Magic Statistics

The Zimbabwe government is taking steps to implement the price rollback ordered earlier this week.  Ruling party thugs are encouraging recalcitrant shop owners to comply, and the government has launched a scheme to subsidise production of goods whose sale price is now controlled.  At the same time, retail sellers are protesting the price controls by removing goods from their shelves.  All in all, a complete—and entirely predictable—mess.

Zimbabweans are facing starvation as shop owners remove basic commodities from shop shelves ahead of police and soldiers' patrols to identify retailers who have defied government directives to reduce prices.

A survey conducted on Wednesday showed that most basic commodities were no longer available in shops as shop owners silently protested against the government directive.

Stores that complied with the rollback order were inundated with shoppers, so their shelves were cleared as well.

Public subsidies were necessitated because the controls cover only producers’ selling prices, not workers’ wages.  In order to keep producing companies afloat, the government has to underwrite wage payments.  Because the government has no funds available for this purpose, the financial support can only aggravate hyper-inflation.

The move however promises to plunge the economy deeper into crisis as the cash-strapped government will be forced to print money to finance the subsidies.
. . .
Government promised to sell flour to bakers at $10 million a tonne instead of the market price of $20 million while fuel will be supplied at $15 000 a litre instead of the prevailing market price of $150 000. All suppliers of basic commodities have also been assured of the cheap fuel.
. . .
Government has continued to scuttle the process of economic recovery. Its debt stands at over $2 trillion owing to huge borrowings to finance government departments and parastatals. The fiscal budget has become a dead letter owing to inflation.

Zimbabwe is becoming a cash-free society.  As soon as workers are paid, they rush to the banks to cash their cheques and then spend the cash as quickly as possible.  Here’s what can happen if you’re slow to get rid of Zimbabwean currency.

I popped out for a Z$25,000 loaf of bread last Friday. It had gone up to Z$30,000 dollars. I ran home for the extra, ran back to the shop - and the price of my loaf had risen to Z$44,000.

It’s easier and less aggravating simply to avoid holding that worthless paper.  More and more Zimbabweans are resorting to barter exchange at every opportunity.

Previous related posts:

• Price rollback ordered in Zimbabwe
• Can Zimbabwe’s economy get any worse? Just watch
• Zimbabwe’s latest dubious achievement: Hyperinflation
• More worthless Zimbabwean currency

Nigerian Pastor Nuhu Mamman was raised a Muslim but became a Christian as a young man.  His life has never been the same.  Rejected by his family, fiancée, and friends, he decided to attend Bible school, eventually earning a theology degree.  Several years later, he married a Christian woman.  As well, two of his brothers, influenced by his faithful perseverance, also embraced Christ.

Now he oversees a church with 16 pastors and over 2000 members.  He also serves as secretary of the Church Council of the Evangelical Church of West Africa in Kebbi state, a Muslim-majority state in northwestern Nigeria where Shariah law has been implemented.

Rev. Mamman, from the Hausa ethnic group of Kebbi state, says persecution of Christians is widespread in the state.

“In the northern part of Kebbi state, Christians face serious difficulties,” he told Compass. “We are always being forced to transfer former Muslims who have become Christians to other parts of this country in order to shield them from persecution.”

The church works hard to protect converts to Christianity from Muslim extremist attacks. After Adamu Muhammed, a Muslim from the town of Birnin Kebbi, became a Christian in 1997, Muslim radicals sought to kill him. As they hunted for him, Rev. Mamman said, the church moved him to Jos in central Nigeria, where he became a Bible student.

Many Muslim converts to Christianity must move to central or southern Nigeria for their personal safety.

Christians in Kebbi state face constant persecution from government officials, police, and the general populace.  Petty bureaucrats refuse to give permission for construction of church buildings.  Churches that are built anyway are liable to demolition as “illegal structures”.

Muslims sometimes rampage in anti-Christian riots in which churches are burned and believers attacked and killed.

Previous related posts:

• Nigerian Taliban
• Despite persecution, Nigerian church flourishes
• Nigerian Christian children kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the organisation representing Canadian Inuit people, declined to take part in today's Aboriginal Day of Action.  Likewise, neither the Nunavut government nor Nunavut Tunngavik, the organisation responsible for monitoring the Nunavut land claim, arranged any activities to celebrate the big day.

The Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation, based in Dawson, Yukon, observed the day by refusing to answer telephone calls from government offices.

Instead of setting up blockades, the First Nation's government office will be closed Friday, but only to federal and territorial government representatives whose phone calls will go unanswered, e-mails bounced back and mail left unopened.

Some wags may wonder how that’s different from any other working day (but I’m not going there).

Carcross (map at right) was the only Yukon settlement where any special activity was reported.  About 75 people marched through town and held a peaceful rally in front of the train station.

Previous related post: Nunavut facing crisis in Inuit education and employment

The Quebec Human Rights Commission reports that Inuit children living in Nunavik (northern Quebec) are “in constant crisis” because they do not have reliable access to needed social and health services.

More than half of Nunavik's children live in homes with an alcoholic or drug addict, and they are exposed to domestic violence at rates 10 times higher than the average Canadian population, conditions the report describes as disastrous.

But young people can't access help outside the home because services are overtaxed or don't exist, the report said.
. . .
Children have been referred to youth protection as often as 16 times, but have not received any followup, either because their parents wouldn't co-operate, or the child was related to workers at the agency, the report said.

Children and teens frequently develop drinking habits and drug addictions.  Cocaine and solvents are used by an estimated 10% of teens aged 15 to 19.

Previous related posts:

• Environmentalist power trip inflicts collateral damage on Inuit people
• Nunavut facing crisis in Inuit education and employment

The collect for today, the Feast Day of Saint Peter the Apostle, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

O Almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock; Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For the Epistle: Acts 12:1-11
The Gospel: St Matthew 16:13-19

Artwork: Masolini da Panicale, St Peter Preaching, 1426-27, fresco, Cappella Brancacci, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.