‘Food security is security’: Brazil’s urban farm success story

 Brazil’s vulnerable communities embrace urban farming as food insecurity rises during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every week, Ezequiel Dias, an urban farmer, knocks on the doors of his community’s red-brick, makeshift houses with a delivery of fresh sweet potatoes, pumpkins, onions, cabbage and herbs.

He checks to see if the families require additional help. Some need facemasks, others need soap. But few are hungry. Many of his neighbours – the majority of whom are informal workers, who make up approximately 60 percent of Rio de Janeiro’s labour force, with little-to-no savings – have been unable to work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 44-year-old Manguinhos resident knows the grim reality well. Many years ago, he too was at rock bottom. “I was unemployed for five years, helpless, with my family at home to feed,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Then suddenly, the Manguinhos vegetable garden project appeared and turned my life around,” he added.

The Horta de Manguinhos project (Manguinhos vegetable garden), an urban agriculture initiative and Latin America’s largest community farm is helping at least 800 families survive the coronavirus outbreak, as well as employing more than 20 local workers at a time when Brazil grapples with a pandemic-battered economy.

Dias, who has been employed by the project since it launched in 2013, is now providing seeds of hope to many of the 32,000 residents of Rio’s North Zone Manguinhos complex, one of the city’s poorest clusters of favelas.

According to a 2015 study by Brisbane’s Griffith University, the demographics and standard of poverty in the area are bleak.

More than 15 percent of teenage women have children and in some areas, unemployment is more than 50 percent, making Manguinhos’s Human Development Index as little as 0.65 percent, among the five lowest in Rio de Janeiro, said the report, which was conducted between 2010 and 2015.

‘Our lives are always a fight’

Hortas Cariocas, which founded the Manguinhos vegetable garden project, is one of the few municipal-led social development initiatives that aim to alleviate poverty in communities like Manguinhos. The project was founded to solve food insecurity, boost the local economy and provide fresh, affordable food to residents who would often go weeks without meat or vegetables.

“When we wanted to create the farm 15 years ago, the first thing we thought was that the poor can’t afford to eat organic. The poor need to eat organic, without having to spend a fortune in the supermarket,” explained Julio Cesar Barros, creator of the Hortas Carioca Project.

In collaboration with the Manguinhos Residents Association and with municipal and federal funding, the project supplies workers with training, basic equipment and enough food to take home to their families weekly. In accordance with its guidelines, they must also distribute part of the produce to at-risk members. The rest is sold commercially to Brazilian distributors.

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, commercial trading was suspended on March 27 last year to ensure the two tonnes of monthly produce feed as many struggling local families as possible.

“Today I live from this farm,” said Dias, the farmer. “Given that we are a poor community with countless socioeconomic problems – where access to proper sanitation, employment and education is often a struggle – our daily lives are always a fight. But thank God we have managed to survive this pandemic. This farm has kept our community alive.”

Social tools

The employees also believe the educational and social tools provided by the farm are just as important as the production itself.

“This farm fell from the sky. It has meant that my family has not gone hungry this year,” 69-year-old Diane da Silva, a farmworker and grandmother who has worked on the site since 2013, told Al Jazeera. Given that many women in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas often support their families alone, she said her family might not still be standing had it not been for the project.

In a country where the use of agrochemicals has soared under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the farm has also taught the urban gardener how to lead a healthier life. “Before, I did not know that vegetables and herbs without pesticides existed,” she said.

Cesar Barros believes that offering residents local opportunities could help generate a shift away from violence and crime that has plagued favelas.

“Some of our employees were involved in drugs and crime before. This is why we say that the project’s surname is rescuing lives,” said Cesar Barros.

The Manguinhos vegetable garden project is particularly important given the favela’s turbulent past of drug trafficking and violent shootouts.

Previously under the control of the Red Command drug lords, for decades residents lived in a state of perpetual violence where public shootouts between traffickers, rival factions and state military forces were the norm. In 2012, State Pacification Police Units invaded the favela with 1,300 troops, helicopters and tanks.

Following pacification, the city bulldozed a dilapidated piece of land the size of four football pitches that was formerly one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest “Cracklands”. While many criticise the pacification’s brutality, others believe the Manguinhos farm has been one of its success stories, painting a brighter image and better quality of life for its citizens.

“If you would have come to this space before, you would have run away. There were drug addicts smoking crack 24/7. It was unbearable,” said Erivaldo Lira, president of the Manguinhos Residents Association.

‘Food security is security’

Before the Manguinhos vegetable garden project existed, the favela residents who lived above the original site of the urban farm would encounter dismal conditions. Improving the quality of life does not have a price, said Lira’s business partner, Cesar Barros.

“We’ve taken Manguinhos from the violent police pages and put it on positive pages. We’ve transformed an extremely toxic area to a source for good. People ask: Isn’t safety a concern here? My response is always: food security is security. That’s what matters,” he added.

With unemployment soaring during the pandemic and after 300 Brazilian real ($52.85) emergency monthly cash payments ended in December, residents often say they fear hunger more than the virus itself.

Environmentalists say Manguinhos is a symbol for the scope of urban-architectural initiatives that are likely to spout up in the city in the coming years.“With other smaller-scale urban farming projects, we already produce more than 80 tonnes of produce which benefits over 20,000 families. And the initiatives keep coming,” Eduardo Cacaliere, the city of Rio de Janeiro’s environment secretary, told Al Jazeera.

“To support food security for as many families as possible, we are committed to expanding the vegetable garden programme, with great care and considering the severe budget restrictions by the City hall. The Manguinhos vegetable garden project expresses the success of these projects.”

Brazil food insecurity: 10 million people are going hungry

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA

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Pressure mounts on president as Senegal braces for fresh protests

 Senegalese President Macky Sall is facing growing pressure to address this week’s deadly unrest and engage in dialogue as the country braces for more protests.

At least five people, including a schoolboy, have been killed in days of clashes that erupted after the arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Wednesday, in what is the country’s worst political violence in years.

People torched cars, looted shops and hurled stones at police during the protests, which have highlighted longstanding grievances over living standards and economic exclusion.

The unrest has alarmed the United Nations and Senegal’s neighbours, which have appealed for all sides to show restraint.

Sall has yet to publicly address the situation, however.

On Sunday, Senegal’s government ombudsman Alioune Badara Cisse urged Sall to speak out ahead of a planned new round of opposition demonstrations from Monday.

“Senegalese people want to hear you,” Cisse told a news conference in the capital, Dakar. “Why the devil wouldn’t you talk to them?”

“Do it before it’s too late,” added Cisse, who formerly served as a foreign minister under Sall but whose role as ombudsman is to mediate between government institutions and to safeguard human rights.

Sonko, 46, a fierce critic of the governing elite in Senegal, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of disturbing public order. Scuffles between opposition supporters and security forces had broken out while Sonko was on his way to court in Dakar to answer on a separate rape charge – which he says is politically motivated.

On Saturday, the opposition collective which includes Sonko’s Pastef party called for three more days of protests starting Monday, urging people to “massively descend onto the streets”.

Tension was already expected to be high in Dakar on Monday, where Sonko is due in court to answer questions about the rape charge, and the government has ordered schools closed for a week.

 

Clashes first broke out after the arrest of Sonko and escalated into nationwide protests which only abated on Saturday.

Large queues formed for petrol and groceries on Sunday, during what is expected to be a brief respite in the unrest.

A schoolboy was killed when a demonstration on Saturday in the southern town of Diaobe turned violent, adding to four reported dead by the authorities on Friday.

The education ministry said on Sunday schools in Senegal will shut until March 15. Many shops, petrol stations and banks were closed for days this week.

The influential League of Imams and Preachers of Senegal, meanwhile, on Sunday called for the release of Sonko and a “return to calm”.

The economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a nightly curfew to contain its spread has only stoked frustrations in the country where most people work in the informal sector. Senegal is often heralded as a haven of calm in West Africa, but about 40 percent of the population live below the poverty line.

“We have to stop having a two-speed Senegal,” said Cisse, adding that it was inevitable “the lid would pop off” eventually.

Ndeme Dieng, an opposition member who tried to calm tempers during the demonstrations, said the vast majority of protesters were jobless youths.

“The gloomy economic situation has made people go out into the streets and show that they’re fed up,” he said.

‘People are fed up’

Sonko is a devout Muslim popular with youngsters and came third to Sall in the 2019 election.

But his political future was suddenly clouded last month when the rape charges were filed against him by an employee at a salon where, he said, he went to receive back massages.

The allegation comes amid uncertainty over whether Sall, 59, will seek a third term in office.

Senegalese presidents are limited to two consecutive terms, but Sall launched a constitutional referendum in 2016, which some fear he will exploit to run again.

Other presidents in West Africa – such as Guinea’s Alpha Conde or Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara – have used constitutional changes to win third terms.

On Saturday, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States, which includes Senegal, urged all parties in the country to exercise restraint and remain calm.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Meet Mogadishu’s first female rickshaw taxi driver

 Saynab Abdikarin turns heads everywhere she goes in Mogadishu. The 28-year-old is the first woman to drive a rickshaw taxi in the streets of Somalia’s conservative capital, where the tricycles commonly known as “bajaaj” have long been operated just by men.

“I believe that whatever job men can do, women can do, too,” says Saynab.

A mother of five, Saynab took on the job out of necessity 10 months ago after her husband left her and their children.

“I don’t have anyone to support me,” she says. “If one of my children is not feeling well, I have no one to help me. I work to support my children.”

But driving a rickshaw in Mogadishu “has a lot of challenges”, Saynab acknowledges. Besides the occasional social disapproval – “some of the men support you, but others say women should be at home and not working”, she says – Saynab is also exposed to the many dangers associated with the job.

In April 2019, three people died when security forces opened fire during a protest that saw hundreds of drivers take to the streets of the city over the killing of a rickshaw operator by a security officer.

Rickshaw drivers have also been caught up in attacks by the al-Shabab armed group, whose fighters frequently target security checkpoints in Mogadishu.

On February 13, at least seven tricycle drivers were wounded at a checkpoint during a suicide bombing.

In response to attacks or as a preventive measure, the government has shut down several roads in Mogadishu – a move that is hurting Saynab and her colleagues financially.

“When roads are closed, it is a problem,” Saynab says, calling on authorities to reverse the policy.

Saynab says she prefers to work in Mogadishu’s centre [Noor Mohamed/Al Jazeera]

Meanwhile, the city’s female residents, who for long wished there were female rickshaw drivers they could call on, have welcomed Saynab.

“I choose her because she is a woman; I choose her because I want to encourage her,” says Safiya Ali, who has been taking Saynab’s tricycle to work and back for the past six months.

A shop owner in Mogadishu’s Hodan district, Safiya says she has never been happier in a taxi.

“I would like other women to also take her taxi and encourage her even more,” she told Al Jazeera.

But Safiya says she worries “a lot” for Saynab’s safety, especially when she works after sunset.

“Mogadishu’s security can be bad,” she says.

Welcomed by other drivers

Insecurity is a major concern for all rickshaw drivers in Mogadishu, and like her male colleagues, Saynab says there are certain neighbourhoods she avoids going to, particularly at night.

“You can get robbed or get killed,” she says, listing Kaaraan, Shiirkoole and Dayniile as some of the areas she will not drive to. “I prefer to work in the downtown area.”

Police officers often give rickshaw drivers a hard time at the many checkpoints dotting the seaside city, but Saynab says being a woman has worked to her advantage when it comes to dealing with security officers.

“Because I’m a woman, most soldiers do not stop me. They don’t bother me. They understand I’m a mother working to support my family. They treat me with respect,” she says with a smile.

Male drivers have also welcomed her and say they are happy a woman has finally joined their industry.

“It is really good seeing a lady working as a rickshaw driver,” says Noor Aden Isse, a colleague of Saynab, urging more women to follow her example.

“I would like to tell all girls to work and not depend on anyone,” he told Al Jazeera. “I also want to tell all the young men that there is work, that they can find work like Saynab.”

Somalia has one of the youngest populations in Africa, with more than 70 percent under the age of 30. But three out of four young Somalis are without formal employment, according to the World Bank, as conflict and insecurity drag on.

More than 60 percent of the country’s youth plan to leave to look for better livelihood opportunities abroad, according to the United Nations.

But Saynab says young people should not abandon Somalia.

“There are jobs in our country if someone wants to work,” she says. “I want to tell the ladies, especially those divorced, you can drive a rickshaw and provide for your family. It is better than to ask for a handout from someone else.”

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Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko released from prison

Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko whose arrest prompted nationwide protests resulting in riots have just been released from prison within the last hour.

Senegal has been in turmoil in the last few days when Sonko who has overwhelming support of the youth was arrested based upon accusations of rape by his masseuse.

Sonko has insisted on his innocence pointing out that there was a third person in the massage room at all times. His initial arrest was prevented by a team of supporters after which he agreed to turn himself in.

However, he was intercepted and extracted from his vehicle while on his way along with a large crowd of supporters.

The youth believed Sonko’s anti-France stance may have played a role in his current troubles. Many believe the masseuse was influenced by money to accuse him and suspect that France is behind the character assassination.

As a result the burning and looting associated with rioting in Senegal have mostly been targeted at known french-owned businesses such as Total filling stations and Auchan Supermarkets.

Geedy Diallo, DNT News, Dakar.

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Let's celebrate International Women's Day, (8 March)

Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world

Sofonie Dala leading Angola

This year, the theme for International Women’s Day (8 March), “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world,” celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the gaps that remain.

Women of the world want and deserve an equal future free from stigma, stereotypes and violence; a future that’s sustainable, peaceful, with equal rights and opportunities for all. To get us there, the world needs women at every table where decisions are being made.

Let us challenge the gender bias on the number of African Heads of State in Africa

International Women's Day 2021 Message: Dr Rita Bissoonauth.

When did UN declared International Women's Day?

The UN celebrated its first official International Women's Day on 8 March in 1975. In 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States.

Every year, the world celebrates International Women's Day on 08 March. As reported by UNESCO, the first National Woman's Day was observed in the United States on February 1909, which the Socialist Party of America dedicated in honour of the 1908 garment workers' strike in New York where women protested against harsh working conditions. In 1917, women in Russia chose to protest and strike under the slogan "Bread and Peace" on the last Sunday in February (which fell on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar). Their movement ultimately led to the enactment of women’s suffrage in Russia.

International Women’s Day 2021 theme

The theme of the International Women’s Day 2021 is 'Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world'. The theme celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As explained by UN Women, "[w]omen stand at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, as health care workers, caregivers, innovators, community organizers and as some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the pandemic. The crisis has highlighted both the centrality of their contributions and the disproportionate burdens that women carry."

She almost embodies what they fear’: black women on treatment of Meghan

 

Chanel Ambrose was swept up by the sea of excitement around Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding. The 33-year-old loved how much Meghan tapped into her culture and heritage for the event: from the choir, the preacher, to her mum, with her natural hair, standing by her side.

She hoped the wedding and what it would symbolise might lead to a greater acceptance of black women across all sectors of society.

Instead, as far as Ambrose is concerned, Meghan has faced a torrent of abuse from the media and apparent hostility from the royal family. “And every time she’s scrutinised, it unfortunately trickles down to all of us,” she says.

In the run-up to Oprah Winfrey’s highly anticipated interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, commentators have noted a demographic divide emerging between those who are critical of Meghan and the many young people – often black women – who have leapt to her defence on social media, seeing in her treatment evidence of how deeply entrenched racism is in every corner of British society.

Ambrose, an influencer and founder of the UK’s first black talent influencer agency Camel London Creatives, said it had been “uncomfortable” for black women to watch the media coverage of Meghan. “Particularly her pregnancy and people getting annoyed at her … I feel that Meghan did handle it well initially, in terms of holding her head up and keep on moving. But there does come a point when you have a bus of people picking at your every move and you clap back.”

The relationship between members of the royal family appeared to descend to new depths on Wednesday when Buckingham Palace announced, in a highly unusual statement, it would investigate allegations of bullying against the Duchess of Sussex by former royal staff.

For Natasha Mulenga, a writer and host of the podcast A Soulful Storm, the allegations seemed to play directly into the “angry, bullying black woman trope”. “It is so lazy that it’s almost comical,” she said.

Mulenga believes the royal family has squandered an opportunity to be seen as a reformed institution. “They really could have used this opportunity to at least present a new leaf and to show a new side of them.”

She dismissed the argument that Meghan’s treatment by the press has nothing to do with her race. “I think a big part of why Meghan is not liked is that she’s not a weak-willed woman. I think she almost embodies the black woman that they fear. The black woman who uses her own voice and the black woman who takes control of her own narrative.”

All three women believe the current controversy is more evidence that the UK has not reckoned with its history and the role it has played in worsening racial inequalities.

Kimberly McIntosh, the author of the upcoming book Black Girl, No Magic, said: “I’m embarrassed to admit, but I will admit it. I did get caught up in [the wedding] a bit. I didn’t follow the royal family, but I was reading everything about this wedding. I’ve never been someone who believes that the royal family was ever going to be a progressive institution, but I did feel something. Even if that’s not very cool thing to say, there was something moving about it.”

She added: “It’s just sad. It’s not new, but speaks to the undercurrent on how the British media functions and how it treats people of colour.”

McIntosh is looking forward to watching the interview. “They’re not willing to just sit around and suffer in the general British, masochistic way. They’ve said no. They’ve made that choice that they’re starting again. They’re having a conversation on their own terms about what they believe they’ve experienced and I’m ready to hear it.”

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The Angolan first lady concerned about post-pandemic society

FIRST LADY CONCERNED ABOUT POST-PANDEMIC SOCIETY

Luanda - Angola´s First Lady Ana Dias Lourenço predicted major challenges in dealing with the problems exacerbated by lockdown and economic downturn, after COVID-19 pandemic.

The concern is expressed in a message of congratulation, ahead of celebration of March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD).

Ana Dias Lourenço points out domestic violence, gender-based violence and unemployment, particularly women, as the problems that have been worsened.

To her, it is women who have more difficulties in keeping their jobs in crisis, as they are required to stay at home to take care of their children and family.

“More than ever, we must value the skills acquired by women in the professional, family and social context, and launch awareness among the whole of society, in particular companies and other employers, to incorporate the principles of gender equality and non-discrimination, and of parenting ”, she said.

She recalls that the Covid-19 pandemic allowed us to observe that, in a moment of profound anguish, the active participation and resilience of women is fundamental for the rapid response to the different social and economic situations impacted by the great economic and social crises.

“We are witnessing the active participation of a group of women in different areas of knowledge, in the search for solutions, in taking measures and at the forefront in the fight against the pandemic and in the treatment of the sick, stressed Ana Dias Lourenço.

In her view, scientists, health professionals, women assigned to the defence and security organs, educators and mothers stand out in this group.

In her message, ahead of International Women's Day, she recalls that in this pandemic period they supported the efforts of these women with biosafety material, food, maternity kits and play material.

“They were and are, essentially, women who were most committed to raising the population's awareness of compliance with biosafety measures and the promotion of health and well-being for all citizens, especially children and the elderly.

The First Lady says that “sex education and the strengthening of family planning and all measures that can prevent teenage pregnancy, access to antenatal care and safe and humanized childbirth are priorities in“ our countries ”.

She calls for continuing to “advocate for governments to adopt sustainable policies and programmes in this area”.

“I continue to defend the commitment to education as essential for an integrated and sustainable development”, says the wife of the President of Angola, defending a platform of partnerships and solidarity in a national and international context.

According to her, this partnership platform must have strong roots in the Portuguese language space on the African continent, but also in the context of the United Nations.

“… Our work will only be consistent if we prepare it for the women and men of tomorrow”, she added.

“On this March 8th, 2021, an atypical year in which the world continues to live the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, I greet and congratulate all women in the world for International Women's Day, especially Angolan women, with whom I share the responsibility for a legacy left by the queens-warrior women of our history.

A legacy of dignity, freedom, solidarity and social justice ”, she writes.

The United Nations Organization made March 8 official as the International Women's Day in 1975.

The date serves as an awareness to fight against gender inequalities in all societies.

Two black women in New York and Georgia looking to put Trump in jail

Two jurisdictions in the United States where legal troubles could land former US president Donald Trump in jail are the state of New York, and Fulton County in the state of Georgia where the Attorney General and District Attorney respectively are African America women. And they are fierce in their pursuit of justice.

Meet Leticia James popularly known as “Tish” of New York, and Fani Willis of Georgia.

Since 2019, James’s office has been conducting an investigation of business practices inside the Trump Organization and family.

Trump has fought fiercely in court, but month after month, James has succeeded in unearthing financial records that appear to be adding up to a giant legal hazard for the former president, analysts say.

“He should be very concerned,” said George Albro, co-chair of the New York Progressive Action Network who has known James going back to when he was a union officer in New York City and she was a public defender. “She’s going to take this to its logical conclusion.”

James is investigating whether Trump inflated the value of his properties for the purpose of acquiring loans against them, and significantly lowering the value of those same properties for the purpose of paying lower taxes on them.

The attorney general’s office said in a court filing that an appraiser hired by Trump before the conservation agreement set one of his property’s value at $56.5 million and the easement’s value at $21.1 million – an amount Trump claimed as an income tax deduction.

The attorney general’s office, in an August court filing, said it was investigating whether the assessment was “improperly inflated” to increase the tax benefit. In filings, prosecutors cited emails from Trump Organization representatives to the appraisers arguing for a higher valuation.

And in Fulton County in Gerogia, the district attorney investigating whether Trump illegally interfered with Georgia’s 2020 election has hired an outside lawyer who is a national authority on racketeering, a source familiar with the matter said.

Fani Willis has enlisted the help of Atlanta lawyer John Floyd, who wrote a national guide on prosecuting state racketeering cases. Floyd was hired recently to “provide help as needed” on matters involving racketeering, including the Trump investigation and other cases, said the source, who has direct knowledge of the situation.

The move bolsters the team investigating Trump as Willis prepares to issue subpoenas for evidence on whethe

The investigation of Trump focuses in part on his phone call to Georgia’s secretary of state, asking the secretary to “find” the votes needed to overturn Trump’s election loss, based on false voter-fraud claims.

Willis – a Democrat who in January became the county’s first Black woman district attorney – will have to navigate a fraught political landscape. She faces pressure from Democrats in Atlanta and nationally to pursue an aggressive prosecution, along with scrutiny from Republicans in a state historically dominated by that party.

r the former president and his allies broke the law in their campaign to pressure state officials to reverse his Georgia election loss.

Willis has said that her office would examine potential charges including “solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering” among other possible violations.

 

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“It’s time for churches to be taxed” – says The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

“The Ugly,” played by Elizabeth MacLean on the DNT popular show The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly has called on the government to consider taxing churches because they have clearly become business ventures by which charismatic pastors are making money.

Whereas the more traditional churches had established long traditions of building schools and hospitals, the so-called one-man churches are conning innocent congregants and using their money to live lavish lifestyles, “Ugly” opined.

“These pastors boldly state ‘I need ten people to give me GHC1,000 right now’ and people would line up and pay the money,” she said. And these people truly believe that they are paying these monies for blessing but in reality all they are doing is funding the lavish lifestyles of these pastors,

In an internet poll conducted by DNT ahead of the show, which airs Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 8pm Ghana time, 83.78% of respondents agreed that the church has become a business.

But arguing in the contrary, Georgette Kyei who played “The Good” last Friday insisted that the government should not be persuaded to alter its policy because of a few bad apples who have found their way into the clergy.

“The Good” began by pointing out that these churches are not registered as profit making businesses and so they cannot be taxed.

“Besides, is the government also going to begin taxing NGOs, which some are also using to make money?” The Good argued. Also policemen and women who take bribes in the open as well as government officials who receive kickbacks are all known to rake in money but are not taxed so why single out the clergy?

The show was moderated by “The Bad” who was played by Rabiatu Abdallah.

On Monday March 1, the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly will argue whether it was a good idea for the president and his vice to take the new COVID-19 vaccine together considering the order of presidential succession and the third in line being a member of the opposition party.

Grace Adorboe, DNT News, Accra.

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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy convicted and jailed for corruption

PARIS (AP) — A Paris court on Monday found French former President Nicolas Sarkozy guilty of corruption and influence peddling and sentenced him to one year in prison and a two-year suspended sentence.

The 66-year-old politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, was convicted for having tried to illegally obtain information from a senior magistrate in 2014 about a legal action in which he was involved.

The court said Sarkozy is entitled to request to be detained at home with an electronic bracelet.

This is the first time in France’s modern history that a former president has been convicted of corruption.

Despite the prison sentence, HuffPost France Editor-in-chief Geoffroy Clavel said it’s likely Sarkozy will avoid time behind bars: “The judge said Sarkozy could ask for his year in prison to be commuted at home under electronic surveillance. Sarkozy could also appeal and ask for another trial.”

Sarkozy’s co-defendants — his lawyer and longtime friend Thierry Herzog, 65, and now-retired magistrate Gilbert Azibert, 74 — were also found guilty and given the same sentence as the politician.

The court found that Sarkozy and his co-defendants sealed a “pact of corruption,” based on “consistent and serious evidence”.

The court said the facts were “particularly serious” given that they were committed by a former president who used his status to help a magistrate who had served his personal interest. In addition, as a lawyer by training, he was “perfectly informed” about committing an illegal action, the court said.

Sarkozy had firmly denied all the allegations against him during the 10-day trial that took place at the end of last year.

The corruption trial focused on phone conversations that took place in February 2014.

At the time, investigative judges had launched an inquiry into the financing of the 2007 presidential campaign. During the investigation they incidentally discovered that Sarkozy and Herzog were communicating via secret mobile phones registered to the alias “Paul Bismuth.”

Conversations wiretapped on these phones led prosecutors to suspect Sarkozy and Herzog of promising Azibert a job in Monaco in exchange for leaking information about another legal case, known by the name of France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

In one of these phone calls with Herzog, Sarkozy said of Azibert : “I’ll make him move up … I’ll help him.

In another, Herzog reminded Sarkozy to “say a word” for Azibert during a trip to Monaco.

Legal proceedings against Sarkozy have been dropped in the Bettencourt case. Azibert never got the Monaco job.

Prosecutors have concluded, however, that the “clearly stated promise” constitutes in itself a corruption offense under French law, even if the promise wasn’t fulfilled.

Sarkozy vigorously denied any malicious intention.

He told the court that his political life was all about “giving (people) a little help. That all it is, a little help,” he said during the trial.

The confidentiality of communications between a lawyer and his client was a major point of contention in the trial.

“You have in front of you a man of whom more that 3,700 private conversations have been wiretapped… What did I do to deserve that?” Sarkozy said during the trial.

Sarkozy’s defense lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, argued the whole case was based on “small talk” between a lawyer and his client.

The court concluded that the use of wiretapped conversations was legal as long as they helped show evidence of corruption-related offenses.

However, even if Sarkozy was to escape jail, Clavel said a conviction would deal a blow to the chances of a political comeback: “It’s a big story in French politics. There have been suggestions the conservative Republican party could draft in the former president as its candidate to take on Emmanuel Macron in next year’s national elections. But a conviction could stop that.”

Sarkozy withdrew from active politics after failing to be chosen as his conservative party’s presidential candidate for France’s 2017 election, won by Emmanuel Macron.

He remains very popular amid right-wing voters, however, and plays a major role behind the scenes, including through maintaining a relationship with Macron, whom he is said to advise on certain topics. His memoirs published last year, “The Time of Storms,” was a bestseller for weeks.

Sarkozy will face another trial later this month along with 13 other people on charges of illegal financing of his 2012 presidential campaign.

His conservative party is suspected of having spent 42.8 million euros ($50.7 million), almost twice the maximum authorized, to finance the campaign, which ended in victory for Socialist rival Francois Hollande.

In another investigation opened in 2013, Sarkozy is accused of having taken millions from then-Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi to illegally finance his 2007 campaign.

He was handed preliminary charges of passive corruption, illegal campaign financing, concealment of stolen assets from Libya and criminal association. He has denied wrongdoing.

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Australia cuts Myanmar military ties amid ‘rising death toll’

Australia has suspended its defence cooperation programme with Myanmar amid concern about the “escalating violence and rising death toll,” Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said as the country’s military steps up its crackdown on enormous protests against its coup last month.

Myanmar was plunged into turmoil after the army detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and officials from her National League for Democracy party on February 1 and seized control of the country. The coup has triggered a national Civil Disobedience Movement and mass protests in which dozens have been killed.

“We continue to strongly urge the Myanmar security forces to exercise restraint and refrain from violence against civilians,” Payne said.

Australia’s bilateral defence ties with Myanmar’s military are restricted to non-combat areas such as English-language training which have continued even after the brutal crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017 that led hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

“Australia has finally ended a training programme it should never have started in the first place,” Anna Roberts, the executive director of the London-based Burma Campaign, said in a statement. “Twelve more countries are still engaged in training and cooperation with the Burmese military. Countries providing training to the Burmese military have sided with the military, which is shooting peaceful protesters. They cannot claim non-interference in Burma’s internal affairs when they are helping one side. A military which is killing civilians.”

Security force officers kick a protester in Mandalay on March in a still image from a video obtained from social media [Shiro/via Reuters]

Soldiers advance to break up a crowd of protesters in Yangon on March 3. Australia said it was suspending a training programme with the Myanmar military over the increasing violence and rising death toll [File: Lynn Bo Bo/EPA]

The Burma Campaign said that the 12 countries still providing training to Myanmar’s military include China, India, Pakistan and Ukraine. Campaigners are calling for a complete arms embargo on the country.Australia will also redirect immediate humanitarian needs to the mostly Muslim Rohingya and other ethnic minorities, Payne said on Monday and bypass Myanmar government bodies.

“We have also looked at the development programme and development support that we are providing and redirected that with an absolute focus on the immediate needs of some of the most vulnerable and poor in Myanmar which is one of the poorest countries in ASEAN,” Payne was quoted as saying by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Australia said it would continue to demand the immediate release of Sean Turnell, an economist and adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi, authorities said. Turnell has been detained with limited consular access since the coup.

Myanmar’s main trade unions have called for a general strike from Monday, following huge protests on Sunday. The demonstrations triggered a harsh response with the police and security forces using tear gas, stun guns and live bullets to break up the crowd, according to videos shared by local residents.

Soldiers were also deployed to public buildings around the country, sparking confrontations, the Myanmar Now news agency reported.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which is tracking arrests, says 1,790 people had been detained since the coup as of March 7. A total of 1,472 remain in custody.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA, REUTERS

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Huge blasts in Equatorial Guinea’s Bata kill many, wound hundreds

More than a dozen people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a series of powerful explosions at a military base in Equatorial Guinea’s largest city of Bata, according to officials.

In a statement on national television, President Teodoro Obiang said the blasts on Sunday were caused by negligence related to the use of dynamite at the military base. No other details were immediately available.

Obiang, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea since 1942, said at least 15 people were killed and 500 wounded in the explosions.

His statement came some two hours after the health ministry said on Twitter that 17 people had so far been confirmed dead, while the number of wounded stood at 420.

There were fears the death toll could rise.

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Local television showed groups of people pulling bodies from piles of rubble, some of which were carried away wrapped in bedsheets. There were also media appeals for people to donate blood, saying hospitals are overwhelmed.

Pick-up trucks filled with survivors, many of whom were children, drove up to the front of a local hospital where some victims were filmed lying on the floor.

In the blast area, iron roofs were ripped off half-destroyed houses and lay twisted amid the rubble. Only a wall or two remained of most houses. People ran in all directions, many of them screaming.

“We hear the explosion and we see the smoke, but we don’t know what’s going on,” a local resident named Teodoro Nguema told the AFP news agency by telephone.

‘Catastrophe’

Equatorial Guinea is a small country of some 1.4 million, with the majority of the population living in poverty despite rich oil reserves.

Obiang’s son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, vice president with responsibility for defence and security, appeared in the television footage at the scene inspecting the damage, accompanied by his Israeli bodyguards, according to AFP.

Teodorin, as he is known, is increasingly seen as the designated successor of the 78-year-old president.

Translation: Following the explosions that occurred today in the city of Bata, Spanish nationals are recommended to remain at home, the embassy said. 

After the blast, the Spanish embassy in the capital, Malabo, requested its nationals to remain at home. “Following developments in Equatorial Guinea with concern after the explosions in the city of Bata,” said Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya on Twitter.

Separately, the French ambassador in Equatorial Guinea, Brochenin Olivier, expressed his “condolences for the catastrophe that has just occurred in Bata”.

William Lawrence, a former US diplomat and Regional Security Officer in West Africa, called the incident “highly shocking” and said Equatorial Guinea was not ready for a disaster of this scale.

“This is going to have quite a devastating effect on many levels,” he told Al Jazeera. “Equatorial Guinea is one of the richest countries in Africa, with the least distribution of its oil wealth. There has been many coup attempts since independence and so this is going to rock the boat.”

In the short term, the country’s leader will have to account for what happened, said Lawrence.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of disaster preparedness training on this scale, and I suspect a lot of what’s going on today is winging it and already the country’s health services are hit quite hard by COVID-19, so this will be an added burden,” he added.

“There’s been frantic calls for blood donations and we have pictures of people lying on hospital floors not getting treatment.”

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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