 |
| John Jinapor |
A
former Deputy Minister for Power, John Jinapor, has said the current incessant
power cuts in most parts of the country would have never happened under
a National Democratic Congress (NDC) government if they had won the 2016
election.
According
to him, the NDC would have been more assertive and effective in managing the
situation in a way that would not result in the present situation.
Speaking
on Eyewitness News, he said although the NDC faced a more challenging
situation, it managed it better to prevent Ghanaians from experiencing the full
impact.
“Never
[this wouldn’t have happened under NDC], given the investment we made, the
general capacity that we put in place, the fact that we put in place a
deliberate, concrete, but difficult decisions to restructure the energy sector
financial system and began paying the banks. In August, we paid the banks 250
million, we paid almost all the various stakeholders with the energy sector
levy which the NPP government says it will scrap. We faced a worse situation,”
he said.
“It
is planning. Clearly when you know that you are going for a shutdown of the FPSO,
you do what we call staggering. You phase the maintenance schedule, you don’t
box all of them into a particular period and run the risk of knocking off all
the plants,” he said.
He
lamented that the NDC government in anticipation of the scheduled maintenance,
drew a schedule with the management of the Volta River Authority (VRA) to
ensure a smooth operation despite the maintenance works, but the NPP government
unfortunately fired the CEO of the Authority immediately it came to office.
Speaking
on the floor of parliament on Tuesday, February 28, 2017, on the same subject
in reaction to a statement from the Ministry of Energy that stated that
‘dumsor’ wasn’t over with the election of a new government, Mr Jinapor
said “We [NDC] worked tirelessly, the whole of last year [and] we had reliable
and sustainable energy. The FPSO went off for two months and we never had
dumsor. Mr. Speaker; it dazzles my imagination that the FPSO goes off for just
one week and almost the whole nation is plunged into darkness.”
He
said the NDC took over power in 2009 when access to electricity was about 50%,
but “today as I speak to you, access to electricity is 83.5% second to only
South Africa.”
“We
wish to entreat our colleagues on the other side that on Thursday when the
budget is presented by the Minister of Finance, we shall keenly monitor to
ensure that the energy sector levies and the VAT which they promised are
scrapped or not. And the people of Ghana will make a decision on whether they
sold their colour television and they have been offered black and white TV or
not,” he added.
New
deadline to end of dumsor
Following
recent erratic power cuts in Accra and other parts of the country, the Minister
of Energy, Boakye Agyarko assured that the situation will normalize by end of Saturday, February 25, 2017,
but it turned out to be false.
The
Energy Ministry subsequently issued a statement extending the deadline to Monday,
February 27, 2017.
“We
wish to state that with the tie-in operation successfully completed, and
coupled with the measures we put in place including procurement of fuel and
increased power supply from La Cote d’Ivoire, the [power] situation will
normalize from 27th February 2017,” a statement signed by the Communications
Officer at the Energy Ministry, King A. Wellington, added.
We
inherited a “heavily indebted energy sector” – Akufo-Addo
Ghana’s
energy sector is currently in a “heavily indebted” state, President
Akufo-Addo told Parliament in his first state of the nation address. According
to him, the sector has enormous problems that must be addressed urgently.
“We
have inherited a heavily indebted energy sector with a net debt reaching $2.4bn
as of December 2016. I have to point out the alarming facts that $800 million
of this debt is owed to local banks which threaten their stability and that of
the whole financial sector. Indeed, the huge indebtedness of the energy sector
constitutes the single major hurdle to Ghanaians enjoying reliable and
affordable electricity supply,” Akufo-Addo said.
Frimpong Boateng Cries Over Mosquito Coils
 |
| Prof Frimpong Boateng |
By
Lydia Asamoah
Professor
Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and
Innovation, has expressed worry about the safety of most mosquito coils used in
homes in the country.
He
said most of the mosquito coils which have been banned in other parts of the
world have found their way into the country and were being used in homes with
disregard to safety instructions.
“Pesticides
are a big problem, and I have personally seen some mosquito coils and sprays
that are banned everywhere else in the world on the Ghanaian
market.
“We
know that some of the pesticides contain substances that are dangerous and
toxic to marine cognisance ... and we are burning these things and inhaling
them,” Prof Frimpong-Boateng said during a meeting with officials of the
Environmental Protection Agency in Accra.
The
meeting was part of a working visit to the EPA to fraternise with staff and
management.
He
said the instructions that went with the mosquito coils required that when it
was lighted in a room, the doors and windows should be closed for some time
after which they were opened to allow air into the room before one could sleep
in it.
However,
the adverts say different things; sometimes urging people to sleep with the
coils because they smell nice and one could inhale the smoke.
He
said: “Our fight against the mosquito should start from the environment - we
should get rid of the breeding sites so the mosquito will not get a chance even
to multiply. Clean environment is very important”.
Prof.
Frimpong-Boateng said it was only a clean environment that would help clear
mosquitoes and not pesticides which also had their negative effects on people’s
health.
“We
have the obligation to change this country and if we are not able to do it I
don’t think we can expect any other generation to do it… EPA has a strong hand
in this exercise in helping keep a clean environment,” the Minister said.
“If
we have the discipline to clean the environment we will have the discipline to
improve our industry, improve agriculture and everything else,” he said, and
called on the public to also separate waste in the homes.
Duffuor Foundation
Launched To Help Underprivileged
HODA
Holdings Ltd. has launched the Duffuor Foundation as part of efforts to
continue prioritizing its commitment to social development.
The
event took place during the HODA Holdings Ltd. 8th Annual
Thanksgiving Service held to usher in the new business year.
The
Duffuor Foundation’s primary aim will be to connect directly with the less
privileged and offer sustainable support in the areas of Education, Health,
Socio-Economic Development, Sports and Environment.
These
thematic areas were adapted in alliance with the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs); the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Mrs.
Boatemaa D. Barfour-Awuah, a Director of the Foundation gave the launch address
and shared the elation of the Group’s Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Dr.
Kwabena Duffuor for this bold initiative.
She
intimated that, “the Duffuor Foundation will serve as the arm to consolidate
CSR efforts of HODA Holdings Ltd. and further the lifelong cause of Dr.
Duffuor.
Dr.
Duffuor has over the past 20 years personally provided diverse support to
underprivileged individuals and institutions in education, health, vocational
training and income generating activities and anticipates contributing so much
more to society with this launch”.
Mrs.
Barfour-Awuah further observed that a major focus that runs through all the companies
that comprisethe HODA Holdings conglomerate has been providing social
assistance.
Few
testimonies, she said, includes facilitation of reconstructive surgeries for
150 people and the refurbishment of a maternity ward at the Korle-Bu Teaching
Hospital among others.
As
such,HODA Holdings Ltd. would monumentally increase its impact in social
development by putting resources, efforts and funds together with other
partners.
To
herald its launch, the Duffuor Foundation has supported a social initiative
request from Ms. Stephanie Karikari (Ms. Ghana 2010) and donated GHC20,000.00
(Twenty Thousand Ghana Cedis) to Ms. Emily Darko, a 12 year old “Scoliosis of
the Spine” patient who needs to undergo immediate reconstructive surgery.
Credit:
Duffuor Foundation
Iran Starts Sending Own Oil Tankers To
Europe
Reports
say Iran has sent at least two supertankers to Europe in what appears to be the
country’s first direct shipment of crude oil to EU clients after the removal of
sanctions last year.
A report
by the Financial Times said two giant vessels called ‘Snow’ and ‘Huge’ were
already on their way towards the storage and trading port of Rotterdam.
Both
belong to the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) and had taken their loads
at Iran’s Kharg Island earlier this month.
The
supertankers are the first vessels operated by the NITC rather than independent
shippers. Both can carry more than two million barrels of oil, the
Financial Times wrote, adding that they are expected to reach Rotterdam early
next month.
Earlier,
Bloomberg had quoted market figures as showing that Europe was already
preparing to import the highest amount of crude oil from Iran in five years.
Bloomberg
had highlighted estimates as showing that tanker arrivals from Iran would reach
622,581 barrels a day in January. This, it said, would be the biggest flows for
a single month since at least November 2011.
The
Financial Times further in its report highlighted remarks by NITC Managing
Director Sirus Kianersi that the resumption of his company’s oil shipments to
Europe was a result of a “resolution” of the insurance and international
certification issues.
The
same issues, the report added, had delayed the Iranian oil shipper from sending
its own vessels to European ports.
On a
related front, Reuters said earlier this week that global ship insurers planned
to resume near full coverage for Iranian oil exports from next month without
involving US-domiciled reinsurers.
It
said the insurers had reached a deal to the same effect, adding the mechanism
would be effective as of next month.
19 million Yemenis in need of
relief aid: UN
Photo: A Yemeni infant
suffering from malnutrition lies on a scale to be weighed while receiving
treatment at a medical center on the outskirts of Sana’a, January 9, 2017.
(Photo by AFP)
The UN
relief aid chief says 19 million out of Yemen’s 26-million population are
in pressing need of humanitarian assistance, warning that the impoverished
country faces a “serious risk of famine.”
Speaking
during a visit to the Yemeni port city of Aden, Stephen O’Brien, the UN
under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, called on the international
community to increase its funding for life-saving operations in Yemen.
“Today,
almost 19 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance. Seven million
people don’t know where their next meal is coming from and we now face a
serious risk of famine,” O’Brien said.
Citing
tallies by health facilities, the UN official said more than 7,500 people have
been killed and more than 40,000 more wounded since March 2015, when the Saudi
military launched a deadly military campaign against Yemen in support of its
former government and imposed an all-out naval blockade on its neighbor.
“We [however] know this is an underreporting,
given the dilapidated state of the health system and health facilities across
the country and their inability to accurately report the real numbers,” he
added.
On
Thursday, Yemen’s Legal Center for Rights and Development, an independent
monitoring group, said the civilian death toll from the warfare had climbed to
12,041. The fatalities, it said, comprise 2,568 children and 1,870 women.
O’Brien
further said, “Even before the conflict escalated in March 2015, people in
Yemen faced enormous levels of humanitarian needs stemming from years of
poverty, under-development, environmental decline, intermittent conflict,
unpunished corruption, weak rule of law, and rampant human rights violations.”
The
official said he was in Aden to discuss the humanitarian situation with members
of the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who resigned in
2014 and fled the capital, Sana’a, to Riyadh before coming back to Aden last
year.
O’Brien
is also scheduled to travel to Sana'a where he will meet with officials of the
Houthi Ansarullah movement, which is running Yemen’s affairs and defending the
nation against the Saudi military offensive with the help of army soldiers and
popular forces.
O’Brien
further called on Yemeni warring sides “to facilitate commercial imports of
food, fuel and medicine from all ports and a resumption of commercial flights”
to the Arabian Peninsula state.
US FIRMS SHUT OUT OF IRAN OIL TENDERS
 |
| Iran's NIOC and Royal Dutch Shell executives sign MOU |
US
companies stand no chance of participating in bidding for Iran’s oil fields
which the country plans to develop with international help, a senior official
says.
Iran's
Deputy Petroleum Minister for Commerce and International Affairs Amir Hossein
Zamaninia said Monday that US firms do not face any restrictions for work in
the resource-rich country but American sanctions make such activities
impossible.
“Iran
has not set any limits for these companies. It is rather American laws which
have made their participation in Iran’s oil tenders impossible,” IRNA quoted
him as saying.
Iran
has named 29 major companies from Asia and Europe that have prequalified to bid
for oil and gas development contracts in the country where about 70 projects
have been defined for implementation.
Those
companies are eager to cash in on last year’s lifting of sanctions against the
Islamic Republic, but US firms are still prohibited from trade with Iran under
“primary” penalties which are separate from nuclear sanctions.
“According
to primary sanctions of the US Congress, American oil companies cannot work in
Iran; hence, they will not participate in the biddings,” Zamaninia said.
The
remarks come after Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said last week
that US companies faced no ban for entering the Iranian oil industry.
Nevertheless, no American companies have directly applied to work in Iran's oil
industry, he added.
President
Donald Trump’s anti-Iran rhetoric and new US sanctions on the Islamic Republic
have put a further damper on American oil majors’ hopes to scout for
opportunities in the Middle Eastern country.
The US
government imposed the sanctions in breach of the nuclear accord after Iran
successfully tested a ballistic missile.
Zamaninia's
remarks are a dramatic climbdown from his earlier vision of “a great
potential for engagement and partnership in Iran for American companies” under
Trump.
Negotiations not affected
Zamaninia,
however, said the new sanctions did not affect Iran’s negotiations with
European and Asian companies which are “still after cooperation."
“International
companies are willing to cooperate but the problem is the slow process of the
work being done inside the country,” he added.
Officials
have been trying to finalize a new oil contract amid bickering over whether the
formula was giving foreigners too much of a free hand to control the country’s
national riches.
US oil
companies have always eyed Iran with great interest. ExxonMobil reportedly
stationed lobbyists to push the envelope on Iran sanctions as Western companies
jostled for opportunities.
Last
week, directors from France’s Total were in Tehran with a trade delegation
headed by Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to assure Iran of Europe’s
commitment to the nuclear deal after Trump unveiled his travel ban.
Iran's
Ministry of Petroleum said last month Total had officially started the
development of South Pars Phase 11 in the Persian Gulf, effectively resuming
operations in an Iranian energy project after a seven-year hiatus.
Total
sealed a preliminary agreement in November, worth $4.8 billion, to develop
Phase 11 of the South Pars at the head of a consortium that includes China
National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Iran’s Petropars.
Marzieh
Shahdaei, managing director of the National Petrochemical Company, said NPC and
Total's senior executives also discussed a petrochemical project for production
of ethylene and polyethylene.
The Resurrection of Armageddon
 |
| Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin |
By
Paul Craig Roberts
The
U.S. intelligence community's extraordinary campaign of leaks claiming improper
ties between President Trump's team and Russia seeks to ensure a lucrative New
Cold War by blocking detente. - Gareth Porter
It
only required 24 days for the Deep State to castrate President Donald Trump and
terminate the promise that the high tensions with Russia created during the
Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama regimes would be terminated by Trump's
presidency. As Gareth Porter shows
conclusively, the case against General Flynn, Trump's 24-day National Security
Adviser, and by implication against Trump himself, is a fake news
creation.
Obama's
CIA director, John Brennan, planted fake reports, none of which contained any
evidence whatsoever, on the CIA-compliant media whores known as
"presstitutes." The CIA's media whores knew that the reports
were a CIA response to the threat to the $1,000 billion annual budget of the
military/security complex that desperately needs "the Russian threat"
for its justification. But the media whores-principally the New York Times,
Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC-and all the rest as well are more dedicated to
serving their CIA master than they are to serving peace between nuclear powers.
Interesting, isn't it, that the US and Western media are more committed to
conflict with Russia than they are to peace, despite the brutal fact that 10
percent of the nuclear arsenal of either the US or Russia is sufficient to
terminate all life on earth.
As
Patrick Lawrence says: "The lights upon us are dimming. We have been more
or less abandoned by a press that proves incapable of informing us in anything
approaching a disinterested fashion. As suggested, either the media are
Clintonian liberals before they are newspapers and broadcasters, or they are
servants of power before they serve us."
All we
have left, says Lawrence, is the alternative media. "To put this simply
and briefly, they and we must learn that they are not 'alternative' to
anything. In the end there is no such thing as 'alternative media,' as I often
argue. There are only media, and most of ours have turned irretrievably
bad."
The
alternative media is the Internet media, websites such as this one, RT, the
Intercept, USAWatchdog, Alex Jones, Information Clearing House, Global
Research, Unz Review, etc. These independent news sites are under
attack. Remember the list of 200 "Russian agents/dupes"?
Every source of information that does not subscribe to the Deep States' Matrix
creation of "the Russian Threat," which is the Deep State's
replacement for the orchestrated "Soviet Threat," has been selected
for shutdown. Apparently, Alex Jones is already having problems with
Google. Several websites managed to get off the 200 List, and those that
have seem to have collapsed as members of the opposition.
As the
Nazis said, all it takes is fear, and the people collapse.
Trump's
presidency is effectively over. Even if he is permitted to remain in
office, he will be a figurehead for the Deep State's presidency.
President Trump has already fallen into line with the military/security
complex. He has said Russia has to return Crimea to Ukraine, whereas in fact
Crimea returned itself to Russia. He has rejected a new strategic arms
limitations treaty (START) with Russia, stating that he wants supremacy in nuclear
armaments,
not equality. Obama's one trillion dollar upgrade of the US
nuclear arsenal is likely to get a boost from Trump.
After
one month in office the goal has changed from reduced tensions with Russia to
greater tensions. Greater tensions might soon be upon us. There are plans to occupy part
of Syria with US troops in order to prevent Syria with Russia's help from
reuniting the country.
Part
of Syria is to go to Turkey, part to the Kurds, and Washington will keep a
chunk. This way Washington can keep the turmoil going forever. The
Russians brought this problem on themselves. Ever hopeful for
Washington's cooperation against ISIS, Russia dallied in cleaning out
ISIS. The prospect that Trump would work with Russia as part of better
relations assumed that Trump would actually be in charge, which has turned out
to be delusional.
It is
difficult to know if the new Trump regime is more Iranophobic than
Russophobic. The Trump regime's inclination to jettison the Iran
agreement and reopen the conflict means more conflict with Russia.
Washington's continued provocations of both Russia and China will dispel any
lingering Russian expectations of better relations with Washington.
It is bizarre to see the liberal-progressive-left allied with the warmongers against Trump. As the neoconservatives pull nuclear Armageddon out of the grave that Reagan and Gorbachev put it in, the American left demands the impeachment of the president whose goal was better relations with Russia. Once the champion of the working class, the left now champions Identity Politics. Trump's goal of jobs for the working class leaves the leftwing cold. The left wants to destroy the "Trump deplorables," which the left describes as "racist, misogynist, homophobic, gun nuts." In Identity Politics, every identity is a victim except the oppressor identity-white heterosexual males.
Where
then is the opposition to the neoconservative ideology that is driving US
foreign policy toward world hegemony? There are a few of us, but we are
being cast as "Putin agents." In other words, those who have
sufficient intelligence to understand that Washington is not going to achieve
hegemony over Russia and China or even Iran, but is likely to provoke nuclear
war by trying, are relegated to the traitor class.
The
reason that there is still life on earth after more than a half century of
nuclear weapons is that American presidents and Soviet leaders worked together
to reduce tensions. During these decades, there were numerous false alarms of
incoming ICBMs. However, because the leadership of both countries were
working together to avoid nuclear conflict, the warnings were disbelieved both
by the Soviets and Americans.
Today
the situation is vastly different. The last three US presidents, and now
apparently Trump also, worked overtime to increase tensions between the two
nuclear powers. Moreover, it was done in ways that convinced the Russian
government that Washington is completely untrustworthy. The ongoing
vicious lies about the Russian connections of Trump and his associates are so
obviously false as to be laughable, but the Russians are seeing that the
falsity of the charges notwithstanding, Trump's National Security Adviser has
fallen and Trump himself might be next.
In
other words, the Russians are observing that in America facts are not relevant
to outcomes. The Russians have already experienced this with regard to
themselves with the lies about Putin, the Ukraine, Georgia, and Russian
intentions toward Europe.
Putin
is routinely called a "thug," "murderer," "the new
Hitler" by US politicians, presstitutes, and the Democratic Party's
candidate in the recent presidential election. Ranking US generals describe
Russia as the "principal threat to the US." NATO commanders
assert that the Russian Army could occupy the Baltics and/or Poland at any
moment. These nonsensical accusations and predictions suggest to the
Russians that the West is preparing its populations for an attack on Russia.
In
such a tense state of affairs, how will false alarms be interpreted? Will
Americans convinced that Putin and Russia are evil incarnate believe the false
alarms this time? Will Russians convinced that they have been set up for
attack believe them this time?
This
is the extreme risk to which the insane neoconservatives, the idiot
liberal-progressive-left, the greedy military/security complex, and the
aggressive generals have exposed life on earth.
And
the few voices warning of the risk are dismissed as "Russian agents."
