Politics

New York: Former Portuguese Prime Minister sworn in as UN chief

13, December 2016

New York: Former Portuguese Prime Minister sworn in as UN chief 0

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has been sworn in as the United Nations’ ninth secretary general. Guterres, the former UN refugee chief, was sworn in on Monday in New York in front of Peter Thomson, the president of the UN General Assembly, and will replace outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on January 1, 2017.

“Fear is driving the decisions of many people around the world, and we must understand their anxieties and meet their needs without losing sights of our universal values,” said Guterres. He added that the time has come for citizens and leaders to reconstruct their relations, for leaders to start listening to their people, and for the UN to own up to its shortcomings and fix them.  “The organization is the cornerstone of multilateralism, and has contributed to decades of relative peace. But the challenges are now surpassing our ability to respond; the UN must be ready to change,” he added.

He stressed that the only way to re-establish confidence in human and international relations is to tell the truth. “I believe it is with truth that I need to engage with all governments in the world,” he added. Guterres, 67, led the country from 1995 to 2002. He was also the chief of the UN refugee agency for 10 years until 2015. He will be the first former head of government to lead the United Nations.

He was sworn in after the 193 General Assembly members paid tribute to Ban which ended with a standing ovation for the outgoing top UN official. “Even as I prepare to leave my heart will stay as it has since I was a child right here with the United Nations. And that heart is greatly comforted knowing that I am passing the baton to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a man of integrity and principle. I have no doubt that he with his passion and compassion will successfully navigate many complex challenges and steer the organization to a new and higher height,” said Ban.

Presstv

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gambia: President Yahya Jammeh rejects presidential poll a week after conceding defeat

10, December 2016

Gambia: President Yahya Jammeh rejects presidential poll a week after conceding defeat 0

Gambia’s long-time President Yahya Jammeh has rejected the results of the country’s recent presidential election a week after conceding defeat to his rival. “I hereby reject the results in totality,” Jammeh said in a televised address late Friday, insisting that investigations since the December 1 poll have revealed a number of voting irregularities, which he described as unacceptable. “Let me repeat: I will not accept the results based on what has happened,” added Jammeh, who has ruled the West African country for more than 22 years.

During the address, the Gambian ruler further underlined that some figures in the election results had been transposed and that voter turnout had been suppressed. “Our investigations reveal that in some cases voters were told that the opposition has already won and that there was no need for them to vote and, out of anger, some of them returned home,” Jammeh said.

The remarks came just a week after he was shown on state television calling opposition candidate Adama Barrow and cheerfully wishing him the best. “You are the elected president of The Gambia, and I wish you all the best,” Jammeh said to Barrow at the time, adding, “I have no ill will.” The striking turnaround is expected to incite indignation among the opposition as well as a large number of Gambians living in exile abroad. This is while in the week since Jammeh conceded defeat, dozens of political prisoners had already been set free on bail.

It remains to be seen whether the small African country of only 1.9 million people would tolerate Jammeh’s renewed rule. Following news reports about his defeat last week, Gambians reportedly took to the streets – singing, dancing and shouting “Freedom!” Western governments have been especially critical of Jammeh’s rule in Gambia pointing to his directives to quit the commonwealth of former British colonies and the Western-led International Criminal Court (ICC). In quitting the Commonwealth in 2013, Jammeh described the organization as a “neo-colonial institution.” He also announced in October that Gambia would leave the ICC, which he dismissed as the “International Caucasian Court.”

Presstv

France: Prime Minister Valls resigns, declares himself a candidate for the presidency

6, December 2016

France: Prime Minister Valls resigns, declares himself a candidate for the presidency 0

France’s Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, has resigned to declare himself a candidate for the presidency in an attempt to save the Socialist Party from a humiliating exit from elections next spring.

Mr Valls, 54, a reformist, launched his bid to win party primaries just four days after François Hollande announced he would not seek re-election next May.

Speaking in Evry, the gritty Paris suburb where he was long mayor, he said: “Yes, I’m candidate for the presidency.”

Culled from the Telegraph

Italian PM Renzi resigns

5, December 2016

Italian PM Renzi resigns 0

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced his resignation after exit polls showed he had lost the constitutional reform referendum. “My experience of government finishes here,” said Renzi during a press conference held after the No campaign won what he referred to as an “extraordinarily clear” victory in the referendum.

An exit poll by Italian state broadcaster RAI showed that the 42-46 percent of participants in the referendum had voted to back the reforms, while 54-58 percent voted against them. “Good luck to us all,” added Renzi, noting that he would officially present his resignation to the country’s President Sergio Mattarella on Monday, after a final meeting of his cabinet.

After that, Mattarella will be charged with negotiating the appointment of a new government or with ordering early elections. If Renzi’s proposed changes to the constitution had won, they would have reduced the role of the Senate and limited the powers of regional governments.

Analysts say the victorious No vote will further boost the country’s opposition parties — among them the eurosceptic Five Star Movement — all of which favor exiting the eurozone. Italy is the eurozone’s third-largest economy, but its stock market has been performing the worst in Europe this year due to problems in its banking system and concerns over political instability.

Presstv

Ambassador Hoza says Cameroon-US relations will witness a significant growth in Trump’s admin

3, December 2016

Ambassador Hoza says Cameroon-US relations will witness a significant growth in Trump’s admin 1

The U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Michael Stephen HOZA, has announced that Cameroon-U.S. relations will witness a significant growth in Donald Trump’s administration. He made this revelation on Friday 02 December 2016 at the Unity Palace after an audience with the Cameroonian dictator, Paul BIYA.

Ambassador HOZA said his meeting with the Head of State was aimed at reassuring Cameroonians that the U.S. will continue its trajectory with the next administration come 20 January 2017. Thus, efforts will be made to support Cameroon in; the fight against the Boko Haram terrorist group, peace and stability in the Central African Republic, and the promotion of maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea.

The U.S. diplomat equally expatiated on a statement issued by the U.S. State Department on the strike actions led by Anglophone lawyers and teachers in Cameroon. He said the issue was raised during the audience and the Head of State shared the same viewpoint like him. Hence, he explained to journalists why Cameroonians need to preserve their great strength of unity in diversity, based on the principles of tolerance and dialogue.

Culled from the presidency of the republic

US: Clinton allies plot against Trump presidency

3, December 2016

US: Clinton allies plot against Trump presidency 0

The bitter 2016 US presidential race is turning into a battle even as elections are over, with the campaign aides of defeated Democratic presidential nominee vowing a four-year insurgency against incoming President Donald Trump. Clinton’s vast network of supporters, staffers and operatives, enraged by the victory of a president-elect they view as disgraceful, are plotting an anti-Trump resistance and venting with a fury they never could have expressed during the presidential campaign of their flawed and awkward candidate, Polititco reported.

“Clinton allies like David Brock have been actively recruiting Democratic donors to fund an anti-Trump movement modeled on the armada of organizations that sued, flacked, opposition-researched and insulted Clinton into a 55 percent disapproval rating,” Politico said.

“Brock and other Democratic operatives are contemplating a Freedom of Information Act barrage against the president-elect comparable to the one undertaken against Clinton by the conservative group Judicial Watch,” it added. Other left-leaning groups, including the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based advocacy organization, are looking into ways of holding Trump accountable for his job-creating promises during his campaign.

“We’re going to throw everything at him that he threw at us,” said one longtime Democratic operative active in the effort. During a discussion on Thursday at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, tensions erupted between top operatives of Trump and Clinton. The forum was intended to record history by drawing out the internal deliberations of both campaigns four weeks after the election.

There were many moments where tempers flared and advisers on the opposing sides shouted over each other, with acrimony echoing the 2016 White House race. “Hey guys, we won,” Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway said at one point, challenging Clinton’s team to “accept the results of the election.” “He was the better candidate. That’s why we won.”

Trump won the US presidency despite extreme unpopularity among minorities, underscoring deep national divisions that have fuelled incidents of racial and political confrontation across the country. Large protests have erupted nationwide in response to Trump’s election victory following a contentious presidential campaign involving two of the least popular major-party candidates in recent US history.

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Two State Federation: Not a panacea

1, December 2016

Two State Federation: Not a panacea 4

Over the last month, Cameroon has been caught in a downward political spiral as students, lawyers, taxi drivers and teachers in the former Southern Cameroons take their frustrations to the streets after years of complaints and indifference on the part of the Yaoundé government. Cameroon, which for so many years, has been characterized as an oasis of peace in a chaotic and unstable region, is finally going the way of other countries in the region. Chad, Congo, DRC, CAR and Nigeria have all been theaters of violent conflicts shortly after independence, but Cameroon which is a union between East and West Cameroon also known as Southern Cameroons has enjoyed some relative peace. Though years of the Maquisard movement in East Cameroon threatened the country’s independence and unity, the country’s first president, Amadou Ahidjo, held the country together sometimes through brute force and sometimes through the carrot which he displayed to his enemies. After all, it is also possible to catch flies with honey. We don’t always have to use vinegar.

But the current political situation is threatening to tear the country apart. Anglophones or Southern Cameroonians are threatening to go their own way if the Yaoundé government continues to be deaf to their complaints. Many Southern Cameroonians are already looking at the possibility of a secession while others are thinking of a return to the pre-1972 political situation where Cameroon was a two-state federation. Many point to the political rigor that characterized Southern Cameroons. In those days, politicians were accountable to the people. The region’s parliamentary democracy was healthy and exciting and the people had a strong sense of ownership. In southern Cameroons, it was unusual for anybody to be arrested without a warrant of arrest. Senior civil servants had service cars, but after 6 p.m. all the cars had to be parked at the nearest police station. It was unacceptable for any politician to use his/her position to influence things in another department. Healthcare was within everybody’s reach and the future held a lot in store for young Southern Cameroonians. These are the type of things that are generating a lot of nostalgia among Anglophones, making them to always look back in anger. But is a two-state federation a panacea for all the issues facing Anglophones?

While the government in Yaoundé is to blame for the ugly situation playing out in the country, the leaders of the strike and those calling for a two-state federation must understand that there is no world without problems. While the political elite in Yaoundé has never paid attention to the sorry plight of the suffering masses, Anglophones must also understand that the generation of Anglophone politicians who played by the rules has completely disappeared. For Anglophone Cameroonians who are less than forty years, their knowledge of the glorious days of Southern Cameroons only comes from history books. Not many of them have practical experience of genuine and sincere democracy where the winner hardly takes it all. They may be speaking English, but the rigor and dedication that inspired faith and confidence in the population is lacking in both Anglophones and Francophones. Greed, self-interest, corruption and embezzlement that have characterized life in post-1972 Cameroon are more of a national problems than a linguistic issue. Anglophones just like their Francophone counterparts have willfully participated in the moral and political decline of a country that was once considered an earthly paradise.

Of course, federalism will be a welcome solution as it will inspire change and economic development in the various regions. It will empower the population. The ideal federalism will be a 10-region federalism that will grant power to the grassroots. While Anglophones might be having specific issues, it must be remembered that their Francophone colleagues are also victims of a political elite that thrives on divide-and-rule tactics that have spread a lot of poverty and pain in Cameroon. Cameroon is a country blessed with some of the finest human resources on the African continent, but years of misrule, corruption and indifference have seen this country export its best and brightest. This does not only affect Anglophones. Francophones like Anglophones are dealing with the consequences of an economic crisis that has been manufactured by the country’s leaders. Many are in exile and thousands want to return to their country of birth, but what will they be returning to when every well informed Cameroonian is aware of the political chaos that is hanging over the nation like the Sword of Damocles.

Besides economic hardship, both linguistic blocs are having serious infrastructure problems. Though being the lungs of the Central African region’s economy, Cameroon as a whole is bereft of modern infrastructure. Over the years, the government has been sleeping at the switch, leaving the poor people of Cameroon in the dark. Power supply in the country is at best epileptic. The roads are death traps and many have been consumed by these so-called roads. The hospitals are nothing more than consultation clinics and educational standards have taken a nosedive. Corruption is on the rise and political patronage has become the order of the day. It is every Cameroonian who is feeling the pinch of this chaos that has been engineered by a greedy political elite. The hardship manufactured by the government knows no language.

Calling for a two-state federation is like blaming all Francophones for the calamity that has befallen the country when it is common knowledge that many Anglophones have willfully participated in the man-made catastrophe that is leaving a trail of death and destruction among the people who have been reduced to sorry spectators of events in their own country. Rather than look for solutions that may turn out to be phoney, it will be smart to seek solutions that will bring prosperity and peace to a federal Cameroon that will place the people’s welfare at the center of every policy and action. While this article is not intended to discourage those seeking to right some of the wrongs of the past, it must be understood that even among Anglophones there are deep divisions which are more tribal. The rivalry between the Northwest and Southwest regions has nothing to do with linguistic differences. The fear of the Bayangi domination in the Southwest region has nothing to do with the language. The share number of Bayangs in the Southwest region clearly implies that they will dominate politics in this region for centuries. These are people who are very prolific when it comes to procreation. Their nocturnal activities have almost neutralized all the other tribes in the region. In the Northwest, such rivalries also exist. Where there are humans such unfortunate situations must exist. A ten-region federalism will not be a panacea but it will enable the people to be in control of their lives and destiny, and the tensions that exist because of linguistic differences between Anglophones and Francophones will be reduced to the barest minimum. Let anger and frustration not rule the current movement for change. It’s good to be rational and not to act on the spur of the moment. Cameroon should be a federation, but a 10-region federation.

By Dr. Joachim Arrey

SDF Senators, MPs stage protest march in Bamenda, calls for a national conference

30, November 2016

SDF Senators, MPs stage protest march in Bamenda, calls for a national conference 0

Senators and members of parliament of the Social Democratic Front, SDF have staged a protest march in Bamenda. The elected representatives say the riots of Bamenda and the other street demonstrations are the direct consequence of bad governance by the ruling CPDM crime syndicate.

The SDF MPs reportedly left the National Assembly Chamber on the 28th of November which is currently examining the budget and braved the bad roads to Bamenda, the capital of the North West Region and called for the holding of a national conference.

These elected representatives of the people carried placards condemning police violence on lawyers and the students with others stating that “Federalism remains the only solution”.  Hon. Tchinda Fobi, of the Bamenda constituency was quoted as saying that the Anglophone problem is real in Cameroon and that there was an urgent need for national dialogue.

On November 27-29, 2016, the SDF Senators and MPs told Marcel Niat Njifenji, President of the Senate, and Cavaye Yéguié Djibril, President of the National Assembly, to “apprehend the major grievances of the Anglophone people”.

By Rita Akana

After Nicolas Sarkozy: Alain Juppe told “left means failure, the far-right means bankruptcy”

27, November 2016

After Nicolas Sarkozy: Alain Juppe told “left means failure, the far-right means bankruptcy” 0

Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has won the country’s center-right party’s nomination in the presidential primary. Fillon won the vote on Sunday night, after his opponent former Prime Minister Alain Juppe conceded defeat. “France wants the truth and France wants action,” said Fillon after vowing to “reach out to all those who want to serve the country.”

“The left means failure, the far-right means bankruptcy,” he added, stressing that he would be the candidate of “all those who in their hearts are proud to be French.” Juppe conceded after initial result showed Fillon had gained the majority of the votes, winning 67 percent of the ballots with results counted from 9,193 polling stations out of 10,229. During his speech, Juppe congratulated Fillon on his “large victory” and wished him “good luck” in his campaign for France’s next year presidential elections.

Mayor of Bordeaux and candidate for the center-right primaries ahead of France’s 2017 presidential elections, Alain Juppe looks on as he delivers a speech following the first results of the primary’s second round on November 27, 2016, at his campaign headquarters in Paris.

In the first round of the primary election, which had been held on November 20, Fillon took the lead among seven candidates with 44.1 percent of the votes. Juppe garnered 28.5.

During his campaign, Fillon vowed extreme free-market reforms, a hard line stance on refugees, and closer relations with Russia.
Projections show that Fillon will face far-right National Front (FN) leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election in April 2017.

Presstv

US President-elect calls Wisconsin votes recount effort a “scam”

27, November 2016

US President-elect calls Wisconsin votes recount effort a “scam” 0

US President-elect Donald Trump has denounced the effort to recount votes in Wisconsin as a “scam,” insisting voters should “accept this result and then look to the future.” The recount has been requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. The state has until the federal deadline of December 13 to complete the recount process and announce the final results. Trump narrowly defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by a small margin of over 27,000 votes in Wisconsin and grabbed all its 10 electoral votes.

“This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than one percent of the vote overall and wasn’t even on the ballot in many states, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount,” Trump said in a statement on Saturday. Stein has raised millions of dollars for her push in just more than a week. She has called for an audit and recount of voting results in Michigan and Pennsylvania as well over fears that hackers might have manipulated the voting machines.

“All three states were won by large numbers of voters, especially Pennsylvania, which was won by more than 70,000 votes,” Trump said. “This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded, and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing,” the president-elect added. The Clinton campaign, which had kept quiet about Stein’s crusade, said it would now back her efforts to review the voting results in order to ensure a “fair” process for all involved.

“Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves,” campaign lawyer Marc Elias said. “But now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides.” Clinton won the overall popular vote by around 2 million ballots in the Nov. 8 presidential election. However, Trump clinched most of the key battleground states in play, albeit by narrow margins.

“It is important to point out that with the help of millions of voters across the country, we won 306 electoral votes on Election Day— the most of any Republican since 1988— and we carried nine of 13 battleground states, 30 of 50 states, and more than 2,600 counties nationwide – the most since President Ronald Reagan in 1984,” Trump said in his statement. Earlier this week, speculation that electronic voting in key states might have been hacked prompted Clinton supporters to urge her to contest the election results.

Culled from Presstv

 

 

 

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