Socio Economic Network

Socio-Economics is the study of relationship between economic activities and social life. It is a multidisciplinary components involving theories and modules from sociology and economics for human dignity among others. However, socioeconomists focuses on social impacts and political activities that affects economic changes, or causes that impact a society. The Goal to Socio/economic study is to bring about improvement on socioeconomic development environment…Give Opinion or Discuss

Thursday, March 26, 2009

US Arrests Anglo Leasing Suspect

US arrests Anglo Leasing suspect

By BENJAMIN MUINDIPosted Wednesday, March 25 2009 at 22:08
The United States has arrested a key suspect in the Anglo-Leasing scandal in which Kenya lost billons of taxpayers’ money through fraudulent transactions.
A 43-year-old American, Bradley Birkenfeld may be a key lead to the controversial dealings in which the Kenyan government paid some Sh56 billion in promissory notes to bogus companies. Mr Birkenfeld, a banker and a financial advisor, has been working for UBS bank and is indicted with crafting tax-evasion schemes.
The Neue Zurcher Zeitung, a leading Swiss newspaper, has revealed that Mr Birkenfeld is intimately connected with Anglo Leasing and the Deepak Kamani brothers, alleged architects of the scam.
He signed one of the 18 fraudulent Anglo Leasing contracts on behalf of Info Talent Limited and his private residence, 20 Cours de Rive in Geneva, was listed in a second credit contract as the offices of Midland Finance & Securities Limited.
“This is a man the Kenyan government should be dying to interview to get information on Anglo Leasing,” said Mars Group director Mwalimu Mati, who broke the news on Mr Birkenfeld.
Midlands Finance has since sued the government for repayments of the never-received credit and even succeeded in blocking the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission from using a report by Price WaterHouse Coopers to prove the fraud.
“Why it was signed by the permanent secretary on the authority of the then Finance minister David Mwiraria is the enduring mystery of Anglo Leasing, and Bradley Birkenfeld may have the answer,” said Mr Mati.
Bogus financier
In November 2003, another bogus financier, Info Talent obtained 58.688 million Euros in promissory notes from the Treasury. In 2004, the company mysteriously refunded Sh509 million after Anglo Leasing was exposed by Mr Maoka Maore in Parliament in April of the same year.
That Info Talent fraud was proved by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee investigation of 2006, headed by current minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr Birkenfeld has pledged to enter a plea bargain where he will volunteer information in return for his release.
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TaxesBanker Charged With Helping Billionaire Dodge TaxesJanet Novack, 05.13.08, 6:02 PM ET

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A federal judge in Southern Florida today unsealed an indictment charging two foreign bankers, one a former private banker for UBS AG, with defrauding the U.S. by helping billionaire Orange County, Calf., real estate developer Igor M. Olenicoff evade U.S. taxes on $200 million hidden in Swiss and Liechtenstein bank accounts.
One of the those indicted, Bradley Birkenfeld, is a 43-year-old U.S. citizen who, the indictment says, worked from 2001 to 2006 in the private banking division of a Swiss bank, which "also owns and operates banks, investment banks and stock brokerage businesses throughout the United States." Federal election records show a Bradley Birkenfeld contributed to candidates during that period, listing his employer as UBS (nyse: UBS - news - people ) and his address as Geneva, Switzerland.
UBS disclosed recently that the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating whether it had helped wealthy Americans evade U.S. taxes on offshore accounts. In addition, earlier this month a senior UBS employee was briefly detained by U.S. authorities as a witness in that investigation.
In a statement today, UBS said it is "continuing to cooperate with this investigation" and that "in light of the pending investigation, it is not appropriate to comment on charges brought against a former UBS employee."
Separately, UBS is also being investigated by U.S. prosecutors for its past involvement in the U.S. tax shelter industry.
Birkenfeld was arraigned this morning in Fort Lauderdale and entered a plea of not guilty. He was released on a $100,000 secured bond, and a $2 million personal surety bond, surrendered his passport and is subject to electronic monitoring. The other defendant, Mario Staggl, 43, a Liechtenstein citizen and resident, remains at large, the government said.
In the indictment, brought by the U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida, Olenicoff, who Forbes estimates is worth $1.6 billion, is named as an "unindicted co-conspirator" and referred to as IO. Olenicoff settled with the government in December, by pleading guilty to one felony count of filing a false 2002 individual income tax return; paying $52 million in back taxes, interest and civil fraud penalties; and agreeing to bring all the money in his foreign accounts back to the U.S. On April 14, he was sentenced to two years probation. Olenicoff's use of offshore accounts, which was described in a story in Forbes in 2006 (see: " The Billionaire With The Empty Pockets"), dates back to the early 1990s.
Olenicoff's attorney, Edward M. Robbins Jr., declined comment, but the indictment left no doubt as to who the unnamed billionaire was, including among other things, details about the ownership of his 147-foot yacht.
The indictment notes that in 2001, Birkenfeld's employer entered into a Qualified Intermediary agreement with the U.S. That agreement required UBS to identify any customers who received U.S. source income that was reportable to the Internal Revenue Service and to report that income. As part of the process, UBS agreed to have customers fill out IRS form W-8BEN, which requires foreign beneficial owners of bank accounts to be identified---a departure from historical Swiss bank secrecy laws.
But Birkenfeld and Staggl, the indictment alleges, defrauded the IRS by falsifying Swiss bank documents and W-8BENs, and by setting up "nominee entities" to hide the true ownership of assets. Staggl, according to the indictment, was the owner of New Haven Trust Company Ltd., a Liechtenstein trustee of accounts used to hide Olenicoff's ownership of assets.
The indictment indicates Olenicoff wasn't Birkenfeld and Staggl's only wealthy client. According to the indictment, the men marketed to U.S. taxpayers the advantages of Swiss and Liechtenstein banks for attempting to evade U.S. income taxes, "claiming that Swiss and Liechtenstein bank secrecy was impenetrable.''
Wesley Snipes' Jailhouse Role
High-Tech Tax Help

US Arrests Anglo Leasing Suspect

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Kofi Annan named President of the OMCT Foundation

Kofi Annan named President of the Foundation...
Kofi Annan named President of the Foundation supporting the World Organization against Torture (OMCT)
Geneva, October 10, 2007: On October 4, 2007, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, became the new President of the Foundation supporting the World Organization against Torture (OMCT). Kofi Annan has always demonstrated a strong commitment to human rights and has stated his total opposition to torture. In accepting to become the new President of the Foundation supporting OMCT, he expressed his wish to be actively involved in initiatives defending human rights.
Since its creation in 1986, OMCT has been engaged in fighting against torture, summary executions and all other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, through actions geared to prevention, information, denunciation and rehabilitation. To give a voice to victims, OMCT works with the SOS-Torture network, the largest international coalition of non-governmental organizations active in the protection of human rights, with 282 affiliated members in 92 countries. Thanks to this unique network, OMCT maintains permanent contact with the field and is immediately informed of any human rights violations. It then makes public the facts and denounces the perpetrators via its urgent interventions, disseminated to a large audience worldwide.
Each and every case is indeed unique and of crucial importance. As Kofi Annan emphasizes, “we must not forget that it always starts with mistreatment of one person, torture of one person, lack of respect of the rights of one individual”. These individual violations open the door to the escalation of abuses, which may lead to the unthinkable such as genocides and other large scale human rights violations.
Unfortunately this is even more relevant today, since we are facing what Kofi Annan calls “the erosion of respect for human rights and the norms that we all treasure”. He explains that, “An increasing number of governments tend to believe that there is a tradeoff between effective action against terrorism and security on the one hand, and human rights and individual civil liberties on the other. But no such tradeoff can be allowed”. Kofi Annan underlines the importance of “the power of people who are becoming increasingly aware of their rights, and this is one of the biggest weapons we have. Transparency, openness and debate about rights, and the social shifts brought about by technology and open communication are very powerful tools – and leaders are being forced to be responsive to them.”
It is in order to promote this movement, to contribute to the growth of public awareness and to encourage OMCT’s work in the fight against torture and other human rights abuses that Kofi Annan has accepted to become President of the Foundation supporting OMCT. He emphasizes that he wishes his role to be an active one. In particular, he will engage in raising the profile of OMCT and in fundraising to increase the Foundation’s capital with a view to enhancing OMCT’s capacity to protect and promote human rights around the world.

For additional information, please contact:Isabelle Vila, Tel: +4122 809 52 40, Email: iv@omct.orgVisit our website at http://www.omct.org/

OMCT International Secretariat
PO Box 218, rue du Vieux-BillardCH-1211
Geneva 8Switzerland
Phone: + 41 22 809 4939Fax: + 41 22 809 4929
omct@omct.org

http://www.omct.org/index.php?menuId=87&lang=eng&PHPSESSID=b824d6cd90736c9ae9de30b3c78f0712

Friday, March 13, 2009

JIENJOY - WITH AFRICAN LUO BENGA BEAT

Africa: AfDB to Increase Lending to U.S.$11 Billion

Africa: AfDB to Increase Lending to U.S. $11 Billion
Constance Ikokwu
13 March 2009

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Washington, DC — As discussions continue on ways to tackle the impact of the global financial crisis in Africa, the African Development Bank (AFDB) has decided to increase its annual lending to $11 billion to help countries in dire need.

President of the AFDB, Mr. Donald Kaberuka, made the Bank's position known at the two-day conference organised by the government of Tanzania and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Dar es Salaam.
Kaberuka told the conference participants titled: 'Changes: Creating Successful Partnerships for Africa's Growth' that the bank had also unveiled an Emergency Liquidity Facility of $1.5 billion, a Trade Finance Initiative of $1 billion, and a Framework for Accelerated Resource Transfer of African Development Fund (ADF) Resources to help member states.
"The bank currently has enough risk capital to deliver on its normal lending programme consistent with its medium term strategy," said Kaberuka.
"We currently estimate that this lending program will consume about 90 percent of its risk capital by 2012. However, the new demand created by the crisis to which the bank is responding implies that the bank's risk capital will need to be boosted by the end of 2011," he added.
Kaberuka observed that it is important that development institutions have enough resources to support member countries in a critical period such as this.
The conference addressed key policy questions, with the common goal of forging renewed African partnerships for growth in Africa in the 21st century. Key questions that were addressed include:
What do Africa's successes tell us about the main bottlenecks and risks to sustained growth and poverty reduction? How best can countries tap into the potential of the private sector and the financial sector to advance these goals?
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How can countries reduce the risks posed by exogenous shocks and a turbulent global economy and avoid the "resource curse"?
How does the model for financing development need to adapt? What should be the direction of Africa 's already evolving partnerships, including with the IMF?
The conference was hosted by the IMF Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and opened by the Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete. Delegates to the conference included former United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

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Bail-Out fund set up to aid African Banks

‘Bail-out’ fund set up to aid African banks

By Barney Jopson in Dar es Salaam
Published: March 12 2009 02:21 Last updated: March 12 2009 02:21
African commercial lenders and central banks will be able to access an emergency $1.5bn “bail-out” facility set up by the African Development Bank in a drastic move to prevent trade and investment from seizing up, the AfDB’s chief has said.
Donald Kaberuka, president of the AfDB, said the trade finance facility was a “radical departure” for the bank – whose mandate is to provide development finance – but one made necessary by the grave impact of the credit crunch on Africa.

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“Liquidity is drying up faster than we thought as Europe deleverages. This will be a revolving facility to keep trade and investment moving,” Mr Kaberuka told the Financial Times. “The central banks will have liquidity to sell to commercial banks and commercial banks will have liquidity to sell to each other.”
Before the global crisis intensified last year most credit in the African financial system originated from European banks such as Barclays and Standard Chartered. The new AfDB facility should feed through to African companies struggling to finance imports or complete investment projects, Mr Kaberuka said. It was set up with funds from the AfDB’s own capital base.
Mr Kaberuka was speaking at a conference of policymakers organised by the International Monetary Fund in Tanzania that has highlighted how the crisis is hitting the poorest continent. The IMF has forecast that growth in sub-Saharan Africa will halve from the average of the past decade, to just over 3 per cent.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Luo Cultural and African Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdQv9-ShnmE

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIQvOywpW4Q

End Violence Against Women

Change in socialisation process to end violence

oday marks a very important day for women all over the world. It is the International Women’s Day — a day that is marked worldwide by women across all continents to look back to a tradition that represents a struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

This is 34th year since the United Nations in 1975 found it necessary to pay homage to women and give the world a chance to look at how women were faring. Today we can look back and see the fruits of this struggle. We can see women sitting on thrones as queens and presidents. We can see women attending school, qualifying as doctors and engineers. We can see women giving orders as CEOs and flying big jumbo jets and jet fighters across the skies as pilots. We can see women carrying voter’s card and Identity cards as well as passports.

With these successes there are still many gaps that remain to be filled. One area remains with a big gaping hole that has taken too long to fill as many still trip and fall into it. This is the area of violence. Violence against women goes on in the inside of our homes to the outside at places of work. It takes all forms and shapes.

That is why this year the world wants an end to violence against women. The theme is "Men and women working together to end violence against women".

Women alone cannot end the violence and neither can the men alone. We must all together — men and women — join hands and bring to an end this act that often leaves its victim dead, if not maimed.

Violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace.

Fundamental freedoms

Violence against women both violates and impairs the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. That by subjecting a woman to whatever form of violence you are in effect affecting her status as a mother, wife or sister.

A prominent saying among my people goes something like: "There are no spare parts shops for body parts". What this in effect means is that when one part of your body is damaged there will be no replacement for it as there is no shop where you can go and order a replacement Men have been known to beat their partners for the flimsiest reason. To these men, there is no difference between their female partners and children. Yet the women are supposed to be equal partners in the relationship.

We need to change our socialisation process by bringing up our sons to appreciate their sisters and mothers. By doing this, they will grow up respecting the women in their lives and these include the women they will marry.

Our daughters must also be brought up to appreciate themselves as women and that they are equal partners in any relationship. By working together as men and women we can then bring to an end violence against women.

Read on as we look at why violence must end, achievements and challenges that women face and why the world must be a levelled platform for both sexes to achieve equality peace and development.

Case Review.....
By Kwamboka Oyaro
His immaculate suit, matching shirt and tie do not give away his pastime. It is no secret that he beats his wife, who often goes to work with a black eye or limps, depending on the kind of beating she received the previous night. He is a rich, powerful man who believes battering his wife enhances his control of the household. Doesn’t he feel anything bad about beating an adult?
After a long silence, he says: "I feel nothing. I’m just doing what I saw my father do and it is what my grandfather did... Women have to be beaten, otherwise they grow horns."
Such a habit, from an educated and prominent man in the 21st Century when media and human rights activists have brought the barbarity of violence against women to the fore, is not understandable.
Will his three sons also beat their wives? "Of course they will. It is the only way to ensure they are at the helm of their family," he says, somehow irritated that I have asked him a question with an obvious answer.
With such men resolutely determined to pass down a primitive culture through generations, can women escape this web of suffering?
Regional co-ordinator of Men for Gender Now, Ken Otina, has walked down the violence path. He beat his girlfriends at the slightest provocation. "If you didn’t beat her up, you became the odd one out. My peers and I believed it was our duty to ‘teach’ our girlfriends a lesson once in a while," says Otina, 34, who is now actively taking the anti-violence message to men.
Before he stopped battering women nearly 10 years ago, Otina didn’t see anything wrong with his actions.
"Generally, we grow up knowing that the person inflicting the pain (usually the father) is the powerful one in the family. We carry the knowledge that to show your power, you must batter your girlfriend or wife and make everyone cry. That is power. That earns you respect." This attitude is embedded in other cultures. Otina and his colleagues treated women like trash.
"To us, women weren’t valuable. In fact, when my then girlfriend conceived, I told her that unless she got a son, she had no business looking for me after giving birth."
The girlfriend got a daughter. Somehow, Otina visited the child, and the visit was his turning point.
"I looked at the newborn. She was so soft and innocent.
I asked myself: "If I, the child’s father, rejects her, how will the world receive her?" I named my daughter after my only sister and married my girlfriend. We now have another daughter and a son."
In his campaign against violence, Otina has discovered many perpetrators do not know that what they do is wrong. No one told them that hitting a woman is wrong and since violence against women is inculcated from childhood, explains Otina, boys learn that that is the way of life.
This attitude, just like an inheritance, informs their future lives and the decisions they make regarding women.
Mary Kamau, a guidance and counselling teacher, says most children who violate others do so because they witnessed it at home.
"Children copy what adults do. Normally, they admire their fathers and what he does is always held in awe — even beating up their mother," explains Mrs Kamau.
Domestic violence studies show that children raised in abusive homes learn that violence can be used to resolve conflicts and problems. And boys who witness their mothers being battered are more likely to batter their female partners later in life than those raised in homes without violence.
But there is hope, assures Otina. "When I talk to men about the side effects of violence, they stop their arguments for wife battering and listen. Many are shocked at the effects. Once they start listening, we are on the right path to stumping out girlfriend and wife battering."
Apart from sharing his knowledge about the ignominy of violence against women, Otina is motivated by his daughters.
"The happiness of my daughter depends on changed men, men who honour and respect women," he says.
If all men thought this way, the cycle of violence would be broken sooner than later.
—Kwamboka Oyaro is Editor, Sunday Magazine

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Obama Signing Executive Order for White House Council on Women and Girls

President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls, Wednesday, March 11, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. From left are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. and White House Public Liasion Tina Tchehttp://msnbc.msn.com/id/29640309/displaymode/1176/rstry/29640901/from/ET/

Obama's position to Domestic Violence

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Question: What is Barack Obama's position on domestic violence?
Answer: Barack Obama was the chief sponsor of the Victims' Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA), designed to help domestic violence victims keep their jobs. The bill enables an employee who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence, or who has a family member who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence, to take time off from work to seek medical attention or obtain health or legal services. VESSA was signed into law in August 2003.

Obama co-sponsored and helped reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which provides funding and support to communities, nonprofit organizations, and police to combat domestic violence, Teen Pregnancy[/link]sexual assault, and stalking. The bill establishes a sexual assault services program and provides education grants to prevent domestic violence. VAWA was signed into law in January 2006.

How did Women's History Month begin in the US?

Answer: The first organization within the US to successfully promote the idea of a "Women's History Week" was the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County, California Commission on the Status of Women. In 1978, the group selected the week of March 8 for Women's History Week in order to coincide with International Women's Day which is celebrated on March 8th.

Area schools eagerly adopted the idea of Women's History Week, and within a few years the Sonoma County town of Santa Rosa became the epicenter of the celebration with an annual parade and programs observing the event.

1n 1979 at the Women's History Institutes at Sarah Lawrence College - a gathering of national leaders of organizations for women and girls - Sonoma County's Women's History Week idea was embraced by participants. They agreed to introduce the annual celebration to groups and school districts in their respective regions and support an effort to obtain national recognition of the weeklong observance.

In 1981, the first Joint Congressional Resolution declaring a National Women's History Week was co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).

A group founded by five women in Santa Rosa in 1980 - the National Women's History Project (NWHP) - led a coalition to urge that the nationally-recognized celebration be expanded, and that the entire month of March be designated as Women's History Month.

In 1987, the NWHP petitioned Congress and the National Women's History Month Resolution was approved with bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

Source:
"History of National Women's History Month." National Women's History Project nwhp.org, retrieved 28 February 2009.

For a more detailed account of the history of Women's History Month, see the About.com Women's History article "Women's History Month" by Jone Johnson Lewis.

Women's History Month - History of Women's History Month
Biographies of Astronauts

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Poor Countries Need U.S.$25 Billion Up-Front - IMF

Africa: Poor Countries Need U.S.$25 Billion Up Front - IMF
Mariam Isa
4 March 2009

Johannesburg — POOR countries urgently needed at least $25bn in low-cost finance this year to help their economies ride out the global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday.
IMF MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned that there was a real risk the world economy would contract this year. He said this would be reflected in the IMF's updated growth forecasts next month.
News and data had worsened since the IMF predicted the global economy would grow 0,5%, he told reporters in a video conference link between Washington and Johannesburg.
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This meant "the probability of our next global forecast being lower than that is very high".
The risk of a forecast below zero was a serious risk, he said.
If the global downturn worsened, the number of the most vulnerable economies could almost double from 20 now, while their funding needs could rise to $140bn, the Washington-based lender said.
Most of those countries were in sub-Saharan Africa, expected to grow just more than 3% this year, compared with 4% for low-income countries overall, the IMF said in a report.
"I believe we have to scale up the support we supply to Africa. We are urging donor countries not to reduce aid flows," Strauss-Kahn said. This was necessary despite the fact that advanced economies were grappling with what is set to be the worst global financial crisis for 80 years.
The report said, "At a time when the advanced economies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on fiscal stimulus and financial sector restructuring, we must find room to help low-income countries."
Strauss-Kahn said there were also plans to help Zimbabwe.
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel had contacted him on how to "resume normal relations" with Zimbabwe, and they would discuss this further at an IMF conference in Tanzania next week. "No decisions have been made," he said.
Antoinette Sayeh, head of the IMF's Africa department, said the IMF was preparing to send a mission to Zimbabwe.
"The international community will have a significant challenge with Zimbabwe's arrears. They will have to be cleared before we can engage with Zimbabwe," she said.
"We have a mission going to Zimbabwe to discuss with the authorities their policy ambitions and reform agenda, to assess whether the international community can support in a way which is significant," Sayeh said. IMF officials said Zimbabwe's arrears with the IMF stood at about $130m, but the country would also have to clear much larger amounts owed to the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
It has been about two years since the institution last sent a mission to the country.
Southern African Development Community ministers decided last week to push for donor aid for Zimbabwe but deferred a decision on a rescue package to a regional summit.
The international community is sceptical about whether the unity government of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change will last.
Sayeh said the IMF was also looking at its growth forecasts for SA, which the government predicts will reach 1,2% this year. But analysts are increasingly revising their growth forecasts for SA below 1%, with some now predicting the country faces recession. "SA has done reasonably well on the financial sector, and it's not very dependent on international funding ... but as the domestic economy slows, concerns over the quality of bank assets rise," Sayeh said.
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Poor countries were being hit by falling demand for their exports, the commodities prices slump and drying up of investment and aid.
The IMF report said lower growth would have serious implications for poverty and political stability so social safety net programmes should be ramped up. The $25bn needed by the most vulnerable countries amounted to 80% of yearly aid to all low-income countries in recent years, it said.