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Foreign Exchange Reserves: Bank of Botswana Should Cast Investment Net Wider

If there is one boast of which our government repeatedly touts itself, it is that it has the gift of prudential management of national resources, as though that is unique to it as a Third World economy.

We hear this refrain time and again, with even highly impressionable pundits from outside the country weighing in too, and it has now become kind of trite.

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In truth, however, the claim is a stretch and this is my raison de tre: between 1983 and 2012, government netted $334 billion of inflation-adjusted mineral revenues. Of this, it was able to save a measly $3 billion when our Exchequer teemed with economists flaunting a chain of degrees from Ivy League universities.

This was the lament of Dr Keith Jefferis, then and now the countrys most esteemed economist, way back in 2013 in this regard: It seems unsatisfactory that after 40 years of mineral-led growth, virtually none of the fiscal revenues derived from mining have been saved in the form of financial assets.

As of June 2020, Botswanas foreign exchange reserves stood at $7.4 billion. At precisely the same time, Singapores figure was $321 billion, the UAEs (of which Dubai is part) $96.4 billion, South Koreas $416 billion, and Taiwans $490 billion. All these, mark you, are countries whose rate of economic growth Botswana outpaced by 3 percent over a 30-year period from the mid-60s through the mid-90s!

Just where did the likes of Quett Masire, Festus Mogae, and Baledzi Gaolathe, the kitty minders who took turns to hold the national purse strings in the first 43 years of our independence, go wrong? And how can whatever wrong it was be righted however belated that is?

OUR OPAQUE SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND

As with 43 other countries, Botswana has something of a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), an international asset investment vehicle. It is called the Pula Fund, which was established in 1994. The Pula Fund houses Botswanas foreign exchange reserves, with its surpluses transferred to the Government Investment Account (GIA).

At the last count, about 26 percent of the Pula Fund resided in the GIA the portion of reserves that truly belong to government, bearing in mind that the private sector has the bulkier claim to the Pula Fund.

The Pula Fund management is split evenly between the Bank of Botswana and reportedly nine overseas-based fund managers. Curiously, these outsourced fund managers are known only within the four walls of the Central Bank. Only one, the Banks portfolio consultant going by the name Lane Clarke & Peacock, has been made known to us.

The nation has no idea as to the extent to which these faceless contracted fund managers adhere to international benchmarks and whether they do indeed live up to their billing as fundis in the art of delivering value for clientele assets.

Whereas we would like to be apprised on their specific mandates, the particular sums they have been entrusted with, and what standards exactly they are subject to, the Bank of Botswana is tight-lipped on the matter when it is not the owner of the funds per se but our steward as the ultimate stakeholders.

It is no secret that the Pula Fund has now and again been panned by international fund management watchdogs as suspiciously shut to public scrutiny. As the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investment once put it, it is too opaque to study comprehensively, raising serious questions about how this money is being used (or misused).

As recently as 2016, the Peterson Institute for International Economics gave Botswana a score of 59 on SWF transparency, when the likes of Norway and Chile notched up 90 and above, Nigeria and Singapore were on 76, and Angola at 67. What on earth is Bank of Botswana trying to hide I wonder?

If Botswana is a signatory to the Santiago Principles, a set of voluntary good governance guidelines for SWFs, then it behoves the Central Bank to allow for unfettered examination of the Pula Fund and not merely allow little more than a peek as has been the case to date.

CHILES OPEN-BOOK SWF MANAGEMENT

Chile and Norway are two countries whose practically impeccable management of SWFs has been lauded by the international community, including the finical, hard-to-please IMF.

Chiles finance ministry sees to it that it publishes detailed monthly and quarterly reports on the performance of its two SWFs, the Pension Reserve Fund (worth $11 billion as of July 2020) and the Economic and Social Stabilisation Fund (worth $8 billion as of the same date), in relation to international benchmarks size and portfolio composition of the return on the investments, financial market developments, etc.

The use to which the SWFs are put are also set down extensively in the annual Budget speech. Furthermore, the finance ministry, Central Bank, and Financial Advisory Committees thrash out strategies relating to the SWFs out in the open and not behind closed doors.

In Chile, both the management and operationalisation of SWFs are an open book: there is no ambiguity about or prevarication on how the SWFs are handled and orientated as the prescribed mechanisms are rule- or law-based. For instance, here in Botswana, in 2012 government effected a P21 billion draw-down from the Pula Fund to cater to fiscal shortfalls under a thick, velvet cloak of utter secrecy.

It was not until a year or two along the road that the nation was finally made aware of this humongous chunk of a transaction. When Chile did something similar in the tumultuous 2008/09 financial year, the move was not made arbitrarily and behind the drapes but was sanctioned by a parliamentary vote in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Law live on national television.

Of Chiles probity in SWF management, this is what the IMF has to say: Chiles SWFs are being managed transparently and the government is committed to best practice in this area. Our own government must not simply drool at this Latin American Tiger-like economy: it must move to emulate it warts and all.

YOUVE GOT TO HAND IT TO THAT SCANDINAVIAN LEADING LIGHT!

Yet if theres such a thing as the doyen of SWFs, it is Norway. Snappily titled the Government Pension Fund Global, Norways SWF, alternatively known as the Oil Fund, now sits at $1.1 trillion, the largest on the globe. It actually grows exponentially, rising by a staggering $180 billion in 2019 alone, the greatest surge in value in a single year since the Funds history.

The Funds growth in fact surpassed its benchmark index by far. Of course it did suffer a $21 billion dent in the first half of this year, occasioned in the climate of the ripple effects of COVID-19, but that is an aberration.

A Bloomberg report gushed thus about Norways SWF: Last years return on investment amounted to almost $34,000 for each of the 5.3 million people living in Norway, and the overall value of the Fund is now equivalent to about $207,000 for every man, woman and child.

The Oil Fund was necessitated by Norways fortuitous discovery of North Sea gas and oil all the more reason it is so-called in 1969. Be that as it may, it took more than 20 years of bureaucratic soul-searching and brain-storming before the relevant law was enacted in 1990 and a further 6 years before the Fund was kick-started in 1996.

The objective of the Fund was to give the government room for manoeuvre in fiscal policy should oil prices drop or the mainland economy contract. In the words of Norges Bank, the aim of the Oil Fund is to ensure responsible and long-term management of revenue from Norways oil and gas resources in the North Sea so that this wealth benefits both current and future generations.

With a land area of about 324,000 km2, the coastal country is roughly half the size of Botswana. But economic parallels abound: Norway is as mountainous as Botswana is semi-arid, and with low temperatures and a unforgivingly brief crop-growing season, Norway like Botswana is dependent on food imports, its agricultural area accounting for only 3.5 percent of the total surface, only marginally less than Botswanas meagre 5 percent of arable land.

For some 25 years or so, Norways principal economic lifeline was a natural resource, oil, just as Botswana has relied on diamond revenues for much of the post-independence period. The SWF initiative was therefore some game-changer.

Norways lavish Oil Fund fortunes stand in stark contrast to the comparatively modest liquidity position of the UK, who passed up a golden opportunity to nurture a SWF. According to a report from the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice, the UKs North Sea oil raised 166 billion in taxes between 1980 and 1990.

Had the revenues from North Sea oil been invested in a Sovereign Wealth Fund in the 1980s, as happened in Norway, such a Fund would have been worth over 500 billion today, the report stated.

As it was, instead of establishing a SWF, revving up on investment, curtailing national debt, or paring down liabilities all of which would have turbo-boosted public wealth the UK used part of its tax windfall to fund the reduction of non-oil taxes. In other words, it opted for splashing on recurrent expenditure instead of the more efficacious development expenditure.

Our own reserves too have essentially remained stunted. They have averaged $7 billion over the last decade, as if that is their maximum potential. Needless to say, it is high time Bank of Botswana cracked the whip on some, if not all, of its international fund managers if it has not done that already.

After all, our money is invested in 14 of the 21 eligible markets and they include the UK, the US, and Japan three of the highly industrialised G7 countries.

HOW THE NORWEGIAN CENTRAL BANK INVESTS AND SPENDS OF ITS SWF

Like the Pula Fund, the Norwegian Oil Fund is managed by the investment wing of Norges Bank, the countrys central bank, in concert with world-renowned portfolio managers. The latter are ABN AMRO Asset Management in London, Goldman Sachs Asset Management in New York, and the Bankers Trust Company of California, all of whom are known to the Norwegian public.

Each of these was given a specified molehill sum (only 150 million Germany Deutsche Marks for AMRO and $100 million for Goldman Sachs, not billions) to transform into a mountain and a specific mandate.

Moreover, Norges bank spelt out to the external managers that the purpose of bringing them on board was primarily to establish a cooperation that would entail the transfer of expertise to Norges Bank in the long-term whilst at the same time providing a better and clear-cut basis for comparison with Norges Bank’s own Fund management paradigm. This is very much unlike Bank of Botswana, whose approach to the Pula Funds management is something of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma!

The enormous dollar-denominated cash pile now parked in the Oil Fund is more than ample evidence that both Norges Bank and its asset management allies have done a splendid job. The Fund is now three times Norways annual GDP and underpins vital funding for the countrys extensive welfare state.

Since 1998, it has generated an annual return of 5.8 percent. Although revenue from oil and gas production continues to be deposited into the Fund, these ongoing transfers account for only about a third of the value of the Fund.

The Fund has fattened on investments in a dizzying array of equities, which constitute 65 percent of the sum total of assets; bonds; and real estate across the globe, including British banks and jet-set Parisian properties. It owns at least 1.5 percent of the shares in the worlds listed companies, among whom are Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp, who contributed the most to the Funds return in 2019, followed by Nestle SA. Plans are already afoot to invest 1.3 percent of the Oil Fund in unlisted companies, just like Saudi Arabia and Singapore have already done.

Norges Bank unpacks more on this high-value investment spree in these words: We have holdings in around 9,000 companies worldwide, entitling us to a small share of their profits each year.

In addition, the Fund owns hundreds of buildings in some of the worlds leading cities, which generate rental income for us. The Fund also receives a steady flow of income from lending to countries and companies. By spreading our investments widely, we reduce the risk of the Fund losing money.

The Oil Funds monies are used frugally and sparingly, strictly in line with the laid down rules. Each year, the Norwegian government uses a portion of the Fund equivalent to no more than 20 percent of the government budget to cover arising deficits whilst replenishing it with budget surpluses when they occur.

We do not spend more than the expected return on the Fund, says Norges Bank on its website. On average, the government is to spend only the equivalent of the real return on the Fund, which is estimated to be around 3 percent per year Only the return on the Fund is spent, and not the Funds capital.

One hopes our Monetary Authorities are listening.

WAY AHEAD FOR THE PULA FUND

In these highly volatile and hectic economic times, the Pula Fund, when invested responsibly, skilfully, and proficiently can be a gilt-edged insurance. It can impregnably shield the economy from the now endemic ups and downs in diamond revenues, witness what has happened to Norway in light of the disruptively depressed oil prices of recent months.

A SWF not only serves as a financial reserve but is a long-term savings plan, so that both current and future generations can benefit from it. Crucially, we will always have an aging population of which I too I am at any given point in time and these need to be reasonably taken care of. Needless to say, the Monetary Authorities should always think long-term if they are to safeguard and even fortify our perennially fragile economy.

Our economic situation at this juncture is alarming. Our projected Budget deficit is already heading north of P10 billion, which is over 5 percent of GDP. We already are in breach of the 4 percent-of-GDP deficit threshold. We are now more than half way through NDP 11 (which runs from April 2017 to March 2023) and there is still over P40 billion to spend as per the Plans imperatives. We will probably need a miracle to make good on the Plans provisos.

As I write, our fiscal predicament is such that our otherwise inspiring and inspiriting national financial manager, Dr Thapelo Matsheka, has bid President Masisi to give him the green light to double the domestic borrowing limit from P15 billion to P30 billion, a much cheaper and less strenuous option compared to propositioning the Bretton Woods institutions, which effectively amounts to selling the national soul.

All this would have been utterly unnecessary had the Pula Fund been invested prolifically and far-sightedly. In any case, since desperate situations call for desperate measures, you can count on government raiding the GIA coffers further despite its expressed stance that it does not intend doing so for the foreseeable future.

To cut a long story short, the Central Bank should jack up its boots and set about revolutionising the propagation of the foreign exchange reserves seed. If for one reason or the other it is not up to the task, a dedicated government-owned company should be established and mandated to so invest our reserves that they multiply by geometrical progression.

Singapore did this in 1981, when it created GIC, which today manages assets worth $360 billion and has offices in Beijing, London, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, So Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo.

Otherwise, Bank of Botswana should pay urgent heed to the recommendations of the Revenue Watch Institute, which I outline below thus:

  • Set clear Pula Fund objectives which have to be adhered to through thick and thin;
  • Establish cast-in-stone fiscal rules for deposit and withdrawal;
  • Establish investment rules which delineate what proportion of the Fund should be invested and in what securities;
  • State and clarify the division of responsibilities between the Central Bank and the outsourced fund managers;
  • Do regular and extensive disclosures of key information and audits; and
  • Establish strong independent oversight bodies (with sharper teeth than the basically toothless and even tootless NBFIRA) to monitor the Funds behaviour and enforce the rules.

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GONE FISHING

28th March 2023

In recent years, using personal devices in working environments has become so commonplace it now has its own acronym, BOYD (Bring Your Own Device).  But as employees skip between corporate tools and personal applications on their own devices, their actions introduce a number of possible risks that should be managed and mitigated with careful consideration.  Consider these examples:

Si-lwli, a small family-run business in Wales, is arguably as niche a company as you could find, producing talking toys used to promote the Welsh language. Their potential market is small, with only some 300,000 Welsh language speakers in the world and in reality the business is really more of a hobby for the husband-and-wife team, who both still have day jobs.  Yet, despite still managing to be successful in terms of sales, the business is now fighting for survival after recently falling prey to cybercriminals. Emails between Si-Iwli and their Chinese suppliers were intercepted by hackers who altered the banking details in the correspondence, causing Si-Iwli to hand over £18,000 (around P ¼ m) to the thieves. That might not sound much to a large enterprise, but to a small or medium business it can be devastating.

Another recent SMB hacking story which appeared in the Wall Street Journal concerned Innovative Higher Ed Consulting (IHED) Inc, a small New York start-up with a handful of employees. IHED didn’t even have a website, but fraudsters were able to run stolen credit card numbers through the company’s payment system and reverse the charges to the tune of $27,000, around the same loss faced by Si-Iwli.  As the WSJ put it, the hackers completely destroyed the company, forcing its owners to fold.

And in May 2019, the city of Baltimore’s computer system was hit by a ransomware attack, with hackers using a variant called RobinHood. The hack, which has lasted more than a month, paralysed the computer system for city employees, with the hackers demanding a payment in Bitcoin to give access back to the city.

Of course, hackers target governments or business giants  but small and medium businesses are certainly not immune. In fact, 67% of SMBs reported that they had experienced a cyber attack across a period of 12 months, according to a 2018 survey carried out by security research firm Ponemon Institute. Additionally, Verizon issued a report in May 2019 that small businesses accounted for 43% of its reported data breaches.  Once seen as less vulnerable than PCs, smartphone attacks are on the rise, with movements like the Dark Caracal spyware campaign underlining the allure of mobile devices to hackers. Last year, the US Federal Trade Commission released a statement calling for greater education on mobile security, coming at a time when around 42% of all Android devices are believed to not carry the latest security updates.

This is an era when employees increasingly use their smartphones for work-related purposes so is your business doing enough to protect against data breaches on their employees’ phones? The SME Cyber Crime Survey 2018 carried out for risk management specialists AON showed that more than 80% of small businesses did not view this as a threat yet if as shown, 67% of SMBs were said to have been victims of hacking, either the stats are wrong or business owners are underestimating their vulnerability.  A 2019 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests the latter, stating that the majority of global businesses are unprepared for cyber attacks.

Consider that a workstation no longer means a desk in an office: It can be a phone in the back of a taxi or Uber; a laptop in a coffee shop, or a tablet in an airport lounge.  Wherever the device is used, employees can potentially install applications that could be harmful to your business, even from something as seemingly insignificant as clicking on an accidental download or opening a link on a phishing email.  Out of the physical workplace, your employees’ activities might not have the same protections as they would on a company-monitored PC.

Yet many businesses not only encourage their employees to work remotely, but assume working from coffee shops, bookstores, and airports can boost employees’ productivity.  Unfortunately, many remote hot spots do not provide secure Wi-Fi so if your employee is accessing their work account on unsecured public Wi-Fi,  sensitive business data could be at risk. Furthermore, even if your employee uses a company smartphone or has access to company data through a personal mobile device, there is always a chance data could be in jeopardy with a lost or stolen device, even information as basic as clients’ addresses and phone numbers.

BOYDs are also at risk from malware designed to harm and infect the host system, transmittable to smartphones when downloading malicious third-party apps.  Then there is ransomware, a type of malware used by hackers to specifically take control of a system’s data, blocking access or threatening to release sensitive information unless a ransom is paid such as the one which affected Baltimore.  Ransomware attacks are on the increase,  predicted to occur every 14 seconds, potentially costing billions of dollars per year.

Lastly there is phishing – the cyber equivalent of the metaphorical fishing exercise –  whereby  cybercriminals attempt to obtain sensitive data –usernames, passwords, credit card details –usually through a phoney email designed to look legitimate which directs the user to a fraudulent website or requests the data be emailed back directly. Most of us like to think we could recognize a phishing email when we see it, but these emails have become more sophisticated and can come through other forms of communication such as messaging apps.

Bottom line is to be aware of the potential problems with BOYDs and if in doubt,  consult your IT security consultants.  You can’t put the own-device genie back in the bottle but you can make data protection one of your three wishes!

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“I Propose to Diana Tonight”

28th March 2023

About five days before Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed landed in Paris, General Atiku, a certain Edward Williams was taking a walk in a woods in the Welsh town of Mountain Ash. Williams, then 73, was a psychic of some renown. He had in the past foretold assassination attempts on US President Ronald Reagan, which occurred on March 30, 1981, and Pope John Paul II, which came to pass on May 13, 1981.

As he trudged the woods, Williams  had a sudden premonition that pointed to Diana’s imminent fate as per Christopher Andersen’s book The Day Diana Died. “When the vision struck me, it was as if everything around me was obscured and replaced by shadowy figures,” Williams was later to reminisce. “In the middle was the face of Princess Diana. Her expression was sad and full of pathos. She was wearing what looked like a floral dress with a short dark cardigan. But it was vague. I went cold with fear and knew it was a sign that she was in danger.”

Williams hastily beat a retreat to his home, which he shared with his wife Mary, and related to her his presentiment, trembling like an aspen leaf as he did so. “I have never seen him so upset,” Mary recounted. “He felt he was given a sign and when he came back from his walk he was deeply shaken.”

The following day, Williams frantically sauntered into a police station to inform the police of his premonition. The officer who attended to him would have dismissed him as no more than a crackpot but he treated him seriously in view of the accuracy of his past predictions. He  took a statement and immediately passed it on to the Special Branch Investigative  Unit.

The report read as follows:

“On 27 August, at 14:12 hrs, a man by the name of Edward Williams came to Mountain Ash police station. He said he was a psychic and predicted that Princess Diana was going to die. In previous years, he has predicted that the Pope and Ronald Reagan were going to be the victims of assassination attempts. On both occasions he was proved to be correct. Mr Williams appeared to be quite normal.”

Williams, General, was spot-on as usual: four days later, the princess was no more.

Meanwhile, General,  even as Dodi and Diana were making their way to the Fayed-owned Ritz Hotel in central Paris, British newspapers were awash with headlines that suggested Diana was kind of deranged. Writes Andrew Morton in Diana in Pursuit of Love: “In The Independent Diana was described as ‘a woman with fundamentally nothing to say about anything’. She was ‘suffering from a form of arrested development’. ‘Isn’t it time she started using her head?’ asked The Mail on Sunday. The Sunday Mirror printed a special supplement entitled ‘A Story of Love’; The News of the World claimed that William had demanded that Diana should split from Dodi: ‘William can’t help it, he just doesn’t like the man.’ William was reportedly ‘horrified’ and ‘doesn’t think Mr Fayed is good for his mother’ – or was that just the press projecting their own prejudices? The upmarket Sunday Times newspaper, which had first serialised my biography of the princess, now put her in the psychiatrist’s chair for daring to be wooed by a Muslim. The pop-psychologist Oliver James put Diana ‘On the Couch’, asking why she was so ‘depressed’ and desperate for love. Other tabloids piled in with dire prognostications – about Prince Philip’s hostility to the relationship, Diana’s prospect of exile, and the social ostracism she would face if she married Dodi.”

DIANA AND DODI AT THE RITZ

Before Diana and Dodi departed the Villa Windsor sometime after 16 hrs, General, one of Dodi’s bodyguards Trevor Rees-Jones furtively asked Diana as to what the programme for the evening was. This Trevor did out of sheer desperation as Dodi had ceased and desisted from telling members of his security detail, let alone anyone else for that matter, what his onward destination was for fear that that piece of information would be passed on to the paparazzi. Diana kindly obliged Trevor though her response was terse and scarcely revealing. “Well, eventually we will be going out to a restaurant”, that was all Diana said. Without advance knowledge of exactly what restaurant that was, Trevor and his colleagues’ hands were tied: they could not do a recce on it as was standard practice for the security team of a VIP principal.  Dodi certainly, General, was being recklessly by throwing such caution to the winds.

At about 16:30, Diana and Dodi drew up at the Ritz Hotel, where they were received by acting hotel manager Claude Roulet.  The front entrance of the hotel was already crawling with paparazzi, as a result of which the couple took the precaution of using the rear entrance, where hopefully they would make their entry unperturbed and unmolested. The first thing they did when they were ensconced in the now $10,000 a night Imperial Suite was to spend some time on their mobiles and set about touching base with friends, relations, and associates.  Diana called at least two people, her clairvoyant friend Rita Rogers and her favourite journalist Richard Kay of The Daily Mail.

Rita, General,  was alarmed that Diana had proceeded to venture to Paris notwithstanding the warning she had given Dodi and herself in relation to what she had seen of him  in the crystal ball when the couple had consulted her. When quizzed as to what the hell she indeed was doing in Paris at that juncture, Diana replied that she and Dodi had simply come to do some shopping, which though partially true was not the material reason they were there. “But Diana, remember what I told Dodi,” Rita said somewhat reprovingly. Diana a bit apprehensively replied, “Yes I remember. I will be careful. I promise.” Well,  she did not live up to her promise as we shall soon unpack General.

As for Richard Kay, Diana made known to him that, “I have decided I am going to radically change my life. I am going to complete my obligations to charities and to the anti-personnel land mines cause, but in November I want to completely withdraw from formal public life.”

Once she was done with her round of calls, Diana went down to the hair saloon by the hotel swimming pool to have her hair washed and blow-dried ahead of the scheduled evening dinner.

THE “TELL ME YES” RING IS DELIVERED

Since the main object of their Paris trip was to pick up the “Tell Me Yes” engagement ring  Dodi had ordered in Monte Carlo a week earlier, Dodi decided to check on Repossi Jewellery, which was right within the Ritz prencincts, known as the Place Vendome.  It could have taken less than a minute for Dodi to get to the store on foot but he decided to use a car to outsmart the paparazzi invasion. He was driven there by Trevor Rees-Jones, with Alexander Kez Wingfield and Claude Roulet following on foot, though he entered the shop alone.

The Repossi store had closed for the holiday season but Alberto Repossi, accompanied by his wife and brother-in-law,  had decided to travel all the way from his home in Monaco  and momentarily open it for the sake of the potentially highly lucrative  Dodi transaction.  Alberto, however, disappointed Dodi as the ring he had chosen was not the one  he produced. The one he showed Dodi was pricier and perhaps more exquisite but Dodi  was adamant that he wanted the exact one he had ordered as that was what Diana herself had picked. It was a ploy  on the part of Repossi to make a real killing on the sale, his excuse to that effect being that Diana deserved a ring tha was well worthy of her social pedigree.  With Dodi having expressed disaffection, Repossi rendered his apologies and assured Dodi he would make the right ring available shortly, whereupon Dodi repaired back to the hotel to await its delivery. But Dodi  did insist nonetheless that the pricier ring be delivered too in case it appealed to Diana anyway.

Repossi delivered the two rings an hour later. They were collected by Roulet. On inspecting them, Dodi chose the very one he had seen in Monte Carlo, apparently at the insistence of Diana.  There is a possibility that Diana, who was very much aware of her public image and was not comfortable with ostentatious displays of wealth, may have deliberately shown an interest in a less expensive engagement ring. It  may have been a purely romantic as opposed to a prestigious  choice for her.

The value of the ring, which was found on a wardrobe shelf in Dodi’s apartment after the crash,  has been estimated to be between $20,000 and $250,000 as Repossi has always refused to be drawn into revealing how much Dodi paid for it. The sum, which enjoyed a 25 percent discount, was in truth paid for not by Dodi himself but by his father as was the usual practice.

Dodi was also shown Repossi’s sketches for a bracelet, a watch, and earrings which he proposed to create if Diana approved of them.

DIANA AND DODI GUSH OVER IMMINENT NUPTIALS

At about 7 pm,  Dodi and Diana left the Ritz and headed for Dodi’s apartment at a place known as the Arc de Trompe. They went there to properly tog themselves out for the scheduled evening dinner. They spent two hours at the luxurious apartment. As usual, the ubiquitous paparazzi were patiently waiting for them there.

As they lingered in the apartment, Dodi beckoned over to his butler Rene Delorm  and showed him  the engagement ring. “Dodi came into my kitchen,” Delorm relates. “He looked into the hallway to check that Diana couldn’t hear and reached into his pocket and pulled out the box … He said, ‘Rene, I’m going to propose to the princess tonight. Make sure that we have champagne on ice when we come back from dinner’.” Rene described the ring as “a spectacular diamond encrusted ring, a massive emerald surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, set on a yellow and white gold band sitting in a small light-grey velvet box”.

Just before 9 pm, Dodi called the brother of his step-father, Hassan Yassen, who also was staying at the Ritz  that night, and told him that he hoped to get married to Diana by the end of the year.

Later that same evening, both Dodi and Diana would talk to Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi’s dad, and make known to him their pre-nuptial intentions. “They called me and said we’re coming back  (to London) on Sunday (August 31) and on Monday (September 1) they are

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RAMADAN – The Blessed Month of Fasting

28th March 2023

Ramadan is the fasting month for Muslims, where over one billion Muslims throughout the world fast from dawn to sunset, and pray additional prayers at night. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to Allah, and self-control. It is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. As you read this Muslims the world over have already begun fasting as the month of Ramadan has commenced (depending on the sighting of the new moon).

‘The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur’an was revealed as guidance for people, in it are clear signs of guidance and Criterion, therefore whoever of you who witnesses this month, it is obligatory on him to fast it. But whoever is ill or traveling let him fast the same number of other days, God desires ease for you and not hardship, and He desires that you complete the ordained period and glorify God for His guidance to you, that you may be grateful”. Holy Qur’an  (2 : 185)

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars upon which the structure of Islam is built. The other four are: the declaration of one’s belief in Allah’s oneness and in the message of Muhammad (PBUH); regular attendance to prayer; payment of zakaat (obligatory charity); and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

As explained in an earlier article, fasting includes total abstinence from eating, drinking, smoking, refraining from obscenity, avoiding getting into arguments and including abstaining from marital relations, from sunrise to sunset. While fasting may appear to some as difficult Muslims see it as an opportunity to get closer to their Lord, a chance to develop spiritually and at the same time the act of fasting builds character, discipline and self-restraint.

Just as our cars require servicing at regular intervals, so do Muslims consider Ramadan as a month in which the body and spirit undergoes as it were a ‘full service’. This ‘service’ includes heightened spiritual awareness both the mental and physical aspects and also the body undergoing a process of detoxification and some of the organs get to ‘rest’ through fasting.

Because of the intensive devotional activity fasting, Ramadan has a particularly high importance, derived from its very personal nature as an act of worship but there is nothing to stop anyone from privately violating Allah’s commandment of fasting if one chooses to do so by claiming to be fasting yet eating on the sly. This means that although fasting is obligatory, its observance is purely voluntary. If a person claims to be a Muslim, he is expected to fast in Ramadan.

 

The reward Allah gives for proper fasting is very generous. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) quotes Allah as saying: “All actions done by a human being are his own except fasting, which belongs to Me and I will reward it accordingly.” We are also told by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that the reward for proper fasting is admittance into heaven.

Fasting earns great reward when it is done in a ‘proper’ manner. This is because every Muslim is required to make his worship perfect. For example perfection of fasting can be achieved through restraint of one’s feelings and emotions. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that when fasting, a person should not allow himself to be drawn into a quarrel or a slanging match. He teaches us: “On a day of fasting, let no one of you indulge in any obscenity, or enter into a slanging match. Should someone abuse or fight him, let him respond by saying: ‘I am fasting!’”

This high standard of self-restraint fits in well with fasting, which is considered as an act of self-discipline. Islam requires us to couple patience with voluntary abstention from indulgence in our physical desires. The purpose of fasting helps man to attain a high degree of sublimity, discipline and self-restraint. In other words, this standard CAN BE achieved by every Muslim who knows the purpose of fasting and strives to fulfill it.

Fasting has another special aspect. It makes all people share in the feelings of hunger and thirst. In normal circumstances, people with decent income may go from one year’s end to another without experiencing the pangs of hunger which a poor person may feel every day of his life. Such an experience helps to draw the rich one’s conscience nearer to needs of the poor. A Muslim is encouraged to be more charitable and learns to give generously for a good cause.

Fasting also has a universal or communal aspect to it. As Muslims throughout the world share in this blessed act of worship, their sense of unity is enhanced by the fact that every Muslim individual joins willingly in the fulfillment of this divine commandment. This is a unity of action and purpose, since they all fast in order to be better human beings. As a person restrains himself from the things he desires most, in the hope that he will earn Allah’s pleasure, self-discipline and sacrifice become part of his nature.

The month of Ramadan can aptly be described as a “season of worship.” Fasting is the main aspect of worship in this month, because people are more attentive to their prayers, read the Qur’an more frequently and also strive to improve on their inner and outer character. Thus, their devotion is more complete and they feel much happier in Ramadan because they feel themselves to be closer to their Creator.

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