By Tom Alila

The people of Kenya have followed the recent engagement between Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and an amorphous group that calls itself the Luo Nyanza professional and business caucus with much interest. Whereas inter-communal engagements are to be encouraged and should be the norm, this particular engagement in my view marks a new low point in the political development of this nation.

First of all it was a tacit admission on the part of the finance minister that there has been a deliberate effort to discriminate,
stigmatize and exclude certain regions and communities in this country from enjoying the fruits of development.  The finance minister, who is the crown prince of the old order, appears hell-bent on sustaining this anachronism. A cursory
glance at the profile of staff and holders of plum positions in some of the key institutions under his docket, say KRA, Treasury and Central Bank will reveal he presides over the worst cases of tribal hegemony in public institutions in the whole country.

Indeed it is precisely in response to the exclusive, whimsical, personalized and tribalised abuse of political power by the
executive to reward and punish communities, groups and regions that Kenyans decided to vote for a new constitutional order that would bury the ghost of bad politics once and for all. The new constitution lays out the principles and institutions that will guide the hitherto manipulated allocation of resources and economic investments. The thinking behind this was that no group or region would ever again be held hostage to the whims of individuals in seeking their rightful share of national resources and the needed investments in economic and physical infrastructure.

Secondly, engaging with anything with the prefix Luo, including political charlatans, would appear to be a belated attempt at fashioning some nationalist credentials for the finance minister. Kenyans view this feeble effort against a backdrop of his intolerant and chauvinistic rhetoric, as we have interacted with in the last few months. But such is the incredulity and poverty of thought in some of our leaders that they would want us believe they have undergone some metamorphosis overnight and embraced those who were the objects of their passionate hate only the other day. This is not say that it is an impossibility for a change of heart to take place. Did not Saul, that famous persecutor of Christians, become the famous Paul who is credited with the highest number of chapters in the bible?  Such a change would be most welcome, but more objective indicators would be needed to demonstrate this. A good point to start would with would be to stop tribalism in the financial sector,  for the sake of of all Kenyans.

Kenyans remember that here is a man who inherited a powerful and national KANU political benemoth, with more than 130 MPs from all provinces in 2002, bequeathed him by president Moi. He had squandered this massive political capital in a record five years. By the time he re-joined parliament in 2003, he had just over 60 MPs, losing more than half the MPs he inherited.  By January 2008, he had only 10 MPs, and he had betrayed his partisan inclinations when he abandoned a national KANU party, and rode the dysfunctional GEMA tiger otherwise known as PNU. In the process he gained global infamy as the only official leader of the opposition not to contest national leadership against an incumbent. Lately, we understand that women are excluded ab initio from his politburo of GEMA elders, yet again betraying a deeply chauvinistic bent to his persona. The politics and development of exclusion seem therefore to come so naturally to him. Impatient with functional political institutions and the rule of law and constitutionalism, he continues to toy with some loose amalgam of political opportunists named G7 (7 provinces except Nyanza), whose sole aim is apparently to leave out the Nyanza from the national political and developmental calculus.

Most of the country’s business is done with our regional neighbours, and Kisumu has long merited to be developed into a regional transport and industrial/business hub, given its strategic location. This has not been prioritized. Instead what we have witnessed is the frenzied development of a 10-lane Nairobi-Thika superhighway that is not even the country’s economic artery…this distinction belongs to the Mombasa-Kisumu-Busia/Malaba highway. Similarly, the world’s second largest lake has no hotel comparable to hotels in the Ugandan and Tanzanian side of the lake. Instead, what would be considered as ponds by comparison, such as lakes Naivasha, Elementaita and Nakuru, host a plethora of world-class tourist hotels. The sugar/cotton sectors that do well in Nyanza/western provinces and irrigation schemes in this part of Kenya do not enjoy the clout and policy/financial support that is accorded say dairy, tea, maize, and coffee.

It may yet be asked therefore: What inclusive agenda for Kenyans has Uhuru ever pushed? It should be re-stated for the benefit of Uhuru, that Nyanza, Central, Rift valley, North-eastern, Western, coast, eastern and Nairobi all deserve resources from the government.

The writer is KANU Chairman Ndhiwa

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Supporting women’s rights in remote areas

Photo: Anthony Morland/IRIN

According to NGO reports rapes, forced marriages, domestic violence and early pregnances remain of grave concern in northeastern Central African Republic

NAIROBI, 25 April 2011 (IRIN) – Violations of human rights are on the increase in northeastern Central African Republic (CAR), with aid workers expressing concern for protection of civilians amid renewed clashes between government troops and the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP) rebels – one of the few groups that has not signed a peace agreement with the government.

“Killings, arbitrary arrests, burning and looting of villages, forced disappearances and abductions are frequently reported, in particular in conflict-affected areas in the north and in regions where CPJP and LRA [Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army] are present,” Fornelle Poutou, the secretary-general of the Association of Women Lawyers of Central Africa (AFJC), told IRIN. “People are afraid to [go] to the police because they have no confidence in them, fear repercussions or simply do not know their rights.

“The 12 April attacks in Ndélé, in the Bamingui Bangoran prefecture, displaced hundreds of people. Part of the administration was paralyzed and people live in fear because of lack of security.”

Know your rights

In 2010, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), with the AFJC, set up a legal aid programme for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), offering sensitization and awareness training on human rights, particularly for women.

Legal clinics integrated into the strategy of the Ministry of Justice to promote people’s access to justice have been built in several rural areas in the northeastern prefectures of Ouham, Ouham Pende and Bamingui Bangoran, areas that have experienced significant population displacement since they have the highest presence of armed groups.

Alberta Santini, a protection officer for the council in Bangui, the capital, told IRIN: “Promoting a culture respectful of human rights in contexts marked by long-term conflict, lack of knowledge of legal protection tools and negative female archetypes is a great challenge.”

Clinics in Ndélé, Paoua and Batangafo are managed by an AFJC lawyer, with the help of three to four paralegals, all volunteers, familiarizing communities on women’s rights and strengthening their capacity to assert themselves.

Psychosocial support

The team also takes GBV survivors through a series of integrated care systems, including medical care, psychosocial support and eventual social reintegration.

“The great difficulties [stem] from the very nature of the judicial system,” Santini said. “A system that does not properly develop the skills and knowledge of people working in the legal and judicial system, lack of human and material resources to implement it in the remote areas and a generalized lack of confidence of the people in the respect of their rights.”

The clinics provide education, legal consultations, mediation, guidance and support to local populations. However, said one volunteer: “Due to insecurity, people often cannot leave their villages to report violence cases to the CAR army. But with all the complaints of violence and other abuses against the [army] itself, many say they would not report to them anyway even if [they] had to.”

Since their establishment, the clinics have become centres for counselling on female genital mutilation/cutting, early marriages and early pregnancies as well as legal consultation for domestic violence, parental responsibilities towards children, responsibilities to husbands or wives and forced marriage.

Some 5,461 people, 11 paralegals and 55 focal points have been trained and 1,395 people across the country have been sensitized to human rights and protection issues.

In Ndélé, 1,260 people were trained, mostly women, including four paralegals and 20 focal points.

Awareness-raising was also conducted among local authorities, chiefs, imams, community leaders, security forces, staff of international NGOs, and other economic and social groups.

Since December 2010, counselling and mediation sessions have reached about 100 people, according to Santini.

Potou told IRIN: “Through legal clinics, we try to sensitize people to know their rights and refer to [the] justice system. Our biggest success is to see many women visit the clinic and tell us about the violation of human rights and report violence cases or to get advice.

“Because of the presence of armed groups in Ndélé, the population keeps on living in fear of violence and human rights abuses. There is still a lot to do to get people to know their rights and claim them.

“But the government should also do its part to support the knowledge of the legal system and ensure that justice takes its course,” Potou said.

In Bamingui-Bangoran there are no resident judges because of the instability.

“I see behavioural changes in our communities ever since sensitization programmes have started. But we need judges to come here. How can we believe in justice if judges themselves refuse to come to Ndélé?” a beneficiary of the legal clinic asked.

cp-cd/js/mw

source www.irinnews.org

FOOD: Where to watch prices

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

Food prices already high will climb more as fuel becomes more expensive

JOHANNESBURG, 25 April 2011 (IRIN) – Against a global background of steadily climbing food prices, IRIN lists a selection of websites that offer some useful insights into how, why and where food is becoming more expensive.

• UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index

This monthly price list consults private sector as well as government sources for prices and export orders. It is officially accepted by countries and used by governments, policy-makers, humanitarian agencies and financial institutions.

In its April edition the index showed that food prices had declined but this was a temporary dip reflecting the crises in North Africa and Japan in March, which delayed cereal purchases.

The FAO food price index includes an average of the trading prices of five essential commodities – cereals, cooking oil, dairy products, meat and sugar. The average value of the export share of each of these commodities between 2000 and 2004 forms the base for making comparisons.

The month-to-month changes in the prices of each of these commodities is shown in graphs based on detailed information on the prices of a broad range of commodities, including 11 kinds of oils, various varieties of rice and kinds of meat.

• FAO Global Food Price Monitor

If you need more details on how global cereal prices are affecting individual countries then consult the FAO Global Food Price Monitor.

Information from markets and FAO offices around the world feed into this information service, which has also created a food price tool. With a few clicks you can access the price of a particular food commodity in any country.

• The World Food Programme (WFP) Market Monitor

If you are a policy maker or a humanitarian aid worker and need to find out how food prices are affecting the purchasing power of people in 63 vulnerable countries, then consult this quarterly bulletin. 

The April edition, covering the first quarter of 2011, reported that in 44 of the 63 countries monitored, the overall basic food basket had increased more than 10 percent above the 5-year average.

Read more

EASTERN AFRICA: Consumers, traders feel the burn as prices skyrocket

UGANDA: As food prices bite, HIV-positive people turn to kitchen gardens

VIETNAM: Struggling to cope with rising prices

AFGHANISTAN: Government stockpiling wheat ahead of expected drought

Biofuels make a comeback as prices rise

In 16 of the countries the cost of the food basket had increased more than 10 percent since the last quarter of 2010, and by more than 20 percent in Ghana, Somalia, Afghanistan, Georgia, and El Salvador.

The market monitor uses information collected by WFP field offices and in the April edition it also examined the impact of fuel prices on essential food commodities. It noted that the highest increases in fuel prices occurred in Ethiopia and Haiti, where fuel subsidies have been scaled back, and in Malawi and Uganda.

• World Bank Food Price Watch

The World Bank has begun producing regular food prices bulletins, using its own food price index based on information drawn from its offices across the world, the FAO food price index, and the US Department of Agriculture, which also regularly produces updates on global supplies of food commodities.

The information is detailed and often contains useful analyses not found on other websites. The current update looks at the projected impact of continued food price increases on poverty.

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source www.irinnews.org

BURUNDI: Displaced women in Bujumbura risk HIV rather than hunger

Photo: Judith Basutama/IRIN

Living coniditions in Sabe are extremely difficult

BUJUMBURA, 26 April 2011 (PlusNews) – Desperate and displaced, some Burundian women will do anything, including have unprotected sex for money, to escape the dreadful living conditions in the Bujumbura suburb of Sabe, where more than 480 families of internally displaced persons (IDPs) have lived for several years.

Burundi has more than 100,000 IDPs as a result of several years of political turmoil; most of the families in Sabe are returnees from neighbouring countries.

“I know cases of parents whose daughters go into town or elsewhere every night to look for money from men who offer big money [for sex],” Ferdianne Bukuru, vice-president of the Sabe IDP site, told IRIN/PlusNews. “Young girls are attracted by wealthy men and are drawn into prostitution as IDPs have no means to survive.”

For many of these girls and women, the fear of HIV is dwarfed by the immediate need for money to buy food and other necessities.

“Do not talk of AIDS… I don’t fear [it]; I would rather get food and die in the future instead of dying hungry today,” said 18-year-old Jacqueline*. “I have been at this site since 1993; nobody has come to help me to improve my life and especially go back to school.”

Madeleine*, 32, feels the same way. “When I came across a man who feeds me and clothes me, I must accept, for food,” she said. “Who can refuse a large sum of money when she is in poverty like this?”

Madeleine said NGOs fighting HIV/AIDS visited the site occasionally, but not enough to have an impact on people’s behaviour. Condom use – perceived to be less profitable than unprotected sex – is not as consistent as it should be.

“Condoms do not allow us to have enough money; if a man offers his money, he insists on intercourse without a condom,” said one 17-year-old student.

Women who do not turn to sex work often wind up becoming second or third wives to the few men in the site who are able to support more than one wife.

“I already understand what HIV is, but I don’t think my force is enough to stand against it,” said Nzeyimana*, a mother of two girls. “These men may have more than three women – as they brandish [currency] notes, no one can resist.”

Do not talk of AIDS… I don’t fear [it]; I would rather get food and die in the future instead of dying hungry today

The few organizations working to prevent HIV/AIDS say their work is hampered by poor funding.

“For a long time we had collaborators at this site and its surrounding areas in the fight against AIDS in IDPs sites, but now things have changed. We had targeted IDPs sites in Bujumbura and elsewhere, but we are forced not to work at these sites due to limited resources and logistics,” said Basilisse Ndayisaba, coordinator of the Society of Women Against AIDS-Burundi, one of the largest HIV NGOs in the country. “These IDPs no longer have the advice or training of our staff.”

Ndayisaba said her organization last worked in Sabe in May 2010.

Burundi has an adult HIV prevalence of 3.3 percent; the country’s fight against HIV has been hit with delays in Global Fund grants holding up activities and most recently, the World Bank’s withdrawal of its HIV funding.

dm/kr/mw

source www.irinnews.org