Published on March 7, 2012
By Kwesi Adu
 |
| Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) |
In the wake of the decision of government to increase the
prices of petroleum products, Mr. Alex Mould, the Chief Executive of the
National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the body that advised for the prices to be
increased, called on government to sell the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to private
buyers.
According to Mr. Mould and people who think like him,
government should not be engaged in production and that it is because TOR is state-owned
that it is not making profits. The same Mr. Mould has been claiming that he is
not a politician and does not make political decisions. I wonder what this
advice to privatise TOR is. Not political? But this is Mr. Mould for you. The
same Mr. Mould has also been saying that the revenue to government resulting
from the increase could be used to fund the school feeding programmes or even
build roads. And yet, he says these views of his are not political.
I really
wonder what Mr. Mould’s understanding of politics is. It is this sort of
two-faced and feigned posturing that spurs on Mr. Mould to tell the country
that the country subsidizes the prices of petroleum products although he does
not tell the country at what price the oil importers sell the fuel products to
the NPA. If there was really nothing to hide, Mr. Mould and the NPA would have
told us what the CIF price of petrol is.
Mr. Mould reminds us that TOR has not made profits since
1996. That may well be the case. However, how can TOR make a profit when the
main interest of the crusaders of “the private sector is the engine of growth”
always make sure that the state company is crippled? It is all right to cripple TOR because it
makes is more profitable for the private importers of finished petroleum
products if TOR does not function.
How can anybody expect TOR to make profits
when appointments to the top management of the refinery is turned into a
partisan football, whereby every new government appoints a new Managing Director,
whether or not the incumbent MD was efficient? Sometimes, the people they put
there have no knowledge about the business. Their only qualification is that
they are a party members. Otherwise why would the government, the only
shareholder of TOR not advertise the job and appoint MDs to it on the basis of
set (non-partisan) criteria.
The only reason politicians would want to appoint new
Managing Directors whenever they come to power is that the new MD would be
expected to help the new breed of rulers to siphon off the resources of the
refinery for private ends. Otherwise, why would a new government replace the MD
of a profit-making company with a party person? Was the company set up for the
nation or the political party in power?
 |
| Dr Kwame Nkrumah |
Ever since the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, we have
been bored stiff with choruses of “the private sector is the engine of growth”.
No one has effectively been in the way of this “private sector” choristers for
47 years to stop this “engine of growth”.
Yet there is no growth. We are going backwards. And they keep talking as
if to blame Nkrumah for setting up state companies, although Nkrumah has been
out of the scene all this while. So where is the growth?
Where is the sugar-cane factory or the textile factories or
the national airline, or the Black Star Line or the Electronics industries
which were taken over by the “engine of growth”? After selling off the matches
factory to the private sector, why are we importing matches?
Where is the
corned beef after the Volta Corned Beef factory was sold to the private sector.
Because they say that the private sector works best, we
collapsed our gold refinery in Tarkwa. We handed over our gold mines to the
private sector (who are all foreigners). They mine the gold and take it abroad.
We see none of it here. Yet when Ghanaians are talking, they say, “we have
gold, we have diamond, etc, etc” Who told you, you have gold? The gold in Ghana
belongs to Anglogold, Chiraano Gold Mine, Newmont, etc who mine and send it to
their countries. What an excellent example of an “engine of growth”? Now they
say we have oil. Which oil? Where is it?
So if the private sector is really the engine of growth,
what in hell did the Government think they were doing when they bought VALCO
from Kaiser and ALCOA? To the credit of Kwame Nkrumah, he established state
companies, from the scratch without buying private companies that were failing.
The paradox is that our private sector supporters go and buy an old and ailing
private company for the state and then, after sinking millions of Dollars in
them, turn round and say that government has no business doing business so they
are going to sell it.
The truth is that when Kaiser and ALCOA decided to dispose
of VALCO, they had already made their
profits and wanted out. If they did not have a private buyer, they were liberty
to sell it as scrap. Now our politicians went and bought it with the nation’s
money. And yet up till now there are no papers covering the sale.
 |
| Mr Alex Mould, NPA Boss |
Very soon, the Government is going to tell us that they have
to increase the electricity tariff because they have to remove an imaginary
“subsidy”.
The truth is that,
VALCO is processing aluminum ingots on the cheap for a US company. Ghana does
not gain from it apart from the dregs which are given to ALUWORKS and others to
make cooking pans. While all these are
happening, our Government is not interested in the processing of Ghana bauxite
into aluminum, even if it means making the private sector do it.
Not long ago, Hannah Tetteh, then Trade Minister, claimed
that the Chinese were about to build a bauxite processing plant in Prestea. We
never heard about it anymore. .
There are politicians who oppose privatization of state
assets when they are in opposition. As soon as their party gets into power they
do a complete summersault and immediately support privatization. The same
people oppose petroleum price increases when they are in opposition. They would
explain in most convincing terms why the increases were unnecessary. But once
in government they have the best argument to support increases. Such charlatans
are only worthy of contempt.
Since both sides of the partisan divide support
privatization and deregulation, shall we start implementing the policies?
On deregulation, we should start with the abolition of the
National Petroleum Authority. There should be no regulations about the
importation and pricing of petroleum products. Just like the importation of
rice, the importer would bring his/her goods to the market and sell at the
price that would be competitive. Abolishing the NPA would help remove the
connivance between the NPA officials (who pretend to be working for government
but are really in league with the importers) and the oil importers. This would
save the money that is used to pay NPA officials who really work against the
people.
We should then abolish the PURC and remove regulations on
the utility sector. After all, the PURC is the biggest toothless bulldog in the
country. They cannot even follow up customer complaints against the ECG and the
water company. I know a customer who, for over one and half years, has been
waiting for the PURC to act in connection with a wrongful disconnection of his
electricity by the ECG. Why do we pay people who do nothing?
Then we must consider privatizing the ECG. This would remove
the current practice whereby Government Ministries and Departments constantly
fail to pay their electricity bills but never get disconnected. Which private
company would countenance impunity by government and risk having their company
collapse. They would quickly disconnect the lights of the Armed Forces (another
serial defaulter) and the Ministries and proceed to court to claim judgment
debt of more than GHC230 million owed them by the government. Then we should
privatise TOR (as demanded by Alex Mould of the NPA). No one would spend
millions buying TOR and sit there to allow politicians and government officials
to give them instructions on what they should or should not do.
Then we should give VALCO back to whoever would want it.
They cannot pay their electricity bills although the amount of electricity they
consume is enough to supply the whole of the Tema Township and its industries.
It was a daft idea for the supporters of the private sector to have that ailing
company hang around the neck of Ghanaians like a stinking albatross.
The most laughable thing about VALCO is that
the Managing Director is someone who rejects any notion of state participation
in business. He is so committed to the private sector that he formed the IEA as
a campaigning tool for private sector domination in the economy. Why would a
person like that be expected to manage a state company with all his heart and
his entire mind?
Whilst we are at it, we should also consider privatizing
CHRAJ. It is another useless paper-tiger. They resolve no problem and many of
the officers are more arrogant than a football star that I know. I know a petitioner who tried to follow up on
a case at CHRAJ for which he had been waiting for more than one year. The
officer told him point blank that “I am doing you a favour”. Since this
ticking-off, the petitioner has not had the courage to approach CHRAJ any
longer. He is now suffering administrative injustice on the quiet. If you send
a petition to CHRAJ you become the accused rather than a petitioner. If anyone
doubts this they should ask Mr. Alex Opoku of Sefwi Wiawso Municipal Assembly,
who was retired before he was 60 years.
By the way, why should we not also privatise the Controller
and Accountant General’s Department? This government Department does not even
have a proper filing system. That is why
they have thousands of ghost names on the government payroll. If a person based
in Kumbugu District Assembly is unfortunate enough to have a problem with their
pay, the person has to be going up and down from the North to Accra every time.
De-centralisation never applies to the Controller’s Department. After more than
one year, they would not have been able to resolve the problem. This is because
they have no proper filing system.
 |
| Logo of Bank of Ghana |
Since they say state companies do not work, why not
privatise the Bui Dam and the Akosombo Dam? Perhaps, with the involvement of
“the engine of growth” the VRA top management would not sit there until the
depletion of their supplies of light crude (for the powering of thermal plants)
before they say: “We are having problems establishing Letters of Credit”. The
private sector would not countenance such sloppiness. But they do in these
organizations because the CEO is a political appointee and does not care about
the common good.
Thinking about it, it would be a good idea to privatise the
Bank of Ghana. After all, through their mismanagement of the Cedi and
sloppiness, the Cedi falls in value and then they ask us, the ordinary people,
to pay for higher prices of petroleum products because, in their words: “the Cedis has depreciated”
Na who caus’am?
FILMMAKING AS A TOOL FOR HISTORICAL
ENLIGHTENMENT
The role of cinema in
enlightening the African continent still remains an unexploited venture. During
the early days of cinema, propaganda films were made by the Western countries
as tool for creating patriotism for their citizens. For example in Germany,
after the end of the World War I, the output of the German film industry was
relatively insignificant, both within the country and internationally.
Germany’s 2000 movie theatres were playing mostly French, American, Italian and
Danish films. Although America and the French banned German films from their
Screens immediately, Germany was not even in a solid position to ban French and
American films-The theaters would have little to show if they did.
 |
| Ousmane Sambene |
In order to control imported
competitions, as well as to create its own propaganda films, the German
government began to support the film industry. Their first line of action was
in 1916 when film imports were banned except from neutral Demark. Productions increased rapidly; from a dozen
small companies in 1911, to 131 by 1918.
The war was unpopular with
Germany, and the rebellious tendencies increased after the success of the
Russian revolution in the 1917. The government in order to promote pro war
films salvaged the film industry. The Deutche Bank and large industrial
concerns combined several small firms to create the large company, known as
Universum Film Aktienge sells chaft (UFA). That is how far the government of
the Western world supported some of the film industries to grow in the name of
patriotism.
Few days from now Ghanaians
will mark the 56th birthday of this country called Ghana. We would see how the
ruling government and members of the Diplomatic corps will dress in plump and
pageantry to mark this day. Ghanaians all over the country who will not be at
the stadiums, will stay glued to their television sets to watch the events. I
remember with fresh memories how I so much hated the event of 6th
March.
In the North the weather in March is always
hot and we were often made to march on it every day from February to the eve of
sixth March. On the said day, we will walk on foot to the stadium. At the
stadium we stood on the basking sun were a series of schools including ours
will await our turn to exhibit our skills in marching. The invited guest and
the district officials are often on a dais under a canopy watching us display
our skills.
How many of us knew who Dr.
Kwame Nkrumah is and what he stood for? On sixth March pick a sample of
students from any of the institutions ask them to give a summary of the life of
this great political prophet of all times.
You will be surprised that they won’t have anything to say beyond the
point that he won independence for Ghana.
We all will agree that there
was a deliberate attempt by the Western leeches and their cohorts, some of whom
undoubtbly were (are) Ghanaians, to obliterate everything he stood for; books
that had his image on them were torn off, video footage that showed most of his
political speeches and achievements were burnt. This attempt to kill his dreams
and what he stood for, has woefully failed.
 |
| Kwaw Ansah |
Cinema is one of the tools that
when properly used will enlighten the average Ghanaian on the lives of our past
heroes. Though there are some documentaries about the life of Dr. Nkrumah,
these documentaries do not tell the story extensively. This is because the
visuals are not there to enhance the story.
Hollywood has made a feature length movie on
the life of Nelson Mandela with Morgan Freeman starring as Mandela. Similarly,
the last King of Scotland is a movie about the life of former Ugandan dictator,
the late Amin Dada Iddi, with Forest Whittaker starring as Amin. Most of these
movies to some extend are exaggerated to give the Western or American point of
view, and to give reasons that justify the interference of Western forces at a
given time. This is what happens if we allow foreigners to tell our stories. In most movies the African is totally denigrated; hair, a
cannibal, nude and without any defined culture or intellectual asset. Hollywood
movies such as Tarzan and King Solomon Mines are among a few
movies that badly misrepresents Africa. These films shot in East Africa are
among a lot of other films that uses Africa as resource but denies the African
point of view.
Imperialism and neocolonialism
has many ugly heads and film has a significant role to play in fighting this
canker. There is therefore the need for us as a state and responsible
individuals to look beyond the lucrative business of filmmaking and produce
films whose story line will show case the past lives o of our heroes and tackle
issues that concern national cohesion and patriotism. I have never been so
emotionally touched in any movie than the movie Heritage Africa produced and directed by our own Kwaw Ansah. Mr. Kwaw Ansah would confess to us that it
was not producing that move. There was an imperial power that was ready to give
him some huge amount of money, if could alter the script Heritage Africa to
favour the British side of the story of the colonial rule in Gold Coast.
Film-makers across the African
continent like Ousmane Sembene of Senegal have also faced untold hardships in
producing their own stories. During the second world war, Senegal just like
Ghana had some of her able men conscripted into the French army with the same
or similar promises like that of our own veterans of the then Gold Coast under
British rule; better houses when they return, wages and other facilities. In
his movie Camp De Thiaroye (1988), Sembane showed how a whole contingent
of veteran soldiers were bombed dead, by the so-called French military officers
at their sleeping base called camp Thiaroye as they protest in demand of what was
promised them. This movie has touched so many Africans and I believe it is by
far the best honour so far for those whom this callous and inhumane act was
meted on. How well have we honoured our 28th February heroes? I know it very well. They will be matching
their weak bones to commemorate the day and after that, a government cocktail
for them. That has been the story every 28 February. What about the three
fallen soldiers? I heard weeds have grown over their graves. What a wonderful
way to remember them! Seipati Bulane
Hopa, Secretary General of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), described Sembène as "a luminary that lit
the torch for ordinary people to walk the path of light...a voice that spoke
without hesitation, a man with an impeccable talent, who unwaveringly held on
to his artistic principles and did that with great integrity and dignity.
 |
| King Ampaw |
King Ampaw is a film director
cum actor extraordinaire. If what I have read on the internet about Ampaw
producing a feature length Movie on Dr. Nkrumah is true, then I entreat every
Ghanaian and the state to do all it can so that this movie will truly reflect
the life of this great son of Africa.
The movies produced these days
in Ghana do not in to-to portray the Ghanaian as he is. We are indoctrinated by
Western or American movie styles and this has manifested in the movies we
produce. This is what I have to say: America their America, Britain their
Britain and Africa our Africa. The bleaching of our skins, the wearing of
armless skimpy and transparent sleeves and verses, and the nasal slangs we
often try to speak in our films is making us worst off.
Why have we failed as writers
and filmmakers to live up to expectation like Kwaw Ansah, King Ampaw, and
Ousmane Sambene? It is simple. These people have experienced colonial life and
are also widely read. Sembene in his own words would say that he has been
trained as a filmmaker in the University of Life. He has struggled in the Ports
of Dakar for survival and has seen so much of the assimilation of France on the
indigenes of Senegal. This prolific filmmaker and writer has also seen the many times that the French
produced stories in Senegal that clearly tell of how much they have liberated
Senegal from its primitive and antiquated way of doing things. There are often
massive exaggerations to discredit the little efforts the local people have
achieved for themselves .
 |
| Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah |
How many of the young students who will be on parade
on 6th March have read about the history of their home towns and
that of Ghana? How much of African
history is taught in our schools? Kwaw Ansah is a filmmaker par excellence. The
knowing Africa quiz which is currently showing on his television station (TV
AFRICA) has so much helped me and I believe it is same for the tertiary
and secondary schools contestants and the general audience.
I will be glad if government
and other able individuals will honour Dr. Nkrumah by producing a feature
length movie of this African messiah. The government should also pass in to law
the film bill which I know will to some
extent, check the profeliration of
foreign films and other substandard movies produced locally whose content are
full of unnecessary violence, obnoxious and obscene content that undermine our
African identity.
BY
Joseph Aketema
Final Year Student
National Film and Television
Institute
GHANA’S ENERGY CRISIS – THE CPP’S BLUEPRINT
Energy is one of the parameters
in the value addition chain. The
rest being TIME, TOOL, MATERIAL, MONEY, MAN POWER (HUMAN RESOURCE),
INFORMATION; without energy there can be no production of any sort.
The present Energy crises are
hitting hard on industry. Some foreign companies are already relocating outside
Ghana. Ghanaian industrialists are losing out because of higher production cost
as a result of the situation.
EXAMPLES
OF EFFECT ON INDUSTRY :
- In a normal biscuit factory continuous ovens are used for the production of biscuits. When power outage occurs the conveyer in the oven stops and it result in the damage of biscuits.
- Industries using steam boilers are compelled to restart the boilers after the power has been re stalled. In other words, all the energy used in previously starting the boiler goes waste. Factories using extruders have special problems in that the extruder locks up during power outage because the operator could not clean the extruder before the power outage.
- In a vegetable oil refinery vacuum pumps are used to stabilize the relation between temperature and pressure. If power goes off and the vacuum pump stops, the oil temperature rises uncontrollably completely destroying the oil.
- Poultry farmers using incubators always lose out during power outages. These are some of the serious problems manufactures are experiencing as a result of the present power outage situation.
- When you are in a steel mill, power outages can be catastrophic.
- Finally, manufactures have to pay workers whether there is power or no power and this has resulted in a loss of revenue and increased wage bills.
MAIN
OBJECTIVES OF ENERGY POLICY
CPP Policy would be aimed at
providing uninterrupted and reliable but quality energy at a
reasonably low cost to meet the
domestic needs of the population and
also the needs of industry, The policy will also meet the Transportation
requirements, (Air, Water and Land Transportation).
 |
| Samia Yaba Nkrumah, CPP Chairperson |
The policy would also
discriminate the use of energy for irrigation as against any other application
.The policy will also look at conservation of energy to save cost. In this
regard , attention would be paid to the use of energy saving bulb including
LED.(light emission diodes), introduction of wind towers as is common practice
in Australia and middle east, to suck out heat from buildings, the use of
insulated materials in the walls of buildings as it is common in Denmark, to
reduce heat transfer into the building, the use of solar water heaters
to reduce energy demand for heating water for domestic applications i.e.,
cooking food, washing, bathing, etc.
Estate developers would be
encouraged to set up waste disposal systems capable of generating biogas for
use as well as installation of wind turbines for localized generation of power.
TRANSPORTATION
It is common knowledge that transport consume a lot of energy, in
this regard, mass transport –buses, trains, promotion of water transport would
be encouraged, special efforts would be made to improve transportation on the
Volta lake and other rivers such as the Pra and other perennial rivers. The use of Gas and biodiesel would be
strongly promoted as main fuel for transport vehicles.
SOURCES
OF ENERGY:
Since solar is the main source
of energy for the earth, priority would be given to Solar. The next energy
sources would be wind, hydropower, biomass, vegetable oil, biogas, natural gas,
crude oil. There would only be limited use of crude oil.
Ethanol: The main emphasis
would be on renewable fuels. Non- renewable fuels would be reserved for
processing into various materials.
ENERGY
HARDWARE:
A major policy of the CPP is to create
capacity to build hydro power plants, wind turbines, gasification plants to
convert biomass into gas, biodiesel plants and then biogas plants. We think it
is unacceptable, that after fifty-six years, Ghana is compelled to import this
kind of hardware without any kind of programme to build them. We have no reason
to import transformers, insulators, hangers, switch gear, electric motors, and
generators indefinitely into this country. This would be part of long-term
programme with a timeline.
SOLAR:
The sun can be described as the
principal source of energy for the universe. It is estimated than 5.7 hours of
sunlight is enough to meet a year’s energy needs of the world. It is further
estimated that solar energy dissipated on 1sq Km of the Sahara Desert is
equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of crude oil.
Ghana’s unique position on the
globe only 4 degrees above the Equator and the meridian passing through Tema
gives us exceptional advantage to tap energy from the sun.
We can harness the sun’s energy
in three direct ways:
- Water heating through coils over black metal sheet utilizing two tanks
a)
A supply tank
b)
Insulated reservoir tank. Temperatures up to 70
degree C can be achieved if the design is right. Hot water in this form can be
used for miscellaneous application.
- Use of photo voltaic (PV) appliances for generation of electricity for various applications.
- Enhancing the sun’s energy through the use of mirrors for heating water, generating steam and producing power from steam turbines.
WIND
POWER:
The CPP believes that Ghana
needs to adopt the comprehensive approach to solving the energy problem.
Contrary to general perception that Ghana has no wind potential, it is realized
that only Ghana and Senegal on the West Coast have good capacity to produce
salt. This is because both countries have a relatively higher wind speed that
facilitates evaporation of sea water for salt production.
Findings from the U.S.
Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory N.R.E.L,
indicate that even at the height of 12 meters, wind speeds reach between 4m/s
(meters per second) and 6m/s at Aploku and Mankoadze. Aploku is not far from Pambros
Salt Ponds (Menskurom).
The 12m by 18 blades with 5m
diameter windmills being manufactured by the Agricultural Engineering Services
of the Ministry of Agriculture and FATECO LTD., producing torque at 1.8m/s wind
speed means that such machines can be deployed nationwide for irrigation to
reduce energy requirement.
Wind turbines if appropriately
deployed in already available wind corridors enhanced under our tree planting
programmes can be used to enhance our power needs.
We believe in the deliberate creation
of wind corridors for power generation. Anybody can test widespread
availability of wind by holding a large cardboard in an open field. With the
aid of GPS and the wind map, potential wind corridors can be identified and
harnessed for power generation. Wind speed tests conducted at Papaye Fast Food
on the Spintex Road gave wind speeds between 7-9 meters per second. At Kawokudi
Junction and Mamprobi Beach all in Accra, wind speeds of over 7 meters per
second were very consistent. It is now known that wind power is viable whenever
oil prices exceed $60.00 per barrel. With the oil price now over $100/barrel,
there is no doubt that Ghana should closely pay attention to the potential of
wind power.
Our investigations indicate
that we can generate 10,000 megawatts of power from the Volta basin. The Volta
River stretches over 1,000 kms; installing 3megawatts wind turbines (height 120
meters, blade diameter 85 meters) over this stretch can produce this power.
Because the Volta basin is a wind corridor, there is no time that there can be
no wind along this long stretch. If the wind turbines are installed triangular
at the distance of 300 meters, it should be possible to generate 27,000
megawatts from these towers. At 33% efficiency, 9,000 megawatts can be guaranteed.
BIOFUELS:
We refer to any energy source
that emanates from biological resource, i.e. plants and animals as biofuel.
Since man has capacity to regenerate plants and multiply animals, these energy
sources can be described as renewable. We must however understand that the sun
is the original supplier of this energy. Plants and animals are energy
convertors and suppliers of energy.
As a tropical country, Ghana
has immense potential and overwhelming advantage to harness biofuels for energy
and power generation. Vegetable Oil, ethanol, biomass and biogas belong to the
biofuel group.
Vegetable oil is described as
liquid solar energy. It is a hydrocarbon with very similar characteristics as
crude oil.
After studying the Palm Oil
Industry, the Germans concluded that actual production costs for Palm Oil are
in the 150 to 250 Euro/ton range.
It is further realized that
West African extraction rates and yields are very low. At the same time
production is done without fertilizers and pesticides, so that the palm oil is
not grown sustainably!
The CPP asserts that no oil
bearing seed in the temperate climate has more than 1000kg of oil per hectare.
Yet in the tropics such as ours, we have oil bearing trees yielding over 3000kg
of oil per hectare.
It is clear that the use of
vegetable oil for power production is sustainable in Ghana if we use good
methods.
In fact, our calculations
indicate that if we can mobilize our people to plant about 7 million hectares
of Almond trees – an oil bearing plant, Ghana can produce 20 million tons of
vegetable within 6years. On the basis of
German experience 12 million tons should produce 8000 mw of power; 90
million kw/hrs from the biomass through a gasification process.
Such a programme will create
jobs for at least 14 million young people i.e. 2 persons per hector and
thousands of others in the value addition i.e. high protein cake, edible
plastics etc. 7 million hectors of forest in the Volta Basin would enhance
rainfall, rejuvenate the Volta River to restore its potential to produce 4,300
mw of power. The country will also benefit from carbon trading.
Carbon dioxide absorption is
estimated at about 100 tons/ha.
Ghana has untapped resources in
vegetable oil. Presently we have about 30,000 acres of Para Rubber Plantation
yielding about 30,000 tons of Para Rubber Seed with 42% oil giving us about
12,000 tons of vegetable oil. The Aboso Glass Factory was grounded due to
inadequate power. The total demand there does not exceed 1 mw.
From extrapolations above
12,000 tons of Para Rubber Oil should give us about 8 mw. In fact, under
President Nkrumah’s programme, the target was 75000 acres of plantation within
15 years i.e. ending before 1980 which would have given us 20 mw of electric
power.
BIODIESEL
PRODUCTION:
For the production of biodiesel
for general transportation needs, we only require caustic soda, or potash, and
ethanol or methanol.
The process for converting
vegetable oil to Biodiesel is quite simple. In other words with 20 million tons
of oil and our diesel requirement not exceeding one million tons, we can have a
sustainable programme to use vegetable oil to meet our transportation needs.
Jatropha is the best feed stock.
For power generation we need
not convert the vegetable oil into biodiesel. In any case, we can easily
produce methanol from the natural gas coming as by-product from the crude oil
presently discovered.
ETHANOL:
Ghana has enormous resources
for the production of Ethanol. All what we need to do is to create conditions
for harvesting the raw material – cocoa sweating during the drying fermentation
process.
With cocoa production hitting
one million tons of dry beans, equivalent by-product from the sweating should
be very high. Cocoa Marketing Board should assist the Cocoa Research Institute
to design drying platforms that allow harvesting of this commodity. Research
Institution including the KNUST (KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCEINCE AND
TECHNOLOGY) should determine the percentage of ethanol from a ton of dry beans.
Institute of Industrial Research should link up to this programme by providing
table top distillation plants and training programs for its successful
implementation. The programme should be extended to link up with Distillery
COMPANIES like formerly GHANA INDUSTRIAL HOLDING CO(GIHOC) to buy the alcohol
from farmers or intermediate distillers for the production of Ethanol. The
Bodwoase Starch Plant can surely become more viable if it went into a value
addition chain including ethanol production.
Roots and Tubers of the
Ministry of Agriculture should be linked to this programme and support cassava
farmers with small scale portable starch plants which can be made here for
ethanol production.
Sweet Sorghum as a feed stock
for ethanol should be encouraged since the stem of the Sorghum is a feed stock,
this material does not threaten the food industry, so is the cocoa industry
with respect to ethanol.
Ethanol has been used as
automobile fuel for many years in various Regions of the world. Brazil is
probably the leading user nation. In the 1990s about 5 million vehicles
operated on fuels i.e. 93% ethanol. Presently new engines are available that
run on flexible fuels, i.e. any mixture of ethanol and petrol.
The country has a lot of
miscellaneous plants with both biodiesel and ethanol potential. A value
addition chain for our Agricultural raw material base should allow us to
identify them.
ENERGY
FROM OTHER WASTES:
Biogas can be produced from
biodegradable landfills. For economic production of gas from landfills, a
minimum of one million tons of land fill must be buried 40 feet deep. This
information must guide us in designing our landfills to make sure that we have
the possibility of extracting gas from all our landfills nationwide. Landfills
designed as a hill can also be used for power generation if we mount a wind
turbine on top of this artificial hill.
Biomass with densities above
200kg/cubic meter can be gasified for energy. This includes wood chippings,
high density fibre (Almond), sawdust, etc.
Palm Kernel Shells have very
high energy content. In fact, two tons of Palm Kernel Shell is equivalent to 1
ton of diesel in energy contents.
Animal waste including poultry
droppings, fish oil, etc. can all be used for power production. The latest
technology for extracting oils from oil bearing seeds and animals is termed
supercritical. It is very efficient and operates at about 70 atmospheres at
300˚C.
For the production of one pound
turkey meat 1½pounds of waste, 12000 tons of pig slurry plus 30,000 tons of
food waste produces biogas for 800 homes in Europe.
In Minnesota, 55 megawatts of
power are produced from poultry liter.
NUCLEAR
AND ATOMIC ERNERGY :
We have complete faith in atomic energy, we believe it is
the safest and cheapest among all sources of energy but the initial cost of
establishment is high and thus we will exhaust the potentials all the energy
sources above before atomic or nuclear energy usage. The option must however be
explored for the longer term. At this point, we refer to Dr. Nkrumah’s speech
when inaugurating the Atomic Energy Project.
At the ceremony marking the laying of foundation stone for the Atomic
Complex on 25th November, 1964, Dr. Nkrumah said:
“Our
sole motive in reaching the decision to build the Centre which you now see
rising before you, is to enable Ghana to take advantage of the decisive methods
of research and development which mark our modern world. It is essential to do
this if we are to impart to our development that acceleration which is required
to break even with more advanced economies. We have therefore been compelled to
enter the field of atomic energy, because this already promises to yield the
greatest economic source of power since the beginning of man.”
CRUDE
OIL:
The U.S. is the biggest
consumer of crude oil at 24 barrels per capita, followed by Europe at 12
barrels per capita. China presently consumes 2 barrels per capita followed by
India with 1 barrel per capita. The Chinese in effect want to live like the
U.S. This will naturally result in higher consumption of energy. Presently the
Chinese are abandoning the use of bicycles. In 2007 VW alone sold 1 million
cars in China. If the Chinese increase their crude oil consumption to 4
barrels, the country will need 5.6 billion barrels, i.e. 1.4 billion x 4. The
world had 800 million cars in 2007 and car population is increasing worldwide.
It is obvious from above that the price of crude oil is not likely to come down
drastically.
Ghana should therefore take
maximum advantage of the newly discovered oil reserves to ensure that the
product benefits the entire population; downstream value addition should be our
first option. This will avoid the so called curse of crude oil. Many products
can be derived from crude oil. The lists below are some of the major
derivatives:
- Rubber tires, Inks and Paints
- Varnish and painters chemicals
- Turpentine
- Lubricating oil
- Soaps
- Gasoline
- Diesel Fuels
- Insecticides and Sprays
- Cutting Paper, Leather and Textiles Oils
- Rubber Compounds
- Solvent Creams and Ointments and Petroleum Jelly
- Anti Rust
- Fuel and Metallurgical Coke
- Fertilizers
The accompanying natural gas
has 4 components:
Ø Methane
Ø Ethane
Ø Propane
Ø Butane
All these have various uses. It
is important to note that matters relating to crude oil cannot be resolved in
isolation, i.e. outside National Development Agenda. For instance without the
presence of an advanced Machine Tools
Centre, giving capacity for machine building in Ghana, most of the ancillary
services will have to be taken outside and Ghana would lose a lot of money.
HYDROPOWER
GENERATION:
The CPP was aware even in the
sixties that Energy was a major prerequisite in a value addition chain. We therefore
took steps to enhance our energy supply base by embarking on the construction
of the Bui Dam, to follow Akosombo.
At the time of the 1966 Coup
all the design drawings for the Bui Dam had been completed and large quantities
of constructional equipment and building materials including steel beams,
angles, plates, large pumps, diesel electric generators and miscellaneous
tubing were all at site. All these materials gradually disappeared from the
site without anybody accounting for them.
Dr. S.B. Arthur, a Soviet
trained Ghanaian Hydropower engineer, had surveyed the hydropower potential of
10,001 rivers in the country and had quantified their energy potential. He
estimated that the Volta Basin had potential to produce 4300 megawatts from 7
possible sites using the cascade method.
Unfortunately it is not
possible now to achieve this because we failed to protect the Basin. As a
result of massive deforestation, the land can no longer retain its top soil
which is continuously being washed into the river and thus causing siltation
resulting in the spread of the lake and consequent higher evaporation.
As at 2010, Accra alone was
receiving 60 truckloads of charcoal equivalent to at least 240 truckloads of
fire wood every 24 hrs. The main source is in the North and Afram plains – the
catchment rain source of the Volta River. Our estimate is based on 25%
extraction rate. We can say without fear of contradiction that because of the
inefficient method of charcoal production, there are cases where the extraction
rate is only about 15%. The question that troubles us is that we had the
Akosombo Hydropower which is four times bigger in capacity than the 400
megawatts Bui plant.
Furthermore, the Bui Lake is
much smaller. The Akosombo Hydropower was built nearly 50years earlier (two
generations). Why is it that we as Ghanaians are compelled to bring in a third
party to build the Bui Dam? We asked if the Indians or the Koreans had been in
this position would they have called on a third party to do this? Our KNUST was
in existence over 50 yrs ago (2011). The South Koreans had the equivalent of
our Engineering Universities i.e. KIST – “The Korean Institute of Science and
Technology,” 15 yrs after the establishment of KNUST. The Koreans do not invite
third parties to build their hydropower plants, so why? Why? We don’t believe
that if Kwame Nkrumah had lived till now, this situation could have happened.
Yes our political leaders must
be compelled to explain this.
 |
| Dr Abu Sakara, CPP 2012 Presidential Candidate |
ACTION
REQUIRED:
Our political leaders must not
allow this situation to repeat. We need to take steps to empower our people now
to have full capacity to build Hydropower Plants. We must have a programme with
quantifiable targets to achieve this. Whatever needs to be done must be done
now for we still have a number of small rivers and stream with hydropower
potential. The Pra River has potential to produce 120 megawatts of power.
6years ago (2005), Ghana
received two 30 kw hydropower plants from UNIDO for study and replication. The
Prof. Damodaran who happened to be the deputy head of small and mini hydro
plant – a UNIDO project in China. the plants are still in boxes at V.R.A. depot
in Tema. Would this have happened the CPP was in power? Certainly not!
It is important to explain that
only a comprehensive approach to solving Ghana’s problems will be viable. For
instance, Tree Planting which is a forestation activity is the responsibility
of the Forestry Department and theoretically has nothing to do with energy. Yet
we realize that only this department can arrest the deforestation presently
going on.
We have struck oil, yes, but
the only way to prevent an oil curse is to go for the value addition chain in
order to spread the wealth base.
We must use the biofuel for
power and energy and multiply our revenue through a value addition chain of
crude oil.
We must go in for meticulous
planning with quantifiable targets, ingenuity, and endeavor, backed by
uncompromising determination. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!
Robert Woode - Crusading Engineer
CPP Spokesperson
on Energy
Will The NPP Contest The Kumbungu Seat?
…As
Alhaji Mumuni Is Set To Vacate It
Ask
Margaret Jackson
 |
| Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, NPP National Chairman |
The NPP is on record to have stated that due to their pending
Supreme Court case, they will never participate in any election/s organized by
the Electoral Commission (EC). The NPP leadership also bluntly stated that they
do not trust the EC hence their decision to boycott any elections organized by
them. But to add icing to their own bitter cake, the party went as far as
stating that even when the party loses any of its parliamentary candidates
through death, they will still shun any by-election that may be organized by
the EC to fill the vacancy.
This bold but stupid assertion by the NPP came about when two
constituencies held by the NDC became vacant as a result of the death of one of
the parliamentarians and the vacation by another due to his elevation to the
Speakership position. It would be recalled that Mr Ford Kamal, former
Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency died on
Christmas Day whilst Mr Edward Doe Idaho, became the Speaker of
Parliament leaving his Akatsi South seat vacant.
 |
| Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni |
But
instead of the NPP contesting those two seats which they would have lost
miserably notwithstanding, they came out with a flimsy excuse that they were
boycotting all future elections to be conducted by the EC due to their pending
bogus case at the Supreme Court. That was when they added that even if they
lose an MP in one of their strongholds they will refuse to take part in any
by-election. Nana Akomea, the ubiquitous Communications Director of the NPP is
captured on tape making that statement.
Now
another parliamentary vacancy is in the offing. The ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, in a meeting in Ivory Coast
have endorsed President Mahama’s nomination of Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni to serve
the unexpired term of Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas as Secretary General of the
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Alhaji Mumuni who is the
former Foreign and Regional Integration Minister won the 2012 parliamentary
seat in the Kumbungu Constituency.
Mr Mumuni won the Kumbungu seat with 18,285 (56.57%) as against
NPP’s Abdulai Mohammed Saani’s of 8,523 (26.37%). With his nomination and
confirmation by the ECOWAS, Mr Mumuni is set to vacate his Kumbungu seat in the
next few weeks or months. His vacation of the seat will leave it open for a
by-election in that constituency.
Observers will be keen to watch how the NPP folks will react when
the EC official declares the seat vacant and enjoins the various political
parties to conduct their primaries for the by-election.
The NPP is self-destructing itself in several fronts. They claim
that they are in court to get President Mahama to be thrown out of office
because he is not legit, that is why they have boycotted anything of his
ranging from his swearing-in ceremony, the vetting of his ministerial
nominations and the delivery of his State of the Nation address. But a deputy
Chairman of the NPP, Fred Oware came out about some few days ago to state that
the NPP is not contesting the legitimacy of President Mahama.
Fred Oware’s whose statement shocked political observers did not
mince words by saying that the NPP is in court to raise red flags over the
declaration of the results by the Chairman
of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, who legitimized the victory
of President John Mahama and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
 |
| NPP logo |
The NPP MPs have boycotted any activity
concerning President Mahama. But with pressure mounting on them, they are
trying to deceive Ghanaians by saying that they will be present when the
Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Seth Terkper, presents the budget to
parliament on Tuesday March 5, 2013. Remember the NPP boycotted the vetting of
Terkper claiming he was nominated by an illegal president, therefore, making
his nomination equally illegal.
The whole world is encircling around the NPP as
holes are being punched into their bogus claims concerning the credible
elections held in 2012. It would be a matter of time that the numerous NPP
supporters who have decided not to fish for the truth other than what is forced
down their throats by Akufo-Addo ,will know the truth. And when that day comes,
the truth will sting them very badly.
Let’s wait and see what the NPP will say if the
Kumbungu seat is declared vacant. Please digest what’s in the article and keep
brainstorming till you hear from me again.
By Claudia Fonseca Sosa
 |
| Wynter Kabimba |
These comments were made by Wynter Kabimba, General Secretary of the governing Patriotic Front in Zambia, who agreed to converse with Granma during a recent official visit to Cuba.
"Currently, we are facing the phenomenon of globalization, which determines the world’s economic order and has converted the planet into a village in which the ‘neighbors’ live in unequal conditions," Kabimba, also the country’s Minister of Justice, stated. He later emphasized that the economic current order should be rebuilt, to better serve social justice.
"In Africa, we have political independence, but this will not be sufficient until we obtain economic independence," he affirmed.
In the context of the world economic crisis, what are the challenges for the progressive government of the Patriotic Front and President Michael Sata?
In the first place, we must take control of our economy. In Zambia, the level of direct foreign investment is high, but, for the most part, it does not contribute to the development of our people and we must remedy this from the legal point of view.
Since the Patriotic Front came to power in 2011, we have focused on four basic foundations for socioeconomic development, looking to increase life expectancy in Zambia.
Education and health care are among the priorities. Then we must assure food security for the population, expand lands under cultivation and improve access to markets for farmers to sell their surplus, which would also contribute to social stability. Another program is related to housing and local government. We would like to sub-divide districts so that government resources are distributed more equitably and so that each community decides its own development priorities.
Historically, we have been a mono-economy exclusively focused on copper production and the population’s survival has depended on that. Now we are very closely linked to the growing needs of China – our largest buyer – but the moment will arrive when we have to look for market alternatives and, in the case of Zambia, agriculture is the best option.
Our country has 40% of the water reserves in southern Africa, so just imagine how rich we could become if we shifted all this potential toward agriculture, which is additionally a secure source of food and employment. We must plan in advance, diversify our economy and invest with this in mind.
How do you evaluate the political situation on the continent? Is there terrorism in Africa?
On the African continent we have several crucial spots such as Egypt, Tunisia, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo. We share a border with the latter, via which a large number of refugees have entered Zambia, with needs which in many instances we are not in a position to meet.
In the case of Mali, we are concerned as members of the African Union, since the situation there is not only destabilizing the country, but the entire region as well. The question we must ask is who instigated the conflict? In my opinion, it is the Western powers with economic interests, which once again want to control our natural resources. The issue of terrorism in Africa is a smoke-screen, a screen.
What do you think of the integration process in Latin America and the Caribbean?
As part of my university studies, I took a course on Latin American history, a region which has experienced very difficult times, from the days of European colonization through the period of military dictatorships. Today, however, the people of Latin America are uniting in an effort to attain economic independence and to struggle against the multi-nationals which for years took control of their resources.
It has caught my attention that a president such as Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, who studied Economics in a capitalist university, has directed his political program toward the people and not the market. Other good examples are Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil.
In Africa, what we see happening in Latin America and the Caribbean gives us hope. We see that it is possible for the people to defeat imperialist forces. For example, in Venezuela, when the coup d’état was prepared by the CIA, we saw a people pour out into the streets to defend the government they had elected. It’s important to understand that what is happening in countries like.
Honduras and Paraguay are the exception, not the rule, as was the case in the past.
How are relations between Cuba and Zambia?
Relations between Cuba and Zambia go back to the 1960’s. Our recent visit, on invitation from the Party’s Central Committee, is meant to revive these historic ties which at one point were weakened. On the basis of the conversations we had with Cuban leaders, we confirmed that this is a good time to redefine our ties.
Zambia’s Patriotic Front participated in the 2012 Solidarity with Cuba Conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a meeting during which Africa’s peoples reaffirmed their support for Cuba’s struggle against the blockade and efforts to win freedom for the Cuban Five imprisoned in the United States.
"Our position with respect to the blockade and the Five is one of permanent support. For us, injustice is injustice - be it against Cuba, against Palestine, against the Polisario movement ... You have Zambia as an ally."
SPY & KILLER DRONES: Why we must stop them
 |
| The drone |
In the almost two decades since the U.S. military first deployed
them, drones have generally escaped the spotlight, except in alternative media
or military-oriented trade publications. However, their use inside the U.S. has
opened a debate that has reached into the U.S. Congress.
Up until recently, these pilotless planes, which have brought
death in the night to villages on the other side of the world, attracted little
attention here in the mass media or government “overrsight” bodies. Now, as
police agencies and private corporations line up to buy drones, civil liberties
and other organizations have demanded more information about how they will be
used.
Last February President Barack Obama signed the FAA
Reauthorization Act, which broadened the domestic use of drones. At that time,
the nonprofit group Public Intelligence released a map showing there were
already 64 current and 22 planned military drone bases around the United
States
 |
| Obama loves the drone |
“Unmanned aerial vehicles,” or drones, have proliferated to the
point where the Pentagon is now buying more of them than fighter jets. The
military-industrial complex sees them as the cookie jar of the future and has
been lobbying to sell ever more — not just to the Pentagon and the CIA but to
the Border Patrol, local police agencies and private businesses.
The biggest manufacturer of these drones is General Atomics,
which makes the Predator. Originally a division of General Dynamics, GA was
sold to Gulf Oil in 1967 and then became a division of Chevron in 1984 when the
two oil companies merged. The drones are a perfect example of the marriage
between the military and Big Oil. General Atomics gets more than 90 percent of
its revenue from government military contracts.
Pentagon fears its own troops
Ever since the Vietnam War, the U.S. ruling class has been
looking for ways to expand its imperialist control over coveted areas of the
world without the risk of putting “boots on the ground.”
As the military brass learned in that horrendous conflict,
ground troops, especially drafted and nonprofessional soldiers, can become
rebellious and refuse to accept the role of being the lowest link in the “chain
of command.” These young men and women — most of them workers and a large
proportion coming from oppressed communities — can break through the psychology
of obedience that is the major part of their basic training and begin to think
for themselves about why they are being ordered to sacrifice their lives.
In Vietnam and stateside, the war led to rebellion after
rebellion by rank-and-file soldiers — and even a few officers — who realized
they were being used in an unjust, racist attack on a people who were not their
enemy.
In the Pentagon’s desperate search to shake off its fear of
another “Vietnam syndrome,” drones are the latest craze promoted by the
military-industrial complex. Not only do drones do away with ground troops,
they even avoid putting pilots at risk. Pilots, the elite of the military, have
seldom been prime candidates for rebellion, but none of them liked getting shot
down or captured.
Now pilots can sit behind an Air Force computer in Nevada or at
a secret CIA base and guide drones on the other side of the world to unleash
deadly missile strikes. Again and again, their “targets” have turned out to be
simple family gatherings in Afghanistan or Pakistan or Yemen. Even the
Brookings Institution, a U.S. think tank, in July 2009 released a report saying
that for every supposed “terrorist” killed by drones in Pakistan, 10 civilians
died.
The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, which has been in use since
1995, has been flown in combat over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Serbia,
Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.
Destructive but not all powerful
Does this make the U.S. military all powerful? Not in the least.
U.S. troops are being pulled out of Afghanistan, one of the poorest and most
underdeveloped countries in the world, not because they have defeated the
“enemy” but because the war is costing too much. They have destroyed much of
Afghanistan in the process, but, just as in Iraq, they have not been able to
create a stable puppet government to leave behind.
U.S. imperialism at this decadent stage in its development can
destroy, but it cannot build a stable political and social base in oppressed
countries to defend its interests, no matter how high tech its weaponry.
It is also in trouble at home because of the ongoing, deep
economic crisis that arises from the very metabolism of the profit system and
has upended tens of millions of lives. This crisis of intractable unemployment
then leads to a second crisis, in which tax revenue drops, and either the
government goes deeper into debt or cuts have to be made.
Standing out like a sore thumb is the huge portion of the
federal budget that goes to military-related expenses, estimated to be more
than half of all “discretionary” spending — that is, expenditures other than
Social Security and Medicare, which have their own separate fund.
 |
| Former US President George Bush |
Even when Robert Gates was secretary of defense under George W.
Bush and later Obama, the government outlined a plan to cut $400 billion from
military spending by 2023. But that sum, which came out to less than $40
billion a year, is paltry compared to the total cuts demanded.
Given that a
compromise on income taxes left the rich still paying a lower rate than in any
other developed capitalist country, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected
to have to come up with much bigger cuts, and that has set off alarm bells in
the military-industrial complex.
Fighter planes vs. drones
The drone program was originally seen as a rather low-budget way
to cut back expenditures on military aircraft. The last conventional fighter
plane to win a Pentagon contract, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, was the most
expensive military-industrial program in history.
“It is plagued by delays and menaced by budget cuts,” wrote a
British business magazine, and that “could be bad news … for its lead
contractor, Lockheed-Martin.” While the F-35 was expected to come into service
six years late and “wildly over-budget,” the Pentagon “still plans to buy 2,443
F-35s over the next 25 years, at a cost of $382 billion.” (The Economist, July
14, 2011)
Another Lockheed-Martin gold-plated contract features the F-22
Raptor, a stealth fighter that costs $400 million each. But at a 2012 air show
it was outperformed by a German plane that cost half as much. (“F-22 Raptor
Loses $79 Billion Advantage in Dogfights,” ABC News, July 30)
In addition to selling armed drones to the Pentagon for
interventions abroad, the weapons industry has been working overtime
cultivating a domestic market for its surveillance vehicles.
Truthout reported on Jan. 31, “The unarmed Predators, produced
for border duty by General Atomics, cost $18.5 million to $20.5 million apiece,
not counting the hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for General
Atomics to operate and maintain the homeland drones.
“[Customs and Border Protection] boasted in December 2011 that
drone operations contributed to 7,500 apprehensions of illegal border crossers
and 46,600 pounds of marijuana.
“The 7,500 ‘criminal aliens’ that the Border Patrol detained are
small potatoes when compared to CBP’s overall number of detentions since 2005 —
5.7 million immigrants, including the 327,000 detained in 2011. Expressed as a
percentage, this amounts to only .001 percent of those detained during that
period.
“While categorized by CBP as ‘dangerous people’ because they
have crossed the border illegally, mostly they are simply unauthorized
immigrants, although a small number are marijuana backpackers.
“To give some perspective to the drug haul attributed to [drone]
surveillance over six years … CBP on average seizes 3,500 pounds of marijuana
every day in Arizona, making a seizure every 1.7 hours. Drones had a role in
the seizure of less than one percent of the Border Patrol’s total marijuana in
the past six years — only .003 percent to be precise.”
Hundreds of millions of dollars to “apprehend” marijuana
backpackers and undocumented workers. No wonder the government is going broke.
Domestic surveillance system
What gives the U.S. military, the Border Patrol and private
corporations the right to control the skies? The U.S. has already violated
international law hundreds of times by using drones to assassinate people in at
least a dozen countries without any regard to their territorial sovereignty.
Now it is extending that to a vast system of surveillance at home with unarmed
drones that could easily morph into armed vehicles.
While talking about the “rule of law” and its great commitment
to “civilization,” the U.S. ruling class is methodically going about shredding
any laws and customs that present obstacles to its insatiable greed for
profits.
One final note: The New York Times in a Feb. 13 editorial
entitled “A Court for Targeted Killings” argued that a special court should be
set up to provide “checks and balances” to the executive branch when it decides
to carry out “targeted killings” of U.S. citizens — usually via drones. But
don’t get too excited. The newspaper of record that speaks for Wall Street 99
percent of the time doesn’t want to stop the killings. It just wants to make
them look better. It compares this “killing court” to an existing “foreign
intelligence court” where evidence is presented in secret about a person
suspected of being a “terrorist threat.”
The Times says: “The court would not be expected to approve
individual drone strikes, and the executive branch would still be empowered to
take emergency actions to prevent an impending attack.
“The surveillance court is often considered a rubber stamp; out
of 32,000 wiretap applications presented by the government from 1979 to 2011,
it rejected only 11. But its presence has helped ensure that the administration’s
requests are serious.”
So the best that the liberal Times can suggest is a sugar-coated
rubber stamp.
The movement to end imperialist war and domestic repression will
have to step up the struggle to demand a stop to the use of drones.
No comments:
Post a Comment