Procurement Monitoring A case study of the Nigerian procurement monitoring program and its portal and observatory Chibuzo Chiemela Ekwekwuo
Public procurement has largely been a public sector activity in Africa.
From a back room administrative function, it is however now being recognized
as a major multi stakeholder public function, with huge ramifications
on public service delivery and therefore on economic and social development.
The concept of having statute based citizens oversight of the procurement process
is very new in Africa. Perhaps Nigeria's public procurement
law is the first, if not the only one of
Was Hugo Chávez killed by weaponized cancer? Aspartame causes more Type II diabetes?
Check out this video from Alex Jones, and more food-for-thought from Jones's www.infowars.com
Act of sportsmanship: Iván Fernández Anaya
This Spanish runner proved to the world how winning is not the
ultimate goal of being a true person when he decided to lose his
race to Kenya athelete Abel Mutai. Read more from USA Today
Storyboard: Where stories get their shapes
Koreans slap Bill Gates for 'rude' handshake - unless this is a strange habit of Gates, it is otherwise intentional and veru rude, especially when the newly elected South Korea President Park Geun-hye is a female president too - ABC News (2013/04/23)
US President Barack Obama meets Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Oval Office. Photo: Prime Minister's Office, dated April 3, 2013.
Singapore PM draws laughs in US speech - PM (in an after-dinner speech to US businessmen): "Beijing residents joke that to get a free smoke all they have to do is open their windows" and "(in) Shanghai, if you want some pork soup, you just turn on the tap" - Boston Herald (2013/04/03)
Using Facebook during office hours 'form of corruption in Malaysia' - the government says it can be deemed a form of corruption as the Government trusts and pays its employees to fully utilise the working period to complete tasks relating to the respective jobscope - Indian Express (2013/01/07)
South Korea's 'battle of the singles' flooded by men - a highly-anticipated mass dating event organised on Facebook - fizzled out yesterday, with thousands of lovelorn men at the venue but few women in sight - News Australia (2012/12/25)
Real Gucci passing as bogus in Vietnam - turn bogus as they try to avoid the import fees by re-routing shipments through Hong Kong and passed off as Chinese fakes that worth less than $7, yet wouldn't be a problem if they had imported bogus brand-name goods into Vietnam through legal channels - Alaska Dispatch (2012/12/12)
KCNA: "Lair of King Tongmyong's unicorn reconfirmed in DPRK" - archaeologists of the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences have recently reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom (BC 277-AD 668) which proves that Pyongyang was a capital city of ancient Korea as well as Koguryo Kingdom - KCNA (2012/11/29)
China's passport maps spark Vietnam, Philippine protests - disputed South China Sea islands on maps printed inside new Chinese passports... but why did China not include islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by China and Japan? - BusinessWeek (2012/11/22)
Singapore reducing exam pressure on students - the annual ritual of hailing the top scorers in the media will no longer take place as the names of top scorers in national student examinations will no longer be published under a new policy - The Nation (2012/11/22)
- maybe Singapore could use some of France president Francois Hollande's idea one day: "Oh France: New socialist president wants to ban homework" - at least my students are happy with this - Cinema Blend (2012/10/18)
In India: "Textbook says meat-eaters lie and commit sex crimes" - the strongest argument that meat is not essential food is the fact that the Creator of this Universe did not include meat in the original diet for Adam and Eve as He gave them only fruits, nuts and vegetables - BBC (2012/11/16)
- it also says that the Arabs who helped in constructing the Suez Canal lived on wheat and dates and were superior to the beef-fed Englishmen engaged in the same work
In Dubai: "Guy Fawkes 'Vendetta' masks in UAE colours draw warning" - police in Dubai have warned against wearing a mask that symbolises opposition to state authority during any celebrations connected to National Day and declared it illegal - Gulf News (2012/11/17)
Gallup poll: Rural whites prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama - spoof poll: rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than U.S. president Barack Obama - The Onion (2012/09/24)
Romney vs. Obama: Whom to vote for? From a 'no-regret' perspective Raymond Cheng
Deciding on whom to vote for can be a real headache but definitely
not as disappointing as when you have to regret for choosing the wrong guy
over the next four years. People are keep telling you (and the media ads are bombarding you too)
as to whom you should vote for but no matter what and how compelling the reason(s) they may give,
they seem to care less about what is really going to happen after the election.
For me, I would like to know what people have really said several years
*after* they casted their votes in previous elections. There is just always too much information
*before* every election and too few when people eventually find themselves unhappy with their previous decisions.
So do people often regret picking the wrong guy? If so, what kind of people regretted and for what and why would they regret? Let's find out.
Click here to read the full story on how people regretted after U.S. presidential elections
When a linguist stumbled upon a Buttonwood A REVIEW ON AN ECONOMIST ARTICLE ENTITLED – "The demand for financial assets is not like the demand of iPods" Raymond Cheng
I stumbled upon this old Buttonwood article the other day and,
as a language and cultural briefing consultant, I just can't help
not sharing in here what I got after reading it. But before I start,
I need to make it very clear that I am not in anyway against anyone's
freedom of speech, freedom of press, or anything similar. What I
intend to do here is to share with you how the use of grammar in
the Buttonwood text had possibly helped or hindered the realization
and communication of meanings.
So let's start from the tiny little building blocks – the words.
Click here to read the full story on this Buttonwood article from the Economist
Anti-corruption in Nigeria An evaluation of strategies, legislations and systems Iliyasu Buba Gashinbaki
No one is sure when and where corruption first started in Nigeria. But Nigerian scholars
like B. C. Osisioma, Ejiofor, Chinu Achebe, and Wole Soyinka amongst host of others
had a consensus view that, the cradle of corruption in Nigeria was colonialism.....
To buttress this view, they argued that, in 1914 the British colonial
powers amalgamated vast territories of separate and distinct ethnic
Roald Amundsun leaves Spitsbergen with 2 seaplanes to North Pole Greyhound Bus Co begins in Minnesota 32nd Preakness: G Mountain aboard Don Enrique wins in 1:45.4 West Indian Company sells 1/3 of Suriname Portuguese admiral Da Nova discovers St Helena
A Hong Kong Review HOW WE FOUGHT CORRUPTION – Sustained anti-corruption strategy
in pre-1997 colonial Hong Kong, an alternate perspective Raymond Cheng
Over the years, Hong Kong has built up a clean culture and is recognized as one of the role
models for fighting corruption. Syndicated and petty corruption in the public sector has become a
thing of the past and irregularities in the private sector have been reduced substantially.
I shall review from a new strategic viewpoint the "passive commitments" of
the Hong Kong colonial government in terms of (a) the local economic and social statistics for a 25-year period spanning 1967 thru 1992 and
(b) the behavioral patterns and theories of people. Click here to read the full story on how Hong Kong fought its war against corruption
Contact the editor at raymond {dot} cheng {at} kellogg {dot} oxon {dot} org
Photo credits for top title bar, from left to right: Iza H (Work),
Lukasz Gumowski (Blue balls),
Marcin Bania (Smiling and naked),
Lautaro Gonda (Milan station),
Jan Abt (Girl taking a picture),
Daniel Tang (Hot switch),
Barbara Henry (Moriah reading),
Ralf Herrmann (Checkmate II),
Marko Roeper (Led #4),
Ian Russell (Girl in downtown LA).
Note: Animated GIF graphics and clipart obtained from
amazing-animations.com, gifs.net, findicons.com, clker.com and sevenoaksart.co.uk.
Sketches, cartoons and other handdrawings courtesy of Alice-the-Artist.
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For those you who don't have time
to read all our news excerpts about the Asian island
disputes (links above), you may find the following video,
"The economic impact of a war between Japan and China",
very enlightening.
Oh, please do not get me wrong.
This new section is not about computers, electronics or
any engineering stuff, but rather I am currently constructing
a new corpus based on Spectrum, the monthly publication
from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (USA),
from July 2007 to date. Having been a member for the
last 20 years (since 1992), I am always fascinated by
some of the terms scientists use when they talk about or
envision their new inventions or methodologies. How many of
them eventually come into practice? Could there be
some insights we could possibly derive, from
the linguistics perspective?
IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
This website is published and designed by Raymond Cheng, PhD DPA
and reflects only and only his personal views and opinions in his
individual capacity. It does not represent the views and opinions
of his firm, employer(s), clients, or anyone else, and is not in
any way sponsored or endorsed by any other thrid parties.
Click here to read my full disclaimer
• 
6:54pm
Hongkong Time
the many procurement laws passed by African countries
in the last decade that took the bold step of requiring mandatory citizens
observation of the public procurement process.
When a linguist stumbled upon a Buttonwood
nationalities, kingdoms and caliphates, which
have diverse cultural, religious and social values into one single corporate entity called Nigeria.
Pakistan
Indonesia
Russian Federation
India
Switzerland
Cuba
Afghanistan
Ethiopia
China
Congo
United States
Hong Kong
Others •
BY DATE & OCCURENCE
More from Amnesty International
• Free Pussy Riot
This website is published and designed by Raymond Cheng, PhD DPA
and reflects only and only his personal views and opinions in his
individual capacity. It does not represent the views and opinions
of his firm, employer(s), clients, or anyone else, and is not in
any way sponsored or endorsed by any other thrid parties.
Click here to read my full disclaimer
I am honored
to have obtained Professor Sidney Gluck's (right) permission
to allow me to repost here some of his work and interview
related to China and socialism.
Professor Gluck is professor emertius at the New School University in New York.
A classical Marxist, Gluck has been studying China for 60 years
in history and modern development. He has lectured all over
the U.S. and still welcomes engagement at the age of 94 – photo © Sandi Bachom
