BY JEFF OTIENO

 Nyanza PC Paul Olando has dismissed claims by Nyando MP Fred Outa that 24 million grant which was recently given to West Kano Irrigation Scheme has been siphoned by Senior Government and National Irrigation Board (NIB) officials.

During a stormy farmers meeting in West Kano NIB offices, the MP shocked farmers that the officers had swindled the grant nowander they were shifting goal posts and misinforming farmers.

The money you’re expecting has been looted by these people seated here, Outa said while pointing to the diase.

When he rose to speak Olando adviced the MP and other local leaders to weigh their sentiments before they utter them adding that such careless talks can spark unnecessary tension and hatred among the people.

Whoever is claiming that some government officers have conspired to swindle the grant should immediately report the matter to the police for action, the PC thundered to the attentive crowd.

He went on to alley fears from the farmers that the grant had been withdrawn saying that it was still intact but had just been deferred.

Olando emphasized that the grant will only be availed to farmers if they end wrangles and form farmers representative bodies.

Since early this year, West Kano Irrigation farmers have been on the war path with the MP who they argue is milking them dry through a Thika based Asian Operating under the flagship CAPWEL.

Their quest to meet the CAPWEL Director have been thwarted by the legislator who they allege is doing brokerage with the wealthy Asian to oppress them.

How can we do business with someone who claims to be our partner who we’ve not even sat with, said Amos Owiti who is the millers Director and a farmer.

Amos further claimed that CAPWEL was forcing them to sign contracts where they charge inputs to the tune of Kshs. 9,600 in terms of input per acre while other financiers charge a paltry Kshs.2, 500 per acre in other rice schemes.

We want autonomy and we are tired of these punitive terms from CAPWEL, Amos told the PC during a leaders meeting which preceded the main meeting.

CAPWEL has extorted from us enough, how can they pay us 30 Kshs. Per Kg yet farmers from other schemes are paid Kshs. 60 per Kg, said the chairman Obura Owuoth.

West Kano Irrigation Scheme was started in 1976 and it has over 2500 acres owned by peasant rice farmers. It’s interesting and imperative to note that these farmers have not acquired title deeds since then.

END

Photo: Erica Silverman/IRIN

A child swims in the ‘Shalihat’ area in Gaza City despite warnings from the health ministry

GAZA CITY,  – The World Health Organization (WHO) in the Gaza Strip, in conjunction with the Gaza health ministry, began a public awareness campaign this week to warn swimmers and fishermen of raw sewage discharges, and the potential dangers.

Signs were placed in seven areas along Gaza’s 42-km-long coastline where untreated sewage is being dumped directly in the sea, according to WHO officer Mahmoud Daher in Gaza.

“There are areas to be avoided, the possible threats are diarrhoeal diseases or skin diseases,” said Daher. “The effect on fish is limited to the [identified] areas, and shellfish – not very popular in the Gaza diet – could also be affected.”

WHO will make a full assessment later on in the season, said Daher.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) agrees with WHO that pollution of the costal waters is a public health matter, said FAO food security adviser Erminio Sacco based in Jerusalem.

Gaza’s environment authority also made announcements on TV, radio and in the press, warning Palestinians the seven areas (accounting for at least 10 percent of Gaza’s total beach area) are too polluted for swimming or fishing, according to Engineer Baha Al-Ghaza from the authority.

“The health monitoring system in Gaza is not fully effective, so we are not sure of the exact effects of the pollution so far this season.” said Al-Ghaza. The health ministry was developing a system to monitor the potential effects of the polluted seawater, said health ministry spokesperson Hamam Nasman.

Areas affected

According to the environment authority and the Coastal Municipal Water Utility (CMWU), four of the prohibited seven coastal areas are in Gaza City. Areas affected in the north are Beach Refugee Camp, the beachfront hotel area, the former presidential compound (only rubble remains), and an area populated by beachfront cafes known as `Shalihat’. Further south, affected areas include an area near former ‘Netzarim’ settlement, Wadi Gaza (Gaza Valley), and Rafah (near the Gaza-Egypt border).

A main sewage pipe is discharging untreated sewage directly into the sea in all seven areas.

Despite the warnings, some families continue to swim and fish in the prohibited areas.

Eyad, aged 30, a former security officer under the Fatah authority, and his wife Nasrin, brought their three children to swim in the ‘Shalihat’ area in Gaza City on 4 June.

“We heard warnings from the health ministry, but we think it is still safe,” said Eyad, as his 5-year-old daughter Noa and 3-year-old son Adel ran into the sea.

WASH report

About 80,000 cubic metres of raw and partially treated sewage is being discharged directly into the sea each day at multiple points along the coast, according to an April 2009 report published by the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) cluster, a coalition of UN agencies and international organizations responding to Gaza’s water and sanitation crisis.

Israeli’s 23-month blockade of the territory and some limited damage due to the Israeli offensive (27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009) has put additional pressure on the undeveloped sewage infrastructure in Gaza, according to the WASH report.

Restricted entry of construction and industrial materials, and spare parts, is preventing Palestinians from rebuilding infrastructure, said the UN Office for the Coordination of humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

es/cb source.www.irinnews.org

Photo: Lina Atallah/IRIN

Sacks of Gaza aid remain exposed in al-Arish stadium

AL-ARISH, ) – The lack of proper warehousing facilities in the northeastern Egyptian cities of Al-Arish and Rafah is partly to blame for bottlenecks and inefficiencies in delivering food and other aid to the Gaza Strip, a former senior Egyptian aid official has said.

The only working warehouse in Al-Arish had been part-rented to the World Food Programme (WFP) with only some of its space allocated to the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS), said Ahmed Orabi, head of Egyptian Red Crescent aid operations between June 2008 and April 2009. Not all of the donated food aid arriving in Al-Arish could be stored appropriately, and this had led to some wastage, he said.

Photo: Shabtai Gold/IRIN

Cheese being brought into Gaza at the Kerem Shalom Crossing

The coastal city of Al-Arish has been a major hub for incoming aid donations during and after the Israeli offensive (27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009). The ERCS works in close partnership with WFP to facilitate the passage of goods into Gaza for UN agencies and NGOs.

Bekim Mahmuti, head of logistics with WFP’s programme in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, told IRIN they had encountered no warehousing or access problems in Al-Arish. “Our aid was locally purchased in Egypt and stockpiled in our warehouse in Al-Arish. It successfully reached Gaza,” Mahmuti said from East Jerusalem. He added that WFP had no food aid left in Al-Arish by mid-May.

Other reasons for delays and difficulties in getting aid into Gaza are the frequent and unscheduled closures of the Rafah crossing, and the circuitous route that some aid has to take.

Significant quantities of aid – mainly from Arab and Muslim countries – have had to be trucked from Al-Arish to Al-Ouja (50km from Rafah on the Israeli-Egyptian border) and thence to Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, according to the January 2009 Regional Humanitarian Update of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Kerem Shalom has become the main entry point for aid arriving from Israel, but it was not designed to handle large quantities of aid, and strict Israeli controls limit the speed with which goods can be handled.

Rafah has been used mainly for medical aid, and Kerem Shalom for food and other aid.

Photo: Erica Silverman/IRIN

Gaza authorities registering trucks entering Rafah after retrieving imports from Kerem Shalom (file photo)

Incorrect documents

An insight into some of the other impediments to smooth aid delivery to Gaza can be gleaned from OCHA’s January 2009 update:

“Many donations arrived in Al-Arish without proper documentation or indication of a consignee. This has impaired their transfer to Gaza. As of 31 January, 3,000 tons of humanitarian supplies, which had crossed into Israel via Al-Ouja was stockpiled at the Kerem Shalom terminal due to lack of clearance to enter Gaza. This situation has prompted border authorities at Al-Ouja not to accept humanitarian cargo that has no proper documentation. Many truck drivers had no other options but to return to Al-Arish and unload their shipments at the municipal stadium. An estimated 12,000 metric tons of humanitarian supplies have accumulated at the stadium as a result.”

Earlier this month an IRIN correspondent saw sacks of food aid lying on the ground in the main sports stadium of Al-Arish. They were believed to be remnants of the usable aid still waiting to be shipped to Gaza.

Dumped food aid

Orabi estimates that since the Israeli offensive on Gaza ended on 18 January 2009, 100 tons of food aid destined for Gaza has had to be dumped on rubbish tips. Most of the food had been unable to be warehoused and had gone bad with exposure to the rain and sun, he said.

“The aid was thrown away in a garbage lot and was most probably picked up by Bedouins to use as fodder for their goats,” he added.

Mahmoud Abul Magd, head of the ERCS office in Al-Arish, said most of the dumped aid was part of a Libyan convoy.

About 100 trucks of Libyan aid had arrived in Al-Arish during the Israeli offensive but many had been over the weight limit and were thus denied access to Gaza. Some of this aid was channelled through the Al-Ouja border crossing after having been repackaged to meet the correct weight standards, he said.

However, Abul Magd said the current stock of unused food and medical aid was “negligible”.

A clearer picture may be difficult to discern as journalists have been denied access Al-Arish sea port and the airport, places where more aid is believed to be stored.

la/cb source.www.irinnews.org

Photo: Laith/flickr.com

Lake Tiberias is at a dangerously low level

TEL AVIV,  – Israel’s agriculture and finance ministries formally declared a drought in large parts of the south on 2 June, a move which will trigger compensation payments to farmers.

However, Hila Be’eri, the Agriculture Ministry’s assistant spokesperson, said the decision would not affect prices of fresh produce or the water rations allocated to farming for 2010. The drought-stricken areas in the south produce mainly wheat, according to the Ministry.

After five consecutive dry winters, Israel’s main fresh water source, Lake Tiberias (also known as Lake Kinneret and the Sea of Galilee, and which is fed by the River Tiberias, in turn fed by the River Jordan and several other small streams from the Golan Heights), is at a dangerously low level.

According to water authority data, only 80-85 percent of the average annual rainfall was recorded in 2009 in the Lake Tiberias area. In January the lake’s water level fell to a record low, and as of 3 June it was only 0.34 metres above the level at which pumping must be stopped.

According to a recent report entitled Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions: Climate change and the risk of violent conflict in the Middle East, by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the River Jordan could shrink by up to 80 percent by the end of the century. It warned that water supplies may “severely decrease”, falling by 60 percent of 2000 levels by 2100.

Israel has launched a national water saving campaign, which has included restrictions on the watering of private gardens, and in recent years some Israeli farmers have switched to using treated sewage water instead of fresh water, according to the Israeli water authority.

Photo: Sasyl/flickr.com

Israel is planning to build more desalination plants

Desalination plants

Israel has three desalination plants – in Eilat, Ashkelon and Palmakhim – supplying some 150 million cubic metres of drinking water per year. Six further plants are planned to be operational by 2012, supplying 300 million cubic meters, nearly half of all current household consumption.

However, in May 2008 the Environmental Protection Ministry warned that desalination plans were insufficient and that other measures should be considered.

Some experts see desalination plants as the only viable solution in a country severely lacking in fresh water sources and with a current population of 7.37 million.

Others have pointed to the negative environmental impact of such plants.

The IISD report predicted that by 2020 water shortages would be the norm, with water requirements projected to be 130 percent of renewable supplies for Israelis.

td/at/cb source.www.irinnews.org

Photo: Albino Mahumana/PlusNews

Almost 90 percent of children under the age of one were immunised in 2008

JOHANNESBURG, – A new trial to test the efficacy of a tuberculosis (TB) booster shot for babies is about to start in South Africa, but when your subjects are too young to eat solids, the challenge rises to a new level.

Almost 2,800 infants will participate in the two-year trial, in which researchers from the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) hope to prove that a new vaccine can act as a booster shot to improve the efficacy of the only existing inoculation against TB, the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, in use for nearly 90 years.

BCG has become a standard part of national immunisation programmes in many countries, including South Africa, but it does not guarantee protection against the most common form of TB, which attacks the lungs. An effective TB vaccine could help save some of the two million people who die annually from the disease, a quarter of whom are co-infected with HIV.

The vaccine has been tested in HIV-infected adults in South Africa, the UK and Senegal, but because this will be the first test in infants, only HIV-negative infants will be enrolled.

According to Michele Tameris, study manager for the trial, the vaccine has already been administered to infants in Gambia, with no side-effects other than a brief period of mild discomfort, and the irritation and swelling at the injection site usually associated with childhood immunisations.

You have to make sure the parents or caregivers understand the  risks and benefits and that their child is contributing to science

Caution, Baby on board

Dr Glenda Grey, co-director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Witwatersrand University, which participated in South Africa’s first human clinical trial for an HIV vaccine in 2003, said oversight bodies demanded a higher burden of proof when children and infants were included in studies.

“Ethics committees must also ensure that infants don’t find themselves in a more vulnerable position than they already are because they participated in a trial; you have to minimise the harm and maximise the benefits,” she said.

“Does a child benefit from being in the study? They often do. The nice thing … [is that] any illness is diagnosed much earlier and [they] get treatment, whereas … [other children] may not be able to get to a clinic, may be misdiagnosed or get poor treatment,” said Grey.

Consent is always a crucial issue. “You also have to make sure the parents or caregivers understand the informed-consent process, the risks and benefits, that a vaccine may or may not work, and that their child is contributing to science.”

Ethics in practice

The town of Worcester, in the winelands of Western Cape Province, is one of three towns participating in the SATVI trial. HIV and TB co-infection has been the most significant cause of premature death in the province since 2007.

Tameris said the blood samples taken in this study would be much smaller, and would also be taken less often, because drawing adult-sized samples from pint-sized participants could mean risking anaemia or other illnesses.

“You have to work out the absolute minimum sample you need, down to microlitres. Babies are very sweet and cute, but it’s not always easy when they become distressed and resent having to be held tightly to have blood taken,” she said.

Blessing in disguise

The Department of Health estimated that almost 90 percent of children under the age of one were immunised in 2008. “We have very high immunisation rates in South Africa so we have a culture of immunising our children and, in that sense, vaccine trials are easier and more understandable than drug trials to many people,” Grey noted.

Although there have been concerns that the legally mandated R150 (US$19) given to participants per clinic visit could provide an incentive, Linda Sibeko, who lives in Worcester and is a member of the study’s interim community advisory board, said parents saw it as a way of learning more about TB. “People are welcoming it. We explained … and now everyone wants to be involved.”

llg/kn/he source.www.irinnews.org