Thursday 31 July 2014

[wanabidii] A Call for Parading Shift from Active Politics to "African Forward" making urgent Partnership Development with Africa


Good People,



With deep concern for Africa's Economic collapse emerging from effects of re-colonization of Globalization of Africa through organized conspiracies of terrorism, pirating, insecurity, money laundering, African Resources and wealth going to business special interest that do not comply with African Nations' Democratic & Constitutional requirements for regulatory Trading policy principles of paying taxes for example, and with the irregular occupation of Public Land from the emergence of scramble to Africa for Land Grabbing; Peace and Security cannot be realized anytime soon without engaging differently to build Road Map for Trust and institutional capacity to manage insecurity and Secure peace and harmony where all must live at peace with each other, doing business and socializing on prospects of "Give and Take" of a fair level playing field.

 
It is at this point that, people must engage strategically with prioritizing needs that are basic fundamental to human needs, that of Water management and producing food production in an organized manner and where, it is from here, people will gain strength and begin to focus and be able to concentrate on details of Capacity Building for sustainability and progressiveness.

 
Together with other friends we found that there is urgent need to shift the parading from active politics to engage in immediate concerns of those grassroots people, taking into consideration of their urgent and immediate needs to prepare for the task ahead in preparations for feasible and effective Public Private Partnership for development through Agricultural Cooperative undertaking, Energy with Water supply & Management.
 
While peace and security is vital to all and Projects for "Africa Forward" is equally crucial, Post African Leadership Summit must ensure possible factors needed by African Diaspora security of engagement and implementation in the URGENCY OF NOW.........this means, after the Summit, there must be an Understanding of Agreement to allow immediate engagement of those who are ready to engage in rebuilding and investing in Africa, beginning from now and in the future.  I say this because, we cannot wait for the future when the NOW FACTOR is under serious demolition for extermination, and which the future will not be there to even
find footing from where to start.  It is now that together, we must build the future of Africa and we must not be isolated, we must be part and parcel of what our future generation will spring from.  It is therefore, those who understand where the shoes pinches will know that they are wearing the wrong size.  It is important therefore to make haste to look for the right size of shoes to fit in and feel comfortable before setting off for a long journey.

 
This is true to say, you cannot expect the future to perform a miracle when the NOW is presently in ramshackle, thoroughly beaten and destroyed by MILITARIZATION of organized terrorism with Corporate THIEVING of recolonization for GLOBALIZATION engaging trading without paying taxes, respecting the Democratic Principles of constitutional policies or complying with the Government of the People according to peoples mandate and working for the People.  It has equally escape logistics when business investment lacks module specification for engagement and fails to notify the Public as tax-payers details of the same.  In the instances, they engage avoiding laid down institutional procedure required for invoicing or the official receipts for Economic Value for African Resource which determines the GDP margin for development recording.  Unfortunately, these Africa's wealth and resource go out instead to build other Developed Word's e.g. China's economic capacity who in turn go to speak on behalf of Africa at the worlds' Global Emerging Market.   Why should Africa not send its own representative at such Global Summit for their Development?  We can do better people, it is only when everyone in this forum agrees and accept that we have been screwed up badly, to a point African Diaspora have no say in their own Foreign Exchange Transmission to Africa which must be considered as a base for Credit, since the African Diaspora's contributions exceeded total investments going to Africa.

 
We must put our differences aside and unite for common goal in order to fix the problems that face us jointly and begin to engage.  It is in a united common front that we can succeed.


 Without doing this, Africa cannot compete with the rest of the world effectively without tying up for progressive development agenda needed for transforming Africa, something we all desired to gain a better future for African's next generation


For those who want to engage in this discussions must center on how to get started in key areas from the Rural Village Lands to transform them into Cooperative Structures and shall  separate those that the family must consume against the %age of what must be taken to the Cooperative for shared Partnership. 


It is up to Africans Diaspora who must define our way forward for "Africa Forward" and realize that, we are at a critical balance to structure the future of the continent by making the first step of faith, this include expanding trade and investment ties, engaging young African leaders and promoting inclusive sustainable development where, we are part and parcel of the same.


A journey begins with one step.  Our journey begun with "African Forward", if there are interested people here, please communicate so we are able to include and adjust accordingly as we move Africa Forward in Africa Diaspora structure. 


 
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com



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Government of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa)

31 July 2014

Ethiopia: There Is No U.S. Intent to Engage in Africa Militarily Says Susan Rice




Susan Rice, President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser has said that Washington does not intend to engage in Africa militarily to resolve the continent's conflicts. It prefers to boost efforts to train peacekeepers. Ms. Rice made the comments a few days in advance of the US-Africa Summit being held in Washington August 4-6. Ms. Rice said: "Contrary to some claims, the United States is not looking to militarize Africa or maintain a permanent military presence, but we are committed to helping our partners confront transnational threats to our shared security."

Ms. Rice, who was speaking at the United States Institute of Peace, referred to the kidnappings and bombings by Boko Haram, the Nairobi Westgate Mall attack by Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's activities in Mali. She said this was why the US was "stepping up our efforts to train peace keepers who are professional and effective forces who can secure the region and by extension the global community against terrorist threat.

" Ms. Rice said since president Obama took office the US had contributed close to US$9 billion to United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa, and it had trained almost a quarter of a million peacekeepers from 25 difference African countries since 2005. She said "We are committed to making sure that African peacekeepers have the capacity to deploy quickly ... in order to save lives and help avoid costlier international interventions down the line."



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Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)

8 June 2014

Ethiopia: Mis-invocing - a Trade Practice or Embezzlement?

By Brian Leblanc
The Global South is being drained of resources by the rest of the world and it is losing far more each year than it gains. Africa alone loses $192 ... ( Resource: Honest Accounts - The True Story of Africa's Billion Dollar Losses
Lately, the media has been replete with stories about how countries are losing billions of dollars a year through a process called trade misinvoicing. The concept of trade misinvoicing is simple: companies and their agents deliberately alter the prices of their exports and imports in order to justify moving money out of, or into, a country illicitly.
The practice is very common in Africa. It has been used to avoid paying import duties and shift taxable income into tax havens abroad.
The amount Africa loses to trade misinvoicing is astounding. Global Financial Integrity (GFI) - a Washington DC-based think tank - estimates that 286 billion dollars worth of capital was extracted out of Africa using this process over the past decade. Between 2002 and 2011, due to illicit financial flows, sub-Saharan Africa lost pc of its gross domestic product (GDP) - a 20.2pc increase. Of these illicit financial flows, 62pc were due to misinvoicing.
The good news is, the issue of trade misinvoicing has found its way to the forefront of development talks. Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and former South African President Thabo Mbeki are just a few African heavyweights who have been trying to urge the international community to begin addressing the problem of illicit financial flows and trade misinvoicing.
Whereas the impact of trade misinvoicing is becoming well known, exactly how it is done is not entirely understood. This is a problem, considering the extremely technical nature of the issue. If public policy decisions are going to be implemented to address trade misinvoicing, a firm understanding of its mechanics is absolutely necessary.
To start, the biggest myth associated with trade misinvoicing is that it is entirely explained by corruption and poor governance. Not only is this a false narrative, but it has no readily implemented solution. It also puts the onus entirely on the country being impacted and fails to acknowledge the role the West plays in facilitating such transactions.
The truth behind trade misinvoicing is that it is a two-way street. The global shadow financial system, propped up by tax havens and financial secrecy, is equally responsible for the propagation of trade misinvoicing in Africa. This system of offshore banks, anonymous accounts and shell companies is largely created by developed countries in the West.
This is not to say corruption does not play a role. Yes, it may be easy in many African countries to pay a bribe to a customs official to get them to look the other way when a company is attempting to misinvoice a trade transaction; however, the advent of tax havens has made this largely unnecessary.
Why get your hands dirty when there is an easier, less-obviously-criminal means available? How do companies misinvoice trade then?

One of the most widely used processes is called "re-invoicing", which sidesteps quid pro quo bribery and corruption and utilises legal grey areas and financial secrecy to do all the dirty work.
Instead of defining re-invoicing myself, here is a word-for-word definition given by a company (operating out of a tax haven), which exists specifically to assist companies who wish to misinvoice trade. In fact, a simple Google search of "re-invoicing" produces hundreds of results of companies openly advertising such practices. Here is just one example:
"Re-invoicing is the use of a tax haven corporation to act as an intermediary between an onshore business and its customers outside its home country. The profits of this intermediary corporation and the onshore business allow the accumulation of some, or all, profits on transactions to be accrued to the offshore company."
In other words, companies have sent the process of trade misinvoicing offshore. By the time the goods reach the docks, the prices have already been manipulated. No need to pay a bribe.
The process can be extremely lucrative for the actor doing the misinvoicing. Although the price varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, many re-invoicing companies often only charge a two percent commission fee on the profits shifted in such a manner. Additionally, tax haven jurisdictions generally have little-to-no corporate taxes, which makes the proceeds from re-invoicing tax-free. Compare that to the 35pc corporate tax rate in many African countries and you can understand the appeal of shifting capital through re-invoicing.
Let us assume the following scenario: imagine a hypothetical African exporter of a commodity arranges a deal with a buyer in the United States worth 1,000,000 dollars. Now, let's assume that the exporter company only wishes to report 600,000 dollars to government officials to circumvent paying royalties and corporate income tax.
First, the exporter sets up a shell company in Switzerland, which (because of anonymity) cannot be traced back to him. By doing so, any transaction the exporter conducts with the shell company will look like trade with an unrelated party. Thus, even if the government at the African country suspects some wrongdoing, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to tie the exporter to the shell company in Switzerland.
The exporter then uses the shell company to purchase the commodity from the exporter for a value of 600,000 dollars, less than the true value by 400,000 dollars. An invoice that shows receipt for the 600,000 dollars sale is then forwarded onto tax collectors at the exporter's host nation.

The shell company in Switzerland then re-sells the copper to the ultimate buyer in the United States for the agreed-upon 1,000,000 dollars. The importer is instructed to make a payment to the shell company, and the goods are sent directly from the African country to the United States without ever even passing through Switzerland.
Thus, the exporter lowered its taxable revenue from 1,000,000 dollars to 600,000 dollars. The remaining 400,000 dollars remains hidden in Switzerland where it is untaxed and unutilized for development purposes.
Under the international standard of the arm's-length principle, the price of a good sold between two related parties must be comparable to the price the good would have been sold for had the two parties been unrelated. If not, such as in the above example, tax and customs officials have the authority to ignore the declared price and assess taxes and tariffs based instead on the arm's-length price of the good. Many Africa countries adopted the arm's-length principle in late 1990s, but does that mean trade misinvoicing is a thing of the past for the continent?
Not in the slightest. Many of these transactions occur through anonymous shell companies, hiding the fact that two companies may be related. Even if government officials detect that a particular trade transaction is mis-invoiced, there is no way for them to see through a shell company to identify its beneficial owner.

Therefore, there needs to be a multilateral effort to disclose the beneficial owners of shell companies operating in tax haven jurisdictions. Until then, companies will continue to hide behind them to misinvoice trade offshore.
Misinvoicing is not just a sharp business practice, but a way of spiriting out billions of dollars that should be put to work in social and economic investments. Until something is done about the network of offshore jurisdictions and financial secrecy at a global level, Africa will struggle far harder than it should have to in order to achieve social and economic development.
Brian Leblanc Brian Leblanc Is a Junior Economist At the Global Financial Integrity (gfi). This Commentary Is Provided to Fortune By Development Debate.


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30 July 2014

Africa: Secure Land Rights: Food Security Depends On It


document

What do land tenure security and food security have to do with one another? A lot. However, only recently has this relationship begun to receive the attention it deserves.
As Africa celebrates the "Year of Agriculture and Food Security," the celebration is also a call to action, as agricultural development is urgently needed. One-in-four people in sub-Saharan Africa remain undernourished, despite the region's abundant resource wealth.
In this brief, learn about new studies that shed light on the relationship between food security and secure land rights, including studies conducted in:
  • Ethiopia: where female-headed households strongly benefitted from land registration;
  • In Malawi, where smallholders who were able to acquire more land dramatically increased crop productivity;
  • In Zambia, where children whose families lost land received 11% fewer calories per day
  • Across Africa, some 65% of the labor force relies on agriculture for their livelihood, making land rights and food security inseparable.


Collective African Effort Needed to Address Climate Change

Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete recently reiterated on the need for African countries to work together and speak with a common voice on how to adapt and mitigate effects of climate change. (file photo)Tanzania: Collective African Effort Needed in Addressing Climate Change

Growth, Global Warming Threaten African Species

Researchers meeting in Cameroon say Africa may lose up to 30 percent of its animal and plant species by the end of the century due to global warming, population growth and unregulated development. Africa: Growth, Global Warming Threaten African Species


 

USAID Withdraws Support From Hydro Power Project

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has found that the City of Cape Town's roll out of chemical toilets unfairly discriminates against "black African" people. more»



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??Africa: USA/Africa - a Dubious Summit.....REALLY???


29 July 2014

"Starting August 4, the Obama Administration will host a mini replica of an African Union (AU) summit. As many as 40 heads of state from the continent will be on hand for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a conference that will look at ways to boost trade and investment in the continent, tap into Africa's burgeoning youth population, and promote good governance. ... Unfortunately, unless a major change is made, the summit risks simply becoming an AU heads of state road trip with a photo-op at the end to confirm that they visited Washington before returning home." - Adotei Akwei, Amnesty International
With less than a week before the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit convenes, it is still not clear how many of the 50 invited leaders will decide to attend. The primary emphasis of both the Summit and side events, it is clear from pre-summit publicity, will be on trade and investment, although civil society groups have won inclusion of a Civil Society Forum which will highlight some other issues. And, on economic issues, it is possible that discussion of the "Power Africa" initiative will allow for greater emphasis on clean energy off-thegrid power solutions as well as the big fossil-fuel and hydroelectric projects of primary interest to large American companies (see http://www.africafocus.org/docs14/ces1406.php).
Many civil society groups, including Amnesty International as well as many African human rights groups, are focusing on the dubious records of many of the heads of state invited and on calling for human rights accountability. Particularly noticeable as missing, as well, are likely to be global issues on which both the United States and African countries are falling far short of their obligations - global challenges such as climate change and tax evasion though financial flows across borders, and failures of countries such as the United States, South Africa, Kenya, and many others to respect refugee rights.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is a co-sponsor of the Empowered Africa Dialogue, initiated by the US-Africa Network (USAN; (http://usafricanetwork.org/empowered-africa/). This dialogue will specifically feature such vital but marginalized issues, in a gathering of progressive activists, to be held at Howard University on August 4.
There are still spaces open for registration: if you are in Washington, DC or close enough to come for the day, please register at http://tinyurl.com/ea-dialogue
If you are not able to participate, please consider supporting the event by making a contribution to the Indiegogo campaign (http://tinyurl.com/ea-indiegogo) to cover the costs of bringing key activists from Africa, such as Mithika Mwenda of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, Alvin Mosioma of Tax Justice Network - Africa, and Brenda Mofya from the Oxfam International Liaison Office with the African Union.
As its contribution to the US-Africa Network dialogue, AfricaFocus has prepared a set of talking points, with links to relevant AfricaFocus Bulletins, on critical issues marginalized at the Leaders Summit and featured in the USAN Dialogue (http://www.africafocus.org/intro-gen.php).
Today's AfricaFocus Bulletin contains the talking points and recent AfricaFocus Bulletins on economy and development, as well as two commentaries, by Adotei Akwei of Amnesty International and Ian Gary of Oxfam America, calling for inclusion of African civil society in the official U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, and stressing the need to highlight human rights and democratic participation in contrast to the overwhelming emphasis on trade and investment.
For official information on the Leaders Summit http://www.whitehouse.gov/us-africa-leaders-summit
Note that the official Summit twitter hashtag is #AfricaSummit. Some are also using #USAfricaSummit. The US-Africa Network, AfricaFocus Bulletin, and other groups (see links below for more resources) are encouraging the widest possible expression of alternative views in social media, particularly in the period immediately around the Summit (August 1-7). By using #AfricaSummit or #USAfricaSummit in addition to other relevant hashtags and links to your own blog or website, you can ensure that your input is included in the same twitter stream as official releases from the U.S. government.
For AfricaFocus talking points and references on critical issues marginalized at the official summit, visit http://www.africafocus.org/intro-gen.php
Additional commentaries and social media opportunities
AllAfrica.com, "How to get the U.S.-Africa Summit Right"
Compilation of non-official commentaries
J. Brooks Spector, "US-Africa Summit: Big opportunity or just another talk-shop?" Daily Maverick, July 28, 2014
Useful summary including official details and additional comment
Alemayehu G. Mariam, "Cirque d'Afrique: 2014 U.S-Africa Leaders Summit," July 28, 2014
Scathing critique by Ethiopian-American blogger and human rights activist Al Mariam.





 
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