Category Archives: Finance

Nigeria’s Economic Growth: AfDB approves up to US $150 Million Line of Credit to Fidelity Bank in support of Nigeria’s Economic Growth

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From: News Release – African Press Organization (APO)
PRESS RELEASE

AfDB approves up to US $150 Million Line of Credit to Fidelity Bank in support of Nigeria’s Economic Growth

TUNIS, Tunisia, July 17, 2013/ — The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) (http://www.afdb.org) approved today a US $75-million medium-term line of credit (LoC) to Fidelity Bank Plc to fund selected projects in sectors that are critical to Nigeria’s transformation agenda and economic growth such as infrastructure, manufacturing and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The LoC will be complemented by AfDB arranged-syndicated financing of up to US $75 million on a best-effort basis.

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/african-development-bank-2.png

Fidelity Bank Plc is an indigenous universal bank that has been operational since 2001. It has over 200 branches and over two million customers located in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. It is thus strategically placed to tap into various sectors and ensure diversification of its client base. As at December 2012, Fidelity had a total shareholders fund amounting to US $1.04 billion. Fidelity is ranked among the top six banks in Nigeria by equity base and eighth in terms of deposits and totals assets. The LoC will complement Fidelity’s other fundraising efforts through deposits mobilization and financing lines from Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), commercial banks and proceeds from its recent bond issuance.

The AfDB’s LoC will contribute to bridging Fidelity’s financing gap by providing much-needed longer-term liquidity to meet its pipeline demands against the background of a financial market that has hitherto slanted towards short-term liquidity inhibiting access to medium- to long-term lending. This financing will allow Fidelity to better serve and fund its clients, increase the tenors of loans to subprojects and expand its loan portfolio, particularly in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors. Twenty per cent of the LoC proceeds will be dedicated to SMEs.

This LoC is in recognition of the positive impact of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen its supervisory framework, stabilize and instill confidence in the local financial system as well as improve liquidity and credit flows. This LoC sends strong signals that Nigeria’s financial sector has stabilized and confirms a return of confidence to the Nigerian banking sector. It is also symbolic of AfDB partnership role in supporting the private sector to play its rightful and important part in building the Nigerian economy. Moreover, it also highlights the AfDB’s commitment to supporting its Regional Member Countries and their governments in strengthening in their financial markets, diversifying their economies and revamping their infrastructure to facilitate stronger private sector participation and contribution to the economy.

Ultimately, this transaction will contribute to improved and longer term liquidity in the banking sector, increase government revenues, import substitution and job creation.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Contacts:

Sabrina Hadjadj Aoul, Senior Communications Officer, T. +216 71 10 26 21 / C. +216 98 70 98 43 / s.hadjadjaoul@afdb.org

Lilian Macharia, Principal Investment Officer, T. +216 71 10 26 81 / l.macharia@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) (http://www.afdb.org) is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 34 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 53 regional member states.

SOURCE
African Development Bank (AfDB)

VATICAN FREEZES PRELATE ACCOUNT AS MUSLIMS WANT NUNCIO EXPELLED

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2013

A jailed prelate’s accounts at the Vatican bank have been frozen as part of an investigation into his financial dealings, the Guardian report. According to Pope’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi the Promoter of Justice – an official similar to a chief prosecutor – had ordered the freezing of two accounts belonging to Monsignor Nunzio Scarano. The monsignor is accused by the Italian authorities of being the central figure in a bizarre plot to smuggle €20m (£17m) into Italy from Switzerland.

It is at the same time a group of Malay Muslim NGOs have called for the expulsion of the Vatican’s first Apostolic Nuncio to Malaysia, Archbishop Joseph Marino, for remarks attributed to him on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.

The group’s secretariat publicity chief Dzulkarnain Taib said Archbishop Marino should not interfere with the country’s internal affairs. “As ambassador here, he is to forge close diplomatic ties, but what he said was beyond his job scope and could be interpreted as having another agenda,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Dzulkarnain was commenting on Archbishop Marino’s remarks on Thursday that the fact-sheet presented by the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) on the use of the word “Allah” was sensible and logical.

The Islamic Missionary Foundation of Malaysia (Yadim) also expressed disappointment with Archbishop Marino’s remarks. “As a diplomat, he should be neutral on the matter and not touch on sensitive issues involving Muslims in the country,’’ said its chief Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, who called on the archbishop to withdraw his remarks and apologise to Muslims.

On the bank, the case has embarrassed the Vatican as it struggles to convince international watchdogs that its financial institutions have adequate safeguards against money-laundering. The Promoter of Justice’s move showed the Vatican was taking an active role in the affair.

But Lombardi said that it took effect on 9 July, and it was not immediately clear why the Vatican authorities had waited 10 days after Scarano’s arrest before blocking his accounts.

The monsignor, who was a banker before he became a priest, is a senior official of the Vatican’s asset management arm, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See (APSA). It is claimed that he conspired with an Italian secret service officer and a financial intermediary to repatriate the cash aboard a private jet.

In a statement to prosecutors this week, leaked to Italian media, Scarano was quoted as saying he stood to receive €2.5m for his part in the operation. He planned to spend €1m building a church in Umbria, but intended keeping the rest, at least temporarily.

He was said to have told prosecutors he regarded the remaining €1.5m as a loan “that would have enabled me to resolve certain financial problems” arising from a defunct business enterprise with a relative. Prosecutors are reported to have estimated that Scarano’s personal assets were worth around €500,000.

The prelate reportedly acknowledged that a family of Neapolitan ship owners had made monthly transfers, registered as charitable donations, to an account he held at the Vatican bank. The Italian prosecutors believe the money that was to have been brought in from Switzerland belonged to three members of the family, all brothers. Two have denied the money is theirs. The third has said nothing.

Among other unresolved aspects of the case are the amount and whereabouts of the cash. Scarano was said to have put the total at €41m, which had since been transferred to Beirut.

Though awkward in many respects, the Scarano affair has strengthened Pope Francis’s hand as he sets about cleaning up the Vatican bank, formally known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR). The prelate was arrested two days after Francis set up a commission to brief him on the IOR’s activities and suggest reforms.

The pope himself took part in the commission’s first meeting, which was held this week at the guest house in the Vatican where he has opted to live. Scandals shown or alleged to have involved the Vatican’s financiers have been embarrassing successive popes since 1982 when Roberto Calvi, a banker with close ties to the IOR, was found hanged beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.

The circumstances of his death remain a mystery. Equally unclear are the reasons for the disappearance the following year of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee. Prosecutors in Rome are currently taking statements from Marco Fassoni Accetti, a colourful figure with a strong resemblance to the comedian Roberto Benigni.

Fassoni Accetti claims to have helped kidnap the girl as part of a conspiracy to thwart the anti-communist activities of Pope John Paul II. In the latest of his increasingly controversial statements, he has made allegations about the names of his fellow-conspirators including discrediting the then head of the IOR, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

Tanzania: Dar to trace cash lost in smuggling of minerals

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From: Abdalah Hamis

Tanzania has launched an investigation to trace millions of dollars lost through smuggling of minerals out of the country.

The move is the latest in a string of attempts by the government to track down a group of international smugglers who have been exporting minerals to overseas markets in China, Italy, Vietnam and Europe.

Senior government officials said that more than Tsh13 billion ($8 million) in cash and commodities has so far been confiscated from mineral smugglers after state security agencies intercepted them.

Government statistics released last week show that the country loses Tsh2.2 billion ($1.36 million) every month on illegal export of minerals.

Minister for Energy and Minerals Sospeter Muhongo said the key points of smuggling have been identified as the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) in Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) in Kilimanjaro and Mwanza airport. He said the government is investigating several people behind the syndicate who have been working with “rogue” airport officials.

The mining sector contributes at least 4.6 per cent to the Tanzanian economy.

Eliakim Maswi, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, said the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) was working with police and the Tanzania Mineral Audit Agency (TMAA) to dismantle the syndicate and bring the crooks to book.

“Once smuggled out, the thieves either sell the minerals in the blackmarket overseas or attempt to integrate it into the legitimate commodity trade,” said Mr Maswi. “Smuggled minerals are becoming hard to trace.”

In February this year, authorities confiscated a consignment of tantalite worth $10 million belonging to a Rwandan company, exposing a web of theft and corruption involving officials of key agencies and departments in Tanzania’s government working in cahoots with cross-border criminals.

READ: Consignment theft exposes rot at Dar port

The investigations showed that officers from Tanzania Intelligence and Security Services (TISS), TRA, TMAA and the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) were involved in the theft from the port of Dar es Salaam.

The government has also arrested some Chinese nationals who were smuggling minerals from the Lake Zone mining area to the port of Dar es Salaam using land transport.

The Mining Act of 2010 stipulates that an individual mineral smuggler is liable for a fine of Tsh10 million ($6,250) or three years in jail, whereas a company must pay a Tsh50 million ($31,250) penalty.

Weak penalties

“Such penalties are no deterrent to people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars through smuggling activities,” said Charles Ole Ngereza, a mining industry analyst.

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Dar-to-trace-cash-lost-in-smuggling-of-minerals-/-/2558/1906952/-/y6gj5w/-/index.html

Kenya: Kakamega County And Devolved Greed!

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From: Wazi Campaign

Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has declined to assent to the County Budget due to its ‘extravagant demands’!

The county assembly members want car grants of Sh2M which if implemented for the 90 members amounts to Sh180M. And, the Kakamega county members also want interest free mortgage of Sh3m for each of the 90 members,translating to 270M.

My question is, is this devolved governance or devolved greed? But congratulations to Governor Oparanya for stopping this maddness are in order.

T h e WAZI C a m p a i g n
KENYA NI JINA, NCHI NI WEWE
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Kenya: Kibaki’s Office Reduces From 700M To 250M

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From: Wazi Campaign

The cost for buying Kibaki an office has been reduced from 700M to 250M. Is lower figure is justified?

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Kibaki-office-budget-cut-to-Sh250m/-/1064/1895858/-/f87inqz/-/index.html

T h e WAZI C a m p a i g n
KENYA NI JINA, NCHI NI WEWE
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Kenya: WHY JUBILEE GOVERNMENT WILL ENSURE CONTROVERSIAL VAT BILL 2013 PASSES

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

There are several reasons why Jubilee government must ensure the controversial Value Added Tax Bill 2013 must pass through parliament. First there is ICC case against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto coming. All these need tax payers’ money. There is also 53 billion budgeted for laptops in primary schools. It is your money to pay all these.

This is despite that the Catholic bishops in Kenya have strongly warned the government against imposing taxes on basic commodities saying doing so would burden Kenyans further, majority of whom are poor and can hardly have three meals a day.

The Jubilee government has prepared a VAT Bill 2013 in which it plans to impose value added tax on goods previously zero-rated. They include bread, milk, maize flour, sanitary pads and newspapers.

The 9th Bill of the Jubilee government’s national assembly will be read for the first time by the Chairperson, Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade immediately after the Finance Bill 2013 will have been read. If it is passed by the parliament the cost of living will go up by 16 percent taxation.

Section 7(1) of the VAT Act allows the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to gazette amendments to the First Schedule by increasing or decreasing any of the rates of tax by an amount not exceeding twenty five per cent of the rate set out therein or to amend, vary or replace the Sixth and Seventh Schedules.

Section 7(2) says that “Every order made under subsection (1) shall be laid before the National Assembly without unreasonable delay, and unless a resolution approving the order is passed by the National Assembly within twenty days of the day on which the National Assembly next sits after the order is so laid, it shall thenceforth be void, but without prejudice to anything previously done thereunder”.

Section 8 of the current VAT Act notes that, “Where a taxable person supplies goods or services and the supply is zero rated, then no tax shall be charged on the supply, but it shall, in all other respects, be treated as a taxable supply and accordingly the rate at which tax is treated as charged on the supply shall be nil.

A supply or importation of goods or services is zero rated by virtue of this section if the goods or services are of the description for the time being specified in Part A of the Fifth Schedule or imported or purchased by persons specified in Part C of the Eighth Schedule.”

Apart from ICC cases and laptops, the Treasury has projected that Kenya’s public debt will hit Sh2.4 trillion in the next three years, equivalent to a growth of Sh520 billion from the current level and the government need to repay these debts.

The overall public debt is projected to rise in nominal terms to Sh1.88 trillion from Sh1.62 trillion in June 2012. Kenya’s public debt has, in gross terms, increased to Sh1.62 trillion representing 49.5 per cent of the GDP last year from Sh1.48 trillion or 53.4 per cent of GDP in June 2011.

The domestic component grew to Sh858.8 billion equivalent to 26.2 per cent of GDP in 2012 compared to 764.2 billion (27.4 per cent) the previous year. Interest payment on Kenya’s public debt has also hit Sh101 billion, exceeding the allocation for most government ministries in an indication of the strain that borrowing is exerting on the national budget.

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is expected to collect Sh880 billion in the next financial year, up by 22 per cent compared to the 2012/13 target, and any deficit could see the government return to the domestic market for more debt.

According to the review for up to third quarter of the financial year 2012/2013, published by the ministry of finance, shows that between June 2012 and March 2013 Kenya’s foreign debt increased to $9.9561 billion (Sh844 billion) from $9.195 (Sh780 billion).

The Budgetary Review Report shows that as at March 2013, Japan was Kenya’s largest bilateral lender at $1.02 billion (Sh86.5 billion) while the World Banks’ International Development Association (IDA) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) accounted for $3.63 billion (Sh308 billion).

Multilateral lenders are the biggest foreign debt owners accounting for 59.9 per cent or $5.73 billion (Sh486 billion) of the debt stock, bilateral lenders accounted for 31.2 per cent or $2.98 billion (Sh252.8 billion) while commercial banks and others accounted for the remaining $850 million (Sh72 billion) or 8.9 per cent.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

KENYA: Nyanza COUNTY GOVERNMENTS IN NYANZA HAVE BEEN CAUTIONED TO STOP BUDGETING HUGE SUMS OF MONEY FOR BUYING FUEL GUZZLING PRADO CARS.

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Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

The NEWLY ESTABLISHED County governments in the former Nyanza Province have been cautioned against spending taxpayer’s money extravagantly budgeting for the fuel guzzling Prado cars.

Instead, the Assemblies should vigorously look for funds for major repairs of roads traversing the countryside, which are in the pathetic state and become night mares during the rainy seasons.

Secondly the regional governors and their assembly’s members should work out the best way of internal revenue collection bases, and stop budgeting for the donor money looking luxurious vehicles, which will have no direct benefit to the residents.

These sentiments were expressed byt a senior politician in Homa-Bay County Hilary Ochieng’ Alilla.

Alila was reacting to the news that the Homa-Bay County governor Cyprian Otieno Awiti and members of his County Assembly Executive committee last week made a budget proposal of a colossal amount of money to the tune of Kshs 230 million in it5s 2013-2014 estimates for the purpose of buying several Prado cars.

“The fuel guzzling vehicles should not be the priority of the Homa-Bay County government. Moreover there is no roads on which these vehicles will be driven on,’ he said.

Homa-Bay County has only one major road which is tarmacked. That is the Katito-Kenya-Bay, Kendu Bay Homa-Bay and Homa-Bay Mbita road which is partly still under the construction.

THere is urgent need to have the Oyugis Rangwew road tarmacked, and also the Oyugis Kendu-Bay road. Other roads included Kendu-Bay Pala, Kadongo-Kendu Bay.

Another area which need the improvement of road network is the Sindo, Kisegi, Magunga, God-Bura, Nyandiwa, Lak-Nyiero and Sori Town.

The fishermen, the fish traders and farmers wanted this roads repaired or upgraded to all weather for easy communication to the hinterland market places for rapid economic growth,” said Alila.

The region needs this money for the improvement of other institutions of public interest with value added. He requested the Homa-Bay County governor Awiti and his team to rescind their decision and work on projects which have the direct benefit to the residents.Two or three Prado vehicles would be enough and the for the exclusive use by the governor and his deputy, but the rest should be smaller car with their engines powers not exceeding 1300 cc.

Alila cited the Central Government of Kenya which a few years ago withdrew all the GK cars with the engines powers exceeding 1600 cc and replaced them with smaller car. Prados, Pajeros, and Mercedez Benzes were the category that were withdrawn and auctioned in order to save the government spending on fuel and spare parts.

ends.

KENYA: HOMA BAY GOVERNOR INVITES INVESTORS

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By Agwanda Saye

HOMA Bay County Governor Cyprian Awiti has urged investors to tap the vast potential that is lying idle within the region in order to spur economic growth.

Awiti said that there are many areas within the county where those who want to invest in can venture into.

The governor invited investors into the area saying tat Homa Bay County has fertile soils which can feed the nation if put into proper use.

He said the county has a lot of tourist attractions such as bird watching and many beautiful islands which can attract many foreigners.

The governor said there are also many scenic sites such as Homa hills and many other resorts such as Rusinga and the Tom Mboya mausoleum.

“Things such as Simbi Nyaima are of great potential’ he said

The governor said Lambwe National park has many animals which are of rare species and which can attract tourists if well marketed.

He also said many hectares of land are still there where foreign investors and even local ones can venture into.

Awiti was speaking in Mbita during a conference dabbed ‘The Homa bay we want” which was convened in order to exploit the potential of the County.

The governor who was accompanied by his entire cabinet said he will stick to his earlier pledge of eliminating hunger, disease and poverty.

Awiti told the participants that an investor will inject over 400 billion shillings into the county where they will come up with an agricity where green houses will be erected in various parts of the county.

He said the project will also encompass an airstrip and an ICT village.

Top leaders from Homa Bay County meanwhile skipped the crucial consultative forum which was convened by the governor in order to explore the potential of the area.

Awiti said Senator Otieno Kajwang and Gwassi Mp could not attend the meeting since they were out of the country in different assignments.

Awiti similarly said that Karachunyo Mp James Rege was absent from the forum since he was indisposed.

He explained that Kasipul Mp Oyugi Magwanga was also engaged elsewhere.

Mbita Mp Millie Odhiambo who was supposed to be the host was also conspicuously absent from the forum.

ENDS.

USA, Ohio: Next Thursday in Dayton (Higher Ed. prices concerns)

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Will you host a “Congress: Don’t Double Our Rates” gathering in Dayton next Thursday, June 27?

Host an Event!http://www.moveon.org/r?r=290698&id=69675-21095459-5mGmdhx&t=1

From: Anna Galland, MoveOn.org Civic Action

Dear MoveOn member,

The numbers are staggering: The cost of college has increased 440% over the past 25 years,1 students are graduating with an average of $26,000 in college loans,2 and student loan debt is now at more than $1 trillion—more than the nation’s combined credit card debt.3

But it could get even worse. Congress is on the verge of letting student loan interest rates double just two weeks from today. If we let that happen, we’ll lose our best opportunity to provide relief for millions of students and graduates being crushed by student loan debt—and miss our chance to have a real national conversation about what investing in students might look like.

That’s why MoveOn members coast to coast are rallying at the offices of members of Congress next Thursday, June 27, to send a clear message to Congress: Don’t Double Our Rates!

We still need a host for an event near Dayton. Can you step up and lead? Click here to post your gathering for Thursday, June 27:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=290698&id=69675-21095459-5mGmdhx&t=2

First pick a time and a location for your action and post it in MoveOn’s online system, then we’ll invite other MoveOn members in your area to attend and make sure you have everything you need for a successful Bank on Students action. And you’ll be equipped with the latest updates on Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act, which would let students pay the same rates the big banks pay.

As Sen. Warren told 10,000 MoveOn members during an emergency briefing earlier this month, making sure student loan rates don’t double on July 1 is the vital first step in taking on the student debt crisis that burdens so many American families today.

Click here to host an event in your community.

Thanks so much for all you do.

–Anna, Manny, Rosy, Linda, and the rest of the team

1. “Student Loan Debt Is a Beast. Here Are Elizabeth Warren’s, President Obama’s, and the GOP’s Plans to Fix It,” Mother Jones, June 3, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=290535&id=69675-21095459-5mGmdhx&t=4

2. Project on Student Debt, accessed June 17, 2013
http://projectonstudentdebt.org/

3. “Who makes money off your student loans? You might be surprised,” Yahoo News, May 23, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=290799&id=69675-21095459-5mGmdhx&t=5

Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s ‘Last Frontier’ Can Prosper and Matter (Bookcraft, 399pp)

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From: “News Release – African Press Organization (APO)”
http://www.bookcraftafrica.com/bookcraft.JPG

A new book by Kingsley Moghalu, deputy governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank

http://www.apo-mail.org/Emerging_Africa_cover.pdf cover.JPG
ABUJA, Nigeria, June 14, 2013/ — Bookcraft (http://www.bookcraftafrica.com) has ublished a new book by Kingsley Moghalu, deputy governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank.

Logo:
http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/bookcraft.jpg

Download the cover: http://www.apo-mail.org/Emerging_Africa_cover.pdf

Against the backdrop of a deluge of newspaper and magazine articles about the rise of Africa, and the attendant new scramble for playing space on it, an African policy-maker and academic has cast a keen, searching eye on the continent, cutting swiftly through buzz and hype and sentiment to deliver a weighty, forward-looking and realistic assessment.

From globalization to foreign aid and investment to China to the knowledge economy, and world trade, nothing escapes Moghalu’s insightful critique. In his words: “Emerging Africa sets out to interrogate the prevailing conventional wisdom about Africa and its economic growth prospects, and go beneath the surface of both afro-optimism and afro-pessimism to decode and address what really has held Africa down and how the continent can prosper and matter in the world through far-reaching economic transformation.”

What people are saying:

“Africans seriously analyzing Africa’s opportunities are all too rare. Kingsley Moghalu writes with insight and authority. Emerging Africa deserves a wide audience.”

Paul Collier – Professor of Economics, Oxford University

“Kingsley Moghalu brings a remarkable intellect and his vast experience to this tour de force on Africa’s economic transformation.”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Federal Republic of Nigeria

“Emerging Africa offers a profound perspective on how African countries can achieve true prosperity.”

Lamido Sanusi, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria

“Insightful and analytical, Kingsley Moghalu’s book, Emerging Africa, sheds instructive light on Africa’s position in the world.”

Shashi Tharoor, former UN Under-Secretary General and author of Pax Indica: India & the World of the 21st Century.

“Kingsley Moghalu approaches Africa as the ‘last frontier’ with the perspective of a savvy Sherriff.”

Rt. Hon. Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, former Minister of State for Africa, Asia and the UN, United Kingdom Foreign Office.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of Bookcraft.

About the author:

Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu is deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Before then he was founder and CEO of Sogato Strategies S.A., a global strategy and risk management firm in Geneva, Switzerland. He spent seventeen years working for the United Nations, at duty stations in New York, Cambodia, Croatia, Tanzania and Switzerland.

For more information – stockists, excerpts, chapter outline and a tour schedule visit https://www.facebook.com/emergingafrica

For interview requests and review copies contact dolugbade@bookcraftafrica.com

or wowe.media@gmail.com

SOURCE
Bookcraft

Kenya: Kimisho; an Inspiration

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from: odhiambo okecth

Dear Members,

I will be hosted at Radio Mayienga due to great Public Demandtomorrow night as from 9.20pm to Midnight. I will again be hosted at the same Station on Sunday from 5pm.

Now, this is great news for many of us. Building Institutions have never been an easy thing. We have only a handful that build Institutions, and I want to believe that we at Kimisho are doing exactly that.

I have greatly been inspired by living Legends- people who dreamt and dreamt big. We have Bill Gates who together with his wife Melinda Gates are managing a the Bill Gates Foundation- a huge philanthropic outfit supporting many across the World.

Bill Gates was born on 28th October 1955 in Seattle Washington. At age 13, he had started showing great interest in software and programming and later, in partnership with Paul Allen, they built Microsoft. Who does not know Microsoft? And who does not know that Melinda Gates is wife to Bill Gates?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lkR148vuzY8/UbgldTrXXeI/AAAAAAAADf8/T9IRhtsYDaw/s1600/1002963_10201338991342911_1961909289_n.jpg
Odhiambo T Oketch and Fred Banja flanked by Mary Akello, Philemon Odhiambo and Kimisho Members in Busia on the 22nd May 2013

Businessman and investor Warren Buffett was born on August 30,1930, in Omaha, Nebraska. Like Bill Gates, he started investing and running a small business at 13. Buffett later started the firm Buffett Partnership in Omaha, with huge success. In 2006, Buffett announced that he would give his entire fortune away to charity (est. $62 bil.), the largest act of charitable giving in United States history.

In Kenya, I have been greatly inspired by Mr. James Mwangi, now Dr James Mwangi. His Father died during the Mau Mau struggles and he was largely raised by his Mother in Kangema. He is the sixth in a family of seven. While growing up, he tended to livestock, made charcoal, sold fruits and other produce for small gains.

Dr Mwangi has been my inspiration because, when Kenya was going through a turbulent period in the Banking Sector, Equity Building Society was being declared technically insolvent. In 1993, Mr. Peter Munga- Chairman Euity, and the then CEO Mr. John Mwangi, turned to James Mwangi. At this time, Equity Building Society had been making losses of Ksh 5 million every year and was now facing a cumulative loss of Ksh 33 million, the staff had not been paid salaries, morale was at rock bottom and membership was dwindling by the hour.

He accepted the challenge. He became the Strategy and Finance Director. At the time, Equity had 27 employees, 27,000 customers, five branches and stood at number 66 out of 66 in the financial sector rankings. He did not come in to start competing with his Chairman and CEO. What he felt most at this time was a heavy sense of responsibility. “I knew I could not let down the Chairman and CEO and, above all, I could not let down the customers. When I said ‘trust me’, I meant to keep my word.”

With this, he revamped Equity Building Society and the rest is now history. And we all know that Equity Bank is the largest Bank in Africa with a customer base of 8 million.

This is what we are building at Kimisho. We have the Tyranny of Numbers and the People on our side and we are determined to make it work.

I am not seeking people to come and compete with me at Kimisho. I am seeking Technocrats who can join hands with me and make us also build our own Equity. I have the full confidence that we are on the right track and the people are with us. I have been invited by many across Kenya to just come and talk with them, and I am picking the challenge always. Our focus is firmly on the Common Man and that Small Business Entrepreneur. We can build Kimisho together as a Team.

Like the Great Bill Gates, the Great James Mwangi, and all those Great God’s Bits of Wood across the World, I am convinced that Our Journey of Hope across Kenya with Kimisho will never be in vain. And this is why we are inviting all men and women who believe that we can do it, to join hands with us as we build Kimisho into the next big thing in Africa.

We have the numbers, the energy, the goodwill and the drive.

Odhiambo T Oketch,
Team Leader and Executive Director,
KCDN, KSSL, KICL,
Tel; +254 724 365 557,
Email; kimishodevelopment@gmail.com, komarockswatch@yahoo.com
BlogSpot; http:kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com

Tunisia: AfDB Governors Announce Bank’s Return to its Headquarters in Abidjan

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From: News Release – African Press Organization (APO)

AfDB Governors Announce Bank’s Return to its Headquarters in Abidjan

“The first group of staff will leave before the end of 2013″, according to the President of the AfDB, Donald Kaberuka

TUNIS, Tunisia, June 11, 2013/ — The Boards of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) (http://www.afdb.org) and of the African Development Fund (ADF) announced the return of the AfDB to its headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, during the Bank’s Annual Meetings held in Marrakech (Morocco) from 27th to 31st May 2013.

[image] Photo Donald Kaberuka: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/donald-kaberuka-afdb-president.jpg

Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/african-development-bank-2.png

This decision follows the approval of the roadmap prepared by Bank’s management for the return of the institution to Côte d’Ivoire.

The Board of Directors of the AfDB Group had instructed its management during the Annual Meetings held in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2012 to prepare a roadmap for a well-planned and organized return of the Bank to its headquarters. It said the roadmap should guarantee the institution’s stability, business continuity, and the well-being of staff and their families.

Consenting to the roadmap, the AfDB’s Advisory Committee of Governors, meeting in Tokyo, Japan, in October 2012, recommended its approval by the Board of Governors, thus opening the way for the return to Abidjan.

According to the President of the AfDB, Donald Kaberuka, “the first group of staff will leave before the end of 2013. The AfDB will celebrate its 50th anniversary in November 2014 in Abidjan”.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

SOURCE
African Development Bank (AfDB)

Kenya: Debate Over MPs’s Salaries

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from: Gordon Teti
date: Sat, Jun 8, 2013 at 3:49 PM
subject: Debate Over MPs’s Salaries

It was wrong to rollback MPs’s salaries. Salaries are never rolled back. This is just the law of economics. People, including Members of Parliament, apply for jobs and make budgets based on the salary offered. Therefore, to deal with difficult economic times, increment in salaries and employment are frozen for a period of time.

When you look at people like Charles Nyachae, the Chairman of the Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC) who has voiced his concerns on the demand by MPs to reverse the decision by Salaries and Remuneration Commission that slashed MPs’s salaries, the guy is earning over 2 million Kenya shillings; his pay is even more than that of the President of Kenya. Can Mr. Charles Nyachae justify why he is being paid such amount of money while at the same time he is demanding for the slashing of salaries offered to others? This is double standard, hypocrisy and selfish of him.

from: Charles Nyachae
date: Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 4:40 PM
subject: Re: Debate Over MPs’s Salaries

Hi Gordon,

i note your comment and while i respect your views, it would have been greatly helpful if you got your facts right.

the incorrect facts about my terms aside ,(they are in the public domain) neither CIC nor myself have at any time expressed a view regarding what members of Parliament should or should not be paid. Our contribution to the discussion has been to state what is in The Constitution of Kenya 2010, namely that the responsibility to set the remuneration and benefits of all state officers is offered by the Constitution on SRC, see Art 230.

best wishes

THE MUGO REPORT: MAY 2013

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From: Mugo Muchiri
Los Angeles, CA
June 1, 2013

THE MUGO REPORT – May 2013

Q: Good morning Bwana Mugo, nice to see you. Another month gone by, can you believe this?

Mugo: Good morning ndugu and asante. Yep, as they say in the song, ‘life is a-fleeting!” Tell me about your clan, how are they doing?

Q: Actually pretty good, considering. I’ve been trying to sell them on the turmeric tip we talked about last time. Asked them if they can ‘kusindikisha’ me. Well, we’ll see how that goes. Any tip for this month?

Mugo: Ground spices in cooking. When I saute my food, I use a combination of turmeric, fennel, cumin, coriander, mixed in a 1:4:2:3 ratio respectively. Try using a teaspoon in either ghee (clarified butter) or olive oil when sauteing. This is a secret of Maharishi Ayurveda, India’s ancient system of developing and maintaining perfect health as revived by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 80s. You’ll notice that Kenyan Indians use plenty of spices in their cooking. Infact the curries which are a hallmark of their cuisine have found great favor with many a Kenyan urbanite.

Q: Share with us the benefits of cooking with spices?

Mugo: They’re wide-ranging. Turmeric is considered a liver detoxifier, is known to tame high cholestrol levels, boost immunity and aid skin complexion so that you can, according to Mulu Mutisya, ‘ng’alang’ala like a tomato.’ Both turmeric and cumin are antioxidants, meaning they scavenge free radicals in the system. Fennel of course is excellent for good digestion, while coriander acts as a blood purifier. Used together, an immune system-boosting synergy is further created. This, in Maharishi Ayurveda, contributes to balancing the doshas that underlie one’s constitution.

Q: Sawa. Let’s turn our eyes now on Kenya this past month of May and do some reviewing.

Mugo: Am ready when you are.

GOVERNANCE & DEMOCRACY

Q: Trans Nzoia Governor Patrick Simiyu Khaemba was unhappy with the revenue collection from markets, PSVs etc. One of his first acts upon assuming office was to dismiss the officials responsible for collections. The very next day, revenues went up from SHS 200,000 to SHS 1,000,000 a day, representing a 500% increase. Why do we still have our hats on?

Mugo: It’s a great start. You have drama, you have impact…….I mean these pistons are not waiting for a committee, they’re firing on all cylinders! What I worry about though is consistency. Reform is a journey. We don’t need one-hit wonders. It’s the sustainability that’s key. I just loved reading that story! If this is what ugatuzi or devolution is all about, then let the inspiration spreads to other counties.

Q: Let’s talk a little about democracy and free speech. I’m concerned about what I see as a creeping tendency to stifle free expression among, surprisingly, reasonably well-educated Kenyans? And here’s exhibit A to prove my point: I love following Professor Mutua Makau, the famous Nation newspaper columnist who does a weekly piece there and is, very notably, dean of SUNY Buffalo School of Law. What concerns me is the manner in which the guy gets slaughtered by his readers, judging from their comments. I mean, it’s not just swipes, it’s a freeking bloodbath! Are your eyes seeing the same thing as me?

Mugo: Well first of all, like you, I admire Makau. His voice is singularly unique. Where many vacillate on modes of expression, lucidity has found a home in his pen. In Makau World, boldness and incisiveness runneth over, spontaneously oozing wits in his writings. But his most prized possession in his arsenal, if you asked me, is his love of country so vividly discernible from every piece he crafts. These attributes haven’t stopped many of his readers from spitting venom at him when their views are divergent. Their level of rage and detestation has a personal element that’s clearly uncalled for and quite disturbing. Is it not possible to disagree without being disagreeable? I think the answer should be ‘yes,’ if education works.

AFRICA AND THE ICC

Q: Sawa. I’ve noticed that the closer we get to the trial dates of President Uhuru Kenyatta and deputy President William Ruto at the Hague, the more the flurry of activities to either delay, derail or even stop the judicial proceedings from commencing. First we heard submissions at the United Nations in New York by both Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Macharia Kamau, and his deputy, Koki Muli. Notably, African Heads of States just concluded their annual summit in Addis Ababa with a resolution to request a referal of the cases back to Kenya. What do you make of these moves?

Mugo: 1133 Kenyans were viciously killed simply because someone’s tribal arithmetic didn’t tally the way they thought it should. Someone needs to answer for that!!!!!

Of the 600,000 Kenyans displaced from their homes, many continue to languish in IDP camps. I actually saw a good number of them when I visited the Nakuru Pipeline IDP camp last December. Someone needs to answer for that!!!!!

There was a rapefest, burnings, forced circumcisions and just about everything that would describe a Hell on earth. Someone needs to answer for that!!!!

The Head of State must comport him or herself as the embodiment of the collective consciousness of his or her nation, and not one of an elitist subset. To me, the AU Heads of States resolution is a lagging indicator of an Africa that’s sick to her core, where food is regarded as poison, and poison as food. We need a savior and thank God we have one in Ms. Fatou Bensouda. The Jesus’ and Mohameds of their day led tortured lives precisely because tough medicine rarely finds a welcoming ingester. Appreciations and worldwide acclaim become latter-day developments.

Now Uhuru and Ruto have multiply attested to their innocence and must be so considered before their trials. Many Kenyans believe them. Moreover, they themselves have repeated many times ‘Shetani atashindwa.’ So why all the behind-the-scenes efforts to prevent them from giving Kenyans and the world an opportunity to prove their innocence? Why scuttle a process whose benefit to their co-presidency would essentially be of a liberative nature?

Or is this to continue being an Africa where the champion swimmer tells everyone that winning the race is a foregone conclusion, but alas his coterie of trainers and aides does everything to prevent him from even nearing the water’s edge?

And another curiosity: one of the two guys judged centrally responsible for the mayhem gets what? A retirement gift of a brand new SHS 500 million home exclusively funded by the taxpayers. Never mind that he has several palatial homes in Muthaiga, or that his land holdings put him at the second or third largest landowner in Kenya, a country where more than 60% of its population lives on less than one and a half dollars a day! Perhaps an appropriate gift should have been a tour of future digs at Kamiti, a la Emperor of China.

CHALLENGES

Q: Nimesikia hiyo mambo. The ICC is obviously a very emotive issue and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more as the trial comes closer. I’d like us to step aside for a moment and look at some challenges and opportunities for Kenya this past month.

Poaching continues to be an ever-growing menace in Kenya. Here are some statistics:

– October 2012 – Hong Kong Customs seizes 4 tons of ivory tusks; value $3.4million

– November 2012 – Dubai, UAE seizes 215 ivory tusks; value $4million

– Jan 2013 – Hong Kong Customs seizes 779 ivory tusks

– May 2013 – Dubai Customs seizes 259 tusks

– May 2013 – Hong Kong Customs seizes 113 tusks; value $400,000

Meanwhile, Liu Guangyuan issues a statement on March 12, 2013 ‘educating’ Kenyans that concerns about China’s involvement in illegal ivory are unfair and misinformed. Ati they send text messages to all Chinese tourists to Kenya “not to engage in the ivory trade,” ati “harmony between nature and humankind is the most important component of Chinese civilization,” ati “China put the African elephant on the list of first-class wildlife species under special state protection,” ati China’s only current stockpile is 62 tons of non-poached ivory. Please bwana Mugo, help me out here!

Mugo: My honest opinion: it’s sweet BULLSHIT! There’s no doubt that the Chinese are a great people with an awesome heritage and great talent. It is that part of Civilization that gave the world the art of papermaking, gunpowder, printing and the compass (used, amongst other things, for navigability). But there’s another side to the Chinese persona that can be raw, vicious, calculating and unrelenting. It has a ravenous appetite that stops at nothing to get its fill: from big ticket items like African minerals and oil; to extorting trade secrets from US China-domiciled research center; to military intelligence garnered through cyber snooping. Even comparatively smaller menu items like shark fins are not spared.

The problem with Africans in general, and Kenyans in particular is our short memories and blind trust that makes us so amenable to be taken advantage of. If you ‘escort’ an ailing heart for an operation in South Africa with $5000, then ALL GLORY to you.

WANANCHI WENZANGU, AMKENI!!! MUSIKUBALI KUFUMBWA MACHO. Wake up to the fact that if nothing is done now, if the status quo prevails, in as short a time as 10 years, we’ll have no elephants and rhinos remaining to roam our continent – a large transfer of living wealth from Africa to the dead wealth Ornament rooms across South East Asia.

Mozambique which was awash with rhinos a few decades ago now has only one or two in the whole country which are encouraged to ‘get going’ to increase numbers. Ati text messages. How come the US or European embassies don’t send text messages to their visiting countrymen and women?

Fortunately, we’re seeing signs of movement in the right direction. Just today, we’re learning that 32 senior KWS personnel have been sent home pending investigations to finger the culprits vis-à-vis the high-level collusion of poachers with senior ranks at the organization.

William Kiprono, the KWS Director needs to be singled out for special mention. He’s working with another noted Kenyan – Inspector General Kimaiyo – to remove Somali herders who’ve leased large tracts of land in Taita-Taveta obstensibly for their commercial livestock endeavors (to fatten their herds). But poachers masquerading as herders have used this cover to visit havoc of elephant and rhino stocks. ALL KENYANS MUST JOIN HANDS WITH THESE SENIOR CIVIL SERVANTS TO TURN THE TIDE ON A CALAMITY THAT HAS REACHED TRULY EPIC PROPOTIONS.

Even then, one has to realize that Kiprono and Kimaiyo’s combined efforts could not have been as bold or even evocative of hope were they launched outside the context of a reformist agenda that propelled the new Jubilee government to office. My wish is for the President to be focused on this issue and to be unrelenting in his behind and sometimes not-so-behind-the-scenes support for wildlife protection.

OPPORTUNITIES

Q: Asante. I think we should wrap this up now. But not before pointing out at least one area of Opportunity for Kenyans.

Mugo: I am impressed by K-Rep bank and its ‘Maji ni Maisha (Water is Life) project. The company has partnered with the World Bank and European Union to expand access to water in communities that suffer perennial water shortages. Reports have it that about 220,000 Kenyans have already benefited from these types of water projects. K-Rep provides 80% of funds while the communities – through funds such as CDF – come up with 20%. Where viability and sustainability are shown, the World Bank can provide up to 40% subsidies. This is a pick-up type story. You feel good because you know the right thing is being down by your fellow wananchi.

Just in closing, I urge any Kenyan of repute and influence to take 30 minutes to study the concept of Volunteerism as seen through the prism of TEACH FOR AMERICA. I say this because I’m really concerned about the demands of more and more money from so many sectors of the economy. To name a few, the JUDICIARY (can you believe this nonsense of wanting to spend 300 million to buy a new plane so Judges can be flown to remote parts???), the TRANSITION AUTHORITY, the LEGISLATURE, now TEACHERS all want more mullah.

Let’s explore how we can include the Youth on a volunteer basis in the development of our nation. It’s not a freebie. They would get vouchers for work done – whether it’s tree planting, lake cleaning (hyacinth in Lake Victoria), agriculture, etc. – which are redeemable as tuition payment at qualifying universities or tertiary institutions. Or perhaps redeemable through food via the National Cereals and Produce Board. Everything doesn’t need to be monetized.

Q: Haya ndugu, kwaheri. Mpaka next month na Asante for your participation.

Kenya: Debate Over MPs’s Salaries

1 Reply

From: Gordon Teti

It was wrong to rollback MPs’s salaries. Salaries are never rolled back. This is just the law of economics. People, including Members of Parliament, apply for jobs and make budgets based on the salary offered. Therefore, to deal with difficult economic times, increment in salaries and employment are frozen for a period of time.

When you look at people like Charles Nyachae, the Chairman of the Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC) who has voiced his concerns on the demand by MPs to reverse the decision by Salaries and Remuneration Commission that slashed MPs’s salaries, the guy is earning over 2 million Kenya shillings; his pay is even more than that of the President of Kenya. Can Mr. Charles Nyachae justify why he is being paid such amount of money while at the same time he is demanding for the slashing of salaries offered to others? This is double standard, hypocrisy and selfish of him.

Gordon Teti

Kenya: OUR MPs deserves higher payment for a living and not a peanut

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KENYA MPS DESERVES TO EARN A BETTER SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES FOR A LIVING SO THAT THEY GIVE THE TAXPAYERS GOOD SERVICES AND PERFORMANCE.

Commentary By Leo Odera Omolo In KISUMU City.

MEMBERS of Kenyan parliament deserve to be paid adequately so that they could perform their duties diligently and avoid what kind of word which some people had coined in connection with the 10th parliament, which had depicted of legislator as the “MP for Hire.”

Our legislators are tasked wit heavy responsibilities, particularly those representing remote rural constituencies who on many occasions are being called by the village to use their personal car and vehicles as ambulances while assisting the sick.

Medical services in this country collapsed many years ago. Most health centers, which are located in the interior part of the country have no standing by ambulances, at time even mothers in labor seek MPS assistance and support so that they could be rushed to the nearby, but poorly equipped medical facilities.

Poorly paid MP cannot afford to shoulder all these responsibilities, therefore the proposed basic alary of USD 10,00O per month for an MP is very much reasonable. The government has the poor record of appointing numerous but useless commission of Inquiries or other commissions whose finding have no direct benefit to the taxpayer or added value, and whose members are known to have been minting million of shillings, but performing nothing.

Members of parliament are honorable people. We expect them to be living decently as the honorable people, not like papers who could not discharge their responsibilities and deliver the goods to the electorate. The adjustment of the MP’s salary and allowances upward should not be negotiable.

I must say here in emphatically clear terms that even those members of the civil societies who last week staged violent street demonstration outside parliament and took piglets and pigs to harass and antagonizes our Muslem brothers who are not even taxpayers.

But we are driven by the desire to be heard and to make things difficult or our elected legislators to intimidate them not to perform their duties efficiently and competently. They were merely petty mischievous people and political hirelings and goons.

The time is ripe for Kenyan of good will and intention to come forward and say “a big no” to political thuggery. Such moves if left unchecked could plunge Kenya into distasteful condition and political turmoil that could make life difficult and unbearable for our children.

Madame Sarah Serem should think twice and make sure that our MPs are paid adequately, though I also concur with those who opined saying the number has increased threefold, and could definitely overburden the treasury with heavy Wage Bill.

With the present tri-cameral parliamentary system, I have a feeling that the extra 47 women representatives in parliament is a luxury, though it is contained under a cause in the ne constitutional dispensation. Te 47 Counties are adequately represented and covered by the Senators.

Kenya, however, must accept that the new set of the constitution is a very expensive one and the government will have to go extra miles in search of funds to have all its clauses implemented fully. But we can afford it through dialogue and negotiations and not through the staging violence street demonstrations by mainly goons and job seekers.

Our MPs deserves good vehicles for their safe travelling, good houses while attending their duties in the City, security details.

It is also time for the government to tell members of the Provincial Administration pack up and go home, or reassign them elsewhere as it has become obvious that their continued present in the Counties is not in the interest of taxpayers.

They could be sabotaging the operations of the devolutions and undermining as well as undercutting the work of the governors and their regional assembly teams. The undercutting could be the source of insecurity in places like Bungoma, Busia and Trans-Nzoia and elsewhere. Sooner or later such insecurity would spread like bushfire to other peaceful areas. The PCs,D.Cs,,DOs were dismissed by the High Court and told that they have no role in the evolution system, but someone somewhere choose to ignore the court judgment. It could be a cartel within the defunct coalition government had special assignment for them during the March 14 general elections. However, the elections have come and gone. They should now be relieves of their duties

If the purpose of retaining the Provincial Administration was a secret weapon used in rigging the last general election, then their role is over, they should go home now.It is all duplication of work and responsibilities with the governor and their team safely installed.

Ends

Rwanda & USA: Paul Kagame: I asked America to kill Congo rebel leader with drone

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from: Judy Miriga

Good People,

All these information are clear indication that Kagame is fully involved in distabilization of DRC through M23. Kagame must be taken to task at the ICC Hague as He has a case to answer.

Why would Kagame as America to kill Congo rebel leader ?

Is it for cover up??? Does Kagame know something he does not want the world to know…..???

Push for the truth people…….There is more here and it is unacceptable……

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=333875

JEB HENSARLING, TX , CHAIRMAN

United States House of Representatives

Committee on Financial Services 2129 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515

MAXINE WATERS, CA, RANKING MEMBER

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Members of the Committee on Financial Services
From: FSC Majority Committee Staff
Date: May 16, 2013
Subject: May 21, 2013, Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee Hearing on “The Unintended Consequences of Dodd-Frank’s Conflict Minerals Provision”.

The Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade will hold a hearing on “The Unintended Consequences of Dodd-Frank’s Conflict Minerals Provision” at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building. This will be a one-panel hearing with the following witnesses:

• David Aronson, Freelance Writer, Editor of www.congoresources.org

• Mvemba Dizolele, Peter Duignan Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution

• Rick Goss, Senior Vice President of Environment and Sustainability, Information Technology Industry Council

• Sophia Pickles, Policy Advisor, Global Witness

Background

Ever since it gained its independence in 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been in a state of civil war. In 2000, the United Nations Group of Experts linked the Congolese civil war to the mineral trade. Tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold—which are used to manufacture everyday goods such as pens, USB drives, buttons, and food containers—are mined in areas of the eastern DRC that the Congolese army and armed militias are fighting to control. The factions use proceeds from mineral sales to buy weapons. Some have argued that banning the use of minerals mined in or near the DRC or discouraging companies from using such minerals by “naming and shaming” them might deny rebel militias a source of funding and end the conflict.

Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (P.L. 111-203) is one such effort to discourage companies from using minerals mined in the DRC. Section 1502 requires the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to promulgate rules for public companies requiring them to disclose their use of minerals that originated in the DRC, which Section 1502 defines to be “conflict minerals.” Public companies must comply with Section 1502’s disclosure requirements when these minerals are necessary to the functionality or production of a product. If companies cannot verify that the minerals they use did not originate in the DRC, Section 1502 requires them to (1) exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of these minerals; (2) hire an independent third party to audit the due diligence measures; and (3) report to the SEC on the due diligence measures they undertook and their auditor’s assessment of those measures.

Hearing:

Hearing entitled “The Unintended Consequences of Dodd-Frank’s Conflict Minerals Provision”
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 2:00 PM in 2128 Rayburn HOB
Monetary Policy and Trade

Witness List

Mr. David Aronson, Freelance Writer, Editor of www.congoresources.org

Mr. Mvemba Dizolele, Peter Duignan Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution

Mr. Rick Goss, Senior Vice President of Environment and Sustainability, Information Technology Industry Council

Ms. Sophia Pickles, Policy Advisor, Global Witness

$625,000 Worth Gold Shipment Got Lost At Miami Airport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MUreAjFx0
Published on May 17, 2013

A shipment of gold valued at $625,000 vanished in a suspected heist after arriving in Miami on an American Airlines flight, authorities announced Thursday.

A police report says the gold, which arrived in a box, was brought on the flight from Guayaquil, Ecuador to the Miami International Airport early Tuesday, WSVN reports.

The plane’s cargo was unloaded by five crew members, but the box containing the gold disappeared after apparently being loaded onto a motorized luggage cart or tug, the report said.

The cart was found in front of a gate of the same terminal were the flight from Ecuador was unloaded, about an hour after workers emptied the cargo hold, but without the box containing the gold.

The police incident report did not say who owned the gold or what its final destination was and an American Airlines security official at the airport declined to comment to Reuters on the case, saying only that it was being investigated by the FBI.

“The FBI is aware of the situation,” FBI spokesman Michael Leverock told Reuters in an email.

Miami International serves as a major trans-shipment point for large quantities of gold produced in South America and exported primarily to Switzerland for refining.

The city has seen the trans-shipment of gold rise sharply in recent years as investors have turned to gold and its price has risen.

Gold is Miami’s No. 1 import valued at almost $8 billion last year, mostly from Mexico and Colombia, and almost all destined for Switzerland, according to World City, a Miami-based publication that tracks trade data.

And Now This ………

Paul Kagame: I asked America to kill Congo rebel leader with drone

In an exclusive interview with Chris McGreal in Kigali, Rwanda’s president denies backing an accused Congolese war criminal and says challenge to senior US official proves his innocence

Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has rejected accusations from Washington that he was supporting a rebel leader and accused war criminal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by challenging a senior US official to send a drone to kill the wanted man.

In an interview with the Observer Magazine, Kagame said that on a visit to Washington in March he came under pressure from the US assistant secretary of state for Africa, Johnnie Carson, to arrest Bosco Ntaganda, leader of the M23 rebels, who was wanted by the international criminal court (ICC). The US administration was increasing pressure on Kagame following a UN report claiming to have uncovered evidence showing that the Rwandan military provided weapons and other support to Ntaganda, whose forces briefly seized control of the region’s main city, Goma.

“I told him: ‘Assistant secretary of state, you support [the UN peacekeeping force] in the Congo. Such a big force, so much money. Have you failed to use that force to arrest whoever you want to arrest in Congo? Now you are turning to me, you are turning to Rwanda?'” he said. “I said that, since you are used to sending drones and gunning people down, why don’t you send a drone and get rid of him and stop this nonsense? And he just laughed. I told him: ‘I’m serious’.”

Kagame said that, after he returned to Rwanda, Carson kept up the pressure with a letter demanding that he act against Ntaganda. Days later, the M23 leader appeared at the US embassy in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, saying that he wanted to surrender to the ICC. He was transferred to The Hague. The Rwandan leadership denies any prior knowledge of Ntaganda’s decision to hand himself over. It suggests he was facing a rebellion within M23 and feared for his safety.

But Kagame’s confrontation with Carson reflects how much relationships with even close allies have deteriorated over allegations that Rwanda continues to play a part in the bloodletting in Congo. The US and Britain, Rwanda’s largest bilateral aid donors, withheld financial assistance, as did the EU, prompting accusations of betrayal by Rwandan officials. The political impact added impetus to a government campaign to condition the population to become more self-reliant.

Kagame is angered by the moves and criticisms of his human rights record in Rwanda, including allegations that he blocks opponents by misusing laws banning hate speech to accuse them of promoting genocide and suppresses press criticism. The Rwandan president is also embittered that countries, led by the US and UK, that blocked intervention to stop the 1994 genocide, and France which sided with the Hutu extremist regime that led the killings, are now judging him on human rights.

“We don’t live our lives or we don’t deal with our affairs more from the dictates from outside than from the dictates of our own situation and conditions,” Kagame said. “The outside viewpoint, sometimes you don’t know what it is. It keeps changing. They tell you they want you to respect this or fight this and you are doing it and they say you’re not doing it the right way. They keep shifting goalposts and interpreting things about us or what we are doing to suit the moment.”

He is agitated about what he sees as Rwanda being held responsible for all the ills of Congo, when Kigali’s military intervention began in 1996 to clear out Hutu extremists using UN-funded refugee camps for raids to murder Tutsis. Kagame said that Rwanda was not responsible for the situation after decades of western colonisation and backing for the Mobutu dictatorship.

The Rwandan leader denies supporting M23 and said he has been falsely accused because Congo’s president, Joseph Kabila, needs someone to blame because his army cannot fight. “To defeat these fellows doesn’t take bravery because they don’t go to fight. They just hear bullets and are on the loose running anywhere, looting, raping and doing anything. That’s what happened,” he said.

“President Kabila and the government had made statements about how this issue is going to be contained. They had to look for an explanation for how they were being defeated. They said we are not fighting [Ntaganda], we’re actually fighting Rwanda.”

— On Wed, 5/22/13, Lutgard Kokulinda Kagaruki wrote:
From: Lutgard Kokulinda Kagaruki
Subject: Paul Kagame: I asked America to kill Congo rebel leader with drone
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013, 1:27 AM

I Liked this one most; “We don’t live our lives or we don’t deal with our affairs more from the dictates from outside than from the dictates of our own situation and conditions,” Kagame said. “The outside viewpoint, sometimes you don’t know what it is. It keeps changing. They tell you they want you to respect this or fight this and you are doing it and they say you’re not doing it the right way. They keep shifting goalposts and interpreting things about us or what we are doing to suit the moment.” LKK

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 1:37 AM, Nyoni Magoha wrote:

Saturday 18 May 2013 Chris MacGreal in Kigali

In an exclusive interview with Chris McGreal in Kigali, Rwanda’s president denies backing an accused Congolese war criminal and says challenge to senior US official proves his innocence

Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has rejected accusations from Washington that he was supporting a rebel leader and accused war criminal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by challenging a senior US official to send a drone to kill the wanted man.

In an interview with the Observer Magazine, Kagame said that on a visit to Washington in March he came under pressure from the US assistant secretary of state for Africa, Johnnie Carson, to arrest Bosco Ntaganda, leader of the M23 rebels, who was wanted by the international criminal court (ICC). The US administration was increasing pressure on Kagame following a UN report claiming to have uncovered evidence showing that the Rwandan military provided weapons and other support to Ntaganda, whose forces briefly seized control of the region’s main city, Goma.

“I told him: ‘Assistant secretary of state, you support [the UN peacekeeping force] in the Congo. Such a big force, so much money. Have you failed to use that force to arrest whoever you want to arrest in Congo? Now you are turning to me, you are turning to Rwanda?'” he said. “I said that, since you are used to sending drones and gunning people down, why don’t you send a drone and get rid of him and stop this nonsense? And he just laughed. I told him: ‘I’m serious’.”

Kagame said that, after he returned to Rwanda, Carson kept up the pressure with a letter demanding that he act against Ntaganda. Days later, the M23 leader appeared at the US embassy in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, saying that he wanted to surrender to the ICC. He was transferred to The Hague. The Rwandan leadership denies any prior knowledge of Ntaganda’s decision to hand himself over. It suggests he was facing a rebellion within M23 and feared for his safety.

But Kagame’s confrontation with Carson reflects how much relationships with even close allies have deteriorated over allegations that Rwanda continues to play a part in the bloodletting in Congo. The US and Britain, Rwanda’s largest bilateral aid donors, withheld financial assistance, as did the EU, prompting accusations of betrayal by Rwandan officials. The political impact added impetus to a government campaign to condition the population to become more self-reliant.

Kagame is angered by the moves and criticisms of his human rights record in Rwanda, including allegations that he blocks opponents by misusing laws banning hate speech to accuse them of promoting genocide and suppresses press criticism. The Rwandan president is also embittered that countries, led by the US and UK, that blocked intervention to stop the 1994 genocide, and France which sided with the Hutu extremist regime that led the killings, are now judging him on human rights.

“We don’t live our lives or we don’t deal with our affairs more from the dictates from outside than from the dictates of our own situation and conditions,” Kagame said. “The outside viewpoint, sometimes you don’t know what it is. It keeps changing. They tell you they want you to respect this or fight this and you are doing it and they say you’re not doing it the right way. They keep shifting goalposts and interpreting things about us or what we are doing to suit the moment.”

He is agitated about what he sees as Rwanda being held responsible for all the ills of Congo, when Kigali’s military intervention began in 1996 to clear out Hutu extremists using UN-funded refugee camps for raids to murder Tutsis. Kagame said that Rwanda was not responsible for the situation after decades of western colonisation and backing for the Mobutu dictatorship.

The Rwandan leader denies supporting M23 and said he has been falsely accused because Congo’s president, Joseph Kabila, needs someone to blame because his army cannot fight. “To defeat these fellows doesn’t take bravery because they don’t go to fight. They just hear bullets and are on the loose running anywhere, looting, raping and doing anything. That’s what happened,” he said.

“President Kabila and the government had made statements about how this issue is going to be contained. They had to look for an explanation for how they were being defeated. They said we are not fighting [Ntaganda], we’re actually fighting Rwanda.”

Source: The Guardian (UK)

U.S. SEC requires company disclosures on use of DR Congo minerals

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday approved a rule that would require public companies to disclose information on the use of minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Under the rule, public companies would have to disclose annually their tracing of the minerals back to the sources if they use in their products the designated minerals from the DRC and neighboring countries, where armed groups have profited much from mining minerals used in electronics, jewelry and other goods… (view news)

US Cuts Military Aid to Rwanda Over Support to Rebels in DR Congo

The United States has cut its military aid to Rwanda, citing concerns that the government in Kigali is supporting rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.S. State Department said Saturday it had evidence that Rwanda is helping Congolese rebel groups, including M23. It said it will withhold $200,000 of aid pledged to help a military training agency. The Rwandan government has repeatedly denied helping the rebels. Washington’s move comes a week after the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC agreed to the deployment of an international force to fight the rebellion in eastern Congo and to patrol their … (view news)

M23 Political Leader Bertrand Bisimwa’s letter to Ban Ki Moon
mai23

Bunagana, May 22nd 2013

Réf : 027/Prés-M23/2013

RE: Actual situation in the Eastern part of DRC

To the UN Secretary General
New York

Your Excellency,

We are once again honored to write to you about the situation that is taking place in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The military operations which are taking over in the surrounding of Goma are a result of Congolese army working together with his allies FDLR and MAI-MAI armed groups attacking the M23 positions from Monday 20th may, 2013 at 4:30 am.

We would like to see this military hostilities being stopped on both sides as it appears in our letter of 1st May, 2013 addressed to his Excellency MUSEVENI KAGUTA, President of the Republic of Uganda, Mediator of the Kampala peace talks and President of ICGLR, requesting for bilateral cease fire as shows our attached letter. Unfortunately the DRC government consider the Kampala negotiations as an opportunity for a delay, in order to obtain the UN resolution for a militarist option.

We again express our political will to have a bilateral cease fire agreement to bring peace to our people and allow the political dialogue to take over. We want this framework to deal with root causes of this conflict rather than a simple treatment of symptoms as it was recommended by H.E OLOUSSEGUN OBASANJO your Special Envoy in this very matter in the year 2008 – 2009.

We stay convinced that war will never bring sustainable peace in the DRC and want to assure you, that we believe that, the presence of the UN Mission in DRC remains an opportunity in our quest for peace .

Hoping that our correspondence will take your attention, we thank you anticipatively.

Respectfully

Bertrand BISIMWA

CC:
– Permanent Members of the Security Council
– President of the African Union
– Heads of State of the CIRGL
– Embassies

M23 Leader Bertrand Bisimwa’s letter to Mary ROBINSON
mai23

Bunagana, May 22nd, 2013
Réf : 026/PRES-M23/2013

To the attention of Her Excellency Mary ROBINSON,
UN Secretary General Special Envoy in the Great Lakes Region

Re: Actual situation in the Eastern of DRC

Your Excellency,

We are once again honored to write to you about the situation that is taking place in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The military operations which are taking over in the surrounding of Goma are a result of Congolese army working together with his allies FDLR and MAI-MAI armed groups attacking the M23 positions from Monday 20th may, 2013 at 4:30 am.

This situation is disturbing the political peace process which was proned by the framework agreement of Addis Ababa of February 24th 2013, the true way for solution in the DRC crisis and even complicates the Kampala negotiations in which we did and do still build our hope.

We would like to see this military hostilities being stopped on both sides as it appears in our letter of 1st May, 2013 addressed to his Excellency MUSEVENI KAGUTA, President of the Republic of Uganda, Mediator of the Kampala peace talks and President of ICGLR, requesting for bilateral cease fire between us and the Government of the DRC.

Unfortunately the DRC government consider the Kampala negotiations as an opportunity for a delay, in order to obtain the UN resolution for a militarist option.

We remain believing that war will never bring sustainable peace in the DRC.

We highly thank you, Excellency, as you endeavour to bring peace in our region through the political solution rather than war.

Hoping that our correspondence will take your attention, we thank you anticipatively.

Respectfully

Bertrand BISIMWA

CC:
– UN Secretary General
– Permanent Members of the Security Council
– President of the African Union
– Heads of State of the CIRGL
– Embassies

M23 letter To Yoweri Museveni Kaguta President of Uganda
mai23

Bunagana, May 1st, 2013
Réf : 021/Prés-M23/2013

To His Excellency YOWERI MUSEVENI KAGUTA, President of Republic of Uganda,

Chairman of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region “ICGLR” and Mediator of the negotiations between the DRC government and M23

Re: Ceasefire Agreement

Your Excellency, Mr President,

We, at M23, are honored to inform you that we still have hope in peace through the negotiations taking place in Kampala.

Since December, 2012 on the request of the international community represented by the International Conference of Great Lakes Region, we submitted ourselves to all requests from the ICGLR, for instance we withdrew from Goma while we were militarily stronger than the DRC Army and we signed the unilateral ceasefire while the DRC government refused to do so. We maintained our military positions as it was requested and we humbly accepted all the demands which allowed the progress in the negotiations today, it’s during the Kampala negotiations period that the DRC government went to the UN seeking for the resolution 2098.

At this moment while we are still in negotiations, the DRC Army in coalition with the FDLR have left their positions, crossed over and took our positions in Mabenga. Others came from Tongo through the Virunga national Park where they are preparing to attack ours positions in Rutshuru territory.

In Kanyarutshina, the DRC Army in coalition with MONUSCO peace keepers took our positions, which consequently shows that the DRC government is preparing war against us. This is why we at M23, are requesting to the DRC government to sign the ceasefire agreement and to release all our members kept in prison in Kinshasa as a proof of willingness to pursue with negotiations.

We are convinced that the ceasefire agreement will bring in the end of the war and allow peaceful negotiations to take place.

We believe that the efforts made by the mediator and the ICGLR would not be taken in vain by the DRC government and we thank you for all.

Respectfully

Bertrand BISIMWA

CC:
– Heads of States of ICGLR;
– His Excellence The Facilitator of Talks between M23 and The DRC’s Government;

GOMA – RDC : Une tragédie à l’horizon
mai23

Des soldats de parade, aussi remarquables les jours de défilé qu’inaptes sous le feu.

They look like soldiers on parade, but useless under fire Qu’il s’agisse d’une escarmouche due à des raisons plus ou moins futiles -la gestion d’une source-, ou d’un accrochage plus sérieux qui pourrait mettre fin à cinq mois d’une trêve de facto, les combats qui ont opposée hier les soldats du M23 aux troupes gouvernementales et aux rebelles hutu rwandais des FDLR, leurs alliés, autour de l’abreuvoir de Mutaho -à une dizaine de kilomètres de Goma, dans l’Est de la RDC- préfigurent certainement une partie du scénario pour les semaines à venir.

Lorsque la Brigade d’intervention de la MONUSCO, mise en place par la résolution 2098 du Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU pour « neutraliser » les forces de l’Armée Révolutionnaire Congolaise, branche militaire du M23, sera prête à agir, il suffira un épisode déclencheur comme celui de Mutaho -une offensive conjointe FARDC-FDLR contre les positions de l’ARC et la riposte, quoique contenue, de cette dernière- pour susciter l’intervention sur le terrain de la nouvelle unité spéciale onusienne sous commandement d’un général tanzanien. Celle-ci ne se limitera pas, par conséquent, à exercer une fonction de dissuasion mais se déploiera en ordre de combat face aux troupes du général Sultani Makenga, chef militaire du M23.

Dans cette perspective d’« affrontement final » contre la « révolution congolaise » du M23, se consomme tristement la dérive des Nations Unies qui abdiquent leur rôle fondateur de partenariat mondial pour la paix pour se muer en force d’agression contre toute forme de résistance au nouvel ordre planétaire établi par les grandes puissances. Un ordre qui exige un pouvoir faible et prédateur en RDC avec Joseph Kabila à la tête de l’Etat et qui sera à tout prix défendu, même au risque d’embraser à nouveau la sous région. Ainsi, l’alliance qui se profile dans les collines et les jungles du Kivu entre Casques Blues, FARDC et FDLR signe -dans la collusion théoriquement contre nature entre une mission de paix devenue mission de guerre et des forces génocidaires- l’arrêt de mort de l’ONU en tant que régulateur impartial des conflits et la perte définitive de sa légitimation en tant qu’agent de paix.

Mais les événements de Mutaho nous apprennent une deuxième leçon. La provocation orchestrée par Kabila à la veille de la visite du Secrétaire général des NU à Kinshasa montre jusqu’à quel point le locataire du Palais de la Nation se sent conforté par ses parrains internationaux. Ceux-ci feront probablement mine de critiquer son inaction face aux engagements pris dans l’accord-cadre d’Addis-Abeba. Mais ils sont en réalité les derniers à être intéressés à un véritable processus de réformes en RDC, qui dote par exemple ce géant d’Afrique centrale d’une armée en mesure de faire respecter sa souveraineté nationale et d’un pouvoir capable d’en assurer le développement et de garantir le bien être de ses populations.

Pourtant, et avant qu’il ne soit pas trop tard, il faut au moins que les Etats de la sous région prennent la mesure des conséquences de l’intervention de la Brigade onusienne. Car tous ne resteront pas les bras croisés devant le nettoyage ethnique et l’extermination des communautés banyarwanda dans le Nord Kivu.

Luigi Elongui

Translated in English:

Whether it’s a skirmish due to reasons more or less trivial-managing a source-or a more serious clash that could end in five months a de facto truce, fighting who opposed yesterday soldiers M23 government troops and Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels, allies around the trough Mutaho to ten kilometers from Goma, in eastern DRC, certainly foreshadow some scenario for the coming weeks.

When the Intervention Brigade of MONUSCO, established by resolution 2098 of the Security Council of the UN to “neutralize” the forces of the Congolese Revolutionary Army, the military wing of the M23 will be ready to act, simply a trigger episode like Mutaho-joint FARDC-FDLR offensive against the positions of the CRA and the response, although contained, this latest addition to spark action on the ground of the new UN special unit under the command of a Tanzanian general. This will not be limited, therefore, to exert a deterrent but will deploy in battle order against the troops of General Sultani Makenga military leader M23.

In this perspective of “final battle” against the “Congolese revolution” of the M23, is sadly consumes drift UN abdicate their role founder of Global Partnership for Peace to turn into an aggressive force against any form of resistance the new world order established by the great powers. An order requiring low power and predator in the DRC with Joseph Kabila as head of state and will be defended at any cost, even at the risk of flare again the subregion. Thus, the alliance looming in the hills and jungles of Kivu between Helmets Blues, FARDC and FDLR sign-in collusion against theoretically kind between a peacekeeping mission to become war-forces genocidal death sentence UN as an impartial regulator of conflict and the final loss of its legitimacy as an agent of peace.

But the events of Mutaho we learn a second lesson. Provocation orchestrated by Kabila on the eve of the visit of the UN Secretary General in Kinshasa shows how much the tenant of the Palace of the Nation feels buoyed by its international sponsors. They probably do mine to criticize his inaction on commitments made in the framework agreement in Addis Ababa. But in reality they are the last to be interested in a genuine process of reform in the DRC, which endows eg the giant Central African army in a position to enforce its national sovereignty and a power capable of ensure the development and ensure the welfare of its people.

Yet, before it is too late, we need at least the countries of the sub region are measuring the impact of the intervention of the UN Brigade. Because all will not stand idly by ethnic cleansing and extermination of Banyarwanda in North Kivu communities.

Exploitation of African Natural Resources should deliver African share of global manufacturing

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From: Juma Mzuri

Author: Dr. Antipas T. Massawe/0754653924/massaweantipas@hotmail.com

People and natural resources such as the renewable like fertile lands, lakes, rivers and oceans and the nonrenewable mineral resources like iron, copper, nickel, coal, oil and gas, diamonds, gemstones and rare earths have always been source of the seed capital, raw materials and the technologies involved in the manufacturing practice behind the sustainable processes of wealth creation most of the wealthiest economies worldwide are characterized with and should be source of the same for the African continent.

Despite of been one of the most gifted in terms of natural resources and manufacturing potentials, Africa is still the world’s poorest and most backward continent in its application of modern technologies and its share of global manufacturing is only 1 % and shrinking as its labour intensive made goods fail to compete with the imported goods which are more competitive in the local market because they are manufactured using modern technologies which are continuously modernizing.

Africa failed to enable realization of its huge manufacturing potentials because the individual going African countries are on in the foreign lead exploitation of there natural resources is not earning their Governments much of the revenue they deserved due to bad mineral policies, legislations and rampant corruption and/or professional incompetence among the Government officials responsible.

And, most of the little revenue African Governments earn here is not wisely invested in the development of the foundation infrastructures required to enable the countries to attract their deserved share of Global investing in manufacturing due faulty investment priorities, corruption and/or professional incompetence among the Government officials responsible. As a consequence, Africa remains a net exporter of raw materials cheaply and importer of manufactured goods costly when technological illiteracy, joblessness and poverty among its majority population escalate.

Even the exponential increases of Foreign Direct Investments experienced on the Continent in the past decade and reported by Elsabé Loots and Alain Kabundi didn’t earn the Continent deserved benefit because most were associated with the exploitation of nonrenewable mineral resources as raw materials like crude oil for export instead of local manufacturing.

Collaboration among African Countries is required to enable collective responsibility in ensuring they earn their deserved share of the wealth generated from exploitation of their natural resources for investing in the development of the foundation infrastructures required to enable the Continent attract its deserved share of Global investing in manufacturing and the modern technologies it is associated with by accomplishing as follows:

development of the All Africa Master Plan of integrated foundation of infrastructures which is required to make Africa attractive for the Global investing in manufacturing;

formulation of All Africa common mineral policies and legislations which are required to enable African countries to earn their deserved share of the wealth generated from exploitation of their natural resources;

development of the All Africa Master Plan of priority manufacturing potentials;

formulation of All Africa common policies and legislations which are required to encourage and enable individual African countries to invest the revenues they earn from exploitation of their natural resources in the development of the All Africa Master Plans of integrated foundation of infrastructures and/or priority manufacturing potentials;

formulation of All Africa common legislations which discourage exportation of raw materials which are essential in the development of the All Africa Master Plans of integrated foundation of infrastructures and/or priority manufacturing potentials or unprocessed.

The manufacturing growth potentials Africa is gifted with are one of the best among the countries sharing the Indian, Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans and their coastlines in North and South America, Middle East and Asia. If their exploitation is well organized and managed, the Continent could become one of the leading manufacturers worldwide.

Africa is strategically located on the interface of world’s leading marine trade exchange between markets within
and around the Atlantic, Indian and Mediterranean Oceans and surrounded all around with very extensive coastlines and numerous sites which are suitable potentials for the development of marine ports to facilitate marine trade exchange between the main Global markets in Africa and within and around the three Oceans.

Africa is also one of the most gifted in terms of its favourable climate throughout the year, mineral resources, fertile lands, forests, freshwater bodies and potentials for fresh water dams construction, fresh and salt water fishing, hydro, coal, solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear power generation and a lot of other natural gifts of great importance in the development of a highly competitive African manufacturing economy.

The natural advantages Africa is gifted with over most of the rest worldwide plus its huge population of 1 billion in 2009 and which has a high growth rate of 3 % make it the ideal place for the ongoing raw materials of Africa based global manufacturing for markets within and around the Atlantic, Indian and Mediterranean Oceans.

Despite of being gifted with all what is required to turn the Continent into one of the leading players in the fisheries, agriculture, forestry and mineral resources based Global manufacturing, Africa is still one of the least manufacturing continent in the world and a net exporter of raw materials cheaply and importer of manufactured goods costly from foreign markets which are naturally less competitive for manufacturing investments compared to Africa.

Africa’s present share of global manufacturing is 1 % and shrinking as its labour intensive manufacturing going on in conditions of limited financing and unreliable and costly power supply and transportation of raw materials becomes uncompetitive in-front of the highly productive and cost effective modern technologies based global manufacturing going on in the foreign markets where financing is readily available and power supply and transportation of materials most reliable and cost effective worldwide.

Africa failed to secure its deserved share of global manufacturing because the individual going African countries are on in the exploitation of their natural resources has failed to enable them and their Continent into one of the most attractive for the modern technology based Global investing in manufacturing.

Africa failed because markets of individual African countries are too small and the individual going African countries are on in their uncoordinated foreign dominated exploitation of their natural resources like the nonrenewable mineral resources is not earning them their deserved share of the wealth generated due to bad mineral policies, legislations and rampant corruption and/or professional incompetence among the Government officials involved in the scrutiny and approval of mineral contracts which favour foreign explorers and miners at the expense of their own Governments and fellow citizens.

Again, rampant corruption and/or professional incompetence among the officials responsible in the management of Government revenue and its investing and the faulty and/or conflicting investment priorities most of the African countries are on in their individual going resulted into most of the little revenue individual African countries are earning from the foreign dominated exploitation of their nonrenewable minerals ending up in the pockets of corrupt individuals and most of the rest invested on faulty priorities other than in the development of a well harmonized and/or integrated foundation of infrastructures like transportation and power generation and transmission throughout the manufacturing and market potentials in all African countries.

Having all African manufacturing and marketing potentials well covered with reliable and cost effective networks of materials transport and power generation and transmission is essential in the minimization of cost in African manufacturing and movement of materials throughout its fast growing population of more than 1 billion and enable it to realize its natural competitiveness for Global investing in manufacturing.

Lack of the foundation infrastructures required to enable Africa to realize its natural competitiveness for Global investing in manufacturing is what forced countries on the Continent to remain net exporters of unprocessed raw materials cheaply and importers of the manufactured goods they consume costly. This is bad because Africa earns just a mere fraction of the natural wealth inherent in its exports of unprocessed raw materials and as it imports the manufactured goods costly, the Continent continues sinking deep into poverty as earnings from unprocessed raw materials exported cheaply remain insufficient to finance the importation of all essential goods costly.

As a net exporter of raw materials and importer of manufactured goods, the Continent also continues sinking deep into technological backwardness and become more and more unproductive and poorer, as it fails to secure application of modern technologies in local manufacturing; as its natural resources like the nonrenewable mineral resources continue been drained away cheaply by foreigners; and as its hydropower generation potentials like the Grand Inga and the Stigler’s hydropower generation potentials in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania continue draining as waste into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans when acute shortage of power supply is such a huge hindrance of development on the Continent.

Even though, Africa is still rescue-able because the huge natural wealth still in its possession in the form of natural resources like nonrenewable mineral resources and power generation potentials is a lot more than required to finance development of the integrated foundation of infrastructures which is required to enable the Continent realize its natural competitiveness for Global investing in manufacturing.

Rescue of Africa requires African Governments to decide and pass resolution that their individual policies and legislations which are involved should be reviewed and harmonized to effect common strategies and African collaboration in the exploitation of the wealth inherent in natural resources like nonrenewable mineral resources and power generation potentials within individual African countries in order to ensure African countries earn their deserved share of the wealth generated and investing it wisely in the development of the All African Integrated foundation of infrastructures like transport and power generation and transmission which are required to enable Africa realize its natural competitiveness for global investing in manufacturing and reverse trend in which Africa is a net exporter of unprocessed raw materials cheaply and importer of manufactured goods costly.

Idea is to enable individual African countries to overcome their chronic dependence on developed nations (especially the former colonial masters) for aid, which is often tied up with condition that individual African countries should adopt policies and legislations which discourage collaboration among themselves in favour of the collaboration of individual African countries with the developed donor nations in the management and exploitation of their natural resources in which African countries will remain net exporters of raw materials to the former colonial masters cheaply and importers of manufactured goods from the same costly.

Objectives of African collaboration are:

to enable African countries to formulate and dictate All Africa common terms in their collaboration with non African countries in the management and exploitation of natural resources on the Continent and establish a win-win situation in which African countries will earn their deserved share of the wealth inherent in their natural resources;

to formulate the common All Africa Master plan of integrated foundation of infrastructures like in transportation, power generation and transmission and water supply which are required to enable the continent realize its natural competitiveness for Global investing in manufacturing;

to identify priority manufacturing potentials like in fisheries, agriculture, forestry and mineral resources in all African countries and formulate the All Africa Master Plan of priority manufacturing potentials and promote it for Global investing;

to formulate African common policies and legislations required to ensure individual African countries earn their deserved share of the wealth inherent in their natural resources like nonrenewable mineral resources and discourage exportation of raw materials in favour of importation of Global investing in manufacturing;

to formulate guidelines for encouraging and enabling individual African countries to invest the revenues they earn from exploitation of their natural resources in the development of the All Africa Master plans of integrated foundation of infrastructures and priority manufacturing potentials anywhere on the Continent, provided that new developments and their capacities won’t compromise the market shares of developments already on ground and cause underutilization of costly African infrastructures and manufacturing facilities already on ground due to;

to establish and adopt common measures against corrupt practices in the doing of business on the Continent;

to enable African countries to invest in the development of economic growth potentials anywhere on the continent and secure their deserved shares of Global investing for manufacturing and benefit from the modernizing technologies and job opportunities inherent in Global investing for manufacturing.

Aim is to achieve the collective responsibility of all African Governments in ensuring that exploitation of natural resources like nonrenewable mineral resources within individual countries on the Continent earns them their deserved shares of the revenues generated for investing in the development of the All Africa Master plans of integrated foundation of infrastructures and priority manufacturing potentials anywhere on the Continent to reverse trend in which the Continent is a net exporter of raw materials cheaply and importer of manufactured goods costly.

World & Kenya: Donor Funding to the Kenya Judiciary should be frozen

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from: Gordon Teti

To send a message to the lords of impunity and those who aided them, like the Kenya Judiciary and the Electoral Commission (IEBC) in rigging Uhuru Kenyatta to the presidency of the Republic of Kenya, the international community that finances the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), the two Western financial lending institutions should and must cut funding with immediate effect to Kenya and particularly to the Judiciary and the IEBC. The Kenya Judiciary under Willy Mutunga has been receiving a lot of financial aid from the two Breton institutions who were duped that the Kenya Judiciary is being reformed. This funding must stop with immediate effect since Willy Mutunga is not a reformist but an old tired chameleon who is working with the conservatives and the lords of impunity to make quick money as a compensation for the the many years that he spent struggling in political activism