PIANIM LASHES NPP EXECUTIVES

Kwame Pianim, an elder statesman of the New Patriotic Party

Kwame Pianim, an elder statesman says the New Patriotic Party needs the courage to confront defeat because “it is good for democracy and the nation”.

The Presidential candidate of the NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo is before the Supreme Court disputing the 2012 Presidential election result that put President John Mahama back into power.

But Mr. Pianim, an outspoken politician, business economist and investment consultant in an exclusive interview with Africawatch blamed the NPP national executives for exhibiting “intellectual and mental laziness”

According to him, the party is heading in the wrong direction.

“I think the national executives should reconsider doing the work we have voted them to do, or leave for others to take over”.

He said “when the results of an election are announced, we should be ready to accept the results no matter how bitter...the interests of individual members and those of the party sometimes differ.  

 “Nana Akufo-Addo technically ceased to be the leader of the NPP on Dec. 9 after the declarationof the results by the electoral commissioner. The NPP as a group is not party to the case pending at the Supreme Court...the case is still the act of three individual members of the party.

“Until the Supreme Court reverses the declared results of the 2012 elections, all Ghanaians, including NPP members, must fully recognise President Mahama as the legitimate Head of State of the republic and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces”.

Mr. Pianim added that “the boycott [of the President’s inauguration] somehow portrayed the NPP executives as confused people”

He continued that “some of these self-appointed spokespersons of the NPP seem to talk anyhow. Their demeanor and arrogant utterances tend to turn off people from the NPP. They are part our problem and did not help us in the elections”.

Kwame Pianim added that “I think by making a fuss about the court case, the NPP is losing the opportunity to really do a proper review of our performance, which is important for the future successes of our party.

Mr. Pianim also admonished members of the party to “stop branding of the party as a Danquah-Busia tradition. By calling the party Danquah-Busia tradition, it gives some people in the party the false impression that they a family stool in the party and that they are entitled to inherit.

“It is saddening to see some of what is going on within the NPP. We need to pull back and reset the button of rebuilding the party”.

EDITORIAL

DANDER

The price of gold has started tumbling on the so-called international market and the consequences for Ghana can only be grim.

 The price has now reached $1609 an ounce which is 10 per cent less than its October high of $1798.10.

Obviously this means that Ghana will be earning less from the exploitation of her gold resources and this could affect the country’s development   effort.

 However the more important question is why Ghana failed to maximize her advantage when the price was very high.

There cannot be any rational explanation for the situation in which Ghana earns only five per cent of the total value of gold exported from here.

We must not forget that Gold is not renewable and  we have allow the predatory capitalists to carry it all away without our maximizing  our benefits the future will be very bleak.

Our leaders must start thinking and acting now ! 

EO GROUP REFUSES TO PAY TAX

EO Group Limited, the Company which claims to have accelerated the search for Ghana’s oil does not appear to be in a very happy mood.

It is refusing to pay tax on its recent very lucrative transaction.

This is inspite of the decision by the Ghana Revenue Authority that it should be taxed at the rate of 25 per cent under the Internal Revenue Act, 2000 (Act 592).

The tussle over the tax liability of the company is in respect of the Group’s assignment of its interest to Tullow oil Plc

 WTS Nakyea and Adebiyi, Lawyers of the Group argue that the proceeds of the Assignment are not subject to the income tax regime established by the Internal Revenue Act.

A letter from the lawyers said Rather, they are expressly and exclusively subject to the tax regime established by the petroleum Agreement and, by extension, to income tax in accordance with the provisions of the petroleum income Tax Law C987 (PNDCL188) (The Petroleum Income tax Law.

“In turn, both the petroleum Agreement and the Petroleum Income Tax Law make clear that such proceeds are not taxable” they argued.

The Ghana Revenue Authority on the other hand insists that the Petroleum Agreement and the Petroleum Income Tax Act do not provides for an enclave fiscal regime for upstream petroleum operations.

In a letter dated September 13, 2012, Mr D.W.K  Klubi, Assistant Commissioner Petroleum stated that “Income from Assignment falls outside the scope of the  Petroleum Agreement because Assignment is not an activity related to Petroleum operations as defined, and also income from Assignment is not included in the list of specified income and transactions under Article 12 of the Petroleum Agreement….

 

West Africa last straw for Western dominance

Map of West Africa

By William Festus

Share | Email | Print

Africa is a land flowing with milk and honey because from the Horn to West, East, Central and South there are various mineral resources such as steel, metal, copper, iron ore, gold, diamond etc.

There are also marine, aquatic and wild lives, abundant produces such as cocoa, coffee, tea rubber, palm oil and other agricultural seeds, some of which are suitable for bio-fuel (not crude oil and gas) and of course crude oil and gas (reasons for Western terrorism in the Middle East).

The resources in Africa are consumed in other continents of the world from Asia, Middle and Far East. And Western Europe is the only exploiting continent using educational scholarship as barter trades in the 1960s hence creating mass exodus of mainly West Africans into Europe and the US such that was never seen since days of slavery.

The African continent, particularly West Africa, has used meager income received from its resources sold to Western European buyers to fund scholarship for its citizens to gain Western qualification. In the 1970s some of those migrants who could not stand high level of daily social injustices and oppression (racism, prejudice etc.) while living with their host countries, decided to return without completing their studies.

They came back with personal effects hence Western luxury goods replaced their qualification and snowball effect was soaring demands for Western education as households wanted to own Western goods.

There are those individuals from poor background in West Africa whose families sold all they had to privately sponsor a family member, but on arrival in the West they got carried away with the Western way of lives hence becoming permanent sojourner in the West until today with no qualification and living in abject poverty.

Ghana President John Mahama

 The increased demands of Western education in West Africa were made worst by the increased demand of Western qualifications in both public and private organizations all over Africa. Also the demand for Western goods increased alarmingly because owning Western goods became an indication of individual Western connection amongst Africans hence enhancing social status.

However, 1980s became an era where there was excessive increase of investment into foreign housing, property portfolios including luxury goods such as private airplanes and expensive vehicles by many West African leaders through to civil servants as well as rich individuals, hence their country suffered decline in foreign reserves and an increase in ‘I owe you’ (IOU) to bridge the gap.

The snowball effect of many IOUs led to borrowing from the IMF and the World Bank to service those debts and close the gap in foreign reserves, but instead of the situation improving, it became worst because of misappropriation of public funds leading to increased poverty, hence the inception of economic migrations into the West.

The IMF and the World Bank pile pressure on some West African leaders to put ‘their house in order.’ In other words, they (leaders) should stop misappropriating public funds hence austerity measures were forced on West African countries by the IMF and the World Bank with little or no effect because poverty and civil disobedience increased.

West African countries have endured years of Western slavery and colonialism and even after gaining independence most countries in West Africa adopted Western lifestyle that was too expensive to maintain, thereby deepening most of them into negative balance of trade, increased national debt and permanent recession.

World Bank Mr Yong Kim

These have created resentment of Western domination, because it does not guarantee better economic, social and technological advancement for their generations and their resentment started with civil unrest and wars in countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria (Boko Haram), and most recent being Mali.

It is right to mention a similar situation in the Horn of Africa like Libya, Tunisia and Egypt, popularly known as awakening. Though the initial demand was political change but the resentment is really against Western dominance and the support of those leaders as well as the lack of economic plans that will guarantee better financial future for the people.

Western dominance has been a cause for concern within the African continent since 1960 because of their (West) involvement in the internal affairs of many African countries; such as dictating which ruler or leader is right or wrong for nations in the continent (political interferences).

They (West) also impose their will on the ways African nation’s economy should be managed such as exchange rate mechanism, national budget planning and fiscal policy and any resistance is met with propaganda and lies followed by sanction and embargoes (withdrawal of aids).

 Ordinary people in many nations in the African continent, particularly West Africa, embed these beliefs, “West Africa has partial political freedom and no economic, social and technological freedom,” and such embedment has become a fertile ground for anti-Western seed planting.

Western support enjoyed by some African leaders particularly in West Africa, because they aligned their nations with Western demands, includes personal financial investment within the Western banking system while the nations they govern are in abject poverty.

However, when those leaders turn their back on their masters (West), the Western propaganda machine steps in to expose those leaders and they (West) will incite some of those leaders’ followers to break ranks, thereby creating civil unrest and sometimes civil war and such conflict will give the West an opportunity to do what they are good at doing (asset freezing).

The facts and evidence as they unfold during the conflicts or unrest usually form social conversation in cafes, bars and family gatherings amongst individuals in West African cities, towns and villages hence seeds of resentment are sown in the mind of those individuals.

These individuals are angry because they (West) support those leaders to loot national wealth using Western banking systems to hide the loots but only expose them after such leaders fall out of grace with them (West) and the wealth is never returned to the country of origin hence creating permanent economic recessions.

The political conflict and economic instability happening in many African countries since 1960 until now was a Western ploy to keep the continent busy because Pan-Africans of Ghana’s Kwame Nkruma did not see the light of day and former Organization of African Unity (OAU) dealt with conflict resolution more than economic issues before renaming itself as African Union (new wine in old wine skin).

Since 1960 the West uses its propaganda machine to stigmatize all the continent apart from Europe and of course the US; the Asian continent through ‘war on communism,’ the Western Asia/Middle East continent through ‘war on terrorism’ and the African continent ‘unfit to govern itself and in need of AIDS.’ 

African leaders that refuse to align with their (West) demands in order to prove them (West) wrong that Africa can indeed govern itself well are bound for deposition by all means and they (West) will incite in-fighting in such a way that leads to breaking ranks and possibly civil war.

The West will employ its propaganda machine to spread lies against such leaders calling them dictators and war criminals particularly where such leaders want to stop some individuals from becoming Western saboteurs.

Map of Africa

The African continent since 1960s has been ruled in the north by self-imposed family dynasty (one party rule) supported by the West, the south was under apartheids for a long time, the west was plundered into civil wars, conflict and corruption, while some parts of the east were the Western haven for holidays and relaxation and the other parts plunged deeper into sectarianism (Sudan and Somalia).

Western dominance is now openly making its way into West Africa, but not as the war against Communism as the case with the Asian continent neither as the war against terrorism as the case with the Western Asia/Middle East. But they (West) are desperate to give it a name, hence why France is used to kick the ball rolling in Mali.

North Africa has awakening to defeat self-imposed leaders, South Africa has people power to defeat apartheids. Dividing Sudan in East Africa into north and south has limited the presence of any strong resistance to the coast of Somalia and I am sure the US invasion of Somalis says it all, and now desperate to settle old fight with Mali in West Africa, France fighting the Tuaregs seems a perfect start.

Escalating the conflict with Malian Tuaregs will trigger other ‘Tuaregs’ in Niger, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Libya (already volatile) and Chad to join because of their loyalty culture and other tribes in West Africa who have been nurturing anti-Western values (dominance, hegemony) may seize the opportunity to rise.

The resistance in West Africa will be a fierce, bloody territorial guerilla warfare and mark the end of the Western dominance, because the level of resentment of the Western values and way of life is ripe, waiting to burst and the conflict with the Tuaregs of Mali is bound to be the start of a long war (waiting for the West to give it a name).

Sequestration of Azawad & the Brinkmanship of the Touaregs

By Anthony Okosun

As I write this piece, French forces in concert with West African forces are in hot pursuit of the Islamist extremists in Northern Mali. The world is happy that Northern Mali is now free. The world is happy that Northern Mali has been liberated. Good to know that extremist Islamists are no longer in control of Northern Mali. Timbuktu and other cities in Northern Mali have been liberated from the brutal and violent occupation by extremist Islamist power usurpers. 

The President of France has since visited the city of Timbuktu amidst great celebration and colorful revelry. Malians and the friends of Mali worldwide are singing and dancing for joy over the liberation of Mali. Then again, one very major truth has been conveniently forgotten. Yes, the truth has been conveniently forgotten, because it is an ugly, sad, unpalatable and an inconvenient truth. 

That inconvenient truth is that the crisis in Mali is a superstructure that was erected on a foundation of leadership parochialism that punished the good people of Northern Mali and forced the Tamashek speaking Tuaregs of Sahelian Mali to rebel against Bamako. The unfortunate and unwelcome game changer was that extremist Islamists hijacked the Tuareg rebellion in Northern Mali. Since independence from France, the government of Mali has effectively sequestered Northern Mali and conducted government affairs like Mali starts and ends in and around Bamako. Northern Malian cities i.e. Timbuktu, Gao, Tallit and Aguel’hoc have remained mere abandoned throw backs to the 13th and 14th centuries.

The miasma in Mali is malignant. The miasma has gripped the soul of the Malian nation. Indeed the crisis is cancerous. The soul and heart of the Malian nation have been shaken. The crisis did not just start overnight. The crisis was created when France decided to jam many ethnic Sahel nations, constituting the then French Sudan together with Senegal and label the geo-political contraption the Republic of Sudan. Senegal later broke off, and the remainder geo-polity renamed itself Mali. 

 The Touareg nation that dominates Northern Mali have for centuries enjoyed their freedom as an independent and a sovereign nation roaming freely as nomads in the Sahel. The Touaregs have never accepted their forcible amalgamation with the ethnic nations of Southern Mali. 

Since the creation of Mali through the forcible fusion of the ethnic nations now known as Mali and Senegal; Southern Mali has never attempted to hide their unflattering perspective of events, that Northern Mali has lost its independence to Southern Mali. The Touaregs in Northern Mali distrust and are extremely suspicious of the political leaders in Southern Mali. 

Despite the above scenario, successive Malian rulers have never deemed it fit to rule Mali in a way that would allay the fears of the Touaregs in Northern Mali. Successive Malian rulers have conducted the affairs of government like Mali starts from Bamako and ends in Bamako. Northern Malians have always complained of abandonment, infrastructural sequestration and a general dearth of government presence in their part of Mali. The Touregs in Northern Mali still long for the fabled days long gone, when Northern Mali enjoyed an independent existence.

Northern Mali with great fabled cities like Timbuktu and Gao, was the nucleus of three great empires i.e the Ghana empire, the Mali empire, and the Songhai empire. Cities in Northern Mali especially Timbuktu were the centers of learning in the ancient world. Timbuktu was at the center of the great trading route between the West coast, the North and the East coast of Africa, in the ancient world. Timbuktu attracted merchants and scholars from all over the ancient world. One of the oldest universities in the world, the University of Sankore was established in Timbuktu. 

The University of Sankore was a primus inter pares among its contemporaries i. e. Oxford University and Sorbonne in France. Scholars studied mathematics, astronomy, botany, algebra, literature, alchemy, philosophy, history, geography, medicine, Islamic studies, archiecture etc in Timbuktu. Many Africans that were captured, transported and forced into slavery in North, Central and South America and also in Asia, Arabia and everywhere else in the diaspora were either students, graduates or professors of the University of Sankore in Timbuktu. It is interesting to observe that the Buckingham palace in London and many of the earliest European Universities were architecturally structured to replicate the University of Sankore architecture. Even learning in renaissance Europe among the professions and the earliest universities were structured after the University of Sankore model. Many ancient manuscripts dating back to the 12^th and 13^th centuries are still available in Timbuktu and other Northern cities in Mali. Evidently, The Touaregs are wondering whatever happened to their civilization. The Touaregs want some space to rebuild their civilization. The Tourages want the republic of Azawad, where they can directly drive the engine of development. Unfortunately, for the Touaregs, extremist Islamists have hijacked and truncated their enterprise.

Recently, the extremist Islamists while escaping from Timbuktu as the French and West African liberating forces were approaching, set fire on an ancient manuscript library in Timbuktu. Northern Mali and in fact the whole of Mali has very little in common with modern cities the world over. 

The fundamental question is why has the government of Mali been so pedestrian, mediocre and ineffective over the years? Whereas, the Touaregs in Northern Mali have consistently elevated their brinksmanship in their attempt to attract the attention of the government in Bamako to the need for the development of infrastructure in Northern Mali; the truth however is that the whole of Mali has remained one huge ghetto with reminders of Mali’s great and glorious past in its ancient manuscript libraries and ancient mosques.

Many times in the past, deeply concerned indigenes of Northern Mali have attempted to cut Northern Mali free from Southern Mali. These concerned indigenes of Northern Mali call their prospective country, Azawad. Some of the major northern cities, the rebels want to take out of Mali are Timbuktu, Aguel’hoc, Tallit, Gao et al. The Northerners complain of having been subjugated to the domination and oppression of Southern Mali. Northern Malians complain of economic stagnation. They complain of lack of infrastructures, poverty and general backwardness. Northern Malians contend that they feel no sense of belonging in the present Mali. These are no light allegations that can just be waived away with a wave of the hand just like the rulers in Bamako have been doing.

In the first quarter of 2012, there was a coup in Mali. The rebels in Northern Mali, perceived the event as an auspicious time to make the final push to pull the North out of Mali. After the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Touareg rebel fighters who had been recruited to fight alongside the Libyan army, on the side of Gaddafi, returned to Northern Mali and introduced fiercer action, more violence and more substratum into the Azawad republic project. Unfortunately for the folks who sincerely believed in the Azawad republic project as the panacea for the social, political and economic problems stagnating Northern Mali; the Touareg rebels who went to Libya to fight as mercenaries for Muammar Gaddafi returned to Northern Mali after the fall of Gaddafi with extremist Islamist militants, who were committed to the introduction and enforcement of brutal Sharia law in Northern Mali. Whereas, the ordinary folks in Northern Mali were hitherto practicing a moderate form of Islam; the extremist Islamists subjected the people of Northern Mali to the harshest form of Sharia law. The Islamist extremists hijacked the Touareg rebellion. It would appear that this was where the rebels lost the everyday folks in Northern Mali

 The intervention of France in the miasma in Mali was provoked by the action of the Islamic extremists who were rolling down to Bamako in Southern Mali; on a rampaging mission to conquer the city and assume total control over the entire geographical territory of Mali. France got scared and feared for the lives and welfare of the very many French citizens in Bamako and Southern Mali. Soldiers from ECOWAS countries who were scheduled to be drafted into Mali under a UN mandate sometime in the last quarter of 2013, to help reverse the new political equation occasioned by the coup in Bamako; were hastily flown into Mali, much earlier than originally scheduled, to help halt the further advance of the extremist Islamists and more importantly to help kick the extremist Islamists out of Mali.

The political, economic and social dynamics that predicated the desire of Northern Malian political leaders to have their own country is not unique to Mali. Had the Islamic extremists not hijack the struggle of the Sahelian and Tamashek speaking Touareg Azawadians to get their republic of Azawad; the everyday people of Northern would have very likely joined the struggle to free northern Mali from Bamako. The story of Mali is the story of many African countries. Majority of African politicians are guilty of extremely selfish approach to governance. The average African ruler conducts himself like his country’s commonwealth is his personal estate. It is not uncommon to find huge swaths of the masses in an African country harboring deep bitterness and suppressed frustration over unaddressed injustice, poverty, corruption, oppression, lack of infrastructure and countless other genres of social injustice. Virtually every African country is still as geo-politically structured as the European colonialists structured them. Many ethnic nations who were forced into political unions by the Europeans are still struggling and fighting for improved and re-defined political re-structuring that will give the constituent ethnic nations more comfortable socio-politico and economic existence.

Many African leaders run their countries like the citizens are merely around to serve the leaders. Many leaders in Africa lead like the masses are conquered people. Though many African countries operate the federal system of government; many African leaders lead their countries like they are unitary states. Many African leaders seem to have no idea that government business must be conducted with extreme transparency and in a way and manner that would allay the fears of the various ethnic nations in the polity. Government is about development and the government must be seen to be driving the engine of development northward and at the same time closer to the people. This explains why local governments must be autonomous. Autonomy of local governments helps to bring governments very close to the local people in a geo-polity. The closeness to the people that local governments facilitate helps to introduce stability and peace to the polity.

Mali Interim President Traore Diouncounda

 The federal system of government also helps to give the constituent ethnic nations, the space and freedom to govern their constituent parts of the country. Under a federal system of government, constituent ethnic nations are able to manage and drive the engine of development in their constituent part of the country. In a federal system of government, only affairs that are best conducted by the federal government i.e defense and foreign affairs are left to the federal government. The major problem that encumbers federal states is the fact that the operators run the states like they are unitary states. Some politicians run some federal states with so much mediocrity that the whole purpose of creating a federal state becomes meaningless and or defeated.

Without an electron of doubt, the current crisis in Mali is traceable to government failure. If every ethnic nation in Mali enjoys a sense of dignified belonging and the various ethnic nations could see manifest infrastructural development and tangible prosperity, there would be no rebellion; and the extremist Islamists would have no rebellion to hijack. In effect, France and West African countries and some other members of the international community would not be bothered to rush down to save Mali, Malians and foreigners in Mali, if the government had been functioning properly.

As the world labors to redeem the independence and sovereignty of Mali, it must not be forgotten, that the greatest threat to the very existence of Mali are the ignorant and mediocre operators of the government of Mali. The failure of the state of Mali is predicated on the failure of the government in Bamako. The government of Mali in Bamako has no control over every Malian territory. A country that has no complete or total control over every inch of its territory or total control over every instrumentality of violence in its geo-polity is a failed state. Thus, the failure of the state of and the current crisis in Mali is directly traceable to the failure of government in Mali. Every African government must pay attention to this fact.

State of Ghana’s readiness to manage any form of disruption (Disaster or Contingency Management)

Many would prefer to term it Disaster Management. I would however, refer to it as Contingency Management hereinafter referred to as CM.

How far are we as a nation from the desired state; A state of adequate preparedness to handle any form of disruption, be it man made (such as utility service outage, other critical services’ outages, fire outbreak, criminal activities, robbery, kidnaps, acts of terrorism, pandemics and others) or an act of God – major floods, earthquakes just to mention the ones with a high probability of occurrence in our part of the global world?

Broadly speaking, CM has four main phases namely Mitigation, Preparation, Response and Recovery. Mitigation is about processes and procedures to prevent disruptions. Preparation is about having the right structures in place, documented, understood and well rehearsed by the various stakeholders. Response is a post event exercise aimed at timely intervention to prevent further damage and to safeguard life and property. Recovery is targeted at restoring things back to normal operating state/levels.

A central command structure is key to ensuring effective Crisis Management, Crisis Communication Management and Business/Service Restoration.

In our nation, a number of state institutions exist to manage disaster situations in this country – the Military (ground, naval and air), National Fire Service, the Police Service, the Ambulance Service, Health Service and almighty NADMO – the National Disaster Management Organisation.

I would quickly admit that these institutions, many a time, are excellent players in their individual capacities given the right equipment. For instance, in the early evening of Friday 11^th May 2012, a truck fully loaded with 20litre gallons of an unknown substance was saved from total damage to itself and to its cargo by the timely intervention of one of the newly acquired fire tenders. And many of such examples exist.  But the question is, ‘is this what is desired?’ 

For effective contingency management, a perfect co-ordination among the agencies mentioned earlier and an efficient central command structure is desired.

In the example above, the Police were clearly missing. Don’t misconstrue this to be a criticism of the Ghana Police – it is simply to illustrate a point. The truck was in the middle of the road adjacent to the loading bay of the Accra Mall – ‘spintex’ road portion - where the incident occurred and other road users were left on their own to make any maneuvers they deemed fit just to continue their journey.  

Would it look different, if the Police were also on the scene to cordon off safe zones around the affected truck and orderly control traffic whilst plans were invoked to remove the affected truck and tidy up the road in a timely manner? What about the cargo carried by the truck – should these not be protected from bad guys who would want to take advantage of the situation – the content could be hazardous requiring professional techniques of disposal. 

What about the damage to the road surface from the resultant spillage– should the affected area not be cleaned appropriately to prevent damage to the road surface and cars and individuals using that portion of road? What about the need to preserve evidence that could come in handy in any criminal investigations? What about the flow of this substance – unknown nature – into the drains and thereafter carried to other parts of the city – a source of contamination? Is there a benchmark time limit within which the road should be cleared back to normal state? Who is coordinating the entire end-to-end management of the crisis /disaster situation. Who is monitoring for effective work done? Who is putting the lessons learnt together?  Any education or new or revised rule required? Who is ensuring a non-recurrence?

Same questions could arise of any other incident?

Would it be a perfect idea to have the Emergency Response teams – Police, Fire and Ambulance arrive simultaneously on the scene of every major accident/incident – invoked by just a single distress call or radio announcement?

Role of Communications in CM. 

The operability of various communication systems including Internet sources, satellite and GSM telephony, fax and multimedia (radio print and audio-visual) is increasingly becoming pivotal to the success of the Response and Recovery phases. It is also becoming key tools in the Mitigation and Preparation phases.  What is important is the CONSISTENCY, TIMELINESS and APPROPRIATENESS of the messages to the target groups. The advent of Social Media and its associated speed of delivery however pose a challenge that needs to be well managed by any central coordinating team. 

 Mitigation/Preventive measures

In CM, it is preferable to make adequate preparations to handle any form of disaster at the same time putting in place preventive mechanisms that will ensure the need to invoke such measures do not arise – similar to the old axiom– ‘Prevention is Better than Cure’.

Globally, focus is now heavily placed on disaster prevention. The objectives of NADMO as clearly spelled out at the Ministry of Interior website (http://mint.gov.gh/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=42) includes disaster management coordination role and prevention of disasters. Yes, we mainly hear of NADMO when there are the usual annual floods affecting parts of the country in a response posture distributing relief items etc. Well-done NADMO, so far so good.

Going forward, I would like to see NADMO or any other responsible agency, more in the forefront of PREVENTION. Why can’t we stop the annual floods or even remove completely the devastation it comes with year on year?  Is it because of cost of infrastructure or technical know-how or simply the will (or rather lack of will) to do things right?  Recent bold measures taken to clear waterways in Accra have paid off tremendously. So I believe, where there is a will, there is always a way.

Still on prevention, I see a lot of disasters in waiting; waiting to strike at the opportune time, whilst we all look on unconcern. Take the example of bill- boards. Some are either not properly mounted – deep routed, well secured to the base and mounting with the wind direction and speed in mind. No wonder mother rain and strong winds expose such shoddy mounts by bringing them down. We should count ourselves so lucky that not much damage is done to life and property by such collapses. We may not however be always lucky. Take a look at the mounting bolts and nuts of this massive billboard on the Spintex road.

This is a heavy vehicular and pedestrian traffic zone.  Your guess is as good as mine – it is only a matter of time that something will definitely go wrong. Many such examples exist. Who authorizes the mounting of billboards and who monitors their state of health at regular intervals?

Recent rains have ripped off roofs and glass claddings on beautiful buildings on the Spintex road – ironically, one of this 4-storey structure houses a showroom of a renowned furniture maker.

The questions again. Who supervises buildings under construction. Who issues the permits? Who provides final report to ensure work is done to approved specifications – As-built final drawings against approved drawings?  This includes electrical cabling standards, electrical gadgets standards, building retrofitting and fit-out approval standards. Do we have a building code in Ghana and who is mandated to enforce it? 

The National Fire service has a legal backing to ensure all commercial buildings meet certain minimum health and safety standards. Is this being seriously enforced for the protection of life and property? Is the National Fire Service appreciating that enforcement in itself can create, to its own benefit, a sustainable revenue stream, an incentive that cannot be ignored?

On road construction, it appears the construction process is meant to punish the users as there are no proper diversion signages, total absence of safety signs (both day and night) or where attempts are made to mount, these are poorly designed and even fall off within a few days of mounting. Some constructions are abandoned midstream and excavations are done and left unattended sometimes for years posing serious health and safety hazards to commuters and residents. These certainly do not mitigate/prevent disasters, they rather expose all and sundry to imminent dangers. Are there any standards to enforce here, and which institution is responsible?

Now to road traffic. We were used to single lanes and a few dual lanes, now we are beginning to have multiple lanes all over. This comes with another hazard – lack of lane discipline. Does it call for driver training and re-licensing or education or license renewal time retraining? Who enforces driver appropriate discipline on the roads? As regards driving on the shoulders of the road, and using sections of certain outer lanes as car or commercial vehicle ‘loading bays’ and ‘parking lots’, should we now be accepting them as a legitimate part of the Ghana Highway code or should they be stopped?

Some of us strongly believe that part of the cause of the traffic congestion in the city is largely due to driver indiscipline. If this is upheld, then, how can it be curtailed and who has the responsibility? Traffic congestion impacts movement of rescue vehicles and certainly affects disaster response times, besides loss of productivity and adverse effect on work-life balance of the citizenry.

Vehicle licensing. Are all the vehicles bearing the DVLA badge really roadworthy? Do we have any standards to maintain here?  Who is regulating and monitoring the adherence to standards of the private entities authorized to examine vehicles?

Road Axle weight. Who has the responsibility to enforce this to protect our roads? Heavy-duty trucks in the city during certain time of day – who needs to regulate and enforce this? Should we not be preserving what we already have by avoiding misuse, if there are competing demands on our budgets?

Kofi Porturphy (NADMO Boss)

By the way; Are Our Roads ‘Vehicle Worthy’?

Maintenance culture.  Critical equipment and infrastructure fail with disastrous consequences (including loss of precious lives) simply due to lack of maintenance or misuse. These include the roads, utility service equipment, medical and educational facilities. A stitch in time saves so much. Adherence to routine maintenance ensures continuous service.

I do not have the space to mention all the risk factors which management will go a long way to help prevent disasters in this country in this single write-up. But suffice it to say that if all the regulatory/monitoring agencies were performing their assigned roles and responsibilities to minimum acceptable levels, Ghana as a nation would reduce the need for disaster responses to the very unavoidable ones only.

Earlier on I had mentioned Crisis Communication. This is very critical to the success of any meaningful and timely incident response. The need for diversified means of information dissemination is equally important. The NCA has a responsibility to ensure the various telecommunication companies have adequate, reliable and resilient contingency structures in place including satellite means of communication. Crisis Management ensures the right tools are in place to deploy at critical times. Besides, effective CM on the part of all business entities (regardless of industry sector or size) ensures the maintenance of stakeholder value, as well as enhancing profitability.

Training and awareness. Training/awareness creation and coordination is critical to the success of CM. Agencies and all business concerns need to train their staff in timely response tactics. The entire citizenry need mass education in basic health and safety procedures wherever we work, shop, spend leisure time or live in addition to dos and don’ts in managing and preventing disasters.

 

Contingency Management - Are we there yet?

 Eric Magnusen,CEO: BCM-Consult, Al FasluJadeed. 

Writer’s comment:  No one should attempt to put any form of political colouring or spin on this piece of work. Indeed, it will be considered very naïve if such an attempt is made. Most of the issues highlighted have prevailed for many years. My intention is to provoke healthy debate on critical concerns impacting society that need conscientious and collective effort to address.

ERIC MAGNUSEN, June 15,  2012.  eric.magnusen@gmail.com

Colin Powell fabricated lies to justify US-led war on Iraq

By David Swanson

Share | Email | Print

Collin Powell

John Brennan's performance at his Rejection Hearing in the Senate Lack of Intelligence Committee on Thursday will likely be a contender for this year's Colin Powell Memorial Bullshit Award.

Colin Powell set the standard on Feb. 5, 2003, at the United Nations.

Powell relied on the testimony of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law to persuade us of the supposed need to attack Iraq. Powell recited his claims about weapons of mass destruction but carefully left out the part where that same gentleman had testified that all of Iraq's WMDs had been destroyed.

Think of that. Someone tells you about a bunch of old weapons and at the same time tells you they've been destroyed, and you choose to repeat the part about the weapons and censor the part about their destruction. How would you explain that?

Well, it's a sin of omission, so ultimately Powell could claim he forgot. "Oh yeah, I meant to say that, but it slipped my mind."

But how would he explain this:

During his presentation at the United Nations, Powell provided this translation of an intercepted conversation between Iraqi army officers:

"They're inspecting the ammunition you have, yes.

"Yes.

"For the possibility there are forbidden ammo.

"For the possibility there is by chance forbidden ammo?

"Yes.

"And we sent you a message yesterday to clean out all of the areas, the scrap areas, the abandoned areas. Make sure there is nothing there."

The incriminating phrases "clean all of the areas" and "make sure there is nothing there" do not appear in the official State Department translation of the exchange:

"Lt. Colonel: They are inspecting the ammunition you have.

"Colonel: Yes.

"Lt. Col: For the possibility there are forbidden ammo.

"Colonel: Yes?

"Lt. Colonel: For the possibility there is by chance, forbidden ammo.

"Colonel: Yes.

"Lt. Colonel: And we sent you a message to inspect the scrap areas and the abandoned areas.

"Colonel: Yes."

Powell Peddling lies at the UN

Powell was writing fictional dialogue. He put those extra lines in there and pretended somebody had said them. Here's what Bob Woodward said about this in his book, Plan of Attack.
For most of his presentation, Powell wasn't inventing dialogue, but he was presenting as facts numerous claims that his own staff had warned him were weak and indefensible.

Powell told the UN and the world: "We know that Saddam’s son, Qusay, ordered the removal of all prohibited weapons from Saddam's numerous palace complexes." The Jan. 31, 2003, evaluation of Powell's draft remarks prepared for him by the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research ("INR") flagged this claim as "WEAK."

Regarding alleged Iraqi concealment of key files, Powell said: "key files from military and scientific establishments have been placed in cars that are being driven around the countryside by Iraqi intelligence agents to avoid detection."

The Jan. 31, 2003, INR evaluation flagged this claim as "WEAK" and added "Plausibility open to question." A Feb. 3, 2003, INR evaluation of a subsequent draft of Powell's remarks noted:

"Page 4, last bullet, re key files being driven around in cars to avoid inspectors. This claim is highly questionable and promises to be targeted by critics and possibly UN inspection officials as well."

That didn't stop Colin from stating it as fact and apparently hoping that, even if UN inspectors thought he was a brazen liar, U.S. media outlets wouldn't tell anyone.

On the issue of biological weapons and dispersal equipment, Powell said: "we know from sources that a missile brigade outside Baghdad was disbursing rocket launchers and warheads containing biological warfare agents to various locations, distributing them to various locations in western Iraq."

The Jan. 31, 2003, INR evaluation flagged this claim as "WEAK":

"WEAK. Missiles with biological warheads reportedly dispersed. This would be somewhat true in terms of short-range missiles with conventional warheads, but is questionable in terms of longer-range missiles or biological warheads."

This claim was again flagged in the Feb. 3, 2003, evaluation of a subsequent draft of Powell's presentation: "Page 5. first para, claim re missile brigade dispersing rocket launchers and BW warheads. This claim too is highly questionable and might be subjected to criticism by UN inspection officials."

That didn't stop Colin. In fact, he brought out visual aids to help with his lying

Powell showed a slide of a satellite photograph of an Iraqi munitions bunker, and lied:

The Jan. 31, 2003, INR evaluation flagged this claim as "WEAK" and added: "We support much of this discussion, but we note that decontamination vehicles - cited several times in the text - are water trucks that can have legitimate uses... Iraq has given UNMOVIC what may be a plausible account for this activity - that this was an exercise involving the movement of conventional explosives; presence of a fire safety truck (water truck, which could also be used as a decontamination vehicle) is common in such an event."

Powell's own staff had told him the thing was a water truck, but he told the UN it was "a signature item…a decontamination vehicle." The UN was going to need a decontamination vehicle itself by the time Powell finished spewing his lies and disgracing his country.

He just kept piling it on: "UAVs outfitted with spray tanks constitute an ideal method for launching a terrorist attack using biological weapons," he said.

The Jan. 31, 2003, INR evaluation flagged this statement as "WEAK" and added: "the claim that experts agree UAVs fitted with spray tanks are ‘an ideal method for launching a terrorist attack using biological weapons’ is WEAK."

In other words, experts did NOT agree with that claim.

Powell kept going, announcing "in mid-December weapons experts at one facility were replaced by Iraqi intelligence agents who were to deceive inspectors about the work that was being done there."

The Jan. 31, 2003, INR evaluation flagged this claim as "WEAK" and "not credible" and "open to criticism, particularly by the UN inspectorates."

His staff was warning him that what he planned to say would not be believed by his audience, which would include the people with actual knowledge of the matter.

To Powell that was no matter.

Powell, no doubt figuring he was in deep already, so what did he have to lose, went on to tell the UN: "On orders from Saddam Hussein, Iraqi officials issued a false death certificate for one scientist, and he was sent into hiding."

The Jan. 31, 2003, INR evaluation flagged this claim as "WEAK" and called it "Not implausible, but UN inspectors might question it. (Note: Draft states it as fact.)"

And Powell stated it as fact. Notice that his staff was not able to say there was any evidence for the claim, but rather that it was "not implausible." That was the best they could come up with. In other words: "They might buy this one, Sir, but don't count on it."

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

 Powell, however, wasn't satisfied lying about one scientist. He had to have a dozen. He told the United Nations: "A dozen [WMD] experts have been placed under house arrest, not in their own houses, but as a group at one of Saddam Hussein's guest houses."

The Jan. 31, 2003, INR evaluation flagged this claim as "WEAK" and "Highly questionable." This one didn't even merit a "Not implausible."

Powell also said: "In the middle of January, experts at one facility that was related to weapons of mass destruction, those experts had been ordered to stay home from work to avoid the inspectors. Workers from other Iraqi military facilities not engaged in elicit weapons projects were to replace the workers who’d been sent home."

Powell's staff called this "WEAK," with "Plausibility open to question."

All of this stuff sounded plausible enough to viewers of Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. And that, we can see now, was what interested Colin. But it must have sounded highly implausible to the UN inspectors. Here was a guy who had not been with them on any of their inspections coming in to tell them what had happened.

We know from Scott Ritter, who led many UNSCOM inspections in Iraq, that U.S. inspectors had used the access that the inspection process afforded them to spy for, and to set up means of data collection for, the CIA. So there was some plausibility to the idea that an American could come back to the UN and inform the UN what had really happened on its inspections.

Yet, repeatedly, Powell's staff warned him that the specific claims he wanted to make were not going to even sound plausible. They will be recorded by history more simply as blatant lies.

The examples of Powell's lying listed above are taken from an extensive report released by Congressman John Conyers: "The Constitution in Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War."