THERE IS NO SIGN OF ANY WATER DEAL IN SIGHT A YEAR AFTER DRAFT TRICKY DRAFT AGREEMENT ON THE FUTURE USE OF NILE WATERS.
News Analysis Leo
Odera Omolo
It is now more than a year since water Ministers from countries in the Nile Basin region concluded negotiating a draft agreement to govern the future use of River Nile waters.
When the Ministers concluded the nine year long negotiations last year, they failed to agree on one of the 39 articles {Article 14} of the draft agreement concerning water security for the riparian states.
The agreement stems from an attempt by Egypt and Sudan to protect “current uses rights” of riparian states on the River Nile waters in the new agreement.
Part of the fiercely contested articles reads as follows;-“Nile Basin States agree…not to significantly affect the water security of any other Nile Basin State.”
Seven countries agreed to this text, but Egypt and Sudan proposed an amendment to read,”..Not adversely affect the water security and current uses and right of any other Nile Basin States.”
Sources privy to the negotiating teams have revealed to this writer that some Ministers, particularly those from Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda had argued strongly that” current uses and rights” introduce aspects of the old agreement of benefit to only Egypt and the Sudan.
Critics of the on-going disagreement says that such an amendment would limit utilization of the river by countries who have already designed schemes for irrigation and back water transfers needed for their economic development.
Egypt and Sudan, however, stuck to their proposal because it is secured their rights.
Meanwhile industrialists operating in East Africa have committed themselves not to pollute Lake Victoria.
Manufacturers drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania – which share boundaries in the second largest fresh water lake in the world waters and Rwanda, adopted the resolution held in Kisumu over the weekend. The decision came at a time when the governments are trying to fund a common legal framework to tackle pollutions.
The Assistant Minister in the Ministry of the Industrialization Mr Ndiritu Murithi said that the government has a plan to establish a revolving fund to help small businesses upgrade their machinery in a concerted effort to reduce pollution.
Under voluntary code of conduct, companies in the lake basin have committed to incorporate environmentally sound measures in their operations. This code of conduct takes into consideration the enterprises core business concerns,”said Ms Jane Nyakang’o, the executive director of the Kenya National Cleaner Production Centre one of the participants at the Kisumu meeting..
Minister Murithi said 65 industries operating on the Kenyan side of the lake have already adopted steps to reduce the amount of effluent released in the environment.
He added that those firms had achieved up to 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption and further 30 per cent drop in rain materials and water consumption.
Lack of financing, Mr. Murithi noted, stood in the firms way toward implementation cleaner production.
Ms Nyakang’o said a policy and training manuals had been prepared during the three year Lake Victoria Regional Project on Cleaner Production and Sustainable consumption. She said, though, the revolving fund would not work under the World Bank policy that does not support onward lending.
The project that was funded by the Swedish Interntional Development Agency {SIDA} TO THE TUNE OF Kshs 47.6 million had harmonized manual targeted business and policy makers’
The KNCPC director Ms Nyakang’o explained that sustainable consumption and production involved waste prevention at the source as well as efficiently possible.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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REPORTS SAYS BRITISH FIRMS ARE LOSING BUSINESS INKENYA TO CHINESE AND INDIAN FIRMS
Business feature by Leo Odera Omolo
When Kenya purchased Toyota vehicles for its military and police forces instead they all pervasive land Rover , this signaled a radical change in effect ending the most favoured status enjoyed by imports sourced from its erstwhile colonial master the UK.
Another example is De la Rue, a UK based printing and security firm that has uninterruptedly printed Kenyan currency notes ever since independence. This particular firm is currently fighting hard t to retain it’s hitherto monopoly contract.
The administration of President Mwai Kibaki broke with tradition of inviting other internationally recognized firms to bid for the job.
The London based firm T&S Franklin Ltd for many years had served as a single-source supplier of Uniforms and military combat kits for the armed forces since Kenya “unshackled” itself from British colonial rule in 1963.
According to the weekly influecntial, The East Africa this form has recently been blackballed by Kenya’s department of Defence when its contract was unceremoniously terminated to the benefit of a Chinese firm.
Similarly, Brooke Morine and Vosper Thornier off, two British companies that have exclusively supplied ships to Kenya’s navy since its inception in the early 1964,have had to contend with the phenomenon of open tendering.
This change of fortune for British firms is captured in the official annual economic survey conducted by the Ministry of Finance.
In 2007, imports from the UK were worth Kshs 45,668 million (USD 7.6 million) compared to India’s Kshs 56,815 million (USD 9.5 million)
Compare this with the year 2001 during the preemptory reign of the retired President Daniel Arap Moi when UK imports totaled Kshs 21,989 million (USD 3.7 million) while China was at a much lower Kshs 6.792 million (USD 1.1 million) and Indian imports amounted to a relatively puny Kshs 12,830 million (USD 2.1 million)
Since replacement of Moi government in 2003,it has taken China and India three years only for their imports to Kenya to overtake those from the UK ,formerly a premier sources of imports.
“It is as a result of this prudent decision making that the Kenya government opened up the country to the Far East, including Asian countries. As a result, Kenya has been able to access countries that provide better deals” writes the EAST AFRICAN, quoting the former Permanent Secretary in the Kibaki administration Dr.Gerson Ikiara who is currently a senior lecturer at the Institute of Development studies at the University of Nairobi.
“In the past, procurement of government goods was shrouded in mystery. Then political consideration mattered more than economic sense,” says Dr Ikiara.
According to observations made by top economists in Nairobi,”
“The Asian countries offer competitively priced goods and services compared with the UK.
But at the same aggressive marketing skills of both Chinese Indian and Japan, which included soft financial “kickbacks”, cannot be ruled out.
Right now most of Kenya’s roads are either being refurbished or built a new by Chinese firms. And all in the country airports are also being upgraded by Chinese owned firms. This is after going through the process of open tendering,” Dr.Ikiara is further quoted as saying.
But a senior researcher Kwame Otieno with local tink-tank,the institute of Economic Altars (EEA),blames :the rigidity of the British system” as the fill up triggering the dip in British imports. The IAE is a non-governmental organization that promotes debate on policies issues.
Sources in Nairobi say that change in bilateral trade relations between the UK and Kenya is as a result of poor communication between the political leaders of the two countries in the recent past.
“If a Kenyan fro example wants to visit the UK, they face a lot of stringent requirement that act as hindrance. But if they wish to travel to the Far East, China or India, the process is enabling and travel friendly.
It is argued in some quarters that Moi regime that come to an end in 202 have very cordial relationship with the occupants of 10 downing street in London. Successive British governments’ delibatedly turned blind eye to the excesses of Moi government. As a result firms with British ties continued to receive lucrative contracts at the expense of other countries.
The Kibaki regime has been upbraided harshly, particularly by local British envoys, for failing to tame corruption in high places.
Confirming the bad blood between the two countries, sir Edward Clay, and British envoy from 2001 to 2005 was in early 2008 officially declared persona no grata by the Kenya government.
Both Presidents of Kenya and Tanzania seemed to have developed warm and cordial relations with China. Taking into account the members state visit to that country by both President Jakaya Kikwete and Mwai Kibaki.
There is also the arrival of massive Chinese counterfeit goods in East African markets.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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Date:Â Thu, 4 Sep 2008 04:26:41 -0700 (PDT)
From:Â Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: NILE WATER DEAL NOT IN SIGHT YET; BRITISH FIRMS LOSING BUSINESS TO CHINESE & INDIAN FIRMS;
