IT STINKS!! Auditor-General’s Report on Electricity Companies

In 2011, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) spent 64.4% of their available revenue on salaries , emoluments and other personal comforts for management and staff. This left them with a paltry 19.9% to spend on maintaining the system and offering services to the consumers. The information is contained in the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana – Public Boards, Corporations and Other Statutory Institutions for the year ended 31 December 2011, which has just been presented to Parliament.

As if that is not enough, the management of ECG awarded themselves a whacking 35% increase in salaries and allowances  for the 2013 financial year.

According to the Auditor-General’s Report, ECG obtained GH¢923,617,000 as revenue from tariffs. In addition, they obtained other income to the tune of GH¢52,839,000. This made a total of  GH¢976,456,000. After paying GRIDCO and Sunon Asogli (Ghana) Ltd an amount of GH¢825,977,000 for the supply of power, they were left with GH¢150,479,000. Out of that income, they spent GH¢81,940,000 on salaries, emoluments, allowances and other creature comforts for management and staff.

In 2013, a Head of Department at ECG will be earning a gross monthly salary of GH¢19,382.83, excluding allowances of GH¢5,814.83. The total of salary and allowances for the Head of Department will amount to a whopping GH¢25,197.58. The salary and allowances of the Managing Director are shrouded in secrecy. Above all, ECG managers do not pay for electricity since they receive hefty electricity allowances. With these levels of pay, they do not have to sleep in darkness like their consumers since they can afford to purchase the top-of-the-range household generators.

That is not all. Through maladministration and inefficiencies, ECG lost 26.6% of the total power purchased from GRIDCO and Sunon Asogli (Ghana) Ltd. These losses are made up of transmission losses due to a combination of factors, including non-maintenance of equipment and illegal connections to ghost premises. In monetary terms, this amounts to more than GH¢240 million. The ECG incurred the high  transmission losses of 26.6% although the maximum allowable losses stipulated by the Ministry of Energy (and monitored by the Public Services Commission)  should be not more than 4%.

The reality is that while the ECG management has been awarding itself, sky-high  levels of pay and benefits, they continue to default in the payment of tariffs that they owe to GRIDCO and Sunon Asogli (Ghana) Ltd. At the last count, the ECG was indebted to Asogli by more than US$21 million while they owe GRIDCO more than GH¢100 million.

Having spent most of the available revenue on themselves, the ECG is asking for a 214% increase in tariffs with the excuse that Ghanaians ought to pay “realistic prices”. It is obvious that most of the “realistic prices”, which would be paid by individual households and small businesses, would only go and feather the nests of ECG officials. It is on record that the ECG has failed to collect tariffs amounting to over GH¢640 million owed them  by large foreign-owned companies such as Newmont, Chiraano Goldmines, etc. According to the Auditor-General’s report of 2011, some of the arrears  that the ECG has failed to collect have been outstanding since 2008.

 In December  2006, when the Ghana government increased the utility tariffs by 35%, the explanation was that, it was necessary to remove subsidies which the government claimed to be paying on those services. Another reason that they give for the need for sky-high increases is “obsolete equipment, weak transmission system that needs to be improved, etc. Every time they increase utility prices they give the same reasons.  The question that  the ECG needs to answer is why, they never renew the obsolete equipment with the increases of the past years.

The PURC does not appear to have taken time to look at the books of the various electricity companies to ascertain the real justification for the gargantuan increases that these companies are asking for. Any close examination of the books would reveal that the levels of increases being claimed are totally arbitrary. For example, what are the real estimates which contained in the 2013 budgets of these companies? Having said that, it is noteworthy that the ECG has not published its annual reports for more than three years while it is not known when was the last time they held an Annual General Meeting (AGM) with the shareholders.

The consumer cannot fail to notice the feeling impunity by officials of the electricity companies which propels them to be arrogant and callous towards the ordinary consumer.

On 28 Apr 2009, the Ghanaian Times reported that Mr. Jude Amankwah, then Managing Director of the ECG arrogantly stated that “customers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) whose property and equipment get damaged through power outages cannot sue ECG in court. “Even if they do, they can never win”. He said the ECG had not signed any contract with customers that, there would never be a problem with the power it supplied to them”. Everyone knows that most electricity outages are caused by blown transformers which have not been maintained over a long period. Yet he thinks he has to intimidate  Ghanaians into thinking that the ECG is above all of us, and maybe, somehow, they do us a favour when they manage to put the lights on.

Recently the Director of Communications of the VRA claimed that Ghanaians had not had any increases in tariffs for ten years, although that was palpably false.

One of the problems that Ghanaians face as a nation is the way in which top management of the the utility companies are appointed. Appointments to these companies are based on political party patronage and not on any notion that those appointed are efficient managers.  Appointments to these companies, as well as other state companies are rewards for being loyal to the ruling party. Because of that, the managers so appointed assume that they owe the general population no obligation to render a good service. They only have to be loyal to the ruling party and they would continue to be in their jobs even if that means the rest of the country have to sleep in darkness.

It is for such reasons why the VRA does not care if they are running short of light crude oil to power the thermal plants. In February this year, all the five transformers at the Aboadze plant in Takoradi broke down. That event was not due to lightening or thunder. It was due to a failure to maintain the equipment.

With the support of politicians, Ghanaians will very soon be slapped with hefty increases in tariffs and there appears to be little appetite on the part of the general population to make their voices heard. All that most are likely to do is to “give everything to God”.

It is also a fact that the World Bank has been at the heels of the Ghana Government to increase the tariffs to astronomical levels. The reason is that foreign companies which would want to enter the Ghanaian electricity market would like to make huge profits, and it is only when the tariffs go sky-high that they would consider it worth their while to enter the market. In the next week, the World Bank will be holding talks with the Bank of Ghana, the Ministry of Finance and other NGOs and the media to find ways of persuading the people of Ghana to accept the tariff increases.

ECG ACCOUNTS AT A GLANCE

Revenue	923,617,000.00
Direct Cost	-825,977,000.00
Gross Margin	97,640,000.00
Distribution Expenses	-29,974,000.00
General and Administration  Expenses	-81,940,000.00
Other Income	52,839,000.00
Operating Profit	38,565,000.00
Net Finance Income	12,356,000.00
Share of Profit of Association	448,000.00
Profit before Tax Expense	51,369,000.00
Tax Expense	-50,220,000.00
Pofit after Tax	1,149,000.00

Source: Auditor-General Report 2011

Editorial

APPOINTING THE BOARDS

President John Dramani Mahama has finished the ministerial appointments and it is expected that sooner than later he will appoint members of the governing boards of state institutions.

In our view this is very important task because it will have serious consequences on the effort to revitalize the national economy.

It is these board members who will shape policy  in the state institutions and exercise a supervisory responsibility  of management.

The current state of national affairs is the clearest indication that the various boards have underperformed.

The access of the people of Ghana to water, electricity, housing, health, education and many others is being limited from year to year.

The level of unemployment especially youth unemployment is very alarming and pensioners are enable to make ends meet.

It is for all of these reasons and more that we urge the President to take his time and make sure that only those with the necessary competencies are appointed to the boards.

The boards have duties to perform and only those who can do the job should be appointed on them.

20 YEARS OF THE INSIGHT; WHY I HATE THE NEWPAPER

I used to read The Insight in the mid 1990s but after awhile I lost appetite for it and I don’t remember the last time I bought a copy.

 The newspaper is simply disgusting. It has been preaching communism from its very beginning. This is one newspaper which believes that it is possible for all people to be equal under the sun and it is therefore subverting authority.

Even in heaven, the right hand side of God is reserved for his only begotten son, Jesus the Christ. All of our fingers don’t have the same size and inequality is built into all systems to facilitate competition which would lead to improvement of quality.

One other reason for not liking “The Insight” is the stand it has taken against the state of Israel. 

In my view being against Israel is like taking a stand against God himself. It is stated in the Bible that the Israelites are the chosen people of God and no force on earth can defeat them.

 All of the political leaders of Ghana accept this fact. That is why Nana Akufo Addo of the NPP and Madam Lordina Mahama all went to Israel to pray for success in the 2012 elections.

 After the elections the NDC government took on step further to sponsor 200 priests to pray in Israel for the health of the President and his successful administration.

The Mahama administration has done more for Israel than even what President Kufuor  was able to do in eight years. The collaboration between Ghana’s security service and the Israeli intelligence is very strong. Israel has brought in money and contractors to build the new Ghana Medical School at Legon.

 As for The Insight it is only a supporter of Palestinian and Arab terrorism.

The Insight is also against the foreign policy of the United States of America which aims at encouraging all countries in the world to become democratic. The Insight supports countries like Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and Iran which are not democratic.

It supported the regime of Laurent Gbagbo and is promoting the interest of Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. It supports Julian Assange of Wikki leaks and Ashata Shakur, the American radical now is in self-imposed exile in Cuba.

The Insight is too radical for my liking and I really hate it. In the days of dictatorship a newspaper like this would have been banned a long time ago.

Araba Mansa

Kasoa

Alan Kyeremateng:The NPP’s next man?

Alan Kyeremateng

A tumultuous time awaits Ghana's opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the next few months as it realigns itself in a political landscape that might eventually have no place for Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the party's losing 2008 and 2012 presidential candidate.

Right now, the NPP still finds its fate tied to Akufo- Addo as he tries his luck at the Supreme Court to capture the presidency that he lost on the electoral battlefield last December. But luck has eluded Akufo-Addo at every turn in his pursuit of the nation's highest office. So it is no surprise that many Ghanaians doubt he will succeed this time.

Many say that Akufo-Addo's continuing struggles are creating an opportunity for Alan Kyeremateng the man twice beaten by Akufo-Addo on his way to the NPP nomination.

Some NPP members already say that Kyeremateng could write the next chapter of the party's story - a new chapter devoid of bitterness, anger, intolerance, and unnecessary aggression as the party tries to wrest control of the country's government from President
John Mahama and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

With Ghana's political landscape now highly polarized, analysts say that the "kinder, gentler" Kyeremateng could help reduce tensions in the country while also raising the NPP's appeal to a national electorate that has grown weary of confrontational politics.

Until recently, it was hoped that Kyeremateng would be-come the first African to serve as director-general of the World Trade Organization.

But although he received the endorsement of the African Union for that position, he did not make the list of finalists that the WTO announced April 12.

Many NPP members are now hoping that Kyeremateng will turn his attention towards Ghana’s 2016 election –especially if Akufo-Addo; petition to the Supreme Court fails will Kyeremateng rise to the occasion? A betting man would put his money on him to do just that.

More at stake

Observers say that Akufo- Addo's petition is not just about the result of the 2012 presidential election, but also about his political future.

Akufo-Addo and two NPP allies - running mate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and party chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey - filed the petition shortly after the Dec. 7-8 voting in the hope of overturning the Electoral Commission's declaration giving incumbent Mahama victory over Akufo-Addo. The court started hearing the petition on April 17 and the case is still underway.

But observers say the petitioners' case is too weak. Making matters worse for them, star witness Bawumia recently told the court that no fraud was perpetrated by the president, the NDC or the Electoral Commission contrary to the petitioners' previous public claims.

Bawumia instead told the court that the petitioners were merely contesting discrepancies and errors that factored into the EC's declaration of Mahama's victory.

The petitioners are asking the court to annul about four million votes cast during the election at more than 11,000 polling stations where they claim anomalies occurred.             

Obviously the petitioners face a very difficult task in proving that the anomalies constitute statutory violations, irregularities, omissions and malpractices and that they affected the final result.

And now, weeks into the case, some members of the NPP are frustrated and disappointed that the petitioners' arguments do not seem to be gaining traction. As a result, the NPP's membership is divided on the case, with a salient majority believing the party should not pin its hopes and fortunes on a court victory.

Part of the problem, they say, is that the NPP is not ready to acknowledge its current weaknesses - as perhaps evidenced by Akufo-Addo's focus on still trying to win the December elections rather than on rebuilding the party for the future.

This stringent stand by Akufo-Addo keeps the party in limbo, they argue, and only delays what many say is a much needed post-election reorganization of the party.

The NPP needs to get its act together soon, observers say. Otherwise, it could find that voters will increasingly regard the party as sore losers.

Reversal of fortune

If Akufo-Addo's petition is not successful, will he find himself on the outside looking in when the NPP chooses a presidential candidate for the 2016 election?

He has name recognition and a strong organizational network in the party, which make him a formidable candidate. But there is the issue of his age. Akufo-Addo will be 72 years old in 2016, a bit older than Ghana's typical successful presidential candidates. At this point, however, it is hard to imagine him making his 2016 intentions clear until after his Supreme Court case has concluded.

           

Just six years ago, Akufo- Addo's political future looked much more hopeful. He resigned from the Kufuor government in July 2007 to seek the 2008 presidential nomination of the NPP. Competing against 16 others, he won and became the party's presidential candidate.

But although Akufo-Addo received more votes than John Atta Mills in the first round of the 2008 presidential race, he lost to Mills in the run-off.
(Mills was sworn in as president in January 2009, then served until his sudden death on July 24, 2012. Vice President Maharna immediately succeeded Mills, in accordance with Ghana's Constitution.)

Many agree that Akufo-Addo's narrow defeat in 2008 inspired both his second attempt at the presidency in 2012 and his current bid to have the Supreme Court overturn his defeat in that election.

Now, in the wake of the 2012 election, some Ghanaians - both inside and outside the NPP - say it is time for Akufo-Addo to step aside and allow a new leader to step forward. After all, they say, Akufo-Addo has twice tried and failed to win the presidency.

Kyeremateng and his supporters, to their credit, have been coy about whether he has intentions of seeking the NPP presidential nomination for 2016. Now 57 years old, Kyeremateng is a founding member of the NPP and has held numerous important positions in government and private
business.

Popularly known as "Alan Cash," Kyeremateng previously sought the NPP's presidential nomination in the 2007 primary, capturing 32.3 percent of the vote. compared with Akufo-Addo's 47.96 percent. Kyeremateng made a second at- tempt at the party's leadership in 2010, again placing second to Akufo-Addo. But despite the two setbacks, political analysts say Kyeremateng has broader national (as opposed to party) appeal than Akufo-Addo.

That presents a dilemma for the NPP: What to do with two leading candidates - one of whom, Akufo-Addo, is popular within the party but not in the nation as a whole, and the other, Kyeremateng, who is more popular nationwide but less so within the party.

A rational calculation would tip the scales in Kyerernateng's favor, as the ultimate goal of the party is to win the presidency. But politics, especially at the NPP primaries level, hardly follows the path of rationality.

That notwithstanding, Kyerematen is still likely to be"the next man." He is an experienced campaigner and relatively well liked by many Ghanaians - especially women and the youth, the largest voting groups in the country.

He also has broad experience at many levels of government, serving as Ghana's ambassador to the United States and as former minister of trade, industry and presidential special initiatives.

More recently, he has headed the African Trade Policy Center.

Kyerematen clearly has the star power to be considered as a frontrunner. But if he were to run against Akufo-Addo, old wounds could open between their camps.

Conflicting advice

It is not clear when the Supreme Court will issue a judgment on Akufo-Addo's petition, but at least one NPP member, Maxwell Kofi Jumah - a former member of Parliament from Asokwa in Kumasi - has said that Kyerematen should refrain from announcing any presidential ambitions, at least until after the court has decided on Akufo-Addo's case.

"We are talking about a movement that was started as a result of an election being stolen," Jumah told an Accra- based radio station. ''The need to restore confidence in our democratic system is for Nana Akufo-Addo to continue to pursue the movement that has just been started as a result of what some people will consider as an accident of misjudgment by the Electoral Commission."

But not all observers think Kyeremateng should wait before entering the 2016 race. Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, for example, says Akufo-Addo's most recent defeat effectively ends his presidential ambitions, so there is no reason for Kyeremateng to sit idle. The
son of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, said Akufo-Addo's advancing age makes him an unlikely candidate for 2016.

"I think the presidential ambition of [Akufo-Addo] has just gone out of the wind by this defeat," Sekou Nkrumah said on a radio program. "In life, I think it is not everything that you can achieve, and life has a way of humbling people."

He said: "The NPP will definitely have to change their leadership. I can't see Nana Akufo-Addo leading the party in 2016."

Nkrumah added that Akufo- Addo's loss paves the way for Kyeremateng to assume the NPP flagbearership.

"Alan Kyeremateng looks like he is now very well positioned to take over the leadership of the NPP," Nkrumah said. "I think, talking about personality and all that, he seems to be favorable to many people in terms of the way he carries himself."

 

Kofi Apraku

Kofi Konadu Apraku is likely to pursue the NPP nomination once again despite a poor performance in the 2007 primary. Though he has good political credentials, it is not likely he will make any headway. But sometimes politicians like to take risks, and Apraku is not averse to risk-taking.

Kwabena Frimpong- Boateng is a brilliant scholar whose medical work has endeared him to many people. He ran in the last two NPP primaries. He has some good political ideas but no national experience. He has never held a political position in the country, which is the path typically followed by presidential candidates. He also does not have any grass- roots support that can help him make an impact in the primary.

For his part, Dan Botwe has the political know-how, having served as general secretary of the NPP, and a very successful one at that. This helped make him a contender for the party's presidential nomination in 2007.

 

Dan Botwe

He possesses a perfect combination of youthful dynamism and a measured decision-making ability that comes with age. At this point, he does not have much chance of winning the nomination, so he might just want to get his name better recognized - perhaps in preparation for the 2020 election cycle.

Isaac Osei was a non- factor in the race for the 2012 NPP presidential nomination. At present, there is not much evidence to suggest that he has dramatically raised his profile among the NPP faithful. He still has work to do if he is to become a
viable contender.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah, who is popularly known as "Quiet Dynamo," has the ability to attract NPP delegates who think that the party should pick a candidate outside the Akyem and Asante blocs for 2016. (Akufo-Addo is from the Akyem block and Kyeremateng from the Asante bloc.) In a splintered field, Owusu-Ankomah could carve out enough support among the party's moderate wing. His moderate stances on issues make many voters feel comfortable with him. He is also a tenacious fighter with a down-to-earth speaking style that connects with people, and his political pedigree will make him a good candidate for the presidential nomination. He is clearly someone to keep a close eye on. If Akufo-Addo and Kyeremateng both decline to run, Owusu-Ankomah would have an advantage over the rest of the field.

 

Mahamudu Bawumia

Most agree that Mahamudu Bawumia acquitted himself well in his vice presidential quest. A former deputy governor of the Bank of Ghana, he was selected for the NPP ticket reportedly for his economic expertise. And as a star witness in the election petition case, he has endeared himself to many party activists. But he will need to step from the shadows of the Akufo-Addo camp and be his own man if he hopes to pursue the presidency. He would run only if Akufo-Addo stayed out of the race - and Akufo-Addo would be inclined to back him.

Conclusion

How the race' for the NPP 2016 presidential nomination plays out will likely depend heavily on what Akufo-Addo decides to do with his political future after the Supreme Court rules on his petition.

Without Akufo-Addo in the race, the NPP contest would quickly become a wide-open nomination fight among a large field of candidates.

However, it appears the NPP would be in strong shape if Kyerematen carries the party's mantle into the 2016 elections.

Of course, another major factor that will affect the NPP's chances in the next election will be President Mahama's performance in office.

Now that he is president in his own right - without the "interim" label- Mahama will be judged solely on his accomplishments or failures, not on whether he is carrying out the Mills legacy. If Mahama stumbles on major issues, or if he and the NDC somehow lose the overall confidence of Ghana's people, many citizens will quickly be looking for an NPP candidate in 2016.

The biggest test of all for the NPP, as it takes on the ruling NDC, will be whether it can choose the standard- bearer who will best capture the imagination, hearts and minds of Ghana's public. And Kyeremateng might be the man.

Credit: Africawatch

Britain has said sorry to the Mau Mau. The rest of the empire is still waiting

David Cameron British Premiere

British colonial violence was brutal, and systematic. If there is any justice, the Mau Mau's stunning legal victory should be the first of many.

On Thursday nearly 200 elderly Kikuyu people travelled from their rural homesteads and sat before the British high commissioner in Nairobi. Over half a century had passed since many were last in front of a British official. It was a different era then in Kenya. The Mau Mau war was raging, and Britain was implementing coercive policies that left indelible scars on the bodies and minds of countless men and women suspected of subversive activities.

In the 1950s they experienced events in colonial detention camps that few imagined possible. Yesterday they gathered to witness another once unimaginable thing: the much-delayed colonial gesture at reconciliation. The high commissioner read extracts from William Hague's earlier statement in parliament. Hague acknowledged for the first time that the elderly Kikuyu and other Kenyans had been subjected to torture and other horrific abuses at the hands of the colonial administration during the Mau Mau emergency. On behalf of the British government he expressed "sincere regret" that these abuses had taken place, announced payments of £2,600 to each of 5,200 vetted claimants, and urged that the process of healing for both nations begin.

The faces of the elderly camp survivors betrayed the day's historical significance. Tears rolled down faces lined from years of internalised pain and bitterness. Many sat motionless as the high commissioner read the statement. Others let out audible gasps, and cries of joy. Some burst into song.

By any measure the announcement was stunning. With it, Britain jettisoned its appeal of the Mau Mau reparation case in the high court. Filed in 2009, the case was the first of its kind against the former British empire. Archival documents amassed for my book, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag, were submitted in support of the case, together with other historical evidence.

As it dragged on, more evidence emerged, this time from the British government. In early2011 it announced the discovery of some 300 boxes of previously undisclosed files in Hanslope Park. As expert witness I reviewed many of these documents, hundreds of which offered additional evidence of colonial-directed coercion and torture. Facing a mountain of damning facts from imperial yesteryear, the British government chose to settle.

Britain's acknowledgement of colonial era torture has opened as many doors at it has closed. Kenya was scarcely an exception. British colonial repression was systematised and honed in the years following the second world war. First in Palestine, and then Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Aden, Northern Ireland and elsewhere, British coercive counter-insurgency tactics evolved, as did brutal interrogation techniques. The Mau Mau detention camps were but one site in a broader policy of end-of-empire incarceration, torture and cover-up.

In the wake of its announcement, Britain now faces potential claims from across its former empire. From a historical perspective, the government has every reason to be concerned about its legacy. There is unequivocal evidence of colonial brutalities in end-of-empire Malaya, Cyprus and elsewhere. Whether there is enough for successful legal claims is another matter altogether, however.

Lessons from the Mau Mau case in the high court are instructive. History was on trial, as it would be in other cases. As such, the level of historical reconstruction needed was extraordinary, as was the volume of evidence for a successful claim. The case was one that clearly rose and fell on highly detailed levels of historical knowledge and evidence.

The Kikuyu had a team of three historical experts – myself, David Anderson and Huw Bennett. Together, we brought decades of revisionist research to the case, and with it a full range of knowledge necessary for a successful claim. Outside Kenya, no other field has the depth or breadth of revisionist scholarship documenting British colonial violence at the end of empire. In part, this is due to the fact that British colonial authorities destroyed evidence at the time of decolonisation, or withheld other boxes of files for years. Regardless, without revisionist work, other potential cases will be at a disadvantage.

From a historian's perspective, two other factors were also at play. First, the discovery of the Hanslope files added layers of additional evidence crucial to the success of the Mau Mau claims. Some 8,800 files from 36 other colonies were discovered alongside the Kenya documents. 

 

Queen Elizabeth

However, none of these files, or at least those that the British government has now released to the National Archives, provide the kind of evidence contained in the Kenya documents. Second, the claimants and their historical experts were guided by the sharp legal minds and experience of Leigh Day and the Kenya Human Rights Commission. In effect, this was an exercise where expert, revisionist scholarship and human rights law came together with great effect – another first for the former British empire.

A cynic might say that the British government played its hand as best it could, and with an eye to other cases; that it dragged out proceedings for years so future claimants are now deceased; that its release of potential evidence files at Hanslope has been less than transparent, despite public claims to the contrary. Moreover, the high court's rulings over the past four years have tipped its hand to other potential cases. We now know that the chances of descendants of victims filing successful claims are slim, and the watermark for overcoming the statute of limitations is exceedingly high, as is the amount of historical evidence and expert forensic analysis. None of these factors bodes well for other potential claims.

Ultimately, the Mau Mau case is as symbolic as it is instructive. Regardless of future claims, Britons can no longer hide behind the rhetoric of unequivocal imperial success. Instead, British liberalism in the empire – with its alleged spread of civilisation, progress, liberty and rule of law justifying any coercive actions – has been irreversibly exposed.

Instead of being one-offs, Britain's colonial violence was as systematised as its efforts at cover-up. The British validation of the Mau Mau claims – and its first form of an apology for modern empire – offers its citizens an opportunity to understand more fully the unholy relationship between liberalism and imperialism, and the impacts not only on the elderly Kikuyu, but on themselves.

June 12: How can we forget? (1)

By Chido Onumah

Moshood Abiola

“Reading about the June 12 period, for obvious reasons, is difficult for me, even now, 20 years after. It is difficult to think about all that we lost and all that we had stood to gain; to bear witness to how the main beneficiaries of so much sacrifice by so many were largely those who betrayed the cause; and to acknowledge the limits to the commitment espoused for democracy by its most vocal champions in the western world”. – Hafsat Abiola-Costello

“There was no annulment. You cannot annul an irregularity. The court stopped the election before it was held”. – Dr. Walter Ofonagoro, ex-Minister of Information

Many Americans like to boast that they remember where they were and what they were doing when the young and charismatic president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was shot on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. I am sure many Nigerians of my generation and older would remember where they were and what they were doing that balmy day, June 12, 1993.

The election that took place that day was the culmination of the political transition orchestrated by self-styled evil genius, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB). Eleven days after, on June 23, after efforts to manipulate the results failed, IBB, through his goons, announced the annulment of the election won by Chief Moshood Abiola, who would later die in detention.

On August 27, 1993, exactly eight years after he seized power, IBB “stepped aside”, leaving the quivering head of the Interim National Government (ING), the not-so-earnest Ernest Shonekan, in charge. Shonekan’s makeshift government lasted until November 17, 1993, when he was supplanted by IBB’s evil alter ego, Gen Sani Abacha. The rest, as they say, is history.

June 12 this year marks the 20^th anniversary of Babangida’s failed diabolical political experiment. The country has come full circle. Today, the remnants of that perfidious era, including David Mark who now holds court as the Senate President of the Federal Republic, call the shots in our so-called democratic order.

I remember June 12, 1993, vividly. The last time there was an election in Nigeria before that auspicious day in 1993 was ten years earlier in 1983. I had just left secondary school and seething with rage at the way politicians of the Second Republic had desecrated the nation. I was 17 years old and could not vote. There was a military coup that year – the fifth in the country’s tortuous political history.

By the late-80s, as a student at the University of Calabar, I found myself, like many students of that era, on the frontline of the quest to return the country to democratic rule. For me, and many of my generation, June 12, 1993, was the first opportunity to vote and perhaps have a say in the governance of the country. It wasn’t an easy decision. After a decade of military rule Nigerians had become bruised and battered, wary of a military government that couldn’t justify its messianic pretentions. I grew up under military rule. I had experienced enough of the military to distrust their role in government.

However, nobody wanted to give IBB any justification for remaining in office a day longer than expected. Nigerians put behind them the myth about ethnic and religious divide. One of the two parties that IBB created, the Social Democratic Party – SDP (the other being the National Republican Convention – NRC) had two Muslim candidates, Moshood Abiola (from Ogun State in the South-west) and his running mate, Babagana Kingibe (from Borno State in the North-east). It didn’t matter. Abiola defeated Bashir Tofa, the presidential candidate of the NRC, (a Muslim from Kano in the North-west) in his home constituency.

That was how sophisticated the electorate was twenty years ago. June 12, 1993 mattered because for the first time in the post-independence electoral history of Nigeria, there was no focus on religion or ethnicity. For the first and only time Nigerians were going to have a president they actually voted for. There were hardly any reports of electoral violence. Even the elements (no rainfall throughout the election in the rainy month of June) conspired to deny IBB a reason to stop the election.

Fayemi’s long walk to victory

Exactly a week ago today, the Supreme Court threw out Mr. Segun Oni's petition seeking to unseat Dr. Kayode Fayemi as Governor of Ekiti State. The seven-man panel unanimously struck out Oni's suit, ending what is perhaps the nation’s longest election petition. The justices accused Oni of trying to get through the back door what he could not get through front door. 

It is a fitting final victory coming, after seven years, on the eve of the 20^th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Dr. Fayemi is no stranger to political battles. He was a foot soldier in the struggle against military dictatorship and the quest to validate the result of the June 12 election.

However, beyond Dr. Fayemi’s sweet victory is something that goes to the very foundation of the survival of our democracy. Gov. Fayemi touched on it during his post victory interview when he said, “Oni engaged in judicial frivolity and unfortunately, in Nigeria, there is no punishment for electoral frivolity. This decision reinforces the need for the establishment of Election Offences Commission to handle people like Oni for committing electoral fraud and wasting the time of people elected to serve Ekiti State”.

Regrettably, Mr. Oni is still referred to as the former governor of Ekiti State. As a “fake” governor for almost three and half years, he earned salary and enjoyed the perks of the office at the expense of Ekiti taxpayers. 

It is not enough that the “former governor” has been asked to go home and sin no more. Electoral fraud is a crime and like other criminal activities, it deserves to be punished accordingly.

conumah@hotmail.com

Turkey´s uprising shakes Erdogan´s power

Recep Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister

By Yusuf Fernandez

Protests againt the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been spreading throughout Turkey in recent days.

On May 3, thousands of people once again filled the Taksim Square, the most emblematic one in Istanbul, to ask for Erdogan's resignation.

The crisis started when the Turkish police used tear gas and water cannions to disperse a sit-in of hundreds of activists who were protesting in Park Gezi against the government´s plans to bulldoze one of the city´s few parks and build a shopping mall. It is noteworthy to point out that the mayor of Istanbul, from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), is the owner of a retail chain that will have an important presence in the mall. And the man who holds the contract for this urban redevelopment is Erdogan´s son-in-law.

The clashes between policemen and demonstrators were very violent. Two opposition legislators were hospitalized after being affected by the gas. Two protestors suffered broken arms and several others had minor bone fractures.

Shortly after, more than 10,000 people gathered in Taksim Square to protest against the violent crackdown. In the capital, Ankara, thousands also took the streets to denounce the attacks on demonstrations in Istanbul and the government´s general policies.

On June 2, thousands of protesters marched on Erdogan´s office in Ankara, shouting, “Dictator, resign!” and “We will resist until we win,” and clashed with riot police. In the coastal city of ?zmir, there was also a big demonstration and violent clashes between policemen and demonstrators, who set fire to the AKP headquarters. According to official sources, 1,730 demonstrators were arrested in different cities during these protests.

The following day, more Turkish protesters took to the streets in major cities, including the capital, Ankara, and Istanbul, for the fourth day, calling for Erdogan´s resignation. Interior minister, Muammer Guler, said that there were 235 protests in 67 different Turkish cities that day.

“Our prime minister is like a fascist. He takes everything he wants, but we are standing up, we want our rights, and I am very happy for that because with this AKP government they have been pushed down,” the CS Monitor quoted a middle-aged housewife named Derya, as saying.

For his part, Erdogan adopted a defiant tone by accussing demonstrators of being “extremists.” He added that the security forces were investigating possible “foreign links” with the protesters. He also called Twitter and social media “sources of liers” and “the worst menace to society,” and threatened to unleash AKP backers against the demonstrators.

Later, however, he tried to play down the protests. “The situation is calmer now and the reason is prevailing,” he said in a press conference in Morocco. “I think things will return to normal.”

However, the situation on the ground seems to be different. Three demonstrators have been killed in Turkey up to now and clashes between police and protesters continue in major cities across the country. A 22-year-old man, named Abdullah Comert, died at a hospital on June 4 after being shot by police during an anti-government demonstration in the southern Turkish province of Hatay, AFP quoted Turkey´s NTV television as saying .

On June 1, Amnesty International criticized the use of excessive force by the Turkish police against the demonstrators, describing it as “disgraceful.” It also said that some protesters had been left blind by the massive quantities of tear gas used by the police.

AI pointed out in a report that 1,500 people had been injured during clashes with riot police in Istanbul in the previous days, while at least 414 others sustained injures in Ankara. The rights group added that 420 protesters were wounded in demonstrations in Izmir.

Reasons for the uprising

Actually, the Turkish revolt is the result of popular rejection of an increasingly authoritarian government that is ruling in benefit of a small layer of crony businessmen which support and fund the AKP.

The neoliberal economic policy of the ruling party has stalled. Some years ago, Turkey was called “the tiger of the Middle East” due to its high growth (around 9%). However, this figure fell in 2012 to 3% and this year to virtually zero. The unemployment is rising, especially in the industry and public services. Some economists have also warned that Turkey suffers a credit bubble, which has generated a devastating debt burden. The latter has led Turkish consumers to largely reduce their spending.

Current anti-government protests could make the situation worse. They have already led to the fall of the country’s stocks, bonds, and currency. Istanbul´s stock exchange, Borsa Istanbul, lost nearly 10.5 points on June 2. It was the worst fall for the index since March 2003. The Turkish Lira also weakened to 1.889 against the dollar, which means a 16-month low against the dollar.

On the other hand, the Erdogan government has adopted restrictive policies punishing the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression. Turkey is the first country in the world by number of journalists imprisoned. These journalists have been accused of supporting “terror” and other unspecified “offences.” Other journalists are under pressure from the state or blacklisted.

Turks condemn Erdogan´s policy towards Syria

Most Turks also condemn Erdogan´s policies towards neighboring Syria. Turkey is currently the main supporter of terrorist groups that fight in Syria. These militants receive arms, money, logistic aid and permission to move across the Turkish territory and to cross the border to Syria from the Turkish authorities. Moreover, Turks oppose to the government´s alignment with the US. According to recent polls, only one-quarter of the Turkish population backs Erdogan’s policy of arming the groups fighting against the Syrian government.

It is worth remembering that a fifth of Turks adhere to the Alevi sect, a branch of Islam. Erdogan´s emergence as the leader of militant groups in Syria have worried the Alevis, who have a long memory of persecution. Turkish Alevis sympathize with Assad because the Erdogan government appears to be determined to destroy his government. Erdogan's support for the Syrian and foreign militants upsets Turkey´s Kurds too.

Significantly, protesters in several cities chanted mottos as “Chemical Erdogan,” a reference to the tear gas used by police, but also an implicit criticism to the Turkish PM´s promotion of false claims that Damas has used chemical weapons in order to give the US Administration a pretext to attack Syria.

After the recent car bombing attacks in Reyhanli, there have been anti-government protests, in which demonstrators called for Erdogan´s resignation. The Turkish opposition and some reports linked these attacks with the Syrian armed groups and especially the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliated organization.

The Turkish regime accused the Syrian government of being behind the attacks and threatened Syria with a military action. These allegations were later exposed as lies after a Turkish hacker group RedHack published documents of the Turkish intelligence services that showed that the cars used in the Reyhanli attacks had been prepared for operations by the al-Nusra Front. The Erdogan government responded by punishing the responsible for the leak. Turkish Interior Ministry confirmed that a member of a gendarmerie unit who allegedly gave the document to RedHack had been arrested.

It is difficult to say how this uprising against Erdogan and his policies will end. However, protesters have vowed to keep the pressure on the government. “It has become a (protest) movement against the government”, said Hamdi, a local Ankara resident, to AFP. “We will continue.”

The popular uprising of June 1 has certainly deeply shaken Erdogan and AKP's power and it could influence the behavior of the party in the future. However, if Erdogan and its party refuse to listen to the popular demands and to change their attitude, the country will be pushed towards a real revolution. In any case, the so-called “Turkish model,” which was praised by Western leaders two years ago as the right solution to the political, economic and social problems of the Arab world, appears to be definitely dead. 

Snowden

Edward Snowden

As news continues to surface about classified NSA documents leaked last week, the man who blew the whistle on the secret spy program is quickly becoming the center of attention.

With all eyes turned to 29-year-old Edward Snowden, the former CIA analyst who leaked documents about the National Security Agency’s domestic spying is already on his way to becoming the most discussed man in America. Less than 24 hours after the Guardian went public with Snowden’s identity on Sunday, the leaker’s personal life and politics have already taken center stage. 

Now at the center of some discussions is Snowden’s endorsement of Ron Paul during last year’s presidential race, a revelation that is providing a rare glimpse into the ideologies of a man who will likely face decades in prison for going public. 

According to donation info published by the Center for Responsive Politics’ website OpenSecrets.org, Snowden made two contributions totaling $500 to the presidential campaign of then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) during the last calendar year. Snowden made a $250 contribution to Rep. Paul on March 18, 2012, and another $250 donation on May 6.

Rep. Paul was vying for the Republican Party’s nomination as president during last year’s election, ultimately losing that slot to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Paul ended his active campaigning phrase shortly after Snowden’s second contribution was made and retired from Congress in early 2013 after serving decades on Capitol Hill. 

Although other links between Snowden and Paul haven’t been published yet, the leaker did say in an interview this week that he supported a third party presidential candidate during the 2008 race that ultimately ended in a win for Barack Obama, a Democrat. 

"A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But I believed in Obama's promises. I was going to disclose it [but waited because of his election]. He continued with the policies of his predecessor,” Snowden told the Guardian.

Before Barack Obama won his bid for the White House in 2008, he campaigned on a promise of having the most transparent presidential administration in the history of the United States. Today his office continues to stand by that vow despite spearheading an unprecedented war against leakers. The Obama administration has so far charged seven people under the Espionage Act, and more leakers have been prosecuted under that legislation than by every previous president combined. 

Snowden is reported to currently be in Hong Kong after fleeing his apartment in Hawaii at the beginning of last month. He previously worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and, most recently, defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. He only worked there for three months before the Guardian published top secret documents last week about the NSA’s phone and Internet surveillance programs, operated for years under a provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and a well-hidden program called PRISM. 

"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records [and] credit cards,” Snowden told the Guardian. 

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under." 

Before the Guardian went public with Snowden’s allegations about the spy program — then later his identity — the leaker went to the Washington Post and asked them to publish his evidence of PRISM. 

“Snowden asked for a guarantee that The Washington Post would publish — within 72 hours  —  the full text of a PowerPoint presentation describing PRISM, a top-secret surveillance program that gathered intelligence from Microsoft, Facebook, Google and other Silicon Valley giants,” Post reporter Barton Gellman admitted this week. 

“I told him we would not make any guarantee about what we published or when,” Gellman recalled for the Post. According to Gellman, “The Post sought the views of government officials about the potential harm to national security prior to publication and decided to reproduce only four of the 41 slides.” 

Snowden’s attempt to expose the secretive program through the Washington Post draws an eerie parallel to the case of Bradley Manning, the 25-year-old Army private who gave hundreds of thousands of sensitive government files to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks — but not before his phone calls to the Post and New York Times were ignored. 

On the campaign trail last year, then-Rep. Paul said he’d protect Bradley Manning and other whistleblowers if elected to the White House. 

“I maintain that government becomes more secret and the people’s privacy is being destroyed. We should protect the people’s privacy and we should make the government much more open,” Paul said last April during a campaign stop in San Antonio, Texas. 

“I would certainly lean in the direction of protecting people that are trying to tell the truth,” said Paul. “The more openness the better. That’s what a free society is all about. It wouldn’t be so critical if the government was a lot smaller, but because it is so big it is big issue because there is so much that could be hidden.”