Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Remembering Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai | Here & Now

I had the great honor of seeing this courageous woman, Wangari Maathia, in person about five years ago. I can't recall the details of what she said that day but I definitely remember being impressed by her gracefulness, her humbleness, and the sense that she somehow seemed bigger than the room that housed her. The official cause of her death was cancer but I have to wonder if the beatings and death threats somehow contributed to her illness. Dr. Wangari was a fierce envoy of Mother Earth, she defied the brutal fists of patriarchy, and she was a consistent critic of corruption (on this last point I think she was too dismissive of neo-colonialism and how the west undermines African self-reliance). We wish Wangari Maathai a peaceful Homegoing to the Ancestral Realm. Axé!

You can listen to her discussing her memoir Unbowed on the show Here & Now.

Image source: daylife

Also dig:

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Pambazuka - Namibia at 20: The limits of liberation

posted by the ghetto intellectual 2/21/2010

Winning the war and losing the postwar negotiations is a distressing trend throughout Africa. GI

***

21 March 1990 marked Namibia’s Independence Day. When celebrating the long awaited moment of our hard won independence twenty years ago, most Namibians shared similar hopes and expectations. Two decades later, while treasuring our achievements, some at the same time look at the limits to liberation in a more somber way. Taking stock of the last twenty years does not, on balance – as painful as it is to say this – give reasons for uncritical enthusiasm.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES

There is no reason to approve of the socio-economic situation and the pertaining class structures. Namibia is still one of the most unequal societies in the world. Poverty has not been reduced considerably. According to economists associated with the Namibia office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), structurally embedded poverty has actually increased. Measured against the annual per capita income, Namibia has remained a lower middle income country. But it continues to have one of the highest discrepancies in the distribution of the economic wealth generated. Put differently, a minority shares the biggest part of the cake, while the majority remains hungry.

Although Namibia recorded positive economic growth rates for most of the years since independence, unemployment in 2010 has been estimated to be over 50 per cent for the first time. According to the annual UNDP human development report, Namibia is among the non-oil-producing countries with the biggest negative difference between its ranking in terms of per capita income and on the human development index. The latter measures, among others things, educational levels, health indicators and access to public goods such as water, electricity and other infrastructure. Due to the devastating effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and one of the highest prevalence rates in the world, the life expectancy of Namibians has dropped considerably since Independence.

Those who expected that independence would increase markedly the living standards of formerly marginalised people were disappointed. That goal is almost as remote as it was twenty years ago. There is little evidence of strong political will to change this as a matter of priority. For those who were privileged under settler colonial minority rule, in contrast, little has changed for the worse with respect to their material situation. Rather, ‘business as usual’ might, in their view, count in favour of the continued social stability.

The negotiated settlement between the liberation movement and the former colonial power as facilitated by external actors ended in a process of controlled change. It resulted in changed control. Decolonisation took the forms of an elite pact. National reconciliation was in the first place a reconciliation of class interests between the former haves and the nouveau riche of the new domestic order. The fat cats as the main beneficiaries of so-called affirmative action and black economic empowerment, were the parasites fed from the access to publicly controlled resources. The embezzlement of state funds for private enrichment schemes through quota allocation and concessions, excessive salaries, other fringe benefits and the awarding of tenders as political rewards has become almost chronic. Financial scandals and the misappropriation of other opportunities (such as stipends for studies) seem to have become the order of the day.

Read more @ Pambazuka - Namibia at 20: The limits of liberation

tags: namibia, economics, corruption

[photo: source]

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Another Black Mayor Ousted: Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn Resigns

Posted by the Ghetto Intellectual 2/3/2010

Dig it!

"There comes a time when even the innocent can be forced to take a plea," Dorn said. "And that's what happened to me." Mayor Roosevelt Dorn (this is a stunning statement when you consider that Dorn is a former judge)

Mayor of Inglewood, Roosevelt Dorn, resigns after 13 years over a dumb decision to take advantage of a loan program (the loans were originally intended to attract civil servants applicants, especially firemen and police officers.) that he himself authorized. Dorn, a former "get tough" judge, should have known better. He was a good mayor guilty of bad judgment.

Keep your head up Mayor Dorn. You did well.

***

Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn resigns

By Denise Nix Staff Writer
Posted: 01/25/2010 08:20:51 PM PST

Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn resigned from office just hours before pleading guilty Monday to a misdemeanor conflict-of-interest charge for a low-interest loan he received from the city.

Dorn, a former Juvenile Court judge who was first elected mayor nearly 13 years ago, maintained both his innocence and an upbeat attitude Monday. He said adverse pretrial rulings left him no choice but to plead guilty.

"I'm very confident with the fact that, if the evidence had been able to be brought in, I would have been acquitted," Dorn, 74, said in an interview.

"I'm convinced that, if convicted, it would be reversed," Dorn added. "But I don't want to sit in prison waiting for the case to be set aside by the Court of Appeals when I could plea, pay a $1,000 fine and walk away and retire like I did before I went to court."

In a letter penned over the weekend, Dorn relinquished the post he had held since 1997, effective at 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Even though the conviction was not a felony, Dorn nevertheless is barred from ever holding public office again because it involved a conflict of interest.

His plea came just as jury selection was to begin in a downtown Los Angeles Superior Court courtroom. He was facing three felony counts of conflict of interest, use of an unauthorized loan and misappropriation of public funds.

If convicted at trial, he faced up to four years and eight months in prison.

After Dorn's plea, Judge George Lomeli sentenced him to two years probation and ordered the fine.

Read entire article @ The Daily Breeze

tags: corruption, inglewood, politics, roosevelt dorn

Monday, December 28, 2009

Ghana Prez Mills fighting corruption one xmas gift at a time...

Ghana president spurns 'corrupting' Christmas gifts

John Atta Mills has vowed to stamp out corruption

Ghanaian President John Atta Mills is refusing to accept Christmas presents this year because he fears they may be intended to corrupt him.

Sending hampers of food and gifts to people in authority is a Christmas tradition in the African country.

But Mr Atta Mills's spokesman said the president felt it was better not to accept them in case the givers were seeking something in return.

Mr Atta Mills was elected in 2008 on a promise to fight corruption.

"Some people bring the gifts and their motives are genuine," presidential spokesman Mahama Ayariga told the BBC's Focus on Africa.

"Others, perhaps, just want to establish a relationship that would, in a sense, influence decisions that you might have to make in the coming year that relate to their interests.

"So you cannot really differentiate in terms of the different motives that people bring to this gift-giving exercise."

The spokesman added that the gifts would be better enjoyed by the country's underprivileged, such as children at orphanages.

source: BBC

tags: ghana, corruption

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Was Mayor Dixon convicted of being an Uppity Negress?

You betcha. I got five on it.

No real surprise here. Apparently her "quick temper," "chic attire," and her sense of "entitlement" did not go down well with her white colleagues. They have a low tolerance for uppity Negroes...

A four year "corruption" investigation and the best they got was some gift cards, X-Boxes and Playstations? GTFOH!

She might have had a better go of it had she been a white mobster.

Dixon convicted of embezzlement

Jury acquits mayor of felony theft charge, but guilty finding could force her from office; 'the city will still continue to move forward'; prosecutor calls it 'sad day' for Baltimore

Mayor Sheila Dixon and her lead attorney, Arnold M. Weiner, face the media after her conviction on a single charge of taking gift cards intended for the city's poor. (Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna / December 1, 2009)

By Julie Bykowicz and Annie LinskeyBaltimore Sun reporters

2:15 p.m. EST, December 1, 2009

E-mail
Print
Share
Text Size

Jurors in the theft trial of Sheila Dixon convicted the Baltimore mayor Tuesday on a single charge of taking gift cards intended for the city's poor.

Although Dixon was acquitted of a felony theft charge, her conviction could force her from office.

Jurors deliberated more than six days after hearing the Democrat was accused of using or keeping $630 worth of gift cards. She allegedly solicited most of the cards from a wealthy developer and then bought electronics at Best Buy, clothes at Old Navy and other items at Target.

The jury convicted her on one count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and acquitted her on two counts of felony theft and one count of misconduct in office. Jurors failed to reach a verdict on another count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary.

"The city will still continue to move forward," Dixon said outside the courthouse after the verdict. "This city will continue to run. ... We won't miss a step."

Earlier Tuesday, jurors sent a note to Judge Dennis M. Sweeney asking whether the panel needed to reach a unanimous decision on all five counts against the mayor. The note, written by juror No. 11 and signed by the forewoman, had the word "all" underlined.

Sweeney brought the jurors into the courtroom and explained to them that they could return a partial verdict. He did not take questions from the jurors in the courtroom, but said that they could send another note with any additional questions.

Several jurors nodded as Sweeney explained that the court can accept a partial verdict.

Read the rest of this foolishness here.

tags: baltimore, corruption, politics, racial_profiling, racism,
sheila dixon, uppity

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga dissed (Thanks JP for sending this!) by the hypocrite Barack Obama. What would Minister Farrakhan say?

Many of y'all have already heard about complaints that Obama's first official visit to "black Africa" should have made to the land of his father, Kenya, rather than Ghana. According to the Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation, the Obama administration has now established a pattern of snubbing Kenyan officials because of "corruption." Most recently the White House "disinvited" Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga from a luncheon.

New York-based Kenyan ambassador to the UN Zachary Muburi-Muita told the Nation on Saturday night that the State Department contacted him on Friday to “disinvite” Mr Odinga from the September 22 luncheon with President Obama in New York for African leaders. The ambassador last Monday confirmed to the Nation that he had received an invitation letter for the PM to attend the luncheon. A dispatch to the Foreign Affairs ministry from Kenya’s Ambassador to Washington, Mr Peter Ogego, seen by the Nation confirmed the cancellation.

And if there was any doubt on the matter, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, put the matter plainly.

“We are looking to have a dialogue with responsible leaders about the future of Africa’s economic and social development,” Susan Rice said on Monday in announcing the luncheon.

Apparently, Kenya is now a charter member of an honor role of sorts: The US list of super "corrupt" (Obama endorses the racist view that Africa has a monopoly on corruption) African nations.

Kenya has been left out of the list of 40-plus countries invited to the luncheon, and will be among nations the US is snubbing because of disputes over their governance or an antagonistic relationship with Washington. They include Eritrea, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

[Source: Daily Nation via JP]

When will African leaders stop accepting this nonsensical, hypocritical, browbeating from western nations? Any single American president has been one hundred times more corrupt than any African leader. Do you doubt it? Well, what then shall we call the 90,000 + civilians that have perished in Iraq because Americans need oil? Minister Farrakhan puts this deadly hypocrisy in perspective during an interview by Mike Wallace.

Any questions?