Monday, show an "exceedingly high burden" of mental health disorders and brain illnesses, he told reporters at a briefing in London.
Mental illnesses are a major cause of death, disability, and economic burden worldwide and the World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease across all ages.
Wittchen said that in Europe, that grim future had arrived early, with diseases of the brain already the single largest contributor to the EU's burden of ill health.
The four most disabling conditions -- measured in terms of disability-adjusted life years or DALYs, a standard measure used to compare the impact of various diseases -- are depression, dementias such as Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, alcohol dependence and stroke.
The last major European study of brain disorders, which was published in 2005 and covered a smaller population of about 301 million people, found 27 percent of the EU adult population was suffering from mental illnesses.
Although the 2005 study cannot be compared directly with the latest finding -- the scope and population was different -- it found the cost burden of these and neurological disorders amounted to about 386 billion euros ($555 billion) a year at that time. Wittchen's team has yet to finalize the economic impact data from this latest work, but he said the costs would be "considerably more" than estimated in 2005.
The researchers said it was crucial for health policy makers to recognize the enormous burden and devise ways to identify potential patients early -- possibly through screening -- and make treating them quickly a high priority.
"Because mental disorders frequently start early in life, they have a strong malignant impact on later life," Wittchen said. "Only early targeted treatment in the young will effectively prevent the risk of increasingly largely proportions of severely ill...patients in the future."
David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology expert at Imperial College London who was not involved in this study, agreed.
"If you can get in early you may be able to change the trajectory of the illness so that it isn't inevitable that people go into disability," he said. "If we really want not to be left with this huge reservoir of mental and brain illness for the next few centuries, then we ought to be investing more now.
Does the Mills-Mahama Government Deserve a Second Term?
By Dr Yaw Ohemeng
Source: GhanaWeb
President Mills is reported to have said at an anniversary of the EP Church in the Volta region that he would hand over a peaceful Ghana in January 2017. People have interpreted that to mean that either he is taking the electorate for granted or that he has sinister motives to rig the 2012 elections. These views are rather off the mark and the statement ought to be seen as part of the usual political talk. Whiles the President might wish that he continues in office beyond January 2013, that is not within his gift to give. In any event, this would be determined by the degree to which the President and his government have been able to meet the expectations and aspirations of the people of Ghana and whether the election itself would be free and fair. We have come a long way in our current democratic dispensation (despite some challenges that still prevail) not to believe that the 2012 election would be anything other than free and fair.
Given this introduction: does the current administration indeed deserve a second four-year term? This question can be answered in terms of a number of ‘soft’ factors that may not be tangible, but when ignored, tend to obscure all that a government is trying to achieve. These are the ‘hygiene’ factors that fuel the perception of a successful presidency.
The first factor is the President’s ability to offer leadership to the nation, and in the wider sense, in African affairs. The perception is out there that President Mills is not in charge and there have been several instances where this appears so. This view is even held by his predecessor in the NDC: former President Rawlings. Evidence also abounds in the President’s inability to reign in his own appointees who have on several occasions exhibited behaviours unbecoming of public officials paid from the national purse. Also glaringly obvious is the President’s inability or unwillingness to join any national debate. His government has signed ‘big number’ loan agreements over a very relatively short time in office. The sustainability of these loans is a debate to be had on another day but for the President to appear to be sitting on the sidelines whilst the nation boils with debate on these is not a sign of leadership. The President should be leading the charge in making the case for what these loans will mean for the transformation of Ghana and improvement in the life of the Ghanaian.
Due to its illustrious history, Ghana has since independence been at the forefront of African affairs. Since the formation of the OAU and now the AU, Ghana has always been tall on the continent and for that matter on the international scene. It is in this context that the role of President Mills in the resolution of the two main crises that have faced Africa during his tenure has been largely disappointing. His ‘dzi wo fie asem’ foreign policy during the Ivorian crisis seriously undermined the collective position adopted by the AU. This contributed in no small way to the protraction of the crisis. For a time after his statement, the AU was paralysed and the international community did not know what to expect from Africa. In a rather bizarre way, after the crisis had been resolved through the military means he abhorred some people sought to give him credit by shamefacedly spinning diplomatic utterances by the UN Secretary General during his brief stopover in Accra as evidence of President Mills’ good leadership in African affairs. The silence of the AU has been deafening in the ongoing Libyan crisis where a foreign military alliance has become kingmaker in Africa. This has offered President Mills another opportunity to show leadership in African affairs but true to form he has dithered. He is reported to have said in South Africa that Ghana would not make any statement on Libya but preferred to wait. What formula is at play here? He is once again waiting for the inevitable military victory of the NATO-backed rebels before siding with the victor. The fact that NATO has abused a UN resolution to topple the government of a sovereign African country does not worry him much. On his return from South Africa, instead of making history himself, he preferred basking in the glory of Dr Kwame Nkrumah when he met the Press at the Kotoka International Airport.
The NDC came into power with the mantra of “A Better Ghana Agenda”. So whether they are contracting mega loans or commissioning projects (that some say were commenced by their predecessors) they all form part of this agenda. But what exactly does this mantra mean in real and tangible terms? We have been waiting for thirty-two months for President Mills to articulate his vision in line with this mantra. During this period the President has not delivered a single high-billed policy speech where he has presented a vision that would offer Ghanaians some sense of what the country would be like after his presidency. President Mills has had a number of high profile occasions, including two independent day celebrations and two state-of-the-nation addresses, during which he could have indicated the direction in which he wants to take the country. These opportunities were squandered with partisan speeches designed to irk rather than unite Ghana around a common aspiration.
The writer once sent an email to Joy FM’s Newsfile program to ask the Communications Minister (Haruna Iddrisu), who was a panellist, about what integrated policies the government had presented since coming into office. He was directed to the government’s web portal, to a document titled: “The Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies, 2010 – 2016: An Agenda for Shared Growth and Accelerated Development for a Better Ghana”. Those who put together that document must be commended and it is a recommended read to all Ghanaians. The document is honest and comprehensive and gives a vivid account of the problems confronting the country and the development challenges we face. It also presents the records of past governments, which are not as abysmal as they are made to look by NDC hacks. When it comes to tangible policies to be pursued by the current government to tackle some of these challenges, the offering is, however, quite tame and not detailed. They are largely the same grand wish list to be found in the NDC manifesto.
One problem with governments of all shades is their aversion to being honest with their own people. Ghana, with all the natural resource endowments and consequent exports, still relies on multi-donor partners to finance part of its annual budget (at times up to 40%). If for a particular year the donors fail to finance to the level assumed in the budget, we either experience higher budget deficits or we fail to realise some of the budget provisions. Our fourth republican governments have, however, been afraid to trust Ghanaians with this reality as a means of managing expectations. They rather campaign for power by making promises they know darn well they cannot keep. Hence after the gullible electorate has voted them into power they begin to dress ‘sheep’ up as ‘cows’ in the Baba Jamal exhortation mode. The Mills-Mahama government is perhaps guiltier on this count than any other we have had in recent times. We are experiencing the situation where government appointees and party spokespersons are always in overdrive mode to elevate this President to such a height that they have to exaggerate the little things that are happening on the ground. A Deputy Minister even claimed that the President has the ear of God to the extent that he could pray for flood waters to recede instantly. In keeping with this the government has had to announce projects and the President has had to cut sods for projects that have barely passed the feasibility stages. These include the ill-fated STX housing project and the two proposed public universities in the Volta and Brong Ahafo Regions.
The election that brought Professor Mills into power was for all intents and purposes a dead heat between him and Nana Akufo Addo. In more matured democracies it would have taken a lot of tact and negotiating skills to get anything done because the cooperation of the opposition parties and their supporters would be required to make any significant impact. This reality has not dawned on Professor Mills. Their actions in government have resulted in a highly-polarised country with no common purpose. It is an undeniable fact that the Mills-Mahama era has been characterised by political intolerance and increased partisanship. Part of this is the making of the President who called on his appointees to make way for NDC supporters and indicated during his interaction with the Press that he could not work with anyone who do not share in his political convictions. It is this irrational partisanship that has culminated, in the last few days, in the unceremonious sacking of Professor Frimpong Boateng, one of the few Ghanaians who can genuinely be described as having selflessly served his country.
Another development that is fast gaining ground with the Mills-Mahama administration, which could have long-term adverse consequences for the country, is the conscious and often deliberate attempt to politicise state institutions. This administration has the penchant to draw the security agencies, which should be neutral, into political debates. It has not stopped there but we have seen chiefs being used to mount pressure on opposition MPs not to carry out its function as mandated by the Constitution. Whilst the government actively courts these ‘endorsements’ their operatives brand any critical voice or any institution that would not do its bidding as belonging to the NPP. This tag has been given to the Judiciary, Trade Union groups, Chiefs and even Headmasters complaining about lack of facilities in their schools.
The Mills-Mahama administration has shown by some of its actions and public utterances that they can be petty at times. One expects a government that means well to show seriousness of purpose. President Mills has never lost the opportunity to remind all about “other peoples” debts referring to loans contracted by the NPP administration. The insincerity of it is that the first time he made this reference, he then went on to drive on “other peoples” road to “other peoples” refurbished Peduase Lodge to meet religious leaders. With this oft repeated criticism of its predecessor one would have thought that the Mills-Mahama government will shun loans; however they are the ones who have made contracting loans the first recourse and are contracting mega ones that they hope to bequeath to future governments. The explanation now is that Ghana has the space to do so, whatever that means. The Constitution, in Article 35(7), encourages governments of the country to continue and execute projects commenced by their predecessor governments. This is why it is baffling that a President who has sworn to defend and uphold the Constitution would say at Obuasi on his recent tour of the Ashanti Region that his major preoccupation was to complete projects he has initiated and not those started by others. This was a most unfortunate statement. You do not build a united Ghana, a developing nation that needs all its resources, on such a petty basis.
The reader might by now have guessed the answer to the question asked at the head of the article. The Mills-Mahama government has so far shown that it is not deserving of a second term. The President has not shown leadership in a lot of areas that affect our national life nor has he presented a vision that Ghanaians can rally around. The government believes more in spin than performance. They have created a divided country and infected state institutions, which should be insulated, with partisan politics. They simply have no plans to move Ghana forward in an inclusive manner. Perhaps the following apt quotation speaks volumes:
“Regrettably, the governance that we have experienced since 2009 does not inspire confidence or give Ghanaians any hope for the future”.
This statement is attributed to Mrs. Rawlings (Daily Graphic, 06 May 2011) when she launched her unsuccessful bid to be the NDC Presidential Candidate. If the wife of the NDC founder can say this, it is clear the Mills-Mahama government has its work cut out in trying to get re-elected. We shall know after December 2012 if they have managed to beat the odds.
Dr Yaw Ohemeng
Manchester, UK
Source: GhanaWeb
President Mills is reported to have said at an anniversary of the EP Church in the Volta region that he would hand over a peaceful Ghana in January 2017. People have interpreted that to mean that either he is taking the electorate for granted or that he has sinister motives to rig the 2012 elections. These views are rather off the mark and the statement ought to be seen as part of the usual political talk. Whiles the President might wish that he continues in office beyond January 2013, that is not within his gift to give. In any event, this would be determined by the degree to which the President and his government have been able to meet the expectations and aspirations of the people of Ghana and whether the election itself would be free and fair. We have come a long way in our current democratic dispensation (despite some challenges that still prevail) not to believe that the 2012 election would be anything other than free and fair.
Given this introduction: does the current administration indeed deserve a second four-year term? This question can be answered in terms of a number of ‘soft’ factors that may not be tangible, but when ignored, tend to obscure all that a government is trying to achieve. These are the ‘hygiene’ factors that fuel the perception of a successful presidency.
The first factor is the President’s ability to offer leadership to the nation, and in the wider sense, in African affairs. The perception is out there that President Mills is not in charge and there have been several instances where this appears so. This view is even held by his predecessor in the NDC: former President Rawlings. Evidence also abounds in the President’s inability to reign in his own appointees who have on several occasions exhibited behaviours unbecoming of public officials paid from the national purse. Also glaringly obvious is the President’s inability or unwillingness to join any national debate. His government has signed ‘big number’ loan agreements over a very relatively short time in office. The sustainability of these loans is a debate to be had on another day but for the President to appear to be sitting on the sidelines whilst the nation boils with debate on these is not a sign of leadership. The President should be leading the charge in making the case for what these loans will mean for the transformation of Ghana and improvement in the life of the Ghanaian.
Due to its illustrious history, Ghana has since independence been at the forefront of African affairs. Since the formation of the OAU and now the AU, Ghana has always been tall on the continent and for that matter on the international scene. It is in this context that the role of President Mills in the resolution of the two main crises that have faced Africa during his tenure has been largely disappointing. His ‘dzi wo fie asem’ foreign policy during the Ivorian crisis seriously undermined the collective position adopted by the AU. This contributed in no small way to the protraction of the crisis. For a time after his statement, the AU was paralysed and the international community did not know what to expect from Africa. In a rather bizarre way, after the crisis had been resolved through the military means he abhorred some people sought to give him credit by shamefacedly spinning diplomatic utterances by the UN Secretary General during his brief stopover in Accra as evidence of President Mills’ good leadership in African affairs. The silence of the AU has been deafening in the ongoing Libyan crisis where a foreign military alliance has become kingmaker in Africa. This has offered President Mills another opportunity to show leadership in African affairs but true to form he has dithered. He is reported to have said in South Africa that Ghana would not make any statement on Libya but preferred to wait. What formula is at play here? He is once again waiting for the inevitable military victory of the NATO-backed rebels before siding with the victor. The fact that NATO has abused a UN resolution to topple the government of a sovereign African country does not worry him much. On his return from South Africa, instead of making history himself, he preferred basking in the glory of Dr Kwame Nkrumah when he met the Press at the Kotoka International Airport.
The NDC came into power with the mantra of “A Better Ghana Agenda”. So whether they are contracting mega loans or commissioning projects (that some say were commenced by their predecessors) they all form part of this agenda. But what exactly does this mantra mean in real and tangible terms? We have been waiting for thirty-two months for President Mills to articulate his vision in line with this mantra. During this period the President has not delivered a single high-billed policy speech where he has presented a vision that would offer Ghanaians some sense of what the country would be like after his presidency. President Mills has had a number of high profile occasions, including two independent day celebrations and two state-of-the-nation addresses, during which he could have indicated the direction in which he wants to take the country. These opportunities were squandered with partisan speeches designed to irk rather than unite Ghana around a common aspiration.
The writer once sent an email to Joy FM’s Newsfile program to ask the Communications Minister (Haruna Iddrisu), who was a panellist, about what integrated policies the government had presented since coming into office. He was directed to the government’s web portal, to a document titled: “The Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies, 2010 – 2016: An Agenda for Shared Growth and Accelerated Development for a Better Ghana”. Those who put together that document must be commended and it is a recommended read to all Ghanaians. The document is honest and comprehensive and gives a vivid account of the problems confronting the country and the development challenges we face. It also presents the records of past governments, which are not as abysmal as they are made to look by NDC hacks. When it comes to tangible policies to be pursued by the current government to tackle some of these challenges, the offering is, however, quite tame and not detailed. They are largely the same grand wish list to be found in the NDC manifesto.
One problem with governments of all shades is their aversion to being honest with their own people. Ghana, with all the natural resource endowments and consequent exports, still relies on multi-donor partners to finance part of its annual budget (at times up to 40%). If for a particular year the donors fail to finance to the level assumed in the budget, we either experience higher budget deficits or we fail to realise some of the budget provisions. Our fourth republican governments have, however, been afraid to trust Ghanaians with this reality as a means of managing expectations. They rather campaign for power by making promises they know darn well they cannot keep. Hence after the gullible electorate has voted them into power they begin to dress ‘sheep’ up as ‘cows’ in the Baba Jamal exhortation mode. The Mills-Mahama government is perhaps guiltier on this count than any other we have had in recent times. We are experiencing the situation where government appointees and party spokespersons are always in overdrive mode to elevate this President to such a height that they have to exaggerate the little things that are happening on the ground. A Deputy Minister even claimed that the President has the ear of God to the extent that he could pray for flood waters to recede instantly. In keeping with this the government has had to announce projects and the President has had to cut sods for projects that have barely passed the feasibility stages. These include the ill-fated STX housing project and the two proposed public universities in the Volta and Brong Ahafo Regions.
The election that brought Professor Mills into power was for all intents and purposes a dead heat between him and Nana Akufo Addo. In more matured democracies it would have taken a lot of tact and negotiating skills to get anything done because the cooperation of the opposition parties and their supporters would be required to make any significant impact. This reality has not dawned on Professor Mills. Their actions in government have resulted in a highly-polarised country with no common purpose. It is an undeniable fact that the Mills-Mahama era has been characterised by political intolerance and increased partisanship. Part of this is the making of the President who called on his appointees to make way for NDC supporters and indicated during his interaction with the Press that he could not work with anyone who do not share in his political convictions. It is this irrational partisanship that has culminated, in the last few days, in the unceremonious sacking of Professor Frimpong Boateng, one of the few Ghanaians who can genuinely be described as having selflessly served his country.
Another development that is fast gaining ground with the Mills-Mahama administration, which could have long-term adverse consequences for the country, is the conscious and often deliberate attempt to politicise state institutions. This administration has the penchant to draw the security agencies, which should be neutral, into political debates. It has not stopped there but we have seen chiefs being used to mount pressure on opposition MPs not to carry out its function as mandated by the Constitution. Whilst the government actively courts these ‘endorsements’ their operatives brand any critical voice or any institution that would not do its bidding as belonging to the NPP. This tag has been given to the Judiciary, Trade Union groups, Chiefs and even Headmasters complaining about lack of facilities in their schools.
The Mills-Mahama administration has shown by some of its actions and public utterances that they can be petty at times. One expects a government that means well to show seriousness of purpose. President Mills has never lost the opportunity to remind all about “other peoples” debts referring to loans contracted by the NPP administration. The insincerity of it is that the first time he made this reference, he then went on to drive on “other peoples” road to “other peoples” refurbished Peduase Lodge to meet religious leaders. With this oft repeated criticism of its predecessor one would have thought that the Mills-Mahama government will shun loans; however they are the ones who have made contracting loans the first recourse and are contracting mega ones that they hope to bequeath to future governments. The explanation now is that Ghana has the space to do so, whatever that means. The Constitution, in Article 35(7), encourages governments of the country to continue and execute projects commenced by their predecessor governments. This is why it is baffling that a President who has sworn to defend and uphold the Constitution would say at Obuasi on his recent tour of the Ashanti Region that his major preoccupation was to complete projects he has initiated and not those started by others. This was a most unfortunate statement. You do not build a united Ghana, a developing nation that needs all its resources, on such a petty basis.
The reader might by now have guessed the answer to the question asked at the head of the article. The Mills-Mahama government has so far shown that it is not deserving of a second term. The President has not shown leadership in a lot of areas that affect our national life nor has he presented a vision that Ghanaians can rally around. The government believes more in spin than performance. They have created a divided country and infected state institutions, which should be insulated, with partisan politics. They simply have no plans to move Ghana forward in an inclusive manner. Perhaps the following apt quotation speaks volumes:
“Regrettably, the governance that we have experienced since 2009 does not inspire confidence or give Ghanaians any hope for the future”.
This statement is attributed to Mrs. Rawlings (Daily Graphic, 06 May 2011) when she launched her unsuccessful bid to be the NDC Presidential Candidate. If the wife of the NDC founder can say this, it is clear the Mills-Mahama government has its work cut out in trying to get re-elected. We shall know after December 2012 if they have managed to beat the odds.
Dr Yaw Ohemeng
Manchester, UK
Thai citizen accused of insulting king on Facebook
BANGKOK (AP) — Police have arrested a Thai computer programmer on charges of insulting the nation's revered king on a Facebook page, his lawyer said Monday. The charges carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
Surapak Puchaisaeng, a 40-year-old Bangkok resident, was also accused of violating the Computer Crime Act for the alleged defamatory comments, his lawyer Lomrak Meemuean said.
Surapak denied insulting 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Police confiscated his desktop and laptop computers, his lawyer said.
Cases involving insults to the monarchy, known as lese majeste, have skyrocketed in recent years, but Friday's arrest of Surapak is the first since a new government took power in August, according to the activist network Freedom Against Censorship Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubumrung, who oversees national police affairs, last month said cracking down on anti-monarchy websites is high on his agenda.
"Websites with monarchy-insulting content ... cannot exist under this government," Chalerm said, adding he would set up a "war room" to closely monitor the situation.
The lese majeste law covers anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent."
The 2007 Computer Crime Act, which prohibits circulation of material that jeopardizes national security or causes panic, carries a maximum jail term of five years and a fine of 100,000 baht ($3,300).
Critics say the lese majeste law is frequently used as a weapon against political opponents. Almost any critical comment touching on the monarchy can be construed as disloyalty to the institution.
Surapak Puchaisaeng, a 40-year-old Bangkok resident, was also accused of violating the Computer Crime Act for the alleged defamatory comments, his lawyer Lomrak Meemuean said.
Surapak denied insulting 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Police confiscated his desktop and laptop computers, his lawyer said.
Cases involving insults to the monarchy, known as lese majeste, have skyrocketed in recent years, but Friday's arrest of Surapak is the first since a new government took power in August, according to the activist network Freedom Against Censorship Thailand.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubumrung, who oversees national police affairs, last month said cracking down on anti-monarchy websites is high on his agenda.
"Websites with monarchy-insulting content ... cannot exist under this government," Chalerm said, adding he would set up a "war room" to closely monitor the situation.
The lese majeste law covers anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent."
The 2007 Computer Crime Act, which prohibits circulation of material that jeopardizes national security or causes panic, carries a maximum jail term of five years and a fine of 100,000 baht ($3,300).
Critics say the lese majeste law is frequently used as a weapon against political opponents. Almost any critical comment touching on the monarchy can be construed as disloyalty to the institution.
Ethiopia officials detain 29 terrorism suspects
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — An Ethiopian official says the government is holding 29 people in the capital and other parts of the country on suspicion of terrorism.
Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said Monday that police have "solid evidence" that the suspects were in involved in terrorism activities. He says they are linked to the Oromo Liberation Front, an Eritrea-based rebel group that is listed as a terrorist organization in Ethiopia.
Among those detained are two opposition politicians who were arrested last week. Amnesty International says they were arrested after the rights group interviewed them about Ethiopia's political climate and about politically motivated arrests.
Human rights groups have accused Ethiopia of cracking down on political dissent.
Government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said Monday that police have "solid evidence" that the suspects were in involved in terrorism activities. He says they are linked to the Oromo Liberation Front, an Eritrea-based rebel group that is listed as a terrorist organization in Ethiopia.
Among those detained are two opposition politicians who were arrested last week. Amnesty International says they were arrested after the rights group interviewed them about Ethiopia's political climate and about politically motivated arrests.
Human rights groups have accused Ethiopia of cracking down on political dissent.
ConocoPhillips struggling with China oil spill
SHANGHAI (AP) — The oil spills from offshore wells operated by ConocoPhillips in China's Bohai Bay are posing political and technical challenges for the oil company far messier than the crude and drilling mud seeping from the seabed.
The company said Monday that it had suspended all drilling, water injection and production at the affected Penglai 19-3 oil field, one of China's biggest.
Operations are currently stopped at 180 producing wells and 51 injecting wells, for a total of 231 wells, said a statement by Houston, Texas-based ConocoPhillips, which operates the field in a venture with state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.
CNOOC, which owns 51 percent of the venture, said the suspension of production in Penglai 19-3 would reduce output by 40,000 barrels a day, in addition to the 22,000 barrels a day lost with the shutdown of the two wells where the spills occurred.
The spills began in early June and have unleashed a flood of criticism inside China over how ConocoPhillips has handled the cleanup. The State Oceanic Administration rejected the company's assertion that it had met an Aug. 31 deadline to completely clear up any damage and prevent further seeps.
Chinese maritime authorities facing pressure from fisheries and environmentalists to minimize further damage to the already heavily polluted Bohai appear to have lost patience with the prolonged effort to staunch the oil seeps.
"ConocoPhillips has not been able to address this problem for two months and the Chinese authorities are losing face. It's kind of an inevitable reaction to something that's been going on a while," said Thomas Grieder, analyst for Asia-Pacific energy at IHS Global Insight.
Regardless of the tensions provoked by the spills, China is relying ever more heavily on foreign partners for the technology it needs to tap difficult to exploit deepwater oil reserves, said Grieder.
According to ConocoPhillips, the spills released about 700 barrels of oil into Bohai Bay and 2,500 barrels of mineral oil-based drilling mud, which is used for lubrication, onto the seabed. All but a small fraction of that oil and mud has been recovered, and the small amounts still emerging are from earlier seeps that have been shifting under layers of sand on the seabed, it says.
But the State Oceanic Administration contends that monitoring by satellite, underwater robots and other means shows the oil is still seeping. It criticized ConocoPhillips' containment measures as stopgap and said the company may have caused oil to seep through faults in the seabed by putting too much pressure on the oil reservoir.
Dong Xiucheng, a professor at the China University of Petroleum, described the accident as "unusual."
"It is hard technically to find the reason and the exact location of the spill and to try to stop it since it is on the seabed not in a pipeline. Both ConocoPhillips and CNOOC must have tried to do it, but it takes time," Dong said.
ConocoPhillips has pointed to safety concerns and other difficulties in capping and cleaning up the oil and mud in murky seas with minimal visibility.
"Addressing the issue is rather complex," Grieder said. "They're trying to identify small cracks on the sea floor in a situation where you can't see much."
ConocoPhillips said Monday that divers were continuing to search the ocean floor and that remote-controlled robots were taking seabed samples to monitor the situation. The company said it was working with CNOOC on a plan to reduce pressure in the oil reservoir and was preparing a revised environmental impact report.
The maritime authority has said it is preparing to file lawsuits on behalf of those who suffered losses due to pollution from the spill.
Apart from frictions over the pace and progress of the cleanup, state-run media and environmentalists have been lobbying for harsher penalties for such accidents — current law calls for maximum fines of 200,000 yuan (less than $31,000).
The official newspaper China Daily, in a harshly worded commentary Monday, said that a joint investigation by seven government departments found ConocoPhillips China had "seriously violated operating rules."
"Not only is the oil spill worse than the company reported but, despite its assurances to the contrary, it has failed to bring the situation under full control and find and stop the sources of the spills," it said. "Obviously, China needs to learn a lesson from this incident."
ConocoPhillips has denied allegations that it sought to mislead the maritime authority by falsely claiming to have stopped and cleaned up the oil seeps. The company said it was committed to complying with the law and conducting "all business activities with the highest ethical standards."
"This commitment fully applies to how we conduct our business in China," it said.
ConocoPhillips requested a correction of a weekend news report on state-run China Central Television. The report claimed that a ConocoPhillips China employee interviewed by marine radio said the company was deliberately deceiving the State Oceanic Administration in reporting that the oil spills had been fully contained and cleaned up.
The company said Monday that it had suspended all drilling, water injection and production at the affected Penglai 19-3 oil field, one of China's biggest.
Operations are currently stopped at 180 producing wells and 51 injecting wells, for a total of 231 wells, said a statement by Houston, Texas-based ConocoPhillips, which operates the field in a venture with state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.
CNOOC, which owns 51 percent of the venture, said the suspension of production in Penglai 19-3 would reduce output by 40,000 barrels a day, in addition to the 22,000 barrels a day lost with the shutdown of the two wells where the spills occurred.
The spills began in early June and have unleashed a flood of criticism inside China over how ConocoPhillips has handled the cleanup. The State Oceanic Administration rejected the company's assertion that it had met an Aug. 31 deadline to completely clear up any damage and prevent further seeps.
Chinese maritime authorities facing pressure from fisheries and environmentalists to minimize further damage to the already heavily polluted Bohai appear to have lost patience with the prolonged effort to staunch the oil seeps.
"ConocoPhillips has not been able to address this problem for two months and the Chinese authorities are losing face. It's kind of an inevitable reaction to something that's been going on a while," said Thomas Grieder, analyst for Asia-Pacific energy at IHS Global Insight.
Regardless of the tensions provoked by the spills, China is relying ever more heavily on foreign partners for the technology it needs to tap difficult to exploit deepwater oil reserves, said Grieder.
According to ConocoPhillips, the spills released about 700 barrels of oil into Bohai Bay and 2,500 barrels of mineral oil-based drilling mud, which is used for lubrication, onto the seabed. All but a small fraction of that oil and mud has been recovered, and the small amounts still emerging are from earlier seeps that have been shifting under layers of sand on the seabed, it says.
But the State Oceanic Administration contends that monitoring by satellite, underwater robots and other means shows the oil is still seeping. It criticized ConocoPhillips' containment measures as stopgap and said the company may have caused oil to seep through faults in the seabed by putting too much pressure on the oil reservoir.
Dong Xiucheng, a professor at the China University of Petroleum, described the accident as "unusual."
"It is hard technically to find the reason and the exact location of the spill and to try to stop it since it is on the seabed not in a pipeline. Both ConocoPhillips and CNOOC must have tried to do it, but it takes time," Dong said.
ConocoPhillips has pointed to safety concerns and other difficulties in capping and cleaning up the oil and mud in murky seas with minimal visibility.
"Addressing the issue is rather complex," Grieder said. "They're trying to identify small cracks on the sea floor in a situation where you can't see much."
ConocoPhillips said Monday that divers were continuing to search the ocean floor and that remote-controlled robots were taking seabed samples to monitor the situation. The company said it was working with CNOOC on a plan to reduce pressure in the oil reservoir and was preparing a revised environmental impact report.
The maritime authority has said it is preparing to file lawsuits on behalf of those who suffered losses due to pollution from the spill.
Apart from frictions over the pace and progress of the cleanup, state-run media and environmentalists have been lobbying for harsher penalties for such accidents — current law calls for maximum fines of 200,000 yuan (less than $31,000).
The official newspaper China Daily, in a harshly worded commentary Monday, said that a joint investigation by seven government departments found ConocoPhillips China had "seriously violated operating rules."
"Not only is the oil spill worse than the company reported but, despite its assurances to the contrary, it has failed to bring the situation under full control and find and stop the sources of the spills," it said. "Obviously, China needs to learn a lesson from this incident."
ConocoPhillips has denied allegations that it sought to mislead the maritime authority by falsely claiming to have stopped and cleaned up the oil seeps. The company said it was committed to complying with the law and conducting "all business activities with the highest ethical standards."
"This commitment fully applies to how we conduct our business in China," it said.
ConocoPhillips requested a correction of a weekend news report on state-run China Central Television. The report claimed that a ConocoPhillips China employee interviewed by marine radio said the company was deliberately deceiving the State Oceanic Administration in reporting that the oil spills had been fully contained and cleaned up.
China says didn't know of arms sales talks with Gaddafi forces
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese arms firms held talks with representatives of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi's beleaguered forces in July over weapons sales, but behind Beijing's back, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
The revelation is nonetheless likely to deal a fresh blow to China's already delicate relations with Libyan rebel forces that have ousted Gaddafi.
The ministry confirmed the gist of reports in the Globe and Mail and the New York Times that documents found in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, indicated that Chinese companies offered to sell rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and other arms with a total of some $200 million to Gaddafi's forces, despite a U.N. ban on such sales.
A ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said members of Gaddafi's government had come to China and held talks with a "handful" of Chinese arms company officials without the knowledge of the government.
"We have clarified with the relevant agencies that in July the Gaddafi government sent personnel to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government and they engaged in contact with a handful of people from the companies concerned," Jiang told a news briefing in Beijing.
"The Chinese companies did not sign arms trade contacts, nor did they export military items to Libya," Jiang said. "I believe that the agencies in charge of the arms trade will certainly treat this seriously."
Even if the arms talks were behind Beijing's back, the controversy could intensify mistrust between Beijing and the rebels seeking to defeat Gaddafi's shrinking forces and claim control of all Libya.
"We have hard evidence of deals going on between China and Gaddafi, and we have all the documents to prove it," a rebel military spokesman, Abdulrahman Busin, told the Times.
The arms issue comes on the heels of tensions between Beijing and the Libyan rebels over frozen funds.
On the weekend, the head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said China had obstructed the release of some of Libya's frozen assets.
Although China agreed with other powers last week to unfreeze $15 billion of Libyan assets abroad, it opposed handing control of more to the interim ruling council, according to Libyan rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah.
"In principle, we don't have a problem" with unfreezing funds, said the Chinese spokeswoman Jiang.
"But out of a responsible attitude, we and some members of the Security Council want further explanation and information from the applicant countries about the uses of the funds and oversight of them," she said.
Libya's interim council has promised rewards for those who took a leading role in backing the revolt against Gaddafi, and that has raised concerns that China could be disadvantaged.
China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer and last year obtained 3 percent of its imported crude from Libya.
China did not use its U.N. Security Council veto power in March to block a resolution that authorized the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, but it condemned the expanding strikes and repeatedly urged compromise between his government and the rebels.
By the time of the visit by Gaddafi's officials, China was already courting the Libyan rebels. But China has not joined Western powers in formally recognizing the NTC as the legitimate authority in Libya, but has acknowledged its "important role" after Gaddafi's ousting.
The reports said Libyan security officials visiting China in July were received by three arms companies, including Norinco and the China Xinxing Import and Export Corporation.
Norinco has faced sanctions from the United States, which accused it of selling missile parts to Iran, in spite of Beijing's arms control rules.
Asked if the Chinese companies or their personnel could be punished over the talks with Gaddafi's officials, Jiang said: "I'm sure that the agencies in charge of Chinese arms (sales) will deal with this in a serious and conscientious way."
The revelation is nonetheless likely to deal a fresh blow to China's already delicate relations with Libyan rebel forces that have ousted Gaddafi.
The ministry confirmed the gist of reports in the Globe and Mail and the New York Times that documents found in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, indicated that Chinese companies offered to sell rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and other arms with a total of some $200 million to Gaddafi's forces, despite a U.N. ban on such sales.
A ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said members of Gaddafi's government had come to China and held talks with a "handful" of Chinese arms company officials without the knowledge of the government.
"We have clarified with the relevant agencies that in July the Gaddafi government sent personnel to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government and they engaged in contact with a handful of people from the companies concerned," Jiang told a news briefing in Beijing.
"The Chinese companies did not sign arms trade contacts, nor did they export military items to Libya," Jiang said. "I believe that the agencies in charge of the arms trade will certainly treat this seriously."
Even if the arms talks were behind Beijing's back, the controversy could intensify mistrust between Beijing and the rebels seeking to defeat Gaddafi's shrinking forces and claim control of all Libya.
"We have hard evidence of deals going on between China and Gaddafi, and we have all the documents to prove it," a rebel military spokesman, Abdulrahman Busin, told the Times.
The arms issue comes on the heels of tensions between Beijing and the Libyan rebels over frozen funds.
On the weekend, the head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said China had obstructed the release of some of Libya's frozen assets.
Although China agreed with other powers last week to unfreeze $15 billion of Libyan assets abroad, it opposed handing control of more to the interim ruling council, according to Libyan rebel spokesman Shamsiddin Abdulmolah.
"In principle, we don't have a problem" with unfreezing funds, said the Chinese spokeswoman Jiang.
"But out of a responsible attitude, we and some members of the Security Council want further explanation and information from the applicant countries about the uses of the funds and oversight of them," she said.
Libya's interim council has promised rewards for those who took a leading role in backing the revolt against Gaddafi, and that has raised concerns that China could be disadvantaged.
China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer and last year obtained 3 percent of its imported crude from Libya.
China did not use its U.N. Security Council veto power in March to block a resolution that authorized the NATO bombing campaign against Gaddafi's forces, but it condemned the expanding strikes and repeatedly urged compromise between his government and the rebels.
By the time of the visit by Gaddafi's officials, China was already courting the Libyan rebels. But China has not joined Western powers in formally recognizing the NTC as the legitimate authority in Libya, but has acknowledged its "important role" after Gaddafi's ousting.
The reports said Libyan security officials visiting China in July were received by three arms companies, including Norinco and the China Xinxing Import and Export Corporation.
Norinco has faced sanctions from the United States, which accused it of selling missile parts to Iran, in spite of Beijing's arms control rules.
Asked if the Chinese companies or their personnel could be punished over the talks with Gaddafi's officials, Jiang said: "I'm sure that the agencies in charge of Chinese arms (sales) will deal with this in a serious and conscientious way."
Sunday, September 4, 2011
GHANA TELESCOPE: Nigerian Couple Arrested In Ghana With Fresh Human...
GHANA TELESCOPE: Nigerian Couple Arrested In Ghana With Fresh Human...: Nigeria’s image was again suffered a horrible blow in Ghana on Thursday following the arrest of one Alhaji Rasheed Bello and his wife by t...
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