Breaking
Haiti’s Govt Suspends Controversial Fuel Price Hike After Violent Protests
Haiti’s Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant on Saturday announced the suspension “until further notice” of an unpopular fuel price hike that triggered violent protests in the Caribbean nation.
The capital Port-au-Prince and its environs had stood paralyzed since Friday afternoon, with major routes blocked by barricades, some made of burning tires, and some protesters even calling for a revolution in the impoverished country.
Just before the suspension was announced, the leader of Haiti’s lower house of parliament had threatened a government takeover if the fuel price increases were not reversed.
“If there is no response within two hours, the government will be considered as having resigned” and the legislature will take charge, Gary Bodeau, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, told AFP.
Lafontant then announced the suspension of the price hike decision on Twitter, writing that “violence and democracy are fundamentally incompatible.”
At least one person died in violence overnight Friday, and an AFP reporter heard the sound of sporadic gunfire in the capital. Shop and car windows in some affluent districts were broken.
Similar angry protests broke out in Cap-Haitien, the second-largest city, as well as in the communes of Les Cayes, Jacmel and Petit-Goave.
‘Do not destroy’
The troubles were sparked by a government announcement that gasoline prices would rise by 38 per cent, diesel by 47 per cent and kerosene by 51 per cent starting this weekend.
Many service stations suspended operations because station operators said they did not want to provide gas that could be used to set fires or to be targeted by demonstrators. Angry protesters reportedly tried to torch at least one station before police intervened.
The protests prompted several major airlines, including American, Air France, Delta, Jet Blue and Copa, to cancel flights to Port-au-Prince, at least through mid-day Saturday.
The demonstrations drew an impassioned plea by Lafontant for calm.
“I ask your patience because our administration has a vision, a clear program,” he said. “Do not destroy, because every time it’s Haiti that becomes poorer.”
“The country is under construction but if each time we destroy we will always lag behind.”
Haiti is still recovering from Hurricane Matthew which struck in 2016. Almost 40,000 people remain in makeshift camps after an earthquake killed more than 200,000 people eight years ago, and thousands of others have died from a years-long cholera epidemic.
On Friday night the bodyguard of an opposition-party politician died in an altercation with demonstrators in central Port-au-Prince as he attempted to force a passage through a roadblock. His body was then burned in the road.
Controversial subsidies
The national police director pleaded urgently for calm.
“We understand your right to protest,” said Michel-Ange Gedeon. “But we do not understand the violence.”
At least two police stations and several police vehicles have been burned.
A framework signed in February between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Haiti implied the ending of subsidies for petroleum products, which are a major source of the budget deficit.
But subsidies also help make fuel affordable in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, where most people live in extreme poverty, joblessness is widespread and the inflation rate has exceeded 13 per cent for the past three years.
Arguing in support of the higher fuel prices earlier in the day, Lafontant said that between 2010 and 2018, government fuel subsidies had cost $1 billion — an amount, he said, that “could have allowed us to build many kilometres (miles) of highway… many classrooms… many health clinics.”
Government officials also complain that the country has for years effectively been subsidizing people in the neighbouring Dominican Republic who drive across the border to take advantage of Haiti’s lower fuel prices.
Breaking
Senator Ifeanyi Ubah dies at 52
The Senator representing Anambra South in the National Assembly, Ifeanyi Ubah, is dead.
Ubah, who was the Chief Executive Officer of Capital Oil, was said to have died in a hotel in London, the United Kingdom, on Saturday.
He would have been 53 on September 3.
Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, confirmed Ubah’s death to our correspondent on Saturday.
He said, “It’s confirmed, but I am sending an official statement soon.”
Ubah, who was re-elected into the 10th Senate under the Young Peoples Party, had last year defected to the All Progressive Congress.
In September 2022, Ubah escaped assassination when he was attacked by gunmen on his way to Nnewi in Enugwu-Ukwu in Anambra State.
Breaking
JUST IN: Edo state Assembly impeaches Deputy Governor Shaibu
The Edo State House of Assembly, on Monday, impeached the state’s Deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu.
The impeachment followed the adoption of the report of the seven-man investigative panel set up by the Assembly to probe allegations of misconduct against Shaibu.
Breaking
JUST IN: Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun joins ancestors at 81
The Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun has joined his ancestors after a brief illness.
He joined his ancestors at the age of 81.
It was gathered that the late monarch was taken to the hospital Wednesday morning having stayed indoor throughout Tuesday on account of slight malaria fever, though, he was hail and hearty on Monday during which he personally received few guests that paid him congratulatory visits on his second year anniversary on that day.
Making this announcement was the Baba-Kekere Olubadan and his younger brother, Dr Kola Balogun in a statement by the Personal Assistant (Media) to the late monarch, Oladele Ogunsola.
According to the statement, Dr. Balogun disclosed that Oba Balogun would be buried at his Aliiwo ancestral home by 4.00pm on Friday according to Islamic rites just as he said that the State Governor Seyi Makinde, though already verbally informed, would be formally notified early in the morning.
The late Olubadan was the first most educated to have emerged as Ibadan monarch, a British trained P.hd holder, a former university lecturer, former member of management staff of Shell British Petroleum, former gubernatorial candidate of the defunct Nigeria People’s Party, NPP, former Senator and a successful business man.
His last official outing was the Olubadan Advisory Council’s meeting which he presided over last Saturday where the decision to derobed Mogaji Akinsola, Olawale Oladoja was taken.
He however, on Tuesday instructed the Ekerin Olubadan, Oba Hamidu Ajibade to midwife a small committee to deliberate on last Friday’s decision on what should be the position of Ibadan Zone in the proposed newly reconstituted Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs.
The decision of the small committee was earlier on Thursday ratified by the Olubadan Advisory Council at a meeting presided over by Otun Olubadan and the former governor of Oyo State, High Chief Rashidi Ladoja and was to be taken to the late Oba Balogun for his signature Friday morning so as to meet the deadline for submission to the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters later in the day.
The late Olubadan is survived by wives, children and grandchildren.
Announcing the passage of the monarch, Governor Makinde, in a statement, stated that Olubadan, who joined his ancestors late Thursday evening at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, described him as an epitome of royal excellence and a great achiever, who made great marks on Ibadanland in just a little over two years of his reign.
He expressed his condolences to the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland and Oyo State, praying to God to grant repose to the soul of the deceased monarch.
Makinde said: “With total submission to the will of God, I announce the passing unto glory of our father, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Dr. Mohood Lekan Balogun, Alli Okunmade II, the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland.
“A mighty Iroko has fallen; Oba Dr. Balogun has joined the ancestors.
“In Kabiyesi, Ibadanland had a cosmopolitan and well-experienced Olubadan, who made indelible marks on the sands of history and achieved greatly within a short while.
“On behalf of the Government and good People of Oyo State, I condole with the immediate family of the Oba Dr. Balogun, the Olubadan-in-Council, the Oyo State Traditional Council and the people of Ibadanland.
“It is my prayer that God grants repose to the soul of our late monarch.”
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