NDC CONGRESS: Who Is The President Supporting?

By Ekow Mensah

Who is President John Dramani Mahama supporting in the contest for the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)?

This is the question on many lips as the date of the congress of the governing party draws close.

So far many candidates and their supporters have claimed presidential support and the rumour mill has also been exceedingly active about the choices of the President at the congress scheduled for December 22.

For the race for the chairmanship of the party, two names have come up as the choice of the President.

These are Alhaji Huudu Yahaya who happens to be the brother-in-law of the president and Kofi Kportuphy, boss of NADMO and sitting vice chairman of the party.

It is strange how the President can sponsor two persons for the same position in an election which is so hotly contested.

Even though there are rumours that the President is not very comfortable with the candidature of Asiedu Nketia as General Secretary, the overwhelming popularity of the candidate makes it unwise to sponsor anybody against him.

There are also very strong suggestions that the Presidency is behind the candidature of Mr Kofi Adams who wants to unseat the current National Organiser, Yaw Boateng Gyan.

For the position of National Treasurer, the claim is that the Presidency prefers the incumbent Kamal who is working in the same team as Kofi Kportuphy and Kofi Adams.

Perhaps realizing the damage that these rumours can do, the Presidency has made it clear that President John Mahama is not supporting any of the candidates.

An official at the Flagstaff House, told the Insight, that as leader of the party, the president’s only interest should be conducted in a free and fair manner.

“The President can work with anybody who is elected properly to fill any position in the party” the official said.

Editorial

SOLIDARITY

Over the last week, the Ghanaian journalists have come under fire for taking what has come to be known as “soli”.

“Soli” is the short version of solidarity and it is nothing more than a token usually paid to reporters by event organisers to facilitate their work.

Sometimes reporters get as low as Ghc 5.00 (Five Ghana Cedis) to cover the cost of transportation to and from assignments.

Given the poverty of many media houses in Ghana, event organisers find it necessary to make things easier for reporters by paying the cost of transportation.

The Insight is amazed by the hypocritical noises being made by a number of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and their sponsors including the British High Commissioner to Ghana.

First, the bosses of these NGOs themselves receive substantial amounts to pay for their airfares to all manner of international fora.

If the payment of stipends for transportation to participate in events were corrupt, then all the NGO bosses and a majority of Government officials would be corrupt.

The issue of corruption should not be reduced to a few lowly placed journalists taking “soli”.

We need to focus attention on the big shots who steal millions from state coffers. Perhaps, the British High Commissioner in whose country members of Parliament steal from the tax payer to pay for pornographic films should have known better.

Zambia Presidency, the plot thickens

Guy Scott

The reported suspension over the weekend of the Zambian acting President, Guy Scott, as leader of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), has highlighted the divisions within the party in the run-up to the January 20, 2015 presidential election.

Mr. Scott, who took over the presidency upon the death of Michael Sata last month at the age of 77, is not eligible to run for president because his parents were born abroad.

The PF’s Central Committee said Mr. Scott was suspended because of “unconstitutional conduct and usurpation of the powers of the Central Committee”.

The party is divided over who should be its presidential candidate. The Central Committee wants its 53 members to make the choice.

Mr. Scott, on the other hand, is in favour of members of the PF voting at a delegates’ conference, which he argued was in line with the party’s constitution.

He said the PF was exploring democratic means of adopting its presidential candidate.

“I am not prepared to be part of a non-democratic process. You cannot impose the wish of a small elite group [on the party],” he said.

He added that some members of the PF were not happy with this, while others wondered how just a handful of people would decide the presidential candidate without the vote of thousands of party supporters at a general conference.

He said he was a long-standing democrat who would want the best for the country.

This comes in the wake of the endorsement of the PF’s former Secretary General, Edgar Lungu, by 63 MPs as their preferred candidate for the January presidential election.

This was against Mr. Scott’s decision to call for the cancellation of the meeting of the MPs, which he said was against the PF’s constitution.

About 10 candidates have thrown their hats into the ring to be the PF presidential candidate.

However, observers believe that it would be a tight contest between Lungu, who is actively marshalling his forces within the party and trying very hard to put in place measures that will favour him, and former First Lady Christine Kaseba Sata who is seen as a candidate who can best fill the void created by her husband’s death and bring unity and stability to the party.

Geophrey Bwalya Mwamba, a former Minister and MP, and Mulenga Sata, the Mayor of Lusaka and son of the late president, are a distant third and fourth place respectively.

The confused state of the PF has shown up its failings, as it is now clear that the late President Sata did not select his successor because he did not believe anyone was up to the job.

Others, though, are saying that it is surprising that Mr. Sata, who founded the PF and was always in control, did not pick a successor when he realised his health was failing.  

The Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) is equally in turmoil, as former President Rupiah Banda was endorsed by the party’s MPs to come out of retirement and run for the presidency.

But there appears to be a tug-of-war between Mr. Banda and Nevers Mumba, the MMD President, who is also keen to be the party’s presidential candidate.

Mr. Mumba has been accused of failing to hold the party together, while Mr. Banda’s star has been rising.

However, there are fears that the infighting within the MMD could lead to Mr. Nevers and Mr. Banda both contesting the presidency on different platforms, thus splitting the vote of the MMD, which has been in decline since 2011 when Mr. Sata won the presidential election.

In this regard, observers believe that the United Party for National Development (UPND) and its President, Hakainde Hichilema, will benefit from PF infighting.

The UPND has recently shown that it has its shop in order, organising behind their long-time leader, Mr. Hichilema, in a bid to present the party as convincing and electable.

Mr. Hichilema has been recently campaigning on a core set of priorities, promising to provide more jobs, better schools, greater support for agriculture. He also pledged to lower the cost of living.

Indeed, supporters of Mr. Banda are worried that Mr. Mumba would prefer the MMD to form an alliance with the UPND so that he could be Mr. Hichilema’s running mate.

Mr. Mumba said the alliance with the UPND would be in the interest of all.

“We remain committed as MMD to exploring all options that are meant to further strengthen us, including respectful alliances with other political parties,” Mr. Mumba said.

“I am glad to report that we have made tremendous progress in this regard talking to other colleagues in other political parties in order to strengthen our resolve to win this coming election,” he said.

Mr. Mumba also called those who are saying he is a failure, and cannot win an election, prophets of doom, adding that they had no right to frame an image himself.

“This is why the majority of MPs voted for Rupiah Banda when we had our NEC meeting...” a source within parliament said.

“It is because [Mr. Mumba] wants to work with UPND, and that is what we don’t want. Mumba is ready to become HH’s [Hakainde Hichilema’s] running mate and if that happens, that will be the end of MMD,” the source said.

The Zambian political landscape appears quite charged at the moment.

GNA

Burkina Faso to review mine contracts

Burkina Faso’s transitional government is set to reconsider mine permits issued during the rule of former President Blaise Compaore, seeking more transparency in the country’s mine sector.

“It’s a sector that has not always been transparent. I can assure you that concerning permits, we will revisit the contracts,” said new Mine Minister Colonel Boubacar Ba.

“I have heard that there are people who have, on their own, 50 to 60 permits that they are not exploiting. Often they resell them. We will put an end to that,” he added.

“We’re hearing that many mining companies are moving to neighboring countries and that will have a negative impact on our economy,” Ba said.

Ba also noted that he would go on with existing plans to revise the mining code in an attempt to increase investment opportunities at a time when the mining industry is downsizing.

The decision comes as similar measures have been taken by other African countries over the past decade, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea.

Many people in Burkina Faso protested in October, slamming Compaore’s plan to extend his reign. Compaore stepped down as president following the unrest and fled the country. A number of mining projects were looted amid days of turbulence following his departure.

First international course on Ebola begins in Havana

The Island of Cuba

By Lisandra Fariñas Acosta

The Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine opened its doors Monday, November 10, to more than 100 medical professionals participating in the first international course on treatment and prevention of Ebola, which will continue through the week.

The course was organized in response to a request made during the recent Bolivarian Alliance for the People’s of Our America (Alba) technical meeting focused on combating the virus, attended by representatives from 34 countries.

The course, according to Marieta Cutiño Rodríguez, a Cuban deputy minister of Public Health, is directed toward the preparation of health professionals in the region, “with the goal of continuing the training of personnel who will have the responsibility of participating in the prevention and control of Ebola in our countries.”

She reported that in attendance were delegates from 18 Latin American and Caribbean nations, and one African, as well as the Caribbean Public Health Agency, in addition to representatives of Cuban medical brigades working in Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Guatemala, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago and Mozambique, among others. The faculty is composed of 18 experienced professors from the IPK, the Medical Sciences University of Havana and the Ministry of Public Health.

Source; www.granma.cu