₦airaland Forum

hercules07:
@johnie

The reason most people are not concerned about the LG is because the FG has 55% of the total money made by the country, what is left for the LGs is too small after the states have deducted their own and the chairman has whacked some, the LGs are just employers that is all, they do no serve any meaningful purpose, the only time that LGs will be effective is when we have true federalism.

johnie:
From The Times
June 5, 2010

‘Tenderitis’ at root of ANC’s corruption problem in South Africa
Jonathan Clayton, Johannesburg

It is called “tenderitis” . It has swept through the ruling African National Congress and — if critics are to be believed — is threatening the body politic of South Africa.

A whole generation of politicians has grown fat from the disease, which involves awarding lucrative contracts to friends, colleagues, fellow party members and family — regardless of their ability to do the job.

When money is set aside for a specific task, companies are set up at short notice in that field.  They then tender for the work and, despite their lack of any experience in the subject, win the contract. [/b]At municipal level, where it is rampant, it has led to construction of low-cost houses with leaking roofs and toilets that do not work.

Last year, Tokyo Sexwale, the Housing Minister, said that about 40,000 [b]shoddy houses nationwide would have to be demolished at a cost of £90 million to the Government — about 10 per cent of the housing budget.

He called the issue a “national disgrace”. Other cases involved road and school building, and the provision of goods and services for local government. At national level, such “insider dealing” may involve huge consultancy fees to friends, or the misuse of public funds for private purposes — from transport to entertaining.

In one recent case, the head of South African Airways had to resign after awarding the lucrative catering contract to a company recently set up by his wife and some friends.

Since virtually every top job is a political appointment — the result of positive discrimination to reverse the effects of decades of apartheid — the ANC is involved in every shady deal. In another case, a Ministry of Transport offshoot signed a multimillion-pound, ten-year lease on nine office buildings when only two were in use.

Like most African states, /b]South Africa is finding the second decade of independence much harder to handle than the first. At the centre of the problem lies corruption. [/b]

The ANC, which enjoys a near-monopoly on power, has attracted a new set of young, self-seeking members who have little in common with those who fought the long, principled struggle against apartheid.

At the same time a liberation movement — which at its peak brought together liberals, Stalinists, romantics, thugs and idealists, and where loyalty was paramount — has found it difficult to take action against its own and adapt to governing a modern democratic society.

“There is a feeling in the ANC that those who sacrificed their entire professional lives for the movement deserve to be looked after,” Allister Sparks, a veteran journalist and political commentator, told The Times “Some went inside, or into exile, in their 20s and came back in their late 50s . . . The problem is it is easy to subvert that attitude into something else,” .

Corrupt and incompetent ministers rarely resign. The movement, which is racked by internal rivalries and tensions, simply moves them sideways.

“All we ever see in this country is musical chairs . . . but it is our money they are wasting. We have every right to ask them what is going on and — because we are black — they can’t play the race card against us,” said Kgomotso Matsunyane, who hosts an early morning radio show popular with black listeners.

Since President Zuma, himself a populist tainted by corruption charges, took office last year, the teeming black townships have erupted in what are called “service delivery” protests.

Angry residents have stoned local ANC offices, torched the homes of mayors, erected barricades and fought running battles with the security services in scenes reminiscent of the dark days towards the end of apartheid.

“People see the lavish lifestyles these politicians have, and are angry. The country is very definitely at a crossroads,” said Ms Matsunyane, 38, and one of a new breed of people who don’t hesitate to criticise the Government. In the past, black people were reluctant to do that for fear of being labelled pro-white Uncle Toms.

The ANC, which last year suffered the biggest breakaway in its history, is being torn apart about how to deal with the crisis. The unions and their communist allies want what they call “lifestyle audits” of top people, including ministers — an issue which threatens to spark an internal war.

Local elections take place next year, and many analysts predict that the ANC is in for a bruising.

“The best thing that could happen would be for the ANC to break up — its internal contradictions mean it is unsuitable to govern a modern democratic state, but who knows? The decent element still inside seems incapable of recapturing the movement,” said one political analyst. “We need an opposition — badly, and quickly.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article7144539.ece

hercules07:
Johnie

The corper probably stuffed the box for the highest bidder on that day ( we know the parties with deep pockets), you are allowed to criticize who you voted for, but, do not get angry when people say reprimand you for voting a party that has no ideology or track record of performance.

johnie:
Gbam!
To me, there are only two political parties in the world:

1. That of the politicians
2. That of the rest of us who are not politicians

The party of the politicians have "zones" to which they rotate power from time to time through what we call elections

In the USA, the two zones of the politicans' party are the Republicans and the Democrats
In the UK, we have the Labour and Conservatives. Of course there is the minority zone called the Liberal Democrats
In Nigeria we have the PDP, CPC, ACN, ANPP, etc
If you think they are out to get power for our party, I dey laff

ideylaff:


LIKE I KEEP REITERATING, POLITICIANS NEVER FIGHT THEMSELVES, THEY JUST DISAGREE TO AGREE, WE ARE THE OUTSIDERS AND ITS OUR VERY OWN LIVES THEY MORTGAGE WHEN THEY MAKE DECISIONS BASED SOLELY ON EGO, PERSONAL INTEREST AND WHAT NOT U HAVE.

Time will tell.

T9ksy:


And here's me thinking, Lagos is the dirtiest state in the whole country.

johnie:
80% of Privatised Firms Moribund, Says Sambo

The Federal Government has lamented that more than 80 percent of the privatised companies in the country are not working, saying it was defeating the purpose of the scheme which is to create employment.

To address the issue, Vice President Namadi Sambo Thursday at the meeting of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to ensure that all the companies privatised in the last six months were functioning.

Sambo, has urged the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to make sure that all the government companies privatised in the last six months are functioning properly.

Sambo, who chairs the Council. complained about the prolonged process the exercise has taken, spanning nearly 10 years, without successfully concluding due to some obvious problems he wants BPE to resolve.

johnie:
‘BPE should ensure proper functioning of companies’

Addressing issues in the transport sector, Sambo said one of the main problems at the nation’s ports was the concession yard, noting that “when containers get to this point they become a problem.”

According to him, most of the people who are seeking concession do not have adequate documents and this causes unnecessary delay, and as a result, the containers are practically abandoned.

The Vice-president also noted that most times there were no cranes to lift containers at the concession yard and importers were made to pay heavy demurrage.

Sambo said this is caused by the deficient nature at which the ports were managed, and importers would charge the cost of goods according to the amount of demurrage they paid.

He therefore directed the minister of transport to visit the ports personally to make sure the situation is corrected.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?datex=01/15/ReportComment.aspx?com=240294&theartic=Art201105133172440

johnie:
In the run up to the Nigerian general elections, one has been priviledged to read and hear all manners of stories about the candidates standing for the elections and their political parties.

Incumbents and their parties have been accused of massive corruption, incompetence and being clueless.
Those on the side of the incumbents have also thrown all manner of accusations against contenders for the elective posts.

The PDP government at the centre has been accused of "blowing" tax payers' money on a plan to provide steady and reliable power in the last 12 years with nothing to show for it. The party has been accused of massive corruption and insensitivity to the plight of the common man.

All the parties in control at one level or the other have been accused of election malpractices with the last general elections held in 2007 being described by international election observers as the worst they had ever seen anywhere in the world. Even the President who emerged from the process declared that the process had been "flawed."

Now, the questions is this “How do these allegations against the Nigerian political class stack up against their counterparts in some other parts of the world?”