Email

Iraq protesters rail against lawmaker pensions

ACCRA — Ghana President John Dramani Mahama told AFP in an interview Friday after the supreme court upheld his 2012 election victory that the emerging nation had passed a major democratic test through its handling of the disputed vote. Mahama, in the interview a day after the court delivered its verdict, also spoke of confronting challenges facing the west African nation's fast-growing economy, with a ballooning deficit having drawn concerns from analysts. "I'd always known that I was legitimately elected, and I knew that eventually justice will be served," he said. "And justice has been served." The case riveted the nation of 25 million people viewed as a rare example of stable democracy in the region, and Mahama said it "was a test for Ghana, and we've passed it. "The people of Ghana have done it. They've sent a message to the world that this country is stable politically and has matured in its democracy, and so we're ready to do business with the world." The electoral commission said Mahama won 50.7 percent of the vote over New Patriotic Party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo's 47.7 percent in polls held last December. While observers generally praised the elections, Akufo-Addo claimed the balloting was riddled with improprieties and challenged the results at the supreme court. The sometimes tense proceedings broadcast live on radio and television came to an end on Thursday when the court upheld the results. Akufo-Addo conceded defeat shortly afterward and called Mahama to congratulate him. The election itself had been largely peaceful and there were no reports of trouble after the court verdict. Mahama first took office in July of last year after president John Atta Mills died in office. As the court deliberated over Mahama's victory, the president was also facing falling commodities prices and excessive government spending. Ghana is Africa's second largest producer of gold and the world's second-largest grower of cocoa. It also began pumping oil in 2010. It is considered one of west Africa's most resilient democracies, with six elections and peaceful transfers of power between the country's two main parties since 1992. The economy grew at a dramatic 14 percent in 2011 after oil production began and 7.9 percent in 2012, but government overspending caused its deficit-to-GDP ratio to balloon to 12.1 percent. Fitch downgraded Ghana's outlook in the wake of the announcement of those figures. "Our focus is to reign in the deficit and bring the economy back on track in terms of macroeconomic stability," Mahama said. "We've been taking quite bold and difficult decisions... The economy is responding positively to the decisions we've taken." Two reports from Ghanaian think-tanks released in August criticised the government's management of its oil revenue. Poor tax laws and spending priorities had stopped Ghana's oil money from living up to its potential, they said. Because Ghana was a new producer of oil, Mahama said initial exploration licenses had to be negotiated on "liberal" terms. "I do think that subsequent licenses are going to show a much better negotiation for the people of Ghana," he said. While Ghana's gold sector has long been the province of large companies like AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields, Chinese miners flooded the gold-producing region in recent years, collaborating with Ghanaians to stake out small mining claims. Foreign involvement in small-scale mining is illegal, and in June, Ghana sent security forces to arrest the illegal miners. Immigrations officials said over 4,500 Chinese citizens were deported or left voluntarily in the wake of the raids. China is an important trading partner for Ghana, with the Asian giant having given loans and collaborated on major infrastructure projects. "It hasn't had any effect on our relations with China," Mahama said when asked about the departure of the Chinese. "I believe that we are acting within the law and in all my discussions with my Chinese counterparts, they understand the problems that illegal gold mining is causing for Ghana." While Ghana was mostly insulated from fighting during neighbouring Ivory Coast's election crisis following 2010 polls, refugees and officials loyal to former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo have occasionally presented a challenge to Mahama. Ghana has arrested several former Gbagbo officials since Mahama's January inauguration, including fiery youth leader Charles Ble Goude, who Mahama said was extradited in January at the request of the International Criminal Court. On Friday, a court in Ghana declined to extradite Justin Kone Katinan, Gbagbo's spokesman who was arrested last year in Ghana at the request of Ivorian authorities. Katinan said he would remain in Ghana and continue to advocate for Gbagbo's release from ICC custody. "Anybody who abuses our hospitality and uses Ghana to conspire and plot to destabilise our government in their home regions will not be allowed to do so," Mahama warned.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Iraqi cities on Saturday to protest lawmakers’ perks despite an intense security crackdown, and gunmen in the capital stormed a Sunni mosque and killed five at dawn in the latest bout of sectarian unrest rocking the country.

Protesters chant slogans against the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. Protesters held rallies in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Basra to demand to cancel parliamentarians’ pensions. The Arabic on the banner reads, “Parliamentarians’ pensions in a new colonialism.” The Arabic on the Iraqi flag reads, “God is great.” (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

Protest organizers demanded an end to what they claim are generous pension benefits granted to members of parliament, and demonstrators aired long-standing grievances about widespread corruption and the poor state of public services.

Iraqi lawmakers are entitled to monthly pension payments of several thousand dollars per month regardless of how long they serve— far more than the amounts government employees and private sector workers typically get after decades of work. Many Iraqis suspect the country’s 325 lawmakers in Parliament are in politics only for the money, and they accuse them of being ineffective and slow to address the country’s myriad problems.

“We want to tell the officials that they should stop stealing. Enough is enough!” said demonstrator Ammar Abdul-Aziz, a 35-year-old engineer in Baghdad.

Authorities did not grant permission for the demonstrations in the capital, drawing criticism from rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Security forces blocked bridges and deployed large numbers of rifle-toting soldiers and police in major squares — an extraordinary show of force that protesters said was mainly taken to prevent demonstrators from congregating in larger numbers.

Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim defended the security operation, saying authorities were concerned suicide bombers might try to attack the rallies. He insisted authorities had no problem with the demonstrations and that his forces were present only to protect protesters.

If someone tried to kill protesters with a “bomb, all the people will say ‘why didn’t you protect us?'” he told The Associated Press at a Baghdad square protest site. Security forces backed by Humvees and armored personnel carriers there outnumbered the flag-waving protesters, who were surrounded by police preventing journalists from getting near them.

One of the Baghdad protest organizers, Mohammed Abbas, said he was beaten by security forces as he and his colleagues were trying to reach the central Tahrir Square. He declared the day’s protests a success despite the low turnout and pledged to mount more demonstrations.

Outside the capital, hundreds of people demonstrated in the southern city of Basra, where one banner declared: “The resources of Iraq are for Iraqis, not the lawmakers.”

Protests were also reported in Nasiriyah and Hillah, also in the country’s mainly Shiite south.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement on his website voicing “support for the protesters’ demands” and said he would work to reform lawmakers’ compensation.

Iraqi authorities cracked down firmly against anti-government protests the erupted at the start of the Arab Spring in early 2011. A new wave of ongoing protests erupted in Sunni Muslim areas in December, the most serious political challenge to the Shiite-led government since U.S. troops left in late 2011.

Hours before Saturday’s protests, gunmen using weapons fitted with silencers stormed a Sunni mosque in the capital’s southeastern New Baghdad neighborhood and shot at Sunni worshippers praying at dawn, police said. Five worshippers were killed and two were wounded, medical officials at a nearby hospital said. The police and medical officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Most attacks on civilians in recent years have been the work of Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida. But attacks on Sunni mosques have been on the rise in recent months, raising fears that Shiite armed groups are starting to retaliate.

Violence in Iraq has intensified since April to levels not seen since 2008. More than 4,000 people have been killed over the past five months alone, including more than 590 in August.

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed reporting.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck

Related posts

International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials

The mausoleum holding Congo independence hero Lumumba’s gold-capped tooth is vandalized

Trump’s criminal conviction won’t stop him from getting security clearance as president