Africans in Norway “country by country” > social status!

APN will start a series of reporting based on investigative reporting directed into learning the social status of Africans in Norway. Our reporting will be country by country, taking on all African countries that are represented in the country.

On Social status

Our reporting on social status will take on the following issues:

• How many in number live in the country.
• How many are in each category – refugees, immigrants etc.
• How many in each category either married or not and to what cultures.
• Educational background.
• Employment status
• And those in coalition with the law, and have to be in Norwegian jails instead of being part of a progressive community.

The purpose of the exercise is to ensure that the African community is aware they have a duty and responsibility to become role models for the future generation.

They have the responsibility to guide themselves in the right direction, and care for one another as a minority in order to avoid landing in problems that turn them into criminals.

This can only be achieved if Africans who are now living in the country understand the responsibilities, to themselves and to others now and in the future.

There has been laxity among many Africans. A don’t care attitude. They do not want to be criticised. They do not want to be corrected, because they assume they know everything.

Yes, they do not want people others to know their affairs, even if they are suffering in silence, because they are afraid of one another. The question now is, how long they will be suspicious of one another in a foreign land? The answer is not far away.

All the Africans in the community know very well that there is need for unity despite which country one comes from. And all of them will work together only if those who are selfish and greedy realise that they are doing a disservice to the community. 2007 should be the year of joint efforts, aimed at success for the black man and woman in Norway. It is your right as an African, to succeed like everyone else who has tasted success.

Time has come when the has to take responsibilities seriously, and be in the front line where things that determine their success is being dealt with, instead of sitting and watching as other nationalities climb up the ladder in business, education, employment and politics.

It is a fact that a community without active leaders remain behind in most of the things. In politics, decisions are made that affect the population. And if a community does not have their own in the political circles, they are not given the priorities they deserve as equal citizens in the country.

The “onward we move, backward we don’t” must become a slogan in the African community in the year 2007. That is what the coming generation expect from the generation of today!

In many European countries, Africans are left alone to struggle. Struggling has been a black man’s and woman’s duty year in year out in the past century.

This century, they all know there is hope, if only they united and worked as a team, a team that has the will to share worries when worries emerge, and to be willing to enjoy happiness together on a daily basis, when happiness is limited or in abundance.

By Korir, African Press in Norway, APN, africanpress@chello.no

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African Organisations in Norway to be scrutinised on use of funds from public kitty!

Free movement of people and association�

Moving to a new country is not a difficult decision to make if one wants to move. Moving to a new country becomes difficult when one thinks of the treatment others may have experienced earlier! Now we are talking about discrimination and the feeling that makes one�in deep thoughts of being unworthy.

And yet, people will still move to new destinations in search for a�better life. Because we all wish to be better today than yesterday.

It is, however, unfortunate that those who reach there before us and learn new things before�us at times may decide to use us and�become self-benefactors, leaving others behind.�

This has prompted API’s�interest in African organizations and other immigrant organizations�in Norway.

Discrimination and progress

African Press International based in Norway has the duty to ensure that all immigrants and Africans in particular in the country are not discriminated, or left out of the progress that others enjoy. To be able to do that, and as�all media groups do, API has now initiated watch-dogging of things that happen within and around the immigranr communities in Norway.

This will also involve being critical on what goes on around the “African”� and the immigrant in general” and�positive achievement expectations and tribulations. In order to achieve all that, the media has to take a role of a watchdog and be�objective and critical even towards his or her own.

Stamping out corruption

We have decided to stamp out corruption within the immigrant organizations in Norway, as the first step. And for a start we have information about immigrant�organisations that receive funding from the State and Municipalities in the country for their projects said to target immigrants.

The�exercise has been necessitated by the fact that many organisations get the funding by delivering inaccurate information to the authorities. It is also being carried out�due to the fact that members in many organisations have conducted API, claiming that their organisations misappropriate the money received from the authorities.

The members that have approached API tell of misuse of funds in a big way. Those leaders accused of misusing the money are masters in manipulating information in their annual�and�accounting reports.

Some of them cooperate with companies that issue them with�reports, that does not reflect on what or how�the money is used, and in some cases the figures in the receipts are adjusted to cover up the misappropriation.�

It is reported to API that most of them do not use the money in accordance with the requirements, as demanded by the funding authority. The complainants have also told API that some of the money do not reach�the target groups as intended,�and yet the applying organisations stipulate in their applications, when asking for money from the authorities, that the target groups will benefit from the projects.

Accounts and annual reports

API will ask for copies of all applications for this year 2007, before the authorities approve them in order to understand what the organisations intend to use the money applied for. It will be our concern as well, to study the reports from last year as concerns those organisations that got the funding, because that is the basis for further funding this year and the years to come.

For those applying for money this year 2007, API will request from the authorities for last year’s accounts, and the annual report in order to study them, and�have complete investigative reporting as to how�projects were effected, if�such projects are necessary to be continued, and if they are of benefit to the�immigrants in Norway or whether the money goes direct to some organization’s corrupt operators.

There will be a need also to understand how the organizations function and who the leaders are and their track records.

Questionable leaders and elections

Leaders heading organizations are not scrutinised at all, when they apply for funding and yet if they were, their leadership will be considered null and void, because some have bad records with the police, and other agencies in the country.

Another important aspect is the fact that some organizations never hold elections, and that means they are not democratic at all. Members are kept at bay, and are not party to the decisions taken within the organization on what projects the organization should carry out.

There is no doubt that some organizations misuse the money. And yet they get money every year to continue running projects that do not benefit any of the target groups.

Tax payers money and transparency

The authorities will have no choice, but to cooperate with API, because the law allows for the scrutiny of public funds by any interested member of the society, due to the fact that the money being dished out yearly is from the tax-payers.

Transparency is always called for by the Norwegian authorities when it comes to how African countries run their affairs of government and yet at home in Norway the authorities are not good enough in putting the scrutiny machinery into effect, in order to detect false and corrupt immigrant organization leaders.

Related story:

• Public funds given to 5 African organizations in Norway to be investigated!

By Korir, African Press International, API, africanpress@getmail.no

The US conducted air-raids in Somalia last Sunday!

 The US conducted air strikes in Somalia on Sunday. They say the air strikes were necessary because they had credible intelligence that there are al-Qaeda leaders in the region.

BBC reports that, “the Pentagon said a raid was carried out on Sunday but declined to say if it had hit its target. The US has long said al-Qaeda suspects linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa took refuge in Somalia.”

Unfortunately air strikes take lives. “At least 19 people were killed in US air raids, local Somali elders say. Fresh air raids were reported near the town of Afmadow on Monday and Tuesday, but it is not clear if these were carried out by the US, or by Ethiopian forces which back the transitional Somali government.”

The interim Somali government took control of the Capital with the help of Ethiopian forces recently. The Islamists who had control of the Capital battled with the Ethiopian forces for a number of days before they lost the fight.

One thing the international community forgets is that the more the bombings carreid out, people get displaced and forced into refugee camps.

 By Korir, African Press in Norway, APN, Africanpress@chello.no, source.bbc

Kenyan dies at 73 in Sweden. His death divides Kenyans living in the country!

Death is something people do not like and do not wish it to happen to anybody, yet it does.

And when it happens people are always not prepared to deal with it. It brings suffering to those who are left behind because nobody is prepared when it comes.

Relatives left behind may have to endure difficulties, they may be accused of many things by those living around them, accusations that are not merited in any way.

People have opinion on almost everything when someone dies, and they want to be involved, yes they want to force ourselves to be allowed to be part of the arrangements. Some act as though they know everything. They act as though they loved the person so much and yet maybe they even never wished him well, but when he or she is gone, then they want to get involved in arranging the funeral.

This is very wrong!

When such a thing happens, they should support the family members left behind instead of trying to be masters during a sad moment.

And as an example, this is not the case with the death of Kenyan Maggero in Sweden. People want to get involved and decide for the family left behind, instead of supporting them. People want to be involved by force and if not allowed to be part of it, they start creating things to put the family in the defensive. This is unfair from every perspective.

Here goes the story!

A Kenyan by name James Maggero is reported dead at 73 in Sweden, and sources confirm that his body will be cremated next Friday.

 His cremation without viewing seems to cause controversy within the Kenyan community in Sweden. Those who knew him would have liked to view his body, but sources say the late Maggero’s wish was to be cremated and without viewing.

According to media reports, Maggero hails from Kenya and was married to a Swedish woman.

Kenya Stockholm Blog has reported that they have intercepted an sms send out by late Maggero’s wife. The sms has been made public by KSB and reads as follows: “KSB has established that the wife of the late Mr. Maggero has sent an SMS to the Mzee’s family in Kenya and confirmed that “the body will be cremated on Friday”. Another SMS sent by Maggero’s wife and obtained by KSB said that there will be no viewing of Maggero’s body “because that is what he wanted. Would you please find out how many people are going to speak. Not too many. Not too long. I am going to the countryside for a few days. Send SMS. I check. He will be kremated later. Will know when they have buried the ashes. It is what he wanted”.

The family is griefing and it would therefore not be wise to add on the pain by causing unnecessary problems. The fact that some people want to view the body is not more important than what the late Maggero wanted to happen to his body when he dies.

His wishes must be respected. Many Africans still want to believe that when an African dies in the West, his or her body has to be transported to Africa for burial.

If a person has lived all his life in a western country like in this case, Sweden and has his family living in the country, it is unbelievable that non-family members should insist otherwise, when it comes to the wishes of the immediate family.

The late Maggero has a wife and children in Sweden and there should be no reason taking his body to Kenya for burial. It is the right of his wife and children to bury the body near where they live in order to be able to put flowers on his grave whenever they feel to do so.

The problem with most Kenyans in foreign countries is that they like to force themselves into things that do not concern them at all.

This case is a good example for Kenyans to learn from and respect what a dead person wishes. It has been reported that the family will not ask for money to be collected, because the body is not being transported to Kenya. And in new developments, reported to have shocked the Kenyan community, the body will be cremated, something not popular with Kenyan traditions. However, a will is a will and has to be respected.

KSB has argued that the late Maggero was well-known Kenyan elder in Sweden. That there is suspicion about his death, because the family kept it secret from Kenyans.

We believe that the family comes first, and in this case, the wife and his children! They are the one to take decisions and not his relatives who have not lived with him for all these years.

Africans have to stop dreaming that immediately a person is dead, then the extended family must have a say and take charge of things. We have heard and seen circumstances like this. When  a man dies, relatives start pushing the wife away, and force their way to take charge of things. This is very wrong. Someone may be thinking of cashing in on his death one way or another.

The Kenyans should stop unnecessary uproar and damaging allegations. The family – and here we mean the wife and children, should be accorded the peace they need at this time of grief. They need to sort out things in peace and bury Maggero in Sweden following his last wishes.

APN sends condolence to the bereaved family.

By Korir, African Press in Norway, APN, africanpress@chello.no, source.ksb.sweden.