AmandlaFounded October 2002

Volume 11 Issue 6 Global African Newspaper amandlanews.com Telephone: 973-419-0073 / 973-731-1339 June 15, 2012

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Pan-African Parliament Sitsin SouthAfricaBy Uchenna Ekwo

“This is the third time I have cried asan adult” says the 60 year old imme-diate past President of Pan AfricanParliament, Dr. Moussa Idriss Ndelewho was overwhelmed by emotionwhile responding to tributes by hiscolleagues after presenting his activ-ity report of the second parliament inMidrand, South Africa.From May 2009 to May 28, 2012,Dr. Ndele citizen of Republic ofChad and representative of CentralAfrica Region served as President ofthe Pan African Parliament.After presenting his report to theseventh ordinary session of PanAfrican Parliament, members of par-liament from across the continenttook turns to praise what many ofthem described as exemplary leader-ship.In Africa, where effective leadershipis a scarce currency, it is understand-able that Dr. Ndele’s colleaguespoured encomiums on him for thearray of reforms he introduced

during his three year tenure as presi-dent.Hon. Isaac Stephen Mabiletsa fromBotswana compared the decision ofDr. Ndele not to seek re-electionwith Nelson Mandela’s and insistedthat the outgoing president had putthe body on the path to progress. Heexpressed the hope that the newleadership will sustain the reformsintroduced by the outgoing execu-tive.Hon. Cecilia Atim-Ogwal represent-ing Uganda acknowledged the com-mitment of the leadership of theparliament to gender equity andwomen empowerment.Other representatives spoke of Dr.Ndele’s humility, patience, and dedi-cation especially his willingness toadmit errors and grace to provideremedy to mistakes.Earlier, Dr. Ndele had presented a re-port of his administration that in-cluded political and institutionalaccomplishments.

Continued on page 4 The Pan-African Parliament in session at Midrand in South Africa in late May this year

Panels Discuss Future of DiasporaJournalism at ConferenceBy Francisco Bozzano-Barnes

Technology, stories that cross bor-ders and growing audiences are threeessential points that will catalyze thediaspora media. Sheila Coronel, Di-rector, Stabile Center for Investiga-tive Journalism, Graduate School ofJournalism, and Columbia Univer-sity told her audience at the Confer-ence on Media and DemocraticGovernance in Newark, New Jerseythat transnational journalism holds abright future.Ms. Coronel originally from Philip-pines was the keynote speaker at theconference jointly organized by Rut-gers University’s School of PublicAffairs and Administration and Cen-ter for Media and Peace Initiatives,New York.She provided an overview of inves-tigative journalism experiences fromaround the world and the appetite forfreedom of expression and empha-sized on the role of technology increating opportunities for diasporajournalists. The changing demo-graphics in the United States alsoshow that audiences for the diasporamedia will continue to grow.Another speaker Kevin Whitmer,Editor of The Star-Ledger, Newark,New Jersey explored the world ofcontemporary journalism dominatedby communities of users who are ac-tive in creating content. The barriersto entry into journalism are fallingand the print news is going out ofbusiness. For him there are three

main points:1) There is no substitute for great re-porting.2) The organization is willing tofight for local stories.3) Will need to detach people fromthe most pressing to develop goodstories, learning to live with dry-holes.He said that one of the most ex-portable US products was the FirstAmendment in terms of democraticgovernance for media.Dr. Tapio Varis, former Rector, Uni-versity of Peace, Costa Rica and cur-

rent UNESCO Chair in Global e-Learning, who spoke on “Intercul-tural Dialogue and Media Literacy inthe 21st century”, promoted a newhumanism in media studies that fo-cused on:1. Humans must be beyond technol-ogy2. Critical towards technology to ex-ercise technological choice3. There needs to be a discovery ofself.Dr. Varis spoke of what he called“crowd communication” in makingreference to possible abuse of the so-

cial media insharing informa-tion and knowl-edge. He sees aneed for auton-omy and democ-racy in themedia and pro-moted 8 corecompetences:1. Communica-tion and lan-guage 2.Foreign lan-guages 3. Mediacompetence 4-Lifelong learn-ing5. Unlearn obso-lete practices 6.Social and civiccompetencies 7.Sense of initia-tive8. Cultural

awareness.Other speakers at the conferencewere: Mr. Kahraman Haliscelik,United Nations Bureau Chief forTurkish Radio and TV, Ms. TandoNtunja, Multimedia journalist andFulbright Scholar Mr. Milton Alli-madi, Publisher, The Black StarNews, New York, Ms. Salma Ghaly-oun, Syrian pro-democracy activist.Others were Dr. Susanna Dodgson,Publisher, MJoTA Institute of Med-ical WritingMs. Amani al-Khatahtbeh, Founder,

Muslim Girl, Ms. Sire Dione, presi-dent of African Women for GoodGovernance and UNESCO GoodwillAmbassador, and veteran UN re-porter Mr. George Alan Baumgarten.During the wrap up session, partici-pants agreed on the new transforma-tive potential of social media inrelation to the activities of the dias-pora media.There was a general consensus, thatthe conference proposed outcomeProject on Courses on Media andDemocratic Governance and theSummer Institute for journalists de-served all their support.There was a lot of discussions on is-sues related to the transmission ofjournalistic values and the need toexplain how to obtain licenses.Another concern was to teach how todevelop a credible narrative out offragments of information, and theneed to explain how power works inthe media and find stories you canget. Understanding as well the inter-actions between different institu-tions.Another recommendation was to ex-pose journalists to doing things theyhad never done.The problems of corruption and em-ployment opportunities were also ad-dressed. Recognition was made tothe fact that the local journalists arevery familiar with their situations.Emphasis was also placed on the de-velopment of entrepreneurial skillsand on New Media.

Dr. Uchenna Ekwo, President of CMPI (right) poses with Kevin Whitmer Editor ofThe Star Ledger at the conference

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EditorialWhere is the president ofGhana?

After the chaotic voter registration ex-ercise, new conflicts have once againemerged in some parts of Ghana, butPresident John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills ischaracteristically in a deep slumber. Hezipped up on Atiwa, Akwatia andChereponi, and the orchestrated vio-lence against the NPP in several partsof the country after the elections.Ghanaians are yet to hear their presi-dent’s voice on the ongoing strife inthe Upper West, Central, and the Voltaregions, all strongholds of his party.Fulanis from a foreign country are inGhana and killing Ghanaians and de-stroying their farms with their grazingcattle, but there is no protection for thepeople, and the president has remainedsilent. This is worrying, perilous anddangerous, for Mills’ inaction is gradu-ally throwing the nation into disarray.Ghanaians are querying if PresidentMills is in charge at all.It is now public knowledge that thepresident’s orders to his aides/cabinetwere openly flouted and repeatedly ig-nored as happened when he orderedthat the gargantuan Woyome judgmentdebt not be paid. In any serious gov-ernment, ignoring an order from apresident comes with resignation or in-stant dismissal, but not with this presi-dent.Further, embarrassing the Commander-in-Chief with loose, politically imma-ture public pronouncements is groundsfor sanctions. But what we see is acase of “mess up, move up.” PresidentMills’ inability to reign in and curbsome of his aides’ explosive languagehas created unhealthy divisions anddissension not only within his owngovernment and party, but amongmembers of the opposition party. Polit-ical enemies are freely insulted by theimmature appointees of the presidentmost of whom were rewarded for theiracerbic and explosive pronouncementsagainst opposition members and per-ceived enemies of the ruling party, butnot for their experience and skills ingovernance. Victor Smith, AmaBenyiwa Doe and Fiifi Kwetey all toldParliament at their vetting that theirlies and innuendoes against the NPPgovernment were merely political. Inany civilized nation such political be-haviors would only fetch the culprits akick on to the political curb.The cedi is in a free fall and it is beingblamed on the opposition NPP while itwas in power. A local chief is beheadedin the Central region due to communalconflict and a shoot-from-the-hip, re-gional minister points accusing fingersat the rants of an NPP politician.The murderers of the quondam Ya-Naare yet to be found, and is blamed onthe NPP. The running mate of NPP’spresidential candidate presents hisviews in an economic paper, and allhell breaks loose. The rented pro-gov-ernment press and officials have a fieldday pouring only invectives instead ofviable responses to his criticisms.Ain’t no reasonable heads in the rulinggovernment? An Akan proverb says “itis the wise person that is sent on an er-rand, not the long-legged,” and untilthe President sees the wisdom in thisAkan rendering, the government woulddig itself deeper in the ditch it nowsees itself.Ghana is in a leadership crisis. Thepresident has simply not shown anyleadership and the direction in whichthe country is headed does not augurwell for the nation in an election year.He appears to stand aloof on importantnational issues, a stance that only de-scribes him as having lost control ofhis government.The spinning must give way to practi-cal and mature political decisions thatcan only move the country into theright direction.

Community NewsAfrican Immigrants’ Shipping Containers IrritateNeighborsIn the Bronx’s Morrisania andneighboring areas, the sight of giantshipping containers parked on thestreet has triggered the ire of someresidents, who call the 40-foot trail-ers a “dangerous eyesore” and haveasked the police to have them towedaway, reported DNAinfo‘s PatrickWall. Local West African immi-grants use the containers as a cheapway to send goods — clothes,household items electronics, andeven cars — to their families backhome.A dozen trailers have been towed inthe last month, the local police cap-tain told DNAinfo. “Some peopleget very upset,” Bert Irons, chair-man of the local Evangelical Churchof God, explained. “It degrades theneighborhood… Neighbors com-plain about them taking up two,three, four parking spaces. And thestreet cleaners can’t get through.”But local business owners who relyon the containers explained thatpeople who store them on the streetare the outliers in an otherwise law-ful and thriving local trade: shippinggoods, from diapers and T-shirts tofurniture and even small vans, fromThe Bronx to West Africa.The Bronx is home to some 32,600immigrants from West Africancountries, according to the most re-

cent American Community Survey,Wall reports, but some communityleaders say the actual number maybe three times that.Most are concentrated in the centralBronx, in neighborhoods such asMorrisania, Highbridge andTremont, and many send and re-ceive goods from Africa on a regu-lar basis, according to Jane KaniEdward, a clinical assistant profes-sor at Fordham University, who wasborn in Sudan.Some people use the containers tosend necessities or gifts to lovedones or charities, while others shipcoveted American merchandise tobe sold in African markets, Edwardexplained. Others who use the con-tainers are business owners import-ing African goods, such as specialtyfoods or movies, that they can sellto homesick immigrants.Filling the containers with goods isa step in an intricate process. First,Bronx-based export companies rentout the containers, which they getfrom New York and New Jerseyseaports for $3,000 to $4,000. Thelarge crates are then moved to theBronx, where customers pay a fee toreserve a part of the container forgoods to ship back home.The shipping costs vary by weight,exporters said, from approximately

$80 for a plastic drum filled withgoods to $1,200 to $1,500 for a fullcar. While it is considerablycheaper than sending goods on air-planes, it can take a month or longerfor the containers to be shipped totheir final destinations.The containers sometimes sit on thestreet until they’re full enough toship, exporters said.Fatima Baba, who runs DakarTransportation on E. 166th Street,said her company rents the contain-

ers and then delivers them whereverthe customers ask.Some people use parking lots, whileothers pay to store the containers inempty lots between buildings. Oth-ers ask for the trailers to be parkedright outside their buildings.Since residents started complaining,Baba noted, fewer people haveparked the containers out on theopen street.

Source: Voices of New York

A van is loaded into a shipping container parked at 173rd Streetand Bathgate Avenue, headed for West Africa. (Photo by PatrickWall/DNAinfo)

Black and LatinoStudents MakeUp Over 96Percent of SchoolArrestsBack in February, high school stu-dents held a rally to protest a “jail-like” disciplinary environment intheir schools, and advocates re-leased sobering data on studentarrests: Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 30

last year, police arrested 279 stu-dents — or theequivalent of fivestudent arrests per school day duringthe 55 days of instruction. Of thosearrested — the only portion forwhich racial data is available —93.5 percent were African-Americanor Latino.The numbers are even higher in theNew York Civil Liberties Union’slatest report: the statistics for themonths of January to March showthat 327 students were arrested,which comes out to an average ofmore than five on each of the 58school days. Another 555 were is-sued summonses, which bring the

daily average number of studentseither fined or arrested to 15 a day.The percentage of those arrestedthat were African-American orLatino rose to over 96 percent. ElDiario/La Prensa ran a Spanishtranslation of the NYCLU press re-lease.“The number of arrests and sum-monses is an outrage. These num-bers make us feel like the NYPD istargeting black and Latino students,and that’s just plain wrong,” saidJoseph Duarte, a member of Dignityin Schools Campaign-NY and a 15-year-old student at Samuel GompersHigh School in the Bronx. “We go

to school to get an education, notarrested.”Though the data do not describe thefacts of the incidents, when viewedagainst the backdrop of the manyaccounts of student arrests for of-fenses like writing on a desk,cursing, and pushing or shoving, allindicators point to police personnelbecoming involved in disciplinaryinfractions that should be handledby educators.Source: Voices of New York

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 3

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 4

Pan-AfricanParliamentSits in SouthAfrica

Contd. from front page

He spoke of efforts to accelerate theratification of the African charter ondemocracy, elections, and gover-nance through an effective interac-tion with the representatives ofcivil society, media, and the AfricanUnion Commission.“The Pan- African Parliament is con-scious of its political obligationswhich are to contribute to the en-trenchment of democracy and goodgovernance in Africa”, said Dr.Ndele while accounting for thebody’s role in observing elections inthe continent.However, the fact that Pan AfricanParliament remained a consultativebody with no legislative powers will

go down as one of the challenges un-resolved by Dr. Ndele and histeam.Other administrative challenges in-cluded the legal actions taken againstsome members of staff who al-legedly engaged in financial miscon-duct.The Chairperson of the Committeeon Administration and FinancialEvaluation- CAFÉ, Hon. FabakaryTombong Jatta who also presented areport detailed the secretariat’sadministrative and financial chal-lenges.Hon. Jatta from Gambia spoke of thereliance of the secretariat to donoragencies some of which had stoppedfunding PAP for various reasons in-cluding perceived mismanagementof resources.Department for International Devel-opment (DFID)—UK GovernmentDepartment responsible for promot-ing development and the reductionof poverty decided to end relationswith Pan African Parliament in 2010following a 2009 report that notedserious financial irregularities in theadministrative procedures of PAP.According to Hon. Jatta, DFID sev-

ered relations withPAP despite the factthere was no evi-dence to prove thatPAP had misappro-priated any fundsfrom DFID whichalso lobbied otherdonor agencies tocease further sup-port to PAP.For what intends tobe the apex lawmaking institutionsin the continent todepend on externalfinancing intellingabout the long roadtowards Africa’sgenuine politicalandeconomic independ-ence.Yet, in Jatta’s re-port, members ofparliament who cur-rently travel oneconomy classwhile on officialduties are demand-ing a change of that

policy so that they could fly onbusiness class.Such requests are emblematic ofAfrica’s leadership challenges: manyof her leaders are more interested inthe perks of office rather than a com-mitment to serve and sacrifice forthe people.The honor to serve is expected tooverride every other personal orprofligate desire especially in a cli-mate of poor financial standing ofPan African Parliament.The highlight of the seventh sessionof Pan-African Parliament (PAP)was the election of a new President.He is Hon. Bethel NnaemekaAMADI, MP from Nigeria, and for-mer First Vice President of the bodyIn his farewell speech, the outgoingPresident, Dr. Moussa Idriss Ndélécongratulated Hon. Amadi on hiselection and praised him for his hardwork and dedication and expressedthe hope that he would utilize the ex-perience gained while he was VicePresident.

This article appeared in the onlinemagazine of CMPI under the title“Parliament Without Powers.”

The outgoing President of the Pan-AfricanParliament Dr. Moussa Idriss Ndele

African News

Woyome was paid as a result of default judgment – WitnessMrs. Mangowa Ghanney, an Adviserto the Minister of Finance and Eco-nomic Planning on Tuesday told theFinancial Court hearing the case ofbusinessman Alfred Agbesi Woy-ome, that the accused was paid theGH¢51.2 million as result of defaultjudgment.She told the court, a division of theFast Track High Court, that eventhough she did not personally sightthe default judgment, a letter fromthe Attorney General (AG) con-firmed there was basis for the settle-ment.Mrs. Ghanney, the first prosecutionwitness was testifying at the on-going trial of Woyome for the con-troversial GH¢51.2 million judgmentdebt payment.Woyome has been charged with de-frauding by false pretense and caus-ing financial loss to the State.He has pleaded not guilty andgranted GH¢20 million bail withthree sureties to be justified.Mrs. Ghanney, led in evidence byMs Cynthia Lamptey, Chief State At-torney, told the court that the AG for-warded a letter to the Sector Ministerwho referred it to her to lookthrough.She said the letter stated that Woy-ome was to provide some services togovernment which it was not obligedto pay for those services, but becauseshe was traveling, she had less than aday to look through the letter.Mrs. Ghanney said another letterfrom the AG came stating the basisfor the settlement, but did not haveenough time to review the folder tocounteract what had been stated.When asked by Ms Lamptey whythe initial payment was reversed?Mrs. Ghanney said she was out ofthe country when she received a callfrom a lawyer that a lady at theTreasury had queried the paymentbecause at that time, she did notknow whom the money had to be

paid to because it seemed two peoplewere entitled to the money (Atrol In-vest and Woyome).She said later, the AG wrote to theMinistry to pay GH¢51.2 million asdefault judgment to Woyome.Mrs. Ghanney said the Sector Minis-ter asked her to settle the matter withWoyome and his lawyer, but becausethe amount involved was huge, shewent with them to the Director ofBudget at the Ministry of Financeand Economic Planning.She said Woyome and his lawyeragreed to a negotiated installment ofGH¢17 million to be paid withinthree months.Mrs. Ghanney said Woyome cau-tioned that if the money was not paidwithin three months, he would askfor interest to be paid on the amountbut they were able to pay for theGH¢51.2 million default judgmentwithin the specified time.Mr. Osafo Buabeng, Member ofWoyome's legal team during cross-examination asked Mrs. Ghanneywhether the payment to Woyomewas made in pursuant to a defaultjudgment.She affirmed that the payment wasmade as a result of default judgmenteven though she did not see the de-fault judgment.Mrs. Ghanney said apart from thedefault judgment no other paymenthad been made to the accused.The facts of the case are that, some-time in January 2005, the Govern-ment invited bids for therehabilitation of the Ohene Djan andBaba Yara Sports stadia, and theconstruction of two more stadia atSekondi-Takoradi and Tamale.At the end of the bidding process,some companies were short-listedand invited to submit proposals forthe rehabilitation and construction ofthe stadia. Among these companieswere M-powapak Gmb/VamedGmbh &Co, K.

At the end of the evaluation process,the Finance and Evaluation Commit-tee declared the financial proposalsof M-powapak/Vamed Engineeringas the most responsive and recom-mended them to the Central TenderReview Board.However, before the tender could re-ceive final approval the Governmentterminated the process.Meanwhile, in the course of the ten-der process, Vamed Engineering as-signed its rights and responsibilitiesto Waterville Holding (BVI) Ltd.After the termination of the tender-ing process, Waterville, assuming theplace of Vamed Engineering,protested against the termination andgot the Government to enter into aMoU with it to commence rehabilita-tion works on the Accra and El-Wakstadia.The MoU, which was assigned onNovember 30, 2005, required Water-ville to engineer funding for theproject on behalf of the Governmentfrom Bank of Austria CreditanstaltAG, guaranteed by the World Bank’sMultilateral Investment GuaranteeAgency (MIGA).The company was supposed to

arrange bridge financing, and subse-quently to the MoU, Waterville wasauthorized by the Ministry to moveto the site and start work pending thesigning of a formal contract.On December 19, 2005, Watervilleengaged M-powapak, led by the ac-cused Woyome, to provide it with fi-nancial engineering services inrespect of the projects.A formal contract for the rehabilita-tion of Ohene Djan and El-Wak sta-dia was entered into by theGovernment and Waterville HoldingLimited on April 26, 2006.However, before the contract couldbecome effective the Governmentterminated same due to Waterville’sinability to engineer funding for theproject as contained in the MoUwhich formed a condition precedentto the contract.Waterville, who initially protestedagainst the termination, eventuallyaccepted same and proceeded toclaim monies for the initial worksdone under the MoU.The Government paid a substantialamount of Waterville's claims out ofwhich the company, fully paid M-powapak, represented by the accused

for the financial engineering servicesrendered under the contract.Payment to the accused for his serv-ices was duly acknowledged by himin a termination agreement datedNovember 25, 2006 which broughtthe relationship between them to anend.Sometime in August 2009 however,the accused having received allmonies due him under the financialengineering services rendered to Wa-terville, took advantage of thechange in Government and falselyrepresented to government officialsthat the Government owed himmoney for financial engineeringservices rendered to it under the con-tract with Waterville.In his claim to government officials,the accused who had no contractwith government, claimed that, aspart of the financial engineeringservices rendered, he managed toarrange €1,106,470,587 for the Gov-ernment through the Bank AustriaCreditans out of which he claimedhe was entitled to two per cent as fi-nancial engineering fees.Investigations however, revealed thatthere were no such funds madeavailable for the benefit of the coun-try by Bank Austria as claimed bythe accused.Further investigations revealed thatthe accused had no contract with theGovernment to provide any services.The only arrangement on financialengineering services the accused hadwas with Waterville Holdings Ltdwhich services had been fully paidfor and acknowledged by the ac-cused in a termination agreement.Meanwhile, based on these fraudu-lent misrepresentations, the accusedgot the Government to pay himGH¢51, 283,480.59, thereby will-fully and fraudulently causing hugefinancial losses to the State.The case has been adjourned to June14. -- gna

Alfred Agbesi Woyome

Nigeria: 13 Killedin FreshAdamawa AttacksJalingo and Yola — At least 13 Fu-lani herdsmen are reported to havebeen killed in Karim Lamido local

government area of Taraba State, inwhat is thought to be reprisal attacksby suspected Bachama farmers whoallegedly raided some villages in theearly hours of yesterday.National secretary general of MiyettiAllah, Alhaji Sale Bayari, told DailyTrust yesterday that suspectedBachama farmers from Numan area

of Adamawa State attacked Fulanisin the neighboring villages of Kana,Bujum, Yitti, and Mayo-Lope of Laulocal government area of TarabaState.The Bachama Socio-cultural group,Pene-Da-Bwatiye, had recently is-sued ultimatum to Fulani nomadsliving in their land to quit or face the

consequences after their kinsmenhad been killed in attacks on theirvillages. They blamed the attacks onFulanis.Bayari said: "At Mayo-Lope, theykilled Babangida Hassan and BubaMusa and dumped the corpses inshallow wells." He claimed thatsome of those killed "were comply-

ing with the eviction order given bythe Bachama only for them to be at-tacked and killed while crossingRiver Benue."Efforts to get the Adamawa policepublic relation officer, ASP NemuelYoila, proved abortive as all his lineswere off as at the time of filing thisreport.- Daily Trust

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Op-EdA Sad Manifestation of System Failure in Nigeria

By U.K. Uwadinobi

A close Nigerian relative of mine,Ohio State University industrial en-gineering grad and system analystwho does consulting work for the oilindustry in Nigeria, brilliantlysummed up what led to the horrificplane crash in the outskirts of Lagos,Nigeria last weekend. “It’s a sadmanifestation of system failure inNigeria,” he wrote in his email to mein the immediate aftermath of thetragedy. “How did an aircraft taketo the sky without an air worthinesscertificate?” he asked, adding: “TheIndian operators of the airline aremasters in bribery and shady busi-ness. Instead of maintaining theiraircraft, they bribe the regulatory au-thorities to look the other way whilethey order unworthy aircraft to thesky.”Indeed a sad commentary to say theleast, which is why I sometimes feelit’s pointless getting offended whenpeople in Western nations refer toNigeria as a Third World country. Ifnot, why would government officialsin cahoots with unscrupulous foreignnationals doing business in the coun-try, sell their souls to undermine thesafety of the public and the rule oflaw (if any exists at all) for nefariousmotives? A country incredibly en-dowed with rich natural resourcesboth in material and human assets.You wonder why. A country blessedwith some of the most intelligentpeople on earth that has produced aNobel Laureate, a former managingdirector of the World Bank highly re-spected as a voice to be reckonedwith in matters of international fi-nance and development. You won-der why. A country that hasproduced world class scientists,physicians, engineers, academics,artists and athletes. You fold yourhands and wonder why the perplex-ing dichotomy and why it has notrisen beyond the level of ThirdWorld status.Back in the 80s, it was horrifying tolearn that a foreign-owned vesselcarrying a container-load of toxicmaterials disguised as consumergoods had sailed to the Niger Deltaregion of Nigeria and delivered itscargo to a Nigerian businessman.The businessman reportedly waspaid to have the toxic materialsdumped in the creeks and estuaries

of the Delta, with utter disregard forthe harmful effects on the environ-ment, marine life and local residents.How could the vessel have eludedNigerian maritime authorities andsailed to its destination? Authoritiesclearly must have been paid off tolook the other way.On a trip to Nigeria a few years agowith my wife for my mother’s burial,we were standing on the tarmac ofthe local wing of Murtala Mo-hammed International Airport atIkeja, Lagos with other passengerswaiting to board a local flight toEnugu in the eastern part of thecountry, when my attention wasdrawn to the tires of the McDonnellDouglas DC-9 aircraft. As passen-gers started boarding the aircraft, Iquickly bent closer to the landinggear and rubbed my hands over thetires. Oh-my-God! They weresmooth. No ridges. All six ply hadbeen completely worn off. I waspetrified and my heart sank to mystomach. This is a potential disasterwaiting to happen, I murmured tomyself staring blankly at the com-pletely worn out tires. With noridges to give the tires traction, aslippery runway due to rainfall couldcause the plane to skid dangerouslyout of control on landing. It becameobvious to me that the aircraft musthave been operating without certifi-

cation of airworthiness. Luckily, weflew from Lagos to Enugu andlanded safely.Since the news of last weekend’shorrific plane crash sent shockwavesrippling through Nigerian communi-ties across the globe, the blogos-phere has been ablaze with criticismfor United States aviation authoritiesfor their removal of Nigeria from theblack list of countries with poor avi-ation facilities that don’t meet inter-national standards. Many will recallthat Nigeria Airways, the country’snational airline, for several yearswas banned from operating interna-tional flights to the United States.Similarly, U.S. carriers were re-stricted from operating flights toNigeria for safety reasons. Itamounted to a significant loss in rev-enue for the Nigerian commercialaviation sector ostensibly because ofthe high demand for the popularIkeja, Lagos-Nigeria to New York’sJFK air route. The weekend crashhas fueled numerous calls on theU.S. aviation authorities to reinstatethe ban.What I find quite befuddling is whatgoes through the minds of unscrupu-lous government officials, when theyknowingly take bribes from despica-ble morons, like the alleged opera-tors of the airline, to compromisesafety standards and endanger the

lives of unsuspecting travelers. Itbegs the question if the officialsdon’t even know that they too, ormembers of their families, could eas-ily be victims of air disaster due totheir shameless acts?A major air disaster was averted inNew York City a couple of yearsago, when the Hudson River alongthe West Side Highway became anemergency runway for the landing ofa Boeing 747 commercial jetliner.It was U.S. Airways Flight 1549bound for Charlotte, North Carolinawith 155 people on board. The planehad taken off from LaGuardia air-port, New York and was airbornewhen a flock of geese strayed into itsflight path. The resulting collisionkilled the birds and stopped the en-gines of the Boeing 747 jetliner. Thepilot of the disabled plane, CaptainChesley “Sully” Sullenberger, hadonly three options in that tense mo-ment of crisis: rely on his manyyears of flying experience in militaryand commercial aviation, chance andGod! As the powerless plane beganto succumb to the force of gravity,Captain Sullenberger literally steeredthe 747 Airbus with his hands andfeet toward the Hudson River for awater landing. Within minutes theplane was seen splashing onto theHudson and gliding to a stop. All155 people on board survived. Cap-

tain Sullenberger and his crew,scores of rescuers--from the CoastGuard to New York Fire and PoliceDepartments to ordinary folks--werehailed as heroes. The monumentalaviation crisis that was seen live ontelevision by millions of viewers asit happened ended with no loss ofhuman lives and was dubbed “Mira-cle on the Hudson!” Since then,Captain Sully Sullenberger has beena leading voice to use legislativemeans through the city governmentin the effort to solve the problem ofgeese infestation around New York’sairports as they put planes and thelives of passengers at enormous riskduring take-off and landing.Just recently in China Town in NewYork City, a team of governmentsafety officials swooped down onsome luxury bus companies for mul-tiple safety violations and revokedtheir operating licenses. It was amajor crackdown on the industryafter ordinary citizens who careabout public safety tipped off author-ities. That is the kind of response onewould expect from regulatory au-thorities, when they become awareof illegal practices that undermineoperational regulations and compro-mise safety standards.In Nigeria or anywhere else,crewmembers and/or passengerswho are directly at risk due to shadypractices perpetrated by owners ofbus companies or commercial air-lines, could make a difference by re-porting wrong doing that theyobserve.The most searing image of thistragedy, which would be on theminds of many for a long time, is theConnecticut-based family lost in mo-ment in one day. It mirrors the vul-nerability of Nigerians abroad whotravel home and must depend onlocal or regional flights in the coun-try to get to their destinations. Whatelse will it take to end bribery andcorruption of regulatory authorities,which allegedly made the Dana Air-line tragedy a sad manifestation ofsystem failure in Nigeria?

Ukachi Uwadinobi, a freelance jour-nalist living in �ew York is Op-edcontributor to Amandla �ewspaperin �ew Jersey.

CPP launches its2012 ManifestoThe Convention People's Party(CPP), on Tuesday launched its 2012manifesto in Accra, with strong mes-sages of hope and prosperity for theparty as well as the entire nation.The launch was under the theme,"Ghana Must Work Again...Yabre!"The occasion was graced by some ofthe leading members of the party in-cluding the Chairperson SamiaNkrumah, Dr. Abu Sakara, Presiden-tial Candidate, Professor AgyemanBadu Akosah.A large crowd of people consistingof party followers also witnessed theoccasion amidst cultural display andmusic by a number of culturalgroups.In a brief speech, Ms. SamiaNkrumah said "by the launch of ourmanifesto, we re-affirm our commit-ment to social justice, as has alwaysbeen the case. We stand by our con-viction that the state must be dy-

namic and provide for all individu-als, irrespective of where they comefrom."She said the manifesto was in re-sponse to the fact that as a nation,Ghana was at a stand-still so far asprogress was concerned.

"Have courage and give the CPP thechance to rule the country and withinjust one year, you would see whatthe CPP can do for Ghana. Youwould see the difference," she said.The CPP Chair-Person said once theParty was in power "we can make

Ghana work again by putting our ef-forts together."Dr. Abu Sakara said it was unfortu-nate that after "our first ten years ofnation building, nation wreckers pre-vented us from continuing with ourgood works. Since 1966, Ghana hasbeen moving backwards instead ofprogressing and this would have tostop."He continued, "We are here to bringabout change to ensure that the econ-omy grows from within and not fromoutside."Dr. Abu Sakara said a CPP govern-

ment under his leadership would en-sure that the state was accountableand provided people with their basicneeds."We began on the platform of serviceto the community, and that is theplatform of the CPP," he said.Prof. Akosa, a leading member ofthe party, said politics was aboutservice but unfortunately, here inGhana, politicians do not seem tohave come to serve so far," he said.According to him, the CPP was aparty which held the belief thatbeing in power meant serving thepeople."Vote for those who would serveyou," he said.The 20 page manifesto has three keyareas; Social transformation, Sus-tainable economy and Social Justice.Some of the issues to be tackledunder these broad areas are agricul-tural and rural transformation, fight-ing corruption, developing andequipping the youth of the countrywith employable skills, ensuring acomprehensive housing policy andurban development.

Samiah Nkrumah, Chairperson of CPP

Dr. Abu Sakara

Rescuers forage among the wreckage of air crash in Lagos for victims

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 8

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African BusinessGhana to boost cotton production with modern biotechnology

Mrs. Sherry Ayittey, Minister of En-vironment, Science and Technology,has expressed government’s willing-ness to adopt modern biotechnologyin the cotton industry to boost pro-duction.She said the adoption of modernbiotechnology would help farmerscut down production costs associatedwith the use of pesticides and weedmanagement.

Mrs. Ayittey, who made this knownat the opening ceremony of a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on BTCotton on Monday in Accra, said theapplication of conventional pesti-cides and herbicides had negative ef-fects on the health of farmers andhazardous to the environment.“These hazards are greatly reducedwhen transgenic cotton is culti-vated”, she said.The workshop on the theme, “Ex-panding the use of Biotechnology forCotton Production in the three re-gions in the Northern Ghana”, wasaimed creating awareness on suitableoptions to increase cotton productiv-ity, including the benefits of cropbiotechnology in suitable economicdevelopment with emphasis on in-sect tolerant and herbicides tolerant

cotton.It would also assist Government tomake an informed decision onwhether to adopt the technology.According to her, statistics hadshown that in West Africa, mostgrowing cotton countries were cur-rently experiencing irregular dropsin cotton production. Togo’s cottonproduction has collapsed lately fromhaving reached 180,000 tonnes in2002 to a mere 40,000 tonnes by2006.Cote D’Ivoire, Mali and Benin arealso showing very irregular produc-tion abnormal patterns with hugedrops in production recently.Burkina Faso and Nigeria appear tohave an overall positive productiontendency and are both producing halfa million tonnes of cotton or moreand seems to have positive develop-ment in terms of yield and are out-performing the others.Mrs. Ayittey noted that Ghana’s cot-ton production had dropped drasti-cally after the 90s from 45,000tonnes to 20,000 tonnes per year.Comparing Ghana and its neighborsshare of the world market, she saidthe country’s annual production wasincreasingly dwarfed, saying “Chinaare producing over 20 million tonnes

of cotton annually whiles India pro-duces over 10 million,”.She said Ghana’s under performancein this area with a yield of only 0.8tonnes per hectare was due to envi-ronmental and agronomical factorsmilitating against the industry, suchas attack from insects.“In Ghana, we believe that modern

technology holdsthe key to solvingthis problem, be-cause through thistechnology a num-ber of effective in-terventions haveemerged to boostthe cotton indus-try”, she said.Mrs. Ayittey em-phasized the impor-tance of UNIDOTechnical Assis-tance programme toensure quality ofcotton produced inline with interna-tional standards,and the conversionof cottonseed intoby-products such asvegetable oil andanimal feed to in-crease the income

of farmers.She noted that the programme was inline with government’s vision to in-crease rural households’ income inthe three northern regions to reducethe high incidence of poverty amongthe people.Mr. Frank Van Rompaey, UNIDO

Country Representative, said theworkshop was aimed at supportingthe development of insect resistantcotton, suitable for the cotton belt inGhana.He said it would serve as a platformfor stakeholders to understand thebenefits of BT cotton and provideknowledge on the steps needed to betaken for the introduction of BT cot-ton in Ghana.

He said the introduction of BT cot-ton in South Africa had resulted in25 per cent increase in cotton yieldswith 66 per cent reduction in cost ofapplication of pesticides, adding thatfarmers could earn an increase of upto 135 dollars per ha from BT cotton.A 2010 study report in Burkina Fasoreported yield increases of between12.5 and 23 per cent with resourcepoor farmers involved in cotton pro-duction earning 61.88 dollars perhectare more than what they earnedwith conventional cotton productionand gained 39.00 per hectare inprofit, after offsetting the productioncost.Mr. Rompaey pledged UNIDO’scommitment to help bring improve-ment to Ghana cotton industry.

Mrs. Sherry Ayittey

Zimbabwe: China in Massive Investment DriveBy Herbert Moyo

CHINA is set to invest massively inZimbabwe's decaying water, power,and transport infrastructure, follow-ing the recent visit to Beijing byPrime Minister Morgan Tsvangiraiand government ministers, GordenMoyo and Samuel Sipepa Nkomo.During the trip the premier said Zim-babwe was in dire need of assistancein "embarking on an aggressive pro-gramme of infrastructure rehabilita-tion".Water Resources Development andManagement minister SamuelSipepa Nkomo said Chinese capitaland expertise were essential in theconstruction of hydro-electric proj-ects to boost Zimbabwe's power gen-eration capacities, including solvingMatabeleland's perennial water prob-lems."Sino-Hydro (a Chinese company)

will be coming to look at Takandadam near Nyamapanda, with a viewto constructing a hydro-electric proj-ect to produce 3 000 megawatts ofelectricity," said Nkomo. "Zimbabwehas more than 200 large dams andthere is the potential to constructhydro-electric schemes to boost ourelectricity output."Nkomo also said he had signed amemorandum of understanding(MoU) with the Chinese govern-ment, which would see a Chinesecompany coming to engage in a vari-ety of projects including irrigation.He added he held a fruitful meetingwith Chinese Water Resources min-ister Chen Lei, who invited him backto China in September, where theywould conclude another MoU to as-sist Zimbabwe through capacity-building programs.Minister of State Enterprises andParastatals Gorden Moyo said they

met various Chinese state enterprises(Seps), including China Machineryand Engineering Corporation, Sino-

Sure (financial services) and Hydro-Sino currently undertaking power-generation activities with theZambian government at KaribaNorth."The strength of China is in its well-managed and well-resourced Seps,"said Moyo. "We went there to under-stand their model as they are alsocoming from a background whereSeps were loss-making, poorly man-aged and infested by corruption. Wewent there to understand how theytransformed these Seps to technolog-ical success."He said they also discussed howZimbabwean Seps could workclosely with their Chinese counter-parts to achieve re-capitalizationthrough joint-ventures, as well as as-sistance to re-capitalize Zimbabwe'sSeps to enable them to fulfill theirpotential of contributing to at least50% of GDP, employment and serv-

ices.China is projected to become theworld's biggest economy by 2020.Tsvangirai's visit - which has irkedZanu PF officials who consider Bei-jing their exclusive ally in Zim-babwe - suggests China is lookingbeyond Mugabe's rule. The Chinesehave always been considered closeallies of Zanu PF since the liberationstruggle. However, Tsvangirai's visitat the invitation of the Chinese gov-ernment has given the distinct im-pression that he could form the nextgovernment.In his speech at the Sino-AfricanTrade in Services and InvestmentForum in Beijing on May 29, Tsvan-girai assured the Chinese investorsof government protection butstressed the importance of invest-ments that gave maximum benefit toZimbabweans.

Prime Minister MorganTsvangirai of Zimbabwe

Minister Calls forTransformation,Modernization ofECOWASManagementProcedures

Abidjan - Cote d' Ivoire — Coted'Ivoire's Foreign Minister, Honor-able Daniel Kablan Duncan openedthe 68th Ordinary Session of theECOWAS Council of Ministers inAbidjan on Monday 11th June 2012by calling on the organization to em-brace the necessary transformationand modernization of managementprocedures to raise its competivenessin a globalizing world.After 37 years in existence, the Min-ister, who is the current chair of theCouncil, said the regional organiza-tion has recorded "notable progress,but significant weaknesses still existin the manner of operations which

continue to limit our level ofachievements." He therefore chargedthe ministers to assume their respon-sibilities by guiding community in-stitutions to deliver on commitmentsto citizens and meeting the expecta-tions and the objectives of the organ-ization.Council, the Minister said, shouldconclude action on the allocation ofthe remaining statutory positionswithin community institutions andalso consider recommendations ofthe 11th Session of the Administra-tion and Finance Committee (AFC)on 4th and 5th June in Abuja, as partof continuing efforts to strengthenthe administrative and financialmanagement procedures ofECOWAS institutions. Among thekey issues is the need to lift thefreeze on recruitment at theECOWAS Commission, which Min-ister Duncan urged Council to con-sider along with the financialimplications. He also urged Councilto take measures to effect the deci-sion of the Authority of ECOWASHeads of State and Government lastOctober on the possibility of creatingadditional Commissioner-positions

for greater effectiveness and moredynamism in the functioning of theCommission.In his remarks, the President of theECOWAS Commission, AmbassadorKadre Desire Ouedraogo noted thatthe Council session was taking placeat a time of political crises in twoECOWAS member States of Maliand Guinea-Bissau. As part of prin-cipled efforts to consolidate peaceand security in the region, he saidthat five extra-ordinary summits ofHeads of State and two sessions of

the Mediation and Security Councilhad been held towards resolvingthese crises.The president also noted that lack ofhuman resources continued to limitthe execution of programs by theCommission and other communityinstitutions, adding that this shouldbe addressed for the benefit of com-munity citizens. While noting thatthe Council session was also takingplace at a time of economic and fi-nancial difficulty within the Eurozone, he said the region recorded

economic growth of 6.4% in 2011and 6.3% in 2012, which has raisedthe growth prospects for the Africancontinent to 5.1%. However, thepresident underscored the need forconcerted solutions to fast- track theintegration and prosperity of WestAfrica.In his mid-year report to the Council,the Commission's chief outlined theprogress, challenges and the wayforward on the regional integrationproject. The highlight of the openingceremony of the two-day meeting ofministers in charge of ECOWAS af-fairs in Member States was theswearing in of the Vice- President ofthe ECOWAS Commission, Dr. TogaGayewea McIntosh and six Commis-sioners who assumed duties last Feb-ruary. The oath of office wasadministered on them by the Presi-dent of the Community Court JusticeAwa Nana Daboya, after PresidentOuedraogo had presented the mem-bers of his new management teamthat replaced the Commission's pio-neer Commissioners who bowed outlast December.

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Liberia: StateCloses BorderWith Ivory Coast

The Liberian government, in re-sponse to recent renewed cross-bor-der attacks, has announced theimmediate closure of its border withthe Ivory Coast as part of series ofmeasures aimed at tackling the prob-lem.

In a joint press conference held atthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs, For-eign Minister Augustine Kpehe Nga-fuan, Defense Minister Brownell J.Samukai and Information MinisterLewis G. Brown also announcedseveral other measures the Liberiangovernment has taken to ensure that

tension along its border with itsneighbor is eased.The Liberian ministers also an-nounced the immediate deploymentof soldiers of the Armed Forces ofLiberia (AFL), the reinforcement ofpolice and immigration personnelalong the Liberian-Ivorian border,the immediate suspension of allu-vium gold and other minerals miningalong the border and the relocationof refugee camps along the border.Information Minister Brown, whomade the pronouncements, also an-nounced as additional measures

taken by the Government the extra-dition of Ivorian mercenaries beingheld in detention in Liberia, the con-tinuous surveillances of the refugeecamps and prosecuting any refugeeabusing his or her refugee status.The decisions were reached follow-ing hours of meeting of the National

Security Council where PresidentEllen Johnson-Sirleaf provided theinstructions via telephone conversa-tion from the United States.The ministers' press conference wasin immediate response to reports offresh cross-border attacks Friday inthe Ivorian town of Tie.Seven Nigerien soldiers serving theUnited Nations Operations in Coted'Ivoire (UNOCI) were reportedkilled by mercenaries suspected ofcoming from the Liberian side of theborder, though the Liberian ministerssaid they could not establish the

identities of the mercenaries.The ministers further announced thatthe border will remain closed untilotherwise other, but added that itwould only be opened to humanitar-ian traffic.The Government, through the minis-ters, also used the occasion to con-

demn the attack, describing it asbaseless, unwarranted, inhumane andreceives no support from the Liber-ian Government.Foreign Minister Ngafuan, who toohad just completed an emergencymeeting with the Ivorian Ambassa-dor few minutes to the press confer-ence, was quick to clarify that theincidents happened in spite of bothcountries' efforts to restore calm tothe border.The Foreign Minister reminded themedia of the Government's recentturning over of keys to confiscatedvehicles to its Ivorian counterparts aspart of promises made when bothcountries held bilateral talks over thecross-border incident.The Liberian officials offered deep-est condolences to the bereaved fam-ilies of the victims involved in therecent attacks. -- allAfrica.com

Mali: FranceFears Al-QaedaInfluence Grow-ing in NorthH.Caux/UNHCR

Hundreds of families have crossedthe border from Mali into Niger (filephoto).France is worried that Al-Qaida's in-fluence is growing in the war-tornnorth of Mali and wants the UN Se-curity Council to back humanitarianaid to the area, which has fallen toTuareg separatists, reportedly alliedto the Islamist group."We are following the situation innorth Mali, which is very unstable,

with the greatest vigilance," Frenchforeign affairs ministry spokespersonBernard Valéro said Wednesday.As three leaders of Al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb (Aqim) are re-ported to have arrived in Timbuktu,Paris is "worried by the growing im-portance of Aqim and its allies", hesaid.On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minis-ter Alain Juppé raised his fear thatsome Tuareg rebels might ally withAqim to take over the whole country"in order to create an Islamist repub-lic".The UN Security Council is to makea statement Wednesday on the situa-tion and Valéro called on it to backthe Ecowas group of west Africanstates' mediation with coup leadersin Bamako and support humanitarianaid to the north.On Tuesday France's UN ambassa-dor Gérard Araud said that he hadwon agreement in principle on a dec-laration, which would supportEcowas, call for the end of rebellionin the north and call on "the interna-tional community to mobilise againstterrorism in Mali".The European Union on Wednesdaycalled for a ceasefire in the north.Residents of Timbuktu told reportersby phone that the Islamists haveforced women to cover their hair,threatened to cut off thieves' handsand ransacked bars.The military junta in Bamakoclaimed that "serious rights viola-tions" were taking place in anothernorthern city, Gao, accusing the in-surgents of kidnapping and rapinggirls.The elected MP for the area, AbdouSidibé, confirmed that it was underthe control of several groups, includ-ing an Aqim splinter group, theMovement for Unity and Jihad InWest Africa (Mujao) and traffickers.UNHCR

Peacekeepers load body into a UN vehicle

allAfrica.com

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 13

Photo ReportIt is graduation season yet and as usual Amandla brings you pictures of new graduates in several fields of study from several institutions of higherlearning for the year 2012

Abigail Adjei Serwaah graduated with an Honorsdegree in nursing from Seton Hall University

Stephanie Adwoa Ampomaa graduated last monthfrom Columbia University Law School.

Felice Amoo-Achampong graduated from ImmaculataHigh School in Somerville, NJ. She leaves high school asa member of the National Honor Society and a passionateleader in community service. Felice will be attending theUniversity of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania this Fall, whereshe plans to pursue clinical medicine, along with her inter-est in the fine arts

Monica Katherine Amoo-Achampong graduatedMagna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylva-nia in Philadelphia, PA. She pursued a double major inHealth and Societies and African Studies and gradu-ated with Honors. She is a recipient of a Fulbrightgrant for the 2012-2013 year, and will be using heraward to study mortality in children under five yearsand malaria in Ghana.

Dr. Isaac Darko is headed to the Virginia Common-wealth University for Fellowship in TraumaticBrain Injury/Polytrauma after Residency at MountSinai School of Medicine Physical Medicine andRehabilitation (PM&R) Residency Program in NewYork where he received the "Resident of the YearAward" from the Department.

Nana Yaa Asamoah holds Associate Degree in RadiologicTechnology from the Delaware Technical and CommunityCollege, Wilmington, DE

Richard Osei graduated Bachelor of Science from TheCollege of New Jersey

Paul Boboli graduated from Rutgers University,Newark with degree in Social Work

Amandla wishes allnew graduates the

best

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 14

Nigeria: DANA - Indian Senior Managers Flee CountryBy Paul Dada, Abiodun Oluwaro-timi, George Okojie, Gloria Usman,Nkem Osuagwu, and Samuel Abu-lude

As Dana Air's woes continue tomount over its plane that crashed onSunday in Lagos, its senior man-agers of Indian nationality have re-portedly fled the country as Nigerianaviation officials investigate thecause of the crash.LEADERSHIP gathered that themanagers hurriedly fled because ofthe anger the death of more than 200people has generated and the allegedDana Air's complicity in the crash.There are reports that the ill-fatedplane was poorly maintained and inbad shape when it made its lastflight.When LEADERSHIP called thehead, corporate communications,Dana Group, Mr. Tony Usidamen, herefused to pick his calls and also didnot reply a text message sent to him.Meanwhile, people living close tothe place where Dana Air's BoeingMD-83 plane crashed have raised thealarm over the stench emanatingfrom the site at the Iju-Ishaga area ofLagos State.The residents of the densely popu-lated area lamented that apart fromthe wreckage that still liters theirvicinity, the offensive odor oozingfrom the site of the crash calls forconcern over the state of health ofthose inhaling the stench.Olatunji Lawal, a resident of No. 4,Okusanya Street, a building veryclose to the crash site, told LEAD-ERSHIP: "What we want govern-ment to do is to quickly come to ouraid by evacuating us from this area.That is the only thing that can saveour lives. "What has happened has

happened. We ask God to grant thedead victims eternal rest. We praythat God will grant the families ofthe departed souls the fortitude tobear the loss. But we who are stillalive need to survive. As it is now,the environment is not hygienic. Aswe speak now, the stench comingfrom the wreckage is odious. Weeven searched for an emergencyclinic that NEMA said they have putin place nearby to get ourselvestreated but couldn't find it. As we arenow, we need to subject ourselves tomedical test."The structural integrity of thishouse (his place of residence) is sus-pect. So, this place is not habitable.When it rained this morning, thehouse was vibrating. I had to run out,praying to God that the house doesnot collapse on our heads."Another resident who gave his nameas Pastor Adekunle Adedunni said:"What we need now is the help ofpeople and government because wedon't know what to do. They have tocompensate the owners of the housesclose to the crash site after the peo-ple have been evacuated. The placeis smelling now."The concern of another resident wasthat the people who live around thecrash site could have psychologicaltrauma if they were not relocated. Hesaid the area should be used as a bur-ial site for the victims of the aircrash.The Lagos State government hashowever allayed the fears of the resi-dents, saying the government wouldfumigate the area as soon as the vari-ous investigations being carried outon the site of the crash are concludedand the debris cleared.Speaking with LEADERSHIP, thechief executive officer of the Lagos

Emergency Management Agency(LASEMA), Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyi-tolu, said efforts were being intensi-fied to get the remaining bodies fromthe planes and houses affected by thecrash, adding that the state govern-ment was too proactive to allow theissue of epidemic outbreak to occur.He explained that recovered bodieswere carefully packaged inside bagsand taken away immediately to theLagos Teaching Hospital in ambu-lances, promising that people dis-placed by the crash would be housedand rehabilitated at the Agbowa re-lief camp.Oke-Osanyintolu further said thatthose displaced by the crash were 36in number. He said they were beingtreated at a hospital in Ifako-Ijayebefore being taken to the reliefcamp. The LASEMA boss assuredthat there would be no epidemic asthe two-story building which theplane crashed into would be pulleddown and the entire area fumigated.He confirmed that 149 completebodies of the victims had been evac-uated. He stated that the emergencyworkers would still comb for morebody parts before pulling the build-ing down same day.The commissioner for environment,Mr. Tunji Bello, who also allayedfears of an epidemic outbreak, saidall the concerned agencies in thestate were already on standby to riseto the challenges of forestalling out-break of any endemic.The commissioner urged Lagosiansto desist from listening to rumormongers, saying that it is capable ofcausing more harm to the unsuspect-ing commuters.He explained that the odor may havebeen caused by the continuous rain-fall in the state, adding that people in

the neighborhood would be med-ically safe as soon as the affected en-vironment was fumigated to treatand suppress the odor oozing fromthe place.Mr. Rasheed Shabi of the LagosState Environmental ProtectionAgency (LASEPA) similarly assuredthose living around the site of thecrash not to panic, adding thatLASEPA would fumigate the place.More bodies recoveredThe FRSC said in Abuja that 14more bodies were recovered onTuesday from the wreckage of theDana plane that crashed in Lagos onSunday.Mr. Jonas Agwu, the public educa-tion officer of the FRSC, who gavethe figure at noon, in an interviewwith the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), said the recovery "brings thenumber of bodies so far recovered to152".Agwu said the 14 bodies were recov-ered during "a joint sustained evacu-ation exercise" carried out by theNational Emergency ManagementAgency and other relevant agencies.He gave the breakdown of the bodiesso far recovered to include 88 males,48 females, 14 children, and twounidentified mutilated adults.The plane, which took off fromAbuja, crashed into a residential areain Iju, a suburb of Lagos, killing all153 passengers and six crew mem-bers on board.Agwu recalled that during a similaroperation on Monday, more than 130bodies were recovered from thewreckage.FG suspends airline's licenseThe Ministry of Aviation yesterdaysuspended the Air Operator Certifi-cate (AOC) of Dana Air, followingthe crash of one of its MD83 aircraft

in Lagos on Sunday.Consequently, the airline could nolonger conduct flight operations,though the airline had grounded itsoperations following the crash sinceit operates MD83 aircraft only.The minster of aviation's special as-sistant (media), Mr. Joe Obi, con-firmed the "indefinite" suspensionpending when investigation wouldbe concluded.He said, "We have suspended theiroperational license in the aftermathof the crash. We have to look at theirentire operations".LEADERSHIP investigationsshowed that all five Dana aircraftoperating in the Nigerian airspacewere built between 21 and 22 yearsago, thereby breaking government'srule which bans aircraft older than20 years from operating within theNigerian airspace.It was also gathered that NCAA yes-terday launched a comprehensivesafety and financial audit of all localairlines operating in Nigeria, so as todetermine whether they ought to bein business or not.A source at the regulator said anycarrier found to have compromisedon global safety standards wouldhave its license revoked.US consoles �igeriaUnited States president BarackObama has condoled with the federalgovernment of Nigeria over Sun-day's plane crash that claimed over100 lives.Speaking through the secretary ofstate, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton,on Monday night, the US presidentsaid he extended his deepest condo-lences to those who lost familymembers and loved ones in thedeadly plane crash in Lagos, Nigeria.allAfrica.com

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 15

WomenRwanda: Quantity or Quality - Impact of Female Leaders On Women'sLivesBy Marie-Brigitte Kabalira

Since the last parliamentary elec-tions, Rwanda has been the firstcountry in the world where womenhold a majority in one of the cham-bers of parliament - with 56% in thechamber of deputies. There are alsoa good number of top female offi-cials in the executive, whether asMinisters or heads of institutions.While this is undoubtedly importantfor the progress towards gender eq-uity in the country, it is less clearhow such a representation is per-ceived by the citizens, notably ordi-nary women, and how it impactstheir life. In the absence of a repre-sentative survey, it seems the answerdepends on who you talk to.For Mukabalisa, a 58-year-old resi-dent of Kigali, having those womenin politics does not benefit the ordi-nary women in any way. "When theyare put in those positions, they don'ttalk to the citizens to see what the re-ality is like," she complains. "Howthen can you tell me it is better forthe rest of the women? We still haveour problems and struggles."Mukabalisa's conclusion is clear: itmakes no difference to have thesewomen in leadership or not.Hers is of course only one opinionamong many, all of them subjective,ignoring either the advantages or theshortcomings of the current crop offemale leaders. Getting an objectivepoint of view is not an easy matter."A proper tool for analysis is yet tobe put in place," confirms EdouardMunyamariza from the RwandaMen's Resource Center (Rwamrec),

an organization that tries to get meninvolved in the fight for women'semancipation.Yet Munyamariza's own view israther nuanced, as he points out thatit would be unrealistic to expect thatthe women in leadership have doneeverything perfectly to improve thelives of their fellow women. "It isobvious that there is room for im-provement: some gaps to be filledand needs to be met," he says,adding that these women leaders arestill to be properly organized andwork to address the needs of the citi-zens.

'Not known'The first need to be addressed, itseems, is for the leaders to makethemselves and their work betterknown. For instance, VestineIngabire, a fruits vendor, says shehas no idea who the women in par-liament are, and does not know thename of a single one of them."I don't know them and I don't seewhat difference they are making tomy life," she says, wondering justlike Mukabalisa how a person can dosomething for her if they don't knowwhat she needs."I will not be just a spectator and sit

around complaining about what isnot going well; I want to make a dif-ference and I know it is possible." --Solange Uwineza, studentWhile it is true that these twowomen do not see a direct impact ontheir life, it cannot be denied thatthere are advantages to having sucha representation of women in highpositions. "The participation ofwomen is the first step to empower-ment and it leads to representation ofwomen's needs," Munyamariza re-marks.For that to happen, better organiza-tion is still required. "Personally, I

think it could be great if only theones who are supposed to representus did just that," Mukabalisa says. "Imean, if they talked with us, thenthey would know what is needed andwhere to push for change."According to Senator Fatou Hareri-mana, there is indeed improvementin the understanding of leaders as tohow to relate to the people. "In ourprogram, we make time to go to thepeople and interact with them," shesays, and also pointing out that par-liamentarians are also involved inother events and activities organizedmostly through the NationalWomen's Council which goes downto the village level.In addition, Harerimana points outthat having women in the upper ech-elons of government should have abigger impact than just representa-tion."It should take away their fears andinspire them to aim for positionswhere they can bring about thechange they desire, show them thatthey are able to do it," the Senatorexplains.That is how 17-year-old studentSolange Uwineza sees it, saying thatseeing so many women in parliamenthas opened her eyes as to the oppor-tunities a girl can have in life. "I nowknow that I want to be part of theprocess of change affecting my life,"she says confidently. "I will not bejust a spectator and sit around com-plaining about what is not goingwell; I want to make a difference andI know it is possible."

Source: The New Times

Women in Rwanda’s Parliament form the majority

South Africa: President Zuma Appoints First Female National PoliceCommissionerPretoria — President Jacob Zumahas appointed the country's first fe-male National Police Commissioner,Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega.Phiyega, who was serving as theChairperson of the Presidential Re-view Committee on State OwnedEnterprises and Deputy Chairpersonof the Independent Commission forthe Remuneration of Public OfficeBearers, has already undergone thevetting process.She also chaired the Road TrafficManagement Corporation TaskTeam."It is my pleasure to announce thenew National Police Commissionertoday, who takes office with immedi-ate effect."Ms Phiyega brings a wealth of ex-perience as a senior executive whounderstands the responsibility ofgovernment in the fight againstcrime and the duties imposed indealing with state assets. I haveevery confidence that she will showleadership and acquit herself well asNational Commissioner," said Zuma.He wished her all the best in her newassignment.

Phiyega takes over from former Po-lice Commissioner General BhekiCele. Zuma announced that he hadbeen released from his duties.In September last year, Zuma ap-pointed a Board of Inquiry to inves-tigate the alleged misconduct byCele and to pronounce on his fitnessfor office or his capacity to executehis official duties efficiently and re-lated aspects.The Board of Inquiry Chairperson,

Justice Jakes Moloi, presented thereport to Zuma on the 20th of May."The Board has found General Celeto be unfit for office and has recom-mended his removal from office interms of the provisions of section8(6)(b)(v) of the South African Po-lice Service Act No. 68 of 1995.Having thoroughly considered thereport of the Board, and applied mymind thereto, I have decided to re-lease General Cele from his duties,"

said Zuma.He added that General Cele still hada lot to contribute to the countrygiven his experience and commit-ment to making South Africa a betterplace for all each day.Zuma said that during Cele's tenurecrime levels dropped."I would in particular, like to extendmy personal gratitude to GeneralCele for the unquestionable commit-ment to his work as National Com-missioner. Leading from the front, hebrought much needed passion, en-ergy, expertise and focus thatboosted the morale of the policeleading to improved productivity anda visible reduction in crime levels."A lot of good work has been doneby SAPS. However, the reports ofthe Public Protector and that of theBoard of Inquiry indicate deficien-cies administratively and in particu-lar in relation to General Cele'sduties as an accounting officer," hesaid.The President thanked Lt GeneralNhlanhla Mkhwanazi who has beenacting as National Commissionerduring the past few months. He has

done a lot of work to keep the forcefocused on fighting crime and cor-ruption, he said.Zuma said he had had a discussionwith Police Minister NathiMthethwa about "what needs to becorrected immediately within theSAPS so that we can continue theexcellent record of fighting crime".This included management and fi-nancial systems as well as thebreaches of information securitywithin the establishment, whichZuma said had "unfortunately be-come common"."We have in the past few weeks wit-nessed a disappointing spectacle ofpolice officers jeopardising state se-curity by placing information in thepublic domain, in contravention oftheir oath of office. This is unaccept-able and cannot be tolerated if thefight against crime is to continuebeing effective."He said Mthethwa and the new Na-tional Commissioner would assist indealing with these matters.Source: Bua News

Police Commissioner Mangwashi Victoria Phiyega

Egypt: WomenLook for a Placein New EgyptBy Mel Frykberg

Cairo — "It was so frustrating but soexciting at the same time," recalls15-year-old Mariam Assam, a year-

10 student in Cairo. Assam was re-calling the days she tried to join pro-testors during the Egyptianrevolution in January 2011 but wasintially prevented by her parents whosaid street protests were no place fora girl to be."I wanted to be part of the revolu-tion, to help Egyptians gain theirfreedom and women gain theirrights, but unlike my brother I had to

argue with my parents long and hardbefore they eventually allowed meout for a few hours," Assam toldIPS.Assam who wants to be a journalistone day, is from a new generation ofEgyptian women better educatedthan their mothers and grandmoth-ers, and who believe unequivocallyin equality for women despite the re-strictions many families impose.

She struggles with such cultural con-straints but believes, like severalother Egyptian women from varyingbackgrounds IPS spoke to, that therevolution will ultimately be goodfor women.Rina El Masry, 40, is an immacu-lately groomed businesswoman. Sheis the daughter of a Coptic Christianmother and Muslim father. Like "Ibelieve the ceding of power to

Egypt's interim military governmentwas a step in the right direction forwomens' rights despite the numberof female parliamentarians droppingto the current two percent under themilitary as opposed to the 12 percentunder deposed former presidentHosni Mubarak," El Masry told IPS."All democracies evolve."

Source: IPS

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 16

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Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 17

Ghana MakesHistory in FashionThe organizers of Ghana Fashionand Design Week (GFDW) on Mon-day announced that Vogue Italiawould be their international mediapartner for the upcoming eventscheduled for October 5-7, at theMoevenpick Ambassador hotel inAccra.A statement issued by the organisersin Accra and copied to Ghana NewsAgency said "The digital luxuryfashion publication has joined forceswith GFDW to bring exclusive cov-erage of the event to the world".This collaboration is truly one-of-a-kind, with Vogue Black Italia highreadership from all over the globe,GFDW mission is to provide interna-tional journalistic coverage of thefashion event."Making history for Ghana and theAfrican continent, such collaborationhas never happened before and wehope this partnership lead GFDWcommitment to the promotion of de-signers, ensuring international pub-lishers are able to easily accessofficial sought after GFDW images,content and enabling designers topromote themselves to a global audi-ence," the statement said.Vogue Italia will exclusively be cov-ering the runway shows, with specialbackstage features and interviews.It is with great pleasure to add VogueItalia to GFDW list of global part-ners, including luxury brands such asL'oreal and Porsche.This partnership provides participat-ing fashion designers, models andsponsors with brand coverage in keymarkets, allowing them to be discov-ered by new contacts globally.Ghana Fashion and Design Week is acontemporary international platformenvisioned to direct, lead and pro-mote both emerging and establisheddesigners to a global audience.It brings together creatively talentedfashion and accessories designers inGhana and in the Diaspora alongsideinternational designers, to showcasetheir collections to local and interna-tional retail buyers, Africa's neo-fashion consumers, influential press,media, and fashion savvy celebrities.

The event incorporates outstandingdisplay of fashion shows and a cre-ative exhibition hub that gives fash-ion and creative businesses in Ghanaand across the globe the opportunityto exhibit their collections and re-lated creative business servicesalongside the catwalk shows.The annual event celebration ofGhana's Fashion and Creative busi-ness industry is set to epitomize thefashion scene in Ghana, with plat-forms that celebrates Ghanaian andinternational designers.The organization is structured withan aim to develop and educateemerging talents in Ghana throughits mentoring platforms and inspira-tional industry seminars.GFDW is strategically placed to sup-port and strengthen the fashion, tex-tiles and apparel manufacturingindustries in Ghana.--ghp

Namibia: 'TheDogg' AdmitsHaving a FakeLicenceTHE State last week withdrew crimi-nal charges against Namibia's musi-cian Martin Morocky, aka 'TheDogg', in the Swakopmund Magis-trate's Court, on the condition that hepay a N$4 000 admission-of-guiltfine on a charge of forging a car li-cense disk.Morocky paid the fine.If he had not, the criminal charge offorgery would have continuedagainst him. The Namibian tried toobtain comment from 'The Dogg',but all he said was: "No comment".Morocky apparently bought a sec-ond-hand Volkswagen Combi from aprivate seller about a year ago.In December, the driver of the vehi-cle was pulled off the road becausethe vehicle was not roadworthy. Mo-rocky was a passenger in the car. Aquick check revealed that the licensedisc had been forged.The Dogg' was arrested and madehis first appearance just before theNew Year where he was released onN$1,000 bail. The vehicle was im-

pounded, but according to Policesources, it has been returned to him.

Tanzania:GhanaianMusicians TellDar Counterpartto Unite, FightPiracyLOCAL musicians have been calledon to unite and toughen up in theirfight against piracy which is threat-ening to destroy the entertainmentindustry.It is a call from their Ghanaian coun-terparts, as delivered in Dar esSalaam by local music expert, An-gelo Luhala, who recently visited theWest African nation. Luhala, who isthe Director of Rulu Arts Promoters,a Non-Governmental Organization(NGO) which advocates for artisteswelfare, toured Ghana with a view toacquaint himself with the state of itsmusic industry."I had opportunity to share experi-ence with Ghanaian musicians onmusic piracy and other issues per-taining to the music industry. Theytold me that our musicians shouldwake up and fight for their rights andwelfares without fear," said Luhala.Luhala quoted the Ghanaian musi-cians as issuing an uplifting to theirTanzanian counterparts on the fightagainst piracy, pointing out that 'it isa war' they should fight to death.They argued, instead of complainingabout their destituteness, Tanzanianartistes, through their forums, mustpressurize the government to put inplace effective copyright legislationthat could better fight infringement."They're even ready to come to Tan-zania and offer our musicians sup-port and advice on how to fight fortheir rights and welfares," Luhalasaid."The only way musicians can defeatthe cancer of piracy is through unityof purpose." Giving his experienceof Ghana music industry, Luhala saidhe observed a strong unity among itsartistes and that the government has

been contributing towards the devel-opment of the industry."Look, the Ghanaian government re-cently dished out a two millionGhana cedis (about US 1,040,312Dollars) to boost the country's musicindustry." Luhala said Ghanaian gov-ernment has learnt that the countryhas a vibrant creative arts industrythat can be nurtured to create jobsand provide increased income to allstakeholders. Ghana musicians, ac-cording to Luhala, have establishedstrong music associations, which arethe corner stone of their success ascompared to Tanzanians."Ghanaian musicians are very rich,"Luhala observed. "It is important wehave organs that can operate for thebenefit of the entire industry and notfor few unscrupulous people or com-panies." Luhala was grateful to theBusiness Environment Strengtheningfor Tanzania - Advocacy Component(BEST-AC) who sponsored his tripto Ghana and vowed to share the ex-perience with music stakeholders inthe country, in a bid to inspire posi-tive revolution in the industry. – Tan-zania Daily News

South Africa:Samro FoundationAwards R1Million in MusicStudy BursariesThe South African Music Rights Or-ganisation (SAMRO) Foundationhas awarded a total of R1.13 millionin music study bursaries for 2012,giving 113 young South Africans ahelping hand.A total of 195 applications were re-ceived for this year's bursaries, sub-mitted by prospective and existingundergraduate and postgraduate stu-dents who are pursuing full-timemusic studies at various SouthAfrican tertiary institutions.Of those applicants, 113 candidatessucceeded on merit following evalu-ation by a panel of adjudicators.Each was awarded a R10 000 bur-sary towards their tuition fees.In the General Music study category,

71 bursaries were awarded in theWestern Art, Jazz and IndigenousAfrican music genres, while 15 bur-saries were granted for Music Edu-cation studies, and 19 forComposition studies.A record number of 30 applicationswere received for Music Composi-tion - which bodes well for the futureof original, home-grown composi-tions, whether they be scores forfilm, television or other media, ad-vertising jingles or recorded music.In the area of Indigenous Africanmusic research, eight postgraduatebursaries were awarded. This is anavenue of study that the SAMROFoundation is keen to promote.Students at the University of CapeTown claimed the lion's share of the2012 SAMRO music bursaries (32),with North West University, the Uni-versity of Pretoria and the Universityof Stellenbosch also faring well with14 recipients apiece.Other institutions whose studentsbenefited from the music studyawards were the Nelson MandelaMetropolitan University (12),Tshwane University of Technology(8), University of Fort Hare (1), Uni-versity of KwaZulu-Natal (9),Rhodes University (3), University ofVenda (1) and the University of theWitwatersrand (5).This marks the third consecutiveyear that SAMRO has awarded inexcess of R1-million in music studybursaries. Since 1981, the organiza-tion has awarded 1 517 such bur-saries, and has pumped more thanR50 million into music educationthrough this scheme and other initia-tives such as its annual OverseasScholarships Competition.

Lady Gaga wantsa live cockroachhatThe singer has instructed her design-ers to come up with a hat filled withcockroaches.She's grown fond of the insects sincebeing informed of a study whichproved they respond to her musicmore than songs by any other artist.A source said: “Lady Gaga has beenlooking to top her famous meat dressfor some time — and this could be it.“She dubbed cockroaches 'My reallife monsters' after hearing of the re-cent study.“Now she wants to incorporate themin a headpiece by having themcrawling around inside a nettedcage.”Last year students in New York, whowere studying the engineering andmovements of cockroaches, playedmusic to the insects to get themmoving after they failed to respondto electric pulses.After material from Weezer andheavy metal group Avenged Seven-fold bombed, Gaga's hits sparkedthem into life.At least this headwear will be one ofthe cheapest in her massive collec-tion.A box of cockroaches shouldn't sether designers back too much at herlocal pet shop.Wearing the creepy crawly-filled hatis also handy preparation should hercareer nose-dive and she ends up in afuture series of I'm A Celebrity . . .Get Me Out Of Here. I'd love to seeher in the jungle alongside MichaelOwen, Stavros Flatley and LindsayLohan.Source: Thesun.co.uk

Artcultainment

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 18

Central Africa: New UN Report Highlights Lord's Resistance ArmyAtrocities Against ChildrenThe Ugandan rebel group known asthe Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)remains among the most persistentperpetrators of grave violationsagainst children, says a new UnitedNations report.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon'sfirst report to the Security Councilon the situation of children affectedby the LRA documents violationscommitted against children, andmeasures taken to address the LRAthreat between July 2009 and Febru-ary 2012.Over the reporting period, at least591 children, including 268 girls,were abducted and recruited by theLRA, mostly in the Democratic Re-public of the Congo (DRC), but alsoin the Central African Republic(CAR), and in South Sudan.The LRA is currently believed to bemade up of between 200 and 500fighters. Formed in the 1980s inUganda, the LRA mainly directed itsattacks against Ugandan civiliansand security forces for over 15 years.By 2004, it had largely been drivenof the area through a sustained mili-tary effort. It then exported its activi-ties to Uganda's neighboringcountries, with practices that includethe recruitment of children, rapes,killing and maiming, and sexualslavery."The LRA continues to cast a longshadow across central Africa, caus-ing enormous suffering for children,"said the Secretary-General's SpecialRepresentative for Children andArmed Conflict, RadhikaCoomaraswamy, at a press confer-ence at UN Headquarters today.The Special Representative's office

monitors six grave violations againstchildren: recruitment and use ofchild soldiers; killing and maiming;sexual violence; denial of humanitar-ian access; abduction; and attacks onschools and hospitals.Ms. Coomaraswamy said that due toprotection activities and the militaryoperations carried out in the affectedareas, the LRA is weakened, but itcontinues to be able to make randomattacks.In the DRC, a trend appeared in2010, and was more apparent in2011, of children being abducted forvery short periods to carry loot be-fore they managed to escape or wereleft behind, according to a news re-lease on the report that added thatthis suggests a change in the modusoperandi of the LRA.All girls mentioned in the reportwere forcibly married to combatants,and those who escaped with their ba-bies born of rape were stigmatizedby their communities.The Special Representative notedthat the number of children killedand maimed appears to have de-clined since 2008, perhaps due to in-creased protection efforts by UNpeacekeepers, the massive displace-ment of civilians fleeing the LRAthreat, and the presence of securityforces in the LRA's area of opera-tions.There was also some "relative goodnews" in that the LRA no longer at-tack schools and hospitals, she said,adding that despite this, the attackskeep thousands from attendingschools because of displacement.In his report, Mr. Ban lauds effortsby the Uganda People's Defence

Force and the African Union to ad-dress the threat posed by the LRA.He recommends that all military ef-forts to address the LRA ensure thatthe protection of civilians is a centralaspect of operations, includingthrough the development of standardoperating procedures for the han-dling of children separated from theLRA.While noting the need to encouragedefections from the LRA as a strat-egy to weaken the armed group, Mr.Ban indicated that there must be noimpunity for war crimes and crimes

against humanity, including grave vi-olations against children - a pointalso stressed by his Special Repre-sentative.In March, the United Nations and theAfrican Union (AU) launched theUN-supported and AU-led RegionalCooperation Initiative against theLRA (RCI-LRA) and its militarycomponent, the RTF, with the aim ofbringing an end to the LRA's activi-ties. The RTF is comprised of 5,000soldiers drawn form the four coun-tries affected by the LRA - Uganda,DRC, CAR and South Sudan.

Some of the child soldiers of Lord’s Resistance Army

As long as thereare lice in theseams of thegarment theremust be blood-stains on thefingernails. -

Yoruba Proverb

Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 19

SportGhana: Zambian Policeman Attack Derek Boateng - FA to Petition FifaGhana midfielder Derek Boatengclaims he was punched by a policeofficer after the 1-0 defeat to Zambiaon Saturday in a 2014 FIFA WorldCup qualifier.The FC Dnipro ace was embroiled inan altercation with policemen on thetartan tracks of the Levy Sports Sta-dium before entering the dressingroom.Many Ghana players confrontedTunisia referee Med Kordi after thefinal whistle due to some of his con-troversial decisions.Boateng claims he was taunted by asteward and as he walked off thepitch an officer in uniform punchedhim behind."When I was coming off the pitch,one of the guys came in front of metrying to tease me and I just said to

him they will be coming to Ghana,and I walked towards him, but a po-liceman punched me from behind,"Boateng lamented. Boateng playedfor 65 minutes before being replacedby Anthony Annan.Meanwhile, the Ghana Football As-sociation says it will petition FIFAafter two of its players claimed theywere assaulted by Zambian policemen after Saturday's 2014 WorldCup qualifier.Midfielder Derek Boateng and un-used striker Ben Acheampong are re-ported to have been punched bysecurity personnel after a post-matchmelee."The judgment is there for all of youto make. You saw what happened onthe pitch but we want to put onrecord that we to view the tapes of

what happenedafter the matchand if two of ourplayers BenAcheampong andDerek Boatengwere punched,we will have totake it up toCAF," Ghana FAspokespersonIbrahim Sannie-Daara said at thepost match con-ference.This is unaccept-able in Africanfootball. TheZambians werevery nice to usuntil the game.

Also, some officials were not al-lowed entry into the VIP lounge andthat did not go down well with theGhana FA."Officials of the Ghana Football As-sociation were put in the midst ofsupporters. It is unfair," Daaraadded. We didn't come to war, wecame to play football and you wonthe game, well it's good but the un-derhand dealings and the way wewere treated is utterly unfair."I mean the board members of theGhana FA were put into the crowd isunfair. We wouldn't do that to Zam-bia in Accra. "Ghana have lost to the Chipolopolotwice in four months after a semi-final 1-0 defeat at the 2012 AfricaCup of Nations.Derek Boateng

Bradley-Pacquiaobout 'is like afixed fight'-JoshuaClottey

Former IBF Welterweight championJoshua Clottey feels the controver-sial Pacqiuao-Bradley bout lookedlike a “fixed fight”.Pacquiao landed 94 more punchesthan Bradley according to Com-puBox, but it was not enough as thejudges stunningly awarded a split-decision win to Bradley, who liftedthe World Boxing Organization wel-

terweight title from Pacquiao withthe victory.But in an interview with www.liq-uidsportsghana.com, Joshua Clotteywho once lost to Pacquao in a one-sided bout said “it’s like a fix fightbecause if you watched the pressconference before the fight, youwould have seen Bradley holding acard which read “Rule 2-NovemberBradley vs. Pacqiuao.”He added that the result of the boutwas known well ahead of time, “theyknew that Bradley will win the fightand there would be a re-match onNovember 12th. Bradley held up thesame card again after the fight.“They were all happy about the re-match because you know FloydMayweather is in jail and cannot

fight Pacqiuao and I don’t think theycan do the negotiation for the fightbecause of their egos.”Clottey alleged that the ultimate aimis to get people to watch a rematchbetween the two boxers. “So it’s akind of a game where they want peo-ple to know that Bradley beat Pacqi-uao so that people will buy the payper view the second time”

Joshua Clottey

Zambia FA: Wewill investigate at-tack on GhanaThe Football Association of Zambia(FAZ) has started an investigationinto the suspected assault of somemembers of the Black Stars playingbody after last Saturday’s World CupQualifier between Ghana and Zam-bia in Ndola, Zambia which theChipolopolos defeated the Blackstars by 1-0.

Reports after the match did indicatethat some members of the Ghanateam; Sulley Muntari, DerekBoateng and Ben Acheampong hadbeen manhandled by the Zambianpolice after the referee’s final whis-tle.But the authorities in Zambia as ex-pected have taken steps to addressthe alleged incidents after the match.Speaking on the Ultimate Sportsshow on Asempa Fm on Monday, theSpokesperson for the FAZ, EricMwanza said his outfit has takenmeasures to address the matter.According to him, the Zambian FAhave requested for tapes on thematch from the national televisionstation and have also implored on

any private individual who has atape covering those incidents to sub-mit it to them. He therefore called onthose who are pointing accusing fin-gers to the Zambian Police to holdtheir fire until the investigations areover.The two football bodies have alsomet on how to solve the issue amica-bly, he added. In a related issue,Mwanza declined to comment on theperformance of the match officialssince he claims it is the policy of theFAZ not to comment on officiating."We are happy for winning the gameagainst Ghana and we hope to con-tinue from here and ensure that wequalify for the 2014 World Cup". headded.

Kwasi Appiahnamed SWAGcoach of the yearJames Kwasi Appiah picked up theCoach of the Year award at the 37thedition of the Sports Writers Associ-ation of Ghana Awards night on Sat-urday.The 52-year-old was rewarded forhis impressive works with the GhanaU-23 team at the 2011 All AfricaGames where the Black Meteorswon an historic gold medal.Appiah who was then assistant coachof the Black Stars was asked to takeover the team in an emergency callat a point the side was on the vergeof being kicked out of the qualifica-tion series for the games.And after expertly dispatching Nige-ria in the two-leg ultimate qualifier,the former Ghana captain led hischarges to conquer all in Maputo,Mozambique to claim Ghana’s first

ever gold medal.He reverted to his substantive jobwith the Black Stars where he helpedGoran Stevanovic to lead the BlackStars to a semifinal finish at the 2012Nations Cup – a disappointing featthat led to the dismissal of the Serb.

Appiah was then appointed as thesubstantive replacement for Ste-vanovic late April and was impres-sive on his debut beating Lesotho7-0 in the 2014 World Cup qualifier.

Cameroondethrone Ghana atnumber two inwomen’s football

Cameroon has dethroned Ghana asthe second best women’s footballteam on the African continent.According to the latest rankings re-leased last week by world soccergoverning body, Federation of Inter-national Football Associations

(FIFA), the Indomitable Lionessesare ranked 50th in the world, oneplace above the Black Queens.The latest ranking, which comesbarely few days to this weekend’sAfrica Women’s Championship(AWC) qualifier between Cameroonand Ghana, confirms the rising statusof the former in the women’s game.The first leg in Accra a fortnight agoended one all and the Black Queensmust win in Yaoundé to qualify forthe AWC scheduled for EquatorialGuinea in November.Also bound for the London 2012Olympic Games together with SouthAfrica, the Cameroonians strode totheir highest ever position on theFIFA rankings, which places thembehind Nigeria continentally.The development adds to the dwin-dling fortunes of the Black Queenswho have placed second fiddle to theSuper Falcons since the institution ofthe rankings.The Queens highest ever rankingwas 48th position, achieved exactlyfour years ago.Nigeria, the only African team in theworld’s top 30 are ranked 27.South Africa, Equatorial Guinea,Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Tunisia, Al-geria and Senegal complete the top10 ranked teams in Africa.

SWAG thanks allfor ensuringsuccess of AwardsNightThe Sports Writers Association ofGhana (SWAG) has extended appre-ciation to institutions and individuals

for their support in the successful or-ganization of its 37th Awards Night.Over 20 sportsmen and women andadministrators were honored fortheir performances in 2011 at the37th MTN-SWAG Awards Nightheld last Saturday at the BanquetHall, State House, Accra.“We are very grateful for your sup-port in making the event a success.We look forward to extending ourpartnership for future events,” saidAckah Anthony, SWAG President.It said the unprecedented number ofsponsors for this year’s event is ademonstration of the confidence ofcorporate institutions, patrons andindividuals in the Association.The statement said the support re-ceived from individuals and organi-zations also brings to fore thenation's passion for the developmentof sports.It noted that the Association willcontinue to recognize the efforts ofsports men and women for their out-standing performance as part of itsefforts to contribute to the develop-ment of sports in the country.The SWAG Awards Night was spon-sored by communication giantsMTN, Goldfields Ghana Limited,Stanbic Bank, Ghana Oil CompanyLimited (GOIL) and Sidalco.Other organizations that supportedthe event are DSTV, ATL, Voltic, TTBrothers, Accra Breweries Limited(ABL), Giligold PharmaceuticalsLimited dealers in GidiPower andGidi Herbal, Royal Oasis GhanaLimited and Multi TV.Gianni Merlo, President of the Asso-ciation of International Press forSports (AIPS) was the Special Guestof Honour at the SWAG AwardsNight.

Coach Kwasi Appiah

Sule Muntari

A proverb is thehorse that can carryone swiftly to the

discovery of ideas. -Yoruba Proverb

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Amandla Vol. 11 Iss. 6 June 2012 Page 20