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Stephen Kasoma's Friends
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Youth Fund earns praise for its recovery rates
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After a successful beginning, the Youth Fund is set to receive more funds from institutions seeking to improve life for 13 million unemployed youth.
The Youth Enterprise Fund is earning accolades for its sustainability seen in its revolving kitty that has recorded impressive repayments during the second year of operation.
Fund chief executive Umuro Wario said a recovery rate of 95 per cent, in line with those recorded by microfinance lenders like Kenya Women Finance Trust and K-Rep Bank, was realised on the Sh858 million lent out previously.
He said Sh250 million of proceeds from previous loans had been lent out again, in the first official audit of the fund’s performance.
The fund disburses loans to youth groups with viable proposals for venturing into enterprise at an interest rate of eight per cent.
The money is advanced through appointed banks which remit one per cent of the interest income to the Fund for administration, research and policy formulation.
The fund also gets operational finance from the Treasury which allocated Sh500 million for the next fiscal year, out of which Sh25 million will be for meeting recurrent needs.
Under its three year strategic plan running to 2011, the fund aims at having a self sustaining fund of Sh5 billion.
Despite the small Treasury allocations, Mr Wario said commercial banks had indicated interest in venturing into the model with the aim of cashing in on the high recoveries.
“There are good indicators that the new partnership between the fund and the private sector is going to unlock substantial financing for youth enterprise,” Mr Wario said.
The fund, which was made a parastatal last year, has now recruited its own staff and shifted to a new office at National Bank Building.
Previously, the fund was relying on staff seconded from the Ministry of Finance.
Critics had feared the fund would turn into another milk - cow because of the high risks associated with the borrowers, many of them convenience vehicles crafted to take advantage of the funds by first time businessmen.
This handicap forced financial intermediaries disbursing the loans to employ strict vetting criteria for the business plans, knocking out those whose viability could not be assured.
During the initial face, good business proposals were left out due to demands for collateral. Mr Wario says the implementation strategy has been revised since then, to benefit more applicants.The new approach, he says, focuses on the needs of borrowers and the environment informing their operations. The fund has a potential client base of 13 million youths who are unemployed.
Because of the low injections from government, Mr Wario said there is need to increase private sector financing through innovative ways where lenders own the project in equity with the borrowers and provide funds and technical advice.
This would knock out the need for collateral. Already the Fund is in talks with the Canadian government and Enablis East Africa, a venture capital fund based there, whose conclusion may see the firm provide Sh850 million to the Youth Enterprise Fund in the next five years.
Mr Wario said that several fund raising initiatives were being followed locally with the private sector as well as donors. Other issues identified in the strategic plan were facilitation of product marketing, employment of the youth and capacity enhancement financed by the fund.
Written by Githua Kihara
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Knowledge is power
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Our politicians always like to tell Kenyans that some years back countries such as South Korea and Malaysia were economically at par with Kenya and have since moved on.
While they fail to state the true state of Kenya’s labour resource at the time, one thing that remains true is that while the East Asian countries were able to harness the knowledge they possessed and used it to develop their countries, we in Kenya hae not done so.
Knowledge is indeed power. And This power can, however; only be exercised if society generates knowledge that is relevant to its needs.
As was ably noted, irrelevant knowledge is what led to the road constructions in rural areas that were used for drying grains and goats basking.
The thriving Jua Kali sector remains informal in Kenya even though it commands substantial wealth that can determine the growth of the country.
At this juncture in Kenya’s history, the pool of educated people is at its best compared to when we attained our independence, the large numbers of Kenyans working in foreign countries attests to this,
If this country is to achieve any meaningful development and achieve the heady growths we so admire of the East Asian economies, we will need to put the knowledge we now posses into usable condition and make it formal for recognition and use.
All the knowledge in this world will be of no use to Kenya if it is not put into use. That is what we need all our experts and intellectuals to do, time for talk is long gone, it is now time for Kenya to utilise the knowledge we have and walk the talk
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Kenyan and Proud!!!
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Barrack Obama is not the first famous Kenyan to have made it in the US, but he might be the only one who retained his Kenyan name while many others americanised theirs. Here is a sample of those Kenyans who made it big in the US but changed their names to become more 'Americans.'
They include: Clarence Carter, Billy Ocean , Barry White, and Otis Redding.
Alicia Keys real name is Alice Akinyi, then we have Billy Ochieng, who changed his name to Billy Ocean once he hit the American shores; and Otis Redding whose real name is Otieno Rading, comes from the Kisumu.
Brian Mac Otieno was Brian Mc night
Note they are all Luos
There may be others out there, but these are the ones who came to my mind immediately. Something common with these Kenyans is that they were/are all great musicians. If they went into politics like Obama, perhaps they would have retained their Kenyan tags. If they were preachers, they would have changed their minimally like Martin Oludhe King who changed to Martin Luther King and T.D. Jaoko who became T.D. Jakes.
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My one night stand could change my life forever
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NAIROBI, 6 May 2008 (PlusNews) - Marie*, 25, comes from France but works for an international non-governmental organisation that often requires her to travel around Asia and Africa. While on one such trip she made a decision that could change her life forever.
"I met a colleague from one of our other offices; he seemed really nice and almost as soon as we met we began to flirt outrageously with each other. At the time I didn't think anything would really happen beyond flirtation - after all, he was my colleague.
"One night, after a long day's work, we went out to dinner and then went clubbing. We both got really drunk and became even more flirtatious. One thing led to another and we ended up in bed together.
"We used a condom, at least I had seen him put it on, but when I got up in the morning, I realized I had what looked like semen on my body. I wondered if the condom had broken and went to look at it. I found it intact but with no semen in it - he had obviously removed it while we were having sex.
"By then he'd returned to his own hotel room so I ran to his room to confront him. At first he denied it, but eventually I got him to admit that he had removed the condom before we'd finished having sex. I was so worried, I asked him when he'd last been tested but he just kept saying he was okay, he was sure he was HIV-negative.
"After that I kept replaying in my mind the things he'd told me before we slept together - things like how many women he'd been with; he made himself out to be some kind of man-about-town. I was dead scared.
"By the time I thought about post-exposure prophylaxis [a short, preventative course of antiretrovirals] it was too late. I'm not worried about pregnancy because I'm on contraceptives. I'd told him that earlier, so maybe that's why he felt like he could do it without a condom - he knew I wouldn't get pregnant.
"Now I have to wait six weeks [the window period before HIV can be detected] before I can have an HIV test. I think the chances are slim, and I'll be able to deal with it if I am HIV-positive, but I am so angry with him - and I still have to see him whenever I'm in our [other] office!
"I still can't believe a silly one-night stand could change my life forever."
*Name has been changed
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Workplace HIV policies bearing fruit, says ILO
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Establishment of HIV/Aids policies at the workplace has helped developing countries to make progress in the fight against the pandemic, a new International Labour Organisation report says.
The report says these policies have been drivers of attitude change at the workplace with a number of employees adopting habits that are supportive to co-workers living with the virus.
In Kenya, corporate chiefs added impetus to the fight against HIV/Aids when they took public HIV tests aiming to reposition testing as yet another weapon in the fight against the disease.
The new report, ‘Saving lives, Protecting jobs,’ tracks changes in attitudes related to HIV at the workplace and presents good practices and data collected from workplaces, ministries of labour, employers’ and workers’ organisations.
To bridge the statistical gap that has made it difficult for Kenya to measure the economic impact of HIV/Aids to companies, the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) says it has developed a monitoring tool that its members will use to come up with the numbers.
The tool captures the total number of illnesses and the total cost to business of such illnesses. The aim is to help organisations come up with plans to mitigate impact.
Publication of this report comes five months after the National Aids Control Council (NACC), the government arm steering the fight against the disease, announced that HIV prevalence had dropped from 5.9 per cent in 2005 to 5.1 per cent last year.
An estimated 1.4 million people are living with HIV and Aids in Kenya. This includes 934,000 people aged between 15 and 49 years.
Statistics also show that at least 1.8 million children have been orphaned by the disease since it was first diagnosed in Kenya in the early 1980s.
Labour sector researchers say absenteeism and turnover, loss of skills and declining morale that accompany HIV/Aids has the ultimate impact of increasing costs to employers and at the same time slowing down growth of profitability.
In recognition of the critical role that testing plays in managing the spread of Aids, NACC has set a target of having 80 per cent of Kenyans tested by 2010.
Dr Sophia Kisting, the Director of the ILO’s programme on HIV/Aids and the world of work, says a number of people have made significant progress in using the workplace as a platform for prevention, care and support as well as to tackle stigma and discrimination.
Over the past four years, the ILO has gathered data from managers and workers at partner workplaces in six pilot countries to measure the impact of HIV/Aids and non-discrimination policies.
Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Guyana and Togo are listed as countries where workers attitudes towards people living with HIV have greatly improved.
In Ghana, the percentage of workers who reported having a supportive attitude towards co-workers living with HIV increased from 33 to 63.
In all the six countries surveyed, the proportion of workers who reported supportive behaviour towards co-workers living with the virus rose from 49 per cent to 63 per cent.
Attitude towards condom use also improved considerably in most countries with Cambodia recording the highest margin of improvement from 34 per cent rate of use to 68 per cent.
Workers who reported using condoms with non-regular partners rose from 74 per cent to 84 per cent.
The recorded changes in behaviour is partly attributed to increased access to HIV prevention services.
In the impact survey, it was found that 76 per cent of the participating enterprises had written HIV policies.
The ILO report shows that employers’ and workers’ organisations are increasingly using the ILO’s Code of Practice on HIV/Aids to develop policies and practices for the workplace.
Success in developing HIV policies is firmly rooted in collaboration between workers and their employers.
Overall, 16 of the 24 countries where the Strategic HIV/Aids Responses in Enterprises (SHARE), an international workplace education programme, is implementing projects have adopted a national tripartite policy or declaration on HIV and the world of work.
With 33.2 million people officially reported to be living with HIV/Aids globally — the majority of them in their most productive years — the workplace is thought offer a unique entry point for addressing the disease.
The findings, however, have faulted Kenya, saying its Aids policies at the workplace are disjointed
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Supreme quota verdict
Related to country: India
About this category: Peace, Conflict & Governance
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The first ever scheduled caste Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has done justice to his duty. Despite the caste and political emotions running high and strangulating his judicial work, Justice. K.G. Balkrishnan has safeguarded the supremacy of the guardian of the Indian constitution. In the 27 percent reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the central universities case, the bench has pronounced a very objective verdict. It is true that the caste factor is still operational in most parts of the country. It is also true that some of the Indian population has benefited from the reservation in the past 60 years. Those who got enough economic means and cultural capital using the backward caste card are considered as the creamy layer. Taking note of these trivial troubles, the bench has given the green signal to the quotas with certain conditions. One, the creamy layer should be excluded from the quotas. Two, the government should reexamine the backward classes list with better scientific methods. Three, the quota cannot be given to the graduates from the backward sections. Four, the reservation cannot go on for ever. Five, steps should be taken to empower the backward sections within an agreed time frame. Any sane person will consider this judgment as the landmark one.
Through ample education, political empowerment and employment opportunities certain OBCs have moved up in the social ladder. This kind of people cannot be called as “backward” and provided reservation in the government concessions. Unfortunately this is what the rich and mighty from the so called backward castes are claiming for. The political parties are singing the caste tunes to garner votes. This drama is going on from the first Independence Day in 1947. In the move to create an egalitarian society which is enshrined the constitution there is no symptom of reducing the caste discriminations. Instead of taking steps to dilute and eliminate caste, the governments have successfully perpetuated this social evil. After the dusted off and stage-managed Mandal commission report presentation by the V.P Singh, the caste crime has increased. One can verify this trend from the growth of caste based political parties after 1990s. Although most of these parties got rejected by the public and most importantly by their own caste people, these parties pose a grave blockade to the extinction of caste.
One can gather the knee-jerk reactions of the political parties. The Government’s quota raja, Arjun Singh directs all the central universities to implement the verdict from this academic session. With only two months in hand, it is impossible for the central institutions to double up the infrastructure and accommodate 27 percent more students. To add salt to the wound, the University Grants Commission has informed that it has only Rs. 565 crores to be distributed among the nineteen institutions. With less than Rs. 20 crores how can a central institution implement 27 percent increase in the intake of students? For instance, Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor, Prof. B. B Bhattacharya demands Rs. 250 crores to fulfill the OBC quota verdict. However the UGC says not more than Rs.15 crores. Who and what will suffer can be left to the guesses of the thinking human being.
Some cartoon characters who are masquerading as public representatives and policy makers cross all the limits and demand the OBC quota in the private sector. If the aim is to empower the backward sections and push them forward then the blank quota recommendation is of less use. An economic empowerment and education support from the basic school level is the best possible means to achieve the wider national goal of social equality.
As almost all political parties are in the same boat with the caste vote bank as the destination only the judiciary can save the country. In this sense, the quota verdict breaks the political hurdle and sets a new ray of hope for the people.
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National health scheme gets its groove back
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Kenya is on the verge of re-introducing the national health insurance scheme, nearly four years after failure to agree on a system which would guarantee affordable healthcare.
The first phase of the new scheme was to be introduced in July, but the post- election violence disrupted finalising of the financing model which is expected to guide the scheme’s roll-out.
Now, experts drawn from the private sector, the Government, faith-based and non-governmental organisations are finalising the financing model in readiness for a launch by January next year.
One of the main points the experts in healthcare financing are focusing on is the average number of times a Kenyan, of defined social economic groupings, visits a hospital and how much money each visit costs.
The data will show the cost of producing healthcare services in Kenya, which will then be used to come up with the best financing model especially in the case where a contributory model is agreed on.
This is a major strategy shift from the scheme proposed in 2003 by former Health minister Charity Ngilu, which failed to give the cost of producing healthcare services data thus raising scepticism on how much money it will require to be successful. Data generated from this process shows that the cost of producing healthcare services varies from region to region and among the different social economic groups.
Based on this reality, the new scheme will take into consideration these regional and socioeconomic disparities to enable equitable contribution and access to healthcare services.
What is, however, emerging is that it is highly unlikely that the healthcare services under the new scheme will be free, except perhaps to the poorest of the poor. However, such free services will not be as comprehensive as those paid for. Experts advising the government have also cautioned that free healthcare services are prone to abuse from both administrators and users.
They will therefore be highly limited to only those who cannot afford minimum contribution. Provisional data on the cost of producing healthcare services shows the abject poor make the highest number of hospital visits, a total of 16 every year, but use the lowest amount of money (Sh1,637) every year to pay for their healthcare services.
The “rich” make the lowest number of hospital visits averaging 9.6 and use Sh2,704 on average per visit. In between the two groups are the “lower middle” income group who visit 14 times and pay Sh3,565 per visit.
The “middle income” 10.4 visits and pay Sh3,073 each time, while the . The “second rich” makes 10 visits and pays Sh3,635 for each. Additional data on outpatient expenditure indicated that the number of hospital visits and expenditure varies.
The highest number of hospital visits were recorded in Nairobi (17.7 per person per year, followed by the Rift Valley at 13 visits, Central at 11.5 visits and Coast at 7.8 visits.
Eastern province tops in terms of outpatient expenditure at Sh4,531, followed by Central at Sh4,038 and Nairobi at Sh3,594. The lowest spender is North Eastern at Sh1,054.
Dr Edward Rukwaro, AAR’s general manager for Healthcare and Groupcare, who is one of the experts working with the government to develop the National Healthcare Financing Strategy said this data has become a major step in helping to decide how the new scheme will be financed.
The experts are considering three main financing models, including mandatory health insurance for all, direct healthcare access (fee-for-service) and social health insurance. In the mandatory model, the proposal is to make the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) just one of the players in the provision of affordable healthcare unlike in the earlier proposal where it was central to the scheme.
This raised concern that its past record of service delivery ineffectiveness and corruption would lead to the collapse of the scheme. The fund, for instance, uses only 30 per cent of contributions to pay for medicare, while the rest goes to administration.
In contrast, private healthcare providers use up to 80 per cent of the members’ contribution on medicare. Although the fund has made improvements in increasing its membership, it is yet to enlist 15 million eligible workers to its health insurance programme.
In this model, the Government is required to define the poor based on income and subsequently offer free medical services based on the definition. The model will involve heavy investments in the information communication technology to eliminate fraud and facilitate efficient service delivery.
It will also facilitate proper capturing of informal contributors to the health care scheme expected to be through the personal identification numbers (PIN).
The contributions are expected to create a pool of resources making its easier to finance healthcare needs. Last year, the International Finance Corporation, the investment arm of the World Bank recommend that financing system that allows citizens to pay for medical services through regular deposits in insurance premiums could help Kenya improve access to healthcare.
It said the system known as risk pooling is the best way to pay for health care in economies that are characterised by low incomes. Kenya currently uses the out-of-pocket payment system that the IFC says is a burden to many low-income earners.
“Risk pooling arrangements are powerful tools for encouraging the development of higher-quality, better organised private sector service providers,” says the report on opportunities for health investments in Africa. These options are to be debated with an aim of getting consensus on the best financing model and presented to the Government through the National Economic and Social Council (NESC).
The agreed model is expected to be implemented over a period of up to 10 years starting with the most vulnerable group of people. Dr Amit Thakker, the managing director of Amini Management, a healthcare services management company, said the private sector needs more in-patient facilities which offer quality services at an affordable price.
“It needs an enabling regulatory environment. We must manufacture more drugs locally that meet international standards. These drugs should then be sold at a cost effective price to the consumer. This way, basic drugs used in primary healthcare would be procured locally decreasing the overall healthcare costs considerably and promoting access to more Kenyans,” he said.
On the public sector, the Government will need to progressively increase the level of funding to the health sector from the current nine per cent of the budget to a proposed 15 per cent.
The government should also allow parallel importation of generic drugs to reduce the overall cost of medicine and establish a Health Benefits Authority to act as a regulator in the healthcare services management industry.
Dr Rukwaro said the implementation of the scheme will require patience by potential beneficiaries since it will take time for its effects to trickle down and be felt by all Kenyans.
“It will require some reasonable upgrade of the service delivery infrastructure to be able to provide equal standards throughout the country,” he said. The contributory financing model is being favoured because at present, households still provide the main source of health funds.
They account for 51.2 per cent of the sources of health services financing, followed by the Government at 29.6 per cent, donors 16.3 per cent, private companies at 2.3 per cent, local foundations 0.6 per cent while 0.1 of the sources are not specified. The model becomes even more acceptable because of the glaring disadvantage on the ability of Kenya to finance health access from its budget when compared to other countries which have free healthcare schemes.
For instance, Kenya’s per capita health expenditure or the amount it spends per person per year on health, is Sh1,500 compared to Philippines (Sh3,800), Germany (Sh188,000), and the United Kingdom (Sh104,900).
Kenya’s average public expenditure on health as a percentage of total expenditure at 25 per cent is low compared to that of Philippines 45.9 per cent, Germany 75.8 per cent, and the United Kingdom 83.3 per cent. Written by Steve Mbogo
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| April 14, 2008 | 11:04 AM |
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Prof. Wangari Muta Maathai
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Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya (Africa) in 1940. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964). She subsequently earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966). She pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi where she also taught veterinary anatomy. She became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region. Wangari Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-87 and was its chairman in 1981-87. It was while she served in the National Council of Women that she introduced the idea of planting trees with the people in 1976 and continued to develop it into a broad-based, grassroots organization whose main focus is the planting of trees with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. However, through the Green Belt Movement she has assisted women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds. In 1986, the Movement established a Pan African Green Belt Network and has exposed over 40 individuals from other African countries to the approach. Some of these individuals have established similar tree planting initiatives in their own countries or they use some of the Green Belt Movement methods to improve their efforts. So far some countries have successfully launched such initiatives in Africa (Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, etc). In September 1998, she launched a campaign of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. She has embarked on new challenges, playing a leading global role as a co-chair of the Jubilee 2000 Africa Campaign, which seeks cancellation of the unpayable backlog debts of the poor countries in Africa by the year 2000. Her campaign against land grabbing and rapacious allocation of forests land has caught the limelight in the recent past. Wangari Maathai is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She has addressed the UN on several occasions and spoke on behalf of women at special sessions of the General Assembly for the five-year review of the earth summit. She served on the commission for Global Governance and Commission on the Future. She and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards, most notably The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Others include The Sophie Prize (2004), The Petra Kelly Prize for Environment (2004), The Conservation Scientist Award (2004), J. Sterling Morton Award (2004), WANGO Environment Award (2003), Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award (2002), Excellence Award from the Kenyan Community Abroad (2001), Golden Ark Award (1994), Juliet Hollister Award (2001), Jane Adams Leadership Award (1993), Edinburgh Medal (1993), The Hunger Project's Africa Prize for Leadership (1991), Goldman Environmental Prize (1991), the Woman of the World (1989), Windstar Award for the Environment (1988), Better World Society Award (1986), Right Livelihood Award (1984) and the Woman of the Year Award (1983). Professor Maathai was also listed on UNEP's Global 500 Hall of Fame and named one of the 100 heroines of the world. In June 1997, Wangari was elected by Earth Times as one of 100 persons in the world who have made a difference in the environmental arena. Professor Maathai has also received honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions around the world: William's College, MA, USA (1990), Hobart & William Smith Colleges (1994), University of Norway (1997) and Yale University (2004). The Green Belt Movement and Professor Wangari Maathai are featured in several publications including The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach (by Professor Wangari Maathai, 2002), Speak Truth to Power (Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, 2000), Women Pioneers for the Environment (Mary Joy Breton, 1998), Hopes Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet (Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, 2002), Una Sola Terra: Donna I Medi Ambient Despres de Rio (Brice Lalonde et al., 1998), Land Ist Leben (Bedrohte Volker, 1993). Professor Maathai serves on the boards of several organizations including the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament, The Jane Goodall Institute, Women and Environment Development Organization (WEDO), World Learning for International Development, Green Cross International, Environment Liaison Center International, the WorldWIDE Network of Women in Environmental Work and National Council of Women of Kenya. In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to parliament with an overwhelming 98% of the vote. She was subsequently appointed by the president, as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in Kenya's ninth parliament.
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Kenya's Healing process must now get underway
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The agreement signed on Wednesday between President Kibaki and Opposition leader Raila Odinga reinforces the adage that behind every cloud, there is a silver lining. Just a few days ago, it was all gloom and foreboding with indications that the talks aimed at pulling Kenya back from anarchy were on the verge of collapse. In a nutshell, the agreement allows for a coalition and creation of an office of Prime Minister who will exercise considerable powers co-ordinating the functions of a unitary government. The PM will not be a mere presidential appointee but will come from the party holding a majority in Parliament, suggesting ODM. The holder of the office, together with two deputies, one from each side of the coalition, will have constitutional protection. It is also specified in the agreement that the Cabinet will be made up with recognition of parity in Parliament between the two sides, and in addition, appointment and removals from the Cabinet can only be done in consultation with all parties to the coalition. In their speeches on Wednesday, both President Kibaki and Mr Odinga were very conciliatory, and it was indeed evident that each of them fully understood the danger Kenya faced if they remained obdurate. Signing that deal, along with the concessions each, stands as a true mark of leadership and patriotism. But now the deal must go beyond mere signatures to actualisation. And this is why it remains very important that President Kibaki and Mr Odinga continue to display leadership which will be necessary in guiding Parliament to do the right thing. It would be a real tragedy and betrayal if an agreement that holds so much hope for the restoration of peace and stability was to be sabotaged by a Parliament that might still have its share of hardliners and obstructionists on both sides. The message must go out clearly and unequivocally from President Kibaki and Mr Odinga to all their respective MPs that absolutely nothing must be done in Parliament that would delay or obstruct passage of the relevant amendment Bills. It must also be clear to the negotiating teams from both sides and others working on the necessary legislation, that the time for stalling, digging-in, grandstanding and making demands is over. Partisan interests Kenyans who have witnessed death and destruction on a scale they could not have imagined demand speedy implementation of the agreement, starting with the necessary legislation, to the actual formation of the coalition, another process that again must not be derailed by petty shoving or made hostage to selfish and partisan interests. All must realise that the signing of the agreement on Wednesday is but the first step in what will be a long and delicate process. The formation of a coalition government is merely the minimum requirement for the more difficult work to follow. The real return to peace and stability will be realised, not just with a coalition government, but with the next agenda item on the negotiations that includes comprehensive constitutional review, focusing very much on sensitive issues such as devolution, land reform, ethnic relations and establishment of a just and equitable society. Many of those are issues we have preferred not to address since independence in the hope that they would solve themselves. The post-election violence that threatened to send Kenya hurtling down the precipice indicated that we may have all along been living in a fools’ paradise. The events of the past two months opened our eyes to the realisation that we can no longer continue to sweep under the carpet pressing national issues. Now we have no choice but to confront them and to find solutions that are satisfactory to all groups in the country.
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| February 29, 2008 | 7:02 AM |
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Bush warns leaders on genocide
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US president George Bush has asked world leaders to pay attention to early genocide warning signs to avoid a Rwanda-like situation happening elsewhere in the world including Kenya. While commending Rwanda for a quick recovery from a devastating past, President Bush pledged American support for efforts geared at pacifying other troubled spots especially in Africa. “One of the lessons I take from the Rwanda genocide is to take some early warning signs seriously,” he said at a press conference in Kigali Tuesday. International community “Pay attention to the warning signs and prevent crises like this from happening. We are obviously trying to prevent such a crisis from happening in Kenya. Condoleezza Rice briefed the President (Kibaki) in her meeting Monday and we strongly support Kofi Annan’s efforts.” Dr Rice, the US secretary of State, was in Nairobi on Monday to push for power- sharing between President Kibaki and ODM’s Raila Odinga. “I am not suggesting that anything close (to what happened in Rwanda) is happening in Kenya or is gonna happen, but I am suggesting that there are some warning signs that the international community needs to pay attention to. And we are paying attention to it and I know the AU will as well.” More than 800,000 people were killed in 1994 Rwanda genocide when Hutus militiamen, encouraged by the then government, attacked minority Tutsis. It was stopped after 100 days by the invading army of President Paul Kagame. Mr Kagame has suggested that the Kenyan military takes over power to avoid a similar situation. President Bush also said, any interventions from the United Nations in conflicts must be with a bigger mandate rather than just peace keeping. “In a situation such as that you don’t want to send people in who are observers, you need to send people in who will help deal with the situation,” he said. He praise Rwandan government for taking the lead to send peace-keeping troops to Darfur . President Bush and his wife Laura, Dr Rice and under secretary of state for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer were visibly awe struck during a short visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial “You can’t just walk in there and fail to realize that evil does exist,” President Bush said. In another development, Kenya’s neighbours have been asked to put more pressure on President Kibaki’s government to cede ground and facilitate a lasting political settlement to the country’s crisis, Britain’s leading financial newspaper says. The Financial Times says: “Pressure from the US and Europe has undoubtedly helped to prevent negotiations from breaking down. But it is doubtful that in itself will secure a lasting deal. African countries “More is needed from neighbouring African countries, whose strategic interests in Kenya’s survival are even greater, and whose involvement is harder to pass off as neo-imperialist.” The problem, the paper says, is that while Kenya “reaps the consequences of violence stirred up by politicians, Mr Kibaki and cohorts are digging in, determined to resist the medicine long prescribed.” Elsewhere, the European Union and its member states vowed yesterday not to conduct business as usual in the country until a solution is found. Members of the Council of the European Union at the same time threatened to take action on leaders bent on obstructing the Annan-led mediation talks or those encouraging violence in the country. “They will have to face the consequences.” Additional reporting by Paul Redfern and Dave Opiyo
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| February 20, 2008 | 3:02 AM |
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Where are young leaders for new Kenya?
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It is the young generation that must lead us into a peaceful future. It is the generation that must set a new example for others to follow. You must be the agents of change who direct us along new roads to peace where our generation has clearly failed. We apologise for this failure.
As you know, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-Moon was here last week. His message was very clear and let me simply reiterate it. He implored Kenyans to stop violence and killing each other.
He urged all of you to go out and to reach out to your friends, and urge everyone they know to stop all the violence, the attacks, the revenge, the burning of churches, homes and businesses, and to bring a quick end to the rape and pillage. That rape is also part of this violence only goes to underscore how wrong it is to resort to violence to settle political grievances.
Criminal elements take advantage of violence to attack innocent victims thus turning away would be sympathizers in what you believe as your cause! In due course, prolonged violence is a spoiler since it makes the public to forget the issue or grievance and to focus on the crime, as the immediate challenge. How can raping a young girl address an election grievance! By now it is clear to all of us that this is not the best way to go.
In the history of the civil rights movement in the US, you will discover that some 52 years ago Rosa Parks defied the segregation laws of the South by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. She was taking the next step on her own long road to freedom. And it was an extremely risky step to take at the time in the heated political atmosphere.
But guided by courage and principle she ushered in a new era. Many people are not aware that Martin Luther King Jr. became active as a follow up and in reaction to the commotion set in force by the act of Rosa Parks. She did not hit anyone. She simply refused to give up her seat.
Led by Martin Luther, many other African Americans followed her example, and boycotted the bus company as long as they were being discriminated against. But in all this they avoided violence, although they were surely tear gassed several times! They went for principled protest based on the values of TRUTH, PEACE, LOVE for Neighbor and Non-violence. They refused to be intimidated into retaliatory violence.
The current crisis is pregnant with opportunity for a new Kenya, a new society, that will shine again on the world stage. A unified new country that looks beyond parochial, ethnic interests.
Written by Dr Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT.
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| February 8, 2008 | 3:02 AM |
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There’s no way we can buy back the lives of the dead
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The National Humanitarian Fund for Mitigation of Effects and Resettlement of Victims of Post-2007 Election Violence is now open to donations from all Kenyans of goodwill. Don’t let the long title intimidate you. If you wade through the first seven words, you will find that they simply mean a disaster fund for those affected by the poll violence. The fund kicks off with a Sh1 billion down payment by the Government. And, as one newspaper put it, “the fund is expected to grow after an appeal in the face of resource constraints...” Now, that is something we can relate to. Resource constraints have become a way of life for more Kenyans than we care to count. Even people living beyond our borders can feel the effect. The question is: do the people who are driving this country to the edge of sanity care? Money has always been a problem for us, especially when we throw politics into the mix. It is not just the fact that we pay our politicians huge salaries for causing us no end of trouble and bloodshed. We fight when we have it. We fight when we do not. And we are very creative when it comes to finding ways to spend it. ONLY A MONTH OR SO AGO, THIS country was awash with posters, huge spending on billboards and a massive assault on our senses in both print and electronic media. The political parties spent billions trying to win us over to their side. We were inspired, and the turnout was more than even the most optimistic of pundits could have anticipated. The result speaks for itself. And now we are being asked to pay for the sins of our leaders — literally with our lives, and also by digging deeper into our pockets to deal with the mess they created. At the last count, more than 800 people had died and another 300,000 had been displaced. Millions others have been mentally and emotionally displaced and they no longer know what to make of the day’s developments. It is just the kind of environment that allows the devil to do his dirty work, and now it is two ODM Members of Parliament dead. Statistics are dry at the best of times. They don’t tell the full story. These numbers represent a huge personal crisis. The people involved need food, clothing, medicine, blankets, baby formula, sanitary towels and somewhere to sleep. There is no privacy for the people who have found themselves on the wrong side of the marauding gangs that rule the most affected parts of the country. They don’t have the comfort of knowing that, at the end of the day, they will be going home in one piece. None of us can be certain any more that we will. A few hard questions come to mind: How do we mitigate the effects of the emotional falling out that Kenya is experiencing right now? What is the price of a human life? How do you tell an orphaned child that she will experience great hardship in life because her parents were burnt to death for belonging to a particular ethnic group? Make donations to the fund, by all means. You will be easing the physical suffering of the afflicted. Even though we rarely use the word these days, harambee was one of the pillars of the Kenya we once dreamt of. The founders of this nation even spoke of something called African socialism and produced a sessional paper to make it official. And promptly forgot all about it, whatever it meant. But we will have to think beyond money and other material needs if we are to deal once and for all with the violence we are seeing now. It has been coming for a long time. The link between money and the total collapse of conscience among our political leaders has been long established. Bad politics will inevitably breed bloodshed. Throw money into the mix, and there’ll be hell to pay. So there’s tension in the teaching ranks and the election is just around the corner? Give them a juicy pay raise, but let it be known that it is only effective after the election. That way you get to keep them on a leash. So the community next door is feeling that “one of their own” is not in a high level government position? Well, give a slew of them the shadowy title of assistant minister. That will take care of the shared national resources issue, never mind that they don’t really do any serious work and that they will not be sharing their pay with their constituents. Hell, no! AS FOR FREE EDUCATION, AN ELECTION is hardly the right time to refer to the small print to do with class sizes and all the extra costs that come with children going to school. Are the long suffering people up in the north complaining about “development” not reaching them? A handful of boreholes should do the trick. Better still, transfer some bulldozers to the district headquarters — and keep them there until after things have gone quiet. That way, they will not be asking how life is down there in Kenya. You can find your own local examples of how cash has corrupted our politics. Right now, though, all of our eyes should be focused on the two men at the centre of the crisis. Now that the Annan team has them talking, they might consider speaking directly with Kenyans, who have been reduced to collateral damage in their fight for supremacy. Let Mr Mwai Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga go to Uhuru Park and jointly address this nation if they are truly committed to that mitigating business. There is not enough money in Kenya to pay for a human life. Story by LUCY ORIANG' ( Daily Nation)
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| February 1, 2008 | 7:02 AM |
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Stop this violence now before it is too late
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For the umpteenth time, we are compelled to address our leaders and the nation over the political madness that has been going on for a month now — since the December 27 election — and which shows no signs of abating. It is important, from the outset, to make it clear that the crippling political crisis threatening to shut down the country is not the making of the Kenyan people — they rendered their verdict by casting their votes to choose their leaders in the parliamentary and presidential election. Instead, it is the post-election events and failure of our institutions to come up with results that are auditable and verifiable — leading to an impasse over the winner of last month’s hotly contested elections — that one neighbour after neighbour is rising up against another in an atavistic gusto that belongs to the Stone Age. Following this institutional failure, one side disputed the election results, but the other dug in and insisted it won fairly, leading to polarisation among supporters. The spontaneous events after the announcement of the results, further compounded by mass action called to protest the results, have brought to our streets, homes and screens scenes never witnessed before here. People are being burnt alive and not even refuge in churches and houses is insurance enough. Machetes, swords and other crude weapons have become tools of choice against people who were neighbours and friends only days ago. But leadership is lacking in containing the mayhem. Politicians who, just a month ago, were stomping the country during the election campaigns are nowhere to be seen. MPs-elect should be at the forefront of peace efforts. But they are not and they may not. The tribal hatred that is fuelling the violence has opened old wounds that no politician may be able to heal. Leaders have lost control of their supporters and few can call for calm and be listened to. This is how low the country has sunk. Add this to underlying issues of bigotry, land, resource distribution and major and petty differences and the mix is a lethal one. The genie has acquired a life of its own. But this has to stop now. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and rendered homeless in their own country. Several thousands others have been injured. And the figure of those whose lives were snuffed out has possibly exceeded 1,000. There is colossal destruction of property, and the economy is on the verge of virtual paralysis with free movement of goods and services curtailed. Threat to regional trade could lead to change in trading partnerships, with the attendant loss of business following disruption in the distribution system. Yet there is also the massive impact on Government revenues and undermining of performance of the private sector, courting business failure. Add to this the depreciation of the shilling, the high cost of fuel and the stalking inflation and you have a worrying mix. Furthermore, the negative effects on productive land and the surging costs of farm inputs and land preparation portend an ominous threat to food security. The time has come for us to say: Enough is enough. Kenyans cannot continue to be held hostage by marauding gangs carrying bows and arrows, machetes, pangas and stakes. And the police must take a lead in stopping this: Why are they, for instance, sweet-talking armed gangsters torching houses, blocking roads, injuring and killing people who speak a different tongue from theirs? Where did the teargas go in Naivasha? Nairobi cut off Granted, the force has been on the receiving end for being trigger-happy. But that is as far as unarmed protesters are concerned. And these should be blocked rather than shot. But armed ruffians! Because of police softness, roads are being blocked with abandon and innocent people attacked as officers watch. The capital city has been cut off from western Kenya, courtesy of gangsters. It began with illegal roadblocks between Nakuru and Eldoret. Now, it is all the way from Naivasha. Criminals have taken advantage of the situation to kill, rob and harass innocent people. Thuggery has taken root and lawlessness is the order of the day. A country where major highways are no-go zones because unruly youths have taken them over teeters on the precipice of a failed State. The efforts to clear the roads have been feeble to say the least. The gangs dump rocks, boulders and containers on the roads and do their thing without a care in the world. It is only when they are through that we see police officers, and of late soldiers, removing them. It is as if it is the gangs’ role to lay rocks and that of the police to remove. But the police must make it clear that blocking highways is an act of sabotage and a high price will be paid for it. But this is the sad part of it. Kenya has been a vibrant democracy, especially in the past five years, but Kenyans have not resorted to the violent backwardness raging on now. It is a country that has just conducted a high-octane election campaign and though there were instances of violence, it was more between supporters of parties and candidates than tribes. It is thus possible for Kenya to politick without annihilation; to practise politics that builds rather than destroys; politics where brains, not brawn and atavism, calls the shots. The national predicament began as a protest against claims of presidential election rigging. Politicians on both sides of the divide talked tough and threatened fire and brimstone against enemies on the other side. Various parts of the country — Nairobi, Coast, Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western provinces — erupted. People identified as supporters of one side of the political divide were attacked. Hundreds were killed, homes were burnt and businesses destroyed. The consequences of the mayhem are not just the funerals for the dead, but also the camps for displaced people that dot many parts of the country. But there is even more. Some people have crossed to neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania, while others have turned to police stations and church and school compounds for refuge. Security forces overwhelmed The magnitude of this challenge suggests that unless our leaders deliberately make hard choices for the sake of preserving the security of our people and the Kenyan nation, we could see a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence. The levels of violence are overwhelming our security forces, and it is evident that we do not have enough officers to police the entire country. Only a political solution and settlement will appease our people into cultivating a sense of peace, harmony and national reconciliation. It is evident a form of inertia and fatigue is creeping in the security forces, but they must not relent in their duty to enforce the law. While it will be useful for posterity to carry out an in depth audit on the debacle of the tallying of results, to help in reshaping future institutional electioneering structures so that we do not end up where we are now, the urgent need now is for peace and to hold the country together. The challenge, however, is for leaders to ensure that they are not held captive by vested interests on both sides, who may not be willing to reach a quick settlement by virtue of the fact that others stand to lose when the other side is accommodated, and others seek to gain more. We wish to appeal to leaders — in the spirit of holding the country together — to preach peace and national reconciliation. If they truly care, they should hold joint rallies to salvage the country from going down the precipice. They should demonstrate humility and climb down from the pedestals they are perched on. We also wish to appeal to the people — however inflamed their passions may be — to calm down. They should know that revenge is counter-productive as it leads to more revenge and thus an unending cycle of violence. Only peace and togetherness will save this country. Figure this: We have had nine General Elections since Independence, but never witnessed violence of this magnitude. Yet Kenya is considered a maturing democracy. Now that former UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, is in the country for talks, can we expect the leaders to rise to the occasion? Is this so much to ask of our leaders? We need to see a sense of urgency on both sides of the divide; who must take maximum advantage of their presence. They must also ponder the following: Who gains when our people continue to be killed and suffer? Will it matter much — in a situation where the country is destabilised — to hold or ascend to the presidency? It is our considered opinion that if, after all these, it is determined that the country’s leaders have irreconcilable differences, then the logical way is to go back to the people, who are the final arbitrator in this matter. And even if it means electing everybody, including MPs, this option will ultimately be less costly than the continued paralysis in the country. By The Standard Editors
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| January 29, 2008 | 8:01 AM |
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We must not allow Kenya to burn
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The movie Godzilla depicts a giant mutated man-eating lizard wreaking havoc in New York’s Madison Square. It takes the courage of a few individuals to destroy the monster and its offspring.
A Godzilla in the form of tyranny, manipulation of law, arrogance and theft has been set loose on Kenyans.
We are now watching Godzilla eggs vibrate in readiness to hatch. We are depressed; what we thought belonged to the African history of the 60s is here with us. Who will be the brave men and women that will destroy the Godzilla offspring before it devours humanity in Kenya?
What started as a legitimate quest for fairness in the just-concluded presidential elections in Kenya has unleashed a brutal Godzilla.
Marriage as a basic molecule of our society is in danger. A friend was the other day disowned by two communities because she is of mixed blood (mother and father from different communities); she had to rescue her siblings through Kisumu airport, clad in buibuis, to the temporary safety of the city.
Another friend aged over 50 and highly educated has trouble with her husband because they voted for rival parties. Another has had to move her mother from her matrimonial home – the husband is helpless and cannot protect his wife any more.
Another Godzilla egg has hatched in the business sector. Managers are forced to use ethnicity to assign duties. Sales and marketing teams are being recalled and redeployed to areas they can be safe.
While some of us have been working hard to build a united Africa, a few people seem hell-bent on reintroducing ethnic kingdoms and destroying Kenya.
The eggs are hatching in the religious sector too. The men of God have opted to identify with their own communities. Spiritual guidance has been replaced by whims of time as human egos eager to partake of the national cake divert attention from issues of justice to those of glorifying theft.
Media houses are not spared either. It is shocking how the Godzilla eggs spread so fast. Listening to FM radio stations, one is left wondering whether they are keen on expunging the word justice from the dictionary.
If Kenyan FM stations are not offering sedatives to bury the problem under the carpet, they are busy inciting ethnicity. Where is the famed Media Council? Have they been swallowed by the Godzilla already?
To back up the stations is the “Kiplagat committee” that is not keen to frankly address the cause and effects of the current crisis. They simply want Kenyans to heal.
How can Kenyans heal when every other day, the two political warring factions drive nails deep into the wounds they unleashed upon the nation on December 30, 2007?
With their heads in the sand, the middle class , if not calling for prayers for peace or concerts for peace, are fundraising to erect billboards for peace at every residential area.
Nairobi’s hinterland is burning; passions are being whipped up by the day. The middle class is busy checking the dictionary for high sounding moralistic words while privately urging on their fellows to protect the supremacy of their communities.
The Godzilla and its eggs must be destroyed. They must not hatch.
It is not going to be easy, but each one of us must re-examine our sense of humanity and the future of the Kenyan republic. Brutish force without power will not bring peace in Kenya, neither will power without legal force.
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| January 23, 2008 | 8:01 AM |
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The rude boys of cricket
Related to country: Australia
About this category: Culture & Identity
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The arrogant Aussie cricket
Too many victories give arrogance. This is what the Australian cricket team has demonstrated to the world. Without exhibiting an inch of sportsmanship, Ricky Ponting’s men were atrocious on the field. They were keen to win by hook or crook. Just to break their own record of sixteen consecutive test match wins, the Aussies were pulling false victories. Collectively they have brought shame to their country and cricket. Unfortunately the umpires were aiding this uncharacteristic quality of cricketers.
The Sydney cricket test was a true testimony to the growing rudeness in the Australian team. Ponting and his teammates displayed a below standard aggressiveness on the field. They terrified the umpires to give out when it was not. If it was by accident fans and cricket lovers would have forgotten as an error. But it was reenacted often. This really triggered unrest among the game watchers. Surprisingly the Australian public and cricket commentators have out rightly condemned this dubious distinction.
In the last series in India, the Aussie team members led by the captain shoved BCCI president and the union cabinet minister, Sharad Pawar on stage. It was the magnanimity of Pawar which let off the arrogant Aussie team. Unfortunately this did not impact them positively. Without learning from the past mistakes, the team Australia continues to behave badly on and off the field.
The Wankhede episode in Mumbai where Andrew Symonds was mocked through monkey posturing by some indecent fans set the ball rolling for Aussie revenge. To stop this expected trouble, the Indian law enforcement swiftly initiated actions against the racist postures and comments of the few Indian fans. This had sent a strong message that the Indians are against racist remarks and actions.
On the contrary to the popular anticipations, the Australian cricket watchers conducted gently and watched the game in true spirit. It was the players who initiated the ugly turn of the much celebrated tour and series.
John Bertrand of the Sport Australian Hall of Fame wants his countrymen to give back the moral compass in the cricket. He thinks that they had gone too far in arrogance. According to the Reuters, Bertrand has slammed his own cricketers.
The Daily Telegraph says
Footy legend Ron Barassi said Australia should be the world leader in all aspects of the game.
"I'm very concerned the word unsportsmanlike is being thrown around in relation to the cricket, and there is a fine line between arrogance and confidence," he said.
"It concerns me that the Australians are regularly being referred to as being arrogant and because it is mentioned so often, you begin to wonder."
Kevin Bartlett, another AFL legend, said he defined bad sportsmanship as not showing respect to your opponents.
"You don't treat them with contempt, you treat them with respect -- and I didn't see that from the Aussies," he said.
Australia's national netball coach Jill McIntosh said the Aussies were a "little arrogant".
"It worries me that the Australian cricket teams of recent times have been called the worst sledgers in the game. Why don't they just rely on their skills?" she said.
"They don't need to sledge. They are an incredibly skilled team."
While exposing the Australian cricket team it is important to send few advices to the Indian side. The men in blue deserve accolades for maintaining decency and decorum despite the umpires wreaking injustice on the team. It is a happy scence to see the entire team standing behind Harbhajan Singh who is accused of racist remarks against Symonds. The BCCI continues to exhibit late responses to the players’ problems. It requires to put its house in order. Till then the team India suffers because of too much of politics and too less of professionalism in the board management.
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| January 12, 2008 | 12:21 AM |
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