Alternative Approach

election night

2008-10-11T20:11:00.007-04:00

Palin in Nepotism and corruption?

2008-09-14T02:01:00.003-04:00

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

The Wasilla City Council, with Sarah Palin, the future governor and vice-presidential nominee, at the center, in a 1998 photograph. Throughout her career, Ms. Palin has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and blurred the line between government and personal grievance.

WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.

And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.

“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”

Ms. Palin walks the national stage as a small-town foe of “good old boy” politics and a champion of ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never have run anything.

But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Still, Ms. Palin has many supporters. As a two-term mayor she paved roads and built an ice rink, and as governor she has pushed through higher taxes on the oil companies that dominate one-third of the state’s economy. She stirs deep emotions. In Wasilla, many residents display unflagging affection, cheering “our Sarah” and hissing at her critics.

“She is bright and has unfailing political instincts,” said Steve Haycox, a history professor at the University of Alaska. “She taps very directly into anxieties about the economic future.”

“But,” he added, “her governing style raises a lot of hard questions.”

Ms. Palin declined to grant an interview for this article. The McCain-Palin campaign responded to some questions on her behalf and that of her husband, while referring others to the governor’s spokespeople, who did not respond.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell said Ms. Palin had conducted an accessible and effective administration in the public’s interest. “Everything she does is for the ordinary working people of Alaska,” he said.

In Wasilla, a builder said he complained to Mayor Palin when the city attorney put a stop-work order on his housing project. She responded, he said, by engineering the attorney’s firing.

Interviews show that Ms. Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records.

Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Ms. Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she has sued the federal government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Mr. Steiner that his request would cost $468,784 to process.

When Mr. Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages — through a federal records request — he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in danger, records show.

“Their secrecy is off the charts,” Mr. Steiner said.

State legislators are investigating accusations that Ms. Palin and her husband pressured officials to fire a state trooper who had gone through a messy divorce with her sister, charges that she denies. But interviews make clear that the Palins draw few distinctions between the personal and the political.

Last summer State Representative John Harris, the Republican speaker of the House, picked up his phone and heard Mr. Palin’s voice. The governor’s husband sounded edgy. He said he was unhappy that Mr. Harris had hired John Bitney as his chief of staff, the speaker recalled. Mr. Bitney was a high school classmate of the Palins and had worked for Ms. Palin. But she fired Mr. Bitney after learning that he had fallen in love with another longtime friend.

“I understood from the call that Todd wasn’t happy with me hiring John and he’d like to see him not there,” Mr. Harris said.

“The Palin family gets upset at personal issues,” he added. “And at our level, they want to strike back.”

Through a campaign spokesman, Mr. Palin said he “did not recall” referring to Mr. Bitney in the conversation.

Hometown Mayor

Laura Chase, the campaign manager during Ms. Palin’s first run for mayor in 1996, recalled the night the two women chatted about her ambitions.

“I said, ‘You know, Sarah, within 10 years you could be governor,’ ” Ms. Chase recalled. “She replied, ‘I want to be president.’ ”

Ms. Palin grew up in Wasilla, an old fur trader’s outpost and now a fast-growing exurb of Anchorage. The town sits in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, edged by jagged mountains and birch forests. In the 1930s, the Roosevelt administration took farmers from the Dust Bowl area and resettled them here; their Democratic allegiances defined the valley for half a century.

In the past three decades, socially conservative Oklahomans and Texans have flocked north to the oil fields of Alaska. They filled evangelical churches around Wasilla and revived the Republican Party. Many of these working-class residents formed the electoral backbone for Ms. Palin, who ran for mayor on a platform of gun rights, opposition to abortion and the ouster of the “complacent” old guard.

After winning the mayoral election in 1996, Ms. Palin presided over a city rapidly outgrowing itself. Septic tanks had begun to pollute lakes, and residential lots were carved willy-nilly out of the woods. She passed road and sewer bonds, cut property taxes but raised the sales tax.

And, her supporters say, she cleaned out the municipal closet, firing veteran officials to make way for her own team. “She had an agenda for change and for doing things differently,” said Judy Patrick, a City Council member at the time.

But careers were turned upside down. The mayor quickly fired the town’s museum director, John Cooper. Later, she sent an aide to the museum to talk to the three remaining employees. “He told us they only wanted two,” recalled Esther West, one of the three, “and we had to pick who was going to be laid off.” The three quit as one.

Ms. Palin cited budget difficulties for the museum cuts. Mr. Cooper thought differently, saying the museum had become a microcosm of class and cultural conflicts in town. “It represented that the town was becoming more progressive, and they didn’t want that,” he said.

Days later, Mr. Cooper recalled, a vocal conservative, Steve Stoll, sidled up to him. Mr. Stoll had supported Ms. Palin and had a long-running feud with Mr. Cooper. “He said: ‘Gotcha, Cooper,’ ” Mr. Cooper said.

Mr. Stoll did not recall that conversation, although he said he supported Ms. Palin’s campaign and was pleased when she fired Mr. Cooper.

In 1997, Ms. Palin fired the longtime city attorney, Richard Deuser, after he issued the stop-work order on a home being built by Don Showers, another of her campaign supporters.

Your attorney, Mr. Showers told Ms. Palin, is costing me lots of money.

“She told me she’d like to see him fired,” Mr. Showers recalled. “But she couldn’t do it herself because the City Council hires the city attorney.” Ms. Palin told him to write the council members to complain.

Meanwhile, Ms. Palin pushed the issue from the inside. “She started the ball rolling,” said Ms. Patrick, who also favored the firing. Mr. Deuser was soon replaced by Ken Jacobus, then the State Republican Party’s general counsel.

“Professionals were either forced out or fired,” Mr. Deuser said.

Ms. Palin ordered city employees not to talk to the press. And she used city money to buy a white Suburban for the mayor’s use — employees sarcastically called it the mayor-mobile.

The new mayor also tended carefully to her evangelical base. She appointed a pastor to the town planning board. And she began to eye the library. For years, social conservatives had pressed the library director to remove books they considered immoral.

“People would bring books back censored,” recalled former Mayor John Stein, Ms. Palin’s predecessor. “Pages would get marked up or torn out.”

Witnesses and contemporary news accounts say Ms. Palin asked the librarian about removing books from the shelves. The McCain-Palin presidential campaign says Ms. Palin never advocated censorship.

But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book “Daddy’s Roommate” on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it.

“Sarah said she didn’t need to read that stuff,” Ms. Chase said. “It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn’t even read it.”

“I’m still proud of Sarah,” she added, “but she scares the bejeebers out of me.”

Reform Crucible

Restless ambition defined Ms. Palin in the early years of this decade. She raised money for Senator Ted Stevens, a Republican from the state; finished second in the 2002 Republican primary for lieutenant governor; and sought to fill the seat of Senator Frank H. Murkowski when he ran for governor.

Mr. Murkowski appointed his daughter to the seat, but as a consolation prize, he gave Ms. Palin the $125,000-a-year chairmanship of a state commission overseeing oil and gas drilling.

Ms. Palin discovered that the state Republican leader, Randy Ruedrich, a commission member, was conducting party business on state time and favoring regulated companies. When Mr. Murkowski failed to act on her complaints, she quit and went public.

The Republican establishment shunned her. But her break with the gentlemen’s club of oil producers and political power catapulted her into the public eye.

“She was honest and forthright,” said Jay Kerttula, a former Democratic state senator from Palmer.

Ms. Palin entered the 2006 primary for governor as a formidable candidate.

In the middle of the primary, a conservative columnist in the state, Paul Jenkins, unearthed e-mail messages showing that Ms. Palin had conducted campaign business from the mayor’s office. Ms. Palin handled the crisis with a street fighter’s guile.

“I told her it looks like she did the same thing that Randy Ruedrich did,” Mr. Jenkins recalled. “And she said, ‘Yeah, what I did was wrong.’ ”

Mr. Jenkins hung up and decided to forgo writing about it. His phone rang soon after.

Mr. Jenkins said a reporter from Fairbanks, reading from a Palin news release, demanded to know why he was “smearing” her. “Now I look at her and think: ‘Man, you’re slick,’ ” he said.

Ms. Palin won the primary, and in the general election she faced Tony Knowles, the former two-term Democratic governor, and Andrew Halcro, an independent.

Not deeply versed in policy, Ms. Palin skipped some candidate forums; at others, she flipped through hand-written, color-coded index cards strategically placed behind her nameplate.

Before one forum, Mr. Halcro said he saw aides shovel reports at Ms. Palin as she crammed. Her showman’s instincts rarely failed. She put the pile of reports on the lectern. Asked what she would do about health care policy, she patted the stack and said she would find an answer in the pile of solutions.

“She was fresh, and she was tomorrow,” said Michael Carey, a former editorial page editor for The Anchorage Daily News. “She just floated along like Mary Poppins.”

Government

Half a century after Alaska became a state, Ms. Palin was inaugurated as governor in Fairbanks and took up the reformer’s sword.

As she assembled her cabinet and made other state appointments, those with insider credentials were now on the outs. But a new pattern became clear. She surrounded herself with people she has known since grade school and members of her church.

Mr. Parnell, the lieutenant governor, praised Ms. Palin’s appointments. “The people she hires are competent, qualified, top-notch people,” he said.

Ms. Palin chose Talis Colberg, a borough assemblyman from the Matanuska valley, as her attorney general, provoking a bewildered question from the legal community: “Who?” Mr. Colberg, who did not return calls, moved from a one-room building in the valley to one of the most powerful offices in the state, supervising some 500 people.

“I called him and asked, ‘Do you know how to supervise people?’ ” said a family friend, Kathy Wells. “He said, ‘No, but I think I’ll get some help.’ ”

The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government. Ms. Palin appointed Mr. Bitney, her former junior high school band-mate, as her legislative director and chose another classmate, Joe Austerman, to manage the economic development office for $82,908 a year. Mr. Austerman had established an Alaska franchise for Mailboxes Etc.

To her supporters — and with an 80 percent approval rating, she has plenty — Ms. Palin has lifted Alaska out of a mire of corruption. She gained the passage of a bill that tightens the rules covering lobbyists. And she rewrote the tax code to capture a greater share of oil and gas sale proceeds.

“Does anybody doubt that she’s a tough negotiator?” said State Representative Carl Gatto, Republican of Palmer.

Yet recent controversy has marred Ms. Palin’s reform credentials. In addition to the trooper investigation, lawmakers in April accused her of improperly culling thousands of e-mail addresses from a state database for a mass mailing to rally support for a policy initiative.

While Ms. Palin took office promising a more open government, her administration has battled to keep information secret. Her inner circle discussed the benefit of using private e-mail addresses. An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a “personal device” like a BlackBerry “would be confidential and not subject to subpoena.”

Ms. Palin and aides use their private e-mail addresses for state business. A campaign spokesman said the governor copied e-mail messages to her state account “when there was significant state business.”

On Feb. 7, Frank Bailey, a high-level aide, wrote to Ms. Palin’s state e-mail address to discuss appointments. Another aide fired back: “Frank, this is not the governor’s personal account.”

Mr. Bailey responded: “Whoops~!”

Mr. Bailey, a former midlevel manager at Alaska Airlines who worked on Ms. Palin’s campaign, has been placed on paid leave; he has emerged as a central figure in the trooper investigation.

Another confidante of Ms. Palin’s is Ms. Frye, 27. She worked as a receptionist for State Senator Lyda Green before she joined Ms. Palin’s campaign for governor. Now Ms. Frye earns $68,664 as a special assistant to the governor. Her frequent interactions with Ms. Palin’s children have prompted some lawmakers to refer to her as “the babysitter,” a title that Ms. Frye disavows.

Like Mr. Bailey, she is an effusive cheerleader for her boss.

“YOU ARE SO AWESOME!” Ms. Frye typed in an e-mail message to Ms. Palin in March.

Many lawmakers contend that Ms. Palin is overly reliant on a small inner circle that leaves her isolated. Democrats and Republicans alike describe her as often missing in action. Since taking office in 2007, Ms. Palin has spent 312 nights at her Wasilla home, some 600 miles to the north of the governor’s mansion in Juneau, records show.

During the last legislative session, some lawmakers became so frustrated with her absences that they took to wearing “Where’s Sarah?” pins.

Many politicians say they typically learn of her initiatives — and vetoes — from news releases.

Mayors across the state, from the larger cities to tiny municipalities along the southeastern fiords, are even more frustrated. Often, their letters go unanswered and their pleas ignored, records and interviews show.

Last summer, Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, a Democrat, pressed Ms. Palin to meet with him because the state had failed to deliver money needed to operate city traffic lights. At one point, records show, state officials told him to just turn off a dozen of them. Ms. Palin agreed to meet with Mr. Begich when he threatened to go public with his anger, according to city officials.

At an Alaska Municipal League gathering in Juneau in January, mayors across the political spectrum swapped stories of the governor’s remoteness. How many of you, someone asked, have tried to meet with her? Every hand went up, recalled Mayor Fred Shields of Haines Borough. And how many met with her? Just a few hands rose. Ms. Palin soon walked in, delivered a few remarks and left for an anti-abortion rally.

The administration’s e-mail correspondence reveals a siege-like atmosphere. Top aides keep score, demean enemies and gloat over successes. Even some who helped engineer her rise have felt her wrath.

Dan Fagan, a prominent conservative radio host and longtime friend of Ms. Palin, urged his listeners to vote for her in 2006. But when he took her to task for raising taxes on oil companies, he said, he found himself branded a “hater.”

It is part of a pattern, Mr. Fagan said, in which Ms. Palin characterizes critics as “bad people who are anti-Alaska.”

As Ms. Palin’s star ascends, the McCain campaign, as often happens in national races, is controlling the words of those who know her well. Her mother-in-law, Faye Palin, has been asked not to speak to reporters, and aides sit in on interviews with old friends.

At a recent lunch gathering, an official with the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce asked its members to refer all calls from reporters to the governor’s office. Dianne Woodruff, a city councilwoman, shook her head.

“I was thinking, I don’t remember giving up my First Amendment rights,” Ms. Woodruff said. “Just because you’re not going gaga over Sarah doesn’t mean you can’t speak your mind.”

--- The following article first appeared in the NYT

Convent Speeches

2008-09-06T19:16:00.003-04:00

Senator Obama's Acceptance Speech

Senator McCain's Acceptance Speech

Senator Biden's Acceptance Speech

Governor Palin's Acceptance Speech

2008-07-24T18:51:00.001-04:00

Obama in Berlin

Obama on Iraq

2008-07-20T18:39:00.002-04:00

In this NYT op Ed , Senator Barack Obama, the democratic nominee for POTUS reiterated in unequivocal terms, his plans for Iraq. While it has been common refrain of the self-styled MSM lassies to make bogus and unfounded claims of flips, the senator has always remain steadfast in his views that the war in Iraq is a misadventure, but has always expressed the need for caution as we move forward.

While a withdrawal timetable in Iraq is a rational thing to do, afterall we are all made to believe that Iraq is a sovereign nation and occupying a sovereign nation is againts international norms. Plus Iraq never attacked us un unprovoked. They had no hands in 9/11. Yet many will dare equate this country to Japan or Germany. Japan attacked us at Pearle Harbour and Germany many attackes during second world war are well chronicled.

Since the begining of the Iraq misadventure, more than 4000 US soldiers (in uniform) have lost their lives, as have many more American civilians and contractors. More than 30,000 US soldiers have been critically injured and the Iraq casualty is still a subject of debate.

While the many initiatives launched since 2006, including efforts to bring in Sunnis into Iraqi political mainstream as well as the inherent purge in many Baghdadi neighbourhoods have led to a restoration of stability in Iraq, the continued stay of American soldiers on an open-ended commitment will by no means help stabilize the nation. We left Vietnam more than 30 years ago, and that country now counts as a success story in the commity of nations. Our presence in Japan and Germany, started out as conquorors and although have tappered off over the years as the two nations remain enmansculated and without an aggressive millitary, those presence are begining to have no value.

Afghanistan on the other hand needs to be stabilized and we need to do more in Pakistan to assure not just the stability of that country but also safeguard, and ultmately neutralize its Nuclear arsenal, as we should all Nuclear arsenals.

Iran posses dangers, but so does so many other nations including China and Russia, but if we tone down our rhetorics and replace our belicose attitude with a more accomodating positions that replaces our "lone super power" aura with one that shows nations like Iran they are also respcted (even without a Nuclear bomb), we may well restore our moral leadership and get the rest of the world, including Iran , to see the reason in our belief that no one needs to own weapons that could anihilate our world.

Senator Obama's reasoned position is a helpful step in the right direction and the fact that he has a retinue of experts (more than 300 according to some recent reports) at his dispossal is quit helpful. Some have tried to spin this fact in less favourable terms, but they seem to be more interested in belittling the man who has demostrated the most capacity to provide seasoned leadership for the nation, and indeed the world since the begining of our Union. No other political leader in this country's history has been called upon so frequently to provide visionary leadership while still on the trail, as Obama has been expected to do over and again on issues fron race relations to foreign policy to the issue of women and even religion.

As his recent Op Ed shows, he is indeed ready to lead us into a better day.

Right of reply : Obama is right on

2008-07-04T11:19:00.001-04:00

Barack Obama in 2002 vehemently opposed the Iraq war. Not because he was opposed to all wars, but because he was opposed to a dumb war. A dumb war is one that is fought on false or ill conceived premises or lack of a reason at all, without a proper understanding of its consequences. That’s the kind of war no self respecting general will wage. And George Bush and his neo-con allies chose to wage such a war. With the backing of his republican allies and many dumb congressional democrats, George W. Bush marched the nation into one of its most costly wars in history. Currently estimated at more than 3 trillion dollars, more than 4000 US uniform men dead, maybe another 4000 US non-uniformed personnel dead. More than 50,000 US soldiers wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead or maimed, and millions displaced, all coupled with a badly tarnished brand America in the world. The Iraq war was not just a grave mistake; it was a dumb and distracting war of choice.

But Obama never said he would precipitously withdraw US soldiers from Iraq. Rather he has said we should be as careful getting-out in as we were careless getting-in. That position has not wavered since he first espoused it in 2007. He has promised to start bringing US soldiers home after his inauguration in January of 2009 and has committed to a 16 month time-table for draw down. He has however consistently espoused the need for residual forces in the region and even in Iraq to continue training Iraq forces and maintain security of American interests. At no time did he ever suggest he will draw down to zero soldiers in Iraq.

Many in the press, who are just beginning to show their bias are wont to trivialize everything and reduce it all to quick sound-bites. They have a peccadillo for one liners in a multi-sentenced nuanced environment. Their favorites have included George Bush’s famous “Bring it on!” and John McCain’s famous “Bomb, bomb… bomb Iran!” Asinine statements that these are, they are the kind of sound bites that tickle the fancy of a lazy bunch who believe they somehow are the vetters for the presidential candidates. Rather than spend a few minutes to research and verify Obama’s or even McCain’s stance on issues, they have preferred to take whatever spin suites their personal prejudice at the time. Some even take their new attack role to mean they are doing the people’s work, when they are doing is trying to out-rush Rush Limbaugh; with the hope that they may become the next beneficiary of a hate-fueled $400 million multi-year contract renewal.

What Barack Obama has said and continues to say is that judgment matters, words matters and actions matters. What he has done so far in the senate and in the Illinois senate is to put his money where he mouths his. In 2004, he rallied the nation with his now famous “We are all Americans” speech in Boston. Time and again, he has espoused his belief that our religion should not be used to divide us. That religious people could be Democrats or Republicans. That we are after all Americans first, and everything else last. That we owe it to ourselves to find common purpose in our common destiny to achieve great things. He has always pledged to listen to reason and help find common solution that we can all support.

While Barack believes we should stop the bleeding in Iraq by dramatically cutting our now $12 billion a month tab, reduce our foot print in the country; complete the mission in Afghanistan rationally, build a strong military, invest in our future and take our rightful position as a genuine world leader, he has never encouraged any irrational and precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. He is not just espousing hundred years in Iraq as McCain has eloquently stated as his vision.

Again, Obama got it right

2008-06-29T14:37:00.002-04:00

The Nation ....The world is suddenly paying a measure of the attention that is necessary to the democratic crisis in Zimbabwe, where strongman President Robert Mugabe has used violence and intimidation to prevent the competitive election that would surely have forced him from office.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela is leading a chorus of condemnation for what Mandela describes as the "tragic failure" of Mugabe as a leader of his country and as an advocate for Africa.

Even President Bush, who has not exactly been a leader when it comes to addressing the concerns of southern Africa or promoting democracy (in Africa or the U.S.), has denounced Mugabe's use of military, police and paramilitary thugs to impose a result that could not have been secured by the electorate.

Bush is right to be making noise now. And he may even be right to propose sanctions against the Mugabe government, although sanctions always seem to fall harder on innocent citizens than upon the dictators they are supposed to target.

But, as usual, even when Bush gets a foreign-policy issue, he does so after he might have been able to avert murder and mayhem.

The same goes for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who can barely be bothered to pay attention to African affairs.

And what of Barack Obama, who critics, including McCain, suggest is inexperienced and inept when it comes to scanning the globe for trouble-spots and responding to their challenges?

The likely Democratic nominee, far from having to play catch-up, is in the forefront.

Having rallied fellow Senators Joe Biden, D-Delaware; Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut; Dick Durbin, D-Illinois; Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin; Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska; John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, as co-sponsors -- and working in conjunction with the late Tom Lantos, the California congressman who made human rights in Africa a priority during his tenure as chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs -- the senator from Illinois moved last spring to get the Congress to pay attention to what was unfolding in Zimbabwe.

On June 26, 2007, Obama won unanimous Senate support for a resolution condemning Mugabe's disregard for democratic processes and calling for U.S. action to prevent the degeneration of circumstances on the ground in Zimbabwe.

Obama's resolution condemning violent acts by the Zimbabwe government, serves as a powerful reminder that some officials get it while others get lost.

Here's the Obama resolution on Zimbabwe:

Whereas in 2005 the Government of Zimbabwe launched Operation Murambatsvina (``Operation Throw Out the Trash'') against citizens in major cities and suburbs throughout Zimbabwe, depriving over 700,000 people of their homes, businesses, and livelihoods;

Whereas on March 11, 2007, opposition party activists and members of civil society attempted to hold a peaceful prayer meeting to protest the economic and political crisis engulfing Zimbabwe, where inflation is running over 1,700 percent and unemployment stands at 80 percent and in response to President Robert Mugabe's announcement that he intends to seek reelection in 2008 if nominated;

Whereas opposition activist Gift Tandare died on March 11, 2007, as a result of being shot by police while attempting to attend the prayer meeting and Itai Manyeruke died on March 12, 2007, as a result of police beatings and was found in a morgue by his family on March 20, 2007;

Whereas under the direction of President Robert Mugabe and the ZANU-PF government, police officers, security forces, and youth militia brutally assaulted the peaceful demonstrators and arrested opposition leaders and hundreds of civilians;

Whereas Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangarai was brutally assaulted and suffered a fractured skull, lacerations, and major bruising; MDC member Sekai Holland, a 64-year old grandmother, suffered ruthless attacks at Highfield Police Station, which resulted in the breaking of her leg, knee, arm, and three ribs; fellow activist Grace Kwinje, age 33, also was brutally beaten, while part of one ear was ripped off; and Nelson Chamisa was badly injured by suspected state agents at Harare airport on March 18, 2007, when trying to board a plane for a meeting of European Union and Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States lawmakers in Brussels, Belgium; Whereas Zimbabwe's foreign minister warned Western diplomats that the Government of Zimbabwe would expel them if they gave support to the opposition, and said Western diplomats had gone too far by offering food and water to jailed opposition activists;

Whereas victims of physical assault by the Government of Zimbabwe have been denied emergency medical transfer to hospitals in neighboring South Africa, where their wounds can be properly treated;

Whereas those incarcerated by the Government of Zimbabwe were denied access to legal representatives and lawyers appearing at the jails to meet with detained clients were themselves threatened and intimidated; Whereas at the time of Zimbabwe's independence, President Robert Mugabe was hailed as a liberator and Zimbabwe showed bright prospects for democracy, economic development, domestic reconciliation, and prosperity;

Whereas President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government continue to turn away from the promises of liberation and use state power to deny the people of Zimbabwe the freedom and prosperity they fought for and deserve;

Whereas the staggering suffering brought about by the misrule of Zimbabwe has created a large-scale humanitarian crisis in which 3,500 people die each week from a combination of disease, hunger, neglect, and despair;

Whereas the Chairman of the African Union, President Alpha Oumar Konare, expressed ``great concern'' about Zimbabwe's crisis and called for the need for the scrupulous respect for human rights and democratic principles in Zimbabwe;

Whereas the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Non-governmental Organizations stated that ``We believe that the crisis has reached a point where Zimbabweans need to be strongly persuaded and directly assisted to find an urgent solution to the crisis that affects the entire region.'';

Whereas Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa, has urged southern Africa to take a new approach to Zimbabwe instead of the failed ``quiet diplomacy'', which he likened to a ``sinking Titanic,'' and stated that ``quiet diplomacy has failed to help solve the political chaos and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe'';

Whereas European Union and African, Caribbean, and Pacific lawmakers strongly condemned the latest attack on an opposition official in Zimbabwe and urged the government in Harare to cooperate with the political opposition to restore the rule of law; and

Whereas United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, warned that opposition to President Robert Mugabe had reached a tipping point because the people no longer feared the regime and believed they had nothing left to lose:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That-- (1) it is the sense of Congress that--

(A) the state-sponsored violence taking place in Zimbabwe represents a serious violation of fundamental human rights and the rule of law and should be condemned by all responsible governments, civic organizations, religious leaders, and international bodies; and

(B) the Government of Zimbabwe has not lived up to its commitments as a signatory to the Constitutive Act of the African Union and African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights which enshrine commitment to human rights and good governance as foundational principles of African states; and

(2) Congress--

(A) condemns the Government of Zimbabwe's violent suppression of political and human rights through its police force, security forces, and youth militia that deliberately inflict gross physical harm, intimidation, and abuse on those legitimately protesting the failing policies of the government;

(B) holds those individual police, security force members, and militia involved in abuse and torture responsible for the acts that they have committed;

(C) condemns the harassment and intimidation of lawyers attempting to carry out their professional obligations to their clients and repeated failure by police to comply promptly with court decisions;

(D) condemns the harassment of foreign officials, journalists, human rights workers, and others, including threatening their expulsion from the country if they continue to provide food and water to victims detained in prison and in police custody while in the hospital;

(E) commends United States Ambassador Christopher Dell and other United States Government officials and foreign officials for their support to political detainees and victims of torture and abuse while in police custody or in medical care centers and encourages them to continue providing such support;

(F) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to cease immediately its violent campaign against fundamental human rights, to respect the courts and members of the legal profession, and to restore the rule of law while adhering to the principles embodied in an accountable democracy, including freedom of association and freedom of expression;

(G) calls on the Government of Zimbabwe to cease illegitimate interference in travel abroad by its citizens, especially for humanitarian purposes; and

(H) calls on the leaders of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the African Union to consult urgently with all Zimbabwe stakeholders to intervene with the Government of Zimbabwe while applying appropriate pressures to resolve the economic and political crisis.

As a first-term senator with little more than his conscience and his understanding of the world to guide him, Obama read the circumstance in Zimbabwe right -- and he did so before the crisis spun out of control.

Imagine what might have been if George Bush and Condoleezza Rice had taken the situation in southern Africa as seriously as did Obama -- and responded in so savvy and responsible a manner as the Illinoisan.

Imagine what someone who actually paid attention to the world -- and recognized the responsible role that the United States can and should play in rallying world opinion to stand on the side of human rights -- could accomplish as president.

A deal of a lifetime

2008-06-26T18:06:00.000-04:00

The Blue Whale

2008-06-21T16:36:00.003-04:00

The Blue Whale...

2008-06-17T20:19:00.003-04:00

America Unite for CHANGE

Gore endorse Obama

2008-06-16T21:50:00.002-04:00

Al Gore finally openly endorsed Barack Obama today in Michigan. Gore earlier in the day sent a fund raising mailer to supporters in which he extol the candidacy of Barack Obama and his leadership and ability to lead the nation to a new and better tomorrow.

I'll bring the video as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Tim Russert : A good life

2008-06-15T01:49:00.003-04:00

A tribute to Tim Russert

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25159166#25159166

2008-06-13T18:58:00.002-04:00

Mr. Timothy John Russert (TJR), aka Tim Russert passed away today at the young age of 58.

Kucinich Introduces Articles of Impeachment

2008-06-10T15:25:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure what the game plan here is, but I see no value in impeaching George Bush, less than 7 months before he officially leaves office. What is Kucinich's end game?

The real john mccain

2008-06-08T16:51:00.002-04:00

courtesy http://therealmccain.com/

Hillary's debt

2008-06-08T10:31:00.003-04:00

Help Hillary retire her debt. Visit her campaign website and contribute

Hillary's options

2008-06-07T21:48:00.003-04:00

Reading Gail Collins's Op-Ed "What Hillary wants" and her comment on "Or whether a woman could be strong enough to serve as commander in chief." it struck me that no one had suggested Hillary as the next Secretary of Defense.

The commander in chief (cinc) role was one Hillary delightfully embraced during her 18 months campaign as she positioned herself as more hawk than Barack. She chose to serve in the Senate Armed forces committee, where she has learnt a lot grilling would be and serving defense chiefs, military and civilian alike. She also spent a good amount of term last summer getting into a public brawl with the pentagon brass. She won the argument and got the briefing she demanded, but not the detail she sought.

Many have contended that she'll be best to bring the troops home honorably and with most tact.

As the nation's first female secretary of defense, she could achieve one of her key objectives, to bring the troops home as tactfully as possible, create another Hillary myth (leading all those boys at the pentagon) and beyond doubt answer the commander in chief question (if anyone still doubt it).

So rather than pivot for a ceremonial role as the VP, she could reject that offer and instead seek the position of secretary of defense.

She could also choose to stay in the senate till 2010 when an opening at the supreme court could have her nominated as a judge. She will win handily. And Chealsea can run for her senate seat then. In 2010, Chelsea Clinton will be 30 years old and the average age of many senators when they first ran for senate. A long senate role will set Chelsea on a path to become the heir of the political fortune of her parents.

Well, Hillary has lots of options and I believe Barack will oblige her many of her requests, within reason. But the VP is not a good idea for way too many reasons.

realization of a dream ? The BEGINING OF A DREAM

2008-06-07T19:43:00.001-04:00

Hillary Clinton didn't loose. Barack Obama won

2008-06-07T13:18:00.004-04:00

Once again, the mother of America's fight for trully Universal health care has not only shattered all myths about a woman's strenght and capacity to attain all heights. She has gracefully thrown her support to the next president of the United States. An African American who was raised by a single mother.

In her speach today, she laid out the case, very eloquently, very pationately, convincingly. She explained why voting Barack Obama for president is a duty for all her supportes, nay, all Americans. Considering the challenges we face, considering what 28 years of Republican Adminsitration has brought us in the last 40 years, the case for a Democratic President is compelling. Cosnidering the vision being laid out by John McCain, the need for Barack Obama is even more urgent. And she said all that and more, while gracefully accepting her status as the leading voice and hero of American women of all stripes.

She has achieved what no other women has in the history of the nation. And like it or not, she has achieved it along side one of the most transcedental figures in worlds history, Senator (and soon to be President) Barack Obama.

And he did it....

2008-06-04T21:04:00.005-04:00

Barack Obama has won the 17 month long marathon race for the Democratic party nomination for the president of the United States of America. The first multi-racial person (ok so many people call him a Blackman, but he's more than that) ever to do so. The first person of African descent to have a real shot at leading the world, for the first time in recorded history. And he won it the hard way, through a long, grueling and hard fought marathon. He had to wrest the party nomination from an extremely well funded, universally known, tenacious and well connected former first lady and two time senator, Hilary Clinton. But he prevailed.

His success marks a remarkable realization of Martin Luther King's dreams, but his ascendancy to the presidency as the next president of the United States will be the ultimate statement of how far this great nation has come in the last 220 years.

Solving Nigeria's Energy Crises : Draft in progress

2008-05-26T21:58:00.003-04:00

Note: This report is a work in progress, and not haven worked on it for more than 6 months now, I decided to release it as is as I work to complete the report.~Monday April 7, 2008

The biggest hindrance to real development in Nigeria is the perennial energy problem. Electricity in this nation of nearly 200 million people is epileptic and grossly inadequate to say the least. To put things in perspective, electricity currently reach less than 50% of the nation and is available less than 50% of the time. Even when available, the supply is less than 2% of what is needed in a Country this size, compared to other nations its size. Unfortunately, this dire state has been long in coming; the last time any City in Nigeria experienced a yearlong electricity availability was over twenty years ago, in the early 1980s.

But electricity is hardly the only problem in this World's seventh largest exporter of crude oil (the source of gasoline), there has continued to be a shortage of local supply of gasoline since the late 1980s. Nigeria has experienced more fuel-shortage related crises in the last 20 years, than any other crises. The nation currently expend more money on imported gasoline and related products than on education and health combined.

To detail how this resource rich nation got into this straight will take a book, but in this article, we will simply look at potential solutions; what the new government can do to solve the problem once and for all, and within the time the new president may really have to deliver. While this article focus on solutions, it is imperative to list the main causes of the current crises in order to appreciate the proposed solutions.

Problems

Government Ownership : Electricity in this former British colony have always been a government run utility just like water, waste disposal and many other services and industries, similar to the British economic model from which Nigeria's, like all other British colonies, was fashioned. However, once the corruption mentality began to eat into the social fabrics on the new nation as it gains independence from London, power supply like all other state run institutions was headed for the gutters.

http://economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=1065811&story_id=9660077
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=PublicationURL&_tockey=%23TOC%235683%232007%23999159994%23641655%23FLA%23&_cdi=5683&_pubType=J&view=c&_auth=y&_acct=C000049400&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=961288&md5=dc73526a6ae4f884d570f4423ee33c20
http://economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/display.cfm?id=1065811
http://www.fmf.gov.ng/performance_matrix_NEPA.PDF
http://www.dawodu.com/ifedi1.htm
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.nigeria/browse_thread/thread/733abad6449090bf/660a3fd9b3d6bdb9?lnk=st&q=Power+Holding+Company+of+Nigeria&rnum=2&hl=en#660a3fd9b3d6bdb9

http://www.phcnonline.com/TIMSClient/(rqhszwundgald13rexqmrje1)/index.htm
Government Management of Prices : The Nigerian government has continued to pretend to 'regulate' and 'deregulate' the energy sector for ever, leading to 'subsidies' which in themselves lead to widespread corruption and create the excuse for regularly timed price increases. The interesting thing about these government managed energy prices in Nigeria is that the prices never seem to obey the law of gravity
The Generator factor : Nigeria imports and use the most number of electricity generators (end user units) per capital, compared to any other country on the face of the earth, and the number is even worse when compared to other OPEC members. This is a lucrative industry in Nigeria to which many of the current national leaders (locust) participate. There has not been any real disincentive to this industry and they continue to help ensure that the national energy crises remain so, helping to fuel their greed. The impressive problem though, remains the fact that the generators are often useless given the perennial gasoline (fuel) crises in the country and its rising cost, often at the whim of the government.
The foreign Equipment factor: Nigeria, a nation of 150 million people, nearly 60 Universities, hundreds of throusands of Engineeris scattered all over the globe, and the home of some of the most innovative people on earth, relies almost completely on foreign equipments for all its electricity needs. Ibrahim Babangida spent more than $4 billion dollars on equipment, Sani Abacha and Abubarkar spent nearly $8 billion and Obasanjo was reputed to have spent another $13 billion. In the last two decades alone, the Nigerian government has wasted more than $25 billion on electric power generation and the nation still generates less than 20% of South Africa's output. If the nation had instead encouraged local manufacture of the generating, transmission and distribution equipment and invested the $25 billion dollars instead in Nigeria with a goal to generate at least as much energy per capital as South Africa and committed to a long term strategy, in two decades, it would have more to show for it: An empowered populace, sufficient and uniterrupted power supply and increased national whealth. But the shortsightedness of all the leaders of the last 5 decades has left the nation without any hope for the future...
The Contractor / Saboteur factor : It is difficult to imagine anyone giving up their lucrative sources of income, even for the sake of their country. Importers of generators, NEPA contractors and their likes greatly benefit from the current state of the electricity industry and would do anything in their powers to keep it that way. Many even engage in vandalization of the transmission and distribution infrastructure and resale the vandalized materials to the various purchasing elements of the organiztion. True NEPA has been rebranded, but branding alone will note remove this factor.
The expatriate factor : While NEPA is a wholly owned Nigerian company. 100% owned by the government (at the last check, despite all the bundling and unbundling), the influence of foreigners in the energy industry (electricity) is lopsided. All the major equipment manafucters and suppliers (first tier) and foreign owned. Think ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), Siemens and others. Nigeria, despite its large array of engineering schools (more than 100 if you count the polytechnics as well), large pool of trainable and unemployeed youth, still does not produce any critcal component including transformers (of any size), electric motors, rotors, or any component for generation, transmission or distributions. Not even meters or relays are made in Nigeria. Thus every effort by the government to improve the energy state in Nigeria will result in a massive capital flight. If any of these components are made in Nigeria, government investments will result in capaital recycling thereby helping to breath life into the economy. Every effort by government that does not address this terrible malaise will only help to enrich foreign nations at the detriment of Nigeria and its people.
The Investment factor: Since the electricity industry is essentially a government industry, the lack of private investment is palpable. To meet the needs of the Nigerian population at the same ratio as the US in terms of KW/head, Nigeria will require at least 1 trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000.00) in a 10 year period. Unfortunately, this is more than the nation's entire GDP. Public finance alone can not help in addressing this huge deficite. Private investment is neccessary, and the only way to even get close in 25 to 50 years is if the government chooses to engage in capital recycling within the economy.
The Security factor
The Utility Law : One gaping hole in Nigeria's efforts to address its energy problem is the lack of reliable legal framework and lack of a rational energy policy.

Electricity Solutions

The energy problem in Nigeria is far from intractible. They just require commitment and a clear sense of purpose from its leaders. Beyond expending unlimited amount of National treasures for an unlimited season, lining the pocket of a few fat cats while the nation runs in the dark, the government can embard on the following path to success to rid itself of the shamefull blot on its managerial capabilities.

Fix & Sell : Nigeria is a capitalist society, and as such must free itself of all retarded socialistics tendencies, like government ownership (100%!) of the utility industry. The capital intensive nature of engery demands this. Today more that 40% of all debts owed to the Power Holding Company and its affiliates are owed by various governmental agencies including in amny cases government houses (at least during the period of millitary rule) and another 30% owed by "connected" businesses and corporations. So long as the government continues to own and manage the energy utility, this abuse will continue. The only rational solution is for the government to divest from the organizations.
This does not by any means getting out prematurely. There are assets locked up in NEPA (just s there were in NITEL) and any rash decision to sell will only shorchange the citizens for whom the enterprises are held in trust for. NEPA can be fixed, within reason, with minimum investment and then sold as a functional organization, even if it has to be unbundled into different entities in recognition of the complexities of its various parts.
Deregulate Completely : Deregulation should never be a haf hearted action. You either deregulate or you don't and in the parlance of Nigeria, this may simply mean allowing multiple players in the Industry, similar to what happened with the telecommunication industry, but without the monopolistic protections offered to the wireless companies at the expense of Nigerians. The government should adopt a whole market driven energy section and allow players to come and gove so long as they meet certain, albeit strict, rules of engagement including customer and employee treatment, sources of equipment and employees and contribution to energy efficiency and alternative energy sources. In this market, generation from alternative sources including nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, ocean and all other should be on the table. Also, support for reverse generation, whereby individuals can sell into the power grid (as is done in many parts of North America and Europe) should be encouraged.
Protect Investment / Infrastructure : The energy infrastructure is one of the most important a modern nation has and is often the difference between national success and failure. One of the biggest drag on the Nigerian economy is the dismall state of the energy sector. The records bear out the fact that the nations with the higher energy index (KW/head) have the bigger and better economy.
Encourage local skill development
Encourage local research & manufacturing
Encourage renewable energy
Democratise new and renewable energy generation and use:

Obama's mum

2008-04-10T18:57:00.000-04:00

courtesy of yahoo

Each of us lives a life of contradictory truths. We are not one thing or another. Barack Obama's mother was at least a dozen things. S. Ann Soetoro was a teen mother who later got a Ph.D. in anthropology; a white woman from the Midwest who was more comfortable in Indonesia; a natural-born mother obsessed with her work; a romantic pragmatist, if such a thing is possible.

"When I think about my mother," Obama told me recently, "I think that there was a certain combination of being very grounded in who she was, what she believed in. But also a certain recklessness. I think she was always searching for something. She wasn't comfortable seeing her life confined to a certain box."

Obama's mother was a dreamer. She made risky bets that paid off only some of the time, choices that her children had to live with. She fell in love - twice - with fellow students from distant countries she knew nothing about. Both marriages failed, and she leaned on her parents and friends to help raise her two children.

"She cried a lot," says her daughter Maya Soetoro-Ng, "if she saw animals being treated cruelly or children in the news or a sad movie - or if she felt like she wasn't being understood in a conversation." And yet she was fearless, says Soetoro-Ng. "She was very capable. She went out on the back of a motorcycle and did rigorous fieldwork. Her research was responsible and penetrating. She saw the heart of a problem, and she knew whom to hold accountable."

Today Obama is partly a product of what his mother was not. Whereas she swept her children off to unfamiliar lands and even lived apart from her son when he was a teenager, Obama has tried to ground his children in the Midwest. "We've created stability for our kids in a way that my mom didn't do for us," he says. "My choosing to put down roots in Chicago and marry a woman who is very rooted in one place probably indicates a desire for stability that maybe I was missing."

Ironically, the person who mattered most in Obama's life is the one we know the least about - maybe because being partly African in America is still seen as being simply black and color is still a preoccupation above almost all else. There is not enough room in the conversation for the rest of a man's story.

But Obama is his mother's son. In his wide-open rhetoric about what can be instead of what was, you see a hint of his mother's credulity. When Obama gets donations from people who have never believed in politics before, they're responding to his ability - passed down from his mother - to make a powerful argument (that happens to be very liberal) without using a trace of ideology. On a good day, when he figures out how to move a crowd of thousands of people very different from himself, it has something to do with having had a parent who gazed at different cultures the way other people study gems.

It turns out that Obama's nascent career peddling hope is a family business. He inherited it. And while it is true that he has not been profoundly tested, he was raised by someone who was.

In most elections, the deceased mother of a candidate in the primaries is not the subject of a magazine profile. But Ann Soetoro was not like most mothers.

Stanley Ann Dunham
Born in 1942, just five years before Hillary Clinton, Obama's mother came into an America constrained by war, segregation and a distrust of difference. Her parents named her Stanley because her father had wanted a boy. She endured the expected teasing over this indignity, but dutifully lugged the name through high school, apologizing for it each time she introduced herself in a new town.

During her life, she was known by four different names, each representing a distinct chapter. In the course of the Stanley period, her family moved more than five times - from Kansas to California to Texas to Washington - before her 18th birthday. Her father, a furniture salesman, had a restlessness that she inherited.

She spent her high school years on a small island in Washington, taking advanced classes in philosophy and visiting coffee shops in Seattle. "She was a very intelligent, quiet girl, interested in her friendships and current events," remembers Maxine Box, a close high school friend. Both girls assumed they would go to college and pursue careers. "She wasn't particularly interested in children or in getting married," Box says. Although Stanley was accepted early by the University of Chicago, her father wouldn't let her go. She was too young to be off on her own, he said, unaware, as fathers tend to be, of what could happen when she lived in his house.

After she finished high school, her father whisked the family away again - this time toHonolulu, after he heard about a big new furniture store there. Hawaii had just become a state, and it was the new frontier. Stanley grudgingly went along yet again, enrolling in the University of Hawaii as a freshman.

Mrs. Barack H. Obama
Shortly before she moved to Hawaii, Stanley saw her first foreign film. Black Orpheuswas an award-winning musical retelling of the myth of Orpheus, a tale of doomed love. The movie was considered exotic because it was filmed in Brazil, but it was written and directed by white Frenchmen. The result was sentimental and, to some modern eyes, patronizing. Years later Obama saw the film with his mother and thought about walking out. But looking at her in the theater, he glimpsed her 16-year-old self. "I suddenly realized," he wrote in his memoir, Dreams from My Father, "that the depiction of childlike blacks I was now seeing on the screen ... was what my mother had carried with her to Hawaii all those years before, a reflection of the simple fantasies that had been forbidden to a white middle-class girl from Kansas, the promise of another life, warm, sensual, exotic, different."

By college, Stanley had started introducing herself as Ann. She met Barack Obama Sr. in a Russian-language class. He was one of the first Africans to attend the University of Hawaii and a focus of great curiosity. He spoke at church groups and was interviewed for several local-newspaper stories. "He had this magnetic personality," remembers Neil Abercrombie, a member of Congress from Hawaii who was friends with Obama Sr. in college. "Everything was oratory from him, even the most commonplace observation."

Obama's father quickly drew a crowd of friends at the university. "We would drink beer, eat pizza and play records," Abercrombie says. They talked about Vietnam and politics. "Everyone had an opinion about everything, and everyone was of the opinion that everyone wanted to hear their opinion - no one more so than Barack."

The exception was Ann, the quiet young woman in the corner who began to hang out with Obama and his friends that fall. "She was scarcely out of high school. She was mostly kind of an observer," says Abercrombie. Obama Sr.'s friends knew he was dating a white woman, but they made a point of treating it as a nonissue. This was Hawaii, after all, a place enamored of its reputation as a melting pot.

But when people called Hawaii a "melting pot" in the early 1960s, they meant a place where white people blended with Asians. At the time, 19% of white women in Hawaii married Chinese men, and that was considered radical by the rest of the nation. Black people made up less than 1% of the state's population. And while interracial marriage was legal there, it was banned in half the other states.

When Ann told her parents about the African student at school, they invited him over for dinner. Her father didn't notice when his daughter reached out to hold the man's hand, according to Obama's book. Her mother thought it best not to cause a scene. As Obama would write, "My mother was that girl with the movie of beautiful black people playing in her head."

On Feb. 2, 1961, several months after they met, Obama's parents got married in Maui, according to divorce records. It was a Thursday. At that point, Ann was three months pregnant with Barack Obama II. Friends did not learn of the wedding until afterward. "Nobody was invited," says Abercrombie. The motivations behind the marriage remain a mystery, even to Obama. "I never probed my mother about the details. Did they decide to get married because she was already pregnant? Or did he propose to her in the traditional, formal way?" Obama wonders. "I suppose, had she not passed away, I would have asked more."

Even by the standards of 1961, she was young to be married. At 18, she dropped out of college after one semester, according to University of Hawaii records. When her friends back in Washington heard the news, "we were very shocked," says Box, her high school friend.

Then, when Obama was almost 1, his father left for Harvard to get a Ph.D. in economics. He had also been accepted to the New School in New York City, with a more generous scholarship that would have allowed his family to join him. But he decided to go to Harvard. "How can I refuse the best education?" he told Ann, according to Obama's book.

Obama's father had an agenda: to return to his home country and help reinvent Kenya. He wanted to take his new family with him. But he also had a wife from a previous marriage there - a marriage that may or may not have been legal. In the end, Ann decided not to follow him. "She was under no illusions," says Abercrombie. "He was a man of his time, from a very patriarchal society." Ann filed for divorce in Honolulu in January 1964, citing "grievous mental suffering" - the reason given in most divorces at the time. Obama Sr. signed for the papers in Cambridge, Mass., and did not contest the divorce.

Ann had already done things most women of her generation had not: she had married an African, had their baby and gotten divorced. At this juncture, her life could have become narrower - a young, marginalized woman focused on paying the rent and raising a child on her own. She could have filled her son's head with well-founded resentment for his absent father. But that is not what happened.

S. Ann Dunham Soetoro
When her son was almost 2, Ann returned to college. Money was tight. She collected food stamps and relied on her parents to help take care of young Barack. She would get her bachelor's degree four years later. In the meantime, she met another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, at the University of Hawaii. ("It's where I send all my single girlfriends," jokes her daughter Soetoro-Ng, who also married a man she met there.) He was easygoing, happily devoting hours to playing chess with Ann's father and wrestling with her young son. Lolo proposed in 1967.

Mother and son spent months preparing to follow him to Indonesia - getting shots, passports and plane tickets. Until then, neither had left the country. After a long journey, they landed in an unrecognizable place. "Walking off the plane, the tarmac rippling with heat, the sun bright as a furnace," Obama later wrote, "I clutched her hand, determined to protect her."

Lolo's house, on the outskirts of Jakarta, was a long way from the high-rises ofHonolulu. There was no electricity, and the streets were not paved. The country was transitioning to the rule of General Suharto. Inflation was running at more than 600%, and everything was scarce. Ann and her son were the first foreigners to live in the neighborhood, according to locals who remember them. Two baby crocodiles, along with chickens and birds of paradise, occupied the backyard. To get to know the kids next door, Obama sat on the wall between their houses and flapped his arms like a great, big bird, making cawing noises, remembers Kay Ikranagara, a friend. "That got the kids laughing, and then they all played together," she says.

Obama attended a Catholic school called Franciscus Assisi Primary School. He attracted attention since he was not only a foreigner but also chubbier than the locals. But he seemed to shrug off the teasing, eating tofu and tempeh like all the other kids, playing soccer and picking guavas from the trees. He didn't seem to mind that the other children called him "Negro," remembers Bambang Sukoco, a former neighbor.

At first, Obama's mother gave money to every beggar who stopped at their door. But the caravan of misery - children without limbs, men with leprosy - churned on forever, and she was forced to be more selective. Her husband mocked her calculations of relative suffering. "Your mother has a soft heart," he told Obama.

As Ann became more intrigued by Indonesia, her husband became more Western. He rose through the ranks of an American oil company and moved the family to a nicer neighborhood. She was bored by the dinner parties he took her to, where men boasted about golf scores and wives complained about their Indonesian servants. The couple fought rarely but had less and less in common. "She wasn't prepared for the loneliness," Obama wrote in Dreams. "It was constant, like a shortness of breath."

Ann took a job teaching English at the U.S. embassy. She woke up well before dawn throughout her life. Now she went into her son's room every day at 4 a.m. to give him English lessons from a U.S. correspondence course. She couldn't afford the Élite international school and worried he wasn't challenged enough. After two years at the Catholic school, Obama moved to a state-run elementary school closer to the new house. He was the only foreigner, says Ati Kisjanto, a classmate, but he spoke some Indonesian and made new friends.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, but Obama's household was not religious. "My mother, whose parents were nonpracticing Baptists and Methodists, was one of the most spiritual souls I ever knew," Obama said in a 2007 speech. "But she had a healthy skepticism of religion as an institution. And as a consequence, so did I."

In her own way, Ann tried to compensate for the absence of black people in her son's life. At night, she came home from work with books on the civil rights movement and recordings of Mahalia Jackson. Her aspirations for racial harmony were simplistic. "She was very much of the early Dr. [Martin Luther] King era," Obama says. "She believed that people were all basically the same under their skin, that bigotry of any sort was wrong and that the goal was then to treat everybody as unique individuals." Ann gave her daughter, who was born in 1970, dolls of every hue: "A pretty black girl with braids, an Inuit, Sacagawea, a little Dutch boy with clogs," says Soetoro-Ng, laughing. "It was like the United Nations."

In 1971, when Obama was 10, Ann sent him back to Hawaii to live with her parents and attend Punahou, an Élite prep school that he'd gotten into on a scholarship with his grandparents' help. This wrenching decision seemed to reflect how much she valued education. Ann's friends say it was hard on her, and Obama, in his book, describes an adolescence shadowed by a sense of alienation. "I didn't feel [her absence] as a deprivation," Obama told me. "But when I think about the fact that I was separated from her, I suspect it had more of an impact than I know."

A year later, Ann followed Obama back to Hawaii, as promised, taking her daughter but leaving her husband behind. She enrolled in a master's program at the University of Hawaii to study the anthropology of Indonesia.

Indonesia is an anthropologist's fantasyland. It is made up of 17,500 islands, on which 230 million people speak more than 300 languages. The archipelago's culture is colored by Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Dutch traditions. Indonesia "sucks a lot of us in," says fellow anthropologist and friend Alice Dewey. "It's delightful."

Around this time, Ann began to find her voice. People who knew her before describe her as quiet and smart; those who met her afterward use words like forthright andpassionate. The timing of her graduate work was perfect. "The whole face of the earth was changing," Dewey says. "Colonial powers were collapsing, countries needed help, and development work was beginning to interest anthropologists."

Ann's husband visited Hawaii frequently, but they never lived together again. Ann filed for divorce in 1980. As with Obama's father, she kept in regular contact with Lolo and did not pursue alimony or child support, according to divorce records.

"She was no Pollyanna. There have certainly been moments when she complained to us," says her daughter Soetoro-Ng. "But she was not someone who would take the detritus of those divorces and make judgments about men in general or love or allow herself to grow pessimistic." With each failed marriage, Ann gained a child and, in one case, a country as well.

Ann Dunham Sutoro
After three years of living with her children in a small apartment in Honolulu, subsisting on student grants, Ann decided to go back to Indonesia to do fieldwork for her Ph.D. Obama, then about 14, told her he would stay behind. He was tired of being new, and he appreciated the autonomy his grandparents gave him. Ann did not argue with him. "She kept a certain part of herself aloof or removed," says Mary Zurbuchen, a friend from Jakarta. "I think maybe in some way this was how she managed to cross so many boundaries."

In Indonesia, Ann joked to friends that her son seemed interested only in basketball. "She despaired of him ever having a social conscience," remembers Richard Patten, a colleague. After her divorce, Ann started using the more modern spelling of her name, Sutoro. She took a big job as the program officer for women and employment at the Ford Foundation, and she spoke up forcefully at staff meetings. Unlike many other expats, she had spent a lot of time with villagers, learning their priorities and problems, with a special focus on women's work. "She was influenced by hanging out in the Javanese marketplace," Zurbuchen says, "where she would see women with heavy baskets on their backs who got up at 3 in the morning to walk to the market and sell their produce." Ann thought the Ford Foundation should get closer to the people and further from the government, just as she had.

Her home became a gathering spot for the powerful and the marginalized: politicians, filmmakers, musicians and labor organizers. "She had, compared with other foundation colleagues, a much more eclectic circle," Zurbuchen says. "She brought unlikely conversation partners together."

Obama's mother cared deeply about helping poor women, and she had two biracial children. But neither of them remembers her talking about sexism or racism. "She spoke mostly in positive terms: what we are trying to do and what we can do," says Soetoro-Ng, who is now a history teacher at a girls' high school in Honolulu. "She wasn't ideological," notes Obama. "I inherited that, I think, from her. She was suspicious of cant." He remembers her joking that she wanted to get paid as much as a man, but it didn't mean she would stop shaving her legs. In his recent Philadelphia speech on race, in which he acknowledged the grievances of blacks and whites, Obama was consciously channeling his mother. "When I was writing that speech," he told nbc News, "her memory loomed over me. Is this something that she would trust?" When it came to race, Obama told me, "I don't think she was entirely comfortable with the more aggressive or militant approaches to African-American politics."

In the expat community of Asia in the 1980s, single mothers were rare, and Ann stood out. She was by then a rather large woman with frizzy black hair. But Indonesia was an uncommonly tolerant place. "For someone like Ann, who had a big personality and was a big presence," says Zurbuchen, "Indonesia was very accepting. It gave her a sense of fitting in." At home, Ann wore the traditional housecoat, the batik daster. She loved simple, traditional restaurants. Friends remember sharing bakso bola tenis, or noodles with tennis-ball-size meatballs, from a roadside stand.

Today Ann would not be so unusual in the U.S. A single mother of biracial children pursuing a career, she foreshadowed, in some ways, what more of America would look like. But she did so without comment, her friends say. "She wasn't stereotypical at all," says Nancy Peluso, a friend and an environmental sociologist. "But she didn't make a big deal out of it."

Ann's most lasting professional legacy was to help build the microfinance program in Indonesia, which she did from 1988 to '92 - before the practice of granting tiny loans to credit-poor entrepreneurs was an established success story. Her anthropological research into how real people worked helped inform the policies set by the Bank Rakyat Indonesia, says Patten, an economist who worked there. "I would say her work had a lot to do with the success of the program," he says. Today Indonesia's microfinance program is No. 1 in the world in terms of savers, with 31 million members, according to Microfinance Information eXchange Inc., a microfinance-tracking outfit.

While his mother was helping poor people in Indonesia, Obama was trying to do something similar 7,000 miles (about 11,300 km) away in Chicago, as a community organizer. Ann's friends say she was delighted by his career move and started every conversation with an update of her children's lives. "All of us knew where Barack was going to school. All of us knew how brilliant he was," remembers Ann's friend Georgia McCauley.

Every so often, Ann would leave Indonesia to live in Hawaii - or New York or even, in the mid-1980s, Pakistan, for a microfinance job. She and her daughter sometimes lived in garage apartments and spare rooms of friends. She collected treasures from her travels - exquisite things with stories she understood. Antique daggers with an odd number of curves, as required by Javanese tradition; unusual batiks; rice-paddy hats. Before returning to Hawaii in 1984, Ann wrote her friend Dewey that she and her daughter would "probably need a camel caravan and an elephant or two to load all our bags on the plane, and I'm sure you don't want to see all those airline agents weeping and rending their garments." At his house in Chicago, Obama says, he has his mother's arrowhead collection from Kansas - along with "trunks full of batiks that we don't really know what to do with."

In 1992, Obama's mother finally finished her Ph.D. dissertation, which she had worked on, between jobs, for almost two decades. The thesis is 1,000 pages, a meticulous analysis of peasant blacksmithing in Indonesia. The glossary, which she describes as "far from complete," is 24 pages. She dedicated the tome to her mother; to Dewey, her adviser; "and to Barack and Maya, who seldom complained when their mother was in the field."

In the fall of 1994, Ann was having dinner at her friend Patten's house in Jakarta when she felt a pain in her stomach. A local doctor diagnosed indigestion. When Ann returned to Hawaii several months later, she learned it was ovarian and uterine cancer. She died on Nov. 7, 1995, at 52.

Before her death, Ann read a draft of her son's memoir, which is almost entirely about his father. Some of her friends were surprised at the focus, but she didn't seem obviously bothered. "She never complained about it," says Peluso. "She just said it was something he had to work out." Neither Ann nor her son knew how little time they had left.

Obama has said his biggest mistake was not being at his mother's side when she died. He went to Hawaii to help the family scatter the ashes over the Pacific. And he carries on her spirit in his campaign. "When Barack smiles," says Peluso, "there's just a certainAnn look. He lights up in a particular way that she did."

After Ann's death, her daughter dug through her artifacts, searching for Ann's story. "She always did want to write a memoir," Soetoro-Ng says. Finally, she discovered the start of a life story, but it was less than two pages. She never found anything more. Maybe Ann had run out of time, or maybe the chemotherapy had worn her out. "I don't know. Maybe she felt overwhelmed," says Soetoro-Ng, "because there was so much to tell."
- With reporting by Zamira Loebis and Jason Tedjasukmana/Jakarta View this article on

Nigerian Energy Crises : A ThisDay Analysis

2008-04-08T14:48:00.006-04:00

When Will Nigerians Enjoy Stable Electricity?

THISDAY’s Investigative Team: Kunle Akogun, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, Stanley Nkwazema, Chika Amanze-Nwachuku, Ike Abonyi, Ali M. Ali, Patrick Ugeh and Julius Atoi, 04.07.2008

Ever since President Yar’Adua complained that $10 billion had been spent on the power sector between 2000 and 2007 without commensurate result, the nation has been awash with stories of scams and shocking revelations. What is the state of the power projects today? What went wrong along the line? Who is lying and who is telling the truth on the amount of money that was spent? Why is Nigeria still in darkness despite all measures applied since 1999? What is the way out? THISDAY investigates and reports

Power to the People? What Obasanjo Met… When Chief Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office as President on May 29, 1999, the power sector – represented by generation, transmission and distribution – was on the verge of collapse. The nation was constantly in darkness. The National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) had its acronym reinterpreted: Never Expect Power Always. Even the feeble attempt to make it look like a publicly owned company, with the change of name to National Electric Power Plc (NEP Plc) only gave more mischievous ammunition to the public who defined the new acronym as “Never Expect Power, Please Light Candle”. The entire economy ran on generating sets as NEPA could only muster 1,500MW, out of a projected need of 4,000MW, for transmission and distribution across the country. The diagnosis was that epileptic supply was a product of the dilapidation of the power infrastructure in the country. The generating stations were not being serviced; transmission lines were routinely vandalised; and the distribution transformers were worn out without replacement of parts or service. NEPA itself was in a sorry state as corruption was the order of the day. The accumulation of these inefficiencies brought a height to the decay and periodic system failures that had variously thrown the entire country in darkness. Obasanjo inherited four thermal stations: Egbin, Ughelli, Sapele and Afam. There were also three hydro electric stations at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro. Whereas the installed capacity was 3,500MW, production had shrunk to as low as 1,500MW. Out of the 78 generating units in the country then, only 28 were generating electricity and feeding a paltry 1500MW into the nation’s economy.

Hope raised and dashed… Obasanjo, having lamented the rot, set out to address the problems. He started on a wrong footing, many would say, by appointing a seasoned lawyer and politician, Chief Bola Ige, as Minister of Power and Steel, rather than a technocrat who would have understood the terrain better because of the technical nature of the sector. Ige promptly promised that by the end of 2002, Nigerians would experience uninterrupted power supply, a promise he was forced to retract when he was confronted with the enormity of the problem later on. Obasanjo would later say in 2007, more than six years after the assassination of Ige, that the former minister “did not know his left from his right”. But when Obasanjo set out to address the problem in 1999, he had the objective of turning NEPA around within the first six months. Generation increased same year, obviously not as a result of his ingenuity but because of the rainy season which had improved power generation at the hydro stations. In March 2000, he set up a Technical Board for NEPA with Senator Liyel Imoke as chairman. Obasanjo released funds for the importation of spare parts and new transformers for the reactivation and rehabilitation of generating, transmitting and distribution infrastructure. The Federal Government was said to have spent $1.3 billion (N1.319 billion) for the supply, installation and commissioning of additional materials and spare parts for the completion of major rehabilitation work for NEPA’s 330Kv and 132Kv circuit breaker at major power stations located at Afam, Sapele, Kainji, Egbin, Ikorodu, Akangba and Jebba. Total generation rose to 3000MW by December 2000 and 4000Mw by the end of December 2001. In generation, the reactivated Afam, Delta 11 and the injection of the AES-Enron Independent Power Project into the Egbin unit had brought 276MW, 150MW and 270MW respectively into the national grid. The Abuja Emergency Power Project and the Agip IPP at Kwale (Delta State) also imputed 150MW and 450MW respectively to the power pool. To achieve the set target, the government embarked on rehabilitation of another set of 20 generating units at the various power stations to bring additional 1,500MW of electricity into the system. In the area of transmission, government awarded 26 contracts for the re-enforcement of existing lines and substations and another 30 contracts for the construction of new lines, which increased the transmission capacity by 2000MVA, while in distribution, the Federal Government installed 1000 power and distribution transformers, which brought another 420MVA of electricity at 33Kv. Additional 4000 distribution transformers were also delivered. This was expected to increase distribution capacity by another 1600MVA. The Imoke-led Technical Board focused mainly on generation through rehabilitation of old units and by the time its assignment was over in December 2001, Obasanjo was setting new targets for the power sector: 10,000MW by the year 2005. There was considerable debate then on what the government should do: privatise NEPA or keep funding it? This was a major decision to be taken on the future of the utility. If the decision was for privatisation, it meant government had to stop pumping funds into NEPA; if the decision was to continue funding, there was the perennial issue of government inefficient management of utilities in Nigeria. While the debate was on, and a decision was finally taken to privatise, there began a phased withdrawal of government funding. NEPA began to run its activities with an increased drive for commercially generated revenue. The marketing staff were given targets to meet – a situation that developed into complaints about “crazy bills” from consumers nationwide. In the meantime, works had virtually stopped on the rehabilitation of older units at the power stations as the power sector reform bill – designed to liberalise the sector – lay untouched at the National Assembly. Gradually, with reduced funding and a reliance of the old turbines, the power situation continued to decline and the nation was thrown into darkness again.

The Enron-AES Controversy

But for the bitter rivalry between the then governor of Lagos, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Obasanjo, an idea that could have improved the power situation and provided a sustainable improvement in the sector would have been devised as far back as 1999. Tinubu had conceived the idea of emergency power through the importation of barges from Enron Corporation in the US. About 270MW was to be generated from this. The original idea was to sell to industrial areas in Lagos, especially Ikeja and Ilupeju. Agreements on commercially viable tariffs had been reached with the industries concerned. There remained just one problem: while Enron would generate the electricity, it had to evacuate for transmission. The transmission lines belong to NEPA. The co-operation of the Federal Government was needed to get NEPA to transmit to the industrial areas. Meanwhile, Lagos State had already been committed to a guarantee which meant N220 million would be deducted at source from the state’s share of monthly federal allocation (it is still being deducted till today). Obasanjo was said to have been prevailed upon by some PDP members that the project was “fraudulent”, so this presented initial hiccups. Eventually, Obasanjo was persuaded and he encouraged Lagos to import additional barges. But the situation on ground today is that the barges, which are now being run by AES, generate electricity for the rest of Nigeria as Federal Government has taken it over. The initial agreement that the electricity would be sold to industrial areas of the state was jettisoned as a result. However, up till today, the power generated by EAS is part of the output of Egbin. Indeed, AES, Geregu and Egin have the same source of gas which is rationed because of gas shortage.

Enter the NIPP With Independent Power Plants (IPPs) being built around the country by state governments and multinational companies, generation capacity was in theory going up, although at a slow pace and with no significant improvement in power supply partly because of gas shortage and partly because of transmission and distribution hitches. The decision of the Federal Government to liberalise the sector was understood to mean there would be no more government investment in it. However, Obasanjo was said to have come up with the idea of a “significant investment” in power generation, transmission and distribution in the country sometime in 2004. The National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) was born. It was originally conceived as the Niger Delta Power Project with seven medium-sized plants, before it took on a “national” nature in 2005. This was expected to be funded by the three tiers of government – Federal, State and Local – from the excess crude oil revenue account. The Federal Government’s projects in Niger Delta under the NIPP are the Omoku Thermal Power Station, Rivers State, Gbaran/Ubie Thermal Power Station, Bayelsa State, Sapele Thermal Power Station, Delta State, Ikot Abasi Thermal Power Station, Akwa Ibom State, Ihovbor Thermal Power Station, Edo State, Egbema Thermal Power Station, Imo State and Calabar Thermal Power Station, Cross River State. It was designed as a “fast track programme to deliver new capacity”, in the words of the then Minister of Power and Steel, Senator Liyel Imoke, who is now Governor of Cross River. There are 102 transmission line projects under the project to strengthen the transmission and to complete our transmission grid. About 22,000 transformers are expected to be installed in the system to strengthen distribution. According to the Federal Government then, the sites for the project were chosen because of nearness to gas supply. The country does not have a gas grid yet. Siting the projects in far-flung places would require additional funds to lay gas pipelines as well as increase the risk of vandalisation, the government explained. As originally conceived in 2005, the total cost of NIPP was N322 billion. The project subsequently expanded in scope to its present configuration costing N1.210 trillion. Some N361 billion has been already been spent or otherwise committed in irrevocable letters of credit for instance. The cost of the six power stations (including all project management, consultancy, compensation expenses) is put at under US$750,000 per MW.

NIPP’s many controversies and failings…

The project has faced many controversies from the first day. The source of the funds – excess crude account – did not go down well with many governors and councils who believe they would like to choose how they wished to spend their money. However, this initial disagreement was eventually resolved and all the states and councils decided to participate in the project. Another problem was the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contracts that were awarded by the government of Obasanjo late 2005 and 2006. Revelations and allegations from the current House of Representatives’ probe of the project have thrown up a number of things. One, work has not been completed on many of the project sites. Two, many consultants have not been to project sites despite receiving some payments. Three, some contractors were paid above the agreed contract sums. However, there are also political problems that were identified. A section of the country was said to have complained to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua that all the projects are located in a particular part of the country and the local content of the contracts were also awarded to the exclusion of some parts of Nigeria. But the President seemed interested in only one thing: auditing the project before deciding on the way forward. Immediately he assumed power, he stopped funding the project because he believed drawing from excess crude account was “illegal” and would violate his vow to pilot the affairs of Nigeria based on the rule of law and due process. His decision meant no kobo has been released to the contractors since May 29, 2007. Many contractors became restless and threatened to abandon work on the sites. It would seem the entire story took a new turn in January when the President held a meeting with General Electric and a delegation of the World Bank, led by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former minister in Obasanjo’s cabinet. Yar’Adua lamented that in spite of the $10bn spent in the sector, there is no commensurate effect in power supply. The statement kicked off the verbal tug-of-war, which has now engulfed the country like wild fire. Ezekwesili, otherwise called “Madam Due Process”, first tried to put the records straight by putting the figure at less than $5bn. Obasanjo’s Special Assistant on Power Sector, Folusheke Shomolu, who retained the position under Yar’Adua, bit the bullet by attempting to correct what he thought to be a mathematical anomaly in the figure that the power sector gulped during Obasanjo’s tenure. He started by writing to Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, Yar’Adua’s Economic Adviser, pointing out what he believed was the correct figure and offering to make himself available to clear the air in case the presidency needed clarification. But sources in the Villa disclosed to THISDAY that Tanimu felt piqued by the suggestion and instead stoked fire in the whole affair, which began as an honest effort to return the matter back on track. But Yakubu took Shomolu’s effort with a pinch of salt and even hinted that Shomolu was only trying to contradict the president. As a result, the former president’s aide was summarily relieved of his position. The controversy surrounding the figure still remains unresolved, in spite of the interest that the sector has generated in the public domain. Some put the figure at $10 billion, as claimed by Yar’Adua. Others are more comfortable with the $16 billion touted by Bankole. The figure that Ezekwesili mentioned also has its adherents just as many others hold firmly to the $13.28 billion being suggested by the House Committee on Power, which it stated was the total expenditure on the power sector during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s eight-year tenure.

What next? The revelations coming from the House probe will probably lead to greater accountability as Yar’Adua strives to establish a culture of transparency in his government, but it will not generate more megawatts for the country. The contractors have been defending themselves. Those who were accused to have collected money without anything on site to show for it have attributed this to two main reasons: red tape at the ports which means equipment are tied down (Imoke told THISDAY last week that 21 gas turbines are idling away at the Onne, Warri and Calabar ports partly because of this); also, some of the contractors claim that government has not paid compensations to some of the communities hosting the sites, thereby making it difficult for construction contracts to be carried out even if engineering and procurement aspects have been executed. Those who were said to have been overpaid also claim that there was provision for variation of sums on their contracts because of “unforeseen” circumstances. While the probe is expected to address the issues of accountability, the other vital aspect about lighting up the nation is back to the front burner. What bothers the populace is, at the moment, is how to get out of the current darkness. The financial commitment by the government, especially the previous one, is far detached from this objective. For example, South Africa, a country of 47 million people generates 40000MW of electricity but it now experiences intermittent interruptions of power supply. Compare that to Nigeria, which has a conservatively estimated population of 150 million people with growing power needs but with only 6000MW being promised against next year.

Power Stations: The Report Card The three hydro-dams at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro and four thermal power stations at Egbin, Afam, Sapele and Ughelli, all with a total installed capacity of 6,000 megawatts, could hardly generate 2,000 megawatts. At present, all the stations are operating at 30 per cent installed capacity. The generation capacity of Egbin Station inaugurated in 1985 with the generation capacity of 1,320mw and Delta Power Station, which was raised from 72mw installed capacity in 1966 to 918mw in 1990, has dropped drastically. The Afam Power Plant operated for only two years and has since not been functioning. Apart from low generation, inadequate distribution facilities, vandalisation, transmission bottleneck and a highly corrupt and ineffective system were other identified problems. Recently, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) confirmed a steady decline in gas supply from the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) to Egbin and Geregu power stations due to the build-up of condensate in Escravos gas pipeline. The power company said sequel to the non-availability of adequate gas to power the plants, power generation at the Egbin Power station has reduced from 800MW to only 100MW with a daily shortfall of 150MW at the Geregu Power Station. •Omotosho Thermal Power Station, Ondo State (335MW)

The Omotosho Thermal Power Station was one of the four new power generating plants which were planned as a medium term strategy by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in an effort to boost the nation's electricity generating capacity, following the long years of neglect suffered by the power sector over the past decade. The plant was inaugurated in April 2006 by Obasanjo and was expected to add about 335 megawatts to the national grid. The plant was built at a cost of $170million and the scope of the project included the construction of a transmission line to link with the existing transmission line from Benin to Ikeja West in Lagos , as well as the construction of a one and a half breaker system switchyard complete with control room.

Issues/Problems The plant was to be linked directly by pipeline with the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) outlets in the creeks of the Niger Delta. The project is connected to the existing Ikeja-West/Benin transmission line through which generated power will be evacuated. The connection of the plant to the transmission line had been completed since June last year, but only two of the eight turbines are said be functional due to inadequate supply of gas to the station.

•Papalanto Thermal Power Station, Ogun State (335MW)

The plant was inaugurated by Obasanjo at the twilight of his regime to add 335MW of electricity to the national grid. Though it was gathered that the turbine gas station has not been connected to the national grid because of lack of gas supply but officers at the plant refused to comment on when the multi-million naira project inaugurated will become operational. The contract included the construction of high-tension transmission lines from Ikeja in Lagos to Papalanto. It was learnt that the plant is being constructed with the counterpart fund of N13billion [approximately $104,562,673] by the Federal Government while the Chinese Exim Bank is contributing N27billion. The gas power station has a total capacity of 335 mw and has eight gas turbine units. The two units were expected to produce 84,000 kw annually and the rest six units are expected to generate electricity in the coming months. Issues/Problems Construction work is still ongoing and the turbine gas station has not been connected to the national grid because of lack of gas supply. So the plant currently is not generating power. •Geregu Thermal Power Station (Kogi State 414mw)

The plant was also inaugurated in 2006 by Obasanjo to add about 414MW of power to the national grid. The turnkey contract for the facility was awarded to Siemens. There is a gas supply line to the facility and a second one was being planned. Like the other gas turbines, the plant has not been functioning at full capacity due to lack of gas supply.

•Alaoji Power Station (1074MW)

Alaoji Power Station, expected to generate 1074 MW of electricity, is one of the projects being handled by Rockson Engineering Limited. The company has procured all the equipment for the project, including the four gas turbines and has completed about 95 per cent of work at the project site. The turbines and other equipment, that arrived the country since 2006 are still lying fallow at the Onne Port, Port Harcourt, due to problem of movement of the heavy duty equipment and documentation problems respectively. Issues/Problems Progress on the project has been delayed by failure of the Federal Ministries of Transport and Works to grant the contractor’s request since over 18 months to transport the turbines and generators over Imo River Bridge . The Change Order to construct a ramp with jetty to by-pass the bridge is yet to be approved. This by-pass of Imo Bridge is important for the actualisation of the project. National Integrated Power Project The Federal Government’s projects in Niger Delta under the NIPP are the Omoku Thermal Power Station, Rivers State, Gbaran/Ubie Thermal Power Station, Bayelsa State, Sapele Thermal Power Station, Delta State, Ikot Abasi Thermal Power Station, Akwa Ibom State, Ihovbor Thermal Power Station, Edo State, Egbema Thermal Power Station, Imo State and Calabar Thermal Power Station, Cross River State. The various NIPPs have been fraught with challenges as well as infrastructure and funding issues. •Ihovbor Power Station, Benin, Edo State

Investigations show that the project is only about 25 per cent completed owing to some set backs, which include funding issue. •Calabar Power Station, Cross River State

The boreholes dug on site reportedly yielded no water even as the Pipeline Construction and the contractor reportedly wound up its Nigeria operations. The contractor was said to have abandoned the project since about eight months ago. •Sapele Power Station, Delta State

The project was said to be only 30 per cent complete as soil investigations revealed that the original site for the power station was unsuitable to support the turbines. Also, the Joint Venture Agreement between members of the construction consortium has been reportedly terminated. •The Egbema Power Station, Imo State

The project is one of the NIPPs being handled by Rockson Engineering. The contract was signed on March 16, 2006 and the effective date was September 23, 2006, while the completion date is 2009. The contractor has carried out most of the construction works. Gas turbines no 2 and 3, foundation pilling and concrete block comprising foundation far gas turbine, generator and auxiliary skids have been completed. Also water treatment shelter and maintenance workshop foundation piling has been completed, while installation of test piles, pile load test, sub-soil investigation and report is said to be 100 per cent. Most of the engineering and procurement works, including detailed engineering for gas turbine foundation block have equally been completed. Issues/Problems Delay in payment of contract down payment has adversely affected the progress of the project. Also Letter of Credit established is said not to be in conformity with the contract terms. Withdrawal of partners due to kidnapping in the Niger Delta, as well as outstanding port charges, reimbursement of port charges and terminal handling fees totalling $956,940.41 and N86,312,160.27 yet to be paid have hindered the project’s progress. •Gbaran/Ubie Power Station, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

This is also being handled by Rockson Engineering Limited. Although the contract was signed on March 16, 2006, the contract commenced on September 26, 2006 and completion date is 2009. Most of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works have been done. For example, sand dredging and hydraulic filling of power plant are said to be 100 per cent (850,000 cubic meters). The originally quantity of sand to be delivered on the contract is 754,000 cubic meters. The transmission line project is said to be on. Detailed engineering work and design was said to have been completed, while most of the equipment have been procured. Issues/problems Delay in payment of contract down payment reportedly delayed the project for over six months. Disturbance by the host community and the kidnappings in the Niger Delta region, which led to the withdrawal of Rockson’s technical partners, also adversely affected the project. Another major problem was said to be that the Letter of Credit established was not in conformity with the contract terms, resulting in further delays. •Omoku Power Station

This is also being handled by Rockson Engineering Limited. The contract is not yet effective as receipt of advance payment is yet to be fully paid. The completion date however is 2009. Notwithstanding the payment issues, the contractor was said to have carried out most EPC works. Installation of test piles, pile load test and sub-soil investigation and report is said to be 100 per cent complete, while soil laterite fill and perimeter fencing of power plant are said to be in progress. Also, most of the detailed engineering works and design are said to have been carried out, while contracts have been awarded for transformers and other equipment. Power house shelter manufacturing and shipment is said to be 100 per cent but the consignment is at present awaiting clearing at the Onne Port, Port Harcourt. Issues and Problems Manufacturing of main gas turbine equipment by General Electric has been suspended due to non availability of Letter of Credit. There is also reported delay due to power plant relocation. The LC is invalid after 24 months. Other problems included acquisition of the right of way for the main access road to the power plant and the kidnapping in the Niger Delta region.

Station Capacity Egbin Thermal Power Station, Lagos State 1320MW Afam Thermal Power Station, River State 969.6MW Sapele Thermal Power Station, Delta State 1,020MW Delta Thermal Power Station, Delta State 912MW Ijora Thermal Power Station, Lagos State 40MW Kainji Hydro Power Station, Niger State 760MW Jebba Hydro Power Station, Niger State 578.4MW Shiroro Hydro Power Station, Niger State 600MW

Can Yar’Adua Finally Break the Gridlock? Barring any more hitches, the government of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua could be set to make good the vision of providing Nigerians with regular power supply. The Presidential Committee on Accelerated Expansion of Electricity Infrastructure appears to have had everything wrapped up in its Action Plan which was submitted to the President and adopted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last week. The committee said 1450 additional megawatts could be realised from existing PHCN plants, 3368 megawatts from ongoing National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), 640 megawatts from the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s (SPDC) Afam/Okoloma Joint Venture and 805 megawatts from Legacy Independent Power Projects. So, the challenge now is not whether there is no blueprint to work with, but whether the President will have the political will to see through the recommendations, which indeed, do appear to hold a lot of promise. The Action Plan not only takes cognizance of the shortcomings of the experiment of the previous administration, it has put forward what could be seen as concrete steps that will see to the actualisation of the dream. What’s more, to drive this design is a crop of go-getters who have performed outstandingly in their respective turfs in the private sector. Among them are Executive Director of Exxon Mobil Group of Companies, Mr. Cyril Odu; President/CEO of African Finance Corporation, Mr. Austine Ometoruwa; CEO of Sahara Energy Ltd, Mr. Kola Adesina; Group Managing Director of Wempco, Mr. Lewis Tung; and Managing Director of Marylead & Co., Engr. Jacob Alade. Others are Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Atedo Peterside, Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc. The remaining members of the committee chaired by the Minister of State for Energy, Power, Mrs Fatima Balaraba Ibrahim, are the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, his GED, Exploration & Production, Mr. Chris Ogiemwonyi; Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Mr. Tanimu Yakubu; Executive Director, Operations of Nigerian Gas Company, Engr. Saidu Mohammed; and Dr. Ransome Owan, CEO of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). This team has placed its finger on the major issues working against the smooth operation of the power sector. As has been the case for some time, the Committee agreed on the need for Public Private Partnership, and says it has designed a PPP structure that would “immediately deliver target power supply”. In the short term, it has identified mixed power generation of 6,500 megawatts in 18 months for a sum of $2.8 billion and an additional 10,000 megawatts for $5.5 billion by 2011. That means in three short years from now, Nigeria’s power out put would be 16,500 megawatts. To be sure that power generated is transmitted and distributed, there are plans to conclude transmission and distribution upgrades. Using an energy mix that de-emphasises dependence on gas, the plan envisions the diversification to the development of greenfield Low Pour Fuel Oil (otherwise known as black oil), coal and hydro generation by the private sector. To get to this level, the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)/Aliko Dangote-led technical team had reviewed the situation with PHCN, NNPC, NGC, NIPP, private IPPs, international oil companies (IOCs) which have been mandated to provide a certain percentage of gas for the purposed fuelling of the power plants, one of the major problems being encountered now. It has also consulted CBN, McKinsey, China Exim/Sino Sure, US Exim, law firms local and foreign banks with preliminary finance plan concluded. Further, it has reviewed bankable tariff and payment system and recommended a direct subsidy programme. However, one of the major setbacks to the realisation of adequate supply, the low tariff regime which discourages private investors from venturing into generation, transmission and distribution, has been tackled headlong with a recommendation of the acceleration of action on the multi-year tariff order (MYTO) and Power Consumer Assistance Fund and wants a staggered tariff payment structure that allows the rich to pay more to subsidise the amounts paid by the low income earners. The committee wants the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act 2005 to be implemented. It also calls for the liabilities of PHCN to be determined and negotiated. It urges that, thereafter, a 10-year bond via capital markets be raised to settle liabilities. These are besides the implementation of four enabling conditions – bankable Gas Special Purchase Agreements (GSPAs), securitisation of revenue assurance of medium term, pricing and central coordination of funds. It was also recommended that existing legislation against theft of power, power equipment and vandalisation of power equipment be enforced while power and gas host communities should be provided electricity. This means there would be less discontent and therefore less tendency toward vandalisation of facilities. Other very important recommendations of the committee are that the Federal Government must uphold the sanctity of contracts entered into by it and stability and transparency in the enforcement of government policies, actions which should not be difficult for a regime such as the present one which has as fulcrum the rule of law and due process. Noting that the 5 to 7-year tax holiday and 30 per cent tax reduction were not enough incentives to attract the kind of private participation required, the committee suggested the following: Fast-track clearance of imported items and accelerated clearance for imported power equipent; introduction of tax holidays for up to ten years to allow firms to recoup their initial investment. This, it said, should be done through duty waivers for power, gas and coal mining. Perhaps one of the most effective ways of ensuring proper implementation and supervision of the energy projects is the committee’s request that the Federal Government “approve private sector structured financing with international management oversight of financial asset while Federal Government of Nigeria retains ownership”. This is vital considering that as at now, it is difficult to trust the government to independently oversee the administration of the power projects if they are to achieve the desired result, what with the proven inability to do so. Considering the likely international financiers such as African Finance Corporation with Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as chairman of the board, backed by other top notch bankers and businessmen such as Tony Elumelu, MD of UBA; Jim Ovia, MD of Zenith Bank; Aliko Dangote; Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank and Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank, this looks workable. Of course, one of the immediate fears being expressed in some quarters is whether or not, with the likes of Dangote who was part of the consortium that was to buy the Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries for “peanuts” deeply involved in the project, Nigerians could trust them not to sell choice public properties in the power sector to themselves. That is a fear that cannot be swept aside with a wave of the hand.

How Much was Actually Spent? President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua fired his Senior Special Assistant on Power Sector Reform and Co-ordinator of National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), Mr. Foluseke Somolu, in February over what was understood to be a reaction to Somolu’s stand on the reported $10 billion “wasted” by the Olusegun Obasanjo government on the power sector. Somolu, who also served the previous government in a similar capacity, had written a memo to the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, in which he disputed the $10 billion figure stated by Yar’Adua as the amount spent on power sector between 2000 and 2007 without “achieving much results”. The memo, which Somolu copied to the Chief of Staff, Minister of State for Energy (Power), Special Adviser to the President (Power), Co-ordinator, PHCN Liaison Unit and Managing Director NDPHC, was dated January 14, 2008. Somolu had argued that the total amount released to NEPA/PHCN during the period was US$2.2 billion, while a total of US$2.96 billion was released to the NIPP, bringing the total to US$5.16 billion – which tallied with the figure given by Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister in Obasanjo’s cabinet. Somolu, in the memo, said his intention was to draw Yakubu’s attention to “this glaring error in figures” and suggested that “wider consultations be made before figures of sensitive nature are released”. However, the controversy generated by Somolu’s response was said to have led to his sack via a letter dated February 13, 2008 from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Somolu is a former member of the NEPA Technical Board and a former president of the Nigeria Society of Engineers. Reproduced below is the text of Somolu’s letter, with reference number SSAP/PSR/NIPP/200.00/378, to the Chief Economic Adviser entitled: “Inaccurate Figure of Expenditure on the Nigeria Power Sector”. “Please recall that on Monday 14th January, 2008 Mr. President received a delegation from GE [General Electric] and you made a presentation. On page 7 of that presentation titled: ‘Market Opportunity and Recent Activity’ (copy attached) you indicated that 10billion USD has been spent since 2000 in the power sector but only limited improvement was achieved. “As a member of the NEPA Technical Board (2000-2001), and having been closely associated with the power sector almost on a continuous basis since then, the figures that are available to me do not approximate anywhere near 10billion USD. Attachment ‘A’ to this letter, a tabulation of all funds released to NEPA/PHCH from 2000 to August 2007 indicates only N268.9b (=2.2b USD). Attachment ‘B’ tabulating all monies released to the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) shows a total of N360.7b (=2.96b USD). The total of A and B is N629.6b (=5.16b USD at an exchange rate of N122 to one USD). “From the above expenditure, the technical board raised the available and functioning generation capacity of NEPA from under 2,000MW in 1999/2000 to over 4,000MW by December, 2001. This included the brand new power station Afam, V, 276MW and complete replacement of 12 turbine units (units 3-14) at the Delta Power Station, total capacity 300MW. All of these are still functioning and contributing power and energy into the national grid, limited only by gas shortage. It also includes the brand new Omotosho, Papalanto, and Geregu power stations, partly paid for under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) and partly from FGN funding to NEPA/PHCN. “Under the National Integrated Power Project, all the projects are works in progress including all the transmission lines and distribution expansions so their effects could not be felt now. But all the turbines, at least 18 are within the country already. Some power station constructions are in progress because letters of credit for various sums which are part of the above expenditure have been established. “Against the above background, the caption in your presentation to GE delegation, ‘$10 billion spent since 2000 but only limited improvement in power supply’ is obviously misleading. “My intention here is to draw your attention to this glaring error in figures so as not to embarrass government when it gets to the public domain and journalists start quoting it as true position of events. May I therefore suggest that wider consultations be made before figures of sensitive nature are released. “However, if you require additional information or further clarifications in respect of the figures, please feel free to contact me. “Please accept the assurances of my best wishes.”

So, what’s the actual figure? The President had, while receiving a delegation from the World Bank led by Ezekwesili in January, said: "The $10 billion invested in the sector between 2000 and 2007 has not translated into power generation, transmission, and distribution…so we are exercising caution to ensure that any further funds to the sector would translate into production and delivery of energy to the ordinary Nigerian… More dollars will not provide light, unless we find a project management solution." Ezekwesili put the figure at around $5 billion. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, estimated it at $16 billion. The House Committee on Power and Steel put it as $13.28 billion. At a stage, some members of the House of Representatives said it was $23 billion. The Minister of State for Energy (Power), Mrs Fatima Balaraba Ibrahim, said while $16 billion was actually appropriated, only $10 billion was released. Everyone may be correct, depending on what parameter is being used. The President spoke about $10 billion being “invested” from 2000 to 2007 – which does not mean everything came from the coffers of the Federal Government; Bankole spoke about “budgetary allocations between 1999 and 2007” – which might not all have been released in any case; Shomolu spoke about actual spending by the Federal Government on rehabilitating NEPA stations as well as funds released for NIPP all between 2000 and 2007 – which probably did not take into account overhead costs. A former minister told THISDAY: “I see that the effort to hold on to the line that $10 billion plus was spent has meant adding the over $4 billion of NEPA’s (later PHCN's) eight-year recurrent/operating costs of personnel salaries and pension liabilities and other such administrative costs financed directly from the revenue generation of the agency. Also determined to work to the sum, oil multi-nationals’ sole commercial investment of over $1 billion in the power sector through their IPPs is being passed off as Federal Government spending/investment in power! Why mislead the public?” It would seem the real truth is being lost to propaganda.

Until Projects are Completed, We Won’t See Results, Says Imoke Former Minister of Power and Steel and Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, who also served as chairman of the Technical Board from March 2000 to December 2001, fields questions from THISDAY Board of Editors on the burning issues in the power sector What is the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) all about? The National Integrated Power Project was designed to address the new challenges of the power sector. The reality of the power sector is that we had not paid any attention to expanding our power infrastructure as a nation. In my tenure as the chairman of the NEPA technical board from March 2000 to December 2001, we were asked to rehabilitate the old units in the existing power plants to deliver 4,000 megawatts. In fact, when that was achieved we understood it to be a temporary solution. While we rehabilitated old units and brought them back on stream the older units that were not rehabilitated were equally due for overhaul maintenance and inevitably were all going to break down if they were not attended to. After my tenure at the technical board, there was considerable debate on the privatisation of the utility, whether we could achieve privatisation within the shortest possible time. And I think that argument held sway for some time. Unfortunately, the Electric Power Sector Reform Bill was held up in the National Assembly and it was not until, I believe, 2005 that the bill was facilitated because of privatisation and was passed. In the interim, the rehabilitation work that had been completed in 2001 and the 4,000 megawatts being achieved could not obviously be sustained for another five years without new investment. So, the NIPP was actually designed as the first investment in new capacity in our country in over 15 years and it was supposed to have been implemented on a fast track basis. The thinking at that time was simple. Try and do some gas power plants, which are the quickest to realise. Put them as close to the source of gas as possible so that you don’t have long gas pipeline to construct and also you don’t have the risk of vandalisation of the long gas pipelines. So, the idea was on a fast track basis, let’s construct these new power stations that will add for the first time new capacity to our grid. If you estimate that, our economy may have grown by an average of five per cent yearly between 1999 and 2008. If you do five per cent in each year for over eight years, it means your economy has grown by about 40 per cent and you have no new capacity. The only new generation capacity we had in the country was what was coming from Shell [Afam] and from Agip [Kwale], because we didn’t and we still don’t have the right regulatory framework for the private sector to come and we still need to invest in this new generation capacity. So, the NIPP was designed as a fast track programme to deliver new capacity. A lot of people think that the NIPP is just six or seven power stations. There are 102 transmission line projects under the NIPP to strengthen the transmission and to complete our transmission grid. That is to create a loop so that we can have reliable delivery of our electricity and our distribution components was designed to have 22,000 transformers installed in the system to strengthen distribution. The NIPP at that time in terms of projects, was probably, I don’t know what it is now, the largest ongoing project in the world. That also provided us with an opportunity to standardize some of our equipment to be able to begin to think commercially. As you know, the assumption was that the power sector reform programme would also progress. And as such, if you build these power stations, were you going to hand them over to an unbundled group? Which power station in National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) or Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was now supposed to be a business unit under the reform programme? Each station under the NIPP was supposed to be concessioned but was never designed to be handed back to the utility to manage or to equip. Upon completion it was supposed to be concessioned and the holding company that was set up, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, would hold the assets until they are concessioned. We were trying to think ahead rather than having an NIPP or the station filled and no managers because of the either privatisation or concessioning or unbundling of the utility. The holding company was set up with the Minister of Finance at that time as the chairman of the board of the NIPP. And because excess crude funds were applied, the three tiers of government were supposed to have representation on the board. That is governors, the local government chairmen and, of course, the Federal Government. That was the structure of the holding company and in proportion to their contributions based on the revenue sharing formula. That was the programme we were pursuing until I left office [in 2006]. What was the level of the projects by the time you left office? Most of the contracts were awarded after I had left office. How would you now explain what is on the ground, especially with recent revelations emerging from the House probe of the power sector that money was paid to contractors and nothing was done? I don’t think it is possible. Which is the point I have been trying to make all this while. The contract is awarded to a company. There is a complete process. There is due process at every stage from the beginning of each project at a time. Contractors are shortlisted, bids are evaluated, technical bids are evaluated, financial bids are evaluated and the whole process is sent to the due process office. Every NIPP project is certified by the due process office. Payments are based on advance payment guarantee and performance bonds. If a contractor gets his 25 per cent advance payment, that advance payment is retired over the life of the contract and the bond is in place. Now, for him to get anything above the 25 per cent advance payment, we must have reached a project milestone as defined in the agreement. And I dare say that the NIPP contracts are probably some of the best contracts that any government agency in Nigeria had entered into. It will be good if we look at those contracts. So, if a contractor reaches a milestone, receives the payment, there has to be one question that should be asked. There are consultants who have to vet. There is a project team which has to certify, and also the contractor. So, unless all three of them conspired you know what I mean… It doesn’t come back to the minister to certify the next stage of payment. Those are technical things. So, if he gets a milestone payment without reaching the milestone then there are questions to be answered and that needs to be made clear. Certainly, letters of credits are in place and those letters of credits are high security documents. You cannot just go and steal letters of credits. The terms may say that upon presentation of shipping documents you now draw. So, if the person could draw without presentation of shipping documents, then even the bankers whether it is HSBC or JP Morgan, whoever it is, you hold them. You understand the reality. So, it is okay for one to go to a site and say eh! This place has not progressed but it is necessary to sit down and look at what stage they are in each contract. Like I said, I don’t hold brief for any contractor. I left a year and a half ago. Certainly, that is why I said if there is any contractor that has failed to perform, for Christ’s sake, go after the contractor. The project was a fast track project. Every contractor was made aware of this. So, if they have actually failed to perform then somebody has to be held responsible. There must be a reason. As you know, some of the projects have not been funded [by the government] for nearly a year. That could have stalled the progress. That should not be lost on us. So, we have some little challenges. A man has received one to three billion naira but the villagers have not been paid compensations of N30 million. There is no more funding for NIPP so that compensation of N30 million, which the villagers have not been paid, prevents the contractor from going to site. As it is, he cannot progress. I don’t know if you had tried to build a foundation for transmission line in a community in the Niger Delta that has not received its compensation. You are not going to do it. So, you have a N30 million problem spoiling a N10 billion project. That is the truth. But who had the responsibility of handling the community relations aspects of the contracts? Is it the Federal Government? It is the government. When I was in office, I wrote to every governor where the project was located. I wrote to every local government chairman where the project was located, to inform them about the project and to request their support with community relations. In the NIPP, there is a community relations unit whose job is to just handle compensation. So, the only problem with the NIPP was that NIPP is not budget item. You cannot say there is a N4 billion set aside for NIPP and then plough from that money. As invoices were prepaid, they were sent to finance ministry and they paid from the excess crude account. It was not as if something was set aside from the excess crude account for NIPP. Once you stopped doing that, it means that little things like compensation, maybe demurrage for goods at the ports, and what have you, are not handled and the project is not realised because of that. But isn’t that a case of putting the cart before the horse? No, no… you do it as you move to site. What happens is that in one or two instances you do the compensation long before the contractor moved to site, by the time the contractor moves to site, he sees houses on the routes. Not houses, just foundations block work all along the routes and everybody starts claiming compensation, even though those houses were not there before! So, you start another process of claims. It was only when the contractor was ready to move to site that you now went to pay the compensation. And like I said, compensation was paid for all the power stations. Compensation was paid for all projects that had kicked off when I was there. Like I said, I am not holding brief for any contractor but I think we should be objective. There are two stages of due process. One is to award a contract then the other one is to pay. The former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said all you did was to come and show waiver approvals from the president. Why did you decide not to allow the project to go through the normal processes? Why did you show the waivers only? Opening a letter of credit for an international commercial transaction payments is based on the defined milestones, internationally defined language. So, HSBC understands. Due process certification is not a requirement for that type of payment. Due process certification for payment is not recognised as a document to be presented for payment and because they are based on project milestones you find that in a contract life, the contractor may have 15 or 20 milestones. So, he goes to draw 15 or 20 times to get certifications for payment. When you have the advance payment guarantees, you have provided the things that would be looked at for certifications of payment. The APG and the bonds are in place. Normally, if you went through due process it will take any where from one to four months to get certification. You want to implement this project on a fast track basis, you are dealing with international companies and the issue of certification for payment becomes a challenge. But even then the due process office issued in their report. It is clearly in their report. They said that the project, after evaluation, is good for certification for award and payment. It is important that we understand this because the impression being created, is yes, some allocations were paid on trust… there was no due process. Which is most unfortunate because I don’t think there was any procurement exercise that was more thorough than the NIPP procurements and you can check. They are verifiable. The facts are there. Why did you draw from the excess crude account instead of a supplementary budget? The power problem affects everybody. It is not just a Federal Government problem. It also affects states and local governments. Everybody suffers from that challenge. So why can’t we collectively address it? And there was a meeting of the National Economic Council that was convened where the matter was presented that we should use the excess crude to address power. We had these excess crude funds all the time either kept in the reserve or not utilised and we had this challenge of addressing the new capacity for power. So there was a meeting of the National Economic Council where it was approved that a committee was set up. That committee was then chaired by the Vice-President and it had the governors of the Niger Delta states where the power stations were located as members and one governor from each of the geo-political zones as member. It had representation from the local government chairmen. The thinking was that to apply the excess crude, the Federal Government on its own cannot appropriate the excess crude that belongs to the states and local governments. You can’t go to the National Assembly and request to spend state money and local government money. So it was necessary to bring them on board and to get their approval. That was the thinking because the truth of the matter is that if you do not put in what is supposed to go into the sector, you are not going to get anything out of it. And if you want to finance it through the regular budget, you are looking at, may be, hundreds of billions. And the Federal Government thought, in terms of the reserve, what accrues to it alone… could it cover the entire project? That was the challenge. So that was the thinking at that time; that let’s use this excess crude. We all have it and we have a common problem. We all suffer from power problems. Can you tell us how long it takes to complete an average power plant? The average time to complete a gas power station is about three years. So how come that the ones you started since 2004 could not be completed in 2007? They didn’t start in 2004. Most of them started in 2006. We are probing a project in the middle of its execution, even when funding has been stopped for nearly one year. Why didn’t the Federal Government factor in compensation to host communities when it was awarding the contracts? You can’t factor in compensation because compensation is not paid by the contractors. There is a provision for compensation in the yearly budget of government; a line item for compensation. I think it is around two or three billion naira. The utilities are aware that they have to pay compensation. But the compensation is not defined. It is not a fixed rate. There might be economic trees, houses, a number of things that may have to be destroyed. So you can’t determine what the value of compensation is until you conduct what they call, I think, a waybill exercise. So there is a provision for it in the budget. Like I said, we paid compensation. You paid compensation? Oh yes, if not the power station sites would not have been acquired. What I’m saying is that compensation may be a problem in some of the sites. Now, what you do is simple. There is no funding for NIPP as you know. Hopefully, today, the Federal Executive Council may approve the new proposal on funding. The new 6000 megawatts that is supposed to be realised from the new initiative, where is it coming from? Of course, from NIPP (laughs). This is the first time I am seeing private sector about to throw money into a “useless project”. Are you satisfied or embarrassed that such a colossal amount has been spent and we are still where we are or even worse? I’m certainly not embarrassed (laughs). Surprised, may be. I don’t understand why I should be embarrassed. Should I be embarrassed at a project that has not been completed? I left a year and a half ago as a minister. You said you did not award most of the contracts. In other words, you awarded some of them. The ones that you awarded while you were there, what is the progress report on them? That is not for me. How can I answer your question? Are they my personal project? But some of them are two-year projects with, perhaps, only one year left to go by the time you left the place. That means you are in a position to give account? They have stopped funding it now. To the extent that it was funded, what is on ground for you to see? Let me ask you a question. You want to build a house, your quantity surveyor says the cost of this house is N10 million. You put in N8 million. You do foundation up, and you stop funding it at N8 million, so there is no roof and you want to live in the house and you said that you have spent so much and there is nothing to show (laughs). There is something unique about power. If you are constructing a road from say Lagos to Ibadan, if you put in eight out of ten million, you would have achieved the road being tarred and graded and people can begin to manage it. In the case of electricity, it is useless until that project gets to Ibadan and is connected to the grid. That is power for you, no short cut until the project is fully completed. What is your response to the allegation that the power project was embarked upon without factoring in the issue of gas supply? Only a mad man can start building a power station without consideration of gas. The NIPP team included NNPC and the Nigerian Gas Company. They had a gas supply plan in which NNPC was involved. Unfortunately, at that time, the Ministry of Power and Steel was not the Ministry of Energy. The gas delivery plan was purely a function of NNPC and the NGC. Clearly, there was a gas delivery programme given to us by the NNPC on when gas would be delivered to the power stations. There is a gas delivery plan. There is nobody that will start building a power station without taking all that into consideration. The challenge was that the oil companies had committed the gas to the LNG. And so they could not give us gas for domestic use. Secondly, the gas was not appropriately priced. So it was more profitable for them to export the gas than to give it to us for the power plants. In fact at one time, the former president had to threaten them, that he would not grant them any other approval if they did not deliver gas to our power plants. So that was the challenge. And it was based on that that they had to sit down with NNPC and agree on a plan for gas delivery. Whether NNPC has kept to that programme, I can’t say. But I don’t think that it is reasonable that anybody can plan a power station without gas. Let’s say you commissioned a 400 megawatts station, all the gas may not be delivered on the day you commissioned all the plants. So you have those challenges. So we have three power stations that are completed, Papalanto, Omotosho and Geregu, but they don’t have gas. That is not the only case. Egbin power station was commissioned in 1985 but gas did not get there until 1987. We have to address the problems. Doesn’t that boil down to the same argument that there was no proper gas plan for these plants? No, no, no. Let us set the record straight. The fact is that if you take Geregu for instance, it is connected to gas. The only problem is that the source of gas is the same as Egbin. So for you to run Egbin, you have to shut down Geregu and vice versa. We still have to come back to the oil companies. If we don’t shout at the right people, the challenges will remain. But let us first identify the problems so that we can address them sensibly. At that time, my job was to ensure that Geregu is completed on schedule. It is there. It is not wasted money. As at the time you left office, how much had been spent on NIPP? The commitment was about $2 billion on NIPP. What about other utilities under the ministry such as NEPA? NEPA received budgetary allocations and that is very easy to establish. How would you respond to the claim that the Obasanjo administration did not know what to do with power issue until probably three years before the end of

Eye of the storm

2008-03-17T09:58:00.002-04:00

In the last 4 weeks, shortly after the Ohio democratic debate sponsored by MSNBC, where Hillary Clinton bleary eyed accused the press of bias, and with Brian Williams providing much of the fodder for the night, all followed by SNL portrayal of Hillary as the Victim of some men dominated media bias campaign, the US media has turned on Barack Obama with full force.

Not that they ignored him before now, but their ferocity had been embolden by these two events. They continue to treat Hillary with kid gloves, almost like a royalty, taking all their cues from her and her campaign as they have done throughout this primary seasons. They started by taking her word for it when the former first lady started out by claiming to be prepared from day one, as if she was once they president. No one quarried what her experiences where that made her to be prepared on day one. No one asked what cabinet level positions, elected offices or executive experience she had throughout the 35 years of experience she claims. No one asks what her pastor drinks for dinner, or if she had a pastor at all. And when her campaign began to play the divisive trumpet of divid and conquer, no one asked what judgement she'll bring to bear when her campaign is all about dividing the nation.

The press edged her on. Pretending to be impartial, but all along longing for a fight that will help sell their work, while in many cases allowing their jealousy or prejudices to surface when they can help it.

They have come right after Obama with everything they've got or thought they've got. They've gone after the pastor of his Church, roped him in with Rezko, replayed every hate mongering and fear mongering news about his name, his family background and what have you. In all these cases most of the reporting simply parrot the lies, even when the reporter knows what they are writing is a lie. But it suits them to lie, since it simply furthers their agenda.

Barack for the most part has made all effort to remain above board, chastising an overzealous supporter/volunteer for making racy comments about his opponent. Treating her with respect, even when she's want not to treat him with respect. And for his gentility, he has had to pay a price in Texas and Ohio, not withstanding the 'recent' discoveries that Texas and Ohio where really fixed by republicans who where running scared of Obama's positive messages and would rather have a gutter-politician represent the democrats in 2008.

For four long week, Senator Obama has been in the eyes of the storm and he's still standing, thanks to his upbringing and intelliegence.

msnbc.com: Internal sniping tarnishes Clinton's image

2008-03-12T01:33:00.000-04:00

Internal sniping tarnishes Clinton's image
Even as Hillary Clinton has revived her fortunes, internal sniping and second-guessing have undermined her well-cultivated image as a steady-at-the-wheel chief executive.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23552134/from/ET/