In a bid to capture the national mood after the explosion that has got authorities thinking once again about the far-reaching regulations for the retail of gas in the country, the Chairman of the Energy Committee of Parliament, Emmanuel Akwasi Gyamfi (MP, Odotobiri), made a statement on the floor of the house that drew contributions from either side of the aisle.

In summary, MPs called for stiff sanctions for officials and others, found to have caused the explosion.

In a rare show of agreement from both the Minority and Majority caucuses, there was a clear resolve from the house to the Executive to take the necessary actions to stem the tide of such gas explosions which has occurred eight times within the past four years.

The matter of the gas explosion was not the only subject of interest on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday.

Zongo Development Fund Bill

For the second time in this Parliamentary session, the Zongo Development Fund Bill was withdrawn from the house. This rekindled the conversations within the corridors of parliament as to whether due diligence is being done on some of bills expected to support some flagship initiatives of the Akufo Addo administration.

According to Isaac Adongo (NDC MP, Bolgatanga Central), the withdrawal of the bill for the second time shows the government is clearly not serious with pushing through the bill that would establish the Zongo Development Fund; a promise in the electioneering season of 2016, that would see the commitment of funds to the revamp Zongo communities.

The Majority however disagrees with this suggestion. From deep sources within the Front bench of the Majority, the bill had to be withdrawn to correct a few anomalies and would be re-laid this week.

Northern, Middle Belt and Coastal Development Authorities Bill

Still on the floor of the house, the Northern, Middle Belt and Coastal Development Authorities Bill, passed the second reading stage of lawmaking in Parliament, where the policy and principles of a Bill is deliberated upon.

Interestingly, the argument of the name Coastal Development Authority Bill, stirred a bout of contention. Deputy Ranking Member of the Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises Committee, which considered the bill, Richard Quashigah (NDC MP, Keta), opined that a more appropriate name of the Authority should be the Southern Belt Development Authority due to the varying geographical characteristics of the zone the proposed authority would administer.

The Greater Accra, Western, Central and Volta Region would be administered by the proposed Authority, and would be the conduit for the distribution of the One Million one dollar per constituency Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) of the Akufo-Addo administration.

These regions have both forest and coastal zones, and thus in the view of Richard Quashigah and Clement Humado (NDC MP, Anlo), a more appropriate name would have been Southern Belt Development Authority.

The house subsequently passed the three “sibling” bills through the second reading stage, and the clauses of the bills are currently been tweaked at the consideration stage. Hopefully, the Northern Development Authority Bill will be passed this week.

Outside the Chamber

Outside the Chamber of Parliament, the Foreign Affairs Committee appeared on the public radar over the alleged involvement of some Ghanaians (50-100) on the frontlines of the so-called Islamic State or ISIS in Libya per the 28th September 2017 Report of the Attorney General of that country.

The “whistle was blown” at a press conference organized by the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (MP, North Tongu). Minutes later, the Majority caucus of the Committee led by Chairman, Frank Annor Dompreh (NPP MP,Nsawam-Adoagyir), organized a counter press conference insisting that the Minority had not been” a responsible minority” in putting out such information with national security implications without authenticating the content of the said 28th September,2017 report of the Libyan Attorney General.

My opinion

In my view, such matters would have been handled well, if for instance the Foreign Affairs Committee as an entity would address such issues from a bi-partisan manner to give the Executive the needed pressure to clear the name of our republic among the comity of nations, after such a damning report from Libya’s Attorney General.

Well, Vice Chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament, Collins Owusu Amankwaa (NPP MP, Manhyia North), says he would drag Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa before the Privileges Committee for causing “panic” and making “unsubstantiated allegations” in a matter that has serious national security implications.

As to whether such an attempt to haul his colleague before the house would see the light of day is a matter that would unfold in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the National Security Minister on Friday met the leadership of Parliament to brief them behind closed doors as to the steps government is taking on the ISIS matters as raised by the Minority.

Parliament This Week

This week in Parliament, it is expected that the Northern Development Authority Bill would be passed.

The Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of august house, is also expected to present its report on the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill, as a prelude to the heated debate envisaged to hit the floor at the Second reading stage.
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By: Duke Mensah Opoku(@opokuduke)/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The Writer is the Parliamentary Reporter for Citi 97.3 FM

The post Duke’s parliamentary Diary: Week 2 – The Case of an Explosion, ISIS and privileges appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The incident reportedly took place at Budhlada in Punjab’s Mansa district on the intervening night of September 8-9.

According to the police, the Delhi-based nurse was called by one of the rape accused, Balwinder Kala, 32, on the pretext of helping his sister-in-law Ramandeep Kaur, whom she knew.

The other accused has been identified as 28-year-old Lakhwinder.

Assistant Sub-inspector Balwinder Singh said: “Balwinder Kala on Sunday contacted the nurse that Kaur was not well and wanted to meet her. She reached Budhlada by train on Monday around 7pm. It was already dark and the accused took her on his scooter to a field near the village.

“Lakhwinder joined him and they gang-raped her throughout the night.

“Balwinder dropped the victim at the railway station on the same scooter on Tuesday morning. Showing presence of mind, she managed to snatch the scooter’s keys and raised alarm.”

The accused fled from the spot, after which the victim reached the Budlada police station and narrated her ordeal to the police.

Both Balwinder and Lakhwinder have been arrested, and a local court sent the duo to two-day police custody on September 10.

The victim works as a staff nurse at a Delhi hospital, the police said.

Arrested: The two suspects, Balwinder and Lakhwinder (pictured in police custody), allegedly dropped the victim at a railway station after the crime.

She is said to have met Kaur around 25 days ago while returning from work at a bus stop in Delhi. Taking pity on Kaur’s distraught condition, the nurse had given her shelter for three days.

Kaur told the nurse that she had left her husband and in-laws after an argument with him.

After three days, Kaur informed her in-laws that she was in Delhi. A relative of Kaur’s husband, Balwinder Kala, was sent to Delhi to bring her back. It was during this encounter that Balwinder exchanged phone numbers with the nurse.

Following this, the nurse sought regular updates about Kaur from Balwinder.

In her statement, the victim claimed that she was forcibly taken by Balwinder and his accomplice to a makeshift house where three other girls and two more men were also present.

While Balwinder and his accomplice have been arrested, the assistant sub-inspector said that the police are investigating to identify and trace the three girls and two men mentioned in the victim’s statement.

“We are investigating the case. The victim, in her statement, has said that three other girls and two more men were also present,” the police officer said.

The nurse underwent a medical examination and the report is expected to come out soon, the police said.

A case has been registered under Section 376 (rape), 363 (kidnapping), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

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Source: Dailymail.co.uk

The post Nurse who tended to India gang-rape victim herself gang-raped appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The father of one victim said he was ridiculed by policemen when he sought help in finding his missing daughter.

He said when the policemen found out he was from a lower caste, they “refused to look for my girl”.

At least three men, including one policeman, have been arrested in connection with the incident.

The victims’ families have complained that police had refused to help find the missing girls, aged 14 and 16, who were cousins from a low caste.

“When I went to the police station, the first thing I was asked was my caste, when I told them what my caste was, they started abusing me,” the father of one of the girls told the BBC.

India has numerous castes and divisions among them run deep. Violence is often used by upper castes to assert power and instil fear in lower castes.

Although both the victim and the accused belonged to a caste grouping known as ‘Other Backward Classes’, the victims were lower in that hierarchy.

Further suspects hunted

Police said two men had been arrested for the gang rape and murder of the girls.

A constable was also detained for conspiring with the suspects and for dereliction of duty, authorities said, adding they were looking for one more suspect and one constable.

Senior police official Atul Saxena said there would be a “thorough investigation” into the allegations of caste discrimination by the police.

People in Katra Shahadatganj, a village of 10,000 people in Badaun district where the incident took place, say caste “plays an important role in social affairs” in the community.

One villager, named only as Teerath, said: “If media hadn’t come here the police wouldn’t have done anything.”

Rape cases that have shocked India

• 23 January 2014: Thirteen men held in West Bengal in connection with the gang rape of a woman, allegedly on orders of village elders who objected to her relationship with a man
• 4 April 2014: A court sentences three men to hang for raping a 23-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai last year
• 15 January 2014: A Danish woman is allegedly gang raped after losing her way near her hotel in Delhi
• 17 September 2013 : Five youths held in Assam for allegedly gang-raping a 10-year-old girl
• 4 June 2013: A 30-year-old American woman gang-raped in Himachal Pradesh
• 30 April 2013: A five-year-old girl dies two weeks after being raped in Madhya Pradesh
• 16 December 2012: Student gang raped on Delhi bus, sparking nationwide protests and outrage

A neighbour of one of the victims said the police “discriminated” against people from the lower castes in the village.

“Even though the police has suspended some constables, the ones who replace them would not be any better, they would discriminate too,” he said.

But Mr Saxena denied that caste biases played any part in “influencing police behaviour” in the state.

“The police follows its rule book and considers all criminals equal before the law. There might be one or two cases like this one and we will make sure that the culprit doesn’t go scot-free,” he said.

Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.

The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack.

Fast-track courts were brought to the fore to deal with rape and the death penalty was also brought in for the most extreme cases.

Some women’s rights groups argue that the low conviction rate for rape should be challenged with more effective policing rather than stiffer sentences.

Source: BBC

The post India gang rapes: Outrage over police ‘discrimination’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.