Saturday, June 25, 2016

Indicative land plot prices out

 

Deputy Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Ms Angeline Mabula.
Deputy Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Ms Angeline Mabula.
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THE government will this week release indicative prices f
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or the sale of land plots countrywide as a measure to protect buyers, the Deputy Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Ms Angeline Mabula, has said. Moreover, she said, it is illegal for land officers to acquire people’s land before paying them the needed compensation.
She gave the announcement at the National Assembly here yesterday when responding to a number of questions posed to her ministry during the question and answer session.
Responding to question by Mr Faustine Ndungulile (Kigamboni - CCM), who wanted to know when the government will waive its stop order of surveying and sale of plots in Kigamboni areas, Ms Mabula said the move aimed at coming up with indicative prices for sale of land plots.
“We have decided to stop the survey by private companies so that we come up with indicative prices as there others who were selling them at the exorbitant prices,” she said.
She gave an example of Kigamboni where there are three private companies surveying the plots for sale whereas they range between 20,000/-, 15,000/- and 10,000/- per square metre, which, she described as unrealistic.
“We also survey and sale plots, but the prices offered by private companies are unrealistic, that is why we decided to stop the process as we come up with indicative prices which will be out this week” said Ms Mabula.
She was reacting to the main question by Ms Lucy Magereli (Special seats- CHADEMA), who wanted to know the government’s plans to ensure that the Master Plans are available in all municipalities as a land use and city plan toolkit.
The deputy minister said the Master Plan and City Plan architects were supposed to be available in all responsible authorities in cities, town council, municipal and district councils.
She noted that lands conflicts needed special attention and that is why her ministry had for a start, issued the master plan to all local government chairpersons in Dar es Salaam as key persons in dealing with the problem.
Ms Mabula stated that the government was intending to empower the local government chairpersons as key partners in implementing proper land use by training them to have capacity to read the master plan and stand by their intended use.
“They have to be given the basic skills to be able to read the master plans and at the end of the day they will be guided by the earmarked land use when endorsing land sale” she said.
Ms Anna Lupembe (Special Seats-CCM), wanted to know when the government will start issue land certificates for Kichangani residents in Mpanda Urban District to which the deputy minister said they were still demarcating the areas before issuing the plots.
Ms Mabula told the House that it is forbidden for a land officer to acquire land from the people regardless of the intended use before paying them appropriate compensation. “It is forbidden to acquire people’s land or farms without completing all proper acquisition rules, including compensation.
Land officers must be guided by this,” she directed. She added that the government is also working on the land conflicts involving Kibada residents in Kigamboni to verify the land certificates for the contested areas before allowing them to go ahead with construction.

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13 hockey league matches lined up at JMK today

25 JUNE 2016

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She said that first match will pit Juhudi A against DSM Stars, before Nia Njema Bagamoyo B take on Juhudi A in all men’s matches.
According to the fixtures, two ladies matches will follow, in which, Makongo Ladies will battle against Nia Njema Bagamoyo Ladies A and Nia Njama Bagamoyo Ladies B will take on Twende Ladies hockey club B.
Other men’s matches will see University of Dar es Salaam meet Dar Institute, Kigamboni hockey Club will battle it out against Makongo A, Dar Khalsa D will lock horns with Nia Njema Bagamoyo B and Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) A will meet DSM Stars.
Juhudi Ladies and Kigamboni Ladies hockey teams will clash in the ladies category, before Twende Ladies hockey Club A take on TPDF Ladies. he fixtures further shows that Dar Khalsa B will face Makongo A challenge, Dar Khalsa D meet Kigamboni Hockey Club B and last match of the day will pit TPDF A against Dar Khalsa B. Quaranta said that all matches are played on the five side format; with 19 men and nine ladies teams compete for top honors.
The league started on June 4, this year and will run up to September 3, this year, in which matches are played every Saturday. “Every Saturday there will be teams competing from 10 am to 7 pm at the JMK Park every,” she said.
Teams that compete in the men’s side are TPDF, Magereza, Kigamboni, Juhudi Secondary, Makongo Secondary, Kibasila Secondary, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar Institute, Dar Khalsa and Nia Njema Bagamoyo.
On the ladies side the teams participating are Twende Hockey Club A and Twende Hockey Club B, Kisabila Ladies, Kigamboni Ladies, Nia Njema Bagamoyo Ladies, Makongo Secondary Ladies, Juhudi Secondary Ladies and TPDF Ladies.
“Teams from the secondary schools are mixed with teams from community level, the aim is to promote hockey among young people and to increase the level of skills of the players and to have many fans coming to see the matches,” said Quaranta.
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UK scientists face an uncertain future after Brexit vote


Concerns over funding and collaboration are at the forefront following landmark referendum

(Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
The UK's decision to leave the European Union has rattled the scientific community, amid fears that the so-called "Brexit" referendum could threaten funding for British research and collaboration across the continent.
In a referendum held Thursday, nearly 52 percent of British voters chose to leave the EU, while 48 percent voted to remain. The decision left financial markets reeling on Friday morning, and led Prime Minister David Cameron to announce that he will resign from his position in October. Brexit supporters have argued that the UK should leave the EU to free itself from regulations on its economy and immigration policies, while opponents have maintained that staying in the EU would be better for Britain's economy.
"A DISASTER FOR BRITISH SCIENCE"
The British scientific community has overwhelmingly opposed Brexit. A Nature poll of nearly 2,000 scientists living in the UK conducted in March found that 83 percent supported remaining in the EU, while just 12 percent supported leaving the union. Stephen Hawking and around 150 other members of the Royal Society at Cambridge University have said that a vote for Brexit would be a "disaster for UK science and universities."
Much of the concern centers around funding. The EU has budgeted an estimated €120 billion ($134 billion) to directly support research and innovation projects from 2014 to 2020, and Britain has been a major beneficiary. From 2007 to 2013, the UK contributed an estimated €5.4 billion to EU research and development, according to the UK Office of National Statistics. During that time period, it received €8.8 billion in direct EU funding for research, development, and innovation, the Royal Society said in a report published this year.
EU funding UK
The UK is also a major player in international scientific research, accounting for nearly 16 percent of the world's most highly cited articles. Some science associations say that much of its success has to do with its European ties. "Our evidence showed that the UK’s EU membership was regarded as having a mostly positive influence on the effectiveness of UK science, research and innovation, especially with respect to funding and collaboration," Dominic Tildesley, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said in a statement Friday.
The impact on the European space industry is less certain. The European Space Agency (ESA) is an inter-governmental organization that is separate from the EU, and the Brexit decision would therefore not affect the UK's membership. But the decision may impact joint EU-ESA initiatives, such as the €4.3 billion Copernicus earth observation program, ESA director general Johann-Dietrich Woerner told reporters last month. Woerner added that a vote for Brexit would have "a negative effect" on the UK space industry.
There are also concerns over restrictions on travel and immigration. More than a third of researchers at Cambridge are overseas nationals, according to the BBC, and 23 percent are from other EU countries. Closing borders and implementing visa requirements could make it more difficult for British universities to attract talent, scientists say, and more difficult for British researchers to participate in cross-border collaborations in Europe.
"Science benefits from the way in which our scientists based here in the UK are able to freely collaborate with scientists in Europe, and there are so many examples of how the scientific community as a whole has benefitted from that interaction," Lord Paul Drayson, the former UK Minister of Science, told Scientific American prior to this week's vote. Drayson pointed to CERN and the Horizon 2020 EU innovation program as initiatives that "have been facilitated through that natural collaboration which comes from being part of the European community."
"THE UK DOES FANTASTIC SCIENCE, BUT IT DOES IT THROUGH COLLABORATION."
Brexit supporters, including the group Scientists for Britain, have argued that UK researchers would still be able to access EU research funds through association agreements, which allow researchers from non-EU countries to compete for European grants in exchange for a lump sum. (Non-EU countries like Norway and Israel currently use association agreements to access EU funds.)
The group has also disputed immigration concerns, arguing that talented scientists and engineers would still be able to qualify for visas, and that the Brexit decision may not necessarily impinge freedom of movement. Others, including Matt Ridley, who sits on the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords, have contended that Brexit would allow researchers to engage in more international collaborations outside of Europe.
"If the current terms of non-EU immigration to the UK are taken as a basis, even leaving the EU’s free movement environment is highly unlikely to impede meritorious EU scientists," Scientists for Britain said last year in its submission to a House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry. "In other words, if the UK applied its tightest tests for immigration and movement, the deserving scientists and engineers would in any case meet the Tier 1 or 2 qualification for UK work visas."
"BREXIT THROWS UP WALLS."
But researchers in the UK and abroad remain wary of the future. Katie Mack, an American theoretical astrophysicist at Melbourne University who spent three years doing postdoctoral research at Cambridge University, says her position at Cambridge wasn't strongly dependent upon the UK's membership to the EU. But she believes Brexit will have major implications for her peers.
"The EU offers a lot of the research funding my colleagues currently rely on through various grant programs and fellowships," Mack said in an email. "It will be much harder for universities in the UK to recruit research students and postdoctoral researchers from within the EU, research funding will be less available, and UK researchers' involvement in international experimental and observational collaborations will be at risk."
Jonathan Pritchard, a senior lecturer in astrostatistics at Imperial College London, says it will become more difficult for UK institutions to hire talent within the EU, and he doubts that the UK government will be able to replace the EU grants upon which many researchers depend. "The UK does fantastic science, but it does it through collaboration," Pritchard said in an email. "Brexit throws up walls to that collaboration while doing nothing to support UK science."
"I worked in the US for nine years and came back to the UK, partly because it was home, but also because it was a great base for doing science across Europe," he adds. "This result makes me question that decision."
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President Mahama doesn't like American Cars, so Ghana is doomed?


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John Mahama CleanPresident John Mahama

Folks, we have taken a keen interest in happenings in the country as far as president Mahama is concerned.

It is becoming increasingly clear that anything about him, for him, against him, and aimed at him easily becomes the magnet that attracts just anybody seeking to say anything and be noted as such, whether for good or bad.

For his political opponents, the amateurish work done by Manasseh Azure Awuni has become the trump card to play in their campaign of calumny against him in the mistaken hope that it will undermine him and push their preferred candidate (no doubt, the NPP's Akufo-Addo) to a higher pedestal to win Election 2016. That explains why they are feasting on that bogus report about the Ford Expedition.

The NPP people have invested so much in it that they are burning energy trumpeting it as if it will be the golden key to unlock the door for Akufo-Addo to enter the Flagstaff House.

Others parading themselves as anti-graft or anti-corruption experts and institutions are wasting their energy in the same vein, deceiving themselves that painting President Mahama black in the light of this orchestrated trash will give them some leverage to do their kind of negative politics for Akufo-Addo's good.

Interestingly, their rushing into over-drive has led them to the point where they are making a huge mockery of themselves. They were initially unhappy that President Mahama hadn't responded to Azure's trash. Then, when he did, they couldn't contain it, claiming that he was undiplomatic in his reaction.

President Mahama has said it straight to their faces that he doesn't go for American cars, which has shaken them out of control. What next? They are now turning the matter into a different ball game to tickle themselves for more political mischief. Just consider this twist:

"President John Dramani Mahama’s public pronouncements that he does not like American cars, specifically Ford, is expected to affect the sale of American cars in the country, branding expert Kelly Nii Lartey Mensah has said." (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Mahama-s-comments-can-affect-American-car-sales-Lartey-Mensah-450497).

What a lame opinion? How have American cars been faring on the Ghanaian market, anyway? And why should anybody think that it has to take President Mahama's declaration of preference to change the dynamics?

The truth being dodged here by such lame politicians disguised as businessmen is that Ghanaians have never admired American cars because they are not durable in our environment. 

Ghanaians have gone for Japanese-made vehicles of all kinds since the 1960s or earlier. Take the Datsun vehicles for commercial purposes, the Toyota, Nissan, etc. for many purposes, including government business. The Nissan Patrols used by the Rawlings government still stand tall for their record of durability and an all-weather condition suitable for our environment. Many spare parts dealers in Ghana are proud of the Japanese vehicles because they are the best.

Even when the Rawlings regime introduced the vehicle standardization policy, it went for the Japanese-made vehicles.

Those who have anything to do with French and German vehicles have their own impressions too. The German VW (Beetle or any other except the fuel-guzzling Volvo) have their own history of use in Ghana. So also are the French ones. The Italian Fiat and others have their own history too.

Then, turn round to see why Ghanaians don't go for American vehicles of the Ford or the General Motors brands (Chevrolet or whatever else). They are not suitable for our environments. Ghanaians in the United States even hesitate to buy these US-made vehicles. So, why the fuss? And why should anybody think that President Mahama's personal preference should become the standard for determining the success or failure of the aut5o business in Ghana?

President Mahama says he doesn't go for the US models, and I see nothing wrong with it. I have my own preferences; so do others. Those seeking to do dirty politics with this issue are lost already!! If they love US-made models, let them go for their preferences even as President Mahama goes for what suits him. Dirty politics on this score won't win any vote for them at Election 2016.

Meantime, in West Virginia in the United States, flooding has killed 23 people after 9 inches of quick rain. When flooding occurred in Ghana last year and this one, the anti-Mahama elements were on the rooftop with their dirty talk for political capital that they haven't had so far, although they sought to blame President Mahama for what Nature had unleashed on Ghana. To them, everything negative happening in Ghana is traceable to the "incompetent" and "corrupt" John Dramani Mahama. How pathetic aren't they?

To those talking about the fall in sale of American cars in Ghana following President Mahama’s comment, I have a simple question: Have they found out why foreign-made cars (Toyota, especially) have topped sales in the auto industry in the US all these decades? No American-made car has ever done so. Even General Motors and its brands nearly collapsed but for President Obama's intervention to get funding for them. Michigan is happy for that matter, even if its products aren't anywhere near the Japanese and German-made vehicles. Despite all the problems that the VW industry has (over manipulation of emission levels, for instance), the VW remains the highest and most preferred in Europe, and it is doing well in the US too.

The same applies to the motor-cycle industry too. Let them come and see how Japanese-made motor-cycles are in high demand in the US, where the Harley-Davidson brand is produced and marketed as well. It’s all about individual preferences, not any national agenda based on the personal likes or dislikes of the head of State!!

If those in the US aren't going for their own brand, what business do we in Ghana have to complain about President Mahama's personal preference for a Japanese automobile? And why should anybody bore us about low sales of American-made vehicles in Ghana? I wish this noise maker had talked about support for the Sarfo Kantanka brand instead. Their kind of negative politics is Ghana’s woe!!
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More than 2 million sign UK petition for new EU referendum


Foreign Minsters attend a press conference after a meeting of the EU founding members in Berlin, Saturday June 25, 2016. Photo/Reauters
Foreign Minsters attend a press conference after a meeting of the EU founding members in Berlin, Saturday June 25, 2016. Photo/Reauters
Just days after voting to leave the European Union, more than 2 million Britons and UK residents had signed a petition calling for a second vote, forcing lawmakers to at least consider a debate on the issue.
Parliament has to consider a debate on any petition posted on its website that attracts more than 100,000 signatures.
The proposal, posted before the June 23 referendum, said the government should hold another plebiscite on EU membership if the support for Leave or Remain in a referendum was less than 60 percent in a turnout of under 75 percent of eligible voters.
The result on Thursday saw 52 percent of voters, 17,410,742 people, back a British exit, on a turnout of 72 percent.
Since then, the petition -- which only British citizens or UK residents have the right to sign -- was proving so popular that by 1725 GMT on Saturday, 2,005,101 people had signed it.
By late afternoon, it appeared to be rising at a rate of more than 3,000 signatures a minute.
Most of those who signed were based in areas where support for staying in the EU was strongest, most especially London, the website indicated.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who said on Friday he would resign after leading the failed campaign to keep Britain in the EU, had said there would be no second referendum.
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