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Gambia Gov’t anticipates auditors’ report on Covid-19 funds
The Minister of Finance, Mambury Njie has disclosed that the government has assigned auditors to audit the Covid-19 funds and report back on their discoveries for further actions.
Health Minister Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh about two weeks ago astounded the nation with his straight forward surprising fact of a visible venture by corrupt officials to steal monies from the D500M put in place by government to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘Samateh told the National Assembly that over 300 ghost names were submitted as beneficiaries of allowances from the Covid-19 money.’
“The auditors have already started looking at how the Covid-19 funds were disbursed and spent. The government has no other choice but to wait for the auditors to finish and submit their reports…from there we will see what action we can take because we cannot act based on speculations. We have to follow due process and that will include allowing the auditors to do their job. All what people are saying now is based on allegations,” he told journalists at a press conference.
Also speaking at the press conference meant to clear doubt on government’s food aid distribution, the Vice President and chairperson of the cabinet Covid-19 tackling committee, Dr Isatou Touray said all the distributions were done fairly without closetting as it was told by the president.
“Due process was followed in the distribution of the food aid. Those who are blaming the government for segregating others do not understand the process used by the government. Yes, there were duplications but that should not be use as yardstick to criticise all the good work the government has done,” she said.
*VP Touray said the food aid distribution around the country will soon be fully accomplished. She urged Gambians not to be complacent as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country are on the rise.*
“I call on all and sundry to exercise social distancing and the security forces responsible for enforcing the emergency regulations to intensify their efforts in protecting our lives,” she said.
Source___Standard Newspaper
Kogi Joins List As COVID-19 Escalates To 35 States In Nigeria
Kogi State on Wednesday joined the list of states with recorded COVID-19 infections, as two fresh cases were confirmed in the state.
COVID-19 has therefore escalate to 35 states in Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
This was made known by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) daily statistics released on Wednesday night.
The two cases in Kogi were part of the recently confirmed 389 cases of coronavirus in the country.
According to the NCDC, the toll of confirmed infections in Nigeria now stands at 8,733 with 254 deaths confirmed.
Source___Channels TV
Brazil confirms another 1,000-added daily coronavirus deaths
Brazil has confirmed more than 1,000 new deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
The 1,086 casualties, revealed on Wednesday, brought the toll of deaths to 25,598. With 20,599 new cases, the number of infected people has reached a stand of 411,821.
Brazil is the second highly affected country after the United States, which has 1,698,581 cases and 100,276 deaths, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.
In spite of being one of the hardest-hit states, Sao Paulo, the biggest hotspot for cases in Brazil, will start to gradually reopened its economy on Monday.
Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria made known on Wednesday that the state will enter a new phase of quarantine as of June 1.
“We will maintain the quarantine until June 15, but with the resumption of some economic activities,” Doria said at a news conference.
Conflicting to what President Jair Bolsonaro has said, Sao Paulo authorities have emphasized that without the quarantines put in place, the toll of victims would be much higher.
Source___Aljazeera
China’s parliament Accede Hong Kong national security bill
China’s parliament has acceded a decision to move forward with national security legislation for Hong Kong that fault-find fear could undercut the city’s self-rule.
*The National People’s Congress on Thursday voted 2,878 to 1 in favour of the decision to empower its standing committee to draft the legislation, with six abstentions.*
The security law will amend the territory’s mini-constitution, or Basic Law, to vital its government to put in place measures to be agreed later by Chinese leaders. The plans have given rise to widespread disapproval and discolour China’s relations with the United States and Britain.
Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said the Chinese move “is taking place without any consultation, any debate with Hong Kong’s leaders or its government”.
“China is taking advantage of a legal loophole that completely bypasses Hong Kong’s legislative process.”
Source___Aljazeera
1,694 mental health patients went home in ‘error’
Not Less than 1,700 mental health patients have been mistakenly discharged from support services during the lockdown in north Wales.
*Last week it happen when Betsi Cadwaladr health board advised people to seek new referrals once the pandemic had eased.*
‘It had estimated that between 200 and 300 were affected, but the true figure is 1,694, according to a letter it has since sent to a Plaid Cymru politician.’
The health board has apologised and said it was finding the whereabouts of the patients.
Last week, Simon Dean, the health board’s interim chief executive, make known a Senedd committee discharging the patients was an “error that should not have occurred”.
He gives an estimation of between 200 and 300 people were affected but said his team was “working through the precise number”.
People across north Wales were affected, rather than just Flintshire-based patients as initially thought.
Mr ap Iorwerth said: “One patient being discharged before time is one patient too many.
“To now learn that 1,694 patients were discharged early, while they still needed support from mental health services, is deeply distressing.
“I welcome the assurance that all 1,694 patients will be contacted in the coming days to be reinstated to this vital service, but the question remains as to how such a decision could have happened right across the health board area, and how there could have been such widespread ‘misinterpretation’ of guidance.
“It should have been pretty clear that this would be unacceptable.
“I think it’s clear that immediate investment is needed in rebuilding mental health services.”
Mr Dean said the health board’s primary mental health care service was “receiving referrals as normal”.
Source___BBC News
Trump to ‘sign executive order about social media’
US President Donald Trump will sign an executive charge aim at social media companies, the White House has said.
This comes after he jeopardize to shut down social media platforms he indicted of suffocating conservative voices.
The new dispute comes about after Twitter added fact-check links to his tweets for the first time.
The order’s details have not been put forward and it is vague on what managerial steps the president can take without new laws put forward by Congress.
‘White House officials gave no further information on what is expected in the executive order which is set to be signed on Thursday.’
*Before leaving Washington for Florida to watch a space launch that was postponed due to bad weather, Mr Trump again accused Twitter and other social media of bias, without offering evidence.*
Mr Trump also continued his claims of social media platforms on Twitter, ending a tweet with: “Now they are going absolutely CRAZY. Stay Tuned!!!”
The long in passing conflict between Mr Trump and social media companies blazedup again on Tuesday when one of his posts was given a fact-check label by Twitter for the first time.
He had tweeted, without providing proofs: “There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.”
Twitter added a caution label to the post and linked to a page which make it clear that the claims as “unsubstantiated”.
On Wednesday Mr Trump peril to “strongly regulate” or even “close down” social media platforms.
He tweeted to his more than 80 million followers online that Republicans felt the platforms “totally silence conservatives” and that he would not allow this to happen. In an earlier tweet, he said that Twitter was “completely stifling free speech”.
Twitter’s chief executive Jack Dorsey retort to unknown claims of the platform’s fact-checking policies in a series of posts, saying: “We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally.”
Source____BBC News
Darboe Dare Barrow To Hold Election Under 1997 Constitution …if he fail to agree with the draft
The head of the United Democratic Party has dare President Adama Barrow and his cabinet to go on with the next election under the 1997 constitution if they are not ok with the starting date of the two-term curtailment provision in the draft constitution.
He said this will make “serious people who will form the government in 2021 to hold a referendum” on the draft that will be agreed open by an incumbent who will act in good faith to take it in good faith that his term commences from the date of his election.
Ousainu Darboe made these known while answering questions from the media as he gives his Koriteh message over the weekend.
‘Darboe, who was onetime described by President Adama Barrow as his political god-father, said 10 years is adequate time for any sincere well-intentioned and dedicated leader to pursue an agenda for the Gambian people and leave it to his successors to build on.’
“You cannot choose to be president of the third republic under this constitution and refuse to accept the consequences of being the president of the third republic under this constitution; you cannot approbate and reprobate”.
He said the facilitation on the limit of a presidential term will help boost our new found democracy on a strong starting point and help leadership and ideas related with them are subject to change and restoration.
“Conversely, bad leaders who fail in their responsibilities entrusted to them will have a definite exit frame sparing the nation the spectre of being saddled with failed leaders who are adept at clinching onto power,” he concluded.
Source___Standard Newspaper
TRRC will restart public hearings next month
The Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, TRRC, will start again their public hearings on June 8, a statement from the commission disclosed this.
TRRC said seating arrangements will be taken cared of to observe social distancing.
“It is also anticipated that only a few family members or close relatives of witnesses will be allowed in the hall, in addition to essential TRRC support staff including interpreters, sound engineers, psychosocial and medical support workers, security officers and media personnel,” the commission said.
Source___Standard Newspaper
50% Banjul households yet to receive Gov’t food aid as promised
Eid-ul-Fitr has been commented in Banjul without the government food aid reaching many inhabitants of the city, The Standard has been reliably told.
‘Already, the government’s food aid distribution has started in the various wards of the city but The Standard was on Monday informed that only half of the nearly 5000 projected households in the capital have benefited from the state’s emergency support.’
In Standard’s interview with Banjul City Council Spokesperson Momodou Lamin Bah make known that government had given the council 2822 food coupons, 50 of which were double prints. He said the town-hall had, as a to be measure, sought for 5000 coupons.
“As a result, only 50 % of the households in Banjul will benefit because the total number of households [in Banjul] from our data is 4900 but this can go up to 5000,” he added.
When made know to him that the food aid from government has generated a lot of complaints from residents in Banjul , the BCC spokesman explained:“People are complaining and they could not understand why others were given and others left out. This is the reason we launched the Banjul Relief Initiative to fill in the gap to complement the efforts of the government.”
He said the country now needs relevant strives on the humanitarian chaos at hand rather than thoughts that could obstruct the collective efforts to tackle its consequences on the people.
Source___Standard Newspaper
Police Crowd Hong Kong As Lawmakers Compose Their Debate Insult Ban
‘Hong Kong police ramped up security around the city’s legislature on Wednesday ahead of a debate over a law that would ban insulting China’s national anthem, the latest measure activists say is chipping away at free speech in the finance hub.’
The debate comes days after China make known their separate plans to put forward a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong following last year’s huge and often violent pro-democracy meetings.
That move has caused Washington to alert that Hong Kong might lose its standing as a global financial focal point if the city’s freedoms and acclaimed judicial independence are swept aside by Beijing.
Under a protocol acceded with Britain before the city’s return to China, Hong Kong is assumed to be guaranteed certain freedoms until 2047 that are rejected of those on the mainland.
*A police source told AFP that “thousands” of officers had been placed on standby ready to respond to any attempts to block traffic outside the legislature or breach the building.*
Hong Kong’s government is pushing a bill that will prohibit insulting communist China’s “March of the Volunteers” anthem, making it punishable by up to three years in jail which will be strictly embedded in their constitution.
‘Some unions and student groups made calls for a general strike for Wednesday but it was unclear whether crowds would materialise.’
Source___Channels TV
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