GHANAIAN ELDER URGES YOUTH TO
RECLAIM COUNTRY

Ghana's young people must urgently step up and reclaim the country by any means necessary. That's this 70-year-old unnamed Ghanaian man's passionate message during recent protests against illegal mining in the gold-rich West African nation. Government officials, politicians and party financiers have been implicated in illegal small-scale gold mining - known as 'galamsey.' The term comes from the phrase "gather them and sell." Galamsey has been blamed for the destruction of Ghana's forests, farmlands and water system. On becoming President in 2017, Nana Akufo-Addo established the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, chaired by the environment minister. However, the problem has persisted, with warnings from authorities that the country may have to import water by 2030.

Continued.....Major rivers - such as the Pra, Ankobra, Oti, Offin and Birim - have all been contaminated by illegal mines, leading to an increase in kidney failure, cancer and birth defects.

Perhaps Ghana’s next generation should take inspiration from Kenya’s Gen Z, whose defiant protest scuppered IMF-backed tax hikes.

Video credit: @Starr 103.5 FM

SOURCES:

https://metrotvonline.com/galamsey-menace-ghana-may-have-to-import-water-by-fifteen-years-time-research/

https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/articles/ce9z5z5nxrgo

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Why-these-towns-in-Central-Region-are-at-a-threat-of-water-shortages-in-the-coming-months-1948648

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMNYkEKVSAo

https://issafrica.org/iss-today/ghana-must-stop-galamsey-before-it-sinks-the-country

https://www.myjoyonline.com/impose-ban-on-small-scale-mining-in-ghana-health-workers-to-akufo-addo/

UGANDA, U.S. - HEADING FOR DIVORCE?

General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces, has demanded an apology from the US ambassador, William Popp, to President Museveni - for alleged disrespect. Muhoozi warned that failure to comply would result in his expulsion. His demand follows accusations from Muhoozi that the US is working against President Museveni's government and undermining Uganda's sovereignty, particularly after the US recently sanctioned four Ugandan police officials for alleged human-rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, and corruption.

The rift is a surprise departure from regular proceedings. Uganda has been an indispensable US asset in the region for decades, particularly in furthering US interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The US has, for example, maintained silent complicity despite knowledge of Ugandan theft of DRC’s resources - as per UN reports published in 2001.

Continued.....The status quo marked by instability has been lucrative for the Western-dominated global economy as it has meant the Congolese people cannot exercise control over their minerals.

However, 2023 did see heightened tension between the two countries when Uganda passed its anti-gay law, introducing lengthy jail terms and even the death penalty for so-called ‘aggravated homosexuality.’ The Biden White House expressed its dissatisfaction, threatening sanctions, cutting World Bank funding and imposing visa restrictions on Ugandan officials.

Was the law the final straw? Could it be why the US is ratcheting up pressure now as well?

Continued....Apologize or leave

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/apologize-or-leave-uganda-gen-muhoozi-tells-us-ambassador-in-escalating-row--4785452

US has maintained silence despite knowledge of Uganda misdeeds.

https://mronline.org/2023/11/06/if-the-u-s-told-rwanda-and-uganda-to-get-out-of-congo-the-war-would-end/ 

Uganda passes anti-gay law

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/29/africa/uganda-life-for-lgbt-community-intl-cmd/index.html 

US unhappy with Uganda's anti-gay law

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/22/africa/uganda-lgbtq-bill-condemned-intl/index.html

Continued.....

https://www.thegef.org/sites/default/files/documents/10233_Project_Document.pdf

https://www.elibrary.imf.org/display/book/9781557756343/ch018.xml

https://panamapapers.investigativecenters.org/sierra-leone/

IDRIS ELBA: AFRICA IS OUR HOME

Even if you’ve never been to Africa or feel no connection to it, if you’re Black, the continent is your home. That was the message of British actor Idris Elba during an interview with Ebony magazine in 2023. In this clip, he gives his reasons.

Video credit: @Ebony.com

This week’s African proverb is not exactly animal friendly, but the meaning is clear: you can often size up someone’s qualities by observing and interacting with those closest to them.

NYERERE: 'SELF-RULE IS NOT A FAVOUR'

Today marks the 25th death anniversary of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Tanzania's first president, who died of leukaemia and a stroke at age 77 on 14 October 1999 in a London hospital.

Nyerere was born in 1922 in a small village in Butiama, in Tanganyika, then administered by the British under a League of Nations mandate before becoming part of a larger country in 1964, known today as the United Republic of Tanzania.

Nyerere, affectionately known by the honorific noscript, 'Mwalimu' (Swahili for teacher), was an anti-colonialist, political theorist and president of Tanzania from 1964 to 1985.

But the struggle wasn't easy. Nyerere, a beacon of resilience, stood against the West, which argued Africa wasn't ready to govern itself. No better example exists than this classic 1960 interview of a young Nyerere answering emphatically against colonialist lies. He asserted that Europeans granting us independence was merely returning a stolen right, as it were.

Continued.........Therefore, the question of whether Africans were ready for self-rule was meaningless. We Africans had managed our affairs well before colonisers arrived.

What are your thoughts on Nyerere's legacy and how his ideas and actions continue to influence African politics and history?

Video credit: National Educational Television, Boston, USA

SOURCES:

https://www.eac.int/about-ncpr/julius-nyerere-biography

https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/former-tanzanian-president-julius-nyerere-dies

https://books.openedition.org/africae/713?lang=en

https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/nyerere/1967/arusha-declaration.htm

DRC POLICE FIRE AT STUDENT PROTESTERS

A viral video of police shooting student protesters has sent shockwaves across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The protest broke out on the morning of 7 October amidst frustration over an ongoing teacher's strike over low wages that kept students out of school in Matadi in western DRC.

According to local media ACTUALITE.CD, police arrested a dozen students for a hearing on 8 October at the Children's Court while two officers were due for a hearing at the Matadi Military Court.

'The students only have pens and notebooks,' one anonymous person reportedly said. 'Why do the police shoot innocent people and very young children when there is another way of doing it?'

Continued......Check out our exclusive interview with Maurice Odingo of the Marxist Pan-African organisation Kinshasa Committee. He relayed details from the scene.

SOURCES:

https://www.mediacongo.net/article-actualite-142855_marche_des_eleves_etouffee_a_matadi_la_justice_militaire_appelee_a_s_impliquer_une_audience_foraine_fixee_ce_mardi.html

https://actualite.cd/2024/10/07/matadi-des-tirs-balles-reelles-lors-dune-manifestation-des-eleves-contre-la-persistance

GHANAIANS CALL FOR CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL MINES

Hundreds of Ghanaians again took to the streets on Friday to urge their government to crack down on illegal gold mines. The protests, the biggest yet, were planned by the Trade Union Congress. Activists are angry that illicit excavation is polluting rivers and damaging the soil across the country while offenders go unpunished.

With the price of gold skyrocketing by nearly 40%, the country is witnessing a surge in unlicensed mining. It’s led to increased use of large excavation machinery and dredging equipment near rivers and forests - with no effort to clean up or regenerate the environment after excavation. This has led to disease and water shortages.

Artisanal and small-scale miners operate with less regulation and oversight, often flouting environmental rules.

Continued….. Unions are now intensifying their pressure on the government to take immediate action and shut down illegal mines before elections on 7th December.

Ghana recently launched its first gold refinery to capture more value from its abundant natural resources and help reduce illegal processing. The Royal Ghana Gold Refinery can process 400 kilograms of gold daily, primarily sourcing raw materials from artisanal and small-scale mines. Ghana is Africa's largest gold producer, contributing nearly half of the country's exports.

SOURCES:

https://www.swissaid.ch/en/articles/on-the-trail-of-african-gold/

https://www.mining.com/web/ghanaians-call-on-government-to-shut-down-all-illegal-gold-mines/
https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/ghanaians-demand-end-to-illegal-gold-mining-in-ongoing-protests/m7cjqzg

AFRICANS NEVER COLONISED AMERICAS, UNLIKE COLUMBUS

The 12th of October is commemorated as 'Christopher Columbus Day' in many countries in the Americas. But because the 12th fell on a Saturday, the event is observed today, 14 October, as a federal holiday in the United States.

In this episode of 'The Sobh Show' filmed in Tehran, Iran, African Stream's founder and editor-in-chief, Ahmed Kaballo, sheds light on the true history of the Italian explorer.

Columbus's travelogues ignited in Europeans a desire to colonise and exploit the Indigenous peoples he 'discovered' across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus's first encounter with the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Sea on 12 October 1492 resulted in their enslavement, violence and brutality. As a result, Christopher Columbus Day is increasingly being acknowledged as Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Continued......In this clip, Kaballo alludes to compelling evidence that an African king, Mansa Abu Bakr II, the brother of the famous Malian king, Mansa Musa, had arrived in the Americas some 180 years before Columbus.

In 1324, Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca. On the way, he stopped off in Cairo, where he is said to have claimed that his brother and predecessor took a voyage across the Atlantic, taking with him 2,000 ships along with sailors and a vast supply of provisions to last several years, but never returned (indeed, that is why Musa inherited the throne). A 14th-century North African scholar had recorded Musa's testimony.

Kaballo made these remarks during an in-depth discussion on African matters on 'The Sobh Show.' The conversation delved into African colonisation, the interconnectedness of liberation struggles in Africa, Palestine, and beyond, and the prospects for a new era with the resurgence of Pan-African consciousness.

Watch the entire YouTube discussion on 'The Sobh Show' channel and spread the word.

Video credit: 'The Sobh Show' (@thesobhshow on X)

SOURCES:

https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/stagnation-nation-how-can-britain-pull-itself-out-of-its-economic-decline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RFDalOpKwY

https://africanarguments.org/2016/09/the-scale-of-the-uks-involvement-in-africas-resources-is-staggering-so-too-is-its-disregard-for-the-rights-of-those-affected/

https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/britain-using-far-share-worlds-resources-123588?srsltid=AfmBOoqXQ3WpqfoRJEI5bZLtmaSrDw06nD4f5kPLoROVs8MqtCW0GuOY

https://worldrainforests.com/congo/

https://africa.panda.org/?49003/5-things-to-know-about-the-Congo-Basin-Rainforest

https://aaregistry.org/story/african-voyage-to-the-americas-a-story/

https://www.history.com/news/who-was-the-richest-man-in-history-mansa-musa

https://explorersweb.com/exploration-mysteries-an-early-african-voyage-to-the-americas/

https://www.history.com/news/columbus-day-controversy

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/12/us/christopher-columbus-slavery-disease-trnd/index.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/10/us/christopher-columbus-statues-down-trnd/index.html