It is only in Africa where a corrupt government can be sustained in power even when their corrupt activities are so glaring. The coalition government has failed because corruption runs so deep while the citizens seems helpless. You can change it by demanding a caretaker government now! Governance has collapsed and every side of the coalition is competing in outshining each other in looting the national resources. The leadership does not seem to care at all about what the people are saying. Scandals that run into billions are dismissed as “useless” while teachers and doctors whose services are visible and measurable manage with very little salaries. So, what is the point for this coalition? Kenyans must wake up now and say enough is enough. The idea that our man/people are in government is a useless argument because no one is stealing on behalf of his or her community. A case in point is the withdrawal of Triton case because the money (8.9billion) involved is so trivial, not worth wining about – and we are declaring hunger a national disaster!

The arrangement to have ODM and PNU share the leadership of this country after the bungled elections was based on the idea that these leaders would go through a lot of soul searching and retrace where we might have gone wrong as a nation. What had happened in Kenya was unprecedented having had a peaceful handover of power in 2002 without any skirmishes. Everyone had expected that this is going to be the trend and norm in every election should the people realize that they are being taken for a ride. It confounded everyone who had believed in democracy and basked in the glory that Kenya is a bastion of peace. The mandate given under Kofi Annan led group of negotiators provided a rare opportunity for our country through the leaders in ODM and PNU to redress the anomalies that led to the massacres and, later the kind of progroms that globally shamed our nation.

Despite all efforts to have the coalition address some of these pressing issues since last year, what has confounded Kenyans is the speed with which public assets are being plundered. There is massive looting by both sides as if there is no tomorrow for the people of Kenya. Some are even hiring the expertise of specialized looters from outside to help them “steal from their own pockets”. What a shame! The country has run out of any justification to keep this coalition in power even for a day. A caretaker committee must be put in place to deliver this country from the jaws of these shameless leaders. The looting and primitive accumulation of wealth currently taking place in almost all sectors of government cannot be stopped if we give these people more time to loot. There will be nothing for the next generation. This country surely looks for people who are selfless; leaders who understand that with good laws and strong institutions everyone will have enough from our collective resources.

At some point I almost wondered aloud why so many people are resorting to loud prayers during the breaks from work. It has dawned on me and the words of philosophers have been proven…that people turn to seek higher intervention when the leadership of this world has failed them. The leadership in Kenya has failed and so many people are seeking higher intervention. This can be corroborated by the enthusiasm that greeted the election of President Obama in America.

After careful observation on the political theatre in Kenya, I have come to believe that only a caretaker government will help this nation. People are steeped in looting that there is no credible leader who can provide the vision and leadership needed to propel this nation to the level of industrialized world. Since there are so many vested interests within the current leadership, the constitution can only be done by independent groups under a caretaker government. It’s the same caretaker government that will put the new ECK in place and organize for the 2012 elections. If the country fails to adopt these proposals, the magnitude of chaos that will ensue will never be comparible to what happened in 2007/8.

This prescription is based on the fact that the leaders in Kenya lack attitudes. They are arrogant, disrespectful to their electorates and, are not answerable to anybody. We must appeal today, to the conscience of our people, the church and the international community to help us in this new journey in search of a credible leader. The plunder and pillage of our national resources by a macabre of gluttonous hyenas in this parliament and other government sectors has really gone overboard. We, therefore, must stand up as a people in order to curtail this dangerous avarice. This is the only country where MPs are earning more than Prime Ministers of European countries and still refuse to pay taxes. The same MPs controls tax-payers money in the form of CDF yet they don’t pay taxes. Whose tax money are these MPs trying to control?

Despite the huge salaries and perks they rake in, they are still mired in all forms of corruption. Today, all innovative activities have collapsed. Corruption is the only lucrative innovative activity that Kenyan leaders are immersed in with all their families. Cabinet appointments reward those who have excelled been and exhibited sophisticated acumen in corruption. Even those who participated and organized the massacres of fellow Kenyans get promoted with coveted ministries for their superb assignments. What kind of governance is this? According to my knowledge, this coalition was not meant to last for more than two years but some people within the coalition feel that the short spell will interfere with their “grand eating”. Therefore, they keep insisting that they need more time to loot. We cannot go on like this fellow countrymen. A caretaker committee must be in place to save this country, and I will be ready to serve if only my selfless service can bring hope to the already hopeless in Kenya.

Dr. Otieno Mbare is a research fellow and Lecturer in Finland

Email: Otieno.Mbare@abo.fi

LIBERIA: Markets empty after worm invasion

Photo: Liberia Ministry of Agriculture/IRIN

Government teams spray worm-infested areas with insecticide

GBARNGA, 26 January 2009 (IRIN) -
Army worms have now struck 65 towns across Liberia, leaving in their wake wells contaminated by faeces, fields empty of crops and markets devoid of food.

The worms, which invaded Bong country in central Liberia on 15 January, have spread to Gbarpolu County in the northwest and to Lofa County, which borders Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Crops that remain in the affected Liberian towns – including bananas, plantains, taros and peppers – are not being harvested. “Farmers are now scattered around the area and are no longer harvesting their crops so…there is a shortage of food in the markets,” said farmer Massaboi Kollie, who runs a 10-acre taro and pepper farm in the town of Belefanai, which was infested on 23 January.

This leaves market vendors in Bong’s capital Gbarnga with nothing to sell. “We are no longer making business. The worms have taken over all the towns where we normally buy bananas, plantains and peppers,” said vendor Mamie Morris.

Up to 20,000 people have fled their villages in Bong, Lofa and Gbarpolu counties, according to Liberia’s Ministry of Agriculture.

“Life is becoming unbearable for us,” Anthony Menkor, 55, told IRIN from Gbarnga, where he fled from Zota District with his 13-member family. “We are relying on the limited crops that are left, and depending on other food being transported in from other regions.”

Rising food prices

In Gbarnga the cost of some foods has more than doubled: a large bunch of bananas now cost US$10 up from $4; 1 kg taros that used to cost 38 cents now costs $2.25, according to fruit-seller Annie Sumo.

As much as 75 percent of Zota District has been invaded by the worms, said the district’s agricultural commissioner, Joseph Urey.

“There is food shortage right now in my district and we are sending emergency calls for aid agencies to bring water and food to the affected people, who have been displaced from their towns,” Urey said.

Fighting the worms

Officials with the ministries of agriculture, health and internal affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency have been spraying affected areas with insecticide, forcing most of the worms into the forest, according to Joseph Queliboh Subah, who manages the government effort to contain the insects.

But this has sparked fear that the worms might cross the borders to Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Subah said only aerial spraying can stem the spread, as insects climb trees to fertilise their eggs. “Liberia cannot contain the invasion so the international community has to come in to help with more advanced spraying,” he told IRIN.

He said NGOs have not yet responded to appeals for assistance.

Experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) were expected to arrive in the capital Monrovia on 26 January to assess the extent of the damage and decide how to fight the worms, according to FAO’s Liberia emergency coordinator Tim Vaesen.

ak/aj/np source.www.irinnews.org

DRC: ICC trial screening turns sour in Bunia

Photo: ICC-CPI/Hans Hordijk

Thomas Lubanga at his first appearance before the ICC in March 2006

BUNIA, 27 January 2009 (IRIN) – A live screening of the International Criminal Court’s maiden trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province where the alleged crimes took place was halted on 26 January because of security concerns.

Police deployed extra officers after hundreds more people than expected turned up at a public hall in Bunia, capital of Ituri district, to see the opening of the case of Thomas Lubanga. The former head of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) is charged with the war crime of recruiting children into his armed group and training them to kill, pillage and rape.

Many who came to follow the trial were UPC supporters. Some threatened to throw stones and cause damage if they were not admitted to the already packed hall.

The screening had been organised by the ICC office in Bunia because few people in the town have televisions as well as in an effort to prompt debate among civil society groups as part of reconciliation efforts.

“We didn’t think so many people would show up. There was no real dialogue with the public and some people began to insult us,” said Caroline Maurel, who works to improve understanding of the ICC in Ituri.

Lubanga’s case had been delayed by procedural issues relating to the admissibility of certain evidence gathered from confidential sources.

Human rights groups were happy to see it finally get off the ground. “The trial has dragged on too much for the victims and everybody [else]. It [the trial] sends a strong signal for the prevention of similar crimes in Ituri and the DRC,” said Gilbert Tandia, the human rights NGO network coordinator.

“If Lubanga tells the truth then Ituri will know those behind the horrible crimes,” Tandia said. Lubanga was arrested on 17 March 2006 in Ituri and later handed over to the ICC.

One of Lubanga’s supporters, Mateso Ngabu, who had travelled 25km to watch the Bunia screening, told IRIN, “Thomas Lubanga will be freed like Mbusa Nyamwisi and Bosco Ntaganda, who have also not been arrested.”

Nyamwisi, a former rebel leader, was integrated into the Kinshasa government while Ntaganda is a senior member of the Congrès national pour la défense du people, an erstwhile rebel group based in North Kivu that seems to have thrown in its lot with the government.

Jean Baptiste Detsuvi, acting president of the UPC, which is now a bona fide political party, said, “All the images and what the court is projecting as child soldiers are a set-up; they are mistaken because in the DRC and especially in Ituri one [mis]takes someone of 20-25 to be a 14-year-old child.”

UPC provincial deputy John Tinanzabo said the ICC court had only selected evidence favourable to the prosecution.

A member of the Lendu ethnic community, traditional foes of the Hema that dominate the UPC, told IRIN, “The blood of the people of Ituri has been spilled. It is time for those who commanded the bloodshed to be known and punished so that justice and real reconciliation can come to Ituri.”

Local radio stations continued to provide coverage of the trial.

rp/aw/am/mw source, www.irinnews.org