Story by JAINDI KISERO

TREASURY PS� JOSEPH KINYUA has directed that the process of choosing the select group of private sector players to partner with the Government in the ownership of the multi-million shilling East African Sub Marine System Project (Teams Ltd) be handled by the Privatisation Commission under the chairmanship of a respected academic, Prof Peter Kimuyu.

Teams Ltd is an initiative of the Government and Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, in which the parties have agreed to build the first undersea fibre optic cable between Mombasa and Fujaira in the Emirates.

Some 11 private sector players were recently selected to own shares in the company, under what the Government is presenting as a private-public partnership deal.

These circumstances have kicked up� an intense war between the major telecommunications companies over the ownership of Teams Ltd, with companies left out of the lucrative deal claiming that� the process of privatising the company had not been conducted transparently.

Literally, all the major telecommunications companies in this country are lobbying to get a piece of the action, counting on the fact that the value of the company will rise astronomically once the project goes into commercial operation next year.

There have been suspicions that well-connected operatives have lobbied to ensure their cronies get a share of the family silver on the cheap.

So, preponderant have been the claims and counterclaims surrounding the deal that the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission officials last month jumped into the fray by launching investigations into the manner in which the privatisation process was handled.

KACC is also interrogating the circumstances under which market regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya was made to issue a $60 million guarantee to enable the construction and laying of the cable to commence.

I gather that the Office of the Prime minister also recently summoned Ministry of Information and Communications officials to ask question about the privatisation of the project.

In my own view,� Mr Kinyua deserves congratulations for directing that the responsibility of managing the privatisation of Teams Ltd be transferred to the Privatisation Commission.

The commission is better placed to investigate some of the allegations surrounding the deal because,� as opposed to the institutions handling privatisation currently, this body is bound by law to apply stricter rules of transparency and disclosure when overseeing a privatisation projects.

Prof Kimuyu�s team should investigate and determine is the following. First, is there substance to the claim that the procurement of the 11 private sector players in Teams Ltd was done irregularly?

WERE ALL THE PLAYERS IN THE TELEcommunications industry given an equal chance, and on what basis were the companies selected?

Second, considering that the billions of shillings the Government has so far spent on the project, including the $60 million guarantee by the CCK which more or less covers the cost of� completing the cable�s construction, wouldn�t public interest be served better if the sale of shares in the company to private sector players was delayed until the cable comes to commercial operations next year?

Third, what can be done to ensure that the Government reaps maximum shareholder value from the investment it has put into the project?

I say so because billions of shillings in public resources have had to be sunk into the project , including the millions that went into paying for the feasibility studies.

The marine survey alone was done at the cost of $2.7 million. The Government paid millions of shillings to Standard Chartered Bank, the financial arranger, and for the initial down-payment to the contractor.

In contrast, the 11 selected companies� have so far only signed escrow agreements committing them to pay 5 per cent of the money they intend to put into the company.

According to the arrangement, the next stage will be for the� companies to sign a shareholders� agreement with the Government committing them to pay the full amount of the shares they have been allocated.

And, once they pay, the arrangement is that the Government will be relieved of its pro rata part of the financial obligations to the project.

The Ministry of Information and Communications say the project has been modelled as� a unique public private partnership where the government is facilitating the private sector� to enable them to provide� cheap� bandwidth to the fast-growing information and telecommunications sector.

The ministry insists that the 11 companies will� bear the greater part of the financial burden of the construction.

Yet, whichever way one looks at it, this is a project that reached financial closure long before these companies committed a cent.

Right now, if some problem was to occur, it is the Government that would have to bear the risk.

Prof Kimuyu must make sure that� another Mobitelea does not happen under his watch.

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API.SOURCE.NATION.KE

By: Yusuf Haji Hussein, API staff writer in Mogadishu, Somalia.

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<By Leo Odera Omolo

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More� than 45,000 people living in Silale and Kositei villages in the newly created Baringo East district are starving to death�as persistent lack of rainfall continues to hit the area.

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Reports emerging from the area says that many families have been surviving on wild fruits which are also hard to find. Children, elderly people and women are the most affected.

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A resident of Kabarnet told this writer that the situation is so pathetic with unconfirmed� reports of several casualities..

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A recent KTN report shocked Kenyans when men, women and children were� seen by viewers in wild chase of rats and mouse in the thick bushes for their meal, signifying the high degree of hunger facing the communities in the region.

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Fears persist that many parts of Kenya would soon follow suit, though the government recently announced that it was importing 3 million bags of maize from a foreign source. The Minister for Agriculture William Ruto had assured the nation that there was nothing to worry.

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In some regions of Kenya, especially the tradition maize growing areas had experienced total crop failure owing to the scarcity of rain. Maize is the food the majority of Kenyan communities depend on. Its market price has gone up by nearly 80 per cent. In some places, 2kg of either maize or maize flour is costing close to Kshs 100/- which is unaffordable to many poor rural families.

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Regions like Trans-Nzoia, Trans-Mara, Uasin Gishu, Bungoma, Molo, Migori, Kuria, Nandi, Kericho had experienced crop failure due to the unpredictability of the weather. The post-election chaos early this year has largely contributed to the on-going state of famine in the country. In some places, tribal skirmishes had forced maize farmers out of their farms. They fled while abandoning their maize in the field, which was eventually harvested by thugs and goons..

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Still heeling from the aftermath of post election violence, residents of the agriculturally rich�North Rift had high expectation on this year�s budget, which was read in parliament by the Finance Minister Amos Kimunya last week. To save them from the sky rocketing food prices.

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Trans-Nzoia and Uasin Gishu districts are the bread basket of Kenya, But there is hardly enough grain for sale to the famine stricken members of the public.

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Even worse still, post election violence in January and February had led to more families going hungry because no meaningful farming activities took place during the political upheaval.

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In Burnt Forest areas within the Uasin� Gishu district, looting, arson and wholesale destruction of plantations rendered the economic life virtually desfunctional.

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Kenyan farmers were also expecting some money to be allocated towards buying their farm produce when they harvest later this year. Measures to cushion them from drought should also be tailored into finance Minister Kimunya,s budget last week{2008/2009}.� Kenyan farmers are anxious lots. They have many problems and they have been waiting for the government to provide the solution in this year�s budget.. But according to the agriculture minister Ruto very little was given to the Ministry

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Following the post election chaos early this, farmers, particularly those living in the maize producing regions in the North Rift were expecting this year�s budget to subsidise when they harvest later in the year..

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�The subsidies should have come during the planting season of the main staple food, but we still need them to plant the short-term crops,� said one farmer in Eldoret Town. Mr. John Cheruiyot of Sergoi said that the production of maize and wheat would suffer this year as most farmers were unable to afford fertilizers whose prices sky rockted from Kshs. 1.650/- to kshs 4,000/ for a bag of 50 kg.

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A recent survey conducted in Baringo East revealed a grave situation one of human being competing for wild fruits with domestic animals, especially goats and donkeys.

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At a village called Kositei in Chemelinget Division, school chidren have been forced to forfeit their studies and abandoned learning in schools as they accompany their parents to the hilltop and forests to look for wild fruits traditionally known as �Sirichon� in the bushes.

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This fruit is pounded before being boiled in three different stages to remove the bitter taste and to make it soft. The boiling takes at least 24 hours�if the fruits were still fresh, but sometime boiled for two days when they are dry.

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According to the locals, food especially the common ugali {kimiet} that is favorite meal almost every household in the country is now increasingly becoming a rare commodity and a rare thing as some residents said they last tested the precious meal some six months ago, and have only been surviving on wild fruits.,������������������������������� t

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One 75 year old resident and a widow reported that her husband�succumbed to death three weeks ago as his thin body could not� survive for another day after going without food for more than two weeks. The incident could not be confirmed immediately. The widow Mrs Chebeteltes Lochab a mother of eight said her own chances of survival were also slim because she cannot climb up the trees for harvesting the wild fruit due to her age coupled with a broken arm

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Suffering of many people in Baringo East is evidenced as emaciated children emerged from one of the hats. Locals are really staring� at starvation in the face.

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One civic leader Clr� Daniel Tumsis said the problem is getting worse day by day and several people have died in Kositei Ward. �We have a record of seven people in the bushes because they are so weak that their relatives have abandoned them behind as families scampered for the wild� in search of the now scarce fruits.

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The civic leader said several attempts to get any assistance in the form of relief food from the government have been fruitless as they only give empty promises. He alleged that the government has neglected them and wondered who to turn to next.

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A recent visit to Chemelinget shopping centre which has the new district headquarters, essential commodities were very expensive as unscrupulous traders take the advantage of the worsening situation. A kilo of maize flour goes for 100shillings, so expensive that only�a few families can manage� to raise.

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Many families in the area have been forced to flee their homes and migrate and were seen settling along Kotidoe River, the only available water source in the area. �We were tired of trekking for a long distances looking for water� said Chepurai Longolesia, adding that we came to live near the river because we use a lot of water in cooking wild fruits.We used to walk for more than 20 kilometres to fetch water.�.

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The civic leaders reported that it has been very difficult for the villagers as livestock auction they depended on were closed due to quarantine in the area following the outbreak of peste petit rumantes disease three months ago.

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One person alleged that the last time they saw an Assistant minister and the MP for the area Osman Kamama was when he was serving as the Minister for Public Service shortly before he was relegated to an Assistant minister position in the Ministry of education in the grand coalition government.

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In the neighbouring Baringo North district the situation is the same and so is west Pokot. The acute shortage of food has also spread into Turkana district, and in other districts in Western, and Nyanza provinces where close to 100,000 people are facing hunger.

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Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com.

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API

You have been sent news by msema (msemakweli2007@yahoo.com) that appeared on www.bizcommunity.com.

Comment: Good news for east african dance music

The Ngoma Africa band, a Tanzanian band based in Germany has released a new single CD Apache Wacha Pombe, which means, �Apache stop over drinking alcohol�. And by all accounts, it’s a hit in Europe!

This danceable song composed by bandleader Ebrahim Makunja aka Ras Makunja “bwana kichwa ngumu is about a poor man called “Apache” who spends all his meagre income in alcohol instead of taking care of his sweet family.

The song reminds people like Apache to invest in the education of their children so that they can build a better future. It reminds them that they have to think of their families instead of wasting their money entertaining friends with drinks.

On this new hit, Ras Makunja sings together with Soloist Christian Bakotessa aka Chris B.

Apache is said to be already dominating many radio stations in Europe and some radio in East Africa with their style of music, which the reckon is a fusion of Tanzanian “Bongo Dance” with East African rumba.

The have also maintained the tradition of singing in Swahili.

Listen on http://www.myspace.com/thengomaafrica

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API

Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmial.no

<Story by Harrison Mwirigi Ikunda

THERE have been stories doing in the media on the good effects Obama victory in the Democratic race and if he wins in the US presidential election this year could have on Africa. First, let his victory not be seen purely on race harmony and care giving basis. It would first and foremost be good to US as a country. After the two terms presidency of George W. Bush and the Republican presidency a break is quite necessary.

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Secondly, and due to the same reasons advanced above, the victory would be good to the entire world. During the George W. Bush’s leadership the world has not become safer despite his hawkish and rough style of readership. A leader with a larger and superb soft skills combined with the same force is apparently necessary. This is where Barrack Obama fits the bill.

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Thirdly a relatively younger blood would engineer some radical reforms as opposed to the kleptomaniac conservative style which has a good reservoir in John McCain and Hillary Clinton. Looked closely, there is no much difference between John McCain and Hillary Clinton. They are two sides of the same coin.

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Clinton reluctance to drop out of the democratic race when it has been apparent that her candidature for the main race is not viable at this juncture is borne out of various factors. Among them is that first all along up to when nominations began she looked the favourite. Secondly, having been a first lady she could not fathom that a neophyte of Barrack Obama type could outshine her. Thirdly, her husband having been a popular former president she reasoned that this granted her automatic success. Fourthly, she thought that the race factor would greatly derail Obama. Fifthly, it all seems that her former husband Bill Clinton failure to openly and strongly support �his Vice- president Al Gore during the 2000 presidential campaign was a strategic move for the VP to fail so as not to derail the chance for his wife who was strategically getting the New York Senate seat en-route to bid for the presidency. Who said that it is only in Africa where power is too sweet to imagine leaving it!

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Obama starts the race as the favourite to clinch the US presidency this year. Another term for republicans would leave the world very probably worse with raging insecurity and highly inflamed hatred passions. Obama presents a new face, a new generation, new ideas, a new America and hope to many young people who are tempted to lead wasteful life. Here is somebody who is out to prove that America is still the land of opportunity and that America is not bereft of ideas and that the world can be changed for the better.

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However he has too many hurdles to overcome and not least the issue to do with race and class. Let it not be forgotten that even though many analyst take such dim views of George W. Bush presidency, he won two terms successfully in as much as the first was won controversially. Additionally Bush legacy is not all about failure. Let it not be forgotten that it is Bush who appointed the first black as his first secretary of state. It is Bush who during the second term appointed another black as secretary of state. It is Bush who has been pushing dictators in the world especially in Africa and Asia to the wall. It is Bush who though many thought he would forgot poor regions of the world such as Africa who has proven different and actively engaged Africans to sort some of their perennial problems. Bush failure is largely viewed in terms of the Iraq mis-adventure, the never ending conflicts in Middle East, American economy doldrums, his handling of hurricane Katrina, global warming crisis among others. But has not failed entirely as some would want us to believe.

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A warning shot to Africa though. Obama may be good for Africa but first and foremost he is an American and America is at his heart. He is unlikely to jeopardize American interests in pursuit to sort others. The pint is that he has the right frame of mind and brings in flesh paradigm shift in American politics. He has the drive, intellect and energy to make America a better, friendlier and liked state. The upshot is that he represents change!

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API

Juba (Sudan) ? The autonomous Government of Southern Sudan on Friday passed a Gender Policy for the region to address issues of inequality related to gender.

Presented by the Minister of Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs, Mary Kiden Kimbo, the document highlighted gender issues in relations to girl-child education, maternity health care, poverty, food security, access to land, gender-based violence and decision-making in public and family affairs.

In defense of the document, Minister Kiden argued that there was need for a gender policy framework to reverse history of discrimination against women in Southern Sudan particularly by cultural and customary norms of life that ?dehumanize and subordinate? women in public and family life.

The document discourages early marriages of young girls and promotes easy access to education by girl-child. It also calls for giving special consideration to establishing maternity health care centers up to the Buma (local) level of governance in order to avoid numerous deaths of women during child delivery in the region.

While praising the SPLM Chairman Salva Kiir Mayardit for his commitment to fulfill the 25% allocated to women in accordance with the provision in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the document calls for establishment of special programs that would empower women to create enabling environment and potential for them to qualify in occupying such allocations.

?Gender equality cannot be achieved without women empowerment,? argued the Gender Affairs Minister Mary Kiden, adding that women have only occupied an average of 18% out of the 25% allocation per the CPA.
Minister Kiden however commended certain state governments in the South for fulfilling the allocation and sometimes exceedingly up to 30%, which she said was the universal agreed upon percentage of special allocation for women.

After it was passed by the Council of Ministers under the chairmanship of the region?s President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Gender Policy document will then be presented to the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) for final endorsement before it comes into effect.

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API.source.Sudan Tribune, by James Gatdet Dak

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Harare ? Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party secretary general Tendai Biti is expected to appear in the High Court today to face treason charges as President Robert Mugabe tightens the screws on the opposition ahead of a presidential run-off election later this month.

Biti, arrested last Wednesday as he landed at Harare International airport, faces the death penalty if convicted of treason but the MDC at the weekend dismissed the charges against its secretary general as false and based on a ?fake? document written by the government?s spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

?He has not been formally charged but the police have said they want to charge him with treason arising out of what is obviously a fake document, headlined “Transitional Mechanism” which was concocted by the CIO,? MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said in a statement. The police allege that the ?Transitional Mechanism? document was authored by Biti and that it outlined a plan to seize power unconstitutionally.

Biti ? who was brought to court on Saturday in leg irons and amid high security ? publicly distanced himself from the document when it first surfaced two months ago. The police also say that want to charge Biti with ?communicating statements prejudicial to the state? for allegedly announcing that the MDC and party leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March presidential and parliamentary elections instead of waiting for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to announce official results.

The ZEC later confirmed the results announced by Biti although the commission said Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe but failed to secure the margin required to take power warranting a second round ballot on June 27.
Meanwhile, in a rare reprimand, Botswana last week summoned Zimbabwe?s ambassador to that country to protest about Biti?s arrest and the repeated detention of Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai has been detained on no less than five occasions in slightly over the past two weeks while on the campaign trail, in what the opposition leader is an attempt by the government to derail his drive to end Mugabe?s decades-old rule. ? ZimOnline

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API.source.Zimonline (South Africa/Zimbabwe), by Jameson Mombe

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The spiralling prices of basic food commodities� fuelled by inflation, the post-election crisis and high production costs are forcing Kenyans to cut down on their meals every day.

A survey by the Nation discovered that prices of essential foodstuffs had risen by more than 50 per cent in the past six months. As a result, more and more Kenyans are now resorting to the� kadogo (small size) economy, where� one buys tiny quantities of essential products as the need arises. Among the goods whose cost has risen dramatically since January are maize flour, rice, bread, milk and sugar.

By the weekend, major retailers were yet to reduce the cost of these products although Finance minister Amos Kimunya reduced taxes charged on them in Thursday?s Budget speech. It is now feared that malnutrition might be on the rise as most Kenyans struggle to put a meal on the table. Though the� Budget was praised for the initiatives taken to cushion the poor against spiralling prices, it left out fuel, which has contributed to the rising cost of production.

Although oil prices are largely determined by global trends, a large proportion of the pump prices in Kenya are attributed to taxes. Ms Lucy� Wangai, an information officer in Nyeri, is one of those who have been pushed to the kadogo economy. With a salary of about Sh40,000 a month and a family to feed, Ms Wangai is finding it difficult to fill her usual monthly shopping basket, comprising cooking oil, sugar, bread, rice, maize and wheat flour, and detergents, among other items whose costs have skyrocketed.

?One has no option. You have to eat even when the cost is on the increase. We are actually leading a hand-to-mouth kind of a life,? she adds. Ms Wangai, who used to spend Sh5,000 on the monthly household budget, now has to spend double the amount.

To adjust with the hard times, consumers have removed items considered ?luxuries? from their monthly shopping list, to accommodate the costly essential products. Days before the budget speech, the Nation traversed the country looking at how Kenyans of all social classes are coping with high inflation that has, for the first time in many years, gone past single digits and now stands at about 26 per cent.

Everywhere, it is the same woeful story. Kenyans, especially those of the middle and lower income groups, have been hard hit by rising prices. The poor have been hardest hit, unable to meet many of their basic needs such as food, shelter and medical, as prices rises to stratospheric levels and wages stagnate. Will the new measures announced by the Finance minister help?

Many of the most vulnerable do not think so.

What many are quick to note is that while the prices of alcohol and cigarettes went up almost immediately after Mr Kimunya finished reading his budget speech, they are yet to see lower prices for bread, maize flour, wheat flour, maize, beans and other foodstuffs, whose taxes were removed.

And there are no signs that the crippling transport costs occasioned by high oil prices, that also affect the cost of production across the economy, will ease any time soon.

Agriculture minister William Ruto attributes part of the problem to poor policies in the agricultural sector. Though policies advocate affordable and quality seeds, prices still remain high.� Kenya Seed Company, the leading seed producer controlling 75 per cent of the market has in the past also been accused of producing poor quality seeds

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API.source.Daily Nation (Kenya), by Jeff Otieno