Europeans looks at Africa differently on the question of governance. They are biased, applying double standards whenever they talk of eradication of poverty and development growth, senior African leaders are saying.

According to a report carried by IPS, “Governance forms the centrepiece of European Development Days (EDD) November 13 to 17, aimed at enhancing public awareness about the 25-nation European Union’s development cooperation and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. More than 2000 development experts from EU member states, former and current African heads of government and state, officials from developing countries and civil society organisations are participating in a series of events during the EDD.”

Europeans are inconsistent in their attitude towards African nations with “bad governance.”  Former African heads of state argued against the Europeans double standard in a discussion last Thursday in Belgium. 

Telling the Europeans that, “China is not a democracy, but still you do business with it, a lot of business even, whereas in Africa a country with bad governance is menaced with financial sanctions,” said Karl Auguste Offmann, the former president of Mauritius,” reports IPS.

Africa is developing and growth is slow but in the right direction. The demand and the standard the Europeansset for good governance as exchange for development assistance is sometimes unreachable and is considered by African leaders as neglect towards the continent. Quoted by IPS, one of the leaders is quoted telling the Europeans, “You can’t expect us to start running when we can hardly walk.”

We agree with these leaders because they are the one who understand the African problems better than the Europeans far away from Africa while they tend to analyse African problems as if they are experts in all problems facing the continent.

BY Korir, African press in Norway (APN)africanpress@chello.no

Source of the story: IPS/16/11

The Zimbabwean government is constantly accused for human rights abuse.

IPS quotes a Zimbabwean student leader at the University of Zimbabwe. Complaining of human rights abuse Tapera Kapuya is quoted as saying, “I was arrested a dozen times.”

Having been a target of the security services who kept harrassing him, he finally left for exile in South Africa.

From his hide-out away from the claws of his home country’s police and intelligence services he spoke to IPS saying, “In November 2001, I was abducted from my room in the university by state agents and tortured for three days.”

While in exile, Kapuya has not stopped fighting for the rights of the people of Zimbabwe. He will not accept to be silenced by Mugabe regime . He contnues the fight to free his country from oppression. “Kapuya is now helping Zimbabwe’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), a pressure group based in the capital, Harare, to set up an office in the South African commercial hub of Johannesburg. The situation in Zimbabwe hasn’t improved. It’s deteriorating,” he said. “And the NCA leadership is finding it difficult to work because of state repression. The office in Johannesburg will highlight the abuses in Zimbabwe and mobilise the 2.5 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa,” IPS reportsA Human Rights Watch (HRW) report issued Wednesday, titled ‘”You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten”: The Brutal Suppression of Dissent in Zimbabwe, highlights problems faced by human rights activists.”

According to IPS, “Human Rights abuses in the country have escalated since 2000, when the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) faced its first real challenge at the polls, from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). This grouping became the country’s main opposition party, but has since splintered into two factions.”

Internationally, President Robert Mugabe has faced criticism but he has turned a blind eye to what his security services are doing to his people.

His interest is to continue using the machinery to stay in power as long as he is around. Mugabe is not allowed to visit some countries because of his government’s human rights abuses and misuse of the country’s resources.

By Korir, African Press in Norway (APN)africanpress@chello.no

Source of the story: IPS/1/11

The environment is endangered in Africa. A report released in Nairobi on Monday says Africa will be devastated due to climate change, if it does not get help from the international community.

IPS reports that “Africa is the least responsible for climate change but will be hit the hardest,” according to Nick Nuttall, of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

And in in new development “New scientific data shows that Africa is more vulnerable to the impacts than previously thought, Nuttall told IPS from Nairobi.

It is reported that millions of people and over 30 percent of “Africa’s coastal infrastructure face the risk of coastal flooding by 2080 linked to rising sea levels, the report found. More than one-third of the habitats that support African wildlife could be lost. Crop yields will fall due to warmer temperatures and more intense droughts. By 2025, some 480 million people in Africa could be living in water-scarce or water-stressed areas.” 

The report said more than 6,000 people are in Nairobi to attend the conference.

“East Africa is losing the snow from its mountains like Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro, which means rivers and streams fed by these mountains are running dry. Farmers will have to relocate and they need help right now, Sawyer told IPS.

Steve Sawyer of Greenpeace International is one of the delegates attending the conference.

By Korir, African Press in Norway (APN)africanpress@chello.no

Source of the story: IPS/6/11

Executions is favoured by Uganda’s laws, although this year no executions has been reported so far. It is possible it has taken place and has been kept a secret because of international criticism feared by the government.

IPS reports that ”Corporal James Omedio and Private Abdullah Muhammad stood before a public firing squad for killing Irish Catholic priesd Declan O’Toole, his driver Patrick Longoli, and his cook Fidel Langole.”

Both men were executed after being found guilty. The trial took place in a martial court, a trial reported to have lasted for less than 3 hours.

Cases done in this way does not allow for fair trial or an appeal. The executions were followed by international criticism.

It is reported that nothing has changed in the last 3 years. The army continues to execute those they believe are guilty whenever they are suspected to have violated army regulations.

“The Progressive Report on Action Taken Against Human Rights Violations by Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) in Northern Uganda 2003-2005,” written by the Ministry of Defence, reported that the army executed 26 soldiers in the region over the last three years. “State Minister for Defence Ruth Nankabirwa said the Ugandan army will continue to execute soldiers who violate the rights of other citizens, because that is the law;” IPS has reported

According to the minister executions must be carried out because she believes that “Soldiers who violate the rights of other citizens should be put away,” Nankabirwa told IPS in an interview. “But this (execution) happens once in a blue moon,” she added.”

By Korir, African Press in Norway (APN)africanpress@chello.no

Source of the story: IPS/14/11

Like most countries in Africa struggling with HIV/AIDs problem, Mozambique is battling hig HIV prevalence, reports IPS.

Those who need anti- retroviral medication are unable to get them.

According to IPS, “for HIV-positive prisoners, however, the situation can be worse: even those who are simply awaiting trial can find that their time in jail amounts to a death sentence. Ahead of getting their day in court, detainees can spend years in prisons where treatment for HIV/AIDS has typically not been available, enabling AIDS-related illnesses to take their toll.”

Most countries do not have available statistics on HIV/AIDS infected prisoners “prisoners are obviously an extremely high risk group,”  Americo Assan, chief of the Department of Medical Assistance in the Ministry of Health;” reports IPS.

It is furher reported that “HIV/AIDS, prevalence in Mozambique’s general adult population stands at 16.1 percent. This is subject to geographical variation, however, with the rate as high as around 25 per cent in the central city of Beira.”

By Korir, African Press in Norway (APN)africanpress@chello.no

Source of the story. IPS/17/11

In today’s Kenya Stockholm Blog, Mr Dancan Munala, ODM-K Scandinavia chapter secretary in a personal article is calling for an investigation.

In his article posted in KSB he writes, “Kenya anti Corruption Commission headed by retired Justice Aron Ringera should dispatch a team to Stockholm immediately following the emergence of serious allegations especially on the question of land grabbing at the Ambassador’s residence and embezzlement of the salary of a junior staff member who has also been the victim of mistreatment by Ambassador Purity Muhindi.”

These days in Kenya, if political party members wants free media publicity, they simply pick on a government officer and shout “corruption”, because that is what we in the media want to write about as the fight against corruption is in top gear.

In the case in question, Mrs Purity Muhindi is a new ambassador who just took office recently in Sweden. A new person now being accused of land grabbing because ODM-K scandinavia chapter is looking for something to publicise its existence in Sweden.

Surely, any thinking person cannot even imagine that someone who has been in the job for a very short time can make quick connections and sell land that belongs to the embassy.

The problem here is not land grabbing. The problem is a gardener misusing the media with lies because he has lost his job. Instead of adressing the problem that affects him, he is now misleading ODM-K members in Sweden. He should know that the party wants to hear  such unfounded accussations in their efforts to fight the government.

Calling for investigation and that the anti-corruption commission should despatch investigators to Sweden is simply hate and witch-hunting against the new ambassador.

The group seems to think that by coming up this way they will scare the new ambassador so that she will be meeting them whenever they want to.

The gardener has lost his job. The reasons are clear. The new ambassador does not need his services and has a full right to engage a company to take care of cleaning the garden.

Infact by doing so, the problem of using or not using the kitchen and the residence’s toilet will be solved because the cleaning company will not be hanging around the whole day at the residence.

When Mr Munala now writes that the gardener has been mistreated because he is not allowed into the house by the ambassador, we question the reasons behind the demand to use the toilet and kitchen inside the residence.

Saying that the embassy is breaking Swedish laws is far fetched. Foreign embassies in Kenya, Swedish included, are never questioned by ODM-K leaders even if they misbehave while in their residences in the Kenyan soil.

We must not forget that the ambassador’s residence and Kenya embassy in Sweden is Kenya territory and Kenya laws, not Swedish laws steers the game there.

Mr Munala claims that there are things abnormal going on in the embassy and mentions passports among others.

Did he know of this things before or he is using it to justify ODM’s hate towards the new ambassador and to further ODM’s publicity?

Is ODM really trying to help the dismissed gardener or the party members are just using his case to built themselves up in Scandinavia?

Raila and other ODM-K leaders have travelled around the globe attacking Kenya. It is a fact that parties attack those in power when looking for funds to field members during elections.

By attacking the embassy in Sweden Mr Munala is indirectly asking the Swedish authorities to recognise ODM-K Scandinavia chapter because countries like Sweden would like to support any criticism against President Kibaki’s government.

Justice Ringera should not accept rumours, even with the threat from Mr Munala who says he will use ODM-K members of parliament to take up the issue in a session.

By Korir, African Press in Norway (APN)

africanpress@chello.no

Source of the story: Kenya Stockholm Blog 17/11