Statement by Karim A. A. Khan QC, Lead Counsel for H.E. William Ruto, regarding the reported abduction and murder of Mr. Meshak Yebei (13.01.2015)

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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNEMPLOYED (NAU) Press Statement 12 January 2015

12ndJan2015

Dear fellow Country Men and Women, happy New Year.

2014 was at all not an easy journey to travel. The climb was steep but we climbed to the top, the journey was long but we managed to get to our destination, the task seemed mountainous but we got to the peak. As NAU we can only say that was the end of the start.

National Association of the unemployed would like to take this opportunity to salute all of you, fellow Ugandans especially those who braved all the bad conditions prevailing in our country in form of unemployment and all its associated economic resultants, intransigence of government, arbitrary arrests of activists, brutality in the hands of the state to mention but a few.

In a special way NAU takes this opportunity to mention that we stand by and will continue to stand with our brothers and sisters from Kisekka market who were recently rendered unemployed by the actions and policies of the NRM regime. We will support you in any way we can and in all actions you chose to undertake to defend your rights.  We want to tell you, that the demolition of this market was not driven by development need but the need by the regime to disperse these organised pro-democracy comrades who worked there. These hasty actions were not out of the need that you become better rather that you are isolated- dividing your effort is the point here. These are actions of a regime that is afraid of the citizens.

We take this opportunity to inform the world about the NAU nationwide rallies that will commence on 22nd Jan 2015. NAU registration was very successful and the achievements were way above our own expectation despite the brutal response from police. We know they wanted us to fail but they instead failed because we achieved. And we want to congratulate all the gallant members of NAU who refused to be intimidated and got registered both manually and online.

We want to disappoint this manuscript minded members of this government who thought by arresting our enumerators was to stop the registration and therefore cause the death of NAU. Our message to you is that this is the twenty first century. The online registration is still going on and in big numbers.

As the online registration is going on, the rallies that are intended to explain to Ugandans our side of the story. It must be noted that government propagandist tried in vain to link NAU to all illegal activities including armed rebellion intentionally ignoring the issues we raised in our concept paper. We left them to finish their side of the story and now we want to also explain our side of the story so that the common man can be able to judge who was truthful.

The other reason why we opt to begin public rallies is because government failure to give an ear to the documented suggestions we made as NAU. We therefore want to take this same issues to the common man so that we seek a possibility where these issues can be turned into a campaign issue and we intend to make it extremely risky for any candidate to simply ignore them. This should comfort NRM that NAU doesn’t exclusively target them but wants ears of all those who can be of help to the condition that has befallen the youth of this country. The NRM regime only finds itself in the firing line because they are in government and are duty bound to handle such issues.

In conclusion, we want to request every Ugandan to put making Uganda a country where we all feel part of as one of their New Year’s resolution. These 12 months are another opportunity God has given you to be recorded by history as part of those who stood firm in the face of extreme threat to make your country better.

You must get tired of government policies which perpetuate unemployment, you must get tired of anti-people KCCA actions, you must get tired of sectarianism, you must get tired of impunity, you must get tired of corruption, and you must get real tired and make your anger known to the appropriate authorities. We are aware that many may fear to engage now for fear of ruthless response by government. But I tell you if your only fear is that you may be shoot dead, poisoned to death or killed by any way. You must remember that the cost of inaction is always higher than that of action.

For my Baganda brothers and sisters, the proverb that “ekilya atabaala kyekilya nasigadde ewaka.” Must be always in your heads.

God Bless you,

For God and My Country

Contact; 0705856562 and 0701756756

Press Release: China urges efforts of G77 toward new type of international relations

Jan 9,2015 4:34 PM     Xinhua

UNITED NATIONS — A Chinese envoy on Jan 8 called on the Group of 77 (G77) to promote establishment of a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core.

Liu Jieyi, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks at a ceremony at the U.N. headquarters where Bolivia handed over the rotating chairmanship of the G77 to South Africa.

“We are convinced that under the leadership of South Africa, the Group of 77 and China will continue to carry forward the fine tradition of solidarity and cooperation, and further promote cooperation and common development of the developing world,” he said.

The year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of both the victory of the world anti-fascist war and the founding of the United Nations, Liu said, adding that it will be a year of great significance with milestones to be set: preserving world peace, promoting common development and establishing a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core.

The ambassador said that as a committed member of the developing world, China greatly values the role of the G77 and cherishes the G77 plus China mechanism.

“We will as always endeavor to strengthen coordination and cooperation with all members of the Group and give all our support to the work of South Africa as the chair of the Group for the year 2015,” Liu said.

The G77, established in 1964, is now a coalition of more than 130 developing U.N. member states plus China, and has more than 60 percent of the world’s population.

The group is the largest intergovernmental organization of developing countries in the world body, aiming to promote collective economic interests and gain leverage within the international community.

The chairmanship, which sits atop the organizational structure of G77, rotates on a regional basis among countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean and is held for one year only.

The EFF statement on the hollow recitals of the freedom charter by the ANC:

10 January 2015

The Economic Freedom Fighters notes the attempts by Mr. Jacob Zuma, the President of the ANC to restate the Freedom Charter as if it is the programme of the ANC, while all evidence is out there for all to see that the ANC has abandoned the Freedom Charter. In the speech delivered during the rally in Cape Town, Mr. Zuma recurrently mentioned key clauses of the Freedom Charter and ‘economic freedom’, yet made no concrete commitments and programme on how the ANC government will realise the Freedom Charter and economic freedom.

The EFF is aware that the whole intention of the ANC January 8 statement was an attempt to try to copy and therefore undermine the radical and militant programme of the Economic Freedom Fighters, because our programme is the only programme that finds true resonance with the people of South Africa. The EFF remains the only radical and militant movement which unapologetically pursues a radical economic revolution programme which will change the lives of our people. An attempt by the ANC to imitate the radical programme of the EFF only through rhetoric will always be exposed as pure farce because the ANC government is implementing a neo-liberal, right wing and capitalist programme called the National Development Plan: Vision 2030.

The NDP: Vision 2030 is the official programme of the ANC, adopted in their 53rd National Conference, and any talk of the Freedom Charter is meant to mislead the people of South Africa. What we know about the Freedom Charter, which the ANC government will never implement are the following:

  • The Freedom Charter says ‘the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industries shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole”, and this has been correctly understood in the former liberation movement as Nationalisation of Mines. What we know is that the ANC will never nationalise Mines because majority of its senior leaders are privately benefitting from privately owned Mines.
  • The Freedom Charter says ‘all other trade and industry shall be controlled to assist the wellbeing of the people”. What we know is that the ANC is committed to free-market capitalism and will never control trade for the benefit of the people.
  • The Freedom Charter says ‘land shall be shared amongst those who work it’. What we know as a fact is that the ANC has dismally failed to redistribute land and will continue to buy land from those who stole it, despite their admission that the willing-buyer willing-seller approach to land redistribution has dismally failed.
  • The Freedom Charter says, “all shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose”. What we know is that the ANC government will never allow even landless people to occupy land wherever they choose, but will instead send murderous police to evict people from the land as they did in Lenasia and Lwandle.
  • The Freedom Charter says ‘the doors of learning and culture shall be opened”. What we know is that the ANC government has dismally failed to provide free quality education as post secondary level and have not built adequate capacity to absorb the entirety of students who exit the secondary schooling level.
  • The Freedom Charter says, “slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches and social centres”. What we know is that 21 years since the first inclusive elections with the ANC in power, more than 15% of the South African population lives in slums and informal settlements.

These key tenets of the Freedom Charter and many others are not contained in the National Development Plan, which is the official government plan of the ANC and the right wing political parties in Parliament.

The EFF speaks about the Freedom Charter because our Founding Manifesto says,

“The EFF draws inspiration from the radical, working class interpretation of the Freedom Charter, because, since its adoption in 1955, there have been various meanings given to the Freedom Charter. The EFF’s interpretation of the Freedom Charter is one which says South Africa indeed belongs to all who live in it, and ownership of South Africa’s economic resources and access to opportunities should reflect that indeed South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
The EFF’s interpretation of the Freedom Charter is that which says the transfer of mineral wealth beneath the soil, monopoly industries and banks means nationalisation of mines, banks and monopoly industries”.

The rhetorical commitment to the Freedom Charter by Mr. Zuma is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the genuinely radical economic freedom programme and struggle of the EFF. This is done because the ANC has run out of ideas. It is evidently clear that with age and many years of existence, the ANC is not maturing, but suffering from memory loss and lack of creativity and innovation. The ANC cannot think and always rely of imitating even Kwaito musicians hence their slogan of ANC Kuze Kose and ANC Y’tjukutja because they take ideas of Kwaito musicians, not vice versa. They even tried to imitate the runaway success of the EFF’s red beret and overalls.

The EFF remains the only hope for the people of South Africa and will inspire many generations to come because when we take over political power, we will capture the State, and redistribute the economy for the benefit of all. Once again, the EFF has proven that we are the vanguard of the working class and revolutionary ideas in South African society and those who copy us should do so with care because we will always expose fake imitatations that are not genuine.

ISSUED BY THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS
LEHLOHONOLO FANA MOKOENA (Acting National Spokesperson)
Cell Number: +27817244799
Websitehttp://www.effighters.org.za/
Emailcommunications@effighters.org.za
Facebook: Fana L Mokoena || Twitter: @EconFreedomZA and @fanamokoena

British High Commission Press Statement: British charity, UK Police Aid Convoys, gifts Tanzania medical equipment (09.01.2015)

BHCTAN

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Press Release No. 15/02: IMF Executive Board Completes First PSI Review for Tanzania

January 7, 2015

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund completed today the first review of Tanzania’s economic performance under the program supported by the Policy Support Instrument (PSI)1 and granted a waiver for the non-observance of the continuous assessment criterion on the non-accumulation of external arrears.

The PSI for Tanzania was approved by the Executive Board on July 16, 2014 (see Press Release No. 14/350). Tanzania’s program under the PSI supports the authorities’ medium-term objectives. These include: the maintenance of macroeconomic stability, the preservation of debt sustainability, and the promotion of more equitable growth and job creation.

Following the Board discussion, Mr. Min Zhu, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, made the following statement:

“Macroeconomic developments in Tanzania remain favorable. Economic growth was strong during the first half of 2014 and is expected to remain close to 7 percent. Inflation remains in mid-single digits, consistent with the authorities’ target of 5 percent by June 2015.“

Performance under the Policy Support Instrument was satisfactory through June, but has deteriorated since and risks have risen, stemming from delays in disbursements of donor assistance and external nonconcessional borrowing, and shortfalls in domestic revenues. Against this backdrop, the authorities’ commitment to keep the program on track is welcome, and they have reaffirmed their intention to meet the budget deficit target and will review revenues and adjust expenditures accordingly in the context of the mid-year budget review. It will be critical to the business environment to address the governance issues raised by the IPTL case, which would also unlock donor assistance.

“It will be important to strengthen the coordination between fiscal and monetary policies. The conversion of monetary policy instruments to financing papers facilitated the front-loading of capital expenditures but complicated monetary policy implementation. It will be more effective and less disruptive to accommodate the planned expenditure through better planning to align spending and financing.“

“The issue of domestic arrears, which continued to accumulate, needs to be addressed comprehensively and forcefully. Work to verify and eventually clear arrears to suppliers already incurred is ongoing. The authorities’ plan to prevent future arrears accumulation is appropriately ambitious and will require sustained implementation. Addressing arrears to pension funds and making government relations with them more transparent is also critical to their sustainability.”


1 The PSI is an instrument of the IMF designed for countries that do not need balance of payments financial support. The PSI helps countries design effective economic programs that, once approved by the IMF’s Executive Board, signal to donors, multilateral development banks, and markets the Fund’s endorsement of a member’s policies (seehttp://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/psi.htm). Details on Tanzania’s PSI program are available at www.imf.org/tanzania.

Press Release: SAMWU Disappointed by the Enactment of the Public Administration Management Act

 

 07 January 2015

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) is disappointed by the enactment of the Public Administration Management Act by President Jacob Zuma in December 2014. Although SAMWU agrees with some of the content of the legislation, we however view the Act as unconstitutional and will definitely erode the gains that organised labour has made through collective bargaining as envisaged by the Labour Relations Act.

The Act seeks to among other things, to promote high standards of professional ethics in public administration, to promote efficient service delivery and to facilitate the eradication and prevention of unethical practices in the public administration. All this is to be achieved by putting in place basic values and principles which would govern public administration. The Act further seeks to develop capacity for officials, we hope that Chapter 4 of the Act will be used as a tool to empower and develop the lowest paid workers particularly municipal workers some of whom are paid as little as R50/day. 

SAMWU has and continues to be proponents of ethical and transparent government especially in our sector- local government. We hope that the enforcement of the Act will trickle down to all spheres of government starting with national government. We are however of the view that National Government should set a precedent of dealing with state resources. As such, we are concerned by the enforcement of this Act. Although the Act provides for the creation of an Integrity Unit which will be responsible for the enforcement of this Act, there seems to be no willingness by the state to put in place monitoring mechanisms of other legislation in the country. Certain legislations are in place such as the Ministerial Handbook, however we still have incidences where one man buys a R1 million BMW at the state’s cost while another spends R5 million on luxury vehicles in a single year, this being done while the Ministerial Handbook stipulates that these people may only purchase vehicles not exceeding 70% of their annual salaries.

The signing of this Act is but a realisation of most arguments that SAMWU has advanced for a long time. The Act requires officials seeking employment or already employed in the public administration to disclose their financial interests including that of their spouses for any shares, sponsorships, benefits and immovable property. Failure to make such disclosure by an employee would constitute misconduct. The Act further makes it illegal for any public administration official to do business with the state. SAMWU has and continues to be of the view that no official should be do business with the state as this plays a role in corrupting officials. 

We are however concerned that the Act only targets officials not acknowledging that in any corrupt relationship there is a corruptee and a corruptor. In the interest of Public Administration Management, the Act should be extended to political office bearers. Truth of the matter is that politicians are responsible for most of the corruption witnessed in government, they are in pole position to influence the direction that government business goes, history has taught us that this is how many politicians have managed to enrich themselves. The country needs an act that is cut across and is inclusive of everyone who is involved in the supply chain and procurements that all spheres undertake, including political office bearers. 

The 2012/2013 Auditor General’s report into Municipalities has shown that most municipalities received the audit outcomes they received as a result of contracts being awarded to companies which officials had interests in. One cannot measure the prevalence of the problem but clearly doing business with the state has become profitable for some individuals. For the state to enjoy sound and healthy finances especially in local government, there should be an overhaul of the manner in which municipalities conduct their business, local government should re-municipalise. The provisions of municipal services though contracts and tenders has neither been in the interest of service delivery nor kind to the public purse, if anything we have only seen privatisation of municipal services and the emergence of tenderpreneurs who charge municipalities ridiculous amounts compared to the costs that municipalities would have incurred if they were rendering such services on their own. 

Overall our view is that this Act is unconstitutional on the basis of its selectivity between political office bearers & public servants. Furthermore the Act seeks to give power to integrity unit to preside over disciplinary matters. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act is clear that such matters are subject to negotiations at bargaining councils. The laws of this country must apply to all equally and there no reason why politicians should receive preferential treatment. We should note that the LRA takes precedence over any labour matters, the LRA further gives a platform for the establishment of bargaining councils and the Act undermines their existence. Our fear is that by virtue of secondments, those who refuse the secondment may be victimised or even worse dismissed for refusing to move to another sphere of government.  

The act further undermines the recruitment and selections policies that already exist in all spheres of governments. We are further concerned that the Act may be used to lure skilled personnel from local government to other spheres of government. SAMWU has long maintained that there should be devolution of powers, that certain functions performed by provincial government should be returned and / or handed over to local government as they are primary functions of municipalities. Provincial government tend to attract skilled personnel who are at the end of the day not uterlised to the best of their abilities by provincial government whereas they can service communities better if they were employed by local government.

Statement by Walter Theledi, General Secretary 

Issued by SAMWU Head Office

Papikie Mohale

National Media Officer

South African Municipal Workers’ Union

84 Fredericks Street

Johannesburg

2001

M: 0604166661

T: 0111002615

E: Papikie@samwu.org.za

Memo 15/3046: EC – Lithuanians are getting used to Euro Cash

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Press Release: UNDP and Zambian Government sign multi-donor support for the 2015 presidential by-election

05 Jan 2015

Lusaka  –  The Ministry of Finance, Electoral Commission of Zambia, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of Ireland, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America have entered into a cooperative agreement to support the 2015 Presidential Election to be held on 20 January, 2015 with a total sum of USD3.09 million.

UNDP will co-ordinate direct electoral support to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) on behalf of the cooperating partners with respective support levels of: Ireland – $62,000; Japan – $642,000; Sweden – $600,000; United Kingdom – $940,000; United States of America – $450,000 and UNDP – $400,000.

The Programme will focus on four components of credible elections: well informed voters and broad understanding of the electoral process, availability of key electoral information materials such as the Electoral Act, the Electoral Code of Conduct, Pocket books for Police on policing elections prior to and on polling day and that alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are in place to handle disputes prior to or after election day.

The project document signed with the Government of the Republic of Zambia on 11 December, 2014 is a positive development towards enhancing democratic governance which is identified as one of the priority reforms in the Revised Sixth National Development Plan 2011-2016 (R-SNDP). The consolidated support is intended to contribute to free, fair and peaceful elections in Zambia. The support will strengthen the institutions that deliver successful elections and increase citizen participation in national processes.

Commenting on the support garnered for the electoral process, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Ms Janet Rogan stated that “Zambia’s electoral process has matured over the years and it is essential that the country continues to hold free, fair and peaceful elections that are of top quality.”

“Democratic principles are founded on strong institutions and the ability of citizens to participate and demand transparent and accountable national processes,” Ms Rogan added.

All partners hope that Zambia continues to enhance its electoral process and provide for equal participation for all citizens in the process.

ADM 7/168/01 Re – Land for the Sugar Project in Amuru District (11th December 2014, Uganda)

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