>>The Dying Art of Oratory PG 65

May - June 2010 Volume 003

Door to Region, Window on World

Football Fiesta
South Africa Hosts Soccer's Global Party

PROTOCOL: Envoys Back Geneva Rules PG 25

BUSINESS: Regional Lobby Campaigns PG 39
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
 •DIPLOMATIC LICENCE

South Africa Hosts

Soccer's Global Party

E
very four years the world holds a mam- have since 2006 scrimped and saved, worked early and
moth month-long party. All and sundry late, long and hard to be able to make the journey to
and from all corners of the planet are in- South Africa from the North and South, East and West
vited, usually four years in advance. corners of the continent.
There is no dress code, but most usu- Five, Africans will be able for the first time to cheer
ally flaunt their national colours and because they are their five teams on their own continent, which is also
creative with their attire this adds to the allure and spec- to say that South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, Ghana’s Black
tacle of the global party. The end of this party usually Stars, Cote d’Ivoire’s Elephants, Nigeria’s Super Eagles
sets in motion a four-year-long party in one country and Algeria’s Desert Foxes will have their supporters
and a mourning period of similar length in another. within shouting distance.
While celebration and heartbreak are two sides of African players have and continue to make a mark on
any competition, Africa can’t wait to celebrate the very the European football stage, arguably the most fiercely
advent of the party. If at the end of it an African country competitive of all football the-
will celebrate for another four years that will be the ic- atres in the world. But this time
ing on the cake. round, barring injuries, these
Welcome to the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the world’s stars who dazzle the world and
greatest mass spectator sporting jamboree. their continent from worlds
This year’s cup is also the richest yet. away will be on parade before
The words of South Africa’s High Commissioner to their own adoring fans.
Kenya, HE Tony Msimanga, carried in our March/April Six, with the World Cup have
issue, will forever ring true: “Africa is living this World come tourists, most of whom
Cup and South Africa is hosting it. So this is our mo- have seized this chance to see
ment, our continent, our time and our World Cup.” more than South Africa. Afri-
We concur unreservedly. The FIFA World Cup which can hospitality has been, and
kicks off in South Africa on June 11 is Africa’s World Cup still remains, on show for all to
for several reasons. One, this is the first time the conti- Welcome to see and savour. There are busi-
nent is hosting the finals of the premier competition of the FIFA 2010 nesspeople in South Africa and
the planet’s most popular sport – football. World Cup, the on the continent at large who
Two, we of this continent have not had a chance to have travelled here because
cheer our own teams and stars or the world’s football world’s greatest of, or taking advantage of, the
powers and their stars — or our favourite stars of the mass spectator FIFA World Cup.
South American, European and Asian football leagues sporting On their way out they will
participating in this event — from close quarters. have known that Africa is the
Three, never before has an African country had the
jamboree new business frontier; they will
honour of bringing to these shores so many people and have seen and observed that
so many cultures from all corners of the globe and for a African governments are keen to attract investors and
prolonged party of friendship and passion, joyous cel- visitors to their countries. That is to say they will have
ebration and, of course, the inevitable heartbreak. noticed the vast business opportunities available and
This is a great time for Africa to show the world it is be convinced African economies are the next tigers.
made of caring and friendly and forward-looking, plan- Last, which could well be first, this is the right time
ning and purposeful, pleasant and proud people. Afri- for an African team to lift the FIFA World Cup trophy.
cans are keen to compete as well as organise, welcome It can be done. In 2002, debuting Senegal’s Lions of
as well as entertain and ready to play their rightful roles Teranga beat defending champion France and Algeria
in world affairs. outfoxed and beat mighty West Germany 2-1 in Spain
Four, the joy of the continent in hosting this World in 1982.
Cup is evident in the huge numbers of Africans who Yes, Africa’s time has come!

May - June 2010 11

 •IMMUNITIES & IMPUNITIES

Heard and Quoted

“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
“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

“Many people in this world do not “The rumours regarding

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.
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

2 May - June 2010

May - June 2010 33

Your Headlines Thrilled Me…
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 SHY
Congratulations 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
4 May - June 2010
•DIPLOSPEAK
Have Your Say
RANT/RAVE
I was attracted to DEA
by a review of it by
renowned journalist
Mutegi Njau of Citizen
TV’s Power Breakfast
Show
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 HEADLINES
DEA 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
March - April 2010
Resurgent
Rwanda
The Come-back Country
Kenya KSh300 Uganda USh9000
UNITED NATIONS >>: Anna Tibaijuka's agenda PG 23
WORLD CUP >>: Africa's sporting bonanza PG 84
Tanzania TSh7500
WE'D LOVE TO HEAR
FROM YOU: Send your
letters to, letters@
diplomateastafrica.com.
Submission of a letter
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to publish it in any form
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>>Damned By Omo River Dam PG 14
Volume 002
ONE-SIDED ABOUT KAGAME
Your headline (Resurgent Rwan-
Door to Region, Window on World
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-
President
Paul
tives.
Kagame
Rwanda RWFr3000 Burundi BUFr6000 South Africa R30 Rest of Africa US$4 USA $4 UK £3 Canada $5 Rest of Europe €3.5 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
 >>The Dying Art of Oratory PG 65

May - June 2010 Volume 003

Door to Region, Window on World

Volume No 003 • May - June 2010

Football
F b ll Fiesta
Fi
South Africa Hosts Soccer's Global Party

PROTOCOL: Envoys Back Geneva Rules PG 25

BUSINESS: Regional Lobby Campaigns PG 39
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

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Cornellius Mambili
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DESIGN TEAM
Daniel Kihara DIPLOMATIC LICENSE CULTURE
William Odidi Soccer’s Global Party ...................................... 1 Is Oratory a Dying Art? ................................. 65
Raphael Mokora
EA The Cradle of intellect ........................... 66-67
PHOTOGRAPHY IMMUNITIES & IMPUNITIES.......... 2 Book Review:
Yahya Mohamed
EA's Pop Culture ................................................. 69
CONTRIBUTORS
Alex Duval Smith,Pretoria THE REGION Paulina-George:
Biko Jackson, Nairobi Elections in the Region ............................... .. 6-12 Authentic African Designer ........................ 70 – 71
Godwin Muhwezi, Arusha
Edward Githae, Kigali
Uganda’s Gays Debate .................................. 13
Francis Sang’, Nairobi Hurdles to EA Political Federation .............. 14 EDUCATION
Godfrey Musila, Johannesburg
E-Learning Empowers Africa .................... 73
John Gachie, Juba
John Mulaa, Washington DC DNA
Julius Mbaluto, London Horn of Trouble ............................................. 16-17 CONFERENCING
Manoah Esipisu, London
Mildred Ngesa, Nairobi The Sudan: New Meetings and Events as Tourism ............. 77-78
Mishaeli Ondieki, Los Angeles Nation on the Cards ...................................... 20 Opportunity in Carbon Credits ................ 79
Rodney Muhumuza, Kampala
Peter Mwaura, Nairobi Reprieve for the Jumbo ................................. 21-24 Pan-African Media Caucus ....................... 80
Robert Mugo, Alberta, Canada Nigeria, Cuba,
Wangari Maathai, Nairobi
Malaysia Envoys Speak ................................. 25-27 AT THE WHEEL
CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION Russia Celebrates China Takes Over Volvo ............................. 81
Stephen Otieno
Victory Day .................................................... 29-31
ADMINISTRATION
Josephine Wambui Ramification of UK's GLOBAL STAGE
PRINTER
Cliff - Edge Elections .................................... 33 Nigeria:
Ramco Printing Works Goodluck Jonathan takes over.................. 82-83
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May - June 2010 55

 •THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat
TANZANIA: Gearing for elections
Opposition Could Make Giant
Leap after October, But…
R
ecent Opposition
Political party income chest-thumping
and expenditure will to the effect that
be monitored, as well they will increase
as candidates’ election legislator numbers
come the October General Elec-
expenses, writes tion gained momentum when the
KIISHWEKO ORTON 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.
PRESIDENT KIKWETE:
However, local commentators
Eyeing second term
6 May - June 2010
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 finances 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
financing.
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 fighting 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
 •THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat
office, 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
May - June 2010
BRIEFLY
UGANDA
IDPs: Uganda Scores
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).
ADDIS ABABA
Maritime Strategy
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.
THE GAMBIA
Architecture Matters
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.
— Reports by Xinhua News Agency
77

ZANZIBAR: Smooth elections anticipated
Why Karume Said
No to ‘Third Term’
Sworn enemies of yore are making up this time
round, reports KIISHWEKO ORTON
F
or the first 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 first
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.
RECONCILIATION
The 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
final five-year term is due to end
later this year, but his two former
most significant 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-
8 May - June 2010
•THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat
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 finish 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 office, 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.
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 PRESIDENT: Isles”.
On the home He added that the mistrust
stretch
dated back to 1988, when several
senior CUF officials 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-
President other three years in office.
Karume’s second But whether Dr Karume would
be given another term was a consti-
and final five-year tutional matter, which could not be
term is due to end decided by a political party.
later this year 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”
 •THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat

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

O
n August 9 this
year, Rwandans
go to the polls to
elect a govern-
ment that will be
in office for the next seven years.
President Paul Kagame, the flag-
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 officials
The incumbent President Kag-
ame vied for the first 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 figure 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
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY

being reported. At the moment, it

is difficult to distinguish fact from
fiction in such a highly charged
environment.
In recent times, grenade ex-
plosions in Kigali have set off a
flurry 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 VICTOIRE INGABIRE:
main players in the race: Demanded
PRESIDENT KAGAME — Government
RWANDA PATRIOTIC FRONT protection

May - June 2010 99


party’s flag-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 financial manager with
an American firm in 2009, to vie
for the August elections. She will
be the first 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-
identified 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 fire
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
10 May - June 2010
•THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat
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.
LOUISE MSHIKIWABO:
Kagame's RPF has
accused Ingabire
of 'revisionism'
and 'divisionism'
concerning the
Genocide
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
STATS
Rwandan football club. &FACTS
Despite being the only regis-
tered opposition party, PS Im- Ingabire
berakuri has had wrangles since returned to
its formation. In an idiosyncratic
twist of fate, Ntaganda was de- Rwanda 16
posed as party leader during an years after
extraordinary meeting in which she left the
his deputy chief, Christine Muka-
bunane, assumed leadership until
country
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.
ALLIANCE
During 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

KENYA: State versus Church
Fight Over New Constitution
By PATRICK WACHIRA
T
HE collective psyche
of Kenyans, who are
fond of describing
themselves as politi-
cal animals to the last
man and woman, has its sights
firmly 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 affirm
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 shuffling, 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-
12 May - June 2010
•THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat
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,
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
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 –
PRESIDENT KIBAKI State relations were always rocky,
AND PRIME MINISTER the constitutional debate has
ODINGA: brought the two into a titanic clash
Rare unity of purpose 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 flow-
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

SEXUALITY AND POLITICS
Gays: Uganda Beats Retreats
By RODNEY MUHUMUZA
L
ong before Idi Amin
fled 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-flung
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 influential 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 officials 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
•THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat
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 first time in his administra-
tion, the Ugandan leader was con-
ceding that donors could actually
tell him what to do. Even more sig-
nificantly, 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-
PHOTO: EAST AFRICA COMMUNITY
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-
RETREAT: munity. It is hard to imagine how
Museveni’s the proposed law would encourage
admission of the police to raid the homes of sus-
powerlessness pected gays, drag them out of their
was revealing
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 five 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
May - June 2010 13
13
 •THE REGION
Eastern Africa Beat

INTEGRATION: Enroute to single entity

Hurdles on
Path to EA
Political
Federation
By DEA CORRESPONDENT

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-
fied 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.
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 financial sufficiency
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-

14 May - 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-
filiate 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,
SESSION:
A meeting
at the AICC,
Arusha
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
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 first 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 firm, 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 ratified,
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.
STATS Away from matters curricula,
the East Africa Business Council is
&FACTS also unhappy with the pace of im-
plementation of some of the ideas
EALA has passed already on paper. For instance,
some 21 Bills four years after partner states
and all partner vowed to eliminate Non-Tariff Bar-
states have riers (NTBs), these are still evident
in various aspects.
enacted laws The NTBs are most manifest in
domesticating Customs and administrative pro-
the Treaty but cedures, police roadblocks, weigh-
bridges, business registration and
this has not licensing and Immigration proce-
been apparent dures.
to the populace, Work permits are still required,
except in the case of Rwanda,
owing to lack of which has done away with the
awareness requirement
May - June 2010 15
15
 •DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis

VOLATILE: Wars on all fronts

Horn of
Plenty
of Trouble
The huge security challenges experienced, writes
WILLIAM LONGOMBA, have ramifications for the
entire region

T
HE 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 financial nightmare
for shipping companies and the
ports of the region and inland gov-
ernments and therefore adversely ARMED AND DANGEROUS:
affected the international mari- Unconventional fighters
time trade. display their lethal ware
In the eyes of both regional and
international diplomats, however,
the cure for the pirate problem off gain control of the country, other The militant group, which is be-
the expansive coast of Somalia and challenges plague its initiatives. lieved to have links with Al-Qaeda,
in the crucial Indian Ocean ship- Al-Shabab has threatened to attack leading to fears Somalia could be-
ping trade route lies on shore – in neighbouring Kenya and Uganda, come Africa’s pre-9/11 Afghanistan
the creation of a stable Somalia. the latter a country with which So- equivalent, regards Uganda, which
But even as the TFG struggles to malia does not share a border. has troops in Somalia, as an en-

16 May - June 2010


FRONTLINE FORMATION:
Somali ragtag fighters in action
emy. It accuses Kenya of recruiting
young Muslim men to fight 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 fighting 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 fly again.
Renewed conflict between the
ONLF and Addis Ababa might
open a new theatre of conflict for
the TFG and Al-Shabab.
The conflict 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 ramifications 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 fighting 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 film
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 flow of refugees into
Kenya and the growing influence 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, five
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 Cold War in the bombing of the Paradise and
era, Ethiopia and the failed attempt to shoot down
Somalia fought the airliner.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Mu-
a conventional seveni’s response to the threat of
conflict over the attack on Uganda by Al-Shabab was
Ogaden region 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
fighters 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
May - June 2010 17
17
ADVERTISER’S ANNOUNCEMENT
TEL.: (250) 252 570333, E-mail: info@mhc.gov.rw
Website : www.mhc.gov.rw
Suspension of the 'Umuvugizi'
and 'Umuseso' Newspapers:
MHC Responds to RSF and CPJ
T
he 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 first 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
18 May - June 2010
B.P.: 6929 KIGALI
taken, since 2004 for Umuseso and
2008 for Umuvugizi.
These decisions were based on
complaints from the public and
MHC’s daily monitoring findings,
which revealed that, on several oc-
casions, these newspapers published
false, sensational and inflammatory
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.
Specifically, 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 fine. 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-
fied 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-
ficers 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
 PRESIDENT
KAGAME:
Restored
Stability

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 Law, identify a journalist in Rwanda. As paign clearly intended to discredit the in-
take legitimate and legal action against, highlighted above, the management of dependence and impartiality of the MHC.
all forms of hate media. the two newspapers on a number of occa- This independence can also be confirmed
Never again should any such media sions have refused to respond to calls for from the composition of the Board of the
and journalism be tolerated and, or sup- written explanations, or not implemented MHC which is the highest decision- mak-
ported. Thus far, any well-intentioned MHC decisions yet this organ derives its ing organ. The Board is comprised of in-
person can now tell that this was beyond authority from the law. Freedom to act il- dependent-minded individuals who are
the mere recidivism the law protects the legally must not be condoned by anybody, professionals and persons of integrity.
public from. Therefore, the MHC wishes anywhere. They include two representatives of the
to state unequivocally that the process In addition, contrary to the allegations private media, one representative of the
of taking this decision was guided by and made by these organisations, the MHC private sector, one representative of civil
done in accordance with the Media Law, management and Board wish to state society, one representative of the pub-
especially articles 13 (5), 73, 83 and 84. categorically that this institution is inde- lic media and two representatives of the
For these newspapers, however, viola- pendent both in theory (the Constitution) Central Government.
tion of the law goes beyond the content and practice (decision making). As such,
of their publications to disrespecting the the institution “takes no orders from any Patrice Mulama,
authority of the MHC and refusal to ac- higher level of government”, as stated by Executive Secretary,
quire Press cards, which are mandatory RSF. Media High Council (MHC),
documents that, according to the Media We find this cheap and smear cam- Republic of Rwanda.

May - June 2010 19

19
 •DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis

THE SUDAN: Elections and after

Referendum to Usher
in Africa’s New Nation
Count down to Sudan's date with destiny
By DEA CORRESPODENT

T
HE 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 first 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
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
PRESIDENTS KIIR of an iron fist, this will, in all prob-
AND BASHIR: ability transform into impunity,
Going separate under the guise of having been
ways? “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 flowing to the
north”

20 May - June 2010

 •DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis

ENVIRONMENT: Saving endangered species

Charm Offensive Wins

Reprieve for Jumbos
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
PAUL UDOTO

A
frican 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 reaffirmation of the June 2007
agreement brokered by the Euro-
pean Union.

PHOTO: KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE

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 fine
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
CONTRABAND: countries,” the Coalition said in a
Hunger for communiqué after the meeting.
tusks threatens The Coalition argued that legal
elephants trade provided cover for the unlaw-
ful trafficking 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

May - June 2010 21

21

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 flouting CITES rules on
shared wildlife populations, noting
that she ought to have at least con-
sulted Kenya before submitting her
proposal.
DIVISION
But 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
conflicts 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.
22 May - June 2010
•DNA
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 floor 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.
SOLUTION
Finally, the conference removed
the elephant from the precipice and
provided another chance for Afri-
can range states to collaboratively
find 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
specific 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

CONSERVATION: New technology and the elephant
Of the Internet, Wildlife
Crime and the EAC
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
T
he 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 offload 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
•DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
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 trafficking,
and almost caught up with gun-
running and drug trafficking. The
International Police Organisation
(Interpol) defines wildlife crime as
the “taking, trading, exploiting or
possessing of the world's wild flo-
ra and fauna in contravention of
national and international laws”.
ILLEGAL
Conservative 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
JUMBO: Organised Crime” revealed: “It is
Poaching is a estimated that the global trade in
menace to the animals, plants and their by-prod-
gentle giant ucts is worth a total of around
US$159 billion a year.
Although the scale of the illegal
trade is difficult 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 profit on offer.
These rewards are made possi-
ble by a market for wildlife species
and derivatives which is fuelled by
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
a range of factors, including fash-
ion, the desire for luxury goods
(including caviar and furs), tradi-
tional medicines, low-cost or rare
May - June 2010 23
23
 •DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis

timber and the personal obses-

sions of specimen collectors.”
The trade in flora and fauna is
obscenely lucrative, so much so
that the dreaded Mafia (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 profit-
able wildlife by-products by con-
verting existing routes for illegal

PHOTO: KENYA WILDLIFE SERVICE

businesses in arms, drugs and hu-
man trafficking 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 find 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
AWARDED: has become a fast growing mar-
Winning ketplace for wildlife species.
delgates display Following up on IFAW's report,
trophies in Doha with its official 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-BORDER
The 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 officials 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

24 May - June 2010


DIPLOMACY
Nigeria, Cuba and Malaysia
Envoys on Africa Agenda
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
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
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
•DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
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
WIGWE, turf of solidarity and international
GONZALES, collaborations, more so with the
ZAINUDDIN: sister nations of the Third World.
Hold Notably, during the past three
passionate decades, Cuba offered direct sup-
views port to the national liberation
about movements of Guinea Bissau, Al-
Africa's geria and Cape Verde; defended
agenda
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-
efited 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
May - June 2010 25
25

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 flourish — 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 significant
inputs. The newest and perhaps
most significant 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 financial 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
26 May - June 2010
•DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
BIO DATA
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
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
(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.
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.
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
profitable. It was not easy having
that mind shift simply because we
were already in a comfort zone,
thus change was very difficult.
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 significant 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 field of bilateral co-
operation so that Cuba and Kenya
can continue enjoying friendly re-
lations.
The areas on top of the agenda
are the fight 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 field of medicine. Co-
operation is also ripe in the fields
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 flights 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 define 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.
STATS We do not engage in cockcrow di-
plomacy.
&FACTS We do not call press confer-
ences in our residences in order
Nigeria in to offer advice to the Government
2008 alone, the of Kenya on how to implement re-
total value of forms or how to proceed to have a
new Constitution in place before
foreign direct the next General Election.
investment Malaysia: We don’t interfere
was $20 with the domestic affairs of a
country because we realise every-
billion, most of one has a set way of doing things.
it in oil and gas, We respect the leadership and
agriculture and democratic process; if any advice
is sought from us we will freely
manufacturing.
give it
May - June 2010 27
27

CONTROVERSY
Gibe III Dam Issues
Opposition to the mega project by conservation lobbies
may be much ado about nothing, argues YELIBU BELEW
T
HE 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 reflected 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,
28 May - June 2010
•DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
zonal and federal officials 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
fishery 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 floods 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
PHOTO: ETHIOPIAN EMBASSY
East Africa after DRC, will support
the country’s Universal Electrifica-
tion Access Programme, which aims
to double access to electricity within
a few years.
The project will assist the com-
BELEW:
munities living downstream with
Critics ignore reliable and timely water supply and
dam's merits arrest irregular floods which wash
away crops. It will also reduce evap-
oration losses in the flood 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 flow and
positive hydrological balance to the
Lake, which is characterised by high
rates of fluctuations 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 insufficient, to hydro-genera-
tion both in the region and in the
international power markets
The author is Deputy Ambassador of
Ethiopia to Kenya

Russia's Victory
By DEA CORRESPONDENT
B
ENEATH 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 significance 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 fierce
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 officers and men dis-
played valour, heroism, indomitable
courage, fortitude and bravery exem-
plified 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
•DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
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
final 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 fierce battles
that ensued, the enemy camp, one
million officers 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 fire 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 overfly the Square and form the
digits “65”. These are used for stra-
tegic attack, fighter, 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 influenced
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 significant 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-
sacrifice 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-sacrifice
May - June 2010 29
29
 •DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
Russia, US Sign Historic
Arms Reduction Treaty
By DEA CORRESPONDENT
T
he 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-
STRATEGIC POTENTIALS:
Russian Ambassador to
Kenya and Permanent
Representaive
to international
organisations Valery
Yegoshkin
30 May - June 2010
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.
 According to Russia, such a
move would significantly influ-
ence the “effectiveness of our stra-
tegic nuclear weapons, and it will
be for the Russian side to decide
the degree of such influence”.
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 significant 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 clarifies 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
and they can still cause a nuclear
conflict”.
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
"The safety net is a strengthening strategic stability.
well-known legal Medvedev said the document
did not give preference to any
principle" 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
beneficial for Russian-USA bilat-
eral strategic relations, as well as
for international stability and se-
curity on the whole ”

Embassy of the Russian Federation presents

The Crown of Russian Ballet SEASON FOUR

(MAY 29–31, 2010)
SATURDAY 29th MAY
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IN COMMEMORATION OF 200th ANNIVERSARY OF F. CHOPIN
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Generously supported by: SPECIAL THANKS TO RED LANDS ROSES

May - June 2010 31

31

TRIBUNAL DECIDES
Minority Group Win
African Union Court ruling in four-
decade-old land litigation sent ripples
of excitement across the continent,
writes EMMAN OMARI
M
inority 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 finally 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 flood-
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.
32 May - June 2010
•DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
The case filed 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
benefit 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 certified 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 fight faced ha-
rassment from government.
The case cited five 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” 

THE UNITED KINGDOM
Hung Parliament?
Hang The Opposition!
By KWENDO OPANGA
P
olitical 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 first five 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,
flattered to deceive during the
five-week campaign when it ap-
peared it would get a large share
of the votes. Instead it lost seats
and finished a distant third.
By failing to give a single party
the mandate to govern, the elec-
torate forced the party leaders to
•DNA
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
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
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
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
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
BROWN, because the voters failed to hand
CLEGG, one party a decisive win.
CAMERON: In Uganda, Rwanda, and Tan-
No clear zania, and as was evident in the
winner 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
May - June 2010 33
33
 •PICTORIAL
Lights•Camera•Action

34 March - April 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.

May - June 2010 35

35
 •ECONOMY
Investment•Technology•Prosperity

REPORTED SPEECH

The End of the Third World?

The President of the World Bank Group, Mr ROBERT B. ZOELLICK,
plates are shifting. We
delivered a keynote address in mid-April at the Woodrow Wilson can shift with them, or we
Centre for International Scholars, USA, in which he declared that can continue to see a new
it is time we put old concepts of First and Third Worlds, leader and world through the prism of
the old. We must recognize
led, donor and supplicant, behind us and adduced powerful and new realities. And act on
compelling reasons why, including Africa’s prospects as a Pole of them.
Growth. The following are excerpts from the Zoellick presentation:
What is Different?
The developing world

F
or 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 fit.
The implications are profound:
For multilateralism, for global co-
operative action, for power rela-
tionships, for development, and
for international institutions.
MULTILATERALISM MATTERS
The 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 confidence.
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
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
The developing purchasing power parity terms has
risen steadily from 7 per cent in
world is becoming
1980 to 21 per cent in 2008. Asia’s
a driver of the stock markets now account for 32
world economy 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

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 GROWTH

The 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 ZOELLICK:
countries, billions of people join the Global challenges
world economy, and new patterns of are intensifying

May - June 2010 37

37

integration combine regional in-
tensification 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 five
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 official 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 POTENTIAL
Tectonic 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.
38 May - June 2010
•ECONOMY
Diplomacy•News•Analysis
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 benefits from regional
integration within global markets.
What would it take? As a first
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; finance; 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
STATS phones in use in Africa.
&FACTS IFC, the World Bank Group’s pri-
vate sector arm, is helping catalyze
The developing this business revolution. A new
IFC equity fund has attracted $800
world’s share million from sovereign wealth and
of global GDP pension funds to invest in compa-
in purchasing nies in Africa, Latin America and
the Caribbean.
power parity
terms has CONCLUSION
increased from Modern multilateralism will not
be a constricted club with more left
33.7 per outside the room than seated with-
cent in 1980 in. It will look more like the global
to 43.4 per sprawl of the Internet, intercon-
cent in 2010 necting more and more countries,
companies, individuals, and NGOs
through a flexible network
Grain
Bulk
Handlers
>> Not a Grain Lost pg 54
Prime Minister
>> Interview with Chairman Jaffer pg 59 Raila Odinga and
GBHL Chairman
>> 1Oth Anniversary Address pg 62 Mohamed Jaffer
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL

Not a Grain Lost:

How GBHL Revolutionised
Bulk Handling of Cereals
This massive World Bank-funded Complex, now celebrating this first 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

DIPLOMAT EAST AFRICA: Why don’t you start at the DEA: So why was this facility needed, when grain
beginning and tell us how you came to be working was already being handled at the port? Why this
here? hurry to get it built?

DAVID HARRIS: I actually came here to construct DH: Two reasons. First the port was getting congest-
this grain terminal. And I’d had a lot of experience ed because they could not handle ships fast enough.
previously — I had worked for the World Bank And secondly, when you borrow money from the
through Mersey Docks and Harbours Company in World Bank, from Day One, you begin to pay inter-
Maputo, where I rebuilt the sugar terminal — they est; before you have even done the first thing. So by
have a big sugar terminal there which unfortunately the time you get to the end of your construction here,
had been destroyed during the civil war in Mozam- if you are not earning you are in trouble. So obvious-
bique, together with other things like cement facto- ly the sooner you start earning, the sooner you pay
ries, refineries and everything else. In fact, the civil back. So construction has to be rapid and success-
war was still going on when I first went there. So we ful.
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 first of October
1998, and we actually did our first 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 finished it all in 13 months. We
had been given 12 months to build it, and we com-
pleted it a month after.

40 May - 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 fine, 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-
ficient — 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, first 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
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL
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
GRAIN HOUSE:
The Headquartes
of GBHL in
Mombasa city
CONVEYOR BELT:
GBHL has
invested heavily in
technology
PHOTOS: GBHL
May - June 2010 41
41
 SPECIAL REPORT GBHL
split into four or five, for their boys. So you finish 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-sufficient in maize
flour.
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.
PHOTO: GBHL
THE BOARD: QUESTION: So there was no doubt in your mind
GBHL boasts that what you were supervising and constructing
an experienced, here was something Kenya definitely needed.
skilled Directorship
DH: Oh definitely. 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 definitely needed.
DEA: Could you give us some of the figures 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
42 May - June 2010
that by 30,000 for an average ship, and you find we
did 57 ships. That’s almost five ships every month.
DEA: Are you saying that this would not have been
possible without this facility?
DH: You would have had five berths fully occupied
doing nothing but grain. That is five 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 five days. So
how would this port handle that much traffic? 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 offloading 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 floor.
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 fills up quickly and then it trickles the last bit
in to get the right level, which slows you down, for a
 SPECIAL REPORT GBHL

start. And secondly we have what we call “the weight

of the in-flight 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-flight grain. And that is very
difficult to weigh and it’s very difficult 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 fills 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.

PHOTO: GBHL
DEA: So, from the taxman’s point of view, this is a
far more efficient 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.
DH: We have had government officials here; the mill- THE DOCK:
ers have been here; everybody has been here. We have GBHL's efficiency
never refused anybody the opportunity to come and reclines on state
look. We did offer the millers at one time, particularly of art seafront
the ones in Mombasa — because all the mills are on equipment
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 filled 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.

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 first vehicle goes he can go straight in, and in just
20 seconds we can be loading the next vehicle.
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?

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: 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?

May - June 2010 43

43
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL
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.
PHOTO: GBHL
SEA TO ROAD: A
truck loads grain
for upcountry
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
44 May - June 2010
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 fill 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 — five 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 final 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.
 SPECIAL REPORT GBHL

‘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 first 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 firms 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-
PHOTO: GBHL
ing religious leader and a scholar. And my own fa- TO THE COMMUNITY:
ther, Mohamed Jaffer, who was a pre-Independence GBHL is a
councillor in Mombasa, and a very fiery political ac- compassionate
tivist of that time. So we have over the years excelled Corporate
in various fields, 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

May - June 2010 45

45
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL

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 first 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 official 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

46 May - June 2010


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 influence
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-
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL
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 significance 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 first
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 first 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 efficient offloading 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 first 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
May - June 2010 47
47
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL
‘Thank You All for a D
he following is the
T 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
officials 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 officially 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
48 May - June 2010
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
benefits 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, finds 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 selfish 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 benefit 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 sacrifices 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-

a Dream Come True’
tor and in April last year the Board
found him fit 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 first met him, motivated me to
follow my dream. He said “Jaffer,
developing anything is difficult.
Whether it is to help build a na-
tion, community, family or an or-
ganisation is difficult.
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
officials 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
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL
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 fledged 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…
May - June 2010 49
49
SPECIAL REPORT GBHL
your first 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 fulfilled, some raised
by the financiers, 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 financiers
would commit the first 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
IN THE SHIPS HOLD: have no regrets.
Cutting edge I set out to establish a world-class grain terminal
technology at the Kilindini port here in Mombasa, and I was able
for discharge of to achieve this. That gives me a great deal of satisfac-
grain from vessel tion, and I do not feel any regret about other oppor-
PHOTO: GBHL
50 May - June 2010
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, flows 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 find 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 offloaded 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 offload 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 offload, leading
to enormous savings in the final 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.
>>Fostering Private Sector Interests PG 74

SPECIAL REPORT
>> 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
EABC SPECIAL REPORT
Bring Back Cement Tax,
Manufacturers Urge EA Govts
Massive foreign dumping depresses the market for local product
By DEA CORRESPONDENT
I
n 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
52 May - June 2010
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 specific 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
 EABC SPECIAL REPORT

the seven cement manufacturing in the long run have a negative situation changes,” says EACPA.
plants in East Africa, which em- impact on the local industry. They But even with the challenge of
ploy more than 5,000 people, the argue that the local cement indus- dumping, the sector stills seems
Community must intervene and try is faced with high production lucrative to players with the recent
restore sanity in the sector.” costs resulting from high energy entry of the world’s largest cement
EACPA also wants Uganda's and labour costs and a poor dis- producer, the Sanghi Group of In-
request to import Duty- free ce- tribution network. dia, which has won a tender to ex-
ment products from Asia revoked. Although the EAC Common Ex- tract limestone in West Pokot. Its
Njoroge says since the establish- ternal Tariff is in three tariff bands subsidiary, Cemtech Limited, is
ment of the EAC Customs Union — zero per cent for raw materials, already on the ground to establish
protocol in January 2005, cement 10 per cent for intermediate goods an ultra-modern cement plant.
has been classified as a sensitive and 25 per cent for finished prod- The landmark mining rights were
product with a Duty rate of 55 per ucts — goods considered sensi- wholly granted to the cement gi-
cent: 25 per cent Common Exter- tive, like cement, often attract a ant on October 31, 2008, by the
nal Tariff (CET) and Suspended higher tariff. Industrialisation Ministry and the
Duty of 30 per cent. The partner At the establishment of the County Council of Pokot
states also agreed that the CET on EAC in 2004, cement producers According to the Sanghi Group
cement should be reduced by five negotiated the CET and agreed director in charge of Africa invest-
per cent each year for the subse- that cement was to be considered ments, Mr Rajesh Kumar Rawal,
quent four years to stabilise at a a sensitive product due to its capi- the proposed plant will look at
target rate of 35 per cent by 2009. tal intensive investment require- various grades of lime, marble
The tariff was designed to safe- ments. stone production and “investigate
guard the cement industry in the EACPA says Tanzania is one of the possibility of exploring for
region from the threat of dumping the worst-hit countries in the re- further limestone, volcanic ash
by low-cost producers. It would gion, having received substantial and gypsum deposits” in the sur-
also cushion local cement prices subsidised cement imports from rounding areas.
from subsidies given to importers Asia, Pakistan in particular, flood- “We expect to produce more
by their respective governments. ing its local market sometimes at than 6 0 ,0
00 , 00 ttonnes
600,000 onness off ccem
on emen
cemententt
“The EACPA is deeply con- prices below those charged on lo- per annum in the initial pha h se. We
phase.
cerned att these thes
th ese e developments cally produced cement. will then expand to over one mil-
and is worried about the sur vival
i l
survival “S
Som
ome
“Some e factories
factori
t ies have been lion ton
lion ttonnes
onne
on ness in sub
ne ssubsequent
ubse
ubsequ
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as
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duct
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production. ion.
n. However, this will be subj bject to
subject t
if tthe
he p arrtn
tner
partner er sta
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tate
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Some hav
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ime
corr
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action,” n,” Mr Nj N joroge
joro
Njoroge ge send
se ndi
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ing workers
sending workrker
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lleave
ve. ThThe ston
sto e usable for ccement
stone em
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said
sa id
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said.d. lo
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local ceme
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ment
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companies ess a
and
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facturing,” Ra
awa
wall sa
Rawal d
said
id
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Eco
Ec onnomis
ommis
Economists ists
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arg
rgue
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tha
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tional
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ll
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unleless
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unlessss tthi
hiss
hi
this

May - June 2010 53

 EABC SPECIAL REPORT
B
usiness 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’ Confidence 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 significant
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
54 May - June 2010
Poll: Investors See
Political Risk as Priority
Regional Concern
Synovate 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
of TZ’s business leaders told
Synovate that competition is
the major risk facing them
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-

EMOTIVE:
Kenyas take the
law in their hands
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
POLLS CHAOS: biggest business risk facing the
A Kenyan policeman country at 49 per cent, followed by
battles rioters' inferno 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,
May - June 2010
EABC SPECIAL REPORT
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 confidence level at 91.7
per cent, followed by the financial
services sector at 73.3 per cent and
telecommunications sector at 66.3
per cent.
Overall, the country has a busi-
ness confidence level of 66.3 per
cent. In Kenya, the financial ser-
vices sector leads with a 73 per cent
confidence 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 confidence 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
55
EABC SPECIAL REPORT

High Energy Costs in

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

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
chiefly 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-

56 May - June 2010

 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
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 firms coming up
with strategies to improve efficiency
in consumption. So far, these firms
have made savings of up to $36 mil-
lion in energy bills, according to the
Centre for Energy Efficiency and
Conservation.
As part of its approaches to en-
courage energy efficiency, the CEEC
has introduced the Energy Manage-
ment Awards to recognise firms for
their contribution to energy con-
servation. The CEEC estimates that
the 200 firms that participated in
the recently-held sixth edition of
the Energy Management Awards to
recognise firms 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 beneficiaries. 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 five 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 benefits 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, simplification or elimination of
rules of origin and addressing the
multiple Custom Union member-
ships by some partner states
May - June 2010 57
 EABC SPECIAL REPORT
Business Community at the
Heart of EAC Integration
The Chairman of the East African Business Council Mr FAUSTIN BUNDU makes
a compelling case for the private sector’s key contribution to the Community
T
he 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-fledged 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,
financial, 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
58 May - June 2010
realisation of the economic inte-
gration is a clear reflection 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
SECTOR LEADERS: issues to the EAC Summit and ad-
Chairman Bundu and dressing the issues pertaining to
Vice Chairman Kiilu at rules of origin and double taxa-
a regional function 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

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
T
he East African Busi-
ness Council (EABC)
is the apex body of
private sector associa-
tions and corporates
from the five 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 diversified, competitive, export-
led, integrated and sustainable
economy and our Mission is to
promote private sector regional
and global competitiveness in
trade and investment.
OBJECTIVES
Our activities are focused not
only on leveraging all issues that
impede full realisation of potential
benefits 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
Our Vision is to developing and promoting the EAC
be an effective as a preferred investment location;
change agent developing and promoting the EAC
as a reliable and quality source of
for fostering products/services and an unrivaled
an enabling destination of tourism.
business The promotion of an enabling
environment for business in East
environment
Africa, through addressing those
for a diversified, factors that make the environment
competitive, uncompetitive, such as poor infra-
export-led, structure, high energy costs, poor
access to finance, a poor legal and
integrated and regulatory framework, among oth-
sustainable ers.
economy and Ensuring smooth implemen-
tation of the EAC Customs Union
our Mission is to by engaging EAC leadership and
promote private partner states government on im-
sector regional pediments such as non-tariff barri-
ers, lack of harmonisation of laws,
and global
unpredictability of policy, among
competitiveness others.
in trade and Provision of information and
investment sensitising the business sector in
East Africa to the EAC integration
May - June 2010
EABC SPECIAL REPORT
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.
FOCUS
A smooth implementation of a
fully fledged 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
59
EABC SPECIAL REPORT
‘Mitumba’ Menace Must Go if Motor
Industry is to Flourish — GMEA Boss
MR BILL LAY, Chairman, Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers Association (KVMA) and CEO of
General Motors East Africa Ltd., spoke to DEA’s BOB WEKESA
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 benefit from the un-
controlled importation of over-aged,
undervalued mitumba imports. This is
the case in all five 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 benefit from the Customs Union
since it was launched January 1, 2005. In fact, the cost of
advocating for EAC market access and fighting 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
60 May - June 2010
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 field 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 filled 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 figures 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

PHARMACEUTICALS
GlaxoSmithKline Launches
Ambitious Marketing Offensive
Product prices now pegged on buying power
By PATRICK WACHIRA
G
laxoSmithKline
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 profit-
ability in the initial stages, “we
may not recoup profits 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 flagship 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 profits 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 field 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
significant 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 unified
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
EABC SPECIAL REPORT
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
COUNT- the board”, says Musunga.
ERFEITS: In Kenya such a process would
Glaxo take a year, in Uganda one-and-
MD John a-half and in Tanzania anything
Musunga between eight months and five
explains years. Uganda has fewer innova-
the tive products, though.
menace
What is required is a unified 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 outfits 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.
May - June 2010 61
 EABC SPECIAL REPORT

Patients, he says, should not be taxed

over situations they have no control over Safari Park Hotel & Casino ‘A world of Wonder …
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 flourish and citizens
reap the attendant benefits.
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 profits.
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 profitability 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
S
afari 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-
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of 205 rooms, decorated and
tastefully furnished with a
taste of Africa with private rear
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The luxurious rooms have high speed wire- nyan tea, coffee and a variety of juices.
less and cabled internet connectivity, Safe and A variety of great entertainment and lei-
24 hours room service. It’s considered as the sure facilities is available; Sensual Safari Cats
leading leisure and conference hotel in East dancers & Acrobats, Paradise Casino, Cats
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taurants offer the finest dining in Nairobi and cilities.
are the most inviting, each uniquely decorated The hotel prides in its wide range of con-
in traditional themes ranging from the Far temporary to traditional designed meeting
East to Europe. The Nyama Choma Ranch, the and banquet venues with capacity for over
only African Restaurant in Nairobi is an ideal 1200 delegates.
affordable stopover for tourists on Safaris to It is the home for the Meetings, Incentives,
and from Mt Kenya or post conference tours. Conferences and Events (MICE) market. For
The Arirang Café, the latest’s Safari Park Ho- that memorable wedding, ballroom or gar-
tel’s coffee shop, operates from the heart of den; ceremony, beautiful reception and to
the Kenyatta International Conference Center your honeymoon, the hotel is voted as the top
offers delicious bitings, quality beverage, Ke- wedding venue in Africa.

62 May - June 2010


•WITH A LIGHT TOUCH
HUMOUR
Protocol Means Bowing until
You Eyeball the Red Carpet
By BALOZI DIPLOMACIA
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 find me deferring and curtsey-
ing to nearly all officials; 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 office, 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
office 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.
Seriously Lighthearted
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 fit 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
EABC SPECIAL REPORT
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-
ficulties 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 fits the bill,” the leader
May - June 2010 63
63

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 fibres of a red carpet?
Close encounters with the woven
wool or synthetic fibres of red car-
VIDEDI COMICS 2010
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 Office, right at the gate
leading to the office, 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 definitely not my cup of tea! I
broke into a trot and managed to
stop that potentially ignominious
breach headline: Labour loses one voter! Brown will live to regret meeting that voter!
64 May - June 2010
•WITH A LIGHT TOUCH
Seriously Lighthearted
MR. AMBASSADOR BY K. VIDEDI
SIR , A LETTER
FROM OUR BELOVED EEH. . . .SIR, I HAVE BEEN
BAD NEWS.
COUNTRY. POSTED TO
THANK YOU.
SOMALIA !
AMBA
SSADO AMBA
R SSADO
R
Debts deficits, PIGS!
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.
Mad about Laughter Be Seen and heard
Early in May there was a workshop in When Hurricane Katrina struck in the
Zimbabwe in which participants were US state Louisiana, then President
taught how to laugh and the importance of George Bush was accused of dilly-dallying
laughter. in Washington as the people, mainly African
There were no jokes told and all participants Americans suffered at the hands of Mother
were supposed to do was to make faces and in- Nature.
duce laughter. A participant was quoted on radio In April the BP-owned oil platform in the
as saying that at first it was a bit tacky but later Gulf of Mexico exploded and unleashed what
all were rocking and rollicking with laughter. could well be the largest spillage since Exxon
Over in India thousands gathered to celebrate Valdez. President Obama was accused of
the day of laughter and all were encouraged to waiting for more than a week before visiting
laugh their heads off. Indeed, TV footage showed the area.
people in various stages of laughing, trying to If evidence were ever needed, this is it – poli-
laughing and coming up for air before resuming tics is about being seen and being heard. If
the laughing again. a disaster befalls some place in the US, the
Perhaps the time not to take life seriously has President should immediately move to the
come or perhaps Collective Madness Day should area and announce all measures of dealing
be inaugurated. with and or containing it, from the location.
The bigot leaked
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

Is Oratory a Dying Art?
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
L
eafing 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 define
people’s ways and beliefs.
Oratory — speech-making and
persuasion in general — therefore
occupy the very confluence 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
•CULTURE
REVIEWS•RAVES•REVUES•REPASTS
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 find its way to
the mainstream school curriculum
May - June 2010
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
65
65
 •CULTURE
Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
IN THE BEGINNING
The Cradle of Intellect
Unlike stereotypes to the contrary, Our Culture
correspondent, CAROL GACHIENGO, goes on an investigative
beat and finds Africa has a long history of and in
diplomacy
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 first 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 “firsts”
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
66 May - June 2010
had a Minister for Etiquette and
Protocol in the 16th Century.
Given the stunning facts about
Africa’s accomplishments in a
wide variety of fields, 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 first 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.
IMHOTEP
Ask 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,
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 confining his genius to
one field 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’S
Evidence 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 first 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-
entific 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
first 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-
flict resolution. At its peak, the Uni-
versity had 25,000 students.
METAL
Over 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! used to help in the Haiti and Chile
Ancient African
Inventions and
Discoveries You May
Not Know About
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.
Persons
of pacific AFRICAN INVENTIONS OF THE
temperament, MODERN WORLD
Paul Kaine, a Nigerian engineer,
good
invented a pocket electronic map that
judgment, was patented in France and is now
genuine used all over the world.
disposition In South Africa, the entrepreneur
Rajan Harinarain’s response to the
and empathy housing of disaster stricken popula-
are generally tions was to invent a foldaway house
referred to as — complete with door, windows
and electrical fittings — that can be
cultured men erected in five minutes.
and women 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
disasters
And where this all came from—I suspect—there’s
yet more…much more!
May - June 2010 67
67

African-made Movies
Take Kenya and TZ by Storm
Nollywood, Riverwood and Bongowood make feature films and
TV soaps that are fast overtaking Hollywood’s in many regional
cinema halls and living rooms, reports XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
L
ast 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 reflection of an African set-
ting.
For instance, some of the mov-
ies delve into Africa’s history. Con-
68 May - June 2010
•CULTURE
Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
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 reflect 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, flooded the market, she opened a
new library which she said will never fill
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 benefits 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
find 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

BOOKS
Africa's Urban
Youth Culture Roots
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
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 influences 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
•CULTURE
Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
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
often left out of public discourse.
Hip-hop, as the book says, is a tool
that, if used sufficiently, should
engage the youth in a public dis-
course on sexuality.
And so after the three years of
field 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 discomfiture (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
May - June 2010 69
69
 •CULTURE
Reviews•Raves•Revues•Repasts
FASHION
Dazzling Style:
Designer Delights
in Flamboyance
By JANE MWANGI
I
t 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,
refined 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 finest 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 first 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
flamboyant. “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 first 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 reflects 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 outfit.
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 influential
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 fly-
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 warp and woof of high fashion,
fashion simply because the time GRACEFUL: Paulina loves watching movies.
may not be right, as long as you Paulina-George “When I watch a movie I see the
have the idea and passion you can dresses the fashion aspect of it; from the setting
achieve anything”. crème de and stylish décor to the clothes,”
On her vision for her creations, la crème of says the queen of fashion who
she says, “next year I plan to start society draws inspiration from Yves Saint
mass production, my vision for Laurent: “His style is like mine, he
Paulina-George has already begun has always been the designer who
as I have my own personalised makes me stop and look.”
shoes and am looking to person- Life is simply beautiful for this
alise wrist-watches and kitenge. fashion icon who does not know
She is not limited to design- how to be sad. Her parting words:
ing clothes as she also helped to “Little drops of water make a
complete the design of their first mighty ocean and humility goes
home in Runda — from the colour a long way in fashion as you are
scheme to the tiles. dealing with people. I have not
When she is not working in the given my best yet”
May - June 2010 71
71
 •DEA HOTELS
Lifestyles & Hospitality
GRAND: Elegance defined
Enjoy the 'Shisha'
at Laico Regency Nairobi
Based on six centuries of refinement, the
hubble-bubble is a flavour-filled experience
By DEA CORRESPONDENT
STATUS
BAROMETER:
T
he 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.
72 May - June 2010
PROCESS
Tobacco 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 filtered as it is drawn through
the water-filled, 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 flavours smoked. In the
place of hardcore tobacco, there is
flavour added and different presen-
tations, and, hence, the present-day
elegant and enticing shisha, which
is now a signature appeal in leading
restaurants and five-star hotels.
SHISHA TODAY
Shisha 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 flavours 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 flowers and
take the Shisha trip with friends @
Laico Regency, Nairobi, Kenya
Loita Street/Uhuru Highway
PO Box 57549 (00200) Nairobi, Kenya
www.laicohotels.com
 •EDUCATION
PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE
ICT: Knowledge in cyber space
Empowering Africa
through e-Learning
The East African region has vast potential for
this very lucrative service sub-sector
By DEA CORRESPONDENT
P
roviding 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 benefits 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
Africa through e-learning.
in Accord- stressed that curriculum delivery
ing to Microsoft’s Mark Matunga, will be a joint effort.
the worldwide corporation is in The multipoint server was of-
partnership with the Govern- ficially launched during the con-
ment of Kenya, USAID, Cisco and ference showcasing another in-
Intel, where they are working to novation from Microsoft. Charles
establish a School Technology Sakari, Microsoft’s technology
Innovation Centre in Nairobi, a specialist, said that it enables one
model that has been promoted in PC to be shared by many users
other countries through the Mi- therefore giving each user their
crosoft Partners in Learning (PiL) own computing experience. “It is
programme. “We want teachers already in the East African market;
to promote e-learning and carry furthermore it is cost-effective and
our flag high,” Matunga said. He interactive”
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E-mail: info@malaysiakenya.com
Lower Grd Floor, Nginyo Towers,
Koinange Street, Nairobi, Kenya
P.O. Box 15886, GPO 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: 254 20 2251132/3 Fax: 254 20 2251083
Email: vincent@malaysiakenya.com
Website: www.malaysiakenya.com
May - June 2010 73
73
 •HEALTH
Mind•Body•Soul
Executive Clinic
Offers a Preventive
Healthcare Service
Created specifically 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 afflict life-in-the-fast-lane lifestyles
T
he 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
first 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
74 May - June 2010
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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 •CONFERENCING
Conference Tourism is
Ultimate Niche Market
SHITEMI 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
S
urvivor 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 fire and the security for every-
Meetings & Events
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
BRIEFLY
BRAZIL
Tourism Revenue Up
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.
PHILIPPINES
Aviation Woes
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,
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
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 AUDITORIUM The airline, however, will still
AT KICC: have to pare its workforce by
Conferences have a 3,000 employees and pay up to
huge multiplier effect 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.
— Reports by Xinhua News Agency
May - June 2010 77
77
 •CONFERENCING
Meetings & Events

sub-sector primarily revolving

around service provision to busi-
ness travelers attending seminars,
film shoots, workshops, seminars
and conferences”.
Conferences offer a huge mul-
tiplier effect when they are held
in a city. Primary beneficiaries are
tour operators, hotels, transport
providers, restaurants, curio deal-
ers and conference service provid-
ers. Furthermore, private security
firms, 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

PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY

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-
STATS sist in the logistical preparations
&FACTS of the Commonwealth Conference
in Uganda last year. However, bu-
Mombasa is reaucratic issues vetoed this ven-
ture. An integrated Community
an ideal place, would have allowed this confer-
with a bed ence to pass through Maniago’s
capacity of over hands. That notwithstanding the
World Economic Forum meeting
10,000, the scheduled for Arusha should pro-
warm climate vide a springboard for increased
and a variety opportunities from experts in this
field.
of tourist Furthermore, accessing logisti-
attraction sites cal facilities like cars, translation
augmenting its and other expertise will be has-
appeal 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 find 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 confidence
that “in terms of conference tour-
ism, there is no other company
that has that niche like us”

78 May - June 2010


CLEAN DEVELOPMENT
EA Carbon Market
Ground-breacking initiatives to bring in environmental and financial benefits
By DEA CORRESPONDENT
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
benefits 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 financier 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 financial ben-
efits to local communities in the
Ethiopian highlands is under-
way, thus becoming Africa’s first
large- scale forestry project under
the Kyoto Protocols. The scheme,
dubbed the Humbo Assisted
•CONFERENCING
Meetings & Events
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
MOTHER NATURE: Natural Regeneration Project, will
Forests clean cut an estimated 880,000 met-
environment of ric tones of carbon dioxide from
pollutants
the atmosphere over the next 30
years. Project financing 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 benefit from
May - June 2010
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 finance 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 benefits will stem
from the reduction of soil erosion
and flooding. 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
financing 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
79
79
 •CONFERENCING
Meetings & Events

tions, Kibaki challenged the media

PAN-AFRICAN MEDIA CONFERENCE to rise from its current understand-
ing of Press freedom to embrace the

Is The Press to concept of responsible journalism.

He added that the task of fighting
graft, nepotism, the challenges of
global warming and enabling the citi-

Blame for Africa's zenry to make informed decisions lay

squarely on the media.
The Aga Khan was of the opinion

Unflattering Image? that media freedom required vigi-

lance and was not a licence to abuse.
The sensitive matter of remunera-
By PATRICK WACHIRA tion also reared its head, with the Aga
Khan, who owns majority shares in

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 Camus
THE 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
CAUCUS: Group, the largest news corporation
Kenya's Premier Raila in East and Central Africa, drew emi-
Odinga (left) confers nent personalities that ranged from
with the Aga Khan, heads of state to media practitioners
President Kibaki and and investors in the industry.
Tanzania's former And the role of the media in ei-
President Benjamin ther stemming or fuelling conflict in
Mkapa a continent beset by armed antago-
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
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 NMG, saying that journalistic in-
dependence depended on financial
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
conflict.
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-

the number of outlets which have ing news they have great value; but
grown from just 16 radio stations they can also constitute calls to ven-
and six TV stations in 1999 to over 80 geance and fan the spread of deadly
radio stations and at least 19 TV sta- violence

80 May - June 2010

 •AT THE WHEEL
ON A ROLL: World's largest car market
China Takes the Mother-in-Law
Ride from the Land of ABBA
By KWENDO OPANGA
I
n the 1980s the joke went
that Sweden’s chief exports
were rock and roll. Rock was
exemplified 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 fitted the bill.
Though for a long time Volvo was
not known to be sleek and stylish,
Motoring
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 firm 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 confidently sold
itself as being in the company or an
accessory of the affluent. 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
May - June 2010 81
81
 •GLOBAL STAGE
Window on World

Swift Transition
Marks Yar’Adua’s
Protracted Exit
Nigerians have been waiting so long to heave a collective other world leaders and field ques-
sigh of relief, one way or another, over President Yar’Ardua’s tions from the media on such varied
predicament, that, at precisely the point they were able issues as democracy in Nigeria, elec-
toral reform and fighting corruption.
to do so — his passing — a watching world ponders for the The agenda Jonathan set himself
next act in West Africa’s preeminent economy, population on being appointed Acting Head of
PHOTO: XINHUA

and power, writes KWENDO OPANGA 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

T
he 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 fill 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: the 2007 Presidential election.
President When he was informed of the
Yar' Adua death of the President, Jonathan
battled with moved swiftly and deliberately, as a
a prolonged man comfortable in his station, to
ailment call meetings of senior government
officials 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 fighting cor-
ruption were hampered by ill health.
He was reported to have been

82 May - June 2010


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 fitness to
a game of squash.
Yar’Adua was the first
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 officials 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
firm 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 first 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
•GLOBAL STAGE
Window on World
favour. their term and it is just possible
Yar’Adua did acknowledge that some PDP stalwarts from the
when he took the reins of power north will run a candidate against
in May 2007 that the election had the President.
not been perfect, and that he was That does not make for a unit-
aware there were aggrieved par- ed party going into a an election
ties. He however advised these which means the new President
parties to seek redress in the will have his hands full running
courts. government, keeping northerners
Some would argue that his and southerners and other Nigeri-
quest for electoral reform was ans in PDP happy, as well as keep-
informed by his experience dur- ing the party itself together.
ing his controversial nomination To pick a leaf from the Jonathan
as the PDP’s flag-bearer and the book, these are bridges he will
Presidential election itself. Many cross when he comes to them. But
will want to see Jonathan carry he it was who also said in March
through this quest. regarding the many issues he has
But the new President has only to tackle that “although the time
LUCKY BREAK:
nine months to see through the President is short, like a determined athlete,
promises he and Yar’Adua made Jonathan look we need no more than 100 metres
on the stump and which he reit- over the reins of to make our mark on the sands of
erated on being appointed act- power good governance”
ing President and which he has
now inherited as successor to
Yar’Adua.
When asked recently y if he
onathan
would run for President, Jonathan
ridge he
replied that that was a bridge
would cross when he came me to it.
Now he must think aboutt it seri-
ously because come the next
election next year, he willl
clearly have unfinished
business he and PDP
would like to tackle.
Second, there is the he
DP’s
little local difficulty of PDP’s
arrangement which requires quires
changed
that the Presidency be exchanged
between the north and south.
Yar’Adua was a northerner, ner, but
did not complete his term. m.
Jonathan is a southerner,ner, but
will not have had a full termm come
PHOTO: XINHUA
May 29, 2011, when Yar’Adua’s r’Adua’s
term would have come to an end.
He will have served a little le more
r’Adua’s
than a year of what was Yar’Adua’s
term.
It is possible that the north-
erners in PDP will argue ue that
they deserve a full term. It is
also possible that south-
erners will demand
May - June 2010 83
83
 •ENVOYS OF SPORT
The World Cup

Let
fiction were ever to invade Earth,
they could not choose a more ap-
propriately diversionary moment
than the World Cup final, what-
ever the teams in contention —
month-long extravaganza, filled
with the best of famed African
hospitality, humour, wit and fun.
With makarapa on their heads,
vuvuzela in their mouths, palms

the the element of surprise would be

total.
This year the Cup — and the
World — come to that location in
on drums, feet stomping, hips
swaying and in good voice, proud
and loud with it, Africans will wel-
come the world.

Party
Africa known as South Africa.
And both the mega event and
the world will get a welcome
truly befitting Africa — they will
In the stands and VIP boxes,
resplendent swathes of glittering
traditional and national garb and
the varied and valued colours of

Begin
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-
The FIFA World Cup wise comport themselves — than
tournament is the in any other. The world is com-
planet s premier ing to South Africa for the 19th
FIFA World Cup fully expecting
plenipotentiary of sport to be enticed, entranced and en-
thralled by African rhythm, from
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

T
he 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 final is
always a moment when the globe
stands still. If the aliens of science
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
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 confidently predict:

84 May - June 2010

 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 flying 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 fine 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 fiesta
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 first 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 first
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
MADIBA: thing — and the greatest Envoy of
Brought Cup to Africa Sport known to the world yet.
Welcome to Africa! Welcome to
the FIFA 2010 World Cup!
PHOTO: GRAPHIC BY DAN
May - June 2010 85
85
 •ENVOYS OF SPORT
The World Cup
Africa and the World Cup
As the battle of titans reaches its zenith PRIMO LOMBARDO
compares and contrasts the teams
A
fter 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
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
bidding process in Zurich.
Creditably, the developing Rainbow
Nation has done exceptionally well to put
in place the requisite infrastructure for the
86 May - June 2010
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 field 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
 that make up the Fifa football fam-
ily across eight decades.
Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria,
Ghana and the Ivory Coast are the
other flag-bearers of a continent
that has yet to fulfill 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 flat
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 figure 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 finals 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 midfielder
Michael Essien fit for the finals.
Essien, considered a vital cog in
PHOTO: DEA LIBRARY
the Black Stars’ midfield, 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.
ALGERIA
Algeria 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 finals ahead
of Egypt, who they pipped to the
berth via a play-off.
Saadane led Algeria in Mexico
’86, where they finished 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
find 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-
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.
CAMEROON
If 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.
THRILLER:
Yaya Toure And as Pele said of Argentine
(left) of Ivory star Lionel Messi, “They are al-
Coast and ways trying to compare someone
Samuel Eto'o to Pele. But I always joke with my
(below) of Argentine friends that they must
Cameroon first 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.
NIGERIA
A 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 flattered to deceive
after their second round perfor-
May - June 2010 87
87

PHOTOS: DEA LIBRARY
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 confidence 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-
88 May - June 2010
•ENVOYS OF SPORT
The World Cup
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
field of play.
A second round ticket would
be an outstanding result for Lager-
back.
BATTLE ROYALE:
From Top GHANA
(clockwise) Black Stars hopes of bettering
Algeria's their second round showing have
Desert Foxes, received some battering with the
South africa's news of Michael Essien’s nagging
Bafana Bafana, knee injury.
Ivory Coast's
If Ghana can solve Essien’s injury
Elephants
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.

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 qualified for the finals
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 COAST
The fixture 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
Africa. The studious former Eng-
land coach is a firm 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 AFRICA
The 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 qualified for the second
round.
France will seek to put behind
them the shame of having to qual-
ify for the finals 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
difficult 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 finishing 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
find the goal scorers as Thembikosi
Fanteni, Bernard Parker, Katlego
Mphela, Katlego Mashego, Gert
Schalkwyk or the recalled Siyabon-
ga Nomvethe are simply not find-
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.
REARING TO GO: The comfort of playing in front
Ghana's Black Stars of their fans could help spur Bafa-
na Bafana into the second round
ahead of Mexico and Uruguay
May - June 2010 89
89
 •ENVOYS OF SPORT
The World Cup
AMBASSADORIAL TAKE
It’s an Image-changing
Event, says German Envoy
HE MARGIT HELLWIG-BOETTE extrapolates
the benefits
of the tournament for Africa and the world
T
he 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
MARGIT HELLWIG:
It's wonderfull to host
World cup
90 May - June 2010
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 flag. 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 benefits to
the country and the people. South
Africa and Africa should expect
the same benefits.”
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”
 •ENVOYS OF SPORT
The World Cup

Stars Skills
and Thrills
Robin van Persie-
e
Netherlands
Versatile player who is used mainly as a Michael Ballack - Germany
winger in the national team and as a central This is likely to be the last major tournament for the
striker at Arsenal. Played all four matches German captain who is desperate for World Cup suc-
at the 2006 World Cup finals and scored cess after collecting a runners-up medal in 2002.
against Ivory Coast in group stages. Missed The midfielder also finished on the losing side at
most of the English Premier League cam- Euro 2008. Ballack has mended ties with Loew after
paign through injury. a public spat following Euro 2008.

Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal

Has 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.

Wayne Rooney -England

Already 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.

92 May - June 2010

 Jon Obi Mikel -
Nigeria
Chelsea’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.

Lionel Messi -
Argentina
A brave little genius to
whose left foot the ball
seems wedded. With that
The Toure brothers Yaya and Kolo – Cote D’Ivoire foot he will dodge his way
Burly Yaya (left) has the rare ability to play the roles of holding and attacking midfielder through a forest of de-
as well central defender. Big brother Kolo though smaller is a central defender who also fenders, dummy goalkeepers, lift the ball above
charges forward to end up in the box of opponents. defenders and goalkeepers and singlehandedly
Yaya plays for Spain’s FC Barcelona while Kolo plies his trade at England’s Manchester destroy teams. Without doubt the best player in
City where he is captain. the world.

Samuel Eto’o - Cameroon
A 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.
Andrea Pirlo- Italy
The 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.
Arjen Robben -
Netherlands
Good 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.
Kaka – Brazil
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.

Franck Ribery - France Didier Drogba – Cote D’Ivoire

Xavi
Hernandez -
Spain
FC 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.
He jinks and Big, tall and strong, Drog-
ducks as he ba is a powerfully built
hugs the left and menacing predator.
touchline or cuts He is armed with a fierce
deep into the shot, killer instinct and
field to set team hunger for ball and goal
mates and self that sends shivers down
into probing de- the spine of even sea-
fences, knocking soned defenders. When
the ball around Drogba is not heading or
and teasing opponents into making kicking them in he is heading and kicking the
mistakes. The Bayern Munich playmaker ball away from his box in a defensive role.
has speed and an explosive shot. A desperate Drogba is dangerously volatile.

May - June 2010 93

93
 •ENVOYS OF SPORT
The World Cup
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 official 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 benefits from en-
hanced global media exposure, and an association with
FIFA s special events and development initiatives.
DEA: How many flights 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 five daily flights
to South Africa (three daily flights to Johannesburg, one
daily flight 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
fly to the World Cup, considering that Kenya Airways,
Air Malawi, Rwanda Air, South African Airways, etc., are
all flying to South Africa? What special offer is Emirates
94 May - June 2010
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 flights, accommodation,
ground transportation and match tickets through our
Emirates’ FIFA World Cup 2010 Travel Packages.
These packages give customers flexibility 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 flights to South Africa, five 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 final match which includes interna-
tional flights to South Africa with Emirates, three nights
hotel accommodation in the customer’s selected base
camp, a Category 1 match ticket for the final 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 fly them to SA directly?
AHMAD: All customers flying 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
 •DIARY
Looking Forward

AITEC Kenya ICT Congress 2010 UPCOMING NATIONAL DAYS

7-8 September 2010 COUNTRY DAY
Algeria July 5
Argentina July 9
Kenyatta International Conference Centre Nairobi, Kenya
Bahamas July 10
INTRODUCTION Belarus July 3
Kenya’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 Belgium July 21

will provide an ideal opportunity for the country’s ICT managers Burundi July 1
and professionals to assess the impact this transformation will Cape Verde July 5
have on their organisations and what are the optimum strategies Colombia July 20
and technologies they should deploy to maximise the benefits. Democratic Republic of the Congo June 30
In addition, the exhibition will provide a platform for vendors to Croatia June 25
promote and launch their new and improved ICT products and Djibouti June 27
services to decision-makers in government and business.
Iceland June 17
Kenya June 1
WHO SHOULD EXHIBIT
Liberia July 26
The expo is a showcase for Information and Communication
Technology products and services and therefore invites Madagascar June 26
all companies involved in this sector. These will include Malawi July 6
Telecommunication Service Providers, Mobile Phone Operators, Maldives July 26
Computer Hardware Resellers, Computer Accessories Suppliers, Mozambique June 25
Software Developers, Web Solutions Developers, Systems Peru July 28
Integrators, ICT Consultants, Training, Internet Service Providers, Philippines June 12
Data Operators, Communication Equipment Resellers and ICT
Russia June 12
Projects and Programmes.
Rwanda July 1
Samoa June 1
CONFERENCE
The exhibition will run in tandem with a conference on the latest São Tomé and Príncipe July 12

developments in the ICT sector. Areas that will be discussed Seychelles June 29
include: Policy, legal and regulatory issues, applications and Solomon Islands July 7
new technologies. Some of the areas to be covered will include Solomon Islands July 7
mBanking, eCommerce, mGovernment, eHeath, eProcurement, Tonga June 4
eSecurity, Policy and Strategies on Telecommunication United States July 4
Infrastructure Development, Datawarehousing, Security and Vanuatu July 30
Rural Connectivity.
Venezuela July 5

UNITED NATIONS CALENDAR

JUNE EVENT

4 International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

5 World Environment Day
17 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
20 World Refugee Day
23 United Nations Public Service Day
26 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

JULY

First Saturday International Day of Cooperatives

11 World Population Day

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