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Core Of Corruption Part 1 of 15

http://www.CoreOfCorruption.com go to the website to buy the DVD now http://www.CoreOfCorruption.com Core of Corruption is a documentary film series which details a comprehensive investigation into clandestine intelligence operations and conspiracies. The project is surfacing exclusive whistleblowers, insiders and critical evidence for the very first time. Over 2,000 hours of credible network news clips have been surfaced for this ground breaking event, most of which have never been seen since they aired and have never been available on the internet. Some of the video news segments for this project, when requested from the networks, were denied access to and corporate representatives would say that the information sought does not exist or has been misplaced. Someone doesnt want the public to see these stories, that when put together, establish a conspiracy of the magnitude that could change the way one views the world. Countless millions of people are being manipulated and lied to by a network of individuals within government that work on behalf of private interests. The individuals were involved in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Many of those same figures are are connected to historical events that have shaped our understanding of government crime. For instance, the Iran Contra affair involved many figures that showed up in the 9/11 attacks. Drug running, terrorism, money laundering and arms trading are carried out in concert with this network. They manipulate the worlds response to these issues on behalf of very high profile figures in some of the most influential think tanks and political interest groups. Figures include well known politicians as well as established businesses on Wall Street. This project, started more than five years ago, is going to break ground in mapping and identifying the most important and credible evidence as well as establish why these networks operate with impunity. DVD’s will ship on the release date: March 27, 2009

Duration : 0:10:0

When Children Become Victims of Poverty and Ignorance

The ‘plights of the Akwa Ibom Children’, as the Punch Newspapers editorial of 15 January, 2009 described the madness in the name of child-witches hunting and exorcising going on in the state, need the attention of every rational being on the surface of the earth. For as Guardian Newspapers editorial of December 21, 2008 suggested, it is nothing but a ‘debacle on Child Rights’, a situation that have taken away self-esteem and psychologically demean many children in the state to the extent that they are far too conscious of every of their daily acts everywhere and anywhere for the fear of being tagged witches or wizards. This is totally unacceptable. Hence the question: who is a witch?

Witchcraft, according to Bertrand Russell, is ‘a composite phenomenon drawing from folklore, sorcery, demonology, heresy and Christian theology’. The World Book Encyclopedia describes it as ‘the use of supposed magic powers generally to harm or damage property”. From these two definitions, we can move on to deduce a definition of a ‘witch’ as a person who is supposed to have received such powers from ‘evil spirits’, that is, power to know all things, power to destroy lives, among others. While ‘witch’ is a general name, the word has a gender connotation. A ‘male witch’ is called wizard, while a ‘female witch’ is called ‘witch’.

The belief in witchcraft is not recent, nor is it a product of the popular Harry Porter series. Rather, according to Godffrey Parrinder, it is “one of the great (sic) fears from which mankind has suffered”. The belief has appeared in many parts of the world, in one form or the other. While it became particularly prominent and developed in Europe in the later middles ages and renaissance periods, the belief in witches and their evil powers have remained with Africans for centuries before then. For Africa, therefore, till today, witchcraft belief is a great tyranny spreading panic and death. This unhindered, thriving, belief, which is devoid of any commonsensical scientific ratiocination, is being buoyed by the excruciating and pitiable living condition of many Africans that they found unexplainable; hence the need for scapegoats, the ‘witches’. Thanks to the modern day fraudsters, the Pentecostal pastors.

The advent of Pentecostalism, and the healing Christian, churches have contributed in no small measure in reinforcing the belief. They accepted the existence of witches and witchcraft and claimed they have the power to protect against its evil powers. All manner of social, health and economic problems are readily carpeted as having ‘spiritual’ dimension blamable on ‘witches’, who are usually aged women and unwitting teenagers. To market their churches, most of these pastors have now resorted to demonizing innocent children, as witches that must be ‘delivered’ and ‘saved’ from the power of darkness. This uncritical scapegoating is gaining momentum more than ever before because of the seemingly irredeemable economic condition of living of sub-Saharan Africans. The many frustrated sub-Saharan African people are brainwashed to believe that their major enemies are not corrupt government officials, inhuman government policies nor their, personal, inability to cultivate and explore the best of their potentials in the ‘here and now’ world. Rather they have been sweet-tongued into believing that it is the ‘witches’ in their families and their homes that have been working against their fortune spiritually. Based on the ‘prophesies’, the unfortunate scapegoats, those accused of being witches, are given two options: either to confess to their ‘countless heinous sins’ and be saved/delivered after severe beatings or risk being killed, which in most cases mean being stoned to death.

In the Akwa-Ibom situation, confession is often preferred. Why? The ‘Prophets’ and ‘Bishops’ of God must eat! All you need to imagine is a steady ten thousand naira, N10,000, minimum income, almost every other day for tagging an unfortunate child a witch. Let’s not forget that some pastors like Bishop Sunday Ulup-Aya charge as much as between N30,000, thirty thousand, and N400,000, four hundred thousand, naira for their services. But how, for instance, can one be sure that these children are witches, as these prophets claim, and not mere victims of the poverty ravaging the material and psychological fabric of their families and that of the prophets?

To answer this question, we took a field trip to the affected towns and villages early last month. The product of the ‘expedition’ as friends have retorted to calling it, is revealing. Our very first respondent in Eket, Mr. Edet claimed to have participated in “dealing with not less than 7 ‘confirmed’ child witches”, one of which was burnt by the mob beyond recognition.

“Who confirmed them as witches?” we inquired.
“Our pastor is a man of God and when he prayed, the Holy Spirit arrested the children”.
“Is it the holy spirit that pushed them to the front of the congregation to confess?”
“Sometimes, they cried of fire burning all over their bodies and sometimes, to be sincere, the look on the faces of members of the congregation is enough to push them to the front”

We then asked the question that pissed him really, really off:
“Don’t you think these allegations are fictitious and merely being fabricated by pastors to make some money and lure people to come to church for protection?”
Silently, I wished we never asked the question.

“You are possessed! Are you saying my pastor is a liar? Who you be sef? (meaning who are you?).I see that the devil is really disturbing you like that stupid Sam Ikpe (referring to the Director of CRARN, Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network, where some of the alleged child witches live). Now get off my bike!!”

With that last sentence, I need not tell you his profession. Well, Mr. Edet is a professional motorbike transport operator; he takes people from one location to another on his bike for a fee. He is married with four children and lives in a two-room apartment, shared toilet, shared kitchen. His average income is a bit over $5 per day, but about $4 sometimes. After Edet, we had some other interviews at the bar, at the market (buying what we don’t really need sometimes only to give them to other respondents), at a popular burukutu (local beer) joint, in canteens and church environs.

What is glaring from all the responses to our questions is that there seems to be element of aggression and frustration, which is being vented on these innocent children. The belief in witchcraft has stunted the growth of unchained creativity and made many Akwa-Ibomites to recoil unnecessarily to fate, visiting only pastors, Alfas (the Muslim witchdoctors) and the the traditional witchdoctors to ward off and cleanse themselves of the ‘curses or family jinx’ trailing them. Lean income, rather than been spent wisely are given to these modern day ‘fraudsters’ who ride in big cars for the spiritual ‘protections services’ they provided. In some cases, micro-finance loans, and financial compensations provided by the oil companies like Mobil Oil Unlimited, have been used in funding ‘witchcraft cleansing rituals’ rather than the small scale business that it was disbursed for. Some even ‘swore by the their fathers, grandfathers and great, great grandfathers’ that they will kill any child witch found in their families. Pathetic, enh?

So, what is the fate of these children? We sought audience with handful of local officials in charge of child welfare in Eket, Esit Eket and Ibeno local government areas and the youth council officials in Eket Zone. Specifically, we met the General Secretary of the Eket Youth Council, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Ibeno Youth Council, Mr. Ebong Edem and some of his executive members.

The local social workers opined that although they are convinced that these children are witches, yet as their duties demands, they are willing to help them, most especially in providing psychological counseling and rehabilitation, mostly biblically colored, for them. It was as if they have all rehearsed the same statement for ‘journalists’ (what we claimed to be). What is baffling is: how can a child, someone less than ten years old, think of seking ‘psychological counseling’? That to us is complete bullshit!! Why not offer the counseling to their parents and friends, we thought. Those are the people that need counseling. The representatives of the youths that we spoke with exhume hope and skepticism yet they can’t voice them. One sure fact, however, is that they are willing to do something about it.

That is exactly the kind of spirit that we need in our attempt to clear the slur on our image and stall the attempt to regress us back into the European middle ages. The people, as we observe, need to be enlightened on the provisions of the Child Rights Act, although ignorance of the law is not an excuse. The Akwa-Ibom State Ministry of Information needs to run campaigns that will inform and educate Akwa-Ibomites on the provisions of the Child Rights Act, passed by the Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly and signed by Governor Akpabio, which criminalise childwitch hunting and stigmatizing. The provision that deals with this reads: anyone caught or suspected to be involved in any form of torture, trial by ordeal or inhuman treatment of a child, purportedly to cure, purge or exorcise such a child of witchcraft would be liable to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine. This to us is a precious and timely addition to subsisting Section 207 of the nation’s Criminal Code Act Cap 38(2004) which criminalize any trial by ordeal and Section 208 which stipulates that any person who directs, controls or presides at any trial by ordeal which is unlawful, “is guilty of a felony” and is liable on conviction to severe punishment.

Obviously, these children are mere victims of poverty ravaging the country and the inactivity of the state ministry concerned in dutifully informing the populace even when a very proactive measure have been taken by the Governor. We are, therefore, duty-bound as responsible global citizens to, by all moral means, assist in freeing these children from the shackles and bondages of poverty and ignorance they have been conditioned to live. We can do it!

Onward!

‘Yemi Ademowo Johnson, socio-political philosopher and applied anthropologist, is Editor, YouthSpeak!, Belgium, and International Coordinator, HAWK-Africa Project.

Yemi Ademowo Johnson
http://www.articlesbase.com/causes-and-organizations-articles/when-children-become-victims-of-poverty-and-ignorance-756041.html

How Law Enforcement Agents and the Community Can Curb Burglary in the Community

Community Policing: A Viable Panacea for the crime of Burglary

By

Osasumwen Osaghae

December 2008

The Crime of Burglary

The crime of burglary has several components. Some of the elements have provoked disagreement. One of such elements is what constitutes a dwelling place. Section 111(5) of the powers of Criminal Courts (sentencing) Act, 2000 provides that a domestic burglary committed in respect of a building which is a dwelling. The Article

Meaning of Domestic Burglary: When Is an Outbuilding a Dwelling? (Kalu, 2008) examined the meaning of a dwelling. According to the writer, dwelling is not defined in the 2000 Act. The writer then preferred the common meaning of the phrase dwelling place. The article reviewed the case of R Vs Rodmell in which the accused was convicted of burglary in a shed which the victim protected with burglary alarm. The frontier of dwelling house was extended to include shed. The writer disagreed with the judgment and the rationale for the judgment. The basis for the disagreement was the judge’s omission to define a dwelling house thereby leaving the premise for the judgment to ideological guesses. The writer then suggested that “dwelling” be given its literal and natural meaning of abode (inhabited) instead of the legal forest created by the unclear judgments on the matter.

Swaray (2006) considered the nexus between expectations of burglaries and actual burglaries. There was the belief even though unfounded that the apprehension of people that their homes were likely to be burglarized was misplaced. But the study found otherwise. Titled On the relationship between the public’s worry about safety from burglary and probabilities of burglary: some evidence from simultaneous equation models, the paper flawed the policing policy of the government in dealing with burglary cases and contended that the policing methods are not customized enough to ease the burden of burglary on the citizens. The article discussed burglary in the United Kingdom and Wales. The writer employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to identify the relationship between the fear of burglary and burglary itself. The writer argued that environmental variables encompass physical and social dimensions of neighborhoods and public places that people frequent during the course of their daily activities. The effect of the fear is to create insecurity laced with apprehension which in turn reduces quality of life. The author concludes that there is indeed a relation between the cognitive and the emotional aspects of the problem. The study found that there is strong interdependence between households worry about burglary and actual and perceived probabilities of burglary.

Sorensen (2007) considered alternative policing as an option to the traditional policing method. The writer identified three basic approaches to burglary reduction, although the boundaries between them are not always clear. The three approaches are (a) reducing underlying motivations for crime; (b) pro active/problem oriented policing; and (c) situational crime prevention. This article focused on situational crime prevention, which concerns the management, design, and manipulation of the immediate physical and/or social environment with the aim of making crime appear more difficult, more risky, or less rewarding in the eyes of potential offenders. The article is based on burglary in the Scandinavian countries. The writer noted that earlier studies in Burglary did not include evaluation processes for the experiments and so he improved on the state of the literature by including an evaluation process in his study. The article titled Randomized experiment on burglary reduction, argued that multi-tactic approach to reducing burglary may not be the best approach as it obscures the actual working tactic and cloaks an ineffective method with a “working” garb. Sorensen (2006) concluded that a study such as his own may not lead to unambiguous conclusions. He would therefore recommend further enquiries in the area.

Community Policing

Burglary has been on the increase and has tended to defy traditional policing. Community policing has been recommended as a more effective way of dealing with the problem. Community policing is based on the recognition of a geographical unit (city) as consisting of many neighborhoods with particular sets of qualities and service needs. It is a customized model of service delivery tailored to meet the needs of particular communities. Community policing consists of two complementary core components; “community partnership and problem solving”, (Community policing consortium cited in Oittemeier & Wycoff).

Changing policing practices, wider social divisions have led to the transfer of policing responsibilities from the state to an assortment of public, private and voluntary agencies like the community youths, neighborhood watch and the vigilantes, (Johnston as cited in Yarwood, 2007). Policing efforts would fail if the community does not embrace the policing strategy. In the same vain, community policing is bound to fail if the citizens cannot trust the police force in their community. In extreme cases of failed loyalty, the citizens protect the criminals in their midst than they cooperate with criminals in their communities because social commonality as in race, religion and economic standing.

Community policing has taken on different names and conceptualizations such as “neighborhood watch”, “vigilantes” (Fleisher as cited in Fourchard, 2000), “anti-thief and anti-witch organizations, (Heald as cited in Fourchard, 2000). The article titled Histories of Yoruba Vigilantism is a case study of a local form of community policing that is in use in the Southern Nigeria city of Ibadan. There is a mixture of failed loyalty on the part of the people in the city and a loss of confidence. The result is that the people are more comfortable with non state policing comprising the locals in the society with an effective information network which was found to be lacking in the operations of the state police. Fourchard (2000) argued that the rise in the activities of vigilantes is an indication of the failure of the traditional policing model and a remarkable increase in the level of crime in the society among other crimes, burglary. ‘Vigilante’ in Nigeria is a term initially used by the police in the mid-1980s as a substitute for an older practice present since the colonial period and referred to as the ‘hunter guard’ or ‘night guard’ system. Colonial administration in western Nigeria either tacitly authorized it or legalized it, giving rise to an enduring continuity of these non-state forms of policing. The article traced the origins of Vigilantes to pre-colonial Nigeria when the British found it hard to curb crimes. The concept of the community has been evolving constantly with rules and safeguards being put in place to ensure that the powers were not abused. The rules and safeguards are understandable giving the non state nature of the vigilantes. One of the challenges of community policing is the potential for the abuse of the power conferred on the local policing agents. In contrast to the argument of Fourchard (2000), some of the vigilantes have themselves become the criminals because of state approval of their activities and the arms some of them are given. The article concluded that some characteristics of the community policing method in Southern Nigeria have remained to this day and have had the impact of reducing crimes such as burglary in the city concerned. Some of the practices are the curfew system, erection of gates along the streets to reduce access to and from the streets. The Curfews ensure that people stay more at home with various times set for the curfews. In most cases, people were forbidden from moving about from 8.00 pm to 6.00 am. This made a lot of sense since most of the burglaries (burglaries used in loose sense) were committed at night. Even when the curfews were stopped, the people still return home at about the time set for the curfews feeling that it was not safe to be out after the set curfew period. This had the effect of reducing break ins and burglaries as the criminals refrained from going into the homes where there were people. More than any thing else, the article shows that community policing in association with other safety precautions would reduce burglary but not in isolation.

Among several theories, there is the theory which states that when geographical locations are reduced, crime watch is made easier. A body of theory predicts that increases in the aggregate risk of apprehension within geographic territories may lead to crime reduction. The theory has variously been referred to as structural deterrence, (Sampson & Cohen, as cited in Kane, 2006), or ecological deterrence, (Bursik, Grasmick & Chamlin, as cited in Kane 2006). The theory refers basically to community policing, (Kane, 2006). The article titled On the Limits of Social Control: Structural Deterrence and the Policing of “Suppressible” Crimes discussed the theory of deterrence and its waning influence in explaining criminal propensity. The article examined the development of threat estimates that people make about their local environments and the processes by which they may transmit those threat estimates to people within their social networks. Researchers have applied the threat estimate framework to such environmental hazards as floods, traffic accidents, fires, and oil spills, generally finding that increases in perceptions of risk along the hazardous outcomes are often associated with changes in individuals’ behaviors within discrete environmental settings. The study attempted to fill these gaps by examining whether variations in the risk of apprehension across geographic territories has predicted variations in subsequent crime rates (robbery and burglary) within police precincts over time in a major urban setting. The study integrated the primary methodological and theoretical advances highlighted in the macro-deterrence literature by specifying a longitudinal design, using the community (i.e., police precinct) as the unit of analysis, and incorporating arrest activities independent of known crimes and clearances as the apprehension threat variable.

Conclusion

Community policing remains the most viable option for curbing burglary and other property crimes. As indicated above, the system will not work in isolation but in conjunction with other measures presents a viable option for combating burglary in the society. Community policing would depend largely on environmental influences in order to be effective. Community policing is based largely on interpersonal relationships and information sharing between community inhabitants and the policing authority. If there is at anytime, a loss of confidence or a communication gap, community policing may fail. This is one feature working in favor of public policing in that it does not have to rely on cooperation from the citizens wholly

References

Fourchard, L. (2008) A new name for an old practice: Vigilantes in south-western

Nigeria Africa 78 Vol. 1

Kalu, A (2008) Comment: Meaning of Domestic Burglary: When is an outbuilding

a dwelling? Crime Policy Report Vol. 3

Kane, R. J. (2006) On the Limits of Social Control: Structural Deterrence and the

Policing of “Suppressible” Crimes Justice Quarterly, Vol. 23 No. 2

Moore, 2003 retrieved from

http://www.policeforum.org/upload/BottomLineofPolicing_576683258_1229200520031.pdf on 07/15/08

Oittemeier & Wykoff retrieved from

http://www.policeforum.org/upload/perfeval_570119206_12292005152535.pdf

on 08/1/08

Ruth, R. S. & Reitz, K. R. (2003) The Challenge of crime: Rethinking our response,

Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press

Sorensen, D. W. M. (2007) Scandinavian Prospects for a Place-Based Randomized

Experiment on Burglary Reduction, Journal of Scandinavian Studies in criminology and Crime Prevention, Vol. 8

Yarwood, R. (2007) The Geographies of policing Progress in Human Geography

Vol. 31 No. 4

Osasumwen Osaghae
http://www.articlesbase.com/criminal-articles/how-law-enforcement-agents-and-the-community-can-curb-burglary-in-the-community-725003.html

Method to Ethically Eliminate All Political Corruption

Our Political System was a revelation in 1776, before
Hidden Microphones & Cameras,
Big Business,
Indoor Plumbing and Toilet Paper,
before Ethics was understood,
and
before the National Security Agency (NSA).

The actions of our political Representatives like George Washington were shaped by the ethics of honor instilled by the educational system and social awareness of that time. Ethics plays no large part in our present educational systems. Ethics should be a formal part of every class from pre-school to doctoral presentation. Instilled formally, the people would better understand how to predict consequences from any proposed action. The corrupt would die out with time and attrition.

Since the Declaration of Independence (and the first fights against taxation without representation), technology has allowed Special Interest groups (to include Terrorist Groups, souless Corporations, and corrupt politicians) to use the innate weaknesses of our political structure to undermine the basis for our Constitution; a modern form of racketeering and organized crime, jeopardizing national security.

The Citizens of the United States
require implementation of
State representation, including ALL states,
by a large and diverse Ethical Oversight Committee
to ensure the security of peoples Freedoms,
to manage National Security Agency (NSA) operations,
and
to determine how the information collected and derived by
the NSA shall best be used
as it relates to our Freedoms and Security,
and to “absolutely” restrict this information
from any other purpose.

Who are the ghosts behind the faces of our government, who continues to manipulate the world into a continuous chain of wars. A chain that has killed many millions of people, and that deters development? This is only one relationship the NSA should be informing the public about.

The NSA is soley controlled by the office of the President of the United States and only needs a single judge to obtain a warrant to covertly monitor any person or corporation (wire tapping, covertly breaking in to copy documents, copy by any means computer information, record in detail the habits and personal relationships of anyone, …).

Recently, President Bush took control away from that judge and even though the judge was ineffectual, the President now has absolute control over the NSA.

The President is a puppet of the same organization that controls the Federal Reserve. Therefore they control the United States, not the President, not the People, and certainly not ethics. The Fed encourages war to promote special interest prosperity. Loans with interest to both sides of every war. Interest paid on every dollar produced for the United States. Who benefits from the interest paid?

Current NSA warrants are meaningless and effectively allows the NSA to collect information without public scrutiny, while Presidential directives prevent the NSA from monitoring special interest group corrupt practices and disclosing those actions to the public

Under our current system a single judge would have to oversee thousands of covert transactions nationwide to adequately monitor national security issues, and to follow up to ensure those requests were legitimate. Further, since information collected by the NSA can be arbitrarily “classified”, the NSA can arbitrarily prevent the judge from monitoring the kinds of data collected.

The current system is not practical and therefore unethical, there is no reasonable way the judge would know what the NSA does with the information collected; and since the judge is controlled by the President, this is highly susceptible to corrupt practices. The current system allows for shielding corruption while promoting unscrupulous special interest activities.

The “Protect America Act” is unconstitutional. But a “simple change” to provide “REPRESENTATION by all States” in the covert collection and processing of data would make the Act Constitutionally sound.

The NSA must be managed by doctors of science (one parallel position for each State elected political representative; but with no affiliation) to evaluate all data collected and eliminate the useless requirement of warrant by a judge (presently coerced into signing off on any NSA warrant presented before them); and to require the NSA to monitor for corrupt political practices (terrorist activities, criminal activities, political practices that endanger National Security, …), with the mandate to notify the offending parties quietly to correct their unethical behavior, only then after they have failed to correct their actions adequately, their actions are publish on a NSA publicly available website.

We the people would then boycott corrupt representatives and their supporting corporations. The associated District Attorney would be notified, and be given the details to substantiate investigation. The District Attorney would then fully investigate and prosecute in accordance with the law. The NSA would at no time directly intervene, thereby limiting their power to nudging our political system away from corrupt activities.

The following details how to update our 200 year old political structure to provide representative governance that promotes the economy, desires of the masses, and ethical government practices; allowing the Government and the people to think as ONE. This same system can be seeded into other governments like Iraq to create an ethical environment for all peoples.

_______________________________________________________

To find & email your specific Congressmen and Senators:

Your State’s Congressmen

Your States’ Senators

To email Congressman all across the United States:

http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm

To talk directly with the staff of your representatives:

(202) 225-3121 for the House

(202) 224-3121 for the Senate

—————————————————————————————————

COPY & PASTE THE FOLLOWING to your Representatives

Subject: Create an “Oversight of NSA Ethics committee” (ONE) to manage NSA Data Collection, Assessment, and Directives in the United States

As your constituent, I request that you forward the following to all political delegates in every State of the United States, and that a Highly Ethical group of diverse people representing every State and its population be instated to provide ethical oversight and management of all National Security Agency (NSA) data collection, assessments, and directives.

Because this large representative body of individuals will act as a covert, but highly trained publicly elected governing body, this will allow the NSA to continue data collection without warrant. The Senate and Congress will provide “oversight and not direct control” of this new branch in our political structure, thereby providing the needed checks and balances.

The problem with our current political system is that Special Interests (Oil Companies, Defense Contractors, Big Business Corporations, Foreign Interests, …) actively and covertly influence our political representatives. Private research (to include Terrorist involvement with genetic engineering in all its forms, nuclear physics research, economic initiatives, social reform efforts, …) are potentially high risk threats to National Security, yet are largely unmonitored. Corrupt and Neglective influences are not ONLY the fault of our Representatives, they are the fault of our unupdated 200 year old political structure.

To correct this weakness in our Government, in addition to the Senate and Congress, create a new branch of State elected political representatives whose only purpose is to manage the National Security Agency (NSA), which did not exist at the birth of our political structure.

Candidates for these new positions must be doctors of science with proven understanding of ethical evaluation. Doctors of science are necessary because they need to understand and interact with the inner workings of computer software to continuously analyze the large amounts of diverse real world data collected.

Our present political structure does not have an ethical political component to effectively neutralize the criminal aspect of political pandering, coercive control over our Representatives, or Terrorist influences in our Society and in our Government, but we do have the resources to do so.

The National Security Agency (NSA) monitors ALL organizations: CIA, NIS, Air Force, Army, PLO, Al-Qaeda, Defense Contractors, Oil Companies, Greenpeace, ALL of our Politicians, and basically all organizations whether domestic or abroad. Anyone with this information controls the focus of our Nation, along with our Freedoms and Security.

An important point here is that collecting information is necessary and of little negative consequence in an ethical environment, what specifically is done with that information is extraordinarily important, especially in unethical and abusive hands. Currently, Special Interests unethically manipulate our country’s assets, despite “We the Peoples” desires. How many people and soldiers have died supporting a business interest rather than a national interest?

Greater than $12 Billion “lost” in Iraq, destruction of New Orleans, War in Iraq, manipulation of the media, greater than $12 Billion illegally allocated to Halliburton where they subsequently moved outside of our legal system to Dubai (Saudi Arabia), …

As a consequence of Special Interest actions, they erode human rights, leave our country unnecessarily exposed to security threats, and hinder commerce that would flourish were it not for unethical business practices of Special Interests and Large Corporations.

Each “Oversight of NSA Ethics committee” (ONE) delegate represents elected representation by certified highly ethical doctors and non-partisan control over our country’s human rights, freedoms, and security.

Together with Congress and the Senate, ONE delegates provide a tertiary and complementary system of representation, with each representative political faction having unique assets and control mechanisms. The combination of focused representation for business, the people, and ethics makes the system innately representative, well informed, ethical, and stable. Businesses will continue to sponsor individual Senators and Congressmen, however, all money contributed to ONE candidates shall go into a common fund to promote all potential ONE candidates equally within each State.

Because this large representative body of individuals will act as a covert, but highly trained publicly elected governing body, this will allow the NSA to continue data collection without warrant.

No longer will we need to have less Freedom to have more Security, or vice versa.

These highly trained elected personnel provide for independent maximizing of Freedoms and maximizing of Security for all citizens !!! While the Congress and Senate provide oversight and continues to control the military as part of the checks and balances to make this political structure stable.

Presently, special interests make Security and Freedom mutually incompatible. Many countries have the same political structure as we do and yet live in a police state where the individual has no recognized rights; we must prevent a similar situation from happening here in the United States. The current actions of the President’s Office are a prelude of worse things to come.

To take into account all perspectives and actual events to maximize both Freedom and Security for our entire country requires much more raw information than 10,000 people can amass, and assessment that would take these people many lifetimes to be just. But events happen concurrently every day that threaten our Freedoms and Security.

NSA computers process diverse data at great speeds to provide minute by minute evaluation of threats to our national security, and currently as directed by special interests. To stop the unethical use of NSA resources, a large group of persons extensively trained in ethical reasoning needs to create the “computer-based automated keys” (Directives) for unlocking relationships related to promoting BOTH Freedoms and Security.

Directives are computer software analysis functions that sift through real world information. Something like Antivirus programs for protecting your computer. When key relationships are found, a task is generated to cleanup that corrupt system. Ethical care must be taken to ensure good relationships are not disturbed, while corrupt activities are corrected. The concept being: “To do the least necessary to allow unhindered natural social development; while ensuring that repeated corrupt practices of the same types identified do not recur.

As Directives are developed that can be generalized for a particular class of social system, they can be shared amongst similarally structured nations. Thereby helping to reduce the development costs for all countries; and provide international peer review of all Directives developed. At no time will raw data be shared by various National Security Agencies of the different nations.

Computer systems have been used for similar purposes for many years with great success in economics to limit risks and promote investment diversity. By developing automated directives, this helps to provide integrity and consistent behavior of the NSA. The derived results can then be evaluated by this large team of elected Representatives using state of the art ethical evaluation tools; thus ensuring the information collected is used solely to independently promote the Freedoms and Security of ALL citizens.

Please instate a comprehensive “Oversight of NSA Ethics committee” (ONE) to manage the National Security Agency (NSA) as outlined below, a system allowing the Government and the people to think as one.

To maintain equitable representation of all peoples, each State shall publicly elect an Oversight of NSA Ethics (ONE) delegate paralleling each elected Congressman and Senator position; but having no affiliation.

The Constitution for each State shall act as the basis for the ethical perspective of each delegate.

The requirements for election as a ONE delegate are:
- shall be a certified doctor from a nationally accredited school
- shall have authored and published a paper related to ethics in a nationally distributed professional journal
- shall be a permanent resident of that State
- shall pass uniform but unique tests related to Ethics, Critical Reasoning, probability, and statistics
- shall be free of a felony record
- shall not be strongly biased regarding any special interests
- shall forever be disallowed from ever discussing any information formulated or witnessed while in office; and shall teach ethical evaluation for two years after their term in office
- shall submit themselves for lie detection and questioning periodically to prevent outside influence by any special interest

The delegates shall be relocated to the surroundings near the NSA and will be furnished Government owned housing while in office. Physical security for the delegates shall consist of NSA surveillance with an armed NSA controlled security force to control any attempt to access or disproportionately influence the delegate or their family.

Each delegate shall have a two person staff at the NSA and a two person staff in their home State to monitor, collect, and research information.

Each State shall have one highly trained field agent for each delegate for that State whom shall collectively implement directives from the NSA using legal resources.

All work surrounding NSA data collection shall be done in a secure facility protected from military threat.

Absolutely no raw data or interest specific data or interest specific directives shall ever leave the facility under penalty of treason related to all intentionally involved.

No interest specific data or interest specific directive shall be propagated outside of the confines of the NSA by delegate staff or agents under penalty of racketeering.

The ONE delegates shall poll their respective communities related to values and perspectives, but polls shall not contain any Special Interest specific information.

The NSA shall devise and maintain a relational database to allow delegates to productively relate all measure and kind of ethical issue to the vast amounts of information collected by the NSA.

The delegates shall formulate “Automated Directives” for automatically: flagging potentially destructive relationships, developing priorities, developing issued directives to field agents, monitor metrics to verify results, track long term effects and related relationships, provide for a continuously updated scores related to the qualities related to our freedoms and security at that moment in time, and provide simulations for anticipating the effects of issuing a proposed directive and how it would affect the freedoms and security scores, …

The creation of directives shall solely be governed by the ONE Committee. The President, Congress, the House, the Military, nor any other special interest group shall ever have any influence over the creation of directives, other than approved ethical channels of communication. Any attempt to do so outside of approved channels shall be considered treason within the confines of the NSA, and racketeering otherwise, and all involved shall share the same fate, regardless of political standing or financial backing.

Because the positions of the delegates are elected positions. Data would be provided by the NSA which tracks the number of hours each delegate actively performed research, the influence each delegate had on the overall freedom and security qualities, and the core generalized formulas for creating the Automated Directives would be publicly disclosed but would not relate delegate involvement nor the data or type of data that they relate. This is necessary to help ensure high-tech corporations do not fillfully subvert NSA monitored data. Each delegate would be allowed to create public announcements that do not violate that which is outlined above.

The ONE delegates shall govern themselves regarding inappropriate actions generated by a delegate, with periodic oversight by the Senate and Congress. A delegate that fails to use ethical reasoning in promoting a Directive and which benefits a special interest may be penalized and a State elected alternate may take their place.

The term of service for each Delegate shall be four years; followed by a two year mandatory position at an accredited University teaching related ethics topics involving analysis and software. The Delegate may then accept nomination for the following election cycle.

Classes in ethics for learning to create automated Directives shall use independently developed computer models and simulation systems. At no time shall any Directive from the NSA be directly analyzed. The simulated environment would cause errors inconsistent with NSA real world processing. However, relationships discovered can be submitted to the NSA for review through approved ethical channels.

Collectively, the ONE committee shall determine the information necessary to guide the President, Congress, Senate, and the Military. The President, Congress, Senate, and the Military will have continuous one-way input into the NSA as part of NSA data collection, without warrant, the feedback will be immediate, so there is no need for any political party or military component to have dialog with ONE delegates or the NSA data collection and assessment systems.

The Congress and Senate shall provide a team trained in ethical evaluation to periodically monitor (not control) the NSA and report back to the Senate and Congress.

The military remains under the control of the Senate and the Congress; and the NSA shall only be allowed restricted control over a military asset with minute by minute support of the majorities of both the Senate and Congress where time critical relationships exist.

Every political representative in the United States will be able to send their viewpoints to the NSA by sending an email to a NSA server, with only an automated response. But their views will be collected and processed automatically by the data collection system. The same applies for all citizens. All citizens shall have representation and voice.

The administrators necessary to manage the NSA regarding operations personnel, supplies, existing field agents, the budget, and all other aspects of the NSA shall answer to the ONE committee and shall provide a continuous and accurate assessment of resource managment to Congress.

As technology provides greater capabilities in diverse areas such as spy technologies, computer modeling of world economics, …, the NSA shall continue to evolve systems to better represent and anticipate the needs and desires of all citizens.

Under this system, the NSA shall collect and assess all information as practically possible worldwide, without the need for warrant in the United States.

Instate a comprehensive “Oversight of NSA Ethics committee” (ONE) to govern NSA data collection systems as outlined above; a system allowing the Government and the people to think as one.

James Dunn
http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/method-to-ethically-eliminate-all-political-corruption-672089.html

Christmas Traditions Around the World

ENGLAND

Christmas in England began in A.D. 596. The monks who arrived with Saint Augustine wanted to bring Christianity to the Anglo Saxon shores. The day before the feast the only thing the people ate was Frumenty, which is a corn porridge. Over the years the recipe changed and it is now Plum Pudding. The traditional Christmas dinner is roast turkey with vegetables and sauces. The dessert is fruity Christmas pudding with brandy sauce, minced pies and pastry filled with chopped dried fruit. Christmas dinner is eaten at midday on December 25 during daylight. Father Christmas the gift-giver, wears a long red or green robe and fills stockings on Christmas Eve. They are usually not opened until the following afternoon.

ITALY

In Italy the Christmas season lasts for three weeks, beginning eight days before Christmas and is known as Novena. The week before Christmas the children go from house to house dresses as shepherds, playing pipes, singing and reciting Christmas poems. They are given money to buy presents. A fast is observed for twenty four hours before Christmas Eve, and then a celebration meal followed by a light Milanese cake Panettone and chocolates are served. At noon on Christmas day the Pope gives his blessings to crowds gathered in the Vatican Square.

FRANCE

Most French homes at Christmas time display a Nativity Scene or Creche. This Creche is often filled with little clay figures called Santons or Little Saints. The Christmas tree is not popular in France and though the use of the Yule Log has faded, they make a traditional Yule Log shaped cake called the Buche de Nol which means Christmas Log. Le revillon is a very late supper held after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The menu varies according to the region. In Alsace, goose is the main course, in Burgundy it is turkey with chestnuts and in Paris, oysters and pat de gras. Le reveillon may consist of poultry, ham, salads, fruit and wine.

MEXICO

The Mexicans and the Spanish share many traditions. A religious procession called La Posads reenacts Joseph and Mary search for shelter before the birth of Jesus by going from house to house carrying images of Joseph and Mary looking for shelter. Children receive gifts and on Christmas day are blindfolded and try to break a clay piñata and once it is broken, they recover the candy that was inside. The children who have been good also receive gifts on January 6th from the” three wise men”. Mexicans attend a midnight mass called la Misa Del Gallo or “the rooster mass” where they sing lullabies to Jesus.

AFRICA

Christmas in South Africa is a summer holiday. Homes are decorated with pine branches and all have the decorated Christmas Fir in a corner with presents for the children. For some, Christmas dinner is an open air lunch. For others it is a traditional dinner of either turkey, roast beef, mince pies, or suckling pig, yellow rice with raisins, vegetables and plum pudding. On the west coast of Africa in Liberia most homes have an oil palm for a Christmas tree decorated with balls. Dinner is eaten outdoors with everyone sitting around in a circle sharing a meal of rice, beef and biscuits. Games are played in the afternoon and at night fireworks light up the sky.

UNITED STATES

Christmas traditions in the United States can vary basked on each family’s ancestry. Some families celebrate Christmas Eve by attending Midnight Mass. Christmas morning is spent opening gifts. Gifts can range from handmade items to clothing to the latest in electronics. Gift baskets that include Christmas foods such as spice cookies and ham and decorated with traditional holiday trim are popular gifts. Basket Affair is a company that has been in existence since 1986 and specializes in Christmas gift baskets. You can order online at www.basket-affair.com or call 412.366.2400.

Abby Reid

Corruption in Africa: a Cancer That Won’t Go Away

‘Corruption is one of the most formidable challenges to good governance, development and poverty reduction’ in Africa says 2008 Transparency International Report.

It has been said that corruption in Africa is like an advanced cancer or tumour that cannot be treated. Like cancer, corruption has tragically devastated African societies and made millions of people very poor. From South Africa to Egypt the tentacles of corruption reaches every where. Corruption has no boundaries. From the offices of presidents and prime ministers to the smallest administration unit of government corruption is everywhere. According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent by its leaders and civil servants every year. The recent Forbes’ list of most corrupt nations had 9 out of the first 16 countries coming from Africa.

In Africa, very few government officials and civil servants perform services for free. You cannot get your birth certificate or passport unless you grease the palm of officials. You cannot get good education for your kid unless you pay a bribe. You cannot obtain electricity meter for your house unless you pay a bribe. You cannot get your goods out from the harbour unless you pay kickback. Anything involving signing of documents involves paying inducements. In Africa you can hardly find someone who has not paid bribe before either willingly or unwillingly. To receive attention when you are sick you need to grease the palm of hospital officials.

In Ghana, officials illegally charge 15 and 150 Ghana cedis for a birth certificate and a passport respectively. Again in Ghana Police officers openly ask bus and taxi drivers to pay bribe before they are allowed to cross mounted road blocks. Customs officials adopt all manner of tactics in order to collect money from importers and exporters before their goods are allowed to leave the ports.

Most projects in Africa are carried out by corrupt contractors who collude and connive with public officials to inflate project cost in order to enrich themselves. As a result every project carried out cost three times the usual cost and it is always the tax payers who bear the brunt of it. Due to corruption, project inspectors fail to do their job and allow substandard work to be done at the expense of the people and the nation.

In Africa, it is totally useless to bid for contracts because contracts are awarded to the contractors who are able to pay the biggest bribe. In most countries there are no announcements for tenders rather contracts are awarded to companies who secretly pay large sums of commission to government officials.

For example on 17th September 2002 a Canadian Engineering company called Acres International was convicted by a High Court in Lesotho for paying $260,000 bribe to secure an $8 billion dam contract in the tiny Southern African nation of Lesotho.

Achair Partners a Swiss company and Progresso an Italian company have been accused of bribing Somali Transition Government officials in order to secure contracts to deposit highly toxic industrial waste in the waters of Somalia.

In 2002 Halliburton a US company was accused of establishing $180m flush fund with the intent of using it to bribe Nigeria officials in order to secure a $10 billion Liquefied Gas Plant contract in the Nigeria. In response to the accusation the company fired Mr. Albert Jack Stanley. Mr. Stanley a former executive of Halliburton (KBR) has pleaded guilty for orchestrating the $180m flush fund. Even though Halliburton denied any knowledge of such a fund a report by the company later named a British called Jeffrey Tesler as the middleman behind the bribery. Such corrupt practices by western companies seeking contracts in Africa are not uncommon.

In Africa contracts are awarded to party faithfuls who in turn make handsome financial contributions to the party in power. Because of corruption and nepotism anyone can become a contractor in Africa. In Africa, state coffers or the treasury are the personal property of the president/prime minister, his family, his cronies and his political party. In most African countries there is no separation or difference between state and ruling party resources.

Corruption is so endemic in African societies that, political parties have been pledging to combat it with deadly force but when they are elected nothing seem to change. When former president of Ghana John Kuffour took office he said ‘there will be zero tolerance for corruption’ in his government but his party recently lost power amid accusation that he was unable to tame his corrupt officials.

Despite years of exports of oil, gold, diamond, bauxite, tin, coltan, uranium, manganese timber and several other valuable minerals the continent continue to be ranked as the poorest on earth because most of the revenue from these exports do not get to the people but find its way into the bank accounts of corrupt government officials, civil servants and their allies.

Since oil was first discovered in Nigeria about 50 years ago, over $400 billion have been realised from its sale but today the whole population continue to live in abject poverty and the country has nothing to show or account for the billions of dollars she has received for years. Those who have benefited from the oil are corrupt politicians, civil servants, a shadow economy, armed bandits, army generals and the big oil corporations such as Shell, Mobil, BP and their American counterparts. As a result able men and women are battling dangerous seas just to enter Europe and try their luck. Others have resulted to 419 a popular scam used to trick people into given out their money and valuables. In fact Nigeria has consistently featured in the top 1% of the most corrupt nation on the planet.

Between 2005 and 2007 several state governors and their immediate families were arrested by Scotlandyard in London on corruption and money laundering charges.

Among them are James Ibori of oil rich Delta State and his wife Theresa who had their $35m asset frozen by the English court. Mr. Ibori earns about a thousand dollars a month but during his eight years as a state governor he managed to acquire wealth to the tune of $35m and was a key financial contributor to the campaign of the current president of Nigeria. He owns a private jet and a lavish London home.

Another corrupt governor is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governor of oil-rich state of Bayelsa who was also arrested in London for money laundering charges. Mr. Alamieyeseigha broke his bail conditions and evaded capture in Britain by dressing up as a woman. When Police conducted a search in his London home they discovered one million pounds worth of cash in his home.

Another governor who was arrested in England was Joshua Dariye of Plateau State. He was arrested in a London hotel for stealing money meant for development of his state.

But these thieves have no rank compared to the heavyweights like Abacha, Mobutu, Eyadema, Lansana Conte, Obiang Nguema, Omar Bongo, Mubarak and Arap Moi.

In the 1990s economic hardship, abject poverty and destruction of the environment forced the people of Ogoniland in Nigeria to demand a say in which Shell operates but the military regime led by Gen. Sani Abacha arrested the environmentalists led by Ken Sorowiwa and executed them. You may wonder why Abacha killed his country men instead of protecting and providing for their needs. According to available data Nigeria government Lawyers within the period that Abacha became Head of State i.e. between 1993 and 1998 he stole $4 billion of Nigeria’s oil money and stashed it in several secret bank accounts in Switzerland, Britain, Luxemburg, Jersey Island and Liechtenstein. In April, 2002 these countries agreed to return $1 billion of the stolen money to the people of Nigeria. So far about $2 billion have been returned to the government of Nigeria and the rest of the money is still sitting in bank accounts in Western countries notably Switzerland and Britain.

A visit to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria shows that majority of the people especially the youth are unemployed. Years of oil spills have made the soil unfit for any agricultural activity. Their streams and wells are polluted and the people have no access to basic necessities of life because their leaders have enriched themselves with the money.

Every effort to get the Nigeria government to develop the oil rich areas fell on death ears until the unemployed youth took up arms against the federal government and oil companies. They kidnapped foreign oil workers and demanded ransom before their victims were released. They disrupted the oil production forcing the oil companies to move several miles offshore for their own safety but they were not safe either. Eventually, the companies had to reduce their output by 25% in 2007-8. These disruptions affected supply of oil in the world market forcing the price to skyrocket to $140 a barrel in the summer of 2008.

If Abacha could steal $4 billion within 5 years then you can tell how much the leaders who have ruled for decades have stolen. For example Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Omar Bongo of Gabon 31 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years, Paul Biya of Cameroon 26 years, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda 22 years, Omar Al Bashir of Sudan 19 years, Iddriss Derby of Chad 17 years, Yahya Jammeh of Gambia 14 years.

I think you have now got the picture and understand why the African Union says $148 billion leave the continent every year.

The late Lansana Conte ruled Guinea for 24 years from 1984 to 2008. Sometimes having a leader maintaining stability in a country could translate into economic prosperity but this is not the case for Guinea. Even though Guinea is the world’s biggest exporter of bauxite, there is little very the country can show for it. Apart from bauxite, Guinea also have large deposits of gold diamond, iron, nickel and uranium yet poverty is so severe that the country was ranked among the top 1% of most corrupt countries in Africa. In fact according to a report by UN, Guinea ranks 160th out of 177 in the UN’s Development scale.

According to available documents 70% of revenue from of all mineral exports every year finds its way in the bank accounts of Lansana Conte and his cronies. Today the people lack portable water and electricity. Roads, rail lines, telecommunication, schools, hospitals are in severe deplorable conditions while money meant for their repair and maintenance sit in Europe and America being protected by banking secrecy laws. According to Aljazeera a credible and popular news broadcaster, corruption is so woven in Guinean society that school girls need not study as their promotion to next class is always assured by their male teachers who solicit sex from them. According to the students, those who refuse to sleep with their teachers are made to repeat a year in class. Female teachers on the other hand demand money to be paid in exchange for higher marks.

Why won’t the people be poor when their livelihoods have been taken away from them? Why?

On Friday 31, 2007 the Guardian newspaper in Britain reported a corruption scandal perpetrated by former president of Kenya Daniel Arap Moi and his family. According to the Guardian a 110 page report prepared by international risk consultancy firm Kroll exposed Arap Moi and his family and accused them of banking £1 billion in 28 countries including Britain. The report went further to say that the family used Shell Oil Company, secret trusts, front men and his entourage to siphon the money away.

Apart from the money, the Moi family also bought several multimillion pound properties in London, New York, South Africa including 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and bank accounts containing hundreds of millions of pounds. It is on record that Mr. Moi’s sons Philip and Gideon are wealth £384m and £550m respectively. While majority of Kenyans live in rural areas, and live in mud/thatched houses with bamboo/raffia leaves as roofing sheet the Moi family live in a £4m home in Surrey and £2m flat in Knightsbridge. Arap Moi’s 24 year rule was largely corrupt and contributed to endemic poverty seen in Kenya today.

How do you expect the continent to develop when monies meant for her development are stolen by her leaders and kept by countries who praise themselves as civilised, cultured, loving and democratic?

In South Africa, Jacob Zuma is still battling it out with the court for his part in the multi-billion arms deal in South Africa in 2001. He was forced to resign as Deputy President of South Africa a clear embarrassment to the ANC government of former president Mbeki.

In 2006 former president of Malawi Bakili Muluzi was arrested for pocketing $12m donated to his poor country by foreign governments. Again former Zambia president Frederick Chiluba was arrested together with two business men Aaron Chungu and Faustin Kabwe and charged with 11 counts of stealing money meant for the Zambia’s development.

In Equatorial Guinea where oil export has earned the country billions of dollars, the 600,000 people living in the country continue to live in poverty while Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies continue to siphon the oil revenue with no accountability.

Gabon and Angola both Oil exporting countries are no different. In fact, the governments in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea can best be described as Kleptocracy that is government by thieves. In countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sudan, Uganda, Libya, Tunisia a Kleptocracy class of people have replaced anything democracy. In these countries very few people continue to remain in power and the people have no say in the way their country is govern or run. For example Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Omar Bongo of Gabon 31 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years and the list is unending.

How do you expect a person to rule for 30 years without being corrupt?

What is clear is that these unelected leaders continue to amass wealth at the expense of their poor countries and continue to mismanage whatever remains of their corrupt activities. Because most of the leaders are former military officers or former rebels with no grasp of economics and management, they are unable to formulate any good economic policies that will transform and grow their economies hence poverty has become a part of the people but their leaders know not what poverty is.

In DR Congo it is estimated that gold and diamond deposits alone could fetch the country 23 trillion dollars not to mention the abundance of timber and other several minerals that are found in large quantities such as columbo-tantalite (coltan) and cassiterite (tin ore) yet years of corruption, mismanagement, conflicts and foreign involvement have made this resource rich nation one of the poorest in the world.

It is often said that western nations cannot maintain their current level of lifestyle without Congo and most corporations in the west can easily go bust without Congo. The question is if Congo is the blood line of the west and the west is rich because of Congo then why is Congo so poor?

And where are the billions of dollars from the sale of these minerals? The answer lies in the history of the nation which is endemic corruption, colonialism, armed conflicts and foreign involvements. Mobutu in his 32 year reign is believed to have taken several billions of dollars from the treasury and deposited it in his numerous Swiss bank accounts. When President Kabila requested the Swiss for the money to be returned he was told Mobutu had just $7.6m. President Kabila frustrated and disappointment with the Swiss announcement said he had expected the Swiss to announce something like $1 billion or more.

But unconfirmed report indicate that the Swiss decided not to give the billions of dollars to the Congo government for fear that it would be stolen again by Kabila and his regime who are also deadly corrupt. Mobutu have several villas and mansions in France and Switzerland bought with money stolen from the Congo people. In 2001, items auctioned in his luxurious home in Switzerland fetched $100,000. The billions of dollars taken away from the country have made Congo one of the poorest in Africa. In Congo today there are no schools, hospitals, roads, telecommunication, rail, electricity and potable water. The only means of transport is through River Congo.

Everyday in Walikale about 16 aircraft fly out of the city with loads of minerals bound for Rwanda. These stolen minerals further find their way in the western mineral markets in London and Switzerland. The proceeds are shared by the Generals, politicians, western companies the businessmen in Rwanda, the warlords in Congo who use part of their share to acquire weapons that are used to terrorise the people and prolong the war. Watch the video below about Congo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8c81xHLmw

Conclusion

Western governments are quick to preach good governance to Africa but they fail to preach the same message to their banks who act as save havens for these corrupt leaders. The western governments have forgotten that the existence of bank secrecy laws in Switzerland, Jersey Island, Britain, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Austria have encouraged these corrupt leaders to bank away monies meant for their countries’ development.

The name of Switzerland, Britain, France, Jersey Island, Liechtenstein and Luxemburg came up several times throughout this study of corruption in Africa as I try to establish where most of the stolen monies go. Even though these countries like to portray themselves as civilised and cultured with hearts of angels, they have failed to recognise that keeping monies that were dishonestly obtained from the poor people on earth taint whatever reputation they might have. In the case of Switzerland and her allies who keep these stolen monies it is so pathetic that they know they are receiving stolen monies yet due to greed they have done nothing to stop it.

The next time you are looking for stolen money from your country ask the Swiss government and the Swiss banks they always have a clue about it where about.

Africa is poor today because of colluding and connivance of Swiss and other western banks and the kleptocrats who rule Africa. Corruption is rife on the continent because those who steal the money never lack a place to hide them.

Fighting corruption should not be left to the poor countries alone.

Western media who always portray Africa as underdeveloped and backward must expose the banks in their countries who serve as save havens. The media should put pressure on politicians in Europe and America to reform the banking secrecy laws and make it punishable offence to receive monies from these corrupt leaders. Again the western media must campaign vigorously for all looted monies to be returned to their rightful owners in Africa. The western media must team up with civil organisations to expose western companies who pay bribes to secure contracts in Africa like Acres International, Halliburton, Trafigura, Achair Partners and Progresso.

Western countries have a duty to stop their nations being used as save havens for stolen monies from the African continent. Western countries should reform their banking laws. They should return all looted money put there by corrupt African leaders to the African people. There must be an international coalition dedicated to tracking all stolen monies on the face of the earth with Africa given to priority.

Africans should establish well funded independent Corruption watchdogs to investigate, prosecute and severely punish corrupt officials who engage in corrupt practices. The Africans must demand transparency and accountability in government. Laws must be enacted in Africa to protect whistle blowers who take the risk to expose corrupt practices.

It is by uniting to fight corruption that Africa can ever dream of parting with poverty.

Lord Aikins Adusei
http://www.articlesbase.com/economics-articles/corruption-in-africa-a-cancer-that-wont-go-away-738350.html