MARIJUANA: Ghana Moves To Decriminalize Its Use

By This Is Africa 

Ghana has revealed that a bill to decriminalize the use of marijuana has been tabled before parliament. Under the proposal, marijuana users and those addicted to the drug will receive medical care and rehabilitation, rather than prosecution. However, the scope of the decriminalisation is yet to be revealed, and it’s not clear if the decriminalisation will allow the medicinal use of marijuana. We ask, is a legal and regulated marijuana industry a feasible and good idea?

Ghana has revealed that a bill to decriminalize the use of marijuana has been tabled before parliament. Under the proposal, marijuana users and those addicted to the drug will be receive medical care and rehabilitation, and will not be prosecuted.

According to CCTV, the country’s former Deputy Minister of the Interior James Agalga said under the proposed new bill tabled before parliament, marijuana users will be given medical care and rehabilitation, rather than incarceration. The government will reportedly assist those who grow the plant to find an alternative means of earning money.

However, the scope of the decriminalization is yet to be revealed, and it’s not clear if the decriminalization will allow the medicinal use of marijuana.

The proposal will undoubtedly ignite debate amongst Ghanaians considering the contentious nature of the issue.

Debates on the legalisation of marijuana have been growing across the continent, with proponents of legalisation citing its economic value. Campaigners have been pushing for the legalisation of cannabis in Swaziland, which is illegally grown by some of the country’s poorest, who make a living by selling the crop.

Editorial

PETROL PRICES

It is a fact that the people of Ghana expect substantial reductions in the price of petroleum products under President Nana Addo Dankwa  Akufo-Addo.

The expectation is not misplaced because it was the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its Presidential candidate who made the promise to reduce the price of petroleum products with their senses intact.

However, the truth is that a sudden and drastic reduction in the prices of petroleum products ought to be accompanied by revenue generation measures which will make it possible to run the business of government smoothly.

The people deserve relief from the high prices of petroleum products but tackling this problem ought to be done responsibly.

This is the task before the Akufo-Addo Government.

MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE

Nana Akufo Addo

By Charles Wereko-Brobby

The title of this piece is a common English expression that describes one’s physical state after tasting too much of the fruits of the Lord Jesus’ inaugural miracle in joyous celebration. (And before any Pastor tells me the fruits were non-alcohol, I want to state firmly and categorically that I have been to many a Jewish wedding, and do not share their assertion).

Ghana has had a lot to celebrate in the last month. We kicked off with the conduct of a very orderly General Election which confounded all, the frightening predictions of the Doomsday Predictors, both Peace Mongers & Pastoral. The outcome was cause for both wide celebration and gnashing of teeth. Whichever one it was, it led to a very copious consumption of the fruit of the inaugural miracle; according to my “Spot” -owning pal.

Hardly had we recovered from our “tired & emotional” state and the sharp pains of the inevitable headaches, when Christmas came upon us. Every Ghanaian living everywhere knows that “Bronya” is the real McCoy, the moth of all celebrations. This year's was especially sweet as the retailers gave us all handsome presents with substantial reductions in the prices of the goodies we needed to “chop” Christmas. I am too sure that the sellers of “inaugural fruit” were so charitable with price reductions. Nevertheless, there was considerable uptake of the “inaugural fruit”, made possible by the savings from reductions in the prices of “akoko”, “pioneer biscuit”, perfumed rice, etc.,

The mother of all celebrations was the inauguration of the 5th President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo on January 07 2017. The parties were several, long and full of quaffing of the “inaugural fruit”. And it was right and fitting that a good time was had by most, if not all Ghanaians, that CHANGE HAD COME and Happy Days were on the horizon, if not here again already. Going by the localized interpretation of Newton’s third law that “Input begets Output”, the post celebration pains, headaches and attendant dehydration were more intense, sustained and not just on account of taking in too much of the “inaugural miracle fruits”

President Akufo Addo (I will get used to the transition from “Addo D”) delivered a very inspiring inaugural speech, which made me and everyone else who heard it “very proud to be a Ghanaian”, whether they hold the passport or not. Alas hardly had we imbibed the promise of the new and exciting dawn of a new Ghana with responsible citizens “mucking in “instead of sitting on the fence “carping”, when the ‘s**t literally hit the fan” with worrying revelations about unattributed portions of the speech. Note, I do not use “plagiarism” for the simple reason that we are dealing with a few passages of an otherwise well-constructed and visionary 'call to arms' to all Ghanaians to pull our country up by the local equivalent of bootstraps.

After, the acting Director of Communications at the “Golden Jubilee House” (first manifestation of Change) quickly put up the proverbial “it’s a fair cop, Gov” apology post on Facebook (not the most appropriate medium), the matter should have and could have ended there, and we could have all moved on to better digestion of His Excellency’s message.  Unfortunately, the matter was not put to rest because too many “toono” “gaping sycophants’ started producing contorted academic thesis on copyright laws and even going to the extent to suggest that no infractions had occurred. That was as stupid as it was unmeritorious.

Let’s get one thing straight from the word go. The Opposition NDC is in an automatic payback mode. It has hit the ground running and will operate on the well-worn principle that “The business of the Opposition is to oppose everything and offer no solutions”. By getting the mandate of the people of Ghana on 7 December 2016 President Akufo-Addo and his party shifted from the “Problem Articulators mode to SOLUTION DELIVERERS. It does not have the luxury to engage in responding to every provocation from the NDC or encouraging their supporters to offer a “Pavlovian” (knee jerk”) response. I would have thought we would have learnt from the many Fasts and Thanksgiving services that there is only one infallible being, and we mere humans will continue to make mistakes, and just get used to the idea that we must apologise and ask for forgiveness, learn the appropriate lessons for the future, no matter how lofty our position is.

The second piercing and persistent headache has been the saga of the resettlement of ex-President John Dramani Mahama. It is an episode in which none of the players comes out smelling of roses: not Ex-Presidents Kufuor and Mahama; not President Akufo-Addo; not the Transition Teams: and last but not least, not the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana. I leave out Otumfuo for the simple reason that his involvement, if any, was engineered by actors who were very familiar with the laws of the Republic of Ghana, and should have ensured whatever intervention they sought from His Majesty was firmly grounded in the laws of Ghana.

Parliament was wrong in first accepting and then overriding the recommendation on accommodation arrangements by the Committee the President set up to review Article 71 end of service benefits. Be that as it may Ex-President Mahama was clearly wrong in seeking to perpetuate the misdemeanor of appropriating the official residence of the Vice President of Ghana, when he became the President of Ghana. If he had moved into the expensively refurbished Presidential Residency at the then Flagstaff (now Jubilee) House, all the subsequent cacophony will have been avoided. Ex-President Kuffuor’s interjection was unnecessary as it was unhelpful. The position advanced by his Spokesman is not found in our law. As far as I can surmise, Parliament approved the allocation of a house, NOT a specific house or a choice in the house.

Most troubling has been the shifting and contradictory position of Government. Clearly it appears it has had to back away from “smoke room” agreements which are not lawful and more importantly perceived by the people of Ghana as unfair, excessively wasteful and laying precedents that would be unsustainable going forward in the future.  In withdrawing from this sordid episode, former President Mahama has hinted at agreements precedent to the issuance of the formal announcement by the former Chief of Staff.  I believe it is incumbent, nay imperative, for the government to confirm or deny the claims impugned by the Ex-President, not least for the sake of removing the obvious embarrassment to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who does not need this distraction at this most difficult time for him.

Last but not least is the issue of takeovers of state structure and properties. Yes, the IGP and the Police must be up and doing without giving excuses.  Up and doing needs more than asking for a Plan to be drawn up when swift and decisive restoration of law & order is what is needed NOW. But the Police need the clear support of Government to do its job. So far this has not been forthcoming, a very worrying turn of events. 

Freddie Blay

For me, it is not good enough to point to the pleadings of party leaders as sufficient. Indeed, the reported comments and posture of the Ag. National Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay has been disappointed in the least, and damn right irresponsible at best. There is a clear distinction between Party, which is necessarily partisan, and Government, which must see itself as acting on behalf of ALL the People of Ghana. The sooner the transition from the former to the latter is completed, the better it will be for President Akufo-Addo & his avowed commitment to the “Rule of Law”, and to the benefit of every Ghanaian living everywhere, who voted for CHANGE OR CONTINUITY.

We have enjoyed a wonderful season of celebrations. However, it’s now time to take some pain killers, douse loads of water on ourselves to cure our harmattan compounded dehydration and sober up quickly to tackle the many onerous tasks ahead. President Akufo seems to have sobered up already. He has set the record for the quickest nomination of Ministers in the 4th Republic of Ghana. This means that Ghana will have a full functioning Government by the end of January, very impressive when put against the 3-4-month period of all previous Governments.

Its time for everyone else to clear their heads and wake up to the challenges of the Citizen-led renewal of our Country emboldened by the “Proud to be Ghanaian “Spirit.       

 

Charles Wereko-Brobby

Ghana Institute for Public Policy (GIPPO)

Email: tarzan@eyetarzan.org

THE ADDO "D" YOU DID NOT KNOW
By Charles Biney

Around mid-1979, as a very young politician, my path crossed that of a gentleman I could hardly  figure  out, but was very curious to know what he was about in politics. I was then the Organizing Secretary of the United National Convention Party for the Ga Rural Constituency. Also, I was actively involved in the politics of the Akim Abuakwa Constituency any time I visited my parents.

President Nana Akufo Addo

At that time, the Akim Abuakwa Constituency was badly in search of a parliamentary candidate. The name that kept popping up was one Nana Addo, someone I was hearing of for the first time. The leadership of the local party decided to draft him as the parliamentary candidate for the constituency, though we had not had any prior consultations with him. To the chagrin of the constituency, the national leadership, without our involvement, decided to impose a candidate on us .  We swore to register our displeasure at the appropriate time. Opportunity knocked at the door on the day that the flag bearer, Paa willie was slated as a speaker at a New Tafo rally - it was quite a spectacle to behold.

Just before Paa Willie was to speak, some of us grabbed Nana forcefully and lifted him shoulder high. To our disappointment he resisted forcefully no matter how hard we tried. We did not understand him then, and wondered why he would refuse a gesture his contemporaries were yearning for.

I didn't set eyes on him again for years. However, around the early nineties, during the second liberation struggle for the restoration of democracy and the rule of law, once again, our paths crossed.

This time I had the opportunity to work with him closely. He called me Charlie B, and I called him Addo D - that has changed since January 7, asymmetric change, though - whilst he can continue to call me Charlie B, he, to me, is now either Mr President or Your Excellency!

It was during the prosecution of the struggle and the years after that I realized Nana Addo is the most grossly misrepresented politician of our time - mauled by his detractors and critics. I discovered someone who was willing to stand on the side of the suffering masses while checking the power of the highest- a man who puts the needs of others first and helps people to perform.

Though unjustifiably bastardized by the rented press and his opponents, he still prevailed with his deft strategies and coolness in the face of relentless and needles attacks.

Also, under unfair attacks, innuendos, and shenanigans, he admonished his supporters to remain calm and not respond in kind. Even when he disagreed with the Supreme Court verdict, as regards the 2012 election petition, he accepted it and calmed the whole nation that was on the verge of civil strife. That's quite a telling perspective, isn't it? Putting the interest of the nation above his parochial agenda. Alluding to Mark Anthony's speech, I may ask, is this an ambitious person determined to rule his nation at all cost, as his critics want us to believe? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

After almost four decades, I saw in him a number of leadership qualities; however, the attributes I admire most about him are his altruistic and self-giving tendencies, and that's what I think will make him a very successful and great leader.

THE CAUSE...?
OF COURSE, ENDURES!
AND THE BATTLE...?
STILL THE LORD'S!!

Charles Biney
Dallas, Texas, USA

Guantanamo Bay turns 15: A look back at the notorious ‘torture camp’

A detainee is carried by military police after interrogation at Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp opened its cells to terrorist suspects 15 years ago, on January 11, 2002. Torture, unlawful detention, and hunger strikes have marred the US detention facility ever since.

Fifteen years on, the camp remains open, despite President Barack Obama’s campaign promise to shut it down, while president-elect Donald Trump tweeted earlier this month that he believes there should be no more prisoners released from Gitmo.

Over the years, close to 800 prisoners have been detained, and in some cases tortured, in the detention camp, using what were called “enhanced techniques” on the prison population, the overwhelming majority of whom were never charged.

Such “techniques” included waterboarding, with numerous detainees subjected to prolonged sessions of this potentially deadly torture, as well as being stripped naked and being confined in dark cells for lengthy periods of time.

A Somali detainee at Gitmo, Guleed Hassan Dourad, said he was also subject to “mental torturing,” describing during a pretrial hearing last year that he recalls vibrations in his cell floor, a constant “stinky smell” and noises that sounded “like someone on the roof… hitting hammer.”

A November 2016 study from Afghan Analysts Network found the US authorities committed “gross miscarriages of justice” against the victims, many of whom were detained on scant evidence. It found that in regard to the eight longest-serving inmates, the military were unable to “substantiate its accusations.”

Ex President Barack Obama

“Almost anyone could be detained,” said the report’s author Kate Clark, adding that “meaningless strings of associations – detainee knew X who knew Y who knew Z who knew bin Laden – [were] put forward as evidence of wrongdoing.”

Nine prisoners have died in Guantanamo, and seven of those deaths are believed to be by suicide. Only nine prisoners have ever been convicted of a crime. Today, 55 prisoners remain on the island, with 19 cleared for release – five of whom were cleared in 2009.

On the 15-year anniversary of its opening, RT looks back at some of the detainees who have spent years inside Guantanamo Bay.

Guantanamo has housed at least 15 children within its cells. Omar Khadr was 15 when he was sent to Guantanamo after being picked up in Afghanistan in 2002.

The Canadian pled guilty to throwing a grenade at a soldier in Afghanistan – after 8 years in Gitmo, his lawyers say he confessed under torture. Khadr is the only child soldier prosecuted in a military commission for war crimes.

He was transferred to Canada to serve the rest of his time. He has since become engaged to a woman who campaigned for his release.

Mohammed el Gharani was 14 when he came to Guantanamo – its youngest prisoner ever. Falsely accused of fighting for the Taliban and being a member of a London Al-Qaeda cell, el Gharani had never been to Afghanistan or the UK.

He was released in 2009, after seven years of being “abused” and not being treated like a child.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a Mauritania national, penned a bestselling memoir called Guantanamo Diary during his time in the prison camp.

A victim of torture and 14 years of detention without charge, Slahi was released in October. Slahi had given himself up to local authorities for questioning after 9/11, and was transferred to US custody

ami al Hajj, an Al Jazeera cameraman from Sudan, al Hajj was detained in 2001 and released in 2008. The only journalist to be held at Gitmo, he took part in hunger strikes.

Shaker Aamer was the last British detainee held without a trial. Since his release in October 2015, Shaker has spoken out about the conditions in the prison.

“Guantanamo is being run by one concept: how to destroy a human being,” Aamer told RT last year.

Mustafa al-Shamiri, a Yemeni, has spent 14 years in Guantanamo over a case of mistaken identity, with US authorities claiming he was a senior Al-Qaeda trainer in Afghanistan. Despite being cleared for release over a year ago, he remains detained there.

Abdallah al-Ajmi, a Kuwait citizen and former Taliban fighter, was sent to Kuwait from Guantanamo in 2005, where he was acquitted in 2006. He went on to die in a suicide bomb attack he carried out in Mosul in 2008.

Abedlaziz Kareem Salim al-Noofayee was detained in March 2002 for wearing a Casio F91W watch, which intelligence identified as a terrorist watch, or the “sign of al-Qaeda.” He was released in 2009.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is an alleged 9/11 plotter. Born in Pakistan, he has been dubbed “the mastermind of the September 11 attacks.” He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and was transferred to Gitmo in 2006. He was waterboarded at least 183 times.

He remains in Guantanamo along with fellow plotters Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Abd al Aziz Ali, Walid Bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.

GITMO 2: Will Nana Send Them Back?

President-Elect of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo

By Roger Adama

For Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) the decision of the Mahama administration to receive former Guantanamo Bay detainees in Ghana was reckless.

They argued strongly that it could endanger the security of the state and raised pertinent issues about national sovereignty.

Mr Sammy Awuku, National Youth Organiser of the NPP asked “ if the Americans don’t want to keep them (GITMO 2) on their soil why should we keep them?”

On this issue the NPP received substantial support from even left-wing groups including the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG).

Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef and Khalid Shaykh Muhammed were transferred to Ghana following an agreement between President Barack Obama of the United States of America and President Mahama.

Although officials of the US Embassy in Accra claimed Nana Akufo Addo was consulted before the transfer of the detainees, the NPP vehemently denied this.

The NPP version was that Nana Akufo Addo was informed of the transfer only a day or so before their arrival in Accra.

This saga reached ridiculous limits when the detainees issued a statement affirming their love for the national team “The Black Stars” and its captain Asamoah Gyan.

36 years old Atef from Yemen is said to be a one-time fighter for Osama Bin Laden and Mohammed who is 34 years old is said to have had al-Qaida military training in Afghanistan.

Given all the noise which was made about the GITMO 2 and the fact that Nana Akufo Addo will soon become the President of Ghana, it is important to ask if the new administration will return the ex-detainees to the United States of America.

Can Nana Akufo Addo afford to return the GITMO 2 and risk the displeasure of the United States of America which is seen as a strong ally of the NPP government?

If the Akufo Addo administration fails to send the GITMO 2 back, what will that say about the new government’s commitment to principle?

Perhaps only time will tell!

Editorial

CHRISTMAS

The Insight is not a religious newspaper but nonetheless the stories told about how selfless Christ was and his commitment to reform is very impressive.

It is our hope that in this period when Christians and the rest of the world are called upon to celebrate Jesus the Christ, the focus will be on how to promote selflessness and a commitment to the liberation of the oppressed.

Jesus is for us a symbol of the liberation of the oppressed and we will celebrate him as such.

We wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

PROFILE OF THE GITMO 2

Mahmmoud Bin Atef and Khalyd Mohammed

Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef, the 36-year-old Yemen citizen, and one of the two prisoners discharged by the United States from the Guantanamo Bay Prison to Ghana, is a one-time fighter for Osama Bin Laden, according a December 28, 2007 report by the US Department of Defense.

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, was the founder of al-Qaeda, the organization that claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States, along with numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets.

According to documents published on the website of the New York Times, the man, who was transferred to Ghana on January 6, 2016, is quoted by the US Department of Defense as a former fighter of the terrorist group, al-Qaida.

Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef has five additional nicknames.He was born in Mecca in Saudi Arabia in 1979, but holds a Yemen citizenship due to his father’s citizenship.

He only completed first year of High School in Saudi Arabia, and held a job as a driver in Mecca during the Hajj period.

The document concluded that “Detainee [Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef] is assessed to be a fighter in the Usama Bin Laden’s (UBL) former 55th Arab Brigade and is an admitted member of the Taliban. Detainee participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces and continues to demonstrate his support of UBL and extremism. Detainee accepted recruitment and facilitation from a known al-Qaeda member in Saudi Arabia, and acknowledged travelling to Afghanistan to participate in Jihadist combat.”

“He’s assessed to have stayed at al-Qaida and Taliban Guest Houses and admitted receiving militant training at the al-Qaida al-Faruq Training Camp. Detainees name was found on an al-Quaida affiliated document, and he has threatened to kill US citizens on multiple occasions including a specific threat to cut their throats upon his release. JTF-GTMO determined the detainee to be “a high-risk, as he is likely to post a threat to the US, its interests, allies, a high threat from a detention perspective and of medium intelligence value.

The New York Times Website however issued a disclaimer saying that it cannot independently verify the assertions of the 11-page document on Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef.

It explained that many of the allegations made, have been contested by detainees and their lawyers, and some have been undercut by other evidence.

The second Ex-Guantamo prisoner also transferred to Ghana on January 6, is 34 year old Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, who according to 2006 documents on the New York Times website, lived his entire life in Saudi Arabia, although he claimed Yemeni citizenship.

While studying at the Haram al-Makki Mosque, he met Abu Ali al-Yati who showed him videos of fighting and training in Chechnya.

Al-Yati convinced Khalid that the Koran stated all Muslims must know how to fight; thus became excited at the prospect, and decided to travel to Afghanistan for training.

Al-Yafi facilitated Khalid’s travel, including flight arrangements and funds. In August 2001, he began six weeks of training under the tutelage of an al-Qaida trainer.

The training consisted of familiarization with pistols, heavy machine gun, rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and hand-to-hand combat techniques. When he was later arrested by the US he denied awareness some of the people he has been dealing with who are connected to Usama Bin Laden.

Khalid Shaykh Muhammad had two nicknames.

The executive summary concluded that “The Detainee is assessed to be a probable member of al- Qaida who utilized the al-Qaida travel-network for access to Afghanistan (AF), and to receive militant training, Detainee maimed military positions in Tora Bora and probably engaged in hostile activities against coalition forces. Detainee Withholds information of intelligence value and has familial ties to extremism. He was thus determined to be:A Medium risk, as he may pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies, a medium threat from a detention perspective and Of meidum intelligence value.”

Ghanaians have reacted angrily to the decision of government to accept the two men, fearing the risk they pose to the country’s security.

But the US says it has clarified and addressed all security lapses before transferring the two Yemeni detainees, nearly six years after their transfer approval.

The two had been in detention for 14 years. However, a US multi-agency review undertaken at the start of the President Obama administration decided that both men posed minimal risk to national security and ought to be transferred.

The US Department of Defense in a statement on Wednesday said “the country was “grateful to the Government of Ghana for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. The United States coordinated with the Government of Ghana to ensure these transfers took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures.”

The quiet negotiations between the US and Ghana over the matter are said to have taken about a year.

Ghana’s Foreign Minister

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hanna Tetteh said, “They [Atef and Al-Dhuby] are unable to return to Yemen at the moment” and that the Ghana government has agreed to accept them for a period of two years after which they may leave the country.

Government says the US government will bear the full cost of the upkeep of the men in Ghana.

Syrians and Rwandans

Syrians and Rwandans Meanwhile, government has also agreed to provide humanitarian assistance to persons from Syria following the crisis that happened in the Middle East.

Hanna Tetteh explained that government decided to allow relatives of members of the Syrian community already resident in Ghana who have been displaced as a result of the conflict in their country to resettle in Ghana.

In the case of the two Rwandan refugees, the Ghana government was approached by representatives of the International Criminal Tribunal for that country, to resettle some of the persons who had been tried and had either been acquitted and discharged or had been sentenced and had served their time but did not find it appropriate to resettle in Rwanda.

AASU Congratulates Akufo-Addo

By AASU-Secretariat

Ghanaians have chosen their leaders on the 7th of December, 2016 in yet another peaceful elections worthy of emulation by many other countries around the World particularly in Africa. Indeed, democracy has come to stay and we believe that unorthodox methods of ascending to power belong to history as far as Ghana is concerned. AASU is very proud of Ghana and Ghanaians for yet another milestone in Africa success story.

Ghana is for sure going to attain new heights with lot more successes that will contribute immensely in propelling the African continent on the path of peace, democracy and sustainable development. Africans expected successful elections in Ghana and it has made it! Congratulations!

The election of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is not a surprise because his efforts and dedications have been manifested in years of struggle for democracy, human rights, peace and justice to prevail, and for Ghana to be a pacesetter for other African countries.

AASU would like to use this opportunity, to express our heartfelt congratulations to him on his ascension to the highest seat of the presidency of Ghana. We believe that his profound experiences in politics locally and internationally and commitments to Africa’s advancement will positively impact on the efforts geared towards the integration of the African continent, and particularly the west African sub-region.

Let’s celebrate Ghana’s success!

Continue breaking your own records! Congrats!
Awaah Fred
(Secretary General)

Be A Servant Leaders- Rev Canon Nelson Tells Nana Addo's Would-Be Team

Dr Mahammud Bawumia

By Ken Sackey

The Reverend Canon John Antonio Tello Nelson, the Coordinating Minister of the Accra Ridge Church, Sunday advised the incoming New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to govern truthfully with the spirit of servant leadership.

He said the people of Ghana needed leaders who were servants and not arrogant ones who sought to be served when put in a position of authority.

“There are a growing number of people who consider themselves to be consumers, rather than givers; they come to power to be served not to serve others, he stated. “When called upon to serve they rather complain and point a finger at people who they think are not doing anything.”

“Such attitude does not please the Lord and is without a reward…we are to serve with gladness, thanking the Lord for an opportunity to serve,” Rev. Canon Nelson said at an inter-denominational thanksgiving service of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the victory at the December 7, 2016 Elections.

The event, held at the Accra Sports Stadium, was attended by the President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, his Vice-President-elect, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, party chieftains, the Clergy and members, and sympathisers of the Party.

Rev. Canon Nelson whose sermon was centred on ‘Thankfulness,’ said arrogant leaders were not thankful because they failed to acknowledge that their resources, intellect and others wealth were gifts from God. 

Rev. Canon Nelson, however, assured the President-elect Nana Addo and those who would form his government that their security was from God and that they should be thankful for peace and for how far God had brought them.

To Ghanaians, Rev Canon Nelson said the change they wanted would only materialise when they changed their attitude at work, in their professions, and in the society at large.

“The change we seek can only happen by all of us changing our attitudes… the corruption, greed, lazy attitude to work; I don’t care attitude, the pilfering in our offices, the lack of maintenance of government property the nepotism, our tribalistic attitudes and the Ghana time mentality,” he told the thousands who had thronged the event.

“These are attitude that we have to change because if we have called for change and we don’t eschew all these negative attitudes in our lives, the changes can never happen.”

Before his sermon, Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng, the Founder of the Power Chapel International, asked for corporate prayers to bless Nana Addo and his team with wisdom, knowledge, understanding and the technical know-how to accomplish their mission.

Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, the Founder and leader of the Glorious Word Ministry International, also prayed for God’s direction, counsel, protection and strength for Nana Addo.

Rev. Josh Laryea, who represented Dr Mensah Otabil of the International Central Gospel Church, prayed for a great future and divine blessing for Nana Addo’s administration to impact positively on the destiny of Ghana.

Rev. Aboah Ofei of the Akropong Presbyterian Church, prayed for peace, divine favour and for loyal people and hardworking people to assist the President-elect to bring excellence to his to his governance of the country.

There were readings from the Book of Psalms on Thanksgiving and Exaltations of the Lord by Mr Freddie Blay, the Acting National Chairman of the NPP, the Minority Leader of Parliament Osei Kyei Mensa-Bonsu and Nana Addo, respectively.

I’m So Grateful; Let’s Get To Work Now - Nana Addo

Nana has got dams and factories to build! He calls for action

By Ken Sackey

The President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, thanking God and man for his elevation to the highest office of the land, sounded a clarion call to the citizenry to renew their strength and resources to get on with the big task ahead.

“Even as we praise God for his immense mercy to Ghana, we also know there is very hard work ahead of us...it is a task that we can and will perform with your support and with your hard work and with your unceasing prayers and with the full blessing of the Almighty God,” he declared.

“The battle has been the Lord’s,” Nana Addo said repeatedly in his 18-minute Thanksgiving Speech, acknowledging that there was a stronger hand above the efforts of men, which had crowned his four-decade political journey towards getting the assent of the Ghanaians to make the nation great and strong.

“Our stamina has been tested, but we kept going in the full belief that the battle was the Lords…the going was not easy, the road had been rough, the valleys were deep and the mountains were steep, we stumbled many times along the way, sometimes we came tantalizingly close to the proverbial walls of the city, but the city gates were closed in our face,” he stated,  to thunderous applauds and cheers from thousands of grateful party faithful who had gathered at the Accra Sports Stadium in thanksgiving accord.

The inter-denomination thanksgiving service was under the theme: "We will rejoice in your salvation; And in the name of our God we set up our banner".

Nana Addo explained his faith and his drive: “...But we never lost hope, we learnt from each mistake and we soldiered on in the belief that in God’s own time, we will get there better prepared.

“We took inspiration from Gods word in the book of Psalms 27-14 which says, “Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage’, so we took courage and worked in the full knowledge that the battle was the Lord’s”.

Urging Ghanaians to also take inspiration from hi tortuous journey, quoted from Habakkuk 2:3: “For the vision is yet for the appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry,” and stated that in God’s own time, He would make the affairs of Ghana bright and beautiful.

“I have no doubt that with God on our side, we shall succeed…because God has promised that in His own time he would make all things beautiful, this is His appointed time and that is why the battle is still the Lords,” he said to yet another applause and cheers from the charged atmosphere of jubilant party members, shining in white apparels, complemented with the other NPP colours of blue and red.

Nana Addo called for a lot of hard work, unceasing prayers and the blessings of the Lord towards the task of nation- building, saying again that that with the battle in the hands of the Lord, he was not afraid, but confident that Ghana would succeed under his leadership.

He paid solemn tributes to the fallen members of the party, saying it anguished him that they did not live to witness, what he called, “This famous and resounding victory”.

He mentioned former Vice President Aliu Mahama, former Chairman of the Party Jake Obetsebi- Lamptey, Former Upper East Regional Party Chairman Adams Mahama, and the murdered Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North, Joseph Boakye  Danquah Adu, Mr Peter Wiafe Peprera who was a legislator for Abetifi and Kwabena Boadu, an aide to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President-elect.

President-elect Nana Addo expressed gratitude to the millions who voted for him, and even those who voted for the other parties, and said it was a shared victory for Ghana.

The litany of appreciation also covered President John Dramani Mahama for his graciously conceding defeat, the Vice President-elect, Dr Bawumia and his wife Samira, the First-Lady in waiting wife Rebecca, his children, the media and the players in the creative industry, as well as those who gave their widow’s mite towards the campaign, for being part of “this positive history”.

“How can we ignore the convergence of events on the night of December 9, when President Mahama called me to concede defeat, while at the same time Yahya Jammeh of Gambia was disputing the elections, which he already lost,” he stated. 

He, therefore, thanked God for preserving the peace of the nation through the elections, despite the fears and apprehension of many citizens, commending Ghanaians for conducting “ourselves largely peacefully.”

“I do recognise that there have been some incidences of misconduct and altercations that should not have happened…such behaviours are unbecoming of us,” he commented.

“I call on all Ghanaians, everyone, to act with kindness, generosity, and magnanimity towards one another and to forgive anyone who may have wronged or hurt you…Remember the battle is the Lord’s.

GNA

Give Chiefs Roles In Governance – Osu Mantse

Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona

Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, the Osu Mantse and the President of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs, has called for the creation of space for chiefs in the governance system.

He said: “A time has come for the recognition of chiefs as major players in the democratic dispensation and the development of the country and as such should be given access to governance and this does not mean being political.”

Nii Kinka Dowuona, who was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said: “I believe that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, being a royal, will involve chiefs in his incoming government.”

For instance, he said, matters of chieftaincy disputes should be left for the councils to handle rather than the judicial courts, to give recognition to Ghanaian customs.

He said the era where Municipal and District Chief Executives carried out development projects without the consent of the traditional authorities, which had caused a break in the chain of the decentralisation system in the decision-making process, should end.

Nii Kinka Dowuona, therefore, called for the strengthening of the chieftaincy institution and its structures to function efficiently.

“We have the traditional, regional and national houses of chiefs and it is prudent these institutions and their councils are respected and allowed to carry out their mandate without political interferences,” the Chief said.

He appealed to the Police not to issue out letters of permission and protection for the installation of perceived chiefs without the approval of the councils to forestall disputes and to bring sanity into the chieftaincy institution.

GNA

UNITY AMONG PROGRESISVE FORCES WILL LIBRATE PALESTINE- IRANS LEADER

Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatolla Khamenei

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master Muhammad, his pure household, his chosen companions and those who follow them until the Day of Judgment.

I would like to congratulate you on the auspicious birthday anniversary of the Holy Prophet, the Master of the universe and the Master of all creatures in the world – Hazrat Muhammad ibn Abdullah [audience recites salawat] – and also on the blessed birthday anniversary of Hazrat Abi Abdullah al-Sadiq, the Holy Prophet’s (s.w.a.) grandson and God’s Hujjat on earth during the time of His Imamate.I hope that God bestows on us, on all Muslims and on all broad-minded individuals in the world the blessing to understand and appreciate the value of these blessings and these great phenomena and to try to move forward on the same straight path that these pillars of the world showed us.

The holy existence of the Great Prophet is so significant that Allah the Exalted considers it as a great blessing to humans: “God conferred a great favor on the believers when He sent among them a prophet from among themselves” [The Holy Quran, 3: 164]. In Sahifa al-Sajjadiyyah, Imam Sajjad (peace and greetings be upon him) addresses Allah the Exalted and says, “Allah praise is due to the God Who conferred upon us – not upon former generations and previous nations - a great favor by sending Muhammad, His Messenger” [Sahifa al-Sajjadiyyah, Dua 2]. 

The Holy Quran and the statements of the infallible Imams (a.s.) acknowledge that God has given us a huge favour by sending this great gift. This is very significant. “A mercy for all creation” is a description that Allah the Exalted uses in reference to the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). He does not say that the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) is a mercy for a group of people or for a particular nation in the world. He says that he is “a mercy for all creation”. He is a mercy for everyone. He gave the message that he had received from Allah the Exalted to humans as a gift. He provided this path for all peoples in the world.

Of course, there are some people who are the owners of power, of money, and of gold. They are not willing to let peoples benefit from this large banquet of divine mercy. They are opposed to the power of peoples. That is why they stand up against this divine movement. Under such circumstances, Allah the Exalted says, “Oh Prophet, fear God, and hearken not to the unbelievers and the hypocrites” [The Holy Quran, 33: 1]. God says to him that he should not follow them and that he should beware of them. Elsewhere He says, “Oh Prophet, fight hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be firm against them” [The Holy Quran, 9: 73]. He says to the Holy Prophet that he should fight against the unbelievers and the hypocrites. He says to him that he should “fight against”, not “kill” them. He does not say, “Kill the unbelievers and the hypocrites”. It is not always necessary to “kill”, but jihad is always necessary.

Sometimes, jihad is political, sometimes it is cultural, sometimes, it is soft jihad, sometimes it is hard jihad, sometimes it is done with weapons, and sometimes it is done with knowledge. All these things are jihad, but in all these forms of jihad we should pay attention that jihad is done against an enemy, an enemy of humanity. It is done against enemies who impose their heavy existence and their greedy interests on humanity with reliance on their power, their money and their bullying. Compromising with them does not make any sense: “Fear God, and hearken not to the unbelievers and the hypocrites.”

The ayahs of the Holy Quran about the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and about the teachings that God gives to him – God teaches him step by step and word for word how to build the new Islamic community – are many. My advice to myself, to our youth, to the promoters of religious affairs and to all those who have the affairs of the people in their hands is to pay attention to all these ayahs and to see all these concepts in the Holy Quran. These concepts form a collection, a complete collection. Our problem is that we ignore this complete collection of divine teachings to the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) and the description that God makes about him. If we keep this complete collection within sight, then that correct behavior and that straight path which the Holy Prophet took will emerge before our feet: “Verily, you are on a straight path” [The Holy Quran, 43: 43]. This straight path should be found.

Because our dear brothers and sisters from our country, and from other countries as well as the dear guests of the “Unity Conference”, and the honourable ambassadors of Islamic countries from various Islamic denominations – including various denominations of Shia and Sunni with various philosophies – are present at this meeting and because these statements will be heard later on, what I deem necessary to say in this meeting is this: dear brothers and sisters, today the world of Islam is suffering from grave maladies and the solution for those maladies is Islamic unity. What the world of Islam needs is unity, collaboration, assistance and passage through denominational and intellectual differences.

Today, the outlook of arrogance and imperialism towards the world of Islam is that they are trying to make the world of Islam drift away from its unity as much as possible. This is a threat to them. The existence of a billion and a half Muslims and the existence of all these Islamic countries with all these resources and with such extraordinary manpower is a threat to them! If they are united and if they move towards their Islamic goals with unity, then global powers will not be able to beat the drum of their power anymore. If this happens, America will not be able to impose its willpower on countries, governments and nations and the malignant and malevolent Zionist network will no longer be able to take different governments and powers in the claws of its own power and to use them in the direction of its own path and goals. If Muslims are united, this will be the case.

If Muslims are united, Palestine will not be in the situation that it is in now. Today, Palestine is in a difficult situation. Gaza and the West Bank are in a difficult situation, both in different ways. Today, the people of Palestine are under serious pressures on a daily basis. They want to erase the issue of Palestine from the minds of people and consign it to oblivion. They want to, as they say, busy the West Asian region, including our own countries – this is an extraordinarily sensitive and strategic region, it is a sensitive region in terms of geography, natural resources and sea passageways - with themselves.

They want Muslims to stand up against Muslims and Arabs against Arabs. They want them to target and destroy one another so that the armies of Muslim countries – particularly those armies that are neighboring the Zionists – weaken on a daily basis. This is their goal.

Today, two willpowers are opposing one another in the region: one is the willpower of unity and another is the willpower of discord. The willpower of unity belongs to believers. The cry of the unity and unanimity of Muslim is being let out by sincere voices. These voices are inviting Muslims to pay attention to their common points. If this happens and if this unity is achieved, the condition that Muslims are in today will change and they will achieve dignity.

Notice that in the present time, Muslims are being killed everywhere ranging from East Asia, Myanmar, to West Africa – Nigeria and other such countries. They are being murdered everywhere. In some places, they are killed by Buddhists, and in some places they are killed by Boko Haram, DAESH and the like. And some people fuel the fire of such discord. English Shia and American Sunni are the same. All of them are the same. They are the two edges of one pair of scissors. They are trying to pit Muslims against one another. This is the message that the willpower of discord – which is a satanic willpower – is conveying, but the message of unity is that Muslims should pass through such discord, that they should stand by one another’s side and that they should work together.

Today, if you look at the statements that arrogant powers and occupiers of nations’ vital spaces make, you see that they invite to discord. Since long ago, the English policy has been described like this: “divide and rule.” “Farraq, tasod” which means “divide and rule.” During the time when England had some power, this was its policy. Today too, this policy is being adopted by material powers in the world – whether America or lately again, England. The English have always been a source of malevolence in our region. They have always been a source of misery for nations. Perhaps, the blows that they have delivered to the life of nations in this region have few peers in other parts of the world.

In the Indian Subcontinent – which is comprised mainly of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the present time – they delivered severe blows and they pressured the people in a very harsh manner. They did so in Afghanistan, in Iran and in Iraq in different ways. And the last example is Palestine which is the place where they made that disgusting and malevolent move. They rendered Muslims and – in fact – a nation homeless and they made them drift away from their own homes.

A historic country, namely Palestine – whose history has been recorded since millennia – was destroyed by this English policy. From two centuries ago onwards – two centuries-plus a few years: from 1800 onwards – the English have done nothing but behave in an evil and corrupt manner and issuing threats. This is while that English official [Prime Minister Theresa May] comes here and says that Iran is a threat to the region. Is Iran really a threat to the region? It requires a great deal of shamelessness for those who have been a source of threat, danger and misery in the region to accuse our oppressed and dear country. They are like this. 

Since the signs of Islamic awakening emerged in the region, the activities leading to the creation of discord have increased in number. They considered discord as a tool for dominating nations. Since the time when they felt that new ideas, new Islamic thoughts, the resistance of nations, and the revival and liveliness of peoples are coming into being, the seditious movement of the enemies has intensified. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic – which raised the flag of Islam, which held up the Holy Quran, which said proudly that it would implement Islam, which enjoyed power, politics, resources, armed forces and everything else at its disposal and which benefitted from these things and strengthened them on a daily basis – in Iran, this seditious movement has intensified [Audience chant “Allahu Akbar”].

They strengthened this seditious movement in order to confront this Islamic uprising and this Islamic dignity. As long as Islam offered awakening to nations, it was a source of danger for them, but the kind of Islam that does not have any government, army, political system, money and a great and mujahid nation is different from the kind of Islam that has all these things.

The Islamic Republic has a vast land, a mujahid nation and a young, motivated and pious people. It has rich mines, talent that is higher than the global average, and a movement towards science and progress. Of course, it is the case that such Iranians are a source of danger for them! This is because they become role models for Muslim nations. They are opposed to this. Even if they make claims about compromising with us, that is a lie. The nature of their work is violence. These things should be understood and recognized. Nations should be prepared to confront this enemy who has neither morality, religion nor fair-mindedness and who keeps enhancing its appearance, but who is a savage by nature in the true sense of the word.

In my opinion, the most important way to be prepared today is unity among Muslims. Muslims should avoid creating discord. It does not make any difference. All denominations should do so and there is no difference between Shia and Sunni in this regard. All Islamic denominations should try to hide and cover their ideological differences under the numerous bonds that exist among them. The holy existence of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.) is the central point for the kindness and interests of all Muslim nations. Everyone loves the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.). This is a central point. It is the main point. The Holy Quran is the focal point for the beliefs of all Muslims. The same is true of Holy Ka’bah. Notice how many bonds and common points exist among Muslims! Muslims should pay attention to these common points.

They should identify the elements and agents of the enemies and of arrogance. Unfortunately, that enemy says openly, “You are enemies of one another. That country is a threat to you.” This means that they are your enemy and you are theirs! He who says this is the enemy, well it is clear that he says such a thing. Why do those who hear this – those who live and rule in an Islamic appearance and under an Islamic title – accept it from him? Why should they confirm what he says? Why should the outlook of some regional countries be the outlook of following the open enemies of Islam and the outright enemies of the Islamic Ummah?

What I would like to say to our own people – to the dear people of Iran who have really passed a difficult test during the years after the formation of the Islamic Republic and during the revolutionary years that led to the formation of the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Revolution – is that they should not abandon this path which is the path of our magnanimous Imam (r.a.) and the path of our revolution. You should follow this path. Dignity in this world and in the afterworld depends on taking this path: the path of holding on to the Holy Quran and e’trat [the Holy Prophet’s (s.w.a.) household], the path of holding on to divine rules, the path of standing up against the enemies and the path of fearlessness in stating and defending the truth.

This is a path that will build the worldly and otherworldly affairs of our people if they follow it. Fortunately, they have followed it until today. They have stood behind the officials of the country and they have followed this glorious path. This is what will happen if this path and this fighting continue. And other Muslims in the world will benefit from it as well. We invite all Muslim governments and countries to help and collaborate with one another. This is an invitation that is to the advantage of everyone.

I hope that Allah the Exalted showers His goodness, blessings and mercy on everyone in the Islamic Ummah, and on all Islamic countries and nations [audience answers with saying “Ameen”] and I hope that He helps this region to get rid of the enemies’ malevolence, God willing.

Greetings be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

Human Rights Violations: North Korea vs. the U.S.            

North Korean President Kim Jong Un

By Carla Stea

On November 15, 2016 the United Nations Third Committee adopted the resolution:  “Situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” 

Among the co-sponsors of the Resolution were United States, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, etc. 

Disassociating themselves from the resolution, which they denounced as invalid, were China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, and three other countries opposed to the biased character and double standards that typify “country-specific” resolutions.  The co-sponsors of this resolution are themselves guilty of  criminal human rights violations.

The very concept of human rights has been fraudulently used to such a degree that it bears no resemblance to Eleanor Roosevelt’s original inspiration for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Indeed, the term has become the antithesis of concern for human rights, and is now being used as yet another ploy, a Trojan Horse, to infiltrate, destabilize and ultimately overthrow independent governments which are anathema to Western Oligarchies.

At the United Nations Third Committee meeting of November 15, 2016, an urgently needed “No-Action Motion” was introduced by Belarus, opposing the “country-specific” resolutions as “deeply flawed and arbitrary instruments of coercion.”

Agenda item L.23 on the Situation of Human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Koreais the most flagrant example of these resolutions which are being used as instruments of coercion, and an example of the scandalous double standards on human rights which have become a lethal excuse by which Western capitalist powers have corrupted the United Nations into becoming, itself, an instrument of coercion.

The destruction, by US-NATO military bombardment, of states independent of western oligarchic control, was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolutions 678 and 1973, which were used to violently impose regime change in Iraq and Libya.  “Human Rights” is the contemporary equivalent of the “White Man’s Burden” which was used, in earlier times, to justify imperialistic conquest.

Resolution L.23 on the DPRK is an intellectually and morally bankrupt piece of propaganda, so clumsily cobbled together that its accusations of human rights violations more conspicuously apply to its sponsors, including the US, and UK  than to the DPRK, and the contrivances of the resolution are intended to hasten the economic genocide being inflicted on the people of the DPRK, and which the UN, through its barbaric sanctions regime is dishonorably facilitating.

Resolution L.23 

“expresses its very serious concern at continuing reports of violations of human rights such as torture and other cruel, inhuman conditions of detention; rape, public execution; extrajudicial and arbitrary detention; the absence of due process and the rule of law; extensive use of forced labor..”

The resolution is intended to legitimize the sanctions stranglehold on North Korea, and increase the suffering of the people of the DPRK for the sinister purpose of inciting chaos and regime change in that tiny country, one of the few remaining socialist economies in the world.

This deceptive politicization of the concept of human rights for the nefarious purpose of facilitating an oligarchic geopolitical agenda is now debasing and discrediting the very concept itself.  In classic Orwellian style, the countries whose economic systems, based on profit maximization, most notoriously abuse human rights are condemning the countries whose socialist economies are founded on the most humanitarian principles and practice. That the UN tolerates this disgraceful  scam morally discredits the organization, and may lead to its ultimate demise.

Resolution L.23 on the DPRK may easily be refuted, almost line by line, with examples of barbaric human rights abuses systematically committed by the very same countries which co-sponsored the resolution, and these barbaric practices are documented in such pristine Western publications as  The New York Times, The New Yorker,  Harper’s, and numerous other publications which  catalogue human rights abuses over centuries, but an examination of the most recent decades will suffice.

US Human Rights Record. Recent History

In September, 1971, at the infamous Attica political prison  (described as a “correctional facility”) in New York,  1,300 political prisoners rebelled against the brutal treatment they were enduring during their incarceration.  This action symbolized a class revolution of mostly impoverished African Americans, and some white citizens, mostly destitute, arising from their enslavement and demanding human dignity.  Tragically, they had no weapons to defend themselves. Political prisoners in Attica included members of the Black Panther Party, the Puerto Rican Young Lords, the Weather Underground, and numerous other political organizations within the USA.

Four days after the uprising, Governor Rockefeller, in a notorious action typical of systemic capitalist repression and constituting a crime against humanity, ordered armed troopers to enter the prison, where they massacred and tortured the prisoners who had protested against the hellish conditions of their imprisonment .  The recently published masterpiece, entitled “Blood in the Water,” by United States historian Heather Ann Thompson documents the horrific tortures inflicted during the murderous repression of unarmed prisoners.  Among those slaughtered in the massacre ordered by Governor Rockefeller, was  “Kenny Malloy, His skull had been riddled with so many bullets that his eye sockets were shredded by the shards of his own bones.”

Invading with chemical poison CS gas, orthochlorobenzyldene, the heavily armed state troopers began murdering the unarmed prisoners.  The tortures to which the “surviving prisoners were subjected were described by victim Frank Smith:

Page 487:  “ He was chained to a table.  ‘They say you like to play football, we’re going to put this football into you nigger, and then we’re going to kill you.’  The torturers shoved a football under his chin, and told him if he let it drop, they would shoot him.  As recounted by Smith, the troopers kicked him ‘repeatedly in the testicles, and were spitting on me, dropping lit cigarettes on me…I would flex my body to make the cigarette fall off me, so it wouldn’t burn too long.’”  “ his legs hung over the edge of the table for six hours until they started to go numb.  ‘my head was hurting, my back was hurting, and the most excruciating pain I had was in my testicles.  It was a very excruciating pain in my genital area.’  He was then forced to run through a gauntlet with fifty armed officers on both sides, with broken glass on the floor.  Still completely naked, he endured the blows of ax handles and the baton with pig handles as he was forced to run this gauntlet.  The pain had been horrendous, ‘unbearable pain;  my testicles, my fingers gouged, and arms and back,’ accompanied by endless barrage of vile racial attacks, slurs.”

This was standard torture of the prisoners, including rape:

”An officer pulled out a Phillips screwdriver and told the naked inmate to get on his feet or he’d stab the screwdriver in his rectum…then he just started stabbing him.”

When the prisoners’ attorney, the great civil rights lawyer William Kunstler, witnessed the carnage of mangled dead bodies strewn everywhere on the ground,  Kunstler, who had grasped that this was a  legitimate political rebellion, wept uncontrollably at the sight of fascism’s  work.  And, of course, Governor Rockefeller, the man responsible for the massacre, was never held accountable, but history condemns him for perpetrating this infamous state terror.

The New Yorker, May 2, 2016 describes current torture and murder of mentally disabled prisoners in Florida prisons.  This is documented in an article by Eyal Press.  As prisoner Darren Rainey, diagnosed as schizophrenic, had defecated in his cell, after being tormented by his guards,  he was, as punishment, put in a “shower,”  “locked in a stall whose water supply was delivered through a hose controlled by the guards.  The water was over one hundred and eighty degrees, hot enough to brew a cup of tea…It was later revealed that Rainey had burns on more than ninety percent of his body, and that his skin fell off at the touch.”

Rainey was boiled to death in the shower, but it was learned that many other prisoners had been subjected to the same torture of being boiled alive.  None of the perpetrators of this torture were held accountable.  Prisoners were routinely beaten.  Other prisoners were starved, some starved to death.  Any witnesses who might have spoken against this abuse were threatened and silenced.

On May 15, 2016, the exact day on which Resolution L.23 against the DPRK was adopted at the UN Third Committee, The New York Times published a front page article describing the torture of prisoners in a jail in Utica, New York.  In addition to the usual tortures of defenseless prisoners, anal rape is common.

“Prisoner Raymond Broccoli recounted:  “as he lay on the floor an officer hissed, ‘You want to know what it feels like to feel weak?’ The guard then jammed something metal into his rectum.”  Other prisoners described being anally raped….  When a guard ordered Pablo Dones, 58 to stand up, Mr. Dones, who had recently undergone hernia surgery said he struggled to his feet. ‘I made it to one knee and the guard kicked me right where I had the operation.’  He screamed in pain, he said, but another guard grabbed him and began banging Dones’ head against the wall.  ‘He was hitting me against the wall so many times, my head went right through it.’”

Of course the recent historic record includes the famous cases of Abner Louima, raped in police custody with a broomstick rammed up his rectum, which perforated his intestines, necessitating surgery and months of hospitalization, and the case of the Amidou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant who stood in the vestibule of his own home, and was shot to death there 41 times by police officers.  The police who murdered him were acquitted of all charges.

Suffice to demonstrate that right up to the very moment at which the US hypocritically co-sponsored resolution L.23 condemning the DPRK, the heinous human rights abuses to which the US is subjecting its own citizens continue to be staggering.

Among its preposterous allegations,  Resolution L.23

“expresses  grave concern about the impact of diverting resources to advance nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programmes on the humanitarian and human rights situation of the citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”

The worst offender of this criminal diversion of resources into nuclear weapons is the USA, which this year authorized expenditure of one trillion dollars in development of advanced nuclear weapons.  And a report by the New York based charity, “Meals on Wheels,” stated that 2 million elderly citizens in the United States must constantly choose between buying food or buying urgently needed medicines.  5 million Americans are deprived of adequate food altogether.  Almost 10 million Americans, and a vast number of elderly persons live below the poverty level.   The figures of the homeless and hungry in the United States are enormous, while the government neglects its own citizens, leaving many to starve, and beg, while squandering 1 trillion dollars on developing advanced nuclear weapons.

Resolution L.23 on the Human Rights Situation in the DPRK “underscores its very serious concern at the systematic abduction, denial of repatriation and subsequent enforced disappearance of persons, on a large scale and as a matter of state policy, including those from other countries…”

On November 14, 2016, in its report on Preliminary Examination Activities of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of the ICC is planning major investigation into war crimes tantamount to crimes against humanity committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

United States President Barack Obama

The report states, section 211:

“Members of the US armed forces and CIA appear to have subjected numerous persons in Afghanistan, and others transported to secret prisons in Poland, Romania, Lithuania and elsewhere to torture, ‘outrages upon personal dignity and/or rape.”  The report states in section 212:  “These alleged crimes were not the abuses of a few isolated individuals,”  section 213 states:  “The office considers these alleged crimes were committed in furtherance of a policy or policies aimed at eliciting information through the use of interrogation techniques involving cruel or violent methods which would support US objectives.”  It is important to point out that Poland, Romania and Lithuania were among the co-sponsors of the resolution against the DPRK, and these  same countries were also the very sites of the notorious secret CIA prisons to which abducted prisoners were flown to be tortured.  These “co-sponsors” are accessories to war crimes.

L.23 accuses the DPRK of “all-pervasive and severe restrictions on freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief,…torture, imprisonment of individuals exercising their freedom of opinion, etc…”

The United Nations has imposed no sanctions against Saudi Arabia, which has inflicted a 10 year imprisonment and a punishment of 1,000 lashes upon journalist Raif Badawi, for criticizing Saudi Arabia’s hardline religious establishment.  Edward Snowden lives in exile for exercising his human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The UN has imposed no sanctions upon their countries which are violating the basic rights of their own citizens.

Resolution L.23 arbitrarily targets the DPRK in an attempt to fraudulently “justify” imposing further strangling sanctions on the DPRK, singled out for its nuclear program (though 9 other countries possess nuclear weapons, and one has already used them.)

It is therefore imperative to highlight the fact that the DPRK voted “Yes” on First Committee Resolution L.41:

“Taking Forward Multilateral Disarmament Negotiations,” which aims at the total prohibition of nuclear weapons.  This is indisputable evidence that the DPRK’s nuclear program is defensive, a protection against nuclear attack by the US.  It is also imperative to note that the US voted “No” on the very same resolution, again evidence that the US has no intention of giving up its own enormous and potentially world shattering nuclear arsenal, one of the most profitable industries, which essentially provokes and impels other nations to obtain nuclear weapons in defense against imminent or potential attack.

DPRK is a socialist country, and the ferocious determination of capitalist powers to obliterate socialism, despite strong evidence that capitalist economies are failing to provide the basic necessities of life for their citizens, is threatening world stability.  And despite the fact that the barbarous UN Security Council Resolution 2270 sanctions have inflicted enormous economic hardship and suffering on the people of the DPRK, their government remains committed to universal free medical care, free education, free housing and equality between men and women.

Resolution 2270 is based almost exclusively on the widely discredited Commission of Inquiry which contains statements by defectors, highly paid to concoct gruesome and false statements of human rights violations within the DPRK, statements refuted by the defector community itself, and the central statement on which the Commission of Inquiry report is based was later repudiated by the very defector himself, Shin Dong-hyuk , who admitted he had lied and falsified his statements.

Section 2 of L.23 expresses

“very serious concern about discrimination “which classifies people on the basis of assigned social class or birth…”

It is important here to mention the 2016 report by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Global Justice Clinic, New York University School of Law.  The report is entitled:  “Excessive Use of Force By the Police Against Black Americans in the United States.  Page 23 of the report states:

“Police violence which disproportionately affects black Americans, also intersects with discrimination based on socio-economic status, gender, mental health and sexual orientation and gender identity, among other factors.  The cities where some of the highest profile police killings have occurred in the past two years – including Ferguson, Missouri (where Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer) and Baltimore, Maryland (where Freddie Gray died in police custody) are marked by long histories of economic inequality drawn along racial lines.  These persistent inequalities stem from both explicit government policies and implicit social dynamics.”

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Simonovic admitted that the report by the Commission of Inquiry, (which was based on statements by defectors highly paid to provide the salacious fabrications they understood were sought by the “inquiry,”)  does not meet the standard of proof required for consideration in court.

And directly contradicting the report of the Commission of Inquiry are reports by Dr. Brandon K. Gauthier, an American historian who recently traveled within the DPRK, and favorably described his impressions and regular interactions with citizens living within North Korea.  He described these “normal people living normal lives, as quite comfortable within their nation, and revealing little distress or fear,” contrary to the portrayal of the DPRK by Western propaganda.  Dr. Gauthier described, in a recently published article, how, witnessing the US-NATO devastation of Iraq and the demolition of Libya, followed by the extrajudicial murder of Khadafy, after he had renounced efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, convinced Kim Jong Il that “only one weapon could prevent the chance of a foreign attack on North Korea”:  a nuclear weapon.

And as a famous American mainstream media reporter, accredited to the UN was overheard saying to Chinese Ambassador Liu at a reception:

“If I were Kim Jong-un witnessing the attack on Libya, and the torture-murder of Khadafy, after he had abandoned their nuclear program, I’d hold on to my nukes!!!”

And recalling the 80 million bombs which, according to CNN on September 6, 2016, the US dropped on tiny Laos during the Vietnam war, one can understand the constant terror of suffering such an attack which is endured daily by the DPRK.

It is a courageous small progressive nation trying to survive in a struggle where they are David confronting Goliath.

The original source of this article is Global Research