Diplomat East Africa Vol 3

>>The Dying Art of Oratory PG 65

May - June 2010 Volume 003

Door to Region, Window on World

Kenya KSh300 Uganda USh9000 Tanzania TSh7500 Rwanda RWFr3000 Burundi BUFr6000 South Africa R30 Rest of Africa US$4 USA $4 UK £3 Canada $5 Rest of Europe €3.5

BUSINESS: Regional Lobby Campaigns PG 39PROTOCOL: Envoys Back Geneva Rules PG 25

Football FiestaSouth Africa Hosts Soccer's Global Party

11May - June 2010 11

Every four years the world holds a mam-moth month-long party. All and sundry and from all corners of the planet are in-vited, usually four years in advance.

There is no dress code, but most usu-ally fl aunt their national colours and because they are creative with their attire this adds to the allure and spec-tacle of the global party. The end of this party usually sets in motion a four-year-long party in one country and a mourning period of similar length in another.

While celebration and heartbreak are two sides of any competition, Africa can’t wait to celebrate the very advent of the party. If at the end of it an African country will celebrate for another four years that will be the ic-ing on the cake.

Welcome to the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the world’s greatest mass spectator sporting jamboree.

This year’s cup is also the richest yet. The words of South Africa’s High Commissioner to

Kenya, HE Tony Msimanga, carried in our March/April issue, will forever ring true: “Africa is living this World Cup and South Africa is hosting it. So this is our mo-ment, our continent, our time and our World Cup.”

We concur unreservedly. The FIFA World Cup which kicks off in South Africa on June 11 is Africa’s World Cup for several reasons. One, this is the fi rst time the conti-nent is hosting the fi nals of the premier competition of the planet’s most popular sport – football.

Two, we of this continent have not had a chance to cheer our own teams and stars or the world’s football powers and their stars — or our favourite stars of the South American, European and Asian football leagues participating in this event — from close quarters.

Three, never before has an African country had the honour of bringing to these shores so many people and so many cultures from all corners of the globe and for a prolonged party of friendship and passion, joyous cel-ebration and, of course, the inevitable heartbreak.

This is a great time for Africa to show the world it is made of caring and friendly and forward-looking, plan-ning and purposeful, pleasant and proud people. Afri-cans are keen to compete as well as organise, welcome as well as entertain and ready to play their rightful roles in world affairs.

Four, the joy of the continent in hosting this World Cup is evident in the huge numbers of Africans who

have since 2006 scrimped and saved, worked early and late, long and hard to be able to make the journey to South Africa from the North and South, East and West corners of the continent.

Five, Africans will be able for the fi rst time to cheer their fi ve teams on their own continent, which is also to say that South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, Ghana’s Black Stars, Cote d’Ivoire’s Elephants, Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Algeria’s Desert Foxes will have their supporters within shouting distance.

African players have and continue to make a mark on the European football stage, arguably the most fi ercely

competitive of all football the-atres in the world. But this time round, barring injuries, these stars who dazzle the world and their continent from worlds away will be on parade before their own adoring fans.

Six, with the World Cup have come tourists, most of whom have seized this chance to see more than South Africa. Afri-can hospitality has been, and still remains, on show for all to see and savour. There are busi-nesspeople in South Africa and on the continent at large who have travelled here because of, or taking advantage of, the FIFA World Cup.

On their way out they will have known that Africa is the new business frontier; they will have seen and observed that

African governments are keen to attract investors and visitors to their countries. That is to say they will have noticed the vast business opportunities available and be convinced African economies are the next tigers.

Last, which could well be fi rst, this is the right time for an African team to lift the FIFA World Cup trophy. It can be done. In 2002, debuting Senegal’s Lions of Teranga beat defending champion France and Algeria outfoxed and beat mighty West Germany 2-1 in Spain in 1982.

Yes, Africa’s time has come!

South Africa Hosts Soccer's Global Party

•DIPLOMATIC LICENCE

Welcome to

the FIFA 2010

World Cup, the

world’s greatest

mass spectator

sporting

jamboree

2 May - June 2010

•IMMUNITIES & IMPUNITIES

“THE use of the phrase ‘special relationship’ in its historical sense, to describe the totality of the ever-evolving UK-US relationship, is potentially misleading and we recommend that its use should be avoided. “We have a special relationship with the US, but we must remember that so too do other countries, including regional neighbours, strategic allies and partners. The UK must continue to position itself closely alongside the US but there is need to be less deferential and more willing to say ‘no’ when our interests diverge.”— Mike Gapes, chairman of the then British House Foreign Affairs Committee in

March

“HE prayed with them and assured them that the church is doing, and will continue to do, all in its power to investigate allegations, to bring to justice those responsible for abuse and to implement effective measures designed to safeguard young people in future.” — An April Vatican statement from Malta, where the Pope met a group of clerical sex-abuse victims

Heard and Quoted

“Many people in this world do not recognise Nepal for its abundant resources and ancient civilisation yet they know Nepal as a politically unstable and economically poor country. This is not the final truth about Nepal.”— Binayuk Shah, Director of Nepal’s

National Pavilion at the Shanghai 2010

Expo in China, in an interview with Xinhua

News Agency.

“The rumours regarding my engagement simply aren’t true. Jason is my manager and dearest friend. I love him with all my heart.”— Seventy-eight-year-old

Elizabeth Taylor on her Twitter

in April, quashing rumours she

was about to marry husband

Number 9

33May - June 2010

4 May - June 2010

YOU’VE SET THE BAR, NOW BEST IT!I was attracted to DEA by a re-view of it by renowned journalist Mutegi Njau of Citizen TV’s Power Breakfast Show.

What caught my attention is the fact that Mutegi had good words to say about your magazine. This got me thinking, for I know Mutegi to be one who does not mince words in his criticism of the media.

From his positive commentary, I knew this was a magazine I had to lay my hands on. I have not been disappointed.

My only worry is that you have set yourselves such enviably high standards that the challenge fac-ing you is how to maintain them.

In fact, by setting such high standards and deciding to target a very segmented and special-ised market, you will have to con-vince everybody that you have the energy to sustain that tempo by surpassing your already high standards!

PROF HENRY BWISA,

Jomo Kenyatta University, Nairobi

DON’T BE SHYCongratulations on a good-look-ing magazine. But does it read as well?

Am not sure it does. Why? Be-cause your story on the coming Presidential elections in Uganda has only incumbent Museveni pit-ted against his long-standing rival Dr Kizza Besigye, but are they the only ones who have expressed an interest in this seat?

If there are others they deserve a mention. And why are you shy about declaring that South Sudan

•DIPLOSPEAK

Your Headlines Thrilled Me…

Have Your Say

will next year be Africa’s newest nation?

All the hints are there in your two stories, but you do not say it loudly and clearly. This is the era of breaking news, isn’t it, sir?

GODFREY K,

Kampala

THRILLING HEADLINESDEA is a great read. It is your mag-azine that told us before anyone else that ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa were dismal. Soon, the BBC followed and soon afterwards FIFA acted to make tickets available over the counter. That was a fantastic story by Alex Duval Smith.

But over and above all this, it is your headlines that thrilled me — ‘Coalition of Collision’ (Kenya), ‘A Nation’s Tension Headache’ (Nige-ria), ‘Isle of Darkness’ (Zanzibar), ‘Say it with the Kanga or Tell it on the Leso!’ (Culture) and ‘Libido-in-Chief’ (With a Light Touch).

Keep up the good work.

BRENDA SUNDAY,

Zanzibar

ONE-SIDED ABOUT KAGAMEYour headline (Resurgent Rwan-da) and kicker (The Come-back Country) were great for your shop-window, but, alas, that was it! True, President Paul Kagame has many positives going for him, but he also has many nega-tives.

Why turn a blind eye on his failures and obvious ruthless-ness?

But I must say I admired your coverage of Sudan and Somalia, which was brilliantly prefaced by the piece titled ‘Arc of Crises’.

ZAMBONANGA,

Arusha, Tanzania

PLEASE SHAPE UP!Of course, you are a bi-monthly, but what gives you the impres-sion that’s time enough for us to plough through 100 pages of a magazine?

You are too fat; shape up or we will never ship in!

CATHERINE KADOH,

Gigiri, Kenya

WHAT ARRANT NONSENSE!You gave acres of space to two academics to heap scorn on the age-old traditions of diplomacy, arguing that these are anachro-nistic. What arrant nonsense!

Please give the opposing side space — same size and position — to sing praises to the values of the Geneva Protocols.

SANE ADEBAYO,

Bujumbura

I was attracted to DEA

by a review of it by

renowned journalist

Mutegi Njau of Citizen

TV’s Power Breakfast

Show

RANT/RAVE

DISCLAIMER: All letters submitted to Diplomat East Africa are presumed to be intended for publication. The editor reserves the right to edit all letters. Readers are advised to keep their letters short and to submit their names and addresses even when these are not to be published.

WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU: Send your letters to, [email protected]. Submission of a letter constitutes permission to publish it in any form or medium. Letters may be edited for reasons of space and clarity.

>>Damned By Omo River Dam PG 14

March - April 2010 Volume 002

ResurgentRwanda


RwandaThe Come-back Country


President Paul Kagame

UNITED NATIONS >>: Anna Tibaijuka's agenda PG 23 WORLD CUP >>: Africa's sporting bonanza PG 84

55May - June 2010

>>The Dying Art of Oratory PG 65

May - June 2010 Volume 003



BUSINESS: Regional Lobby Campaigns PG 39PROTOCOL: Envoys Back Geneva Rules PG 25

Football FiestaSouth Africa Hosts Soccer's Global PartyF b ll Fi

CONTENTSTable of

PG 84

DISCLAIMER: Diplomat East Africa may not be copied and or transmitted or stored in any way or form, electronically or otherwise, without the prior and written consent of the publisher. Diplomat East Africa is published at Vision Plaza, Second Floor, Suite 37, Mombasa Road, by Global Village Publishers (EA) Limited, Box 23399 – 0625, and Telephone 020-2525253/4/5. Registered at the GPO as a newspaper.

PUBLISHER Global Village Publishers (EA) LimitedPO Box 23399-00625, NairobiVision Plaza, Ground Floor, Suite 19, Mombasa Road, Nairobi

TELEPHONESLandline: 020 2525253/4/5Mobile: 0722 401739, 0722 787345E-mail: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]: www.diplomateastafrica.com

EDITORIALEditorial Director: Kwendo OpangaConsulting Editor: Matt K GathigiraManaging Editor: Bob Job WekesaCulture Editor: Ngari GitukuStaff Writers: Wycliffe Muga, Patrick Wachira, Jane Mwangi, Baron Khamadi, Christopher Mburu, Kiishweko Orton, Carol Gachiengo

MARKETING & SALESMarketing Director: Simon Mugo

BUSINESS EXECUTIVESCornellius MambiliJames NginaChris NyaoroDerrick WanjawaEunice KiarieSerah WamaithaPaul Mucheru

DESIGN TEAM Daniel KiharaWilliam OdidiRaphael Mokora

PHOTOGRAPHYYahya Mohamed

CONTRIBUTORSAlex Duval Smith,PretoriaBiko Jackson, NairobiGodwin Muhwezi, ArushaEdward Githae, KigaliFrancis Sang’, NairobiGodfrey Musila, JohannesburgJohn Gachie, JubaJohn Mulaa, Washington DCJulius Mbaluto, LondonManoah Esipisu, LondonMildred Ngesa, NairobiMishaeli Ondieki, Los AngelesRodney Muhumuza, KampalaPeter Mwaura, NairobiRobert Mugo, Alberta, CanadaWangari Maathai, Nairobi

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONStephen Otieno

ADMINISTRATIONJosephine Wambui

PRINTERRamco Printing Works

Volume No 003 • May - June 2010

PG 86

DIPLOMATIC LICENSESoccer’s Global Party ...................................... 1

IMMUNITIES & IMPUNITIES.......... 2

THE REGIONElections in the Region ............................... .. 6-12Uganda’s Gays Debate .................................. 13Hurdles to EA Political Federation .............. 14

DNAHorn of Trouble ............................................. 16-17The Sudan: New Nation on the Cards ...................................... 20Reprieve for the Jumbo ................................. 21-24Nigeria, Cuba, Malaysia Envoys Speak ................................. 25-27Russia Celebrates Victory Day .................................................... 29-31Ramifi cation of UK's Cliff - Edge Elections .................................... 33

ECONOMY World Bank President on Third World ......... 36-38

SPECIAL REPORTS Grain Bulk Handlers ...................................... 39-50East Africa Business Competitiveness ........................................... 53-62

CULTUREIs Oratory a Dying Art? ................................. 65EA The Cradle of intellect ........................... 66-67Book Review: EA's Pop Culture ................................................. 69Paulina-George: Authentic African Designer ........................ 70 – 71

EDUCATION E-Learning Empowers Africa .................... 73

CONFERENCING Meetings and Events as Tourism ............. 77-78Opportunity in Carbon Credits ................ 79Pan-African Media Caucus ....................... 80

AT THE WHEELChina Takes Over Volvo ............................. 81

GLOBAL STAGENigeria: Goodluck Jonathan takes over .................. 82-83

COVER STORY FIFA World Cup Fever ............................... 84-94

DIARYWhat to Watch Out For, June-July 2010 ................................................. 95

6 May - June 2010

•THE REGIONEastern Africa Beat

TANZANIA: Gearing for elections

Opposition Could Make Giant Leap after October, But…Political party income and expenditure will be monitored, as well as candidates’ election expenses, writesKIISHWEKO ORTON

R ecent Opposition chest-thumping to the effect that they will increase legislator numbers

come the October General Elec-tion gained momentum when the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s own outspoken MP for Kishapu, Mr Fred Mpendazoe, defected to them. The Opposition insists that the CCM votes will drop at all levels, implying that it would lose ground on an unprecedented basis. But CCM stalwarts are ada-mant that such claims must be dismissed without further ado. The reason, they claim, is that they are not backed by a shred of evidence or serious analysis of fact.

However, local commentators PRESIDENT KIKWETE:Eyeing second term

have argued that while the Op-position has not put its house in order to the extent of securing the Presidency, the number of its leg-islators may well increase in the Dodoma Parliament in October.

The argument is largely hinged on the recent signing of the Elec-tions Expenses Act 2009 by Presi-dent Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, which, they say, may snatch vic-tory from rich CCM MPs since it limits the amount of fi nances that may be put into an election.

In his four-and-a-half years at the helm, President Kikwete has vowed to ensure the credibility of Tanzania’s democracy by impos-ing tighter controls on election fi nancing.

Speaking to Diplomat East Af-rica, the Head of the Political Science and Public Admin-istration Department of the University of Dar es Salaam, Dr Benson Bana, said the Pres-ident seemed to have left no doubt over his commitment to fi ghting electoral graft. “The President tried to educate the public about the Election Ex-penses Bill he signed. This has also left no doubts that he in-tends to ensure there are clean elections this year,” Dr Bana observed.

The don, who is also co-chairman of Research and Education for Democracy in Tanzania (REDET), said the President will, after his term in

77May - June 2010

Uganda is the first African Union

member state to ratify the AU

Convention for the Protection and

Assistance of Internally Displaced

Persons in Africa, dubbed the Kam-

pala Convention.

Its instruments for ratification of

the Convention with the Commission

were deposited on March 4, 2010.

Africa still hosts more than 17 mil-

lion refugees and internally displaced

persons (IDPs).

The AU has put together an African

Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIM-

Strategy) to foster understanding of

existing and potential challenges and

allocation of resources to identified

priorities.

It also aims at designing a com-

prehensive, concerted, coherent and

coordinated approach to improving

maritime conditions in respect of

environmental and socio-economic

development.

A Meeting of the African Governance

Architecture in Banjul, The Gambia,

has agreed on the appointment of fo-

cal points from all core institutions.

The meeting also agreed on the

development and circulation of the

rules of procedure by the AUC as well

as adoption of rules of procedure and

launch of the platform by the core

institutions. It was agreed that a com-

munication and popularization strat-

egy on the AGA concept be developed.

IDPs: Uganda Scores

Maritime Strategy

Architecture Matters

BRIEFLYUGANDA

ADDIS ABABA

THE GAMBIA

— Reports by Xinhua News Agency


offi ce, among other things, be re-membered for his anti-corruption crusade.

He argued that the law is cru-cial to ensuring the credibility of councillors, legislative and Presi-dential elections in October, the fourth to be held since the country returned to a multi-party political system.

“The whole electoral process... right from nomination of a candi-date by a political party to actual election and activities after the polls, can all be subjected to legal scrutiny under the new law,” he observed.

Signing the Bill, the President said his government, after ex-

tensive deliberations, decided to have the new Act to curb corrup-tion in elections, noting that, if implemented properly, the new law would make leadership in the nation transparent to all.

In the new setting, political party income and expenditure will be monitored, as well as can-didates’ election expenses.

The all-important new law makes provisions for, among other things, the funding of the nomina-tion process, elections campaigns and elections in general. It all aims at dealing with ‘dirty’ money, illegal practices in the nomination process. It aims at providing for allocation, management and ac-

countability of funds used in elections and campaigns.

But local observers note that the law’s tighter con-trols on election funding is what may secure some more Opposition members more places if they sell their policies well enough to the rural electorate at the cost of ruling party legislators who initially engaged in vote-buying.

Interestingly, the House has lately seen a new breed of younger people from higher learning institutions whose political character is more inclined to the op-position and who seem to speak to the aspirations of the voting class of Tanzani-ans.

One of the weakest links has been the youth, espe-cially in the urban centres. This shall be one of ruling party CCM’s major focal points over the next few months

8 May - June 2010

Sworn enemies of yore are making up this time round, reports KIISHWEKO ORTON

F or the fi rst time in the last three multi-party elections, Zan-zibar elections are apparently shaping

up with a sense of calm on either side of the political divide, save for some reservations during the fi rst phase of a voter registration exer-cise last September.

A calmer journey took shape when President Aman Abeid Kar-ume and Opposition leader Maa-lim Seif broke the four-year stand-off by agreeing to settle their political differences in November.

But a month later, a high sense of irony in every sense took shape when the opposition Civic United Front, who had for four years re-fused to recognize Karume as the President of Zanzibar were the front-liners in calling for the Isles to head to go for a fourth term come this October, when the elec-tions take place.

RECONCILIATIONThe subsequent political de-

bate on the constitutionality of the call came hardly a few weeks after CUF and CCM made a break-through after being at loggerheads since the 2005 elections.

President Karume’s second and fi nal fi ve-year term is due to end later this year, but his two former most signifi cant critics, the CUF Secretary General Seif and the party Foreign Affairs Director Is-mail Jussa came over to his side head-over-heels, telling the na-

Why Karume Said No to ‘Third Term’

tion that there was a need to allow Dr Karume to consolidate peace initiatives in the Isles. Karume kept silent but later came out to announce that he was against the move.

The two seemed to lead the Third Term chorus, noting that “there is nothing wrong in letting him fi nish what he has started”. Here, they meant that since they had just made an agreement whose content no one knew, the current Isles President should be allowed to continue in offi ce, so that he “can get the time” to con-solidate what they just agreed upon in November last year.

At the time in late December, it was unclear whether the ruling party, the Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) supported calls for Dr Kar-ume to be given another term.

Former Karume critic Jussa, made a legislator recently, ob-served: “Reconciliation in Zanzi-bar is more important than elec-tions. We have had many elections in the past, but all have been a source of divisions rather than unity among the people.”

Zanzibar had four elections be-fore the 1964 Revolution — in July 1957, January 1961, June 1961 and July 1963, and three in 1995, 2000 and 2005 after the reintroduction of plural politics in 1992.

“With the possible exception of the 1957 elections, none were conducted to the full satisfaction of the electorate,” Jussa told this writer.

ZANZIBAR: Smooth elections anticipated

CUF noted that what was really missing in Zanzibar was the peo-ple’s trust in institutions charged with organising and overseeing elections. They further hinged their arguments on a call that lasting harmony could only be attained in Zanzibar if the source of the mistrust that had existed for decades in the Isles were ad-dressed.

According to Jussa, contrary to the views of many, the problem in Zanzibar was neither historical nor did it have anything to do with the perceived differences between people hailing from Unguja and Pemba: “The problem in Zanzibar is antagonism between followers of the two largest parties in the Isles”.

He added that the mistrust dated back to 1988, when several senior CUF offi cials were expelled from CCM.

A lasting solution, he said, could only be found through building trust between the two political camps by making them work together in the running of State affairs.

Fears reigned high that one of the CUF Members of the House of Representatives was to table a Pri-vate Motion during the February session seeking to lay the ground for the formation of an interim gov-ernment, which would have seen President Karume being given an-other three years in offi ce.

But whether Dr Karume would be given another term was a consti-tutional matter, which could not be decided by a political party.

It was the CCM’s propaganda secretary in Zanzibar, Mr Vuai Ali Vuai’s argument which seemed to have changed the political chess-board when he said that changing the Constitution to allow an extra Presidential term “will curtail de-mocracy in Zanzibar”


President

Karume’s second and final five-year

term is due to end

later this year

ISLES PRESIDENT:On the home stretch

99May - June 2010

O n August 9 this year, Rwandans go to the polls to elect a govern-ment that will be

in offi ce for the next seven years. President Paul Kagame, the fl ag-bearer of the ruling Rwanda Pa-triotic Front (RPF), is likely to face off with candidates from the Unit-ed Democratic Forces of Rwanda, the Democratic Green Party and the Parti Social Imberakuri.

The forthcoming election, un-like that held in 2003, has already created a frisson of excitement and anticipation, with use of intimida-tion targeting opposition offi cials being reported. At the moment, it is diffi cult to distinguish fact from fi ction in such a highly charged environment.

In recent times, grenade ex-plosions in Kigali have set off a fl urry of speculation about who is to blame, and reignited a debate about political space in Rwanda as the elections approach. The scenario has rather degenerated to using rhetoric and discourses on trivial and procedural matters rather than substantive matters such as the living conditions, de-velopment, poverty alleviation, rule of law, democratic and civic rights, and transparency in the use of public funds.

Below is a breakdown of the main players in the race:

PRESIDENT KAGAME — RWANDA PATRIOTIC FRONT

The incumbent President Kag-ame vied for the fi rst Presidential election, held in 2003. He romped home in the polls, which marked the end of nine years of transi-tional government. He won a sev-en-year term after running on a platform of national unity, boost-ing economic growth, strength-ening governance and delivering justice. He has been the domi-nant fi gure in Rwandan politics since the Genocide over a decade-and-a- half ago.

His popularity across the coun-try is due in no small part due to

his successes of rebuilding and reconciliation. During his Presi-dency, Kagame has always had an unpretentious yet imposing pres-ence. He is attentive, articulate and presents a clear vision for his country.

He believes in economic de-velopment as the key to reducing poverty and advancing Rwanda. Sixteen years after the Genocide, Rwanda has embraced a new model of economic development.

UNITED DEMOCRATIC FORCES (FDU-INKINGI). The

VICTOIRE INGABIRE:Demanded Government protection


RWANDA: Opposition cries foul

Another Kagame Avalanche in the Offing?A frisson of excitement and anticipation courses through the nation, but so does intimidation of Opposition off cials, EDWARD GITHAE reports

PH

OTO

: DEA

LIB

RARY

10 May - June 2010


party’s fl ag-bearer, Victoire Inga-bire Umuhoza, left Rwanda for the Netherlands in March 1994. Prior to this, she worked with the Rwandan Customs Depart-ment of the Ministry of Finance. Ingabire lived in the Netherlands for 16 years before she quit her job as a fi nancial manager with an American fi rm in 2009, to vie for the August elections. She will be the fi rst female Presidential candidate in Rwandan history.

“I come for peace and this peace will guide my political ac-tion to eradicate injustice and to break all the chains that imprison us,” Ingabire said upon landing on Rwandan soil 16 years after she left the country. Ingabire is seen as the strongest challenger to the President. However, despite the razzmatazz of her return from ex-ile, she stirs controversy.

Recently, she demanded Gov-ernment protection after an un-identifi ed youth group attacked her aide in Kigali. Opposition groups condemned the attack and accused President Kagame’s ruling Patriotic Front Party (RPF) of complicity, an allegation RPF refutes.

Ingabire also came under fi re for purportedly making assertions that Genocide survivor groups under their umbrella body IBUKA considered insulting.

Local political analysts say the latest attack against Ingabire could have resulted from her re-cent controversial remarks. Kag-ame’s RPF Party has been swift and hard-hitting, accusing her of both “revisionism” and “division-ism” regarding the history of the mass killings in Rwanda in 1994.

DEMOCRATIC GREEN PARTY The Democratic Green Party,

with a leadership drawn mainly

from English-speaking Rwandans. Its President is Frank Habineza and its Secretary General Charles Kabanda, one of the founders of the RPF in the 1980s in Uganda.

The Green Democratic Party was launched in August 2009 in Kigali with the aim of creating a genuine and broad-based Op-position with a progressive and ecological vision. The yet-to-be- registered party has also been stopped several times in its efforts to organise its meetings.

PS IMBERAKURI A relatively new party, having

been formed in January 2009, the PS Imberakuri was created by ex-members of the Social Democrat-ic Party (PSD), who claim to have abandoned the latter due to its continued alignment to the ruling RPF. Until recently, it was headed by Bernard Ntaganda, a lawyer by profession, who also served as a former chairman of a renowned Rwandan football club.

Despite being the only regis-tered opposition party, PS Im-berakuri has had wrangles since its formation. In an idiosyncratic twist of fate, Ntaganda was de-posed as party leader during an extraordinary meeting in which his deputy chief, Christine Muka-bunane, assumed leadership until a new chairperson is elected soon.

He is accused of harbouring the “genocidal ideology” and is linked to elements behind recent gre-nade attacks in the capital. How-ever, Ntaganda accuses the ruling RPF of being behind repeated at-tempts to remove him as party chief, with the aim of “destroying” the party.

ALLIANCEDuring his monthly press con-

ference late last month, President Kagame stated that Rwanda ac-cepts divergent political views and political parties as long as they meet the requirements of the law. Singling out Ingabire and Ntaganda, Kagame added that it is disrespectful foreigners should view the Rwandan society through the prism of such people. This presents a number of impon-derables regarding whether some of these prospective opposition candidates would vie for the elec-tions.

Faced with this situation, the three opposition parties have set up an alliance known as Conseil de Concertation Permanent des Par-tis de l’Opposition, to enable them to widen the democratic space by taking a common position on cer-tain subjects and joint lobbying nationally and internationally.

Presently, the group seems ap-pallingly frail and ill-equipped for the elections. With Ingabire and Habineza yet to register their re-spective parties, amidst cries of intimidation, they may opt to back PS-Imberakuri’s Ntaganda.

Before D-Day, there is interest about how the canvas is likely to unfold now until Election Day: bittersweet, even jagged. And with RPF riding roughshod over the Rwandan heartland, the opposi-tion is in for a real shocker

STATS&FACTSIngabire

returned to

Rwanda 16 years after

she left the

country

LOUISE MSHIKIWABO:Kagame's RPF has accused Ingabire of 'revisionism' and 'divisionism' concerning the Genocide

12 May - June 2010


PRESIDENT KIBAKI AND PRIME MINISTER ODINGA:Rare unity of purpose

THE collective psyche of Kenyans, who are fond of describing themselves as politi-cal animals to the last

man and woman, has its sights fi rmly trained on a new Constitu-tion by year’s end. That is only if the current momentum and di-rection are maintained and sus-tained at the tempo leaders and politicians are fast losing control of.

And the only bridge to be crossed, one that may prove to be too far, depending on the events of June, is a national referendum in which Kenyans will either affi rm the new supreme law or throw out a 20-year-long endeavour that has been characterised by the shed-ding of sweat, blood and tears.

The journey has been long and tortuous, with a myriad twists and turns.

The document has oscillated between the Committee of Ex-perts, Parliament and Attorney General Amos Wako and, in-be-tween all the shuffl ing, Kenyans have lost track of what happened where, with various sittings at Naivasha, Kilifi , the Bomas of Ke-nya, Naivasha again and lately the Kenya Institute of Administration.

It was at the latter place that attempts to tamper with the Draft to amend certain clauses failed to garner the requisite numbers and the document was left in its cur-rent state, with the onus being on the AG to publish it ahead of the plebiscite in June.

If the new Constitution retains its form and content, the rules of governance and the terms of en-

gagement between the leaders and the people, which have been largely typical of a master-servant relationship, will change drasti-cally and dramatically.

Perhaps one of the biggest changes in the mode of gover-nance is the devolution of power to regional and county levels, but not in the same manner as in a federal set-up.

The counties, to be about 74 in number, will exercise power at distinct and inter-dependent lev-els and conduct their mutual rela-tions on the basis of consultation and co-operation.

In the new set-up, the president will have powers to appoint minis-ters from outside Parliament.

The country will also see the establishment of supreme courts, as in the US, so that the Court of Appeal will cease to be the highest judicial arbitration organ in the land.

But two clauses that have gen-erated more heat than light in recent months might adversely affect the general direction the

debate and voting will assume: that of the retention of the Kadhi courts and the other on abortion. The point of departure is that in-clusion of the Kadhis courts in the document is akin to embracing Is-lam within the state while shunt-ing the more populous Christian faith.

Abortion has rubbed Christian church leaders up the wrong way, what with their belief that any act that terminates life is evil, abomi-nable and an affront to the core of the sanctity of life. If during retired president Moi’s reign, Church – State relations were always rocky, the constitutional debate has brought the two into a titanic clash this time around, bringing into sharp focus the political doctrine that government and religious in-stitutions are best kept separate.

The clause in question allows the abortion of a foetus if the life of the mother is in danger, but church leaders see it as a carte blanche for especially young women to en-gage in casual sex. As we went to press it had been divulged that the variegated Christian lobby now coalescing around the National Council of Churches of Kenya had linked with the American pro-lifers the bottom line being the opening of dollar purses to be unleashed for civic education.

The green bucks will not be fl ow-ing Kenyawards from US churches alone though. East Africa’s longest constitutional making process has attracted liquidity from no less than the US government vide the US Ambassador, Michael Ran-neberger with millions earmarked for, well civic education

KENYA: State versus Church

Fight Over New ConstitutionBy PATRICK WACHIRA

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Long before Idi Amin fl ed Uganda in 1979, the dictator had en-tered the imagination of many European

editors as a psychopath, mass mur-derer and, let it be said, suspected cannibal. Amin has been dead since 2003, but, for especially infamous reasons, he still lives in the minds of many Ugandans. Now, thanks to the anti-gay mood that is prevailing in Uganda, foreigners in far-fl ung places are being re-introduced to an African nation that many remem-ber as the home of Amin. As Amin stories go, this has to be damaging.

The practical impact of the pro-posed legislation has been to in-cite the anti-gay sentiment of most Ugandans, but the most powerful consequence, even if the law is not passed, could well be the alienation of Uganda in infl uential interna-tional circles. To put it bluntly, the saga could end with the Aminisa-tion, if such a phrase is possible, of Uganda’s reputation abroad. Presi-dent Museveni, who is not known to believe in gay rights, seemed to wake up to this reality when he recently told a gathering of ruling party offi cials to “go slow” with the anti-gay debate.

Museveni, in comments that stunned some Cabinet members and shocked some anti-gay activ-ists, said anti-gay efforts in Uganda were hurting the country’s foreign policy. As it turned out, Museveni was not opposing the proposed leg-islation because he thought it was not needed; rather, he was taking a stand that someone more power-ful wanted. The Ugandan leader had been receiving calls from many

quarters, including a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who, like US President Barack Obama, has pub-licly criticised the proposed law.

Museveni’s admission of power-lessness was revealing on two levels. For the fi rst time in his administra-tion, the Ugandan leader was con-ceding that donors could actually tell him what to do. Even more sig-nifi cantly, however, he had sum-moned up the courage to say so. To understand how this could happen, it is important to study the wave of anti-Uganda material that blanket-ed the international press after the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 was tabled in the legislature.

Not since the days of Amin has Uganda been in such negative rendering, condemned by rights groups and activists, newspaper ed-itors, columnists, and several opin-ion leaders in Europe and America. The New York Times editorialised that Uganda should be turned into an international pariah if the law is passed, a position echoed by the Washington Post. In South Africa, the Sunday Times postulated that Uganda was ruled by “evil minds."

Michael Gerson of the Wash-ington Post, wrote: “It is sad when someone you care about threat-ens to do a foolish and destruc-tive thing... Uganda has endured the rule of a psychotic — dictator and cannibal Idi Amin — and a pandemic that decimated a gen-eration..." Most of the international criticism has lacked nuance, to the extent that it is directed at Uganda. The condemnation has failed to ap-preciate the fact that the proposal was written, as far as we can tell, by

a lawmaker motivated primarily by politics. In fact, for proposing death for a crime he calls “aggravated ho-mosexuality”, David Bahati, who represents a rural constituency in western Uganda, is favoured to win re-election.

Uganda’s penal law already criminalises homosexuality, but the authorities have never been interested in arresting consenting homosexuals, except in cases where young boys have been allegedly sodomised by adults, the authori-ties do not really care what gays are up to.

If Bahati’s legislation becomes law—and this is very unlikely, es-pecially after Museveni made his stand known—it will not be the end of the world for Uganda’s gay com-munity. It is hard to imagine how the proposed law would encourage the police to raid the homes of sus-pected gays, drag them out of their beds, take pictures, and proceed to arrest them in the name of the law. It would be a wretched job.

Even if the current anti-gay sen-timent in Uganda makes it seem like Ugandans are the most homopho-bic people on earth, the proposed law says more about the manipula-tive mind of one politician and less about the fears of a country. Here is a politician who spent fi ve years in Parliament, did nothing to dis-tinguish himself, and then awoke from his slumber thinking about gay sex. Coming just months before the General Election, his anti-gay efforts have vulgarised the national conversation at the wrong time. Bahati’s most spectacular contribu-tion, however, may have been to de-monise Uganda abroad

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA

SEXUALITY AND POLITICS

Gays: Uganda Beats Retreats

RETREAT:Museveni’s admission of powerlessness was revealing

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Hurdles on Path to EA Political Federation

INTEGRATION: Enroute to single entity

T he grand march to an East African Politi-cal Federation may have begun in ear-nest. So, is it time to

pop the champagne bottle? Well, not quite. The journey may be set back by pitfalls that could mar progress. The founding fathers of the East African Community had envisaged that the penultimate stage for such a federation was the formation of a Monetary Union, still due.

The Monetary Union caps the fruitful realisation of a Common Market protocol — already rati-fi ed by four states as we went to press — which in turn follows the actualisation of a Customs Union.

Thus, the EAC appears to have acted fast and by-passed other regional bodies such as the Pref-erential Trade Area (PTA), which are, to all intents and purposes, moribund.

Bills enacted by the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), the parliamentary arm of the Com-

munity, should take precedence over similar ones in existence in the partner states. But it appears that the unity of purpose that should inform such procedures may be lacking, after all.

Even as a 15-member commit-tee of experts work on a detailed review and analysis of the fears, concerns and challenges towards the federation, it has emerged that member states may be hesitant to cede sovereignty. This would pose serious problems for the opera-tionalisation of the treaty.

That is despite the fact that Section 4 Article 8 of the Treaty establishing the Community says that laws passed by the EALA shall supersede similar laws existing in partner states.

By DEA CORRESPONDENT

Eminent scholar Dr Odera Outa says the East African Court of Jus-tice should assert its role and learn from the European Union, which adopts a “protectionist approach” to member states’ welfare: “States must cede a bit of sovereignty when they sign up as members of the EAC. You cannot eat your cake and have it”.

Lawyer Gervase Akhaabi (EALA, Kenya) feels that harmonisation of laws and disparity in national laws is yet another challenge. Another bottleneck is fi nancial suffi ciency and multiple membership by partner states.

Throw decision-making into the mix and the problem of con-sensus and you have the ingredi-ents of a slow paralysis. But per-

1515May - June 2010

haps the biggest challenge of all is the absence of a follow-up mecha-nism to ensure that partner states implement the Community’s de-cisions.

This, in effect, means that it is left to individual states and its af-fi liate arms to implement EAC de-cisions. In case of default, there is nothing anyone can do.

Akhaabi feels so strongly about this that, in his words, “we need to ask if we will move the way we are moving. This lacuna needs to be addressed as we move towards deeper integration. Governments may not do anything but the peo-ple should speak and ensure that their problems are addressed”.

The lawyer says that even the East African Development Bank,

which has been in the news lately — and not for the right reasons — is seriously underfunded, just as are many institutions of the EAC which rely heavily on donor fund-ing.

Given the premise that donors fund projects they have vested and invested interests in, it makes sense that the EAC should look towards a paradigm shift on fund-ing.

Apathy in the populace (or is it lethargy?) is another headache for EAC dreams. For instance, the Tourism and Wildlife Manage-ment Bill (2008), passed early this year, had been on the table for a year, yet, views were being sought about it with little response.

But the Kenyan Minister for the

East African Community, Mr Ama-son Jeffa Kingi, is upbeat that the process is on-course. He says that the fi rst attempt at the Commu-nity, which collapsed in 1977, fell for lack of political will by partner states as well as absence of clear pillars, among other reasons.

“We are now creating the pil-lars. We build one, shake it, and, if it stands fi rm, we move on to the next one”, says he. With the Cus-toms Union already almost a reali-ty and the Common Market Proto-col in the process of being ratifi ed, Kingi feels the future is bright.

In addition, EALA has passed some 21 Bills and all partner states have enacted laws domesticating the Treaty but this has not been apparent to the populace, owing to lack of awareness.

It is with this in mind that the EAC has embarked on a public awareness campaign “to reach as many people as possible”. This will target schools, colleges and even ordinary members of parliaments. Indeed, there are plans to make EAC issues an area of study at uni-versity, with Moi having pioneered in this regard.

Away from matters curricula, the East Africa Business Council is also unhappy with the pace of im-plementation of some of the ideas already on paper. For instance, four years after partner states vowed to eliminate Non-Tariff Bar-riers (NTBs), these are still evident in various aspects.

The NTBs are most manifest in Customs and administrative pro-cedures, police roadblocks, weigh-bridges, business registration and licensing and Immigration proce-dures.

Work permits are still required, except in the case of Rwanda, which has done away with the requirement

STATS&FACTSEALA has passed

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•DNADiplomacy•News•Analysis

THE Horn of Africa presents a huge secu-rity challenge that is a source of serious con-cern for both eastern

Africa’s diplomats and the conti-nental African Union. The chal-lenge the Horn poses is therefore both regional and international.

In Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has yet to establish its control over the country and is steeped in an in-ternal war of attrition with the Al-Shabab Islamic militants.

Offshore pirates have created a logistical and fi nancial nightmare for shipping companies and the ports of the region and inland gov-ernments and therefore adversely affected the international mari-time trade.

In the eyes of both regional and international diplomats, however, the cure for the pirate problem off the expansive coast of Somalia and in the crucial Indian Ocean ship-ping trade route lies on shore – in the creation of a stable Somalia. But even as the TFG struggles to

gain control of the country, other challenges plague its initiatives. Al-Shabab has threatened to attack neighbouring Kenya and Uganda, the latter a country with which So-malia does not share a border.

The militant group, which is be-lieved to have links with Al-Qaeda, leading to fears Somalia could be-come Africa’s pre-9/11 Afghanistan equivalent, regards Uganda, which has troops in Somalia, as an en-

Horn of Plenty of Trouble

VOLATILE: Wars on all fronts

The huge security challenges experienced, writes WILLIAM LONGOMBA, have ramifi cations for the entire region

ARMED AND DANGEROUS:Unconventional fighters display their lethal ware

1717May - June 2010

emy. It accuses Kenya of recruiting young Muslim men to fi ght against it – which means in support of the TFG – and is similarly increasingly opposed to Ethiopia’s support for the TFG.

To complicate matters, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel group fi ghting for the secession of the province, an-nounced in November that it had stepped up its offensive against the Ethiopian military.

In the Cold War era, Ethiopia and Somalia fought a conventional war over the Ogaden region, with each claiming the area belonged to it, in 1977 and 1978, in the course of which Somalia’s air force was destroyed, never to fl y again.

Renewed confl ict between the ONLF and Addis Ababa might open a new theatre of confl ict for the TFG and Al-Shabab.

The confl ict over Ogaden also draws the attention of the West, Washington in particular, which would like to see Ethiopia act as a kingpin in the war against Al-Sha-

bab as an Al-Qaeda ally. On the run in Afghanistan and Pakistan and in-creasingly reliant on the Taliban for protection in both places, the West will be keen to see that Al-Qaeda does not establish a base in Somalia and therefore have the East African region within striking distance.

Al-Shabab is not only a source of concern for Ethiopia with regard to the TFG and Ogaden separatists, but also has ramifi cations with Eri-trea. The latter has furiously denied claims, made by the African Union and Nairobi, that it is arming Al-Shabab.

Tension still characterises the re-lationship between Eritrea and Ethi-opia, even though there is a peace pact between them. There is no war going on between them, but there is no peace either.

There was a diplomatic spat mid-last year between Nairobi and Addis Ababa over a private Kenyan TV station’s documentary featuring the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), another rebel group fi ghting against Addis.

In weird disregard of freedom of expression and freedom of the Press dynamics in Kenya, Addis Ababa ar-gued that the screening of the docu-mentary was tantamount to giving publicity to the rebel group, as if Nairobi had any control over private media and as if the administration were in the habit of vetting media content beforehand.

That Ethiopia would complain about the screening of an OLF fi lm by a private TV station attests to the almost unreasoning sensitivity with which the Addis Government views any relationship between Nairobi and the separatists.

Nairobi has serious concerns about Somalia, not least because of the continuing fl ow of refugees into Kenya and the growing infl uence of Al-Shabab on its doorstep.

Kenya’s refugee camps in the north of the country have more than they should carry, risking a humani-tarian crisis.

A militant Islamic regime is not what Kenya wants to the north of its border, especially when it recalls the horror of the 1998 bombing of the US mission in the capital, the bombing of an Israeli-owned luxu-ry hotel near Mombasa and an at-tempt to bring down an Israeli air-liner on the same day, bang in the middle of a Presidential transition General Election campaign, fi ve years later.

Israel believes Nairobi should do more in containing the spread of militant Islam in the region by capturing those who were involved in the bombing of the Paradise and the failed attempt to shoot down the airliner.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Mu-seveni’s response to the threat of attack on Uganda by Al-Shabab was that Kampala would teach them an exemplarily punitive lesson if they made good their threat.

But in the north of Uganda may lie an even more immediate prob-lem for Kampala than Al-Shabab, in the person of Joseph Kony and his murderous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Kony is wanted by the Interna-tional Criminal Court, which has already issued a warrant of arrest for him, but that did not stop his LRA fi ghters entering southern Sudan in November and overrunning villages and killing innocent civilians.

It is the kind of external secu-rity threat southern Sudan could do without, because, at this point in time, it is preoccupied with threats to the Comprehensive Peace Agree-ment amid widespread reports that both parties to the treaty, Khartoum and the Juba, are quietly preparing for war

In the Cold War

era, Ethiopia and Somalia fought a conventional

conflict over the

Ogaden region

FRONTLINE FORMATION:Somali ragtag fighters in action

18 May - June 2010

The Media High Council (MHC) wishes to dismiss the unfounded state-ments from the Commit-tee to Protect Journalists

(CPJ) and Reporters without Borders (RSF) relating to the recent suspen-sion of two weekly newspapers, Umuseso and Umuvugizi.

The two media watchdogs allege that the MHC violated the law by handing down the six months’ sus-pension to the two newspapers. Quot-ing Article 83 of the media law and an anonymous Kigali lawyer a habit they share with the newspapers they are defending, RSF argues that “the Council can only order a newspaper’s temporary or permanent closure if it has previously found it guilty of the same offence, which is not the case with either of the two publications.”

It is unfortunate that organisations that claim to be internationally repu-table and credible can base their con-clusions on sentiments and hearsay rather than facts and evidence in the name of defence of media freedom.

First of all, RSF needs to be in-formed that the MHC has no powers to order permanent closure of any media organ. That can only be done by competent courts of law as pro-vided for under Article 84 of the Me-dia Law.

Secondly, it is not the fi rst time the MHC has found these tabloids guilty of violating the media law and professional code of ethics, includ-ing serious offences. Indeed, as MHC media monitoring reports can show, these newspapers were summoned, warned, reprimanded and, in some cases decisions for their suspension

taken, since 2004 for Umuseso and 2008 for Umuvugizi.

These decisions were based on complaints from the public and MHC’s daily monitoring fi ndings, which revealed that, on several oc-casions, these newspapers published false, sensational and infl ammatory material aimed at creating a sense of fear and despondency amongst the Rwandan people, polarising the national security organs, insulting, slandering and defaming innocent individuals and interfering in other people’s private lives without good reason.

Specifi cally, CPJ and RSF should be reminded that in 2004, after its refusal to accept mistakes, apologise and correct the wrong impression they had created as a result of articles in Umuseso’s Issue No. 186 of August 1-7, 2004, and following a public hearing of August 18, 2004, the MHC recom-mended the suspension of Umuseso for a four-month period.

Although the suspension was not enforced by the relevant organs, the paper was later found guilty of the same offences MHC had observed and sentenced the editor to a one- year suspended prison term and a one-million-franc fi ne. Also in 2009, the MHC decided to advise the Gov-ernment to suspend the paper for a period of three months following a public hearing and refusal to com-ply with multiple warnings from the Council for violation of the law and professional ethics.

Similarly, following a thorough analysis of certain publications of Umuvugizi newspaper between 2006 and 2008, the MHC exposed persistent

violations of the law and professional ethics by this paper, on the March 13, 2009, when it summoned the owner of this newspaper. After being showed all legal and ethical violations, the newspaper management was warned of the consequences if they did not respect the law. The same year, 2009, after receiving multiple complaints from some members of the public concerning this newspaper’s stories, the MHC sought written explanations and evidence from the management of the Umuvugizi newspaper. The paper’s management, however, de-fi ed the MHC and refused not only to provide the explanations but to also respond to the MHC’s letter.

Consequently, the MHC issued a last warning letter dated September 2, 2009, which also ordered Umuvugizi management to apologise and correct their mistakes in the next issues. The above directive was not only ignored by Umuvugizi management but the legal and ethical violations have also increased since the beginning of 2010. This newspaper’s most recent pub-lications have evidently disregarded the law. Apart from alleging an unsub-stantiated coup d’etat recently, they have made calls on some military of-fi cers to desert the Army, apparently because their promotions have been delayed yet, according to Umuvugizi newspaper, “they can do better in ci-vilian life”.

Feeding into Umuseso’s call for the use of violence to change the gover-nance and leadership of this country, since, according to them, all peaceful means of bringing about change have been exhausted, the two newspapers had crossed the line. In fact, Umuseso

Suspension of the 'Umuvugizi' and 'Umuseso' Newspapers: MHC Responds to RSF and CPJ

ADVERTISER’S ANNOUNCEMENT

B.P.: 6929 KIGALI TEL.: (250) 252 570333, E-mail: [email protected]

Website : www.mhc.gov.rw

1919May - June 2010

goes further to allege that even if Presi-dent Paul Kagame cannot admit it openly, he lives in fear of being overthrown any-time and that he is incapable of protect-ing the nation from “the darkness which we are otherwise getting closer and closer to by the day”.

These statements and many others published by the two newspapers violate the media law and other penal laws and constitute Press offences. As an institu-tion responsible for ensuring respect for the law and professional ethics and pro-tecting the public for whom media con-tent is intended, the MHC could not stand by and watch any more.

While we believe in and advocate me-dia freedom, we recognise that freedoms come with responsibility and irresponsi-ble media like those seemingly advocated by these international Press watchdogs helped instigate the 1994 Genocide in our country. Rwanda has been a victim of hate-media content and suffered mas-sively in the process. We proceed from direct experience when we object to, and take legitimate and legal action against, all forms of hate media.

Never again should any such media and journalism be tolerated and, or sup-ported. Thus far, any well-intentioned person can now tell that this was beyond the mere recidivism the law protects the public from. Therefore, the MHC wishes to state unequivocally that the process of taking this decision was guided by and done in accordance with the Media Law, especially articles 13 (5), 73, 83 and 84. For these newspapers, however, viola-tion of the law goes beyond the content of their publications to disrespecting the authority of the MHC and refusal to ac-quire Press cards, which are mandatory documents that, according to the Media

Law, identify a journalist in Rwanda. As highlighted above, the management of the two newspapers on a number of occa-sions have refused to respond to calls for written explanations, or not implemented MHC decisions yet this organ derives its authority from the law. Freedom to act il-legally must not be condoned by anybody, anywhere.

In addition, contrary to the allegations made by these organisations, the MHC management and Board wish to state categorically that this institution is inde-pendent both in theory (the Constitution) and practice (decision making). As such, the institution “takes no orders from any higher level of government”, as stated by RSF.

We fi nd this cheap and smear cam-

paign clearly intended to discredit the in-dependence and impartiality of the MHC. This independence can also be confi rmed from the composition of the Board of the MHC which is the highest decision- mak-ing organ. The Board is comprised of in-dependent-minded individuals who are professionals and persons of integrity. They include two representatives of the private media, one representative of the private sector, one representative of civil society, one representative of the pub-lic media and two representatives of the Central Government.

Patrice Mulama,Executive Secretary,Media High Council (MHC),Republic of Rwanda.

PRESIDENT KAGAME:Restored Stability

20 May - June 2010


THE SUDAN: Elections and after

THE just-concluded controversial, multi-layered and high-oc-tane Sudanese elec-tions were a study in

political survival and skulduggery.And as all eyes now turn to the

coming referendum, which will determine whether the mainly Christian South will secede from the Arabic-Islamic North and questions are being asked if that, too, is not a foregone conclusion.

The country’s fi rst multi-party polls in 20 years have achieved a two-pronged objective for both President Omar El-Bashir and Salva Mayardit Kiir, who carried the day in areas they were keen on and which form the bastions of their political nine lives.

Bashir’s promise that the refer-endum will be held on schedule is not a tacit commitment that that will be done, for, even the polls were postponed a few times owing to various reasons.

Kiir appears to have moved a step closer to clipping the powers and geographical reach of Bashir, by sweeping the vote in the south.

His Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has threat-ened that the South will secede automatically and declare inde-pendence if the referendum is de-layed.

Sudan is, in many ways, facing a watershed moment in its long history of hostilities between the

Referendum to Usher in Africa’s New NationCount down to Sudan's date with destinyBy DEA CORRESPODENT

north and south as its 38 million people must decide their political destiny in due course.

International observers, have technically given the polls a clean bill of health, even as they pointed out that the elections did not meet international standards.

Bashir, who was credited with a 68 per cent win, has emerged as the student “par excellence” of his mentor, former President Jaafar Numeiry, whose introduction of Sharia Law was seen as one of the biggest factor that led to the 22-year old war between the North and South. Bashir has been in pow-er since 1989.

Although SPLM won 9 out of 10 seats for state governorships, there were allegations of electoral fraud in areas where it enjoys support almost across the board, the same way Bashir was accused of tamper-ing with the electoral process be-

fore the actual polling. Thus, the two men applied the time-tested and almost guaranteed under-hand methods of winning polls: tampering with the electoral reg-isters, the dead turning up to vote, multiple registers, unregistered voters turning up to cast ballots as well as secret ballot stations with different versions of electoral reg-isters. Voters’ rolls had additional names, too.

Bashir’s hold onto power is now legitimised by the results of the poll and if there were perceptions of an iron fi st, this will, in all prob-ability transform into impunity, under the guise of having been “accepted” by the people.

That the poll did not witness the sort of violent skirmishes that erupt in many states in the region and beyond is testimony that de-mocracy is slowly ceasing to hold the high price that it has, with all the attendant negative labels.

Compared and contrasted to the polls in say, Kenya in 2008, the Sudan elections were tacit proof that even with minimal violence, relative peace is possible during campaigns and electioneering.

It must be a welcome relief for many Africans both living in the continent and in the diaspora that, to quote Kiir, neighbourliness will continue even after the polls and that “it does not mean that the River Nile will stop fl owing to the north”

PRESIDENTS KIIR AND BASHIR:Going separate ways?

2121May - June 2010

ENVIRONMENT: Saving endangered species


Charm Offensive WinsReprieve for JumbosAt the heart of the wildlife dispute were divergent views on the 2007 deal that settled on a nine-year breather for the ivory trade, explains PAUL UDOTO

African delegates ne-gotiating the destiny of the world’s largest terrestrial mammal reached the Doha

United Nations International Wild-life Conference a divided house.

Zambia and Tanzania sought to trade in more than 112 tons of ivory and the down-listing of the con-servation status of their elephant populations while the 21-member African Elephant Coalition wanted a 20-year ban on the ivory trade and a reaffi rmation of the June 2007 agreement brokered by the Euro-pean Union.

The run-up to the conference saw sophisticated diplomatic pitch-es made, not just in Nairobi and Washington DC but in Brussels as well.

At the heart of the dispute were different recollections of the 2007 deal that settled on a nine-year rest-ing period for the ivory trade. This was to be effective from a one-off sale of 105,000kg of ivory from Bo-tswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to China and Japan. The sale, done in October/November 2008, was to allow for assessment and understanding of its impact on poaching, illegal ivory trade and el-ephant conservation. However, the point of contention was in the fi ne print.

While the Coalition understood the spirit and rationale of the mora-

torium to be binding on all African range states, Tanzania and Zambia faced accusations of moving the goal posts by exploiting a loophole in the agreement’s wording.

Eighteen representatives of the 21 African Elephant Coalition’s gov-ernments held a meeting in Brussels to lobby the EU to uphold the spirit of the Hague Agreement.

“Allowing trade in ivory from countries where elephant popula-tions may appear to be relatively healthy encourages poaching in all

countries,” the Coalition said in a communiqué after the meeting.

The Coalition argued that legal trade provided cover for the unlaw-ful traffi cking of ivory, which directly stimulates the resurgence of poach-ing across the continent.

This position was backed by the Environmental Investigation Agen-cy (EIA) report “Open Season: The Burgeoning Illegal Ivory Trade in Tanzania and Zambia” that accused both countries of being at the heart of the booming illegal global ivory

CONTRABAND:Hunger for tusks threatens elephants

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trade and poaching. The Coalition’s other diplomatic charm offensive saw Kenya host more than 20 dip-lomats based in Nairobi to a bush breakfast to make its case at the his-torically symbolic Ivory Burning Site in the Nairobi National Park, where 12 tons of ivory was burned in 1989.

Mr Julius Kipng’etich, the Kenya Wildlife Service director, told the dip-lomats that the spirit of the Hague agreement had been breached by the Tanzanian and Zambian gov-ernments. Once the split became evident in Doha, the Solomonic task of reconciling the feuding African siblings fell on the shoulders of the European Union, as was the case in 2007.

The Coalition argued that Tan-zania was fl outing CITES rules on shared wildlife populations, noting that she ought to have at least con-sulted Kenya before submitting her proposal.

DIVISIONBut Tanzania side-stepped the

charge, arguing that the elephant population had reached a point where they were trampling crops and killing many people and that proceeds from the sale of govern-ment stockpiles would be ploughed back into conservation and com-munity projects.

Tanzanian Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Shamsa Mwangunga warned, “we run the risk of enhancing hostility against elephants by our local community, especially where human/wildlife confl icts are prevalent”. This was backed by Zambia’s Minister for Tourism supported this view.

The CITES Panel of Experts dealt Tanzania’s proposal a mortal blow on the basis of weak law enforce-ment and compliance. The expert report raised concerns at the in-volvement of organised crime rings in Tanzania’s poaching and smug-gling operations.

Diplomacy•News•Analysis

This was followed by the verdict of 26 conservationists led by Sam Wasser, who published a commen-tary in the journal Science arguing that there was a clear link between one-off sales and the rise in poach-ing.

To bridge the divide, the Coali-tion’s delegation, including the Kenyan Minister for Forestry and Wildlife, Dr Noah Wekesa, held dis-cussions with Tanzania’s Mwangun-ga. These meetings proved futile.

The Coalition suggested that Tanzania, Zambia and the Coali-tion all withdraw their proposals and revert to the 2007 resting period compromise. This was meant to provide a window of opportunity for consensus-building among African elephant range states.

The Tanzanian delegation prom-ised to consider the suggestion. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), which was supporting the Tanzanian and Zam-bian proposals, gave no feedback.

Hours to D-Day, the EU con-vened a meeting of representatives of SADC and Coalition member countries in a last-ditch effort to reach a compromise. Each side was given a chance to re-clarify its pro-posal. The Coalition had a compro-mise position for negotiation but SADC was not ready and asked for time for further consultation.

As it turned out, SADC neither reverted to the EU nor the Coali-tion with their decision. By 11pm, the Coalition and EU decided that the Coalition compromise position was meaningless without the SADC response.

On D-Day, Tanzania amended its proposal on the fl oor by splitting it into down-listing and one-off sales. But the die had been cast and both proposals were defeated.

In the afternoon, Zambia got cold feet and amended her pro-posal by dropping one-off sales but retained down-listing. Zimbabwe,

Norway, the US, Japan and South Africa supported the proposal. But Mali, Rwanda and Kenya opposed the proposal for betraying the spirit of the consensus reached at The Hague.

Again, this was shot down by del-egates, despite support from the US and some European nations.

Once the revised proposals were defeated, giving elephants a new lease of life, Kenya and six other Coalition members withdrew their proposal to maintain the nine-year moratorium as agreed at The Hague.

SOLUTIONFinally, the conference removed

the elephant from the precipice and provided another chance for Afri-can range states to collaboratively fi nd solutions to secure elephants in their habitats. For a start, they are to participate in and implement the African Elephant Action Plan that was approved and adopted by all the African elephant range states at the conference. The African el-ephant range states now look up to the CITES Secretariat to establish the African Elephant Fund as set out in the 2007 compromise. The plan is “a truly representative continental plan for comprehensive conserva-tion and management of Africa’s elephants”, said Mr Patrick Omondi, the Head of Species Conservation at the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The plan spells out eight strate-gic objectives that, if implemented, would enhance management and conservation of African elephants across its range. He suggests that a mechanism to house the African Elephant Fund under the African Union should be explored with a specifi c secretariat set up to oversee the implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan at the African Union (AU) level to help Africa ap-proach elephant management chal-lenges as one voice

2323May - June 2010

Of the Internet, Wildlife Crime and the EAC

CONSERVATION: New technology and the elephant


The 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) of the Conference on In-ternational Trade on Endangered Species

(CITES) simply known as World Wildlife Trade Talks took place in Qatar's humid capital of Doha in March. In these talks, unlike the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, where Africa adopt-ed a common position, dishar-mony among African neighbours reigned supreme.

Nowhere was this divergence of opinion felt as strongly as with-in the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African (COMESA) blocs. Kenya took an opposing position on elephants vis a vis her regional bloc mem-bers Tanzania and Zambia.

Both Tanzania and Zambia had put in proposals seeking to down-list their elephant populations from Appendix I to Appendix II, paving the way for Dar es Salaam and Lusaka to offl oad their 90 and 21 tonnes of ivory stockpiles re-spectively.

As expected Kenya stuck to her 20-year-old protectionist posi-tion, which rubbed her erstwhile neighbours up the wrong way.

Why did the EAC and COMESA members risk friendly relations at CITES?

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki waived his own Executive Order

banning his entire Cabinet from travelling abroad until a new Constitution is well on its way in place to allow an exception to the rule which saw Noah Wekesa, the Wildlife and Forestry minister, travelling to Doha.

This was testimony of how important CITES is to Nairobi. In other words, the range countries of East, Central and southern Afri-ca are major players in the multi-billion-shilling global wildlife trade (both legal and illegal).

While many people would want to think that the wildlife trade is all about elephant tusks, the reality is that it is much more than this and has surpassed human traffi cking, and almost caught up with gun-running and drug traffi cking. The International Police Organisation

(Interpol) defi nes wildlife crime as the “taking, trading, exploiting or possessing of the world's wild fl o-ra and fauna in contravention of national and international laws”.

ILLEGALConservative estimates put the

global trade in animals, plants and their by-products at a mind-boggling US$159 billion annually!

A dossier released in 2006 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAF-FIC) — a wildlife trade monitor-ing network — and entitled “The International Wildlife Trade and Organised Crime” revealed: “It is estimated that the global trade in animals, plants and their by-prod-ucts is worth a total of around US$159 billion a year.

Although the scale of the illegal trade is diffi cult to estimate, it is clear that the rewards it offers to unscrupulous, illegitimate trad-ers, businesses, organised crimi-nals and major organised crime groups are very high indeed and probably second only to the drugs trade in terms of the potential lev-els of profi t on offer.

These rewards are made possi-ble by a market for wildlife species and derivatives which is fuelled by a range of factors, including fash-ion, the desire for luxury goods (including caviar and furs), tradi-tional medicines, low-cost or rare

JUMBO:Poaching is a menace to the gentle giant

At the heart of the wildlife dispute were divergent views on the 2007 deal that settled on a nine-year breather for the ivory trade, explains WANJOHI KABUKURU

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24

timber and the personal obses-sions of specimen collectors.”

The trade in fl ora and fauna is obscenely lucrative, so much so that the dreaded Mafi a (both Rus-sian and Italian), the Chinese Tri-ads, the Japanese Yakuza and the Central American drug lords are deeply enmeshed in it.

The dossier also notes that these hardcore criminal organisa-tions are using the highly profi t-able wildlife by-products by con-verting existing routes for illegal businesses in arms, drugs and hu-man traffi cking for those seeking a better life in the West.

The report asserts: “The smug-gling of rare and exotic specimens is fuelled by market demand from collectors, endangered species especially of tropical birds, rep-tiles, amphibians and orchids are sought by collectors for their aes-thetic appeal, breeding potential and rarity.

CITES-listed and other species protected by law command higher prices than those not protected, so illegal specimens will fi nd a mar-ket among collectors prepared to overlook the means by which the specimens are obtained, and the environmental consequences of their actions. Specialist collectors exist for all wildlife parts, dead specimens, insects, skulls, birds and eggs.”

REPORT This dossier has now been

followed up by a comprehensive online investigative study under-taken by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) since 2004 which culminated in a high-ly illuminating report dubbed “Killing with Keystrokes: An In-vestigation of the Illegal Wildlife Trade on the World Wide Web” published in 2008. In this report IFAW found out that the Internet

has become a fast growing mar-ketplace for wildlife species.

Following up on IFAW's report, with its offi cial newsletter CITES Issue 19 under the banner head-line “Investigating the Internet Wildlife Trade” the Conference reckons: “The Internet has revo-lutionised the way we exchange ideas, information and merchan-dise. Understandably, this perva-sive and powerful technology has become the world’s largest mar-ketplace, one that is always open for business.

Unregulated, anonymous and unlimited, the Internet provides endless opportunities for crimi-nal activity and transactions. Increasingly, it is the means by which the illicit trade in wildlife is conducted.

The illegal wildlife trade is having a devastating effect on animals, ecosystems, and the communities that rely on them worldwide, making it one of the major wildlife conservation chal-lenges of our generation.” A look at the US Fish and Wildlife Service

(equivalent of the Kenya Wildlife Service) records reveals that Ke-nya is the largest exporter of ba-boons to the United States.

CROSS-BORDERThe East African Community

countries are a major player in the wildlife trade, both as a major source and as a conduit of spe-cies.

This explains the bad blood. While offi cials in Nairobi have continuously downplayed the icy relations with Dar and Lu-saka, with KWS Director Julius Kipng'etich asserting, “Our rela-tionship with Tanzania is good and we deal with several cross- border issues”, the real deal is that Dar and Lusaka are angry.

However hard Nairobi may try to downplay the Doha talks effects on EAC/COMESA relations, the fact is they are strained and the sooner they embark on healing the better it will be for the regional economic bloc’s smooth operations devoid of sibling rivalries

AWARDED:Winning delgates display trophies in Doha

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2525May - June 2010

WIGWE, GONZALES,ZAINUDDIN: Hold passionate views about Africa's agenda


W hat do Dr Chijioke Wil-cox Wigwe, the Nigerian High Com-

missioner, Mr Julio Cesar Gonza-les Marhcante, the Cubans Am-bassador, and Mr Zainol Rahim Zainuddin, the Malaysian High Commissioner have in common besides being their iconic nations’ envoys in Kenya?

Well, for starters, they hold fairly passionate views on their agenda for Africa.

Speaking to Diplomat East Af-rica in their chancelleries in Nai-robi, all three envoys articulated their home countries’ policies on a wide range of issues of both na-tional and international interest.

Dr Wigwe’s strongly-held views strike one as a testament of the

DIPLOMACY

Nigeria, Cuba and Malaysia Envoys on Africa Agenda

power of his passion and focus. He cherishes his profession and practices it with zeal and sagacity, masterfully juggling the numer-ous tasks entrusted to him.

Mr Marhcante is a man whose position has given him solid ground to stand on and pride in his place in the world. His face never knows a dull instant; a lively personality dwells in that counte-nance.

Mr Zainuddin is an astute in-dividual with a diplomat’s air of grace under pressure.

All three offered a glimpse into their service and their respective governments’ agenda for Kenya and the region.

Diplomat East Africa: Look-ing at foreign policy orientation, what nations has your govern-ment given priority to and why?

Nigeria: Africa lies at the heart of Nigeria’s foreign policy. This is evident from our physical pres-ence in 39 countries on the conti-nent. Being located in West Africa, which is home to 16 countries, it makes sense for us to give prior-ity to closer ties with the countries of the region, hence the formation of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) in 1975. However, the overall goal of Nigeria’s foreign policy is integra-tion of the African continent.

Cuba: Cuba’s foreign policy is a turf of solidarity and international collaborations, more so with the sister nations of the Third World.

Notably, during the past three decades, Cuba offered direct sup-port to the national liberation movements of Guinea Bissau, Al-geria and Cape Verde; defended the territorial integrity of Ethiopia and Angola and granted a deci-sive contribution to Namibia’s independence and elimination of South Africa’s apartheid regime.

During this period, 380,000 Cubans fought alongside their Af-rican brothers and sisters. From 1961 until 2009, Africa has ben-efi ted from 104,360 Cuban work-ers in 46 countries with over 800 projects in implementation and eight major areas of co-operation — notably health, sports, tech-nology transfer and scholarship

Cockcrow diplomacy, 800 projects in 46 countries and ‘Truly Asia’ plans to link up with JKIA are all factors in three very special relationships which JANE MWANGI discovered in a three-way interview

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programmes, among others. The literacy programme exists in nine African countries; furthermore 31,486 young people have gradu-ated from Cuban educational in-stitutions from 45 Sub-Saharan African countries.

Malaysia: It’s better late than never and, so far, there have been lots of agreements signed and MoUs and we feel there should be more direct contacts to have Ma-laysia and East Africa more closely connected.

Your respective countries’ economies fl ourish — what is the secret behind this and what ad-vice can you give developing na-tions in Africa?

Nigeria: Oil will remain the major stimulus for economic growth for the foreseeable future, although a combination of non-oil variables has made signifi cant inputs. The newest and perhaps most signifi cant driver of our eco-nomic growth since the nineties is natural gas.

In 2008 alone, the total value of foreign direct investment was $20 billion, most of it in oil and gas, agriculture and manufacturing.

Another blossoming sector is the banking industry, which has seen the emergence of mega banks that have become major players in the global fi nancial market. The relocation of the capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991 triggered a mammoth development in the construction sector, which is still ongoing.

Nigeria’s economy is also pro-pelled by an ever-expanding tele-communications sector, a revita-lised agricultural and agro-allied industry; an active transportation and aviation sector and a bur-geoning solid minerals sector.

Cuba: On the 52nd anniversary of its revolution, Cuba seeks to commemorate this period with

the contentment of having trans-versed national limits to place it-self on the top list of nations from the Third World. In these 52 years we have many things to be proud

HE ZAINOL RAHIM ZAINUDDIN of Malysia

is a 50-year-old father

of two. He has served in

the Administrative and

Diplomatic Service of

Malaysia as Assistant Secretary (North Africa

and OIC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1989-

1993. In 1993-1996 he served as Second

Secretary, Embassy of Malaysia, Moscow,

Russian Federation, before becoming First

Secretary, Embassy of Malaysia, Tashkent,

Uzbekistan, until 1999. In 1999-2001, he was

Assistant Secretary (Policy Planning), Ministry

of Foreign Affairs, before becoming Deputy

Permanent Representative, Permanent

Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations,

Geneva. In 2004- 2006, he was appointed

Deputy High Commissioner, High Commission

of Malaysia, New Delhi, India. From 2006-

2009 he served as Deputy Permanent

Representative, Permanent Mission of

Malaysia to the United Nations, New York.

In 2009 he was appointed Malaysian High

Commissioner to the Republic of Kenya and

Permanent Representative to UNEP and UN-

Habitat.

The Nigerian High Commissioner,

HE DR. CHIJIOKE WILCOX WIGWE, of Nigeria

59, A FATHER OF SEVEN,

also serves as Nigeria’s non-

resident High Commissioner

to the Seychelles. He is also

the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to

the UNEP and UN-Habitat, and also oversees

Nigeria’s relations with the Republic of Somalia.

He has served as the Director of the Asia and

Pacific Division in the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs, Abuja, from July to October 2007.

Prior to that, he spent four years as head of

the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs

(Third Committee) at the Permanent Mission

of Nigeria to the United Nations, New York,

from July 2003 to July 2007. Between 2002 and

2003 he was the Director in the Office of the

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. He also

served in various capacities in the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs as well as Nigerian missions

abroad, including Tokyo and Warsaw. He has a

number of scholarly publications to his name,

including a book titled Language, Culture and Society in West Africa. He is a lifetime/

platinum member of the Cambridge Who’s

Who Registry of Executives and Professionals.

He was recognized by the Universal Peace

Federation (UPF) with the conferment of

the title of Ambassador for Peace, a title

best demonstrated when he negotiated and

secured without payment of ransom the

release of the crew of the Nigerian vessel the MV Yenegoa Ocean, captured for 10 months

by Somali pirates in June 2009.

BIO DATA

HE JULIO CESAR GONZALEZ is holder of BA in

International Relations from the

Higher Institute of International

Relations in Havana. He served

in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1984 as

has held different positions in the division of

protocol and, America and Africa affairs.

He has also served as deputy director of the

multilateral division and advisor to the Deputy

Foreign Affairs Minister. He represented his

country as an envoy to Colombia and Austria

before taking his current position as ambassador

to Kenya, Madagascar and the UNEP and UN –

Habitat.

He has attended numerous international events

among them several UN General Assemblies,

Economic and Social Councils, human rights

commissions, commission on sustainable

development, UNCTAD meetings and a series of

UNEP and UN – Habitat events.

Gonzales is an official of the Central Committee

of the Communist Party. He is married with

three children and speaks both French and

English.

2727May - June 2010

STATS&FACTSNigeria in

2008 alone, the

total value of

foreign direct

investment

was $20 billion, most of

it in oil and gas,

agriculture and

manufacturing.

of. We have managed to have free and universal education with equal access for all at all levels, as well as free access to quality medi-cal services with a life expectancy of 77 years, up from 59 years. Full employment is now a reality, at the end of 2009 the unemployment rate stood at 2 per cent. We have succeeded in building a system that guarantees the enjoyment of all human rights for all people.

Malaysia: The shift from an ag-ricultural based economy to that of manufacturing and industry was a gamble that proved to be profi table. It was not easy having that mind shift simply because we were already in a comfort zone, thus change was very diffi cult. Our country’s strong leadership and support from the Malaysian people as a whole helped to grow the process.

Your government’s agenda for Kenya, what investment opportu-nities are in the pipeline?

Nigeria: My responsibility is to promote economic and trade relations between our two coun-tries by making Nigerian inves-tors aware of the opportunities that exist in Kenya with a view to attracting direct investment to Kenya while pursuing the same objectives with respect to invest-ments from Kenya to Nigeria.

The past two years have wit-nessed a signifi cant increase in the number of Nigerian investors entering the Kenyan economy. The big players to venturing into the market include Silverbird Pro-ductions and United Bank for Af-rica. There are also insurance and ICT companies here.

I have extended invitations to two conglomerates from Nigeria, namely the Dangote Group and Chicason Group, to look into the market here.

Cuba: In January 2009, dur-

ing the 4th Session of the Joint Economic Commission, held in Havana, it was decided measures would be taken to concentrate action in the fi eld of bilateral co-operation so that Cuba and Kenya can continue enjoying friendly re-lations.

The areas on top of the agenda are the fi ght to eradicate malaria and the local production of drugs. Cuba wants to complement the efforts that the Kenyan Govern-ment is already undertaking. We aim to start the programme in the second half of 2010.

In addition is adult education and illiteracy eradication using various teaching methods, includ-ing audio-visual equipment. This programme is currently underway in Tanzania, where our Cuban consultants are already on the ground working with the people.

This year, three Kenyans will be graduating from our school of medicine; we granted 15 scholar-ships to Kenyan students, seven being in the fi eld of medicine. Co-operation is also ripe in the fi elds of sports and agriculture.

We plan to set up an anti-doping lab, currently there are only three such labs in Africa. We are also working on a proposal to apply sports-medicine as well as bringing Cuban coaches to train in areas such as basketball, volley-ball and weight-lifting.

We are also looking to create a school of sports with an aim of identifying and nurturing sport-ing talent from an early age.

Malaysia: Plans are underway to have direct fl ights from Nairobi to Malaysia, hence serving the en-tire region because Nairobi is the hub for East Africa as Malaysia is for South-East Asia. There is a need to expose Kenya and its po-tential.

Am passionate about three ar-

eas of interest that am undertak-ing in bringing our countries clos-er together; trade, education and tourism. Liaising with my trade commissioner, we are organising around 30 Kenyan businesspeo-ple to go to Malaysia, linking them with persons from similar profes-sions, hence enabling them to share and learn from each other.

Why do you fail to criticise the actions of the Kenyan Govern-ment unlike the case with your counterparts from America and Europe?

Nigeria: Diplomatic relations and conduct among states are guided by a set of rules and regu-lations encapsulated in the 1963 Vienna Conventions on Diplo-matic Relations.

Article 41 goes on to defi ne how a diplomat should conduct him-self or herself within the territories of the receiving state. It states that it is the duty of all persons enjoy-ing diplomatic privileges and im-munities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state.

They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that state. We do not play to the gallery of the Kenyan media or the general public, which is often hungry for sensational headlines. We do not engage in cockcrow di-plomacy.

We do not call press confer-ences in our residences in order to offer advice to the Government of Kenya on how to implement re-forms or how to proceed to have a new Constitution in place before the next General Election.

Malaysia: We don’t interfere with the domestic affairs of a country because we realise every-one has a set way of doing things.

We respect the leadership and democratic process; if any advice is sought from us we will freely give it

28 May - June 2010


THE controversy sur-rounding the construc-tion of Ethiopia’s Gibe III Dam, pitting devel-opment against conser-

vation, has climbed a notch higher.And even as construction of

the mega-project, estimated to cost US$2.7 billion, goes full steam ahead, it has emerged that opposi-tion to the project by conservation lobbies may be much ado about nothing.

Indeed, the Ethiopian Govern-ment has waded into the contro-versy with a tacit assertion that not only were wide consultations done on the viability of the project, but environmental impact assessment tests were carried out in accordance with strict national and internation-al standards.

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) did thorough environmental and social impact tests before construction started and these complied with interna-tional requirements as refl ected in the policies, safeguard procedures and guidelines of the African Devel-opment Bank, European Investment Bank and the World Bank.

The studies covered wide-rang-ing areas, including environmen-tal and social impact assessment (dam and reservoir), downstream impact, social management plan, resettlement action plan, roads re-alignment, public consultation and disclosure plan and archaeological studies and mitigation in the reser-voir area.

The studies laid strict emphasis on local communities and a series of public forums were held between 2006 and 2008, with local, regional,

zonal and federal offi cials and in-stitutions taking part. Work on the dam, with a height of 243 metres, is nearing 50 per cent completion and the technology being used is that of Roller Compacted Concrete. When fully operational, the dam will hold 5.7 million cubic metres, with a crest length of 610 metres and width of 10 metres. Height above sea level will be 896 metres.

The excavation and lining works for the three diversion tunnels is al-ready complete.

And over and above generating massive electric energy for Kenya, Ethiopia and neighbouring states, the dam will improve road access, health stations, schools, provide pure water and sanitation services, hitherto non-existent or in a poor state.

The project offers enormous hope for indigenous tribes whose fi shery production has been rudi-mentary. The project will now enable them to employ modern systems so that, above household consumption quantities, larger markets can be ac-cessed.

This is in contrast to observa-tions made earlier by lobby groups and conservationists that the dam will deplete water levels and im-peril marine and agricultural life of the people of the area where Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan meet.

Some 200,000 indigenous people live in the Lower Omo Valley through which the river passes and they rely on its yearly fl oods both for subsis-tence farming and to support their animals.

The project is located 450km South of Addis Ababa in the Welayta and Dawro zones and is some 155km

downstream of the Gilgel Gibe II Powerhouse, itself operational since September 2009. The quality assur-ance and design review work for the dam is a joint venture between well-known international consul-tants ELC Electroconsult of Italy and Coyne et Bellier of France.

Once completed, Gibe III is scheduled to produce some 1,870 megawatts of power. The project, scheduled to be fully commissioned in 2013, will boost the country’s hy-dropower generation capacity enor-mously and enhance energy pro-duction by 800MW, equivalent to 234 per cent. The scheme will, as a net effect, drastically increase what Ethiopia produces many times over. The project, the second largest in East Africa after DRC, will support the country’s Universal Electrifi ca-tion Access Programme, which aims to double access to electricity within a few years.

The project will assist the com-munities living downstream with reliable and timely water supply and arrest irregular fl oods which wash away crops. It will also reduce evap-oration losses in the fl ood plains. The continuous water supply will reduce extended drought periods for the people, thereby bringing sta-bility and predictability.

Contrary to claims that the future of Lake Turkana may be in jeopardy from reduced water levels, the proj-ect will ensure sustainable fl ow and positive hydrological balance to the Lake, which is characterised by high rates of fl uctuations and level reduc-tion at an alarming rate.

It will also accelerate cross-bor-der trading in electricity with neigh-bouring states and shift focus from thermal power, which is expensive and insuffi cient, to hydro-genera-tion both in the region and in the international power markets

The author is Deputy Ambassador of Ethiopia to Kenya

CONTROVERSY

Gibe III Dam IssuesOpposition to the mega project by conservation lobbies may be much ado about nothing, argues YELIBU BELEW

BELEW:Critics ignore dam's merits

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2929May - June 2010

BENEATH the melodi-ous tunes by brass bands and the roar of helicopters and planes doing striking

aerial displays on May 9 to mark Rus-sia’s 65th Victory Day, dark memories linger.

The anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War (the Second World War) is both a local ceremony and an international socio-political event of enormous signifi cance for the world.

It marks the day Russian forces routed and completely defeated Nazi Germany’s army, then consisting of troops from Finland, Italy, Hungary and Romania, then Nazi satellites. Germany’s high command envis-aged a blitzkrieg, or storm.

The war started on June 22, 1941, when Germany attacked Russia without warning, sparking fi erce battles that raged all the way from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea.

The Soviet Union became a unit-ed military camp where everyone lived and worked under the slogan “Everything to the Front, Everything for Victory!” Shortly, the Russians started produced more superior mil-itary hardware that promptly spelled trouble for the enemy.

Russian offi cers and men dis-played valour, heroism, indomitable courage, fortitude and bravery exem-plifi ed by the exploits of defenders of the Brest Fortress, Moscow, Stalin-grad, Kursk, Leningrad, Sevastopol, Odessa, Kiev, Smolensk and Tula.

The Battle of Stalingrad lasted six months up to February 2, 1943, when the enemy’s 330,000-strong army was encircled and defeated. The vic-tory of the Battle of Kursk marked the turning point of the World War.

Buoyed by this success, Soviet

Russia's VictoryBy DEA CORRESPONDENT

forces launched several large-scale offensives near Leningrad and Novgorod, Ukraine, the Crimea, Byelorussia, the Baltic Republics, Moldavia and the Polar regions. It was precisely after Soviet forces completely overcame Nazi forces that Great Britain and the United States opened the Second Front in Europe in 1944.

Germany suffered defeat after defeat, culminating in the gigantic Berlin Operation that became the fi nal act of World War II in Europe. The operation involved two-and-a- half-million Soviet servicemen launched on April 16, 1945.

The army that stormed Hitler’s Reich itself was a juggernaut of 6,200 tanks, 8,300 aircraft and 42,000 guns and mortars. In the fi erce battles that ensued, the enemy camp, one million offi cers and men were sur-rounded and eliminated.

The Soviet Army destroyed 607 enemy divisions while the British and American forces accounted for 176 divisions. Germany lost 13.6 million people and 75 per cent of military equipment and weapons. The Soviets lost 26.6 million people.

Unable to bear the onslaught, Germany surrendered uncondi-tionally on the evening of May 8. The world learnt of this the next day. Mortars, shells, the staccato burst of machine gun fi re and tanks sud-denly went quiet.

The war was over.May 9th was proclaimed in the

USSR Victory Day. And to mark this Day, hundreds of army troops will take part in the biggest military parade in history in Moscow. All branches of the Armed Forces will march across Red Square.

On display at the parade will be 159 vehicles of historical, current

and newest models of weapons and military equipment. To add to the pomp, 127 aircraft and helicopters will overfl y the Square and form the digits “65”. These are used for stra-tegic attack, fi ghter, bomber and transport aviation as well as combat transport.

Part of the parade will also feature war veterans from the Common-wealth of Independent States and representatives of American, British and French armed forces.

Russia believes that the Great Vic-tory is a common spiritual heritage of all peoples of the former 15 Soviet Republics, whose forefathers upheld freedom, saved their fatherland and made a decisive contribution to the liberation of the USSR and Europe from fascist enslavement.

The results of the historical drama of World War II directly infl uenced the course of world history and the development of international rela-tions. The advent of the anti-Hitler coalition was a major diplomatic breakthrough of its time and repre-sented an unprecedented example of states with varied ideologies and political systems rallying together to face and overcome a mortal threat to mankind. It is signifi cant that the nations rose above their differences and renounced minor bottlenecks in order to crush the enemy and achieve victory.

The war was a demonstration of how low man can sink, but, more importantly, showed unsurpassed instances of the greatness of the hu-man spirit and the capacity for self-sacrifi ce in order to save friends.

The unity of the Soviet people, patriotism, friendship between the nationalities and nations and just aims in the war bred valour at the front and heroic labour of the people in the rear and the eventual defeat of Nazism. And Kenyans should re-member, as they struggle to create structures for better governance, that the cornerstones of friendship and self-sacrifi ce


30 May - June 2010


Russia, US Sign Historic Arms Reduction TreatyBy DEA CORRESPONDENT

The United States and Russia have signed a treaty on measures for further reduction and limitation of Stra-

tegic Offensive Arms (SOA).The treaty, signed by US Presi-

dent Barack Obama and his Rus-sian counterpart Dmitriy Ana-tolyevich Medvedev on April 8, was described as a well-balanced document fully matching the in-terests of national security of both the Russian Federation and the USA.

The document ensures the real reductions of strategic arms, which corresponds to the real situation in the world “as well as to the nature of Russian-USA rela-tions at the present stage”.

The two powers agreed to re-

duce the total quantity of war-heads by one-third, seen against the previous treaty on reduction, which had set the upper threshold at 2,200 units.

The new treaty also says that the quantity of strategic carri-ers will be reduced by more than twice under previous arrange-ments. “With all these, only the scheme of reckoning the opera-tively deployed warheads — those ready for immediate military use — shall be applied. That will show the actual picture of the strategic potentials of the Parties”.

As for the so-called upload po-tential — the possibility to secretly increase the number of deployed warheads within a short time — it is rigidly restricted by the limit of the total quantity of deployed and non-deployed launchers. These are the Intercontinental Ballistic Mis-siles (ICBM) and the Submarine Launch Ballistic Missiles (SLBM).

Also targeted are the deployed and non-deployed tactical war-heads, restricted at 800 units. This upper limit provides extra impetus for liquidation and re-equipment of the Strategic Offensive Arms fa-cilities.

The link between Strategic Of-fensive Arms and Anti-Ballistic Missiles (ABM) is now a compro-mise: While there is no limit for de-veloping ABM systems, Russia re-tains the right to pull out from the treaty in case of such increase of quality of quantity of the United States’ ABM possibilities.

STRATEGIC POTENTIALS:Russian Ambassador to Kenya and Permanent Representaive to international organisations Valery Yegoshkin

3131May - June 2010

According to Russia, such a move would signifi cantly infl u-ence the “effectiveness of our stra-tegic nuclear weapons, and it will be for the Russian side to decide the degree of such infl uence”.

This safety net is a well-known legal principle, according to which the ground for concluding a treaty should not be altered and there is the right to terminate the treaty in case of signifi cant change of that ground. “This is an absolutely honest position”, says the docu-ment.

To increase the transparency of ABM programmes, the obligation not to re-equip and not to use the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and Submarine Launch Ballistic Missiles launchers for deploying antiballistic rockets on them and

vice versa is now legally binding.Russian and American repre-

sentatives are to discuss how to distinguish between the various missiles and launchers within the Bilateral Consultative Commis-sion. Furthermore, US antiballistic launchers at its proving grounds will be covered by the controlling mechanism of the treaty.

Conventional non-nuclear war-heads will be covered by the gen-eral threshold levels and subjected to the unifying controlling proce-dures.

However, Russia clarifi es that it has not given consent for the cre-ation, deployment and eventual use of Strategic Offensive Arms in its non-nuclear version. “The Rus-sian side is convinced that these fa-cilities are of a destabilising nature

The Crown of Russian Ballet SEASON FOUR(MAY 29–31, 2010)

Embassy of the Russian Federation presents

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and they can still cause a nuclear confl ict”.

Whereas the old treaty was draft-ed in an atmosphere of confronta-tion between the USA and Russia, which considered each other po-tential enemies, the new one was concluded between partners intent on settling common tasks in dis-armament, non-proliferation and strengthening strategic stability.

Medvedev said the document did not give preference to any of the partners and there was no question of who won or lost. “What actually matters is that a mutually acceptable compromise has been achieved and that is benefi cial for Russian-USA bilat-eral strategic relations, as well as for international stability and se-curity on the whole ”

"The safety net is a

well-known legal

principle"

32 May - June 2010

TRIBUNAL DECIDES

Minority com-munities whose rights have been trampled upon in the East Afri-

can region will be trooping to Banjul, The Gambia, following the landmark ruling by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, the supreme African Union court, which found the Kenya Government guilty of snatching the Endorois’ ancestral land.

The Endorois, a pastoral ethnic group of an estimated 60,000 people, fought unsuccessful battles through the Kenyan courts and fi nally decid-ed to go to Banjul, where they have been battling with the Kenyan Gov-ernment for the last seven years.

Already, the ruling is causing ex-citement and could open the fl ood-gates for the disadvantaged people in the region. Pending before the court are two other cases from Kenya — the Wagalla Massacre, attributed to the Kenyan Army in 1984 in Wajir and the Nubians, who are seeking to reclaim land in Kibera, Nairobi.

In Uganda, the Karamajong, the Bakenye and Banyarwanda, who form minority groups and who have been agitating for their rights, could be preparing for the journey to Ban-jul, inspired by the Endorois ruling.

In Tanzania, a group of bushmen, the Barbaig and of Albinos, who face a threat of extinction, might also make a trip to Banjul if they fail to be guaranteed proper protection by the Government in Dar es Salaam.

The case fi led on the Endorois’ behalf by the Centre for Minority Rights Development and the Mi-nority Rights Group International in 2003 sought judgment over a de-cision by the Kenyan Government to evict the Endorois from their ancestral land around Lake Bogoria and turn it into a game reserve 37 years ago.

The land in contention mea-sures 197 square kilometres and is situated some 260 kilometres West of Nairobi.

First, it was gazetted as Lake Hannington Game Reserve in 1973, then as Lake Bogoria Game Reserve the following year. The Endorois, who inhabited the land, were re-located to a scheme created in the neighbourhood.

Their battle in the Kenyan High Court failed when a judge ruled that “the law did not allow individuals to benefi t from such a resource sim-ply because they happen to be born close to the natural resource”.

Attempts to appeal in Kenya were frustrated for three years, when court administrators failed to issue a certifi ed court ruling. The community’s representatives also pointed out to the Banjul court that members of the Endorois Welfare Committee and lawyers who were at championing the fi ght faced ha-rassment from government.

The case cited fi ve grounds which the Kenyan State violated Ar-ticles 8, 14, 17, 21 and 22 of the AU Charter.

The relevant Articles vest in all people on the continent and, by ex-tension, the world, the right to prac-tice religion; the right to property; the right to culture; Rights to free disposition of natural resources; and the right to development.

The African Court indicted Ke-nya after receiving oral and written evidence from both parties, includ-ing video tapes from the advocates of the Endorois at its sittings in Ban-jul.

They cited other landmark cases which have come before it such as the Ogoni of Ken Serawiwa fame in the exploitation of oil wealth in the Niger Delta. They also quoted extensively from the case of the Saramaka of Suriname in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the State had the responsibility to ensure that people rights to resources are protected.

The Kenyan Government in its arguments made several attempts to demonstrate that the Endorois are not a distinct community, that they have already been compen-sated, and that they were involved in decisions at every stage.

For instance, the State argued that the Endorois are among the four sub-clans of the Tugen, the others being the Lebus, Somor and Alor. And in 1986 the Government paid 170 out of the 400 families compensation of Sh3,150 each (£30 at the time), which it acknowledged was to facilitate their movement.

The State also argued that the group did not exhaust local avenues such as the Court of Appeal, inter-vention by their district commis-sioner and the County Councils of Koibatek and Baringo, who run the game reserve.

KNCHR Vice-Chairman Hassan Omar Hassan promises that the commission will pursue the matter “to the end”

Minority Group WinAfrican Union Court ruling in four-decade-old land litigation sent ripples of excitement across the continent, writes EMMAN OMARI


3333May - June 2010

give credence to the term strange bedfellows because ideologically Lib Dems are closer to Labour than to the Tories.

Most important of all, the new government must make tough de-cisions that will involve substan-tial cuts in government spending and services. This could make for a very unpopular government that could be kicked out at the next election.

But does the fact that Britain has not had a coalition govern-ment or minority government since 1974 mean, a hung parlia-ment is a bad thing? It is strange for the Brits, but common on the European continent.

Are African leaders ready to share power? The coalitions in Kenya (2008) and Zimbabwe (2009) were put together to end post-poll chaos because parties interfered with the votes and not because the voters failed to hand one party a decisive win.

In Uganda, Rwanda, and Tan-zania, and as was evident in the Sudan in April and Nigeria in 2007, opposition parties are more likely to be concerned with their acceptance, legitimating their ac-tivities and vote-cheating, than with sharing power.

For the governing parties which are going to the polls this year and next, a hung parliament may be the least of their immedi-ate worries; hanging the opposi-tion may be most urgent

THE UNITED KINGDOM

BROWN, CLEGG,

CAMERON:No clear

winner


Political leaders in Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, the Comoros and Uganda must have

viewed the results of the May 6 General Election in the UK with more than passing interest.

The fi rst fi ve countries go to the polls this year and Uganda the next and each of the main parties would want to be sure they start in pole position, but they cannot look to the UK for inspiration.

Britain’s three main political parties lost ground in the General Election which accounts for the so-called hung parliament and re-sulting post-poll uncertainty.

New Labour, the governing par-ty for the last 13 years, lost more than 80 seats in what must rank as its worst electoral performance in more than three decades.

The Conservative Party, which had been in power for 18 years be-fore Labour, gained more than 90 seats, but fell short of the 326 ma-jority it needed to be able to gov-ern alone comfortably by some 19 seats.

The Liberal Democratic Party, popularly known as the Lib Dems, fl attered to deceive during the fi ve-week campaign when it ap-peared it would get a large share of the votes. Instead it lost seats and fi nished a distant third.

By failing to give a single party the mandate to govern, the elec-torate forced the party leaders to

enter negotiations with a view to cobbling together a coalition or an arrangement that would see them form a government.

That thrust the Liberal Demo-crat leader Mr Nick Clegg in the centre of the horse trading game. Clegg’s decision could make or wreck his political career and his party. Clegg was handed two suit-ors he would have wanted to give a wide berth.

Embrace a defeated Labour and you end up in a coalition of the defeated. Get into the duvet with the Conservatives and you

Hung Parliament? Hang The Opposition!By KWENDO OPANGA

PH

OTO

: DEA

LIB

RARY

34 March - April 2010

•PICTORIALLights•Camera•Action

3535May - June 2010

1. ROYAL ADDRESS: HRH Princess Maxima of the Netherlands addresses the gathering at the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Conference in Nairobi in April.

2. ISLAMIC FINANCE: In deep discussion from left are Mr Jawad I. Ali, Managing

Partner, King & Spalding, LLP-Middle East, Mr Ali Mohamed, Sheri’a Auditor Qinvest Doha Qatar, and Sheikh Muddassir H. Siddiqui, Shari’ah Expert, Partner, Denton Wilde Sapte-Dubai, during the Islamic Finance Conference held at Laico Regency in Nairobi in early May.

3. ROYAL PRESENCE: Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain at the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit in Nairobi in April.

4. WELCOME: The Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Kenneth Marende, (centre) being welcomed by the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Kenya, Mr Valery Yegoshkin,(right) and the Ambassador of Ukraine Mr Volodimie Butiaga, (left) during the occasion of the 65th Anninversary of the Great Patriotic Victory (WW11) at the Russian Embassy in Nairobi.

5. FINANCIERS: Mr Alex Nandi, Deputy Director Banking Supervisory, Central Bank of Kenya (centre) during the opening of the Islamic Finance Conference at Laico Regency in Nairobi, the Chairman, Gulf African Bank (left) and Mr Najmul Hassan , Chief Executive, Gulf African Bank.

6. ON TOUR: Participants tour some of the stands during the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit in Nairobi.

7. EASTER RALLYISTS: The winners of the KCB Safari Rally Round Two, Lee Rose and Piers Daykin atop their Mitsubishi Evo 9 celebrate their victory in the Easter event.

8. VEEP MEETS BANKER TO THE POOR: Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka (right), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta (right), the Managing Director Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, and Mrs Ingrid Munro, during the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit in Nairobi in April.

9. BANKER AND QUEEN: Prof Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director Grameen Bank, and Her Majesty the Queen of Sapin were among the guests during the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit in Nairobi in April.

10. TEXTILES SHOW: Mr Bruno Lanceleur of textile company Baobab shows off textiles at their stand in the Mauritius-Comesa Exhibition in Nairobi.

11. PAN-AFRICAN AFFAIRS: The former President of Mozambique, Mr Joaquim Alberto Chissano (left), chats with the Ugandan Minister for Information and National Guidance, Princess Kabakumba Labwoni Masiko, at the Pan-Africa Media Conference in Nairobi in April.

REPORTED SPEECH

The End of the Third World?

•ECONOMYInvestment•Technology•Prosperity

The President of the World Bank Group, Mr ROBERT B. ZOELLICK, delivered a keynote address in mid-April at the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars, USA, in which he declared that it is time we put old concepts of First and Third Worlds, leader and led, donor and supplicant, behind us and adduced powerful and compelling reasons why, including Africa’s prospects as a Pole of Growth. The following are excerpts from the Zoellick presentation:

For decades, students of security and inter-national politics have debated the emer-gence of a multipolar

system. It’s time we recognize the new economic parallel.

If 1989 saw the end of the “Sec-ond World” with Communism’s demise, then 2009 saw the end of what was known as the “Third World”: We are now in a new, fast-evolving multipolar world econ-omy – in which some developing countries are emerging as eco-nomic powers; others are mov-ing towards becoming additional poles of growth; and some are struggling to attain their potential within this new system – where North and South, East and West, are now points on a compass, not economic destinies.

Poverty remains and must be addressed. Failed states remain and must be addressed. Global challenges are intensifying and must be addressed. But the man-ner in which we must address these issues is shifting. The out-dated categorizations of First and Third Worlds, donor and suppli-cant, leader and led, no longer fi t.

The implications are profound:

For multilateralism, for global co-operative action, for power rela-tionships, for development, and for international institutions.

MULTILATERALISM MATTERSThe global economic crisis

has shown that multilateralism matters. Staring into the abyss, countries pulled together to save the global economy. The mod-ern G-20 was borne out of crisis. It showed its potential by quickly acting to shore up confi dence. The question now is whether this was an aberration, a blip?

Will historians look back on 2009 and see it as a singular case of international cooperation or the start of something new? Some now view Woodrow Wilson’s at-tempt to create a new interna-tional system after World War One as an opportunity lost that left the world adrift amidst dangers. Will this be a similar moment?

The danger now is that as the fear of the crisis recedes, the will-ingness to cooperate will too. Al-ready we feel gravitational forces pulling a world of nation-states back to the pursuit of narrower in-terests. This would be a mistake. Economic and political tectonic

plates are shifting. We can shift with them, or we can continue to see a new world through the prism of the old. We must recognize new realities. And act on them.

What is Different? The developing world was not the cause of the crisis, but it could be an important part of the so-lution. Our world will look very different in 10 years, with demand coming not just from the United States but from around the globe.

Already we see the shifts. Asia’s share of the global economy in purchasing power parity terms has risen steadily from 7 per cent in 1980 to 21 per cent in 2008. Asia’s stock markets now account for 32 per cent of global market capital-ization, ahead of the United States at 30 per cent and Europe at 25 per cent. Last year, China overtook Germany to become the world’s biggest exporter. It also overtook the United States to become the world’s largest market for cars.

Import numbers tell a reveal-ing story: the developing world is becoming a driver of the global economy. Much of the recovery in world trade has been due to strong demand for imports among devel-oping countries.

Developing country imports are already 2 per cent higher than their pre-crisis peak in April 2008. In contrast, the imports of high-income countries are still 19 per

36 May - June 2010

The developing world is becoming

a driver of the

world economy

ZOELLICK:Global challenges

are intensifying

cent below that earlier high. Even though developing world imports are about half of the imports of high-in-come countries, they are growing at a much faster rate. As a result, they ac-counted for more than half of the in-crease in world import demand since 2000.

NEW POLES OF GROWTHThe world economy is rebalancing.

Some of this is new. Some represents a restoration. According to Angus Mad-dison, Asia accounted for over half of world output for 18 of the last 20 centuries. We are witnessing a move towards multiple poles of growth as middle classes grow in developing countries, billions of people join the world economy, and new patterns of

3737May - June 2010

integration combine regional in-tensifi cation with global openness.

This change is not just about China or India. The developing world’s share of global GDP in pur-chasing power parity terms has in-creased from 33.7 per cent in 1980 to 43.4 per cent in 2010. Develop-ing countries are likely to show ro-bust growth rates over the next fi ve years and beyond. Sub-Saharan Africa could grow by an average of over 6 per cent to 2015 while South Asia, where half the world’s poor live, could grow by as much as 7 per cent a year over the same period.

Southeast Asia has become a middle income region of almost 600 million people, with growing ties to India and China, deepening ties with Japan, Korea, and Austra-lia, and continuing links through global sourcing to North America and Europe.

The Middle East region is an important source of capital for the rest of the world, and increasingly a business-service hub between Asia, East and South, and Euro-Africa.

Gross offi cial reserves of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries were over $500 billion at the end of 2008, with estimates of sovereign wealth fund assets of as much as $1 trillion. If the Maghreb can move beyond historical fault lines, it can be part of a Euro-Med integration linked to both the Mideast and Af-rica.

In the Latin American and Ca-ribbean region, 60 million people were lifted from poverty between 2002-2008 and a growing middle class boosted import volumes at an annual rate of 15 per cent.

AFRICA'S POTENTIALTectonic plates could shift fur-

ther. Africa missed out on the man-ufacturing revolution that lifted East Asia’s economies out of pov-erty and into prosperity. But Africa no longer needs to be left behind.

Today, in many African countries, even small, inexpensive items, such as soap or slippers, or basic tools or consumer goods, are im-ported.

If Africans remove the barriers to producing these goods domesti-cally and to local entrepreneurship, while creating conditions for out-side investors to shift production to Africa, then African development could begin to look very different. Unlike past failed efforts to favor import-substitution interests be-hind protectionism, this approach can capture benefi ts from regional integration within global markets.

What would it take? As a fi rst step, the 80 per cent of Africans earning $2 a day or less need to earn enough income so they will be able to buy basic consumer goods. Agriculture is the main source of jobs and an early opportunity to boost productivity and income.

To do so, investment is needed all across the agricultural value chain: property rights; seeds; ir-rigation; fertilizer; fi nance; basic technologies; storage and getting product to market. Since about two-thirds of African farmers are women, we need to help them get legal and property rights, and ac-cess to services.With slightly higher incomes and living standards, local manufacturers can target or cus-tomize for the local market, and eventually for export.

To grow further, Africans need the things that Europe and Japan needed after World War Two: infra-structure; energy; integrated mar-kets linked to a global economy; and the conditions for a vibrant private sector. These public goods will foster much more than local manufacturing.

Today’s shifts open new op-portunities. As the global crisis hit, some Chinese recognized that it was time to move beyond toys and footwear; China could move

up the value chain, increase wages and consumption, and expand its “harmonious society”. Chinese companies, in turn, could move lower value-added manufacturing elsewhere, including to Africa, fol-lowing China’s resource developers and construction enterprises.

Chinese companies can be en-couraged to relocate manufactur-ing for both domestic production and export. These manufacturers bring know-how, machinery, as well as access to marketing and distribution networks. The World Bank is working with Africans and Chinese to create industrial zones.

Early investors are sensing the promise in Africa and are not dis-suaded by the risks – after Lehman Brothers and Greece, investors know developed markets can be risky, too.

Changes in government policies can create opportunities for private sector growth, which in turn offers services to other entrepreneurs. In the ten years to 2008, the private sector has invested more than $60 billion in information and commu-nications technology in Africa; 65 per cent of Africans are now within reach of wireless voice services, and there are 400 million mobile phones in use in Africa.

IFC, the World Bank Group’s pri-vate sector arm, is helping catalyze this business revolution. A new IFC equity fund has attracted $800 million from sovereign wealth and pension funds to invest in compa-nies in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

CONCLUSIONModern multilateralism will not

be a constricted club with more left outside the room than seated with-in. It will look more like the global sprawl of the Internet, intercon-necting more and more countries, companies, individuals, and NGOs through a fl exible network

•ECONOMYDiplomacy•News•Analysis

38 May - June 2010

STATS&FACTSThe developing

world’s share

of global GDP

in purchasing

power parity

terms has

increased from

33.7 per cent in 1980 to 43.4 per cent in 2010

Grain Bulk Handlers

>> Not a Grain Lost pg 54

>> Interview with Chairman Jaffer pg 59

>> 1Oth Anniversary Address pg 62

Prime Minister

Raila Odinga and

GBHL Chairman

Mohamed Jaffer

40 May - June 2010

DIPLOMAT EAST AFRICA: Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell us how you came to be working here?

DAVID HARRIS: I actually came here to construct this grain terminal. And I’d had a lot of experience previously — I had worked for the World Bank through Mersey Docks and Harbours Company in Maputo, where I rebuilt the sugar terminal — they have a big sugar terminal there which unfortunately had been destroyed during the civil war in Mozam-bique, together with other things like cement facto-ries, refi neries and everything else. In fact, the civil war was still going on when I fi rst went there. So we rebuilt the terminal and operated it for about eight or nine years after that, and it was a great success. And on the strength of that Mersey Docks and Har-bours and the World Bank asked me if I would come here and assist with the construction of this grain handling terminal. Which I did, and it took us exactly 13 months to build. I arrived on the fi rst of October 1998, and we actually did our fi rst ship in January 2000.

DEA: Looking at this massive complex, one would think it would take longer than that to build. Did it all come here prefabricated?

DH: Well it did up to a point: The silos were built here; the concrete had to be laid; the buildings had to be constructed; then there was the big tower out there, etc. The machinery came in kit form to be assembled here; the ship on-loaders came in a kit form to be as-sembled here. But most of it was all constructed here. We actually made a workshop in Shed Three on the port, where we could build everything that we need-ed. And we basically fi nished it all in 13 months. We had been given 12 months to build it, and we com-pleted it a month after.

DEA: So why was this facility needed, when grain was already being handled at the port? Why this hurry to get it built?

DH: Two reasons. First the port was getting congest-ed because they could not handle ships fast enough. And secondly, when you borrow money from the World Bank, from Day One, you begin to pay inter-est; before you have even done the fi rst thing. So by the time you get to the end of your construction here, if you are not earning you are in trouble. So obvious-ly the sooner you start earning, the sooner you pay back. So construction has to be rapid and success-ful.

Not a Grain Lost: How GBHL Revolutionised Bulk Handling of Cereals

SPECIAL REPORT GBHL

This massive World Bank-funded Complex, now celebrating this fi rst decade, is one of its kind in the region and a tremendous success. Diplomat East Africa's WYCLIEF MUGA interviewed Mr DAVID HARRIS, who helped construct the terminal

4141May - June 2010

A grain terminal is a very important piece of equip-ment for any port — or for any country that has to import grain. Because to do it by the bagging meth-od, if it is straight off the ship, is fi ne, but it’s expen-sive, and it’s fairly wasteful. Because a lot of the grain spills, which is usually because the “grabs” are inef-fi cient — they don’t always close properly and they leak. And the leakage does not always fall on hard ground where you can clean it up; it drops into the sea, off the side of the ship. But having said that I must say that the bagging operations are also quite good. They were the link between the ship bringing the grain all in bags, and the ships bringing it more cheaply in bulk. So they were a step up.

DEA: How much cheaper is it to bring grain in bulk, as opposed to bringing it already in bags?

DH: Well, fi rst of all the ship can turn round and un-load quicker, which obviously makes it considerably cheaper. The thing is that ‘shipping time’ and ‘time in port’ are the two crucial factors — plus the cost of the bags, of course.DEA: And all these can be substantially reduced if you can handle grain in bulk?

DH: Absolutely. And the one thing we have been try-ing to get the millers to do — from Day One — is to install for themselves a little silo, or a couple of little

silos, at their mill, so we can deliver in bulk. Why have this double handling all the time? Why should we need to bag it all the time — then they take it off in bags, and when it gets to their mill, they tip it off the bag and into the mill. Why don’t they get them-selves a silo, so we can deliver in bulk, and they take it in bulk, they grind it in bulk? There are some silos in Mombasa, but they are not next to mills: they are purely for storage. But if you are an importer with silos purely for storage, you are going to face a big problem at the port when trying to get your lorries out of the port. It’s chaos trying to get out.

DEA: Accepting that your work was essentially tech-nical, what was your understanding of the broader policy issues? Why did Kenya need a specialised grain terminal?

DH: Purely and simply because Kenya, unfortunately, is not capable under the present system of supplying all its own needs. You need massive thousand-acre farms — or ten-thousand acre farms — to supply the amount of grain that’s needed here. You cannot provide all the grain needed in Kenya on very small farms, using the most rudimentary methods, unfor-tunately. What happens here is that when the father dies and he has four sons, the plot of land he owns is split into four; then the next generation is born and when those four boys die, each one of their plots is

SPECIAL REPORT GBHL

GRAIN HOUSE: The Headquartes of GBHL in Mombasa city

CONVEYOR BELT: GBHL has invested heavily in technology

PH

OTO

S: G

BHL

42 May - June 2010

split into four or fi ve, for their boys. So you fi nish up with very small plots, which are totally ineffective for industrial farming.

DEA: So it is in following our traditions of inherit-ing land from one generation to another, that we end up with agricultural land which is not viable for producing something like wheat? For I think in some good years Kenya is self-suffi cient in maize fl our.

DH: Not lately. Don’t forget the country’s population is growing more rapidly. And there has been a change in eating habits too — people are now eating more bread, which is understandable.

QUESTION: So there was no doubt in your mind that what you were supervising and constructing here was something Kenya defi nitely needed.

DH: Oh defi nitely. No question. In fact, it should have been built much earlier. I usually say that it would have been a luxury if it had been built 20 years ago; it would have been fantastic if it had been built 10 years earlier; and as it was, it was a revolution to build it when we did build it. It was defi nitely needed.

DEA: Could you give us some of the fi gures which illustrate the improvements that came about when this much-needed facility for handling grain start-ed to operate?

DH: OK, last year we handled two million tons. Divide

that by 30,000 for an average ship, and you fi nd we did 57 ships. That’s almost fi ve ships every month.

DEA: Are you saying that this would not have been possible without this facility?

DH: You would have had fi ve berths fully occupied doing nothing but grain. That is fi ve out of a total of 12 berths. Then look at the vehicles trying to leave the port. Let’s divide that 35,000 tons carried by an aver-age ship by the 30 tons that a lorry can carry. That’s 1,166 vehicles — that’s for one ship in fi ve days. So how would this port handle that much traffi c? It would not manage. You would have ships queuing everywhere. In fact, a lot of them would not stay — they would be gone, because the longer they stay, the more money they are losing.

DEA: So how was offl oading of grain done before GBHL was set up? And I am told there are still operators other than yourselves doing this.

DH: Yes, they are still doing it — because the odd ship does not want to be delayed and are willing to pay more to unload. They are not many — there are very few now, and we are more or less on top of things. But before, it was a bagging plant on the berth, and the ship was unloaded by grabs, dropped into the bag-ging plant, and bagged. And the most they reached — but only sometimes — was 3,000 tons a day. But usually it was considerably less, because they were either waiting for transport, or it rained — or whatev-er. And the grabs used to leak. The wastage was terri-ble. If you looked under our berth when it’s working, you would see that there is not a grain on the fl oor.

DEA: So your system takes the grain from the ship straight to the silos, with not a grain lost?

DH: Not a grain lost. And also it’s monitored exactly to the ton and kilo that comes off the ship. So the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has a printout of ex-actly what came off the ship. They know exactly what to charge Duty on, and what not to charge Duty on.

DEA: Are you suggesting that under the old system you could not know how much grain had been im-ported into the country?

DH: There was no way. It was hopeless. What you have got to bear in mind is that when you are bagging grain, you have to have a trickle system on your scale. So it fi lls up quickly and then it trickles the last bit in to get the right level, which slows you down, for a

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THE BOARD:GBHL boasts an experienced, skilled Directorship

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start. And secondly we have what we call “the weight of the in-fl ight material”. The grain that is actually sitting in the bag is actually what it is weighing; the grain that is traveling from the trickle door to there is actually in mid-air. So it’s this bit that reaches the level; the gate shuts; and then that last bit of grain drops in. It’s called the in-fl ight grain. And that is very diffi cult to weigh and it’s very diffi cult to get it accu-rate on an estimate. So you are never accurate. Now this scale we have here is a volumetric totaliser scale. It fi lls to a physical level, and at that point the door slams shut. It then weighs what’s in it, and totalizes it to what has gone past. It might be three tons; it might be just over three tons; it might be just under three tons. It does not matter because it is totalizing all the time. So therefore you have great accuracy of what came off the ship.

DEA: So, from the taxman’s point of view, this is a far more effi cient and superior system to what existed before?

DH: One hundred percent.

DEA: But nothing is prefect. If you had to improve this facility, what would you do? What do you some-times wish you had, which you do not have?

DH: The big thing is not really us — it’s the others. It’s the transport, the rails — that is the thing that needs improving. We are improving our facilities for load-ing out: we have actually reached the point where we move nine-and-a-half tons in one day, from here, by road and rail. We have a total of 12 bagging lines, each one of which is capable of one ton per minute. But there are times when these are not bagging. When the vehicle is moving, obviously you have to stop.

So you don’t get a continuous 60-minute hour. And there are some drivers who take up to 10 minutes to position the vehicle underneath the loader. So in our newer bagging lines we have a much different sys-tem — all the driver has to do is drive straight under-neath. There are big yellow lines, and all the driver has to do is get between those yellow lines, and when the fi rst vehicle goes he can go straight in, and in just 20 seconds we can be loading the next vehicle.

DEA: Not everyone will have the opportunity that I have had to come here, look around the entire fa-cility, and get to understand how this place works. What arrangements have you for encouraging visi-tors to come here, so that more people will know exactly what goes on at Grain Bulk Handlers?

DH: We have had government offi cials here; the mill-ers have been here; everybody has been here. We have never refused anybody the opportunity to come and look. We did offer the millers at one time, particularly the ones in Mombasa — because all the mills are on the railway line — we got permission from the rail-ways to run a conveyor down the entire line which we were going to feed from here direct. So we would have fi lled the mills direct. No transport; no bags, no labour; but the millers would not do it.

DEA: These are businessmen who want to make money — and you are saying that even when some-thing like this, which is clearly in their interest, comes up, they will not do it? That does not add up.

DH: I don’t know why. It was offered to them, but they all turned it down. They just did not do anything about it.

DEA: Now speaking of the millers, there are those among them who believe that GBHL needs some competition; that there needs to be a second termi-nal, similar or identical to this one, right here at the port of Mombasa. What do you say to this?

DH: That’s because they think we are a monopoly. We are not a monopoly at all. There are still the on-quay bagging operators. And bear in mind that our accounts are monitored, audited, and a copy of our accounts has to go to the port every year. So how can we be a monopoly?

THE DOCK: GBHL's efficiency reclines on state of art seafront equipment

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DEA: So would you say that you are heavily regu-lated by the port?

DH: We are regulated. We cannot adjust our prices without consultation.

DEA: But if a second facility were built right here, in your view, would that be an advantage to the nation in that you would have these two facilities compet-ing?

DH: No. There would be no advantage at all. They too would be regulated just as we are, and so there would be no cost advantage to the nation, that I can see.

DEA: But are you not already working at full capac-ity here?

DH: No we are not. We are increasing our capacity all the time. Technically speaking, we can handle — just as we are now — about 600 tons per hour. That is 14,400 tons a day. And bear in mind we are now purchasing a third machine.

Add the new machine which we should have working in about a month’s time, and that would add some 7,000 tons a day, so we would then be able to handle 21,000 tons a day in total. We will be able to do two ships at once, or we will be able to do 21,000 tons a day off one ship.

DEA: Working at that pace, would you say that this is enough for our country’s grain import needs, and that no additional facilities were needed?

DH: It’s plenty. What is needed is more silos. We have made provisions for nine more silos which will take

some 45,000 tons, and increase our storage. But the obvious solution would be for the Mombasa-based millers to install their own silos, and also for the Nairobi millers to build silos so that we can ship the grain up to them by rail in large quantities. And then the people from Uganda and beyond could also take their grain from Nairobi. DEA: So wheat imports destined for Uganda also pass through here?

DH: Not just Uganda: Southern Sudan, Uganda and even Burundi. In fact, most of the Ugandan cargo comes this way. About 90 per cent of it.

DEA: So this is a facility that serves the region, rath-er than the country?

DH: Oh yes. And quite frankly if Dar es Salaam had one they would have the same problems. They do not have a grain terminal, but they do silos. They do it by the truckload: they fi ll a truck, and it drives up to the silo and tips the grain off, and then makes an-other trip. There is no link.

But seriously what we have here at GBHL is a per-fectly good machine; it is very well designed, if I say so myself; it works quite nicely and has proved itself over the years; and I believe it will be serving the country for a long time.

With Kenya’s population growth rate, there will be grain imports for many years to come — and with this terminal we can take the surplus grain from any country that has a surplus. We can take it from Rus-sia’s Black Sea area; from Australia; from Canada, Argentina — fi ve years ago we even had a load from China, when they had a surplus.

DEA: OK, let me just take you back to the terminal itself. If I understand you correctly, you have said that the terminal is more than adequate for Kenya’s needs; it’s regulated by the port and is not just oper-ating like a freewheeling monopoly; and that to put such a terminal in the hands of importers would be irresponsible; and that because you are neither a miller nor an importer, and are focused on your core business, which is handling grain, you have no interest in controlling the prices of the fi nal prod-uct. All that is very well, but did you also say that you are charging the millers less than they used to pay before you set up GBHL?

DH: By half. And we have never increased the price in 10 years. We have absorbed the rising costs of elec-tricity, diesel, labour, and so on, by improved effi -ciencies. We have been able to absorb those costs.

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SEA TO ROAD: A truck loads grain

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‘I Set Out to Establish a World-class Grain Terminal’Grain Bulk Handling Ltd Chairman Mohamed Jaffer spoke to Diplomat East Africa Correspondent WYCLIEF MUGA on the occasion of GBHL's 10th anniversary. Excerpts of their conversation

DIPLOMAT EAST AFRICA: The fi rst thing I would like to ask you to do is to demystify yourself a little. Not much is known about you, unlike many other prominent businessmen who are always giving in-terviews and sometimes even appearing in TV talk shows. Who are you, and where do you come from?

MOHAMED JAFFER: I am a Kenyan, and I come from Kenya. That is my short answer to that question. But, to explain further, I come from a long line of Kenyan Asians who have been prominent in the coastal re-gion since 1900.

In her book Challenge to Colonialism, which is mostly about her grandfather Alibhai Mulla Jeevan-jee, the writer Zarina Patel mentions that, back in 1900, “there were three major Indian fi rms in Mom-basa, those of Allidina Visram; Shariff, Jaffer & Co; and A.M. Jeevanjee”.

Everybody has heard about Allidina Visram, and there is both a school as well as a public garden in Mombasa named after him. And everybody knows the Jeevanjee gardens in Nairobi, and the Jeevanjee family. The Jaffer family, though not as well known now as these other two, was just as prominent in business that far back.

Let me quote just one other passage from that book: “In 1907, Winston Churchill visited East Africa on his way to a journey down the Nile. At his arrival in Kilindini harbour, the reception committee pres-ent included A.M Jeevanjee; Allidina Visram; Jaffer Dewji; C.M. Dalal; and the Liwali’s son, Sir Ali bin Salim”. The Jaffer Dewji mentioned there, along with the cream of the most prominent people in the Coast at that time, was my great grandfather.

So, as you can see, I have very deep roots in this country. Very deep roots indeed, going back more than 100 years.

And it is not only my grandfather Jaffer Dewji who was famous as a business leader. One of my great uncles, Haji Mohammedjaffer Dewji, was a lead-

ing religious leader and a scholar. And my own fa-ther, Mohamed Jaffer, who was a pre-Independence councillor in Mombasa, and a very fi ery political ac-tivist of that time. So we have over the years excelled in various fi elds, and been very much a part of the history of this country.

DEA: So why then do you not go about making yourself more visible by making charitable dona-tions and gifts to the deserving poor?

MJ: I am in many ways a very private person; the kind of man who, after the day’s work, spends his time with his family in his own home, not the gregarious type who joins social clubs and likes to gather at such places in the evenings.

This may have been a disadvantage, since it means that not very many people know me person-ally, unlike some other business leaders who you will

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see holding press conferences and leading the way in offering gifts to worthy charities, whose faces are very familiar to the public.

But I must also say that I do my share of giving, even if I do not usually publicise it. For example, there is the Zekunze Clinic in Ganze Constituency, which was entirely built by Grain Bulk, to help pro-vide health services in one of the poorest corners of Coast Province. We chose that place because we learned it had the highest infant mortality rate at the Coast, not for any political reason.

Then since 2009, we have had two water bows-ers which go all over the place giving out free water wherever it is needed. On several occasions we have supplied even the Coast General Hospital, when they were facing a water shortage for one reason or an-other.

I would also point to the Jaffer Foundation, which pays fees for about 190 secondary school students, and 87 university students from all over Coast Prov-ince. Finally, there are many Harambee contributions which I make when some of my friends in politics approach me. I usually ask them not to mention my name when giving the money. My grandfather taught me when I was very young that it is better to do your charitable acts without seeking publicity for your generosity, and that is what I practice to this day.

DEA: Now you mention friends who are politicians. You may be aware that there are those who argue that you must have some very powerful politicians behind you, otherwise you would never have been able to set up a huge new investment like Grain Bulk, and that to this day you work very closely with your friends in high places.

MJ: I am aware of these rumours and allegations. In fact, during President Daniel arap Moi’s time, there used to be stories that Moi was my secret partner, for it was felt that I would not otherwise have been able to get the support of the Government, which was es-sential in establishing a facility of this size.

It’s all nonsense. The former President supported me because this was the fi rst World Bank-supported project of this size — over $35 million was lent to us — to be set up in Kenya for a very long time.

You must remember that the plans for setting up Grain Bulk Handling were worked out during the 1980s and the 1990s, at a time when Kenya was being shunned by foreign investors for various reasons.

So to have Grain Bulk set up this grain terminal — the only one in this region — was a big thing even for

the Government. And Moi realised this, and he sup-ported the project, and was our guest of honour at the offi cial launch in the year 2000, which was also attended by directors of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank.

DEA: And what about in the current Government? It is said that you are a close associate of the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga.

MJ: That is an understatement. I consider the Prime Minister to be a personal friend, not an associate. The Hon Njenga Karume, who was Minister for Defence before the 2007 election, is also my personal friend.

And the late Karissa Maitha, who in his time was the most powerful politician from the Coast — he used to visit me all the time and was also a personal friend.

From Western Kenya I would point to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon Musalia Mudavadi, and the

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Foreign Minister, Moses Wetang’ula, as politicians whom I consider to be friends of mine. And may I add that I have known President Mwai Kibaki since 1986, when he was the Vice President and Minister for Finance.

There is no mystery about this. I have very many friends in politics. And this is not surprising, because my father was a politician, and was a very active councillor in the pre-Independence Mombasa Mu-nicipal Council. I have been associating with politi-cians all my life.

DEA: So, turning back to Grain Bulk Handling, you have been accused of operating a monopoly, which is only made possible through your infl uence among politicians. What do you have to say about this?

MJ: I can only tell you that this allegation is com-pletely unfounded and that Grain Bulk is not a mo-

nopoly. Beyond that, I would prefer to leave this kind of question to be handled by Engineer David Harris, who was formerly our General Manager, and is now a part-time consultant with us.

He was brought in by the World Bank to work on building the grain terminal right from the start. I think he is the best person to explain to you — and to all your readers — just exactly what Grain Bulk is, and what it does, and what its signifi cance is for the Kenyan economy.

DEA: What put the idea in your mind to establish this grain terminal at the port of Mombasa?

MJ: It happened like this: Back in 1976, my family business, then known as Jaffer & Jaffer Ltd., set up the Inland Container Depot, which was one of the fi rst container depots in Mombasa.

But even before that, back when there was still the old East African Railways and Harbours Corporation, we had leased a plot from them to set up a timber storage yard, and also used these same premises for the manufacture of pallets — those wooden frames on which cargo is placed in warehouses, so that it is easy to take it up using a forklift. That, I would say, was really the beginning of my being involved in port-related business.

Well, in 1983, mobile bagging operators were in-troduced in the port for quayside bagging of bulk grain and fertiliser. The fi rst company to enter into this line of business was called Nectar. Later other companies also joined in. Some of them used our In-land Container Depot to store their containers, and this is how I came to be aware that there was a need for more effi cient offl oading of grain and fertiliser from the ships. It is out of that insight that the plan for creating Grain Bulk Handlers arose in my mind. Later, I was to go to the great port at Hamburg in Ger-many, and see exactly how it was done. But even be-fore I visited the grain terminal at Hamburg, I already knew what could be done.

Somehow, right from the start, I knew I could do this. I just knew. I also understood right from the start that it would not be easy, but I was determined to do it.

DEA: It was a very long journey from November 13, 1984, when you fi rst applied to the Kenya Port Au-thority for the way-leave from your plot just outside the port, to the berths at Kilindini, so as to make it possible for you to handle bulk grain and fertiliser imports; to February 14, 2000, when you handled

48 May - June 2010

‘Thank You All for a D

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T he following is the full text speech de-livered at the 10th Anniversary celebra-tions of Grain Bulk

& Handling Ltd by the Chairman of GBHL, Mr Mohamed Jaffer, in Mombasa, a glittering event at-tended by the Prime Minister of Kenya, Cabinet ministers, cap-tains of industry, coastal leaders and thousands of wananchi

The Right Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya, Honourable Ministers, Honourable Members of Parlia-ment, Prominent Businessmen, my dear friend the Hon Njenga Karume, Distinguished Guests, Friends and Family.

Asalam Aleykum. I am genuinely pleased to have all of you present tonight to share in the celebrations of Grain Bulk Handlers Limited’s tenth anniver-sary.

I thank you for taking time from your busy schedules and for attending tonight’s function to share in the celebrations.

The presence of Government offi cials is of immense impor-tance to me personally and to the Board, Management and Staff of GBHL. Interaction between gov-ernments and investors is central to the growth and development of the future of any nation.

Ten years ago, Grain Bulk Han-dlers was offi cially inaugurated by the then President, His Excellency Daniel arap Moi, who declared it a State function. Back then the Government had foreseen the revolution that the investment was to bring to the sector and the

benefi ts that such an investment will have to the economy at large.

Ten years later it gives me a deep sense of satisfaction that the Gov-ernment, through the presence of the Prime Minister today, fi nds it important to acknowledge the ef-forts that we as Kenyans continue making in building our nation.

Thank you, Right Honorable Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet, for taking part in our celebrations. This clearly exhibits your commitment to support Ke-nyan investors in the future days and years to come.

I am tempted to go down memory lane today. Way back in 1983, I “dreamt” of establishing a world-class terminal. To make my dream a reality, there were various challenges that I faced. The words of my grandfather constantly reso-nated in my mind. My Late grand-father used to say to me, ”Mo-hamed, with hard work, honesty and determination you will always succeed, provided your intentions are not selfi sh but are for the gen-

eral good of your people, your nation and in line with the ethics and principles of your religion”.

Those words of my late grand-father still echo in my mind on a daily basis.

When I dreamt, the dream of establishing a grain terminal, I was certain that if realised it would benefi t our nation and the region, so I began to propagate my idea to family, friends, leaders of the nation and lenders.

During this time, I met indi-viduals who were special, who gave me the drive to follow my dream, who made it possible for my dream to become a reality and who I can never forget.

At the same time, I cannot for-get those people who thought my dream was not achievable and that it was a pie in the sky. Those people who laughed at my dream gave me more encouragement to follow my dream.

Alhamdulilah, most of the spe-cial people who encouraged me are present here with me tonight.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank a few special people.

My Dear wife, Rehana, without your belief in my dream and your support through the years, I am certain that my dream would just have remained a dream. Thank you for your never ending support and belief in me. My family had to make important sacrifi ces as I pursued my dream. Most impor-tant, my eldest son, Mujtaba Jaffer, had to cope with a great deal of re-sponsibility at a tender age. He has stood by me through and through and, to be honest, he has worked his way from being a transport su-pervisor to being a Business Direc-

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a Dream Come True’tor and in April last year the Board found him fi t to be the Managing Director.

Without any element of pater-nal bias, I have seen Mujtaba Jaf-fer develop invaluable skills over the past ten years. I cannot let tonight pass without saying a spe-cial Thank You to him.

Mr Gafur Pasta, I thank you for the true friendship and the sup-port that you have given me over the last twenty years.

As I am scanning through the crowd I have something to say about each and every one of you and your contributions to my suc-cess and the success of GBHL in various forms. You all are special to me and I thank you for the role each one of you has played in my life and in the life of GBHL.

The Right Honorable Prime Minister, way back in 1993, when I fi rst met him, motivated me to follow my dream. He said “Jaffer, developing anything is diffi cult. Whether it is to help build a na-tion, community, family or an or-ganisation is diffi cult.

There are many challenges but you have to remain focused and patient to overcome the hurdles and, once you achieve your goal, you will never regret facing those hurdles”.

He is entirely correct. Today as I look back at the challenges and the achievement of GBHL, I do not regret the problems that I had to face. Thank you very much, Right Hon Prime Minister.

Now I would like to extend my appreciation to the true bearers of GBHL’s success in the past de-cade. Like I said, each one of you and your contributions are the real elements of GBHL’s success.

Without our esteemed custom-ers there would be no success. I say Asante...

Without my staff there would be no success, I say Thank You…

And without my Board there would be no success and I say Thanks to You…

Most importantly, without the offi cials of the KPA who continu-ally monitor and regulate us, it would not have been possible for us to surpass international stan-dards of performance. To each and every member and staff of KPA, I say tonight Thank You for the discipline that you constantly instill in us and for your support and assistance.

Before I sit down I want to re-mind you that I have not stopped dreaming ... I still dream and I have a dream… my dream is now to give back to society… my dream is now to invest my time and re-sources in helping to develop a new and steadfast generation that will have skills and perseverance and make dreams a reality of the

future. In our globalised world, education and skills are impera-tive for success.

My next wish is to establish a university in Mombasa under the umbrella of the Jaffer Foundation. It is my dream that this university will have full fl edged faculties of Marine and Port Development, Theology, Engineering, Manage-ment and Leadership and, with time to come, a Medical Faculty.

Just a few months ago, I shared my dream with Professor Hyder, who coincidentally shares the same vision.

He has been kind enough to in-vite me to share his dream to es-tablish a University at the Coast. Thank You, Professor Hyder. We also have been promised the sup-port of Prof Mazrui and other re-nowned international scholars.

It is our earnest belief that this University will create our leaders of tomorrow who will dream, who will have the ability to make real those dreams and who will make Kenya now and in the future a power to reckon with.

In realising our current dream I am certain that we will surely need the support of all those present here. The world is a circle where we all hold hands… I hope that just as you all have supported me in the past in making my dream of GBHL a success, your support in my next project will be forthcom-ing.

Tonight’s function is in your honor. Please enjoy yourselves and take ownership of today’s function.

Thank you to each one of you once again…

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your fi rst ship. That’s a clear 16 years. Many inves-tors would have given up long before 2001. What kept you going?

MJ: All I can say is that I was convinced that I could bring this project to a successful conclusion, and that I was determined to succeed in this. I never for one moment doubted that I would succeed.

As you say, there were so many steps involved in this; so many conditions to be fulfi lled, some raised by the fi nanciers, others by the Kenya Port Authority, others by various government agencies.

I had to employ very many professionals at the different stages of this journey, as international lend-ers require a very large number of professional re-ports for a project of this kind. I also traveled a great deal to the US, the UK, and France, negotiating for the money which was needed to set up this grain ter-minal. All this had to be done before the fi nanciers would commit the fi rst dollar to the project. And it was not easy.

I have sometimes thought that I would have made far more money if I had dedicated those 16 years to just expanding ongoing businesses rather than start-ing something completely new like Grain Bulk. But I have no regrets.

I set out to establish a world-class grain terminal at the Kilindini port here in Mombasa, and I was able to achieve this. That gives me a great deal of satisfac-tion, and I do not feel any regret about other oppor-

tunities that I missed during the years I was strug-gling to make Grain Bulk a reality.

DEA: In an article on GBHL which featured in The Wall Street Journal late last year, you are quoted as having said that you look forward to the day when your grain terminal will be converted into a grain exporting facility, and that you believe that Kenya will one day again be a grain exporting country. Could you elaborate on this?

MJ: Kenya is at present harvesting only 6 per cent of the water it receives as rainfall. The rest, a full 94 per cent, fl ows into lakes and seas. I believe that if we could follow the example set by Israel and adopt modern techniques for harvesting rainwater and channeling it into irrigation projects, there is a huge opportunity to increase our acreage of land under productive agriculture (of which at present we are in fact only cultivating about 39 per cent).

So I was not just saying this off the top of my head. This is something I have given much thought to. I be-lieve that, with the right policies, we can have Kenya returning to being a net exporter of grain, as it was in the early years of Independence. All we need is the right land use policies.

DEA: Finally, there have been reports that you plan to set up a fertiliser handling terminal at Kilindini. What can you tell us about this?

MJ: At the present time, a major aspect of the cost of fertiliser to farmers is the cost of transport. In some cases we even get fertiliser free from some rich na-tions, but when you factor in the cost of transport, then you fi nd that farmers still have to pay quite a bit for it. And part of these transport costs are right here at the port.

At the moment, fertiliser can be offl oaded at a rate of about 1,800 to 2,000 tons a day. So a 20,000-ton ship would take 10 to 12 days to completely offl oad its cargo at the current terminal. With the new fertiliser han-dling terminal that I would like to establish, a 20,000-ton ship would take just one day to offl oad, leading to enormous savings in the fi nal cost of that fertiliser when it eventually gets to the farmer on the ground.

It’s a wonderful project, which would have a huge impact on the lives of millions of small-scale farm-ers, and I am very disappointed that it is taking so long to get it started, purely on account of bureau-cratic delays.

IN THE SHIPS HOLD: Cutting edge

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>>Fostering Private Sector Interests PG 74

>> Bring Back Cement Tax, Manufacturers Urge EA Govts page 40

>> Poll: Investors See Political Risk as Priority Regional Concern page 42

>> Business Community at the Heart of EAC Integration page 46

Back Cement Tax, Manufacturers Urge EA Govts page 40

SPECIAL REPORT

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

In July 2008, the East Afri-can countries abolished Duty on cement imports in their respective nation-al budgets in a bid to meet

the region’s growing demand for the building material, probably quite unaware of the detrimental effects the move would have on the sector.

Cement players in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda now urge the govern-ments to move with speed to pro-tect them from marauding foreign investors from, especially, Middle East and Pakistan which are now reportedly capitalising on the opportunity to monopolise East Africa’s once- lucrative cement market by a deliberate dumping, particularly in Tanzania.

According to the East African Cement Producers Association (EACPA), the Pakistani Govern-ment extends heavy subsidies to its cement sector, a move that has

made their products cheap on the market. In Pakistani, says EACPA, it costs between $11 and $17 to transport one tonne of cement from the Asian country to East Af-rica, with the government footing 35 per cent of the total cost.

With Pakistani's Free on Board prices ranging between $50 and $56 depending on the location of the cement plant, the government subsidy amounts to between eight and 11 per cent discount per tonne. Cement players say the subsidy is “quite substantial”.

“This subsidy is expected to in-crease Pakistani's export earnings by $322 million at the expense of other economies in East Africa,” the EACPA says, adding: “Besides increasing imports, the subsidy also envisages reducing the com-petitive pressure within Pakistan and allows for a price recovery af-ter the drastic drop in prices.”

Pakistani has an installed capacity of around 44 million

tonnes of cement against the local demand of 20 million. The local sector remains with an exportable surplus of over 13 million tonnes of cement after exporting to Af-ghanistan and India by the land route. The surplus is exported to the Middle East and Africa, espe-cially East Africa, where current annual demand for cement stands at 7.1 million tones.

As a result of the risk posed to the industry, the association is demanding the 35 per cent tariff for imported cement products be restored. EACPA chairman David Njoroge says there should be a $50 per tonne charge to supplement the 35 per cent tariff but the high-er of the two should be charged.

Says a grim-faced Njoroge: “The specifi c rate has been pro-posed to counter dumping and subsidies by the exporting coun-tries as well as the under-invoic-ing of cement at the ports of entry. To avert the imminent collapse of

Bring Back Cement Tax, Manufacturers Urge EA GovtsMassive foreign dumping depresses the market for local productBy DEA CORRESPONDENT

52 May - June 2010

the seven cement manufacturing plants in East Africa, which em-ploy more than 5,000 people, the Community must intervene and restore sanity in the sector.”

EACPA also wants Uganda's request to import Duty- free ce-ment products from Asia revoked. Njoroge says since the establish-ment of the EAC Customs Union protocol in January 2005, cement has been classifi ed as a sensitive product with a Duty rate of 55 per cent: 25 per cent Common Exter-nal Tariff (CET) and Suspended Duty of 30 per cent. The partner states also agreed that the CET on cement should be reduced by fi ve per cent each year for the subse-quent four years to stabilise at a target rate of 35 per cent by 2009.

The tariff was designed to safe-guard the cement industry in the region from the threat of dumping by low-cost producers. It would also cushion local cement prices from subsidies given to importers by their respective governments.

“The EACPA is deeply con-cerned at these developments and is worried about the survival of the cement industry in the EAC if the partner states do not take corrective action,” Mr Njoroge said.

Economists argue that the in-fl ux of cheap cement imports will

in the long run have a negative impact on the local industry. They argue that the local cement indus-try is faced with high production costs resulting from high energy and labour costs and a poor dis-tribution network.

Although the EAC Common Ex-ternal Tariff is in three tariff bands — zero per cent for raw materials, 10 per cent for intermediate goods and 25 per cent for fi nished prod-ucts — goods considered sensi-tive, like cement, often attract a higher tariff.

At the establishment of the EAC in 2004, cement producers negotiated the CET and agreed that cement was to be considered a sensitive product due to its capi-tal intensive investment require-ments.

EACPA says Tanzania is one of the worst-hit countries in the re-gion, having received substantial subsidised cement imports from Asia, Pakistan in particular, fl ood-ing its local market sometimes at prices below those charged on lo-cally produced cement.

“Some factories have been forced to cut down production. Some have stopped production, sending workers on leave. The local cement companies and the national economy in general will come down crumbling unless this

situation changes,” says EACPA.But even with the challenge of

dumping, the sector stills seems lucrative to players with the recent entry of the world’s largest cement producer, the Sanghi Group of In-dia, which has won a tender to ex-tract limestone in West Pokot. Its subsidiary, Cemtech Limited, is already on the ground to establish an ultra-modern cement plant. The landmark mining rights were wholly granted to the cement gi-ant on October 31, 2008, by the Industrialisation Ministry and the County Council of Pokot

According to the Sanghi Group director in charge of Africa invest-ments, Mr Rajesh Kumar Rawal, the proposed plant will look at various grades of lime, marble stone production and “investigate the possibility of exploring for further limestone, volcanic ash and gypsum deposits” in the sur-rounding areas.

“We expect to produce more than 600,000 tonnes of cement per annum in the initial phase. We will then expand to over one mil-lion tonnes in subsequent phases. However, this will be subject to availability of additional lime-stone usable for cement manu-facturing,” Rawal said

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

Duty of 30 per cent. The partnerstates also agreed that the CET oncement should be reduced by fi veper cent each year for the subse-quent four years to stabilise at a target rate of 35 per cent by 2009.

The tariff was designed to safe-guard the cement industry in theregion from the threat of dumping by low-cost producers. It wouldalso cushion local cement pricesfrom subsidies given to importersby their respective governments.

“The EACPA is deeply con-cerned at t ththesese e developmentsand is worried about the sur ivivall ofofof tt thehehe cc cemememenenenttt ininindududustststryryry i iin n the e EACififif tt tthehehehe p pparararrtntntnererer sss statatatetetes ss dodod not takkecocococorrrrrrrrececcececctiitititit vevevev aa aa tctctctioioioioi n,nnn,,” MrMrMr NN Njjojororogegesasasaidddididdddid..

EcEcEcEEEcEcEcE ononno ommomisisistststs a aargrgrgrgueueue ttt tthahahatt t ththththeee e iniininin-flflflflflflfl uuxxux o ooo offff f chchchcheaeaeaeaeappp p p cececccececemeememememememeenttntnttnntnntntt ii i ii mpmpmpmpmppporororortststs ww wilililll lll

At the establishment of theEAC in 2004, cement producersnegotiated the CET and agreedthat cement was to be considereda sensitive product due to its capi-tal intensive investment require-ments.

EACPA says Tanzania is one of the worst-hit countries in the re-gion, having received substantialsubsidised cement imports fromAsia, Pakistan in particular, fl ood-ing its local market sometimes atprices below those charged on lo-cally produced cement.

“SSomomee ffa tctoriies have beenforced to cut down pproduduductctioion.n.SoSome hh havave e ststopoppepedd production,,,sesenddndiiningg wowo krkrkerrs onn ll leaveve. ThThelololoolocacacacacallll l cececececememmementntnntnt c comompapapapp niniesess a a a a andndndndnd t t thehehehenananatititionononalalal e e cococonononomymyy i i inn n gegeg neneeraraall wiwiwillllllcocomemee dd dowowownnn crcrcrumumumblblblinininggg unununlelelessssss tt thihihisss

County Council of PokotAccording to the Sanghi Group

director in charge of Africa invest-ments, Mr Rajesh Kumar Rawal,the proposed plant will look atvarious grades of lime, marblestone production and “investigatethe possibility of exploring forfurther limestone, volcanic ashand gypsum deposits” in the sur-rounding areas.

“We expect to produce morethan 66000 ,0, 00 ttononnes s off c cememenentt per annum in the initial phah se. Wewill then expand to over one mil-lilionon t tonononnenenesss ininin ss subububsesesequququenentt phphp asaseses.However, this will be subjbject totavavaiailal bibiliityy oof f addaddididitititionon lalal ll liimime-eststono e usable for ccemment t manu-fffaffafactcturiinii g,g ”” ” RaRRaRR wawawalllll sasasaidididididd

53May - June 2010

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

54 May - June 2010

Business leaders in East Africa are rais-ing the alarm over the region’s political instability, claiming

that it may haunt investor confi -dence.

So serious is the matter that in Kenya more than 76 per cent of business leaders perceive politics as one of the major risks facing them. According to the Business Leaders’ Confi dence Index Report released last week by Synovate, po-litical instability tops the list of risks facing the investment community, followed by competition and poor infrastructure at 38 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.

As a result, businesses in Kenya are devising strategies aimed at countering political risk. Among the measures being implemented to enhance corporate growth are development of new products, ex-pansion to other markets, mergers and acquisitions as well as cost cut-ting. The strategies are a signifi cant departure from those that were be-ing pursued only six months ago, such cutting back on capital spend-ing and restructuring.

The report says more than 66 per cent of company leaders in Kenya are planning to venture into new products in the next 12 months as a business growth strategy, while 47 per cent would expand their busi-nesses to foreign markets. On the

Poll: Investors See Political Risk as Priority Regional ConcernSynovate carried out a study in EA and Ghana and came up with remarkable data By DEA CORRESPONDENT

other hand, 43 per cent would ex-pand to the local market as 34 per cent engage in cost-cutting mea-sures. Only six per cent are consid-ering a capital spending slash.

In a clear signal that the business community is ripe for the merger of the East African Community econ-omies in July, 56 per cent of Kenya’s

businesses are intending to expand into Tanzania and Uganda, while 50 per cent want to invest in Rwanda. 32 per cent are planning to invest in Burundi and 18 per cent in South Sudan. Interestingly, some inves-tors are also planning to put their funds in West African countries such as Liberia and Senegal.

Even as other East African coun-tries eye investment opportunities in Tanzania, that country’s busi-ness fraternity seems to appreciate the fact that the increased competi-

of TZ’s business leaders told Synovate that competition is the major risk facing them

tion is posing a great danger to their business returns. Over 27 per cent of TZ’s business leaders told Syno-vate that competition is the major risk facing them. 18 per cent of the leaders consider cheap imports and poor state of roads and communi-cation network as the main risk fac-ing their businesses currently.

Despite elections scheduled be-fore the end of the year, many of the businesses — 95 per cent — think the polls will not have a major im-pact on their operations. It is due to this stability that apparently over 22 per cent of business leaders say the country is a “very attractive” invest-ment location.

Democratic Republic of Congo is the most-sought-after invest-ment destination for Tanzania’s in-vestors — at 57 per cent — followed by Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda at 29 per cent.

In Uganda, which goes to the polls next year, competition is the biggest business risk facing the country at 49 per cent, followed by political instability at 35 per cent.

25 per cent of the business leaders interviewed by Synovate say Uganda’s poor state of infra-structure is still a major issue that hampers the country’s business climate. Despite these challenges,

more than 65 per cent of busi-ness, leaders perceive Uganda as a “moderately” attractive business destination while 25 per cent say it is “very” attractive.

Unlike Kenya’s businessmen, more than 47 per cent of Ugandans see Rwanda as the most viable place to establish their subsidiar-ies, followed by Burundi at 35 per cent. Only 12 per cent perceive Ke-nya, Southern Sudan and Tanzania as an investment destination.

According to Synovate’s Manag-ing Director George Waititu, Ugan-da’s hotel and tourism sector enjoys the highest confi dence level at 91.7 per cent, followed by the fi nancial services sector at 73.3 per cent and telecommunications sector at 66.3 per cent.

Overall, the country has a busi-ness confi dence level of 66.3 per cent. In Kenya, the fi nancial ser-vices sector leads with a 73 per cent confi dence level, services sector at 70 per cent, manufacturing at 69 per cent and hotel and tourism at 67 per cent. On average, the coun-try’s confi dence index stands at 69 per cent, the highest in the region. Tanzania has 61 per cent.

In the coming six months, Tan-zanians — about 50 per cent — project that the telecommunica-tions sector will play a substantial role in propelling the country’s eco-nomic growth, 35 per cent say the manufacturing sector will lead the way while 33 per cent expect the fi -nancial services sector to enhance national growth.

11 per cent of Ugandans, on the other hand, say the country’s economy will perform “substan-tially better” in the next six months, 48 per cent predict a “moderate” growth while 29 per cent say the status will remain the same.

The study, targeting top busi-ness leaders, was carried out in Ke-nya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana between March 21 and March 25 this year

EMOTIVE:Kenyas take the law in their hands

POLLS CHAOS:A Kenyan policeman battles rioters' inferno

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

55May - June 2010

56 May - June 2010

T he East African govern-ments are being urged to create a more business-friendly environment that will catalyse busi-

ness growth in the region. The Ke-nya Association of Manufacturers Chairman, Mr Vimal Shah, says the region risks losing huge invest-ment opportunities unless radical measures are taken to enhance EA’s business operations.

As a step to ironing out the pe-rennial high-to-prohibitive costs of power that have stalled business growth, Shah proposes that the Ke-

nya Government introduce a two-year tax window plan during which consumers will enjoy power at half the current cost. Kenyan manufac-turers pay up to KSh35 per unit of electricity while their counterparts in Uganda and Tanzania pay only KSh6 per unit. The high power costs have eroded Kenyan com-petitiveness, hence the need for strategies to address them. Sources indicate that serious talks have al-ready started between the Energy Ministry and Treasury for the in-troduction of the tax holiday, es-pecially in the manufacturing sec-

tor. The move seems to have been chiefl y driven by Kenya’s EAC coun-terpart, Uganda, which has over the years extended a direct subsidy to the manufacturing sector.

Kenya’s high power costs have in the recent past resulted from the prolonged drought that caused a major drop in water levels in the country’s hydropower stations. With reduced output, Nairobi re-sorted to expensive emergency power sources as well as intermit-tent power rationing.

To create a business-conducive environment and attract foreign di-

High Energy Costs in Economic Powerhouse Kenya Hamper Region’s PotentialVimal Shah, one of EA’s foremost industrialists, warns of major impediments to foreign investment in the Community nations in a conversation with JOHN NDIEMA

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

rect investment, Kenya is currently pursuing a combined exploitation of hydropower, wind and geother-mal energy sources. The Ministry of Energy says that by the end of 2011, Kenya will be able to meet the rising energy demand at affordable rates, and even export some to neighbour-ing countries. The current costs of energy have led to fi rms coming up with strategies to improve effi ciency in consumption. So far, these fi rms have made savings of up to $36 mil-lion in energy bills, according to the Centre for Energy Effi ciency and Conservation.

As part of its approaches to en-courage energy effi ciency, the CEEC has introduced the Energy Manage-ment Awards to recognise fi rms for their contribution to energy con-

CLEAN ENERGY:East Africa enjoys long solar spells

Amount paid by Kenyan manufacturers per unit of electricity while their counterparts in Uganda and Tanzania pay only KSh6 per unit

57May - June 2010

servation. The CEEC estimates that the 200 fi rms that participated in the recently-held sixth edition of the Energy Management Awards to recognise fi rms for their contribu-tion to energy conservation saved $26,315,789 worth of energy last year and avoided carbon emissions of up to 530,000 tonnes.

But even with the energy cost challenge, Shah says the year started on a positive note for the

business community, especially with the coming into full effect of the EAC Customs Union in January.

The protocol, which is also expect-ed to spur economic growth, will allow for the free movement of goods, services, and labour within the re-gion opening up a big-ger market estimated at 126 million people and a Gross Domestic

Product of $60 billion in 2008. Says Shah: “Kenya, considered

the most industrialised economy in the region, will be among the key benefi ciaries. This will however only happen if the business com-munity takes the regional market seriously.

What this means is that there will be a greater volume of trade among the fi ve member states with the elimination of Customs tariffs on all traded goods and services between the Community’s mem-ber states.”

Shah, whose day job is Bidco Managing Director, is credited for championing a better business en-vironment in the region and says the establishment of the Customs Union is a major plus for busi-nesses since they will be able to set up operations in any member state so long as they are East Africans,

without being subjected to the pro-hibitive taxes currently charged on foreigners.

Shah warns Kenya risks losing out on the benefi ts of the Union unless radical steps are taken by the government to invest in more and better roads, railways and power stations which will help reduce the cost of doing business, currently a major hindrance to doing business in the region’s economic power-house.

“Indeed the private sector both in Kenya and within the region has the potential to unlock and increase trade volumes within the East Afri-can region, which currently stands at a mere 13 per cent. This is a pale comparison to Europe, which stands at 60 per cent and Asia at 40 per cent,” Shah points out.

With the coming into effect of the EAC Customs Union, the trend of intra-EAC trade is likely to change but until the correct measures are put in place, the movement of goods within the Community will continue being constrained by cross-border controls.

Other reforms the manufactur-ing guru says need to be addressed by the partner states are the review of transit procedures and treat-ment of goods destined inland, re-view and adoption of a harmonised single bond guarantee system and the establishment of a mechanism for the treatment of re-export duty from one partner state to another.

For the free circulation of goods within the region, Shah says part-ner states are expected to fully implement the EAC Common Ex-ternal Tariff in order to avoid stay of application by some partner state, total commitment towards the elimination of Non-Tariff Barri-ers, simplifi cation or elimination of rules of origin and addressing the multiple Custom Union member-ships by some partner states

58 May - June 2010

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

The East African Com-munity is one of the most progressive re-gional economic blocs in the world today.

EAC this year successfully tran-sited to a fully-fl edged Customs Union and is on course to begin implementing the Common Mar-ket in July 2010.

The deepened integration pres-ents immense opportunities for the business community, in terms of larger markets, economies of scale and larger pools of human, fi nancial, and physical capital. As the private sector, we are commit-ted to continue playing our right-ful role in the integration process, through increased trade and in-vestment, enhanced competitive-ness and increased employment, thereby accelerating the region’s economic growth.

As members of the business community in East Africa, through our umbrella organisation — the East African Business Council — we have actively participated in all stages of integration.

The private sector continues to enjoy unique interactive meetings with our Heads of States, other policy makers, as well as with the leadership of the EAC Secre-tariat, on how best our region can achieve competitive advantage and businesses can achieve re-turns on their investment.

This willingness to partner with the private sector in address-ing challenges impeding the full

Business Community at the Heart of EAC IntegrationThe Chairman of the East African Business Council Mr FAUSTIN BUNDU makes a compelling case for the private sector’s key contribution to the Community

realisation of the economic inte-gration is a clear refl ection of the resolve and commitment of the East African top political leader-ship to place the private sector at the heart of the EAC integration process.

The EAC Customs Union has opened up business opportunities in the region and has paved way for an improved business climate although challenges remain. It has generated a liberalised cross-bor-der trade, through the adoption of common policies to minimise Customs clearance formalities as well as enhance the predictability of economic policies.

Since its inception, EABC has been very active in resolving im-pediments to the proper func-tioning of the Customs Union. One of our biggest undertakings

has been the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers to trade. EABC has been championing this issue and, in recognition of this, in 2005, EAC mandated us to develop the NTBs Monitoring Mechanism for report-ing and elimination of NTBs.

In addition, EABC carries an annual Business Climate Index to monitor the progress in removal of NTBs and look at improvement in perception on key business climate factors such as access to land, level of taxation and the legal and regulatory framework, among others.

Our other contributions, in the context of the Customs Union, in-clude channeling of general policy issues to the EAC Summit and ad-dressing the issues pertaining to rules of origin and double taxa-tion.

Our efforts continue in tandem with the needed policies and ini-tiatives to ensure smooth progress towards full implementation of the regional integration instruments. However, challenges remain which include lack of structured engagement with policymakers at a regional level, frequent policy re-versals, infrastructure bottlenecks and non-tariff barriers that in-crease the cost of doing business.

We continue to engage the EAC leadership in an effort to address some of these challenges and our expectation is that the EAC Heads of State will indicate their commit-ment to addressing these issues both in the short and long term

SECTOR LEADERS:Chairman Bundu and Vice Chairman Kiilu at a regional function

The East African Busi-ness Council (EABC) is the apex body of private sector associa-tions and corporates

from the fi ve EA Community na-tions.

As the private sector represen-tative, EABC has observer status in organs and activities of the EAC. EABC therefore participates in various sectoral meetings, meet-ings of the Coordination Commit-tee, Council of Ministers meet-ings and meetings of the Heads of State, with a view to ensuring that the agenda of the private sector is well articulated.

Our Vision is to be an effective change agent for fostering an en-abling business environment for a diversifi ed, competitive, export-led, integrated and sustainable economy and our Mission is to promote private sector regional and global competitiveness in trade and investment.

OBJECTIVESOur activities are focused not

only on leveraging all issues that impede full realisation of potential benefi ts of regional integration, but also on providing a platform where the business community can regularly discuss and drive re-forms to ensure the environment for business is conducive.

We provide a platform which enables the private sector to speak

with a single East African voice and, in that capacity, perpetuate the maintenance of a routine and institutionalised interaction with the EAC Secretariat and dialogue with governments of the EAC partner states.

We are also a key implement-ing agent for the EAC Private Sector Development Strategy that seeks to enhance a ‘people-centred’ but ‘private sector driven’ integration process.

Amongst others, this includes developing and promoting the EAC as a preferred investment location; developing and promoting the EAC as a reliable and quality source of products/services and an unrivaled destination of tourism.

The promotion of an enabling environment for business in East Africa, through addressing those factors that make the environment uncompetitive, such as poor infra-structure, high energy costs, poor access to fi nance, a poor legal and regulatory framework, among oth-ers.

Ensuring smooth implemen-tation of the EAC Customs Union by engaging EAC leadership and partner states government on im-pediments such as non-tariff barri-ers, lack of harmonisation of laws, unpredictability of policy, among others.

Provision of information and sensitising the business sector in East Africa to the EAC integration

process and the opportunities it presents. Providing business-to-businesses linkages, both locally and internationally, through vari-ous platforms such as trade mis-sions, sectoral meetings, study tours, to name only a few.

FOCUSA smooth implementation of a

fully fl edged Customs Union and Common Market.

Improved private-public sec-tor dialogue and partnerships to ensure the private sector plays its rightful role in driving the integra-tion agenda and the public sector plays the role of facilitating this.

Reduction — and ultimately the elimination — of non-tariff barriers and other factors of trade logistics that lead to increased cost of do-ing business, with a view to mak-ing businesses competitive, both regionally and internationally.

Leveraging the issue of energy, both in terms of cost, availability, quality of supply and investment by the private sector. This is based on the fact that energy is a key con-tributor to the region’s un-compet-itiveness.

Articulating the interests of the private sector in both the on-going EPA and Common Market negotia-tions.

Providing, in the right format and, in a timely manner, business and trade information to EABC members

59May - June 2010

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

Fostering Private Sector Interests

AGATHA NDERITU Executive Director, East African Business Council, delineates how the EABC ensures the region's business sector's agenda is part and parcel of the Community's dynamics

Our Vision is to

be an effective

change agent

for fostering

an enabling business environment for a diversified, competitive, export-led, integrated and sustainable economy and

our Mission is to

promote private

sector regional

and global

competitiveness

in trade and

investment

60 May - June 2010

DIPLOMAT EAST AFRICA: What are the implications of the rollout of the Customs Union?

BILL LAY: The EAC concept should be great news for the formal Kenyan motor industry — however, Duty-free market access for locally produced trucks and buses has been blocked by politicians who benefi t from the un-controlled importation of over-aged, undervalued mitumba imports. This is the case in all fi ve EAC member states.

DEA: Speaking as Chairman of the Kenya Motor Vehicle Industry Asso-ciation, has the operationalisation of the Customs Union been matched by the expectations the industry had? BL: There has been no benefi t from the Customs Union since it was launched January 1, 2005. In fact, the cost of advocating for EAC market access and fi ghting the corrup-tion-based mitumba importers has increased our costs for lawyers, consultants and travel.

DEA: Share with us some of the teething problems and challenges that have been experienced despite and in spite of the rollout of the Customs Union? Kindly enu-merate and explain some of the teething problems? BL: Political jealousy and gamesmanship, the structure of the EAC, required all decisions to be unanimous. Special interest groups, including both public and private sector, often suggest the use of ‘technical study teams’ to delay decisions and frustrate honest stakeholders. Cancelled meetings, ministers and PSs departing Arusha before making decisions without delegation. Numerous CET violations by member states via national budget pro-cesses.

DEA: In your estimation, which is the biggest stumbling block to the motor industry realising the ideal level of competitiveness in the region? BL: Mitumba importers and the political special interests generated from their excessive, under-taxed margins. DEA: Do you have any proposals for tackling the chal-lenges that have been experienced in the infancy stages

of the rollout of the Customs Union? BL: Yes, we have numerous proposals un-der review by EAC member states and in Arusha. In addition, we have submitted numerous budget proposals in support of a level playing fi eld for investors in our in-dustry.

DEA: Have you presented suggestions for the streamlining of the Customs Union? BL: One, implementation of approved ‘rules of origin’ to recognise the value addi-tion of local assemblers to enjoy Duty-free access as promised on January 1, 2005. This must include the approved provision for ‘substantial transfromation’.

Two, proper evaluation and inspection of mitumba imports and a ban on used spare parts. URA, TRA and KRA should collect the proper tax on mitumba imports.

DEA: What’s your take on the Common Market Protocol? BL: The Common Market deals with NTBs such as dual taxation, free movement of people and revenue sharing. I believe this phase of the EAC process will be fi lled with the same political hurdles and special interests as the Customs Union. As with many of the issues restricting private sec-tor growth in East Africa, there is an overall lack of political will and leadership from member states and the EALA to do what is required to realise the potential growth.

DEA: Share with us fi gures and statistics on the current and potential contribution of the motor vehicle industry in the region as it becomes a single market. BL: TZ, UG, RW and Bu together represent a market for locally produced commercial vehicles equal to the Kenya market. In other words, the Kenyan Industry in 2009 was approximately 6,000 locally produced units of which GMEA commanded over 40 per cent share or 2,400 ISUZU trucks and buses. With Duty-free access, the EAC market would be close to 12,000 units and GMEA share would increase to 50 per cent or 6,000 units. We would add a second shift, and hire 125 workers. Suppliers would also double their turn-over. Only dirty politics and greedy, tax-avoiding mitumba importers stand in the way of that certain growth and suc-cess for both GMEA and the EAC motor vehicle industry

‘Mitumba’ Menace Must Go if Motor Industry is to Flourish — GMEA BossMR BILL LAY, Chairman, Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Association (KVMA) and CEO of General Motors East Africa Ltd., spoke to DEA’s BOB WEKESA

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

61May - June 2010

Gl a x o S m i t h K l i n e has embarked on an ambitious pro-gramme to peg product prices on

per capita income.The strategic move to price

products in three models now de-pends on whether they are being sold in least developed, middle in-come or high income states.

The net effect is that the same product is now being sold at dif-ferent prices, depending on the market.

Though initially the multina-tional will lose revenue, it is envis-aged that the move will spur more sales volumes and improve access to medicines.

The Managing Director and General Manager, Pharmaceutical Operations, East Africa, Mr John Musunga, says that although the move may suffer reduced profi t-ability in the initial stages, “we may not recoup profi ts but we will see more innovative products”.

The largest segment is that of anti-biotics, which treat at least 50 per cent of infections in Africa. GlaxoSmithKline recently reduced the prices of two of its fl agship an-tibiotics — Zinnat and Augmentin — by between 30 and 40 per cent in the Kenyan market (prices went down from a high of Sh2,000 to a low of Sh800 on average).

“The objective is to achieve im-proved access to healthcare in the developing world” says Musunga. The move will see 20 per cent of the profi ts channelled to the least developed countries (LDCs).

Musunga says the pricing poli-cy has changed so that “those who

can pay help those who are un-able to achieve the overall effect of better healthcare”.

He is optimistic that the posi-tive changes that have taken place in the fi eld of telephony and in-frastructure to improve business operations for industry players will be continued for better per-formance.

He cites roads and connectivity in Nairobi as areas that have seen signifi cant improvement in recent months.

However, he laments, a lot more needs to be done to improve the atmosphere of doing business in the East African region.

Musunga says the pharma-ceutical industry, being a highly regulated one, requires a unifi ed approach to the entire business of creating procedures and rules.

The extent of regulation varies from state to state, with Burundi having the least, while Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have a lot

more of the straitjacket.Explaining, Musunga says,

special requirements must be met before a medicine is launched. Documents, in thousand-paged format, are submitted in tripli-cate, factory visits made, samples submitted and other procedures followed before it is registered.

If this is replicated in all states, business would be tedious and impossible.

One body is therefore needed to oversee all these processes in East Africa, as happens in Europe, where one registration in one state enables function in all EU states. “Patients will access innovative medicines at the same time across the board”, says Musunga.

In Kenya such a process would take a year, in Uganda one-and-a-half and in Tanzania anything between eight months and fi ve years. Uganda has fewer innova-tive products, though.

What is required is a unifi ed ap-proach to the supervisory function through one body, charged with the task of conducting post-mar-ket surveillance, border control and harmonising laws across the board. Such an authority should be domiciled in all the states.

As it is at the moment, deregis-tered outfi ts could simply get away with malpractices if detected in one state by escaping to another and starting the whole process all over again.

Musunga also feels that laws should be effected to protect local manufacturers against imports. The proposed Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) would aptly serve this pur-pose uniformly.

GlaxoSmithKline Launches Ambitious Marketing OffensiveProduct prices now pegged on buying powerBy PATRICK WACHIRA

PHARMACEUTICALS

COUNT-ERFEITS:Glaxo MD John Musunga explains the menace

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

62 May - June 2010

Patients, he says, should not be taxed over situations they have no control over and the 15-year period that it takes for patents to expire should be taken into account in implementing the NTBs.

Governments, in addition, should have concerted efforts towards manag-ing infrastructure, which is key in en-suring businesses fl ourish and citizens reap the attendant benefi ts.

It does not make sense, for instance, that a ship should take a week to cruise over the seas to get to the port of Mom-basa but goods once received take be-tween a week and two to get to Nairobi. The cost of infrastructure is a problem that must be tackled as a matter of ur-gency, Musunga says.

In Egypt, such a process would take just two days, the MD says. As a result of such delays affecting business in East Africa, the industry loses up to 30 days of sales in a year, or roughly 10 per cent of profi ts.

Licensing is another area that poses a veritable headache for business opera-tions in the region, with many licenses required from various authorities. For instance, in Kenya, one requires ap-proval and licences from the Ministry of Trade, City Council, Kenya Revenue Authority, Ministry of Health, the Phar-macy and Poisons Board and quite a few others.

“If the issue is revenue, then let us have one process that takes care of all these bodies. This should be a one-stop shop”, says Musunga.

And GSK also suffered the global meltdown that swept across the world, with the West being the worst-hit.

Local operations of GSK and profi tability were worst last year, what with the effects of persistent drought, dwin-dling exports and reduced tourism earnings. However, the adverse effects are being counterbalanced by emerg-ing markets such as China, Brazil and Russia, among other regions and states

Safari Park Hotel and

Casino is a destina-

tion in a world of

its own. A five-star

luxury hotel located 15 min-

utes drive from the City Centre,

Nairobi.

The Hotel stands in 50 acres

of beautifully manicured gar-

dens and offers a selection

of 205 rooms, decorated and

tastefully furnished with a

taste of Africa with private rear

and front balconies.

The luxurious rooms have high speed wire-

less and cabled internet connectivity, Safe and

24 hours room service. It’s considered as the

leading leisure and conference hotel in East

and Central Africa and reknown for its combi-

nation of business and relaxation.

The hotel’s five international specialty res-

taurants offer the finest dining in Nairobi and

are the most inviting, each uniquely decorated

in traditional themes ranging from the Far

East to Europe. The Nyama Choma Ranch, the

only African Restaurant in Nairobi is an ideal

affordable stopover for tourists on Safaris to

and from Mt Kenya or post conference tours.

The Arirang Café, the latest’s Safari Park Ho-

tel’s coffee shop, operates from the heart of

the Kenyatta International Conference Center

offers delicious bitings, quality beverage, Ke-

nyan tea, coffee and a variety of juices.

A variety of great entertainment and lei-

sure facilities is available; Sensual Safari Cats

dancers & Acrobats, Paradise Casino, Cats

Club Discotheque and Piano Bar. For relax-

ation and rejuvenation, The Safari Fitness

Centre has ultramodern range of fitness fa-

cilities.

The hotel prides in its wide range of con-

temporary to traditional designed meeting

and banquet venues with capacity for over

1200 delegates.

It is the home for the Meetings, Incentives,

Conferences and Events (MICE) market. For

that memorable wedding, ballroom or gar-

den; ceremony, beautiful reception and to

your honeymoon, the hotel is voted as the top

wedding venue in Africa.

Safari Park Hotel & Casino ‘A world of Wonder …

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

6363May - June 2010

•WITH A LIGHT TOUCHSeriously Lighthearted

It is only gentlemanly, and, for genders’ sake, ladylike,

for me to present my papers to your eminent and distinguished selves, all protocols observed [bowing double].

Because I am at the lowest of ranks in the ministry, you will of-ten fi nd me deferring and curtsey-ing to nearly all offi cials; of course save for those lowly drivers of ministers, ambassadors, who are clearly beneath me in the pecking order. Though I am at the tail-end of the protocol offi ce, I am better off considering I am slightly be-low Mautatu, the Third Secretary and Vice Consul, and above all the interns, drivers, kitchen staff, guards…you name them.

Isn’t it something? Look, not many have a chance to bow in def-erence to the excellencies, lords, majesties…et al, who call our offi ce daily, let alone get within hearing shot of them. Tell me, how many of the 120 million citizens of Mashariki mwa Africa get to a kilometre’s reach of my boss the Minister Mambo wa Kigeni and the other eminences other than in their living rooms — on television!

My name, Balozi Diplomacia, is a latter day development. In my earlier days, I went by a name I am not keen to reveal just now for its gross undiplomatic candour. After completing secondary school, I was hired to serve as a tea boy in the embassy of one of the most powerful countries in the world.

This is when I started toying with expunging my former nouns and acquiring less rough-edged ones. Once, when my native, clatter-clank name was translated to the Ambassador, he guffawed so hard and so long and then, catching his etiquette after the raw display of mirth, shook his head ruefully and left the terrace where I often served course upon course of re-pasts fi t for royalty. For, my name, given to me in remembrance of an old deceased ancestor (RIP), trans-lated into a combination of wart-hogs that use the bush for short and long calls.

There was every reason for me to change name, not least be-cause, as I learned, Malaya had become Malaysia, Nigeria had re-located her capital city from Lagos to Abuja, the Republic of Congo had changed to Zaire before the physician settled on DR Congo, James Ngugi wa wa Thiong’o had dropped James, Peking had be-come Beijing (or Bei Chini for the Swa wag). All these name changes I had eavesdropped on as His Ex-cellency the Ambassador pep talk-ed his guests on the patio, sipping a cup of high tea, watching the sun go down, the birds chirping in the distance, what he called ‘unwind-ing without wind coming out’.

I must admit my prowess in the Queen’s language rubbed off me listening in on the countless con-versations by the His Excellency and his many guests. So much so

that when job opportunities were announced for the new Mashariki mwa Africa nation, I literally talked my way into the protocol job there. In fact, I nearly died of shock when I saw some dimwit competitor for my current job arrive for the interviews wearing a pyrethrum profusion of a beard. Clinching the position was nothing like the dif-fi culties of negotiating for the re-lease of hostages that I had heard HE holler and persuade in turns on the phone during that crazy period when rebels from the south hijacked a bus full of tourists. Hav-ing observed HE’s and his guests’ demeanour closely for years, all I had to do was talk in measured tones, dropping high society hints here and there, all wrapped in a tongue that screamed sophistica-tion. Of course I had turned up for the interview in a freshly pressed pin-striped suit, snow-white shirt and a black, red-spotted bowtie and polished-to-sparkle black brogues, after a fashion set by HE, particularly on occasions when he was on what he called ‘Class One A’ engagements.

But perhaps what clinched the job for me was my brand new name, Balozi Diplomacia, a name I had acquired a week earlier as part of the preparations for the protocol job. The Civil Service hiring people fell for it, literally, head over shoul-ders. “You mean you are so com-mitted to diplomacy that you have a name that fi ts the bill,” the leader

HUMOUR

Protocol Means Bowing until You Eyeball the Red Carpet By BALOZI DIPLOMACIA

EABC SPECIAL REPORT

64 May - June 2010

•WITH A LIGHT TOUCHSeriously Lighthearted

The European Union has moved fast to ensure a massive $147 billion bail -out of Greece

lest the two dreaded D words of the financial world, debts and deficits, spread to plague other

member countries of Portugal, Spain and Ireland and cause untold financial chaos on the conti-

nent.

Early in May there was a workshop in

Zimbabwe in which participants were

taught how to laugh and the importance of

laughter.

There were no jokes told and all participants

were supposed to do was to make faces and in-

duce laughter. A participant was quoted on radio

as saying that at first it was a bit tacky but later

all were rocking and rollicking with laughter.

Over in India thousands gathered to celebrate

the day of laughter and all were encouraged to

laugh their heads off. Indeed, TV footage showed

people in various stages of laughing, trying to

laughing and coming up for air before resuming

the laughing again.

Perhaps the time not to take life seriously has

come or perhaps Collective Madness Day should

be inaugurated.

When Hurricane Katrina struck in the

US state Louisiana, then President

George Bush was accused of dilly-dallying

in Washington as the people, mainly African

Americans suffered at the hands of Mother

Nature.

In April the BP-owned oil platform in the

Gulf of Mexico exploded and unleashed what

could well be the largest spillage since Exxon

Valdez. President Obama was accused of

waiting for more than a week before visiting

the area.

If evidence were ever needed, this is it – poli-

tics is about being seen and being heard. If

a disaster befalls some place in the US, the

President should immediately move to the

area and announce all measures of dealing

with and or containing it, from the location.

Debts defi cits, PIGS!

Mad about Laughter

The bigot leaked

Be Seen and heard

of the interviewing panel said and let out a low whistle, upon which I bent double for the umpteenth time, just as I would have done when HE said anything to me, an instruction, greeting, small talk…name it, after all doesn’t protocol mean bowing — bending forward so low that you can eyeball the synthetic fi bres of a red carpet? Close encounters with the woven wool or synthetic fi bres of red car-pets are a major part of my unwrit-ten job description. And, as I usu-ally philosophically say to myself, what is lower than a red carpet and yet makes those who use it walk tall?

Now here I am, receiving guests who come to the Foreign and Overseas Offi ce, right at the gate leading to the offi ce, ensuring that the tea people bring the tea, coffee, cocoa, juice, water and assorted snacks promptly for the guests.

The other day, one of the tea women…err, well, Asumpta, the tea lady, attempted to bypass me and serve the tea directly to the Minister and three guests discuss-ing a very delicate matter. You can imagine my shock when, on coming from an errand the min-ister had send me on, I saw from a distance Asumpta attempting to open the main door leading to the Minister’s inner sanctum with one hand while precariously bal-ancing the tea tray with the other hand. There are very rare occa-sions when my diplomatic guard is lowered and this was one such oc-casion. I hollered at the tea person as I quickened my pace. However, she was apparently determined to break protocol and continued delicately balancing the tray while attempting to open the door. This was defi nitely not my cup of tea! I broke into a trot and managed to stop that potentially ignominious breach

Leaking microphones! There was John Major calling the Eurosceptics in his Conservative

Party bastards! There was the American lawmaker boasting to his colleague about his extra-

marital exploits! And there was late in April Gordon Brown of Labour on the campaign trail calling a

long time Labour voter a bigoted woman.

Of course, the media crucified Brown for that remark. But what galled her was that he referred to her

as that woman! Whatever the case, she decided not to vote in the last election which provoked the

headline: Labour loses one voter! Brown will live to regret meeting that voter!

•CULTUREREVIEWS•RAVES•REVUES•REPASTS

Leafi ng through John R. Hale’s Lords of the Sea recently brought to mind the extent to which multiple public

media outlets have affected the art of speech-making and persuasion. As an art, persuasion is the pillar of evangelism, politics and indeed many social contracts that defi ne people’s ways and beliefs.

Oratory — speech-making and persuasion in general — therefore occupy the very confl uence where social negotiations are conceived and designed.

In his book, Hale makes reference to Demosthenes (384-322 BC), who, in spite of having been a hopeless stutter and weakling in childhood, became one of the most celebrated Greek orators of all time. Where yes-teryear school and college debates were honed through debating duels, Demosthenes’ oratory skills were ini-tially nurtured by an unprecedented labour of love.

To begin with the young man would practice voice projection and enunciation by way of putting a peb-ble in his mouth as he countered his stutter. He would also practice by the seaside, where he would try to outdo

Is Oratory a Dying Art?

the noises from ‘whistling winds and crashing waves’.

Eventually, the boy who could not wrestle his peers or join them in hunting parties carved a niche for himself, courtesy of the gift of the gab.

Unlike in situations where speak-ing well ends up as a romantic esca-pade, Demosthenes’ skills became useful in negotiating peace and free-dom for Athens when Macedonia was clearly a power to reckon with. Armed with superior oratory, Dem-osthenes doggedly pressed on, along the way recording impressive wins in favour of Athens.

Unfortunately, condemned by fellow Athenians for their failure to totally humiliate Macedonia, Dem-osthenes committed suicide, there-by marking what has famously been declared as the ‘the end of Greek po-litical speech’.

In hindsight, perhaps in a world susceptible to inter-clan, inter-state and many other partisan yet po-tentially rift-causing rank-closing views and attitudes, persuasion, be it through systematic harnessing of speech-making, negotiations and oratory skills, needs to fi nd its way to the mainstream school curriculum

in the EA region. Who knows, this could be the way forward towards making the East African Community the cohesive bloc it aspires to be.

As you ponder this, just imagine how much more the array of brilliant ideas carried in this section would make a harmony from our likeness-es and differences as East Africans. See how Jackson Biko does it with his critique of music in the East Afri-can region and how (in his review of Professor Mwenda Ntarangwi’s East African Hip-hop) this genre of music makes the youth in the region look so integrated already.

Carol Gachiengo’s piece, ‘The Cradle of Intellect’, traces great deeds and inventions from Africa while Baron Khamadi captures how each East African Community member country is contributing to the growth and establishment of Kiswahili as the region’s Number One lingua franca. Jane Mwangi, on the other hand, tells the story of a notable fashion designer with a unique Af-rican touch who work stands head-and-shoulders above the rest in the regional market.

Welcome to this section — enjoy reading it and make sure the team on DEA’s Culture platform gets your feedback

From East African Hip-hop to the little-sung ‘Cradle of Intellect’, Kiswahili’s regional pull and the Commonwealth Book Prize, a rich menu for connoisseurs of all things cultural, writes NGARI GITUKU, EDITOR, DEA CULTURE

6565May - June 2010

•CULTUREReviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts

66 May - June 2010

The Cradle of IntellectIN THE BEGINNING

A frica has been known as the “Cra-dle of Mankind” for a while now. The oldest known skel-

etal remains of modern humans have been found in East Africa. The human remains found at Omo in Ethiopia are 195,000 years old, the oldest known in the world. Besides, evidence has been found of pre-humans in Africa at least 4 million years ago.

Few will argue that mankind indeed took the fi rst upright steps in Africa, and that it was here that the complex task of taming and mastering our environment be-gan. But was that the beginning and the end of accomplishments in this part of the world? A look into Africa’s past reveals it to be

the continent of many “fi rsts” and the birthplace of great

architecture, science, med-icine and literature that

few know about.Indeed, diploma-

cy has a history in Africa as well. Ac-cording to Robin Walker’s book When We Ruled, in 1414 the Ke-

nyan coastal city of Malindi sent am-bassadors to China bearing an unusu-al gift — a giraffe. In West Africa, the Songhai Empire

Unlike stereotypes to the contrary, Our Culture correspondent, CAROL GACHIENGO, goes on an investigative beat and fi nds Africa has a long history of and in diplomacy

had a Minister for Etiquette and Protocol in the 16th Century.

Given the stunning facts about Africa’s accomplishments in a wide variety of fi elds, it is surpris-ing that the continent is not better known as the “Cradle of Intellect”. Here are just a few of Africa’s amaz-ing but little-known accomplish-ments from ancient times.

DANCING STONES The Dancing Stones of

Ng’amoritung’a, an archaeologi-cal site near the Western shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya, certainly gives one pause for thought.

At fi rst glance, one would think the cylindrical pillars, about a me-tre high, merely interesting. In-deed, the Turkana people in the area have a story explaining the cluster of stones that has been there long before their time. The stones have been dated to 300BC. Legend has it that some strangers came upon local people danc-ing at the site one day. Perhaps their dancing skills were want-ing, for despite the dancers’ pleas, the strangers burst into laughter. The result; the dancers instantly turned to stone.

While the legend is entertain-ing, the truth is astonishing. The alignment of the pillars with the stars suggests an accurate and complex calendar system based on astronomical calculations. A 2,000-year-old calendar would

suggest that the knowledge of as-tronomy existed in East Africa at least that long ago.

East Africa is not unique in this respect. The Dogon people of Mali have apparently had knowledge of astronomy for more than 500 years. They had drawings of the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy, they knew that the moon was “dry and dead, like dried blood”, and they observed and estimated the nature of the star today known as Sirius B, which cannot be seen without a powerful of telescope, and which was not discovered by Western astronomy until the 18th Century.

IMHOTEPAsk anyone to name the father

of modern medicine and they will no doubt say Hippocrates. Today, doctors take the Hippocratic Oath to practice medicine ethically. But before Hippocrates, the Greek founder of Western medicine (460BC-370BC), there was Imho-tep — the Egyptian.

Scientists from the University of Manchester discovered medical documents written by Imhotep in 1500BC, a thousand years before Hippocrates was born. The docu-ment, along with the writings in ancient Egyptian and Greek texts, show that Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases, includ-ing 15 diseases of the abdomen, 11 of the bladder, 10 of the rectum, 29 of the eyes, and 18 of the skin, hair,

PLYWOOD: The earliest known oc-currence of plywood was in Ancient Egypt around 3500 BC. The ancient Egyptians, perhaps suffering from a shortage of wood, glued thin sheets of high quality wood over a substrate of lower quality wood for cosmetic effect.

Palm oil was discovered in West Africa in the native palm trees as early as 5000 BC and was used to make Palm Oil wine, to fry food, and to make candles.

SHAVING RAZORS: Glass tools for shaving were invented by 2000 AD in Kenya. They were made from volcanic glass found along the Njoro River.

CHEQUES: In the 10th Century in Ghana, a cheque for 42,000 golden dinars was written to a merchant in the city of Audoghast by his partner in Sidjilmessa.

AFRICAN INVENTIONS OF THE MODERN WORLDPaul Kaine, a Nigerian engineer, invented a pocket electronic map that was patented in France and is now used all over the world. In South Africa, the entrepreneur Rajan Harinarain’s response to the housing of disaster stricken popula-tions was to invent a foldaway house — complete with door, windows and electrical fittings — that can be erected in five minutes.

The Ushahidi software, developed by Kenyan Ory Okooloh, is a plat-form that allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualise it on a map or timeline for use in crisis response. It has been used to help in the Haiti and Chile disasters

And where this all came from—I suspect—there’s yet more…much more!

Ancient African Inventions and Discoveries You May Not Know About

Persons

of pacific

temperament,

good judgment, genuine disposition

and empathy

are generally

referred to as

cultured men

and women

6767May - June 2010

nails and tongue. Imhotep treated tuberculosis, gallstones, appen-dicitis, gout and arthritis. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. Imhotep extract-ed medicine from plants. He also knew the position and function of the vital organs and circulation of the blood system.

It is no wonder that Imhotep was worshipped as a god in an-cient Egypt after his death.

Pyramids, Palaces and Bridges — Imhotep apparently did not believe in confi ning his genius to one fi eld of knowledge. If he was the father of medicine, he might also deserve the title “Father of Architecture”, for he was the chief architect of the step pyramid at Saqqara in Egypt, one of the most brilliant architectural wonders of the ancient world. The pyramid is the oldest complete hewn-stone building complex known in his-tory.

Architectural prowess was not unique to ancient Egypt. Moving forward in time and southward in the continent, the ruins of Great Zimbabwe have proven that great architects lived here too.

Built in the 14th Century, the stone city, complete with a palace for the king, was home to about 18,000 people. Amazingly, the stone walls, up to 5 metres high, were built without mortar.

In Kenya and closer in time, a British engineer spoke of suspen-sion bridges built with vines by the Kikuyu which equalled in en-gineering skill and potential du-rability any comparable bridges of wood he had seen in his own country.

THREE R’SEvidence of the early use of

numbers in the Congo is found in the 8,000-year-old Ishango bone. The engraved marks on the Is-hango bone led scientists to con-clude that it was used as a lunar calendar.

In Yoruba and Benin in Nige-ria, a complex number system has been used for a long time. Yoruba numerals demonstrated a capac-ity for abstract reasoning.

In Egypt, mathematical papyri from 1800 BCE were discovered. They had formulas for the study of number theory, geometry, trigo-nometry and algebra. These were perhaps the fi rst mathematics text-books ever.

It has been common knowledge for a long time that the earliest writ-ing, hieroglyphics, had its roots in Africa. However, it wasn’t until the late 1970s that the true inventors of this writing system were known. On March 1, 1979, an article in the New York Times revealed new sci-entifi c knowledge indicating that the origin of the Egyptian hiero-glyphic system was a black king-dom, known as Ta-Seti, at a place called Qustul, which preceded the fi rst Dynasty in Egypt by twelve generations.

Certainly, no discussion on the three R’s in Africa is complete with-out a mention of the University of Timbuktu, founded in the 12th Century in North Africa. There, Is-lamic scholars taught from manu-scripts covering an array of subjects including astronomy, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, judicial law, government, and Islamic con-fl ict resolution. At its peak, the Uni-versity had 25,000 students.

METALOver 1,500 years ago, Africans

living on the western shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania produced carbon steel using blast furnaces. The temperature achieved in these furnaces was higher than any achieved in a European machine until the Industrial Revolution.

Lions Cavern in the Kingdom of Swaziland is the oldest mine in the world. This ancient mine found in an iron-ore mountain in Swaziland is at least 43,000 years old!


Last year Western mov-ies dominated almost all cinema halls in Ke-nya and Western soap operas have been doing

the same in Kenyans’ living rooms. But this scenario is changing rapidly, and in its place African-made movies and soaps are taking over.

And now the era of complete dominance of the Western soaps is over. Such soaps have to compete for slots on television screens with the emerging made-in-Africa-for-Africans movies.

The new era, signalled by ad-vancing technology, has seen Africa’s cinema industry come of age. And there are many quality movies worth watching in this explosion. Their top-ics are also varied and relevant with the African culture and settings.

Now more African movies are competing with Mexican-made ones for the TV slots as opposed to the Hollywood soaps.

The Afro-movies include the fa-mous West African movies, mostly from Nigeria’s Nollywood. However, new ones have come of age and in-clude Kenya’s Riverwood (named after a street in Nairobi, River Road) and neighbouring Tanzania soaps that go by the name, Bongowood (Bongo meaning brain, used to refer to Tanzania’s cosmopolitan commer-cial city of Dar es Salaam).

The popularity of the African movies stems from the fact that the style and cinematographic language used in their production are slower, a typical refl ection of an African set-ting.

For instance, some of the mov-ies delve into Africa’s history. Con-

68 May - June 201068

sequently, most of the movies have moved from the traditional topics such as love, witchcraft, adventure and now feature contemporary is-sues such as politics, environment, youth, gender issues, ethnicity, drugs, technology and many other topical issues. Others delve into the conti-nent’s history.

The attire used in the movies are mostly African and as such make the viewer associate well with the movie.

“What I like most in these African movies is that they have been acted by Africans who I can re-late to very well. The set-tings are typically African; beginning with the cast, environment, language and accent and if there is any modernisation, then it is very minimal,” said Chakarawa Ajibade, a Ni-gerian residing in Kenya.

The African jungles, deserts and plains are a sight to behold in the movies and refl ect the reality of the continent’s God-given natural beau-ty.

Such fertile aspects have even lured some Westerners to venture into African movies, but their appeal is yet to match that of a true African actor/actress.

Ajibade noted that, unlike the Western movies, which he watches once in a while, it is the drumbeats, songs and dances with African tunes and the the witchcraft (juju) in the African movies that make him yearn for more. They make him feel as if he is back in Nigeria even though he is miles away.

The allure of the movies has made many TV stations which once preferred the Western movies to now shift focus and begin airing the Afro-movies as one way of maintaining their audiences.

Public transport vehicles that play DVDs have also followed suit and prefer showing Afro-movies to their passen-gers.

Kinyanjui, a matatu driver in Nai-robi, said his passengers prefer watch-ing the movies because they are educa-tive as opposed to the seductive songs played by some of his colleagues some of which have abusive language and are overtly sexual.

Linda Leshan said she liked watching Hollywood soaps and still has a library of the many collections, but since the Afro-movies, especially those from Ni-geria, fl ooded the market, she opened a new library which she said will never fi ll up since every day she gets home from work, she passes by a movie shop to get the latest release of the Afro-movies.

“These movies are never exhaus-tive; one can watch them over and over. Sometimes I watch them till late into the night. They are full of humour, edu-cative and relevant to an African set-up,” she enthuses.

The greatest problem dogging the movie industry is piracy, where millions are lost, robbing the artistes of their hard earned benefi ts and royalties.

In Nairobi, pirated movies go for as little as KSh10 (less than a quarter of a dollar) in some streets, making it easy for anyone to buy original CDs and DVDs which are sold for over Sh500 (about US$7), cash that most people fi nd it hard to part with.

“Why would I waste my money buying an original CD for Sh500 in a shop instead of getting one from the streets for as low as Sh10? For the same amount, I would buy 50 CDs of differ-ent movies instead of just one,” Judy Kanyanga says frankly.

The Music Copyright Society of Ke-nya says there are laws enacted in a bid to curb the vice, but each day scores of vendors on the streets still sell the pi-rated copies

African-made Movies Take Kenya and TZ by StormNollywood, Riverwood and Bongowood make feature fi lms and TV soaps that are fast overtaking Hollywood’s in many regional cinema halls and living rooms, reports XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

T he book East African Hip-Hop, subtitle Your Culture and Globalisation" by Mwenda Ntarangwi

is interesting reading because it presents hip-hop not only as a social tool for the youth but as a juxtaposed platform onto which the creativity of the East African countries is played out.

The salient infl uences of hip-hop in the regional society are un-derscored well, with insights into the genesis and development of the music in the region. This jour-ney of hip-hop starts late in East Africa — circa the early 1990s — and is very much a product of glo-balisation. But even though glo-balisation is an undeniable force in the development of hip-hop culture, the book silently strokes the theory that ideally hip-hop — even though generally thought to have started in the boroughs of the ghettos of black America — seems to have some origins in African culture. And so Ntarangwi emphasises a musical artistry that places emphasis on the different diverse cultures of our region. He says in part: “Placing emphasis on

often left out of public discourse. Hip-hop, as the book says, is a tool that, if used suffi ciently, should engage the youth in a public dis-course on sexuality.

And so after the three years of fi eld work that involved interviews, analysis of live performances and over 140 songs, Mwenda delves into the growing cross-border ex-changes within East Africa and the themes and messages that tran-scend just the local borderlines.

Quite often, in his quest to get into the meat of the subject, Mwenda is forced to be in situa-tions where he mingles with the youth in clubs or elsewhere, and it’s amusing to note the sort of subtle discomfi ture (if not entire disconnect) that he might feel during these times. These experi-ences, even though narrated in a detached, even cheeky, style, seem to lend much credence to his analysis

BOOKS

Africa's Urban Youth Culture Roots

cultural traditions within hip-hop helps us understand its role as a platform to discuss and construct African identity”.

East African Hip Hop also looks at gender and how it balances out in this genre’s arena, picking the biggest female names in the in-dustry, such as Wahu of Kenya and Zay B of Tanzania and examine the elements of their songs that clarify the issues pertaining to gender identity in the music industry.

One of the critiques against hip-hop in East Africa is it reck-less presentation of sexuality. It’s common knowledge that sex and sexuality are a hotcake in every culture and hip-hop seems to have bought into that idea whole-sale; the more lewd a song, the better its reception is likely to be. The book doesn’t dwell too much on this, instead it presents a dis-cussion on how hip-hop has been employed in dealing with the HIV scourge, one of the major issues in Africa at large. By telling a story about an experience that Kenyan artists Circuite and Jo-el had that involves condoms and the police, he opens up an interesting dis-cussion of social matters that are

6969May - June 2010 6969


TITLE: East African Hip Hop

Youth Culture and Globalization

AUTHOR: Mwenda NTARANGWI

ISBN: 978-0-252-03457-2, Cloth $60.00,

ISBN: 978-0-252-07653-4, Paper $20.00

PUBLISHED: 2009

PUBLISHER: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS

PAGES: 176 pages

REVIEWED BY: JACKSON BIKO


FASHION

Dazzling Style: Designer Delights in Flamboyance By JANE MWANGI

It is hard not to feel be-dazzled as you walk into Paulina-George Fashions at the 680 Hotel, bang in the middle of the Nairobi

CBD. The rich full range of African

fashion’s harmony comes alive, inspired by traditional fabrics and colourful shades, creating a chic, refi ned and modern style.

This West African ensemble is on show in a stunning collection — from the gele to the aco-oke and

the ankara to the ichafo from the Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa tribes of Nigeria. This is the intricate handiwork of Paulina Ifeoma Otieno, undeniably one of West Africa’s fi nest de-

signers, creating a unique African print that is fast

becoming the in-thing on the local Kenyan scene. Graceful and el-

egant, her enthusiasm is infectious and one cannot help but be entranced by her arresting beauty. Her maiden name, Ifeoma, means ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’.

She studied at the Yaba College of Technology,

the oldest school of de-sign in Nigeria, before proceeding to study ad-

vanced fashion design at

70 May - June 2010

the London Academy of Fashion Design. However, her passion for fashion was inspired by her moth-er, a successful dressmaker in her time.

Paulina started exhibiting in Kenya 18 years ago, participat-ing in the Nairobi and Mombassa trade fairs as well as COMESA and at the KICC: “My very fi rst clientele were from the Coast”.

She readily admits that in those days very few Kenyans embraced fashion, but with time many are adorned African designs.

Paulina makes no secret of her keen sense of style that has often been described as verging on the fl amboyant. “For me dressing up is like breathing in air; I have always dressed this way,” she muses as the photographer busies himself set-ting up the shoot. “My descendants migrated from Benin, so, most of the time, we tend to dress like roy-alty. A woman’s beauty comes out in the way she dresses up. In Nige-ria fi rst impressions count a lot as opposed to Kenyans, who feel they have over-done it and are self-con-scious about stares from others.”

She goes on: “I make people feel very comfortable and open with me, I love to radiate peace and love and whenever people wear my clothes they feel happy”.

The history of clothing dates back to Genesis in the Old Testa-

ment and Koran, where Adam and Eve covered their nudity with leaves after the Fall. Paulina de-scribes an African dress code as one that refl ects our identity: “We should all embrace African fash-ion because it’s regal and accentu-ates our complexion, be it black or brown. The West African design incorporates every culture; I call this place a proper West-African shop.”

She delightfully goes on to de-scribe her wide array of collec-tions. The aco-oke (shawl) comes in silk and cotton form, it rep-resents the clothe woven in the upper hills of Nigeria. The abada, made in Islamic style, is three-piece male attire, then there’s the iborun and the ichafo (headgear), worn by women to compliment and complete the entire outfi t. On the other hand, the ankara (kitenge) is mostly popular for weddings while the lace shows style and elegance. She also sells golden jewellery and coral beads, with the latter depicting royalty and being very expensive. In addi-tion is the gobi (a male cap) that is tilted to one side and hand-woven, made by the Hausa.

Better known for dressing soci-ety’s upper crust, the crème de la crème — from socialites to busi-nessmen and politicians — Pau-lina is quick to add that every class of Kenyans comes to buy from her: “A client who may look poor might be the friend of a very infl uential person; it is the lowly who will in-troduce you to the Who’s Who”.

Then in a rather dramatic shift from design to her personal life, she gives a sneak peak into the other great love of her life — her husband George Otieno, the re-gional director of African Insur-ance and former diplomat who still maintains his diplomatic sta-tus under the AU. This daughter of the Ibo Delta area of Nigeria met her prince a week to her 20th birth-

day. “I am married to a complete gentleman, a man who loves me for who I am and what I do. He was captivated by the zeal and hard work he saw in me.”

She says that he even went on to spon-sor her advanced course in London. “He knows I love, eat and drink fashion and on occasion even tells me to offer advice and fl y-ers to other women deemed to be fashion-challenged,” she says rather haughtily.

“I was taught from an early age to treat all people equally, irre-spective of tribe, creed or class. I also enjoy a very loving relation-ship with my Kenyan relatives,” says this Kenyanised Ni-gerian who speaks a little Dholuo, Kikuyu and Kiswahili.

She observes: “African design is going far, it hasn’t reached its peak yet, but it’s getting there. God has already given us all the colors we need to make our fashion grow”.

This experienced hand has ad-vice for up-and-coming designers, “Never say never to any style of fashion simply because the time may not be right, as long as you have the idea and passion you can achieve anything”.

On her vision for her creations, she says, “next year I plan to start mass production, my vision for Paulina-George has already begun as I have my own personalised shoes and am looking to person-alise wrist-watches and kitenge.

She is not limited to design-ing clothes as she also helped to complete the design of their fi rst home in Runda — from the colour scheme to the tiles.

When she is not working in the

warp and woof of high fashion, Paulina loves watching movies. “When I watch a movie I see the fashion aspect of it; from the setting and stylish décor to the clothes,” says the queen of fashion who draws inspiration from Yves Saint Laurent: “His style is like mine, he has always been the designer who makes me stop and look.”

Life is simply beautiful for this fashion icon who does not know how to be sad. Her parting words: “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean and humility goes a long way in fashion as you are dealing with people. I have not given my best yet”

GRACEFUL:Paulina-George dresses the crème de la crème of society

7171May - June 2010

72 May - June 2010

The shisha, in simple terms, is a water pipe used to smoke tobac-co. It traces its origin from the 14th Century,

when it was introduced to Turkey from India. From there it spread to Arab countries Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Egypt.

It was initially smoked with a simple apparatus that had a coco-nut-and-straw look, but over the years it has developed into a sophis-ticated device. It is now a glass ves-sel with hoses to smoke attached to the body; a head that holds tobacco and hot coals, and a straw that runs from the head through the vessel.

GRAND: Elegance defined

PROCESSTobacco is soaked in fruit shav-

ings such as strawberry, apples or grapes. This mixture is then smoked through the large water pipe.

The tobacco never burns, but is fi ltered as it is drawn through the water-fi lled, hand-blown glass base and inhaled through ornate, embroidered hoses. The vapour is incredibly smooth, sweet and aro-matic.

The development of the special apparatus has also brought a vari-ety in the fl avours smoked. In the place of hardcore tobacco, there is fl avour added and different presen-tations, and, hence, the present-day

Enjoy the 'Shisha' at Laico Regency NairobiBased on six centuries of refi nement, the hubble-bubble is a fl avour-fi lled experience By DEA CORRESPONDENT

elegant and enticing shisha, which is now a signature appeal in leading restaurants and fi ve-star hotels.

SHISHA TODAYShisha is now a nucleus of social interactions, a status barometer,

and a symbolic tradition. The tobacco is now made from molas-

ses and honey, giving it natural preservatives.

From this age-old tradition, cul-tured, praised and hoarded world-wide for centuries and across the seas, we bring you this internation-al cigar at home. The Shisha is now at Nairobi’s Laico Regency.

The Royal Terrace Coffee Shop is the ideal setting; with a combi-nation of the ambience and its lo-cation, you are at home with this coveted tradition. Not only have we got the latest prestigious apparatus, but also a choice of the fl avours cel-ebrated worldwide — Peach, Apple and Fruit Cocktail.

The Shisha is fondly referred to as the “hubble-bubble”, which re-fers to the noise made by the Shisha pipes as one smokes.

Life is work and leisure wrapped in one: so, mellow down with the aromas of fruits and fl owers and take the Shisha trip with friends @ Laico Regency, Nairobi, Kenya

Loita Street/Uhuru Highway

PO Box 57549 (00200) Nairobi, Kenya

www.laicohotels.com

•DEA HOTELSLifestyles & Hospitality

STATUS BAROMETER:

7373May - June 2010

Providing connectivity through use of technology is fast becoming a priority for many governments in sub-Saharan Africa. This is in tan-dem with the fact that knowledge

is a prerequisite to building an empowered citi-zenry and able economy. In Africa, ICT is gradu-ally providing support to learning, teaching and management processes within the education system.

Microsoft, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions in partnership with the Ministry of Education and stakeholders in the education sector graced the ICT Regional Con-ference held at the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) on March 29-31. The conference brought together ICT research and development experts from Kenya and other countries in recognising the region’s level of connectivity and benefi ts of advanced telecommunications technology in education in this age when the integration of ICT in education is not only a global concern but a universally accepted trend.

Microsoft’s presence in Africa continues to be felt through its penetration into Angola, Rwanda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, and Ethiopia, not forgetting Kenya. Its sub-Saharan academic programme engages very closely with governments, institutions of learning, teachers and students with the sole objective of broad-ening access to technology and content.

Other ICT providers slowly gaining momen-tum in the region include Televic, Smoothtel, NComputing, Octopus, ICT solutions Ltd (OIS) and African Virtual University. Together with Microsoft and VVOB, they showcased the col-laborative spirit in transforming education in

Empowering Africa through e-Learning

Africa through e-learning. Accord-ing to Microsoft’s Mark Matunga, the worldwide corporation is in partnership with the Govern-ment of Kenya, USAID, Cisco and Intel, where they are working to establish a School Technology Innovation Centre in Nairobi, a model that has been promoted in other countries through the Mi-crosoft Partners in Learning (PiL) programme. “We want teachers to promote e-learning and carry our fl ag high,” Matunga said. He

stressed that curriculum delivery will be a joint effort.

The multipoint server was of-fi cially launched during the con-ference showcasing another in-novation from Microsoft. Charles Sakari, Microsoft’s technology specialist, said that it enables one PC to be shared by many users therefore giving each user their own computing experience. “It is already in the East African market; furthermore it is cost-effective and interactive”

ICT: Knowledge in cyber space

The East African region has vast potential for this very lucrative service sub-sector By DEA CORRESPONDENT

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74 May - June 2010

•HEALTHMind•Body•Soul

Executive Clinic Offers a Preventive Healthcare Service Created specifi cally for the manager who cares about his or her health, particularly after the fourth decade, this facility offers early detection and management of the conditions that affl ict life-in-the-fast-lane lifestyles

The Nairobi Hospi-tal’s Executive Clinic provides a one-stop, high-quality, compre-hensive, fast, reliable

and customer- friendly preventive healthcare service to patients.

The Executive Clinic is a recent addition to the Nairobi’s Out-pa-tient clinics and is situated in the spacious Short Stay facility above the Accident & Emergency de-partment. The services are on an appointment basis, available by prior booking to ensure a satisfy-ing personalised one–to-one con-sultative experience.

The Clinic’s main focus is cen-tred on preventive healthcare, a treatment process that enhances the availability of information to patients on how to prevent or detect age-related and lifestyle ill-nesses at the earliest opportunity, in order to seek medical attention fi rst and fast. Early detection is the key to many critical illnesses and proper diagnosis and information save lives.

The patient is seen by a doctor and offered a full medical evalua-tion, including a physical exami-nation and several laboratory and radiological tests, all scheduled

with the comfort and easy acces-sibility of the patient in mind. The Clinic is within proximity of oph-thalmology, electroencephalog-raphy (EEG)/electromyography (EMG) and endoscopy services, providing a one-stop service for customers that may need further investigations. Referral to a sub-specialist is indicated based on investigation results.

The Executive Clinic team is supported by other hospital-based support services, with high-level diagnostic facilities and expertise from the Labora-tory and Radiology.

This Clinic, otherwise known as the ‘Well Man’ or ‘Well Woman’ Clinic, is designed for wellness and for executives who value their health. The service empowers cli-ents to make informed decisions about their health. There is an increasing incidence of heart dis-ease, diabetes and cancer in our communities, more so after the fourth decade of life. This trend has necessitated the availability of ambulatory clinics for early de-tection and management of these conditions. An annual check-up visit is therefore highly advised for a status check on your health

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DOOR TO REGION,

WINDOW ON WORLD

>>Living Legend Mandela Gets UN Day PG 91January - February 2010

Volume 001

Obama’s Enforcer


COMMUNITY >>: Customs Union and Region’s Future P 9COMMONWEALTH >>: Rwanda Joins The Club P 59 COMMONWEALTH >>: Rwanda Joins The Club P 59

Tough-as-Nails Envoy Drives Change Agenda


Michael Ranneberger


Paul Kagame


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7777May - June 2010

•CONFERENCINGMeetings & Events

Survivor epitomises reality TV. The en-ergy and determina-tion each contestant displays is astound-

ing. It’s even more remarkable to learn that the Spanish series was recorded in Kenya — in the Tsavo National Park. And meeting those involved in the entire logistical process was a breathtaking experi-ence. From doctors who ensured the cockroaches the contestants ate were okay to the wood used to light fi re and the security for every-

one, all these services and many more were provided by a destina-tion management company.

Maniago Safaris is where the buck stopped. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, the 2003 Inter-national Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Africa (ICASA) conference, the second largest conference to have ever been held in Kenya (with 7,200 delegates) was also handled by Maniago. Duncan Muriuki, the Maniago Safaris CEO, says, “Con-ference tourism is a niche market

THE AUDITORIUM AT KICC:Conferences have a huge multiplier effect

Conference Tourism isUltimate Niche MarketSHITEMI BARON KHAMADI urgues that the East African region needs to wake up to the fact that it has vast potential for this very lucrative service sub-sector

Foreign tourists spent US$ 511

million in Brazil in February, a record

revenue for the month since records

began in 1947 and an 18 per cent

increase over a year earlier, the

country's central bank reported.

But the figure is still lower than the

US$ 566 million posted in Janu-

ary. Revenues from foreign tourism

stood at US$ 433 million in February

last year, the bank said.

National carrier Philippine Airlines,

which has bled more than 15 billion

pesos (US$ 337.6 million) in the past

two fiscal years, is spinning-off its

three non-core units as a last resort

to avoid backcruptcy.

PAL will spin off the following units:

inflight catering services; airport

services, including ground handling,

cargo handling and ramp handling;

and call center reservations.

The move will enable PAL to save

as much as one billion pesos ( US$

22.5 million) a year, PAL President

and COO Jaime Bautista said.

The airline, however, will still

have to pare its workforce by

3,000 employees and pay up to

2.5 billion pesos (56.3 million U.S.

dollars) in compensation as part

of cost-cutting measures. The

employees'compensation can

be partially funded via internally

generated funds while investors are

willing to cover the balance, Bautista

said.

Tourism Revenue Up

Aviation Woes

BRIEFLY

BRAZIL

PHILIPPINES

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— Reports by Xinhua News Agency

78 May - June 2010

sub-sector primarily revolving around service provision to busi-ness travelers attending seminars, fi lm shoots, workshops, seminars and conferences”.

Conferences offer a huge mul-tiplier effect when they are held in a city. Primary benefi ciaries are tour operators, hotels, transport providers, restaurants, curio deal-ers and conference service provid-ers. Furthermore, private security fi rms, stationery providers, trans-lators and extra staff always come in handy in making such an expe-rience successful. This ripple eco-nomic effect has however not been exploited in East African.

In Uganda, Speke Resort, Mu-nyonyo and New Serena Hotel offer conference tourism facili-ties of international status in that country. In Tanzania, Arusha hosts the East African Community Headquarters and has the Arusha International Conference Centre, which is ideal for conference tour-ism. With gorilla trekking being ranked among the top green travel experiences in the world, Rwanda has great prospects. Source du Nil and Novetel are the two big hotels in Burundi, but, with each having less than 200-bed capacity, neces-sitate urgent consideration.

With the exception of KICC and the UN Complex, hardly any other venue can host a large conference of ICASA’s magnitude. Nairobi barely has a 6,000-bed capacity.Other conferences that have been facilitated by Maniago include the Africities Conference, the recent 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group and the UN Climate Change Conference of November 2006.

Mombasa is an ideal place, with a bed capacity of over 10,000, the warm climate and a variety of tourist attraction sites augment-ing its appeal. Conference tourism in such an area will entice par-


ticipants to buy local souvenirs. As Muchiri explains, “Often their expenses are catered for by the or-ganisations they represent, leaving them with substantial disposable incomes they can spend on the side”.

The integration of the East Afri-can Community portends a bright-er future for conference tourism. Opportunity came knocking when Maniago Safaris were asked to as-sist in the logistical preparations of the Commonwealth Conference in Uganda last year. However, bu-reaucratic issues vetoed this ven-ture. An integrated Community would have allowed this confer-ence to pass through Maniago’s hands. That notwithstanding the World Economic Forum meeting scheduled for Arusha should pro-vide a springboard for increased opportunities from experts in this fi eld.

Furthermore, accessing logisti-cal facilities like cars, translation and other expertise will be has-tened with increased integration. Trend-setting business travelers

need to be offered better deals during their expeditions. “It is disheartening that a conference can end at 6pm just to fi nd shops closed. A 24-hour economy would ensure every dollar is spent,” Mu-riuki points out.

Any person attending a confer-ence is a tourist and ensuring that these people visit tourist facilities increases yields. The lack of beds can be addressed by promot-ing home stays. There are many people with up-market mansions with unused rooms, these rooms can be used by delegates, hence spreading the undulation effects of hosting a conference. Muriuki says this strategy is highly successful in Durban, the premier conference tourism destination in Africa.

An intimate knowledge of plac-es, staff with experience and love for their jobs and multilingual ex-pertise all comes in handy in plac-ing Maniago on top of its game. Muriuki can say with confi dence that “in terms of conference tour-ism, there is no other company that has that niche like us”

STATS&FACTSMombasa is

an ideal place,

with a bed

capacity of over

10,000, the

warm climate

and a variety

of tourist

attraction sites

augmenting its

appeal

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7979May - June 2010


T he Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has 260 projects in 63 countries that reduce

greenhouse gas emissions effects, earning valuable saleable credits. However, the CDM projects in Africa account for less than 2 per cent of those registered to date worldwide. There are 19 carbon sequestration projects in Africa, and seven are based in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, thus indi-cating that East Africa is currently the preferred region on the con-tinent for international carbon investors.

Carbon sequestration projects’ economic and environmental benefi ts are particularly relevant for Africa. African countries need increased investment to sustain poverty alleviation and infrastruc-ture growth. The World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund is currently the biggest fi nancier of carbon se-questration projects in the Horn of Africa. Others are the European Union, the Forest Absorbing Car-bon Emissions (FACE) Founda-tion, Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United States Agen-cy for International Development (USAID).

A new initiative set to bring environmental and fi nancial ben-efi ts to local communities in the Ethiopian highlands is under-way, thus becoming Africa’s fi rst large- scale forestry project under the Kyoto Protocols. The scheme, dubbed the Humbo Assisted

EA Carbon MarketGround-breacking initiatives to bring in environmental and fi nancial benefi ts By DEA CORRESPONDENT

CLEAN DEVELOPMENT

Natural Regeneration Project, will cut an estimated 880,000 met-ric tones of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next 30 years. Project fi nancing has been provided by World Vision Austra-lia and is jointly implemented by World Vision Ethiopia and Austra-lia. Mrs Tenague Lemma, National Director of World Vision Ethio-pia, pointed out that more than 2,700 hectares of degraded land in South Western Ethiopia has been restored since 2007. Registration of the project by the United Na-tions enables the future sale of over 338,000 tonnes worth of car-bon credits by 2017, leading to the purchase of 165,000 tonnes worth of carbon credits by the World Bank Bio-carbon Fund.

Interestingly, the local com-munities stand to benefi t from

US$700,000 over a minimum of 10 years from the sale of carbon credits under the Bio-carbon Fund. What’s more,

additional revenue will ema-nate from the sale of timber prod-ucts in the project.

According to the World Bank’s carbon fi nance unit site, the proj-ect will bring about the regen-eration of the native forest that is expected to provide an important habitat for many local species and to enrich local biodiversity. Major environmental benefi ts will stem from the reduction of soil erosion and fl ooding. In particular, sedi-ment runoff currently threaten-ing the fragile ecosystem of Lake Abaya, located 30km downstream from the project site, should be reduced. In the meantime, the restored forest would also con-tribute to protecting springs and streams originating in the project area.

Mr Assefa Tofu, Carbon Spe-cialist with World Vision, said, “A lot of capacity building and nego-tiations were carried out and we faced some challenges such as the fi nancing of the project in addi-tion to the process being slow and demanding”. The overall objec-tive, he said, is to take the project into different parts of Africa. On its part, the World Bank’s head of the Bio-carbon Fund, Mrs Ellysar Ba-roudy, emphasised that there are immense opportunities in Africa for re-afforestration and said that they are working closely with the Green Belt Movement in Kenya

MOTHER NATURE:Forests clean environment of pollutants

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80 May - June 2010

PAN-AFRICAN MEDIA CONFERENCE

A free Press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most cer-tainly without free-dom, the Press will

never be anything but bad.—Albert CamusTHE role of the media in shaping

Africa’s image, stability and direction came into sharp focus during the Pan African Media Conference in Nairobi in April.

The conference, held to mark the 50th anniversary of the Nation Media Group, the largest news corporation in East and Central Africa, drew emi-nent personalities that ranged from heads of state to media practitioners and investors in the industry.

And the role of the media in ei-ther stemming or fuelling confl ict in a continent beset by armed antago-

Is The Press to Blame for Africa's Unflattering Image?By PATRICK WACHIRA

nism saw heated exchanges, though in an atmosphere regulated by deco-rum and diplomacy.

Among those who took part in the lively discourse were two heads of state, Presidents Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, former Presidents Joaquim Alberto Chissano of Mozambique and Ben-jamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Nobel Laureate Wangari Mathai, the Aga Khan, heads of media institutions in Africa and media owners.

It was Kibaki who set the ball roll-ing with his observation that the East African Community was the most advanced regional bloc in Africa and that many others were attempting to replicate it. “Interest in joining the EAC is a story worth telling. Let the media tell of the gains of the conti-nent. Let us avoid afro-pessimism and those who think that nothing good can come out of Africa.”

Kenya’s third President said Africa was overcoming her challenges in shorter periods than the West did in similar circumstances in their long history. New global dynamics were imminent as was a new constitution for Kenya.

Describing Kenya as an epitome of media freedom, as evidenced by the number of outlets which have grown from just 16 radio stations and six TV stations in 1999 to over 80 radio stations and at least 19 TV sta-

tions, Kibaki challenged the media to rise from its current understand-ing of Press freedom to embrace the concept of responsible journalism. He added that the task of fi ghting graft, nepotism, the challenges of global warming and enabling the citi-zenry to make informed decisions lay squarely on the media.

The Aga Khan was of the opinion that media freedom required vigi-lance and was not a licence to abuse.

The sensitive matter of remunera-tion also reared its head, with the Aga Khan, who owns majority shares in the NMG, saying that journalistic in-dependence depended on fi nancial independence.

But the devil was in the detail. When the plenary sessions started, it became apparent that harsh ques-tions would be raised about the true role of journalists in times of war and confl ict.

Indeed, should journalists sound the alarm bells when they see the ad-vent of peril? Yes, according to NMG Editorial Director Joseph Odindo, who told the conference the red light should go up for journalists if politicians addressed crowds in their mother-tongue on national televi-sion.

And the media was in a unique position to guide the people, seeing that, at least in Kenya, it enjoys 80 per cent approval ratings by the reading public (in the UK it is a paltry 3 per cent!).

Journalists found themselves in the moral dilemma of being in posi-tions of great responsibility but little power when, in the post-poll chaos of 2008, some callers to call-in pro-grammes spoke of houses burning, of being surrounded, and pleaded for help. Such dramatic scenarios can be a double-edged sword — as break-ing news they have great value; but they can also constitute calls to ven-geance and fan the spread of deadly violence


CAUCUS:Kenya's Premier Raila Odinga (left) confers with the Aga Khan, President Kibaki and Tanzania's former President Benjamin Mkapa

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•AT THE WHEELMotoring

China Takes the Mother-in-Law Ride from the Land of ABBA

ON A ROLL: World's largest car market

In the 1980s the joke went that Sweden’s chief exports were rock and roll. Rock was exemplifi ed by the hugely popular pop group ABBA

and roll was the car. Yes, the car — Volvo.

Volvo means ‘roll’ in Swedish and ‘I roll’ in Latin. If at the time and for a long time to come ABBA’s music ruled the world’s airwaves and dis-cotheques, it was Volvo that rocked the roads worldwide as Sweden’s foremost automobile brand.

Built in Gothenburg from 1927 to withstand and beat the tough and extreme weather conditions of Swe-den and northern Europe, sturdy Volvo is to this day known for safety, comfort and longevity.

Forget the longevity (19.9 years) and safety for which it has won awards and competed favourably with Mercedes and BMW in later years. In East Africa, and especially in Kenya, it is comfort that has al-ways counted and is considered synonymous with Volvo.

Dashing Kenyan journalist Wil-liam Omoga, now deceased, fa-mously boasted in 1992 that he drove a Volvo because “it’s the car that was made to carry, and meant to carry, a mother-in-law”.

Omoga’s moral was you don’t carry your mother-in-law in any old jalopy. If you are going to carry your mother-in-law, give her a real treat in comfort and Volvo fi tted the bill.

Though for a long time Volvo was not known to be sleek and stylish,

but predictably box-like, it is worth noting that the Volvo 144, launched in 1966, was promptly voted “Car of the Year” and “Safest Car in The World”.

Indeed, the stylish P1800 Sports car was driven by Roger Moore, he of James Bond fame, in the title role of The Saint television series of the 1960s that was based on the novels of Leslie Charteris.

Volvo’s gears have since truly shifted since then. Yes, they have.

China last year overtook the US as the world’s largest car market. And, a little-known 24-year-old Chinese fi rm named Geely in late March signed a deal buying 84-year-old Volvo from Ford. Ford had in 1999 bought Volvo Car Corporation from the Volvo Group.

Volvo had fallen on hard times in-deed. Ford bought Volvo for US$6.4 billion in 1999. Ford sold Volvo for US$1.8 billion. Geely, who bought Volvo in March, say they will pump in another US$900 million in a bid

to bring the Swedish icon back into the black.

Oops! Before Volvo Group sold Volvo Car Corporation to Ford, it had cleverly and confi dently sold itself as being in the company or an accessory of the affl uent. It head-lined golf – the Volvo Masters – polo, horseshow-jumping and yachting tournaments.

Geely, on the other hand, may be China’s leading private car-maker, but its turnover, at least going by the 2009 forecasts, is only 16 per cent of Volvo’s and it has half the icon’s workforce.

Geely has however made a ma-jor business statement and arrival on the international car market by buying Volvo. Many in the industry too will see Geely’s acquisition of Volvo as announcing China’s arrival as a global business power — on the road.

With erstwhile ABBA not per-forming anymore, struggling Volvo may yet rock and roll again

By KWENDO OPANGA

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82 May - June 2010

Nigerians have been waiting so long to heave a collective sigh of relief, one way or another, over President Yar’Ardua’s predicament, that, at precisely the point they were able to do so — his passing — a watching world ponders for the next act in West Africa’s preeminent economy, population and power, writes KWENDO OPANGA

Nigerians have been waiting so long to heave a collectivesigh of relief, one way or another, over President Yar’Ardua’s

Swift Transition Marks Yar’Adua’s Protracted Exit

•GLOBAL STAGEWindow on World

The transition was smooth and swift.

President Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died on Wednesday

May 5 at about 9pm local time. On Thursday morning, at a cer-emony that began at 8am, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as President and later the same day Yar’Adua was interred.

Perhaps things went as smoothly as they did because Jon-athan had been Acting President since February, when he was ap-pointed to the post to fi ll the pow-er vacuum created by the three-month-long absence of Yar’Adua from Nigeria.

The President had left Nigeria on November 23, 2009, for treat-ment at the King Feisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and his con-tinued absence not only created

the vacuum, but led to sustained demonstrations and controver-sies.

As Acting President, Jonathan had put in place his own Cabinet, which meant that he had disen-tangled himself from forces that were loyal to Yar’Adua and was ready to chart his own course. Already Jonathan had singled out electoral reform, power and en-ergy and corruption as priority areas.

In a sense then the transition from Yar’Adua to Jonathan, the transfer of power from President to Vice-President and from one government to another, had tak-en place before Yar’Adua died, or courtesy of his prolonged illness.

The Acting President had also travelled to Washington in April for the nuclear summit convened by President Barack Obama and had used the opportunity to meet

DECEASED:President Yar' Adua battled with a prolonged ailment

other world leaders and fi eld ques-tions from the media on such varied issues as democracy in Nigeria, elec-toral reform and fi ghting corruption.

The agenda Jonathan set himself on being appointed Acting Head of State mirrors Yar’Adua’s and points to his determination to pursue the same goals the departed President and himself set as the ticket for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2007 Presidential election.

When he was informed of the death of the President, Jonathan moved swiftly and deliberately, as a man comfortable in his station, to call meetings of senior government offi cials and ministers to Yar’Adua’s funeral. It had to be done equally swiftly because of Islamic traditions.

Although he had been ailing, the announcement of Yar’Adua’s death still took Nigerians by surprise. Sud-denly State television interrupted programming to announce the death of the Head of State and Command-er-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Yar’Adua, nicknamed Baba Go Slow because of his cautious ap-proach to issues, will be remembered as the Head of State who meant well for his country, but whose agenda of electoral reform, meeting the power needs of his country and fi ghting cor-ruption were hampered by ill health.

He was reported to have been

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plagued by diseases which are terminal in nature, including kidney failure, brain damage and haem-orrhage and acute peri-carditis, a swelling of the sac that surrounds the heart.

As Presidential candi-date in 2007, he had to put his campaign on hold to go to Germany for treat-ment following a serious heart complaint. But he still would challenge those who doubted his fi tness to a game of squash.

Yar’Adua was the fi rst Nigerian state governor as well as Head of State who publicly declared his as-sets. In both cases he set out to send a clear signal to public offi cials that he had no truck with corrup-tion and was a believer in accountability.

Under Yar’Adua the Federal Government entered talks with the militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose military attacks on oil installations, kidnapping of foreigners and guerrilla skir-mishing with government forces remain a threat to the Nigerian economy.

The talks led to a cessation of hostilities for a while and while no fi rm deal was struck with the mili-tants, this signaled a departure from the pursuit of a military solu-tion to MEND, which campaigns for a redistribution of the coun-try’s oil wealth, and especially that from the Delta.

Critics however argue that Yar’Adua did not deserve to be President in the fi rst place because he was forced on the party by his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, and that the Presidential April 2007 poll had been rigged in his

favour.Yar’Adua did acknowledge

when he took the reins of power in May 2007 that the election had not been perfect, and that he was aware there were aggrieved par-ties. He however advised these parties to seek redress in the courts.

Some would argue that his quest for electoral reform was informed by his experience dur-ing his controversial nomination as the PDP’s fl ag-bearer and the Presidential election itself. Many will want to see Jonathan carry through this quest.

But the new President has only nine months to see through the promises he and Yar’Adua made on the stump and which he reit-erated on being appointed act-ing President and which he has now inherited as successor to Yar’Adua.

When asked recently if he would run for President, Jonathan replied that that was a bridge he would cross when he came to it. Now he must think about it seri-ously because come the next election next year, he will clearly have unfi nished business he and PDP would like to tackle.

Second, there is the little local diffi culty of PDP’s arrangement which requires that the Presidency be exchanged between the north and south. Yar’Adua was a northerner, but did not complete his term.

Jonathan is a southerner, but will not have had a full term come May 29, 2011, when Yar’Adua’s term would have come to an end. He will have served a little more than a year of what was Yar’Adua’s term.

It is possible that the north-erners in PDP will argue that they deserve a full term. It is also possible that south-erners will demand

their term and it is just possible that some PDP stalwarts from the north will run a candidate against the President.

That does not make for a unit-ed party going into a an election which means the new President will have his hands full running government, keeping northerners and southerners and other Nigeri-ans in PDP happy, as well as keep-ing the party itself together.

To pick a leaf from the Jonathan book, these are bridges he will cross when he comes to them. But he it was who also said in March regarding the many issues he has to tackle that “although the time is short, like a determined athlete, we need no more than 100 metres to make our mark on the sands of good governance”

LUCKY BREAK:President Jonathan look over the reins of power

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The World Cup

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84 May - June 2010

The World Cup is all about bringing hu-manity together in a celebration of togeth-erness. It is a high

point like none other, a shattering climax, an apotheosis, the joyful collective shout heard around the world.

It is therefore the world’s great-est single mass spectator sporting event. And the World Cup fi nal is always a moment when the globe stands still. If the aliens of science

fi ction were ever to invade Earth, they could not choose a more ap-propriately diversionary moment than the World Cup fi nal, what-ever the teams in contention — the element of surprise would be total.

This year the Cup — and the World — come to that location in Africa known as South Africa.

And both the mega event and the world will get a welcome truly befi tting Africa — they will be welcomed with rhythm. It is almost a cliché right around the world that rhythm plays a much larger part in the African tradition — from drumming and dance to the way people walk and other-wise comport themselves — than in any other. The world is com-ing to South Africa for the 19th FIFA World Cup fully expecting to be enticed, entranced and en-thralled by African rhythm, from the scheduled spectacular open-ing ceremony to many other as-pects of the tournament itself and its scenic venue, the Republic of South Africa — aka The Rainbow Nation — a microcosm of the Af-rican continent itself.

To the power and poise of the Beautiful Game will be added the grace under pressure of African natural rhythm in an unforget-table mix; it has all the makings of a World Cup like none other.

It will be a vivid and pulsating

month-long extravaganza, fi lled with the best of famed African hospitality, humour, wit and fun. With makarapa on their heads, vuvuzela in their mouths, palms on drums, feet stomping, hips swaying and in good voice, proud and loud with it, Africans will wel-come the world.

In the stands and VIP boxes, resplendent swathes of glittering traditional and national garb and the varied and valued colours of a myriad nations on display, the pomp and pageantry will an-nounce Africa’s arrival on the World Cup global stage.

On the turf, pantomimes, ath-leticism, nerve and verve purvey-ing rich cultural heritages and march- pasts by the participating teams will focus the eyes of the world on every move as SA hosts Africa’s global party.

The venue of this feast of the senses and the spirit will be Johan-nesburg’s Soccer City, the gleam-ing, calabash-resembling 94,700-capacity stadium that is the largest on the African continent.

The occasion will be the opening ceremony and open-ing match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, dubbed Africa’s World Cup and hosted by South Africa. The day will be Friday, June 11 and al-though we are not in the business of clairvoyance the following we can confi dently predict:

Let the Party BeginThe FIFA World Cup tournament is the planet s premier plenipotentiary of sport

Soccer City will be packed to the rafters; it will be a melting pot of global cultures; and the score will be nil-nil when the referee starts the tournament’s opening match between South Africa and Mexico. However, behind the inviting mes-sages on the makarapa; above the din of the vuvuzela and drums, and beyond the faces of anticipation and expectation, will be the hope that, after all the waiting, everything will come together.

That, on the pitch and off it, South Africa and Africa will pass with fl ying colours. That trains and buses for teams and fans will run on time; that on the pitch the referees will follow the book and players play by the rules; that hotels and hospi-tality will be top notch; and that the safety of all will be assured.

Carrying the continent’s hopes and fears will be South Africa’s Bafa-na Bafana, around which will rally a continent’s cacophony of cheers and jeers, hoots and toots, ahs and ohs for a fi ne shot and blind pass, tackle well-timed and tackle missed or deft dummy and inept effort.

The quality and outcome of the match notwithstanding, all in the stadium and the millions that will follow the live TV broadcast around the world will look forward to a month-long football feast and fi esta without siesta.

The proud hosts to the world, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma and FIFA President Sepp Blatter,

will look on attentively through the opening ceremony that will be aimed at displaying the very best of Africa with a view to both silently and loudly proclaiming — I told you it would be great!

This hope for satisfaction will be shared by those witnessing the event in the stadium and those watching worldwide on television.

They will have come and will be watching from nearby Cape Town and as far away as Cairo; from Lagos on the West Coast to Lamu (Kenya) in the East; from Khartoum in the Sudan, Africa’s biggest country, to Gambia in the Gambia, the conti-nent’s smallest country.

Perhaps in anticipation of such an atmosphere Blatter disclosed for the fi rst time in early May in an in-terview with CNN’s Pedro Pinto that when he began the campaign for the World Cup to come to South Africa in the 1990s, he had always wanted SA to be the host.

He did not explain why and he was not pressured to, but South Af-rica in 1995 played host to the Rugby World Cup, which it won before increasingly popular President Nel-son Mandela, the world epitome of political forgiveness and architect of the Rainbow Nation.

The infrastructure and the organ-isational know-how were therefore available, albeit on a smaller scale, but even better Blatter must have

reckoned that Mandela and South Africa symbolised what the FIFA World Cup is all about — bringing humanity together. Will he or will he not be there? The question is asked of Mandela, the world’s greatest liv-ing statesman. Information attrib-uted to his grandson in early May indicated that Madiba, as he is af-fectionately called on the continent, would not be present.

If that is his wish many would re-spect it, but still regret that he who campaigned so hard and long and around the world for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Afri-ca, and though old and frail, will not be physically present to witness the fruits of his labour.

After the opening ceremony and match, the attention of the football fans in South Africa and the watch-ing world will shift to the business of football, beginning with the relaxed round robin stage. But things begin to get interesting from the knock-out stage.

The tension creeps in; the tactical prowess of coaches kicks in, players are called upon to put safety fi rst and expression or entertainment second. On both terraces and turf, there is joy for some and heartache for others. But in the end the Beauti-ful Game is still a many-splendoured thing — and the greatest Envoy of Sport known to the world yet.

Welcome to Africa! Welcome to the FIFA 2010 World Cup!

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MADIBA:Brought Cup to Africa

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8686

Africa and the World CupAs the battle of titans reaches its zenith PRIMO LOMBARDO compares and contrasts the teams

After six years of hard work, South Africa and indeed the whole of Africa are saying Ke nako (It is time) everybody descended on the continent

for the world’s greatest sporting showpiece, the Fifa World Cup.

It has been a tumultuous six years for the South Africans since May 15, 2004, when the world’s foremost living states-man Nelson Mandela masterminded the bidding process in Zurich.

Creditably, the developing Rainbow Nation has done exceptionally well to put in place the requisite infrastructure for the

quadrennial event in the face of hyper-crit-ical Western media that have yet to forgive Fifa President Sepp Blatter for his gamble on Africa.

But while the tournament organis-ers may have gone a long way to allay the fears, attention is sharply shifting to the ac-tual business on the fi eld of play.

Again, pundits give South Africa’s na-tional team, Bafana Bafana, a slim chance to go past two World Cup winners, France (1998), Uruguay (1930, 1950) and Mexico.

South Africa leads Africa’s six-pronged assault on a tournament that has been won by only seven of the 204 countries

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that make up the Fifa football fam-ily across eight decades.

Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast are the other fl ag-bearers of a continent that has yet to fulfi ll the legendary Pele’s prophecy that it would one day win the World Cup.

The Didier Drogba-led Ivory Coast is thought to carry Africa’s real hopes of advancing the farthest in the month-long tournament that kicks off on June 11 at the Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg.

However, doubts persist, espe-cially after the Elephants fell fl at under the challenge of Algeria’s Desert Foxes during the Africa Na-tions Cup in Angola in January. Chelsea’s Drogba, 32, too has been a central fi gure in his club’s push for the English Premier League and fears abound he would have burned out by the time Ivory Coast come up against, Brazil, Portugal and North Korea.

Ghana reached the fi nals of the Africa Cup of Nations, but lost 1-0 to Egypt and the Black Stars will be expected to build on that run if they have to better their second round showing in their World Cup debut in Germany four years ago.

However, the Milovan Rajevac-coached team faces a race against time to make Chelsea midfi elder Michael Essien fi t for the fi nals.

Essien, considered a vital cog in

the Black Stars’ midfi eld, has not been in action since late January with a nagging injury.

Both Nigeria and Cameroon boast unrivalled talent in the con-tinent, but, almost needless to say, disorganization is their middle name.

ALGERIAAlgeria are returning to the

global showpiece after 24 years and Rabah Saadane’s side, the Desert Foxes, may have well attained their target of reaching the fi nals ahead of Egypt, who they pipped to the berth via a play-off.

Saadane led Algeria in Mexico ’86, where they fi nished bottom of Group D that comprised Brazil, Spain and Ireland.

Some of the remnants of that side went on to lift the Africa Cup of Nations in 1990, but since then it was downhill all the way until the return of Saadane.

The 63-year-old took it upon himself to scour around Europe to fi nd players of Algerian descent, key among them the French-born Karim Ziani, 27, of Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg.

Nadir Belhadj, 25, also born in France and currently playing for English side Portsmouth and Mourad Meghni of Lazio, Italy, who turned out for France’s Under-21 side agreed to be part of the Saa-

THRILLER:Yaya Toure (left) of Ivory Coast and Samuel Eto'o (below) of Cameroon

dane revolution. The outcome was a hard but gallantly fought battle for the 2010 World Cup ticket that has since landed them in Group C alongside England, the USA and Slovenia.

A second round showing would be a shock result that would surely earn the players a special place in the hearts of the Algerian popu-lace.

CAMEROONIf Algeria could be excused on

the basis of their pedigree, Camer-oon have no such luxury after their precedent-setting 1990 perfor-mance. Cameroon’s potential has never been in doubt since Spain ’82, when they drew all their three group stage matches, including their 1-1 stalemate with Italy.

Roger Milla is generally ac-cepted as the best all- time African footballer, but countryman Sam-uel Eto’o (Inter Milan) has made a strong case in a glittering career that has also taken him to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Mallorca. South Africa 2010 will provide Eto’o with the perfect stage to shatter Milla’s pedestal.

And as Pele said of Argentine star Lionel Messi, “They are al-ways trying to compare someone to Pele. But I always joke with my Argentine friends that they must fi rst choose who is the best player from Argentina. Then, when one of them scores a thousand goals, then we can start talking”. Eto’o must lift the Indomitable Lions if memories Milla’s Italia ’90 should be relegated to the backburner.

NIGERIAA second round may not be a

huge task to ask of the Cameroon, but only if they put behind them the ghost of disorganisation. The Netherlands, Denmark and Japan provide the challenge. In their den is French coach Paul Le Guen, a man who has all it takes to reassure Cameroon followers that all is not lost for the Indomitable Lions.

Super Eagles fl attered to deceive after their second round perfor-

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mance in USA ’94, subsequently winning Olympic gold in Atlanta, USA.

Four years later in France, Super Eagles imploded against Denmark in a 4-1 thrashing in the round of 16, despite having topped Group D by also beating Spain 3-2.

And, come Korea/Japan 2002, Eagle confi dence had hit an all-time low and it was no surprise when they missed out on the Ger-many ’06 party. After a topsy-turvy qualifying campaign and a below-


par performance in Angola 2010, Ni-geria’s FA hired Swede Lars Lagerback to replace local tactician Shuaibu Amodu.

One of the weaknesses always pointed out regarding Super Eagles is their lack of commitment and an al-most lazy approach to the game even when utmost urgency is required.

But with the appointment of La-gerback, a man reputed for creating well-drilled, hardworking teams, hopes abound that Nigeria should be able to withstand the rigours of

a group that has Argentina, South Korea and Greece.

Nigeria, however, will still be crying out for a team leader — a player of the stature of Austin Okocha or Sunday Oliseh. In Peter Odemwingie, Nigeria has a skilful player but lacking in the charisma of Nwankwo Kanu, who, though he is the captain, offers little on the fi eld of play.

A second round ticket would be an outstanding result for Lager-back.

GHANABlack Stars hopes of bettering

their second round showing have received some battering with the news of Michael Essien’s nagging knee injury.

If Ghana can solve Essien’s injury problem and ensure inspirational captain Stephen Appiah (Bologna, Italy) is in the frame of competition action — having been out of com-petitive football because of injury — fans’ hopes will soar.

BATTLE ROYALE:From Top (clockwise) Algeria's Desert Foxes, South africa's Bafana Bafana, Ivory Coast's Elephants

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Ghana won the 2009 Under-20 World Cup and some of the young-sters went on to star in the Africa Nations Cup, where they lost 1-0 to Egypt.

Dominic Adiyiah, Opoku Agye-mang, Kwadwoh Asamoah, Em-manuel Badu Agyemang and Samuel Inkoom are some of the youngsters to have come through, but the senior World Cup could be a tough asking.

Ghana qualifi ed for the fi nals unbeaten and it will be interesting to see how Rajevac approaches the guaranteed robust opposition pre-sented by Germany, Australia and Serbia in Group D.

IVORY COASTThe fi xture against Brazil on

June 20 at Soccer City, Johannes-burg, has been marked in every-one’s calendar.

Ivory Coast carries Africa’s hopes, what with the abundant tal-ent in the side another Swede, Sven Goran Eriksson, will lead in South

REARING TO GO:Ghana's Black Stars

Africa. The studious former Eng-land coach is a fi rm believer of the 4-4-2 system of play. He will enjoy the bonus of having strong play-ers in the mould of Didier Drogba, who can also play in such a defen-sive formation as 4-5-1 as the lone striker.

As boss of Mexico, Eriksson also experimented with a more attack-ing 4-3-3 — but with little success.

Whichever formation he choos-es, Ivory Coast has the personnel to get his job done.

Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Guy Demel (Hamburg SV, Germany), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal), Kolo Toure (Manchester City) and Yaya Toure (Barcelona) form part of Er-iksson’s potent arsenal.

SOUTH AFRICAThe World Cup hosts will be un-

der pressure to perform in front of their fans and also burdened with the weight of history as every home team has qualifi ed for the second round.

France will seek to put behind them the shame of having to qual-ify for the fi nals via Thiery Henry’s assist, dubbed the ‘Hand of Shame’. Uruguay believes it is time they bet-tered their 1950 triumph and Mexi-co, too, have a point to prove after a diffi cult qualifying campaign.

And that is where South Africa’s problem lies — especially now they lack a proven hit man with Benni McCarthy belatedly returning to the Bafana Bafana fold after self-imposed exile.

Everton’s Steve Pienaar is the only bright spot in the Bafana team.

South Africa were not convinc-ing in fi nishing third in last year’s Fifa Confederations Cup, which they hosted. A string of poor results prompted parting ways with coach Joel Santana and the return of Bra-zil’s World Cup-winning player and coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.

Although the Brazilian believes they are getting into the rhythm of

their game, he acknowledges they lack an identity.

Identity should, however, be the least worry for Parreira, who must fi nd the goal scorers as Thembikosi Fanteni, Bernard Parker, Katlego Mphela, Katlego Mashego, Gert Schalkwyk or the recalled Siyabon-ga Nomvethe are simply not fi nd-ing the net.

The South Africa Football As-sociation have put in place an R1 million campaign for each goal scored during the World Cup as an incentive for Bafana Bafana. But even then, South Africa’s campaign may hinge on good defensive dis-play, which, again, could prove an Achille’s Heel.

The World Cup hosts are silently crying for defenders of the calibre of Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, David Nyathi, who, retrospectively, may have been born earlier than they should have.

Captain Aaron Mokoena (Black-burn, England) should form the backbone of the defence and, should Nasief Morris (Recreativo Huelva, Spain) be recalled, partner him.

Crowd favourite — and the only white player in the team — Mat-thew Booth provides the defensive height and stability.

The comfort of playing in front of their fans could help spur Bafa-na Bafana into the second round ahead of Mexico and Uruguay

90 May - June 2010

The 2010 World Cup has the potential to change the image of Africa, says German Ambassador to Kenya

Margit Hellwig-Boette.Drawing from her country’s

experience in hosting the tourna-ment four years ago, Boette said the tournament helped improve the image of Germany in the eyes of the outside world.

“It was a very wonderful expe-rience for my country in 2006, as millions of people travelled to Ger-many or watched the tournament on television. It gave them the cor-rect picture of our country,”she said in an interview with Diplomat East Africa. She said hosts South Africa and the continent as a

It’s an Image-changing Event, says German Envoy

AMBASSADORIAL TAKE


whole can use a successful tourna-ment to show the other side of the continent that is rarely seen in the Western media.

“Most Germans — and other Europeans for that matter — do not know much about Africa. They only hear about it whenever there is hunger,disease or a natural ca-lamity, but this is an opportunity for them to see the real Africa,” Hellwig-Boette said.

She said apart from watching the World Cup visitors to South Africa will also be glad to see the wildlife and experience the pas-sion of Africans.

Apart from the image, Boette said the continent also has an op-portunity to come together behind a common cause.

“The tournament brought us together as one as all of Germany from the East and West were unit-ed behind the national fl ag. It has the potential to do the same for Africa,” she said.

She pointed out that the eco-nomic value of the tournament to Africa is another positive aspect that will come out of the event.

Again drawing from her coun-try’s experience, Hellwig-Boette pointed out that the last tourna-ment left Germany a better coun-try with plenty of new infrastruc-ture built to accommodate the event.

“Germany made a lot of money and there were many benefi ts to the country and the people. South Africa and Africa should expect the same benefi ts.”

She disclosed that the embassy is organising a painting competi-tion together with the German School that will run for the dura-tion of the World Cup and the win-ners will receive impressive prizes.

“We are using the competition to create awareness about the tournament among schoolchil-dren. This is our way of supporting the event,” she said.

And does she think Germany can win the World Cup? “I will sup-port them because last time they did not do very well, but I believe they can win it this time. The team is very good ”

MARGIT HELLWIG:It's wonderfull to host

World cup

HE MARGIT HELLWIG-BOETTE extrapolates the benefi ts of the tournament for Africa and the world

92 May - June 2010


Robin van Persie-Netherlands Versatile player who is used mainly as a

winger in the national team and as a central

striker at Arsenal. Played all four matches

at the 2006 World Cup finals and scored

against Ivory Coast in group stages. Missed

most of the English Premier League cam-

paign through injury.

Wayne Rooney -EnglandAlready with more than 50 caps, his bustling

all-action approach, aligned with a keen eye

for a pass, make him a defender's nightmare

and a fan favourite.

Michael Ballack - GermanyThis is likely to be the last major tournament for the

German captain who is desperate for World Cup suc-

cess after collecting a runners-up medal in 2002.

The midfielder also finished on the losing side at

Euro 2008. Ballack has mended ties with Loew after

a public spat following Euro 2008.

Cristiano Ronaldo - PortugalHas made the quick step-over and dipping shots

from dead ball situations his trademark, but that

is just part of his armoury. Speedy, tricky and

elusive he mysteriously pops up behind the ball,

in the air and on the ground, and scores.

e

Stars Skills and Thrills

9393May - June 2010

Franck Ribery - FranceBig, tall and strong, Drog-

ba is a powerfully built

and menacing predator.

He is armed with a fierce

shot, killer instinct and

hunger for ball and goal

that sends shivers down

the spine of even sea-

soned defenders. When

Drogba is not heading or

kicking them in he is heading and kicking the

ball away from his box in a defensive role.

A desperate Drogba is dangerously volatile.

Samuel Eto’o - CameroonA poacher in the

box, a skillful run-

ner into it and able

to score with both

legs as well as,

but rarely, with the

head. Eto’o’s quick

turn and superior

balance saw him

free himself of a

defender, create space and score past the

near post to set FC Barcelona on the road

to Champion’s League glory in 2009 at the

expense of Manchester United.

The Cameroon captain delights with his

footwork and ability to exploit – in a flash -

the chink in the defenders’ armour.

Jon Obi Mikel - NigeriaChelsea’s defensive

midfield powerhouse and

workhorse is quick and

adept with the tackle and

eager to dispatch col-

leagues to launch into enemy territory for attacks

and counter attacks.

Xavi Hernandez - SpainFC Barcelona’s

midfield dynamo

whose foresight,

quick thinking, abil-

ity to wiggle out of

tight corners and pin-point precision pass-

ing makes him the natural choice for the

role coaches and fans alike have come to

call conductor.

Lionel Messi - ArgentinaA brave little genius to

whose left foot the ball

seems wedded. With that

foot he will dodge his way

through a forest of de-

fenders, dummy goalkeepers, lift the ball above

defenders and goalkeepers and singlehandedly

destroy teams. Without doubt the best player in

the world.

Andrea Pirlo- ItalyThe World Cup winner has recently

played much further forward for

Italy than Milan and is the side’s

main creative force given Cassano

has been overlooked. His form has

dipped in the last few years but is

still a pass master.

Burly Yaya (left) has the rare ability to play the roles of holding and attacking midfielder

as well central defender. Big brother Kolo though smaller is a central defender who also

charges forward to end up in the box of opponents.

Yaya plays for Spain’s FC Barcelona while Kolo plies his trade at England’s Manchester

City where he is captain.

Arjen Robben - NetherlandsGood dribbler and equally

good header who likes

to operate from the right

wing, cut deep into the

field and into positions from which he shoots

hard and low or high and sizzling into the bot-

tom or top corners from 20 metres out.

His languid mien is decep-

tive. His work rate is high.

He is difficult to shake off

the ball and his right foot

packs a cracker of a shot.

Dangerous charging into

the box as he is in it.

Kaka – Brazil

He jinks and

ducks as he

hugs the left

touchline or cuts

deep into the

field to set team

mates and self

into probing de-

fences, knocking

the ball around

and teasing opponents into making

mistakes. The Bayern Munich playmaker

has speed and an explosive shot.

Didier Drogba – Cote D’Ivoire

The Toure brothers Yaya and Kolo – Cote D’Ivoire

High-flying Emirates are the Official FIFA Partner 2010 Emirates Airlines has served East Africa since 1995, and is one of the sponsors of the World Cup in South Africa. Diplomat East Africa’s CHRIS MBURU interviewed Mr ESSA SULAIMAN AHMAD, Emirates Regional Manager for East Africa, ahead of the Beautiful Game’s premier event

DEA: How deeply involved is Emirates with the World Cup?AHMAD: Emirates is an offi cial FIFA Partner from 2007 to 2014, meaning that the airline holds rights to all FIFA events during this period. This includes both the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, as well as the FIFA Confed-erations Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, the FIFA Under-20 and Under-17 World Cup, the FIFA Women s World Cup, FIFA U20 Women s World Cup and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Through this deal, Emirates benefi ts from en-hanced global media exposure, and an association with FIFA s special events and development initiatives.

DEA: How many fl ights will be operating per week from Dubai to which South African cities? AHMAD: Emirates will provide football fans from across the East Africa region the choice between fi ve daily fl ights to South Africa (three daily fl ights to Johannesburg, one daily fl ight to Cape Town and another to Durban). Jo-hannesburg will host 15 World Cup matches, Cape Town eight matches and Durban seven matches.

DEA: At what fares from Dubai in US dollars?AHMAD: Emirates offers competitive fares to its three South African gateways. For the best available fares, we advise our customers to check our website: www.emir-ates.com.

DEA: How can East African passengers use Emirates to fl y to the World Cup, considering that Kenya Airways, Air Malawi, Rwanda Air, South African Airways, etc., are all fl ying to South Africa? What special offer is Emirates

offering to entice passengers from this region to con-nect via Dubai?AHMAD: Emirates is offering a number of tailor-made travel packages that include fl ights, accommodation, ground transportation and match tickets through our Emirates’ FIFA World Cup 2010 Travel Packages.

These packages give customers fl exibility at very com-petitive rates. When you book an Emirates’ package, no matter where your team is playing — be it Rustenburg or Cape Town or any of the other eight venues — you will be transported from your chosen hotel to the match and back again, even if it is all the way across South Africa. Emirates’ Follow Your Team FIFA packages starts at AED14,145 (KSh282,900) with departures out of Dubai, based on double-room occupancy. This includes inter-national Emirates fl ights to South Africa, fi ve nights’ ho-tel accommodation in your selected base camp, a Cat-egory 1 match ticket and all the ground transportation logistics.

A package for the fi nal match which includes interna-tional fl ights to South Africa with Emirates, three nights hotel accommodation in the customer’s selected base camp, a Category 1 match ticket for the fi nal and all the ground transportation logistics starts at AED20,040 (KSh400,800), based on double-room occupancy.

DEA: Any arrangements in EA to pick passengers from here and fl y them to SA directly?AHMAD: All customers fl ying on Emirates will transfer through the airline’s hub in Dubai, where they will enjoy seamless connections to South Africa. DEA: When do the Emirates A380s start plying the route to Jo’burg?AHMAD: Emirates now has eight A380s serving Toronto, London Heathrow, Paris, Seoul, Bangkok, Sydney, Auck-land and Jeddah. We have no immediate plans to operate the A380 to Africa, but this is something we may consider for the future


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9595May - June 2010

•DIARYLooking Forward

AITEC Kenya ICT Congress 20107-8 September 2010

Kenyatta International Conference Centre Nairobi, Kenya

INTRODUCTIONKenya’s ICT sector is on the eve of a transformation with the landing

of the country’s first undersea fibre cable in 2009. The Conference

will provide an ideal opportunity for the country’s ICT managers

and professionals to assess the impact this transformation will

have on their organisations and what are the optimum strategies

and technologies they should deploy to maximise the benefits.

In addition, the exhibition will provide a platform for vendors to

promote and launch their new and improved ICT products and

services to decision-makers in government and business.

WHO SHOULD EXHIBITThe expo is a showcase for Information and Communication

Technology products and services and therefore invites

all companies involved in this sector. These will include

Telecommunication Service Providers, Mobile Phone Operators,

Computer Hardware Resellers, Computer Accessories Suppliers,

Software Developers, Web Solutions Developers, Systems

Integrators, ICT Consultants, Training, Internet Service Providers,

Data Operators, Communication Equipment Resellers and ICT

Projects and Programmes.

CONFERENCEThe exhibition will run in tandem with a conference on the latest

developments in the ICT sector. Areas that will be discussed

include: Policy, legal and regulatory issues, applications and

new technologies. Some of the areas to be covered will include

mBanking, eCommerce, mGovernment, eHeath, eProcurement,

eSecurity, Policy and Strategies on Telecommunication

Infrastructure Development, Datawarehousing, Security and

Rural Connectivity.

UPCOMING NATIONAL DAYSCOUNTRY DAY Algeria July 5Argentina July 9Bahamas July 10Belarus July 3 Belgium July 21 Burundi July 1Cape Verde July 5Colombia July 20 Democratic Republic of the Congo June 30Croatia June 25Djibouti June 27Iceland June 17Kenya June 1Liberia July 26 Madagascar June 26 Malawi July 6 Maldives July 26 Mozambique June 25Peru July 28 Philippines June 12 Russia June 12Rwanda July 1Samoa June 1São Tomé and Príncipe July 12Seychelles June 29Solomon Islands July 7

Solomon Islands July 7

Tonga June 4 United States July 4 Vanuatu July 30 Venezuela July 5

JUNE EVENT

4 International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression5 World Environment Day17 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought20 World Refugee Day23 United Nations Public Service Day26 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

JULY

First Saturday International Day of Cooperatives11 World Population Day

UNITED NATIONS CALENDAR

SEATSMOCHA

“Fall in love with your home”

K-REP Plaza, Wood Avenue, HurlinghamTel: +254 20 3862445/6, 8010693

Cell: +254 728 069 332E-mail: [email protected]

[email protected]

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98 May - June 2010

Diplomat East Africa Vol 3

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Transcript of Diplomat East Africa Vol 3