Senegal cuts cabinet by a quarter to save money
December 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment
By Nick Tattersall
DAKAR, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade cut the number of ministers in his government by more than a quarter on Tuesday in a belt-tightening show of solidarity with citizens hit by rising fuel and food prices.
Wade reduced the number of cabinet posts to 28 from 38, with the ministers of livestock farming, public hygiene and competitiveness among the casualties. The savings would be put into a "national solidarity fund", officials said.
"The aim is to make the state live more modestly and make significant savings on the budget," presidential adviser Hassan Ba told Reuters.
Octogenarian Wade pledged a month ago to trim his cabinet and cut ministerial salaries in a bid to "lessen the suffering" of the country’s poor, who have seen the price of basic goods like rice and bread rise sharply in recent months.
Riots swept the normally tranquil capital Dakar two weeks ago, with stone-throwing protesters complaining about widespread unemployment and rising prices at a time when the government is building luxury hotels and four-lane highways.
The unrest, which locals said was among the worst in recent years, was triggered when police tried to evict street vendors — most of them young men with no other way of making a living — from the pot-holed city centre.
The former French colony was one of the first countries in Africa to espouse multi-party politics in the 1970s and has long been regarded as a haven of stability in turbulent West Africa.
But diplomats, economists and rights groups are growing concerned about the increasingly intolerant style of Wade’s administration and about the transparency of public spending.
BLOATED BUREAUCRACY
Wade’s critics said the austerity measures, which include using energy-saving lightbulbs and internet telephony to halve the estimated 14 billion CFA francs ($30 million) spent by civil servants on phone calls each year, did not go far enough.
"The number of ministers we have is still well above the number in developed countries which are much larger in size and a lot more important than Senegal," Habib Sy, director of Senegalese anti-graft group Aid Transparency, t
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved. |
Inside the Circle
December 5, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Sunday January 6, 3:30 pm
Q&A with Director Marcy Garriott, together with Omar, Milky & Romeo
Friday January 11 3:30 pm
Q&A with Director Marcy Garriott
Part of the
Dance on Camera Festival
at the Walter Reade Theater
at Lincoln Center Plaza
(see below for directions or click here)
AdvanceTickets: www.filmlinc.com
$11 ($7/students)
***
Directions to Walter Reade Theater:
By subway: Take the #1 local train to 66th Street/Lincoln Center Station.
By bus: Take M5, M7, M10, M66, and M104 bus lines all stop within one block of Lincoln Center.
Walk west on 65th Street for access to the theater.
For more detailed travel information, click HERE.
Blitz Opening for Public Enemy!
December 5, 2007 | Leave a Comment
2 Nights of Blitz back to back shows opening for Public Enemy!
Dec 19 2007 8:00P
Irving Plaza w/ Public Enemy Manhattan, New York
Dec 20 2007 8:00P
Warsaw w/Public Enemy Brooklyn, New York
AFRICAN UNDERGROUND – FEATURING BALLA KOUYATE
December 5, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Balla Kouyaté is one of the greatest balafon players from the Djeli or “griot” tradition in Mali. The Kouyatés were the first djelis in the Mandé Empire. The balafon (ancestor of the xylophone) was given to Balla’s ancestors by nobles in the 12th century and has remained in his family ever since.
Event Information:
Saturday, December 15, 2007
9:00 PM – 3:00 AM
21+
cover: TBD | FREE and Open to the Public – MUST RSVP!
music: Afrobeat, Hip Hop, Soul, Dancehall, Reggae
Contact Email:
rsvp@nomadicwax.com
Venue Information:
Rose Live Music
345 Grand St.
Williamsburg, btwn Marcy & Havemeyer | L to Lorimer, G to Metropolitan, J/M/Z to Marcy
Brooklyn, NY
http://www.liveatrose.com
view Mapquest
view Yahoo Maps
Links:
http://www.nomadicwax.com
http://www.ballakouyate.com
Abass Abass – African Child
December 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Senegal opposes EPA
December 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
afrol News, 4 December – Senegal has joined Africa’s economic tigers [South Africa and Nigeria] to openly declare its refusal to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) with the European Union.
Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade, said his government would not endorse the agreements simply because they did not "defend Africa’s interests."
President Wade had been an arch-critic of the proposed new trade agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP). He blamed the EU of employing a strategy of luring individual countries to sign separate agreements. Wade believed this would not guarantee the interests of these countries.
The agreement has been a subject of stormy negotiation between the EU-ACP. All negotiations are expected to be sealed before the year ends, but most of Africa’s regions are yet to agree on the new partnership terms.
The Economic Community of West African States postponed EPA talks last month. Sierra Leone is the only West African country that has so far expressed interest in signing the EU deal.
Some Southern and Eastern African countries signed temporal partnership agreemetns with the EU. However, most Africans opposed the agreement, accusing the EU of luring developing countries to sign an agreement that allowed them to directly compete with develope countries.
Delegates to the scheduled EU-Africa summit on 8-9 December in the Portugese capital Lisbon are expected to finalise discussions around the EPA.
Dec 15th – Balla Kouyate at Rose
December 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment
What: African Underground: Featuring Balla Kouyate
When: December 15th 2007
Time: 9 pm till 3 am
Where: Rose Live Music 345 Grand St, Brooklyn NY
RSVP: rsvp@nomadicwax.com
Links: Rose Live Music, Directions, Balla Kouyate
