July 2, 2014
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, corruption, Development, Gambia, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
The fight against dirty money goes global | North Africa.
A s heads of state meet Malabo on 1 July for the African Union (AU) summit, a substantial bombshell is due to drop at the gathering.
It will take the form of a no- holds-barred investigation into the multibillion-dollar losses that state treasuries are suffering across Africa due to what are euphemistically called ‘illicit financial flows.’
A detailed research dossier on how these losses are engineered and the damage they do to Africa’s development chances, along with some hard-hitting recommendations, will be released at the summit.
The report’s authors hope the scale of the losses to African treasuries – $50-100bn a year at a time when the continent is scrabbling for development capital – will prompt serious and practical action from the assembled leaders.
These losses are the ill-gotten gains of grand corruption, criminal fixing of trade prices, tax evasion and money laundering…
Read the original article on Theafricareport.com : The fight against dirty money goes global | North Africa
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June 26, 2014
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, Causes of Conflict, corruption, International Security, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Corruption: The Unrecognized Threat to International Security – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Systemic corruption has an unrecognized bearing on international security. Policymakers and private companies often pay insufficient attention to corruption when deciding what foreign and defense policies to pursue or where to invest. Greater understanding of the nature of acute corruption and its impact on global security would contribute to a better assessment of costs and benefits and therefore to improved policy and practice.
Security Implications of Severe Corruption
- Acute corruption should be understood not as a failure or distortion of government but as a functioning system in which ruling networks use selected levers of power to capture specific revenue streams. This effort often overshadows activities connected with running a state.
- Such systematic corruption evokes indignation in populations, making it a factor in social unrest and insurgency…
June 18, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Education
Africa, Education, Gambia, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
‘Africa Rising’? Not really, unless we invest more in girls – CNN.com.
What factor has the power to transform individual lives, communities, nations and the world?
The answer to this complex question is a simple one: education. While it is widely accepted that there is no one solution to lift the millions across our globe out of poverty, it is also equally accepted that a key cornerstone of addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges is through providing a quality education to all children, especially girls…
June 15, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Proverty, Research
No Money, No Time – NYTimes.com.
THE absurdity of having had to ask for an extension to write this article isn’t lost on me: It is, after all, a piece on time and poverty, or, rather, time poverty — about what happens when we find ourselves working against the clock to finish something. In the case of someone who isn’t otherwise poor, poverty of time is an unpleasant inconvenience. But for someone whose lack of time is just one of many pressing concerns, the effects compound quickly.
We make a mistake when we look at poverty as simply a question of financial constraint. Take what happened with my request for an extension. It was granted, and the immediate time pressure was relieved. But even though I met the new deadline (barely), I’m still struggling to dig myself out from the rest of the work that accumulated in the meantime. New deadlines that are about to whoosh by, a growing list of ignored errands, a rent check and insurance payment that I just realized I haven’t mailed. And no sign of that promised light at the end of the tunnel.
My experience is the time equivalent of a high-interest loan cycle, except instead of money, I borrow time. But this kind of borrowing comes with an interest rate of its own:..
June 9, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, Gambia, Malaria, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
How to Beat Malaria, Once and for All – NYTimes.com.
MAE SOT, Thailand — MALARIA is a seasonal disease; with tropical rains come the fevers. In the news media, malaria is also seasonal. Every spring around World Malaria Day we hear about its devastating effects, including deaths in the hundreds of thousands. This year the reports were encouraging: Infections have been reduced and many lives saved. In May, researchers reported in Science that yet another potential malaria vaccine may be around the corner. Malaria seems to be on the retreat.
But is it really?
Malaria is caused by a tiny parasite, transported by a particular type of mosquito from person to person. Preventing mosquito bites by using insect repellents or nets and clothing treated with insecticides can reduce malaria in some areas. And if people are infected, drugs can be used to kill the parasites in their blood.
But the mosquitoes are constantly adapting and becoming resistant to the chemicals, while at the same time the parasites are adapting and becoming resistant to the drugs. So the fight against malaria is really a race against time in which we try to develop new treatments before they become ineffective, causing millions to die…
June 4, 2014
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, Boko Haram, Gambia, Nigeria, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Boko Haram Members Are Criminals, Not Muslims — OIC | Sahara Reporters.
The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) on Monday publicly expressed its support for Nigeria’s fight against terrorism, saying members of the Boko Haram Islamist sect are criminals and outlaws that should not be considered as Muslims. OIC Secretary-General, Eyad Ameen Madani said this on Monday at the Presidential Villa when he led a delegation to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan. According to Madani, the 57-member organization would continue supporting Nigeria’s efforts to address its terrorism challenge. “We are here to express our solidarity with Nigeria in facing up to this terrorist organisation and to condemn the terrorist acts they have been committing, and to show our condolences to the Nigerian people, to the families of those who were affected”, he said. “The OIC has issued statements that are very clear, that these people are outlaws, what they do is criminal act; it has absolutely nothing to do with Islam, Islamic teachings, the religion of Islam, the history, the culture, the civilization of Islam and we should identify them for what they are as a terrorist group”. Sahara Reporters..
May 29, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, Gambia, Immigration, Migrants, People & Society, peter singhateh
400 migrants break through border fence in Spains African enclave Melilla | World news | theguardian.com.
More than 1,000 sub-Saharan migrants rushed the six-metre razor-wire fence that marks the border of Spain‘s North African enclave of Melilla early on Wednesday morning, with some 400 managing to make it over the towering fence, yelling with joy as they touched Spanish soil.
“There were waves [of people], they were quite difficult to stop,” Juan José Imbroda, the mayor of Melilla, said in a radio interview. Despite efforts by Moroccan and Spanish police to push back the migrants, he said the pressure was so great that “a chunk of the exterior fence gave way”.
On entering Melilla, the jubilant migrants kissed the ground and congratulated each other on making it to Europe. Many of them had spent years travelling across north and sub-Saharan Africa followed by months of living in rough, makeshift campgrounds on the Moroccan side of the border, waiting for an opportune moment to rush the frontier…
May 22, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, Gambia, Illegal Fishing, Logging
Africa losing $17bn to logging annually – News – www.theeastafrican.co.ke.
Africa is losing billions of dollars through illegal fishing and logging, a report released by the Africa Progress Panel chaired by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan said last week.
The report estimates that Africa loses $17 billion every year to loggers and at least $1.3 billion through illegal and unreported fishing in West Africa alone, suggesting that the figures on the eastern and southern coasts of the continent may be higher.
Africa has some of the most prized marine resources in the world, especially on its western and eastern seaboards, making it a magnet for foreign fishing vessels.
The report blames the threat to marine resources on the growing demand for fish in emerging markets and conservation policies in the US and Europe.
Rich nations in the EU, East Asia and Russia allegedly finance the plunder of Africa’s oceans by giving their fishing industries $27 billion in subsidies.
“Part of these subsidies goes to fleets that are implicated in illegal fishing activities in Africa,” the report said.
Many of the illegal logging activities are being played out in the forests of the Congo Basin and beyond…
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