Month: March 2017

European Council: Draft Guidelines following the United Kingdom’s notification under Article 50 TEU (31.03.2017)

My letter to Janet Museveni: “how thin-skinned are you?”

Dear Sir Janet Museveni!

It’s hard to write dear, when I know your greed together with husband has eaten of state coffers for over 31 years. How your husband has used weapons and laws to silence dissidents. That is why I have to write today, as Dr. Stella Nyanzi has triggered.

Today, the Makerere University again has suspended Dr. Stella Nyanzi after you supposedly honorable Minister of Education had forgiven her. Still, hours after your interview, she got axed at the University. She was questioning your husbands giant promises of maxi-pads to girls at schools, since the NRM and the current government cannot afford that.

The government that you represent both as First Lady and as the Ministry of Education. You have high and mighty told how to act and be, how the poor should live, because back-in-the-day, your family was poor. That was before your husband went on the warpath and dissolved all sorts of government in Uganda. But, hey! That is not important for you, since you have eaten of the plate of the government since 1986.

Your estates, farms and businesses has risen, your knowledge of transaction and how to play politics has grown. So you are now in the second Ministerial Position, not on merit, but because your husbands role as President. That isn’t a lie, it is a fact, even Professor. Venansius Baryamureeba would be better choice in a heartbeat. Though you wouldn’t like that assessment would you?

I am supposed to offer you a leaf of appreciation, but I cannot, when I see the regime you work in and the way your acting yourself. You profess yourself to the high and mighty, as even when you entered the Ministry of Education after the election. The First Lady needed all sorts of Police and Security Agents to make sure the dissidents left the building.

So when somebody, a commoner like Dr. Nyanzi writes against you and the NRM, a NRM that has never elected you and you have never had a Primary even to prove your worth. You are not an elected leader, you are selected not on merits, but on affiliation and wedded the President back-in-the-day.

That you are having selective acts towards the ones who parts of your clientele and the ones who is dissidents is proven when it comes to Dr. Nyanzi. She are not allowed to travel on educational travel to the Netherlands, she has been taken to CID on her comments about you and been detained before for her belief in the FDC, instead of the NRM. Therefore, she even got work in South Africa to get peace, but got back now recently. Than, she started where the Ministry of Education failed. Nyanzi started with traveling with “Pads for Girls Campaign”, that have delivered much more than the government who promised it did.

So that must hurt your pride as Minister of Education as a lecture and Dr. at Makerere can do better than the government at their own game. She could gather attention and also inspire people to questions the power to be, that means she questions you and your authority. As First Lady for 3 decades you assume that people respect you, but to honest! They don’t and the way you act, they never will.

Hon. Janet Museveni your years as First Lady and riches has blinded you, it has made you forget the problems of the commoner, and the commoners rather listen to voice of Dr. Nyanzi, than the decadent Minister, which happens to be you. You couldn’t expect that everyone just bow downs and kiss your rings because of your husband, did you?

Mrs. Museveni your husband and his regime is the trouble, as you are making way for the ill ways of the government. Ministry of Education are letting the public schools fall apart and closing private schools, which actually pays their teachers and their staff, also their buildings more intact than the public schools. The district and up-county schools lacks equipment and the teachers rather have small-farms to survive than on civil servants pay. So it is not like your ministry delivers anything else than amounts of ghost schools, ghost staff and illegal tenders.

So that Dr. Nyanzi address you and yours should be expected, that the University is suspending her, that the Police arrests her and that you disclaim her in interviews. Proves that there the classes of highness, which is you Mrs. Museveni and the lower class of Dr. Nyanzi who can easily get ridden off and also use force against.

So don’t speak of respect and honor next time, that you feel is insulted, says more about your lacking understanding of the problems created by the NRM and the lack of accountability and corrupts acts over the years. As the struggles for paying for fees, school-clothes and school-food, is a mystery to you and yours, since you eat of the Reserves from the Bank of Uganda. It is hard in your stolen wealth to understand the poor, when you feel entitled to your position with even merit.

It doesn’t help that you cannot be critiqued and asked of your legitimacy as the pledges of 2015/2016 cannot even be questioned. The Ministry of Agriculture needs funding for their jerrycans and the drip-drop irrigation system that your husband suddenly praise. We hardly believe you as the monies are spoiled and spent on your elite, not on service delivery, if so than the school buildings wouldn’t be falling apart, as the school-kids are the future and not your meal-ticket. Even if you act as they are your meal-ticket and you still eat of the food of the plate,s from the kids and their parents, without any hesitation.

To end this, your thin-skinned and weak at heart, when you cannot handle Dr. Stella Nyanzi! When you cannot handle the voice of reason from a fellow Ugandan. I am not a Ugandan, but surely I cannot accept your intolerance and ignorance as you are a First Lady. Somebody I should respect, but I can’t, that would be lie. Your parts of a thieving elite, who eats off the state coffers without any consideration from the ones you take it from. Peace.

Written by the writer of MinBane.

Uganda: FDC Party Officially welcomes dialogue between the FDC and the NRM (31.03.2017)

RDC: Rassemblement – Communique de Presse (30.03.2017)

Uganda: Makunika – “Re: Disciplinary Action on Dr. Stella Nyanzi” (31.03.2017)

Ethiopian State of Emergency continues!

As of 29. March 2017 the continued State of Emergency from 2016 continues, as the oppression and military enterprise into Amhara and Oromia continues. The speed of this proves the neglect and little care for the civilians, as the military, Agazi squad and other battalions has been stationed in the provinces that clearly are tired of the rulers and their regime in Addis Ababa.

As stated in Parliament in Addis on the 29th March:

“Ethiopia’s House of Peoples’ Representatives voted to extend the State of Emergency by four months on Wednesday (March 29), passing a bill entitled “State of Emergency Proclamation for the Maintenance of Public Peace and Security Renewal” (…) “This extends the proclamation decreed in October last year. The Minister of Defense and Secretary of the Command Post responsible for enforcing the State of Emergency, Siraj Fegessa, told Parliament that the Command Post, chaired by Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn, wanted to see the emergency decree extended to reinforce “the peace and stability which has been gained since Parliament declared the State of the Emergency” (…) “The State of Emergency has been amended twice since October, with the lifting of the curfews imposed on areas close to industrial sites and major development projects. More recently, it has also ended the arrest of suspects without court warrants, and lifted travel restrictions for diplomats” (…) “The vote this week follows the Prime Minister’s statement to Parliament two weeks ago that “the majority of people surveyed by the government wanted to see the emergency law extended.” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia, 31.03.2017).

So even if this is a softer ban and less limiting of the public will and public opinion, still the clear picture is that the dissidents of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), will certainly get into arrests, detained or even taken away. The amount of citizens arrested during the period has amounted to 20,000 by some estimation. That is the size of decent town put into camps to silence their disobedient selves.

Good that somebody reacts to the measure:

“The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Ethiopia (CAHDE) is considering to mount a legal challenge against the legality of the state of emergency and its extension before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and other relevant international human rights forums” (…) “We believe that the emergency did not meet the requirements of Ethiopian law and applicable international legal standards. Even if one assumes that there were reasonable grounds to believe that exceptional measures were necessary to respond to the ‘threat’ represented by the protests, the continued enforcement and extension of emergency measures is totally unjustified and disproportionate to the exigencies of the circumstances” (CAHDE, 31.03.2017).

So even Human rights observers and NGOs are reacting to the measure made by the Central Government to silence the provinces and regions who are in turmoil, where the army has used force and the police has rounded up locals. Where the cellphone coverage, internet that has been for long time disconnected by the regime and the other needed infrastructure has dwindled away. This is happening while the citizens are scrambling to survive in the efforts of the government to destroy their livelihoods and will to stand-up against them. If the government we’re democratic than they would accept that Amhara and Oromia we’re addressing the misgivings and the maladministration of the regions, while trying to negotiate and even give way to civilians. Instead, they are sending weapons, soldiers and turning of the electricity, and phone-lines. Such noble creatures in the EPRDF.

However, we do know now that the EPRDF now fears demonstrations and dissidents so much that would kill their own, create lack of food and use the extended drought to see who will be loyal subjects, as the oppression and extended security operation inside the regions has not stopped and doesn’t seem to have an idea of when to stop. The reality is that the false flag of wishful peace, when they themselves pick up the guns or the bracelets to detain or kill fellow citizens. That is the end game of the Ethiopian tragedy, where to many lives are lost for wanting a government that cares about more than their own pockets. As seen repeatedly, that they do not care and surely the citizens wants someone govern with accountability and transparency in Amhara and Oromia. That is surely not happening now! Peace.

Troika statement on South Sudan (31.03.2017)

UK, US and Norway call on all parties in South Sudan to commit to a ceasefire immediately.

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 31, 2017 – The members of the Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) reiterate their strong support for the combined efforts of the African Union (AU), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and United Nations to end the conflict in South Sudan, and join in their recent calls on all armed parties, including the Government of South Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, and other armed groups, to commit to a ceasefire. The Troika welcomes the recent commitment by President Kiir to IGAD leaders to announce a unilateral ceasefire by government forces, and it calls upon him to ensure that his order is carried out immediately and in full effect.

The Troika underlines that the dire humanitarian crisis in South Sudan is the direct result of the conflict and demands that all parties cease violence against humanitarian workers and obstruction of humanitarian assistance. Military offensives and the obstruction of lifesaving assistance must stop immediately in order to end the suffering and severe food shortages inflicted upon millions across South Sudan.

The Troika reiterates that there is no military solution to this conflict and that a durable end to the conflict will require a political process involving all the principal parties. An inclusive national dialogue, deemed credible by the South Sudanese people, could provide a means to redress root causes of conflict and build a true national consensus. As President Kiir committed in announcing the planned national dialogue, it should supplement, and not replace, the core elements of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.

The Troika endorses the ongoing efforts of AU High Representative Alpha Konarée and UN Special Envoy Nicholas Haysom to encourage all parties to end fighting and engage in peaceful dialogue. It also fully supports Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission Chairperson Festus Mogae’s work towards a truly inclusive and effective process to implement the Agreement. In addition, the Troika endorses the work of the UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan, and the deployment of its Regional Protection Force. Lastly, the Troika notes the importance of breaking the cycle of impunity, and encourages further progress by the AU toward the rapid establishment of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan.

 

U.S. House of Rep. Smith’s got the Honest ACT passed, that regulates EPA opportunity to spread information!

“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.” – Garry Kasparov

Welcome to the Banana Republic, the United States of America (USA), the Trump Administration has a new golden child and has to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that has to be silenced. The EPA under Scott Pruitt. The Environment and Climate Change is lie under the Trump regime, that is myth that the environment gets destroyed or worsen by industry or mineral extraction. Still, they have to make sure that the EPA doesn’t explain the environmental regulations without any scientific evidence. It has to be tested and retested the narratives, as the EPA should not question the need for free release of CO2 or any other damaging gas that can worsen the sky, or the after effects of crude-oil pipelines and the damage of soil in the areas after fracking.

Well, take a look at the Lamar Smith proposal that get through and passed in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday:

“To prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from proposing, finalizing, or disseminating regulations or assessments based upon science that is not transparent or reproducible” (…) “The Administrator shall not propose, finalize, or disseminate a covered action unless all scientific and technical information relied on to support such covered action is” (…) “publicly available online in a manner that is sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results, except that any personally identifiable information, trade secrets, or commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential, shall be redacted prior to public availability” (H.R. 1430, 2017).

Representative Lamar Smith the man behind the bill, who has a magical fascination with silencing and stopping the EPA, as he is from San Antonio, Texas and Republican, surely if somebody would have remembered what sort of greatness, he showed in February:

“On Tuesday, Smith held a hearing titled “Making the E.P.A. Great Again.” From the list of witnesses, it was clear that Smith was not, however, interested in improving the E.P.A.—in fact, just the reverse. One of the witnesses was a lobbyist for the coal industry, another a lobbyist for the chemical industry. In a display of hypocrisy so blatant it could have been hilarious, but wasn’t, Smith used his opening statement to rail against “conflicts of interest” at the E.P.A. The agency, he complained, depended on the expertise of scientists to whom it sometimes also awards research grants. His proposed solution to this problem? To stack the E.P.A.’s science advisory board with scientists who work for regulated industries” (Kolbert, 2017).

So Rep. Smith has no issues listening to the Coal, Chemical and Oil industry, if it benefits them at a U.S. House hearing on making EPA great again, like the ones who wants to pollute and drop hazard into the environment for a buck is the ones to listen to. Shows the lack of thinking and integrity that is in the Washington D.C. right now and is accepted by the Trump Administration. Where the businesses are more important nature and the future, where the kids of Trump has to live in wasteland and in narrow future of damaged rivers, creeks and polluted air.

The donors for the 2015-2016 Campaign for the U.S. House Representative for Texas and parts of Committee for Science, Space and Technology, those we’re $95,050 from Oil and Gas, either as PACs or individuals, other important donors for the campaign of Smith we’re Nustar Energy, AT&T, Boeing Co., Koch Industries and Marathon Petroleum (Check Opensecrets.org).

So, the man who has massive support for his elections and campaigns was supported through business who needs to extract their resources and has to pollute to do so. It could seem that they scratched an itch for the Representative and when he was elected he scratched an itch for them. Instead of direct brown envelopes directly into the pocket of the representative, they paid for his campaign and his viable campaign in Texas.

Now that he has a place on the Committee for Science, Space and Technology, there he can change legislation that fits Nustar, AT&T, Boeing Co., Koch Industries and Marathon Petroleum, as they will not have any sort of information that cannot be verified by generous study. They have been silenced and cannot question climate change or even the implication of pollution or environmental damages by industry, as the Honest ACT, who is made to stop certain information from getting into public.

So it it good to know that the EPA sentiment is old:

“But I don’t know whether Americans want the EPA and Congress to be honest. You say, “What do you mean, Williams?” There are numerous laws, restrictions and regulations based upon the EPA’s fraudulent report on secondhand tobacco smoke. How many Americans do you think would say, “Hey, now that we know that EPA 1992 report was a fraud, let’s repeal all those laws and regulations based upon it”? I’m guessing most would say, “I don’t like the smell of cigarettes and if it takes government fraud and duping the public to get rid of it, so be it.” (Williams, 1999).

So there are surely many who has hard feelings against the EPA and their practices, but they should still wonder if it is wise to stop the EPA. They might get wealth to buy cars, but nature is not something that returns after you have used it and extracted the minerals. There are so many places destroyed by industry and not habitable, so much touched nature that will not come back after oil industry and other industry has used their tools. Together with the knowledge of pollution, there are invisible particles that might hurt mother nature on the long run, but that doesn’t Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump or Lamar Smith. Peace.

Reference:

Kolbert, Elizabeth – ‘THE CONGRESSMAN WHO’S TRYING TO MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT WORSE, AGAIN’ (08.03.2017) link: http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-congressman-whos-trying-to-make-the-environment-worse-again

U.S. House of Representatives: H. R. 1430 – ‘Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act of 2017’ or Honest ACT (29.03.2017)

Williams, Walter – ‘Do Americans want honest EPA?’ (09.06.1999) link: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/701389/Do-Americans-want-honest-EPA.html

RDC: Rassemblement – Lettre de Félix Tshisekedi adressée à Antonio Guterres , Secrétaire Général des Nations Unies 28 mars 2017

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