Archive for
February 8th, 2009
Stories
Malawi: Of Election Fever and Going Digital
The week gone has been a politically hot one for many Malawians as they have seen their presidential and parliamentary candidates present their nominations papers to the Malawi Electoral Commission ahead of the May 19 polls. By the end of the exercise, about 8 presidential and over 500 parliamentary candidates presented their nomination papers to compete for the 193 seats in parliament.
Journalist Kondwani Munthali earlier on shared his views on the political developments which are expected to lead to the most contested at both presidential and parliamentary levels. He writes Viva My Country's Democracy:
Yes, I said DPP has no structures to manage itself through primaries, I am glad two Ministers recalled my discussions with them and called me. For UDF how they can managed the situation of Muluzi will be entirely to them. For MCP it seems they have changed indeed, the guys look serious enough to upset tables. For today thats where it ends
Another blogger under Ndagha agrees with Munthali that Malawi's politics this year is getting hotter. He hope that its players have a genuine heart for the Malawians and not necessarily to serve their own interests. He says that for him this year offers hope. How and why?:
For me, the parliamentary race will the most exciting as it will showcase lots of new entrants-most of whom in my view can make important contributions to the country's development. I wish we had popular new faces on the presidential race.
Another journalist Mzati Nkolokosa terms this political time in Malawi as a Season of Rumors. He writes a long post focusing on Brown Mpinganjira who has dumped the party he helped to form and paired himself with John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party as a running mate.
It is right to call this period a season of rumours. But Brown Mpinganjira must go on to accept that crucial political truths in Malawi start as rumours.
Brown Mpinganjira, the cleverest politician in Malawi according to Jack Mapanje, is good at communication. He knows words that are loaded with meaning, he speaks poetry, and he can confuse people, even journalists, who don’t follow him critically.
Most Malawi's public offices are not fully computerised. While there are some efforts to improve this, it remains a challenge to most government departments and agencies. One of the offices that serves lots of Malawians is the office of the Administrator General where among others, clients are helped with services regarding their deceased estate.
Having attended a short course on data entry, journalist Pauline Kalumikiza writes on the importance of such offices going digital:
The reason is that, it takes so long for them to help the benefiaries due to their manual storage. I think it is laborious and time consuming, because they handle multiple of files so them to take out one, it takes ages.
Most of the times, they will tell you that ‘Sorry come next month, give us time to look for it’. Now Imagine a person is coming from Nsanje to the AG’s office in Blantyre; he comes again as per the arrangement and is told that he should wait for another week, very frustrating isn’t it?Yes technology has its own disadvantages but I think, the AG’s office would save time and energy by going digital.
We cannot be talking of making ICT accessible to everyone, if our important offices that hold crucial information are still using manual storage system. Zisinthe! (Let things change!)
Armenia: Tax Lottery
Unsuccessful with punitive measures to prevent widespread tax evasion, the government of ex-Soviet Armenia has introduced a monthly national lottery based on an 8-digit number found on the back of sale receipts. From increasing sales to encouraging male customers to hit on female shop assistants, bloggers think the initiative to make businesses accurately report sales and pay taxes has the potential to prove a win-win situation for everyone.
Notes from Hairenik, a blog by an American-Armenian living in the country, recounts first becoming aware of the new initiative.
A few weeks ago while riding the metro to work I noticed a sign in the train car reading that consumers should be sure to take sales receipts so that they will win money. I didn't understand the logic in that naturally so I shrugged it off and went to the office.
Turns out that the government is now requiring and enforcing that all stores, no matter how small, install cash registers, or calculators at least as many vendors are using, to print receipts. The paper rolls that the receipts are printed on are government issued.
[…]
On the back of each check is an eight-digit number which ends with an Armenian letter. Apparently at some time in the near future these numbers will be called, like in a lottery, and if the number called matches the one on your receipt you can win money–up to $16,000 if you're lucky enough… I am not ashamed to admit that I am indeed saving all the receipts that I receive, in case I happen to win enough cash to put down towards the payment of an apartment. You never know.
[…]
[W]hat's the excuse of thousands of citizens who make money but refuse to pay [taxes]?
Having recently visited Armenia, Areyon [RU] is also unhappy with businesses who refuse to pay taxes.
Он не может понять, зачем ему ставить кассовый аппарат, деклалировать свои доходы и исправно платить с них налоги - то, что давным-давно принято во всем цивилизованном бизнесе…. А освещение на улицах города, а ремонт дорог, а стрижка газонов, а закупка вооружения для обороны семей этих самих лавочников - откуда именно правительству получать и тратить деньги на эти общегосударственные нужды?
Even fierce critics of Armenia’s current government such as Nazarian are encouraged.
[…] In Armenia there is no social contract of providing receipts. Tax evasion has been, and remains, a popular way of accumulating wealth for the business elite in the country. One way has been to under-report revenues. You basically have two sets of books: one is the real one used for decision making, and the other one is for the government where your revenues are the same, or less than, your expenses so you don't pay income tax…
The new approach is to incentivise the consumers by giving them money. Getting a percentage of the sales would not make much sense (who cares about a few cents per purchase?) so the government pools this percentage into a lottery with a few prizes depending on the amount on the receipt as big as $16,000. Obviously, there is a lot of interest among the consumers. By basing the prize on the amount of the purchase, they make sure that the consumers demand that the sales be recorded correctly. Through a televised lottery they make sure that the retailers do not keep two sets of receipts, i.e. give out a fake receipt.
The upside for the retailers is that they get a way to promote their brand for free. Another upside for the retailers will probably be that the amount of the average sale will increase since the prize depends on the amount.
The possibility to increase sales is particularly significant during the global economic meltdown. The Armenian Economist already reports that sales in 2008 were down in comparison to the previous year.
Compared to 2007, sales dipped by 5 percent in March [2008] following the disturbances in Yerevan on the first of the month. In early August, war broke out between Georgia and Russia which in effect cut off Armenia's links to most of its trading partners. Real estate transactions dropped by 22 percent in that month compared to sales in August of 2007. And it has been on the decline ever since, with sales lower than the comparable figures for 2007 by 35 percent in November. Obviously instability in Georgia does not bode well for Armenia. It is not clear whether the global financial crisis has hit Armenia as of yet…
While the lottery system might increase sales, there are other potential perks and incentives, it seems. The Tert blog says it also provides male customers a new way to hook up with pretty shop assistants.
Մեր փողոցի խանութներից մեկում մի սիրունիկ վաճառողուհի կա։ Որ ասես հանվի` կհանվի, բայց որ ասես` ՀԴՄ կտրոն տու, կարող է մի ապտակ ստանաս։ Մի 2 օր առաջ առանց պահանջելու կտրոնը խփեց, ասի` չեմ ուզում։
Երևի կյանքումս ոչ ոքի այդքան երջանկացրած չկամ։ Մի խոսքով` մեր ֆիքստուլ հայ տղերքը սիրունիկ աղջիկներին կապելու հրաշալի միջոց ունեն` ընդամենը հարկավոր է մտնել խանութ, ինչ-որ բան գնել ու հետո արհամարհաբար հրաժարվել շահող կտրոնը վերցնելուց։
Of course, as The Armenian Observer comments, the initiative is likely to be most successful with women.
While the resistence is high among small traders and often even big shops and restaurants to install the cash machines and accurately supply receipts, it seems that housewives mostly enjoy the whole process of asking the receipts with the prospect of winning the big prize.
The first lottery draw took place live on Armenian Public TV H1 on February 6, 2009 with 76201843 as the winning number while oversight in the process is also provided online by http://www.e-tax.am.
Russia: Reflections on Recent Murders in Moscow
According to this roundup that appeared on Robert Amsterdam's blog on Feb. 6, the past week hasn't been too peaceful in Moscow and Moscow region:
[…] A former deputy mayor of Grozny was gunned down early yesterday morning in western Moscow in what authorities said appeared to be a contract murder. Yuri Grachev, the 72-year-old editor-in-chief of a [Solnechnogorsk] newspaper critical of the authorities, suffered concussion after being beaten near his house. The editor in chief of the independent Ekho Moskvy radio, Aleksei Venediktov, says he found a chunk of timber with an ax embedded in it outside his apartment door in Moscow yesterday. […]
In another post on Robert Amsterdam's blog, James wrote this about the official response to the situation:
[…] But the state doesn't seem too happy to have Moscow pitch itself into a downward spiral toward 1990s-style gangland shooting gallery.
Today President Dmitry Medvedev made it clear to the country's security organs that their focus must be on “extremism,” as “this type of legal violation inflicts colossal damage and is a systemic threat to national security.”But more than an effort to protect his own citizens, these comments appeared to include permission for a crackdown on any unrest related to the economic crisis:
“We are falling under the influence of the global crisis — a worsening problem of unemployment and other social issues. At such a time one encounters those who wish to speculate — to use the situation. So one can't allow an already complicated situation to deteriorate.”
LJ user kozenko (Andrey Kozenko, journalist for the Russian daily Kommersant) posted this morbid mock letter to “out-of-town relatives” (RUS) on his blog, in which he described the situation in the Russian capital:
[…]
All is well here in Moscow. Only three high-profile murders in the past day - former vice mayor of Grozny, a businessman [Kakha Kalandarishvili] and an institute's director [Leonid Baron]. And only two of them can be considered contract killings. And this time no one was killed in the middle of the day. In general, everything is as usual and it's not even interesting to talk about it.
Remember how completely different it was in the wild 90s. Say, two killers would enter an office of “Thunder” company, [boom] - and there are 13 corpses. Gravestones made of black granite, and on them, along with the portraits of the guys, there are [VAZ-21099] cars, which they rode. Though, considering the [lavish spirit] of those times, the guys could be buried right in these [”nine-nine” cars]. But they were probably too shy.
Well, in our remote lands, my dear, it was scary in those 90s - something happens and then it takes a month for the whole city to recover its senses. And here it all happens every day, so it's not scary. Recently, everyone was discussing a girl who wrote on her blog: “My classmate was killed today. Ah, but I bought myself…” Can't remember now what it was that she bought. Nail polish or something… They were right to criticize her. But if you think hard, it's totally possible to understand her, too.
So this is the way we live now. Lots and lots of work. But these aren't the times to complain about it. People are more likely to brag about it now. So I'll finish working around 9 PM, as usual, and will go home. I'd like to watch some kind and good movie tonight, to get myself distracted. I'm trying to decide between [The Omen] and [Hostel]. I guess I'll go for The Omen. We've got enough of blood here already, but there's a lack of the devilish stuff. Nothing but a gray routine.
Kisses to you, take care and don't worry. A.
Ukraine: Victor Yushchenko's Popularity Waning
According to a poll carried out last month, Ukraine's president Victor Yushchenko “would have won less than 2.9% of the vote if the presidential elections were held in late December 2008 or early January 2009.” Among reasons for such low approval ratings is “the relentless infighting” between the president and PM Yulia Tymoshenko.
On Feb. 5, Tymoshenko's cabinet survived a no-confidence vote in parliament: the motion won 203 votes in the 450-seat assembly; a minimum of 226 votes is required for a motion to pass. LEvko of Foreign Notes wrote this about the implications of the vote for the president and his political allies:
Only 10 [NUNS] deputies supported a [PoR]-sponsored no confidence motion in the Tymoshenko-led government in the Ukrainian parliament today. Amongst the 10 were presidential secretariat head Viktor Baloha's ‘Yedyniy Tsentr' group, and Yushchenko's brother Petro.
The numbers are very bad news for the president. The pro-presidential NUNS entered the current parliament with 72 deputies in Autumn 2007. With an ever-receding power base, the chances of a second presidential term for Yushchenko are almost nil. […]
Also on Feb. 5, LJ user kotyhoroshko wrote this (UKR) about the president:
A way out for the country
Yushchenko now has a historically ideal opportunity to resign.
His resignation will partly solve the political crisis.
He will avoid the unnecessary trouble related to the [upcoming presidential] election campaign.
He will not drown in the [fecal matter of discrediting information on him].
Perhaps, in some 20 years, he will be remembered as not the worst president. People's memory is short.
Below are some of the comments to this post (UKR):
marmuletka:
Unfortunately, Yushchenko isn't reading your LJ [blog].
***
ukrainietis:
He will be idolized again not in 20 years but in two or three years. Because those who will replace him will most likely be [extremely inadequate]…
***
gonchar73:
The problem is that Yushchenko's orbit is comprised of those who are profiteering from their proximity to the president. It's them who are holding him by the throat, singing panegyrics to him and are assuring him with foam at their mouths that [he] hasn't fulfilled his mission yet. And this is why Yushchenko's circle will not allow this to happen. But I agree - it's a very good time to at least declare this: “I'm not going to run for a second term and I will not create obstacles for the government until the end of this term. But from now on, all responsibility for the state of things is exclusively on [the government].”
***
irishhighlander:
The best option is this: let these non-traditionally gifted people collectively lead the country to default. And then leave. All of them - Yushchenko, and Tymoshenko, and [Yanukovych], and the whole [parliament]. And even better - a collective hara-kiri.
Links for Sun, 2009-02
LJ user sunlike77 writes about [RUS] rising tensions in Dagestan as violence and human rights' concerns increase, making it a major hotspot in the north Caucasus.
Russlandblog comments on [GER] deteriorating relations between Brussels and Moscow following Russia's war with Georgia and its gas crisis with Ukraine.
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