The EFF and the National Assembly of ZA statements – On the suspended of Members of Parliament(MPs)

28 November 2014

The EFF will be approaching the court for an urgent interdict against parliament’s illegal decision to suspend its leadership. Parliament has not issued letters of suspension to the EFF MPs yet, and thus the EFF awaits these letters in order to file court papers. Members of the public shall be kept updated on the developments moving forward.

The EFF reiterates that it shall never apologise for asking Jacob Zuma as to when is he paying back the money. Furthermore, the EFF remains very proud of its MPs for restoring teeth to parliamentary executive oversight. We shall approach the courts because we believe that in front of a sober judge, with no Luthuli mandate, and an uncontrollable ambition for promotion for a ministerial job, our action will be vindicated. The court will confirm that the EFF went through a Kangaroo Court in serious violation of principles of natural justice.

ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS
MBUYISENI QUINTIN NDLOZI (National Spokesperson)
Cell Number: +27 73 133 3012 | +27 (61) 482 6589
Website: http://www.effighters.org.za/
Email: communications@effighters.org.za
Facebook: Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi || Twitter: @EconFreedomZA and @MbuyiseniNdlozi

SUSPENSION, FINE NOTICES SENT TO ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS’ MEMBERS

Parliament, Friday 28 November 2014 – Letters of suspension and notices of fines were sent today to members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) found guilty of contempt of Parliament.

This follows the adoption by the National Assembly (NA) yesterday of the report of the Powers and Privileges Committee on the hearing into allegations of conduct constituting contempt of Parliament by Members of the NA.

The hearing, led by independent initiator Mr Randall van Voore, was held following the disruption of NA proceedings on 21 August, during President Jacob Zuma’s oral reply session in the House.

Six members of the EFF – Mr F Shivambu, Mr P Ramakatsa, Mr J Malema, Ms K Litchfield-Tshabalala, Mr G Gardee and Mr M Ndlozi – were suspended for 30 days with no pay.

Another six EFF Members were suspended for 14 days without pay – Ms E Louw, Ms R Mashabela, Ms O Maxon, Ms M Moonsamy, Mr A Mngxitama and Mr N Matiase.

Eight EFF Members were each fined an amount equivalent to 14 days’ salary and allowances – Mr B Joseph, Mr S Mbatha, Mr Z Morapela, Ms S Khawula, Ms A Matshobeni, Ms V Nqweniso, Ms P Ntobongwana and Ms P Sonti.

The suspensions take effect from today. The 30 days’ suspensions expire on 28 December and the 14 days’ suspensions expire on 12 December.

Suspended members are prohibited from entering Parliament or from participating in any activity of Parliament or its committees without written permission of the Speaker. They are also not entitled to any allowances under the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act for the duration of their suspensions.

ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE RSA

Press Statement: Kenya – 10th Cabinet meeting held on 27th November 2014, Statehouse, Nairobi.

 

 

PAR/GEN/2014/11/01 – Letter: To His Excellency the Ambassador of DRC Kampala.

Amnesty Press Release – DRC: Belgian mining giant lied over bulldozing homes

24 November 2014

A Belgian mining company, Groupe Forrest International, has consistently lied about the bulldozing of hundreds of homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and has denied justice to those affected, said Amnesty International today in a new report.  

Bulldozed: How a mining company buried the truth about forced evictions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo provides satellite imagery and other new evidence, exposing how the company’s subsidiary, Entreprise Général Malta Forrest (EGMF), supplied bulldozers that were used to unlawfully demolish homes and forcibly evict hundreds of people living next to the company’s Luiswishi mine in Kawama, Katanga in 2009. It also details how the companies and the Congolese government have obstructed attempts to achieve justice for the villagers ever since.

“There is now overwhelming and irrefutable evidence showing that the forced evictions that Groupe Forrest International has denied for years in fact took place,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s’s Global Issues Director.

“It is shameful for a mining giant to lie and deny people justice. It is time for them to finally come clean and compensate the villagers for what they lost.”

Five years on, the villagers of Kawama have received no compensation. EGMF pulled out from the mining concession in 2012. In recent months, villagers living close to the Luiswishi mine, now owned by the State-owned company Gécamines, have faced the threat of further forced evictions.

The demolitions in 2009 occurred during a police operation to clear the Kawama area of small-scale miners who were allegedly stealing from the copper and cobalt mine.

Bulldozers belonging to EGMF and operated by its drivers destroyed homes and businesses in the three neighbourhoods closest to the Luiswishi mine.

“Some people lost their livelihoods as well as their homes. The impacts are still felt today. One woman, whose restaurant was demolished, told us that she doesn’t have the money to buy enough food to eat and had to pull her children out of school. Proper compensation for villagers would have alleviated a lot of the suffering,” said Audrey Gaughran.

New evidence

Groupe Forrest International has repeatedly claimed that the bulldozers only destroyed temporary homes belonging to small-scale miners and that the demolitions were legal, but Amnesty International has obtained satellite imagery, video footage and the files of a criminal investigation by a government Prosecutor, containing irrefutable evidence that this is not the case.

Satellite imagery shows that 387 structures were demolished in the affected neighbourhoods between 31 May 2009 and 15 May 2010. These structures were present before the influx of small-scale miners to Kawama which prompted the police operation on 24 November 2009.

Videos filmed on that day show the destruction of permanent brick houses, with armed police officers removing villagers, including children, from their homes. This information was corroborated by testimonies given to Amnesty International researchers by residents of the three affected neighbourhoods.

Groupe Forrest International claims that it did not voluntarily participate in the demolitions and evictions. However, the EGMF bulldozer drivers interviewed by the Prosecutor testified that their superiors ordered them to go to Kawama and follow police instructions.

The demolitions took place over the course of two days — the company was aware that they were occurring and had time to protest against the use of its staff and equipment in the forced evictions; it did not do so.

Official cover-up

A government Prosecutor carried out an investigation into the demolitions and tried to bring criminal charges against those responsible. However, he was instructed by officials in Kinshasa and in the provincial government not to do so.

“This is a cover-up by the Congolese authorities. The state has failed its own people by not bringing anyone to justice for these forced evictions and by not ensuring that compensation was paid,” said Audrey Gaughran.

Amnesty International presented its concerns and evidence to Groupe Forrest International prior to the publication of the report but the company denied all responsibility for the events at Kawama, which it blamed on unilateral police action. Efforts by a group of Congolese and international NGOs to seek a resolution in Belgium for the people of Kawama failed; the National Contact Point for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises stated that it did not have the capacity to investigate.

“The people of Kawama have tried for years to find a process that will simply recognize the truth of what happened in their community. Their voices have been drowned out by Groupe Forrest International’s denials. Both the Congolese and Belgian authorities have failed them,” said Audrey Gaughran.

The report calls on the Congolese authorities and Groupe Forrest International to ensure adequate reparation for the people of Kawama, including full compensation for all losses caused by the demolitions and forced evictions. The authorities must bring charges against all those responsible for illegal acts that resulted in human rights violations.

The report also calls on Belgium to review its legal and policy framework to ensure it is able to properly regulate Belgian multinationals – at home and abroad.

Uganda Catholic Lawyers’ Society Statement on the NRM Scheduled Delegates Conference.

14. November 2014,  Kampala.

We, the Uganda Catholic Lawyers Society, in recognition of our profession and conscious of our manifest obligation to put our knowledge, talent and legal professional skills to the service of the Ugandans and aware that Rule of Law andConstitutionalism are the cornerstone of democracydo hereby advise and guide the nation that NRMNational Delegates Conference Scheduled to take place on the 15th day of December 2014 at Mandela National Stadium Nambole would be illegal and therefore null and void in the eyes of the law if the following issues are not addressed before it is held;

1. The resolution by Central Executive Committee (SEC) of the NRM last night that the Constitution of NRM should be changed or altered to the effect that the Secretary General of the NRM party should not be elected but appointed the chairman of the party is unconstitutional and illegal as it contravenes Article 71(d) of the Constitution which makes it mandatory that all members of the national organs of a political party shall be electedand not appointed.

2. The notice dated the 5th day of October 2014which has appeared in various newspapers to the effect that the NRM party intends to change or alter its constitution during its said National Delegates Conference and calling for members’ views on the same is illegal and therefore null and void for the reason that it has been issued and signed by Hon. Dorothy Huhya who is a civil servant (Uganda’s High commissioner to Tanzania) and this contravenes Section 16 of the Political Parties and Organizations Act 2005.

3. The intended change or alteration of the NRMconstitution and including it in the said notice as an agenda for National Delegates Conference is illegal as it has been done without notification of doing so to the Electoral Commission and without the Electoral commission publishing of the same in the Gazette is as required under section 11 of the Political Parties and Organizations Act 2005.

4. The following persons are actively involved in the preparations of the said delegates conference and are slated to attend the same in their capacities as holders various positions within the NRM yet they are Public Servants contrary to Section 16 of the Political Parties and Organizations Act 2005;

NAME POSITION IN PUBLIC SERVICE

1. Professor Mondo Kagonyera Chancellor Makerere University
2. Hon. Beatrice Wabudeya Presidential advisor
3. Abalo Lillian Ongom Presidential advisor
4. Mushemeza Elijah Presidential advisor
5. Ofwono Opondo Executive director Media Centre
6. Denis Namara Presidential advisor
7. Dorothy Hyuha High commissioner Tanzania
8. Rtd Major General Matayo Kyaligonza Ambassador to Burundi

5. NRM has been holding all its Central Executive Committee (SEC) meetings since inception including the one that resolved to convene the said scheduled National Delegates’ Conference at State House Entebbe or Nakasero which is an abuse of public resources and illegal as they contravene Articles 17(d) and 164(2) of the constitution.

6. During the NRM parliamentary caucus workshop in which President Museveni was recommended to the said scheduled National Delegates Conference as the for 2016 presidential elections all MPs who were in attendance were given and forced to wear the UPDF uniform contrary to Section 164 of the UPDF act.

7. The NRM’s continued use of the name “NATIONAL RESISTANCE MOVEMENT (NRM) ”as its political party name is illegal and in contravention of Section 8(c) of the Political Parties’ and Organizations Act, 2005 since“ NATIONAL RESISTANCE MOVEMENT {NRM) was declared to be a statutory body in the case of Ssemogerere v Attorney General.

From the above mentions ground its clear that the preparations and proceedings leading to the scheduled National Delegates’ Conference are tainted with illegalities and holding the said delegates conference without rectifying the said mischief complained of herein will make the said delegates conference and its proceedings not only illegal but void abnitio.

Jude Mbabaali (Advocate) Ssemwanga Fredrick (Advocate)
PRESIDENT SECRETARY

Jude Mbabaali (Advocate & Commissioner for Oaths)
(LLB)(MUK), BSc(MUK), Masters-Human Rights, Dip. Legal Practice(LDC).
President-Uganda Catholic Lawyers’ Society.
Managing Partner, Mbabaali Jude & Co. Advocates
1st Floor, Suite No. 14 Pope Paul (VI) Memorial Hotel Complex, Plot 786/7 Cardinal Nsubuga Rd, Rubaga, P.O. Box 14326, Mengo Kampala, Uganda.
Mobile Tel: +256 772 444 663. Office lines: +256 702 444 663, 0792444663.
Email:mbabaalij@yahoo.com.

Sam Mugumya Updates!

In rememberence of ‘Silsawochu’ or ‘the sixty’ – and the start of the Derg reign in Ethiopa

In rememberence of the ex-officials of the Imperial government that was brutally murdered in the early hours of November 23, 1974 without a trial. Its important to remember the big moments. So we can learn from it and see what it did and how it affect us today. For those who don’t know. This also ended the Ethiopian Kingdom and started the Communist revolution in Ethiopia.

Here is the list of those who was murdered on this day: 

Prime Minister Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Haptewold
Prime Minister Lij Endalkatchew Makonnen
Lt. General Abiye Abebe
H.H. Prince (Leul Ras) Asrate Kassa
Prince Rear Admiral Iskinder Desta
Ras Mesfin Sileshi
Ato Abebe Retta
Ato Akale Work Haptewold
Lt. Colonel Tamirat Yigezu
Dejazmatch Kifle Irgetu
Lt. General Kebede Gebre
Lt. General Issayas Gebre Igziabiher
Lt. General Asefa Ayana
Ato Mulatu Debebe
Dr. Tesfaye Gebre Igzi
Dejazmatch Workineh Wolde Amanuel
Lt. General Debebe Haile Mariam
Brigadier General Deresse Dubale
Lt. General Asefa Demisse
Dejazmatch Aemero Selassie Abebe
Dejazmatch Solomon Abreha
Dejazmatch Sahelu Difeye
Dejazmatch Worku Inqu Selassie
Dejazmatch Legese Bezu
Colonel Solomon Kedir
Blata Admasu Retta
Ato Nebiye Leul Kifle
Ato Solomon Gebre Mariam
Ato Tegegn Yetashework
Afe Nigus (Lord Chief Justice) Abeje Debalke
Lt. General Haile Baikedagn
Lt. General Abebe Gemeda
Lt. General Yilma Shibeshi
Lt. General Belete Abebe
Dejazmatch Kebede Ali Wele
Major General Gashaw Kebede
Major General Seyoum Gedle Giorgis
Major General Tafesse Lemma
Lij Hailu Desta
Fitawrari Amde Abera
Fitawrari Tadesse Inqu Selassie
Fitawrari Demisse Alamirew
Kegnyazmatch Yilma Aboye
Brigadier General Wendimu Abebe
Brigadier General Girma Yohannes
Brigadier General Mulugeta Wolde Yohannes
Colonel Yigezu Yimene
Colonel Alem Zewd Tessema
Colonel Tassew Mojo
Major Berhane Mecha

On this same day, the following men died fighting the Derg over the Derg Chairman Lt. General Aman Andom’s refusal to sanction the execution of the Imperial officials

Lt. General Aman Mikael Andom
Leutenant  Belai Tsegaye
Leutenant Demisse Shiferaw Goshiye
Lance Corporal Bekele Wolde Giorgis
Sub-Corporal Tekle Haile
Lance Corporal Tesfaye Tekle
Junior Aircraftsman Yohannes Fitiwi

Titles are in italics!

The second Youtube clip is more in rememberence of those who was assainated on that day.

I think this was enough from me today. Peace.

 

Press Release: High Level Mission calls for more Humanitarian engagement in Chad

SC/11658-AFR/3023-PKO/453: Security Council Press Statement on Darfur

19. November 2014 – UN Security Council – Press release: 

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Gary Quinlan (Australia):

The members of the Security Council expressed their concern at the allegations reported in the media of mass rape in Thabit, North Darfur, on 30 and 31 October 2014.  They called on the Government of Sudan to conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations.  They called on the Government of Sudan to fulfil its obligation to allow, in accordance with the Agreement between the United Nations, the African Union and the Government of Sudan concerning the status of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, the full and unrestricted freedom of movement without delay throughout Darfur to UNAMID, so as to enable them to conduct a full and transparent investigation, without interference, and verify whether these incidents have occurred.  They further called on the Government of Sudan to ensure accountability, if the allegations are verified.

They noted that proper access to Thabit and its population for UNAMID is essential to conducting a full investigation into the allegations in order to determine their veracity and, if verified, to ensure accountability.

Amuru Woman MP by-Election – Aftermath.

The Inter Party Coalition (IPC) candidate Lucy Akello has been announced the winner of the Amuru Woman MP by election.

“According to results obtained by radio Rupiny from The Amuru district Electoral Commission Office Lucy Akello got 7420 votes and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Party Candidate Jane Francesca Amongin Okili (NRM) got 6701 Votes” (Radio Rupiny)

“The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has attributed their defeat in the Amuru parliamentary by elections to the heavy rain and missing names of voters” (..)”Sam Engola the State Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development says most of their supporters did not cast votes because they were cut off at home by rain” (…)”He says some of them did not also find their names on the voters register” (Radio Rupiny)

Lucy Akello of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), who was the joint opposition candidate polled 7420 votes against her arch-rival Jane Francesca Amongin Okili of NRM who got 6701 votes