PARTIES INTENSIFY VIGOROUS CAMPAIGN

President Mahama assures overwhelming win like Usain Bolt

By Ekow Mensah

All the contestants in the December 7 elections appear to have vigorously intensified their campaigns with National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) out doing the others.

The NDC has set up four campaign teams at the National level which are crisscrossing the country with gusto.

The leaders of the four teams are President John Dramani Mahama, Vice President Kwesi Amissah- Arthur, first lady, Lordina Mahama and Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.

As soon as one of the teams leaves a region another follows, giving the impression of a near permanent campaign in all the regions.

Nana Akufo Addo draws crowds everywhere he went

The NPP is also pursuing the campaign with utmost vigor and it appears that it has two campaign teams at the national level led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo and his running mate Dr. Mahamond Bawumia.

Whiles the NDC appears to have a broad sweep approach, the NPP is apparently campaigning to maintain its strongholds in the Ashanti and Eastern Regions whiles making incursions into the Volta Region believed to be the stronghold of the NDC.

The CPP has also set up two teams at the National level, led by the Presidential Candidate Comrade Ivor Greenstreet and the other by Professor Edmund Delle, National Chairman and leader of the party.

Party sources say that Professor Delle has been given the task of consolidating support for the party in the Northern Sector whiles Greenstreet is focusing on the Southern sector.

CPP adopts grassroots mobilisation and targeted groupings as strategy

Greenstreet has reportedly gone round the country four or five times already and has met with a horde of interest groups including associations of physically handicapped, organised labour, youth and students, the Rastafarian Council and other faith based groups.

The CPP hopes to cause an upset in this election even though its campaign is not a noisy one.

Like the NDC, the CPP sees the whole of the country as its theatre of operation.

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) also appears to have a noticeable presence in the country with billboards and posters spread practically everywhere.

It appears that its grand strategy is to consolidate its support in the Western and Central Regions and to sell its Presidential Candidate more as a successful businessman.

The All People’s Congress (APC) is relying on dramatics rather than organizational strength and its leader Hassan Ayariga is one of the most visible candidates.

The People’s National Convention (PNC) appears to be losing steam largely as a result of a serious lack of resources.

The party’s most visible personality is not its presidential Candidate but its National Chairman, Bernard Monarh who doubles as Parliamentary Candidate in Wa.

Editorial

BUHARI’S LESSON

General Buhari has managed to become the President of the Republic of Nigeria even if everybody agrees that his performance is not impressive.

According to the General himself, he would have done much better if he had assumed office at a younger age.

His own wife Aisha is highly disappointed by his performance in government and is threatening that she may not even vote for the old man again.

Indeed, many Nigerians now openly admit that they made a serious mistake in choosing Buhari over Goodluck Jonathan, who was widely seen as incompetent.

The lessons of Buhari’s rise to power are many and interesting and The Insight believes that the most important one is that voters ought to look before they leap.

Mistakes made in the polling booth cannot be corrected easily.

Perhaps one word to the wise can be enough.

Discovery of Distant Galaxy Cluster Growth Spurt Pushes Back Creation Timetable

The most distant galaxy cluster is going through an amazing growth spurt unlike any other, according to French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) lead scientist Tao Wang. The most distant galaxy cluster yet discovered has been observed creating new stars at a rate of 3,000 per year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said in a press release on Tuesday. "This galaxy cluster isn’t just remarkable for its distance, it’s also going through an amazing growth spurt unlike any we’ve ever seen," said French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) lead scientist Tao Wang said in the release. The core of CL J1001 contains eleven massive galaxies, nine of which are experiencing an impressive baby boom of stars, the release explained. The discovery of this object pushes back the formation time of galaxy clusters — the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity — by about 700 million years, the release noted. The cluster’s distance of 11.1 billion light years from Earth means that the activity observed today took place more than 11 billion years ago. The cluster was observed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes shortly after birth, a brief, but important stage of evolution never seen before, according to the release.

Against colonial borders: The need for African citizenship now

Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah

By Hashi Kenneth Tafira

Partition of Africa and delimitation of borders were arbitrary acts which Europeans imposed without regard to local conditions. Dismantling colonial borders is therefore a veritable pan-African project. Pan-Africanism should be seen as a people-to-people relationship rather than one among heads of state, intellectuals or western tutored elites.

Today we are witnessing large-scale movement of people across borders. Political, economic and social instability within nation-states has reached a volatile level. Concern about tightening of borders, national security and increasing fear of the African “Other” are now commonplace. This paper makes some propositions and states the case that colonial borders and preoccupation with territory, securitization and security regimens and “sovereignty” are a bane to African unity. It argues that such impulsion reveals the colonial nature of the so-called post colony. Secondly, it is time that Africans were granted African citizenship, meaning that there should be free human movement across the borders; an African should feel at home no matter where they are on the continent. Thirdly, there are more merits in dismantling colonial borders than maintaining them.

The case for African citizenship

Criminalisation of Africans, anti-black African hatred and impulsion to Afrophobia are major questions. In contrast, mobility and movement are historical features of African citizenship. Tidiane Kasse captures this essence well:

“In some African cultures, travel is an initiating act. One becomes a man when he leaves his family to go far to discover other people and other cultures, to confront the real world realities. This means going away from the comfort and care of a mother, far from protection of a father. Going away is getting more experience; coming back is enriching one’s group with what was learned in the other world. This culture brands the Soninkes – a cross border community living between Senegal, Mali and Mauritania.”[1]

The same applies to the Kikongo people who are found in three countries. By the time of German arrival the Hutus and the Tutsis were merging into one cultural group through intermarriage and increased contact. The 1994 Rwandan genocide and other conflicts bordering on ethnicity manifest the insidious colonial divide-and-rule tactics which heavily relied on ascriptive ethnic identities. Colonialism, apart from inserting artificial borders and isolation of ethnic groups, forced some traditional foes to live side by side. The colonial nation-state while bringing together diverse groups also kept others separate and divided and unintegrated at the same time breaking up ethnic groups.[2]

Historically, Africans have always engaged in short and long distance trade and intermarried therefore creating an authentic citizenship while relating at social, political and commercial levels.[3] It is true to state that all African communities have shared cultural, linguistic and religious affinities on all sides of the border. People on so-called border communities are the same and often don’t recognise the borders. Dismantling colonial borders is a veritable pan-African project. According to NgugiwaThiong’o pan-Africanism should be seen as a people to people relationship rather than one among heads of state, intellectuals or western tutored elites.[4] This is based on the African humanist ethos. He states:

“There is no rational basis other than convenience for regarding colonial boundaries as sacrosanct and by implication the residents of either side of the colonial border as foreigners. These borders were historically constituted, markers of European memory on Africa, to meet colonial needs, and there is no reason why they cannot be historically reconstituted to meet African needs and reconnect with African memory.”[5]

The formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on May 25 1963 in Addis Ababa to unite the African continent was a noble achievement. However, as Joseph Ki-Zerbo observes, the OAU only managed partial unity because:

“It committed the original sin of maintaining colonial borders supposedly to prevent conflicts. Yet these same borders are in flames. They are structurally prone to conflict. They make every African a foreigner to at least 80% of the other Africans. African borders are instruments of vivisection of peoples and have, since their establishment, caused untold human sacrifice in the form of fratricidal holocausts, merely out of respect for boundary lines already marked in blood by the colonial conquest.”[6]

Border disputes between Nigeria and Cameroon, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Badme/Yirga Triangle are some cases that call for indictment of colonially drawn borders.

Ki-Zerbo further notes that the reason is that the struggle for African nationalism was delinked from the struggle for pan-Africanism and African intellectuals supported that. Of course nationalism isn’t awakening of nations to self-consciousness; it invents nations where they do not exist.[7] At independence invention and imagination of a new nation including naming was distant from the ethos of pan-African unity. The African elite who led struggles for independence sprang from the mission tutelage and imbibed western liberal notions of the nation. In fact they started as parochial ethnic associations where members of the same ethnic groups coagulated around a prominent figure. They transplanted their chauvinistic ethnic views into the national movements, which means that the national liberation struggle really failed to deal with the issue of tribalism. Most national movements had the term “national” in them and concentrated with liberation of its own borders. At independence the “big men” of the struggle considered the new nation-state as a personal possession, as property and were reluctant to dissolve the borders. But claims of African state sovereignty are “political fiction.”[8] Imperialist and neoliberal capitalist domination, ethnic and political violence ebbed by foreign intervention and arms commerce, impoverishment of whole populations, enrichment of the few elite and other multifaceted disturbances debunk the myth of territorial sovereignty.

OAU’s successor the African Union (AU) states that it is inspired by OAU’s vision of unity, solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among African people and African states. Article 3 (b) is Westphalian. It seeks to “to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its member states.”[9] Article 4 (b) also commits to respect borders existing on achievement of independence and Article 4 (g) shies from interference by any member states in the internal affairs of another. Similarly the OAU Charter while committing to promotion of unity and solidarity of African states, Article 11 (c) seeks “to defend their (member states) sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence.” Article 111(1) also promotes sovereign equality of all member states and 111 (2) urges non-interference in the internal affairs of member states. At the 1963 conference it was only Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah who favoured a political union of the continent. Other leaders swore to maintain the borders. The 1964 Cairo Declaration further affirmed the resolution to preserve territorial boundaries.

The evolution of the nation-state from Europe to Africa and the non-Western world

After a devastating 30 years of war from 1618 to 1648, the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France and their allies reached a peace agreement and signed the peace treaty of Westphalia. The treaty of Westphalia established the modern concept of nation-state and held that all states are sovereign and equal. Sovereignty, territory, international law and the international system which would enable a state to enter into treaties and agreements with other political entities were prominent outcomes of the Westphalia agreement. Indeed internal characteristics of sovereignty are where there is absolute authority within a territorial demarcation while externally the nation-state is recognised in a legal international system and there is observance of non-interference in the domestic affairs of that nation-state.

But post-1648 and the establishment of a colonial nation-state were late arrivals. Since at least 1488 and inception of colonial modernity, colonial adventurists always questioned whether non-western peoples were well attuned to the concept of the nation/state. Like all other assumptions Europeans had of other peoples, if nations, states, clans and ethnic identities existed in Europe did they also exist elsewhere? Of course non-western peoples were seen to be lacking civilisation, were subhuman and had no knowledge of judicial concepts and ideas of proper government. For this reason they had to be subordinated to a “superior” civilisation where they had to be incorporated into a colonial state and its legal machinery which were transplanted from Europe and applied in the colonies. The dichotomy of civilised/uncivilised buttressed by legal processes prompted disciplines like anthropology which defined the characteristics of the uncivilised. Thus colonialism was an encounter between “civilised” European state and the “uncivilised savages.”

Colonisation of the non-western world under an international law called Doctrine of Discovery followed Voyages of Discovery, conquest, confiscation of land and other barbarities. Within this reasoning Europeans claimed superior rights over indigenous peoples and by erecting flags and stone monuments, religious symbols, crosses, and celebrating mass they made legal claims of ownership of the lands they “discovered.”[10] The justification was of course religious, racial and ethnocentric. [11] Subsequently several European countries used law of colonialism to make claims to African lands. Constitutive of the Doctrine of Discovery was:

the first European country to “discover” assumed property and sovereign rights over the lands and its peoples permanent occupation and settlement indigenous people considered to have lost full property rights over their lands, inherent sovereignty and rights to international trade and commerce and diplomatic relations terra nullius – that is, the land is empty and devoid of occupation or if occupied but not used, according to European reasoning, it had to be claimed

non-Christians didn’t have same rights to land, sovereignty and same determination as Christians Europeans could acquire title to land through conquest, that is, military victory and just war and whatever is gotten it is booty.

In any case Pope Eugenius IV had passed papal bulls in 1436 and Nicholas V passed them in 1455 granting Portugal rights to title to lands of Africans, place them in perpetual slavery and seize all their property.  In 1493 Alexander VI issued a papal bull granting lands to Spain. This was consummated at the treaty of Tordisallos in 1494 where the pope gave both Portugal and Spain blessings to demarcate the two hemispheres among themselves.

By the time major European powers sat at Berlin in 1884 – 5 the process of colonisation had been underway for a couple of centuries. The conference attempted to resolve by peaceful means the increasing competition for colonies by European powers. To rationalise the scramble the conference employed diplomacy, power politics and international law where the imperial powers sought to work out a legal and political framework that would facilitate colonial expansion without resorting to conflict.[12] However the conference and the scramble for Africa led to crafting of the African map just like the European map was drawn after Westphalia, and secondly creation of colonial nation-states. Partition of Africa and delimitation of borders were arbitrary acts which Europeans imposed without regard to local conditions. [13] Besides, there was invention of ethnic divisions and racial codification. This makes present problems afflicting Africa colonial problems.

The postcolony shows the legacy of transference of judicial, legal, institutions, rule of law and justice and democracy.[14] Obsession with maintenance of law and order consistent with the colonial policy of tutelage, coercion and penalisation explains why after independence the structures of law and order remained intact including the army, the police and the prison services.[15] These instruments are mobilised by the postcolonial regimes to keep out African immigrants or detain them for being illegal. By preserving and continuing with colonial oppressive instruments postcolonial regimes maintain a status quo created by colonial capitalism which is contrary to the interests of African majority. [16] In countries like South Africa degrading nomenclature like alien are used and are in statute books.

At transference of independence which was constitutionally negotiated African leaders not only agreed to maintain colonial borders but got political power without disrupting socio-economic and cultural features established by colonisers.

Conclusion

Physical borders translate into mental borders. Metaphysical and physical dismantling of colonial borders is a huge stride towards mental liberation. Africans have been conditioned to hate other Africans simply because of different territorial, social and geographical origin. These demands are linked with the call for an end of colonial, neo-colonial and imperialist exploitation of African resources and her people. We take caution of Cabral’s assertion that national liberation is not only the end to colonialism but freedom from foreign domination whereby “the principal aspect of national liberation struggle is the struggle against neo-colonialism.”[17]

Under terms of globalisation, neo-liberal conditions and market regimens, the irony is that governments open their borders to international capital on very generous stipulations while keeping Africans out who they consider to be the “aliens” and “undesirables.” Thus the nation-state according to Comaroff and Comaroff is engaged in the “business of attracting business” while becoming “a mega-management enterprise.”[18]

On the eve of the founding of OAU Nkrumah told the gathering:

“Without necessarily sacrificing our sovereignties, big or small, we can here and now forge a political union based on defence, foreign affairs and diplomacy and a common citizenship, an African currency, an African monetary zone and an African Central Bank. We must unite in order to achieve the full liberation of our continent. We need a common defence system with African High Command to ensure the stability of Africa…with our united resources, energies and talents we have the means, as soon as we show the will, to transform the economic structures of our individual states from poverty to that of wealth, from inequality to the satisfaction of popular needs. Only on a continental basis shall we be able to plan the proper utilisation of all our resources for the full development of our continent.”[19]

At that time African leaders didn’t appreciate Nkrumah’s wisdom. Europeans did. The concept of European Union is based on Nkrumah’s ideas. In contemporary times Europeans have realised the futility of the nation-state and have opened up their borders to their citizens. Africa is still closed to Africans but is open to westerners under the spurious reasons that the latter are tourists or investors.

African citizenship is an urgent and pertinent call. African citizenship would be beneficial to the continent. First it would promote love, understanding, togetherness and unity of African people and show them that they are one people; all other particularisms are fictitious. Secondly Africa’s huge human potential would be utilised for Africa’s development. Thirdly it leads to mental and psychological decolonisation.

* DrHashi Kenneth Tafira is based at Archie Mafeje Research Institute, University of South Africa. He is the author of “Black Nationalist Thought in South Africa: The Persistence of an Idea of Liberation,” 2016, Palgrave MacMillan. taffii@gmail.com

End notes

[1] TidianeKasse,”Africa and the Drama of Immigration.”http://www.pambazuka.org/global-south/africa-and-drama-immigration, 21 April 2016.

[2] Francis .M. Deng. 1993. Africa and the New World Disorder: Rethinking Colonial Borders. The Brookings Review Volume 11 Number 2 pp32-35.

[3] HanningtonOchwada. 2005. “Historians, Nationalism and pan-Africanism: Myths and Realities,” in ThandikaMkandawire, ed. African Intellectuals. Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development. Dakar: CODESRIA.

[4] NgugiwaThiong’o. 2005. “Europhone or African Memory: The Challenge of the pan-Africanist Intellectual in the Era of Globalisation,” in ThandikaMkandawire, ed. African Intellectuals. Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development. Dakar: CODESRIA.

[5] Ibid: 162.

[6] Joseph Ki-Zerbo. 2005. “African Intellectuals, Nationalism and pan-Africanism: A Testimony,” in ThandikaMkandawire, ed. African Intellectuals. Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development. Dakar: CODESRIA, p87.

[7] Ernest Gellner. 1964. Thought of Change. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.

[8] Richard Werbner. 1996. "Introduction. Multiple Identities, Plural Arenas,” in Richard Werbner and Terrence Ranger, eds. Postcolonial Identities in Africa. London: Zed Books.

[9] Constitutive Act of African Union, Lome, 11 July 2000.

[10] Robert. J. Miller. 2011. The International Law of Colonialism: A Comparative Analysis. Lewis and Clarke Law Review 15: 4 pp847 – 922.

[11] Ibid

[12] Anthony Anghie. 1999. Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in Nineteenth Century International Law. Harvard International Law Journal Volume 40 Number 1 pp1-80.

[13] SaadiaTouval. 1966. Treaties, Borders, and the Partition of Africa. The Journal of African History Volume 7 Issue 02 pp279-293.

[14] Sally Engle Merry.2003. Review: From Law and Colonialism to Law and Globalisation. Law and Social Inquiry Volume 28 No 2 pp569-590.

[15] DaniWadadaNabudere. 2001. Law, the Social Sciences and the Crises of Relevance. A Personal Account.African Social Scientists Reflections Part 2. Nairobi: Heinrcih Boll Foundation.

[16] Ibid

[17] Amilcar Cabral. 1969. 1969 Revolution in Guinea: An African People’s Struggle. London: Stage 1, p83.

[18] Jean and John.L.Comaroff. 2001. Naturing the Nation: Aliens, Apocalypse and the Post-Colonial State. Journal of Southern African Studies Volume 27 Number 3 pp627-651.

[19] Cited in Kofi BuenorHadjor. 2003. Nkrumah and Ghana. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press Inc, pxii.

CPP WILL WIN 2016

Prof. Edmund Delle

By Ekow Mensah

Professor Edmund Delle does not want to be left out the horde of politicians who see nothing but victory for their own political parties on December 7, 2016.

He said “Nobody should take us for granted. We are contesting this election to win and we will win massively and send Greenstreet to the Flagstaff House as President of Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana”.

In an interview at the manifesto launch of the Party, Professor Delle said only the CPP has the answers to the social, economic and political problems confronting the people of Ghana.

“Our manifesto shows the way to prosperity for all Ghanaians irrespective of their political, social and economic background”, he said.

“We are an Nkrumaist party and that means that the welfare of the people, the ordinary masses is our only goal”.

“We are not like the other political parties whose sole concern is to maximize the profits of big businesses and leave the ordinary citizen poor forever”, he said.

Professor Delle promised that the CPP will continue from where Nkrumah left in 1966 and take Ghana to the very apex of development and prosperity.

Editorial

2016 ELECTION

The 2016 election is fast approaching and in less than four weeks; the people of Ghana will have to make significant choices of persons and organisations which will superintend over the national development process for four years.

These are not easy choices and they ought to be made very careful.

Perhaps recent examples around the world can teach us a few important lessons about how we should all approach election 2016.

In the United States of America, a most unlikely candidate, Donald Trump has just been elected as President with dire consequences for his country and people.

Not too long ago the people of Nigeria also elected a President who in less than six months earned the nick name “Go Slow”.

Even the wife of this President proclaims that she will not campaign for him again.

There is the case of Boris Yelsin who was also popularly elected but reduced the Russian people to nothing more than willing appendages of the West.

Whatever choices we make on October 7 will have consequences and we must make them with clear minds.

NO WATER FOR PALESTINE

Ramallah, occupied West Bank - EnasTaha, a resident of the Palestinian village of Kafr al-Deek in the occupied West Bank, has become desperate.

“Since the [water] crisis started in June, the municipality has been able to supply water for only one hour twice a week,” Taha told Al Jazeera. “I am checking the weather forecast every day; they announced rain three weeks ago, but it has not come yet. The only thing I can do is to pray to God.”

Many West Bank communities are facing similar problems, amid an acute water shortage that has lasted for months. In the Salfit, Jenin and Hebron governorates, some villages have gone as long as 40 days in a row without running water.

In mid-July, residents in the Bethlehem area staged a sit-in for days to protest against the shortages, sparking clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces.

“It is a very stressful situation. I have to consider and prioritise every single drop of water I use,” Taha said. “We have barely enough to drink, cook, shower and use the bathroom. Sometimes I don’t do the laundry or clean the house for weeks. It is hot and dusty. This is exhausting.”

We have been facing shortages for decades, and the reason is not natural, but man-made – meaning the Israeli occupation and Israeli control over water resources in the Palestinian territories.DeebAbdelghasoul, PWA’s director of the water resources department.

Some Palestinians have joked that the water bill collector comes to their homes more often than water. As demand rises, the cost of drinking water has skyrocketed, with some families spending up to 30 percent of their meagre incomes to purchase it.

Israel implements a policy of water cuts each summer, but this year, it reached an unprecedented peak. In early June, Israeli water company Mekorot informed the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) of summertime supply cuts totalling more than 50 percent – and the cuts, while not as dramatic, remain in effect today, more than a month after the official end of summer.

“We are in regular contact with [Mekorot] to find a solution, but they constantly give us different excuses, such as the increase in demand, rising temperature, etc,” DeebAbdelghafour, the PWA’s director of the water resources department, told Al Jazeera.

The notion that the region is suffering from water scarcity is a myth, he added:

“We have been facing shortages for decades, and the reason is not natural, but man-made – meaning the Israeli occupation and Israeli control over water resources in the Palestinian territories.”

Israeli officials have stated that water resources are shared equally in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, a unit in the Israeli army, noted that Israel provides 64 million cubic metres of water to the Palestinians annually, even though it is only obliged to provide 30 million under the Oslo accords.

However, disparity is evident in the lush gardens, parks and swimming pools in illegal Israeli settlements. The key difference is that Palestinian villages in the West Bank are not connected to the national water grid, relying instead on local underground supplies.

Palestinians living in remote areas have been hit the hardest by the ongoing water crisis, as access roads are often poor and the additional costs of delivery result in higher prices.

“We need special 4×4 trucks to drive on the unpaved roads, and it can take up to two hours to reach the communities,” said Hafez Hureini, a resident of at-Tuwani village and leader of the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee.

Over the summer, Israeli media reported that illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank were also suffering from daily disruptions to water supplies, prompting the Israeli government to establish a new drilling site, Ariel 1, which would provide 250 cubic metres of water per hour.

AbdelrahmanTamimi, director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group for Water and Environmental Resources Development, said that this was not where water was needed the most.

“The wells should be drilled where there is important demand, such as north and south of Jenin, south of Hebron, or northwest of the Jordan valley. Why in Ariel, I wonder, as a hydrologist? There is already a well there; they can simply improve its capacity … [This measure] was definitely not designed to supply Palestinian communities,” Tamimi told Al Jazeera.

In the meantime, Israel has accused Palestinians of tapping into pipes, with the Israeli Water Authority asserting that 5,000 cubic metres of water is stolen every day by Palestinians.

“We are aware there is water theft … However, we should ask ourselves why are the people stealing water? Simply because they are thirsty,” Abdelghafour said.

At the same time, increased water demands owing to growing Israeli and Palestinian populations is stretching the limits of existing water infrastructure. Most of the water network was installed in 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank. Today, the diameters of the pipes are inadequate, and the system is reaching the end of its life cycle.

“Even to upgrade infrastructure in Area A and B is a headache,” Abdelghafour said. “They [Israel] impose long and complicated procedures in order to issue permits to import the smallest pieces or equipment.”

Data released by the Israeli Water Authority shows that a large expansion in agriculture in the settlements has led to an estimated rise of 20 to 40 percent in water consumption this year.

“The [Palestinian Authority] has no solution for the water crisis. In my opinion, Israel has used this summer to put more pressure on us to purchase desalinated water, so they can allocate groundwater for the settlements and their future expansion,” Tamimi said.

Since 2005, five desalination plants have been built in Israel, now producing approximately 50 percent of the country’s water supply.

“We don’t want to substitute water from desalination plants for our historical rights to all shared water resources,” Abdelghafour said. “Once we have our basic rights, based on equitable allocation of resources and international law, then we can think of other development options, such as desalination or treatment of waste water.”

The original source of this article is Al Jazeera

 A REFLECTION OF CALMNESS IN GHANA

Nana Akufo Addo, NPP Presidential Candidate

By Dora Addy

‘It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it’ – Eleanor Roosevelt, Former First Lady of the United States.

Ghana has long stuck to democratic principles of governance, and adhered to international standards of running its people; the adoption of a constitution that spells out the rights of its people, as well as determining the powers of rulers.

The strategic devices that aims at securing a productive society, through peace, are the very instruments of a functioning government; all departments and arms of government, contribute to the peace effort within any country.

The strong supports to uphold the national efforts at sustainable peace is what has been the assignment of all past governments in the country.

In advancing and sustaining our peace efforts, we should always remember history; it is good to have a reference point, to avoid future repetitions of those errors to national development, while painting images of a brighter tomorrow.

Conflicts do bear a severe outcome on national development, and pushes back any good records achieved prior to those unrests. Having unrest is a sign that there is deficiency in the manning of security within a territory; probably a lack of finite information of the security apparatus.

Since winning independence nearly six decades ago, our experience with civil unrest has been incessant and somewhat sporadic, especially after the first overthrow of the constitutional government of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

As we celebrate International Day of Peace, it is good to make some reflections and considerations on both problems and solutions to national peace.

COUP D’ETATS

Coup d’états continue to riddle most African nations today. Many have been displaced by violence, and what is left of such nations are only memories of things past. While it takes a lot of effort-both financial and social, to build a lasting democracy, it also takes just a few men to destroy what has been built.

Ghana has had five events of coup d’états, and one failed attempt, and one failed attempt, all spanning from February 1966 to December 31, 1981.

President John Mahama

The overthrow of any constitutionally chosen leader underscores the weak security around that leader, and the frail support systems that are to help maintain a serene public order. No man comes into power, only to be subverted. But that has been the case over the years, with many Ghanaian leaders.

Coup d’états are not only vile in nature; but to an extent, also speak loudly of the strong democratic practices, before any occurrence of civil unrest. Largely, coup d’états determine the outlook of a people on their states, and more, the quality of any people.

With armed knowledge about the effects of conflicts, any good citizen would immediately understand the implications of violence and refrain from it.

CONSTITUTIONS

Constitutions provide a great way to secure peaceful leadership and governance. Although they can be subverted, they however provide the strict measures to which public and its structures must be organized, and more, the meting out of severe punishments to offenders of national security.

Ghana has had five constitutions from independence; the 1957 Constitution, 1960, 1969, 1979 and the present 1992 Constitution, which has provided the much-needed rights for many.

Whenever there is war, the existing Constitution of that country has been overthrown as well. Constitutions therefore represent the democratic stand and authority of any given state.

PUBLIC UNREST THROUGH DEMONSTRATIONS

Violent protests first hit the nation, at the time the country was called British Gold Coast,  where in the 1948 riots, civilians and soldiers were killed in a five-day public disturbance.

In demonstration of the high cost of living in Ghana, especially the creation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) many Ghanaians mobilized themselves for the ‘Kumepreko’ demonstration in Accra, in 1995, in the capital, Accra. The scene was a bloody one and many innocent lives were lost.

The Kokomba-Nanumba conflict in Ghana, in 1994 was sparked by the use of farmlands against landlords. The conflict left about 2,000 people dead, while about 150,000 lost their homes, according to refworld.org reports. The Rawlings administration quelled the fight by 1995. But by then several people had lost their livelihood, although the government had tried incessantly to push for peace talks.

Although non-violent, the current power crisis in Ghana has sparked many protests, and many other sectors have been affected by protests. Currently is the ongoing debate about the sale of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), which has already drawn protests from its workers.

Recounting civil unrest and its popularity with the masses, there have been instances where some of these incidences have arrested international attention. The severity of public unrest reaches an overwhelming level when such occurrences cause the deaths of other people; those involved and others who may not be included.

In Ghana public protests have been used very often to register dissenting views. Though it becomes violent sometimes, it is one of the popular means to get the attention of rulers. Violence in itself, is not a favourable means to address the problems that affect people. Violence is not the best weapon to use to provide solutions to the problems in society.

But very often, when the needs of people are not being addressed through the use of good communication, violence becomes the best weapon.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

To manage a public system without a good level of accountability would always breed strife and contention among the people.

One of the best ways of ensuring peace is to allow leaders to be accountable to the people. The masses need to feel included in the running of national affairs. The masses want to believe they are being treated fairly and that irresponsible men in government are being brought to justice when they go against the law.

The Government of Ghana, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has helped to facilitate approval of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), in order to promote transparency and accountability in its service to the people.

Through the same effort 35 state attorneys have received training on the prosecution of corruption and money laundering cases.

Transparency and accountability should be used genuinely in modern governance.

ELECTION VIOLENCE

Electoral violence has deep effects of starting national conflicts. The Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) has mentioned that events currently threatening election operations in the country are likely to lead to chaos and violence if care is not taken.

The group also mentioned that events of violence during elections in the past four years had been violent, and mostly perpetrated my militant groups. Unfortunately, there has been no prosecution of any kind, and this only encourages others to indulge in violence, the more.

The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) has also mentioned that violence could erupt again, in relation to the Talensi, Upper East, violence that broke during the bye-election of a Member of Parliament.

The northern regions of Ghana are much prone to election violence. While other regions may experience some violence, the three northern regions bear the highest records.

ARMS CONTROL

The proliferation of arms is an issue to consider, when protecting peace. The easy access to arms by civilians is a great danger to public peace. Especially during this election period, great care must be taken to avert violence, because, many civilians now have access to dangerous weapons.

Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah

The National Commission on Small Arms (NACSA), was established by an Act of Parliament in 2007, (Act 736), to deal with matter on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), and among other things provide sensitization to the public on the dangers of proliferation of small arms to our peace, security and development.

Arms are being manufactured in Ghana, raising more concerns about national security, and while every region in the country has a manufacturing company, the National Commission on Small Arms (NACSA), working to control arms in the country, is tightening securities at national armouries, enhancing weapon marking and tracing, and also increasing intelligence gathering to enhance the work of security agencies.

The NACSA has also embarked on a number of interventions to prevent arms proliferation in Ghana, amongst which the current laws on arms and ammunition will be reviewed, to meet international best practice.

MEDIA

The media in Ghana wields a lot of power, and is provided with lots of freedom to do its work. However, the media must take upon itself, the responsibility of protecting national peace.

 The media has the power to hold or break peace. Public perceptions are greatly influenced by media. Information is abundant and so are media forms. While some media aspects are more controlled by law, example the print media, other sources of information coming from more free sources as social media, are less curtailed and to a large extent can create conflict through the free expressions it exhibits.

Media can be prone to propaganda through its use by certain political figures to manipulate information. While content is being fed to the masses, it must be noted the kind of information been given; whether it is genuine, or just to incite others to criminal actions.

True media practice must fight for national peace, and not reinforce circumstances that will create national violence.

Setting the agenda for public discourse is a process that should be done with public security in mind. Accuracy, truth and fair reporting must be the hallmark; the standard setting for any journalistic venture.

THE QUALITY OF THE MASSES

The tenets of Government that provide information to the public, National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) for example, are also strengthening efforts to sensitize the public about national affairs. This year for instance the NCCE held a week-long event to promote democracy and peace in Ghana in its Constitution Week.

The 2009 poll results drew a protest because the then ruling party had lost, and its supporters were furious.  However, the resort to the courts to settle the dispute brought much peace.

With improvement of the quality of the masses, an achievement largely related to media activities in sensitizing the people, the country is getting better, and most people have come to understand the implications of conflicts and violence and would rather refrain from it.

In adopting effective measures to retain peace in the country, we are still very cautious of the possibility of violence. The country has gone to great lengths to entrench the much-needed systems that would avert future coups, through involving all in the running of government, and developing policies to better the lives of the citizens.

The continuous efforts to provide education to the masses, the strong entrenchment of human rights, the adoption of peaceful means of resolving conflicts and the provision of platforms of accountability spells peace. But retaining calmness is a teamwork between rulers and the ruled; each playing an effective and determined role to ensure peace.

NDC IS TOO SURE; Of First Round Victory In this Year's Election.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) appears too sure of a first round 

victory in the 2016 presidential election and its communicators exude that confidence.

Speaking on "Peace FM" Kokrokoo morning show, Mr Ametor Quame communicator of the party boldly predicted that the NPP will have its worse electoral performance this year.

             

He said the development of national infrastructure, the expansion of access to education, portable water and housing would easily do the trick for the NDC.

Ametor also spoke eloquently about the humility of President Mahama and his willingness to listen to his opponents.

Very well informed sources have predicted a 52 per cent victory for President Mahama.

A survey conducted for the NDC by a professional group which has been seen by The Insight firmly confirms the prediction of 52 per cent as at mid-October.

The problem with the prediction is that at the time of the survey more than 10 per cent of the electorate were still undecided.

The margin of error is put at 3 per cent

Interestingly, the communicators the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are also confident of victory.

Sammy Awuku, the National Youth Organiser of the NPP says that he would be shocked if President Mahama wins the election.

He says that the hardship being endured by the people of Ghana is the surest guarantee of defeat for President Mahama and the NDC.

Professor Edmund Delle National Chairman and leader of the Convention Peoples Party (CPPO has also claimed that his party will be victorious in the presidential election of 2016.

He said "On January 7, we will all be at the inauguration of Ivor Greenstreet as the President of Ghana and that will mark the beginning of our effort to restore hope to all Ghanaians".

Editorial

THE AGONY

Mentally ill people have had to endure some very severe agony as a direct result of the ignorance of society.

Some of them have actually been kept in so-called spiritual homes for years chained to trees and receiving daily doses of brutal beatings.

Even those who have gone through proper psychiatric treatment and have returned to their families are heavily discriminated against.

By far the most agonizing treatment mentally ill people get is the result of the claim that they are manifestations of evil spirits.

The Insight believes that the time has come to remove the stigma attached to mental ailment and to help or mentally ill people re-adjust in society.

This can be done if we will all rise above useless superstition and look at the science of mental health.  

BIG AWARDS IN SEPTEMBER

Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr

By Ekow Mensah

A very special awards night is being put together by the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) for September this year.

 Organizers say that the event christened “Black Star Excellence Awards” will be held annually to commemorate the birthday of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah,  the  first President and Founder of Ghana.

 Those who will receive the awards will include people who made exceptional contributions to the national liberation struggle in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.

 Citizens who have also made significant contributions to the development of progressive thought and action will also be considered for the award.

Last year, the first awards were conferred on three prominent Ghanaian progressives.

They were Comrade Kofi Duku, who served as Personal Secretary to Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ex – Lt A. Owusu-Gymah who was sentenced to death for his part in the attempt to restore Nkrumah to power and Comrade Kwame Wiafe ,an old student of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute who became National Chairman of the Popular Party  for Democracy  and Development (PPDD).

 Both Lt. Owusu Gyimah and Comrade Wiafe are currently members of the Council of Elders of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP).

Sources close to SFG say that a high powered committee chaired by its co-ordinator of Programmes Comrade Jerry Tetteh ,has been established to oversee the planning of the event.

The membership of the Committee includes; Comrade Daniel Alolga Akatapore, a former member of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).

According to the sources about 20 personalities from all walks of life are being considered as possible recipients of the awards. 

                                

MAHAMA PRAISES CPP AND IVOR

Mr Ivor Greenstreet, Leader of the CPP

President John Dramani Mahama has showered praise on the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) for electing Comrade Ivor Greenstreet as the Presidential candidate of the party.

He said the election of Ivor to the very high position of flag bearer is an indication that Ghana is moving forward and that persons with disability can rise to positions of high responsibility.

President Mahama referred to the Appointment of Dr Danaa in his own administration a Minister as proof of the Phenomena.

 He said Dr Danaa in spite of his visual impairment has excellently performed his duties as Minister of State.

Comrade Ivor Greenstreet has been confined to a wheelchair since he got involved in a serious accident about 10 years ago.     

Editorial

THE REAL PROBLEM

The contest between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) about which one of them can improve the living and working conditions of the people of Ghana is often laughable.

First, the two parties do not offer any policy alternatives and remain in the firm grip of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).

Secondly, no political party or administration can bring about any significant changes in the conditions of the Ghanaian people without a paradigm shift.

The people of Ghana need to take full control of all their resources and to exploit those resources for their own benefit as a condition for development.

There can be no significant improvement in the quality of life of Ghanaians for as long as national resources remain in the hands of profit gulping predators in the capitals of the colonial metropolis.

This is the real problem which needs to be solved.