Lusaka (Zambia) Hundreds of Zambia’s customs workers have gone on a nationwide strike to demand improved working conditions, including better salaries, from the government.

The move by the state workers at the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has paralysed operations at most border points, where the ZRA has posts to check goods going into and out of the country.

The workers say they would not resume work until they are paid a salary increase of one million kwacha (US$ 240) each.

The workers have been threatening to take industrial action since last week if a solution to their demands is not found soon.

After days of waiting, however, the workers said they have decided to take the action because nothing has been forthcoming from the ZRA management.

The workers complained that the ZRA collects billions of kwacha in revenue annually for the government and yet they have continued to suffer poor working conditions.

The action has sparked fears that the border points around the country would soon become congested.

Landlocked Zambia depends on several border points with neighbouring countries, especially Zimbabwe which is the gateway to South Africa, a major trading partner, and the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a major buyer of Zambian goods.

Published by Korir, African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 +47 6300 2525 source.apa

London (UK) South Africa has intensified lobby with the world football governing body, FIFA, seeking a change in World Cup rules to allow visiting teams to be based in neighbouring countries during the 2010 finals.

Answering questions from journalists in London Thursday, Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the World Cup 2010 organising committee, remarked that other African countries should be actively involved in the continent’s first ever World Cup.

“This is Africa’s World Cup and we are making a special case to FIFA for a change in the rules,” Jordaan said.

This development has further confirmed earlier warning by soccer analysts who expressed worries that visitors and football fans could be priced out of the world cup as South Africa is under pressure of accommodation crisis fuelled by European estate agencies and African elite who rush in droves to buy houses in the country.

FIFA’s existing rules allow the visiting teams set up training camps outside the host country with certain conditions which stipulate that such bases would not be farther than 90-minute plane journey to the venues of the matches.

Jordaan said organisers had asked FIFA to consider allowing teams to stay at bases in neighbouring countries and travel to South Africa on the day before their matches.

This puts Mozambique and Swaziland as major potential camps for most of the European teams.

“We believed FIFA would be sympathetic to the proposed rule change”, said Jordaan, who also estimated that over 650,000 overseas visitors and fans would storm South Africa for the finals.

Officials said that FIFA is yet to give a feedback on the lobby.

Commenting on the preparations on the ground for the event, Jordaan emphasised the security issues and the need to take into account the problem of black market and cheap match tickets as was the case in Germany 2006 where hundreds of fans were ripped off with such fake tickets being resold to them at exorbitant prices.

“We are also looking at employing the use of fan parks with big screens for the interest of less privileged supporters without match tickets,” he said.

Published by Korir, African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 +47 6300 2525 source.apa

Dakar (Senegal) The government of Senegal threatened Wednesday to withdraw its peacekeeping forces in the African Union mission in Sudan (AMIS) if the AU is not “provided with means to duly ensure the security of the soldiers deployed in Darfur”.

In a statement released Wednesday in Dakar, the Senegalese state largely evoked the situation in Darfur and deplored the “fact that African countries did not provide the AMIS troops with adequate financial and logistical means to face the gravity of the situation”.

Underscoring the heavy death toll and the large number of displaced people, the government of Senegal also regretted the delay observed in the deployment of UN and AU peacekeeping soldiers.

According to the statement released Wednesday at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting, Senegal sees in this deployment “a compromise situation” to get necessary logistical and financial means “to face the insecurity and stabilise the situation on the ground.”

The cabinet meeting emphasised that “the Sudanese government had approved” that deployment before challenging it.

Dakar also evoked the resources issue, underscoring that the AMIS “is presently understaffed, in addition to the inadequate logistical and financial means for the execution of its mission”.

“Without a clear will affirmed by all the parties for a negotiated solution of the crisis,” the current deployment conditions of the AMIS could foil a sustainable settlement of the conflict in Darfur, especially in collaboration with the UN, the government of Senegal said.

Senegal sent over 500 soldiers in Darfur.

Following the killing of five of them on 1st April, the government resorted to require a thorough investigation to determine the responsibilities, apprehend the criminals and punish them in keeping with the law”.

Published by Korir, African Press in Norway, apn, africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 +47 6300 2525 source.apa

Kenyan women have truly come a long way in penetrating through the political male-dominated world. Kenya’s political history has recorded great women who went through many difficult and humiliating conditions to fight for equality and participation in politics. Some of these difficulties include the beating of female candidates by the supporters of rival male candidates, male power play (manipulating and possibly rigging women out) and the lack of funds for women politicians. Since Kenya’s independence from the British rule in 1963, female representation in Parliament has been very low. During the last Kanu (Kenya African National Union) regime that ended in 2002, there were only nine women out of the 220 members of parliament (MPs). There has also been very low female representation in decision-making positions within government sectors/departments, the local government (municipalities) and parastatals.

In the current Narc (National Alliance of the Rainbow Coalition) government, the number of female MPs has at least increased to 18 out of the 222 members of parliament. However, this still falls short of the United Nations target of achieving 30% representation of women in politics.

It also falls short of the Beijing Platform for Action (the Fourth World Conference for Women in 1995), where it was agreed by all governments that there should be equal participation of women and men in decision-making bodies. The gender imbalance in Kenya’s political playing field has widened so much, since the male political ideology continues to define the standards of evaluation of women’s political performance and participation.

Women MPs continue to play second fiddle and none chairs a parliamentary committee during this ninth Parliament. They are even still not allowed to carry handbags into the House, according to the archaic male-dominated colonial rules.

What hinders women from being frontrunners in politics?

One of the major problems that women face is the lack of funds to conduct elections. Due to the feminization of poverty, many women interested in politics are faced with financial constraints which bar them from contesting, compared to their male counterparts; hence their political potentials go unnoticed.

The political parties’ structures are also male-dominated, thus are discriminative against women. It therefore becomes challenging for women to voice themselves or to take leading positions. Most of these parties only nominate men to winnable positions during elections. It is also evident that very few women politicians are seen hitting the campaign trails. If present, they are rarely heard on the podium because the campaign rallies are often male-dominated. It is paradoxical that women form the majority of Kenyan voters.

Certain cultural aspects also block women, who are portrayed as not possessing strong leadership qualities; many Kenyan communities still believe that men should lead. Combining politics and ‘child-rearing’/family life has also proved to be challenging. For many women, it is hard to balance both private and public life, which in most cases have interfered with many marriages.

Media coverage on the successes of women politicians and potential contenders is limited compared to their male counterparts.

What to do

The success of women in politics in Rwanda, Liberia, Sweden and South Africa for example, shows that there are many strategies women can use to gain power. Women in Kenya should feel challenged and call for affirmative action to increase their participation in decision-making bodies. They should unite and actively participate in nation-building activities.

Which is the best party for women to voice themselves?

Of all the strong and main political parties present in Kenya, only Narc-Kenya seems to be women friendly. Narc-Kenya, unlike ODM-K (Orange Democratic Movement of Kenya) seems to have an upper hand when it comes to addressing gender issues. The party does not only have a larger number of women representatives, but its policies are also gender sensitive and the party seems ready for affirmative action. It is the first party to hold a rotational national party chairmanship, giving all a chance to lead, including women. President Kibaki has also advised public institutions to increase female participation in key positions. ODM-K on the other hand, is spearheaded by male chauvinists who are not gender sensitive and are about to get rid of Nazlin Umar, one of their two female presidential candidates.

It is time for women to look for a way forward and join Narc-Kenya, the party which they can approach to air their grievances and allow them to participate fully in politics.

By Ann W. Njenga, Ass.Secretary, Narc-Kenya Scandinavia.

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