Tuesday, 11 December 2012
GHANA: WHERE (ONLY) JOHNS ARE PRESIDENT
From Jerry John Rawlings to John Dramani Mahama
This is true today as it was in December 2010 when I wrote this article (below) for my news magazine PEOPLE IN POWER. It remains sadly so true for N
ana Akkuffo-Addo (a non-John) who has just lost another presidential race to another John [Mahama].
PEOPLE IN POWER, PAGE 20, DECEMBER 2010: In Ghana since 1981, the president has always been called John. So is it a curse to have a first name other than John if one dreams of becoming president there? Perhaps. And who would know better than Nana Akuffo-Addo? He had all but won the 2008 election, before he lost it in an unprecedented “third round” to a John.
The John series entered an “experimental phase” in 1979 when young Flight Lieutenant (Flt. Lt.) Jerry John Rawlings first seized power. Not intending to hang on, he returned power to a civilian, Hilla Limann (a non-John), who continued in the old ways Rawlings had intended to change in the first place.
Rawlings (1st John) returned in 1981 and stayed on as military ruler (1981-1993) and later as civilian (1993-2001). Two constitutional 4-year terms and it was time to go. His wish would have been to have his vice president John Atta Mills replace him, but his John was beaten by another, John Kufuor (2nd John). Kufuor’s own two terms done in 2009, he stepped aside and the next race produced another John, Rawlings’ comeback kid, Atta Mills (3rd John). He beat Akuffo-Addo (a non-John).
Now [December 2010 when this piece was written], Atta Mills’ vice president is called John Mahama. He just may be the next president (4th John?). Except, perhaps, if the opposition’s John Alan Kyeremanten who was Akuffo’s runner-up in the last primaries [2008, Ed], bounces back. More Johns in line.
And the Johns seem to be a blessing to Ghana. Rawlings used his charisma, albeit in a brutish way, to repair the ruins of the 1973 economic crisis and the wasted years under Generals Ankrah, Afrifa, Acheampong, Akuffo, etc. Kufuor, the gentleman, used good governance to consolidate the Rawlings gains and as Atta Mills, the praying president, settles on the job, Ghana was in November [2010, Ed] rated to have leapt from a low-income country to the middle-income bracket with growth rate above 6.5% in the coming years.
Reputed for gold deposits in the past (remember Gold Coast) and still rich in cocoa, Ghana has now found petrol. Ghanaians, once the laughing stock of Africa with soundly educated youths trekking country to country for menial jobs, are now looking to years of prosperity.
It is legitimate for any politician here [Cameroon] called John [Fru Ndi] to continue nursing his longstanding dreams for the presidency. But he may be advised to go try his luck in Ghana where electoral commissions declare Johns winners, even if sometimes the losers are fellow Johns.
PS: John Atta Mills died in July and his constitutional successor, his vice president John Mahama stepped in to complete his first term of office. Now, after the December 7, 2012 election, John Mahama has been declared winner in his own right, again over Nana Akuffo-Addo. Akuffo-Addo thus loses a presidential race for the second successive time to a John, after John Atta Mills in 2008.
Saturday, 10 December 2011
S.N. Tita: 1929-2001 (I) The Bookman
By Franklin Sone Bayen
Playwright, Bole Butake said at a 1994 “Conference on Anglophone Cameroon Literature” in the University of Buea that indigenous writing and publishing was rare in decades past because books in their printed form looked so perfect – they so looked like the Bible – and thus could only have been made by God, if not Whites only.
Neither God nor White, S.N. Tita (1929-2011) who died December 1 in Limbe aged 82, may have been immune to that complex. At the time he wrote and printed books in his own printing press from the late 1950s, the art and technology were still a marvel and looked alien to even some of the most enlightened of his time. He was author, publisher and printer of the legendary series History, Geography, Rural Science for Cameroon from his Nooremac Press. He was a bookman par excellence in all senses.
What study manuals would we have used in primary school had Tita not written and printed? In my schoolbag the only other indigenous author was E.K. Martins, rather co-author – with a foreigner – of “New Nation”, the famous Arithmetic textbook. Incidentally our neighbour during my childhood in Clerks Quarters, Limbe, Martins was a Krio, member of a community of freed (Black American) slaves from West Africa who sailed to Victoria (Limbe) with Baptist Missionary, Alfred Saker. He was therefore not so indigenous.
Even when there was another early indigenous author, Tita had evidently pulled his hand along. S.E. Abangma’s “Civics for Cameroon” was printed by Tita’s Nooremac Press. Martin Amin’s Mathematics textbook for senior primary only came later towards the 1980s and the first indigenous English reader with a Cameroonian co-author, “Cameroon Primary English” by David Weir and Augustin Ndangam, was introduced when we did senior primary in the early 80s. And that launched the post-Tita age of indigenous publishing. A decade later, local publishing began to open to the floodgate we know today.
Before them, primary school textbooks, the “Evans English Reader” series by J.C. Gagg with Work Books, Lacombe’s senior primary Mathematics, “First Aid in English” and its cousin “Student’s Companion”, were in the category of “perfect” books that intimidated local author’s, according to Butake; not S.N. Tita. So thanks to Tita, we read Whiteman books and read Blackman books and for us, they were all just books without distinction.
How natural therefore, that when publishing became an academic discipline in the University of Buea’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in the mid 1990s, my Publishing professor was Julius Che Tita, son of S.N. Tita.
Born and bred in his father’s factory, Nooremac Press and exposed and initiated into his father’s rudimentary, instinctive printing, Che had returned from the UK, polished with some of the most modern literature and techniques in the art, scientifically measured and computer assisted.
If his father’s printing was self-made like Michael Henchard in Charles Dickens’ “Mayor of Casterbridge”, Che Tita gave the touch of Farfrae when outside amphitheatres, he published books and other documents as a business.
S.N. Tita was some man. Elsewhere people of his ilk are heroes. In my country, while those who gain fame hurting the nation are hailed because of the flamboyance ill-gotten wealth enables them to show off, true heroes who give so much from so little, fade away like the star of the morning, without a heroes’ song sung in their honour. But God knows they can always be remembered at least by us the lowliest for what they have done. S.N. Tita will be remembered.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Cameroon: World Cup, yes. But Nations Cup first
By Franklin Sone Bayen
Our qualification and greater ambitions for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa should not in anyway blunt our lethal power at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Angola. This country has often been hard put to manage both tournaments in the same year. It is as though World Cup euphoria downplays Nations Cup importance.
Excepting 2002 when we won the Nations Cup even as we were in for the World Cup, the story has been bleak from 1982, through 1990, 1998. In 1994 when we took part in the USA World Cup, we did not even qualify for the Nations Cup. Conversely, we were out of World Cup 2006 but failed to reach the top in the Nations Cup. We stumbled before the Ivory Coast at the quarter-finals after penalty shootout.
In 1982, we had a disastrous Nations Cup in Libya prior to an unprecedented wonderful World Cup for Africa when we went undefeated, conceded only one goal in three group stage games and played a draw with eventual World Cup winners, Italy.
Meanwhile, glory was all ours barely two years later when we won the Nations Cup for the first time in 1984. Of course, that was not a World Cup year. In 1986 when we did not qualify for the World Cup, we had another wonderful Nations Cup, stumbling only at the final in a hard fought game with hosts Egypt. Likewise, in 1988, a non-World Cup year, the show was again all ours. We won the cup.
Next, the memorable 1990 World Cup and again the Nations Cup that year was a fiasco. Meanwhile, after another unmemorable Nations Cup in 1992, our worst Nations Cup-World Cup story was in 1994 when we did not even qualify for the Nations Cup and later witnessed our worst World Cup in the US.
South Africa 1996, though not a World Cup year, was a Nations Cup many Cameroonians hate to remember. But France 1998, another Nations Cup-World Cup year for us, equally brought a vexing Nations Cup experience. We were licked by half-baked teams like the DR Congo and were eliminated at group stages.
As the Song-Mboma-Eto’o-Etame-Njitap generation ripened, they renewed Cameroon’s romance with Nations Cup glory in 2000, defeating our traditional Nations Cup final sparring partners Nigeria in their own backyard to take the cup home for keeps according to the former three wins rule. That same generation it was, that defied the Nations Cup-World Cup spell to play great in the 2002 Nations Cup in Mali. They won the cup a fourth time, though they were headed for the Japan-Korea, our last combined Nations Cup-World Cup year.
Here we are again with both tourneys to manage. SA 2010, Africa’s first World Cup, is ours to grab. But Nations Cup 2010 is equally a must-do for us. It comes nearly a decade since we last won the trophy.
The World Cup, we wish to win, and yes, we can. But the Nations Cup we already know how to win. Unquestionably, we must win it again. We cannot lie on our laurels when Egypt’s six wins have dwarfed our four. For that matter, going to the World Cup with a Nations Cup title in hand should be a big morale booster. Whatever distracts our team during the twin tourney years, they should be reminded that, in any case, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
This posting first featured as Editorial in my sport supplement "This is SPORT! This is FOOTBALL! on the back cover of Standard Tribune currently on the market
Our qualification and greater ambitions for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa should not in anyway blunt our lethal power at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Angola. This country has often been hard put to manage both tournaments in the same year. It is as though World Cup euphoria downplays Nations Cup importance.
Excepting 2002 when we won the Nations Cup even as we were in for the World Cup, the story has been bleak from 1982, through 1990, 1998. In 1994 when we took part in the USA World Cup, we did not even qualify for the Nations Cup. Conversely, we were out of World Cup 2006 but failed to reach the top in the Nations Cup. We stumbled before the Ivory Coast at the quarter-finals after penalty shootout.
In 1982, we had a disastrous Nations Cup in Libya prior to an unprecedented wonderful World Cup for Africa when we went undefeated, conceded only one goal in three group stage games and played a draw with eventual World Cup winners, Italy.
Meanwhile, glory was all ours barely two years later when we won the Nations Cup for the first time in 1984. Of course, that was not a World Cup year. In 1986 when we did not qualify for the World Cup, we had another wonderful Nations Cup, stumbling only at the final in a hard fought game with hosts Egypt. Likewise, in 1988, a non-World Cup year, the show was again all ours. We won the cup.
Next, the memorable 1990 World Cup and again the Nations Cup that year was a fiasco. Meanwhile, after another unmemorable Nations Cup in 1992, our worst Nations Cup-World Cup story was in 1994 when we did not even qualify for the Nations Cup and later witnessed our worst World Cup in the US.
South Africa 1996, though not a World Cup year, was a Nations Cup many Cameroonians hate to remember. But France 1998, another Nations Cup-World Cup year for us, equally brought a vexing Nations Cup experience. We were licked by half-baked teams like the DR Congo and were eliminated at group stages.
As the Song-Mboma-Eto’o-Etame-Njitap generation ripened, they renewed Cameroon’s romance with Nations Cup glory in 2000, defeating our traditional Nations Cup final sparring partners Nigeria in their own backyard to take the cup home for keeps according to the former three wins rule. That same generation it was, that defied the Nations Cup-World Cup spell to play great in the 2002 Nations Cup in Mali. They won the cup a fourth time, though they were headed for the Japan-Korea, our last combined Nations Cup-World Cup year.
Here we are again with both tourneys to manage. SA 2010, Africa’s first World Cup, is ours to grab. But Nations Cup 2010 is equally a must-do for us. It comes nearly a decade since we last won the trophy.
The World Cup, we wish to win, and yes, we can. But the Nations Cup we already know how to win. Unquestionably, we must win it again. We cannot lie on our laurels when Egypt’s six wins have dwarfed our four. For that matter, going to the World Cup with a Nations Cup title in hand should be a big morale booster. Whatever distracts our team during the twin tourney years, they should be reminded that, in any case, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
This posting first featured as Editorial in my sport supplement "This is SPORT! This is FOOTBALL! on the back cover of Standard Tribune currently on the market
Fotso's battle with Cameroon & E. Guinea gov'ts
By Franklin Sone Bayen
If no one is suspecting anything beyond regular procedure in the recent decision by the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) to place the Commercial Bank of Cameroon (CBC) under watch for possible liquidation, Yves Michel Fotso, proprietor of the bank, is crying foul.
While admitting that CBC is not faultless, Fotso is alleging that COBAC is being manipulated by Equatorial Guinea to settle scores after his bank won a case against the neigbhouring state, obtaining 40 billion FCFA as damages because Malabo illegally prohibited establishment of a CBC branch there. CBC lawyers were in the process of identifying Equatorial Guinea accounts abroad to obtain payment of the penalty when the COBAC sanction fell. Fotso considers the sanction, that discharges him of his functions as board chair of the bank, too severe and hides ulterior motives.
Yet, even those accusations seem to be only part of the story. The paternalistic intervention by the Cameroon government to “bailout” the bank looks like a calculated first step towards embracing a rival to suffocate him – stepping into the Fotso Empire to eventually own it (seize it) or crumble it.
But why?
It has not been said how Yaounde and Malabo would have conspired to suffocate CBC. However, it can be conjectured that, just as it is possible Malabo is pulling its oil weight in COBAC – that little country holds more than 47% of reserves in the Bank of Central Africam States (BEAC) – our government was also in a position to defend CBC if it had the will to. Apparently, it did not. Instead of chasing the hawk before chiding the chicks, our government seems to have let the hawk grab the chick before engaging wings to go to its rescue. All of that to look magnanimous and, while the public applauds, reap from Fotso family sweat.
There are precedents to show that when some persons in authority are uncomfortable with the actions or mere existence of certain individuals, they use the huge state machinery to crush them. They settle personal scores or sometimes do so on behalf of the president.
Henri Sack who ran TV Max, the first private TV in Douala, had a taste of it when former CRTV GM, Gervais Mendo Ze, presented him as an anti-patriot simply because TV Max acquired exclusive rights for a Cameroon international match earlier this decade, and required CRTV to buy the images. Insisting national team matches are a matter of sovereignty, Mendo made CRTV broadcast the match in defiance of TV Max’s exclusive rights, of course, without payment. Somehow, CRTV went on to defeat TV Max in a case in France.
That was only the beginning of trouble for Sack. TV Max was thenceforth always put on the wrong side of the law. Its transmission pylons around Village, a neighbourhood on the Yaounde outlet from Douala were knocked down for “being too close to the Douala International Airport, posing a risk to planes in flight”. Other pylons around were spared. TV Max eventually died slow death. In the early 1990s, Victor Fotso and Kadji Defosso turned coat from early support for the newly-created opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), when government tax agents showed them red.
Fotso since become a pillar of the Biya regime, bankrolling its operations. He is presently mayor of his Bandjoun hometown, near Bafoussam on the ticket of the president’s party. He is also known to have used his influence to position some of his several wives at elective positions. At least one of them is deputy mayor of the Yaounde I district. Another is Member of Parliament. Apparently through the same influence, his son Yves Michel, a private sector personality, became managing director of Cameroon Airlines (Camair), a position hitherto reserved for government cadres.
Yet does it look like some elements of the Biya regime believe Yves Michel was party to a plot to have the president killed in a faulty plane by purchasing the Albatross. He was involved in the deal because the government undertook the purchase, pretending the plane was for Camair use, to avoid scrutiny by the IMF which thought such a purchase just for the president’s comfort, was misplaced priority at a time Cameroon was making its case for HIPC debt cancellation in the middle of this decade.
Now that son of Victor Fotso is swearing he will defend his property even with is life. Such statements are not often heard from people of Fotso’s stature. He believes COBAC is just a subterfuge for people with diabolic motives. “I’m sorry, but if it becomes an institution used to eliminate people, I’m ready to die. I’ll accept to be sacrificed,” said Fotso in a telephone intervention on an talkshow a fortnight ago, on a Douala-based private TV channel, STV.
So why would a “prince” put his life on the line like that?
And that was not Fotso’s first media outing on a burning issue. Late last year he came out strong in an interview broadcast simultaneously by three private TV channels (STV, Equinox TV and Canal 2) telling his side of the story over the Albatross Affair. His approach, maximizing TV audience through the three channels, was so effective everyone was talking about it the next morning. Fotso’s smartness apparently vexed certain people in authority.
The Fotso heir, who has been on a travel ban, might have been saved from prison last year only by his father’s personal intervention when he was summoned to the Judicial Police in Yaounde. To protect him, his aging father accompanied him to Yaounde, spent the night in his hotel room for fear he could be abducted and the next morning, accompanied him for the police interrogation, as if to say “that’s my son, if you will take him, you’ll have to take me too.”
The younger Fotso walked free from there. Hardly anyone implicated in the Albatross Affair walked free after visiting the Judicial Police. But whether he can free the family empire from this suspected onslaught may take more than his father’s watchful eyes.
This posting first featured on my column "STATE OF THE NATION" in Standard Tribune (currently on the market), published in Yaounde Cameroon
If no one is suspecting anything beyond regular procedure in the recent decision by the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) to place the Commercial Bank of Cameroon (CBC) under watch for possible liquidation, Yves Michel Fotso, proprietor of the bank, is crying foul.
While admitting that CBC is not faultless, Fotso is alleging that COBAC is being manipulated by Equatorial Guinea to settle scores after his bank won a case against the neigbhouring state, obtaining 40 billion FCFA as damages because Malabo illegally prohibited establishment of a CBC branch there. CBC lawyers were in the process of identifying Equatorial Guinea accounts abroad to obtain payment of the penalty when the COBAC sanction fell. Fotso considers the sanction, that discharges him of his functions as board chair of the bank, too severe and hides ulterior motives.
Yet, even those accusations seem to be only part of the story. The paternalistic intervention by the Cameroon government to “bailout” the bank looks like a calculated first step towards embracing a rival to suffocate him – stepping into the Fotso Empire to eventually own it (seize it) or crumble it.
But why?
It has not been said how Yaounde and Malabo would have conspired to suffocate CBC. However, it can be conjectured that, just as it is possible Malabo is pulling its oil weight in COBAC – that little country holds more than 47% of reserves in the Bank of Central Africam States (BEAC) – our government was also in a position to defend CBC if it had the will to. Apparently, it did not. Instead of chasing the hawk before chiding the chicks, our government seems to have let the hawk grab the chick before engaging wings to go to its rescue. All of that to look magnanimous and, while the public applauds, reap from Fotso family sweat.
There are precedents to show that when some persons in authority are uncomfortable with the actions or mere existence of certain individuals, they use the huge state machinery to crush them. They settle personal scores or sometimes do so on behalf of the president.
Henri Sack who ran TV Max, the first private TV in Douala, had a taste of it when former CRTV GM, Gervais Mendo Ze, presented him as an anti-patriot simply because TV Max acquired exclusive rights for a Cameroon international match earlier this decade, and required CRTV to buy the images. Insisting national team matches are a matter of sovereignty, Mendo made CRTV broadcast the match in defiance of TV Max’s exclusive rights, of course, without payment. Somehow, CRTV went on to defeat TV Max in a case in France.
That was only the beginning of trouble for Sack. TV Max was thenceforth always put on the wrong side of the law. Its transmission pylons around Village, a neighbourhood on the Yaounde outlet from Douala were knocked down for “being too close to the Douala International Airport, posing a risk to planes in flight”. Other pylons around were spared. TV Max eventually died slow death. In the early 1990s, Victor Fotso and Kadji Defosso turned coat from early support for the newly-created opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), when government tax agents showed them red.
Fotso since become a pillar of the Biya regime, bankrolling its operations. He is presently mayor of his Bandjoun hometown, near Bafoussam on the ticket of the president’s party. He is also known to have used his influence to position some of his several wives at elective positions. At least one of them is deputy mayor of the Yaounde I district. Another is Member of Parliament. Apparently through the same influence, his son Yves Michel, a private sector personality, became managing director of Cameroon Airlines (Camair), a position hitherto reserved for government cadres.
Yet does it look like some elements of the Biya regime believe Yves Michel was party to a plot to have the president killed in a faulty plane by purchasing the Albatross. He was involved in the deal because the government undertook the purchase, pretending the plane was for Camair use, to avoid scrutiny by the IMF which thought such a purchase just for the president’s comfort, was misplaced priority at a time Cameroon was making its case for HIPC debt cancellation in the middle of this decade.
Now that son of Victor Fotso is swearing he will defend his property even with is life. Such statements are not often heard from people of Fotso’s stature. He believes COBAC is just a subterfuge for people with diabolic motives. “I’m sorry, but if it becomes an institution used to eliminate people, I’m ready to die. I’ll accept to be sacrificed,” said Fotso in a telephone intervention on an talkshow a fortnight ago, on a Douala-based private TV channel, STV.
So why would a “prince” put his life on the line like that?
And that was not Fotso’s first media outing on a burning issue. Late last year he came out strong in an interview broadcast simultaneously by three private TV channels (STV, Equinox TV and Canal 2) telling his side of the story over the Albatross Affair. His approach, maximizing TV audience through the three channels, was so effective everyone was talking about it the next morning. Fotso’s smartness apparently vexed certain people in authority.
The Fotso heir, who has been on a travel ban, might have been saved from prison last year only by his father’s personal intervention when he was summoned to the Judicial Police in Yaounde. To protect him, his aging father accompanied him to Yaounde, spent the night in his hotel room for fear he could be abducted and the next morning, accompanied him for the police interrogation, as if to say “that’s my son, if you will take him, you’ll have to take me too.”
The younger Fotso walked free from there. Hardly anyone implicated in the Albatross Affair walked free after visiting the Judicial Police. But whether he can free the family empire from this suspected onslaught may take more than his father’s watchful eyes.
This posting first featured on my column "STATE OF THE NATION" in Standard Tribune (currently on the market), published in Yaounde Cameroon
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Didn't Fifa favour Egypt for Algeria playoff?
By Franklin Sone Bayen*
Algeria finally had their way over Egypt to obtain Africa's last World Cup ticket after their playoff in Khartoum Sudan on November 18, but that match should not have been necessary had Fifa followed its own rules to the very last letter.
Because Algeria scored three goals against Egypt in the away leg and Egypt scored only two against Algeria in the return leg in the Africa Group C of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Algeria had an advantage based on Point 5 of the new FIFA rule for teams even on points at the end of group matches, like both countries in Africa Group C.
Nearly a month before the final group games of this 2010 World Cup qualifiers, we presented an exhaustive analysis of the expected outcome for Cameroon based on the possible results from matches on November 14 in Group A: Morocco-Cameroon and Togo-Gabon. It was a two part write-up, one titled “CMR-Morocco: THE LAST IFS”. The second, “Most complicated scenario”, was based on the new FIFA rule to rank teams even on points at the end of group games.
Our emphasis in the second write-up was on a scenario whereby Cameroon and their lone challengers Gabon were tied at 10 points each after the November 14 matches, ie, if Moroco defeated Cameroon and Gabon drew with Togo.
As it turned out, Cameroon’s victory over Morocco rolled them a red carpet to the World Cup. It rendered unnecessary and useless any further calculations (ifs) based on the outcome of the Togo-Gabon match in Lome the same day.
With Cameroon’s 13 points, even a victory for Gabon raising them to 12 points would have been of the no consequence. Worst case scenario for Gabon, they were beaten 1-0 by Togo, to mark time at nine points. Cameroon thus sailed through, with safe four points from Gabon.
The Indomitable Lions thus spared already anxious Cameroonians the trouble of that “Most complicated scenario”. Instead, where it applied, and nearly so perfectly, was between Egypt and Algeria. They ended the qualifiers at par on everything from points to goals scored, goals conceded, goal difference and even more. Plus, they faced each other on the last day of play on November 14, Egypt beating Algeria 2-0 to attain that nearly perfect equality, necessitating their playoff on November 18 in Khartoum, Sudan. Algeria won the playoff 1-0 to grab Africa's last World Cup ticket.
Weeks ahead of their Saturday game, FIFA notified that if Egypt defeated Algeria 2-0 on the last day of play, the two would go for a playoff. That was because ahead of that game, Algeria had 13 points after four matches, Egypt 10; Algeria had scored nine goals, Egypt seven; Algeria had conceded two goals, Egypt four; Algeria had +7 in goal difference, Egypt +3. Algeria had beaten Egypt in the first leg in Algeria 3-1. This meant that if Egypt defeated Algeria 2-0 in Egypt, both teams would be tied at 13 points, they would both have scored nine goals, both would have conceded four goals, both would thus have ended the qualifiers with +5 in goal difference and each would have beaten the other at home by a two-goal difference. (Nearly) perfect equality!
As we explained in our previous write-up, this is what the new FIFA rule says about ranking of teams with equal points sourced from the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia: “If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked by: 1. goal difference in all group matches (Algeria +5, Egypt +5) 2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches (Algeria 9, Egypt 9) 3. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams (Algeria 3, Egypt 3) 4. goal difference in matches between the tied teams (3-3: 1st leg Algeria 3-1 Egypt, 2nd leg Egypt 2-0 Algeria) 5. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams (Algeria 3, Egypt 2, take note of this) 6. drawing of lots, or playoffs (if approved by FIFA).”
Take note that Algeria have an advantage over Egypt on point 5. It may seem complicated but understand it in other words thus: which team scored more goals in either of the matches played between Algeria and Egypt? In the away leg, Algeria won scoring three goals. In the return leg, Egypt won scoring just two. Point 5 disregards goals conceded in matches between tied teams.
Although they were even on particular goal difference, it must be pointed out that FIFA put that as one of the conditions for ranking teams tied on points, and ought to have respected it. Algeria had the advantage, but FIFA seemed to have foreseen and ignored it. Reason they skipped to point 6, ie, the Algeria-Egypt playoff on November 18.
Rules well applied, will always penalize someone and leave them offended. Nigeria, clearly a favorite in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, bowed to the old FIFA rule whereby the first consideration (Point 1) has now become Point 3 in the new rule. That gave Angola the ticket to the 2006 World Cup to the detriment of Nigeria who had better goal difference (+14) in all group matches (Point 1 in the new rule). Angola had only +6. Nigeria had scored far more goals (Point 2 in the new rule), a whopping 21. Angola had scored only 12. But Angola had grabbed four out of six available points in matches between the two teams (Point 1 in the old rule, Point 3 in the new rule), having beaten Nigeria 1-0 in the away leg in Angola and held them to a 1-1 draw in the return leg in Nigeria.
Nigerian fans thought they had been cheated, but that was the rule then. It was respected. Not quite so for Algeria-Egypt in the 2010 qualifiers.
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*The author is editor-in-chief of Cameroon sport magazine “This is SPORT! This is FOOTBALL!”
Algeria finally had their way over Egypt to obtain Africa's last World Cup ticket after their playoff in Khartoum Sudan on November 18, but that match should not have been necessary had Fifa followed its own rules to the very last letter.
Because Algeria scored three goals against Egypt in the away leg and Egypt scored only two against Algeria in the return leg in the Africa Group C of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Algeria had an advantage based on Point 5 of the new FIFA rule for teams even on points at the end of group matches, like both countries in Africa Group C.
Nearly a month before the final group games of this 2010 World Cup qualifiers, we presented an exhaustive analysis of the expected outcome for Cameroon based on the possible results from matches on November 14 in Group A: Morocco-Cameroon and Togo-Gabon. It was a two part write-up, one titled “CMR-Morocco: THE LAST IFS”. The second, “Most complicated scenario”, was based on the new FIFA rule to rank teams even on points at the end of group games.
Our emphasis in the second write-up was on a scenario whereby Cameroon and their lone challengers Gabon were tied at 10 points each after the November 14 matches, ie, if Moroco defeated Cameroon and Gabon drew with Togo.
As it turned out, Cameroon’s victory over Morocco rolled them a red carpet to the World Cup. It rendered unnecessary and useless any further calculations (ifs) based on the outcome of the Togo-Gabon match in Lome the same day.
With Cameroon’s 13 points, even a victory for Gabon raising them to 12 points would have been of the no consequence. Worst case scenario for Gabon, they were beaten 1-0 by Togo, to mark time at nine points. Cameroon thus sailed through, with safe four points from Gabon.
The Indomitable Lions thus spared already anxious Cameroonians the trouble of that “Most complicated scenario”. Instead, where it applied, and nearly so perfectly, was between Egypt and Algeria. They ended the qualifiers at par on everything from points to goals scored, goals conceded, goal difference and even more. Plus, they faced each other on the last day of play on November 14, Egypt beating Algeria 2-0 to attain that nearly perfect equality, necessitating their playoff on November 18 in Khartoum, Sudan. Algeria won the playoff 1-0 to grab Africa's last World Cup ticket.
Weeks ahead of their Saturday game, FIFA notified that if Egypt defeated Algeria 2-0 on the last day of play, the two would go for a playoff. That was because ahead of that game, Algeria had 13 points after four matches, Egypt 10; Algeria had scored nine goals, Egypt seven; Algeria had conceded two goals, Egypt four; Algeria had +7 in goal difference, Egypt +3. Algeria had beaten Egypt in the first leg in Algeria 3-1. This meant that if Egypt defeated Algeria 2-0 in Egypt, both teams would be tied at 13 points, they would both have scored nine goals, both would have conceded four goals, both would thus have ended the qualifiers with +5 in goal difference and each would have beaten the other at home by a two-goal difference. (Nearly) perfect equality!
As we explained in our previous write-up, this is what the new FIFA rule says about ranking of teams with equal points sourced from the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia: “If teams are even on points at the end of group play, the tied teams will be ranked by: 1. goal difference in all group matches (Algeria +5, Egypt +5) 2. greater number of goals scored in all group matches (Algeria 9, Egypt 9) 3. greater number of points obtained in matches between the tied teams (Algeria 3, Egypt 3) 4. goal difference in matches between the tied teams (3-3: 1st leg Algeria 3-1 Egypt, 2nd leg Egypt 2-0 Algeria) 5. greater number of goals scored in matches between the tied teams (Algeria 3, Egypt 2, take note of this) 6. drawing of lots, or playoffs (if approved by FIFA).”
Take note that Algeria have an advantage over Egypt on point 5. It may seem complicated but understand it in other words thus: which team scored more goals in either of the matches played between Algeria and Egypt? In the away leg, Algeria won scoring three goals. In the return leg, Egypt won scoring just two. Point 5 disregards goals conceded in matches between tied teams.
Although they were even on particular goal difference, it must be pointed out that FIFA put that as one of the conditions for ranking teams tied on points, and ought to have respected it. Algeria had the advantage, but FIFA seemed to have foreseen and ignored it. Reason they skipped to point 6, ie, the Algeria-Egypt playoff on November 18.
Rules well applied, will always penalize someone and leave them offended. Nigeria, clearly a favorite in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, bowed to the old FIFA rule whereby the first consideration (Point 1) has now become Point 3 in the new rule. That gave Angola the ticket to the 2006 World Cup to the detriment of Nigeria who had better goal difference (+14) in all group matches (Point 1 in the new rule). Angola had only +6. Nigeria had scored far more goals (Point 2 in the new rule), a whopping 21. Angola had scored only 12. But Angola had grabbed four out of six available points in matches between the two teams (Point 1 in the old rule, Point 3 in the new rule), having beaten Nigeria 1-0 in the away leg in Angola and held them to a 1-1 draw in the return leg in Nigeria.
Nigerian fans thought they had been cheated, but that was the rule then. It was respected. Not quite so for Algeria-Egypt in the 2010 qualifiers.
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*The author is editor-in-chief of Cameroon sport magazine “This is SPORT! This is FOOTBALL!”
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Confirmed! Lockerbie Bomber's Release Was a Deal
Revealed by Authoritative British Newspaper
By Franklin Sone Bayen
Now it's not the trouble-making son of international nuissance, Muamar Kaddaffi who's bad-mouthing the UK for hypocritically releasing a convicted bomber purportedly on "compassionate grounds" because he is "terminal ill with prostate cancer". An authoritative British newspaper has found that the "Lockerbie Bomber's" release was nothing but a deal to secure lucrative UK oil and gas exploitation interests with Lybia. Jack Straw, the man who OKed the deal has been explaining, not refuting the deal took place, the Sunday Times (London) has reported.
The paper quoted leaked letters by UK Justice Secretary (senior minister) Jack Straw to the Scottish Justice minister, revealing that Straw consented to the release of the "Lockerbie Bomber", Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for reasons contained in this extensive quote from The Sunday Times website (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6814939.ece):
"Two letters dated five months apart show that Straw initially intended to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, under which British and Libyan prisoners could serve out their sentences in their home country.
In a letter dated July 26, 2007, Straw said he favoured an option to leave out Megrahi by stipulating that any prisoners convicted before a specified date would not be considered for transfer.
Downing Street had also said Megrahi would not be included under the agreement.
Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.
The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.
On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to [Kenny] MacAskill [Justice Minister of Scotland] announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.
In a letter leaked by a Whitehall [UK government] source, [Straw] wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.
“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”
Within six weeks of the government climbdown, Libya had ratified the BP deal. The prisoner transfer agreement was finalised in May this year, leading to Libya formally applying for Megrahi to be transferred to its custody."
Under the United Kingdom governing system, Scotland, which is part of the UK, enjoys autonomy over most aspects of justice, yet the release of such a high profile prisoner, involving UK sovereignty and security interests, required London's okay, which Straw tactfully granted.
Jack Straw, previously UK Foreign Secretary, was pivotal in making a case for war against Iraq in 2003. Like Colllin Powell, then US Secretary of State, Straw held brief for the UK in making outrageous claims before the UN Security Council to convince the world that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Powell has since expressed remorse for the shameful deed.
By Franklin Sone Bayen
Now it's not the trouble-making son of international nuissance, Muamar Kaddaffi who's bad-mouthing the UK for hypocritically releasing a convicted bomber purportedly on "compassionate grounds" because he is "terminal ill with prostate cancer". An authoritative British newspaper has found that the "Lockerbie Bomber's" release was nothing but a deal to secure lucrative UK oil and gas exploitation interests with Lybia. Jack Straw, the man who OKed the deal has been explaining, not refuting the deal took place, the Sunday Times (London) has reported.
The paper quoted leaked letters by UK Justice Secretary (senior minister) Jack Straw to the Scottish Justice minister, revealing that Straw consented to the release of the "Lockerbie Bomber", Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for reasons contained in this extensive quote from The Sunday Times website (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6814939.ece):
"Two letters dated five months apart show that Straw initially intended to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, under which British and Libyan prisoners could serve out their sentences in their home country.
In a letter dated July 26, 2007, Straw said he favoured an option to leave out Megrahi by stipulating that any prisoners convicted before a specified date would not be considered for transfer.
Downing Street had also said Megrahi would not be included under the agreement.
Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.
The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.
On December 19, 2007, Straw wrote to [Kenny] MacAskill [Justice Minister of Scotland] announcing that the UK government was abandoning its attempt to exclude Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement, citing the national interest.
In a letter leaked by a Whitehall [UK government] source, [Straw] wrote: “I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.
“The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [prisoner transfer agreement] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.”
Within six weeks of the government climbdown, Libya had ratified the BP deal. The prisoner transfer agreement was finalised in May this year, leading to Libya formally applying for Megrahi to be transferred to its custody."
Under the United Kingdom governing system, Scotland, which is part of the UK, enjoys autonomy over most aspects of justice, yet the release of such a high profile prisoner, involving UK sovereignty and security interests, required London's okay, which Straw tactfully granted.
Jack Straw, previously UK Foreign Secretary, was pivotal in making a case for war against Iraq in 2003. Like Colllin Powell, then US Secretary of State, Straw held brief for the UK in making outrageous claims before the UN Security Council to convince the world that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Powell has since expressed remorse for the shameful deed.
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
Obama’s Kennedy Passes On
(Or Edward Kennedy's Nunc Dimittis)
By Franklin Sone Bayen
Edward Kennedy passed on today. For many, his eulogies would be well-rehearsed sing-songs: “the last surviving brother of the late President John Kennedy”, “the last survivor of the Kennedy political dynasty”, “the only Kennedy of his generation to pass on without tragedy”, etc. But for us Africans, Edward Kennedy will remain long in our hearts for giving his all, even defying his failing health to hand to Africa, America’s stool of power and honor.
Don’t get me wrong. It took Obama’s political savvy, a highly motivated and focused team and several other factors, but chief among those other factors was Kennedy’s endorsement and open campaigning for Obama at a critical time in the Democratic Party primaries in 2008. An American political prince and a high profile, mainstream politician who to his death had served 47 years in America’s legislative upper house, this brother of a beloved and martyred former president threw his weight behind Obama in a way that shocked Hillary Clinton. The bitter reaction of the Clinton’s after the Kennedy move spoke of its significance. It opened the way for - first cautious, later a floodgate of - endorsements by the high and mighty of the American political class.
In American politics, being likened to John Kennedy is a big blanket endorsement. Bill Clinton enjoyed that in his 1992 run for “looking like the Kennedys” and for appearing in a picture as a schoolboy putting a question to the late president. Likewise another Democrat, John Kerry, from Massachusetts like the Kennedys, for having same initials (JFK – John Forbes Kerry, like John Fitzgerald Kennedy) and even for having dated the sister of the late president's wife.
Edward Kennedy gave a bit (perhaps a lot) of that to Obama when he likened that son of a Kenyan to his beloved brother, the late president. Many recalled that another Kennedy, Robert, had predicted or prophesied in 1968 (when he ran for president but fell to an assassin's bullet), that within 40 years, it would be possible for an African American to be president of the United States, far-fetched in the 1960s because of still lingering racial segregation. 2008 marked 40 years on the calendar and Edward Kennedy (the surviving Kennedy prophet) saw that coming to pass before his own eyes. He grabbed the moment and went campaigning vigorously for Obama though ailing with a diagnosed malignant brain cancer. He managed to appear at the Democratic Party Convention to finish the fight for Obama.
Like the biblical Prophet Simeon, Edward Kennedy attended Obama’s inaugural, though it took “crawling all the way” on a wheelchair, to see with his own eyes. When Kennedy was rushed away that day, in crisis, from the inaugural venue, I said to myself that history (legend, rather) was going to repeat itself. I thought the old man (aged 77) would pass on that day, satisfied that he had seen it. I felt he had said his Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine, like Simeon in Luke chapter 2:
“Now thou dost dismiss thy servant in peace,
O Lord, according to thy word.
Because mine eyes have seen my salvation,
Which thou hast prepared in the face of all peoples,
A Light to the revelation of the
Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."
Kennedy held on seven good months after, perhaps waiting to help Obama push through one of his loudest campaign promises – healthcare reform, also Kennedy's pet subject. Now in a cross-party deadlock, every Senate vote would count. Knowing that, but apparently sensing his time to go was nigh, Kennedy wrote to his Massachusetts State authorities, proposing changes to the Senate succession procedure that would enable immediate succession for him once he was unavailable, so that Obama’s reform is not blocked for lack of even one vote (his, Massachusetts’). He might have run out of patience, waiting too long since his Nunc Dimittis to see the health reform. Dying less than a week after that move shows even more that Kennedy gave all for Obama, even his life. He was Obama’s man. He was Africa’s man, our own Prophet Simeon in a foreign land.
In a tribute, Obama describes Kennedy as his mentor. A statement from Nelson Mandela's office salutes Kennedy for his involvement in the struggle against Apartheid "at a time when the freedom struggle was not widely supported in the West." Kennedy was also key in negotiating with Republicans in 2006 to champion the cause for comprehensive immigration reform that would in the long-run grant US citizenship to illegal immigrants including Africans, although, for same reason, Latinos (the biggest immigrant population) would also claim Kennedy as theirs.
And so do the curtains drop over the long and beautiful, though tragic, political story of the Kennedys who gave so much to the Black race, including President Kennedy’s Peace Corps initiative and his initiation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed segregation against Blacks. An act finally signed only by Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
So, yet another title for this write up could have been "Africa Loses It's Last Kennedy".
By Franklin Sone Bayen
Edward Kennedy passed on today. For many, his eulogies would be well-rehearsed sing-songs: “the last surviving brother of the late President John Kennedy”, “the last survivor of the Kennedy political dynasty”, “the only Kennedy of his generation to pass on without tragedy”, etc. But for us Africans, Edward Kennedy will remain long in our hearts for giving his all, even defying his failing health to hand to Africa, America’s stool of power and honor.
Don’t get me wrong. It took Obama’s political savvy, a highly motivated and focused team and several other factors, but chief among those other factors was Kennedy’s endorsement and open campaigning for Obama at a critical time in the Democratic Party primaries in 2008. An American political prince and a high profile, mainstream politician who to his death had served 47 years in America’s legislative upper house, this brother of a beloved and martyred former president threw his weight behind Obama in a way that shocked Hillary Clinton. The bitter reaction of the Clinton’s after the Kennedy move spoke of its significance. It opened the way for - first cautious, later a floodgate of - endorsements by the high and mighty of the American political class.
In American politics, being likened to John Kennedy is a big blanket endorsement. Bill Clinton enjoyed that in his 1992 run for “looking like the Kennedys” and for appearing in a picture as a schoolboy putting a question to the late president. Likewise another Democrat, John Kerry, from Massachusetts like the Kennedys, for having same initials (JFK – John Forbes Kerry, like John Fitzgerald Kennedy) and even for having dated the sister of the late president's wife.
Edward Kennedy gave a bit (perhaps a lot) of that to Obama when he likened that son of a Kenyan to his beloved brother, the late president. Many recalled that another Kennedy, Robert, had predicted or prophesied in 1968 (when he ran for president but fell to an assassin's bullet), that within 40 years, it would be possible for an African American to be president of the United States, far-fetched in the 1960s because of still lingering racial segregation. 2008 marked 40 years on the calendar and Edward Kennedy (the surviving Kennedy prophet) saw that coming to pass before his own eyes. He grabbed the moment and went campaigning vigorously for Obama though ailing with a diagnosed malignant brain cancer. He managed to appear at the Democratic Party Convention to finish the fight for Obama.
Like the biblical Prophet Simeon, Edward Kennedy attended Obama’s inaugural, though it took “crawling all the way” on a wheelchair, to see with his own eyes. When Kennedy was rushed away that day, in crisis, from the inaugural venue, I said to myself that history (legend, rather) was going to repeat itself. I thought the old man (aged 77) would pass on that day, satisfied that he had seen it. I felt he had said his Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine, like Simeon in Luke chapter 2:
“Now thou dost dismiss thy servant in peace,
O Lord, according to thy word.
Because mine eyes have seen my salvation,
Which thou hast prepared in the face of all peoples,
A Light to the revelation of the
Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."
Kennedy held on seven good months after, perhaps waiting to help Obama push through one of his loudest campaign promises – healthcare reform, also Kennedy's pet subject. Now in a cross-party deadlock, every Senate vote would count. Knowing that, but apparently sensing his time to go was nigh, Kennedy wrote to his Massachusetts State authorities, proposing changes to the Senate succession procedure that would enable immediate succession for him once he was unavailable, so that Obama’s reform is not blocked for lack of even one vote (his, Massachusetts’). He might have run out of patience, waiting too long since his Nunc Dimittis to see the health reform. Dying less than a week after that move shows even more that Kennedy gave all for Obama, even his life. He was Obama’s man. He was Africa’s man, our own Prophet Simeon in a foreign land.
In a tribute, Obama describes Kennedy as his mentor. A statement from Nelson Mandela's office salutes Kennedy for his involvement in the struggle against Apartheid "at a time when the freedom struggle was not widely supported in the West." Kennedy was also key in negotiating with Republicans in 2006 to champion the cause for comprehensive immigration reform that would in the long-run grant US citizenship to illegal immigrants including Africans, although, for same reason, Latinos (the biggest immigrant population) would also claim Kennedy as theirs.
And so do the curtains drop over the long and beautiful, though tragic, political story of the Kennedys who gave so much to the Black race, including President Kennedy’s Peace Corps initiative and his initiation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed segregation against Blacks. An act finally signed only by Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
So, yet another title for this write up could have been "Africa Loses It's Last Kennedy".
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