Category Archives: Socio-economic Collapse

Umer Jamshaid 3 days ago Wed 29th September 2021 | 12:00 AM

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2021) The United Nations has informed the Taliban (banned in Russia) that it intends to improve the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in Afghanistan, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Tuesday.

"We have made it clear to the Taliban that we're willing to work to see what can be done to improve the conditions in the country, including the socioeconomic conditions and the humanitarian situation," Haq said during a press briefing.

The United Nations support will depend on the authorities on the ground ensuring an inclusive society in Afghanistan and one that protects human rights, Haq added.

The Taliban terror group seized control of Afghanistan after entering the capital Kabul on August 15 amid the collapse of the US-backed government there. The Taliban declared that foreign evacuation operations and the exit of foreign troops from Afghanistan must be completed by August 31, after which the Kabul airport - the sole point of departure for evacuation flights - came under its control.

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UN Informed Taliban of Intent to Help Improve Conditions in Afghanistan - Spokesperson - UrduPoint News

Durban - MEC for Education in KwaZulu-Natal, Kwazi Mshengu, says that his department will not be able to fill 2000 teaching posts for the 2022 academic year due to severe budget cuts.

Mshengu said the department will retain its staff contingent of 90 057 educators currently in the system.

Speaking during a briefing in Umbilo on Friday, he said the Department of Education suffered a budget cut of R6.343 billion with a possiblity of further cuts.

He said there would be a severe impact of these budget cuts on the quest to bring about equal, quality and relevant education for all."

Mshengu said despite a number of programmes and projects around building education in the province, the massive budget cuts restricted them.

"The KZN province has about 6000 schools, with 72% of them being in rural and township areas where poor socio-economic conditions are still militating against the historically disadvantaged people.

"Whilst the Department received 40% of the provincial equitable share, the reality is that 83% of its budget goes to the salaries of employees and the situation becomes worse when conditional grants are removed. In essence, the department is always left with a tiny budget to run other necessary projects/programmes such as infrastructure, learner transport, ICT rollout and payment of Norms and Standards to schools, which is below the national threshold," Mshengu said.

He said that the impact of the budget cuts would be severely felt in the classroom.

The cuts mean the department cannot fill the necessary 2000 posts for educators, it cannot replace teachers who go on leave, it impacts of the learner-teacher ratio - doubling teacher loads, means more congestion in classrooms and also impacts on project infrastructure and halts tenders.

Mshengu said it also meant that the department will have to retrench 6114 workers of whom 2300 are educators.

"Since the beginning of this financial year, the department has been engaged on a painstaking process with all relevant stakeholders to avert a catastrophic situation of retrenchment and the collapse of the education system.

"The DoE presented a blow-by-blow impact of these budget cuts to the Provincial Executive Council over several meetings. We were strengthened by the decision of the Executive Council to take this matter as a matter of the whole provincial government as opposed to leaving it with DoE only," Mshengu said.

He said KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala has been at the forefront of engaging the National Treasury, including raising the matter with the Presidency.

"Whilst there is nothing concrete yet from the National Treasury in terms of additional funding, we are pleased that the Provincial Executive Council has decided that the Department of Education must retain the existing staff establishment whilst we continue to sources more funding for the department," he said.

"We are grateful to the leadership of the Premier and the support of all Members of the Executive Council which has made it possible to avert the disastrous situation of retrenchments. We are, however, not completely out of the woods.

We still need to engage further to avoiding the possible future budget cuts. We also want to thank the unions and the SGBs for the work they have also done in the management of the sector throughout this painful period. Together we can build a resilient sector," the MEC said.

IOL

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KZN Department of Education unable to fill 2000 new posts as it feels the pinch of a massive budget cut - IOL

OPINION

There never seems to be a week in South Africa which does not hold some serious political consequence.

Whilst in the midst of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and trying to increase the momentum of our vaccination drive, the ANC has held its lekgotla, Carl Niehaus (the Radical Economic Transformer-in-Chief) has been fired by the ANC (the party is now literally financially bankrupt, to add to its ethical bankruptcy), and Jacob Zuma has been granted medical parole. Anyone who didnt see that coming has not been paying attention.

After much legal wrangling, the local government election date has been set for 1 November 2021. This was not without controversy after the Constitutional Court was asked to rule on whether elections were to take place this year.

There were no written reasons given the urgency of the matter, however, the ConCourt will be providing those in due course. This has created some confusion as to whether the order allowed for the reopening of candidate registration. The IEC has now reopened candidate registration, and this is now the subject of a legal challenge by the Democratic Alliance.

The IEC maintains that it is within its rights to reopen candidate registration given that the ConCourt said it could publish such amendments to the current timetable as may be reasonably necessary. The ConCourt will yet again be seized with the matter given the DAs urgent application.

Our ConCourt has served us well and has been a bulwark between our society and a complete collapse of the rule of law.

The Presidency released a statement this week which set out the process for the appointment of the new Chief Justice. It includes public participation and an eminent persons panel which will shortlist candidates. Ultimately, however the President decides which candidates he will refer to the Judicial Service Commission. It is important that Ramaphosa gets this one big decision right. One suspects that the public participation process, together with the eminent persons panel, is Ramaphosas way of shielding himself against the internal wrangling which will doubtless arise on this appointment within his own party.

Whoever is appointed will need to provide the requisite leadership both intellectual and administrative, to our apex court. It is fair comment that the court is in need of such leadership.

Adding to the pressure on our constitutional framework and the rule of law, Jacob Zuma is now on medical parole, a cynical act by the National Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, whose contract ends soon. Fraser was moved to Correctional Services, presumably because it was a softer position than his previous one in state security?

He is anything but a dispassionate player in this saga. He is the former Director-General of the State Security Agency and the Zondo Commission has heard that Fraser was involved in marshalling a private intelligence army on Zumas behalf. It was also Fraser who was alleged to have given the so-called spy tapes to Zuma which contained details of how his arms deal corruption prosecution by the National Prosecuting Authority may have been politically tainted.

The irony, of course, is that the previous commissioner, Tom Moyane went on to head SARS with disastrous consequences. This is what happens when presidents and political parties play musical chairs with positions of import. It eventually comes back to bite.

The most obvious question would be what were Frasers reasons for rescinding the order of the Medical Parole Advisory Board who had earlier denied Zuma parole and declared that he was in a stable condition? Fraser has been quite brazenly prepared to defend his decision to over-rule the Parole Board and has granted media interviews stating that there were no legal or procedural flaws in his decision.

This decision will be taken on review - and rightly so because the public has the right to know and understand whether the decision to release Zuma on medical parole was legally rational or not?

Yet, one wonders how much more strain our legal system can endure, being consistently placed in the arena where our democratic institutions fail us and where those who are in positions of power often act with impunity

If one were being equally cynical and uncharitable, one would say that it appears that Fraser was part of the stitch-up to ensure that Zuma does not serve his prison sentence.

For his part, President Ramaphosa welcomed Zumas medical parole and wished him well. That seemed just a little obsequious when South Africans may be justified in thinking that if one ensures enough violence and mayhem, eventually ones political friends will find a way out of the sticky legal situation.

Given that Zumas former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, was released on medical parole and was seen on the golf course not long thereafter, it is also unsurprising that South Africans are sceptical of Zumas sudden and possibly terminal illness. We know that Zuma believes he is above the law. He has repeatedly cocked a snook at the courts as well as the Zondo Commission and has shown little appetite for accounting to anyone despite his repeated claim that he longs for his day in court.

In its judgment on Zumas contempt, Justice Khampepe wrote then, If we do not intervene immediately to send a clear message to the public that this conduct stands to be rebuked in the strongest terms, there is a real and imminent risk that a mockery will be made of this court and the judicial process in the eyes of the public. The vigour with which Mr Zuma is peddling his disdain for this court and the judicial process carries the further risk that he will inspire or incite others to similarly defy this court, the judicial process and the rule of law.

How right she was. A Sunday newspaper has reported that Ramaphosa was consulted before Fraser made the decision. We need to know if that was the case and if so, the President needs to be held to account for his involvement. Has Ramaphosa himself now buckled under pressure to have his predecessor released? That would be the ultimate travesty in a country well-used to travesties of justice.

Stories are doing the rounds that Zumas supporters are preparing to give him a rousing welcome when he returns to Nkandla. If Zuma is then seen doing his usual song and dance routine and complaining about the conspiracy against him, will we still be asked to believe that he is a candidate for medical parole? A case of, Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes??

During his speech at the recent ANC lekgotla, President Ramaphosa mentioned many things, including expanding the social security net. Our socio-economic reality is dire, with the most recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey making for dismal reading, with 7.8 million people unemployed in our country, 584,000 more than in the first quarter of this year. A statistic that should scream, Crisis! to any government. Yet, Ramaphosa and the ANC seem so consumed with internal crises and internal party unity that it constantly feels as if we are a country walking in treacle.

Of the violence of July, Ramaphosa said, Those that are responsible for the organising, coordinating and inciting this violence must still be brought to book. Our priority is to ensure that we do not allow such criminal behaviour to recur, and on comprehensive social security, Further work needs to be done towards the achievement of Comprehensive Social Security to ensure that all South Africans can live in comfort and dignity. This necessarily requires better alignment and linkages between social security policies and labour market policies so that beneficiaries of social support can move more readily into employment. Subject to long-term affordability, serious consideration should be given to extending further support to the unemployed, and those who are structurally marginalised.

We are mostly inured to such promises. As recent Afrobarometer data indicated, trust in democratic institutions is at an all-time low. We are also inured to the Presidents promises because, quite simply, we cannot believe that he will do as he says, or that he will commandeer those around him to do as instructed. As for those who planned the insurrection, they walk freely amongst us, unfettered by the law. This is a country where words like full might of the law are unfortunately meaningless.

This past week Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia De Lille, talked again about smart cities. Only the most sanguine amongst us would believe that a party incapable of paying its staff or registering candidates for local government elections could be a vehicle for the radical social change this country needs, let alone a smart city. We need desperately to get the little things right and then dream big. For the governing ANC that means regaining peoples trust on the little things.

Impunity is a strategy which has a limited lifespan. As we see Ace Magashule on the periphery, fighting legal battles, Niehaus dismissed and other RET forces being dealt mini blows, these have been some consequences of Ramaphosas clean-up. But we need to survey the damage that has been caused along the way and whether out of this ANC wreckage, something new can be rebirthed?

Its hard to imagine that a party cannabalising itself can be rebirthed. It certainly will not be able to hold itself together for much longer. This local government election will be instructive. We are not far away from increased coalition government. That will bring with it a new set of challenges. Surely too, the time for the almighty split within the governing party has come? Then, we might ask as Yeats did,

"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

The ANC in government is a walking contradiction and inflicts its wounds on an already wounded society.

Judith February is a lawyer, governance specialist and Visiting Fellow at the Wits School of Governance. She is the author of 'Turning and turning: exploring the complexities of South Africas democracy'. Follow her on Twitter: @judith_february

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JUDITH FEBRUARY: The ANC in government is a walking contradiction - Eyewitness News

When the cardinals gathered in conclave and elected Cardinal Karol Wojtya as the successor of St Peter on October 16, 1978, the choice was somewhat surprising. He was the first non-Italian pope since Hadrian VI (elected in 1522) and, above all, he came from Eastern Europe, from beyond the Iron Curtain, from Krakow in Poland. Few would have imagined that the new pontiff was about to bring a renewal to the Social Doctrine of the Church (SDC).

A look at his earlier life, however, would have given a clear indication of this direction. He had personal experience of real life in both the capitalist and communist worlds; as a professor of Ethics at the University of Lublin, Wojtya had taken an academic interest in socio-economic matters, and at the Second Vatican Council he had contributed to the composition ofGaudium et Spes(GS). What is more, his clear opposition to communism was well known.

The end of the 1970s marked an era of turbulence in the Church and in wider society. In the Church, confidence in its social doctrine had reached its lowest point. The growing prestige of Marxism was combined with criticism of the social doctrine of the Church by various theological and political currents, which accused it of being abstract, moralistic and ideological. This accusation was formulated, for example, by Marie-Dominique Chenu inLa doctrine sociale de lglise comme idologie.[1]Everything seemed to conspire to attack it.

An interview given by Wojtya a few months before his election shows that he had clear and very developed ideas on central themes of the social doctrine of the Church.[2]The questions explored his opinion on the validity of the criticism of that doctrine: specifically, whether he considered it ideological and in what sense; whether he considered it an evangelical proclamation or a teaching of natural ethics; whether it was a kind of appropriate middle ground between Marxism and liberalism, or whether it opposed both of those ideologies; whether it was outdated; whether it was capable of generating practical outcomes; and what challenges it would face.

In his answers, Wojtya showed how convinced he was of the value and validity of the social doctrine of the Church as well as the need to develop it. He expressed an ardent desire for its renewal. Once elected, Pope Wojtya had the opportunity to implement this project . He did so successfully and his contribution to the Churchs social doctrine was completely decisive. Here we propose to synthesize the teachings of his three great social encyclicals, highlighting their contributions, their ongoing validity and the internal unity they possess.

Laborem Exercens on human work

What could John Paul IIs contribution be? It was clear that he was facing a great challenge, given the ecclesial context of the time and the socio-economic crisis of the 1970s. While the decade of the 1960s had been characterized by strong and constant growth, starting in 1973 the world faced its first oil crisis, in which the price of crude oil quadrupled. Not only was the production apparatus fundamentally challenged, but activities stagnated and unemployment and inflation followed.

There was talk of a structural blockade. In addition, modern technologies became part of the work process, producing transformations comparable to those that occurred with the Industrial Revolution. It is worth noting that in August 1980, in the Gdansk shipyards, Lech Waesa and other workers founded the first independent trade union in a Soviet bloc country.

The firm decision to face all these difficulties speaks volumes for the temperament and ability of the new pontiff. If it is always true that ones origin and education play an important role in determining the formation of social ideas, in Wojtyas case this component was undoubtedly decisive. He had personally experienced working under Nazi domination and had spent a good part of his life under a communist regime.

Laborem Exercens(LE), dated September 14, 1981, expresses the thought of a Polish intellectual marked by this dual experience. His style dense, concentric, emphatic was considered by many to be the natural expression of a Slavic mindset. Direct quotations inLaborem Exercenscome from the Bible (especially the book of Genesis and the letters of St. Paul), the Second Vatican Council (in particular,Gaudium et Spes), and Thomas Aquinas. The argument takes the form of a philosophical reflection with a personalist accent. It starts with the words of Genesis to subdue the earth (LE 5) and sees in human work a participation in that of the divine creator (cf. LE 26). Placing labor in a Christological perspective (incarnation and redemption), he invites us to meditate on human work in the light of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ (LE 27).

Wojtya did not intend to repeat what his predecessors had already affirmed, but rather to highlight how human work is the essential key to the whole social question, focusing on the good of the human person: a person open to God and to others, the lord of creation and servant of other human beings. One could rightly speak, with regard to Wojtya, of a humanism with a human face. Indeed, labor, one of the elements that distinguishes humans from all other creatures, in some way constitutes our very nature. As persons, humans are therefore the subject of work (LE 6), and it is as an activity of human beings that work receives its own dignity.

Hence follows the denunciation of everything that disturbs the authentic hierarchy of values, as happens, for example, in the case of materialist economic thought, when it considers work as a mere instrument of production, evaluating it from the perspective of the market. In reality, the opposite is true: work is a good of the human person, through which he or she not only transforms nature, but also discovers his or her own identity and builds family and civil society. John Paul II spoke of the Gospel of work, which begins in the first chapters of Genesis and finds its fulfillment in Christ.

The social question, which had affected above all the world of workers and which until then had been dealt with on a national level, took on an international and global dimension in the 1980s (cf. LE 2). For this reason, in the search for solutions especially to unemployment the encyclical appealed for international collaboration through the provision of treaties and agreements between countries, and to the action of international organizations (cf. LE 18).

If human work is a means of personalization and cooperation with other people, a primordial mission and a way of associating with the creative work of God and the redemptive work of Christ, then its absence is not only an economic problem, but also pertains to the human and theological spheres. To resolve it requires the combined action of states and what the pope calls the indirect employer, that is, all the components that influence the contractual and the employment relationship.

Sensitive to proposals to change one system of ownership (i.e., the participation of workers in the management and benefits of the company), John Paul II defended in no uncertain terms the legitimacy of the wage system. He did not doubt the fact that nowadays there is no better way to achieve justice in capital-labor relations. At this point of the encyclical, the pope sums up his whole vision of the worker. The decent wage serves as the central element for verifying the justice or injustice of any socio-economic system, since it translates into concrete terms the principle of the common use of goods.[3]

Two other new aspects were class struggle and sociopolitical systems. No one ignores the fact that class struggle is a fundamental concept in Marxist theory and practice, understood as a means of eliminating the unjust division of society into two classes: the dominant and the dominated. John Paul II devoted the second part of the encyclical to an analysis of the concept and reality of the class struggle. In summary, his thought can be divided into three passages (cf. LE 1-15):

1)The class struggle exists. Marx and Engels elevated it to an ideological category, transforming it into a political category because of the tools it employs and the ends it aspires to achieve.

2)However, it should not exist, because capital and labor are causes instrumental and efficient that collaborate to the same end; earthly goods become capital thanks to labor, and behind capital and labor there are individuals who must be put in the foreground. This is the principle of the priority of work over capital: an evident truth deduced from the entire historical experience of humanity.

3)Consequently, only a system that overcomes the capital-labor antinomy is just. The principle of the priority of labor over capital is a postulate that belongs to the order of social morality.

In addition to the depth of this argument, it is necessary to highlight its novelty, especially on the second point. It is clear that the pope understood the affirmation capital is the fruit of labor in a different sense from that which it had in Marxs thought and, before him, in that of the utopian socialists. While for them and for Marx the entrepreneur is seen as having abusively appropriated the surplus value due to labor and in this sense his capital is the fruit of unjustly remunerated labor,Laborem Exercensfocused on the process of production and clarified that earthly goods become capital, that is, goods of production, by means of multiple labor, which includes many jobs. This was an original consideration, which had the merit of arguing with Marx on his own ground the analysis of history and the process of production to reach a conclusion different from his.[4]

It should also be noted that on this point the popes language was innovative; he spoke of the reality of the class struggle without evading either the term or its implications: It must be frankly recognized that the reaction against the system of injustice and harm that cried to heaven for vengeance and that weighed heavily upon workers in that period of rapid industrialization was justified from thepoint of view of social morality (LE 8).

Finally, speaking of the trade unions at the time, Walesas Solidarno (Solidarity), which Wojtya strongly supported, had not yet been recognized the pope replied to those who, hypothetically, expressed wonder at his opposition to the class struggle and simultaneous defense of trade unions as indispensable elements of social life, affirming that the trade unions were, in promoting social justice, exponents of the struggle for justice, and not concerned with eliminating the adversary (cf. LE 20).

When the encyclicalLaborem Exercenswas published, its attitude toward capitalism and socialism was met with surprise. Was that initial reaction well-founded? In the encyclical there is no shortage of criticism of capitalism and Marxism, even in their mildest forms. It accused the former even when it allows for the participation of workers and trade unions in economic life of defending private property as an untouchable principle with respect to the common good. It criticized the latter on the grounds that the transfer of ownership of goods to the state is not authentic socialism if it does not ensure the involvement of society. It reproached both of them for having fallen into the materialistic and economic error of sustaining the unnatural opposition between capital and labor and of considering the latter as a commodity or as an aspect of production, obscuring its human character. Both have allowed glaring injustices to persist, or have given rise to new ones, because they do not fully respect the dignity of the human person.

With this encyclical, John Paul II placed himself in the vanguard of the promotion of workers rights. The theme of the social question remains topical. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antnio Guterres, said on June 24, 2020, that the time has come to coordinate global, regional and national action to create decent working conditions for all. He pointed out that in the world, before Covid-19, increased inequality prevailed, with systematic gender discrimination, lack of opportunities for young people and frozen wages. Now, the uncontrolled increase in unemployment, especially in the most vulnerable sectors of the worlds population, and the loss of profits resulting from the pandemic will further erode social cohesion, just as they have already destabilized countries socially, politically and economically.

These considerations show us the appropriateness, reason and relevance of Pope Wojtyas subsequent encyclical.

Sollicitudo Rei Socialis on the social order

On December 30, 1987, John Paul II signed his second social encyclical,Sollicitudo Rei Socialis(SRS), on the 20th anniversary of the publication ofPopulorum Progressio. The purpose was twofold: to commemorate it and to relaunch the social doctrine of the Church.

In that period the world was divided into four regions: North, South, East and West. In Poland, the Solidarity trade union had been defying the Soviet giant since 1980 and causing a series of cracks in the seemingly monolithic bloc of socialism as envisaged by the Soviet Union. The latter, before entering an irreversible process of decline reacted strongly and proclaimed martial law in the homeland of John Paul II. In November 1982 Leonid Brezhnev died, and in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. The economic, social and political crisis forced him to seek a dtente, which coexisted with the arms race. Those were the years of Ronald Reagans presidency, when there was talk of space shields and galactic war. It was a world in tension, desolate, in which there was an abyss between the developed parts and the Third World.

John Paul IIs praise ofPopulorum Progressiosuggested that he considered it a document full of relevance, perhaps the most eloquent document relating to the social doctrine of the Church. He recalled it (cf. SRS 5-10) and developed it. He presented a panorama of the contemporary world (cf. SRS 11-16) starting from a painful observation: today, hope for development is less alive than in 1967. In addition to justifying this statement by providing clear data, John Paul II addressed the problem of the causes, which were not only economic, but also political, social and human.

Underdevelopment is a complex phenomenon, as well as a regrettable one. Who is responsible for continuing underdevelopment, and is there anyone to whom the blame can be attributed? In any case, the encyclical goes so far as to make a courageous and prophetic denunciation. After pointing out the grave omissions of the developing nations themselves, as well as those of the First World, the encyclical firmly and rigorously affirms that it is necessary to denounce the existence of economic, financial and social mechanisms that act in an almost automatic way, perpetuating the wealth of some and the indigence of others (cf. SRS 16).

The two great obstacles to the integral development of peoples are the perverse mechanisms of an economic nature and the structures of sin created by these mechanisms. The sum of negative factors, which act in the opposite direction to a true awareness of the universal common good and the need to foster it, can create in individuals and institutions an obstacle that is difficult to overcome (cf. SRS 36). Of all of them, the most characteristic negative factors seem to be two: the obsession with profit, and the thirst for power, with the intention of imposing ones will on others at any cost (cf. SRS 37). It remains clear that the structures of sin foster moral disorder, prevent the exercise of virtue in social life, and are based on personal sinfulness.

After a description, in the wake ofPopulorum Progressio, of authentic development (cf. SRS 27-34), in which the conditions for it to be human are outlined, the encyclical presents a theological reading of modern times, starting from the concepts of conversion and solidarity (cf. SRS 35-40), in order to show the moral dimension of the problem. For John Paul II, it was regrettable that in socioeconomic analyses of the contemporary world the moral evaluation involving the category of sin or virtue is neglected.

The great affirmation of the Churchs social doctrine is that we are increasingly interdependent citizens of the Earth, and that this fact must make us increasingly supportive of one another. This conclusion can be reached starting simply from the consideration of ones own interests. This is why it is so necessary to push for the reforms needed to shape a more just world order, and to this end promote a culture of solidarity in the developed world; to accept in fact and not only in words that every person and every people deserve to be recognized and respected; to see the other as our equal, whose participation in the banquet of life we must facilitate. Acting in this way implies that we accept the consequences of our standard of living.

Here the question of international debt arises John Paul II believed that one cannot overlook the profound link between this problem and the question of the development of peoples. The instrument intended for this purpose has become a brake and, in certain cases, has accentuated underdevelopment (cf. SRS 19). Perhaps it is good to reconsider, from a moral perspective, the way in which we in the First World focus on our needs. Perhaps we need to return to considering the virtue of austerity as a means of giving the other the opportunity to have in turn, thus succeeding in uniting the giver and the receiver as fellow humans, brothers and sisters.

But, in addition to this, it should be remembered that solidarity is a Christian virtue closely related to the most characteristic aspect of the actions of those who consider Christ as their Lord: charity. It includes the solidarity of the specifically Christian dimension, total generosity, forgiveness and reconciliation. The theological foundation of solidarity, the common fatherhood of God and the fact that every person is a living image of him give believers a new criterion for understanding the world. In it primacy is given to a preferential option for the poor. They are the Lords poor, because he himself wanted to identify with them and take care of them (cf.Matt25:31-46;Psalm12;Luke1:52). The concluding part of the encyclical did not fail to cite the parables of the Good Samaritan and the rich man. When we close our eyes to the most obvious aspects of this worlds reality, we resemble the selfish rich man described in the Gospel.

The second objective was to give new life to the Churchs social doctrine: a task begun withLaborem Exercens, which had been followed by the two Instructions on Liberation Theology especially the second one that had expressed the same concepts. This ecclesial patrimony is now given a new dynamism. The pope moves decisively to call doctrine or doctrinal body the whole of the social teachings of the Magisterium of the Church, thus overcoming all reservations. He defines the social doctrine of the Church as an instrument of evangelization and of the Churchs contribution to the solution of development problems. Given its vital connection with the Gospel, it is part of the Churchs evangelizing mission.

The social doctrine of the Church is an integral part of its pastoral and teaching mission that Christ has entrusted to it. What is more, it is closely linked to the teaching of Christ. Indeed, the Church proclaims not only the teaching of Christ, but Christ himself. In this sense, her doctrine never loses its relevance. It has the objective of interpreting social realities, examining their adequacy or distance with respect to what the Gospel teaches, thus orienting Christian conduct. The pope based the validity and necessity of the Churchs social doctrine on the character of the Church as an expert in humanity, given that Christian anthropology, considering the totality of the person, illuminates human problems more than other partial visions that reduce the person to a negligible factor.

The document recalls that the social doctrine of the Church is an integral part of revelation, of the magisterium and of moral theology. Because of this evangelical and moral basis, it is not an ideology, nor is it a third way between capitalism and collectivism. These two predominant systems are reminded that the Church invites them to review their convictions and their actions, showing that she shows no preference for one or the other, as long as they respect human dignity and religious freedom. The knowledge and practice of this doctrine is recommended to all believers.

What Wojtya had hoped for in the above-mentioned interview was thus formulated in the most authoritative way.

Centesimus Annus

There has never been a more eagerly awaited encyclical thanCentesimus Annus(CA), published on May 1, 1991. There was a sense of duty to keep up the pace of commemorations ofRerum Novarum(1891), given the significant anniversary, the passage of a century. In addition, new events related to the resounding collapse of the Soviet empire seemed to require a public pronouncement from someone who had played no small part in that event.

Remember that Gorbachev, who was head of the USSR from 1985, had pursued a gradual transformation of the communist system, but this was not enough. The liberation and protest movements, which began in Poland, became widespread. The year 1989 saw the disintegration of the Soviet empire. The Berlin Wall fell and non-communist governments were formed in all of Moscows satellite states. On December 1, 1989, Gorbachev himself visited John Paul II in the Vatican. It was the Canossa of atheistic communism.

It was John Paul II himself, aware more than anyone else of these events, who presented the encyclical: an absolutely exceptional gesture. On May 1, the official date of the document, he provided the keys to interpreting the encyclical at a general audience: the Marxist system has fallen, and precisely for the reasonsRerum Novarumhad specified almost prophetically. An entire political system had collapsed, and yet the problems and situations of injustice and human suffering by which it was nourished had not been overcome.Centesimus Annuswas a commemoration aimed at the future, in the perspective of the Third Millennium. It did not limit itself to reviving memories, but, as the pope himself affirmed at the beginning and at the end of the encyclical, it proposed to look ahead, calling for a new international order in the economic and political fields.

What can we say about its content? The year 1989 is the theme of the third chapter. It could not have been otherwise. Wojtya had to express his version of the fall of Marxism in Europe. This was due to Marxisms violation of human rights, a fact that lay at the root of its economic failure. The movement that ended the Soviet system had begun in the Baltic shipyards, in the name of solidarity. There is a reference here to the Waesa trade union and a Christian attitude. Faced with the practical violation of all human rights, the response came from a peaceful struggle that was committed to respecting the human dignity of the adversary, never responding to violence with more violence. In this way the communist regime had been disarmed. John Paul II read into these events the recovery of freedom and the victory of the spirit of the Gospel.

This encyclical emphasized above all the anthropological and theological distance between Marxism and Christianity.Centesimus Annusanalyzed in incontrovertible terms the Marxist concepts of alienation and class struggle. The pope reacted to the motivations and results of unbridled capitalism with a frontal opposition, in line with all the teachings of previous popes. InCentesimus Annushe recognized that the free market, property and the benefit of entrepreneurs are positive realities (cf. CA 34) and that there are collective and qualitative needs that cannot be satisfied through market mechanisms and that must be provided for by the State (cf. CA 40).

To the key question, After the collapse of communism, is capitalism the only alternative left? Wojtya replied, If by capitalism is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality, and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative (CA 42). The critique focuses on attitudes that concern the economic sector, but which are not inextricably linked to it. They may also be of interest to many citizens, regardless of the system in which they live or in which they believe.

Centesimus Annuslooks towards a society based on free work, enterprise and participation, where the state is truly democratic. The central thesis is that a socio-economic model inspired by the social doctrine of the Church should be pursued.

Finally, the encyclicals perspective on the debt of developing countries deserves to be taken up again. Starting from the principle that debts must be paid, the encyclical considered that they cannot be settled by imposing unbearable sacrifices. In such cases it is necessary to find ways to lighten, defer or even cancel the debt, compatible with the fundamental right of peoples to subsistence and progress (CA 35).

Conclusion

Already in his first papal homily, John Paul II urged us not to be afraid of Christ and to open to him the doors, not only of hearts, but also of the borders of states, of economic systems as well as political ones, the vast fields of culture, civilization, development.[5]Wojtya understood that, in order not to conform to the logic of the world, to which Marxism belonged, and to avoid being an ideology, Christianity had to express what was proper to it.

Among the many merits of John Paul IIs pontificate is his strong commitment to the social doctrine of the Church, giving it a clear and definitive place in the Churchs evangelizing mission. On the social question he signed three encyclicals, three solemn interventions; none of his predecessors was as prolific. It is important to remember this fact, because those three encyclicals are complementary.Laborem Exercensis devoted to what we might call microeconomic issues.Sollicitudo Rei Socialisfocuses on the core of macroeconomics, on the development of peoples.Centesimus Annusanalyzes the world in which we would soon find ourselves. The three encyclicals we have examined, which constitute the nucleus of John Paul IIs vast contribution in this field, are very rich in content. Their prophetic dimension is more than evident.

We cannot conclude these reflections without expressing admiration and gratitude for St. John Paul II: for his profound doctrine on the social question, for his breadth of vision and for his courage in addressing fundamental issues with the theological depth of always recognizing the dignity of the human person created in the image of God.

Reproduced with permission from La Civilt Cattolica and Fernando de la Iglesia Viguiristi SJ.

DOI: La Civilt Cattolica, En. Ed. Vol. 5, no.9 art. 8, 0921: 10.32009/22072446.0921.8

[1]. Cf. M.-D. Chenu,La doctrine sociale de lglise comme idologie, Paris, Cerf, 1979.

[2]. Cf. V. Possenti,Oltre lilluminismo. Il messaggio sociale cristiano, Cinisello Balsamo (Mi), San Paolo, 1992, 239-262.

[3]. J. M. Bergoglio Pope Francis, Duc in altum, il pensiero sociale di Giovanni Paolo II, in Id.,Nei tuoi occhi la mia parola. Omelie e discorsi di Buenos Aires 1999-2013, Milan, Rizzoli, 2016, 232.

[4]. With poorly disguised euphoria, the dailyFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungpointed out that, afterLaborem Exercens, it was no longer possible to argue the necessity of the class struggle from an intellectual standpoint.

[5]. John Paul II,Mass for the beginning of the pontificate, October 22, 1978.

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John Paul II and the Social Doctrine of the Church - Catholic Outlook

By Cardinal Sean P. OMalley

Throughout the history of the United States, events have occurred that profoundly changed who we are as a country.

Breakthrough developments in medicine and science, and technology that allows for instantaneous communication, have provided us opportunities to improve our lives and be connected to one another in ways not previously possible.Sadly, war, socio-economic disparities, systemic racism and political divisions have made life more difficult for generations of Americans and deeply divided our society.

In the twenty years since the tragic day when America was attacked on September 11, 2001, we have witnessed great courage and bravery by our countless men and women who came to the aid and support of their brothers and sisters in the midst of crisis.First responders, many of whom ran towards danger never to return, exemplify the American spirit, and we honor them always.Flight crews facing unimaginable horror that day focused on caring for their passengers who turned to them for help in moments of fearful desperation. And the men and women of the military courageously stepped forward to defend our freedom. A shining tower of architectural beauty now calls us to the place where the World Trade Center towers once stood.The 9/11 Memorial honors the lives lost and helps us to heal from the trauma of that day while holding up Americas resolve to never forget. Memorials have also been erected at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania where, in those attacks, the extraordinary heroism of citizens and those who serve to protect us saved many lives.

In the years since September 11, 2001, we have also experienced two deep and long-term economic downturns, a global pandemic that has led to more than 600,000 Americans losing their lives. And we have seen far too many people fall into poverty through no fault of their own, continuing an inequity that has for too long unfairly burdened those whose goal is to realize the dream of a better life for their families.A lack of civility and a too-quick readiness to denigrate and assign blame to others, amplified through social media, is fracturing communities and making us less trusting of our neighbors.Our brothers and sisters within the interfaith community have experienced an unprecedented amount of hate; we stand in solidarity with men and women of all faiths to combat this evil.

Almost 3,000 people lost their lives on 9/11.Many have since died from the health impacts directly attributed to the collapse of the towers.Two wars have cost thousands of American lives and also the lives of our allies and citizens in Afghanistan and Iraq.Many men and women who answered the call to defend us suffered life-altering injuries. We are now called to support them as they return to our communities.

September 11th changed all of us and our society. We owe the families of those lost on 9/11 the honor of finding ways to overcome our differences and building communities of compassion and love that unites us. We should be motivated to take meaningful action by looking past our differences and embracing a culture of mutual respect and dialogue.The Church has a role in this and endeavors to be a beacon of hope for the distressed, friend to the forgotten and helping hand to the less fortunate.

Many of us remember where we were and what we were feeling on that tragic day twenty years ago.I was in Washington, D.C., for meetings at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Shortly after the attacks, we canceled our meeting and made our way to the nearby Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for Mass on the campus of Catholic University, where a crowd had already gathered to pray.With the help of the Universitys president, who made his car available, I was able to return to New England with my fellow bishops to be with the people of the Diocese of Fall River where I was bishop.

All across the world, there was a strong sense of community and solidarity.Our need to share the profound sorrow of that time that brought people together in a profound way.The events of September 11th demonstrated the fragility of human life and also our resilience and recognition of our common bond of humanity.

Remembering the events of September 11th twenty years later, we pray for the victims, the families and the survivors who may still be traumatized and whose health has been compromised by the effects of the attacks.

We pray for peace in our world.We pray for wisdom to overcome our differences.We pray for a future free of terrorism and hate. We pray for the healing that comes from communities of love for another, mutual respect and caring. And we commit to never forget those whose lives were lost that day.

Sean P. OMalley is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church serving as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston.

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Guest Op-Ed: Cardinal Sen P. O'Malley Statement on 20th Anniversary of Sept. 11 Attacks - Revere Journal

A top Russian security official recently slammed the Biden administrations handling of the US drawdown from Afghanistan. In an op-ed for Gazeta.Ru news, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that the system that the United States established in the war-torn country could not survive without their support and American military construction efforts turned to dust after their withdrawal from the troubled nation. Medvedev added that the US failed in trying to provide military support to the previously established Afghan regime.

The Pentagon created the Afghan National Security Forces from scratch, trained and armed them. However, the developments of recent months made it clear that they were unable to exist without US support," Medvedev was quoted by TASS news agency.

Further, Medvedev went on to attack the Biden administration and said that Afghan forces showed no wish to fight without their sponsors. He added that they meekly gave up Afghanistans provinces and even left the countrys capital without a fight. Medvedev said that all US military construction efforts in the troubled nation turned to dust literally in an instant.

The top Russian official stressed that the American military presence in Afghanistan has led to catastrophic consequences including numerous terror attacks and a drug threat for the entire world. Medvedev added that a huge number of terror attacks, the country's population that lost hope for a peaceful future, the drug threat on a global scale, the destruction of the country's socio-economic sphere and political system, hundreds of American soldiers killed and servicemen of other countries perished.

It is worth mentioning that US' role in Afghanistan has come under scanner after the Talibans violent takeover of Kabul. Last week, General Mark Milley, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had also said that the collapse of the Afghan army, in the face of Taliban offensive, happened at a much faster rate. He added that it was very unexpected by pretty much everybody.

Meanwhile, as tension in Central Asia continues to exacerbate, the Russian Federation has reinforced its military bases in Tajikistan with new machine guns. According to a report by The Frontier Post, a fresh batch of 12.7 mm heavy machine guns NSV Utyos recently entered service with the 201st Russian military base to enhance its combat capabilities. Located in the cities of Dushanbe and Bokhtar, Tajikistan holds Russia's largest international military base. Notably, the arms are specifically designed to destroy manpower, lightly armoured targets, fortified firing points and enemy air assets. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin previously touted talks with the Taliban, Moscow has expressed clear apprehensions against the Islamist ideology destabilising international borders.

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Russia puts onus on US, says their military efforts in Afghanistan 'turned to dust' - Republic World

Kiambaa residents queue to vote at Karuri Primary School. [George Njunge, Standard]

This week has witnessed heightened political jostling for the next tenant of the House on the Hill. As expected, the men who think they deserve the seat of power were holed up in cozy boardrooms, exclusive lodges and/or premier residential addresses to share out the nation. The hoi polloi do not matterafter all, they can always be herded like sheep for slaughter.

The clique of about seven men who have traversed our public lives like a colossus over the past four decades seem and/or believe they are invincible. To them, the presidency and the perks that come with it is their birthright. The irony of it all is that we have walked this road over and over again since the 2002 General Election. No lessons seem to have been learned nor does there appear to be any change of tact to bring a sense of creativity or innovation.

In his book,The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene explores an intriguing discourse on how to access, apply and retain power. While many of the laws offer insights to those who aspire to rise to the pinnacle of political power, I find some to be inconsistent with modern societal norms and democratic governance structures.

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For instance, in law number 15 he argues for a case of crushing your enemies totally. Otherwise, they can retreat and prepare for decisive revenge. While this is philosophically sound, the practical application of the law in a constitutional democracy would be daunting. In our Kenyan context, for example, how can an elected president or governor who ran on a joint ticket with a deputy crush them totally without destroying their own power base?

Access to information

In a broader sense, several of the laws imply an autocratic leadership style and socio-economic dis-empowerment of the masses to hold on to power. This sounds familiar in our local case where, by default, no elected political leader wants enough of his people empowered. They loathe their voters having access to the right information, attaining economic independence, questioning their performance record, and/or demonstrating tangible achievements for the benefit of those that put them in power.

The practical relevance of these laws in the 21st century knowledge and innovation-driven economies will require special leadership capabilities. The explosion of the power of social media and internet-driven gig economy has shifted politico-economic power balances within and across nations permanently.For economists, the impact of national leaders on economic growth and development, and hence the welfare of citizens, has been a hard nut to crack. The primary challenges have been on finding exogenous (random) factors and comparative data to evaluate the leaders individual contribution to economic growth without bias. Nonetheless, there have been few credible studies that provide reliable evidence that national leaders influence economic growth and development.

In 2005,Benjamin Jones and Benjamin Olken adduced one of the most credible evidence on the importance of national leaders in influencing economic growth of a country. This effect can either be positive or negative, especially in autocratic regimes where the leader has fewer constraints in exercising their individual leadership power. A positive economic growth arises from the leaders ability to affect policy outcomes, invest in the right public goods and services, chose pro-growth policies, and overcome national scale coordination problems.

Furthermore, a national leader bears the sole responsibility to either attract well-intentioned and capable planners to run the government or select the vainglorious and/or thieves. The leader also has power to influence institutions that are empirically proved to influence economic growth. On the contra, the individual leader can cause negative growth through the tendency to steal, condone corruption and lead the country into war.

Equally, they can also destroy institutions of governance like Parliament, Judiciary and constitutional bodies, and fill strategic offices in government with cronies rather than meritocracy based appointments. Other studies by Londregan and Poole in 1990 find coups are less likely when economic growth is good, while Fair Ray (1978) finds a president is less likely to be elected during a recession in the United States.

Investments in public goods

Weber Maxs (1947) theory of social and economic organisation argues that an individual national leader can stimulate growth be emphasizing on good investments in public goods. These include investments in education, health and infrastructure, or pursuing national policies that facilitate international trade and effective monetary policy. On the negative side, the capacity of the leader to make war or pursue systematic corruption suggests means of economic-wide influences.

In Africa, Frank Gyimah (2021) examines the impact of African leadership characteristics and regime transitions on economic growth. Using a sample of 44 sub-Saharan countries from 1970 -2010, he finds democratic leaders are able to attract direct foreign investments and hence cause positive economic growth. On transition elections, he finds business cycles that reduce growth. Overall, he concludes that there is a limit to which an aging leader can stay in office.

Given, leaders like Charles Taylor of Liberia, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe had huge negative impacts on the socio-economic welfare of their respective countries.

The fact that presidential candidates can unashamedly prioritize boardroom deals to share power among themselves without weighing the interests of the electorate speaks volumes. The rate at which they abandon their political vehicles to power also signifies a genuine lack of ideological persuasion to drive meaningful economic reforms. It is one thing to gain political power, it is a totally different ball game to use the power so attained to drive economic reforms that grow and redistribute wealth in an equitable, fair and just manner.

From the foregoing demonstrable evidence, there are three critical considerations that we the electorate must zealously guard in 2022. One, if the end justifies the means for the political elite, then it becomes our solemn duty and moral obligation to protect our individual and collective self-interest. If greed for power drives those that seek to lead us, then our socio-economic welfare must dictate how we exercise our freedoms and liberties at the ballot.

Economic self-preservation

Two, given the ability of individual leaders to influence policy outcomes, re-organize institutions, eradicate or abate corruption, lead us into war, and promote meritocracy or perpetuate mediocrity, then our economic self-preservation needs must be our primary consideration in choosing our national leader. In this way, their capacity to lead, temperament, ability to inspire, decisiveness and emotional intelligence should and ought to be the irreducible minimums.

Finally, time has come for us as the electorate to appreciate the fact that nature does not harbour vacuums. Our inability to harness and coordinate our individual and collective power of the ballot has been exploited by a few to monopolize power. In many ways we have been reduced to economic and political squatters in our own country. We have been made to believe there exists an invincible Deep State and we only exist at their mercy. A classic demonstration of this is the BBI drama (by the time of writing this article, I do not know of its fate).

The purpose of economic evidence and history is to learn lessons from the past, prepare for today and predict the future. Since the collapse of one-party dictatorship in 1991, we have had three regimes with diametrically different economic outcomes. Of the three regimes, the most consequential is the one in which we transcended tribal barriers and individual leadership greed to select the most qualified and competent of them all. Its just the stupid data. Thats it!

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Our welfare is inevitably wedded to our choice of national leaders - The Standard

Department of Defense generals have known since 2005 that the Afghan military and National Police were not mentally capable of defending their nation without the backbone of the United States, said a special operations general who was involved in advisement and training.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley received reports as early as 2012 outlining the military's flaws even though he expressed surprise after the Taliban took over in a matter of days.

There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days, Milley said during a press conference Wednesday.

OBAMA IS ARCHITECT OF AFGHANISTAN MESS, SAYS FORMER SPECIAL OPS GENERAL

However, Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc told the Washington Examiner that he wrote dozens of reports over repeated deployments beginning in 2005 outlining the fledgling Afghan militarys reluctance to fight.

Bolduc, currently running for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, oversaw the Armys special ops team in Afghanistan from 2005 through 2013. Starting as battalion commander, then a one-star general, he helped create a program that installed local police departments in hundreds of villages across the country.

The Afghan military was wracked by poor leadership, soldiers who left their deployments without permission, performance issues, and a lack of timely paychecks, among other problems, he wrote.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of NATO and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan, visits the 1-16th Infantry 2nd Battalion at Qalat Mangwal, Afghanistan, during a battlefield circulation, May 8. ISAF, in support of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, conducts operations in Afghanistan to reduce the capability and will of the insurgency, support the growth in capacity and capability of the Afghan National Security Forces, and facilitate improvements in governance and socio-economic development, in order to provide a secure environment for sustainable stability that is observable to the population. (Photo by U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Joshua Treadwell) (Released) U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Joshua Treadwell

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I submitted reports from 2005 to 2013 on how incapable the Afghan National Police and military were, Bolduc said. We knew their capacity to fight the Taliban without support was just not there. It was not there. They could not defeat them.

Bolduc said he was surprised to hear President Joe Biden say that the country could be defended by the military when Americans left.

We had been reporting on how bad the military was, how incapable it was, Bolduc said. [They had] poor morale, and they refused to fight in a firefight against other Muslims, regardless if they were Taliban or al Qaeda. Some of our casualties were because of this. They would stop fighting, and we would come out to get them to do their job and we would get shot.

Afghanistans national troops did not have the sense of pride and duty to their nation that is second nature to Americans, he said. However, it was a different scenario with local police, who had always defended their villages and families from intruders. As a result, they were excited about the new jobs with training, uniforms, and weapons provided by U.S. special operations.

Don Bolduc with a group of Afghan counter-terrorism fighters in 2002 Don Bolduc

BIDEN AND MILLEY MISLED ABOUT AFGHAN ARMY NUMBERS

The Local Police Program was a great success and ultimately drove back the Taliban, putting 90% of the country under government control by 2013, he said. It was disbanded by the Obama administration in 2014 in lieu of a noncombat training operation with the national military.

Bolduc vividly recalled the meeting in which he was told that the program would be disbanded. It was attended by Milley, who was one of his commanders, Barack Obamas chief of staff Denis McDonough, and NATO commander Joseph Dunford, who would later become Joint Chiefs chairman.

[McDonough] said, We are going to transition out of the villages and into noncombat ops. I respectfully said to my superiors, This is going to be a disaster in the rural areas, and we need to do a couple more years, Bolduc recalled. We even had the date circled on the calendar when we predicted this program would be finished.

At the expected completion, the Afghan government would be able to manage the program, and the villagers would have the confidence and skill to fight off the Taliban successfully, without assistance from Americans.

McDonough, Dunford, Milley, and others had perturbed looks on their faces after hearing the challenge to their new mandate. Bolduc described their reaction as not well received. I was told afterward that I should not have spoken up.

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Milley had been a fan of the program, Bolduc said. He did not speak to Bolduc again, and the brigadier general was transferred to a position commanding U.S. forces in Africa a few weeks later. Bolduc was then passed over for a two-star general promotion and retired with numerous honors in 2017.

There have been many significant accomplishments by our service members in training, equipping, and assisting the Afghan military, but the Afghans' ability to defend their country has always been in doubt, Bolduc said. Im glad I came out against their strategy because it needed to be said, even if it cost me my promotion.

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Tags: News, Afghanistan, Military, Defense, National Security, Mark Milley

Original Author: Tori Richards

Original Location: EXCLUSIVE: DOD knew as early as 2005 that Afghan military was weak, former general says

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EXCLUSIVE: DOD knew as early as 2005 that Afghan military was weak, former general says - Yahoo News

perspective

COVID-19 pandemic presents Nigeria with an opportunity to exit the malaises of fire brigade and lottery syndromes, and retool governance to achieve development, writes Hon. Toby Okechukwu

Beyond the high mortality and human suffering, pandemics greatly shaped human history. As aptly captured by Stanley Johny, pandemics have triggered the collapse of empires, weakened pre-eminent powers and institutions, created social upheaval and brought down wars. Walter Scheidel also lists pandemics, wars, revolutions, and state failures as the four horsemen, which have flattened inequality. I couldnt agree more.

In the 6th century, the Justinian Plague irreversibly weakened the Byzantine Empire. Between 1347 and 1353, the Black Death, which killed between 75 and 200 million people had enormous effect on the berthing of industrial revolution. The Spanish Flu (1918 to 1920) contributed substantially to Germanys loss of the World War I. It was also detected in Onitsha, Nigeria, on October 14, 1918 and the ensuing food scarcity was responsible for the introduction of cassava as a staple food (and a good substitute for yam).

COVID-19 was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on December 31, 2019 and characterised as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. In Nigeria, the index case was reported on February 27, 2020.

Even though the real impact of the pandemic and its attendant lockdown is still being articulated, it is evident that it has been far-reaching and devastating on Nigeria. The immediate shocks caused by COVID-19 have drastically reduced our oil revenues, pushing Nigeria to massive borrowing that has returned us to the debt trap exited in 2005.

The pandemic has also induced a free fall of the Naira. Inflow of foreign exchange was halted as foreign investors queued for dollars to exit their investments.

The pandemic also had a devastating impact on households and businesses. Governments were compelled to reorder their expenditures in favour of the social sector, while the already decaying socio-economic infrastructure in Nigeria remains underfunded.

But it is not all gloom and doom. The pandemic lockdown unlocked an unprecedented digital revolution as many of us, especially the privileged ones, relied on digital transformation in areas like remote work, telemedicine, e-learning and much more. This in turn created an armada of digital entrepreneurs from among our young people. It led to a renewed focus on research and development.

The nexus of governance and development

In the broadest sense, the challenge of development is to improve the quality of life higher incomes, better education, higher standards of health and nutrition, less poverty, cleaner environment, equal opportunities, a more secure society and greater individual freedom. Therefore, when crises such as a pandemic directly impact them, as was the case with COVID-19, we must know that development is in peril and governance must come to its rescue.

Therefore, if we want to deliver sustained growth, create more jobs and economic opportunities, expand social inclusion and social safety nets to Nigerians in times like this, then we must turn to good governance and strong institutions. Therein lies the nexus of governance and development.

Our repeated failure to activate governance to save development each time it is threatened by a crisis is the jinx we must break, and public administration is an effective tool we need to do it.

Strategies for breaking the jinx

During the darkest days of the World War II, Winston Churchill famously said: Never let a good crisis go to waste. While we debate the nature of good and bad crisis, I urge us to internalise the context of that statement, look for the silver lining in the cloud and retool governance to achieve development. I will now advise on various strategic approaches we can adopt.

Introduce smart legislations: The US economy was in tatters during the Great Depression that lasted from 1929 to 1933, but a raft of smart legislations under the New Deal agenda rebooted the economy and today.

At the outset of COVID-19, the UK Parliament was virtually enacting laws in real time to respond to the challenges brought about by the pandemic. In Nigeria, the House of Representatives also rose to the challenge, but their efforts, such as the Hon. Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamilas Infectious Disease Control were caught in the throes of political headwinds and conspiracy theories. That nobody has cared again to find out what sicknesses it sought to cure or proffered any alternatives exposes our proclivity for fire brigade arrangements. Also, despite a House resolution upon my motion calling for the mobilisation our local resources in the fight against coronavirus, Nigeria is yet to manufacture a dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

But we cannot sidestep smart legislations if we truly want to respond to the challenges of the moment, build institutional frameworks that restructure our nation, enable the growth of our economy, improve the business environment, achieve competitiveness, but above all, strengthen governance to deliver development.

Invest in the future: As I mentioned earlier, crisis can become a driver of societal change. As stated by Raghuram Rajan in his book, The Third Pillar, after the Black Death, technological progress took over. He notes that the 17th century philosopher, Francis Bacon, saw gunpowder, printing and the compass as the three greatest inventions known to man. Their arrival in the West played a part in the expansion of markets and heralded the rise of the nation-state.

During the Nigerian-Biafra Civil War, Biafran engineers and scientists developed several breakthrough inventions, innovations and technologies. Most of them could have provided the technological underpinnings of industrial development and advancement after the war. But we failed to invest in that future.

Today, we are at the cusp of another societal change as COVID-19 has provided an opportunity for us to innovate and go digital. We must invest in the future by scaling up investments in the expansion of digital infrastructure, promoting digital transformation and encourage investments in ICT and innovation. We must break the jinx of inaction and realise that access to digital technologies will create jobs, increase incomes, enhance learning, close the digital divide, and very importantly, improve governance to unlock development.

Strengthen institutions: In the wake of the Asia Financial Crisis in July 1997, a combination of economic, financial and corporate problems led to the collapse of the emerging market economies of East Asia that had earned the sobriquet of Asian Tigers. In response, they undertook fundamental reforms that strengthened their economic and financial institutions. Today, they are in a much stronger position as drivers of the global economy.

When we witnessed a sharp decline in crude oil prices in 2016, our economy slipped into a recession. The fallouts of the pandemic has again exposed our vulnerabilities to external shocks such as the fall in crude oil prices. Evidently, Nigeria is plagued by the Dutch Disease or what Prof. Charles Soludo calls the Lottery Syndrome whereby a nation spends recklessly in the spirit of the boom of today without planning for tomorrow. Although the oil prices are going up today, we are unable to reap its benefits due to our inability to meet our OPEC production quota. And since we are spending 98% of our entire revenue on debt servicing, we are left with little option but to keep borrowing.

This is the time to reform our petroleum industry and strengthen the institutions that will drive the diversification of our revenues to protect us from external shocks. A groundswell of institutional reforms also yearn for urgent attention in terms of inter-agency, inter-organs of government checks and balances as well as synergy in providing social services and delivering on development expectations of the citizens.

Reposition the educational system: No nation can grow beyond its knowledge power. The capacity deficit that was on display at the pandemic peak in Nigeria underscored the knowledge gap, which our economy and the social service sector, grapple with.

The current embarrassing rate of unemployment put at 33% of the population reflects the preponderance of educational curricular and administrative structure that may not be in sync with global best practices and our realities. We need to re-visit our educational system as a matter of urgent national and public importance.

Reform the Security Sector: All the foregoing strategies would make little impact without a comprehensive reform of the security sector. How can we make progress in a situation where school children are being abducted en masse, schools are shutting down, farmers cannot go to farm, livelihoods are destroyed, where businesses either pay huge sums of money to various criminal cartels or fold up, and where Nigerians cannot commute safely between towns?

Police duties are quintessentially street-based. It should logically pitch its base at the grassroots. So, the debate over the creation of state police is needless because it has been long overdue. Ours is perhaps the only federal system in which police functions are centralized and we are paying dearly for it.

Since the agents of insecurity emanate from society, a critical strategy of reforming security governance is to focus on non-kinetic measures. In this regard, the question of human security, which addresses the crucial, questions of freedom from vita social wants, is critical.

Leadership: Although the leadership question appears to be an overbeaten scapegoat of development failures in underdeveloped climes, we are at a loss what else to redirect our accusing fingers to. In her seminal book, Leadership: In Turbulent Times, Doris Goodwin identifies four different leadership types: transformational leadership, crisis leadership, turnaround leadership, and visionary leadership. We need all these types of leadership in Nigeria to break the jinx.

The founding leader of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, writes in his memoirs: We had been asked to leave Malaysia and go our own way with no signposts to our next destination. We faced tremendous odds with an improbable chance of survival. On that 9th day of August 1965, I started out with great trepidation on a journey along an unmarked road to an unknown destination. We see that destination today; a tiny island in Asia has leaped from Third World to First World.

However, we must realise that we need a transparent and functional electoral process, including electronic transmission of results from polling units, to produce good public leaders and reap the benefits of governance and development.

A corollary to leadership is visionary plan for social services and development.

The choice we must make

It is my earnest desire that we realise the rare opportunity before us and ensure that we do not relapse to our signature malaise. Instead, let us emulate Malaysia and Singapore, which utilised their own crises as springboards to launch forward. We must also seek to maximise the opportunities presented by the oil and energy crisis, infrastructural crisis, employment crisis, and farmers/herders clashes, among others.

The choice is ours to either find solutions or weaponise them against one another. But my stand is that we should see the present challenges as a takeoff moment.

Hon. Okechukwu, Deputy Minority Leader, House of Representatives, presented this at the 2021 international conference organised by the Department of Public Administration, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, recently.

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Governance and Development in the COVID-19 EraTHISDAYLIVE - THISDAY Newspapers

Haiti was hit Saturday morning by an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. Official reports currently place the number of fatalities at more than 700, but thousands remain unaccounted for, meaning the death toll will in all likelihood rise dramatically in coming days.

The long tremor was felt throughout the country, with its epicenter located near the city of Saint-Louis-du-Sud, 100 miles southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

In 2010, Port-au-Prince was devastated by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people, injured even more, and displaced 1.5 million. The poorest country in the western hemisphere, Haiti has yet to recover from that disaster.

Even though the densely populated capital was spared this time, the toll from the latest earthquake in terms of deaths, injuries and material damage will nonetheless be high. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) issued a red alert for the disaster and estimated that fatalities could reach into the thousands. High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread, the USGS said.

In the southwestern peninsula, the hardest hit region of the country, the earthquake damaged or flattened many buildings, including churches and hotels, trapped people under debris and caused flooding after underground pipes ruptured. The largest city in the region, Les Cayes, with a population of 150,000, saw the collapse of several buildings, including the largest supermarket, jeopardizing the supply of food and other necessities to residents.

Complicating search and rescue efforts, a mountain road connecting Les Cayes to the peninsulas second-largest city, Jeremie, has been cut off by boulders after major landslides and rockfalls that were triggered by the earthquake. The main public hospital in Jeremie, with a population of 130,000, rapidly filled to capacity with people with broken limbs, said Ricardo Chery, a local journalist. The roof of the cathedral fell down, said Job Joseph, a resident.

The official provisional death toll is already severe. According to a communiqu issued by the Haitian Civil Protection agency, 724 people are confirmed dead and more than 2,800 are injured. Its director, Jerry Chandler, said that the few existing hospitals in the region are struggling to provide emergency care. At least three hospitals, in the communes of Pestel, Corailles and Roseaux, are completely saturated with victims.

The communiqu reports that at least 949 houses, seven churches, two hotels and three schools were destroyed, while 723 houses, a prison, three medical centers and seven schools were damaged. Port, airport and telecommunications infrastructure, however, are said to have not been badly damaged.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was appointed after last months murder of Haitian President Jovenel Mose, has declared a month-long state of emergency. But there has been little government help on the ground.

Rescue operations, carried out by the local population with their bare hands or with makeshift means, could be complicated by tropical storm Grace, which is expected to hit the country Monday evening. Significant rainfall could create mudslides and further destabilize buildings.

While Haiti has been repeatedly hit by disasters of a natural origin, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, their catastrophic impact is bound up with the conditions of abject poverty, endemic corruption, unending political instability and profound socio-economic crisis that are the legacy of decades of imperialist oppression, above all at the hands of US imperialism.

Swaths of the Haitian population face grinding poverty and hunger, and the countrys meager health care services are overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Caribbean nation of 11 million has been in the throes of a political crisis since Mose was assassinated on July 7 in what appears to have been an operation ordered by a rival faction of Haitis corrupt, pro-imperialist ruling elite. Citing concerns for his safety and a lack of security, the judge placed in charge of further investigating the assassination plot and bringing charges against those arrested withdrew on Friday.

The emergency response to the earthquake has been made even more complicated because road access to the peninsula region struck by the quake has been cut off by violent armed gang warfare at the southern entrance to Haitis capital. With the support of competing sections of the Haitian elite vying for power, criminal gangs have proliferated as instruments for the violent suppression of the Haitian working class and oppressed masses.

In a thoroughly cynical statement issued Saturday, US President Joe Biden claimed that The United States remains a close and enduring friend to the people of Haiti and will be there in the aftermath of this tragedy.

What hypocrisy! Since its first invasion of Haiti in 1915, US imperialism has a record of ruthlessly suppressing popular opposition to the imperialist dominance of the island nation. For three decades during the 20th century, Washington backed the brutal Duvalier dictatorship. In 2004, American troops intervened at the head of an international military invasion to oust the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and initiate more than a decade of neocolonial-style occupation by forces organized under the auspices of the United Nations.

The point-person who Biden has named to supervise the latest US support effort, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, is one of the leading political-ideological proponents of human rights imperialism. She played a major role within the Obama administration in pressing for the US regime-change war in Libya, a brutal air war that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people and plunged the North African country into a bloody civil war that continues to rage a decade later.

The type of support the Haitian people can expect from the Washington is exemplified by its response to the last major earthquake in 2010.

Under conditions of a popular groundswell of international sympathy and support for the Haitian people, Washington and its allies made a show of providing assistance to Haiti. International donors pledged $10.4 billion for Haiti, including $3.9 billion from the US. But while feigning humanitarian concerns, the western powers, led by the US, Canada, and France, pursued entirely predatory objectives. These included: propping up a puppet regime capable of maintaining political stability, that is subjugating Haitis impoverished masses; providing political cover for the brutal treatment and expulsion of Haitian refugees; and promoting Haiti as a cheap labor producer for the international garment and other industries (the Caracol project).

The chief figure overseeing this relief effort was former US President Bill Clinton.

In the ensuing decade, the Haitian masses saw very little of this money. The lions share of it was sucked up by the major transnational corporations in charge of reconstruction projects and by the handsomely-paid bureaucracy of various international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). What little found its way into the country itself was gobbled up by various sections of the venal Haitian ruling class.

A high point in these sordid relations was the 2010-2011 presidential elections, which saw Hillary Clintons State Department intervene to install Michel Martelly as Haitis next president, a right-wing musician with close ties to the former Duvalier dictatorship. Before Clintons intervention, Martelly had placed third in the first round of the elections and would have been excluded from the second round, which was limited to the top two vote winners.

Martellys chosen successor was a little-known businessman, Jovenel Mose, who came to power in rigged elections, again with US support. Mose went on to head a corrupt, right-wing government that depended on political support from Washington and on armed criminal gangs at home to bloodily suppress growing popular opposition to its IMF-dictated austerity policies. This earned him the hatred of the population. Following Moises assassination last July, and amid a bitter power conflict within Haitis political elite, Henry was hand-picked by the United States, France, Canada, and the other members of the so-called Core Group of nations to take over.

Today, just as in 2010, Haiti remains the poorest and most socially unequal country in the Western Hemisphere. While the masses of Haiti remain mired in poverty, the former US president and his wife Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, have seen their own wealth soar, raking in an estimated $230 million in income since Bill Clinton left the White House.

After Saturdays latest devastating earthquake, aiding the people of Haiti and rebuilding the country on the basis of human needs rather than the interests of the native elite and the foreign banks and corporations can be achieved only through a struggle to overcome the bitter legacy of decades of imperialist oppression. This requires uniting the working class in Haiti, the US and throughout the hemisphere in a common fight for the socialist transformation of society.

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Thousands feared dead as devastating earthquake hits Haiti - WSWS