Condolence Letter from President S R Nathan on the Passing of Nigeria's Late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua

7 May 2010 20:02 Africa/Lagos


Condolence Letter from President SR Nathan on the Passing of Nigeria's Late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua


SINGAPORE, May 7, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Condolence Letter from President S R Nathan on the Passing of Nigeria's Late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua


His Excellency Goodluck Jonathan


President
Federal Republic of Nigeria


Your Excellency,


I was saddened to learn of the news of the passing of your predecessor, His Excellency Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. On behalf of the people and the Government of Singapore, I would like to offer my deepest condolences to President Yar'Adua's family and to the people and Government of Nigeria.


His Excellency Yar'Adua's commitment to building peace, stability and security in Nigeria are important legacies to the people of Nigeria and I am confident that Nigerians will remain united during this difficult period.


Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.



S R NATHAN


Source: Singapore - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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IBM Supports Transformation of Nigerian Banking Industry

6 May 2010 17:01 Africa/Lagos



IBM Supports Transformation of Nigerian Banking Industry

IBM Software Helps Three Major Nigerian Banks Increase the Manageability of their Businesses

LAGOS, Nigeria, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Three major Nigerian banks have turned to IBM (NYSE:IBM) to provide the technology to support the transformation of their operations as part the reform of the country's banking sector. By using business analytics and service management software from IBM, the banks are benefiting from some of the most sophisticated software tools available to increase the visibility of information and improve the manageability and efficiency of their organizations.


(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO)


"Nigeria's complex banking sector is moving aggressively into the next phase of modernisation to improve the health and competitiveness of the industry while also reducing high operating costs," according to Peter Farley of IDC Financial Insights. "Investment in technology has an important role to play in this transformation - helping to improve and automate business processes, increasing the visibility of information and providing secure and efficient payment capabilities. The use of outsourcing and shared service models will also enable Nigerian banks to focus on core competences and avoid duplication of resources."


In the area of business analytics, Union Bank of Nigeria is using IBM's Cognos Business Intelligence software to help the bank to monitor and manage the corporate performance of its 400 branches across the country. Using the software, the bank has developed a dash board system that helps to quickly translate complex information from across the bank's systems and which provides the bank's executives with a consolidated view of key performance indicators. Using the Cognos scorecard facility, the bank's management is also able to better monitor performance against targets.


In the area of service management, Nigeria's Intercontinental Bank is using a number of products from IBM's Tivoli portfolio to help the bank better manage its IT systems and ensure optimum levels of performance, security and customer service across the banks 300 branches. Another Nigerian bank, FinBank, is also using IBM's Tivoli solutions to help increase the manageability and efficiency of its IT systems. The software helps the bank to ensure higher levels of availability and prevent service disruptions for critical applications across the bank's 200 branches.


"The application of modern technologies has a key role to play in the transformation of the banking sector around the world," said Juan Pi Llorens., Vice President, Financial Services Sector, for IBM's Growth Markets Unit. "In growth markets where companies are still building out infrastructures, banks have an opportunity to implement systems that increase the efficiency, stability and manageability of their organisations, help manage risks and allow them to leapfrog the competition and win new customers."


IBM is partnering with local Nigerian business partner CITzar Limited, to provide these solutions to the banks.


In February this year, IBM also announced a new Banking Industry Framework for Nigerian banks to help them to be more efficient, improve their flexibility and adapt more easily to new business challenges and regulatory requirements.


For more information about IBM see: www.ibm.com.




Contact:
George Enema
Marketing & Communications Manager
IBM West Africa
Email: george@ng.ibm.com
Tel: +234 1 262 5455/7

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: IBM

CONTACT: George Enema, Marketing & Communications Manager, IBM West
Africa, george@ng.ibm.com, +234-1-262-5455/7


Web Site: http://www.ibm.com/



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Condolence Message from the UN on the death of President Umaru Yar' Adua

7 May 2010 12:46 Africa/Lagos

Note attributable to the Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly On the death of the President of Nigeria


NEW YORK, May 7, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The President of the General Assembly, H.E. Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki, has learned with shock and deep sadness about the death of H.E. Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.


This is a great loss for Nigeria. President Yar'Adua was a remarkable man of peace who leaves a memorable impact on his country and world affairs.


On behalf of all Member States and on his own behalf, the President of the General Assembly expresses his heartfelt condolences to Alhadji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's bereaved family and to the people and Government of Nigeria.


Source: UNITED NATIONS

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6 May 2010
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Now that President Umaru Yar’ Adua has Passed On

Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 1951 – 5 May 2010)


Now that President Umaru Yar’ Adua has Passed On


Only those who love President Umaru Yar'Adua are mourning him. But the hypocrites and parasites who have been praying and wishing him dead are celebrating. To them his exit is an opportunity for them to come into the corridors of power to join the looters of the treasury to plunder Nigeria and pass on their ill-gotten riches to their children and children's children as their predecessors have been doing for decades in the perpetuation of their legacy of profligacy.
They are as Jesus Christ called them a generation of vipers.

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
~ Matthew 23:33


The new President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan


Now that President Umaru Yar'Adua has passed on, and the former Acting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has put on the sash bearing the green, yellow and white colors of Nigeria since 9 a.m. (0800 GMT), sworn in as the new President of Nigeria, how would he prosecute the case of money laundering against his wife, the new First Lady Patience Jonathan?

How would he prosecute the sacred cows of power brokers and carperbaggers indicted in the N27 Billion Halliburton bribery scandal?


Now that the Acting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is now the head of state and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, can we move on or do we still remain in the vicious circle of the anomie of decadence and violence?

The choice is yours?

God bless Nigeria.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima


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Call for Action to Thwart Bid by Libya, and other notorious human rights abusers, to join UN Human Rights Council

5 May 2010 13:15 Africa/Lagos


Call for Action to Thwart Bid by Libya, and other notorious human rights abusers, to join UN Human Rights Council


WASHINGTON, May 5, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Two UN watchdog organizations today urged the United Nations General Assembly to reject five candidates for the United Nations Human Rights Council- Libya, as well as Angola, Malaysia, Mauritania, and Qatar.


In a May 13 election among the UN General Assembly membership, 14 of the 47 seats on the Council will be filled as part of the annual rotation of membership. Member States must receive at least 97 affirmative votes in order to be elected. Each regional group is allotted a number of spaces, and individual countries in those groups can declare themselves to be candidates for those seats.


In a report issued today at the United Nations in New York, UN Watch and Freedom House express particular concern for the lack of qualified candidates from the Africa regional group. "At a time when the ranks of African democracies are growing, it sends a terrible message to the world that a notorious human rights abuser such as Libya appears uncontested on the ballot." said Thomas O. Melia, deputy executive director of Freedom House. "Africa's positive political trajectory over the past decade can be better represented than by the current list of candidates, which includes such distinctly non-democratic states such as Angola and Mauritania."


Candidates considered "not qualified" have sub-par human rights records at home and also have consistently voted against or abstained from resolutions condemning serious human rights violations, including those of North Korea, Sudan and Iran. Two other candidate states deemed "not qualified," both in the Asian region, are Malaysia and Qatar.


"Freedom House and UN Watch urge all UN General Assembly members not to write in the name of Libya or other unqualified states when filling out the slots on their secret ballot," said Hillel Neuer, executive director, UN Watch. "They should instead write in the names of countries with far greater qualifications."


Countries in the Africa regional group deemed "qualified" by the two organizations and could be written in include Cape Verde, Botswana, Mali and Tanzania. Countries in the Asia regional group deemed "qualified" include Papua New Guinea and Micronesia.


"It is our hope that better qualified countries in the Africa and Asia groups would formally declare their candidacies before May 13 - and be encouraged to do so by the United States, the European Union, and the rest of the global community that respects human rights," said Melia, of Freedom House. "Member states should write in any of these better alternatives instead of the notorious regime of Colonel Qaddafi."


According to the report, of the 14 candidates announced to date, only 5 are considered to be "qualified" to serve on the Council, including Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Guatemala and Maldives. Additionally, 4 candidates are identified as having "questionable" records, including Moldova, Ecuador, Uganda and Thailand.


Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.


Source: Freedom House


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2010 TIME 100: A Compilation of Western Ignorance of the rest of the World

A Commercial cover of 2010 TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World with Didier Drogba, Lady Gaga and Bill Clinton.

2010 TIME 100: A Compilation of Western Ignorance of the rest of the World

~ Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

The TIME's honor list of the 100 most influential VIPs in the world should be debated and disputed, because time and time again, the list is an American or Western view of the most important movers and shakers from their own criteria without much consideration for the rest of the world. They always want to think for us. They always want to use their own yardstick to measure us and they think their own conventional wisdom is the Golden Rule. But they are wrong.

Majority of those on this list have little or no relevance to most of the populations in the developing countries and so do not affect our world.

Who is Sonia Sotomayor to millions of Nigerians?

Who cares about Glenn Beck in Africa? Who is he leading in the world.

TIME name dropping of their own American celebrities and icons means nothing to the majority of the people in Africa, the Amazon Jungles, Asia and the Middle East who are cut off from the rest of the world of TIME and company who employ ignorant reviewers in their newsrooms to compile a list that is useless to them.

We know our leaders and our heroes from what they have done and are still doing for us in our little villages in Africa, on the streets of Mushin the ghetto in Lagos to the streets of Soweto in South Africa.

We know our heroes and you can find them in the all time classic Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan.

Our leaders and heroes may not make the glossy covers of Western neo-colonial magazines and newspapers, but they are making our faces to glow in the moonlight in KwaMashu in Durban and golden in the sunlight in Badiya Ijora in Lagos; and their names are written in gold in the pages of our hearts and we shall cherish the precious moments we have shared in the memories of own Time.

Full List of the people who most affect our world according to TIME, but not according to the rest of the world.

Only Steve "the Alpha Genius" Jobs of Apple gets my two thumbs up for making the honor list of the 2010 TIME 100. I do not know what the rogue Republican poster girl Sarah Palin is doing on the cover.

Leaders



Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
J.T. Wang
Admiral Mike Mullen
Barack Obama
Ron Bloom
Yukio Hatoyama
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Nancy Pelosi
Sarah Palin
Salam Fayyad
Jon Kyl
Glenn Beck
Annise Parker
Tidjane Thiam
Jenny Beth Martin
Christine Lagarde
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
General Stanley McChrystal
Manmohan Singh
Bo Xilai
Mark Carney
Sister Carol Keehan
Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan
Robin Li
Scott Brown

Heroes
Bill Clinton
Kim Yu-Na
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Ben Stiller
Temple Grandin
P. Namperumalsamy
Nay Phone Latt
Chen Shu-chu
Phil Mickelson
Didier Drogba
Graça Machel
Reem Al Numery
Sachin Tendulkar
Tristan Lecomte
Liya Kebede
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Zahra Rahnavard
Jet Li
Serena Williams
Chief Master Sergeant Tony Travis
Karls Paul-Noel
Rahul Singh
Valentin Abe
Malalai Joya
Will Allen

Artists
Lady Gaga
Conan O'Brien
Kathryn Bigelow
Oprah Winfrey
Valery Gergiev
Robert Pattinson
Ashton Kutcher
Suzanne Collins
Taylor Swift
Neil Patrick Harris
Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof
Prince
Lea Michele
Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik
Simon Cowell
Neill Blomkamp
Elton John
Marc Jacobs
David Chang
Banksy
Chetan Bhagat
Sandra Bullock
Ricky Gervais
Han Han
James Cameron

Thinkers
Zaha Hadid
Elizabeth Warren
Douglas Schwartzentruber and Larry Kwak
Michael Pollan
Atul Gawande
Jaron Lanier
Victor Pinchuk
Lee Kuan Yew
Deborah Gist
Kathleen Merrigan
Steve Jobs
Tim White
Lisa Jackson
Elon Musk
Edna Foa
Jaime Lerner
Paul Volcker
Amy Smith
Matt Berg
Amartya Sen
Michael Sherraden
Sanjit 'Bunker' Roy
Tim Westergren
David Boies and Theodore Olson
Sonia Sotomayor

The Influence Index

TIME 100 Alumnae
Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan
Condoleezza Rice
Barbara Walters
Wendy Kopp
Sherri Shepherd
Martha Stewart
Amy Smith
Suze Orman
Anna Netrebko
Alice Munro
Joy Behar
Nora Roberts
Suzanne Collins
Edna Foa
Lauren Zalaznick
Elizabeth Warren
Meg Whitman
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Stella McCartney
Sister Mary Scullion
Ann Coulter
Katie Couric
Nancy Pelosi
Whoopi Goldberg
Kiki Smith
Serena Williams
Alicia Keys
Elizabeth Gilbert
Deborah Gist
Arianna Huffington
Sarah Palin



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Leaders

Heroes

Artists

Thinkers

Video: How They Made the List

If Bankers Were Bacteria...We might have avoided the current financial mess

4 May 2010 13:54 Africa/Lagos





If Bankers Were Bacteria...We might have avoided the current financial mess

The following is a commentary by Harvey Rubin, MD, PhD

PHILADELPHIA, May 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The fate of financial-regulation reform before Congress hinges on the role of regulation in the marketplace. Adam Smith wrote in his Wealth of Nations, "The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce ... ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention."


Nevertheless, we argue that systems found in nature offer a most cogent counterexample to this avoidance of regulations. Consider for example, the world of microorganisms. Bacteria are far from being tiny, vulnerable creatures; they have robust, adaptive regulatory systems that they use to optimize their growth given any external and internal set of conditions. They adapt to the composition of the growth media, temperature, acidity and salinity of the environment; they survive in the presence of damaging radiation, toxins or antibiotics, and they even resist attack by other organisms. The remarkably successful bacterial strategy depends on the smooth running of its internal regulatory systems. Regulation in bacteria, which leads to optimal growth, critically depends on the integration of information that the organism gathers from the external environment and from its own cellular metabolic state. The organism processes the information by carrying out complex biochemical reactions and sends processed molecules to the components of the organism that need it. Not every component of the organism needs every bit of information for the system to work optimally. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Nature is parsimonious with its transactions and its regulation. In addition to optimizing growth, regulation allows remarkable innovation to emerge through selection for fitness in an evolutionary sense.


In making the claim that solutions to the financial crisis can be found in nature, we note the similarities of the architectures of financial systems and biological systems, hopefully without succumbing to the myth of metaphors. Financial systems are composed of institutions -- commercial and investment banks, savings and loans, mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, finance companies, insurance companies, non-financial corporations to name a few. The institutions create products or instruments -- mortgages, cash or synthetic collateralized debt obligations, other structured asset-backed securities, insurance, money markets, mutual funds. Consumers and other institutions buy and trade these products, funds flow throughout the system and, in principle, growth occurs.


The equivalent of institutions in biological systems are pathways, which are families of enzymes and reactions that are linked together to perform the necessary functions of the system. The genetic and biochemical pathways, like the financial institutions create products -- molecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, metabolites, toxins. The organism utilizes these products and new growth occurs -- in a regulated, controlled fashion. Bacteria even have a hedging mechanism where a small fraction of the colony bet against good times ahead by slowing down their metabolism just in case the colony encounters a nasty environment full of antibiotics or not enough growth media. These few taking the short position will then change direction at some time in the future and start to grow. If the environment does not sour, then these few "short" bacteria will suffer because they will not maximize their individual growth nor will they contribute to the growth of the colony. If, however, the environment does go south, these few bacteria are the heroes of the firm -- actually the colony -- because they survive to repopulate the organization. The last thing bacteria want to do is outgrow its nutrients or fail to adjust to a threat. Voila! Draw your own conclusions regarding any perceived Wall Street parallel.


In both the financial and bacterial systems, commitment to growth does not come without risks and exposures. In financial systems, for example, a counter party may not meet its obligations, similarly, certain key metabolites may be unavailable in bacterial systems. Financial instruments may lose value because of price fluctuations in the external markets; similarly the external media may at any moment literally dry up in bacterial systems. Operational risks such as technological failure or human error in financial systems find equivalents in damaged DNA or proteins in bacteria. Lack of liquidity in financial markets corresponds to the loss of the bacterial central energy molecule, ATP. Organisms even have the equivalent of banks theoretically too big to fail; these are proteins that are absolutely essential for growth such as enzymes that synthesize its genome.


Predictions about how bacteria respond to these risks and exposures can be made using information concerning the networks of genes, proteins and metabolites. Similarly, complex questions that arise in financial systems can be answered only with access to extensive information such as quantity and amounts of trades, gross and net leverage ratios and off-balance-sheet leverage ratios and parties involved in portfolio selection processes or potential conflict of economic interests. The current SEC claims for relief against Goldman Sachs and its employee, Fabrice Tourre, are based on violations of Section 17(a)(1), (2) and (3) of the Exchange Act and Section 10(b) and Rule 10-b(5) of the Exchange Act. Both claims refer to (a) schemes or artifices to defraud; (b) untrue statements of material facts or omissions of material facts; and (c) transactions, practices or courses of business which operated or would operate as a fraud or deceit. Without prejudging the legal outcome, or post judging the morality of actions, note that bacteria thrive because they process and distribute reliable information -- sometimes noisy, sometimes evanescent, sometimes stochastic, but on the whole, reliable.


So, if we want to drive maximum growth, encourage innovation and protect our colony, we will have to rise to the level of the lowly bacteria and put in place robust regulatory systems. Bacteria had eons to accomplish this; we will have to use our arguably well-evolved brains to do it faster.


Dr. Harvey Rubin, a professor of medicine, biochemistry and computer science, at the University of Pennsylvania, is Founder and Director of the Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response (ISTAR) at Penn. A clinician and researcher, Dr Rubin also advises numerous governmental and non-governmental agencies regarding infectious diseases and biosecurity. Dr. Rubin's views are his alone and may not reflect those of his employer or his colleagues.


Source: Institute of Strategic Threat Analysis and Response (ISTAR)

CONTACT: Dr. Rubin, +1-215-662-6475, rubinh@upenn.edu; or Steph
Rosenfeld, for Dr. Rubin, +1-215-514-4101, steph@idadvisors.com

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MISA-Zimbabwe Statement on World Press Freedom Day 2010

4 May 2010 13:16 Africa/Lagos


MISA-Zimbabwe statement on World Press Freedom Day 2010


HARARE, May 4, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- On 3 May 2010 Zimbabweans join the rest of the world in commemorating World Press Freedom Day set by the United Nations to raise awareness on the importance of media freedom and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


The day also marks the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration which espouses the principles of a free, independent and pluralistic media as agreed to by African newspaper journalists in 1991 in Windhoek, Namibia.


In Zimbabwe this year's celebrations come at a time of increasing agitations and national consensus on the need for constitutional provisions that guarantee media freedom and citizens' right to access to information.


This year's celebrations are being held under the theme: Access to Information: The Right to Know.


MISA-Zimbabwe, however, notes that 30 years after Zimbabwe's independence, the country is still to comply and meaningfully implement envisaged media reforms in sync with regional and international instruments on the right to freedom of expression, media freedom and the citizens' right to access to information.


Repressive legislation that infringes on the afore-mentioned rights such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Interception of Communications Act (ICA) and Official Secrets Act (OSA), among others, remain entrenched in our statutes.


These laws are unnecessary and unjustified in a democratic society and should therefore be repealed in line with the principles of the African Charter on Human Rights, Banjul Declaration on the Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa, SADC Protocol on Information, Sports and Culture and African Charter on Broadcasting.


Due to the restrictive media environment Zimbabwe is still to license community radio stations and privately owned television and radio stations and an independent daily newspaper since the banning of The Daily News in 2003 under the draconian AIPPA.


The statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) is still to license new media players in terms of its constitutional obligations and as agreed to under the inter-party Global Political Agreement. While the ZMC offers a glimmer of hope for a diversified and pluralistic media environment, MISA-Zimbabwe insists on media self-regulation as the long term solution to sustainable media freedom and independence as stipulated in terms of the Banjul Declaration.


The year 2010 has also been characterised by continued arrests and harassment of journalists which runs against the grain of the right to the exercise of freedom of expression and media freedom. The beginning of the year saw an independent journalist Stanley Kwenda fleeing the country into exile following alleged death threats issued against him by a senior police officer. A freelance photojournalist Andrison Manyere, has since January 2010 been subjected to harassment by the police. Manyere has been arrested three times this year while conducting his lawful professional duties.


The legislative framework remains clogged with criminal defamation offences in breach of the right to the exercise of freedom of expression and media freedom. Four journalists from The Standard newspaper group and an independent journalist have been questioned and summoned to appear in court in May 2010 as state witnesses in a criminal defamation case. The case arises from publication of stories exposing an alleged massive land acquisition scandal in Harare involving businessperson Philip Chiyangwa and Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo.


It is MISA-Zimbabwe's firm position that the obtaining restrictive media environment is the result of the absence of requisite constitutional provisions that explicitly guarantee media freedom, citizens' right to access to information and independent media regulatory bodies. Regionally, Zimbabwe together with Botswana stick out among the few southern African countries without constitutional provisions that explicitly guarantee media freedom and the citizens' right to access to information.


A free and unfettered media plays a critical role in advancing citizens' universal right to access to information held by both public and private bodies and is a panacea to socio-economic development, accountable governance and political stability. MISA-Zimbabwe therefore reminds the government and public officials that the information they collect and process comes from the citizens themselves. They hold that information on behalf of the people who therefore have a right to access that very same information for the public good and decision-making on issues that affect their daily lives.


It is in the context of the restrictive media environment and the ongoing constitutional reform process that MISA-Zimbabwe reiterates its calls for constitutional provisions that guarantee media freedom and the citizens' right to access to information under its 2010 World Press Freedom Day theme: Media Freedom & Access to Information should be Constitutional Rights!


Media freedom is intrinsically enjoined with the universal rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association and citizens' right to access to information because of the pivotal role they play in:


assisting the public to perform an effective watchdog role through exposure of misconduct within public and private sectors


fighting corruption


holding both public and private bodies accountable


participatory poverty reduction policy making


fostering respect for human rights notably socio-economic rights to clean water, adequate housing and health care


educating, informing and ensuring free flow of information and ideas


MISA-Zimbabwe implores the government to therefore go beyond rhetorical commitments to media reforms by taking visible and tangible steps to free the media space as agreed to in terms of the Global Political Agreement and the constitutional mandate of the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission.

Media Freedom & Access to Information should be Constitutional Rights!


Source: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)

World Press Freedom Day: We Must Continue To Report the Truth Without Fear

Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.
~ Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)



As we celebrate the World Press Freedom Day, let pause and observe a minute silence in honour of the three Nigerian journalists murdered‎ last month and other journalists, writers and human rights activists murdered in different parts of the world.

The gruesome murder of Deputy Editor Nathan Dabak, 36, and reporter Sunday Gyang Bwede of The Light Bearer and Edo Sole Ugbagwu the Judiciary reporter of The Nation newspaper did not cause any public uproar online or offline, most people were discussing the forthcoming FIFA World Cup coming up in South Africa and also betting on their favourite teams in the English Premiership. Only the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and some of their sympathizers came out to protest on the street.

Since the letter-bomb murder of the Founder and Editor of Newswatch Dele Giwa on October 19, 1986, other journalists have been assassinated and one of them Bayo Ohu of The Guardian newspaper was claimed to be a victim of armed robbers. But other journalists have received death threats and I was warned not to report a controversial case of billion dollar tax evasion by a multinational oil company operating in Nigeria. I reported the news with the facts and figures, because I am not afraid to tell the truth even if the truth condemns me as well.


My priority right now is to use the Internet for news and information that would be of great benefit to those who need the knowledge to improve their lives and appreciate the creations of God according to the Parables of the Sower and Talents by Jesus Christ who paid the supreme price on the cross for speaking the truth.

Millions of people continue to perish for lack of knowledge of the truth.

We must publish and report the truth to defend and promote justice and expose every injustice and vice.

Knowledge is power.

Those who have knowledge must share it with others in equity for the balance of power in the world so that no one would be at the mercy of another person, no matter their class, creed or race.


My mission is to report the truth and expose lies, to promote justice and expose injustice and to use the best resources to help as many people as God grants me the grace. And I am happy doing so.



~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima