Ghana: Campaign needed to stop child prostitution

By Ernest Ohene-Kissiedu

Accra (Ghana) – The acting Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms. Anna Bossman has bemoaned the rate at which Ghanaian children are being exploited for commercial sex in the country which she says poses a great threat to the nation.

In a press release, she described prostitution as an illegal and undignified activity even when it is practised among adults.”And it is even more horrendous and extremely injurious when it involves children”, she said.
Ms. Anna Bossman said it is particularly difficult to assess the extent of child prostitution because this type of exploitation and abuse is usually hidden, taking place behind closed doors and most children feel much guilt, shame and fear to seek help.

Ms. Bossman talked about the 140 children alleged to have escaped from the Social Welfare Department after being rescued from prostitution by the police. This incident, she said, presents a critical setback because it creates more opportunities for the children to be continually abused. “An awareness creation campaign of the intractable challenges of poverty exploitation and rights abuses facing these children is vital to enable the facilitation of a safer world for them. Entry into prostitution should not be imputed to economic necessity”, she said.

She said the campaign must be implemented urgently and, “Government must scale up efforts through resource allocation, political action, increased co-operation and more focused partnerships with the law enforcement agencies, media and civil society”.

According to Ms. Bossman, the campaign also calls for the spirit of alertness by all to ensure that children enjoy maximum protection. “The duty to ensure that Ghana’s children are not exposed to abuse, stigmatization and psychological trauma is for all of us, each and every adult in this country”, she said. She urged all communities and family members to report abuses to the relevant authorities to expose heinous crimes from threatening the nation.

Ms. Bossman called on the police, prosecutors and all public services working directly with children to protect them from any abuse and violence and to strive to achieve children’s well being in the areas of health and education. “Our children are after all, the future of our nation”, she said.

 

Published by Korir, API africanpress@getmail.no source.accraMail.Ghana

Nigeria: ‘Fifty years of oil exploration unprofitable’

By Obinna Ezeobi

Abuja (Nigeria) – Niger Delta inhabitants believe that 50 years of oil production and exportation in the region had resulted in deprivation, environmental degradation and poverty, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan said on Monday.

Speaking in Abuja at a conference marking 50 years of oil in Nigeria, the VP, who hails from the oil producing state of Bayelsa, said that restiveness in the region was caused by years of neglect, adding that resolving it must be done in a systematic and holistic manner, and in the overall interest of the communities and all Nigerians who depend on it for sustenance.

He said, “Government has given serious thought as to how best to bring about a win-win situation on the matter of the Niger Delta. There are value and orientation issues, and we are taking them to the door steps of the communities; there are compelling corporate responsibility and obligations, and corporations doing business in the area are being sensitised and told to do what is right.”

He added that the issue was also impinging on the judiciary as well as the legislature, stressing that all the arms of government had committed themselves to ensuring that the wrongs of the past must be corrected permanently. Jonathan said, “Until recently, majority of the natural gas from the processing of oil exploration was burned or flared at approximately 70 million standard cubic feet per day, which constituted the single largest source of greenhouse emissions on earth, and equating to about 40 per cent of the total natural gas consumed in Africa.”

He indicated that the Niger Delta covered over 70,000 square kilometres and make up about 7.5 per cent of the Nigerian’s land mass. He added that natives of the region numbered between 25 and 30 million and included over 30 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups that speak more than 50 dialects. In his presentation, the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, expressed regrets that 50 years of oil exploration in Nigeria had only brought so much underdevelopment and unrest in the Niger Delta region.

He argued that the way to ensure stability in the region and guarantee uninterrupted production for the oil and gas industry was by carrying out massive infrastructural and community development.

 

Published by API africanpress@getmail.no source.ThePunch-Nigeria

Tanzania: Privatisation: Good for foreigners, bad for Tanzanians (commentary)

Commentary

In 1992-93, Tanzania undertook a privatisation programme that was expected to hand the private-sector the reins of the economy.

Over two decades earlier in 1967, the Nyerere administration had promulgated the Arusha Declaration on Socialism, leading to wholesale nationalisation that turned the economy on its head.   The productive sectors of the economy had largely been in private hands. President Julius Nyerere’s socio-economic philosophy was to put the commanding heights of the economy in government hands.  That marked the beginning of the end of private enterprise — as it is known to the world — and the end of sustainable socio-economic development.

There were too many cooks — and too many thieves — in the new parastatal sector. It became a field where leaders could reap without having sowed.  The Declaration soon became a failed experiment in socialism — and the scapegoat for an economy crippled by mismanagement and embezzlement.

Inevitably, the donors prescribed privatisation as the antidote. Hence the 1992-93 programme orchestrated by the Public Sector Reform Commission.  Fifteen years later, the programme was ended and the crocodile tears began to flow fast and furious.

Planning and economic empowerment Minister Juma Ngasongwa has publicly admitted that the government made serious errors in implementing the programme. Mr Ngasongwa “regrets” that the programme ended with much of the economy in the hands of foreign investors, not the Tanzanians it was intended to benefit! But what the minister does not say is why the programme failed so miserably. Perhaps that is the reason president Jakaya Kikwete ordered a review of the mining policy, legislation and extant contracts by a committee chaired by Justice (retired) Mark Bomani. The regime is heavily lopsided in favour of foreign mining conglomerates.

Admittedly, such investments are strictly not privatisation; they’re mostly direct investments in new ventures. But the impact is virtually the same — good for the foreigners, bad for Tanzanians. Hence the rationale of lumping together privatisation and new investments (especially in the extractive industries) as inimical to national interests.  While we await the bomani findings, we should honestly revisit the privatisation exercise — if only for historical purposes and lessons for future generations.

Let’s face it, implementation of privatisation was riddled with ineptitude, fraud, corruption and subterfuge.  Take, for example, the privatisation of the former Kilimanjaro Hotel, and the Novotel Mount Meru. Tanzanians were shut out in the most blatant manner, and it took ages before the establishments were dropped limply in the laps of foreigners. Why?

Overall, the programme was derailed for the benefit of a handful of the powerful and corrupt on both sides of the privatisation table. It is indeed a sign of the rot among top-echelon leaders when they can brazenly shed crocodile tears for criminally devouring the national cake — and getting away with it! 

*Karl Lyimo is a freelance journalist based in Dar.

Published by API africanpress@getmail.no source.EastAfrican.ke