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New “Who’s who” in Norway

Editorial staff of the book (from left): Knut Olav Åmås, Kristin Clemet and Rolf Utgård.

PHOTO: TOR GREINER STENERSEN

An Oslo publishing company released a thick new book on Wednesday listing 1,000 persons believed to be the most powerful in Norway. Some of them tried to get their names deleted, others tried to be added.

The editor with the new “Who’s who” of Norway (Hvem er hvem?) PHOTO: TOR GREINER STENERSEN The head of Norway’s trade union federation LO, Roar Flåthen, landed as the most powerful person in Norway. PHOTO: SVEIN ERIK FURULUND

The new book from publisher Aschehoug was edited and presented by Aftenposten’s own editor in charge of commentary and debate, Knut Olav Åmås. He and book colleagues Kristin Clemet (a former government minister who now heads think tank Civita) and Rolf Utgård (formerly of Kværner, now a consultant) could have included themselves but chose not to.

Those listed among the 10 most powerful include the state director of police, the head of health care services for southeastern Norway, the head of Norway’s trade union federation LO and the editor-in-chief of large tabloid newspaper VG.

Finance Minster Kristin Halvorsen ranked number two after LO boss Roar Flåthen, while Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg ranked number 10.

King Harald, curiously enough, didn’t make it into the Top 10 of any of the main categories, but Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were on the list of persons believed to be among the 10 most powerful in Norway 10 years from now.

Åmås said he and his colleagues were contacted by several persons who wanted to avoid being mentioned in the book. Most came from Norwegian finance and business circles, and from the state bureaucracy and academia.

“They exercise their power quietly, and like it best that way,” Åmås said, adding that others were simply shy or had bad experience with public attention. Their wishes were ignored.

Others tried to be included in the list, “especially people from the cultural world and the media,” he said. “We had to discuss, for example, how many TV personalities we’d include.”

Åmås admitted that the list isn’t “scientific” and the selection process set off heated discussions among the book’s editorial staff. “We have also tried to present people who aren’t necessarily very visible, but who have great influence,” he said.

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Published by Korir.api/source.aftenposteneng

Police ‘can’t afford’ cop jobs

The cost of living in Norway is so high, and police salaries so low, that increasing numbers of police officers are quitting. They say they can’t afford to stay in their chosen profession.

Wearing the uniform simply doesn’t pay the bills, say increasing numbers of police officers in Norway. PHOTO: KYRRE LIEN Police Director Ingelin Killengreen agrees that the pay issue is a thorny one. PHOTO: DAG GRUNDSETH

“We can’t live off our police salaries any more,” one experienced police officer in Bergen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Wednesday. He noted that he has three children and his wife is a school teacher. When he received an offer from the private sector, at much higher pay, he felt compelled to take it.

It’s a familiar story in other parts of the world as well, where low pay for important jobs in the police and fire departments and schools, for example, make it difficult for police officers, firefighters and teachers to live in the cities where they work. In Norway, the situation can be especially difficult because prices in the country are among the most expensive in the world.

The starting salary for a police officer fresh out of the academy now lies around NOK 320,000 (about USD 53,000). After-tax income amounts to around NOK 200,000.

In Oslo, where even a small, two-room apartment rents for NOK 10,000 a month and groceries can cost three- to four-times US levels, that doesn’t leave much to cover other living expenses. Police officers say they need to work lots of overtime in order to make ends meet.

The union representing police officers in Norway is running ads in local newspapers this week, demanding at least extra pay for risks taken on the job. The union is also encouraging its members to send postcards to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg with the following question: “Why do you think I’m worth so little?”

Norway has a state police force, with the justice minister primarily responsible for it. The police already seem to have some support from the director of the Norwegian police, Ingelin Killengreen.

“It’s a major challenge for us, that we have a salary level in the police that is so low that very many accept offers for new jobs outside the police force,” Killengreen told NRK. “We believe it’s necessary to examine this problem now, to counter a negative trend that we can’t afford.”

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Published by Korir.api/source.aftenposteneng

Government tries to limit stream of refugees to Norway. Socialist Left will however cling to power they share with Labour and Center party although they disagree with the new policy

Faced with record numbers of refugees seeking asylum in Norway, the government on Wednesday announced moves to make it harder for them to stay in the country. Refugee sympathizers were shocked by the moves.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg wants to stem the tide of refugees arriving in Norway. PHOTO: FOTO: ALF OVE HANSEN/SCANPIX Stoltenberg’s finance minister, Kristin Halvorsen of the Socialist Left (SV) isn’t happy about the new asylum policies but had to swallow them. PHOTO: MORTEN HOLM/SCANPIX

They include politicians from one of the government’s own coalition parties, the Socialist Left. It opposed moves to make it harder to win asylum in Norway, but party leaders said it was “impossible” to come to terms with its two other government partners, Labour and the Center Party.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg from Labour and his party colleague Dag Terje Andersen, the minister in charge of immigration issues, said it was “necessary to limit the number of asylum seekers who have no need for protection” in Norway.

He noted that while 6,500 would-be refugees arrived in Norway last year, around 15,000 are expected this year. The country of 4.5 million residents is having trouble absorbing them all.

Stoltenberg and Andersen presented a 13-point plan to tighten asylum policies. Cases will be handled, for example, on an individual basis and asylum won’t be automatic simply because an applicant comes from a troubled country.

Norway will also more closely follow other European countries’ asylum policies, and families will only be reunited if a successful asylum seeker undergoes four years of education or work experience in Norway.

The government also intends to send more asylum seekers back to the country where they first sought asylum. Most refugees already have applied for asylum elsewhere before landing in Norway.

‘Shocked’
The new policy has caused dissension within the government. “I’m shocked and think this is very uncomfortable,” said Rolf Reikvam of the Socialist Left. He referred further questions to party leader Kristin Halvorsen.

Halvorsen confirmed her party disagreed with the government’s new policy and said it would exercise its right to dissension when it needed to propose a law change on the family reunification issue.

“It was unfortunately impossible for us to agree on two points, one involving how children would be treated and another regarding how closely we’ll follow UN guidelines for refugees,” Halvorsen said.

She conceded the disagreement was “very serious,” but claimed her party colleagues weren’t demanding that SV leave the government because of it.

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Korir.api/Source.aftenposteneng

 

Snow in Nyahururu, Rift Valley Province – Kenya

Mr Joseph Mwangi. samples the ice that snowballed Gathanji Forest in Nyahururu Town last evening. 

    

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Published by API/Source.nation.ke

The burial of a former president

President Mwai Kibaki with First Lady Mrs. Lucy Kibaki pay their last respects to the late Zambian President Dr. Levy Mwanawasa at State House, Lusaka.

Mwanawasa buried in Zambia

Written By:Zipporah Njeri/BBC 

 

 

 

The late Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has been buried at a sombre ceremony in the capital, Lusaka.There was a guard of honour and several choirs at a church ceremony in the grounds of the national parliament.

Proceedings were televised on four giant screens in Lusaka, as well as live on national television.

 Leaders from across Africa and senior officials from Europe and the US attended the state funeral. Fourteen African heads of state and government are gathering in Lusaka.

Among those who attended the funeral are Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki who arrived on Tuesday in Zambia accompanied by first lady Lucy Kibaki.

Others were  South African President Thabo Mbeki, Tanzanian, African Union President Jakaya Kikwete and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe

Mr Mwanawasa died in France on 19 August, after suffering a stroke in June. He was 59.

Mr Mwanawasa became president in 2001 and was re-elected in 2006.

He had won praise from the world community for his economic prudence.

Mr Mwanawasa was one of the few African leaders to criticise Mr Mugabe, describing this year’s election in Zimbabwe as an embarrassment.

At home he will probably be best remembered for stripping his predecessor Frederick Chiluba of immunity from prosecution.

Mr Mwanawasa’s critics accused him of persecuting his political rivals under the guise of fighting corruption.

He was married and had six children. He had been a practising lawyer since 1973.

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Korir.api/source.kbc.ke

The run-away former PS in Kibaki’s first govt. Mr Githongo sued by Kenya’s former internal security minister

Murungaru sues Githongo

Written By:Dzuya Walter 

Former Kieni MP Christopher Murungaru has filed a suit against John Githongo sorting an injunction against Githongo from further publication of defamatory matter.

Through his lawyer Kioko Kilikumi, Murungaru wants the court to allow him serve the summons by means of publication in the ‘times of London’ and ‘the Guardian’ newspapers in the United Kingdom and enter appearance through substituted services.

He also argues that the ‘Githongo Dossier’ report contained defamatory words.

Meanwhile former Director of finance and corporate services of Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Ltd John Faustin Kinyua and former Reinsurance Manager of Heritage Insurance Company Charles Kinuthia appeared in court but did not take the plea.

Their lawyers told the court the duo has other similar charges and so the court should consolidate the matters against them before they take the plea. The application will be determined on 12^th next week.

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Korir.api/Source.kbc.ke

Togolese director launches documentary on Guin people’s New Year celebration

Togolese director Zavier Balouki, has launched his documentary “Epe-Ekpe ou la prise de la pierre sacree “, one of the most important ceremonies that the Guin people in south of Togo have been celebrating for almost 346 years.

“Epe-Ekpe” narrates the rituals and myths around taking the sacred stone. Still called “kpessosso”, it marks the New Year for the Guin ethnic group. It is held in Gbatchoume, a sacred forest located between Glidji and Aneho (45km, east of Lome).

It is a public ceremony, but only followers and initiates access the forest. The new sacred stone foretells and gives directions for the coming year.

Its colours bear messages. For example when it is blue, the message of the gods is mixed, red is the anger of the gods and white symbolizes peace and happiness.

“There is no film on our festivals. The purpose of this documentary is to keep the traces of our traditional practices, and to make the Diaspora discover it,” explained director Zavier Akiza Balouki, who said he “worked for four years under not very comfortable conditions.”

“It is the first time that it is not a foreign ethnologist but a Togolese who did a remarkable work, and appreciated by the people to whom the aforementioned work is intended,” Culture minister Cornelius Aidam said.

And the director added: “We want to work professionally, make a film which abides by the standard norms, and can be accepted by all”.

“Epe-Ekpe or the catch of the scared stone” was shown to some personalities of the Togolese cultural and artistic world namely the Culture minister, voodoo priests, traditional chiefs, cinema specialists and journalists. They noted some weaknesses which the director promised to take into account for the final product.

“As of next week, we will go back to Aneho to film other scenes, in order to fulfil the expectations of the public,” said Zavier Balouki, very open to the contributions of people.

Financed with nearly CFA 8 million i.e. about 12,500 euros, this 52 minute-long film is the first of a French co-operation-backed trilogy.

Zavier Balouki, 33, was trained at the African Centre of Audio-visual Production (CAPA) of Yaounde in Cameroon. He already made several documentaries including “Campagne de consultations foraine” and “Lome a son carnaval”.

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API/Source.apa