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How Illicit Financial Flows Drain African Economies | Open Society Foundations (OSF)

April 22, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, corruption, Development, Gambia, Money Laundery, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

How Illicit Financial Flows Drain African Economies | Open Society Foundations (OSF).

“African economies have lost between $597 billion and $1.4 trillion in illicit financial flows in the past three decades. That’s nearly equal to the entire continent’s current gross domestic product. This plunder results in missed development opportunities, increased poverty, and continued injustice.

While many African nations are experiencing unprecedented economic growth, illicit financial flows (IFFs) prevent this growth from translating into better overall living conditions for Africans…”

A good man in Rwanda

April 17, 2014

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Genocide, Peace & Security, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

A good man in Rwanda.

Capt Diagne, the subject of the BBC documentary A Good Man in Rwanda, was “the greatest hero the UN has ever had” and the medal must be named after him, Prince Zeid told the UN Security Council.

The BBC’s international development correspondent Mark Doyle says the story of Capt Diagne is still not very well known.

But after extensive research a BBC team was able to conclude that he had personally saved hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in 100 days.

Happiness and Its Discontents – NYTimes.com – NYTimes.com

April 16, 2014

Peter Singhatey Uncategorized Happiness, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Happiness and Its Discontents – NYTimes.com – NYTimes.com.

What does it mean to be happy?

The answer to this question once seemed obvious to me. To be happy is to be satisfied with your life. If you want to find out how happy someone is, you ask him a question like, “Taking all things together, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?”…

Illicit Financial Flows: The Elephant in the Room at the EU-Africa Summit | Think Africa Press

April 7, 2014

Peter Singhatey Politics Africa, Conflict, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Illicit Financial Flows: The Elephant in the Room at the EU-Africa Summit | Think Africa Press.

“A $35 million mansion in California, artwork totaling €18 million ($25 million), and a $33 million dollar private jet.

These sound like items purchased by the world’s wealthiest oligarchs, Hollywood actors or investment bank CEOs, right?

Well, they were actually acquired by Teodorin Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang. When Teodoro convenes with other leaders for this week’s EU-Africa summit, a wide range of topics will be covered, but there’s one issue in particular that should be given a loudspeaker during the talks in Brussels: illicit financial flows.

Africa and Europe have a unique financial relationship. It is one marked by illicit capital flowing out of African countries and into bank accounts in financial centres across the EU. While the younger Obiang’s official salary is less than $7,000 per month, he managed to spend more than $315 million between 2004 and 2011 on sports cars, beachfront mansions, lavish apartments, and even some Michael Jackson memorabilia. And Teodorin is just the tip of the iceberg….”

Why corruption remains a way of life in the public service in Africa – Opinion – nation.co.ke

March 17, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, corruption, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh 2 Comments

Why corruption remains a way of life in the public service in Africa – Opinion – nation.co.ke.

When colonialism ended, Africans made no attempt to establish a link between the people and the government.

Government remained a hostile entity that has no real attachment to the mwananchi.

Growing up in the village, the other boys and I would run away when we spotted policemen at a distance for absolutely no reason.

That’s because to society, the government, i.e. the public service, is a threat to be feared, not a legitimate entity concerned with the public interest.

This is the mind-set of public servants and elected officials who see ‘public money’ as nobody’s money that is therefore fair game.

It belongs to the ‘government’ not to the people. In Sweden or Japan, on the other hand, every single coin in the hands of a public official is seen as belonging to the society at large and something to be treasured and put to the right use.

To eliminate corruption in Africa, we must rethink the African state. We must ask ourselves how to re-establish its legitimacy and get everyone to understand the link between taxation and delivery of public goods and why stealing public funds is the same as robbing a grandmother in Kangemi who pays a huge amount of tax on her jerrycan of paraffin…”

Why Black Women Die of Cancer – NYTimes.com

March 17, 2014

Peter Singhatey Medical, Research Black Americans, Cancer, Education, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Why Black Women Die of Cancer – NYTimes.com.

“SINCE the early 1970s, studies have shown that black Americans have a higher death rate from cancer than any other racial or ethnic group. This is especially true when it comes to breast cancer. A study published last week in the journal Cancer Epidemiology found that, in a survey of 41 of America’s largest cities, black women with breast cancer are on average 40 percent more likely to die than their white counterparts.

The principal reason for this disparity is the disconnect between the nation’s discovery and delivery enterprises — between what we know and what we do about sick Americans…”

ISS Africa | The post-2015 Development Agenda: new goals, no goals – or own goals?

February 24, 2014

Peter Singhatey Reports Africa, Development, Gambia, MDGs, People & Society Leave a comment

ISS Africa | The post-2015 Development Agenda: new goals, no goals – or own goals?.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for all their doubtless faults, had this one great virtue: they encapsulated the whole, sprawling and often rather arcane development issue into eight universal, simple, concrete, comprehensible and measurable development targets, to be reached mainly by 2015.

From halving absolute poverty and hunger to reducing infant mortality by two-thirds, the goals were clear and tangible, which made them relatively easy to brand and market. Being measurable, they would, of course, quite clearly show success or failure. And as the deadline looms, it is apparent that in sub-Saharan Africa especially, failure will be far more common than success…