Madagascar's New Leader

I'm pretty sure most of you have been falling with this intriguing story of the rise of a 34 year old former disc jockey to the president of Madagascar.



Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina has taken the presidency of Madagascar after President Marc Ravalomanana stepped down following a power struggle.

Here are key facts about him:

* Rajoelina presents himself as the champion of a new generation of reformists. However, at just 34 and having effectively strong-armed Ravalomanana out of power, critics say his behaviour resembles one of Africa's old "Big Men".

* A former disc jockey and nicknamed "TGV" after the fast French train for his rapid-fire rhetoric and charismatic personality, Rajoelina has led demonstrations against the president since the turn of the year. The protests, triggered by the closure of his Viva TV station at the end of 2008 for airing an interview with former president Didier Ratsiraka, quickly became a mass movement bent on toppling Ravalomanana.

* Viewed as something of a maverick given to sweeping statements and grand claims, Rajoelina won municipal elections in 2007 as an independent, running against Ravalomanana's party. As mayor, he became one of the most ardent critics of the government, labelling it a dictatorship, but was fired on Feb. 3 of this year by Ravalomanana at the height of the protests.

* Army backing was the clinching factor in bringing Rajoelina to power this week. Analysts say, however, that he has close links with the exiled Ratsiraka's camp and may also have enjoyed the tacit support of the French government.

* Rajoelina says his first and biggest challenge is to improve standards of living for the Malagasy, many of whom live on less than $2 a day. On the international stage, he will have to convince doubters of his legitimacy given his unconstitutional rise to power several years before the next presidential election was due.

* Rajoelina will also have to control some dissent in the military, where diplomats say some officers opposed his rise but were quashed by more powerful voices.

* He is expected to continue his predecessor's free market economic policies, welcoming foreign investors in the key mining and oil exploration sectors, while also trying to cut down on waste and put more emphasis on social policies.

* Rajoelina has displayed supreme confidence throughout the months-long crisis, only disappearing into hiding once when Ravalomanana's security forces came to arrest him. At rallies, he exuded certainty that he was on the verge of power. During Tuesday's extraordinary turn of events, he actually walked into Ravalomanana's office and announced his plans as president before the military formally conferred power on him.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Coup d'etat in Guinea-Bissau?!?!

President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira had ruled Guinea-Bissau for 23 of the past 29 years.



BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau – Soldiers assassinated the president of Guinea-Bissau in his palace Monday hours after a bomb blast killed his rival, but the military insisted no coup was taking place in the West African nation.

A military statement broadcast on state radio attributed President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira's death to an "isolated" group of unidentified soldiers whom the armed forces said they were now hunting down.

The capital, Bissau, was calm but tense despite the pre-dawn gunfight at the palace, which erupted hours after armed forces chief of staff Gen. Batiste Tagme na Waie — a longtime rival of the president — was killed by a bomb blast at his headquarters.

The former Portuguese colony has suffered multiple coups and attempted coups since 1980, when Vieira himself first took power in one. The United Nations says the impoverished nation on the Atlantic coast of Africa has recently become a key transit point for cocaine smuggled from Latin America to Europe.

Following an emergency Cabinet meeting on Monday, military spokesman Zamora Induta said top military brass told government officials "this was not a coup d'etat."

"We reaffirmed our intention to respect the democratically elected power and the constitution of the republic," Induta said. "The people who killed President Vieira have not been arrested, but we are pursuing them. They are an isolated group. The situation is under control."

Click here for the rest of the story.

Africans in the Diaspora - Return Home ?!?!

Here is a very compelling piece by Mr. Kilemi Mwiria the Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology and MP for Tigania West, Kenya

We do not need ‘dream team’ to tap Kenyan talent abroad

Often when I encounter Africans living in Europe and America, I get rather disappointed by their complaining about how terrible things are back home. If you challenge them to come home and make things better some say they are not wanted. Others tell us to make Kenya more attractive in terms of competitive salaries, improved governance and provision of relevant infrastructure as a condition for their return.

Some have a point. African governments have done little to attract our best talents back home. We have even failed to take advantage of external initiatives, which support repatriation of African talents by not offering any incentives to potential returnees. But we seem happy with donors paying exceptionally high salaries to a few returning professionals as with "The dream team" during the Kanu days and expensive consultants in government ministries.

There are Kenyans who would give up high profile jobs with international organisations and top private enterprises in the West if we can match what they earn out there. These Kenyans effectively compete with people from all over the world and get recruited for their competence in societies where merit overrides all other considerations, including whether or not your parent is the boss of the recruiting firm. This category has no visa problem; instead they are offered many incentives such as paid holidays to Africa in order to retain them.

One reason advanced for not tapping such talent is disruption of the public pay structure where new recruits may earn more than their supervisors. Yet, it is never a problem to pay foreign consultants the same or higher salaries than more qualified Kenyans. In any case, there are Kenyans who earn salaries higher than the average top western executive, including MPs, Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission employees and some heads of parastatals.

There cannot be more than a thousand Kenyans out there who would require to be remunerated at the same level, so I think we can afford it. If well managed they will be more than worth their pay and we shall get much better value than we do from many political appointees who are best in retirement.

But there are also Kenyan managers who are threatened by the qualifications, experience, work ethic, attitudes and innovative ways of new entrants and often remind them that "this is Africa where we do it this way", thus discouraging many.

Positive values

I believe that we should offer interested Kenyans in the Diaspora at least the barest minimum pay to make them feel wanted. Given their experience with more efficient bureaucracies they can add much value to our Civil Service and parastatals such as universities. We should also go for the thousands of skilled and semi-skilled workers -teachers, engineers, doctors, etc. There is much to learn from Kenyan electricians, plumbers, carpenters and masons based in the West because of their exposure. With the construction boom, there is enough work for them in Kenya.

In addition to job related skills, Kenyans abroad will bring positive values related to honesty, time management, respect for the rule of law and integrity.

Some overseas based Kenyans will not return for lack of relevant certificates and financial resources for decent living or business or because they cannot find a job. A few such cases have come back only to head back overseas when they find age mates they left behind well settled and because they cannot stomach association with failure when crossing seas has always been associated with great success by those left behind. But there are also the selfish and pompous types who exaggerate their superiority by virtue of having lived in the West.

As we search for overseas-based Kenyan talent, we should recognise and reward top Kenyan professionals who have opted to stay home while ignoring better opportunities abroad. They have chosen patriotism in order to make Kenya a better place for all of us.

SOURCE: THE STANDARD

2009 U.S. Presidential Inauguration

Truly a historic day. Washington, D.C. is jam packed. Security is off the chain. "Yes We Can O!"

Make Una Get Dream - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday

..."I have a dream" ~ MLK



...and see now o, tomorrow the dream go come true.

Zimbabwe Hyperinflation: Z$100tr note

Make we talk true...Zimbabwe's hyperinflation is far beyond "getting out of control" Chei!

Zimbabwe is introducing a Z$100 trillion note, currently worth about US$30 (£20), state media reports.

Other notes in trillion-dollar denominations of 10, 20 and 50 are also being released to help Zimbabweans cope with hyperinflation.

However, the dollarisation of the economy means that few products are available in the local currency.

On Thursday, the opposition leader said he was still committed to power-sharing intended to rescue the failing economy.

Since September, when the deal was signed, talks have stalled over who should control key ministries.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he was due to hold talks with President Robert Mugabe "within this coming week" to try to resolve the political crisis.

He described Mr Mugabe as "part of the problem but also part of the solution".

The latest annual figure for inflation, estimated in July last year, was 231m% - the world's highest.

"In a move meant to ensure that the public has access to their money from banks, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has introduced a new family of banknotes which will gradually come into circulation, starting with the Z$10 trillion," Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper quotes a bank statement as saying.

But previous issues of new banknotes - and the dropping of several zeros from the currency - have done little to help Zimbabweans cope with inflation.

On Tuesday, a 50bn Zimbabwean dollar note was issued, less than a month after a Z$500m bill was released.

Correspondents say prices can double every day, and food and fuel - for those without US dollars - are in short supply.

Last month, the daily bank cash withdrawal limit - which at one stage was only enough for several loaves of bread - was abandoned.

However, most banks do not have enough cash to meet demand.

Some shops are licensed to sells goods in foreign currency but everyone from vegetable sellers to mobile phone service providers peg their prices to the US dollar.

Most groceries are brought in by Zimbabweans from neighbouring South Africa, Botswana or Zambia, further driving up prices.

There is more than 80% unemployment in the country and those with jobs find their salary is worthless unless they are paid in foreign currency.

Tears

Mr Tsvangirai is expected to return to Zimbabwe on Saturday after two months abroad.

At a press conference in Johannesburg, Mr Tsvangirai again appealed for prominent human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, who appeared in court on Thursday, and other such detainees, to be released.

"Those abducted and illegally detained must be released unconditionally if this agreement is to be consummated," Reuters news agency quotes Mr Tsvangirai as saying.

Ms Mukoko - director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project - denies charges of organising military training to topple President Mugabe.

She broke down in tears in court as she spoke about her ordeal when she was abducted from her home by armed security agents at the beginning of December.

She described how she was beaten on her feet during questioning.

"The experience was frightening. I would not wish it upon anyone," she said.

Under September's power-sharing agreement, Mr Tsvangirai is to become prime minister while Mr Mugabe remains as president.

But the deal faltered after the MDC accused Zanu-PF of keeping the most powerful ministries - including the one that controls the police - to itself.

As the political wrangling continued, Zimbabwe has been hit by a cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 2,000 lives, made worse by the collapse of the water, health and sanitation systems.

Mr Tsvangirai, and Western nations, accuse Mr Mugabe of not being sincere about power-sharing.

Mr Mugabe insists he welcomes the power-sharing deal, and has resisted growing international pressure to resign.

SOURCE: BBC

Upcoming South African Election: Drama in the making...

Don't you just hate it when a photographer catches you in a very awkward moment?


Let's call this picture "the finger".



This one..."I'm ready to whoop some ass"



...this one is too easy. I'll let you provide the title

Jacob Zuma appears likely to be South Africa's next President, but this brotha comes with some drama.

THE BACKGROUND:

* South African President Thabo Mbeki's decision to sack Zuma in June 2005 after he was implicated in a high-profile graft trial in which his former financial adviser was convicted, provoked outrage among rank-and-file ANC members who alleged a political plot within the party to deny him a shot at the presidency.

-- Zuma won leadership of the ANC on Tuesday which almost certainly assures him of the South African presidency in the 20O9 general election because of the ANC's electoral dominance.

* THE 2005 CHARGES:

-- Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik was found guilty of trying to solicit a 500,000 rand ($72,500) a year bribe for Zuma from French arms company Thint in return for protecting it from an investigation into an arms deal arranged by South Africa in the late 1990s.

-- Another corruption count on which he was convicted said Shaik had paid Zuma 1.3 million rand ($187,100) in bribes to induce him to use his political influence to further Shaik's business interests. The fraud conviction related to accounting for these payments.

-- Prosecutors later filed charges against Zuma himself, accusing him of receiving bribes from Thint. The case was dropped but prosecutors have reopened their investigation of Zuma in that case.

* NEW ALLEGATIONS:

* Zuma's case was thrown out on a technicality but a high court ruling earlier this year cleared the way for evidence to be used against him in any future prosecution. In a separate case, Zuma was acquitted of rape charges in May 2006.

* Last week the Directorate of Special Operations filed an affidavit in the Constitutional Court containing what it called substantial new evidence that Zuma had received larger payments in a corruption case than originally thought.

* The affidavit said that payments based on the old and the new evidence are more than three times greater than those based on the old evidence alone.

* If Zuma is re-charged with graft, it raises the prospect South Africa's future president could be jailed long before he is sworn in. Zuma has said if he wins the ANC'S top job, he would step down only if a court proves he is guilty.

SOURCE: Reuters

FAST FORWARD TO PRESENT...

However, the reinstatement of the charges of corruption, fraud, racketeering and money-laundering against Jacob Zuma are certain to be an unwelcome distraction for the ANC president during the election campaign.

The ANC is facing a significant challenge from the newly-formed Congress of the People (Cope) which has emerged from bitter in-fighting within the ANC over the past three years.

The ruling party is going to have to work hard for every vote in this year's elections, in the knowledge that it could easily lose its two-thirds majority in parliament.

Not since it took power in 1994 has the ANC faced such a test from the ranks of the opposition.

Political analyst Steven Friedman says Jacob Zuma is the frontrunner to become the next president of the country.

"Some in the ANC leadership would prefer not to have to support Zuma. But as we draw closer to the elections, Zuma's position is strengthening all the time," he said.

"The ANC will try to make the corruption charges go away politically. One way is to appoint a national director of public prosecutions who won't prosecute Zuma.

"Another way is to… pass a parliamentary resolution indemnifying Zuma. If we get to a situation where Zuma is president and facing charges, there will be an attempt to make this go away politically."

A date for the elections has still to be announced, but the Johannesburg-based newspaper The Star says 15 April is one possibility.

What is not in doubt is that unofficial campaigning has already begun.

'Robust and interesting'

"We are now fully in election mode," says ANC spokesman Carl Niehaus.

"We respect the law and the decisions of our courts, but at the same time the ANC will vigorously exert its right to have Jacob Zuma as our candidate (for president).

"It is our right in terms of freedom of association and does not impact in any way on the legal processes," he added.

The ANC is certain to win at the polls, albeit with a reduced majority.

However, the corruption charges against Jacob Zuma have not yet gone away in the manner in which the ANC leader might have hoped. That makes an appeal to the Constitutional Court, and an application for a permanent stay of prosecution, increasingly likely.

Jacob Zuma was spot on when he told a gala dinner in East London last Friday: "This year's election campaign will be robust and interesting."

SOURCE: BBC

Ghana's New President-Elect: John Atta Mills

Ghana's President-elect, John Atta Mills, is to be sworn in after his cliff-hanger election victory.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate beat the ruling party's Nana Akufo-Addo in a hotly contested poll by a margin of less than 0.5% of votes.

A BBC reporter says there is a carnival atmosphere in the capital with tens of thousands packed into Independence Square for the inauguration.

President John Kufuor is standing down after serving the maximum two terms.

He will be the second elected head of state in Ghana's history to hand over to an opposition politician.

Crowds began forming at the stadium before dawn - decked out in the national colours of green, yellow, red and black - amid an air of intense excitement after one of the closest election races in Africa's recent history.

Dignatories have begun arriving for the ceremony, although the BBC's Will Ross in Accra says that in their excitement people broke through to the area reserved for VIPs.

Click here for full story.

SOURCE: BBC

Nigerian Preacher Named #49 in Newsweeks' Top 50 Most Powerful People in the World

E. A. Adeboye

A Pentecostal preacher from Nigeria has made big plans to save your soul.

You may never have heard of E. A. Adeboye, but the pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God is one of the most successful preachers in the world. He boasts that his church has outposts in 110 countries. He has 14,000 branches—claiming 5 million members—in his home country of Nigeria alone. There are 360 RCCG churches in Britain, and about the same number in U.S. cities like Chicago, Dallas, and Tallahassee, Fla. Adeboye says he has sent missionaries to China and such Islamic countries as Pakistan and Malaysia. His aspirations are outsize. He wants to save souls, and he wants to do so by planting churches the way Starbucks used to build coffee shops: everywhere.

"In the developing world we say we want churches to be within five minutes' walk of every person," he tells NEWSWEEK. "In the developed world, we say five minutes of driving." Such a goal may seem outlandish, but Adeboye is a Pentecostal preacher: he believes in miracles. And Pentecostalism is the biggest, fastest-growing Christian movement since the Reformation.

One of the strangest images from the 2008 campaign was the YouTube clip of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in church, head bowed, palms turned up toward heaven, standing silently as Thomas Muthee, a Pentecostal preacher from Kenya, prayed for her freedom from witchcraft. The clip (and a NEWSWEEK article about it) triggered its own little culture skirmish, with secular observers calling Palin a "wack job" and conservative Christians responding "There's nothing wrong with her church!!!" Few commentators on either side noted how normal that scene was to hundreds of millions of Christians around the globe.

The world now has about 600 million Pentecostals, the largest group of Christians after Roman Catholics. In Asia, the number of Pentecostals has grown from about 10 million to 166 million since 1970, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. In Latin America, Pentecostals have expanded from 13 million to 151 million; in North America, from 19 million to 77 million; and in Africa, from 18 million to 156 million. By 2050 most of Africa will be Christian, estimates Grant Wacker, professor of Christian history at Duke University—and most of those Christians will be Pentecostals.

Modern Pentecostalism was born in America in the early 20th century, when a former Methodist minister named Charles Parham began teaching that Christians who were filled with the Holy Spirit could, like the disciples of Jesus, speak in tongues. (The sound, for those who have not heard it, is extraordinary: like crooning or keening or jibber jabber.) From the start, the faith appealed across ethnic lines to the poor and the marginalized. Its lack of denominational structure meant "you didn't have to have a highly trained and educated clergy with a long graduate education," says Vinson Synan, dean emeritus of the divinity school at Regent University. "Common people [were] pastoring common people." Televangelist healers like Oral Roberts helped keep the movement growing.

Pentecostals believe that the Holy Spirit is always at work in the world and that certain people possess its gifts: speaking in tongues, the healing touch, the power to cast out demons and witches. An emphasis on prosperity and healing attracts converts without savings accounts or health insurance. The emphasis on Biblical inerrancy and on rigid social rules—no drinking, no smoking, no premarital sex—offers structure for people whose lives have been devastated by addiction or illness. In places like Africa (and indeed, like Palin's Alaska at the turn of the last century), Pentecostalism finds fertile ground among adherents of native religions who already believe the world is alive with spirits.

By Pentecostal standards, Adeboye is mainstream. Formerly a mathematics instructor at the University of Lagos, he began working at RCCG translating the previous pastor's sermons from Yoruba to English. He took over the congregation in 1981. His success, he says, is rooted in his message. "Pentecostals have such an impact because they talk of the here and now, not just the by and by, he says. "We pray for the sick, but we pray for their prosperity, for their overcoming of evil forces and so on. While we have to worry about heaven, there are some things God could do for us in the here and now." At a recent revival meeting in London, Adeboye and his ministers preached 12 hours straight to a crowd of 30,000. At the altar call, hundreds of people rushed toward the stage from every corner of the arena, visibly filled with euphoria. They call their pastor "Daddy."

Behind Adeboye's extraordinary success is his reputation for honesty. While other Pentecostal pastors (including some Nigerians) have been accused of financial misdeeds or faking supernatural powers, Adeboye remains above the fray. Nigerian government leaders seek his input on pressing social issues. He recently made a public-service announcement condemning discrimination against people with HIV. He distributes his message globally through Facebook and MySpace, a self-published magazine called "The Mandate," and a digital-cable channel called Open Heavens TV. His appearance is straitlaced: he always wears a pinstriped suit, a gleaming white shirt and a bow tie.

Adeboye experienced a miracle recently on a long and dangerous stretch of highway near Lagos, he says. His car was out of gas, and the gas stations were empty. Then God spoke to him, clearly, and said to keep driving. Adeboye drove 200 miles on empty. Could his gas gauge have been broken? No, he insists, God intervened "because of the need … in a crisis." Adeboye knows well what some in the West have forgotten: in today's world, everyone needs a Daddy.

SOURCE: Newsweek

Yankee Demonstrates Democracy - Africans Wonder...

America's First Black President

CONGRATULATIONS!!!



Young black men across the globe..."Yes we can!"

Let's enjoy this victory.

Yankee Elections - What does it Mean to Africa?

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, yankee go elect a new president, which candidate would be more favorable to the mothaland?

Food for thought

why doesn't hip hop come home...to Africa

A while ago we had an article on American Hip Hop and Africa in the magazine. Tosin sent this to me, and I thought it was interesting.

Colin Powell bigs up Africa show

Colin Powell danced and sang to the Olu Maintain hit Yahooze

America's former top diplomat took centre stage along with Nigerian group Olu Maintain at the Africa Rising Festival in the Royal Albert Hall.

More seriously, he said his own black identity mattered as much as ever.

He told the audience that Africa, with hard work and foreign investment, could prosper like Asia and Eastern Europe.

US pop singer Christina Aguilera and UK-born soul singer Seal also performed at the event which saw fashion collections by Ozwald Boateng and Deola Sagoe.

'Africa's turn'

"I stand before you tonight as an African-American," Mr Powell said.

"Many people have said to me you became secretary of state of the USA, is it still necessary to say that you are an African-American or that you are black, and I say, yes, so that we can remind our children.

"It took a lot of people struggling to bring me to this point in history. I didn't just drop out of the sky, people came from my continent in chains."

A lot of wrongs had been done to Africa by Western powers faced with "an iron curtain and a bamboo curtain", he said in an apparent reference to the USSR and communist China.

But these barriers had fallen, he argued.

"Asia is expanding, it created jobs for people, and Eastern Europeans are doing the same... it's now Africa's turn."

Colin Powell, a distinguished former military commander, served as US secretary of state during the first term of the Bush administration, from 2001 to 2005.

SOURCE: BBC

Talk bad about Obama in Kenya...

Interesting switch...getting deported from Kenya, that just sounds so ______ awon boys get kicked out of jans and yankee on a daily



Immigration authorities in Kenya say they will deport the American author of a highly critical book about US presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The author, Jerome Corsi, was in Kenya to launch his book which accuses Mr Obama of supporting an alleged plot to turn Kenya into an Islamic state.

Officials said that Mr Corsi did not have the right visa.

Mr Obama's father was from Kenya, where the US Democratic contender is a highly popular figure.

Mr Corsi - author of The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality - has been accused of a smear campaign against Mr Obama.

In a recent press release, Mr Corsi said he would "expose deep secret ties between US Democratic presidential candidate Sen Barack Obama and a section of the Kenyan government leaders".

Carlos Maluta, a senior Kenyan immigration official, told the AP news agency that authorities had picked Mr Corsi up from his hotel on Tuesday because he did not have the necessary work permit.

Briefly detained

Joseph Mumira, head of criminal investigations at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, said that Mr Corsi was briefly detained at immigration headquarters before being brought to the airport for deportation.

The Obama campaign says on the "Fight the Smears" web site that Mr Corsi listed a number of false claims in relation to Kenya in his book - including that Mr Obama contributed $1m (£570,000) to Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga during Mr Odinga's presidential campaign.

Mr Odinga is from the same Luo community as Mr Obama's father.

The book also repeats false rumours, including that Mr Obama, a Christian, was raised as a Muslim.

Mr Corsi co-authored "Unfit for Command", a book that maligned the Democratic Party's 2004 candidate John Kerry, and is believed to have contributed to his defeat by President George W Bush.

SOURCE: BBC

U.S Financial Bailout as compared to the Naija Bank Collapse

If you're like me and millions of "average joe six pack" your head is probably spinning like crazy about the ongoing U.S. financial crisis. Some of you might know the Naija banks faced a bank crisis some years back as well. Awa area boys, all of our savings just evaporated and the banks basically said "no worry...next time keep your money for mattras"

Well, me I no sabi this one O! so I reached out to an up and coming Financial guru to break it down in afriko terms. What the hell is going on with yankee and banks closing left and right? how is this similar to Naija's version? what does the future hold?

Here's his insight
=================================================================================

The U.S. Financial Crisis/credit crunch

For many years, financial institutions have found many ways to make money. The rise of derivative trading and securitization has lead to this financial mess. Basically, financial institutions bought or acquired millions or even billions of dollars worth of loans which were known as mortgage backed securities.

Now, many of these loans that make up these packages were known as sub-prime loans. The rise of sub-prime loans (lenders provide loans to individuals of firms deemed as “sub-prime” and have a higher rate of risk) lead to the rise of riskier packages. The rise in defaults or foreclosures lead to the rise in riskier packages. As people began to default on these loans, the loans became a burden to the balance sheets of many institutions. Look at it this way: you lend someone, who you know MAY not pay you back, money and then they indeed default on the loan. The loan that you now have is worthless or toxic as you may never get your money back. Now, multiply this by billions of dollars and thus, you have institutions that owned toxic assets that are currently very illiquid. As a result, banks are strapped for cash and are unable to raise any either. The key issue here is that banks do not have capital, or can not raise capital to meet their obligations and run their businesses.

Hence, the credit crunch of 2008!

The trickle down effect is also another issue because with a “credit freeze” or restrictive credit practices, many Americans, ordinary Americans will be affected. Small business may not be able to meet payroll, you may not be able to buy a car or get a student loan.

But you knew that and I now sound like a politician!

So, in summary: the mortgage back securities, owned by many wall-street banks, that were tied to sub-prime loans have caused a liquidity contraction, which, restricts the free flow of credit that serves as the cog in the engine of the American economy.

It is important to note that there are other “bad” or “toxic” assets out there as well. For example, credit-card debt.

The U.S. Bailout

This is a bill, that if passed, will assist various Wall Street banks and institutions by buying toxic assets known as mortgage-backed securities that are tied to sub-prime loans from them and freeing up their balance sheets.

What does this mean?

The core of the bill provides that the government will acquire, in stages, over $1 trillion worth of these mortgage-backed securities for $700 billion. Hence a “discount.” The idea is that the government, through its proxy, the FED, will be able to give the banks more room to operate and start releasing credit which stimulates the economy. The FED also hopes to be able to sell these securities at some point in the future, hopefully for a profit.


Key Provisions:

The bill includes a stipulation that the Treasury set up an insurance program - to be funded with risk-based premiums paid by the industry - to guarantee companies' troubled assets, including mortgage-backed securities, purchased before March 14, 2008.

The bill also provides that the FDIC will temporarily increase the insurance on individual bank accounts from $100,000 to $250,000.

Another provision of the bill is to provide tax payers, ostensibly through the FED, to acquire equity in any of these financial institutions that participates in the bailout plan.

The establishment of two oversight committees.

The Nigerian Finance House Crisis in the 1990s

This crisis was actually quite comical when I think about it, especially since I now have a Smith MBA. Anyway, it was one precipitated by greed and ignorance. My understanding of what happened was that you had institutions, in a heavy deregulated industry, springing up all over the place. Unqualified individuals began to open these "Finance Houses" which differ from conventional banks and can be described as investment vehicles. Outlandish promises on returns were made through conniving and criminal individuals whose sole purpose of these schemes was to get investor money and scram. People lined up to invest their life savings on promises that they would receive astronomical returns.

News Flash people- If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Even during the recent glory days of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, these types of returns were unheard of.

It is important to stress that this crisis was one which was "man-made" and not one caused by free-markets. People simply invested money with incompetent individuals or criminals. To come full circle, this was a crisis of the greedy and the ignorant.


http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinancialServicesAndRealEstateNews/idUSLU22546420080930

AUTHOR: Thandi MBA, Future Commodities Trader Millionaire (in naira)


A vilf side note

Don't Vote - Na Reverse Psychology O!

Happy Birthday Naija

Waka waka...everyday na waka waka




Laiye green white green

Naija you are not getting any younger O! you are 48 very soon, you go dey push 50. A fool at 40 na one thing, but a fool at 50. It's time to get your [explicative] together. Baba Yar'Dua, it get as it be O! I beg represent.

There are however, some bright spots to Nigeria today...will post as soon as I find them.

The Pentagon's new Africa command - Africom

Have you heard of this?



Check out http://www.africom.mil/ for more information

In the mean time:-

HEADLINE:- The Pentagon's new Africa command raises suspicions about U.S. motives

The U.S. Africa Command, the Pentagon's first effort to unite its counterterrorism, training and humanitarian operations on the continent, launches Wednesday amid questions at home about its mission and deep suspicions in Africa about its intentions.

U.S. officials have billed the new command, known as Africom, as a sign of Africa's strategic importance, but many in Africa see it as an unwelcome expansion of the U.S.-led war on terrorism and a bid to secure greater access to the continent's vast oil resources. Several countries have refused to host the command, and officials say Africom will be based in Stuttgart, Germany , for the foreseeable future.

U.S.-based aid groups and some in Congress have expressed worries that Africom will tilt U.S policy in Africa away from democracy-building and economic development and toward security objectives such as stemming the growth of militant Islamist groups in Somalia and North Africa , some of which have ties to al Qaida .

U.S. covert operations in Somalia and elsewhere have fueled the controversy. In late 2006, the U.S. military provided intelligence to help Ethiopia topple a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Somalia , an invasion that's fueled a violent Islamist insurgency.

U.S. forces have since launched several strikes on suspected terrorist targets in Somalia . While one of the strikes killed a top militant commander, Aden Hashi Ayro , in May, Somalis say the attacks also killed and badly wounded civilians.

Underlining the skepticism in Washington , the House of Representatives voted last week to provide $266 million to fund Africom's first year of operations — $123 million less than President Bush had requested. The House Appropriations Committee said the reduction was due partly to "the failure to establish an Africom presence on the continent."

The fledgling command's image problem, at home and abroad, is cause for concern because of Africa's growing importance to the United States .

The Department of Energy says that 17 percent of U.S. crude oil imports now come from Africa , more than the U.S. gets from Persian Gulf countries. But rising powers such as China have strengthened their ties with Africa and become a powerful counterweight to American influence.

Pentagon officials reject claims that Africom is about oil or China , but those perceptions remain strong in Africa .

"Obviously the U.S. is concerned about China's influence, security, oil, counterterrorism, hunting down al Qaida suspects," said Erin Weir of Refugees International , a Washington -based advocacy group that's opposed Africom. "Africans read the newspaper just the same as we do, and they know what drives U.S. interests now."

Witney Schneidman , who served as deputy assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Clinton administration, said: "In many parts of Africa it is perceived as the U.S. bringing its war on terror to Africa . That is not what Africom is about, but that is how it has been seen."

While the public face of the U.S. military in Africa has been that of a benign partner, human rights activists say that the Bush administration's focus on terrorism has fueled suspicion of Africom.

"Anything to do with the U.S. military evokes some level of anxiety," said Hassan Omar , a member of the independent Kenya National Commission on Human Rights . "There is a strong feeling that America would overlook a crisis within a government or violations by certain governments if only they could secure more cooperation on matters of security."

After Bush announced the creation of Africom in February 2007 , the Pentagon began issuing mixed messages about its mission, with some officials suggesting that the new command would help "coordinate" U.S. policy in the region. Experts immediately questioned whether U.S. troops would participate in humanitarian programs and other non-combat operations that have long been run by the State Department and U.S. embassies.

Pentagon officials have acknowledged mistakes in marketing Africom, and they no longer list humanitarian projects as part of its mission. Instead, they say that Africom will support other U.S. government agencies and focus on helping bolster African militaries.

"Africom will support, not shape, U.S. foreign policy on the continent," Teresa Whelan , Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs, told a congressional hearing in July.

About 1,300 people, divided roughly evenly between civilian and military positions, are expected to staff the Germany headquarters, but no additional soldiers will be deployed in Africa yet. Instead, Africom will take charge of small U.S. military teams that are already on the continent training national militaries and maritime agencies, providing immunizations, drilling wells, rebuilding schools and conducting other projects.

Africom will assume control over the largest U.S. military base in the region, the 1,500-strong Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, housed at a former French Foreign Legion facility in the tiny eastern nation of Djibouti .

Despite the questions about its mission, experts say that Africom will raise Africa's profile in the Pentagon . Currently, three separate regional "combatant commands," which manage overseas U.S. military operations, share responsibility for Africa . The U.S. Central Command oversees seven countries in East Africa , Pacific Command has three Indian Ocean island nations and European Command handles 42 other African countries from Morocco to South Africa .

Now all the countries — except Egypt , which will continue to be grouped with Middle Eastern nations under the Central Command — will fall under Africom's jurisdiction. As with the other regional commands, Africom's commander, four-star Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward , reports to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates .

"One of the basic problems of U.S. engagement with Africa historically is there's been a lack of a long-term, sustained and steady commitment," said Abiodun Williams , a Sierra Leonean who's vice president of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington . "One of the positive things about Africom is this might finally be changing."

SOURCE: Yahoo News

South Africa Picks New President

JOHANNESBURG — Kgalema Motlanthe, 59, a former trade unionist once imprisoned during the apartheid era on charges of terrorism, was overwhelmingly elected Thursday by Parliament as South Africa’s president.

But whether he merely keeps the seat warm until elections next year — when Jacob Zuma, his party’s leader, presumably will take over — depends on whether Mr. Zuma, 66, can continue to skirt the corruption charges that have long followed him.

Two weeks ago, a High Court judge not only threw out those charges on procedural grounds, but also implied that President Thabo Mbeki and his cabinet had meddled in the case. The opinion led the hierarchy of the governing African National Congress to demand that Mr. Mbeki step down, leading to the quick ascension of Mr. Motlanthe (pronounced moht-LAH-tay) as an interim president.

The judge’s action, however, has been appealed by the National Prosecuting Authority. If the appeal succeeds, or if the charges against Mr. Zuma are simply filed again after the procedural mistakes are corrected, party elders could view Mr. Motlanthe as an ace in the hole rather than as a caretaker.

The A.N.C. dominates the political landscape here. In the last national elections, in 2004, it won nearly 70 percent of the votes.

But Robert B. Mattes, the director of social science research at the University of Cape Town, said that an ever-larger portion of the population had grown disenchanted with the party since the days of Nelson Mandela.

“This is reflected in a 30-point decline in voter turnout between 1994 and 2004,” he said. “Black voters unhappy with the A.N.C. simply stay at home rather than switch their allegiance to an opposition party.”

Cynics here suggest that the entire reason for sidelining Mr. Mbeki was to make sure that Mr. Zuma’s legal problems disappeared.

Mr. Mbeki is suspected of suspending Vusi Pikoli, the leader of the National Prosecuting Authority, last year to stop the intended prosecution of a political ally, Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. To some in the A.N.C., a similar dismissal now to protect Mr. Zuma might seem a practicable tactic.

But such a strategy would also seem venal — and Mr. Zuma has already been buffeted by years of accusations. In 2005, his financial adviser was convicted of brokering bribes Mr. Zuma’s way, which led to the corruption case.

In 2006, Mr. Zuma was acquitted on charges of raping a 31-year-old family friend. He testified that the woman had courted sex by sitting provocatively, and his Zulu upbringing had left him no choice but to oblige her.

Mr. Motlanthe is as reserved as Mr. Zuma is gregarious. The new president is not well known to many South Africans, though he is a familiar figure in the party He spent 10 years imprisoned on Robben Island. He became active in the labor movement as an officer with the miners. He was the A.N.C.’s secretary general from 1997 to 2007.

After being sworn in on Thursday in Cape Town, Mr. Motlanthe promised to keep South Africa on much the same path Mr. Mbeki had followed. “Mine is not a desire to deviate from what is working,” he said.

He announced the reappointment of the finance minister, Trevor Manuel, who is credited with keeping the nation’s economy at a hum. He announced one major change, however. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has been given a new position as a minister in the presidency. In her previous job, health minister, she became a polarizing figure for espousing beetroot, garlic and lemon as a cure for AIDS. The new minister of health will be Barbara Hogan, a senior A.N.C. member of Parliament who is viewed as a welcome choice by groups that campaign for the distribution of antiretroviral medications.

Zackie Achmat, an anti-AIDS advocate, told a South African television reporter, “It’s a great day.”

SOURCE: New York Times; Alan Cowell reported from Paris.