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Wednesday 1 June 2016

[afrocarpus] British High Commissioner is undermining the fight against corruption

 

British High Commissioner is undermining the fight against corruption

 
PRESS STATEMENT

Our attention has been drawn to comments by Mr. Jon Benjamin, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, making comments on social media that Mr. Allotey Jacobs , the Central Regional Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress was not arrested at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom.

Mr Jon Benjamin says the reports are untrue and took the opportunity to rail on twitter that his peaceful Sunday has been disrupted.

We find his comments not only strange but also extremely disappointing. It is a fact that an incident took place at the Heathrow Airport but as good Ghanaian citizens living in the UK ,respecting the laws of the United Kingdom and the confidentiality of the security agencies who are carrying out investigations regarding Data Protection, we reserve further comment.

First of all, we will like to state clearly that Mr Jon Benjamin is not the Ghana Ambassador to the UK .The alleged incident took place on UK soil involving a Ghanaian citizen and a close confidante of the President of Ghana.

Forty Eight hours after the incident was exposed in the media, the Ghanaian High Commissioner, Victor Smith strangely kept his mouth shut. Mr Allotey Jacobs, who is at the centre of this brouhaha, with allegations that he was carrying 500,000 pounds on his person kept quiet and only found his voice after the British High commissioner intervened and made his comments on social media through twitter .

We learn with disquiet, that, Mr Jacobs has since granted interviews to some radio stations in Accra; making vile threats to visit mayhem on Ghanaians and the media if and whenever he returns to Ghana. What does Mr Jon Benjamin have to say about this?

British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, recently at an Anti-Corruption summit in London pledged to do more to fight corruption-especially in Africa, where some African leaders, including Ghanaians,steal the wealth of their nations ,board airlines and come to the UK to deposit monies in UK bank accounts.

We share Mr Cameron's vision .

We are unsure whether Mr. Jon Benjamin, the British High Commissioner to Ghana shares this vision of the British government even though he represents their interests in Ghana.

Isn't his maverick posture undermining the fight against corruption when Ghanaians resident in Ghana and in the UK are making a concerted effort to support his own Prime Ministers drive to root out corruption especially in our country?

We call for an independent enquiry and investigation into these allegations, and why it took so long for our Foreign Minister, Madam Hannah Tetteh, Ghana High Commissioner, Mr Victor Smith and the President John Mahama to respond.

We would like to believe that foreign diplomats in Ghana know their boundaries of maintaining neutrality, not interfering in the internal politics of the countries they serve, and not using their positions to stifle the truth, influence debate and public opinion.

Edward Nii Boye Ashong, Chairman -07956381123 George Sackey Deputy Chairman-07825467880 Abraham Osei Mintah , Director of operations -07448496845 Nana Kwaku Ansah, Spokesperson -07411461007

cc- The Minister for Africa, The Foreign Office ,King Charles Street SW1 The commonwealth Secretariat, London The office of the Prime Minister, No 10 Downing Street, London SW1 The Ghana High Commission, Belgrave Square London SW1

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/British-High-Commissioner-is-undermining-the-fight-against-corruption-443344

Migrant crisis fuels sex trafficking of Nigerian girls to Europe

By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Kieran Guilbert
ABUJA/DAKAR, May 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A promising student who dreamed of going to university, Mary was 16 when a woman approached her mother at their home and offered to take the Nigerian teenager to Italy to find work.
Pushed to go by her family who hoped she would lift them out of poverty, Mary ended up being trafficked into prostitution.
Her voice faltering, Mary described three years of being forced to sell her body, beatings, threats at gunpoint and being made to watch as a 14-year-old virgin was raped with a carrot before being sent on to the streets of Turin in northwest Italy.
After being arrested by Italian police, Mary was repatriated to Nigeria's southern Edo state in 2001, but she was rejected by her family and left feeling like a failure.
"I returned with nothing," Mary, now 35, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Benin city in Edo. "I hated myself."
While Mary's ordeal ended 15 years ago, a soaring number of Nigerian girls like her are being trafficked to Europe - mainly Italy - and forced to sell sex by gangs taking advantage of the chaos caused by the migrant crisis, anti-slavery activists say.
Thousands of women and girls are lured to Europe each year with the promise of work, then trapped by huge debts and bound to their traffickers by a religious ritual - the curse of juju.
"The victims are getting younger as girls, mainly those in rural areas, are more likely to focus on the positive stories of those who made it to Europe and didn't end up in prostitution," said Katharine Bryant of the Walk Free Foundation rights group.
She spoke ahead of the launch of the third Global Slavery Index, which found Nigeria has the world's eighth highest number of slaves - 875,500 - and is a key source country for women trafficked to Europe and sold into sex work.
BOUND BY JUJU
More than nine in 10 of the Nigerian women trafficked to Europe come from Edo, a predominantly Christian state with a population of about 3 million, according to the United Nations.
While Edo is not among the country's poorest states, its history of migration to Italy has fuelled locals' hopes of easy money in Europe - leaving people vulnerable to traffickers, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.

More than 2,500 refugees and migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, UN reveals

 
At least seven migrants drowned after the heavily overcrowded boat they were sailing on overturned on May 25 Credit: AFP
The first five months of this year have been "particularly deadly" for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, the United Nations said, as Libyan officials admitted that they were powerless to stop the tide of humanity leaving the country's desert shores.
More than 2,500 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in rubber dinghies and rusting fishing boats so far this year, the UN's refugee agency said in a report released on Tuesday.
That number represents a significant increase compared with the same period last year, when 1,855 migrants lost their lives after their boats capsized and sank.  In 2014, the figure for the same period was just 57.
Orphaned baby girl rescued off Libyan coast Play! 00:23
While large numbers of migrants, including women and children, are dying at sea, tens of thousands of others successfully reach southern Europe, with around 204,000 making the journey to Italy and Greece since January.
Three-quarters of those landed on Greece's eastern islands, before an accord between the EU and Ankara in March choked off the migrant route across the Aegean.
"2016 is proving to be particularly deadly," said William Spindler, a UNHCR spokesman. 
He said that in the past week alone, at least 880 migrants had died in a series of shipwrecks – significantly higher than the 700 cited by other humanitarian agencies at the weekend. Even that figure was "a conservative estimate," he said.
The odds of dying on the route between Libya and Italy, which is longer and much more dangerous than the crossings across the Aegean, is now one in 23.
2016 is proving to be particularly deadlyUNHCR spokesman William Spindler
So far this year, nearly 47,000 migrants have reached Italy, the vast majority of them sub-Saharan Africans from countries like Senegal, Nigeria and Gambia, who are classed as economic migrants, as well as many from Eritrea and Somalia, who are more likely to be viewed as asylum seekers.
With smuggling gangs operating along the Libyan coast with apparent impunity, the country's ambassador to Italy admitted that the country is, for now, powerless to stop them sending their human cargo across the Mediterranean.
Ahmed Safar, who was brought up in London and studied at Oxford, said the fledgling Libyan government of national accord (GNA) lacked a functioning coast guard, navy, police force, army and intelligence network to begin taking on the smuggling syndicates. 
He said the GNA, which is based in Tripoli, did not have "full control over certain territories", referring to the myriad rebel groups operating in the country, as well as the presence of Islamic State in the coastal city of Sirte.
It was impossible to say how many migrants were in Libya waiting to cross to Italy, the ambassador said. A fleet of five or six coastguard vessels is being re-fitted in Tunisia and would be delivered soon, but for now Libya has no functioning coast guard at all, Mr Safar conceded. "There are no vessels operating at the moment."
Confronting the migration crisis would involve the challenging task of securing Libya's southern desert borders, receiving help from the EU to re-establish the coast guard, and establishing facilities within the country where migrants would apply for asylum in Europe, without risking the dangerous passage by sea.
Islamic State is heavily involved in the smuggling business, working with local gangs to make money out of sending migrants across the Mediterranean in frequently unseaworthy boats, the ambassador said.
Libyan forces, allied with some rebel groups, had "surrounded" the IS stronghold of Sirte and had killed or captured around 600 IS fighters, the ambassador claimed – a figure likely to be greeted with skepticism by independent experts. "The battlefield is clearly in Sirte and progress has been evident in the last few days," he said.  Libyan regime forces were within 12 miles of the city centre.
"This is an important moment for Libya. The battle for Sirte has brought together the government and other armed groups."
Migrants plead for water as Italian Coast Guard approaches to rescue them Play! 00:33
Libyans would "resent" any large-scale foreign military intervention, the ambassador said, but he tacitly acknowledged that small numbers of British, French and American special forces are operating in the country, referring to them as "international advisors".
Islamic State took advantage of the security vacuum in Libya to seize control of Sirte last year, extending its presence along about 150 miles of coastline either side of the city.
The group is being gradually pushed back, the ambassador said, adding that he thought that reports of 6,000 to 8,000 IS fighters in Libya were wildly exaggerated. The UN's special envoy to Libya said on Tuesday that the country would not be able to defeat IS unless the various military and militia groups joined forces.
Migrants explain why they boarded boat for Europe Play! 02:11
A unity deal, struck in December, was supposed to end the divide between rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk who have vied for control over the country and its oil resources since 2014. 
The competing factions helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Martin Kobler, the envoy, said a united command structure was needed under control of Fayaz Seraj, the head of the UN-backed GNA, which arrived in Tripoli in late March and is still trying to establish its authority.
"One point must be very clear. The fight against Daesh must first be a Libyan fight and a united fight," said Mr Kobler, referring to the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "Nobody acting alone will succeed. That's why it's important that all security actors in the west and east unite their forces."

Somalia President wants total ban on miraa in his country

Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud wants miraa banned in his country. This move is expected to deal a heavy blow to the already struggling miraa trade in Kenya.
Speaking in Mogadishu on Monday, Mohamud said the trade and consumption of the stimulant plant has a "devastating" impact on Somalis and must be banned. "Miraa has a devastating impact on society. We have a series of discussions and consultations and we agreed to end the trade of the narcotic leaf," he said. "We will first act by reducing its trade and finally put an end to it."
His action is seen as hitting back at Kenya's plan to shut the Dadaab camp and the repatriation of Somali refugees. Somalia has termed the shutting of the camp "irregular".
Kenya and Somalia also has a diplomatic strain resulting from the long-standing border dispute at the International Court of Justice. The hearing starts on September 19-23. Kenya has unsuccessfully attempted to convince Somalia to withdraw the case for local bilateral resolution. The disputed area in the Indian Ocean, stretch more than 100,000km, with huge oil and gas deposits.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has also threatened to withdraw KDF from Somalia, citing donor fund cuts. But observers believe, it is part of bigger scheme to "punish" the country, which is already struggling to defeat al Shabaab terror group.
Before President Mohamud's announcement, Somalia had already imposed a 100 per cent tax on miraa. It is Kenya's main miraa trading block, accounting for 90 per cent of exports.
An average of 16 flights depart to and from Mogadishu everyday carrying miraa, which is sold m

500,000 migrants could move to UK under new EU rules

Up to half a million refugees and their relatives could move to Britain after 2020 because of new EU rules on the free movement of people, a new report by Migrant Watch claims.
The group, which campaigns for tighter border controls, says a projected 968,000 migrants will have been granted asylum or humanitarian protection in 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.
It argues that those granted asylum in Germany, Greece and Italy could settle in the UK in the coming years after they have acquired EU citizenship.

Horn of Africa: World Bank $175 Million Financing Supports Regional Initiative on Communities Hosting Refugees

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2016—The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved $175 million in financing to help mitigate the impact of forced displacement on refugee-hosting communities in the Horn of Africa.
"While much of the world's attention has been on the refugees' crises in the Middle East, we must do much more to help African countries respond to the long-term forced displacement of millions of people," said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. "Our financing for countries hosting refugees in the Horn of Africa should bring more stability to the region and offer more economic opportunities for people living in these areas."  
The funding comes from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the poorest, and includes $100 million to Ethiopia, $50 million to Uganda, $20 million to Djibouti – all at low to no-interest -- and a $5 million grant to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Despite rich human, social, and natural capital, the Horn of Africa region, home to 242 million inhabitants, suffers weak governance, insecurity, increasing environmental degradation, entrenched poverty, and other persistent development challenges. Conflict remains endemic, compounded by population growth and migration, high youth unemployment, imbalanced service provision, competition for scarce natural resources, and harsh climatic conditions, with increasingly frequent and severe droughts and floods.
Elephants in Tanzania reserve could be wiped out by 2022 - See more at:
 
 
(AFP) - Elephants in Tanzania's sprawling Selous Game Reserve could be wiped out within six years if poaching continues at current levels, the World Wildlife Fund warned Wednesday.
Tanzania's largest nature reserve was in the 1970s home to 110,000 elephants, but today only 15,000 remain and they are threatened by "industrial-scale poaching".
The Selous "could see its elephant population decimated by 2022 if urgent measures are not taken," the WWF said.
More than 30,000 African elephants are killed by poachers every year to supply an illegal trade controlled by criminal gangs that feeds demand in the Far East.
Tanzania is among the worst-affected countries with a recent census saying the country's elephant population fell by 60 percent in the five years to 2014.
The Selous reserve is a tourist draw contributing an estimated $6 million (5 million euros) a year to Tanzania's economy, according to a study commissioned by WWF and carried out by advisory firm Dalberg.
It is named after Frederick Selous, a British explorer, hunter and real-life inspiration for the H. Rider Haggard character Allan Quatermain in King Solomon's Mines.
"By early 2022 we could see the last of Selous' elephants gunned down by heavily armed and well trained criminal networks," the report said.
 
 

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Posted by: Afrika Watch <afrikawatch@yahoo.com>
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The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.
The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
When the white man came we had the land and they had the bibles; now they have the land and we have the bibles.
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“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.”

“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

“When the white man came we had the land and they had the bibles; now they have the land and we have the bibles.”