Friday, January 25, 2013

INDIAN MPs FACE CRIMINAL CHARGES!!!!

Posted here on  15th January, 2013 
From   http://bbc.in/VmjVtD
by SOUTIK BISWAS, BBC Delhi Correspondent

Do India's political parties condone corruption?

A panel reviewing India's laws on sex crimes after the fatal gang rape of a  student  on 16   December, 2012 has highlighted the problem of criminalisation of politics and asked  lawmakers facing severe charges to voluntarily quit as a mark of respect to  the parliament and the constitution. 

 Last year, India's most respected election watchdog Association for  Democratic Reforms informed us that nearly a third of MPs - 158 of 543 - in  the parliament faced criminal charges. 

 New research has now thrown up more bad news.  After examining affidavits filed by candidates to the Election Commission at  the time of contesting elections, the watchdog found that a third of all  lawmakers at the centre and all states - or 1,448 of 4,835 - faced criminal  charges. 

 A total of 641 declared serious criminal cases like rape, murder, attempt to  murder, kidnapping, robbery and extortion, among other things. The watchdog also found that 98 candidates facing corruption cases were given tickets by various political parties during general and state > elections in the last five years. Thirty-six of them have won the polls.  They include seven MPs and 29 state legislators.  

All parties appear to be responsible for this disturbing state of affairs.  The Congress party, which has promised people stronger anti-corruption laws,  actually gave tickets to 24 candidates facing corruption charges in general  and state assembly polls in the last five years. 

 The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave tickets to five such  candidates. Six key regional parties gave away tickets to 35 such  candidates. 

 During the last general elections alone, 15 candidates with corruption cases  against them were given tickets by political parties - the Congress party  awarded four such candidates.  There's more.  A total of 80 candidates facing corruption charges have been given tickets  by political parties in elections to state assemblies in the last five  years. Twenty-nine of them have won the elections and are currently serving  as lawmakers.  The majority (eight) belong to the Congress party, and most of the winners  (seven) are from the southern state of Tamil Nadu

 All this makes for very depressing news. It also makes many wonder whether  India's political parties can ever be serious about fighting corruption when  they condone it so openly.  When will they stop giving tickets to candidates facing criminal and  corruption charges? What about "fast-tracking" the cases against MPs and  legislators facing these charges? The political class is totally silent on  these matters.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

TAMKO LA WILLIAM BENJAMIN MKAPA [RAIS MSTAAFU WA TANZANIA] KUHUSU RASILIMALI TANZANIA

IMETUNDIKWA HAPA LEO HII  24/1/2013.

 TAMKO HILI LILIKUJA BAADA YA WANA-MTWARA KUANDAMANA KUDAI HAKI YA KUTUMIA WAO GESI YA  MTWARA KABLA YA KUNUFAISHA MIKOA MINGINE  TANZANIA.

TAMKO LA NDUGU BENJAMIN WILLIAM MKAPA


 Katika wiki za hapa karibuni kumekuwa na mijadala na mazungumzo mengi
  kuhusu mikakati ya maendeleo ya mikoa ya Kusini hususan Mkoa wa Mtwara.

  Mazungumzo hayo yamekuwa na lugha kali na yameambatana, hatimaye, na
  maandamano na mikutano ya hadhara.  Kiini chake ni matumizi ya gesi
  iliyogunduliwa mkoani kwa ajili ya miradi au mipango ya maendeleo ya mkoa
  huo, mipango iliyopo mbioni kutekelezwa au inayotarajia kutekelezwa.

  Mwenendo wa mazungumzo, maandamano na mikutano ya hadhara imeelekea
  kuashiria shari na kuvunjika kwa amani.

Aidha vituko na kauli hizo zimekaribia kujenga kutokuelewana kati ya
  Viongozi wa Vyama vya Siasa na Serikali, kati ya wanachama wa vyama vya
  siasa na viongozi wao, kati ya wananchi na viongozi wa Serikali.  Mtafaruku
  huu haufai kuachwa uendeleee na kutishia usalama.  Mipango ya maendeleo
  siyo Siri.  Mikakati na mbinu za Utekelezaji wake siyo Siri.  Maelezo yake
  mazuri yanaweza kutolewa yakadhihirisha namna na kasi ambayo raslimali
  zitawanufaisha wananchi wa eneo zilizomo na Taifa zima.  Utekelezaji wa
  miradi unategemea masharti kadhaa, k.m. Uwapo wa mitaji na teknolojia.
  Lakini pia mwekezaji, awe Serikali au Sekta binafsi, atataka iwepo hali ya
  utulivu na usalama wa watu, hali na mali.  Hayo yatadaiwa na wawekezaji wa
  ndani na wa nje.  Vurugu, fujo, vitisho havivutii uwekezaji.

  Nikiwa Mwana Mtwara na raia mwema mpenda nchi, nimefadhaishwa sana na
  matukio haya ya siku za karibuni Mtwara.  Kwa sababu hiyo natoa wito kwa
  wadau wote wa maendeleo ya Mtwara kusitisha harakati hizi na maandamano na
 mihadhara na badala yake wajipange *KUKAA PAMOJA* katika meza moja, kupitia
 historia, kutathmini mipango, kuchambua kwa kina mikakati ya utekelezaji
  wake, na hatimaye kufikia muafaka wa Ujia wa maendeleo. Fujo, vitisho,
  kupimana nguvu na malumbano kamwe si masharti ya maendeleo.  Mazungumzo
  yataboresha sera, ya uwekezaji ya mkoa na nchi.

  Linalowezekana leo lisingoje kesho.

  Benjamin William Mkapa
 *Rais Mstaafu wa Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania*

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

 Posted here on 21st January, 2013.

"THE INDEPENDENT"

Out for the count: Why levels of sperm in men are falling

Levels of 'viable' sperm in human males are falling – and scientists believe they now understand the cause. Infertility can begin in the womb, says Steve Connor


If scientists from Mars were to study the human male's reproductive system they would probably conclude that he is destined for rapid extinction. Compared to other mammals, humans produce relatively low numbers of viable sperm – sperm capable of making that long competitive swim to penetrate an unfertilised egg.
As many as one in five healthy young men between the ages of 18 and 25 produce abnormal sperm counts. Even the sperm they do produce is often of poor quality. In fact only between 5 and 15 per cent of their sperm is, on average, good enough to be classed as "normal" under strict World Health Organisation rules – and these are young, healthy men. By contrast, more than 90 per cent of the sperm of a domestic bull or ram, or even laboratory rat, are normal.
Human males also suffer a disproportionately high incidence of reproductive problems, from congenital defects and undescended testes to cancer and impotency. As these also affect fertility, it's a minor miracle men are able to sire any children at all. In fact, an increasing number of men are finding themselves childless. Among the one in seven couples now classed as infertile, the "male factor" has been found to be the most commonly identified cause.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the WHO conference where a Danish scientist first alerted the world to the fact that Western men are suffering an infertility crisis. Professor Niels Skakkebaek of the University of Copenhagen presented data indicating sperm counts had fallen by about a half over the past 50 years. Sperm counts in the 1940s were typically well above 100m sperm cells per millilitre, but Professor Skakkebaek found they have dropped to an average of about 60m per ml. Other studies found that between 15 and 20 per cent of young men now find themselves with sperm counts of less than 20m per ml, which is technically defined as abnormal. In contrast, a dairy bull has a viable sperm count in the billions.
Experts in human reproductive biology were astonished by the Danish study. The declining trend seemed to indicate that men were on a path to becoming completely infertile within a few generations (although recent studies suggest the fall in sperm counts may have bottomed out). Professor Skakkebaek could offer no explanation for the trend other than to suggest that the fall may have something to do with the equally alarming rise in other reproductive disorders, such as cancer of the testes and cryptorchidism, the incomplete descent of the testes into the scrotum.
Experts began to talk of a new phenomenon affecting the human male, a collection of disorders known as testicular dysgenesis syndrome. They wanted to know what was causing it, because the changes were occurring too quickly to be a result of genetics. It must have something to with changing lifestyles or the environment of men, and almost everything was suggested, from exposure to chemical pollutants to the modern fashion for tight underpants. There is now an emerging consensus among some experts that whatever it is that is exacerbating the problems of male infertility, it probably starts in the womb. It is not the lifestyle of men that is problem, but that of their mothers.
The process of sperm production, called spermatogenesis, starts in adolescence, but the groundwork is laid down in the few months before and immediately after birth. An increasing number of studies point to a crucial "window" of testicular development that begins in the growing foetus and ends in the first six months of life. Interfere with this critical developmental period, and a baby boy will suffer the lifetime consequences of being a suboptimally fertile man.
So are we anywhere nearer to finding an explanation for why are so many more men today are suffering from reproductive problems?
"It's most likely a reflection of the fact that many environmental and lifestyle changes over the past 50 years are inherently detrimental to sperm production," says Professor Richard Sharpe, fertility research expert at the Medical Research Council. "It may be that different factors come together to have a combined effect." A number of studies point to a connection between early development in the womb and male reproductive problems in later life, especially low sperm counts. For example, men whose pregnant mothers were exposed to high levels of toxic dioxins as a result of the 1976 industrial accident in Seveso, Italy have been found to have lower-than-average sperm counts. But men exposed to dioxins in adulthood showed no such effect. Another study found women who ate large amounts of beef during pregnancy, a diet rich in potentially damaging chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), had sons with relatively low sperm counts. But eating beef as an adult man shows no similar impact.
Meanwhile, studies of migrants between Sweden and Finland, showed that a man's lifetime risk of testicular cancer tends to follow the country he was born in rather than the country where he was brought up. It was his mother's environment when she was pregnant with him, rather than his own as a boy or as an adolescent, that seems to have largely determined a man's risk of testicular cancer.
One of the strongest pieces of evidence in support of this idea comes from studies of people who smoke. A man who smokes typically reduces his sperm count by a modest 15 per cent or so, which is probably reversible if he quits. However, a man whose mother smoked during pregnancy has a fairly dramatic decrease in sperm counts of up to 40 per cent – which also tends to be irreversible.
Professor Sharpe said such findings can be explained by understanding how the first cells of the testes form. Sertoli cells, which in the adult act as guardians for the development of sperm cells, are the very first cells to form from a "genital ridge" of the human male foetus. The number of sperm that can be produced in an adult man is critically dependent on the number of Sertoli cells that develop in his foetus, so anything that interferes with the formation of Sertoli cells in a mother's womb will affect sperm production many years later. "Maternal-lifestyle factors in pregnancy can have quite substantial effects on sperm counts in sons in adulthood, and the most logical mechanism by which this could occur is via reducing the number of Sertoli cells," Professor Sharpe says.
But the key question now is to identify the relevant lifestyle and environmental factors.
This is proving tricky. Obesity, for instance, is a growing problem and it has been linked with reproductive problems in both men and women. One study has also indicated that overweight pregnant women tend to produce sons with poor semen quality. But is it being fat that is the cause, or the environmental chemicals stored in fat?
There has been a lot of interest in chemicals in the environment, especially those that can either mimic female sex hormones – oestrogenic chemicals – or block male sex hormones, specifically testosterone which plays a critical role in stimulating the development of Sertoli cells in the womb. So far, the Seveso study provides the clearest link between human foetal development, low sperm counts and prenatal exposure to an environmental chemical. But the dioxin concentrations from this industrial accident were exceptionally high.
It is more difficult trying to establish a similar, significant link between male reproductive problems and exposure to low concentrations of the many other environmental chemicals that may have weak oestrogenic or androgen-blocking properties, including substances as wide-ranging as pesticides, traffic fumes, plastics and even soya beans. Professor Sharpe says that much of the evidence to date is weak or non-existent.
"Public concern about the adverse effects of environmental chemicals on spermatogenesis in adult men are, in general, not supported by the available data for humans. Where adverse effects of environmental chemicals have been shown, they are usually in an occupational setting rather than applying to the general population," he says.
So although scientists are closing in on the critical window of foetal development in the womb that determines a man's fertility status in later life, they are still not sure about what it is that could be affecting this change in his reproductive status. But one thing is clear, it is his mother who almost certainly holds the key.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

USULTANI HAUNA UHALALI WA KUITAWALA ZANZIBAR

 IMETUNDIKWA  HAPA  TAREHE  8/1/2013  - 

MAADHIMISHO YA MAPINDUZI ZANZIBAR IN 12/1/2013.
USULTANI HAUNA UHALALI WA KUITAWALA  ZANZIBAR - NA  Balozi   Ali Karume. 


Naamini wewe unayo degree ya uzamivu katika lugha ya kiswahili. Tumebishana juu ya uhalali wa usultani wa el busaidi kutoka Oman kuitawala zanzibar. A lawyer told me that khalifa bin Haroub was not a citizen of Zanzibar given the fact that he was not born here. He was not even a naturalized citizen. In fact, he was an undocumented illegal alien. Having succeeded in removing Ali bin Hamoud out of power, he was installed as Sultan and skived the issue of citizenship. In essence, he illegally and illegitimately ascended to the throne by substituting sovereignty for citizenship. It followed therefore that the citizens or inhabitants of Zanzibar became his subjects. His offsprings, though born in Zanzibar, lacked civil status and relied on their royal bloodline to obviate their alien status. That all worked out well when the sultanate was maintained. On January 12, 1964, the sultanate was abolished and that rendered, at least in legal terms, Khalifa's (an undocumented alien) offsprings stateless for lack of citizenship status. Read that and weep.
Dunia ya leo ni lazima tufuate katiba, sheria na nia ya kuwa na utawala bora. Usultani wa Oman haukuwa na uhalali wowote kutawala Zanzibar. Professor mzima hata hilo linakushinda kufahamu?

Bado unayo matatizo juu ya uhalali wa Karume kuitawala Zanzibar. Kwa ufupi, alikuwa mpinduzi, na mpinduzi akikupindua, atakutawala tu; lakuomba, akutawale vizuri. Lakini mapinduzi ya Karume yana historia ya kutaka kutwaa madaraka kwa njia ya kura kupitia chama chake ASP. Alishinda chaguzi zote 1957, 1961 mara mbili na July 1963 kwa kura nyingi. Usingekuwepo utawala haramu wa sultani, wazanzibari wangemchagua kwa kura nyingi awe rais wao. Wazanzibari kwa wingi wao na kwa kura zao, walitaka kutawaliwa na Karume na sio na sultani; hilo halina ubishi, halina mjadala wala halina mbadala. Lilobakia kwako ni kulia tu na historia. Sina haja ya kwenda kwa mtu yoyote kunifundisha kiswahili nakijua vizuri kuweza kumfahamisha professor kitu na anapokuwa incorrigibly obstinate nnayo haki ya kumuuliza; "Professor mzima hata hilo linakushinda kufahamu?". Nimesomeshwa na maprofessor zaidi ya 64, na sijawahi kumuona professor mbishi; alofanya ubishi kama ndio dini yake. Wengi wape, usipowapa watachukua wenyewe. Usiku mwema.

Balozi
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