South Africa: Blatter’s special soccer gift for Mandela

To commemorate the historic moment on May 15, 2004 when the former President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, emotionally raised the iconic World Cup trophy right after the 2010 Fifa showpiece was awarded to South Africa, Blatter handed over a specifically manufactured replica of the Fifa World Cup.

“You are the true architect of this Fifa World Cup; your presence and commitment made it happen. Now the first African Fifa World Cup is a reality and the Fifa Confederations Cup South Africa 2009 – the dress rehearsal – will already take place in less than 10 months’ time,” explained Blatter.

“I remember that moment back in Zurich. It’s an honour to welcome you here today. It was my desire to meet you and I am happy that we managed it. Thank you for this very special gift,” said Mandela, who assigned the Trophy a special place in his office.

Blatter was accompanied by Fifa Secretary General Jérôme Valcke and Fifa Ambassador Tokyo Sexwale.

Speaking about his visit to Soccer City, Blatter said: “This is the centre of all the activities of the 2010 Fifa World Cup and I am so impressed by the magnitude of the construction of this stadium which already has more than 20,000 seats in place. It’s great, it’s big, it’s huge. It is like a temple where people will assemble in 2010.”

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API/Source.Kickoff (South Africa) – September 17, 2008.

Kenya will be effective if ECK is rewamped

Revamp and give ECK powers to prosecute, says judge

 

By David Ohito

Kenya needs a lean, independent and effective Electoral Commission to guard against flawed elections. This is according to the Independent Review Commission, which also wants the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) given powers to prosecute those who break electoral rules.

The report paints a gloomy picture of ECK, which is chaired by Mr Samuel Kivuitu and has 21 other commissioners. It describes it as an inefficient outfit averse to the use of technology and lacking in transparency.

It says in part…. “ECK’s internal management processes deserve a thorough overhaul…. The commissioners should be replaced or their appointment be radically transformed,” adding, the manner of appointment of commissioners and the structure, composition and management system of ECK are defective and lack independence.

The report wants the number of commissioners reduced and ECK made accountable to Parliament.

It recommends a new, transformed ECK with a thorough management system appraisal.

“The review should aim to tailor the institution to implement critical decisions expeditiously and transparently,” the report says.

Consultations

In spelling out a radical surgery, the team chaired by Justice Johann Kriegler recommends constitutional amendments to make ECK more vibrant.

It proposes broad consultations before appointment of members and chairman of the commission, and the creation of eight provincial offices to coordinate processes between elections.

The ECK Secretariat should be revised and headed by an executive secretary, who must be an experienced election manager competitively recruited in the rank of permanent secretary.

Institutional reforms proposed include issuance of national identity cards and voter’s cards together.

It says disputes arising from elections should be resolved through a special election tribunal.

It requires ECK to announce the new laws relating to Political Parties Act to provide a clearer framework for the registration and financing of political parties.

Additional consideration should be given to all relevant electoral laws to provide ECK with prosecutorial powers over election offences.

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API/Source.standard.ke

Mugabe still on top

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (left) speaks at a signing ceremony for a power-sharing agreement in Harare on Monday as opposition …….

The power-sharing deal signed yesterday between Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe and his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, is a stop-gap measure which leaves many of the nation’s most vexing problems unresolved. The agreement was struck after months of violence, followed by negotiations brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki. Yet Mr. Mugabe’s murderous rampage, human rights violations and his thwarting of the democratic process remain largely unpunished.

The deal fails to redress the fact that the will of the Zimbabwe people has not been fully heard. The first round of presidential elections held in March resulted in victory for Mr. Tsvangirai’s party, Movement for Democratic Change. He did not have sufficient support, however, to prevent a second round of voting. Yet Mr. Mugabe and his advocates unleashed a bloodbath against the opposition – one that was conducted mostly by the military and police. Mr. Tsvangirai withdrew from the campaign amid cries – echoed by his supporters and the international community – that the process was unjust. Mr. Mugabe won the second round of voting in June. But by then, international observers recognized this to be a sham election. What legitimacy does Mr. Mugabe now have?

Under the new agreement, Mr. Mugabe nonetheless remains as president and still has control of the military, which are the very tools he needs to threaten dissidents. Mr. Tsvangirai will be prime minister, but it is uncertain how much power he will wield. The cabinet will contain 31 members; 16 from the opposition and 15 from Mr. Mugabe’s ruling ZANU party.

World leaders rightly view the deal with cautious optimism because the violence has ceased for now and Mr. Mugabe has seemingly ceded some ground to his opponents. But the road ahead is long and difficult. Zimbabwe’s economy is struggling under the weight of hyperinflation and heavy economic sanctions. Human rights organizations fear that the perpetrators of the violence will be given immunity. And some opposition leaders in Zimbabwe insist that the deal gives Mr. Mugabe too much room to return to his old habits.

This deal does nothing to redress the gross brutality committed at the hands of the Mugabe government. But it is a good start – for now.

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API/Source.washington times

US embassy in Yemen bombed

 The US embassy in Yemen was attacked
by two cars, witnesses said [AFP]

At least 16 people have been killed in an attack on the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa by a suicide bomber and armed fighters, the country’s interior ministry has said. A suicide bomber on Wednesday morning drove a car close to the embassy before detonating his explosives, witnesses said, leaving part of the building on fire.

Armed men then attacked the embassy frm a second car, they said. A group called Islamic Jihad in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened to target the British, Emirati and Saudi embassies in Sanaa, reports say.

Police cordon

A vehicle was on fire on the road near the embassy compound’s perimeter and police sealed off the area, witnesses said.

Roads leading to the embassy were closed after the attack.

Mohammed al-Qadi, a political columnist for the Yemen Times, told Al Jazeera: “The attack came at about 9.30 in the morning, when there were not so many people passing in the streets outside the US embassy.

“Otherwise, the casualties could have been a lot more.”

US reaction

Washington accused al-Qaeda of being behind the attack.

“I think it is safe to say … the attacks bear all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda attack,” Sean McCormack, the US state department spokesman, said.
  
George Bush, the US president, said the attack was a bid by extremists to drive the United States out of regions like the Middle East.
  
“This attack is a reminder that we are at war with extremists who would murder innocent people to achieve their ideological objectives,” Bush said as he met with General David Petraeus, the former top US commander in Iraq.
  
“One objective of these extremists as they kill is to try to cause the United States to lose our nerve and to withdraw from regions of the world, and our message is – is that we want to help  governments survive the extremists, we want people to live normal lives,” Bush said.

High alert

The US state department had in April ordered all non-essential diplomatic staff to leave the country after an attack on the embassy the previous month.

A residential compound used by US oil workers in Sanaa had also come under attack from rockets at that time.

The embassy called on Americans in Yemen to “exercise caution and take prudent security measures, including maintaining a high level of vigilance, avoiding crowds and demonstrations, keeping a low profile, varying times and routes for all travel”.

There have been several attacks by fighters in Yemen in recent years.

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API/Source.aljazeera

 

 

Six guards, four civilians and six attackers died in the assault, the interior ministry said.

Norway, a small nation in desperate need for international recognition uses oil money to save the Amazons, while some Norwegians at home are homeless

Billion dollar pledge to save Amazon rain forest

The Norwegian government will donate USD 100 million this year and another USD 600 million next year to prevent deforestation in Brazil. A total of USD 1 billion will be spent by 2015.

Solheim, Løvold and Stoltenberg in Brazilia saving the rain forest. PHOTO: OLE MATHISMOEN

“This is the most effective and least expensive way to safeguard the environment,” says Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, to daily newspaper Aftenposten. He and Environment Minister Erik Solheim, met with President Lula da Silva to sign the agreement on Tuesday.

“This is the greatest thing I’ve done so far as a politician,” says Prime Minister Stoltenberg.

“The Amazon Fund breaks new ground because money is only paid out if deforestation is actually halted,” says head of the Rain Forest Fund, Lars Løvold.

“I feel really proud today. It’s important that we do this. As a country which has become rich selling polluting oil and gas, we are expected to do make a substantial contribution to reducing the threat to the environment,” says Environment Minister, Erik Solheim.

The payments will be linked to assessments of the annual amount of deforestation. Satellite data will be used to carry out this task.

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API/Source.aftenposteneng

Radical review on electoral laws sought

Chairman of the Kriegler Commission Johann Kriegler (left) makes his remarks at Harambee House during the handing over of a report on the 2007 general elections to President Mwai Kibaki (second right). Looking on are Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Justice minister Martha Karua. Photo/STEPHEN MUDIARI  

By Dave Opiyo

Kenya’s electoral laws are weak and need radical review to provide a solid foundation for a free and fair election.

That was the verdict of the Kriegler commission as it presented its report on last year’s elections to President Kibaki on Wednesday.

According to the report obtained by the Daily Nation, a number of laws were weak and might have contributed to the anomalies that characterised the elections.

Electoral laws provide the basic framework for conducting an election in any country.

The report revealed that the various laws dealing with elections were scattered among various statutes, saying that this was inappropriate.

Some of these laws include the Kenya Broadcasting Act, the Election Offences Act, the Public Order and Preservation of the Public Security Act (Cap.56) and the Penal Code (Cap.63).

The report further says that the weaknesses exhibited by these laws may have been as a result of several years of misrule by previous administrations.

Ballot stuffing

The many instances of vote buying and selling, misuse of public resources, ballot stuffing, participation of civil servants in politics, among others, were as a result of the failure by the law to curb all these malpractices, states the report.

It describes as unfortunate the fact that the Electoral Commission, with all the powers under the National Assembly and Presidential Act, the code of conduct and the Electoral Offences Act, failed to prosecute anyone.

And it is due to this that the report makes the following proposals:

All laws relating to the operational management of the elections be consolidated under one statute.
The right to vote and be elected be included in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution and that voting by universal suffrage should be guaranteed for all without discrimination.
Currently, the Constitution does not entrench these rights.
That section 34 (c) of the Constitution be amended to be clearly non-discriminatory towards persons with disabilities.
A provision be made for the establishment of an appropriately composed and empowered elections tribunal.
Current rules and regulations on the procedures of election petitions be repealed and replaced with new ones that will ensure that petitions are heard in a just and timely manner.

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API/Source.nation.ke

ODM LEADERS IN NDHIWA IRKED BY CLAIMS BY A GROUP OF DISGRUNTLED BUSH POLITICIANS THAT THEY WERE RIGGED.

<By Leo Odera Omolo

THE claims made by a group of disgruntled politician in Ndhiwa constituency, Homa-Bay district claiming that they were rigged out of ODM Party elections when the party held its grassroots elections last year has angered party leaders in the area.

According to a report, which appeared in the current edition of the popular and widely read CITIZEN Weekly, the group which is consisting mosr of the perennial Ndhiwa parliamentary election losers alleged they were rigged out of the last party election in favour of the area MP Joshua Orwa Ojode.

The truth, according to a Ndhiwa civic leader, the MP did not contest any position in the branch elections, there could have been no way, he {MP}  was rigged in.

The group comprises perennial parliamentary election losers in the names of Mrs Monica Amolo, Ted Odero, Neto Oyugi and Jeremiah Owiti were beaten hands down by unknown individuals who are allied to the area MP, while Mr. Ojode was not personally involved and did not contest any branch elections.. The group, which has announced that its members have already ganged together to take on Mr. Ojode, according to the civic leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, are most welcome to come and contest any position in the branch.

The civic leader, however, wondered how the group which consisted of a bunch of political non-entities could win the ODM branch election in Ndhiwa while they remained holed in the streets of Nairobi.” These are well known rumour peddlers and streets vendors in both Nairobi and Kisumu Cities. They will find it an up-hill task to make any major political inroads in Ndhiwa. “Ours is a rural constituency whose residents are farmers, and these are the bulk of party followers. But some of the group which has ganged up are mysterious characters and conmen roaming the streets of Kisumu and Nairobi.

“We don’t have room for rumour-mongers to gain any position of leadership in our party branch, and we shall only vote in for the credible individual personalities who are ready to work hand in hand with our elected MP to promote development in the area, though it is the constitutional rights of every party members to contest any elective posts within the party, such people or individuals must have  clean track record of active participation in the promotion of ODM activities in Ndhiwa and elsewhere. Let them know pretty well that Ndhiwa is not the playing ground for every Tom, Dick and Harry.with no credibility to walk in and win  ODM post without having sweat for it.”

Reached for comment, Mr. Ojode whjo is an Assistant Minister in the Office of the President in-charge of Internal Security and Provincial Administration scoffed at his critics. He said the group wanted to use him a punching bag, and yet he hold no position in the ODM branch in Ndhiwa. They should direct their criticism against the right people are currently holding positions in ODM’s branch in Ndhiwa. As for parliamentary elections, he said there is still four more years to go, and people with parliamentary ambition should the incumbent chances and the opportunities to serve the electorate effectively.”When the time comes, everyone will be given an opportunity to sell his or her policy to the electorate . But there is no point in making all the time election times. The Wananchi needs the service delivery, but not empty political ,slogans, said the Assistant Minister.

Ojode reminded the group of a big Harambee fund raising which was held in Ndhiwa last month in which more than Kshs 4 million was raised. The money will go towards the various economic and social development projects. The Chief guest was the Land and Settlement Minister James Aggrey Orengo and the guest of honour was the Minister for Agriculture William Ruto and the Country Director of Marie Stope Clinics Cyprian Otieno Awiti.. None of the four big talkers who wanted to lead ODM in Ndhiwa showed up during the Harambee and the Assistant Minister wondered how such people wouild convince the party followers to elect them in any position in the branch by issuing misleading and malicious statements from the city streets.

It is imperative to note that during the last general election Mr. Ojode polled 42,000 votes against the paltry votes of 8,000 garnered by Mrs Monica Amolo therefore the question of her being rigged out is a matter of public conjecture. Mr Owiti and  Mr. Neto  while Mr. Ted Odero did not even contested the primaries, but had turned to be a youth winger for another candidate Mr. Dennis Orero who performesd dismally during the primaries.

If these are the character of people who can have a gut and tell the press that they were rigged out, then the word rigging remain  a phantom,” said Ojode.

Ndhiwa MP, however, said he would welcome anybody with the agenda to help him built the area and making a hub of economic and agricultural activities in the greater Southern Nyanza region.”Let all those with development agenda come forward so that we could work together for the mutual benefit of our people, he said.

 

Ends

 leooderaomoloQ@yahoo.com

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API

Big win for foreign minister Livni in Israel – She will be Israel’s prime minister in decades

 Huge night for foreign minister: Tzipi Livni wins Kadima primaries with roughly 48% of vote, exit polls predict; Livni will now have opportunity to form government, become Israel’s first female prime minister since Golda Meir  

Huge night for Tzipi Livni: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won Wednesday’s Kadima primaries with roughly 48% of the vote, exit polls predicted after polling station across the nation closed.

According to Channel 2’s exit poll, Livni won 48% of the vote, while Mofaz won 37%. Avi Dichter and Meir Sheetrit were tied at 7% each. According to Channel 10, Livni won 49% of the vote and Mofaz garnered 37%. Sheetrit and Dichter were tied at 7% in this poll as well. Meanwhile, Channel 1 predicted that Livni won 47% of the vote, compared to Mofaz’s 37%

 Throughout the campaign, Livni aimed to convince Kadima voters that she will bring the party back to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s glory days. She repeatedly stressed her clean, uncorrupted image, noting that “I’ve been conducting myself differently throughout my political life, not in order to say I’m different, but rather, to prove that it is possible to do it differently.”

Livni will now replace Ehud Olmert as Kadima chairman and will have the opportunity to form a government. Should she be able to secure a coalition, Livni will become Israel’s first female prime minister since Golda Meir, who led the country in the 1970s.

Tense day

The day was marred by reports of irregularities and mayhem. The Central Elections Committee disqualified the polling station in Rahat after a man entered the site and threw all the ballots out the window. Irregularities were also reported in other polling stations.

Wednesday evening, following a tense day, Kadima’s Central Elections Committee approved Livni’s request to extend voting hours to 10:30 pm, instead of 10 pm, as result of “congestion at polling stations” nationwide. Earlier in the day, Livni associates expressed deep concern over the low voter turnout rate reported across the country.

Voting hours were initially extended to 11 pm in wake of Livni’s request, but the decision was changed following an appeal submitted by Mofaz’s camp. Mofaz was hoping for a low turnout rate in order to capitalize on his camp’s superior organizational abilities. However, it now appears Livni was able to bring her supporters to the polling stations and score a huge victory.

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API/Sources.IsraelNews