EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

Extremism within

RADICALISATION within the ranks of Pakistan`s armed forces is an issue of major concern, especially considering that the nation is currently in the midst of quelling a militant insurgency. Hence the arrest of Brig Ali Khan, probably the senior-most army officer taken into custody in nearly a decade for alleged links with extremists, should raise the alarm within the security establishment regarding the penetration of radical groups in the ranks. The army confirmed on Tuesday that the brigadier, posted at GHQ, was picked up for suspected links with Hizb ut-Tahrir. The officer was taken into custody last month; though he was under surveillance for some time, the army swooped in when the frequency of his contacts increased. Although HT has not overtly supported violence and has no ostensible links to Al Qaeda, it does call for the restoration of the caliphate and the overthrow of `corrupt, pro-West` governments in Muslim lands. It is standard HT practice in Muslim countries to recruit influential citizens, including army officers.

Though the army has said Brig Khan`s case was “an exception”, we`re not so sure. On Wednesday the DG ISPR confirmed that four army majors were being investigated in the same case. In the past, several serving or former armed forces personnel have reportedly been involved in acts of terrorism. Two army officers were reportedly court-martialled for their HT links in 2010 while a former navy commando was picked up from Lahore for allegedly aiding the PNS Mehran attackers. Several army and air force personnel were also arrested for their reported involvement in the 2003 assassination attempt targeting Gen Pervez Musharraf. So clearly, the forces have a problem with encroaching extremism. Many of the arrested men, mostly serving in the army and air force, had links to extremist Islamist groups.

During Gen Zia`s rule, the missionary Tableeghi Jamaat made inroads into the garrisons; back then it was a discipline issue as soldiers would take off on unauthorised preaching missions. Today the problem is much graver, as HT and other extremist groups call for `loyal` troops and officers to overthrow the high command. It is time for the army to do some serious soul-searching. If a serving brigadier can be co-opted, what is the extent of extremist infiltration in the lower ranks? The high command needs to intelligently counter the rising radical trend. A thorough cleansing is needed. This is undoubtedly a major challenge, as countering religiosity and a jihadi spirit that has been nurtured over decades is not easy. But it is a challenge the army must take up.

Need for restraint

EVEN as Pakistan stumbles from one worrying development to another, the country`s two leading politicians are going for each other`s throat with the single-mindedness of boys in a schoolyard fight. On Tuesday President Zardari launched a divisive attack on PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif for his alleged ideological leanings and criticism of the military. The president is also the co-chairman of a political party, and his speech at Naudero was directed at an audience of PPP workers. But while the president may have chosen to wear two hats, his constitutional responsibility is to represent the unity of the country. The ruling party has every right to defend itself against Mr Sharif`s accusations, but there are plenty of other PPP politicians who can, and do, perform this function. Nor is it the president`s role to publicly defend the military against allegations of playing an outsized role in policymaking. The matter is one that should be debated in parliament, but making the military the basis of a public squabble between the head of state and a leading politician risks expanding, not curtailing, that institution`s role in the country`s politics.

For his part, Mr Sharif, although he does not bear the same responsibilities, has not done much to rise above an attack campaign. Take his current visit to Azad Kashmir ahead of the legislative assembly elections there: his speeches have focused largely on targeting the president and the PPP for corruption rather than addressing the concerns of the people of AJK. The bulk of what he stated could have been said anywhere else in the country. And while his recent criticism of the civil-military relationship reflects important concerns the country needs to grapple with, it seems to have devolved into little more than a vehicle for government-bashing. Mr Sharif is a politician, and he is heading the ruling party`s most formidable rival in the run-up to an election year. He cannot be expected not to campaign. But amidst his continued criticism of the way things are, one would like to hear a realistic vision and plan for how things ought to be.

Blasphemy sentence

IN a case that appears to be the first of its kind, a man has been sentenced to death for committing blasphemy via cellphone text messaging. On Tuesday, an additional district and sessions judge in Talagang handed down the sentence and imposed a fine on a man in a blasphemy case filed with the Talagang city police station in February last year. The circumstances of the case are murky to say the least. The complainant, a resident of Talagang, told the police that he had been receiving blasphemous text messages from an unfamiliar number. The police set up a special inquiry committee which used cellphone data to trace the apparent owner of the number, a resident of Larkana. It is worth questioning how credible the investigation was, particularly given that we live in an era where text messages are forwarded into endless circulation at unprecedented speed. All sorts of material is passed from person to person, sometimes without even being fully understood, and the authorship of messages is virtually impossible to establish.

It must also be pointed out that the police and court system showed uncharacteristic zeal in pursuing the case. Talagang in Punjab and Larkana in Sindh are hundreds of miles apart; in order to arrest the man, the police had to get special permission from the home department to conduct a raid in another province. The sentence, too, was handed down in far less time — a little more than a year — than is usual for Pakistan`s ordinarily ponderous court system. Most cases drag on for years and the backlog that exists in the lower courts in particular is well known. Meanwhile, police investigations are criticised for moving at a snail`s pace. If the justice system showed similar interest in pursuing other types of cases, the people`s cause would be better served.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY NATION, KENYA

       

 

Move fast to stabilise the volatile shilling

The economy is clearly facing trying times.

The biting maize shortage that has seen supermarkets in some parts of the country resort to rationing is a sign of the times. The price of maize flour has hit the roof.

Although the government has responded by reducing duty on maize and wheat imports, the indications out there are that these reductions are unlikely to influence consumer prices downwards in any significant ways.

With the Kenya shilling depreciating wildly, we will have to pay much more for the maize than we would have paid had it remained stable.

Worse still, there is just not enough maize in the region. Tanzania has been restricting exports for a long time.

And, South Africa, where most of our maize imports come from, does not appear to have enough non-GMO maize stocks.

Zambia has a large surplus of maize, but moving the product all the way to Mombasa will be expensive and time-consuming.

With all predictions pointing to low rainfall and a poor harvest, Kenyans must brace themselves for the twin problems of high food prices and scarcity of staple foods.

If the government wants to prove that it is, indeed, ready to cushion the poor from the impact of high prices, it must take bold decisions.

If the currency does not stabilise soon, we could end up under much more inflationary pressure.

From an annual average of 4.1 per cent in 2011, the inflation rate has climbed to 13 per cent.

Granted, the rising prices have been largely caused by factors beyond the government’s control — high oil prices and drought.

Nevertheless, the high consumer prices are a recipe for social unrest. The government must move fast to stabilise the shilling.

Discipline this minister

Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu is also an assistant minister for Water and Irrigation.

It follows that all his actions and utterances must express the policy and programmes of the government.

Now, Mr Waititu is the typical Nairobi MP who rose from humble beginnings in ward activism to City Hall and onwards to Parliament and ultimately to ministerial office.

Such politicians are accustomed to the politics of violent confrontation, and Mr Waititu has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he can throw stones with the best of them.

His disgraceful actions on Wednesday, however, must surely be the final straw. The minister blocked City Council of Nairobi officials from marking unapproved buildings.

One such building only recently collapsed and killed four people in his own constituency. A few days later another building came tumbling down in Lang’ata constituency, injuring six people.

The exercise to identify the death-traps that are unapproved structures in the city was blocked by the brazen impunity on display.

Mr Waititu must be sacked from the government forthwith, and also be made to face the law.

The cutting edge

DO YOUR MATHS. As he eagerly waits for the court to lift the injunction blocking the swearing-in of the Supreme Court judges as part of the judicial reforms the country badly needs, Martin Tairo Maseghe is disappointed that some activists sued the Judicial Service Commission over the composition of the recent appointments. Says he: “A third of seven is 2.33, which can be rounded off to two since we can’t have a 0.33 of a human being. Technically, therefore, the JSC was within the constitutional requirement of ensuring a minimum of a third from either gender.”

CLEAR THE MESS. The City Council of Nairobi is extending its parking fee collection to the suburbs, but some of the outskirts, including Kawangware, have been flung into confusion, reports Ken Simon. Since the City Council introduced the charges, he reports, parking has become more haphazard, with some motorists leaving their vehicles on the pavement on Naivasha road to avoid paying. He is, therefore, appealing for the deployment of traffic police to clear the mess and restore some order. His contact is Tel O720076371.

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DISAPPOINTED. A long time Cussons customer, who really loves their popular Ushindi soap and detergent, Maureen Mumbi, says she is beginning to feel cheated. It is because the price has been rising in the recent past and the products getting harder to find at the various outlets sometimes. But even more disappointing, Mumbi adds, is that “the bar has been getting thinner, and producing less lather, as the price continues to rise”. She poses: “Is there any justification for this?” Her contact is mumbingari@yahoo.com.

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THEY,TOO, WANT AN ATM. Barclays Bank customers living in the Kahawa area on Thika road, Nairobi, have to travel long distances to reach an ATM, moans James Gonzaga. They either have to go to Ruiru or all the way to Ruaraka to get one. The alternative, for those who have Visa cards, he adds, is to go to Pesapoint outlets, but this, of course, costs more. James has done his own survey and is now appealing to the bank to consider installing ATMs at the Engen petrol station at Kahawa Sukari. For further discussion, his contact is gonzagajms@gmail.com.

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GOOD PROJECT FOR CDF. Misemwa Primary School in Eugene Wamalwa’s Saboti Constituency was fortunate enough to attract donors who have generously enabled the upgrading of the classrooms and offices. And they didn’t stop there. They also donated some computers, says Hasheem Mohammed. However, without electricity, the computers are not of much use to pupils and teachers, who should be enjoying the benefits of this technology. Wouldn’t this be a good CDF project? His contact is h_jmod@yahoo.com.

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SHORT-CHANGED. For the past one month or so, Lewis Mwenda says, DStv has been short-changing him by not providing adequate information on scheduled movies in the TV guide. “This may sound like a small issue, but it’s quite irritating when you can’t find information on a movie you intend to watch later,” says Lewis. On calling the Multichoice office in Nairobi, he was told they were aware of the problem and that it would be fixed soon. “To date, nothing has happened,” says Lewis, whose contact is aritho@yahoo.com.

Have an informative day, won’t you!

EDITORIAL : THE EL MOUDJAHID, ALGERIA

Pour un dispositif préventif approprié

La problématique des mineurs justiciables se pose avec acuité autant de par le monde en général que dans le monde arabe. A titre indicatif et s’agissant de l’Algérie, le directeur de l’administration pénitentiaire et de la réinsertion avance le chiffre de «600 détenus mineurs sur une population carcérale, tous âges confondus, de 56.000 détenus». Et pour éviter toute forme de nuisance, d’importantes mesures préventives sont prises, précise M. Felioune, directeur général de l’administration pénitentiaire et de la réinsertion. C’est ainsi que «les mineurs sont logés dans des pavillons spéciaux et totalement séparés des détenus adultes». Par ailleurs ces mêmes mineurs font l’objet «d’un suivi rigoureux par des équipes pluridisciplinaires, autrement dit des éducateurs, des psychologues nonobstant des agents de surveillance en civil». Et pour couronner cette batterie de mesures qui visent rien moins qu’à préparer au mieux la réinsertion de ces détenus, ces derniers «reçoivent un enseignement et une formation au sein des établissements pénitentiaires» relève M. Felioune tout en précisant que «certains bénéficient même d’une autorisation mensuelle pour rendre visite à leur famille». Histoire d’encourager tous ceux qui font preuve de bonne conduite à persévérer dans cette voie de salut. Toujours dans le volet de la mise à niveau, le responsable en question n’est pas peu fier d’annoncer que «l’administration des prisons organisera ces jours-ci avec les Scouts musulmans algériens (SMA) un camp d’été d’une durée de 15 jours à Cherchell au profit de 40 détenus». Et de faire savoir également dans la foulée que «10 centres pour mineurs sont en voie de réalisation à travers le territoire national». Au demeurant et pour élargir la sphère de protection des mineurs ce même responsable a révélé «l’existence d’un projet de loi portant protection de l’enfant et comprenant plusieurs mesures outre des dispositions liées à la réforme et à l’éducation, loin des sanctions coercitives». C’est ce qui s’appelle privilégier la prévention sur la répression. Enfin, le projet se propose «la création d’instances de protection de l’enfance, de contrôle, de suivi pour une protection globale de l’enfance». Ce qui n’a pas toujours été le cas jusque-là reconnaissent les juristes et autres spécialistes attitrés.

EDITORIAL : THE JERUSALEM POST, ISRAEL

 

 

For real competition

Atrusty old adage advises us to “never ruin an apology with an excuse.” But this is just what Ofra Strauss did at the Caesarea Public Policy Forum on Monday, when she admitted: “We were wrong. It’s a fact.”

She is chairwoman of the Strauss Group, Israel’s second-largest food and beverage company and also a substantial international corporation. Strauss’s firm is one of the prime targets – right after Tnuva – for public outrage over skyrocketing dairy prices, which have sparked the consumer boycott of cottage cheese.

Her apparent contrition afforded a unique opportunity to peek into the mindsets of some in our rich set. Strauss confessed that she was taken aback by the omnipresent anger, which she never expected and had never suspected existed “out there.” Her consternation was so profound that it took her two days just to regain her composure, she said.

Her shock is perhaps the most disquieting factor of all, along with the use of the term “out there.” It denotes alienation from average folk, the ones who purchase the Strauss Group’s products and those of companies like it, and a lack of consideration for customers’ buying-power. It suggests a prevailing assumption that consumers can be relied upon to pay, docilely, whatever they are asked to pay.

Strauss offered several excuses for the price hikes that have caused widespread outrage, including that the food industry is “merely one link in the chain of prices” and that “this is part of what is happening in the whole world.”

She omitted mention of the fact that, even if we factor in higher raw material costs globally, Israelis still pay far more than their counterparts in other developed countries. There’s no avoiding the conclusion that we’re being charged exorbitantly – far above what commodity fluctuations in the international marketplace mandate.

Moreover, this has been escalating ever since price controls were lifted a few years ago. Deregulation was supposed to spur competition, which was supposed to lower prices. Instead, the precise opposite has occurred.

The fact that prices increased rather than decreased indicates that no improved competition took place. This points to the probability of price-fixing and similar cartel- type machinations.

Most milk producers in this country sell their product to the giant Tnuva, which is flanked on the production side by Strauss and Tara. The retail chains evince no regular long-range readiness to reduce their profit margins either. Everyone but the consumers seems to be doing well.

The very notion of introducing dairy imports to force competition on the local market, as suggested by some in government, seems to have set the cat among the pigeons. Kibbutz dairymen have gone so far as to threaten to violently disrupt imports. That all components comprising the local milk-processing complex are so agitated merely by the threat of imports speaks volumes.

But imports aren’t an ideal solution, especially when elsewhere in the world governments subsidize and protect farmers. We don’t want to destroy our agriculture and allied industries, even if they have misbehaved. But that misbehavior cannot be countenanced either. When arrogant producers and retailers habitually and haughtily ignore consumer buying power, they gravely undermine the entire economy.

Both over-regulation and under-regulation are detrimental to free enterprise. Imposing price controls gums up the system. Conversely, the importation of short shelflife products isn’t necessarily practical (not to mention kashrut issues).

The point of attack must be elsewhere. There is chronically in this country a mammoth failure to root out price-fixing. Groceries aren’t the only cases in point.

Monopolies pervert much of our consumer reality – from housing, cars, fuels, electric appliances and hi-tech gadgets to cable, Internet and cellphone services. The readiness of the Israeli consumer to put up with anything is taken for granted.

It’s time bureaucratic snarls were undone to facilitate deterrent antitrust enforcement. As things operate here – and as they have for decades – we enact laws that prohibit price-fixing but these are rarely implemented vis-à-vis the most egregious conglomerates, whose movers and shakers often closely collude with political power-players.

Turning the spotlight on actual cartels or quasi-cartels is a strategy that demands extraordinary political courage given our specific circumstances. But this is what must be done. It’s not prices that need to be regulated but anti-competitive conduct.

Yishai’s divisive meddling

Who is a Jew? It is a question that has been hotly debated, defined and redefined since the establishment of modern Israel 63 years ago.

Part of the difficulty in determining who is a Jew is tied to the tension between religion and citizenship. The Law of Return opens Israel’s doors not only to someone born to a Jewish mother or someone who converted to Judaism, but to others as well. Anyone married to a Jew, to a child of a Jew or to a grandchild of a Jew is eligible under the Law of Return for automatic Israeli citizenship, as is someone who had a Jewish grandparent. As a result, an individual considered eligible for automatic citizenship under the Law of Return might not necessarily be considered “Jewish” under religious criteria.

The reverse is true as well. In a precedent-making case dating back to the early 1960s, the Supreme Court ruled that Father Daniel, a Carmelite priest born to a Jewish mother who converted to Catholicism, was not eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return even though he was considered Jewish according to Halacha.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the “Who is a Jew?” question is intimately related to the “Who is a rabbi?” question, particularly when determining the Jewishness of converts. Here, too, the Supreme Court has intervened, ruling that for purposes of citizenship, conversions performed by Reform and Conservative rabbis in the Diaspora will be recognized and converts will receive automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return just like Orthodox converts. However, since religious services are controlled by the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate, these converts cannot marry in Israel.

Nevertheless, while the “Who is a Jew?” conundrum has not been solved, nor is it likely to be any time soon, a fragile status quo has been maintained. Issues having to do strictly with Israeli citizenship have been decided for the most part on the basis of nonreligious considerations – which only makes sense since citizenship, even in a Jewish state, is in the final analysis not a religious matter. In parallel, strictly religious issues such as marriage and divorce remain in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate.

NOW, IN an insensitive and unwise move that pits Israel against the Diaspora and arouses tensions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox streams of Judaism, Interior Minister Eli Yishai is seeking to “clarify” the “Who is a Jew?” question. Yishai, who has never attempted to conceal his contempt for non-Orthodox forms of Judaism, would like to reinstate the status of “Jew” on Israeli identity cards – but only for those whom he and other Orthodox Jews consider to be “Jews.”

If Yishai has his way, Reform and Conservative converts to Judaism will not be recognized as Jewish on new ID cards.

Not only is this move an affront to millions of Reform and Conservative Jews in the Diaspora, it is also in violation of the spirit of a High Court ruling dating back a decade. At the time the court ruled that, unlike individuals eligible for automatic citizenship under the Law of Return who are not Jewish according to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox criteria, non-Orthodox converts to Judaism had to be registered as Jews on Israeli ID cards since they had undergone a recognized religious conversion process. Yishai, who was interior minister at that time, too, avoided upholding the ruling by removing the definition of “Jew” as nationality from the ID card altogether, replacing it with a row of asterisks.

In his defense, Yishai says it is Holocaust survivors who have requested the reinstatement of “Jewish” on Israeli ID cards. According to Yishai, there are many Holocaust survivors and others who refuse to renew their old and tattered ID cards, issued before 2002, because they do not want to give up an ID card that specifies nationality as “Jewish.”

Yishai should indeed reinstate the clause that specifies nationality as “Jewish” – but he should do so for Orthodox and non-Orthodox converts alike. ID cards are secular documents that determine nationality and have no bearing on an individual’s religious status. Therefore, if the High Court has ruled that Reform and Conservative converts must be registered as “Jewish” on ID cards, Yishai must obey the ruling. The minister, after all, knows full well that as long as the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate controls religious services in Israel, there is no chance that an ID card will be used to prove one’s Jewishness for the purpose of marriage.
Yishai’s meddling can only arouse unnecessary tension between Israel and the Diaspora. Instead of intimating contempt for other Jews’ heartfelt faith, Yishai should at the very least avoid a needless confrontation that might endear him to his more close-minded, parochial constituents but which would alienate and infuriate millions of non-Orthodox Diaspora Jews.

EDITORIAL : THE DIARIO FINANCIERO, CHILE

              

 

Juntas y acceso a la información

El nuevo presidente de La Polar anuncia “cambios importantes al interior de la empresa” y comienza con uno: la prohibición de acceso de la prensa a la junta de accionistas efectuada ayer.

Por cierto que la normativa actual restringe la participación en estas reuniones a los titulares de acciones, pero las sociedades anónimas con transacción bursátil han adoptado desde hace años la tradición de incluir a los representantes de medios de comunicación. Después de todo, es una presencia que permite difundir el contenido de la junta a los interesados que no pudieron participar y, además, otorga sanas garantías de transparencia.

De hecho, hasta ayer La Polar no ponía inconvenientes al acceso de periodistas a sus juntas de accionistas.

Importante patrimonio de accionistas minoritarios, de partícipes de fondos de inversión y de todos los afiliados al sistema de pensiones, se ha destruido a partir de este caso. La mayor parte de estos afectados no puede participar de la junta de accionistas.

Tampoco se trata de que los medios compren acciones para poder participar de estas reuniones en calidad de accionistas minoritarios. Ello también termina por vulnerar la independencia y credibilidad de la prensa.

Los nuevos directivos de La Polar deben asumir que están involucrados en un proceso de alto interés público, con una ciudadanía que exige información, y al frente de una empresa fuertemente impactada en su credibilidad.

Una política transparente y abierta de comunicación podría ser la mejor asesoría que una agencia de comunicaciones les pudiera plantear.

La debilidad de Estados Unidos

La Reserva Federal de Estados Unidos al informar de su decisión de mantener las tasas de interés de referencia de esa economía en los mínimos históricos en que ha permanecido por muchos meses y al anticipar que probablemente la política de estímulo se mantendrá por un período que aún sigue siendo prolongado, ha reconocido que el desempeño de la primera economía del mundo permanece débil y debilitándose, cuestión que ha validado las aprensiones de muchos expertos y gran parte del mercado.

Ha llamado la atención que el presidente de la Fed, que no ha escatimado recursos en pos de estimular la economía, rebajara no sólo las previsiones de crecimiento de 2011, sino que además las de 2012, cosa que también hizo para otro indicador relevante para el banco central norteamericano, el desempleo. Estas fueron elevadas para 2011 y para 2012 y 2013, lo que ratifica que el que fuera conocido como uno de los mercados laborales más flexibles del mundo hoy exhibe ciertas resistencias estructurales.

En suma el cuadro se avizora poco alentador, más aún si se consideran las advertencias de Standard & Poor’s a propósito de la estresada situación fiscal y la copada capacidad de endeudamiento del gobierno.

EDITORIAL : THE TAIPEI TIMES, TAIWAN

Officials must remain neutral

With the election campaign season approaching, the incumbent administration’s neutrality has emerged as an issue that needs to be kept under close public scrutiny.

Aside from keeping a close eye out for any abuse of administrative resources that could arise as a result of Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) acting as President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) running mate while at the same time keeping his post as head of the Executive Yuan, attention also needs to be paid to the remarks and conduct of various government officials and agencies to ensure they do not violate administrative neutrality or exploit administrative resources for bipartisan electoral gains.

Some incidents have recently given rise to such concerns among the general public.

First, we saw the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issue a statement on Thursday last week claiming the local media had falsely reported that Member of the European Parliament Hans van Baalen had said he would vote for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) if he were Taiwanese. Public embarrassment followed just days later when Van Baalen openly dismissed the ministry’s statement, asserting that he did indeed make such a declaration.

The ministry subsequently cited international common courtesy as a reason why foreign nationals should not get involved in or interfere in other countries’ politics.

However, it is interesting to note that the ministry’s statement also mentioned that, during his meeting with Ma last week, Van Baalen had expressed warm words to Ma and said he hoped he would get re-elected. So it is acceptable when a foreign national expresses a wish for Ma to win the election, but warrants action from the ministry when the same foreign national voices support for the opposition leader?

Van Baalen was after all only stating his personal opinion, and did not violate the Election and Recall Act (選罷法) that bans foreigners from publicly stumping for election candidates — as Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams had done in 2004, when she was fined for stumping for the DPP presidential campaign.

MOFA’s duty should be to safeguard and elevate the nation’s dignity and international standing, not to pay attention to which foreign national heaps praise on opposition leaders. It would be truly shameful if the nation’s foreign ministry is to start seeing through bipartisan lenses and act as if it were a branch of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Another recent case stirred up controversy by potentially violating administrative neutrality. That was the case of New Taipei City (新北市) official Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) who, under the name of a national township chief alliance, last week hosted a banquet for hundreds of township and district chiefs during which support for the Ma-Wu ticket was voiced.

While Lee argued that the event was a routine gathering that took place outside his working hours and was therefore not in any way a violation of administrative neutrality or an act of bribery, the public’s impression is that this should not have happened.

With both the KMT and the DPP campaigns picking up steam, all government officials and agencies should be reminded of their duties and their jobs on the taxpayers’ payroll — to serve the nation, not a specific political party or politician.

EDITORIAL : NINE O'CLOCK, ROMANIA

Country on fire, politicians putter away the hours…

Many politicians’ phrases have enriched local folklore, mostly for platitude or grammar mistakes. Over the time, we have reminded of the Traian Basescu patented logos ‘Here is your money’ – sign posts on the side of the roads repaired during his term in office as transport minister and ‘winter is not summer’, when he was general mayor of Bucharest. The president’s youngest daughter, Elena Basescu – now a member of the European Parliament – is also part of the folklore with her funny made-up plural of the Romanian word ‘success’.

The list is long and Romanian politicians never stop amazing with more new phrases and facts worthy of cartoons or humorous literature. Romania is still in a very difficult period. Although the crisis seems to be lowering in intensity, all specialists share a moderate optimism.

IMF has warned the US and Europe against dangers lurking from behind sovereign debts and national deficits. Not really good economic news is coming from Washington’s way and everybody knows that, when US sneezes, Europe gets the flu.

Preferring to disregard the general concern, Bucharest discusses collateral topics these days: Constitutional review, parliamentary reforms or administrative re-organisation of the territory. In a word, unlimited, yet pointless passion. The ruling coalition is already drawing close to the moment of the truth, as UDMR refuses the Government re-organisation proposal. Tuesday Cotroceni talks confirmed once more, accepting there was any such need, the cleavage between the power and the opposition, actually between the president and reality.

Is anyone worried about the economic situation, the mounting lay-offs or the dramatic fall of living standards (already one of the lowest in the EU) because of price – especially food – rises?

No, our politicians have far more important things to deal with. The Romanian saying ‘The country is on fire, the old lady combs her hair’ perfectly describes the situation of many.
Bucharest Mayor Sorin Oprescu: ‘I am the top-notch mayor who does everything legally’ the gentleman was saying upon opening the Basarab overpass. An acerb critic of Oprescu, Development Minister Elena Udrea was saying, on the same day, that she would ‘go up’ on the overpass to see reality.

Education Minister Daniel Funeriu, on the other hand, adopts the American style, telling pupils ‘yes, we can’, referring, of course, to the Romanian system of education. His advice to pupils: ‘Do not smoke and enjoy your youth!’

PSD President Victor Ponta was recently saying that, during the consultation talks, he would tell President Basescu that he would not like to see another president take off on a helicopter from Cotroceni, ‘chased away with booes and stones, like Ceausescu was’. Caught up in the political fight, Mr. Ponta apparently forgot that Nicolae Ceausescu took off from the top of the former PCR Central Committee building and not from Cotroceni.

PNL President Crin Antonescu, in turn, speaks about the mobilisation of his MPs: ‘There are situations where we will need to be very well mobilised.’ What the mobilisation of own MPs consists of is hard to figure but, if by that he means attendance of Parliament works, the mobilisation may refer to himself, one of the MPs with the largest number of recorded absences.

Recently elected as President of PNTCD (lead party of the former Democratic Convention that was in power between 1997 and 2000), Victor Ciorbea has another idea that is far from the immediate concrete reality: he wants to start a signature gathering campaign in support of a referendum for returning to the constitutional monarchy. We have to wonder if Ciorbea’s tactic is actually designed to bring PNTCD back to Parliament or to keep it as far away as possible.
Former presidential adviser and currently Labour Minister, Sebastian Lazaroiu has got us used to his colourful and informal statements. In a recent interview, he was saying: ‘Few people know that I have 50 per cent Hungarian blood in my veins. Thanks to my background in sociology, I am probably more open to inter-cultural dialogue and sensibilities of ethnic minorities or of any other nature. Therefore, no one can accuse be of Xenophobia.’ But why would anyone worry about the ‘ethnic’ composition of the gentleman’s blood?

On the other hand, the Vice-President of the European Parliament, MEP Laszlo Tokes, is still deeply anchored in the unsatisfying history of the Hungarian people… ‘A perfidious policy for the assimilation of Hungarians has been pursued in the last 90 years. Germans were sold for hard currency. The same happened to some of the Jews. Hungarians were forced to leave their fatherland, Transylvania. The Csángó are not allowed to use their mother tongue, and have even forgotten how to speak it. If this post-Trianon and post-Communism policy is not interrupted, we will perish,’ Tokes said. Need we remind that Mr. Tokes is a Romanian MEP, sent to the EP after free elections? That, in general, assimilation is more an issue for Romanians who represent a minority in the predominantly Hungarian counties? That the sale of the Germans and Jews took place in communism, when all Romanians were oppressed?

Like pre-school children, Romanian MEPs are always very argumentative. Annoyed that MEP Sogor Csaba (UDMR) was addressing the audience in Hungarian, MEP Ioan Enciu (PSD) shouted at him: ‘Hey, you over there! Speak in Romanian!’ Enciu said, afterwards, that his intervention was like between friends. The only problem is that the Hungarian did not appreciate the joke and complained to the EP leadership, making Enciu to write an explanatory letter and present public apologies. ‘I can assure you that I totally support the use of maternal language in the European Parliament debates and that I appreciate the Hungarian language and the Hungarian people.’ Enciu explains he is not a ‘chauvinistic person’ and that, on the contrary, he considers himself to be a supporter of diversity and minorities’ rights, a fact that, in his opinion, is proved by his entire activity in the European Parliament. The letter was addressed to EP President Jerzy Buzek. I wonder what Mr. Buzek thought about the incident.

The list of examples describing the Romanian political activity could easily go on. But we cannot forget about PM Emil Boc, who has led a campaign for the administrative-territorial re-organisation, claiming that the EU would not pay EUR 10 bln to Romania if the reform is not implemented. Contacted by a Bucharest TV station, the European Commission provided a few details: the territorial organisation of Romania is the prerogative of the Bucharest authorities, and it is not a condition for the disbursement of European funds.

We are a cheerful and always surprising country. It’s true that not all are pleasant…

EDITORIAL : THE NEW POLAND EXPRESS, POLAND

 

Taking the moral highway

There’s been plenty to talk about as of late regarding Poland’s roads and motorways.

I’m referring to the recent COVEC debacle which has left the government with a severe case of egg on face syndrome as it now scrambles around trying to fix the mess it has created.

Many were sceptical when it was announced that Poland would be using cut-price Chinese firm COVEC and both the general public and rival construction firms alike were left scratching their heads and questioning the outcome.

Luckily the government stubbornly stuck to its guns and provided the answer that everyone expected. But what now? With EURO 2012 fast approaching, that answer may very well remain the same leaving Poland without the road it so desperately requires.

But anyone who has travelled long distance by car over here will tell you that the country not only needs to vastly improve its roads for the upcoming tournament, but for the safety of its citizens.

This week has seen a frightening amount of crashes around the country, many of which could probably have been avoided if the roads were in a better condition and of course had more lanes.

The number of times drivers put their own lives (and those of fellow road-users) in danger by taking risks and overtaking in potentially-hazardous situations is enough to make you finally purchase that dreaded train ticket.

If the government needs a reason to feel embarrassed, may I suggest it forgets about COVEC and instead thinks about why it has left the nation’s road infrastructure in such a shocking state for so long.

Predatory thoughts

Last week, former Civic Platform (PO) MP Kazimierz Wegrzyn was at the centre of a row over homosexuality. He was recently thrown out of PO for joking to a journo that, “I’d rather not discuss gays, but lesbians I’ll happily watch.” Clearly, he has entrenched views, from plain smutty to downright homophobic, because last Thursday he sent a text message to journalists declaring, “Gays should be kept away from children, especially the youngest ones,” because they would be, “At risk.”

This was in the context of a proposal to ensure homosexuals couldn’t foster children or run children’s homes, a proposal outrageously passed by the Senate, but rejected by Parliament (with 170 MPs still voting in favour). What these votes and Wegrzyn’s pathetic comment show is that the vast majority of the leaders of society, the most educated and privileged Poland has to offer are in fact as ignorant as pigshit.

Let me explain. The fear that lies behind keeping gays away from children comes from the following line of thinking. Homosexuality is not natural, it is a perversion. Therefore homosexuals are perverts the same way rapists and paedophiles are perverts, so we have to keep them away from children.

What these bigots don’t realise is the vast majority of child molesters are heterosexual. If you want to keep children safe, from any sensible point of view, they’re actually safer with gays than straights. The knee-jerk association of gays with sexual predators is as damaging as it is prejudicial, and as perverse as it is stupid. Young children really should be protected from exposure to Mr Wegrzyn and his ilk – they might be infected by their oafishness.

EURO having a laugh

Who knew? Apparently, Gazeta Wyborcza is currently running a major social media campaign to see whether Poland is ready for next year’s European Football Championships or not. (This past week of course saw the countdown move past the ‘365 days to go mark). Now, while sceptics will of course say that Gazeta Wyborcza is wasting its time and that the country is nowhere near ready for the event, we remain optimistic and instead think we should ask a few questions about Gazeta Wyborcza’s methodology.

According to a press release from both City University in London and Gazeta Wyborcza 21 students will set off on nine-day journeys to 21 Polish cities this week, as part of a project called Mission 21 (Misja 21). It is an experiment for the newspaper which wants to test to what extent social media tools can be used to stimulate public debate and enrich journalism. City University is supplying the students.

Each student will blog and use tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to share their observations and experiences. "The students themselves are a diverse group, representing 11 different nationalities, to capture a range of perspectives and experiences likely to be encountered by tourists travelling to the country," the press release adds. "Most of them know almost nothing about Poland and none of them speak Polish."

Taking a look at the projects microsite, (wyborcza.pl/misja21), what immediately struck us as strange was the choice of cities. The students - besides heading for places which will be hosting matches come next summer (Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw) - are also off to places which will in all likeliness not see a single visitor: Olsztyn and Kielce, to name but two. Are those cities likely to be the given the ‘all ready for 2012’ green light? Almost certainly not, but then they do not need to be ready for Euro 2012, no more than Bradford needed to be ready for Euro ‘96.

We will be watching the students’ progress carefully this week, but we can’t help thinking that this project has been set up to once again fail, giving the media a stick to beat the authorities with.

EDITORIAL : THE KYIV POST, UKRAIN

 

Lukewarm

President Viktor Yanukovych desrves lukewarm credit for a bold legislative move to increase the pension age.

President Viktor Yanukovych’s government and ruling majority deserve lukewarm praise for adopting changes to the pension law on June 17 in a first (not yet final) reading.

Joining 187 lawmakers from the pro-presidential Party of Regions to support the bill were respectable numbers of lawmakers from other factions.

Officials said the hotly contested legislation will be adopted in a final vote in July.

While details were sketchy as this edition of the Kyiv Post went to press, it is believed that the proposed changes – while unpopular – are necessary to plug gaps in a flawed and under-funded pension system.

It is expected that the retirement for women will be gradually increased from 55 to 60 years of age.

This painful condition will certainly cost Yanukovych’s party votes in next year's parliamentary election, but it was necessary, according to economists.

If credit is to be given, Yanukovych deserves a bit for this bold move. Ultimately, however, he had little choice.

More thanks goes to the International Monetary Fund for refusing to unlock additional billion-dollar loan tranches that Yanukovych’s government needs to stay financially afloat unless the nation's leaders deliver on austerity measures.

Attention is, however, also greatly needed to stop the financial bleeding.

As Ukraine’s main creditor, the IMF should also set conditions that end massive corruption at the highest echelons of government.

These schemes appear to be robbing the nation’s riches at the expense of 45 million struggling citizens.

Impunity still reigns as the rich get richer and the poor remain mired at the bottom.

A government that allows cronies to get rich unfairly at the expense of principles of fairness, transparency and compassion is not deserving of international support.

 

No credibility

The more presidential aide Hanna Herman talks , the less credibility the administration has.

The longer that Hanna Herman speaks for President Viktor Yanukovych in an official capacity, the more damage she will do to his administration’s credibility – which is quite low now anyway.

Long after the claim has been discredited, the presidential aide keeps on insisting that criminal investigations have been launched against 478 high-ranking government officials since Yanukovych took power in 2010.

Herman most recently renewed the questionable claim to counter growing international condemnation of what appear to be politically motivated criminal prosecutions of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other officials who worked for her.

After defending the administration’s record at a June 14 event in Kyiv organized by the U.S.-based Freedom House human rights organization, ex-Deputy Prime Minister Hryroriy Nemyria goaded her into providing proof.

She pulled out a five-page document, gave it to Freedom House executive director David J. Kramer and promptly left the meeting.

The Security Services of Ukraine document doesn’t show that 478 administration loyalists or top current officials are under investigation.

Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavyrynovych and presidential chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin made similar claims earlier this year.

When pressed, the general prosecutor refuses to name names, arguing that the suspects have not been found guilty yet.

This is poppycock. The names of criminal suspects are routinely bandied about by officials when doing so serves their interests.

Moreover, if arrests have been made or criminal charges filed, the state should disclose the names and reasons for depriving people of liberty.

Law enforcers routinely flout human rights in this nation, including arbitrary arrests, selective prosecution and excessive pre-trial jailing of people.

At the same event where Herman defended the administration’s record, numerous human rights activists painted a different and – in our view – more accurate picture of a democratic nation creeping back into authoritarianism.

The Yanukovych administration has monopolized political power and is persecuting political opponents while ignoring corruption in its own ranks.

The public continues to be kept in the dark about government favors to insiders, including shady privatizations of state assets and favors for friends of the Party of Regions.

The full extent of shady deals, including dirty state procurements and near-monopolization of various industries, may never be known.

Even Yanukovych, while chairing an anti-corruption meeting earlier this month, admitted the nation is looted of billions of dollars each year.

He just didn’t say by whom.

Amid signs that the presidential Party of Regions intends to stay in power at all costs, human rights activists and diplomats have put the administration on notice that the 2012 parliamentary elections had better be clean, transparent and fair.

EDITORIAL : THE CITIZEN, TANZANIA

EPAS TALKS SHOULD END IN WIN-WIN AGREEMENT

Fresh negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (Epas) are due to start soon. Retired President Benjamin Mkapa has restated his warning over a deal between the European Union (EU) and the East African Community (EAC), calling upon the latter to espouse a more sensible approach to attain regional developmental goals.

Mr Mkapa has urged EAC member states to concentrate on strengthening the region’s Common Market as well as helping the bloc to tap into the largely unexploited African market instead of banking on Epas for the region’s development.

Much as we neither support nor oppose Mr Mkapa’s stand, we believe that his words should not be taken lightly. It is an undeniable fact that Mr Mkapa boasts vast experience on the development front that the EAC could benefit from.

However, the negotiations are desirable in that the region needs a comprehensive agreement to supersede the preferential trade arrangements between EAC and EU, which are largely viewed as violating the WTO’s Most Favoured Nation (MFN) provisions.

This means that the future of the EAC’s industries is now in the hands of the region’s negotiators, who are required to bargain the Epas with the region’s best interests in mind. This, however, does not mean that we would like to see the EU ending up as the “loser”.

It should not be lost on us that the EU knows exactly what it is doing, taking into consideration the technological and industrial disparities between the two sides.It is always a challenge to negotiate with your benefactor, and EAC member states should know this only too well because most of them still depend on the EU for substantial budgetary aid.

However, the EAC negotiators need to participate in the discussions with the EU as equal partners instead of regarding the latter with awe.  This will in the long run benefit East Africa much as it will benefit the EU.

WRONG APPROACH BY POLICE

The Police Force in Dar es Salaam has launched what is likely to be yet another short-lived campaign to reduce congestion on the city’s roads.The Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander, Mr Suleiman Kova, on Tuesday announced a raft of measures police would take to ensure that motorists adhere to traffic rules, particularly in the city centre.

This latest attempt to solve a problem that has for the past two decades or so been getting worse by the day is bound to fail because it does not address the root cause of congestion and endless jams on the city’s roads.

The number of vehicles in Dar es Salaam has risen exponentially in the last 20 years, but the development of transport infrastructure in the city and its environs has not matched the pace of this increase.  The number of vehicles being registered daily is mind-boggling, which means that traffic chaos is likely to worsen in spite of police measures meant to restore a semblance of sanity on the city’s roads.

Any plan to reduce congestion must include a strategy to get as many vehicles off the road as possible, and the most effective way to do this is to improve the efficiency, comfort and convenience of public transport.  This is the only way to persuade people owning cars to switch to cheaper public transport and use their own vehicles only sparingly.

As long as people are willing to freely spend their hard-earned money  running their private vehicles and be stuck in traffic jams for hours on end almost daily, we should not expect the chaos on our roads to ease any time soon. It is all well and good for police to make sure that motorists and other road users follow traffic rules to the letter, but we doubt if this alone will rid Dar es Salaam roads of congestion and jams that have now become synonymous with the city.

Constant training for drivers important

Perhaps the major cause of motor accidents in Tanzania is the human error. Whether the causes are mechanical defects, overloading or over-speeding, they all point to the human being.It is the human being who knows when the motor vehicle is due for service and takes it to a garage for this undertaking or fixing mechanical defects.

Yet, it is also the driver who knows the capacity of the motor vehicle and decides to carry more goods or passengers than its capacity.Further, it is also the driver has to stick to speed limits placed on road signs on certain sections of the road. Beyond them the driver endangers the vehicle, goods and passengers he/she is carrying. 

Therefore, all these factors zero in on the driver, the human being. Yet, very little attention, if at all, has been given to drivers. So long as they pass their driving tests, and get licences that, unfortunately, is all that matters!

It is until they get an accident or they are stopped by a police officer that their licences are checked for validity. Otherwise, a driver can keep on driving for years on end without being ‘bothered’ about how he/she is driving.

But traffic rules and regulations are not static; sometimes they change, though not all the time. As such, it is necessary for drivers to update their skills on driving in conformity with the new rules and regulations.

We commend what has been going on in Iringa Region recently. The region has formed a special road safety team to train over 450 drivers in an effort to reduce road accidents. This also gives them an opportunity to acquire new driving licences that are internationally recognised.

Carrying out the campaign in other regions during the annual road safety week will be a more effective way than doing it as an emergency case.

EDITORIAL : THE DAILY NEWS EGYPT, EGYPT

Towards KG1 democracy in Egypt

CAIRO: The debate over the pros and cons of holding legislative elections as early as next September has polarized Egypt’s political class, and in turn the newly politicized Egyptian street, both negatively and positively.
The camp lobbying to postpone the elections — self-proclaimed liberals made up of a handful of parties under formation — argue that early elections will benefit the organized Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
The emerging scene has been one of ideological tug-of-war pitting a “reactionary” Islamist current against a “progressive” liberal one, in fact resurrecting the duplicitous discourse of the previous regime vis-à-vis the Muslim Brotherhood, and hampering efforts towards reaching national consensus over the best way forward. The fear of Islamists has been so deeply engrained in the “liberal” psyche, that subconsciously, even those who fought in the past for the MB’s right to participate as an official entity in the political process, have contributed to this extremely counterproductive attitude of “us” against “them” which ultimately led both sides to adopt an arrogant, false sense of entitlement based on inflated egos and an obsessive focus on identity politics.
One cannot deny that over the years despite the violent political and social repression the Islamists endured, they continued helping underprivileged communities nationwide by providing essential services through their charity networks. Hence they believe that the sacrifices they made for more than six decades gives them a superior right to reap the fruits of their labor after years of suffering.
Their detractors, on the other hand, argue that since the Brotherhood did not ignite the January 25 Revolution, then they have no right to benefit the most from it, and claim that they have a de facto moral superiority through their unwavering commitment to democratic ideals (which ironically they have yet to prove) and which casts unfounded suspicion on the Freedom and Justice Party’s pronounced commitment to a democratic state, where all are equal before the law, which they too have yet to prove.
Such an atmosphere is not conducive to the kind of consensus building necessary to set sound foundations upon which to build a truly democratic state where guarantees of peaceful rotation of power, respect for inalienable human rights and a commitment to social justice are not solely decided by the ballot box.
Instead of chasing windmills and fighting a lost battle, which in itself constitutes an end-run around democracy, by insisting that the constitution must be drafted first before elections (even though I personally believe that this would have been the best possible scenario), Egypt’s liberals need to move on and focus on the real battle of how the constituent assembly that will draft the new constitution will be chosen. The article concerned with the process of choosing the assembly in the constitutional decree that has replaced the 1971 constitution has been left — perhaps deliberately — vague. This, as well as the process by which articles in the new draft constitution will be decided upon and approved (whether by consensus or majority vote) within the constituent assembly itself, is where the real negotiations must be made.
The exaggerated focus on the outcome of the next People’s Assembly elections at this moment in time is misplaced for two main reasons. First because we still do not have a PA law that will define basic issues such as the electoral process, the number of constituencies, the number of PA seats to be contested as well as the regulations governing how much money is spent on elections campaigns, party funding and even the nature and mandate of the electoral commission etc; and second because at the end of the day this will be the first real general election following decades of apathy on the side of both the electorate and the political parties. The process is all too new to indicate anything more than perhaps an ability to run a free and fair election and to re-instill confidence that voting can make a difference in peoples’ lives.
If there is a case to be made for postponing the elections a month or two, it most certainly is not so that parties can be better prepared — they won’t be before at least two years of hard work, and so the new players must be very realistic when it comes to how many seats they plan to contest and how many they will actually clinch without waging an ideological war.
Any postponement should be made solely to ensure that voters, not parties, are better prepared, that they understand how the system works and what their respective choices will entail. More time is also necessary for the media to figure out how the chosen electoral system — which could be relatively complex — works, and hence be able to explain it and cover the elections professionally.
The one positive outcome of this generally negative polarization, has been that all currents have realized the importance of creating allies and coalitions with other groups and of being pro-active in coming up with an electoral law, for instance, such as the recent agreement between unlikely bedfellows like the Freedom and Justice Party and Al-Wafd who will work on a joint party list and who have invited other parties to create a committee that will draft a PA law instead of waiting for a law to be imposed on them from the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
A rally bringing together seven liberal parties including the Democratic Front, the Free Egyptians, Egypt is Freedom, Social Democrats in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya two days ago has also been a positive step that may bode well for the upcoming elections since it has at least clarified which new players are likely to end up in which camp. Positive ideas like agreeing on “meta-constitutional” articles that will guarantee that future winners at the polls will not undermine the basic principals of a democratic state must be embraced again as a step towards national consensus.
Speculation, finger-pointing and accusations of clientelism to foreign agents will only poison the political atmosphere and play into the hands of those who seek to destabilize Egypt. If we stop this “your-apple-is-redder-than-mine” attitude there could be hope that our progress towards full-fledged democracy will take place sooner rather than later.

EDITORIAL : THE BUSINESS DAY, SOUTH AFRICA

                         

Job creation: it’s simple, but not

IT IS a given that SA’s priority is to create more jobs. Employment is the powerful tide that will improve lives most profoundly. It’s also the area where SA is most lacking. But how much does it cost to create a job? And is SA overpaying or underpaying to generate jobs?

This is a very hard question to answer, but on the basis that some kind of estimate is better than nothing at all, consider the following: two recent large-scale investment projects have been announced and the remarkable aspect of both is the high cost of job creation. These projects hardly constitute a representative sample, but they demonstrate some hard realities about the job- creation process.

The first is the project by the China Motor Corporation, which has announced plans to build a $1bn vehicle factory outside Harrismith in the Free State, ultimately creating 2500 permanent jobs. Consequently, every job will cost about R3m to create.

The second large project is the manganese smelter at the Coega Industrial Development Zone to be built by Kalagadi Manganese at a cost of about R4,2bn. It will create about 400 permanent jobs, excluding those in the construction phase. Jobs in this project therefore come at a cost of R10,5m each.

These numbers seem high, but how do they compare with the international norm? This, too, is an impossible question but some loose estimates are available. Research in the US by Scott A Shane, a professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western University, starts from the opposite direction: it asks how much every entrepreneurial job costs. To find this number, he asks, first, how much money it takes to motivate someone to begin an entrepreneurial process. Second, what proportion succeeds? Third, what proportion of those successes employs anyone? And fourth, how many employees are created on average? The short answer to these questions is, respectively, $15000; one third; one in five, and 5,6. The bottom line is the cost per job is $31169, or about R200000. This is much cheaper than the two examples above. What should we make of this difference?

Perhaps the first thing to note is that the comparison is unfair. Both South African examples involve industrial projects with very high capital requirements. Yet, despite this difference, the comparison remains significant, because the government’s job-creation schemes tend to focus on these types of mega- industrial efforts. The comparison shows that the job-creation benefits that might arise from encouraging entrepreneurship rather than mega- industrial projects are not only potentially larger in terms of job creation, but also a lot cheaper.

By comparison, consider this calculation. The g overnment has targeted the creation of 5- million jobs in five years. Using mega- industrial projects, the capital investment required to achieve this target would be about R20-trillion, eight times the size of the South African economy. Using the "boost an entrepreneur" method, the capital cost would be about R1-trillion; still large, but not unachievable.

Another question is whether SA is spending enough to achieve this result? The short answer is "no".

For example, in the about eight years that Coega has been operational, it has, according to its own website, helped create only 2435 permanent jobs. There are presumably many reasons for this modest return, but it does at least suggest that SA’s investment incentives are too low to attract the kind of investment necessary to achieve the targets set.

The main conclusions of these figures are at once obvious yet very profound: jobs on the scale SA needs cannot be bought through the grand industrial schemes the government seems to favour; there is simply not enough money.

They have to be built, progressively and gradually, through individual entrepreneurship supported by a business-friendly environment. It’s that simple. And it’s that complicated.

EDITORIAL : THE EL UNIVERSAL, COLOMBIA

         

 

El ganadero, la víctima

En Bolívar se da una discusión pública en el sector ganadero, motivada por la restricción de las exportaciones de ganado en pie mediante el Decreto 2000 del 8 de junio pasado, firmado por los ministros de Agricultura y Comercio, que afectó a los ganaderos vendedores, y por supuesto, a los exportadores, que alistaban un embarque para Oriente Medio.

Aunque algunos dijeron que el decreto los tomaba por sorpresa, Ricardo Sánchez, viceministro de Agricultura, le dijo a El Universal que los exportadores estaban advertidos de esta posibilidad desde septiembre pasado.

El fondo de la disputa es que el Gobierno y Fedegán coinciden en que Colombia no debería exportar ganado en pie, sino sacrificarlo en el país y exportarlo en canal para dejar aquí el valor agregado de ese proceso.

Argumentan que en el cénit de las exportaciones a Venezuela, que pagaba las reses colombianas en pie al doble del precio internacional, el país apenas recibió 200 millones de dólares, mientras que sacrificando las reses aquí, se podrían exportar cerca de 700 millones de dólares de carne en canal más o menos con las mismas cabezas.

La posición del Ministerio y de Fedegán es comprensible para la conveniencia del país, pero los ganaderos –que ganaban un poco más que de costumbre con las exportaciones en pie a Medio Oriente-, la creen una maniobra para favorecer a los frigoríficos y otros intermediarios, mientras que a quienes producen las reses no les entra un solo centavo de más, y el mayor valor queda “agregado” a otros bolsillos.

La esencia de la disputa es la misma de toda la vida. Los ganaderos siempre están casi quebrados, mientras que los intermediarios se lucran de ellos. Ocurre no solo en el mercado de la carne, sino también en el de la leche, donde las procesadoras se quedan con la crema y con la plata, y los productores con casi nada.

Los costos para los ganaderos están desbordados. Por ejemplo, las drogas veterinarias, con poco control de precios, son proporcionalmente mucho más caras que las drogas humanas y el gremio argumenta que así es como los grandes laboratorios farmacéuticos se desquitan del control a la medicina para la gente.

Cuando llega el invierno y aumenta la producción de leche con el pasto verde y abundante, las procesadoras comienzan a bajar los precios al productor, pero jamás le trasladan ese menor costo al consumidor. Igual ocurre con la carne, que casi nunca baja de precio para la gente de la calle, pero siempre desciende para el ganadero.

Como sabrá el lector, más de 80% de los ganaderos colombianos son pequeños, por lo que el sector tiene una importancia social alta. Muchísima gente depende de pocas reses y de tierras reducidas.

El Ministerio de Agricultura y Fedegán deberían abrir una discusión pública nacional y concertar políticas concretas para que no se extinga la ganadería por la pauperización de los ganaderos, y para que compartan las utilidades de los intermediarios de una manera justa. Solo así no habrá desabastecimiento en el país.

Acceso a tecnologías de la información

La Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) declaró el acceso a Internet como un derecho fundamental de los ciudadanos del mundo entero, teniendo en cuenta que este avance tecnológico es la herramienta más poderosa para obtener conocimiento que existe, y uno de los medios educativos más eficaces.

También Internet se ha convertido en la manera más rápida y útil de vigilar las acciones de los gobernantes y él único que garantiza la transparencia plena de la gestión estatal.

Y como si esto fuera poco, es el medio más exitoso para garantizar el ejercicio pleno de la democracia, pues masifica la participación ciudadana en las grandes decisiones gubernamentales.

Si llevamos esta decisión importante de la ONU al ámbito de los países y las ciudades del mundo, es obvio que garantizar el acceso total y equitativo a Internet representa uno de los retos más grandes para cualquier gobernante o quien aspire a serlo.

En tal contexto, sorprende que las personas que han puesto su nombre a consideración de la ciudadanía, con el propósito de lograr su apoyo en la meta de ser elegidos para regir los destinos de Cartagena y Bolívar, no hayan tocado el Internet de ninguna manera en su temática.

En Colombia se ha avanzado mucho en la democratización del acceso a Internet, pero todavía queda mucho por hacer para conseguir la cobertura plena de conexión.

Además, hay mucho más por hacer en la capacitación de los ciudadanos, de manera que puedan aprovechar a fondo las grandes posibilidades que ofrece esta herramienta tecnológica que ha provocada una revolución auténtica del conocimiento.

Es preciso que los primeros pasos que ha dado la Administración distrital de Cartagena en la dotación de computadores y redes de acceso a Internet sean continuados por las próximos mandatarios, de manera que a la vuelta de pocos años, nuestros niños y adolescentes tengan las mismas competencias en el uso de la tecnología que los niños y jóvenes de todo el mundo.

Las aulas digitales que se pusieron al servicio en muchos planteles oficiales de Cartagena deben ser la puerta para que los estudiantes de los estratos más bajos adquieran las destrezas necesarias para tener más oportunidades de formación y desempeño profesional.

Hasta hace poco, los estudiantes de los barrios populares sólo podían entrar a Internet en los centros instalados por el programa presidencial dedicado a masificar el acceso a la tecnología. Hoy cuentan, además, con una entrada en sus propios colegios, la cual debe ser guiada con responsabilidad por profesores preparados y abiertos a las potencialidades creativas innumerables de este medio.

El carácter, la capacidad de trabajo y la creatividad de los ciudadanos del futuro dependen del éxito en la enseñanza sobre el uso de la tecnología que reciban los niños y adolescentes hoy.

También la responsabilidad ciudadana, la consolidación de la transparencia de la gestión gubernamental y la participación ciudadana, dependen de esa formación temprana.

Ahora que se inició el camino de la tecnología a los estudiantes de los colegios oficiales de Cartagena, les corresponde a los siguientes alcaldes recorrerlo hasta el final.

Una revolución cultural entretenida

En una entrevista con el periódico caleño El País, la ministra de Cultura Mariana Garcés, al revelar las bases de la política cultural que está desarrollando desde esa cartera, mencionó algunas experiencias recogidas en su ciudad natal, Cali, que integraron las manifestaciones expresivas populares con prácticas administrativas modernas y eficientes.

La política del Ministerio se ha enfocado en varios objetivos, entre ellos, la promoción a fondo de la lectura y la escritura desde la primera infancia, dotación y modernización de bibliotecas públicas y el fomento a la industria editorial.

No es una tarea fácil ni barata, si se piensa exclusivamente en la inversión pública, pero cuando a este ambicioso proyecto se le suma una gran imaginación y un espíritu emprendedor de gestión, se hace muy factible.

Una de las experiencias en las que la ministra Mariana Garcés participó directamente en Cali fue el proceso de convertir la tradición popular de la salsa, parte indisoluble de la vida e idiosincrasia de los caleños, en una industria rentable y capaz de formar integralmente a las nuevas generaciones.

Ese proceso empezó con la creación de centros culturales en los barrios, para convertir la rumba asociada a la música salsa en un patrimonio que consolidara la formación de los niños y jóvenes, sin despojarla de sus elementos lúdicos y de goce.

Un proceso similar se ha venido gestando en Cartagena con la recuperación de las tradiciones festivas asociadas a la celebración de la Independencia, que todavía está en su etapa de consolidación, pero que ya no puede ser interrumpido ni encausado en otra dirección.

Una estrategia que la Ministra destaca enfáticamente en la entrevista mencionada al principio es la importancia de las campañas de cultura ciudadana, entendidas no como fugaces reiteraciones publicitarias a través de los medios de comunicación, sino como un proyecto de largo plazo que intenta cambiar la vida de la comunidad, sin quebrantar las tradiciones ni eliminar los elementos gozosos que son inherentes a ellas.

Con este mismo criterio, es decir, el de propiciar nuevos comportamientos a través de una interpretación creativa de las tradiciones, la funcionaria se ha propuesto impulsar la cimentación del hábito de la lectura.

Y ha sido especialmente insistente en que ese programa debe empezar y concentrarse en la primera infancia, cuando se están adquiriendo los hábitos que perdurarán toda la vida. Incluso, se ha valido de investigaciones y estudios como el del grupo inglés Bookstart, para cuantificar el retorno de la inversión hecha para que un niño adquiera el hábito de lectura.

Una clave para garantizar el éxito: el goce. No es posible sembrar el hábito de la lectura, si la lectura no es una actividad que entretenga y deleite a los niños. Nada de tareas diarias que son percibidas como aburridas obligaciones académicas. Nada de coartar los intereses y aficiones de los muchachos.

El camino está abierto para ciudades como Cartagena, donde las historias bien contadas hacen parte de la vida cotidiana desde la más tierna infancia.