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| President Nana Akufo Addo, what is happening? |
Something very strange is happening and nobody appears
to care enough to explain.
Over the last three weeks or more many parts of the
country have continued to suffer significant power outages without explanation.
In some parts of Accra, such as Ashongman, Abelenkpe,
Kotobabi and Kokomlemle, power outages sometimes last for as long as 12 hours.
Some residents have said that this is reminiscent of the
“Dumsor” era during the Mahama administration.
The difference is that in those days, officials of the
energy sector offered some explanation for the situation whereas nobody speaks
about the situation now.
It is interesting that this “Dumsor” is occurring at a
time when the installed capacity for power generation has been doubled.
It would appear that the only factors which can cause
such power outages could be lack of funds to purchase fuel and technical
breakdowns.
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| Boakye Agyarko, dumsor again? |
At the last count, the energy sector owned more than
US$300 million in unpaid fuel cost.
Many Government institutions and giant companies are
also heavily indebted to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
In the campaign for the 2016 elections, NPP
propagandists urged the electorate to punish the Mahama administration for its
inability to solve the power problems in good time.
They threatened that if the Mahama administration was
re-elected “Dum Sor”, “Dum Sor” would return.
Many consumers of power say that all that they want is
an explanation of what is happening.
“They must show us a little respect by explaining what
is happening. Are we in the “Dum Sor” era or what? Somebody must tell us
something” said Helena Aseidu, a trader at Kokomlemle.
Mr Johnson Yaw Boafo, A barber at Kotobabi said “our
businesses are being destroyed by these power outages”.
It is expected that sooner than later officials of the
Energy sector would offer some explanation as to why the power outages are
occurring.
Editorial
A FRIEND INDEED
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| H.E Bawumia with Mohammed VI |
The king of Morocco must be very pleased with the
outcome of his visit to Ghana.
Indeed, nobody could have expected such an outcome after
his kingdom broke relations with the rest of Africa for decades and claimed to
be only an Arab nation.
The joint communique issued after the visit praises the
King and his Kingdom to the high heavens and even paints a picture of him as a
contributor to the national liberation efforts in Africa.
Ghana deliberately ignores the fact that Morocco is a
colonial occupier of Western Sahara and a violator of the human and democratic
rights of the Saharawi people.
It is indeed strange, that Ghana which declared on March
6, 1957 that its independence would be meaningless unless it is linked with the
total liberation of the Africa continent is today embracing a colonial
occupier.
This is clearly an indication of how far Ghana has
travelled backwards since the Government of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah was
overthrown on February 24, 1966.
The Insight believes strongly that in spite of the
praises heaped on Morocco and its king by the new regime in Ghana, the people
of Ghana are firmly opposed to colonialism in all its forms whether in
Palestine or in Western Sahara.
What a friend indeed?
LAWLESSNESS
PRESIDENTIAL
LAMENTATIONS ARE NOT ENOUGH
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| Invicible forces in street fight at NPP HQ |
Honourable Isaac Adongo, Member of Parliament for
Bolgatanga Central has said that presidential lamentations over the lawlessness
of party vigilante groups cannot be a cure.
“What we need is concrete action to end the needless
violence” he said.
Mr. Adongo was speaking on “Good Morning Africa”, a
magazine programme on Pan Africa Television.
He said president Akufo-Addo cannot be lamenting like
all of us because he has the power to deal with the problem.
“We do not have the power to act and can lament but not
the president who is the supreme commander of the Ghana Armed Forces”.
“If he has instructed the police to act and they have
refused to act, what has he done?” he asked.
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| President Akufo Addo |
Nana Fredua Ofori- Atta, a member of the communications
team of the NPP, praised the President for condemning the lawlessness of the
party vigilante groups in his state of nation address.
He said this is the first time that any president has
dealt with the issue in a state of the nation’s address.
Nana Ofori-Atta said the National Democratic Congress
(NDC) was not blameless when it comes to the operation of vigilante groups.
Mr Justices Akufo Heneku, a member of Socialist Forum of
Ghana (SFG) said party vigilante groups should be completely dismantled.
He said the emergence of the vigilante groups suggest
strongly that the state is failing in its duty of providing security for all.
Excellent State Of
Relations between Cuba and South Africa Ratified
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| Salvador Valdes in South Africa |
By Deisy Francis Mexidor
Cuba and South Africa highlighted their strong ties of
friendship and the excellent level of bilateral and multilateral cooperation,
following an official visit to the African nation by Salvador Valdés Mesa, a
vice president of the Cuban Council of State.
Valdés Mesa, also a member of the Communist Party of
Cuba Political Bureau, who arrived on his first official visit to South Africa,
held high-level meetings with government officials and leaders of the African
National Congress (ANC), and other political organizations of the ruling Triple
Alliance.
The Cuban politician and his counterpart and host, South
African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, held official talks. In a subsequent
joint statement to the press, Valdés Mesa noted his appreciation for the warm
welcome received in this sister nation and highlighted aspects of the historic
ties between the two peoples, as well as the progress of cooperation, which is
today expanding across various sectors.
Meanwhile, Ramaphosa stressed that South Africa and Cuba
enjoy a very special relationship, not only in the political sphere, due to the
island’s contribution during the anti-apartheid struggle, but also in the
social sphere, especially in the field of health.
Prior to the meeting, the Cuban leader was received by
President Jacob Zuma, who wished him a productive stay.
Zuma also referred to Valdés Mesa’s participation in the
recently held 28th African Union Summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to which
Cuba attended as a guest country.
The visit, which concluded on Thursday, February 2,
included a tour of the Bheki Mlangeni Hospital, which opened in April 2015 in
the populous residential area of Soweto, where the Cuban official spoke with
workers and patients.
On his arrival at the health center, accompanied by his
delegation and the Cuban Ambassador in Pretoria, Carlos Fernández de Cossío,
Valdés Mesa was welcomed by the Deputy Health Minister, Joe Phaahla,
administrative staff, and members of the Cuban Medical Mission in South Africa.
The deputy minister explained that this district
hospital has helped relieve the pressures on other health care facilities in
this township, with a population of around two million.
Phaahla expressed gratitude for the presence of Cuban
doctors, whose efforts he described as “excellent'” and worthy of mention, as
they are ready to go wherever they are most needed, “where health services are
deficient.”
Valdés Mesa extended the recognition of the Cuban
government to the health collaborators, and encouraged them to continue
advancing in their efforts. More than 600 Cuban professionals are currently
offering their services in South Africa, he noted, of which some 400 are
doctors.
He also referred to the young South Africans currently
studying medicine in Cuba, 700 of whom will graduate next year and return to
their homeland to implement the knowledge acquired.
On February 1, the vice president of the Council of State
paid tribute to the late ANC leader Oliver Tambo, and participated in a meeting
with staff of the Cuban Embassy, where a room of the building was named after
this beloved African leader.
Valdés Mesa is heading a delegation that includes
Gerardo Peñalver, director general of Bilateral Affairs of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Cuba; Ángel Villa, director of the Ministry’s Sub-Saharan
Africa Office; and Brigadier General Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Hero of the
Republic of Cuba. This Thursday, February 2, the delegation will continue their
tour of African nations traveling to Maputo, Mozambique.
The Broken "Unity" of The Opposition
Venezuela opposition forces remain
divided. Photo: AVN
It
could be said that tenacity is the basis of the resistance with which Chavista
forces have maintained the Bolivarian Revolution in the face of an incessant
destabilizing and stigmatizing onslaught from within and outside the country.
To
the outside world, the progress, or lack thereof, in the dialogue that today
sees the revolutionary government and sectors of the opposition at the
negotiating table, will define the coming twists and turns of the country’s
tense political situation. However, between one session and another, the latest
announcements and the next, daily life demonstrates that the internal
confrontation and economic war remain a latent reality.
To
date, what has been signed on paper goes far beyond any concrete advances.
Since the start of the talks, the most remarkable aspect has been the relative
tranquillity as regards mobilizations in the streets.
Meanwhile,
the discourse has not changed, framed within the traditional polarization, and
while on the one hand the national government, through President Nicolás Maduro,
insists tirelessly on the permanence of the dialogue, several sectors of the
right continue their threats to leave the table, while seeking pretexts for a
boycott.
They
repeat over and over that the revolutionary bloc is failing to comply with what
has been agreed, without contributing even the slightest element, while
demanding the mass release of corrupt and violent individuals they refer to as
“political prisoners.” This despite the executive reiterating on several
occasions that the majority of those named “are not and will not” be up for
discussion, in clear reference to examples such as Leopoldo López, the
mastermind behind the La Salida (The Exit) plan that triggered the guarimbas (violent
street barricades) of 2014, causing the deaths of 43 Venezuelans.
Notwithstanding,
the dialogue has provoked a falling out among opposition factions, casting
further light on the internal divisions within the so-called Democratic Unity
Roundtable (MUD).
There
has been no shortage of attacks against opposition representative Carlos
Ocariz, of the Primero Justicia party, who almost immediately after the
agreements were announced, was forced to declare that the section in which the
right wing recognizes the existence of an economic boycott promoted by them,
was the result of a misinterpretation of the document, claiming “because there
is a boycott, but on the part of the government.”
The
truth is that following the conciliatory announcements, there have been
successive divisive incidents within opposition forces, especially among the
leaders of the parties making up the MUD.
The
first sign was the self-exclusion from the negotiating table of the radical
Voluntad Popular party, led by the incarcerated Leopoldo Lopez, whose top brass
declared that conditions were not ripe to sit down and talk, while assuring
they would continue with disturbances in the streets.
With
this withdrawal, remaining at the table were the representatives chosen by the
dominant Primero Justicia and Accion Democrática parties, together with those
from the Un Nuevo Tiempo party. Despite being three parties, the conservative
media have named them the “G4”, while their exclusive participation in the
talks has generated a series of squabbles among the rest of the MUD members.
Just
last week there were strong statements by several leaders of the coalition,
including Omar Ávila from the Unidad Visión Venezuela party, who criticized the
exclusion of other opposition forces in decision-making, and called for an
internal negotiating table to really shake up and restructure the coalition, as
reported by AVN.
Joining
the denunciation of this arbitrary exclusion was María Corina Machado, of the
Vente Venezuela party, who recalled that since January there has been no
further plenary meeting of the 26 parties forming the coalition.
“It
is not a matter of claiming that we were excluded and that they did not take us
into account to consult us regarding decisions, we are not defending a small
sphere of influence, but rather at the moment the country requires the
consensus of opinion of the majority of the society,” she said, according
to AVN.
Meanwhile,
Ávila stressed the urgency of the meeting and demanded it be held before
December 6, the date set for the next meeting between the government and the
opposition.
Henri
Falcón is also participating in the dialogue as a representative of the MUD.
The controversial governor of the state of Lara is described by Chavista forces
as a “turncoat” after switching political sides years ago.
This
self-styled champion of reconciliation has been described by several factions
as a candidate for the undecided. However, as his positions do not satisfy
either one side or the other, he suffers the rejection of many of his supposed
allies, who refute his role as a negotiator and have even decided to mount a
campaign against him in the lead-up to the state governorship elections in
2017.
According
to the Twitter account of the Bolivarian José Alejandro Natera, municipal
councilor for Iribarren, it was revealed during a meeting in the city of
Barquisimeto, the state capital, that the current mayor (from the Causa R
party) would run for governor, and the deputy, Luis Florido (of Voluntad
Popular), for mayor, in a joint strategy that would prevent the re-election of
Falcón.
Alongside
these rifts, there have been signs - some implied and others evident - that the
MUD has had to recognize its mistakes and desperation, including the statements
published by Jesús Torrealba in a recent opinion piece.
The
secretary general of the MUD asserts in the article that the intended political
trial that right-wing legislators in the National Assembly attempted to use as
a tool for a parliamentary coup against Nicolás Maduro is not constitutional.
“The
real truth is that there is no such thing as a “political trial” or impeachment
in the National Constitution, such as that which removed Richard Nixon from
power in the United States or Dilma Rousseff in Brazil,” he admitted.
The
news broadcast the previous week, on the withdrawal of the three deputies from
Amazonas state, illegally sworn in to the National Assembly in July, in
defiance of the Supreme Court of Justice’s (TSJ) suspension, also demonstrates
the veiled recognition of opposition errors. Further evidence is the request
from Henrique Capriles to the National Electoral Council (CNE), to activate a
recall referendum process against the President of the Republic for 2017, on
December 6, thus conceding that their aspirations of holding the vote this year
have been frustrated.
By
now, and as a result of the political confrontation, the Bolivarian Government
is no longer the only force fighting on several fronts, although in this case
the aim is to overcome the dispute and advance the economic progress of the
country.
In
addition to the defense of the Revolution and all its social conquests, in the
face of the internal oligarchy’s onslaught, the executive is making colossal
efforts to consolidate the nation’s productive diversification, while resisting
the attacks of an international conspiracy that extends from media lies,
through shady diplomacy and financial strategies.
The
last known ploy was the intentional delay by U.S. banks in issuing payments to
PDVSA (state oil company) bondholders, despite the South American nation having
made the bond coupon payments on time, a stunt the Bolivarian government
denounced as premeditated in order to discredit and directly attack the
state-owned company.
Meanwhile,
the leadership of the Venezuelan political opposition, apparently created with
the sole intent of overthrowing anything resembling a Revolution, and not
proposing any coherent or credible alternative, has been forced to face, as a
new battle front, its own followers, already tired of useless marches and
maneuvers, and of their own loud-mouthed and failed leaders. Almost a year
after the parliamentary elections, opposition forces have not advanced at all
in terms of the coup they promised for this year, and have been thwarted in
their attempts time and again by the resistance of the Bolivarian government
and its popular support.
US Feigns Human
Rights Concerns in Philippines
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| Rodrigo Duterte |
By Tony Cartalucci
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is heading a
controversial campaign against crime, embodied in his “war on drugs” which has
led to violence spanning the nation’s troubled urban centers. President Duterte’s
comments have ranged from reasonable, to utterly indifferent regarding fears of
extrajudicial executions, vigilantism, and very real human rights abuses –
opening a door of opportunity for his political opponents both at home and
abroad.
President Duterte’s inability to clearly condemn
extrajudicial executions and vigilante violence, along with his inflammatory,
provocative, even dangerously demagogic statements both invites further abuses,
as well as both legitimate and opportunistic criticism of him, his
administration, and his policies.
While legitimate criticism is both necessary and
justified, it is undermined by disingenuous political opportunism, wielded by
hypocrites who only stand to compound the Philippines’ current crisis, not
solve it.
America the Humane?
Among President Duterte’s more opportunistic political
opponents is the United States.
While the United States would otherwise be justified and
morally grounded in its criticism of President Duterte’s administration, there
are some current and past complications that reveal such criticism as stark
hypocrisy, crass opportunism, and even the cynical political exploitation of
abuse, rather than any genuine attempt to constructively address or stop it.
The most recent manifestation of America’s feigned
concern regarding the Philippines’ ongoing campaign against accused illicit
narcotic dealers was the blocking of a shipment of US-made rifles destined for
Philippine police units. Some 26,000 rifles were on order before being blocked
by the US Senate based on “concerns about human rights violations.”
These concerns, however, have not prevented the US from
selling billions of dollars worth of weapons, including warplanes, munitions,
tanks, and helicopters to Saudi Arabia, who is using this vast US-made arsenal
to oppress its own people and execute a war of aggression against neighboring
Yemen. Saudi Arabia is also admittedly involved in arming and funding terrorist
organizations in Syria and Iraq, including with US-made weapons – particularly
anti-tank TOW missiles. This hypocrisy exposes US “concerns” as merely
politically motivated, designed to put pressure on Manila in an effort to
reassert US influence over the Southeast Asian state. Not only has the US
previously enjoyed greater influence over the Philippines since the end of
World War II, but before the war, and for half a century, the United States
literally controlled the Philippines as a US territory.
It seized the Philippines in a bloody 1899-1902 war that
claimed the lives of over a quarter of a million people (some sources
estimate over half a million), and initiated an
occupation marked by brutality, oppression, and torture, including the introduction
of water boarding (then called “water curing”) conducted by the US as a means
of attitude adjustment for local Philippine leaders.
It is ironic and telling that both water boarding and
attempts by the US to maintain influence over the Philippines both persist to
this day. Attempts by the US to predicate its desire to control Manila on
“concerns about human rights violations” not only is bitterly ironic, it
undermines those genuinely attempting to expose and stop real abuses taking
place amid the Philippines’ current crisis. President Duterte has been able to
insulate himself from criticism precisely because of US hypocrisy and meddling.
Had independent, local activists and media platforms – networked with regional
and international organizations – attempted to expose and rein in President
Duterte’s anti-crime campaign, it would have been immeasurably more difficult
to dismiss the facts and continue with impunity. The US has in essence
discredited genuine human rights concerns by hijacking them for self-serving
political objectives.
Extrajudicial executions, vigilante violence, and
President Duterte’s indifference, even defense of both, needs to be opposed –
but by the people of the Philippines – not disingenuous, exploitative, and
self-serving foreign interests who are not only notorious human rights abusers
today – worldwide – but who have carried out campaigns of extermination,
torture, and human rights abuses in the Philippines itself, as a foreign
conqueror and occupier.
For President Duterte, it is more than possible for him
to lead a more dignified and just campaign against criminals operating across
the Philippines. Nations like Singapore have used stern, popular, but
legitimate judicial measures to rein in the drug trade and organized crime, so
can the Philippines. Doing so would close this door of opportunity President
Duterte himself opened to the Americans, and leaves open with his current
policies.
Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical
researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
