Frustrations within PF
By Editor
Thu 09 Jan. 2014, 14:00 CAT
Truly, "2013 was a year which tested the foundation and ideals" of the Patriotic Front since its establishment in 2001. And as Patriotic Front secretary general Wynter Kabimba says, "It was a transformative year in that the party moved from being in opposition into a party in government and the major challenge in this transformation had been widespread expectations from both members of the party and the general public."
Many things were hoped for, were expected with the Patriotic Front in government. And given Michael Sata's delivery record, many people within the Patriotic Front and outside it developed wild expectations. They thought things would change overnight. Patriotic Front cadres, as Wynter correctly observes, "expected rewards in form of employment because of the massive discrimination they suffered under the MMD, which had cultivated an extensive culture of patronage".
And, again as Wynter says, "Outside the party, the public expected delivery of services on the basis of its campaign promises." But we all know that there is no instant coffee solution to our massive problem of poverty and unemployment. We are in for a long haul. Things will change, will improve but not overnight.
The mistake that was made was not to tell their cadres and our people in general that their lives won't instantly change simply because Michael and the Patriotic Front are in government. Their cadres thought they would all get jobs in government and other institutions connected to government. But they should have been told that government institutions don't belong to their party; they belong to all the people regardless of their political affiliations and all are entitled to jobs in these institutions purely on the basis of merit. They should have also been told that the Patriotic Front in government would not continue the patronage of the MMD.
And as they told the people what they would do, they should also have told them what they would not do. Life doesn't change that way.
There has been growing frustration among Patriotic Front members and cadres at all levels, who feel they have not been rewarded for their contributions, for their efforts. These feelings are legitimate but government affairs are not managed in that way. It is not a question of sharing spoils after an election victory.
The Patriotic Front cadres may be able to run their party on their own but they cannot run government on their own. Therefore, their disappointment and frustration has to be managed. And discipline calls for this. Their disappointment and frustration should be a temporary feeling, which they can get over by involving themselves in positive activities and attitudes. It is not easy to remain disappointed and frustrated if one is busy with constructive things.
There is need for discipline. And discipline is not about things one likes or is happy with. Discipline is about behaving well in situations in which one is not happy, is not comfortable. It is about handling well situations that one does not like. And this is why discipline is the most powerful weapon for progress. The Patriotic Front can only carry out its mandate if there is discipline, and where there is no discipline, there can be no real progress. Those who are ready to join hands in a disciplined way can overcome the greatest challenges.
There is still a long way to go. There is still a lot of work for the Patriotic Front to do. Those who thought by simply winning the 2011 elections, they had arrived, are mistaken because after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. It is said that many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires. It is also said that the struggle is not for the strong but for those who can endure.
We urge Patriotic Front cadres to draw strength from the unity which they had forged in their campaigns against the MMD and together grasp the opportunities and realise the vision enshrined in their 2011 election manifesto. This is the only way they can carry on their revolution and transform their lives and their country forever. This is the true meaning of the Patriotic Front revolution they promised themselves and the Zambian people, which is in reality and in truth a growth in their confidence as ordinary people to transform their country and thus transform themselves. It is a growth in the appreciation of people organising, deciding, creating together. It is a growth of fraternal love.
And when we speak of disappointment and frustration, we speak of the disappointed and frustrated persons within what the Patriotic Front is trying to do, not against what it is trying to do; to improve the transformation, not to destroy it; to make it stronger, not to liquidate it as the case is with declarations made by Geoffrey Mwamba in Kasama to wipe out the party's influence in that area. That is the difference, the radical difference that exists between those who are disappointed and frustrated within the party but still are committed to its work, policies and programmes, and those who, like Mwamba, are ready to destroy it when they are not able to get from it or through it what they want or desire.
Anyway, such elements do not understand that great transformations are irreversible, that they march on despite the errors and deficiencies of men. This is because they are superior to men. When such transformations involve the work, the efforts and the lives of millions of human beings, they are superior to everything; they are invincible. That's why the Patriotic Front cadres and leaders have to realise that they are promoting and carrying on transformations, work that is greater than themselves. Naturally, this is what the liars try to keep from the people, the tremendous power of great social transformations.
Nobody claims or should claim that what is being done is perfect no matter how much effort they devote to trying to make things turn out in the best possible way. Only life itself will be able to tell us where the shortcomings are and which aspects leave something to be desired. But those involved in the political leadership of our country must always be able to improve the instruments they have established.
The Patriotic Front needs to seriously improve on its 2013 performance if it is to deliver to its cadres' and our people's expectations or desires. But this will require strong organisation, loyalty and discipline from its general membership.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, MICHAEL SATA, PF
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Govt accuses some parties of funding constitution confusion
By Kabanda Chulu
Thu 09 Jan. 2014, 17:20 CAT
GOVERNMENT will not surrender the constitutional making process to reckless and opportunistic individuals that intend to bring confusion in the country, says information minister Mwansa Kapeya.
During a media briefing in Lusaka today, Kapeya, who is also chief government spokesperson, accused (without mentioning names) some opposition political parties of funding some civil society organisations to cause confusion in the constitutional making process.
Government has credible information that money has exchanged hands from well known opposition political party leaders to some CSOs aimed at fuelling confusion in this process, Kapeya said. Indeed this process has been hijacked by selfish individuals who want to humiliate and embarrass this government. If we are pushed too far, we shall name the culprits and publish the trail of how the monies have been moving. We cannot allow a few individuals to undermine the sovereign will of Zambians.
He said the government was alert to the current political schemes and would not allow reckless and opportunistic people to bring confusion in the country.
We are in control, we initiated this process, so it is our duty to
complete the process. We shall protect the masses from those intending to hijack the whole process, Kapeya said.
When asked how much was involved to bring confusion by the opposition,
Kapeya said; We can't tell you now..unless they push us, then we will be able to speak out.
On the roadmap and assertions by the CSOs that it was the government which had hijacked the whole process by disregarding the terms of reference given to the Technical Committee, Kapeya said the government was the initiator of the process.
We are the initiators of the process, we know what we are doing, where we are going. We are driving the whole process, therefore, we can't hijack when in actual fact, we are the ones handling the whole process, we are driving the process. The Technical Committee is doing final touches and everything is being done according to their mandate, he said.
When reminded that the mandate of the Technical Committee ended on
December 31, 2013, Kapeya said, Honourable Kabimba did announce the way
forward.
When asked if the Technical Committee has handed over the 10 copies to President Sata, Kapeya said the committee was doing its final work towards the documents.
Asked if the documents would be made public this year or next year and if it was legally wrong for political parties to fund the constitutional making process, Kapeya said the normal procedure has been followed.
But current crusade is aiming at embarrassing and humiliating government. The initial process is moving on well?when you talk of hijacking, somebody wants to come middle way and say no.. it is this way or that way just to create confusion, he said. We are not ready as government to entertain this confusion being caused by some opposition parties; they want to portray us as if we have failed to deliver what we promised the people.
Labels: CONSTITUTION
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Constitution process hijacked - Sata
By Joseph Mwenda and Kombe Mataka
Thu 09 Jan. 2014, 14:01 CAT
PRESIDENT Michael Sata says the constitution-making process has been hijacked by individuals with an objective to embarrass, humiliate and politically undermine the sovereign will of the people.
But three church mother bodies yesterday said they had resolved to take the issue of the constitution to their churches by devoting a few minutes to discuss it every Sunday.
In a statement released by his special assistant for press and public relations George Chellah, President Sata said it would be highly reckless and irresponsible to hastily release the constitution merely to satisfy an ill-intended political scheme.
"The country already has a functional Constitution and the state will not be pushed into fast and reckless conclusions by individuals with dubious agendas," he said.
President Sata said the government remained dedicated to the constitution-making process.
"The recent biased political maneuvers surrounding the process confirm the ill-intentions of the persons at the helm of this misplaced crusade. Right from the start, this government has been dedicated to the process, no wonder the committee handling the matter was left without any interference. But it's clear that the well-intended process has been hijacked to embarrass, humiliate and politically undermine the will and interest of the majority of Zambians," he said.
And the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) and the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), which are part of the Oasis Forum, yesterday took part in the briefing, where CCZ secretary general Suzanne Matale, who is also chairperson of the Forum, advised the nation that the church mother bodies would direct all their churches and parishes to dedicate some minutes every Sunday to discuss the constitution and ensure that they have one soon.
"We would like to remind government that the writing is on the wall: this is a year of cleansing. Mediocrity shall not be accepted. People's demands for a people-driven constitution shall be achieved," she said.
And when asked to comment on how she felt personally about the constitution-making process since she was part of Technical Committee drafting the Constitution, Rev Matale said the committee had its own spokesperson and that she was speaking in her capacity as a CCZ official.
Law Association of Zambia president James Banda said it was unfortunate that the government had failed to listen to the public by going ahead to receive ten copies of the constitution document from the technical committee, adding that the process was not being made transparent and risked being rendered illegitimate.
EFZ executive director Pukuta Mwanza said this year was the only suitable time for Zambia to have a new constitution as a 'jubilee gift', before the general election mood grips the country.
And ZEC secretary general Fr Cleophas Lungu said time had come for Zambians to unite and demand a new constitution.
"Of course, there are bigger and small churches. We all know that there are true and false prophets but by our message and language, we shall know who is standing on the truth. The Constitution is a moral issue. We are going to take this Constitution to the pulpit. It shall be taken in the houses of God," said Rev Mwanza.
And NGOCC board chairperson Beatrice Grillo called on the women to join in calls to have the draft constitution released to the public.
Meanwhile, President Sata said more than 355,000 jobs have been created since the Patriotic Front formed government in September 2011.
"Government is still committed to job creation and industrialisation in order to create a better Zambia for all. To date, more than 355,335 jobs have been created since the PF came into power," he said in a statement released by Chellah.
President Sata said the government would soon establish a sovereign wealth fund, which would focus on stimulating investment in strategic non-mining industries.
He said this would be possible through the creation of the industrial development corporation (IDC), which would be a tool for the modernization and diversification of the economy.
"The State will through the IDC maximize the value of government assets by establishing a sovereign wealth fund to stimulate investment in strategic non-mining industries, among others, thereby expanding the country's investment portfolio and thus creating jobs, wealth and prosperity for the Zambian people," President Sata said.
He said the establishment of the IDC would also boost the contribution of state-owned enterprises to national development by placing them under one umbrella holding entity to deepen their reform, enhance efficiency and maximise returns.
President Sata said the IDC would be the government's strategy to enhance domestic capital formation, wealth creation and preservation by focusing on exploiting the country's advantages in natural resources and actively developing industries and enterprises to create jobs for the people.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, MICHAEL SATA, PUKUTA MWANZA
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Pneumonia among top five causes of admission at UTH
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Thu 09 Jan. 2014, 14:00 CAT
Pneumonia is among the top five reasons for admission at UTH, says hospital head of renal unit Dr Aggrey Mweemba. Dr Mweemba said pneumonia was common among individuals with reduced immunity.
"Alcoholism, smoking, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, chronic lung disease, the very young and old, and unconscious individuals have increased risk of pneumonia," he said.
Dr Mweemba, who is also Ministry of Health focal person for Kidney diseases explained that pneumonia was an infection or inflammation of the lung. He said the infection could involve part of a lung, the whole of it or both lungs.
Dr Mweemba said the causes of pneumonia included bacteria, viruses, fungi, autoimmune diseases (diseases where one's immune system fights its own lungs) and chemicals or drugs.
He said pneumonia was divided into three groups which are community-acquired or hospital-acquired pneumonia and pneumonia in the immune-compromised (individuals with reduced immunity).
"Community acquired pneumonia is a pneumonia that is picked up from the community where an individual lives. This is usually caused by a bacterium called Streptococcus pneumoniae. Several other bacteria can cause pneumonia. The type of bacteria causing pneumonia in an individual is dependent on the age of the patient, pregnancy and immune status," Dr Mweemba said.
He said bacterial pneumonia was usually severe and of sudden onset.
Dr Mweemba explained that hospital acquired pneumonia was picked up in a hospital setting when an individual had been admitted for a different medical condition.
He said this form of pneumonia was caused by bacterial infections different from the ones that cause community acquired pneumonia.
"These bugs cause a severe form of disease and commonly require more powerful antibiotics to treat as they may not respond to ordinary antibiotics. Pneumonia in the immune-compromised, is pneumonia that develops in individuals with low immunity," Dr Mweemba said.
"Individuals with low immunity include; organ transplants, untreated HIV infected persons, poorly controlled diabetics, cancer patients, and individuals on medications that reduce immune function."
He said in such individuals, harmless bugs such as viruses and fungi that usually do not cause disease in healthy people could cause severe illness.
Dr Mweemba said tuberculosis was another very important and common cause of pneumonia in the immune-compromised. He said healthy individuals could also get infected with tuberculosis although to a lesser degree than the immune-compromised.
Dr Mweemba said the common symptoms of pneumonia were sudden onset of a productive cough, fever, rigors, sharp and pricking chest pain (which is worse when one attempts to breathe) and shortness of breath.
"Fever and rigors can easily be confused with malaria, urinary tract infection, meningitis and any other severe infection. Joint pains, abdominal pains, yellowing of eyes and diarrhoea may be common with specific causes of pneumonia. Irritability, breathing faster than usual, fever and lack of feeding maybe the only symptoms in babies," he said.
Dr Mweemba said bacterial and viral pneumonia were of sudden onset whereas fungal and tuberculous pneumonia had an insidious onset.
He said bacterial pneumonia was usually severe and life-threatening whereas viral and fungi pneumonia were mild and self-limiting in healthy individuals, but fatal in those with low immunity.
Dr Mweemba said vaccinations could prevent some forms of bacterial and viral pneumonia.
"A number of these vaccines are part of the under five vaccinations provided to babies by most health centres and hospitals in Zambia. Adults can also seek vaccinations to prevent or reduce the severity of pneumonia," he said.
Dr Mweemba said other measures to reduce the risk of pneumonia include treating underlying illnesses such as HIV and diabetes, smoking cessation, hand washing and wearing of masks by the sick.
He said some special medicines could be given to risky populations to prevent these forms of pneumonia.
"Avoiding overcrowding and provision of well ventilated housing can prevent tuberculous pneumonia," said Dr Mweemba.
Labels: AGGREY MWEEMBA, HEALTHCARE, PNEUMONIA
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(LAND DESTROYER REPORT) The Plundering of South Sudan
US AFRICOM, Israel, and Uganda's Dictator-for-Life Yoweri Museveni set up in South Sudan, inflame conflict, push out China and prepare to take over oil.
January 9, 2014 (LD) - RT's report
"Who is to blame for the crisis in South Sudan?" gave a succinct background on the warring factions inside the new "nation" of South Sudan and the Western genesis of the conflict. The report would state:
The SPLM has received support from the US and Israel throughout the duration of the civil war fought between southern rebels and Khartoum, which has historically had unfriendly relations with the West and has moved very closely to China in recent times to jointly develop the country’s oil wealth prior to the separation. Romantic notions for self-determination did not motivate the West to support southern secession; the objective was to partition Sudan and deprive Khartoum of economically relevant territory in the south where most of the oil fields lie. In exchange for the financial, material, political, and diplomatic support received from the West, the new government in Juba endorsed a ‘Faustian pact’ with its sponsors to open its economy to international finance capital and multinational interests. The government in Juba even applied for IMF membership before it had even officially gained independence from Sudan.
The piece would continue by laying out the current dilemma for the West:
Despite supporting the South’s independence with diplomatic muscle and military aid, the United States has been unable to gain a foothold in the country’s oil sector; Juba’s crippled economy remains dominated by Asian companies, primarily from China. South Sudan must rely on pipelines that run through Khartoum to export its oil, and the two countries produced around 115,000 barrels of oil per day in 2012, less than half the volume produced in the years before South Sudan's independence. Both sides have nearly gone to war over disputed oil fields that straddle a poorly demarcated border. Judging from the poor economic performance of both countries since the partition and the dramatic loss of the life in the ongoing crisis, the experiment of South Sudanese independence is failing.
Image: Violence predictably is centered around currently
Chinese-controlled oil infrastructure. The goal is to have
violence drive the Chinese out just as was done by NATO
in Libya.
The piece would go on to note that peace deals reached leaving Sudan intact could have avoided the deadly conflict now raging - and that of course is correct. However, peace is not and never was the goal of the West and its involvement in Africa - economic gain is.
Precisely because China still maintains extensive holdings in Sudan and South Sudan's oil infrastructure, the conflict will be brought to a fevered pitch - and unsurprisingly the conflict's epicenter corresponds with South Sudan's primary oil producing regions. If and when the Chinese are pushed out of South Sudan, the West will continue either across the border to establish routes for exporting their newly gained oil wealth from the landlocked country, or proceed through Kenya with or without the current government in Nairobi's backing.
The BBC would report in their article, "China's oil fears over South Sudan fighting," that (emphasis added):
The stakes could not be higher for China, the largest investor in South Sudan's oil sector, as fierce fighting continues between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those of his former deputy.
Some of the largest oil fields China operates are in areas controlled by fighters backing Riek Machar, the country's vice-president until he was sacked in July.
Oil production has already dropped by 20% since the onset of the conflict three weeks ago and more than 300 Chinese workers have been evacuated.
The spectre of their Libyan experience also weighs heavily on the Chinese minds - project after project now lies deserted because of heavy fighting during the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, inflicting huge losses on China.
Most telling of all is the BBC's reference to Libya - another nation destroyed by Western military aggression that saw both Russian and Chinese interests crumble overnight and replaced by Western corporations. While South Sudan's chaos is being orchestrated more covertly by the West, the final goal of pushing out the Chinese and taking over is the same.
Similar covert destabilization can be seen all across what the 2006 Strategic Studies Institute's report "String of Pearls: Meeting the Challenge of China's Rising Power across the Asian Littoral" calls China's "String of Perals." This includes US-backed militants attempting to carve off the province of Baluchistan from Pakistan where China has established a port at Gwadar and at another Chinese port in the state of Rakhine, Myanmar that has been the scene of brutal, genocidal violence carried out by "democracy icon" Aung San Suu Kyi's "saffron monks" against Rohingya refugees.
Setting Up Shop in South Sudan
There is no doubt that the US and its accomplices Israel and Uganda have decided to stay in South Sudan. The US corporate foundation-funded "Enough Project" provided the rhetorical justification for an enduring presence in the war-torn African state in its Al Jazeera op-ed titled, "Al Jazeera America Op-ed: South Sudan’s Salva Kiir needs to put his black hat back on," which stated:
To be sure, growing pains are common in societies working to secure their independence after years of marginalization and authoritarian rule. Building a cohesive national identity among South Sudan’s 81 ethnic groups will take generations. Still, the looming specters of mass intercommunal violence means we cannot afford to be complacent. The United States committed itself to the South Sudanese people’s long march toward independence decades ago. It would be a shame if America allowed a return to war when the South Sudanese are so close to securing their future.
With that humanitarian/freedom-promoting foot-in-the-door, the West has the pretext it needs to meddle for decades to come.
To begin with, Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) signed what it called a "water infrastructure and technology development" deal with South Sudan's government in 2012. The deal allegedly covers desalination, irrigation, water transport and purification, but a visit to Israel Military Industries Ltd. website indicates they are military contractors and arms manufacturers, not engineers and certainly not specialists in water infrastructure. Other sources claim IMI will serve as a conduit for actual Israeli water firms - but in light of US, Israeli, Saudi, and Qatari joint operations elsewhere, IMI will most likely serve as a conduit for weapons, cash, and conflict as well (or instead).
Image: It is not entirely clear how a military contractor and weapons manufacturer like Israel's IMI is going to develop South Sudan's water infrastructure. Just like Qatar's use of humanitarian aid groups to smuggle weapons into Syria, Israel is most likely using "development" as cover for perpetuating conflict both within South Sudan to drive out the Chinese, as well as across the border in Sudan to the north to finally topple the government in Khartoum.
....
In 2013, Israel and South Sudan would begin forging oil deals. In UPI's report, "South Sudan signs oil deal with Israel," it was stated:
South Sudan says it has signed an agreement with several Israeli oil companies, a potentially significant strategic move that will consolidate the Jewish state's relations with the fledgling, oil-rich East African state.
UPI would continue, highlighting the glaring problem of actually exporting the oil to turn a profit:
South Sudan's petroleum and mining minister, Dhieu Dau, announced the oil deal last week after he returned from a visit to Israel.
He said negotiations were ongoing with Israeli companies, which he did not identify, seeking to invest in South Sudan.
Dau indicated the southern government in Juba, ramshackle capital of the infant state, hoped to export oil to Israel, but observed that this could not happen before March.
He gave no indication how the landlocked south would achieve this, or what volume of crude would be involved. But it's a move Khartoum would do everything possible to wreck.
Finally, the UPI report indicates the much larger implications of Israel's (and the US') involvement in South Sudan, using it as a springboard to topple neighboring Sudan in the north:
The prospect of Israel actually getting oil from South Sudan remains uncertain, given Juba's difficulties with Khartoum.
There has been talk of building a 1,000-mile export pipeline from South Sudan across Kenya to the Indian Ocean that would free Juba from reliance on Khartoum's pipelines.
But no definite plans for the project, expected to cost around $2 billion, have yet materialized.
It may be that Israeli companies are seeking to help out in that regard -- if only to undermine the Islamic-oriented Khartoum regime and its alliance with Tehran, and to gain access to the Nile River, Egypt's primary source of water and a strategic target.
During Sudan's civil war, one of Africa's longest conflicts in which some 2 million people died, Israel provided the southern rebels with arms, training and funding, as it has done in other parts of Africa seeking to weaken its Arab adversaries.
Clearly, the presence of Israeli arms dealers is not to develop South Sudan's infrastructure but rather to flood the region with weapons to flush out the Chinese and eventually stab northward toward Sudan and its capital of Khartoum. UPI's report would go on to admit that military aid was still undoubtedly flowing to South Sudan for this very purpose.
In addition to a proxy military confrontation with Sudan, the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have been attempting to overthrow the government in Khartoum from within - attempting an "Arab Spring-style" uprising in late 2013 that eventually fizzled.
Enter US AFRICOM and Uganda's Museveni
Infamous Western collaborator and Ugandan dictator-for-life Yoweri Museveni has been fighting the West's proxy wars in Africa for decades. He has also done much within his borders to appease the West including selling large tracts of land to foreign developers right out from beneath the feet of his own people - many times killing landowners who refused eviction.
Image: Whatever pretext the West attempts to use to place Western troops inside of Africa while Fortune 500 corporations scoop up the continent's vast resources, it is nothing more than modern recolonization. US troops placed in Uganda to fight "Kony" are now conveniently in place to aid in the despoiling of neighboring South Sudan - a state carved out of proper Sudan via Western-fueled civil war.
....
In 2011 under the false pretext of fighting Joseph Kony's "Lord's Resistance Army" the US would begin deploying troops to Uganda. By 2013, these troops would still be there - when violence began to spread across nearby South Sudan, US troops conveniently still stationed in Uganda would be mobilized for the evacuation of US citizens. Stars and Stripes would report in their article, "Marines airlift US Embassy personnel out of South Sudan," that:
Nonessential U.S. Embassy personnel were evacuated Friday from South Sudan aboard two KC-130 aircraft assigned to a Marine crisis response team positioned in nearby Uganda.
The article would also report:
Last week, the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis Response also was pre-positioned at Entebbe, Uganda, to provide additional support. The unit, from Moron, Spain, was formed less than a year ago to bolster AFRICOM’s crisis-response capabilities.
Uganda, like Sudan, has clearly been permanently brought into AFRICOM's fold under an initial false "humanitarian" pretext that was then quietly shifted to the permanent occupation of African territory. And Uganda not only serves as a base for US AFRICOM, but is also using its soldiers to carry out AFRICOM's objectives beyond Uganda's borders.
The Guardian would report in its recent article, "South Sudan peace talks falter as Uganda sends in troops," that:
The South Sudan peace talks being held in Ethiopia have stalled, officials say, as a rebel commander claims big victories against the South Sudanese government and Uganda sends in more troops and military hardware.
The report would also claim:
Uganda, he said, had sent 1,200 troops to secure installations such as the airport and state house, adding that Ugandan military aircraft had bombed several rebel-held positions.
Uganda says its deployment of more troops and military hardware to Juba this week came at the request of Kiir. Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, a Ugandan military spokesman, said on Wednesday that reinforcements were dispatched on Monday and Tuesday "to plug security gaps". He denied the Ugandans were actively involved in combat.
Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, is a strong ally of Kiir. The neighbouring countries have built a bond that goes back to South Sudan's armed struggle for independence from Sudan and the Khartoum government. Museveni recently warned Machar that East African countries would unite to defeat him militarily if he does not agree to attend peace talks.
In essence, Uganda is providing the manpower on the ground while the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others provide the cash, weapons, and everything else. It is another proxy war, just like the ongoing conflict in Syria, albeit with Ugandan troops literally invading South Sudan to prop up the West's proxy government in Juba.
Who is funding and arming rebel groups fighting the West's proxy government is still unclear. Reports indicate it may be dissident factions of South Sudan's own armed forces involved in a recent coup attempt. Other theories suggest that US, Uganda, and/or Israel may be funding and arming both sides hoping to carry the conflict onward to Khartoum. It is clear that Khartoum, Sudan, one way or another, is the US-Israeli-Saudi-Qatari goal - to complete the theft of Sudanese oil as well as the means to export it out of the broken, worn-torn, decimated country.
This is the current state of the Wall Street-London global order in Africa - and a tattered, exploited Africa in our future should this state persist.
Labels: AFRICOM, NEOCOLONIALISM, SOUTH SUDAN, SUDAN, UGANDA, YOWERI MUSEVENI
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(GLOBALRESEARCH) Terrorism with a “Human Face”: Rebranding the Public Image of Syria’s Al Qaeda Brigades
By Phil Greaves
Global Research, January 07, 2014
SYRIA: Testimonies from Homs Reveal Identity of Terrorists and Mercenaries involved in Atrocities
Western corporate media, its Oil and Gas counterparts (GCC), and the various acolytes and paid-propagandists in the “tailored analysis” industry, are once again attempting to bolster and rebrand the public image of the fundamentalist rebels in Syria.
In the space of a week, two new formations of armed rebels mysteriously appeared across the mass-media lexicon and declared war on the dominant extremists through the usual “activist” social media accounts. The new brigades have virtually no historical record in the conflict, and appear to be largely a creation of the impotent exile opposition and its western sponsors. An abundance of reports relay stories of the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS) simply abandoning their posts and being turned over by this supposedly “moderate” new force.
Yet, in reality, the most predominant militia in Syria – those of a Salafi-Wahhabi fundamentalist bent, who now fight under the umbrella of the Islamic Front (IF), and are led by Hassan Abboud of Ahrar al-Sham, and Zahran Alloush of Liwa al-Islam – have made a concerted effort to avoid sowing discord between themselves and the overt Al Qaeda affiliates of ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN).
The new narrative emerging draws heavily from the Sahwa (Awakening) in Iraq, in which Sunni tribes from the western province of Anbar took up arms against, and eventually defeated, the Al Qaeda insurgency that followed the US invasion and occupation of that country. Western and Gulf media are now attempting to reinvigorate the rebels’ public image by concocting a portrayal of brave “moderates” taking on the extremists within ISIS. Yet contrary to the Syria-Sahwa narrative, the vast majority of opposition forces, as much as one can generalise, have in fact been shown to share far more in common with their extremist equivalents than they have differences, particularly in regards to their reciprocal – and sectarian-laden – religiopolitical ideologies.
According to Western and Gulf propagandists, Jabhat al-Nusra ostensibly represent the “homegrown” Syrian Al Qaeda branch. Whereas in actual fact, the claim is entirely false; JaN’s militia hold a distinct foreign contingent and many of its commanders have also been found to be of foreign descent – particularly Iraqi. Jabhat al-Nusra, therefore, should be correctly viewed as a semi-Syrian militia at most, built and sustained by ISIS and its former incarnation: the Islamic State of Iraq, (ISI) also formerly known as Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).
The ideologically aligned Salafi-Jihadists of Ahrar al-Sham, Jabhat al-Nusra, and more recently ISIS, have formed the spearhead of the insurgency throughout the entire Syrian crisis, leading offensives against Syrian army installations, whilst also having enough manpower, funds & materiel to attack, encamp and militarily fortify civilian areas across the country. Most notably in Raqqah, which has become a virtual Al Qaeda statelet under the control of either Jabhat al-Nusra or ISIS.
Examples of the dominant role fundamentalists have played in the insurgency are abundant, during an interview with TIME magazine, Ahrar al-Sham fighters – who, as we have seen through a plethora of evidence, are inextricably linked to Jabhat al-Nusra – freely admit they were planning a violent insurgency in Syria well before any peaceful protests occurred in 2011, and that recruits with underlying sectarian agendas made efforts to sanitize and mask their true Jihadist cause during the earlier phases of the conflict in order to win over the Syrian population. Whats more, a recent report in the National relayed much the same admissions from supposed “FSA” rebels operating in the south of Syria around Dar’aa.
The rebels interviewed admitted that
“They [JaN] offer their services and cooperate with us, they are better armed than we are, they have suicide bombers and know how to make car bombs,” rebel sources went on to say that “the FSA and Al Nusra join together for operations but they have an agreement to let the FSA lead for public reasons, because they don’t want to frighten Jordan or the West,”.
During the interview rebels further elaborate on the efforts made to boost the public image of the western-backed imaginary moderates saying that “operations that were really carried out by Al Nusra are publicly presented by the FSA as their own,” and that supposed moderate FSA fighters “say that Al Nusra fighters are really from the FSA to enable them to move more easily across borders,”. The reports bolster earlier analyses that contradict the dominant narrative, often dismissed as “conspiracy theory”, which indicated such actions were being undertaken, and that the armed groups responsible for the initial violence in March-April 2011 were indeed religious fundamentalists, not the secular “freedom fighters” endlessly lionized by the lackeys of western governments and media.
Such candid rebel admissions once again expose the falsehoods that liberal opportunists rely on when blindly repeating the Imperialist narrative of a peaceful protest movement simply morphing into an Al Qaeda-led insurgency. In reality, the generally small and legitimate protests calling for reform were used as a fig leaf by Syria’s various internal and external enemies to hide the extremist-led militant insurgency they were orchestrating and colluding with.
As evidenced in numerous interviews and statements from Abboud and Alloush, the Islamic Front is not by any stretch of the imagination a “moderate” force opposed to JaN, ISIS, or Al Qaeda ideology in general (unless one utilises the doublespeak of the US State Department when describing their “moderate” Wahhabi-Salafi monarchical clients in the Gulf). Ahrar al-Sham, Liwa a-Islam and other various proto-Salafi militia operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Front have repeatedly fought alongside Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, and taken part in offensives that have targeted towns and villages on the specific criteria of the sect of the civilian inhabitants. The massacres committed upon the civilian residents of Latakia provide just one recent example of such sectarian barbarity – committed not only by the extreme elements, but with the full cooperation and participation of supposed moderate “FSA” militia. A more recent example of the Islamic Front cooperating with its Al Qaeda-affiliates came in December, when the IF took part in the attack and ensuing massacre of civilians in the workers district of Adra, Damascus – another rebel war-crime almost totally omitted from western media, regardless of the fact the BBC’s chief foreign correspondent was a mere 20 miles away while the massacres were occurring.
When framed in the correct context, it becomes clear that the vast majority of rebels in Syria are in fact ideologically allied to the very Al Qaeda affiliates the media is trying to portray them as opposed to. A recent communique from the political head of the IF, and leader of Ahrar al-Sham, Hassan Abboud, was disingenuously portrayed as a Islamic Front “warning” to ISIS. Opposition-friendly media outlets and analysts are in effect conflating the Islamic Front with imaginary “moderates” and in turn attempting to portray them as ideological opponents to their more extreme Al Qaeda counterparts. This narrative is turning reality on its head, as Abboud’s recent statement is actually a “warning” against discord with ISIS. Abboud encourages the Syrian population to treat the Muhajirin (foreign jihadists busy murdering Syrians) “kindly”, and further encourages ISIS to emulate the “more healthy” manner of their supposed “home-grown” incarnation Jabhat al-Nusra. Accordingly, one can safely conclude that Abboud, Ahrar al-Sham, Liwa al-Islam, and the various Salafi militia operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Front – the largest militant force of the opposition – have close to zero ideological disparity with ISIS or JaN.
Even if what seem to be inflated reports of discord and infighting between the Islamic Front and the supremacist ideologues in ISIS were to result in a considerable loss for the latter, it would simply be replaced at the top of the fundamentalist food-chain by the next militia willing to impose its barbarity and coercion in the most effective way. This is ultimately the inherent nature of fundamentalist militant insurgencies, they are designed, indoctrinated, equipped, and funded to impose upon states and peoples through murder, coercion and fear, not through the appeal of a popular political doctrine and the mass support of the people. The simple facts that the insurgency as a whole is under no central hierarchy, and holds little to-no support inside Syria and is therefore susceptible to becoming reliant and subordinate to its foreign patrons, are clear indications that it will not be cohesive, regardless of the varying shades of fundamentalism the dominant groups have attempted to enforce.
The historical record of Western-GCC-backed insurgencies in the Arab and Muslim world provides copious amounts of evidence to show that invariably the United States and its Saudi partners have always utilised, fomented, and sponsored reactionary forces to meet geopolitical ends, particularly when subverting or attacking nationalist governments that refuse to abide by the Anglo-American capitalist order – with disastrous consequences for the countries in which the fundamentalist proxies are set upon.
One needs only to glance at the very recent history of Libya to negate the establishment falsehood that if the Syrian government had been overthrown quickly the fundamentalists would not have gained in strength. Again, this is turning the historical record on its head, as the joint NATO-Al Qaeda war on Libya has once again shown; the swift overthrow of a state’s government and leadership inevitably results in reactionary fundamentalists taking advantage of the power vacuum left behind. The US-Saudi-backed insurgency in Afghanistan during the 1980?s, which fought against the Soviet-backed Communist government, provides perhaps the definitive example of the type of proxies the United States and Saudi Arabia choose to employ to destroy target states. As with Syria and Libya, the original “Afghan Arab” insurgency – which helped to create and empower Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Hekmatyar, the Haqqani network and a host of other fundamentalist militancy – was wrought with infighting, extremism, warlordism, and reaction, this trend has continued in virtually every state the US and its GCC partners have targeted for “liberation” via jihadist proxies.
Perpetual infighting evidenced throughout the Syrian insurgency is in fact a result of the long-standing fragmentation of the various opposition forces, their varying degrees of fundamentalism, and the battle to win influence, arms, and funds through foreign donors and exploitation.
The evidence-free narratives of supposed existential disparity between what actually represent ideological allies, the patterns of ever-changing nomenclature and rebel rebranding, and the efforts to scapegoat the most overtly extreme elements for the systematic crimes of the opposition as a whole, are nothing more than public relations exercises, designed to whitewash the massive crimes of the “rebels”, whilst extricating the Western Elite and their GCC partners from the criminal act of sponsoring extremists for geopolitical ends.
Phil Greaves is a UK based writer on UK/US Foreign Policy, with a focus on the Arab World, post WWII. http://notthemsmdotcom.wordpress.com/
Labels: AL-QAEDA, SYRIA, TERRORISM
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Why is MMD opposing Sata's indeco idea?
By Editor
Wed 08 Jan. 2014, 14:00 CAT
The MMD leadership is questioning the rationale behind the re-introduction of the industrial development corporation. It is not difficult to understand their problem. The MMD in government blindly pursued
neoliberal policies which have
not brought any meaningful development to the country for the
two decades they were in power.
What meaningful benefits have their capitalist policies brought to the poor of this country?
Let us not be carried away with labels and ideological prejudices and objectively face the challenges before us. We are living in a very different world. This is the first thing we need to understand.
Furthermore, the world we live in today is globalised, really globalised. It is a world dominated by the ideology, the standards and the principles of neoliberal globalisation.
The leadership of MMD should realise that when we speak of "the economy" or "an economic system", we are speaking of policies and plans which control the wealth and resources of a country, about how resources are distributed between people, and about how the means of production - such as land, factories and technology - are owned and controlled. It is sometimes suggested that economic laws, like the basic laws of nature, are beyond human control; that we can no more influence them than we can defy gravity or stop the motion of planets.
Therefore, it is argued, the existence of poverty and unemployment, and the inequitable distribution of wealth, are the result of inescapable economic laws, and must be accepted as such. When suffering and even death flow from these "inevitable facts of economic life", that is simply unfortunate, it is said, just as it is unfortunate when suffering and death result from a natural disaster. Although we sympathise with the victims of an earthquake or a flood, we do not consider such natural occurrences unjust or immoral. In the same way, the argument continues, we should not regard an economic system as unjust or immoral, though we regret the suffering that may be part of such a system. Some people will be poor and some rich, inevitably and unavoidably, just as some will be the victims of earthquakes and floods, and some will not.
This argument must be rejected because it fails to take into account the fact that economic consequences come about as a result of human agency. At the heart of every economic system lie human needs, human abilities and human decisions, and it is the choices which we make in addressing those needs, sharing those abilities, and making those decisions, that determine the justice or injustice of an economic system. The more powerful our economic position, the greater our freedom of choice, with the poor and the marginalised having very little effective choice in their economic decision making. There is thus a moral quality about an economy, a quality which has its roots in the morally correct or incorrect choices by people; and it is the moral quality of the economy that enables us to make judgements about whether or not it is a just economy.
We are not surprised that President Michael Sata's decision to re-introduce a developmental state through the industrial development corporation is being opposed by a political party that for two decades presided over the plunder and abuse of our people and their resources. Michael's approach to economic management from the viewpoint of the poor and suffering, his condemnation of their suffering and his unambiguous call for bold and profound changes in the political and social structures that perpetuate that suffering, was destined, from the beginning, to generate opposition and conflict from other sectors of our society that seek to maintain the status quo or even to increase their share of economic and political power. It is time we converted both our hearts and our institutions to respond to the cause of the poor by searching for effective strategies to transform the structures that are the root causes of their suffering.
It is important to emphasise right from the beginning that we do not think this opposition to Michael's industrial development corporation is going to end in some form of reconciliation in the foreseeable future. When one identifies with the interests of the poor, one will undoubtedly come into conflict with the interests of other sectors of society and their allies. It is therefore important in these initiatives of Michael to emphasise the virtue of fortitude - the refusal to abandon the poor in their sufferings. And these same poor - by what they give and what they ask - should inspire Michael and his comrades with that fortitude, the strength to remain steadfast in whatever they do.
When a system ceases to promote the common good and favours special interests, we must not only denounce its injustice but also break with the evil system. We must be prepared to work with another system that is more just, fair and humane and more suited to the needs of the day.
If what Michael is suggesting to do is socialism, and if what Dr Kaunda and UNIP did was socialism, then all persons of goodwill cannot but go along with this; they cannot help but rejoice over the appearance of another social system that is more just, fair and humane.
It is surprising that the same people, the same political party, that declared this country a Christian nation favour greed and oppose policies that are more just, fair and humane. Tomorrow's Christians must follow the lead of Michael and KK, retracing the Christian roots that lie behind the moral values of solidarity and fraternity.
Christians must show that authentic socialism is Christianity lived to the full, in basic equality and with a fair distribution of goods.
Instead of opposing it, we must learn to accept joyfully a form of societal life that is better adapted to our times and more in tune with the spirit of the Gospel. In this way, we will prevent people from equating God and religion with those things that oppress the workers and the poor: that is capitalism and imperialism. These inhuman systems have spawned other systems that proposed to free peoples, but ended up oppressing them.
We must always side with those who seek to build a more equitable and fraternal society among the family of God's children. We should therefore, with pride and joy, greet the new initiatives Michael is coming up with, which do not honour money accumulated in the hands of a few.
It is primarily up to the poor to effect their own betterment. They must regain confidence in themselves. They must educate themselves and overcome illiteracy. They must work zealously to fashion their own destiny. They must open their ears to those who can awaken and shape the conscious awareness of the masses and, in particular, listen to progressive politicians like Michael and the apostle of our independence struggle, KK.
Changes must be made to the way we manage our economy; present conditions must be improved.
The people are hungering for truth and justice, and those who are entrusted with the task of teaching and educating them should do so with enthusiasm. Certain erroneous viewpoints must be wiped away without delay.
We cannot claim to love God without loving our fellow humans. If some try to monopolise for themselves what others need, then it is the duty of public authority to carry out the distribution that was not made willingly.
In like manner, we cannot allow rich foreigners to come and exploit our impoverished peoples under the pretext of developing commerce and industry; nor can we allow rich nationals to exploit their own nation. These things incite the exasperating strains of excessive nationalism, which is hostile to meaningful co-operation and collaboration.
It is high time that the poor, supported and guided by their legitimate government, defended their right to live. When God appeared to Moses, it was said to him: "I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt, I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave drivers… I mean to deliver them" (Exodus 3:7). Jesus took all humanity upon himself to lead it to eternal life. And the earthly foreshadowing of this is social justice, the first form of brotherly love. When Jesus freed humankind from death through resurrection, he brought all human liberation movements to their fullness in eternity.
We should direct all our efforts to work together toward the construction of a society in which all persons will find their place, and in which they will enjoy political, economic, cultural and religious equality and liberty.
The present situation in our country, as in many countries on our continent, calls for some radical change.
Every human being of goodwill should be committed to changing a social order that is cruelly unjust. To refuse such commitment would be to make oneself an accomplice of injustice. If we do not commit ourselves to changing a system that prevents most persons from achieving personal fulfilment, then we are not helping our people to live out their vocation and attain union with God.
The poverty situation, we feel, is a product of unjust socioeconomic structures. Faced with this situation, we have no choice but to support the changes that will help better the living standards of our people. We do realise full well that we are the product of a society that has taught us to look coldly on the impoverished plight of our brothers and sisters. Our actions must be inspired by real love, not by the standards of a society that tends to maintain the present situation.
Our organisations must somehow get close to the poor, because only close experience will teach us the great magnitude of the problems that afflict the majority of our people. We must therefore reform the structures of our organisations so that such contact really takes place.
We ought to sharpen the awareness of our duty of solidarity with the poor, to which charity leads us. This solidarity means that we make ours their problems and their struggles, that we know how to speak with them. This has to be concretised in criticism of injustice and oppression, in the struggle against the intolerable situation that a poor person often has to tolerate, in the willingness to dialogue with the groups responsible for that situation in order to make them understand their obligations.
We should openly express our desire to be very close always to those who work for and struggle with the poor in order that they always feel our encouragement and know that we will not listen to parties interested in distorting their work.
What has been said before and the experience lived by our people lead us to reject neoliberal policies that were imposed on our people by the successive MMD governments; we reject capitalism, in its economic expression as well as in its ideological basis, which favours individualism, profit, and the exploitation of humanity by humanity. We should therefore aim toward the creation of a qualitatively different society. By this, we understand a society wherein the willingness of justice, of solidarity and equality reigns, one that will respond to generous aspirations and the search for a more just society and where values which will guarantee the integral development of our people will be realised.
In order that this kind of society be developed, it is necessary that the education of all people include the social and communal meaning of human life, in the total context which includes culture, economics, politics and the whole society.
Labels: CORRUPTION, INDECO, MICHAEL SATA, MMD, NEOLIBERALISM
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Constitution making hijacked by individuals to undermine the will of the people - Sata
By Joseph Mwenda and Kombe Mataka
Wed 08 Jan. 2014, 16:00 CAT
THE constitution-making process has been hijacked by individuals with an objective to embarrass, humiliate and politically undermine the sovereign will of the people, President Michael Sata.
In a statement released by his special assistant for Press and Public Relations George Chellah, President Sata said it would be highly reckless and irresponsible to hastily release the constitution only to satisfy an ill-intended political scheme.
"The country already has a functional Constitution and the state will not be pushed into fast and reckless conclusions by individuals with dubious agendas," he said.
President Sata said the government remained dedicated to the constitution making process.
"The recent biased political maneuvers surrounding the process confirm the ill-intentions of the persons at the helm of this misplaced crusade. Right from the start, this government has been dedicated to the process, no wonder the committee handling the matter was left without any interference. But it's clear that the well intended process has been hijacked to embarrass, humiliate and politically undermine the will and interest of the majority of Zambians," he said.
Labels: CONSTITUTION, MICHAEL SATA, PF
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Support indeco, Chitala advises Zambians
By Allan Mulenga
Wed 08 Jan. 2014, 14:01 CAT
DR Mbita Chitala has urged Zambians to support the re-introduction of the industrial development corporation, saying that all countries have advanced on the basis of revamping parastatals.
Commenting on MMD acting president Michael Kaingu's statement that establishing indeco would take the country backwards, Dr Chitala said the government intervenes in the market to safeguard the public good.
"There are two views in academia; the first view, which is correct, is that when there is a market failure, the state always intervenes and put up a company or project to ensure that public good is implemented. For instance in our case, the problem of the Railway Systems of Zambia, it required the government coming in and intervening and providing a public good on which all other sectors of the economy will enjoy," he said.
"The Railway Systems of Zambia was completely collapsing but now it has been revitalised. So, in the area of industry and commerce, I think we should learn from what has happened in other countries such as South Korea, which has advanced on the basis of parastatals."
Dr Chitala urged the government to manage indeco professionally.
"From the point of theory, there is nothing wrong in the government getting involved in the management of parastatals whenever there is a market failure. The challenge on the state establishing indeco is the challenge that all countries have, that there must be professionalism for the sake of national development," he said.
"The state should only come in where there is market failure; where the market cannot efficiently and equitably operate. The same way I have said about Zambia Railways, where there is so much money required to revamp it and it is only the state that can do that."
Dr Chitala, however, said Zambians were afraid that the establishment of indeco would breed nepotism, and bad governance, as was the case in most parastatals during the days of the one-party state, may be coming back.
On Kaingu's assertions that Dr Kenneth Kaunda was influencing President Michael Sata to make certain policies, Dr Chitala said there was no need to discard all policies UNIP formulated.
"The bottom of this matter is that what UNIP did was not all bad. Certain policies of UNIP were good, of which our politicians must be magnanimous enough and learn from. They may have managed the parastatals badly, but there was professionalism in the manner they were handled," said Dr Chitala.
On Friday, Kaingu, at a press briefing, urged Zambians to reject the re-inrtoduction of indeco, saying it would take the country backwards.
"We are wondering, what is this government trying to do? What ideologies is this government following? Is it socialism? Is it capitalism? Does it want to prioritise the mines again? Does it want to enter the private sector and get shares? Does it want to nationalise again? These are the questions that everybody is asking. What is this indeco about? Tomorrow it will be Zimco, then Mindeco," said Kaingu.
Labels: INDECO, MBITA CHITALA, MICHAEL KAINGU
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Magande advises PF to consult on governance
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Wed 08 Jan. 2014, 14:01 CAT
ZAMBIA should start preparing incoming governments thoroughly in view of the experience the country has had with PF's first two years in office, says Ng'andu Magande.
Magande, Zambia's longest-serving finance minister, said most of the mistakes the PF had made in its first two years in office were as a result of not understanding how the government systems operate. Magande said it was very clear the PF made key decisions without understanding how the country operates.
"This is a party which has never been in power and if they said 'we are going to take one or two years to study the situation', people would still have understood that 'these people have never been in government, so, let them understand what goes on in government'," Magande said in an interview.
"But what happens is that here we don't have an American system where you find the incoming government starts learning by going to the offices. Here you just end up in place and you don't even know where you stand."
Magande urged the PF to work closely with civil servants to ensure they fully understand the civil service and general government operations before they plunge the country into serious governance issues.
Magande observed that the first two years of the PF had been characterised by ad hoc and not well-thought through arrangements.
He said key economic decisions such as the removal of consumer subsidies on maize and fuel had not benefitted the intended sections of the Zambian society.
"Today, who is buying maize at K80 per 25 kilogramme? It is the ordinary people in Chilubi and Kalingalinga…the same poor people they said they wanted to protect," said Magande.
Labels: NG'ANDU MAGANDE, PF
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Sichinga tells millers to act responsibly on prices
By Stuart Lisulo
Wed 08 Jan. 2014, 14:00 CAT
THE stalemate between the Millers Association of Zambia and the government over the rising price of mealie-meal looks set to continue.
But agriculture minister Robert Sichinga insists the millers should act responsibly to help reduce mealie-meal prices, which have reached unprecedented levels, selling at over K70.00 per 25kg breakfast bag in selected outlets in Lusaka.
Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) president Allan Sakala said in interview on Friday that the millers were still waiting for the government to respond to calls for an urgent meeting to seek clarity on the actual price of maize to be sold following the government's hike to K1,700.00 per tonne through the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).
The hike in the price has caused consternation among the millers, who insist they are only able to comply with the government's
directive to sell breakfast and roller meal at K65.00 and K45.00 per 25kg bag, respectively, if maize is sold to millers at K1,600.00 per
tonne.
"We are still waiting for government to react because this is a national issue; once they have reacted, we will take our next course of action. The ball is in their government's court," Sakala said.
He said since the price of maize was very high, it was virtually impossible to adhere to the prices directed by the government.
"The only problem is that the maize itself is expensive; we are landing maize into the mill at about K1,900.00, something like that. And FRA has not yet started offloading [the maize - they are still working out the modalities of how we are going to get the maize. As long as the maize prices remain high, I do not see how we can address that situation unless the agriculture ministry comes up with
conducive prices which we can digest; then we will be able to resolve the issue of mealiemeal prices," he said.
But Sichinga in a separate interview said: "We have offloaded maize onto the market.
As government, we have done our part; when you talk about liberalisation and private sector participation, we expect the private sector to act responsibly."
He said there was no need for any consultative meetings between the government and stakeholders because last month's meeting "sufficiently resolved" the issue of mealiemeal prices. "There are no plans on the part of government to hold another consultative meeting.
All of them had the opportunity to say what they wanted to say and participate and all the issues were concluded, not just with the millers, but grain traders and ZNFU," Sichinga said.
He reiterated that the onus was on the millers to help reduce the prices of the mealie-meal.
"They are supposed to show good faith and confirm that some of their millers have received additional maize; the price at the moment they are supposed to determine; the price is not being fixed by government - it is supposed to be as a result of supply and
demand, and we expect that they will act responsibly.
The truth of the matter is that they are not prepared to lower the prices because they want to make super profits, and Mr Sakala knows that," Sichinga said.
He further said consumers should be questioning the millers and not the government on the ever-rising prices of mealie-meal as government had already done its part.
Sichinga also explained that since the removal of subsidies on fuel and maize early last year, the price of maize sold by FRA could not go any further than the K1,700.00 per tone limit.
"When we removed subsides, it means we cannot sell maize at a price lower than is being dictated by FRA - they have to break even.
The price at which we are selling is, in fact, much more modest because FRA buys its stocks in areas where the private sector do not go, so it is a much more extensive assignment for them to bring those stocks to the market," said Sichinga.
Labels: ALLAN SAKALA, ROBERT SICHINGA
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PF will have it rough in EP by-elections, says Nyangu
By Kombe Mataka
Wed 08 Jan. 2014, 14:00 CAT
MMD deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu says PF should forget about winning even a single seat in Eastern Province from the by-elections that will be held this year.
And Nyangu has disclosed that MMD organs in Kasama have approached the party leadership to consider convincing PF Kasama member of parliament Geoffrey Mwamba to resign from PF and rejoin MMD.
In an interview, Nyangu said Eastern Province was a stronghold for MMD and that the party's aim was to defend all its seats that it lost through Supreme Court nullifications.
Nyangu said the PF was aware that MMD was its only political threat currently among the opposition political parties.
"Eastern Province is a very big factor. Every vote counts. This is why the PF have ensured that they have more seats belonging to Eastern Province nullified. But I can assure you that without the component of MMD in PF, they will have it rough (in Eastern Province). They are losing ground in Eastern Province just as they are doing in Northern Province," Nyangu claimed.
Nyangu accused the PF wants to attain a status of a party with a two-third majority in Parliament.
"...but can you have two-third majority without Eastern Province and pockets in North Western Province? They will not even do so in Southern Province, they should forget about it because you need 106 seats for you to control Parliament and to run government the way you want to," Nyangu said.
"We are also aware that they want Milanzi and Chipangali, but I tell you that they will not win even one seat when by-elections are held because people there are upset, especially with government's poor agriculture policies. Even in North Western, they won't make it. If these (agriculture policies) were okay the PF would have had an easy ride."
Nyangu said the MMD was eager to participate in all the by-elections.
"We just have to participate and the vice-president (Michael Kaingu) is right to say we will sit and discuss the way forward so that we mobilise funds and put it in by-elections. That is what they want. So, we are just waiting to convene a full national executive council to endorse what we feel should be done, but organs are on the ground," he said.
Nyangu said MMD functionaries and members were agitated by the loss of seats through Supreme Court nullifications.
"MMD by nature is a party that is everywhere. It has got structures throughout the country. We are a former ruling party by the way; that is why the PF wanted to deregister us, but when they failed, they intensified on nullification of seats so that they weaken us to the bone. That is why if they would get rid of MMD, there would be no competition because they know other political parties are just in pockets elsewhere, they are not a national party. United Party for National Development (UPND) can claim to be national, but if you look at the demography, you find that it's just a claim. We would wish them to be national. Let them try hard, that is why they are trying to be everywhere," Nyangu said.
The Supreme Court recently nullified MMD's Kasenengwa, Malambo, Petauke and Vubwi parliamentary seats on grounds of corruption and electoral malpractices, while Chipangali and Malinzi seats are still before the courts.
And Nyangu said the party organs in Kasama have approached the party on the need to convince Mwamba to resign from PF and join MMD.
"The organs there (Kasama) are saying 'it is easier because we already have structures'. MMD has more structures in Kasama, but if Mr Mwamba had to join MMD, it would be easier for us to campaign because Mr Mwamba knows the structures of MMD, each time there are elections, it has been between PF and MMD, so it would be easy to realign those structures and get the seat easily. Obviously he would be a factor in MMD. You know GBM is household name in Kasama politics; so, it would be easy to win the seat," said Nyangu.
Mwamba upon resigning his ministerial position as defence minister told his supporters in kasama that until he is told to leave the Patriotic Front, he would stick to the ruling party.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, CHEMBE NYANGU, EASTERN PROVINCE, MMD, PF
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PF will have it rough in EP by-elections, says Nyangu
By Kombe Mataka
Wed 08 Jan. 2014, 14:00 CAT
MMD deputy national secretary Chembe Nyangu says PF should forget about winning even a single seat in Eastern Province from the by-elections that will be held this year.
And Nyangu has disclosed that MMD organs in Kasama have approached the party leadership to consider convincing PF Kasama member of parliament Geoffrey Mwamba to resign from PF and rejoin MMD.
In an interview, Nyangu said Eastern Province was a stronghold for MMD and that the party's aim was to defend all its seats that it lost through Supreme Court nullifications.
Nyangu said the PF was aware that MMD was its only political threat currently among the opposition political parties.
"Eastern Province is a very big factor. Every vote counts. This is why the PF have ensured that they have more seats belonging to Eastern Province nullified. But I can assure you that without the component of MMD in PF, they will have it rough (in Eastern Province). They are losing ground in Eastern Province just as they are doing in Northern Province," Nyangu claimed.
Nyangu accused the PF wants to attain a status of a party with a two-third majority in Parliament.
"...but can you have two-third majority without Eastern Province and pockets in North Western Province? They will not even do so in Southern Province, they should forget about it because you need 106 seats for you to control Parliament and to run government the way you want to," Nyangu said.
"We are also aware that they want Milanzi and Chipangali, but I tell you that they will not win even one seat when by-elections are held because people there are upset, especially with government's poor agriculture policies. Even in North Western, they won't make it. If these (agriculture policies) were okay the PF would have had an easy ride."
Nyangu said the MMD was eager to participate in all the by-elections.
"We just have to participate and the vice-president (Michael Kaingu) is right to say we will sit and discuss the way forward so that we mobilise funds and put it in by-elections. That is what they want. So, we are just waiting to convene a full national executive council to endorse what we feel should be done, but organs are on the ground," he said.
Nyangu said MMD functionaries and members were agitated by the loss of seats through Supreme Court nullifications.
"MMD by nature is a party that is everywhere. It has got structures throughout the country. We are a former ruling party by the way; that is why the PF wanted to deregister us, but when they failed, they intensified on nullification of seats so that they weaken us to the bone. That is why if they would get rid of MMD, there would be no competition because they know other political parties are just in pockets elsewhere, they are not a national party. United Party for National Development (UPND) can claim to be national, but if you look at the demography, you find that it's just a claim. We would wish them to be national. Let them try hard, that is why they are trying to be everywhere," Nyangu said.
The Supreme Court recently nullified MMD's Kasenengwa, Malambo, Petauke and Vubwi parliamentary seats on grounds of corruption and electoral malpractices, while Chipangali and Malinzi seats are still before the courts.
And Nyangu said the party organs in Kasama have approached the party on the need to convince Mwamba to resign from PF and join MMD.
"The organs there (Kasama) are saying 'it is easier because we already have structures'. MMD has more structures in Kasama, but if Mr Mwamba had to join MMD, it would be easier for us to campaign because Mr Mwamba knows the structures of MMD, each time there are elections, it has been between PF and MMD, so it would be easy to realign those structures and get the seat easily. Obviously he would be a factor in MMD. You know GBM is household name in Kasama politics; so, it would be easy to win the seat," said Nyangu.
Mwamba upon resigning his ministerial position as defence minister told his supporters in kasama that until he is told to leave the Patriotic Front, he would stick to the ruling party.
Labels: BY-ELECTIONS, CHEMBE NYANGU, EASTERN PROVINCE, MMD, PF
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Bob’s lawyers pursue ex-PM over fees
07/01/2014 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
LAWYERS who represented President Robert Mugabe in case filed by MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai have threatened to seize the ex-premier property unless he stumps up legal fees amounting to $8,000.
FG Gijima and Associates represented Mugabe in an Electoral Court petition relating to the general elections held on July 31 last year.
The MDC-T leader wanted Mugabe, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Registrar-General to release election material and information relating the Presidential vote management and results, which he was challenging at the Constitutional Court.
The application was however dismissed with costs by Justice Chinembiri Bhunu. Now Mugabe’s lawyers want the former prime minister to pay legal costs and taxing fees amounting to US$8 903,94.
“Unless we receive payment by close of business on 22 (November 2013) instant, we shall take out a writ and execute on your client’s property without further notice to yourselves,” Fred Gijima wrote in a letter to Tsvangirai’s lawyers.
Tsvangirai’s lawyers however told Gijima to hold his horses saying their client had appealed Justice Chinembiri Bhunu ruling at the Supreme Court.
“We have appealed against the judgment and we have to wait for the outcome of the appeal,” said Alec Muchadehama of Mbidzo Muchadehama and Makoni.
“What happens if we win the appeal with costs? We have to wait for outcome of the appeal and I understand the matter will be heard on January 23 this year.”
The elections were won by Mugabe and his Zanu PF party but Tsvangirai refused to concede, alleging fraud.
The MDC-T leader however failed with a challenge against the Presidential election results at the Constitutional Court.
Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, ROBERT MUGABE
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Sanctions: Righteousness or racist repertoire?
07/01/2014 00:00:00
by Bernard Bwoni
COMMENT - The reason why the MDC/US/UK governments have to claim high and low that a) there are no economic sanctions and/or b) there are sanctions, but they are not 'economic', just 'targeted' 'personal' sanctions, is that unlike the ANC, the MDC is not a popular movement. The ANC never had to hide or run away from the fact they wanted sanctions against Apartheid South Africa. The MDC is not a liberation movement, they work for De Beers. - MrK
THERE has been an intentional and dishonest narrative that Zimbabwe was under “targeted sanctions” and “travel bans” which target President Mugabe and his “cronies” and these distortions have deliberately misled the world over the plight of this nation. The existence of economic sanctions has been casually brushed off while the architects of the sanctions have not been sincere or morally upright to the suffering that befell the general populace in Zimbabwe. The unbearable hardships were blamed solely on the land reform programme and it seems convenient to justify such ruinous sanctions and disguise the real intention behind why they were inflicted in the first place.
The economic impact of the sanctions on the Zimbabwean economy must never be understated. They have been devastating to the most vulnerable groups in society who have had to bear the full brunt of it and have seen their livelihoods reduced to absolute destitution. There have been comparative arguments of the sanctions placed on Rhodesia and the Zimbabwe economic sanctions and what emerges is a racist repertoire which is inextricably imbedded and blended with a long term neoliberal grand master-plan. Sanctions do not discriminate between the elite or the general population and they are used as an economic warfare against target governments. The purpose of economic sanctions is to coerce the intended victim into submission through deliberate sabotage of the economy hence the term economic sanctions.
The sanctions against Rhodesia created social and political integration due to the fact that the Ian Smith regime was given more than enough time to prepare for them. On the other hand for Zimbabwe, the sanctions created socio-economic and political upheaval and disintegration because the country was slapped with instant economic sanctions which saw the economic meltdown, the strengthening of spurious opposition politics and the privation and distress caused by the hard-hitting effects of the sanctions. Unlike Zimbabwe, Rhodesia had a very strong historical and birthright identification with those who were imposing the sanctions and had ideological allies who had a vested interest in ensuring that the regime stayed intact and hence they did not approve the sanctions. Rhodesian sanctions were at most symbolic whereas those against Zimbabwe were full-blown economic sanctions imposed indiscriminately and abruptly with the resultant immediate economic collapse that followed.
The nature of the sanctions against Rhodesia highlights a protective approach to imposing the sanctions in that the Smith regime was given enough warning of the impending threat, ample time to prepare and harness collective national spirit. Johan Galtung wrote an article in 1966(On the Effects of International Economic Sanctions: With Examples from the Case of Rhodesia) hypothesising the likely impact of the sanctions long before they were imposed. The Rhodesians were warned and prepped for well in advance and in and around the towns and cities Galtung pointed out that there were even jokes like “there will be no sanctions against drinks” - ridiculing the sanctions way before they came into effect.
Zimbabwe on the other hand was not threatened with sanctions; they were imposed with very little if any warning at all. It is disingenuous that the architects of these hardship-inducing sanctions claim that Mugabe and his “cronies” blame the sanctions as a way of diverting attention from the country’s politics and internal mismanagement yet they could so easily lift the sanctions completely and see if the mismanagement prevails in a sanctions-free economic environment and uplift the lives of those they falsely claim to be championing for by imposition of these sanctions.
Again the sanctions against Rhodesia did not work because some countries such as South Africa, Portugal, Israel and some Arab nations propped up the Smith regime. Rhodesia also found ways of circumventing the sanctions as imports and exports were smuggled through South Africa. The Zimbabwe sanctions on the other hand were devastating to the economy. Hufbauer and Schott, 1990 (Economic Sanctions Reconsidered: History and Current Policy) calculate that the annual cost of economic sanctions to Rhodesia was just $130 million per year. In a study titled ‘Economic Sanctions’ prepared for the Harvard Centre for International Affairs, Robin Renwick, head of the Rhodesian department of the British Foreign Office, reported that between 1965 and 1974 Rhodesia's real output increased 6 percent per year; the value of exports more than doubled between 1968 and 1974 and continued to rise afterward, although much more slowly.
On the other hand the sanctions against Zimbabwe have cost the country in excess of $42 billion since 2001 which translates to a staggering $3.5 billion annually! The negative publicity Zimbabwe and its leadership received meant a very negative national image which attracted high-risk premium on alternative sources of offshore lines of credit and had a detrimental effect on tourism which is significant to national GDP (Taking back the economy: Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment). The interruption of trade and constraints on manufacturing and general activities saw GDP almost halving from US$7.49 billion in 2000 to US$4 billion in 2010.
Sanctions against Rhodesia were devised and implemented in a manner to publicly appear to punish yet privately there was a collective kindredship to preserve and protect. At most the sanctions were a symbolic gesture to appear to condemn the racist Ian Smith regime so as to pacify the international community. On the other hand sanctions against Zimbabwe were specifically designed to hurt without due care and attention to the suffering of the ordinary poor people. Rhodesia was placed under sanctions but safeguarded from the privation synonymous with sanctions while Zimbabwe was deliberately exposed to hardship.
The Zimbabwe government’s incessant cries over the devastating effects of these merciless sanctions were drowned in the devious world of media duplicity and the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe was relegated to the entertainment sections of media sources. Some lives are more important than others, the nature of the world Africa finds itself at the bottom end of.
Bernard Bwoni can be contacted on bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
Labels: SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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(NEWZIMBABWE, NEWS24) Blair quits as advisor to Malawi leader
06/01/2014 00:00:00
by News24
FORMER British prime minister Tony Blair has reportedly quit as an adviser to Malawi’s president Joyce Banda, amid a corruption scandal rocking the southern African country. UK media reported that Blair and his team had been working in Banda’s office, advising her on how to run the country.
According to the reports, Banda’s spokesperson admitted that the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) was calling it quits, but maintained the development was not linked to the corruption scandal.
The British government froze aid payments to Malawi in November in response to the multi-million pound corruption which involved dozens of officials.
The move by Britain was likely to have a catastrophic effect on Malawi’s ability to provide basic services.
The European Union and Norway have also withdrawn their support for Malawi.
Banda has in the past been quoted as saying she would not cry over the freezing of aid, although she understood the need for British politicians and taxpayers to have confidence in her government.
Labels: JOYCE BANDA, TONY BLAIR
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(GLOBALRESEARCH) Fast and Furious UK-Style: Britain’s Gun-running to East Africa, Somali Pirates
By Patrick Henningsen
Global Research, January 06, 2014
21st Century Wire
In the US, we’re used to seeing the alphabet soup agencies involved in trafficking arms, and as long as the government are doing it, no one in government seems to mind too much.
For Washington DC, state-sanctioned gun-running has developed into a nice, not-so-little cottage industry, with arms flooding into the hands of criminal drug cartels in Mexico being well-documented through Eric Holder’s ‘Fast and Furious’ scandal.
Add to this the recent CIA admission of overseas gun-running into the hands of quasi-terrorist outfits in Syria, and you can see how government-controlled gun-running operations are key to maintaining instability and a criminal climate in regions all around the world.
By contrast, in Britain, business enterprises like international gun-running are mere whispers in the halls of Westminster, and remain well-hidden behind the walls of London’s infamous city state – the financial Square Mile. A new report this week (see full article below), accuses the British Government of having been caught in their own ‘Fast and Furious’ episode – this time shipping some 44,000 guns to East Africa – in the last 15 months alone. That’s just the tip of the global iceberg. Does this also explain how all of those lovely weapons made it into the hands of rebel fighters in Libya and Syria?
In order for this river of arms to keep flowing, it’s important that a government maintain little or no oversight regarding state-sanctioned weapons trafficking. The UK’s House of Commons Arms Export Controls Committee has now admitted that the government’s Business Department, which ‘approves’ these massive weapons exports, “did not thoroughly assess where the weapons were going”. Dear, oh dear.
There is a strong suggestion in this report that many of these weapons have ended up into the hands of Somalian pirates – and this is where we see the business cycle come full circle…
Is their any relationship between the British government, the destabilisation of East Africa and the City of London’s insurance and trading firms? The connections run deep indeed.
Insurance syndicates raking in profits
Who benefits from Somalian piracy in the Gulf of Aden? According to a study conducted by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), insurance companies have seen a windfall in profits from the Somali pirate attacks, with insurance premiums sharply increasing. The DIW white paper concluded that:
“Many of the relevant players (Somali pirates, local communities, nascent government in pirate regions, international navies, private security and the insurance industry) have no incentive to stop piracy. In fact, there is a relatively stable relationship between these groups, many of whom share a clear business interest in maintaining piracy at its current level.”
Even though Somalian piracy only affects a small percentage of shipping through Somalia’s coastal waters and the Indian Ocean, thus far the overall winner of this regional “crisis” has to be the insurance syndicates providing coverage to the shipping industry. DIW confirmed that, “Of an estimated 30,000 ships transiting the Gulf of Aden in 2009, 116 were attacked, less than one in 250. Moreover, the 25 final ransoms are still only a small fraction of the overall value of the ship, crew and cargo”.
Lloyds insurance moguls saw other opportunities to increase their profits by extending the ‘pirate zone’, even in the face of international opposition. Bloomberg reported in 2011, that “India is lobbying Lloyd’s of London to reverse its expansion of the area judged prone to pirate attacks to cover almost all of the nation’s west coast after insurance costs surged as much as 300-fold this year”.
A clear nexus exists between the City’s business elite, the UK government and the World Bank. Keeping Somalia entrenched in a pit of debt and dependent of “aid” from multi-lateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank helps fuel the cycle of poverty and lawlessness, which in turn, puts even more money into established City pockets in the form of insurance premiums. Add to this, NATO is overseeing the entire security operation in and around the Gulf of Aden from its new maritime headquarters – in North London. That’s right – nearly everything concerning Somalia and its ‘security crisis’… comes from, or passes through London.
So it’s no surprise then why the British government has bothered to funnel £2.2m into the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime’s ”counter-piracy programme”, to run prisons in Puntland, Somalia and helps fund the reinforcement police and maritime forces which will defend British interests in the region.
Big Money for Major Players
It’s no secret that British mining and energy interests in East Africa – especially in Ethiopia and Somalia, are a top priority for neocolonial market makers, shakers and takers in the City of London. Ethipoian-based British proxy firm SouthWest Energy is one of the major players in the region. According to Hands of Somalia blog, SouthWest’s advisory board include Sir John Bond, chairman of Xstrata, Simon Murray, chairman of Glencore and Lord Malloch-Brown, who served for two years as UK minister of state in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of Gordon Brown’s Labour government with responsibility for Africa, Asia and the UN.
Hands off Somalia notes here how insurance rackets and their beneficiaries (opportunists) have already carved up a their niche market:
“On 6 January (2013) the first private British navy for the last 200 years was set up off Somali waters by a group of businessmen to defend western private interests and rake in massive shipping insurance contracts with Lloyds of London.
Simon Murray backs the company behind the venture, Typhon. The firm is composed of ex-Royal Marines, Legionnaires, NATO commanders, and even a former chief of HSBC’s marine and insurance business. Typhon owner Anthony Sharp told the Telegraph “I had the idea for Typhon playing polo one afternoon, thinking about what my next business might be”.
City insurance stalwart Lloyds of London started in business doing marine insurance, underwriting centuries of British empire-building – and have been profiting out of the piracy game for centuries. Other piracy insurance giants based in the City of London. include Willis Group Holdings plc. According to a report by Forbes in 2010, buying the highest insurance package per voyage would, somehow, significantly lower the risk of a piracy attack. If you were one of the hundreds of ships to buy Willis Group’s full ‘Vessel Shield’ package – a bargain at $35K per voyage, then you would have completely avoided being targeted by Somali pirates. What luck. Go figure.
It would be interesting to know if the same City of London insurance and financial firms involved the Gulf of Aden piracy market also have any business interest in arms shipments to East Africa, or the mining and oil businesses. If you dig deep enough, it’s likely that you might find a yes(s) somewhere in this criminal matrix, but who really knows, right?
With Somalia weak and unstable, British and other US and European firms only need wait until the moment is right to jump on Somalia’s natural resource assets. Until then, there’s plenty of money to spread around.
Labels: NEOCOLONIALISM, SOMALIA
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(GLOBALRESEARCH) JP Morgan Behind Madoff Ponzi Scheme? Pays $2 Billion to Avoid Investigation and Prosecution
By Washington's Blog
Global Research, January 06, 2014
Washington's Blog
Bernie Madoff has said all along that JP Morgan knew about – and knowingly profited from – his Ponzi schemes. So JP Morgan has agreed to pay the government $2 billion to avoid investigation and prosecution. While this may sound like a lot of money, it is spare sofa change for a big bank like JP Morgan. It’s not just the Madoff scheme.
As shown below, the big banks – including JP Morgan – are manipulating virtually every market – both in the financial sector and the real economy – and breaking virtually every law on the books. Here are just some of the recent improprieties by big banks:
* Laundering money for terrorists (the HSBC employee who blew the whistle on the banks’ money laundering for terrorists and drug cartels says that the giant bank is still laundering money, saying: “The public needs to know that money is still being funneled through HSBC to directly buy guns and bullets to kill our soldiers …. Banks financing … terrorists affects every single American.” He also said: “It is disgusting that our banks are STILL financing terror on 9/11 2013“. And see this)
* Financing illegal arms deals, and funding the manufacture of cluster bombs (and see this and this) and other arms which are banned in most of the world
* Handling money for rogue military operations
* Laundering money for drug cartels. See this, this, this, this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis). A whistleblower said: “America is losing the drug war because our banks are [still] financing the cartels“, and “Banks financing drug cartels … affects every single American“. And see this.)
* Engaging in mafia-style big-rigging fraud against local governments. See this, this and this
* Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here
* Manipulating aluminum and copper prices
* Manipulating gold prices … on a daily basis
* Charging “storage fees” to store gold bullion … without even buying or storing any gold . And raiding allocated gold accounts
* Committing massive and pervasive fraud both when they initiated mortgage loans and when they foreclosed on them (and see this)
* Pledging the same mortgage multiple times to different buyers. See this, this, this, this and this. This would be like selling your car, and collecting money from 10 different buyers for the same car
* Cheating homeowners by gaming laws meant to protect people from unfair foreclosure
* Committing massive fraud in an $800 trillion dollar market which effects everything from mortgages, student loans, small business loans and city financing
* Manipulating the hundred trillion dollar derivatives market
* Engaging in insider trading of the most important financial information
* Pushing investments which they knew were terrible, and then betting against the same investments to make money for themselves. See this, this, this, this and this
* Engaging in unlawful “frontrunning” to manipulate markets. See this, this, this, this, this and this
* Engaging in unlawful “Wash Trades” to manipulate asset prices. See this, this and this
* Manipulating corporate bonds through derivatives schemes
* Otherwise manipulating markets. And see this
* Charging veterans unlawful mortgage fees
* Helping the richest to illegally hide assets
* Cooking their books (and see this)
* Bribing and bullying ratings agencies to inflate ratings on their risky investments
* Violently cracking down on peaceful protesters
The executives of the big banks invariably pretend that the hanky-panky was only committed by a couple of low-level rogue employees. But studies show that most of the fraud is committed by management.
Indeed, one of the world’s top fraud experts – professor of law and economics, and former senior S&L regulator Bill Black – says that most financial fraud is “control fraud”, where the people who own the banks are the ones who implement systemic fraud. See this, this and this.
The failure to go after Wall Street executives for criminal fraud is the core cause of our sick economy.
And experts say that all of the government’s excuses for failure to prosecute the individuals at the big Wall Street banks who committed fraud are totally bogus.
The big picture is simple:
* The big banks manipulate every market they touch
* Too much interconnectedness leads to financial instability
* The government has given the banks huge subsidies … which they are using for speculation and other things which don’t help the economy. In other words, propping up the big banks by throwing money at them doesn’t help the economy
* Top economists, financial experts and bankers say that the big banks are too large … and their very size is threatening the economy. They say we need to break up the big banks to stabilize the economy
* The big banks own the D.C. politicians … so Congress and the White House won’t do anything unless the people force change
Labels: FRAUD, JPMORGAN CHASE
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