Our Ukip tribune – for that’s what he is, even though few reading this will have voted for him – has been appointed to the European Parliament’s Development Committee. I am further informed (though I can’t find it myself, ‘Ynyswr’) that he wiill have special responsibility for aid to developing countries. Which is entirely fitting, considering his established concern for the Phillipines, and for employing, and indeed housing, our new friends from eastern Europe. Not only that, but there is also Gill’s links with Africa; to be specific, Ghana.
Information, some received and some unearthed from leads provided, suggest that I may have been rather lenient on Gill over that business of the tyre exports to Ghana, and the harm they might have done. To recap, for those joining the saga . . . when he were nobutalad Nathan Lee Gill, arrived in Anglesey with his Mormon family. On reaching adulthood he returned to Hull where he engaged in lucrative enterprises with his American Mormon brothers-in-law housing migrant workers. Solicitous of his Polish guests’ loneliness, and those cold winds coming off the North Sea, he housed them 8 or 12 to a room. For reasons yet to be satisfactorily established he came back to Anglesey, and from 2009 worked as PA to his Ukip MEP predecessor, John Bufton.
The tyres were found on his parents’ property, Bryn Aethwy, in Menai Bridge, while the property in Llangefni for which the report says a search warrant was issued, was Gill’s own home. The link with Ghana may have been provided by Gill’s fellow-Mormon Dennis Kofi Asumah, a Ghanaian who was living in Anglesey at the time, indeed he was a member of the local Ukip branch. Also involved – according to another informant – was Gill’s brother in law, Brian Lynn Quilter, of Dolwyddelan. (All explained in posts over the past couple of months.)
In my earlier posts I mentioned that worn tyres imported from Europe – and for the purposes of this article, however much it might offend some, the UK is counted as being part of ‘Europe’ – were one of the biggest killers on Ghana’s roads. Now, following the directions of ‘Ynyswr’, I learn that tyres imported from Europe (inc. UK) are also blamed for the increase in dengue fever. As this World Health Organisation report explains. In fact, not only does the trade in used tyres increase the incidence of dengue fever in Ghana and other parts of Africa, it also helps the disease spread to areas previously unaffected, including Europe.
To explain . . . dengue fever is the most virulent mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. Due to increased travel and other factors the incidence of the disease has increased 30-fold in the past 50 years. There are up to 50 million infections a year, with 22,000 deaths, mainly among children. Scrap tyres are ideal mosquito incubators as they absorb heat and trap rainwater, leaf litter and micro-organisms. Of course, mosquitoes don’t limit themselves to dengue fever; so tyre dumps can also increase the risk of encephalitis, malaria, yellow fever, equine encephalitis and St. Louis encephalitis. Spraying tyre dumps with insecticides is environmentally risky and costly. Even if done, it’s almost impossible to reach the heart of the tyre piles where the mosquitoes breed.
There are two reasons why I’m returning to this often overlooked episode in the glittering business career of Nathan Lee Gill MEP. The first is that a number of people – one almost certainly a family member – have, on this blog and elsewhere, tried to interpret the tyres story as a business deal that cut a few corners to avoid the “red tape and government meddling” (i.e. laws) Gill and his kind hate so much. Making him out to be, at worst, a bit of a chancer, or even a Robin Hood figure – for the legislation being disregarded almost certainly came from ‘Europe’. (Boooo!) So, however you look at it, it’s a victimless crime. No, it’s not.
As I’ve explained, many lives would have been put at risk, some perhaps lost, had those tyres reached Ghana. Proving yet again that Nathan Lee Gill is an irresponsible shite who will do just about anything to make money, wilfully blind to the consequences of his actions. He may already have blood on his hands, for how do we know there weren’t previous tyre dumps on Anglesey, that made it to Ghana?
Now, if my informant, ‘Ynyswr’, is correct, Gill has been given some responsibility by the European Parliament for aid to developing countries. You have to ask if this is some kind of joke. Here is a man with a record of dishonesty and hypocrisy, a man prepared to make money out of endangering lives in a third world country, yet now he is given responsibility for representing in developing countries a legislature he detests! One doesn’t need to be a soothsayer to predict that Nathan Lee Gill will take advantage of this opportunity to line his own pockets. Again.
P.S. I forgot to provide this link to Gill’s Declaration of Members’ Financial Interests made to the European Parliament. It seems that this political innocent’s only source of income prior to boarding the gravy train was his salary from the political assistant job. You know, I think our boy’s mind goes all blank when confronted with forms – tax forms and the like – asking him to declare his income. Funny, that!
Nathan Gill was also renting houses and then putting a dozen or so foreign workers in them for factories all over the UK, not just in Hull and not just for the family care businesses. Me thinks he has been a little sparse with the scale of his operations since being forced to come clean.He will be very brave visiting Ghana, I would have thought he would be arrested as soon as he sets foot on their soil. Maybe, it is no coincidence Mr Gill has been assigned Ghana after all by his EU colleagues he hates so much.
Do the right thing Mr Gill and resign. You are not Welsh you have misled the Welsh people whom you have no interest in serving.You believe in Mormonism. This religion sees homosexuality as a sin.Black males were only given equal priesthood rights in 1978 and women are still forbidden the priesthood.You have been a Bishop of the church and so your views must align completely with the religion. You have not been honest about these views you hold and really you have lied to this country, you have exploited foreign workers and sold duff rubber tires to Ghana the country you are supposed to build trust with for the EU. If this was the script of an episode of “Yes minister” or a political comedy it would be hilarious. This makes Borat look like a serious documentary. Please resign before you embarrass the people of Wales further.
Sorry to be off topic, but does anyone know if the march for welsh Independence is still happening?
Somebody at Hawliau should know https://www.facebook.com/Hawliau
Regarding your interesting article on impact of used tyres on Dengue Fever in Ghana, I came across this article online, which deals with Mosquito borne diseases in Nigeria.
‘Larval habitats of mosquito fauna in Osogbo metropolis, Southwestern Nigeria.’
The study looked at the larval habitats of mosquito fauna and possible impact of land use/ land cover changes on the epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases in Osogbo metropolis, Southwestern, Nigeria.
Results. A total of six species namely, Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Aedes vittatus, Anopheles gambiae complex, Culex quinquefasciatus and Eretmapodite chrysogaster were encountered during the study. The occurrence and contribution of disused tyres was significantly higher (P0.05).
See in particular Figure 1 – which shows quite clearly that disused tyres, are by now, far and away the main problem in the process of spreading several deadly and very unpleasant diseases throughout the world.
In conclusion authors emphasise the need for public health education as to the dangers of discarded tyres.
Pehaps some of us here in this part of the world also need to learn that particular lesson.
The exportation of used tyres to African countries must be stopped!
See:-
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757273/
Thank you for that learned contribution. I must admit that until I did a bit of reading – after being directed by ‘Ynyswr’ – I was unaware of the problem. But if you think about it, it’s obvious why a stack of tyres would be mosquito heaven. And of course, there’s the death toll on the roads. So one way or another, imported used tyres are taking their toll.