DAY OF SHAME: SFG Announces Programme For 2017

Kyeretwie Opoku, Convener of SFG

By Ekow Mensah

The Socialists Forum of Ghana (SFG) says that it will observe Friday, February 24, 2017 as Ghana’s Day of Shame with a public forum at the Teacher’s Hall in Accra.

51 years ago on February 24, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States of America overthrew the popularly elected Government of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in a bloody coup.

Over the last 15 years, the SFG has observed the day as Ghana’s Day of Shame; with the organisation of fora and other manifestations.

This year’s observance will be under the broad theme “Ghana’s Day of Shame; Socialists in the Struggle for Democracy”.

The event is expected to be chaired by Comrade Kyeretwie Opoku, Convenor of the Socialists Forum of Ghana (SFG) and will start at 4:30pm.

The speakers for the event will be Comrade Barzini Tandoh of the International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Comrade Albie Walls of the All Africa People’s Revolutionary Party (APRP), and Dr. Yao Graham of the Third World Network.

The SFG says it is inviting all progressive organisations, youth and students movements and Ambassadors of progressive countries to the event.

The event has been attended by hundreds of people from all walks of life and has served as a rallying point for all progressive forces.

Kwame Nkrumah himself provided the framework for the observance when he wrote in “African Socialism Revisited in 1966 that “Socialism is not spontaneous. It does not arise of itself. It has abiding principles according to which the major means of production and distribution ought to be socialised if exploitation of the many by the few is to be prevented, if that is to say, egalitarianism in the economy is to be protected.”

Editorial

NEVER AGAIN!

51 years ago the forces of imperialism combined with local reaching elements in the armed forces and the police to overthrow the popularly elected government of Osagyefo Dr., Kwame Nkrumah, Founder of the modern state of Ghana.

The objectives of the coup were clear. It was meant to destroy Ghana as an example of a modern self-reliant State and to obstruct the building of the united states of Africa.

So far the 1966 coup has managed to put the brakes on the speedy advancement of the African revolution which aims at ending poverty on a continent that is most endowed with riches.

The progressive forces have not relented in their bold confrontation with reaction and under development and continue to score one victory after another.

As the Socialists Forum of Ghana (SFG) observes the 51st anniversary of the CIA sponsored coup it is imperative that progressive forces commit themselves to revolutionary work with vigour to prevent any such onslaught in the future.

“Never again” ought to be our watch word.

IRAN TELLS BANKS TO SELL DOLLARS AT FREE RATES

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) says it has authorized banks to deal in foreign exchange trading at a free-market rate – a move which is expected to help control the rising rates of the dollar.  

A statement on CBI’s website called on merchants and traders to refer to the authorized banks and purchase their required dollars, adding that this would channel foreign exchange operations by individuals and entities to banks and decrease their risks.

The statement added that the banks could also purchase the foreign currencies of exporters of non-oil products “at a rate set by agreement between the bank and the customer". 

This, it emphasized, would be carried out through diplomatic missions that are based in Iran as well as the representation offices of foreign investors and also the branches of foreign banks.   

The banks could accordingly sell the foreign currencies thus purchased themselves or through other banks and even certified exchange shops, CBI’s statement added.

Iran operates two exchange rates, a free market rate, which was at around Rials 40,140 to the dollar on Saturday and an official rate used for some state transactions, set by the central bank at around Rials 32,300, Reuters reported.

In recent months, the CBI has raised the official rate gradually to shrink the gap between the two. It has said it wants to unify the exchange rate, to make the economy more efficient and create a level field for private firms competing with state institutions with access to cheaper foreign exchange, Reuters added.

The CBI further emphasized in its statement that it would provide the required dollars for the banks to enable them to meet customers’ needs.

However, the media in Tehran are already voicing doubts if this policy would ever work.

The Persian-language newspaper Ta’adol quoted an unnamed trader in Tehran currency market as saying that the CBI through the new policy was trying to bring the chain of supply and demand of foreign currencies under its own control. 

The ultimate objective, the trader added, was to reduce the role of middlemen in increasing the rates of foreign currencies – particularly the dollar.

“But the truth is that this kind of supplying foreign currencies to the market [as devised by the CBI] cannot answer all market demands,” Ta’adol quoted the trader as saying. 

“This is due to the red-tape that exists in banks for trading foreign currencies.  Therefore, most customers would still prefer to refer to the foreign exchange shops”. 

Another Persian-language newspaper Jomhouri-ye Eslami criticized CBI’s move and said it would only deteriorate the situation of the Rial against the dollar in Iran’s foreign currency market. 

“Is this move … not an example of CBI’s interference in the foreign currency market at the current juncture that the dollar has been rising rapidly?” wrote the daily.

“This is a question whose answer will emerge within the next days”.