509 african voice by African Voice Newspapers UK

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013 ISSUE 509

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SINCE 2001

B R I TA I N ’ S N O . 1 A F R I C A N N E W S PA P E R Harper laments conveying ‘graduates can stay’ message poorly

£1.00

Cholera warning issued to neglected capital city

SEE PAGE 4

SEE PAGE 17

Students, you’re welcome - PM Birmingham hospital links improving healthcare in Ghana

SEE PAGE 22

By Alan Oakley

Prime Minister David Cameron has attempted to allay fears in non-EU countries that overseas students are no longer welcome in Britain by announcing that there are “no limits” on the number of genuine students who can study in the UK. Speaking on his second visit to India, Mr Cameron said: “My message is very clear. We want to attract the brightest and the best to Britain whether you’re a student, a post-grad, entrepreneur or businessman. If you’re a genuine student studying at a genuine institution, you will get your visa. There are no limits on numbers”. Mr Cameron is known to be courting Indian and Chinese investment as the economies of the two Asian giants continue to buck international trends. He has been noticeably less effusive about encouraging students from other non-EU nations. The importance of Britain as a place study for students from Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, cannot be overstated. After China and India, Nigeria sends the highest number of students to study in the UK.

Continued on page 2

Mr Cameron is clearly keen to endear himself to Indians after having to re-think unpopular policies

ttee

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced a new scheme aimed at helping immigrants with little or no English to improve their language skills. Research has shown that traditional English language classes are not reaching those who speak poor English and so the Department for Communities and Local Government has established a programme of informal classes, often run by volunteers, to be held in temples, mosques and churches and even in supermarkets. Pilot schemes will be held in fifteen London boroughs and in several regional towns and cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Sheffield, Bristol, Luton and Slough. Mr Pickles said: “Far too much money has been wasted by councils on translation services, reducing the motivation to learn English and leaving too many people isolated at home and unable to get on. “We want to give more people the opportunities to participate fully in their communities without being held back because they can’t speak the language”.

Publisher and Editor-In-Chief Mike Abiola Editorial Board Adviser Dr Ola Ogunyemi News Editor Peter Olorunnisomo Managing Editor Alan Oakley Sports Editor Peter Olorunnisomo Assist. Sports Editor Olubunmi Omoogun Arts Editor Golda John Columnists Ryan Holmes Photo Journalist Isaac Adegbite Graphic Designer Ryan Holmes Legal Adviser Nosa Kings Erhunmwunsee London Office: Unit 7 Holles House Overton Road London SW9 7AP

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African Voice is published by African Voice UK.

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UK Africans are missing out on life-saving HIV medication

Too many UK Africans are missing out on life-saving HIV medication because they’re diagnosed too late, warns Terrence Higgins Trust as PHE releases HIV report

Ahead of this year’s National HIV Testing Week (22nd – 29th November), new figures released today by the Public Health England (PHE) show that in 2012, UK Africans were the group most likely to be diagnosed late with HIV. 66 per cent of African men and 61 per cent of African women diagnosed with HIV in 2012 were diagnosed late, at a point after which they should have already started treatment. Someone who is diagnosed late and doesn’t start treatment on time will die on average 10 years earlier than someone who tests in good time. They are also far more likely to pass on the virus unwittingly.

HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust is calling for a doubling in the numbers of UK Africans who take an annual HIV test. Taku Mukiwa, Health Promotion Specialist for African Communities at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “For many UK Africans, the word HIV still conjures images of the pain and death this virus has caused in Africa over three decades. No one needs to suffer in the same way in the UK today. There is free medication available irrespective of your immigration status. Someone who is diagnosed in good time in this country can expect to live a near-normal life expectancy, have healthy relationships irrespective of their partner’s HIV status, even start a family. Taking the treatments also means you are far less likely to pass on the virus to others. “HIV doesn’t need to damage our communities any more, but we have to drive down undiagnosed and late diag-

nosed HIV. Testing is fast, simple and confidential – Africans in England can even test by post. I would urge anyone unsure of their HIV status to take a test during National HIV Testing Week – it is the single most powerful thing you can do to protect your health and the health of the whole community.” Scientists and public health bodies agree that undiagnosed HIV infection is a key factor driving the UK epidemic. Modern drug treatments drive down the level of virus in the body, often to an undetectable level. This means someone with HIV who has tested and is on treatment is far less likely to pass on the virus than someone who doesn’t yet know they have it. Currently, most onward HIV transmission in the UK comes from people who are unaware they have the infection.

all conscience, reintroduce his unpopular ‘go home or face arrest’ victimisation vans, but was even more aware that the continuing controversy he could inevitably cause by grimly clinging to the threat of doing so would ensure more people would become aware of the vans than would ever have seen them on the streets. Mr Cameron and his government are caught between two stools; their desire to “attract the brightest and the best” to study and work in Britain and their manifesto commitment to cut net annual immigration to “tens of thousands”, interpreted as below 100,000 a year. Immigration from Commonwealth countries to the UK has been a bone of contention for some time. In the days of the British Empire, there was relatively free migration between the UK, the colonies and the other territories for those that could afford it but, until the onset of mass air travel in the latter part of the twentieth century, travel between continents was comparatively rare. When West Indians started to come to Britain in large numbers 60 years ago, it was a response to the ‘mother’ country’s need to rebuild following six years of war. Those hard working men and women were the descendants of millions of men and women whose own hard work might have been useful

in building the continent of their birth, had they been allowed the opportunity. Instead, the weak and infirm whose value as beasts of burden was limited were left with the task. The infrastructure that is proving so attractive to overseas students and workers was created using resources, both human and mineral, pillaged from the very nations that the British government have the temerity to term ‘high risk’. If these nations are indeed ‘high risk’ it is because their people feel ‘at risk’. At risk because of historical atrocities and double-dealing that, perhaps understandably, successive British leaders and those they lead feel no particular responsibility for, but which, they will have to concede, created a world order whose balance it is time to redress. I am reminded of a debate I once had at school too many years ago for me to readily admit to. I responded to one teacher’s contention that “the slaves were given their freedom” by suggesting that freedom can only be taken. For whoever holds the power to confer freedom must surely have the power to take it away at will. Perhaps it is for this reason that I would have liked to see the visa bond trialled, if only to witness Mr Cameron’s reaction to the affirmative action by the affected nations that would certainly have ensued.

Students, you’re welcome - PM Continued from front page

According to UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) statistics, 78,715 students came to study here from the People’s Republic of China in the academic year ending 2012. India provided 29,900 and Nigeria 17,620 over the same period. However, when the populations of the respective countries are taken into account, a significantly different picture emerges. China’s total represents 5.7 students for every 100,000 of the country’s population, while India sends 2.4 students per 100,000. For every 100,000 Nigerians, 10 come to the UK to study – more than four times the number, per capita, that come from India. The impact of measures widely seen as an effort to ‘freeze out’ non-Europeans has been felt most keenly in Africa, where delegations despatched specifically to allay concerns in this regard are notable for their absence. The recently shelved visa bond scheme was abandoned earlier this month largely, one suspects, due to threats from Indian investors. Indeed the Cameron/May/Harper triumvirate seem to have created a science out of announcing outrageous policies only to then recant as the ‘good guys’. The cynic in me cannot shake off the idea, for example, that immigration minister Mark Harper knew he could not, in

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Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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News

Harper laments conveying ‘graduates can stay’ message poorly By Alan Oakley

Immigration minister Mark Harper has told a House of Lords committee that the Government has failed to communicate the ‘very good arrangements’ allowing international students to stay and work in Britain after completing their studies at UK universities. International students can stay and work in the UK providing they can find a skilled job which pays at least £20,000 a year and independent organisations exist that can help find a sponsor to enable graduates to remain on a Tier 2 skilled worker visa. Mr Harper was speaking to the House of Lords Soft Power and the UK’s Influence Committee which was taking questions from figures involved in the UK’s ‘export education sector’. The Committee was assembled to ‘examine the use of soft power in furthering the United Kingdom’s global influence and interests’.

Bureaucracy discourages Tier 4 applicants Professor Colin Riordan, who is the vice president of Universities UK, told the committee that students were dissuaded from studying in the UK by several factors, including fees, the bureaucracy involved in getting a UK Tier 4 student visa and the cost of those visas. However, Professor Riordan told the committee that the main factor deterring international students from studying in the UK was the fact that the Government had abolished the Tier 1 (Post Study Work) visa which allowed all graduates of UK universities to work in the UK for two years after graduation. They would then be able to transfer to another visa, such as a Tier 2 (General) skilled worker visa if they were working at the end of the two year period. John Dickie, the strategy and policy director of London First, a body which lobbies on behalf of London businesses, including the capital’s universities such as Imperial College and University College London, said that the closure of the Post Study Work visa stream had put the UK at a disadvantage with countries such as Australia 4

Foreign students who manage to use their training to secure a £20,000 pa job can stay which allows international graduates to work after graduation.

Firm disrupted by Post Study Work closure Mr Dickie said that one major accountancy firm had been in the habit of recruiting Indian graduates who had graduated from UK universities to train them in the UK for a couple of years before sending them back to India to work there. This was now impossible, he said, because of the closure of the Post Study Work stream. He said that there was a conflict between the Government’s claims to be ‘open for business’ and keen to attract the brightest and the best while it is also intending to cut immigration to below 100,000 a year. He said that ‘the mood music is, at best, confused’. Mr Harper said that the UK had to try to communicate its messages effectively. He said that there was a ‘gap between perceptions and reality’ about what various audiences believed about studying and working in the UK.

UK businesses believe they have been harmed Lord Howell, the chairman of the com-

mittee, asked Mr Harper why it was that so many people believed very strongly that the Government’s changes to the UK visa regime were seriously damaging British competitiveness. Mr Harper said that there were two parts of the UK’s visa regime. The first dealt with visitor visas for business visitors and tourists. He said that the UK now offered a very good service in these areas with about 90% of applicants having their visas issued within eight days. He said that this was increasingly being recognised internationally. A member of the Committee asked him why it was that so many people who had given evidence to the committee were saying that the UK’s visa regime seemed unable to provide a good service and was discouraging people from coming to the UK. Mr Harper said that ‘lots of people say lots of unhelpful things’ but then do not have the facts to support those assertions. He said that there had been an increase in the number of students coming to UK universities, with a great deal of growth from China in particular. Mr Harper said that the total number of student visas had fallen because UK immigration had closed down 700 further education colleges ‘because there had been significant abuse’ of the student visa. He said that the UK govern-

ment had done a very good job of communicating the fact that it had closed down the Post Study Work visa but had done less well in explaining the ‘very good’ arrangements for graduates that replaced the Post Study Work visa. He added: “If you are a graduate, it’s actually very straightforward to stay here. If you have a graduate level job paying just over £20,000 a year, then you can stay in the United Kingdom. I don’t think we necessarily landed that argument well enough”.

Message getting through He added: “I think that was a particular problem in India”. Mr Harper said that, after the closure of the Post Study Work stream, the number of Indian students studying at UK universities fell. But he said that there had recently been a 12% rise in the number of Indian students studying in the UK; and that this is because the message that graduates can work in the UK has finally got through.

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Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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News

Civil Service, Diversity and Equality Awards, 2013 By Peter Olorunnisimo

October was not just a month to celebrate equality and diversity in the UK or as it were the sacrosanct month for black history celebrations, it also marked the period when members of the civil service received acknowledgement for their roles in various aspects of service delivery and were formally celebrated too. From the Cabinet Office came the spotlight on Newham with this focus.

The Department of Health and partners set up the Newham Prostate Health Drop-in Clinic at the Newham African-

Caribbean Resource Centre. The clinic was an innovative model aimed at supporting the healthcare needs of men in

that community who often felt excludClaudette Sutton (centre) presents the Inclusive Employment award to the Civil Service Fast Stream Team

men.

322 men visited the clinic and nine

new diagnoses of prostate cancer were

made, along with diagnoses of other

conditions. Men scored the clinic very highly on access and convenience.

wham was late October, 2013 award-

ed the “Understanding and Engaging

with Communities” award at the 2013 Sir Bob Kerslake presents the Excellence in Service Delivery award to the Know Your CJS Day Partnership, Crown Prosecution Service

These awards are held annually to

celebrate the work of the Civil Service

in promoting equality in the workplace and share best practices for placing

equality and inclusiveness at the heart

25% of men who visited the clinic did so because of word-of-mouth, complementing the advertising campaign in the local community.

Awards.

of Government Policies.

In Newham, reported outcomes for

cancer were poor, especially for black

A prostate health clinic set up in Ne-

Civil Service Diversity and Equality

ed from accessing healthcare support.

Jeremy Heywood presents the Executive Policy Making award

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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News

Defunct UKBA receives damning final report

Almost every aspect of the UKBA’s operation has come under attack

The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has issued its final report on the activities of the now defunct United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA). The report deals with the operation of the UKBA in its final three months of existence before it was abolished by Home Secretary Theresa May on March 31.

The report entitled The Work of the UK Border Agency (January-March 2013) makes 39 criticisms and recommendations. Among them it says; • despite promises from former chief executive Lin Homer and her successors as head of the UKBA since the UKBA was founded in 2008, nothing was being done to try to find asylum seekers whose claims had been rejected and to remove them from the country. • The UKBA had supplied wrong and misleading statistics to the Home Affairs Committee since it was formed in 2008; The most recent chief executive, Rob Whiteman, had failed to inform the Committee that this was the case. Senior UK staff ‘misled’ the Committee • The UKBA’s senior staff misled the Committee on so many occasions that it was clear that senior staff were either deliberately misleading the Committee or thoroughly incompetent. • Files were so poorly compiled and were missing so much information that it was impossible to carry out security checks on applicants for asylum. Progress in dealing with historic cases had been slow and

poorly performed. • The Committee expressed doubt that checks on archives of historic cases to try to determine whether the applicants were still in the country were carried out properly. UKBA failed to work with police to find criminals • The UKBA is not working properly with the police to find and detain foreign nationals who are awaiting prosecution for criminal offences. • The Committee is especially scathing in its criticism of Lin Homer. It accuses her of trying to ‘evade responsibility for her failings’. Ms Homer told the committee in January that she had always given the committee all the figures that had been requested as soon as she had them. The committee refutes this. They say that the fact that Ms Homer has since been promoted to run Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs ‘raises serious concerns about the accountability of the most senior civil servants to Parliament’. It further states ‘the current system where catastrophic leadership failure is no obstacle to promotion is totally unacceptable’ • It accuses the UKBA of ‘having no intention of taking a more transparent approach to terminology and reporting’. The main failure was the failure to clear a backlog of some 350,000 asylum cases, some dating back over ten years. Rather than clear the backlog, the Committee says, the UKBA moved the cases between various different ‘archives’ without making any genuine attempts to find the claimants

or to properly determine the claims. Number of asylum seekers waiting 6 months for decision has risen • It says that the number of asylum seekers waiting six months for an initial decision has increased. • The UKBA provided poor customer service. • Very poor notes are kept by UKBA staff on files so that it is almost impossible to see why any decision, whether to grant or refuse asylum, had been made. • The UKBA failed to respond to complaints from members of the public who reported finding illegal immigrants in the country The Committee suggested that there should be no bonuses for senior staff at the UKBA, and its successor organisations, until case backlogs have been significantly reduced. UKBA functions now fulfilled by Home Office The UKBA has now been abolished and its work has been taken back into the Home Office. Its functions have been housed in two directorates; the visa ad immigration service and the immigration law enforcement division.

On 26th March 2013, Mrs May announced that the UKBA would close on 1st April 2013. She said that it had developed a “secretive and defensive culture” and was simply “not good enough”. She announced that the functions of the UKBA were to be taken back into the Home Office and would therefore be subject to direct ministerial oversight. This decision reversed the decision of the then Home Secretary John Reid in 2006 to create the UKBA to run the UK’s visa and immigration enforcement operations. Dr (now Lord) Reid said that independence would enable the UKBA to deal with the problems facing the UK’s immigration regime free from ministerial interference. ‘Not fit for purpose’ Mr Reid was responding to the failure of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, which was then responsible for UK immigration, to deal with a backlog of immigration cases. Dr Reid found that the Immigration and Nationality Directorate was ‘not fit for purpose’. It has now come full circle. UK immigration is again part of a UK Government Department, The Home Office. It remains to be seen whether bringing the UK’s immigration regime back into the Home Office will make any real difference.

In the report, former chief executive Lin Homer was singled out for particularly scathing criticism 7

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Government promotes Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania to UK

Foreign Ofﬁce Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds and International Development Secretary Justine Greening formally launched the High Level Prosperity Partnerships (HLPP) on Tuesday 19 November, together with the governments of ﬁve African countries.

The initiative, is aimed at strengthen economic cooperation and trade ties between the UK and Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania to drive growth and prosperity in the UK and in Africa. In the last six months Mark Simmonds, Justine Greening and the Prime Minister’s Special Trade Envoy, Lord Marland, have visited the HLPP countries and established formal partnerships to create a paradigm shift in economic relations. Critically, each partner country has identiﬁed priority sectors where they would welcome investment and partnership from UK businesses, as well as capacity building to strengthen institutions and to improve the investment environment. The speciﬁc sectors include extractives industry, agricul-

Foreign Office Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds ture, education, financial services, energy and infrastructure. Significant success has already been achieved in the financial services, energy and agriculture sectors. For example, in Cote d’Ivoire we are working with TheCityUK to develop projects that support capital market development and liquidity support into the domestic banking sector.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development and UK Trade and Investment are working together in alignment to focus HM Government efforts in these five important markets in Africa. Foreign Office Minister Mark Simmonds said; During my visits to the HLPP countries I have been struck by governments’ and companies’ enthusiasm to do business with the UK. Together, we have agreed an ambitious agenda to deliver a step-change in our trade agenda in key African countries. In Dar es Salaam, Accra, Maputo, Luanda and Abidjan I have seen the potential business, economic and knowledge sharing opportunities that African markets have to offer. I aim to promote the best of UK business to the High Level Prosperity Partnership countries and also invite UK business to invest their resources in these emerging and growing markets for the benefit of all. This is a high priority for the UK and forms part of the British Government’s plan to put trade and inward investment at the heart of its economic recovery plan. In

the new year I intend to re-visit the High Level Prosperity Partnership countries and also embark on a regional tour of the UK to promote this initiative. I want to ensure that businesses across the UK are aware of the support that HMG – working with one objective – can provide to help them trade in Africa. International Development Secretary Justine Greening, who launched the UK’s High Level Prosperity partnership with Tanzania last month, said: Boosting our trade and business links with Africa can help developing countries get the investment they need to thrive. The only way for developing countries to end their dependency on aid is to create more jobs, growth and tax receipts. In the end, for individuals too, a job is the only sustainable route out of poverty. This is also ﬁrmly in our own interest as we are helping to open up markets for British goods.

10,000 new entrepreneurs supported by Start Up Loans

The 10,000th loan from the government’s successful Start Up Loans scheme has been awarded to a budding entrepreneur from Cornwall, the Prime Minister announced.

Allen Martin, a Royal Navy veteran, runs Eclipse Property Cornwall, which manages properties on behalf of landlords. He received £10,000 from Start Up Loans to help launch his new business. In reaching this signiﬁcant milestone, Start up Loans has now lent £50 million to entrepreneurs looking for support in starting up a business and is a third of the way in meeting the target of supporting 30,000 new businesses with £151 million by 2015. The Prime Minister, David Cameron said: “Start Up Loans are helping budding entrepreneurs across our country achieve their dreams - people who have got ideas, determination and solid business plans, but through no fault of their own they can’t get the money to make a go of it. New businesses are the lifeblood of a healthy, expanding economy: a symbol of aspiration and a source of jobs, that’s why Start-Up Loans matter to me - and it’s why they’re a key part of my plan for Britain.” Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “Start Up Loans continue to expand, ﬁlling an important gap for aspiring entrepreneurs 8

in the first stages of setting up their business. “Helping more small businesses to get started and thrive is a key part of the government’s drive to create a more entrepreneurial society.” Business Secretary Vince Cable will meet Allen Martin, the 10,000th loan recipient alongside others on Wednesday at a breakfast reception hosted by James Caan, Chairman of the Start Up Loans Company. Allen Martin said: “To have been given the opportunity to start a new life running my own business is an amazing feeling. This money will prove invaluable with my business during its first year and has enabled me to fulfil my ambitions of being my own boss after leaving the armed forces.” Allen served in the Royal Navy for 22 years as an engineer and mechanic, working with helicopters, search and rescue and commando forces. Having always known that he wanted to work for himself, Allen applied for a Start Up Loan to set up his business, Eclipse Property Cornwall. He is one of the first veterans to benefit from the removal of the 18 – 30 age cap on the scheme, announced by the Prime Minister in July. The 10,000 businesses that have been backed by Start Up Loans have all received help putting together their plan and pitch, have secured start-up funding and are now all undergoing business mentoring as they start their business.

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Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

News

This tangled Web is full of deceivers Looking to lose weight from your sofa? Keen to re-grow hair you last saw in a bygone millennium? How about pecs and buns of steel in a few short weeks? A host of TV and magazine ads and websites offer miracle cures and aids for a range of conditions, but the NHS is warning that medicines and treatments that are not prescribed by a qualified health professional could be a waste of money or cause you serious harm. While television and the printed press can be and is regulated, an ad must first have appeared before it can be brought to the attention of the Advertising Standards Authority. No such A combination of words that should alert the wise to look the other way regulation is currently possible else, you risk taking medicines that are warns that medicines bought from for web-based advertising. not safe or right for you. When a health websites cannot be guaranteed to meet The Office of Fair Trading says that professional prescribes medicines, it set standards of safety and effectiveevery year hundreds of thousands of is done with reference to the medical ness. consumers buy scam miracle cures history of the individual concerned. See the MHRA website for more information about the risks of buying for conditions such as excess weight, It is feasible that you are not aware of contraindications in your own hismedicines over the internet. baldness and impotence. These tory, such as illnesses or reactions you products are usually ineffective and Would you be fooled? some can also be dangerous. The best suffered as a child or inherited genetic characteristics. advice is never to start a new mediThe Office of Fair Trading has teamed cine or stop a medicine that has been The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is up with Sense About Science, a chariprescribed for you without speaking responsible for medicines regulation. It table trust, to warn of the dangers of to a qualified health professional, such as your GP or a pharmacist. Buying medicines online Some websites offer new medicines and treatments, alongside eye-catching claims about how well they work. But they may not have been tested properly, and this means they may not work at all. Alternatively, they may cause harmful side effects or react adversely with professionally prescribed medicines or even ordinary everyday products, such as foods, creams or cosmetics. Other websites appear to sell recognised and established prescription medicines, which a doctor may have prescribed for you in the past. However, these medicines may not be real and may not contain the same ingredients or dosages. If you have a health condition and you stop taking a medicine prescribed for you in order to take a new medicine you bought online, even if it appears to be the same, your health condition may get worse. In addition, if you take prescriptiononly medicines intended for someone

online miracle cures. Their website advertises Fatfoe pads. This product “sucks out excess fat and cellulite while you sleep”, allowing users to lose up to 20 pounds a week without changing their diet. But readers who try to order from this website will be directed to a page that explains that the products are fake and warns of the dangers of similar online scams. Common medicines scams Thousands of websites offer scam health products for sale online. Beware of websites that: • Promise a “new miracle cure” or “wonder breakthrough”. In reality, their products are probably not tested or proven to work. • Try to convince you with testimonials from previous customers. How do you know these testimonials are genuine? Even if they are genuine, anecdotal evidence such as this is not the same as the scientific evidence that genuine medicines are based on. • Offer “no risk” money-back guarantees. Try to get your money back, and the scammers will disappear. • Contain endorsements from a doctor or health professional who quotes scientific evidence. Look closer, and you’ll see that these “doctors” are not attached to any known institution or clinical practice, and the “evidence” hasn’t been published in a recognised journal. Medicines the right way When it comes to medicines, the right approach is to speak to a qualified health professional first. Your GP can help with a range of medicines issues, whether you think you may have a health condition and want to know if medicines can help, or you’re already taking medicines and have questions about them. Your local pharmacist can also help with medicines questions. If you’re already taking medicines, they can offer a Medicines Use Review, in which they will talk through your medicines with you. Any medicines that have been prescribed or bought over the counter will come with a patient information leaflet. This contains important information about their safe and effective use.

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Aregbesola wins 2 in 2013 Good Governance Awards The 2013 Good Governance Award has been held in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve, with Governors Theodore Orji, Liyel Imoke and Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola winning two awards each.

The award held on Wednesday, organised by the Business Day newspaper, is in acknowledgement of the governors’ efforts in delivering the dividends of democracy to Nigerians. Awards were given to governors in various areas as it relates to their commitment to sustaining economic development in the nation. According to the organisers, data for the ﬁnal awards were collected via the internet and other reliable means. The event had in attendance government ofﬁcials and civil society groups Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State won the Best Governor in Education Development award while Governors Peter Obi of Anambra State and Theodore Orji of Abia State won the Best Governor on Health Care.

The Best Governor in Agriculture Development award was won by Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State And Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto while the award For Excellence in Governance was won by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola. The Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke, won the Best Governor in Tourism Development award. Osun State Governor, Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, won the Best Governor in Urban and Rural Infrastructural Development award. The Governor of Abia State, Theodore Orji won the award on the State With the Most Improved Security. The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, won the Transparency in Governance Award Receiving the award on behalf of the Edo State governor, the state’s Chief of Staff, Patrick Obahiagbon, said that the award would spur the governor to continue to unleash the ‘Tsunami of developmentalism’ in the state. Other awards won were Best State in ICT award which was won by the Cross

River State Governor, Liyel imoke and award on the Fastest Growing State Economy, won by the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun. Governors Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State and Sullivan Chime of Enugu State won the Best Governors in Hous-

ing Development award. The award on Youth and Sport development was won by Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and Governor Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola of Osun State.

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Governorship Candidate Anambra, Chris Ngige and Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning Lagos State, Mr. Ben Akabueze during a Rally at Iﬁteduna in Dunukoﬁa Local Government Area of Anambra

FROM LEFT - Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola during the Governors Retreat in Sokoto State

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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No to military training for Corpers For various reasons, Nigerians have advocated for one-year military training to be included in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Programme. But this demand has met with a deﬁnite answer from the national board of the NYSC scheme, at least, for now. Board Chairman, Alhaji Tijani Adekanbi, at his meeting with the Niger State Acting Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Musa Ibeto, at the Government House, Minna on Monday on a courtesy call stated that the board met recently on the issue and suspended the matter for the meantime. According to Adekanbi, the primary reason why the NYSC cannot give military training to corps members as it is being requested is because after the training, there is nowhere the corps members will be posted . “If we give them one-year military training we have to absorb them into any of the services,” Adekanbi said, stressing that it will be dangerous for the country if they

Members of the NYSC on a march past

were allowed to be on their own. The chairman of the national board of the NYSC also disclosed that the scheme is currently working out a guideline that must be followed by all corps members while embarking on their community development service to ensure that overambitious projects with huge ﬁnancial demands are not embarked upon.

Banished! Community decides family’s fate because of son’s role in kidnap The traditional seat of justice came into play recently in Ogwashi Uku, hometown of Nigeria’s Finance Minister, when investigations revealed that a son of the soil was involved in the kidnap of another indigene of the area. The family met the weight of traditional and cultural justice which always seems to uphold the philosophy that ‘everyone is an ambassador of his family and moral upbringing’. According to reports, the suspect (names withheld) played a role in the kidnap of Prof. Kamene Okonjo, the octogenarian mother of the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Ezi community in Aniocha North council of Delta State and consequently the entire family the has been ostracized from the town. Mrs Okonjo, the wife of Prof. Chukwuka Okonjo, the Obi of Ogwashi Uku, Aniocha South Council was abducted on December 9, 2012 at the palace by a gang of kidnappers numbering about 10 which included the son of the sanctioned family. The traditional ruler of Ezi, Obi Mohanye 1, rising from a meeting of the Obi in Council, said the decision to banish the entire family from the town was as a result of the role played by their son whom, he insisted had severely damaged the reputation of the entire community.

He said the decision was to show the world that the community was very upset by the suspect’s action and that the decision to sanction his family was to serve as a deterrent. The royal father said it was unbelievable that the suspect’s parents could not control or monitor the 22 year-old boy who was building a house for them and bought a car for his brother when he had no visible means of livelihood. The Obi disclosed that the decision became important owing to the increasing cases of crimes among the youths in the community, maintaining that to curb the ugly trend communities must wake up to their responsibilities. He warned that any family member who indulged in such ignoble act would face the same sanction, adding that the town crier would convoy the decision to the entire community. Public comments are favourably disposed towards the ruling of the community chiefs and elders noting that traditional values which placed premium on integrity and community interdependence has long lost its relevance in the society. Another opinion proffered that the ‘political craze for power and wealth at all costs has drastically watered down the ethics of our culture such that nobody advocates the integrity of our culture any more.’

While insisting that community development projects embarked upon by corps members have assisted in the development of the various communities where youth corps members are posted to, he advised those patronising NYSC community development projects to scrutinise the projects properly and contact the NYSC secretariat before supporting the idea.

On the issue of fake NYSC camps and fake NYSC certificate, the chairman called for more vigilance on the part of employers of labour, insisting that there is no way the NYSC discharge certificate could be forged. He, therefore, asked employers of labour to always, before promoting any staff, cross-check the validity of the NYSC certificate tendered by the worker. He also maintained that influential Nigerians who try to make their children evade the mandatory one year service are subjecting them to future risk as they would not be eligible for employment or contest election without the discharge certificate. In his remarks, the acting governor said the NYSC scheme had assisted the state in the implementation of its education and health care programmes through the provision of qualified manpower. “The NYSC scheme has enabled Nigerians to know every part of this country, it has made our youths to know the true situation on ground in the states where they served,” he said.

Goodluck presents budget at last

National Assembly of Nigeria

The President and Commander-in- Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces, Goodluck Jonathan will, today, present the 2014 budget estimates of N4.77 trillion before the joint session of both Senate and the House of Representatives. Though the president had earlier asked the National Assembly to allow him present the budget on November 12, the presentation was shelved due to the non-conclusion of 2014-2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), which had now been passed by both chambers with noticeable difference in crude oil benchmark. By the MTEF and FSP document, “the 2014 budget is predicated on crude oil production of 2.3883 million barrels per day (bpd) with a benchmark price of $74 per barrel and a projection of aggregate expen-

diture of N4.77 trillion, of which the capital expenditure is N1.45 trillion. “New borrowing of N572 billion projected for 2014 would increase the total of local and foreign debt to N8.25 trillion from N7.11 trillion in 2013.” It is to be there were sharp differences in the ﬁgure of $74 per barrel of crude oil with $76.5 passed by the Senate and $79 passed by the House last week Thursday. This came just as sources within the National Assembly stated, according to report, that the leadership of the House was working to appease some members of the opposition in the House and those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyal to the Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led faction, who were set to cause trouble over alleged poor implementation of 2013 capital budget. It was gathered that the Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal and some members of the leadership from PDP had pleaded with their colleagues to allow the president to perform his constitutional duty, as spelt out in the 1999 Constitution as amended. Certain members of the House, it was gathered, had planned to challenge the president on alleged poor implementation of 2013 capital budget, a situation that might snowballed into disruption of the event. 11

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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News

Undesirable Zimbabwe minister detained by German police Zimbabwe’s controversial Environment, Water and Climate Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, was detained for almost three hours at Munich International Airport on Saturday morning (November 16). According to reports, German police swooped on Kasukuwere soon after his arrival on a plane from South Africa on his way to Poland to attend the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention. He was detained at a police post at the airport where he was told that the country’s security system had alerted the police that “an undesirable element was entering the country.” Speaking on Saturday from Munich International Airport, Kasukuwere said Germany’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ulrich Klockner called him after the ordeal to apologise, saying such an incident would never happen again. Kasukuwere added: “Problems started when I landed at Munich International Airport around 6am today. As we were walking from the arrival terminal, police details and security agents appeared as if they were carrying their usual airport checks but as soon as they got hold of my passport, they all swooped on me. “They stopped searching all the other people and I suddenly became the centre of attraction as they escorted me to a police post within the airport and they detained me in a small room for two and half hours. “As soon as we got into this room, they took away my passport and gave me some

A thug in a suit? Saviour Kasukuwere allegedly appears on an EU list of ‘aliens of special concern’

document saying I was supposed to be subjected to some security checks. The police details consulted with higher authorities and shuttled from one office to the other. “I asked them what was the problem and they told me that their security system had alerted them that an undesirable element was about to enter into their country. “They searched me and checked all my details and after a while, they left me to sit alone in this tiny room not knowing what was going on.” He added: “It was quite some experience but I wasn’t surprised. I then spoke to the

Germany Ambassador in Zimbabwe who made frantic efforts to call these police details to no avail. I sat in this tiny room on some bench and all I could do was just to read my prayer book.” The Minister said he had even tried to explain to the police details that he was on his way to Poland for a UN meeting but they would not listen. “I went further querying why as a diplomat I was being kept in this tiny room but they maintained that they were doing their job.

“After about two and half hours of uncertainty, one of the police officials just came in and handed me my passport. He then hurriedly left and I was really taken aback by this treatment. I think this had something to do with the illegal sanctions but no one mentioned this to me. This was quite some experience. “I was only freed around 8:45am. This treatment was totally uncalled for. After I had been released, the Germany Ambassador to Zimbabwe contacted me and he was very apologetic about the whole ordeal. He gave me assurance that this would never happen again.” It appears, however, that not only the Germans regard Kasukuwere as an ‘undesirable element’. Thousands of unsympathetic Zimbabweans flooded social media sites over the weekend to register their glee at the treatment meted out to him in Germany. A comprehensive dossier published by Nehanda Radio allegedly exposes the minister as a violent thug who from 2000 to 2008 beat up opposition activists using an iron bar, while hunting them down using militia gangs. The Mt Darwin South MP is also accused of leading and sponsoring terror gangs that operated mainly in the Mashonaland Central province. Nehanda Radio alleges that on May 5, 2008, Kasukuwere organized and ferried (using his lorry) a group of over 300 youths to Chaona, Mazowe where they beat up perceived opposition supporters, killing 6 and injuring dozens.

Rogue PPI claim companies targeted by toughened regulations Claims firms which use information gathered by unsolicited calls and texts or who provide poor quality services will face large fines under law changes announced by the Government. The move marks the latest step in the Government’s work to create a financial sector that serves customers and supports British businesses. Tough new rules are being introduced as the part of a package of ongoing work by government to crack down on the rogue firms responsible for bombarding the public with misleading advertising and flooding banks with unsubstantiated claims for compensation – at a cost to other customers. To ensure that the claims management industry delivers the best possible results for consumers, the Claims Management Regulation (CMR) Unit at the Ministry of Justice will also be expanded with more enforcement staff, funded by an uplift in fees paid by regulated claims firms, and a new set of toughened conduct rules will be unveiled this week to bear down on abuses by companies. Government action has already seen the number of claims firms operating drop by 12

Justice Minister Shailesh Vara

more than 1,000 since a peak of 3,400 in 2011 to 2,300 now. The fines will be used to make sure that those which remain in the industry follow the rules – and that they pay for it when they do not. Justice Minister Shailesh Vara said: “We will not tolerate companies which waste hardworking people’s time and money through their own laziness, incompetence

or frankly dubious practices.“We are already making sure rogue companies are shut down – and now we are ensuring those who are wasting everyone’s time will pay for it.” Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Sajid Javid said: “These new rules will put PPIclaims pests in their place. “Cold call companies that bother the public will now have one less reason to do so. “This will also help free up the banks to pay legitimate claims more quickly.” The fines will be brought in as part of law changes being made through the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill which is currently progressing through Parliament. They are expected to take effect next year, when further details on the maximum fine levels will be published. More than 1,100 claims companies specialise in helping people make claims for compensation for mis-sold financial products (like Payment Protection Insurance (PPI)). Banks have complained that some firms are responsible for deluging them with inaccurate and incomplete claims which have caused unnecessary costs and major delays

in resolving genuine claims.The new rules being published by the CMR unit this week include giving claims companies a duty to make sure the claims they are submitting have a realistic chance of success, as well as ensuring full evidence is provided to back up any allegations. Firms will also have to carry out thorough audits of how data they use has been gathered, so they can no longer turn a blind eye to whether leads have been found by illegal marketing texts and calls. Kevin Rousell, head of the Claims Management Regulation unit, added: “It is our absolute priority to protect customers and we are making certain that firms are following the rules.“We do not tolerate bad practice and continue to take action against companies which break the rules, including removing their licence to trade. Issuing fines will be an important new weapon for us.” As well as employing more staff to tackle irresponsible practice by claims firms, the Government will strengthen the CMR Unit by appointing independent regulatory experts in non-executive roles and will commission a comprehensive review of the independence of the current Claims Management Regulator’s governance arrangements.

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Bulgaria

Xenophobic street patrols leave migrant groups alarmed

The Shalom Organisation of the Jews in Bulgaria has expressed concern at the strengthening of xenophobia, racism and extreme nationalism in Bulgarian society.

The statement by the Jewish organisation came against a background of xenophobic and ultra-nationalist sentiments being stoked by some political forces and sections of the media, in turn against a background of a sharp increase of illegal migration into the country from the Middle East and North Africa. Statements by ultra-nationalists at antimigrant rallies have led prosecutors to open pre-trial investigations against a number of individuals for alleged hate speech. Further controversy has been stirred by ultra-nationalist groups organising “civil patrols” in central parts of Soﬁa, near the landmark Banya Bashi mosque and accommodation where migrants have tended to congregate in recent weeks. This area previously was boasted of as a symbol of tolerance in the

Bulgarian capital city because nearby houses of worship also include the Soﬁa Synagogue. In turn, although Bulgaria was not included in the survey, a recent poll among Jews in a number of European countries by an EU agency found worsening anti-Semitism, and established that some Jews in those countries said that they avoided wearing symbols of the Judaic faith such as kippah (yamulkah) in public. Shalom said that there had been an increased number of anti-Semitic attacks, especially on the internet. It also expressed concern at the revival of political slogans and programmes from the fascist past of the country. The main political parties had not clearly declared their position on these issues, which created additional tension in society and divided the nation, Shalom said. Earlier in November, the ofﬁce of the Chief Mufti, spiritual leader of Bulgaria’s Muslims, responded to xenophobic attacks in the country by condemning acts of violence against people, regardless of religion and ethnicity, as unac-

Taiwan

Taiwan to launch rocket . . up Gambia-based diplomats

Premier Jiang is displeased he received no warning of Gambia’s plans to sever diplomatic relationships Taiwanese premier Jiang Yi- a thorough review and mete out adminishuah has announced his gov- trative discipline,” he said at a legislative ernment will conduct a review hearing in response to lawmakers’ concern and discipline diplomatic per- over The Gambia’s abrupt announcement. sonnel stationed in The Gam- The premier said diplomatic personnel on bia after the West African state the front line were well aware of loan decaught Taiwan by surprise when mands made by The Gambia but had no it abruptly severed diplomatic inkling that Jammeh was about to cut ties. “This isn’t simply a problem of bad judgties. ment on the part of diplomatic personnel Taiwan announced the termination of or the ambassador,” he said. diplomatic relations with The Gambia on The premier noted that for members of Monday (November 18), three days after Taiwan’s overseas mission in the country, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh issued including Ministry of Economic Affairs a statement saying that his country was and National Security Bureau people and ending diplomatic relations with Taiwan. military, education and medical personJiang said diplomats stationed in the counnel, everything was business as usual, try failed to send any warning of a pendwith nothing to indicate the pending break ing change in bilateral diplomatic ties. in relations. “On that point alone, we will conduct

ceptable and deeply objectionable. The Chief Mufti’s office called on Muslims to be vigilant but not to respond to provocations. On the “civil patrol” issue, Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova said that the municipality would not allow the formation of such patrols by representatives of nationalist organisations because these were contrary to Bulgarian legislation and the democratic rule of law. Fandukova rejected claims by nationalist organisations that the municipality had received notifications of the establishment of such patrols. The formation of private groups to take over the functions of the Interior Ministry was dangerous to public order and security in the country, Sofia’s mayor said. But media reports and posts on social networks made it clear that “civil patrols” already were openly patrolling parts of Sofia. Participants appeared on national television giving interviews about their activities. Boyan Rasate, of the “Union of Bulgarians – National Unity” group, seen

on television in the company of groups of young men patrolling the streets, told reporters that the groups did not check identity documents (earlier reports and social networks posts depicted them as doing so, which is unlawful given that only police have the legal right to do so) and said that members of the patrols were carefully selected and would not provoke conﬂict. Reporters from local media who accompanied one of Rasate’s patrols, of young men wearing armbands based on the Bulgarian national ﬂag, said that at one point, two police on motorcycles had stopped the group, collected the “patrol’s” identity cards and recorded the data. The police warned the group to obey the law and not create problems, the report said. Challenged as to why the police did not prevent the group proceeding, the police were reported as saying that they could not be prevented from walking on a public street.

Australia

Indonesia recalls ambassador in spying row

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recalled his ambassador from Australia on Monday (November 18) and ordered a review of bilateral cooperation following reports that an Australian security agency attempted to listen to his cellphone in 2009.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Guardian reported that they had documents from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden showing that the Australian agency also targeted the phones of Indonesian ﬁrst lady Kristiani Herawati and another eight government ministers and ofﬁcials. The documents reportedly showed that the Australian Defence Signals Directorate, now the top-secret Australian Signals Directorate, attempted to listen to the president’s phone conversations on at least one occasion and tracked activity on the phone for 15 days in August 2009. The diplomatic spat is the second in less than a month between Indonesia and Australia stemming from Snowden’s revelations linking Australia with US espionage. It’s an early test for Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s new government, which was elected in September and is anxious to cement ties with its populous near-neighbour before the uncertainty of Indonesian presidential elections next

year. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told reporters in Jakarta on Monday afternoon that Yudhoyono had “directly ordered” the ambassador, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, to be recalled. Natalegawa said Indonesia “is very disturbed by this matter.” “This is not a clever thing to do, it’s not a smart thing to do,” Natalegawa said of the reported spying. “It violates every single decent and legal instrument that I can think of.” He said the onus was now on Australia to explain what happened and to make a commitment that it would never happen again. A document from Edward Snowden published last month by the German magazine Der Spiegel describes a signals intelligence program called ‘Stateroom’ in which US, British, Australian and Canadian embassies house surveillance equipment to collect electronic communications. Those countries, along with New Zealand, have an intelligence-sharing agreement known as ‘Five Eyes’. The Australian Embassy in Jakarta was listed as one of the embassies involved in a report from Australia’s Fairfax media, along with Australian embassies in Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili in East Timor; and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 13

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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CRIME

School caretaker jailed for sex offences

John Lyon

A school caretaker from east London has been jailed for 12 years for sexual assaults on two young girls.

John Lyon, 40 (4.02.73), of Latymer Way, Edmonton, N9 was sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court as follows: Sexual assault by penetration on a girl aged seven years: sentenced to 12 years Sexual assault on a girl aged six years: sentenced to three years Both sentences are to run concurrenlyt. Lyon was also placed on the sex offenders register for life, and an indeﬁnite Sexual Offences Prevention Order was imposed. On 30 July 2012, a seven-year-old girl

had been attending a summer camp in Churchbury Lane, Enﬁeld when she was approached by Lyon. He took her to a bathroom where he carried out a sexual assault. The victim later told her mother and the matter was reported to police. As a result of inquiries a second victim - aged six years - was identiﬁed. She told police she too had been sexually assaulted by Lyon in similar circumstances during the Easter holidays of 2012. Lyon was arrested on 1 August 2012 and charged on Thursday, 17 January. On Monday, 16 September he pleaded guilty to his offences. Detective Constable Mark Tester, Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “This has been a complicated and protracted enquiry and I wish to thank the victims and their families for their patience and assistance throughout. “Lyon betrayed his position of trust as a caretaker at the school in the most heinous way, his actions demonstrated a pre-med-

itation and it is my belief that he poses a very real risk to children, and this was reﬂected in the summing up and sentence imposed by the court.”

Man sentenced to eight years for axe attack

John Steele

John Steele, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted burglary on Friday 21 June and one count of burglary with intent to cause grievous bodily harm on Saturday 22 June at an address in Stanmore. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

Steele, armed with an axe, went to Beatty Road in Stanmore on Friday 21 June looking for a man living at the address. He tried to gain entry to the premises, but due to the quick actions of a female occupant, was unable to do so and left. Steele returned to the address the following day, with two other men, again look-

ing for the male occupant of the flat. This time, the same woman was home alone when Steele and his accomplices forced their way into the flat and assaulted the 27-year-old. She managed to fight off the intruders, before running to get help from her neighbours and call police. A witness saw the suspects drive off in car driven by a woman. The female victim told investigating officers that she recognised Steele as she’d been introduced to him on a previous occasion. The woman started searching through social media sites and came up with a name which she passed on to police. Extensive enquiries led police to an address in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, where Steele was arrested on Tuesday 25 June. Steele gave a no comment interview to police and denied any involvement in the offences at Beatty Road on both dates. Steel was later identified during an ID parade as the man with the axe on Friday 21 June, and as the man who forced entry to the flat on Saturday 22 June and was charged with both offences. Still protesting his innocence, a trial date was set for Wednesday 16 October . The 27-year-old victim showed great courage in attending court and was the main reason for Steele entering a guilty plea on the first day of the trial.

Killer who ﬂed to Thailand is sentenced to 31 years

Robert Bernard was extradited last year back to face sentencing in the UK

A murderer who ﬂed to Thailand to escape justice has today been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 31-year term.

On 18 October, Robert Dominic Bernard, 30 (19/10/82) of no fixed address was found guilty at the Old Bailey of the murder of 20-year-old Duane Tomlin in Dendridge Close, Enfield on 5 July 2007. He was also convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life Duane was shot and killed in a car park at around 00:20hrs. Earlier that evening he had been at a nearby address. He ordered a taxi but 14

after being collected and driving away asked the driver to return, it is believed after receiving a call or a text message. Whilst paying his fare Duane saw small white van drive into the close the van had been seen previously in the close as the taxi had returned. Duane asked the taxi driver to drive away as he believed the occupants of the van were armed. The taxi driver drove into a nearby car park and the van pulled up alongside the taxi and the occupants of the van fired shots into the taxi. Duane managed to get out of the taxi but was shot at close range. A post-mortem examination revealed that Duane had been shot seven times and that at least two firearms had been used in the offence. The taxi driver was unhurt. The van that had been used in the murder was found burnt out a short distance away in Lackmore Road. At the scene a glove was found, this came back with an incomplete DNA profile for Bernard. At the scene of the shooting, a short distance from Duane and the taxi, a mobile phone was found. This, along

with calls made between Duane and Bernard, linked Bernard to the shooting. Finally an incomplete DNA profile of Bernard was found on a small piece of debris taken from a firearm that was recovered with the two firearms used in the murder. Bernard had fled the UK for Thailand shortly after the murder. In 2010 detectives publically appealed for Bernard, naming him as a man they wished to trace. In 2012 officers from Trident, working with colleagues at the Royal Thai Police, arrested Bernard and he was extradited to the UK - he was arrested on 20 December 2012 following his return and charged as above. The court heard that the likely motive for the shooting was a feud between Bernard and Duane Tomlin that may have stemmed from a falling out over a debt. Detective Chief Inspector John Crossley, Trident Gang Crime Command, said: “Over six years ago the Tomlin family lost a much loved son and brother. Robert Bernard fled the country with-

in hours of the murder and the family have not been able to have any justice since this time. I would like to thank the Royal Thai Police and the CPS for their assistance in this case. I hope that this verdict will help bring some closure to the Tomlin family.”

Police appeal for help with stickers The police have become aware of stickers giving details for a locksmith being left on a number of properties. The telephone number given does not connect. We have received a number of calls from members of the public reporting such stickers and are working to establish exactly where the stickers have been found and if they are linked to any burglaries. At this stage we are only aware of one burglary, in Wandsworth, that has taken place at a property that has a sticker. However, we cannot conﬁrm the property was burgled because it had a sticker. We would urge residents to be vigilant and report any sightings of stickers to their Safer Neighbourhood Team.

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Sounds of Diaspora People of America Are Big Boi and Andre Outkasts no more?

Big Boi (left) and Andre 3000 as their fans remember them

According to unnamed sources, Big Boi and Andre 3000, aka Outkast, are planning to end the group’s hiatus next year when they reunite for a headlining set at Indio, California, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

The pair are reportedly in talks to play the festival, which kicks off on April 11, as the start to a year of reunion gigs that could include other festival dates. Coachella has a reputation as the place where classic groups get back together, hosting such iconic reunions over the years as the Pixies, Rage Against the Machine, My Bloody Valentine, the Stooges, Pavement and, in 2012, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg with a hologram Tupac Shakur. A source told Billboard magazine that there have definitely been “some conversations” about Andre 3000 and Big Boi reuniting, while another said “all systems are go.” If they do come together, it could provide fans of their landmark 2003 double album, Spearkerboxxx/The Love Below, the first chance to see the duo perform a live set of songs from that collection, for which they never officially toured. Spokespeople for

Outkast’s current label, Epic Records and for Coachella promoter Goldenvoice could not be reached for comment. Outkast announced they were taking an indefinite hiatus in 2007 after the 2006 release of the soundtrack to their film, “Idlewild.” Earlier this year, Andre told Spin magazine that fans should not think of the pair’s joint appearance on the remix for Frank Ocean’s “Pink Matter” as an official Outkast reunion. “I was approached as a solo artist by both Frank Ocean & Tip. I discussed musical direction with each artist and completed my verses. It was after that when Big Boi’s name came up,” he said in a statement. “I never want to mislead our audience — I worried that some would think these were Outkast collaborations. These songs are not Outkast collaborations. I discussed this rationale with Big, Frank and T.I. and everyone agreed. That is why I was surprised to read about these remixes.” Andre also told GQ in 2012 that there were no plans for an Outkast reunion album or tour. When MTV News spoke to Big Boi in 2012, he refused to talk reunion as well. “Yeah, for sure, we’re good. That’s my brother, man,” he said of rumours of a beef between the two. “Y’all don’t see us. We do us. So people want an Outkast album so bad they’ll stir up somethin’ but you can’t break that bond ... Until you see me and Dre sit side by side... when you see both of us together then you’ll know it’s coming.” Big Boi has since released two solo albums, while Andre has been featured on songs by Chris Brown, John Legend, Drake, Young Jeezy, UGK, T.I. and Rick Ross. Andre has also branched out to acting with a lead role in the upcoming Jimi Hendrix biopic, “All is by My Side.”

Racist serial killer in last minute reprieve

Franklin is on death row for the 1977 slaying of Gerald Gordon outside a synagogue

The execution of Joseph Paul Franklin, the serial killer guilty of murdering 22 people in an effort to instigate a race war who was set to die by lethal injection at 12:01 am on November 20 has been temporarily stayed. Though the 63-year-old has been accused of multiple murders, he is on death row for the sniper attack that killed one man, Gerald Gordon. Franklin has also admitted to shooting pornography magnate Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, who has since been confined to a wheelchair. Between 1977 and 1980, Franklin sought out Jews and African-Americans to murder as part of his white supremacist ideology. Concerns over the administration of a new drug to the state of Missouri have led

US District Court Judge Nanette Laughrey to rule that execution protocol for Missouri must be refined before allowing a lethal injection to occur. Previous drugs, which were supplied from within the EU, have been withdrawn because suppliers have threatened not to supply drugs for medical use if their product is used for capital punishment. “Throughout this litigation, the details of the execution protocol have been illusive at best. It is clear from the procedural history of this case that through no fault of his own, Franklin could not resolve his claims without a stay of his scheduled execution date. Franklin has been afforded no time to research the risk of pain associated with the Department’s new protocol, the quality of the [drug] pentobarbital provided, and the record of the source of the pentobarbital,” Laughrey wrote. Franklin was interviewed from prison earlier where he expressed his hopes to be granted life without parole instead of being subjected to lethal injection. Laughrey went on to detail her decision, “Given the irreversible nature of the death penalty and plaintiffs’ medical evidence and allegations, a stay is necessary to ensure that the defendants’ last act against Franklin is not permanent, irremediable cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”

Leona, Rebecca and half the country pick Sam Former X Factor winner Leona Lewis has paid this year’s hot favourite Sam Bailey a “little visit” - sparking rumours the hopeful will sing a song by the ‘Bleeding Love’ hitmaker this weekend.

The ITV talent show will be celebrating its 10th birthday as the contestants will perform their favourite songs from previous X Factor stars. The 28-year-old popstar posted a picture of the two together on her Twitter page this week, which has prompted speculation Sam will sing one of her tracks. Leona tweeted the photo, captioned: “Had a little visit with this lovely lady today @SamBaileyREAL”. Olly Murs, One Direction and JLS are said to be taking the X Factor stage this week for the anniversary. Meanwhile, leading the polls with odds as short as 5/6 with BoyleSports, the pris

on officer has been tipped to be this series winner. “Sam Bailey is so far ahead it is unreal,” the insider revealed to The Sun. “She’s the runaway leader, a million miles in front of her nearest rival and, if it was the final this weekend, she would romp home. “Viewers love her voice and have really taken to her back-story. She is a mum who has worked in a tough job and people seem to relate to that.” Popular former runner-up Rebecca Ferguson has also tipped Sam Bailey to win the title. Promoting her latest single ‘I Hope’ and her forthcoming December album release on BBC Breakfast, presenter Susanna Reid asked the Liverpudlian mother of two who she thought would win the “whole lot”. Ferguson, foregoing the usual diplomatic fence-sitting that seems to be stock response to the question, immediately said “Sam Bailey” who, she opined, “has a really strong voice.” 15

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Gospel By Michael Adekoya

You are original, unique and different

“Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.”Rom. 12:2 NLT.

still doesn’t make it right. The Bible says, “Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace”Dan. 3:4-6. Everybody in Babylon was doing it because it meant death if you don’t. But neither peer pressure nor the threat of death could move the three young Hebrew guys to compromise or conform to the pattern of worshipping another god. Because they knew who they were, whom they believed and their relationship with God, they said, “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fi-

ery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”Dan. 3:17-18. To too many people today, especially the church people, that might look like stubbornness or rebellion but it is neither. Instead, it is a total display of character and integrity. They just refused to conform or compromise. They just didn’t like to follow the multitude to do evil. They were not looking for the approval of men but that of God. They knew their identity in God and they just knew they are unique and different. Do you know who you are in Christ? My friend, if there is nothing different in you or about you, it is time to re-evaluate yourself. Peter says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”1 Pet 2:9. Listen! You are “one of a kind” created and called to bring glory to God in every circumstances. Forget about having consensus before you do things. Forget about conducting an opinion poll of people before you obey God. You are not a spare tyre or second best, so don’t allow anyone to treat you like one. Check your Bible, in most battles, God is always on the side of the underdog who stand up for His course. So don’t let

a bible school, primary, is involved in extensive mission work in Eastern Europe, Italy and India. For information you may call 020 8680 7671 Ruach Ministries - holds meeting at 9am, 11am and 6pm. For information you may call 020 8678 6888 International Central Gospel church - Battersea chapel, holds meetings on Sundays from 2.00pm. . For information you may call 020 8684 4934 Jesus Arena International- Sunday service at 11.00am at Broadwater farm centre, Adams road N17 The Bible Life Church UK- They meet on Sunday mornings at 2.30pm at St Giles Centre, Camberwell

Church Street, London SE5 Christ Apostolic church (Full Gospel & Pentecostal) Surrey Docks District 163 Ilderton Rd South Bermondsey London SE16 2UT. Tel. 020 7252 2086. Time of worship: Sunday English service 9- 11.30am. Yoruba service 11.30 -2.30pm. Prophetic counselling: Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 12noon- 5pm, Saturday only 5- 7pm. Holy Cross Church InternationalSunday 10.am- 1 pm at Crown House 71-73 Nathan way London SE28 0BQ Tel: 07904 234 126, 07809 381 886 Times of service:Bible study: Thursdays 8pm. Night Vigil: Friday Forthnightly 12am

Dear Reader, in this endtime, God is always sending out Messages, Words, Voices, Warnings and Signals to His people but unfortunately the antenna of most people are not receiving the messages or signals. My friend, it is now time to tune in to the divine frequency to receive from God for yourself, for your household, for your ministry, church, city and nation. Listen! The root cause of many social, marital, emotional, spiritual, financial and societal problems today is simply the fact that people don’t like themselves. They are not comfortable and contented with how they are created, with how they look, with how they talk, with what they have. They compare themselves with other people wishing they were like them. Are you one of them? Today, many people are running around looking for the approval of other people instead of the approval of God. Many go into relationship looking for who will love and care for them. People are so busy conforming to the pattern of this world, conforming to the pattern of this jet age and doing wrong things just to be known, popular, recognized, famous and approved. People are so insecure about who they are, so they end up living to please other people instead of God, trying to fit into their moulds and personality, lifestyle or physic; even some go for plastic surgery and ex-

pensive fashion of half-nakedness just to be accepted in the society. My friend, is this message speaking to you? Maybe, it is not to you but to someone so close to you. Whichever the case may be, I have Good News for you! You’re original, unique and different. You’re too precious to be ignored! You’re not created to mimic somebody else. You are created to be you. Don’t be like the people of this world because it would not give pleasure to God if you live your life as a copycat or die in attempt to recreate yourself. God made you the way you are on purpose, so you don’t have to fit into somebody else’s mould, opinion or lifestyle. No matter what people are saying about you, let them say! What matters is what God is saying about you. That’s why you should connect with Him intimately to hear Him. My friend, if a million people do the wrong thing that

Are you looking for a church?

Not settled in any particular congregation? Perhaps now is the time to pray about it If you are not yet saved try one of the following: Jubilee International Churchmeets at 2,30pm on Sundays at Kings Avenue, school, park hill. London SW4. Part of Jubilee International Churches worldwide. For information, you may call (020)8697 3354 New Wine Christian Church- 11am holds meeting at Ringcross Tennants club, Lough Road, Holloway, N7. a member of the Icthus fellowship

worldwide. For more information call 020 7609 959 or 07957 757 663. Praise Tabernacle- 10:30am holds meetings at 620 Western Avenue (A40), park royal Business centre, opposite Warner Bros. Cinema Complex, W3. part of The Redeemed Christian Church of God. For information you may call 020 8993 3010 New Life Christian Centre 10.30am & 6.00pm. meetings at Cairo New Road, Croydon. The church has

people influence you, send you out of your matrimonial home, mould you into who you are not, send you into grave early, destroy your vision or reduce your value. When Martin Luther was told, “The whole world doesn’t like you and they are against you.” He replied, “Then, I’m against the whole world too”. That is what makes you original and different. My friend, one with God is a majority. Do not die trying to be like somebody else or trying to compromise or conform to the pattern and lifestyle of this world. Today, a lot of nakedness is going on in the world, as well as in the church. And the reason for it is that lots of people really don’t know who they are. My friend, we are called by God to be different and to make a difference in our family, work-place, community, city and nation. In every aspect of our life we are a peculiar people who uniquely belong to God. My friend, God loves you unconditionally. He created you as a unique individual and there has never been, nor will there ever be, another person exactly like you, even if you are a twin. You are original and different so don’t give up on yourself. Are you saved? If yes, then you have what it takes. But if not, simply “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”Rom 10:9 Your new identity begins with new birth! Remain blessed! Sunday Service: Sundays 10am - 1pm Winners Chapel London- part of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, at Unit B1 Galleywall Trading Estate, South Bermondsey, London SE16 3PB meets Sunday 7am & 9am and 11am and Wednesdays at 7pm. For details call 020 7237 7894 CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH GRAVESEND, ST. AIDAIN’S CHURCH, ST. AIDAN’S WAY, GRAVESEND, KENT, DA12 4AG TEL. 01474 355 841, 07956 38 38 70 TIME OF WORSHIP: Wednesday Bible Study: 7:30pm to 9:00pm Friday, Night Vigil: 9pm to 11pm Sunday Worship: 12:30pm to 3:00pm

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Guinea-Bissau

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

Africa Newsround

Abductors trick parents into handing over kids Alleged child trafﬁckers have been apprehended with 61 children aged between 4 and 10 en route to Gambia.

The children were allegedly being trafﬁcked from Tombali in the south to Gambia, to the north of Senegal

Morocco

Child rapist pardoned in error can stay in Spain

returned to Spain, where he was re-arrested. King Mohammed VI said the “exceptional reversal” was made “considering the flaws that marred the process, the gravity of the crimes committed and with respect to the rights of the victims.” The King said he would not have pardoned the Spaniard if he had been aware of his crimes and subsequently ordered an investigation into the pardons process. Paedophile Daniel Galván Viña was reGalván, who had also resided in Britain, leased as part of the traditional ‘Throne had raped at least 11 children aged from Day’ mass pardon practised by the King of 3 to 15. Morocco The National Court in Madrid ruled on Riyadh has received a flat refusal from Spain after a court re- Monday (November 18) that the existfused on Monday to extradite a ing treaties between Spain and Morocco did not allow for one of the countries to child rapist who was re-arrested extradite its own nationals to the other. in Spain having been controver- There were therefore “no grounds to sially pardoned by the king of hand the Spanish national Daniel Galván Morocco. Viña to Morocco under the international Daniel Galván Viña, 63, was among arrest warrant” issued by a Moroccan 48 Spanish prisoners pardoned by King judge on August 5, it said. It ruled that Mohammed VI and freed from jail folhe should serve his 30-year sentence in lowing a visit to Morocco by Spain’s prison in Spain. King Juan Carlos in July. Mohammed Galván was born in Iraq but acquired revoked the pardon in August after vioSpanish citizenship after he married a lent protests in Morocco over Galván’s Spanish woman whom he has since direlease, with officials saying it had been vorced. a mistake. In the meantime, Galván had

The human cargo was discovered stowed away in two trucks as they passed through the southern Guinea-Bissau city of Buba. According to police, all the children were taken from Tombali, the southernmost region of the country. Police spokesman Francisco N’Dur Djata said the men responsible convinced the children’s parents that they represented a charitable organisation and the children were being taken to a Koranic school in Gambia – a notion that would be considered an honour by Muslim families, which make up at least half the population of the former Portuguese colony. Many of the children were reportedly ill or suffering fatigue due to the rigors

of the journey. They have been placed in protective custody at a UNICEFsponsored facility in Buba. According to Aboubacar Sultan, Guinea-Bissau’s UNICEF representative, there is still “more to be done in terms of prevention. (..) this will be our agenda for days to come.” Reports of child slavery are common across West Africa. Impoverished parents are often duped into sending their children with the trafﬁckers on the pretences that the child will be given a better life, or education with a host family oversees. Sometimes parents are told that the child will work as a domestic for rich folk and will be able to send back remittances to ease the family’s grinding poverty. The promises soon vanish into thin air. Many parents never see or hear from their children again.

Zimbabwe

Cholera warning issued to neglected capital city

Water from many of Harare’s wells is contaminated by nearby broken sewage pipes

Pressure group Human Rights Watch has warned that Zimbabwe’s capital Harare was at risk of repeating a cholera outbreak ﬁve years ago that killed over 4,000 people. The group said a long-standing sanitation crisis in the city meant drinking water was often taken from wells that were contaminated with sewage from broken pipes. Tiseke Kasambala, southern Africa director of Human Rights Watch said: “In many communities there is no water for drinking or bathing, there is sewage in the streets, there is diarrhoea and typhoid and the threat of another cholera epidemic (..) Harare’s water and sanitation system is broken and the government isn’t ﬁxing it.”

A 60-page report warned that history showed the risks of doing nothing. Crumbling infrastructure led to an outbreak of cholera in 2008 which killed over 4,000 people and infected 100,000 in a city of two million. While deadly, the disease is easily preventable with clean water and proper sewage. Aid organisations have helped to provide medicines and to sink several boreholes in the capital since 2008, but some of the holes have reportedly been contaminated with sewage. Several suburbs in Harare don’t have tap water and people are forced to queue for hours to collect water. “Harare’s water and sanitation system has been destroyed by decades of neglect and by ongoing mismanagement and corruption,” Kasambala said. 17

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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African Entertainment Travelmusic artist

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‘It is satanic to suggest I will divorce my husband!’ – Omoni Ogoli When relationship experts, Dr. Charles and Dr. Elizabeth Schmitz, stated that “The most successful marriages are those in which spouses are also best friends,” they were indirectly referring to Nnamdi Oboli and his actress wife, Omoni. The couple see themselves as best friends. They trust each other with their lives. This explains why the man always by his wife’s side even when she’s on movie location. After 13 years of marriage which is blessed with three boys, the couple are still like an item. They share the story behind their success and the secret of their marriage. What I saw in her? I don’t know. I couldn’t compare. I just know that what I saw in her was more than enough to make me want to consider marriage and make her my wife. She was just perfect for me. Ready for marriage at the time we met. In some ways, yes, but meeting her heightened my readiness to get married. How I met her? We met for just a few minutes in Lagos while she was pursuing her acting career. We met some years later and started dating What endeared me to her? Her beauty and warmth. She is so exciting to be with. What marriage means to me? What God ordained it to be; the union between man and woman, and fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. Married a friend? Yes. Trust? I trust her and cherish her a lot. Regret marrying a celebrity? I didn’t marry a celebrity. I married Omoni, who now happens to be a celebrity. There’s nothing to regret. She’s the same person I married over the years.

Omoni and her beautiful three young boys

The happy couple Nnamdi and Omoni Oboli

What binds us? We’ve always been close. I don’t know if it’s what binds us because there’s more to us than what people see. We just enjoy every passing moment, as much as we can, knowing that we could never have it back once it is lost. 10th marriage anniversary We didn’t travel to Israel for our 10th year anniversary, rather we travelled to Dubai. There can only be one honeymoon. The rest is enjoying every single moment and making it count. After 11 years of marriage The number one lesson is that I wish I had met her earlier and been married sooner. Other lessons have been compiled into my book which is in the process of being published. So, look out for it. Other lessons are being learnt as we grow along. What I

don’t like about her As soon as I know it, I’ll get back to you . In my marriage, there’s no plan B; no thoughts about divorce— Omoni Combining marriage with my acting career I don’t mind travelling. I love it. Nevertheless, I miss my husband and my boys whenever I travel. I’m grateful to God that my husband takes care of things when I’m not around. I cope quite well. What has kept my marriage going? 13 years now. Marriage is not about your status, so I didn’t go into it with the view to changing who I am just because of my new status as celebrity. Again, I thank God because it’s not what I did, but the fact that God gave me a husband that I love and understand and one who loves and understands me. Many others who would

The family together

have loved to stay married (celebrity or not) don’t always have a choice in their affairs. Feeling the same love for him? I think I love him even more now than when we first started. We have changed in so many ways and levels in our relationship that has sealed our union, and I’m so enjoying our thing right now. Having a non-celebrity husband Marriage to anybody is to understand the responsibility that comes with it. In my marriage, there’s no plan B; no thoughts about divorce. The fact that he isn’t a celebrity is not what makes him a great husband, it’s just who he is. Temptations in marriage The greatest temptation is to just sleep. Sometimes the work gets to the point that you crave sleep but can’t seem to squeeze out the time for it. Second honeymoon We have had many honeymoon. We find time to make our little mummy and daddy timeouts count as honeymoon. Our 10th anniversary was in Dubai, and we had a great time. What I can do without my husband? I can act and cook. What do you mean, “what can I not do without my husband?” His presence makes those things that I normally do count for something more because he is there with me, and his appreciation of what I do gives me the greatest joy. What can I not do without him? I don’t know if I would have been as close to God as I am today if it weren’t for him. He is my teacher, my guide and the iron that sharpens my iron in the word of God. Running joint bank account That’s totally up to every couple. No two relationships are alike. If they have a joint account but make each other miserable, how does that help the relationship? If they don’t maintain a joint account, but enjoy their marriage, who can fault them? So, I say, to each his own, whatever works for you.

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Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Events calendar What’s On & When Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Arts

Theatre, Shows and Musicals By Ryan Holmes

ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple. Haymarket Theatre,18 Suffolk St, London SW1Y 4HT

Much Ado About NothingNow-November 30th Lenny Henry as Troy and Tanya Moodie as Rose

The Dead Wait Now- December 1st

Apartheid may have ended in South Africa in 1994, but its years remain a heavy burden for those who lived in its squalid shadow. Premiering in London after debuting in the UK in 2002, Paul Herzberg’s powerful play – loosely inspired by his own experiences as a soldier in the South African army – is a kinetic mix of pain, anger and endurance. In the late ’80s, white South African athlete Josh Gilmore (Austin Hardiman) is conscripted and sent into the bloodshed of neighbouring Angola’s civil war. When a village massacre uncovers wounded political exile George Jozana (Maynard Eziashi), Gilmore’s racist commanding officer Papa Louw (Herzberg himself) orders him to carry Jozana back to the South African border. Clifton Terrace, London, N4 3JP

The 39 Steps Now- March 2014

When Hitchcock adapted Buchan’s ‘The 39 Steps’, however, he introduced a love interest in a version which Buchan later conceded was better than his own. In this stage version, Patrick Barlow has continued the honourable tradition of mucking around with Buchan’s original, keeping the love interest (now elegantly played by new cast member Rachel Pickup) and adding a whirligig of self-conscious theatrical effects in a production where four actors evoke everyone from lingerie salesmen to a housekeeper who screams like a steamtrain.. The Criterion,218-223 Piccadilly, London, SW1Y 4XA

Pride Now-November 9th

Set in both 1958 and 2008, ‘The Pride’ sees what appears to be the same love triangle play out in two very different eras. In 1958, closeted married man Philip (Harry Hadden-Paton) grapples violently with his feelings for writer Oliver (Al Weaver), while his fragile wife Sylvia (Hayley Atwell) looks on in impotent despair. And in 2008, the three seem to have been given their time again in a more liberated age… Yet they’re not happy – promiscuous journalist Oliver has scewed up his relationship with straight-laced Philip, and Oliver’s chronic neediness is seriously bringing his BFF Sylvia down. Trafalgar Studios,14 Whitehall SW1A 2DY

The Scottsboro Boys Now-December 21st

The Scottsboro Boys were nine young black men convicted of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama in 1931. Following a mistrial, the overwhelming evidence of their innocence did nothing to persuade a succession of white Alabama juries to find them innocent; their plight did much to lay the groundwork for the US civil rights movement – but that wasn’t a lot of comfort for the poor fellas left to rot in a Southern penitentiary. Young Vic, 66 The Cut, SE1 8LZ

One Man, Two Guvnors Now-March 2014

Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6000 from his fiancee’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at the Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently

Age is the theme and the big talking point at the Old Vic as it plays host to two great theatre pros in Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy. Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones are Benedick and Beatrice: reluctant older lovers, grouchily bickering their way into each other’s hearts. The play is reimagined in a Britain of old too. It’s 1944, and we get a wartime view of the country that perhaps only ever existed in our imaginations. A land of comedy policemen, dashingly handsome GIs and naughty boy scouts – it conjures up images of a particular kind of British sitcom or BBC radio play, a sort of ‘Archers’ does Shakespeare. 103 The Cut, Waterloo Rd, London SE1 8NB

Warhorse Now - Oct 27th, 2014

Five years on, the National Theatre’s ‘War Horse’ has become ubiquitous. The toast of the West End and Broadway, as I write this it’s sold out at the New London Theatre for the next two months – by contrast Its enormous success has negated the impact of Arts Council funding cuts on the NT, to the extent that the show has started to be singled out by some commentators as an example of ‘safe’ post-credit crunch programming. And, of course, there’s the Steven Spielberg film, a curious affair sparked by the director’s genuine love of the play, in which he gives Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 a lavish screen treatment that has everything bar the one thing that made the play so special in the first place. ICA, The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH

Bluebird

Now-December 1st

The main character in Hattie Naylor’s forceful, often shocking monologue slinks on stage slowly, without you completely noticing, until suddenly he’s there, sat in a leather backed chair, wearing a glinting smile and pinstriped suit and there’s nothing you can do but listen. With a relaxed charm, this wolf in flashy businessmen’s clothing tells us of his sordid, murderous, sadomasochistic encounters with women. His delivery distances him from his terrible deeds. This is one

truly disarming character. Theatre Royal Stratford East, London

The Island Now- Nov 30th

‘Another bloody load of eternity.’ For John and Winston, cellmates at Robben Island, each day brings more of the same. Imprisoned for standing up against South Africa’s apartheid regime, they’re forced to shovel sand all day. It’s a Tartarean task, unending and futile. Each barrowload they dig, they dump on the other’s heap. The two men – comrades, friends, so closely bound they could be Siamese twins – constantly glower at one another. ‘The Island’ captures the grim realities of prison life – the incessant aches of manual labour, the hardness of stone floors, the luxury of a spongebath – but also its poetic and philosophical associations. You see friendship, imagination and hope – basic tenets of human existence – willed into survival in the bleakest of circumstances. Young Vic, 66 The Cut, SE1 8LZ

The Fastest Clock in the Universe Now- November 30th

With Jez Butterworth’s ‘Mojo’ opening in the West End and Philip Ridley’s ‘Fastest Clock’ pitching up here in Islington, we’re in the thick of a tiny ’90s revival. And with that comes the decade’s long snarl of designer nihilism where young men strutted in retro fashions and wound up performing some gruesome act of violence. Ridley’s 1992 play is certainly good for all that with the preening hero Cougar as a sado masochistic Dorian Gray. He opens the play modelling underpants, before decorating the sofa in aviator shades, leather jacket and jeans, while sizing up his prey. 418 St John St, EC1V 4NJ

The Dumb Waiter Now- November 23rd

London’s fringe theatres tend to be blessedly free of half-baked Harold Pinter revivals, presumably because the greatest British playwright of the twentieth century was so bloody-mindedly challenging that jobbing directors don’t have the balls to take him on. But Notting Hill’s Print Room is classier and better resourced than many of its peers and in this fine revival of 1960’s ‘The Dumb Waiter’, director Jamie Glover expertly captures the mix of humour and deep unease that characterises this 50-minute play. The Print Room, 34 Hereford Rd, W2 5AJ

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Arts

Poet of the week: Syl Cheney-Coker By Peter Olorunnisomo

Syl Cheney-Coker (also spelled Cheyney-Coker), Sierra Leonean poet and novelist, was born on 28 June 1945, in Freetown. He was born to Christian Creole parents in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Having received his early education in Sierra Leone, at the age of twentyone he came to the United States to pursue postsecondary education at the Universities of Oregon and Wisconsin and also worked for a time as a journalist. He has taught at universities in the Philippines, Nigeria and the U.S. and served as editor and publisher of a fortnightly newspaper, the Vanguard, in Freetown in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His earliest uncollected poetry reflects a heavy debt to the ideas of the Négritude movement. The poem “Ghetto Woman” (1970) is modeled after Léopold Sédar Senghor’s ode to and objectification of African women, “Femme noire” (1945; “Black Woman,” 1964). Although C.-C.’s subsequently collected verse shows less of Négritude’s heavily romanticized and “Africanized” imagery, he continued to base much of his early critical evaluative works, through the 1970s, on the tenants of the Négritude ideology. His first book-length poetry collection, Concerto for an Exile (1973), has as its driving force his wrestling with questions of identity and his personal and po-

Syl Cheney- Coker

etic place in the world. As a member of the Sierra Leonean Creole community, he is caught between the privilege that this afforded him in his youth and the instability of that identity, rooted as it is in the slave trade and the community of freed and returned slaves that settled in Freetown and came to dominate Sierra Leonean society. The poetry is passionate, almost masochistic, as C.-C. poetically figures himself as a Christ-like figure, to be martyred for his community. His next collection, The Graveyard Also Has Teeth with Concerto for an Exile (1980) reprints the first volume along with fifty-three new poems, poems “in conversation with” both Sierra Leone and death. These new poems also mark the beginning of C.-C.’s shift away from a focus on the tormented self and a turning of his poetic

gaze ever outward. There is a much deeper sense of mission in these new poems together with a recognition of his needs and limitations as a poet. Whereas in the earlier verse the separation from his home is almost crippling, now “I want to return into exile to be your poet!” It is a collection of seeming paradoxes, the halfway point in his poetic development, torn between a sense of duty to his community - “I want only to plough your fields / to be the breakfast of the peasants who read” - and a recognition that this Creole history and consciousness he is so busy constructing necessitates that his poetry and his life is one that crosses “From continent to continent”. This development of C.-C.’s poetic persona is completed in his third volume of poetry, The Blood in the Desert’s Eyes (1990). The Christ-like persona of the earlier verses is replaced by the warnings and laments of the biblical prophet. This move away from martyr to trumpeter of injustice is reflected as well in his critical works and interviews starting in the early 1980s where C.-C. begins to view exile as the socially responsible alternative to sacrifice in the context of the repressive and often deadly state. The redemptive death of Concerto for an Exile is here reimagined as a brutal, chilling exercise of power and control. Read in sequence, these three works illustrate quite clearly C.-C.’s development as an author and thinker. The actual poetic form varies little, however. His seeming aversion to the comma and almost unremitting presentation of often disturbing poetic conceits threatens at times to overwhelm the poetry itself and has triggered a certain wariness among critics of his work who are electrified by the passion and energy of C.-

Iyayi dies of Violence

The travail of the educational institutions, the people and the Nigerian literary world took another dimension when what was expected to be a dialogue by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to further deliberate on the impasse in the nation’s epilectic tertiary services continuum to a dramatic knock. Prof Festus Iyayi, a one-time ASUU President and activist, and one of Nigeria’s internationally acclaimed writers encountered death on Tuesday, 12th November, 2013. He died as the vehicle he was travelling in bumped him into eternity by the recklessness of a convoy driver in Kogi State where high profile crashes are featuring high in official agenda. The death marked the glorification of a humanist who tried to change the world with his large heart and big ideas. A professor of Economics at the University of Benin where he lectured for dec-

Festus Iyayi

ades, Iyayi was renowned for his radicalism and trade unionism which he used to place a mirror of reality to the faces of the leaders whether military or civilian. By his academic epaulette, Iyayi was revered for his creative writings which earned him a Common Wealth Prize for Literature for the book, Heroes, a blistering focus on the Nigerian Civil War. His

other books are Violence, The Contract and Awaiting COURT Martial According to reportnaija (an online medium) the former ASUU President Professor Festus Iyayi who reportedly died in a fatal car crash involving Kogi State Governor’s convoy was killed by policemen. The secret source claimed that the injuries found on the late writer’s chest was consistent with gunshot injuries and that a bullet did pierce his heart. One Dr. Paul Amodu of the Specialist Hospital in Lokoja had revealed that Professor Iyayi died after “something” pierced his chest, but he didn’t specify what it was. It can be recalled that it was revealed last week said the popular professor and writer died in a collision with a security vehicle in Governor Wada’s convoy. Sources at ASUU said they had dissuaded Iyayi’s family from a “rushed” burial, as they suspected foul play.

C.’s poetry and yet somewhat put off by the thematic bleakness and structural laxity of his verse. His novel, The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar (1990), won the 1991 Commonwealth Writers Prize, Africa Region and shows the influence of Latin American literary movements and authors, an influence notable from The Graveyard Also Has Teeth onward. It is a sprawling, massive work chronicling the history of Malagueta, an imaginary African country which neatly mirrors the actual - and C.-C.’s own poetically imagined - history of Sierra Leone. Framed by the execution of the contemporary “reformer,” General Tamba Masimiara, the narrative traces the development of the community through slavery, resettlement, colonialism and neocolonialism, the one constant being the figure of the prophetlike Alusine Dunbar/Sulaiman the Nubian. The novel and the figure of Alusine/Sulaiman are in many respects the novelistic embodiment of that “Creole consciousness” C.-C. is struggling after in his earliest poetic works. Long characterized as one of the more exciting and strident voices amongst the younger African poets, C.-C. has put together a body of works that reflect a growing maturity of vision without losing any of its passion or righteous anger. His poetry is not noted for its use of more traditionally recognizably “African” imagery but rather for the ways in which he connects the themes born out of his own personal experience and upbringing to an ever widening poetic world. It is this thematic broadening as well as stylistic experimentation that makes C.-C. a poet of consequence both in Africa and beyond.

By Peter Olorunnisomo One of the sources recalled that another former president of ASUU, Dr. Mahmood Tukur, also died in suspicious circumstances on the Kaduna-Zaria highway, with the police claiming he died of an asthma attack because he ate pepper which, they claimed, triggered it. A source spoke with Prof. Iyayi’s son, Omole, regarding the latest information, but he said the family was unaware, and that they do not even have the autopsy performed yet. A press statement issued by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)signed by its President Osahom Enabulele has previously called for a special inquiry into Professor Iyayi’s death but the statement didn’t say if the doctors found that Iyayi may been shot as alleged by the anonymous source. African Voice commiserates with his family, ASUU, the literary world, and Nigeria in mourning his death. 21

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Health

Birmingham hospital links improving healthcare in Ghana

A Birmingham hospital has recently been gaining major international recognition for its continuous effort in helping to save lives in Ghana.

The kidney unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QE) has been paramount in developing crucial links with a hospital in Ghana for the past half a decade. Within this time the two have set up a successful life-saving dialysis program, which has helped children and pregnant women who are most in need. Now, the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, (UHB) of which the 1,200-bed QE is a vital part, has become only one of two to in the UK to be awarded ‘Level A’ status. This has aims to enhance co-operation between kidney units worldwide improving the conditions of those in badly affected areas. The scheme encourages the pairing and blossoming of relationships between the developed and the developing world. The goals are to establish kidney dialysis treatment, training specialist staff such as pathologists, doctors and dialysis nurses in some areas treatment has become advanced enough for transplant operations. The Birmingham trusts Level A status,

Creating a link between hospitals in the UK and in Africa is having hugely positive results in developing countries

which involves ongoing work with the Korle Bu Hospital in Accra, comes with American $17,000 to further develop the program. Another hospital in the city of Kamasi, 250 km north-west of Accra, will also be involved, further spreading the goodwill. All medical staff in Birmingham involved in the program give their time free, while funding from the ISN goes towards things such as travel costs. Dr Graham Lipkin, a nephrology consultant in Birmingham, said: “UHB is now

probably the biggest individual kidney service in the NHS, transplanting around 150-160 kidneys a year and caring for more than 1,000 patients on dialysis. “But globally, kidney disease is a major health problem, with a three to ﬁve-fold increase in Africa compared to what we see here. In Ghana there was very little co-ordinated care and a lot of people are dying with acute kidney failure for lack of short term dialysis and funding. “What I found particularly distressing when I went there was there was no dialy-

Sugary drinks ban could cut obesity

A selection of drinks, which would be affected should the new tax be introduced

A 20 per cent tax on sugary soft drinks could reduce the number of obese adults in the UK by 180,000, according to research we helped to fund. We know that regular consumption of sugar-loaded soft drinks can lead to obesity, which puts someone at increased risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

This study found that the tax would have a particularly strong impact on young adults, who tend to consume more of these drinks. The researchers found it could reduce the number of obese people under 30 by 128,000. The research was carried out by a team at the British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group at the University of Oxford and another team at the Centre for Food Security at the Univer-

sity of Reading. The British Heart Foundation are not calling for a tax on sugary soft drinks at this time continue to review the evidence from research like this. Simon Gillespie, our Chief Executive, said: “Guzzling ﬁzzy drinks is now the daily norm for around 40 per cent of thirteen year olds. The effects on young people’s health are a major concern. We know that drinks loaded with sugar can affect our weight increasing the risk of type two diabetes and coronary heart disease. “This research suggests that a healthrelated food duty, alongside other measures such as the new front of pack food labelling scheme, could be an effective way – particularly in young people – to help reduce obesity. We also believe that new guidance on food portion sizes needs to be provided to industry to help consumers compare between brands more easily.” “We are however, calling for the food industry to adopt the newly agreed front of pack food labelling scheme and for the UK governments to provide new guidance on food portion sizes. We believe these are measures that could help people make an informed choice about what they eat and drink.”

sis facility for children, but thanks to the SRC programme, the first children with acute kidney failure are receiving dialysis in Ghana.” UHB began by training a kidney specialist who spent more than a year in Birmingham before returning to Accra. The scheme was further boosted by the work of former UHB specialist Dr Jo Adu, a Ghanaian, who retired back to Accra about two years ago. Dr Lipkin added: “There are now well developed clinics for seeing people with chronic kidney disease in Accra, and a research programme has started to develop ways of looking at the causes of chronic kidney disease in Ghana. “We supported the first kidney transplants in the country and, linking with the TLC charity through my colleague Andrew Ready, we have had three successful transplant visits to Ghana over the last two and a half years.” Other key developments have been the introduction of high speed web connection so the team in Accra can present a difficult case over the internet and then discuss it. Dr Lipkin is adamant that UHB has gained as much, if not more, than Ghana by taking part in the SRC programme.

1 in 5 Africans bribed for basic healthcare Almost one in ﬁve Africans were forced to pay a bribe in the past year just to get basic public services, according to a new major survey.

In Sierra Leone -- the worst affected country -- almost two thirds of people said they had given money to public officials for permits, access to health care. The institution rated most corrupt across the whole continent was the police. Alex Vines, head of the Africa Program at Chatham House, said the figures displayed a policing “crisis” in Africa. Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra Leone rated the worst for police and healthcare corruption. Although market economies are booming in countries such as Kenya, prompted by oil and gas finds, according to the report endemic corruption has a crippling effect on wealth equality and the poor. It also said that corruption appeared to be bad for democracy, with people who said their country was corrupt also reporting their governments were undemocratic.

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Culture

The Lango people of Uganda

Young girls in a cultural dance

The Lango are probably decedents of the Nilotic people. It is hypothesized in the fifteenth century that they migrated to their current location as part of the southerly migration of the Nilotic. In the mid-nineteenth century the Lango and many other non Bantu tribes were overlooked for colonial development by the British because they were stateless and the British wanted to focus on the more organized Bantu tribes. This led to the “Bantu line” where nonBantu were above. This exclusion lead to distrusts and between the Lango and Ganda(a Bantu tribe colonized by the British), that exists even today even until the 1970s where the two organized themselves into political parties. The result of this was “guerrilla skirmishes and a series of opposition movements”-everyculture. com. In short this has left the Lango with very little political power and economic hardship. The Lango practice polygyny and attach considerable importance to bride-wealth. Men commonly extol polygyny as an ideal, but in the 1960s only about 20 percent of the men who were married at any given time were married polygynously. Men commonly find it difficult to arrange for the bride-price for a second wife, and many women do not want to be married as a second or subsequent wife; hence, polygynous marriages are not always possible. Another 22

important factor is population pressure. In some locales, there is not enough land available for men to have more than one wife, given the fact that men are expected to provide all of their wives with fields of approximately equal size for cultivation. One of the difficulties in polygynous marriages is the relationship between cowives. A woman who allows her husband to marry a second wife often does so with the expectation that she will have some authority over the junior wife; thus the junior wife enters the marriage in a weak position. A woman who has failed to bear children in a previous marriage or who has the reputation of being troublesome or lazy is more willing to be married polygynously. Such a woman also commands a relatively lower bride-price. The bride-price in Lango is about fourteen head of cattle and a significant amount of other goods such as goats, cloth, cooking pots, and hoes, which are paid to the family of the bride. The problem of accumulating the bride-price can be very complicated, and boys must start planning how to solve it during their adolescence. A boy may obtain the support of his mother, who will attempt to get some of the cattle from her husband’s herd for the boy’s bride-price. Boys also are linked to their sisters; they must wait until their sisters are married so that they can obtain part of their bride-prices to pay for their own marriages. One other possibility is for boys to solicit cattle from members of their lineage or from their mothers’ brothers. A kinsman who sponsors a marriage may expect the young man to reside near him after marriage and to serve as his dependent. Thus, men who have no sons sometimes acquire the loyalty of young members of their own lineage by sponsoring their marriages. If a man sponsors the marriage of his sister’s son, the children born to the marriage will belong to the lineage of the sponsor (i.e., they will belong to the descent group of

Dancing celebrations are more frequent than most within this tribe

their father’s mother’s brother). This, of course, is a deviation from the normally strict rule of patrilineal descent, but the Lango see this arrangement as entirely consistent. They say that a child belongs to the descent group of the person who paid the bride-wealth of its mother. Normally, a woman’s husband receives the bride-price from his own descent group, and a boy is discouraged from asking his mother’s brother for bride-wealth. Children born to a woman for whom no bride-wealth has been paid belong to their mother’s descent group (i.e., the descent group of her father). If a man subsequently marries the woman by paying bride-wealth, he may pay an additional amount to her father and procure her children for his own descent group. Because of the difficulty that is encountered in paying bride-wealth, a young man cannot reasonably expect to be married before he is 21, whereas girls commonly marry at about age 16. Lango religious beliefs are very diffuse and have been affected by the introduction

Wild life as a geo-cultural trait: the Rhinocerus

of Christianity as well as by contact with neighbouring societies. The Lango believe in a creator spirit called Jok, who is regarded as an all-powerful deity, and who is often equated with the Judeo-Christian God of the missionaries. There are also lesser deities—the spirits who bring sickness and cause trouble; the term for these deities is also “jok.” These spirits are of two sorts. The first, associated with the wind, are seen as free-floating spirits who dwell in out-of-the-way places and attack people, often for no good reason. They are harmful and capricious, and people believe that it is important to take precautions against them. The other sort of jok is the shadow, or soul, of a deceased person. Most Lango ceremonies are either rites of passage or rituals associated with problems of spirit possession and fertility. Beginning around 1920, rituals that centred on spirit possession spread from the neighbouring Bunyoro people into the western part of Lango District. The spirit-possession rituals had great appeal to women, and women were predominant in many of the possession activities, both as patients and as the principal performers. As possession rituals became more popular in the 1940s and the 1950s, the traditional rituals, which had mostly been performed by men, began to decline. Younger men lost interest in the traditional rituals, which came to be held less often. Since the 1960s, women have been more active than men in performing rituals, most of which involve an attempt to cure someone—typically, a woman— who is believed to have been possessed by a spirit. Music and dance are important aspects of Lango life; the finger piano, drum, and flute are the principal instruments. Singing is done mostly by women, some of whom are recognized as virtuoso solo singers, but groups of people also enjoy singing in unison. Groups of young people compete with one another in public dance contests.

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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News

Ghana approves 2.5% VAT increase

Ghana’s parliament last Friday approved a 2.5 percent increase in the VAT threshold from the current 12.5 percent to 15 percent despite the minority’s boycott of proceedings. The minority members, led by Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, staged a walkout when a Deputy Minister for Finance, Ato Casiel Forson, moved that Clause 3 of the VAT (Amendment) Bill be amended to increase the tax rate from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent. According to him the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, which was before the House for consideration and approval, did not include the imposition of any increment of the VAT tax. The minority leader noted that the principle and policy drive of the VAT bill, as spelt out in the memorandum of the bill, was to consolidate the law relating to value added tax and not to increase the threshold. However Benjamin Kumbuor, Majority Leader and Minister for Government Business, in a reaction expressed concerns over the inability of the minority to challenge

the economic sense of the 2.5 per cent, and said the decision to add the ﬁgure was discussed with the minority involved and the

According to him, for government to provide social amenities like water, electricity, hospitals and schools, it needs money from

One of Kumasi’s busy markets, which will inevitably feel the VAT increase

speaker ruled on it. He said the VAT has been increased so many times without any ceremonial workout adding that; the minority should “wait till Tuesday to see why the increment has been done”.

its citizens The Majority Leader, said there was nothing wrong with the imposition of the increment because it was not a major policy which should necessarily be included in the memorandum of the bill.

Armed men from CAR attack Cameroon

Residents of eastern Cameroon say armed men dressed as soldiers from the Central African Republic have attacked military installations and markets. The government of Cameroon says seven people were killed in the attack and a few arrests were made.

Uneasy calm reigns in the eastern Cameroon border village called Biti. Residents say a group of armed men crossed over from the Central African Republic and attacked military installations in the early hours of Saturday. Secondary school teacher Lengo Mark says he was scared when he heard gunshots. “I feel afraid I really feel afraid because the neighboring country is very volatile. So that renders Cameroon very vulnerable to intruders. The security has to be reinforced,” he said. The governor of Cameroon’s East region, Ivaha Diboua Samuel Dieudonne, says Cameroon’s secret services had been alerted of a possible attack. He said that the armed men from Central African Republic attacked ofﬁces, military posts and looted shops. “Our territory was attacked and our soldiers reacted and achieved positive results,” he said. “The assailants dressed in military uniform that we know the origin attacked our bases, looted and created panic. Our soldiers riposted and reacted vigorously and the outcome is what it is.” Diboua said ﬁve of the invaders were killed, along with one Cameroon soldier and a civilian. A few people have been 24

He said Ghana was one of the countries with the least VAT rates adding that it was imperative to increase the rates to generate more revenue for the state. He also observed that there was nothing wrong with the procedure. Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, James Avedzi, who spoke to the press shortly after the passage of the VAT justiﬁed the increase and explained that it was to enable government generate enough revenue for developmental projects. James Avedzi noted that “existing taxes government is collecting is nowhere near what we need as a country to build infrastructure and the economy”. The VAT bill seeks to mobilise, harmonise and consolidate the administrative provisions in the tax legislation of the erstwhile revenue agencies into a Revenue Administration Act. The initiative is intended not only to simplify tax legislation in respect of revenue administration and make it more userfriendly but also to iron out the differences in compliance requirements relating to similar operationsal activities of the different tax types.

Sudan’s bread crisis continues

Khartoum State is facing a severe bread crisis leading to long cues in front of the selling points. Many bakeries have closed their doors.

This is not the ﬁrst time soldiers from Central African Republic have attacked Cameroonian bases

arrested in connection with the incident. He also assured the population of the area who had been attacked several times before that their safety will be assured even though the borders with CAR are porous. “Those adventurers should not think that our territory is a free zone for them to do whatever they want,” he said. “The government has taken measures to assure that the people here live in peace and security. For now soldiers have been deployed to make sure that the area is safe.” It was the third time this year that armed men from the Central Africa Republic attacked Cameroon. In April, they killed a policeman and kidnapped a soldier.

Cameroon’s national assembly has called on the government to make the security of people living in border zones a priority, especially along the boundary with CAR and Chad. Awudu Mbaya Cyprain of the lower house of parliament says the issue has been brought to Cameroon’s minister of defense. “Let the government take drastic measures to protect our borders. We can not constitute ourself as the military. We do not execute but we hold the government to account,” he said. Last August, Cameroon closed its border with the Central African Republic after some CAR soldiers attacked military installations in Cameroon.

The bakeries receive insufficient flour. The ration of the bakery is reduced with 50%. The Saiga flour company acknowledged the crisis since last week after the dollar rate went up. Manager Mohamed Yousif says: “Either the government subsidizes the flour or allows a free market for import and sales of flour”.The biggest flour company says that all importing companies together have outstanding debts of US$ 280 million towards the grain companies they buy from.The citizens started to complain and demand Khartoum governor Abdelrahman Khidir to intervene. The owner of the Salaam bakery in Jebel Aulia says that people complain, but he can not do anything to help them: “Today we have received only four bags of flour, while normally we receive 15 bags”

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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News

Namibia school children die after suicide pact Ministry of education authorities in Kunene Region are aghast and currently at their wits’ end, following a suicide pact by two pupils at Okonguati Combined School near Opuwo, which left one of them dead and another admitted to hospital.

On Saturday afternoon, two 18-yearold female pupils from the village of Ovinjanje, one in Grade 6 and the other in Grade 9, agreed to take their own lives by drinking a concoction of unknown substance. In a suicide note the Grade 6 pupil, who died as a consequence of the suicide, said she had decided to take her own life because she had been mistreated by her parents at home while the Grade 9 pupil alleged that she had been accused of being a witch, according to Education inspector for Opuwo circuit Chris Tjivikua. Tjivikua told The Namibian yesterday that the Grade 6 pupil was found dead behind the Okonguati Clinic where she

had gone to seek assistance after drinking the substance. The Grade 9 pupil did not drink the substance at the school, preferring to do so only when she reached her homestead in Ovinjanje village, situated 12 kilometres from their school. She drank the substance at night and her siblings alerted her parents who sought medical help for her. She is currently being treated at Oshakati State Hospital.

“Both girls wrote suicide notes. One alleged that she was accused of being a witch which turned into an animal at night while another alleged that her parents mistreated her at home,” Tjivikua said. Acting Education director of Kunene Region Benny Eiseb said an investigation will be launched very soon as it was not the ﬁrst time pupils at the school had committed suicide.

“An investigation will be launched and social workers will be dispatched to the school on Wednesday to help the pupils psychologically,” Eiseb said. Three months ago, a girl at the same school, which has an enrollment of 400 pupils, committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree after she was accused of being pregnant by her schoolmates. The postmortem, however, showed that she was not pregnant. In the suicide note she wrote that she did not want to embarrass her parents with the pregnancy, according to Tjivikua. Both Eiseb and Tjivikua described the suicide pact as shocking, saying the suicide notes are with the police at Opuwo who are also conducting investigations. The authorities held a meeting with the teachers at the school over the issue yesterday morning while another meeting with parents took place in the evening.

British and French nationals arrested for being “spies”

Somali soldiers

Puntland Police arrested two foreign nationals from Britain and France accused of spying on Puntland and illegally mining precious materials, Garowe Online reports.

Puntland Security Minister Khalif Isse Mudan said that the two foreigners-French national Quentin Ygorra and British national Alasdair Walton- were arrested in Puntland capital of Garowe on 14 November following a three-month investigation into Oversight International Company. “The foreigners entered the region as local NGO workers but they were aiming to engage in intelligence-gathering activities and also to exploit our natural resources,” Mudan told reporters in Garowe on Monday. “Investigations are still underway because the arrest follows intelligence reports and now they are in breach of local authority conditions,” added the Security

Minister. arious items of minerals including precious stones, suspected to be mined illegally by the two were seized along with computers. Puntland Government in northern Somalia said in statement that the French and British citizens have been working for Oversight International, a shady organizations that registered in Puntland as a local NGO in March 2013. “A search of the organization’s office in Garowe revealed that Oversight International was illegally collecting classified information about public institutions and private sector in Puntland. The organization was also sharing the classified information with foreign entities,” the statement noted. It is yet unclear whether the detained foreign nationals would appear before court as they had involved in spying and illegal mining activities according to Puntland Security Agencies.

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Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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If you have received a copy of African Voice newspaper through our complimentary give-away exercise, this is our way of celebrating Black History Month as well as drawing attention to what we see as your newspaper, which is now in its 12th year. Naturally, we would like to welcome you as a regular reader and subscriber. We at African Voice, Britain’s No.1 African newspaper, are therefore suggesting you may want to take up a yearly subscription in support of our efforts to continue to inspire our community towards success and to ensure you do not miss any future editions. It is through your support that the community will have a strong voice in Britain. We are also inviting you to contribute articles and, since we know we have the Government’s ear, to email us your opinion on UK Government policies to enable us influence the decision-making process via our news desk at africanvoicenews@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can simply text your comments on any breaking news to 07956 952256. An annual subscription to African Voice is £100.00, which includes postage. If you are interested in taking up this subscription offer, please send your name and address (including post code) and a cheque for £100.00 payable to African Voice and mail it to Unit 7, Holles House, Overton Road, London SW9 7AP. We look forward to receiving your contribution towards a weekly newspaper packed with insight into the issues challenging and inspiring British Africans. If you have any questions with reference to articles submission or subscriptions, please call our news desk on 020 3737 3077 or email: info@africanvoice.co.uk Thank you, African Voice, Britain’s No.1 African newspaper www.africanvoice.co.uk www.twitter.com/AfricanVoice2

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Ghosts of ‘94 still linger for Nigeria

Nigeria celebrate winning the Africsn Cup of Nations

Like they did in 1994, Nigeria will arrive at the FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil as African champions, and as they did in the USA, they will be looking to go beyond the group stages. However, with some similarities and vital differences between that legendary team and the current crop, FIFA.com looks closer at the two sides.

The Super Eagles traveled to the USA blooming with a golden generation of players, who in October 1993 secured Nigeria’s first-ever participation at the finals with a 1-1 draw in Algeria that saw the west Africans top their group on goal difference from Côte d’Ivoire. A few months later, Nigeria won their second CAF African Cup of Nations, beating Zambia in the final.

More experience, more expectations The Nigeria squad at the time lacked the experience of the present team. Many of the players in Clemens Westerhof’s team were just embarking on their careers – like Jay Jay Okocho (20 at the time), Daniel Amokachi (21) Sunday Oliseh (19) and Victor Ikpeba (21). In fact, the only players who had reached their 30th birthday were the present coach Stephen Keshi and goalkeeper Peter Rufai. Despite their shock topping of a group ahead of Bulgaria and Argentina, many Nigerians still believe that had the team been just a little bit more experienced, they might have held on to their lead over eventual finalists Italy in the Round of 16 instead of succumbing to the Roberto Baggio-inspired Azzurri. It seems likely that Keshi will have a side with more guile in Brazil, with sev-

The Super Eagles in the early 90’s were arguably the best African football team ever

eral of his players plying their trade for top-notch European clubs. Players such as John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses and Victor Obinna will bring a wealth of experience playing at the highest level with them. The flip side of this is that, unlike the 1994 squad, Keshi and his team will arrive in Brazil with the burden of huge expectations back home. Even Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan weighed in heavily, saying in a statement: “With the enormous pool of footballing talent available to the country, the Super Eagles can, with more hardwork, dedication, resilience and further honing of their skills and tactics, fulfill the national dream of being the first African Nation to win the World Cup.”

players, and as he showed in South Africa earlier this year, he is not afraid to use them, even if it means benching players who play in Europe. Keshi told journalists after the teams’ group stage exit at the FIFA Confederations Cup this summer that he had no problems listening to constructive ideas from others. “But no one can tell me who to pick and not to select. If the team fails, the coach is responsible. As the coach, it’s my decision and responsibility. For now, the local players have earned the right to be in the team,” he said. In the USA, there was some conflict within the team, with striker Rasheed Yekini claiming that he was being ostracised on the pitch because his team-mates did not want him to grab all the headlines and also because he was not willing to share

Stephen Keshi has thanked his players for the sacrifices they have made for the team

Keshi’s faith As they did in 1994 with Clemens Westerhof, Nigeria have a very strong coach in Keshi, but unlike the Dutchman, Keshi has had to deal with a fair number of critics within Nigerian football. Although he is the only African coach to qualify for the finals with two different countries - he led Togo to Germany 2006 but did not coach them there - he has endured a bumpy ride, prompting him to tender his resignation after winning the AFCON earlier this year, which he subsequently withdrew. Despite this, he has continued along his chosen path of complementing the array of foreign-based stars with locally-based players, and this has, while being criticised by some, resulted in a fierce loyality from his players. It seems very likely that Keshi’s World Cup squad will - unlike Westerhof’s in 1994 - include a number of Nigeria-based

the prize money he received as African Footballer of the Year with them. There was also - as is unfortunately so often the case with African teams at major tournaments - a dispute around bonuses. All of that, though, did not prevent the Super Eagles from being one of the surprise teams of the tournament, who took to the world stage as if they had been born for it. But if their fans were hoping that it was a sign of things to come, they have been somewhat disappointed, as even the golden generation of Okocha, Amokachi et al failed to build significantly on that success. However, two decades on, Nigerians are now looking for this class of players to go where their predecessors have never gone: to the quarter-finals of the World Cup and beyond.

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013

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Geremi calls for Cameroon victory

Geremi represented his country 118 times before retiring in 2010

Former star Geremi says it is time for the latest generation of Cameroonian players to deliver for their country. Cameroon face Tunisia in Yaounde on Sunday, knowing a win will send them to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The Indomitable Lions lost all three of their games at the 2010 World Cup before failing to qualify for either the 2012 or 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. “It’s a new generation and they know they have not yet done anything for their country,” Geremi told BBC Sport. ”They are a conscious of that, they know they have to do something - not only for themselves but for our people too.

“Cameroonians are waiting and expecting the team to qualify for the World Cup,” said a man who won two Africa Cup of Nations titles and an Olympic gold medal for his country. In last month’s first leg in Tunisia, the game ended goalless - largely thanks to an excellent goalkeeping display by Cameroonian Charles Itandje. But Geremi, who counts Real Madrid and Chelsea among his former clubs, says that qualifying for Brazil is not going to be enough. “First they have to qualify and then they have to go to the World Cup and do something there,” he insisted. “We have a good good team now and that’s why we are in the position of

being in the last game where a win will get us our ticket to the World Cup. “It means we have been playing well in qualification.” Geremi also believes controversial striker Samuel Eto’o is committed to the cause despite recent reports that he wanted to retire from playing for Cameroon. “He is a guy who loves the Cameroon jersey - I think if you ask him he’d say ‘I’d love to play for Cameroon all my life’” he said. “Playing at Chelsea will help him for this qualifier and if we do qualify (for the World Cup), playing at that level will help him prepare well.”

Ameobi stars as Nigeria gain credible draw against Italy

Shola Ameobi puts Nigeria in front with a beautifully struck volley

African champions Nigeria were held 2-2 in a thrilling international friendly against Italy at Fulham’s Craven Cottage ground in London.

The Azzurris who won the World Cup in 2006 in Germany went in front after only 12 minutes, when Guissepe Rossi delightfully chipped over a diving goalkeeper Austin Ejide. He was set up by Mario Balotelli. Eagles however restored parity on 35 minutes when American MLS star, Bright Dike, out jumped his marker to head home off a tailored cross by Newcastle FC

player, Shola Ameobi. Four minutes later, Ameobi put Nigeria ahead when he met Francis Benjamin’s cross from the left with a half volley that gave Sirigu in goal for Italy no chance. But Emanuele Giaccherini finished off a flowing Italy move in the 47th minute to tie the game. Of course, the last 20 minutes of the match was full of fireworks with the Italian doing most of the attack but Vincent Enyeama who came in for Austin Ejide made several saves to ensure that the Nigerians left the Fulham ground with their heads high. The game looked more of a play-off

than an international friendly. Eagles come into this tune-up tie after dispatching Ethiopia in Calabar to win a place at next year’s World Cup on 4-1 aggregate having won the first leg 2-1 in Addis Ababa in October. The Italians on the other hand sealed their place at the 2014 Mundial after a 2-2 draw against Armenia. And on Friday, the Azzurris of Italy played out a 1-1 draw in an international friendly with Germany at the San Siro in Milan. It was the second time Italy and Nigeria will come face-to-face at the senior level. On July 5, 1994, the Italians downed the Super Eagles 2-1 in the round of 16 at the World Cup in the USA. Many Nigerians will not forget how the Eagles were two minutes away from a famous upset after Emmanuel Amuneke had scored first before Roberto Baggio equalised and then scored the winner in extra time. Eagles coach Stephen Keshi and his assistant, Daniel Amokachi were part of the 1994 set.

Hodgson predicts African challenge at World Cup

England boss Roy Hodgson believes “African teams have a stronger chance than European teams” of winning next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

While Hodgson’s side have booked their place at the finals, African teams will play their final play-off ties later this month to decide who qualifies. Whichever five African sides make it, Hodgson feels they will have an advantage because of the climate. “And there are many excellent African players out there now,” he added. “They play in the top European leagues and that makes the African nations very strong. “Nigeria have traditionally been one of the strongest, with some famous names in their team.”

World Cup places decided

Africa will be represented at next year’s World Cup in Brazil by the same five teams that played in South Africa in 2010 and the hope is that their experience will pay off.

Algeria and Ghana completed the continent’s five-team line-up for the 2014 finals on Tuesday, joining Cameroon, Ivory Coast and African champions Nigeria, who had all booked their places at the weekend. The familiarity of the finalists has given Africa renewed optimism that one of its teams can advance further than the three quarter-final appearances the continent has managed since 1990. “We want to do something interesting in this World Cup, the previous two were difficult,” Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba said after his team beat Senegal 4-2 on aggregate in their playoff to qualify for a third successive finals. Nigeria established a new team and set their sights on peaking for the 2018 World Cup in Russia but hastily fasttracked those plans when they emerged as surprised winners of the Africa Cup of Nations at the start of the year. The inexperience of their squad was exposed at the Confederations Cup in Brazil in June but since that World Cup test event, their improvement has been steady.

Friday, 22 November – Thursday, 28 November 2013 ISSUE 509

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Ghosts of 94 still haunt Nigeria SEE PAGE 30

WADA rules against doping

John Fahey By Peter Olorunnisomo

Against the back drop of the recent vigorous anti-doping measures among sports men and women all over the world and the attempts to curb its frequency, it would seem that the war is not about to end in time. The year 2013 was a revelation in the abuse of drugs by athletes in almost every area of sports from cycling to athletics and perhaps most significant the confession of use by the former world heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson in his book making the rounds today. The impact of doping has smeared the individual campaigns of athletes and damaged the reputation of national teams. It has impacted negatively on the earning power of some world acclaimed athletes like Usain Bolt while others keep mute wishing the ‘foul smell’ will blow over. To stem the tide and show how strongly opposed her stance is, the Global antidoping body Wada passed far-reaching new rules against the use of banned performance-enhancers on Friday that dou-

bles punishment for cheats as the sporting world still reels from cyclist Lance Armstrong’s scandal. World sports leaders approved rules that ban first-time intentional dopers from competitive sport for up to four years – automatic Olympics disqualification – though some say the measures aren’t tough enough. “The board... unanimously agreed to approve and to endorse the code,” said outgoing World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) president John Fahey at a meeting in Johannesburg. Around 1 000 delegates from the sporting world applauded at the announcement after two years of deliberation. The revised World Anti-Doping Code follows extensive reevaluation, in a period during which the discovery of fallen Tour de France champion Armstrong’s extensive doping highlighted the tough battle for clean competition. Athletes and sports bodies had called for stricter punishment for culprits, though doping controls struggle to catch them. Less than one percent of checks give an abnormal result, though tests have jumped from 150 000 a year to 250 000 since Wada was created in 1999. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after using banned blood-boosting drug EPO, and global cy-

cling union UCI will launch an inquiry early next year to clean up the sport. The third World Anti-Doping Code governs competitive sports from athletics to football to cycling, and has been backed by powerful sporting bodies like the International Olympic Committee (IOC), world football’s governing body Fifa, and governments. While threatening strict punishment, it has been lauded for “proportionality” – revising punishment to fit the crime in cases like the use of cannabis. But the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has hit out at this flexibility, saying the new rules leave athletes “too many means of escape”. Four-year sanctions can be reduced to two if a caught doper denies the intention to have used a banned substance – they don’t even have to prove it. Admitting to cheating can also reduce the sentence, or if the athlete’s support personnel take the blame. All this will “make cases more procedurally complicated, time-consuming and costly than they ought to be,” according to the IAAF. Others have said a four-year ban can torpedo an athlete’s career, and that such punishment is not fair for a first transgression. But Wada president Fahey has strongly

supported the new rules on the day the organisation elects a new leader. “It is firm, but it is fair,” he told delegates. The new code is the fourth draft after 300 submissions that culminated in 4 000 suggested changes, ranging from substance to wording. It gives Wada more teeth to police signatories’ compliance. Where previously it could only flag non-compliance, it can now order doping controls itself and investigate when countries neglect to probe doping. Up to now, 176 countries have ratified the UNESCO convention that contains the code. It becomes law in every country that ratifies it. “That is the fastest and most successful convention in UNESCO’s history,” said Wada’s president Fahey earlier. Governments and sports federations together constitute Wada’s foundation board. They have one year to implement the code before it takes effect.

African Voice Newspaper is published by African Voice Communications. Unit 7 Holles House Overton Road London SW9 7AP. Tel: 020 3737 3077 Registered at the British Library as a newspaper. ISSN 1475-2166.Email: africanvoicenews@googlemail.com