IRAQ: Corruption undermining state food aid programme? Food rationing system is crumbling

Photo: IRIN

An Iraqi woman receives her food ration (file photo)

BAGHDAD, – Iraq’s state-run food rationing system is crumbling and corruption in high places could be partly to blame.

A new survey by the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation of 120,000 families which had qualified for state food handouts in 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces, found that 18 percent of families had not received the nine-item food ration for 13 months; 31.5 percent for 7-12 months; 14.5 percent for 4-6 months; 22 percent for 2-3 months and 14.5 percent for one month.

The survey also revealed concerns about the quality of food items: 16 percent of the surveyed families said the ration items in April were bad, 45 percent said they acceptable, while 29 percent said they were good.

Top on the list of bad items was tea, followed by rice, flour and sugar, the survey found.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul-Falah al-Sudani is facing a no-confidence vote in parliament next week over embezzlement and corruption charges – mainly in relation to food imports for the food rationing scheme known as the Public Distribution System (PDS), a member of parliament (MP) said on 18 May.

“So far we have collected 110 MPs’ signatures for this vote. Corruption in the Trade Ministry is running high, mainly over imported food items unfit for human consumption,” said Sheikh Sabah al-Saidi, chairman of the parliament’s Integrity Committee.

“Billions of dollars have been wasted in this ministry and this has led to citizens receiving bad food items over the past few years and also delays in distribution [of food items] in some places,” al-Saidi said.

A simple majority of the 275 members of parliament is enough to dismiss the trade minister.

On 16 and 17 May, Al-Sudani appeared before parliament where he acknowledged there had been some cases of corruption in his ministry and admitted “some food items were bad.” The minister’s brother and another official were arrested while seven other officials, including another brother, are still at large.

Rations still vital

“Despite the negative points that have been registered by the survey, the [surveyed] families still considered the food ration system to be the only guaranteed way of ensuring their food security,” the survey said.

Iraq’s food rationing system, known as the Public Distribution System (PDS), was set up in 1995 as part of the UN’s oil-for-food programme following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait 17 years ago. However, it has been crumbling since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 due to insecurity, poor management and corruption.

Monthly PDS parcels are supposed to contain rice (3kg per person); sugar (2kg per person); cooking oil (1.25kg or one litre per person); flour (9kg per person); milk for adults (250g per person); tea (200g per person); beans (250g per person); children’s milk (1.8kg per child); soap (250g per person); detergents (500g per person); and tomato paste (500g per person).

sm/ar/cb source.www.irinnews.org

IRAQ: Leishmaniasis appears in southern province – Nearly 200 cases registered in the southern province of Missan

Photo: IRIN

The scars left by leishmaniasis skin disease can disfigure the face (file photo)

BAGHADAD,  – Nearly 200 cases of leishmaniasis have been registered in the southern province of Missan, about 350km south of Baghdad, a local health official said on 19 May.

“So far we have registered 190 cases of leishmaniasis in different parts of the province, both in urban and rural areas, and among different age groups,” Zamil Shia, the provincial health chief, told IRIN.

Shia said the epidemic was manageable at present and teams were monitoring affected areas.

Leishmaniasis is also known as Baghdad boil, oriental sore, Aleppo button, Jericho boil and Delhi boil. In its most unpleasant form – visceral leishmaniasis – organ failure and death can result.

It is transmitted by the bite of the female sandfly. Dogs and other animals can act as a source of infection to humans. Rodents, especially certain species of rodent, are considered the main carriers.

Shia said people in affected areas tended to sleep in the open, and in places with poor sanitation.

According to the World Health Organization, the 20 or so infective species or subspecies of the leishmaniasis parasite cause a range of symptoms like fever, malaise, weight loss and anaemia, as well as – in its visceral form – swelling of the spleen, liver and lymph nodes.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis – the most common form – causes 1-200 simple skin lesions which self-heal within a few months but which leave unsightly scars.

Mucocutaneous leishmaniasis begins with skin ulcers, causing massive tissue destruction, especially of the nose and mouth.

The disease’s incubation period is up to six months, so doctors say thousands could have the disease without knowing it.

sm/ar/cb source.www.irinnews.org

MIDDLE EAST: Uphill struggle boosting disaster risk reduction efforts – Deadly landslide in Yemen

Photo: Mohammed Al-Qadhi/IRIN

Deadly landslide in Yemen (file photo)

MANAMA,  – The Middle East has its fair share of natural disasters, but the notion of disaster risk reduction is new, and it is often difficult to persuade governments that funding it is worthwhile, experts say.

“The region is affected by disasters such as drought, cyclones, landslides and earthquakes. There are earthquake prone areas in North Africa and the Jordanian Valley. Floods are also a common hazard and have been occurring more frequently in recent years,” said Luna Abu-Swaireh, regional programme officer at the Cairo-based UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

Rapid economic and urban development has also concentrated people in hazard-prone cities, where little effort has gone into boosting risk reducing capacities, she said.

The impact of climate change is also felt. “Syria, for example, was severely affected by the worst drought ever [in 2008 and 2009]. In April, UAE [United Arab Emirates] had heavy rains and even very low temperatures on high ground,” Abu-Swaireh said.

According to the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), over the last 28 years about 37 million people in the Arab region have been affected by droughts, earthquakes, floods and storms, whilst Arab economies lost about US$19 billion during the same period.

The 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Progress launched on 17 May in Bahrain said: “[Global] progress towards achieving the priorities for action contained in the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) remains mixed.”

Slow progress

Some progress has been made by Arab countries on disaster risk reduction, but “not at the speed required to fulfil the commitment of the Hyogo Framework for Action [HFA] by 2015,” Luna Abu-Swaireh said.

Only Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Yemen have been monitoring closely and reporting on the implementation of HFA. Bahrain and Egypt have set up national coordination mechanisms, whilst Jordan, Syria and Yemen have been working with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and others on hazard mapping and risk assessments, according to UNISDR.

“Action is very small compared to what Arab governments are saying,” said Emad Adly, general coordinator at the Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED), a community-based regional NGO which promotes disaster risk reduction practices at community level.

“Arab countries say a lot about understanding the importance of risk reduction and the link between disasters and sustainable development in regional and international conferences, but this does not translate into plans on the ground,” he told IRIN.

“[Arab] NGOs have programmes such as reducing poverty or improving the livelihoods of rural areas, but are they aware that these are in the framework of a risk reduction strategy?” Adly asked.

Photo: Adil Hameed/IRIN

Flooding in Iraq (file photo)

Challenges

Funding remains the main challenge facing humanitarian workers wanting to implement disaster risk reduction projects in the region.

“People working in this field know that if a disaster happens they can find money for it. When the tsunami hit [parts of Asia] billions of dollars were donated. But to find funding for a development programme in Salt [a town in west-central Jordan], for example, is very difficult,” International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ disaster management coordinator in the Middle East and North Africa, Abdel Qader Abu Awad, told IRIN.

“When we went to the old town in Salt, we found it has extremely narrow roads. If there were an earthquake in the area, no rescue vehicle would be able to enter the town,” he said.

Funding is also a problem at the local and national level. “There is huge resistance from governments and institutions to allocating money for safety,” said Mohamad al-Khalil from the Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction Programme at UNDP Syria.

“We proposed to the Ministry of Education [in Syria] a number of important measures related to the safety of school premises and the raising of awareness among schoolchildren. Despite the pressure we exerted, the sums allocated were insufficient,” he said.

dvh/ar/cb source.www.irinnews.org

ISRAEL-OPT: Military are contaminating water sources – Environment Ministry

Photo: Tamar Dressler/IRIN

TEL AVIV,  – Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bases in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) and Israel are contaminating land and water sources, says a letter addressed to Maj-Gen Gadi Shamni, commander-in-chief of the central command in Israel.

According to the 12 May letter signed by Issac Ben David, deputy director at the Ministry of the Environment, and seen by IRIN, five bases in the oPt are a major source of contamination due to poor handling of diesel fuel and oil.

The bases in question are Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem; Ramallah (West Bank); another is near Hebron (West Bank); and two are IDF fuel stations near Macabim and Halamish.

Ben David’s letter said: “In a recent inspection conducted by the ministry inspectors of IDF bases in Judea and Samaria [oPt] we discovered a bleak picture of neglect and severe damage to the environment due to leakage of fuel and oil. This severely damages the soil and ground water.”

“Our inspectors found that this is not due to lack of infrastructure but to criminal neglect on the part of the persons in charge,” it went on.

Ben David ended the letter by saying this was only one example of environmental damage caused by IDF bases, and told Maj-Gen Shamni that he would forward a full report with photographs of the affected areas. He urged Shamni to rectify the situation.

Ben David also reported grave contamination in two other bases in Israel – one in Ovda in the Negev desert, and the other in Julis near the city of Ashkelon.

The IDF spokesperson’s unit has responded: “The IDF is aware of the importance of environmental issues and makes efforts to treat the existing hazards.”

Representatives of the Ministry of the Environment appeared before the national committee on the water situation in Israel on 21 January and said the IDF was a major contaminator of soil and ground water. They explained that the nature and wide scope of IDF activities constituted a major contamination threat to every aspect of the environment. According to environmentalists, the IDF sewage infrastructure, or lack of it, accounts for 50 percent of untreated sewage in the country.

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

‘Nyayo’ froze Coca Cola deal – The Nyayo name is important for Kenya and yet Coca leader in the country wanted to erase that.

Below: The man who wants to rob Kenya of the Nyayo memory by erasing the Nyayo Stadium and replacing with the name Coca Cola – the drink that is health risk.

The repainted Nyayo National Stadium and, inset, Mr Alex Maditsi, the Coca Cola country director who withdrew from the stadium’s naming rights deal this week after the State questioned the dropping of the word ‘Nyayo’. Photos/FILE 

By CHARLES NYENDE

 

An order from the Office of the President sealed the fate of the short-lived naming rights deal for the Nyayo National Stadium.

The Sports Stadia Management Board had granted Coca-Cola East and Central Africa Ltd the exclusive rights in February this year, but on May 6, the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura wrote to the Sports minister Prof Hellen Sambili informing her that President Kibaki had ordered that the Coca-Cola National Stadium reverts to its original name.

“To that effect, you are also requested to renegotiate the agreement with the Coca-Cola Company so that the change of name does not affect relations with the company,” the letter, seen by the Nation, instructed.

Flurry of meetings

After a flurry of meetings between the Sports ministry, SSMB and Coca-Cola to renegotiate a name change failed to thaw any of the sides, the giant beverage company pulled out of the Sh117 million agreement.

The deal, signed on February 4 after Coca Cola won an advertised tender, gave the company exclusive rights for advertising, beverage supply and naming rights across all elements of the stadium, including tickets and the media.

It was hailed as historic, being the first of its kind in Kenya and in line with global trends where a legitimate owner of a sports facility gives up the rights to name the facility to an independent sponsoring institution (usually a corporate body or brand) at an agreed fee and for an agreed period of time.

It was also seen as an important breakthrough for SSMB in its struggle to attain financial independence from the Treasury.

But trouble soon broke out on April 28, when Sports minister Hellen Sambili said the government was reviewing the deal.

The Minister charged that the agreement was done improperly and she only became aware of it via the media, and that the name ‘Nyayo’ could not be dropped because that would destroy the legacy of this country.

SSMB wrote to Coca-Cola on May 12 requesting for a renegotiation of the contract with a view of returning the name ‘Nyayo Stadium’, and proposed the name ‘Nyayo National Stadium, Coca-Cola Sports Centre’, but the soda company declined.

Eventually, the Coca-Cola country director Alex Madisti on Thursday announced the company’s withdrawal from the naming rights.

“The proposition put forward to us by the Minister for Sports and SSMB – to co-brand the stadium with its current and former names – is against the spirit of granting exclusive naming rights to a sponsor. We are therefore unable to perform our obligations under the contract,” Mr Maditsi said.

Ms Sambili is expected to make a ministerial statement on the saga next Thursday in Parliament.

source.nation.ke