The second coming of Leterme as Belgium`s premier

Yves Leterme, Belgium's former prime minister, who is now deputy secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)



On Wednesday, 25 November 2009, Belgium named the controversial Dutch-speaking conservative Yves Leterme as its prime minister, succeeding Herman Van Rompuy, who resigned to become the European Union's first president.


The 49-year-old Mr. Leterme, although he is held unpopular by many people in the French-speaking colony, got the job because he is the most popular politician in Belgium's majority party, the Flemish-speaking Christian Democrats.

Although Belgium is a relatively small country with 6 million Dutch speakers, 4 million French speakers, and 70 thousand German speakers, it is a country difficult to be governed because the people are not one. 

This has caused much distress in the country in terms of politics, employment, and distribution of resources.

Leterme, as an intelligent politician, must be aware that a strong economy is not built on sand. His second coming to most Belgians does not mean anything, but what he is coming to do is what matters. 

He has a big responsibility on his shoulders by creating more jobs for the Belgians because Belgium lacks jobs. Even before the severe economic recession hit America and Europe, Belgium was one of the leading Western European countries with few job opportunities. 

However, comparing the country to other European countries, Belgium is one of the best countries to live in Europe in terms of the cost of living. Astonishingly, employers pay very well.

Another crisis that Leterme has to pay particular attention to is resolving internal tensions over how much autonomy to grant to the three regions of Wallonia, Brussels, and Flanders. 

Dutch-speaking Flanders wants to avoid paying taxes that fund the poorer region of French-speaking Wallonia and seeks to expand its administrative powers. 

But it has so far fallen short of demanding full independence, mostly for fear of losing its shared political control of Brussels, a majority French-speaking city located within Flanders.

The Belgians are watching him to tackle what they called (aggressive issues) affecting and dividing the country; else his second coming would be seen as meaningless.

TRADITIONAL VALUES ARE DOING MORE HARM TO AFRICA THAN GOOD

Culture of disgrace in Africa


Some traditional values, such as female circumcision, polygamy, and other outdated customs handed over by ancestors to tribes, are doing more harm to Africa than good. 


Female circumcision has caused more health hazards to females than ever imagined, but this old tradition of female genital mutilation is still widely practiced in many African countries.

Polygamy in royal households in Africa is another factor draining some of the African countries' financial resources. A couple of months ago, King Mswati III of Swaziland caused public outrage by sending his favorite wives on a globe-trotting shopping spree. 

The royal ruler, despite the poverty of his people, used 7 million dollars of state money to send five of his thirteen wives and dozens of their aides to France, Italy, Dubai, and Taiwan on a secret shopping trip.

The Swaziland people are suffering, but they are smiling, even though it is a criminal offense to criticize the king's private life in their country. Campaigners have reacted angrily against the British government, which gives aid totaling 65 million pounds to the African country. Swaziland also receives about 235 million dollars from the US.

The king of Swaziland has a personal fortune of $240 million and also receives money from the national budget for the upkeep of his family, yet more than two-thirds of the country's 1.2 million population survives on less than fifty cents per day, and more than a quarter of the adult population suffers from HIV.

In a country like Swaziland, where education and health should be priorities, he spent $5 million on 20 armored Mercedes-Benz cars. A journalist from the Swaziland Solidarity Network told the British Times newspaper. 

"They shout about Zimbabwe, but they keep quiet about what is happening in Swaziland, even though they are one of its biggest aid donors. They are wasting British taxpayers' money on this tyrant."

Men and women, which of them are the most faithful and sincere?

A cheating man caught red-handed


I write about many interesting issues, but I have never thought of writing about gender faithfulness or unfaithfulness to each other, when one day, someone asked me, "Why do most men die and leave behind their wives?" 

I couldn`t find an answer to her question, then, without a thought, I said, "Because most men are unfaithful to their partners." I was surprised she was satisfied with my answer.

But is it very true that men fall short when it comes to dishonesty? Well, many men lie and cheat on their partners, but also women. 

Most men cheat on their wives and girlfriends for several reasons, including lack of sexual satisfaction, biological problems that the woman is not aware of, but of which the man cannot speak. But with women? I keep on asking myself, "Why do they often cheat on their men?"

Are they also looking for sexual satisfaction or money? On Monday, 28 September 2009, whilst waiting at London`s Victoria Coach Station to join my bus to Dorset, a sad story caught my attention in an entertainment newspaper called "London Lite." 

The story was about a woman who was allegedly strangled by her own husband after discovering that she was having an affair with another man.

The husband, after having enough evidence, including a secret taping of 127 hours of his wife's conversations with her lover, confronted his wife, who asked for a divorce. To me, that was a very good wife. 

She did not deny her unfaithfulness but quickly asked for a divorce of which her man should have accepted the request and given her freedom.

Instead, he did the most stupid thing a man could do. Fearing the loss of his home, two children, and fortune, the jealous husband chose to kill his wife, pretending he did not know of her death. 

The court heard of his wife`s previous adulterous adventures. Marriage always turns to a different angle of diverse problems when there isn`t any transparency, honesty, and faithfulness.

Even though I know that most men die leaving their partners, I can`t really say it is because of their unfaithfulness to their partners, since women also cheat on their husbands. But it is a fact that a greater percentage of men cheat on their wives than women.