More questions than answers on the marine cable project

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

Escalating violence in Somalia causes civilians to loose their lives

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

 

Mogadishu-Somalia (API); Five people were killed and many more were injured in heavy battle between Ethiopian and government troops combined against the insurgent forces in a separate area in Mogadishu on Tuesday night, residents confirm to API.

 

Opposition warriors have opened fire and motor shells on the Ethiopian and government base solders at Afoloransa junction Wardeglay district. Both sides were heard exchanging fire.

 

“It was a scary night, because the light of the bullets have been seen, old women and a children died after the moto shells landed on the neighbouring houses. Five were wounded; according to an observer Mohamed Omar who narrated the story to API last night.

 

Three people are said to have been killed in a separate incident at Menada building of Suka Holaha district in north Mogadishu, with three being wounded. All are said to hbe civilians.

 

These conflicts which escalated in Mogadishu come after U.N-brokered peace talks between TFG leaders and the opposition Alliance based in Asmara. The parties agreed on a cease fire in Djibouti conference on 9 June which now seems to have no effect.

   

Somalia slipped into anarchy after the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, resulting in clan based fighting in all Somali regions.

 

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African Press International – api

Kenya Daily Nation bosses in sex scandal?

API has received the correspondence below and we have chosen to publish in order to put a stop to those who silently scandalise others through secret emailing if what they write is untrue. API publishes it also so that those being scandalised, attacked in the mail get the opportunity to have their say and come clean by either denying or facing up to the facts if it is true at all. API

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Send in by: Pascal Dame

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have disturbing news from Nation Centre, Nairobi , the Hqs of Nation Media Group.

Our very own CEO, Linus Gitahi, who proclaims to be a staunch “Born-Again” Christian, has been sexually molesting one of our popular TV personality on the 6^th floor (Nation Broadcasting Division) for the past four months but the victim has opted to suffer in silence rather than expose him and risk losing her job or face unspecified threats issued by the man. The female staff is so traumatised and she is contemplating committing suicide to end her suffering.

I knew about the matter when I went to the Ladies last night. Shortly after I entered the toilet, the lady walked in and what followed sent cold shivers down my spine. My whole body turned cold. I knew whom she was by her voice.

Suddenly, the lady started talking on her cellphone and she was sobbing hysterically. I was scared stiff as to what could have happened to her and I decided to remain still in my toilet to get to know what was bothering her. The lady explained how Linus had been wanting to take her to bed against her wish.

She explained how Linus first met her in our newsroom during one of his routine go-arounds and he started asking her to see him in his office. At first, Linus made the meetings to look officials but he started expressing interest in her during subsequent meetings. He even started soliciting for sex from the respected TV personality.

The lady told the other person on the line that Linus promised to promote her to an existent post of deputy Managing Director for Nation Broadcasting Division (NBD), plus giving her an accompanying hefty perks. There is talk that Linus plans to carry out major re-organisation and administrative changes in the NBD.

But the lady said she told Linus that she was not interested in a promotion and a pay rise if it was driven by his desire to have sex with her. She told the other person that she had constantly told Linus that she was not interested in an affair with him or any other man since she was already in a happy relationship and that Linus was her boss and he was a married man. But Linus could hear none of it.

The lady broke down into tears when she started explaining how Linus had called her to his office after office hours last week and almost raped her. She didn’t reveal which day it was.

She went on to explain how Linus told her that he wanted to take her out this long weekend (Monday is not a working day in Kenya coz a public holiday falls on Sunday). He wanted to take her to Mombasa .

It was when the lady told Linus that she would not honour his date that he went to sit next to her on the leather sofa set and started to touch her breasts. She said she stood up and threatened to scream. But Linus grabbed her and pushed her against the sofa set attempting to rape her. I couldn’t believe my ears and tears rolled down my cheeks as I sat on the toilet bowl.

The lady managed to free herself from Linus grip and he gave up when he saw the looks on the girl’s face. She said Linus threatened to fix her if she dared tell anyone about the attempted rape incident. He taunted her that nobody could listen to her story since she didn’t have any evidence to back her story. He also warned her not to resign from her job because he feared she might spill the beans while out there.

She said Linus threatened to turn tables on her if she decided to go public. He boasted he had good connection with a Brig Ali, I don’t know who that is, and State House. He threatened to fix her, I don’t know how, if she dared talk about the incident.

She promised to keep quiet. From her explanation, the lady came to the toilet last evening after Linus called her (most likely a few minutes before she rushed to the Ladies) reminding her of the weekend date. She had thought Linus had given up after last week’s bad encounter in his office.

I heard the lady telling the person she had called that she was ready to kill herself rather than succumb to sex demands by Linus. She said she would not go for the date and she was ready to face any consequences. But she said she feared Linus could use his influence to harm her if the matter became public knowledge.

The lady abruptly ended her conversation when the Ladies outer door opened and another of our colleague walked in. I heard the Lady washing her face on the sink to clear evidence of her tears. The other colleague who had just walked didn’t sense anything because the Lady explained she was washing her face because she had a headache.

The Lady walked out after drying her face. I waited for the other colleague to leave and I then left the toilet and walked out of the Ladies.

I don’t know why the lady never bothered to check if there was somebody else in the small room. I guess she was badly traumatised and she was going through such a harrowing mental anguish that she didn’t remember to check if she was all alone.

I decided not to let the lady know that I was holed up in one of the toilets and I listened to her conversation. I don’t want trouble with Linus. But I have decided to expose the issue because I believe many of my colleagues go through the same nightmare every day but are afraid to go public. You cant fight with a man like Linus. Who will believe your story? A good number of my colleagues in NMG and in the media fraternity in Kenya suffer sex harassment and abuse by their bosses but opt to die in silence.

For those who are hearing about Linus for the first time, the man is not new to sex scandals. It only last year when a section of our colleagues on 3^rd floor (newspaper division) exposed what they termed The Nation Centre Brothel!

The names of Linus and a host of other top NMG editors and executives featured prominently in the sex-for-hire and sex-for-promotion scandal that had the entire world turned on by the sex soap opera for months. But it seems Linus never learnt a single lesson from the international shameful exposure he and his ilk got at the time.

Although Linus was not linked to the sex-for-hire and sex-for-promotion scandal, what shocked many was the cover-up conspiracy he entered with the scandal-exposed managers. The key figures named in the sex scandal were;  Linus’ then de facto deputy, Dennis Aluanga, Wangethi Mwangi (Group Editorial Director), Joseph Odindo ( Group Managing Editor), Cyrille Nabutola (then Group Marketing Director) and Helen Mbugua (then Group HR Director). Aluanga, Nabutola and Mrs Mbugua have since bowed out of NMG due to the mounting pressure generated by the scandal. Wangethi and Odindo are still clinging on to their jobs.

Aluanga, still a bachelor at 42, was accused of raping a female staff in the Accounts Dept on his office carpet. Aluanga had also been caught in the act with a secretary by cleaners who turned up late in the evening to clean his office. But he got away with the sex crimes he had done at Nation Centre and somebody close to His Highness The Aga Khan found it appropriate to reward him with another plum job at The Aga Khan Development Network.

Journalists who exposed the sex scandal revealed how Wangethi and Odindo hired and promoted female journalists based on their sex performance in bed rather than their professional performance. It was also revealed how Wangethi and Odindo shared female journalists unknowingly, especially Buzz Editor Adhiambo Odera.

Wangethi, who has previously been sued by a former NMG print female journalist for attempted rape, has a bad reputation of lying women on his carpet. He successfully saved himself from further embarrassment and saved his marriage from collapse by reaching an out-of-court settlement with the journalist who had sued him.

Everybody here was shocked when Linus decided to shield the editors and other managers exposed in the sex scandal. But from the serialisation that was done by the journalists who exposed the Nation Centre Brothel scandal, we learnt that Linus was morally impotent to act on such individuals because he, too, had his own smelly skeletons to hide.

The serialisation revealed how Linus was at the centre of a messy divorce case at the Nairobi High Court’s Family Division involving one Kennedy Kairu and his wife Pamela Nduku Kairu. Kairu filed a divorce against his wife, a former colleague of Linus at GlaxoSmithKline, on the ground that Linus had been having an affair with his wife when the woman worked as Linus’ secretary at the pharmaceutical company.

To back his case, Kairu attached in his affidavit a photo of his dear wife in a compromising position with Linus. Court journalists say Linus has spent a fortune trying to kill the divorce case and the stories from being published by other media houses. As expected, other media houses can’t publish a story of one of their own but the court case is still alive.

Linus was last year accused of demanding sex from a well-known music celebrity in Kenya when she decided to try her hand in electronic journalism at our newsroom. There were claims that Linus was a homo-sexual and that he frequented Nairobi ’s red-light district, Koinange Street , to pick prostitutes during his student days at the University of Nairobi .

When the sex scandal was exposed last year, Linus shamelessly used vast NMG resources to buy employees’ silence and cover up the dirty mess of his new-found pals. Linus and the other culprits went to great lengths to deny what is an open secret within NMG and beyond. Sex-for-hire and sex-for-promotion is the most common tool top editors and other managers unleash on helpless female staff who want jobs or want to keep their jobs or move up the ladder. Female employees, married ones included, will remain an endangered species here as long as Linus, Wangethi and Odindo and other male managers can’t keep their zips tightly shut.

Is this another lie Linus? Many of us sympathised with Linus when his name was included in the List of Shame last year but the conversation in the Ladies last night changed my whole perspective about him. At least, Wangethi, Odindo and the others are well known sex predators. But not Linus!

We all know how Linus traversed the 3rd and 6th floor newsrooms during period ECK was busy stealing presidential figures at KICC in Dec in favour of President Kibaki.

Linus came to the newsrooms every so often to ensure all the credible figures compiled by our colleagues stationed in all ECK constituency centres, which showed Kibaki’s main rival, Raila Odinga, in a big win, were trashed just an hour after President Kibaki was declared winner and hurriedly sworn in for a 2nd term under the cover of darkness at State House. That’s Linus, the man many of us respect as our “God-fearing” CEO!

GOD BLESS MY COLLEAGUE, GOD BLESS MY FELLOW FEMALE JOURNALISTS, GOD SAVE OUR MANAGERS

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Published by African Press International – API

Jee! Wonders will never cease at Nation Media Group.

 

I was shocked and speechless when I received and read the email below, which has been in circulation in the internet for the past few weeks. It contains a fresh shocking sex scandal involving Linus Gitahi, the CEO.  How comes none of the other media houses has picked up the story? Is there a conspiracy in the media to protect one of their own? How comes they are quick to expose other Kenyans but not their bosses? Somebody please tell us!

The shameful Nation Media Group sex scandal, which was first exposed early last year, one sex scandal that has refused to go away and it seems the disgruntled reporters at Nation Center will not rest until editorial director Wangethi Mwangi, Group Managing Editor Joseph Odindo and their shared girlfriend, Adhyambo Odera, the Buzz Editor, throws in the towel like the other sex-scandal-hit managers did after being exposed.

What is most shocking is why does the trio hang on to their jobs despite the wide-spread damage the scandal has done to themselves, their careers and their families.

 

Imagine what goes on in the mind of the wives and children of Linus Gitahi, Wangethi and Odindo while reading their sexual escapades at their place of work. How do you explain it to them when confronted with the story? Worse still, is when your teenage daughter tells you he is seeking for a job at Nation Media Group and you imagine sex predators Linus, Wangethi, Odindo and the other gang is waiting to pounce on them IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR THE JOB!

 

Nation guys, please clean up your messy acts!

 

Kenya: Famine forces clansmen in Baringo to eat wild fruits

 

<By Leo Odera Omolo

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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..

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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..

 

“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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

.

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.”.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com.

 

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API

Tanzanian band takes on Europe

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

Obama magic

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

Sudan: South adopts gender policy for the region

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

Zimbabwe: MDC secretary general to appear in court today

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