Greenhouse effects: Bakfietsen

Tony Juniper

During a visit to Amsterdam a few years ago, I spotted the locals trundling around on exciting-looking bikes that had a huge wooden cargo bay on the front. Some people had their shopping in the cargo part, while others had a couple of children sitting on a bench in there. The bike is called a bakfiets. I had to get one.
I was on the verge of making a special trip to the Netherlands to track one down when I discovered that a local company was importing them — so I got one from there instead. There are now dealers scattered across the country (for details, visit dutchbike.co.uk).
Ours is bright yellow, and is a wonderful way to cut out some car use while taking exercise. They are ideal for the school run, with straps provided to keep small children in position. Bakfietsen are also great for shopping and, when full, remain remarkably stable. With a seven-speed hub, built-in lights and a really comfortable Dutch-style riding position, they are easy to use, even when loaded. The long wheelbase takes a bit of getting used to, though. The longer version is 2.55 metres; a shorter one comes in at 30cm less.
Lots of families in Amsterdam lock theirs to railings outside the house, but given the high rates of bike theft in many areas, it’s best to have a secure place to keep it. The exposed metal on a bakfiets is stainless steel, so it doesn’t rust. Ours has spent a couple of years living in our back garden and shows no ill effects.
There are various accessories you can get, including a transparent cover to go over the children on wet days.
If you want to increase your range and save your legs, you can get it fitted with an electric motor. A charged battery can take the machine about 20 miles.
Bakfietsen are not cheap, however, and with the pound so weak against the euro, things have got worse — a new one now sells for just over £1,500. If the bike lasts 10 years, though — and it should manage a lot more than that — then the economics look a little more attractive. There are inexpensive Chinese copies on the market, but they are generally regarded as of inferior quality compared with the original Dutch design.
Tony Juniper is an environmental campaigner and former director of Friends of the Earth; tonyjuniper.com

Chinese start carbon-trading scheme

From The Sunday Times
Tricia Holly Davis
China will throw down the gauntlet to western economies and businesses on climate change when it unveils its own emissions-trading scheme this week.
The unexpected move will, for the first time, place limits on the amount of greenhouse gases Chinese industries are allowed to emit.
A delegation from the China Beijing Environmental Exchange, a government-backed platform for trading environmental equity, will outline the details in New York this week at a UN conference on climate change.
China’s entry into the carbon-trading market holds significant implications for businesses and the environment.
The People’s Republic is the world’s largest polluter, accounting for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to the increasing energy demands resulting from industrialisation, China could be responsible for a third of emissions by 2030.
As a result, it dominates the supply side of the global carbon-trading market. Carbon credits are earned from the creation of environmental projects, generally in developing countries.
If China installs a scheme to cap the emissions of its industries, it would create huge demand for new environmental projects, significantly increasing the value of the market.

Moratorium NOW! Coalition Leads Michigan Delegation to National Marchfor Jobs in Pittsburgh

For Immediate Release

Media Advisory
Sunday September 20, 2009
Dateline Detroit, Michigan

Event: Michigan Delegation to Depart For National Jobs March in Pittsburgh
Location: Michigan Center for High Technology, Third at Temple, Detroit
Time: The Bus Will Leave at 6:00am for Pittsburgh
Sponsors: Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs
Contact: 313.671.3715
E-mail: ac6123@wayne.edu
URL: http://www.moratorium-mi.org

Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Lead Michigan Delegation to Pittsburgh for the National March for Jobs to Kickoff Protests Surrounding the G20 Summit

A delegation of people from Detroit and Michigan will attend the National March for Jobs in Pittsburgh on September 20. The march, organized by the Bail Out the People Movement (BOPM), will place a strong emphasis on the need to create 30 million jobs in the United States in response to the worsening economic crisis facing working people and the poor.

Members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition will be joined by unionists, youth activists and anti-war advocates. Tenants from the Highland Towers apartments in Highland Park will be part of the delegation to Pittsburgh. Residents at the Highland Towers have waged a struggle against an illegal lockout and eviction by absentee landlords and DTE Energy, which shutoff their power to the building on August 31. With the support of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and the Legal Aid and Defenders office, the tenants forced DTE Energy to restore power to the building.

The Michigan delegation has been fighting for the governor of the state to declare an economic state of emergency in light of astronomical rates of foreclosure, evictions, utility shutoffs, layoffs and people living without health insurance. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition in June organized a four day People’s Summit and Tent City in downtown Detroit countering the corporate National Business Summit held at the world headquarters of General Motors Corporation. The main slogan of Moratorium NOW! has been: Bailout the People, Not the Banks!

Some of the prominent concerns of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and other members of the Michigan delegation are: the immediate ending of the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the need for an immediate moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs, the adoption of a comprehensive single-payer universal health insurance program, the enactment of a real jobs program to address large-scale unemployment and poverty as well as other important issues.

Michigan delegates feel strongly that they must make their presence felt at the National Jobs March in Pittsburgh since this state has been at the center of the world economic crisis and the burgeoning fightback movement to win justice for working people and the poor.

Members of the Michigan delegation are available for comment by contacting the numbers listed above.

Abayomi Azikiwe
Media Liaison
Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs

Italian researchers find rare black coral forest

Italian researchers said on Thursday they had found one of the largest forests of rare black coral in the world off southern Italy and a related coral species never before studied in its natural habitat.

Investigators said they used a remote-controlled submarine to film the forest of Antipathes subpinnata coral, spanning an area the size of two soccer pitches, submerged at a depth of 50-100 meters between mainland Italy and the island of Sicily. Marine biologists at Italy’s Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) found almost 30,000 colonies of Antipathella subpinnata coral at a depth of between 55 and 100 meters.

“In that stretch of water, images taken by the robot showed a seascape completely dominated by spectacular tree-like colonies of black coral, some more than 1 meter (3.3 feet) high. This is the first time these rare species are observed in their natural habitat,” one of the biologists said.

The narrow stretch of water where the coral was found is known as the Strait of Messina, where the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis swallowed sailors and ships, hides this area of the world’s largest forest of black coral.

A living organism that grows like a plant in deep sea waters, black coral derives its scientific name from the Greek words “anti,” for against, and “pathos,” for disease. Indeed, black coral amulets were once believed to protect against diseases and evil spirits.

Officials said they were not disclosing the exact location of the discovery for fear that treasure hunters could plunder the rare coral, used to make jewelry.

“The coral we found has a great value, primarily because of its rarity,” said Silvestro Greco, head of the environment agency for the southern Italian region of Calabria.

“If somebody with no conscience knew exactly where they were, I think there would be risks. That’s why we have not really disclosed where they are.”

Black coral’s living tissue is brightly colored, but it takes its name from the distinctive black or dark brown color of its skeleton, highly prized as an adornment. It is listed as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Simone Canese, chief researcher of the 1 million euro exploration project which has been running since 2005, said progress in underwater technology was permitting breakthroughs in the filming and study of new marine habitats.

“We found an extremely rare species of black coral, ‘Antipathes dicotoma‘, (left) that had never been observed alive in its environment. There were only 5 fragments of it kept in museums,” Canese told Reuters.

“With the recent increase in underwater exploration, more of them may be discovered but we have provided the first images of them, alive, in their environment.”

Source:
Reuters, “Italian researchers find rare black coral forest“, accessed September 17, 2009
Discovery News, “Vast Black Coral Forest found“, accessed September 17, 2009

Nigerian Officials: ‘District 9′ Not Welcome Here

Nigerian officials: ‘District 9′ not welcome here

By BASHIR ADIGUN
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 19, 2009 8:02 PM

ABUJA, Nigeria — One of the summer’s biggest blockbusters - a sci-fi morality tale about aliens and apartheid - is not welcome in Nigeria because of its portrayal of Nigerians as gangsters and cannibals, Nigeria’s information minister said Saturday.

Information Minister Dora Akunyili has asked movie houses in the capital of Abuja to stop screening “District 9″ because the South Africa-based sci-fi movie about aliens and discrimination makes Nigerians look bad.

“We have directed that they should stop public screening of the film,” she said. “We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light.”

Akunyili said she has asked Sony for an apology and wants them to edit out references to Nigeria and to the name of the main Nigerian gangster Obesandjo, whose name closely resembles that of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“We have written to the producer and distributor of the film, Sony Entertainment, expressing our displeasure and demanded an apology,” she said. “We have asked that the areas where Nigeria and Obasanjo are mentioned should be edited from the film.”

She and other government officials first saw the movie Wednesday during a private screening.

In one scene, Obesandjo tries to cut off and eat the arm of the film’s protagonist, in an attempt to gain his supernatural powers. In others, Nigerian prostitutes are seen courting alien customers.

The film’s portrayal of Nigerians has also drawn the ire of critics and bloggers, and has spawned a Facebook page called “Nigerians Offended by ‘District 9,’” which had 57 members on Saturday.

Corlize Luttig, marketing manager for the South African cinema chain Ster-Kinekor, who represent Sony in South Africa, said they had no comment on the request by Akunyili. Ster-Kinekor does not distribute to Nigeria, she said.

Luttig said they were still waiting for comment from Sony’s head office in Los Angeles.

“District 9″ tells the story of an alien ship that mysteriously comes to hover over the South African city of Johannesburg. Its inhabitants are separated from the human population and segregated into a walled area known as District 9. But after nearly 30 years, government officials aim to relocate the extraterrestrials, with disastrous results.

The film is first feature from commercial and music-video director Neill Blomkamp, who co-wrote the script with Terri Tatchell. The film, which features a cast of mostly unknown South African actors, got its big-name backing from producer and “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson.

The film brought in some US$37 million (euro25.16 million) during its U.S. debut weekend in August. In its five-week run at U.S. theaters, it has brought in an estimated US$108,000,000 (euro73,444,406.66), according to studio estimates.

Associated Press writer Celean Jacobson in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

ZANU-PF Women’s League Faces Deadlock at Conference

Deadlock at conference

By Fortious Nhambura and Sydney Kawadza

Elections to select a new Zanu-PF Women’s League executive ended early this morning following a deadlock that had to be resolved by secret ballot over who should occupy the posts of secretary for the commissariat and secretary for national security after Mashonaland East and Masvingo failed to agree on how the seats should be shared.

The deadlock was the culmination of tense leadership contests at the party’s Fifth Women’s League national conference.

Both provinces wanted to provide the secretary for the commissariat with Mashonaland East proffering Cde Olivia Muchena as its candidate, while Masvingo wanted Cde Shuvai Mahofa.

National chairman Cde John Nkomo then ordered Women’s League members to conduct a secret ballot but the results were not available late last night.

Normally, Zanu-PF conducts its elections through open acclamation and the decision to go into a secret ballot indicated the need for a more formal process to break the deadlock.

Cde Muchena won the poll and was declared the new secretary for the commissariat, leaving Cde Mahofa with the post of secretary for security.

The election delayed the conclusion of the conference, opened by President Mugabe on Thursday. The President is scheduled to close the conference this morning.

The Women’s League did not fill the posts of secretaries for gender and culture and for finance after delegates from Mashonaland West failed to agree among themselves on the two candidates they were asked to nominate for the positions.

Delegates from the province were divided between Cde Sabina Mugabe and Cde Sarah Mahoko for secretary for finance while the province nominated Cde Hilda Bhobho and Cde Bybit Tsomondo for the post of secretary for gender and culture.

At one point police had to be called in to restrain the factions that were quarrelling over who should fill which post.

Twice, national chairman Cde Nkomo had to call for order and threaten to evict the province from the conference as the delegates shouted each other down.

The province was given two weeks to settle its differences or risk losing the posts to another province.

“We will not allow one province to hold the whole conference at ransom.

“We will skip the posts for now so that you can go and sort yourselves out and come back with your representatives,” said Cde Nkomo.

In a straightforward election, Cde Eunice Sandi was retained as the deputy secretary of the Women’s League.

The secretary of the league will be chosen at the national congress to be held in December.

Cde Oppah Muchunguri is the current leader of the league.

Cde Agnes Dete was elected secretary for external relations; Cde Thokozile Mathuthu came in as secretary for transport and welfare; while Cde Monica Mutsvangwa was elected secretary for information and publicity.

Cde Tambudzani Mohadi was elected secretary for legal and women’s rights with Cde Abigail Damasane being elected the secretary for production and labour.

The secretary for health and child welfare is Cde Lilian Zemura while Cde Judith Ncube is the secretary for land and resettlement.

Cde Dorothy Kadungure came into the executive as the secretary for education.

The post of secretary for science and technology was reserved for Harare, which was not represented at the conference because it is still to choose its provincial executive.

In an interview, Cde Muchinguri said the women had resolved among other things to seek 50-50 representation in all Government and party positions in line with Sadc and African Union resolutions on equal gender representation.

She reiterated that the league had unanimously agreed to endorse President Mugabe, who is also the party’s First Secretary, as Zanu-PF’s candidate for President in elections that will be held when the constitution-making process is complete.

“We also resolved to seek our own constitution as the women just like other sister parties in the region where the Women’s League is a semi-autonomous body that governs its operations but reports to the main wing.

“This will give us the freedom to hold our own elections without interference from the men. As an organ of the party there is a lot of influence from men, who tell our delegates to support one candidate and not the other,” she said.

Cde Muchinguri said the women’s conference had resolved to support the constitution-making process but only if it was homegrown and funded, saying Western funding would negatively affect the outcome.

She, however, implored Government to make inputs available to women farmers in time so that they could produce food for their families and the nation.

UZ, ZDF partner in degree programme

Herald Reporter

THE National Defence College in Harare will now offer Bachelor of Science (Honours) Political Science and Master of Science in International Relations degrees in conjunction with the University of Zimbabwe.

The degrees will be administered and overseen by UZ staff.

Officially launching the degree programmes, UZ Vice Chancellor Professor Levi Nyagura said the normal enrolment criteria and qualifications would be observed and would be based on merit.

He said lessons begin next week Monday with an initial enrolment of 25 senior Zimbabwe Defence Forces officers.

ZDF Commander, General Consta-ntine Chiwenga thanked the UZ for its assistance and stressed that enrolment would not be based on rank within the force.

“The selection criteria to attend the programme are very strict. They are based on merit so as to preserve UZ standards. The officers will attend lectures at the National Defence College from 4-7pm,” he said.

General Chiwenga said the UZ lecturers should not be afraid to teach factual political information.

“ZDF offers a very democratic environment for conducting lessons. While we were fighting with the Rwandese and Ugandans in the DRC we were also training some of them here. We would teach them our way of fighting but would also tell them that we would not spare them on the battlefield just because we were in the same class,” he said.

Prof Nyagura said the senior officers would be treated like UZ students and would write the same examinations as UZ students. Among the pioneer students are General Chiwenga — who earlier this year was named best student in the Zimbabwe Open University MBA programme — ,the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence Mr Petros Machaya, Zimbabwe National Army Commander Lieutenant-General Phillip Sibanda, and senior Air Force of Zimbabwe officers.

Prof Nyagura said there would be a provision for suspension of studies for students going on external assignments.

“Suspension of studies should be done in writing and students would resume lectures upon their return,” he said.

Former Central Intelligence Agency Directors Call For End toInterrogation Probe by Justice Department

Saturday, September 19, 2009
00:19 Mecca time, 21:19 GMT

Call for US interrogation probe end

Holder has ordered a fresh investigation into the scope of interrogations during the Bush era

Seven former directors of the US Central Intelligence Agency have urged the president to abandon a criminal investigation into interrogation techniques used against terror suspects during the Bush administration.

The ex-heads of the CIA, who served under both Democratic and Republican presidents, sent a letter to Barack Obama on Friday calling for the investigation to be cancelled.

Eric Holder, the US attorney-general, said last week that he was appointing an independent investigator to assess whether CIA interrogations had gone beyond guidelines set by the Bush administration.

While George W Bush was in office, the US justice department prosecuted one case after an investigation into CIA interrogation techniques.

David Passaro, a CIA contractor, was convicted and sentenced to eight years for beating an Afghan detainee in 2007. The detainee later died.

‘Investigations undermined’

“If criminal investigations closed by career prosecutors during one administration can so easily be reopened at the direction of political appointees in the next, declinations of prosecution will be rendered meaningless,” the former CIA directors said in their letter to the White House.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The seven former directors include Michael Hayden, Porter Goss and George Tenet, who served under Bush.

John Deutch and James Woolsey, who worked for Bill Clinton; William Webster, who served under George HW Bush; and James Schlesinger, who ran the agency under Richard Nixon, are also signatories to the letter.

The ex-directors said that Obama should cancel Holder’s decision to reopen the investigation of interrogations conducted by CIA staff after the attacks on September 11, 2001.

Paul Gimigliano, a spokesman for the CIA, said that it the agency is co-operating with the justice department review but that it will defend its agents.

“The (CIA) director has stood up for those who followed legal guidance on interrogation, and he will continue to do so,” Gimigliano said.

Panetta opposed

The former directors said that criminal investigations against CIA staff could discourage officers from conducing aggressive intelligence work that they argue is needed to counter terrorism.

Foreign governments may also be less likely to grant intelligence findings to the CIA in future if the investigations go ahead, they said.

“As a result of the zeal on the part of some to uncover every action taken in the post-9/11 period, many countries may decide that they can no longer safely share intelligence or cooperate with us on future counter-terrorist operations,” the letter said.

“They simply cannot rely on our promises of secrecy.”

Leon Panetta, the current CIA director, also opposes Holder’s order for an investigation, although he did not sign the letter to Obama.

“I think the reason I felt the way I did is because I don’t believe there’s a basis there for any kind of additional action,” Panetta said earlier this week.

“My concern is … that we don’t get trapped by the past. My feeling is ultimately, we’re going to be able to move on.”

Source: Agencies

Uganda News Update: Eyewitness to Riots; Museveni Targets Media

Commentary: Analysis

Eyewitness to riots in Uganda

Riots have ensued in Uganda where authorities have refused the leader of the largest ethnic group, the Baganda, to travel freely. A eyewitness tells of shootings and mayhem.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
by Martyn Drakard

I had gone to an optician in the local mall to collect my new glasses. They told me an employee was bringing them over from the workshop, but had got caught up in a riot. We’ll call you when they’re ready, they told me. Outside in the street, Kampala’s down-town traffic was getting away fast. It was 3:00 PM on Thursday, September 10. By 7:00 PM the streets were deserted; only gun-shots could be heard, and the smoke from teargas and burning tires. Kampalans love music and every night, there’s a drum beat or Lingala rhythm somewhere in the distance. Not Thursday night.

On Friday business didn’t take off; shooting throughout the day. No music on Friday night, the first time in the past 25 years. The whole day everyone was asking each other: would the Kabaka go to this remote corner of his kingdom, Kayunga, and thereby challenge the military and risk more bloodshed or would he cancel the visit for humanitarian reasons? Neither, as it happened. He decided to postpone the visit, but still plans to go.

Saturday morning we heard the Kabaka wouldn’t go. Relief! But no, more gunshots, this time right outside my house. Someone had spread the rumor that the Kabaka had been arrested; others were disappointed he’d put off the visit, hoping for a show-down. Shoot-outs the whole morning. There came a thunderstorm, which dampened spirits. Fighting stopped, just in time for the Arsenal-Manchester City soccer match, live on DSTV. The rioters lay down their rocks and stones. All the same, no music Saturday either. Just in case.

Sunday was peaceful.

Total count: by Monday, over twenty dead and 550 arrested; thirty vehicles and other property destroyed.

Why the riots? Because a head-of-state refuses to allow a local king, whose powers are cultural not political, to travel freely within his own kingdom, a kingdom which the present head-of-state himself restored in 1993. The Baganda are Uganda’s largest “ethnic group”, or as they will tell you “nation”, and are very proud of their tradition. The capital of Uganda, Kampala, happens to be in the center of their kingdom, and where their parliament is. The kingdom goes back 700 years. When the British arrived over one hundred years ago, they were impressed by the kingdom’s organisation and many aspects of the culture of the Baganda, made an agreement with them and used their services for the administration of the rest of the protectorate.

Any national ruler of the Republic of Uganda has to learn how to cope with the “Baganda factor”. One Muganda explained to me that, strictly speaking, the king, being of royal blood, cannot just answer the phone call of the president, who is a “commoner”; he must deal with him through the king’s ministers. For President Museveni, who is a soldier who won Uganda’s present peace through a bush war, this is hard to swallow. But many Baganda gave their lives for this war, and think they should be rewarded for this. The reward was to restore their kingdom and leader, with his cultural powers, and have this enshrined in the constitution. Not to allow their king to travel freely within his kingdom, because a minority group (some 2.7 per cent of the Kayunga population) threatens to endanger his life is a lame excuse, and a betrayal of a promise. The army and police are there to protect the king, not prevent him from travelling because they say they cannot guarantee his safety.

Who were the rioters? The “bayaye”, uneducated, unemployed youth who have drifted into city looking for work or who were raised in the slums, who have nothing to lose, and even welcome arrest, since it gives them publicity; and three nights in a police cell removes worries about where they’ll find food. For them throwing rocks at police and setting vehicles on fire, or roughing up passers-by who refuse to join them in the mayhem is a break from the usual boredom. Besides, lobbing stones at police and ducking the bullets and tear gas, and playing hide-and seek in the ever-expanding shanties within Kampala makes up for the traditional rural initiation they missed out on by growing up in the city’s back alleyways.

The Baganda factor won’t go away. It’s as deep as “roots”, even among the young generation; it gives them an identity they would otherwise not have. The present regime has just acted rashly, and lost Baganda goodwill. The presidential and general elections are due in eighteen months’ time, and every presidential move is judged in this light, especially this latest one.

President Museveni should be reaching out to the Baganda, not alienating them. The fact that four Luganda radio stations have been closed will alienate even further, including Radio Sapienta, a Catholic one, and a radio talk-show host charged with sedition will only add oil to the flames. These are the radio stations public taxi passengers listen to while going to work; they are a forum for debate. The riots may have stopped, but a further thoughtless, stray spark could start off another fire.

Martyn Drakard is a freelance writer based in Africa

Kampala riots: What angered the State

Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi

AT the height of the two-day riots in different parts of Buganda that left 21 people dead and hundreds more seriously injured, the Uganda Broadcasting Council suspended four radio stations plus one TV programme, for allowing ill-intentioned individuals to use their airwaves to mobilise rioters to disrupt public peace.

The radios are Central Broadcasting Services (CBS), Kaboozi Ku bbiri, Radio Sapientia, Ssuubi FM, plus Kibazo On Friday, a programme on WBS TV. Of these, only Radio Sapientia has been cleared to resume broadcasting. Below, Sunday Vision brings you some of the statements aired on different radios and the TV programme, which may have prompted their suspension.

CBS September 10, 2009 Moses Kasibante’s programme
Lubaga Councillor Ssalongo Lukanga called on all people of Lubaga to assemble at Bulange to escort the Kabaka to Kayunga but advised them to come well prepared to engage the enemy who might attack the Kabaka.

Special Announcement on CBS FM
The councillor of Rubaga III and also the Uganda Young Democrats (UYD) Chairman of that area, Emmanuel Lwanga and Joseph Mujuzi, called upon all the people, most especially the youth and well wishers of the Kabaka and Buganda to go and be with Kabaka in Bugerere during the time of oppression that Buganda was going through.

They were advised to go dressed in canvas shoes and jeans. They had to arrive in Bugerere on September 11 so that the Kabaka finds them there on Saturday 12. They were all requested not to work on Saturday but instead go and fight for the throne and Buganda.

“Buganda has been in existence for more than 100 years when Uganda is just 47 years old and the current government is just 23 years. Buganda existed, still exists and will forever exist,” they said.

Callers:
Sheikh Mugenyi Asooka Kyabaggu asked Kizza Besigye to command them and all opposition political parties to raid State
House and oust the dictator.

In response, Besigye urged Buganda to come out and show that it is not there to be used, even when the people used by government are Baganda like ministers, the vice-president who he saw and heard say that he does not want federo.

On September 6, Mengo Deputy Minister for Information Medard Seggona Lubega said:
“Kimeze has been loyal to the Kabaka of Buganda and he even bought certificates from Buganda government but we know that it is the government of Uganda that is making him disobey his king (Kabaka)”.

Radio Sapientia
September 11 Press Review phone in programme
Maurice Nakayima said: We at Kisekka Market are ready to die for the Kabaka and we are ready to go to Kayunga.

Angel said: I read the Observor, they said Museveni has bought all the strong Members of Parliament to be on his side to fail the Kabaka and when I heard Tamale Mirundi abusing Buganda I wondered because he first abused the President of Uganda. Iam a student but am going to abandon my lectures and go to Kayunga, if I die, it will be God’s wish’.

Buuka in Mukono said: Maybe this is a plan by this government to make history by killing a lot of Baganda at the same spot which is what is going to happen in Bugerere because we are not going to give up.

Ssekasamba from Kibuli said: Let people be patient and wait for tomorrow because the President once said that bloodshed leads to peace (ensi egula milambo) and he has already killed many of our people, so we will not fear death.

Akaboozi Ku Bbiri
September 11, Kalasamanyanzi programme
Bassajjamivule, the programme host, said I have come out of sick leave to fight for my Kabaka using this radio. A bad singer sings with his people. Museveni blames Obote for having caused the 1966 crisis and yet he is following what Obote did. Bugerere is a well known Buganda territory and when Museveni appoints Ssabanyala in Bugerere, he is trying to set the precedent for the next crisis.

Suubi FM
On September 11, 2009 Suubi FM’s Katende Mukwaba and Tamale as they received and gave updates on the situation in the city said:
“Police which was deployed acted in an unacceptable manner by shooting unnecessarily forcing students who were returning home to flee.”

Callers:
Isaac Mutyaba said: We in Shauriako have not gone to work. The Kabaka is under arrest and Buganda is in a state of doom. But we, the Baganda, still stand by our Kabaka. Whoever will point a finger at the Kabaka, will be attacked with an axe’.

Eng. Katumba said: Security officers are shooting people with live ammunition and have just killed a person in front of me. So I would like to inform all the people of Kawempe that transport to Kayunga is available and we shall be departing at exactly 9:00am.

The host in studio said: ‘I call on all Baganda to sing the Buganda anthem putting into consideration its meaning and we leave the choice to the people to decide what should be done but for us we need them alive’.

Mutabani wa federo Eric of Lubugumu said: I’m reporting all those people who have not come out to die for the cause of Buganda. Let people rise up and fight for Buganda

Robert Kalundi Sserumaga, WBS TV Kibazo on Friday Talkshow:
I’m sorry to say we are also suffering from what seems to be very poor quality breeding, or very poor quality upbringing on the part of Museveni, ok?

The word Mukopi can be taken at two levels but he has shown that he is incapable of understanding basic good manners; he is not going to tell us that government is so concerned about a cultural minority in Bugerere called the Banyala, when the Bahima and the Bahinda in Ankole have said they also want their kingdom and they were told no.

They were told you can’t have a kingdom in Ankole because you are a minority that the majority of the Banyankole don’t want a kingdom, therefore, you in a minority cannot have one. You see if you are acting in good faith, you create one policy and it applies to everybody…

So my point is this, you might think that am attacking him personally, am not. I’m saying that if you have been brought up in an organised way, you understand systems and processes, you understand how an organised home is supposed to run. If you can’t understand that, you cannot understand the concept of a constitution…

If Museveni, because of his character or his upbringing or whatever have failed to understand organised constitutional processes, that’s his problem….

Kampala Central MP Erias Lukwago on Akaboozi ku Bbiri:
It is high time the Baganda realise that the institution of Buganda is in total crisis and they should get prepared for what is likely to happen. President Museveni has got a systematic plan to weaken Buganda. He started with the appointment of Ssabaruuli, the arrest of three Mengo officials, inauguration of Bibanja holders association on Buganda land and finally the appointment of the Ssabanyala of Bugerere where he never existed before.

The Kabaka’s proposed visit to Bugerere on Saturday will prove to the whole of Uganda that the institution of the Kabaka will stand or collapse. Every Muganda should close his shop or her business to escort the Kabaka to Bugerere. Whoever remains behind will be seen as an enemy of Buganda.

In these moments when the Kabaka is defenseless, whom do you think will defend him and what are the Baganda waiting for?

Owekitiibwa Seggona has told all the Baganda to sharpen their pangas, spears and arrows to defend their Kabaka since the government has removed his security.

Betty Nambooze on CBS FM:
We should all accept that Uganda is now a failed state where all the concerned departments of the government have neglected their duties. Now a few people with power can eat and make a living, leaving the weak to die; that the jungle law is applicable in Uganda.

The habit of killing land owners in Uganda when the Kabaka is the main landlord cannot spare him. Tamale Mirundi should not be blamed because he works on the orders from his master who is President Museveni.

The President sends him on radios to tell people to kill their landlord. After these people have killed the landlords, the Tamales turn against them and arrest them. Their plan is to kill the Kabaka under the disguise of killing landlords.

Published on: Saturday, 19th September, 2009

IMF Approves $13bn Gold Sale to Aid Poor States

IMF approves $13bn gold sale to aid poor states

Sep 19 2009 09:32

The International Monetary Fund has approved a sale of 403 metric tonnes of gold reserves, in a move likely to raise $13-billion of cash to replenish its coffers for lending to low-income countries hit by the global economic downturn.

The sale amounts to roughly an eighth of the institution’s stockpile of the precious metal and comes as gold prices hit record highs, boosted by investors seeking safety away from volatile stockmarkets.

Dominque Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s managing director, said sales would be conducted in a “responsible and transparent manner that avoids disruption to the gold market”. Speaking after a meeting of the IMF’s executive committee, he said the initiative would “put the financing of the IMF on a sound long-term footing and enable us to step up much needed concessional lending to the poorest countries”.

Among those pushing for the IMF to raise funds was Gordon Brown, who urged his counterparts to agree a sale at a meeting of G20 countries in London in April.

Charities have also been pressing for a sale of gold. A coalition including Oxfam and the campaigner Bob Geldof has been urging the IMF to raise as much as $5-billion.

Possible buyers for some of the gold include China, Russia and India, which are keen to reduce their holdings of US dollars, wary of the size of America’s burgeoning budget deficit. A portion of the gold is likely to be auctioned on the open market.

The price of gold has topped $1 012 a troy ounce in recent months, slipping by $3,10 on Friday to $1 009,20. A single troy ounce is roughly 31,1 grams.

The last time the IMF sold a significant quantity of gold was in 2000, when the 186-nation Washington-based institution was prompted to raised funds by economic crises in Brazil and Mexico.

A portion of the proceeds from the gold sale will go towards establishing a permanent endowment for the IMF — a project which has raised opposition among conservative critics who view it as a way for the IMF to guarantee its existence. - guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009

Source: Mail & Guardian Online
Web Address: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-09-19-imf-approves-13bn-gold-sale-to-aid-poor-states