From: Judy Miriga
Date: Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 12:10 PM

How Mahihu got Kenyatta to sign away beach plots
By John Kamau
Posted Friday, November 13 2009 at 00:00

By the time he died in 1978, Jomo Kenyatta owned several beach properties.

Eliud Mahihu, the powerful Coast Provincial Commissioner, who had assumed the role of approving the buying of beach plots, hived off choice plots for the President, who was becoming reluctant to approve further allocations.

In this final part of the Seeds of Discord series, we reveal how Kenyatta acquired his plots at the Coast province and how other civil servants used their closeness to Mahihu to enrich themselves— a powerful example of how policy failure can have a long-standing impact on a nation.

We also reveal how Mahihu schemed to have absolute powers on the allocation of the plots and how Kenyatta was left with the role of vetting only sales to non-citizens and non-Africans.

It is not clear whether Mahihu and J. Njenga, the Lands commissioner, gave the Kenyatta family a beach plot to secure his indulgence but records show that two weeks after the Harambee House meeting, that was also attended by Geofrey Kariithi, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Mahihu sent copies duly signed by Mama Ngina Kenyatta to Mr Njenga for a beach plot title.

In a letter to Mr Njenga seen by Business Daily, Mahihu wrote: “As discussed and agreed I presented the certificate of title and I was requested to get the bit which has been surveyed and as soon as it has been completed I make full details at which we shall be able to demand the money for the other certificate. “

Mr Njenga appears not to have received feedback on his suggestions but Mahihu went ahead to instruct the Provincial surveyor to carve out some 9.056 acres for Kenyatta in Nyali Estate.

Mr Mahihu also managed to get Kenyatta approve his personal acquisition, through Mumi & Co Limited, of seven acres in Mombasa “between Malindi Road, public beach track and Coraldene track” and an additional three acres at the same location. Kenyatta approved the sale and acquisition on February 8, 1977.

http://www.business dailyafrica. com/Company% 20Industry/ -/539550/ 685660/-/ u5arvgz/- /index.html

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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Subject: How Mahihu got Kenyatta to sign away beach plots

From: Francis Tome
Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 4:15 AM
Subject: PARTY STALWARTS AGAINST REAL DEVOLUTION BESMIRCH PUBLIC INTELLECT.

Dear Sir/Madam,

The makers of our constitution at the time of our country`s independence did not intend to preserve an unchanging society, but instead meant the constitution to invariably adapt to the needs of our dynamic society. Even though the independence constitution gave the president a carte blanche to run the nation as he deemed fit, experience has shown that such unfettered powers are often misused. The president like a deity became omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. There are many among us today who bear the scars of this tyranny. In fact the protracted fight for the second liberation was informed by the dictatorial tendencies that the right thinking public saw in the leadership of president Moi and his predecessor. Devolvement of the powers vested in the presidency and its usual appurtenances was then the buzz word. Apparently when president Kibaki came to the helm of leadership, those close to the pedestal of power changed tact. They wanted to maintain the status quo. Even after the post election violence, they do not want to hear anything about a constitutional dispensation that cuts a swath through the imperial presidency.

They prophetically harp on the existence of a constitutional crisis if executive power is shared between the presidency and the Prime Minister (Parliament). This pretence besmirches the intellect of Kenyans. Our reaction to these inanities is not amusement but bafflement, verging on rage. These can only be politicians who are out to have Kenya stop being a democracy in any meaningful sense. That is why they are too busy furthering their selfish interests at the country`s expense. In the words of Barry Goldwater, a 1964 Republican Party candidate, “Those who seek absolute power even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed.”

Rather than think of that which is best suited for the country they are busy throwing spanners in the works of the constitutional making process. And their best arsenal is of course to impiously force the country in to a horrendous political ping pong. It is this execrable behavior that engendered the hostilities that plunged this country in to a near holocaust. Yet the same politicians unashamedly elect to deliberately ignore this fact. Mao Tse Tung (1893-1976) said that “Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” There is a very thin line between the two so much so that it only requires the snafus and preposterous verboten to trigger an unprecedented bloodletting.. Of course you and I know that our politicians have plenty of these in stock. Sad as it is, they have already set the tempo. And our hopes of having a new constitutional dispensation can only dissipate.

Should we stand aside helplessly, gnashing our teeth, as a section of our politicians line up to deride the efforts of the Committee of Experts (CoE) just as they did with Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) in 2005? We cannot allow this to happen again. It is first and foremost our peace as a country that is at stake. Secondly it is our tax billions that will yet again go to waste. My exhortation is to patriotic Kenyans is this: We must stand up and say no to these political machinations. So don’t just sit there moaning about how the country’s going to the dogs. Sign up and let’s kick some ass.

TOME FRANCIS,

Uganda: Police Suspects Kazini Murder Plot

Herbert Ssempogo

12 November 2009

Kampala — SECURITY suspects that the killing of Maj. Gen. James Kazini could have been the work of trained assassins.

Although Kazini’s girlfriend, Lydia Draru, has confessed to killing the general in self-defence, the security agencies are investigating the likelihood of a deliberate murder plot.

A seasoned detective yesterday said Draru, the key suspect, could have had accomplices who lay in wait when the general returned to her house.

The killers, he said, could have used the woman to lure Kazini back to the home in Namuwongo, a Kampala suburb, before pouncing on him.
According to the Police officer, the assailants had no easy access to him hence the plan to hire someone he knew. Instead of producing Draru in court, as was earlier anticipated, the Police yesterday continued interrogating her. She remained detained at the Rapid Response Unit head office in Kireka.

According to sources, she was subjected to a rigorous interrogation session throughout Wednesday night.

The Police said they would question her until they were satisfied that she was telling the truth.

Following her arrest on Tuesday morning, Draru confessed to having clobbered the general to death during a quarrel.

She also recorded an extra-judicial statement at the Buganda Road Magistrates’ Court. Such a statement is made after a suspect confesses to a capital offence.

Draru told the magistrate that a fight ensued after Kazini accused her of stealing an unspecified amount of money and refusing to accompany him out for a dinner. She said Kazini attempted to strangle her before she grabbed an iron bar that was lying on floor and hit him.

Also held at the Rapid Response Unit is Wabigalo Project zone council chief, Bosco Lule. The Police on Wednesday recovered $300 he allegedly received from Draru. The LC boss, according to his wife, had not recorded a statement by yesterday morning.

After interacting with her husband at Kireka, the wife told The New Vision that he received the money moments before Draru boarded a Police truck.

Lule was among the people who dashed to the scene after the news broke. The house where the killing took place remained closed yesterday. An armed Police officer stood guard at the entrance.
The whereabouts of Draru’s cousin, who reportedly witnessed the scuffle, could not be ascertained.

The Police announced that the girl, a Senior Six student, would be given protection.

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – –
Subject: Uganda: Police suspects Kazini Murder Plot

From: collins odhiambo
Date: Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 11:01 AM

Agriculture, which has been tagged as the basis of Africa’s survival, is rather fast becoming the bedrock of poverty in the continent.

I have read numerous articles on ensuring sustainable agriculture in Africa. It appears our leaders have it all wrong, as they have only been laying too much emphasis on grass root production. This approach enforces the presence of abject poverty in the continent.

Agriculture today if not practiced with the application of modern methods would keep farmers living below the poverty line. Having many living below the poverty line increases the burden on respective African governments. Taxes received from farmers are too small and hence can not aid majority of government programs. This explains why many African countries, especially those depending on agriculture for main source of revenue such as Niger are characterized by poor governments. Truly, the minimum wage in any country should be at least $1,600 per month before tax. Anything short of this will keep workers living below the poverty line and would thus keep governments handicapped. In order to achieve a new prosperous Africa, standards must be pepped up.

For farmers to live comfortably, the number of hands employed in farm labour must be drastically reduced. A good point to note, countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Burundi have 70%, 70% and 93.6% respectively of their total population involved in active farming struggling to meet up to the basic minimum living standards, unlike first world countries such as Canada, UK and South Africa with less than 20% of the total population involved in active farming. There is thus a correlation between the percentage population of a nation actively involved in agriculture and the poverty level of that country. Hence Ethiopia, Nigeria and Burundi have roughly 70% of their population living below the poverty line as compared to The Netherlands which has 2% actively involved in agriculture and 10.5% of the population living below the poverty line.

Understanding the complexity of present day agriculture involves understanding the woven nature among various contemporary agricultural sectors. Today, almost all industries such as farming, processing, marketing and the health industries have come together to form what is now known as the Agricultural Industry. Numerous professions have thus become intertwined in the agricultural industry, which has formed the bedrock of the economy of most advanced nations. If any of these branches are separated from this great industry, it would lead to the gradual collapse of that nation.

It is impossible to employ archaic methods such as the use of oxen in modern day agriculture as it was done back then in Timbuktu. Without doubt, going centuries back this would have been considered the magnum opus of technology considering the fact that the Europeans were still using their hands at that time. Today, it is no longer a large people tilling the soil with hoes and cutlasses. This is the era of highly mechanized agriculture.

It thus implies that for one to maintain a farm and live within the comfort zone, we must reduce the labour force of our farming units while ensuring production at the same (if not higher) level. This beyond doubts requires massive investment in infrastructure and equipment. It involves highly mechanised farming. Better explained, 5000 laying birds whose profit would have been shared by 50 workers (usually households) should be shared by 15 or less workers of which less than half the number should be actively involved in real farming. The others make up drivers, accountants etc.

The bulk of the agricultural driving force in any nation is the middle class. As these have the minimum capital to invest in agriculture and acquire the minimum number of animals or crops to ensure a reasonable steady income as well as to build on the size of their farming unit. The lower class are often characterised by small farm holding not enough to maintain an individual. Having low paying jobs has resulted in the quest to delve into farming as a means of fulfilling the needs of the family. This form of diverted labour and attention is not good for the general wellbeing of any nation. Even though a little income could be obtained from such practices, it has left the African farmers unable to produce more than they could use to feed their families. To spend 5-8 hrs on a job implies that such a job must produce something tangible. Hence, such farming can be termed a waste of valuable time, resource and labour. In Africa, the higher class usually own large farms not for profit but for prestige or to satisfy childhood ambitions.

In Africa today, the middle class is gradually being eroded and hence food production is gradually becoming short. The middle class can be resuscitated though through government sponsored programs channelled at reactivating the middle class.

Reducing the excess hands involved in farming would leave a vast number of hands unemployed. To compete with the first world, we must think ahead. The driving force of an economy is made up of industries and services. This is where government and other organisations should get involved in. Hands relieved from the farms should be channelled into processing and services. Farm produce can be processed to its final form prior to export. Such industries hire more labour hands than grass root farming outfits and also ensure workers meet up to the basic minimum wage. Government can thus receive money in forms of tax from the payment of those in such services. This for sure would yield higher tax per caput as compared to what would have been received from poverty stricken farm workers living below the poverty line. Such funds received from tax can be diverted to other ailing sectors such as health, education or even agriculture.

We are currently in a fast paced world. Bigger nations are out to grab what they can get while at the same time ensuring that weaker nations continue to struggle in abject poverty in order to furnish the lavish lives of their populace. It is thus obvious that Africa must look from within and come out with her own strategy to improve her pathetic state. Relying on the western countries means condemning ones future to everlasting poverty. For instance, the billions of dollars promised to Africa by the UK in 2008 was just to ensure that African farmers have seeds and fertilizers to sustain an uninterrupted supply of raw materials to their ex-colonial masters. The time has come for heroic deeds. African governments must invest in highly mechanized agriculture as well as boost their processing industries and other industries in order to make the highest profit from their produce. This is the only way African nations can halt the pathogenic nature of poverty in Africa.

Regards man

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Subject: Agriculture – the basis of African economic woes
To: jaluo@jaluo.com

From: odhiambo okecth
Date: Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 7:28 AM

Friends,

Somebody who is jealous of what KCDN has achieved in our short lifespan and dedication to service delivery, has today posted a personal attack on my person and called KCDN a ‘vagrant outfit’. In my usual character, I will not respond on the personal attacks, but for KCDN to be called a ‘Vagrant Outfit’, that I will protest, and protest loudly.

It has been so painful building KCDN that I cannot accept our work to besmirched. We have been so open and above board.

We have 3 programmes running concurrently at KCDN and they are all linked up.

Our forte is child support which we run through the KCDN Child Support Initiative. In our inaugural meet of last year, the Director of Basic Educ; Kindly visit our blog for details; http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com and read the rest of our protest note as you view how this ‘Vagrant Outfit’ operates.

The verdict will be yours.

At KCDN, we believe in Action, not Workshops.

Odhiambo T Oketch
CEO KCDN Nairobi.
Tel; 0724 365 557, 0735 529 126

– – –
Subject: Our Programmes at KCDN

From: patrick opondi
Subject: Crackdown
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 6:18 AM

I work for an institution that last month witnessed the termination of over 2000 employees country in one month because of unvalidated paper works.( http://www.startrib une.com/local/ 69723752. html?elr= KArks:DCiUHc3E7_ V_nDaycUiD3aPc: _Yyc:aUU ).

The administration is tightening the noose, targetting employers in a bid to crackdown on un documented workers. Once the employees are terminated, they are likely to leave voluntarily or wait for the inevitable,a knock at the door by the enforcement agencies, leading to lengthy and expensive protracted legal cases.

Where as the community has been very supportive to its members faced with such complications, the situation is likely to worsen as the dragnet is cast wider. Depending on the number of ‘our’ people likely to be affected, it may soon be a case for each man for himself. Those willing to help may soon be overwhelmed and there are other pending humantarian needs of great importance that requires the very attention of these men and women of generosity.

What can we do? For those who may recall Ole’Ntimama and his Enosopukia eveiction orders of the 90’s, this is the time to ‘lie low like an envelope’, particularly to those who are likely to be targeted. Just avoid those things that can expose you, dont be on the wrong side of the law,if you can, at all cost. You individually know what may be the wrong side of the law, without seeking for a lengthy qualification of the statement.

If you are working, you can tell when the writing is on the wall. When they begin to ask you to provide this and that, dont rush to issue what you think is not very authentic. If need be, consult. The best would be to live that employment because the very documents you give can be used against you.

What is plan B? Each time, be prepared to exit and return home. It is important to make prudent savings and small investment back home, to keep base there. This are things you can fall back to, when the going gets tough here. Let us not be immeresed, carried away with the ‘American dream’, that we continuously curse and forget home. There are individuals who are likely to get carried away, living big on borrowed time. Jaluo ne owacho ni chako chony loyo dhi ajuoga.

From: Judy Miriga
Date: Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 6:35 PM

African Development Bank
African Economic Conference Considers Prospects for Re-Launching Africa’s Development

11 November 2009

SPONSOR WIRE

Tunis — The 11-13 November Conference, jointly organized by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on the theme “Fostering Development in an Era of Financial Economic and crises”, is designed to come up with ideas needed to tackle the challenges and promote development.
In their opening remarks welcoming delegates to the annual gathering, the ECA Trade, Finance and Economic Development Director, Emmanuel Nnadozie and the AfDB’s Chief Economist, Louis Kasekende, urged hundreds of researchers attending the conference to view the global economic and financial crisis as a an opportunity to re-launch growth and development on the continent.

“Today, Africa is at the crossroads of development strategies. As we seek to re-start growth, we should also look at how this growth can generate employment and improve living conditions in Africa,” Mr. Nnadozie said.

The crisis, he emphasized, provides Africa an opportunity to re-evaluate development strategies, policies and practices, and move from dependence on primary commodity export to develop internal capacities to produce, industrialize and compete. “Now is Africa’s moment to claim the 21st century,” Mr. Nnadozie added.

For his part, AfDB Chief Economist, Louis Kasekende, identified structural constraints that needed to be tackled in order to better harness the continent’s natural resources and human capital.
These include unequal distribution of income and high levels of poverty, weak governance, lack of diversification, ineffective use of natural resources and climate change. “We need to identify policy options that will help Africa face up to the challenges in partnership with academia, policy makers and development practitioners. We need to design interventions appropriate to country circumstances.”

Some 300 hundred ministers, economists, development experts, advocacy groups and the media are attending conference.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi will officially open the conference on Thursday. This will be followed by opening remarks by ECA Executive Secretary, Abdoulie Janneh, AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka and the African Union Commission Chair, Jean Ping.

Designed as a knowledge-sharing platform between economists and policy-makers, the AEC is expected to generate ideas for improving the quality of economic policies within the region. The agenda of this year’s conference reflect challenges facing many African countries following the global financial and economic crisis.

These include poverty and inequality, foreign investment, fiscal and monetary policy, regional integration, remittances, competitiveness of the financial services sector, banking sector performance and aid effectiveness.

Others comprise development finance, private sector development, health issues, agricultural growth strategies, as well as growth and macroeconomic perspectives.

The discussions will be concluded on Friday 13 November 2009 with a roundtable on “Policy Responses to the Financial Crisis – Lessons Learned and the Way Forward”.

The AEC, which has earned credibility as the premier high level forum for debate on African economic and development issues, was inaugurated in November 2006 by the AfDB. It has been jointly organised with the Economic Commission for Africa.

Contacts
Felix Njoku

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – –
Subject: African Economic Conference Considers Prospects for Re-Launching Africa’s Development

From: Judy Miriga
Date: Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 12:02 PM

China and Southern Africa: Resource Management for Economic Development
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 12:27 SARWATCH

Background

China has prioritised Africa as a strategic partner at both the political and economic level, while seeking to link African commodity and consumer markets to China’s growing economy. Two-way China-Africa trade has grown significantly in recent years surpassing US$100 billion by the end of 2008. At the same time, China’s development assistance is expanding, while China’s investment footprint increasingly covers key economic sectors on the continent. China’s drive for oil and raw materials has initiated a “new scramble for Africa” as external powers increasingly compete for control over key commodities. Enhanced political influence, promotion of South-South co-operation, increased market share and guaranteed access to Africa’s resources characterises China’s expanding African engagement. China’s African agenda provides both threats and opportunities for African states and poses a major challenge for the effective African management of this evolving relationship. China’s new presence on the continent raises questions about its political intentions, commercial objectives as well as the long-term impact on Africa’s political evolution and economic progress. China’s meteoric rise and increasing global economic influence have profound and wide-ranging consequences for global strategic alignments and well as for Africa’s political and economic future.
China and Africa’s Resources

To date, China’s African agenda has been dominated by a growing effort to access Africa’s resources, with forecasts predicting a Chinese investment of over US$80 billion in new and existing oil field development over the next 20 years. This is expected to be the largest investment in Africa’s history and will have significant consequences for the economic development of the continent. However, the expansion of Africa’s commodity output has not helped fight poverty, nor create the conditions for accelerated economic development. China’s increasing participation in Africa’s extractive industries suggests a new more intense struggle to control the continent’s wealth, with a possible concomitant decline in transaction transparency and best practice corporate governance. This general trend is now perceptible in the extraction industries more generally as China’s rapidly expanding economy drives up demand for commodities. Given China’s massive dollar reserves ad strategic growth imperative, increased involvement in Africa’s extraction industries is inevitable.

Thus over the next few years and possibly decades, African affairs will be significantly shaped, or impacted on, by China’s direct commercial involvement. China’s growing geopolitical influence globally and in Africa will have significant long-term consequences for the continent’s political and economic evolution. China’s African engagement, underpinned by a policy of non-intervention in domestic affairs, brings into focus the so-called “Beijing Consensus” which runs counter to the precepts of the “Washington Consensus.” The later, characterised by World Bank, IMF and Western donor community conditionalities, includes restrictions on macro-economic policy, reduction in public spending, commitments to transparency and the holding of democratic elections. In contrast, the Beijing Consensus is predicated on non-interference in domestic affairs and the promotion of sovereign integrity. At the same time, some African leaders are attracted to the Chinese model of development, which has facilitated spectacular economic growth without a challenge to single party rule. Thus by design or default, China is building a bloc of African states which buy into the Chinese vision of domestic and global affairs.

Given China’s apparent lack of interest in African governance and human rights, the implementation of Beijing’s Africa policy largely contradicts the African reform agenda. China’s actions signal a new effort to expand economic and political influence in Africa outside the confines of the “Washington Consensus” and in some cases, contradicts the OECD rules for engagement of “fragile states.” Beijing’s Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) is intended to provide a comprehensive and coherent framework for managing China’s engagement with Africa, but Africa’s failure to formulate a united response threatens to undermine the continent’s ability to shape the Sino-African agenda, or impact positively on the longer term outcomes of this process. An appropriate and effective policy response from Africa is required to ensure a mutually beneficial China-Africa relationship. In this context, this study will suggest policy options and dialogue processes with a view to advancing the interests of Africa’s economic development, human security and democratisation in the face of new challenges from China.
Project Aim

The aim of this project is to investigate the China-Africa relationship in the context of the interplay of the Washington Consensus (good governance, transparency and democratisation), versus the Beijing (non-interference), with an emphasis on natural resource extraction and the impact of China’s growing exploitation of Africa’s oil and mineral wealth. The project will focus on Southern Africa, targeting the following countries for investigation: Angola, DRC, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Post-colonial, external engagements with Africa have drained the continent’s wealth through the depletion of mineral wealth, forests and other natural resources. The emphasis on resource extraction and exportation, without value added has undermined the development of domestic economies and retarded industrialisation. The continent’s wealth has been systematically transferred to non-Africans, undermining development prospects in Africa. Since 2000, China has emerged as a major importer of Africa’s commodities and the available evidence suggests that China’s approach largely mirrors established neo-colonial patterns of engagement. China purchases Africa’s resources without beneficiation, technology transfer, job creation, or investment for development in the non extractive industries. Consequently, China’s engagement adds little to the long-term development of the continent.
Hypothesis

The broad research hypothesis is : “China’s engagement in SADC’s extractive industries presently conforms to a neo-colonial exploitative approach, with little emphasis on building the domestic economy.”
OSIA and the Extractive Industries

Since 2005, OISA has promoted the Southern Africa Resource Watch (SARW) with a view to strengthening and consolidating extractive industries monitoring. The specific objectives of SARW are:

• to monitor corporate and state conduct in the extraction and beneficiation of natural resources in the Southern Africa region, in particular assessing to what extent these efforts contribute to sustainable human development in the region;

• to consolidate research and advocacy on natural resource extraction issues in Southern Africa;

• to focus interest in the specific dynamics of natural resource extraction in the Southern African region with a view to building a distinctive understanding of the regional geo-political dynamics of resource economics;

• to provide – for researchers, policy makers and social justice activists, especially in academic and civic spaces – a platform of action, co-ordination and organisation, in the watching and strengthening of corporate and state accountability in natural resource extraction;

• to increase general awareness as well as public policy interest in natural resource extraction issues and their impact on livelihoods and human development in southern Africa; and

• to highlight the relationships between resource extraction activities and human rights as they obtain o the ground, and to develop advocacy efforts that engage this reality.

SARW seeks to identify corporate and governmental policies which can better manage Southern Africa’s resources. The long-term objective is to ensure that the natural resource curse becomes a source for development that benefits the poor and not only the region’s political and economic elites.
Project outcome

It is hoped that the outcome of this research will lead to modifications of China’s corporate behaviour in Africa’s extractive industries. For example, the Global Environmental Institute (GEI) has been influential in reforming China’s logging industry overseas. In 2005, GEI launched a programme in co-operation with China’s State Forestry Administration to introduce an “integrated policy package.” The programme suggested changes to relevant laws and policies governing Chinese logging companies operating overseas. GEI specifically aimed at convincing China’s State Forestry Administration to take responsibility for regulating Chinese forestry corporations operating overseas. It also sought to train forestry corporations on how to implement relevant laws and regulations. Its activities have helped to convince banks to adopt lending criteria for overseas timber extraction, such as requiring that environmental impact assessments be performed.

As a result of GEI’s activities, in August 2007, China’s State Forestry Administration intervened against Chinese companies illegal logging operations overseas. The Forestry Administration issued new guidelines aimed at ensuring sustainability and biodiversity in Chinese logging operations. They have insisted that Chinese companies formulate sustainable forestry programmes to provide work opportunities for people in host countries and to improve the livelihood of local people. GEI’s guidelines now serve as a model for industry-specific standards and are helping to improve prospects for logging and sustainable development in African countries.

Thus this project hopes to provide the empirical data to underpin specific suggestions and recommendations which could lead to corporate behaviour alterations, which in turn will foster increased economic development and improved commercial conditions for local communities. At the same time, building a stronger domestic economic environment would have advantages for Chinese investors and thus create a “win-win” situation ensuring benefits for both China and Africa in the pursuit of mutual, co-operative economic development. The long-term objective is to assist African decision makers in knowledge building which provides the foundation for policies intended to escape the “minerals curse” and resultant poverty trap.

SADC’s challenge is to ensure that its natural resources are used to promote pro-poor growth and progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The effective management of these resources is critical in achieving these objectives. Innovative and constructive ways of engaging with and managing external actors (in this case China) could help to turn the resource curse into a source of economic development and prosperity. Ensuring that China’s intervention in SADC’s extractive industries is managed for mutual long-term benefit is the key challenge for regional decision makers. This research seeks to inform, empower and encourage both Chinese and SADC decision makers to craft policies, regulations, approaches and processes which results in tangible progress towards achieving the MDGs and providing the foundation for regional economic growth and long-term prosperity.

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

– – –
Subject: Africa to Burgain their worth through Civil Society/Community Development

barack abonyo 3:41 am (20 hours ago)
date Nov 11, 2009 3:41 AM
subject IS RAILA STILL APART OF THE COALITION GOVERNMENT?

I must be confused, daydreaming or I must have little devils playing in my head. Or am I just so obsessed with Raila that I simply dream that he is speaking? At one time I hear the prime minister say, “The coalition government is working and we are ready to deliver services to the people of Kenya”. On another note I hear him say, “I have no idea what this government is doing, they are crazy, they are thugs and there is nothing I can do about it”. I have indeed been left to wonder if I have ” ALIEN VOICE SYNDROME”. But if indeed I don’t, then Raila should tell us whose pocket is he in or fingers is he dancing on.

I could not just make up this. On November 11, 2009, while commenting about his intended meeting with former Mungiki sect leader Maina Njenga, Raila said and I quote,

“it was disturbing that top leaders of the sect had become targets and nothing seemed to have been done to ensure their security even after some of them publicly raised concern for their lives”

“I find it untenable that a man would be killed in a busy city street that is under surveillance of CCTV and three days later no one has been arrested. It is worrying.”

First of all I have a problem with this meeting. I am not sure if it is something that the prime minister or the security personnel should handle, but since Kenya is a land of corruption, I would give the prime minister a benefit of doubt and say, may be it is ok to get the information from the horse’s mouth. However, in this case I thought Raila should have delegated this duty. You are the prime minister sir not an activist. Use your lieutenants, or permanent secretary or something. You have so many people around you, use the intelligent ones. You cannot do everything. You are a human being like everyone else. God has never bestowed everything upon one man except Jesus Christ.

Back to the point. Please note the blue lines. Now Raila is telling us openly that “nothing seemed to have been done to ensure their security” or “untenable that a man would be killed in a busy city street that is under surveillance of CCTV”

Gentlemen I became so worried about this. No wonder no one is safe in Nairobi. The second highest/most powerful top government official in the state of Kenya has no idea who is supposed to protect wanainchi or who is supposed to finish crime. If Raila did, then he would have not attempted to blame nobody but himself. He would have said something like ” We will get to the bottom of this” . Is he not apart of this coalition government?

Why is Raila saying,” Nothing seemed to have been done?” Who was supposed to have done something? Is it not either Raila or Kibaki? Who is in charge of Wanainchi of Kenya.
People of Kenya, we are on our own. No wonder people are being shot left and right. Raila cannot help, neither can Kibaki. Each one of them is busy blaming the other. Saitoti is sick and dieing. Why don’t we just have Michuki back?. He seem to know his job than Raila or Kibaki.

This is what I would have done if I was indeed a prime minister in a coalition government that I believe I have a stake in:
1. I would have had a meeting with the police commissioner and the Minister of internal security

2. I would have demanded real answers. If not
a. I would have then fired the minister of internal security or moved him to another
ministry and fired the police commissioner
b. I would have fired the police in charge of Nairobi province or transfered him
c. The OCS and all those small officers would have been transfered.
d. I would have resigned from the government if Kibaki said no to the above.

Too many people have died in Kenya under the barrel of the gun in broad day light. It is not enough for the prime minister to point fingers somewhere. If he has teeth like he purports to have, then he should simply act instead of trying to please everyone. Finger pointing does not cut it. Raila must tell the people of Kenya the truth. Is he apart of this coalition or not?

Dr. Barack O Abonyo

From: Judy Miriga
Date: Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 11:31 AM

UN attempts to slow the new scramble for Africa

Alarm over scale of foreign holdings and secretive land deals by wealthy nations

By Daniel Howden, Africa Correspondent

Saturday, 7 November 2009

More than 50 heads of state will gather for a summit later this month to look at ways of policing the extraordinary “land grab” that has seen richer countries buy up at least 20 million hectares of farmland in Africa in the last 18 months. The United Nations is drawing up a “code of conduct” in an effort to slow what’s been described as a new scramble for Africa, while agriculture experts are calling for a new global watchdog and aid agencies are appealing for a moratorium on new deals.

Countries including the Gulf States, China, South Korea and a host of private investors and sovereign wealth funds have provoked serious concerns internationally with a string of aggressive and often secretive deals for large tracts of arable land on the world’s hungriest continent.

David Hallam, the deputy director of the trade and markets division at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and one of the experts drafting the code, said yesterday that the “principles are agreed” and he expected leaders to make a joint statement at a summit in Rome in a fortnight’s time. “It’s going to bring these deals into focus and make people think about what’s going on,” he told The Independent.

According to FAO figures the recent wave of land acquisitions is equivalent to one-tenth of the entire area already farmed in Africa, or twice the arable land in Germany.

The code is expected to try and break the secrecy surrounding these deals and ensure locals’ rights are not being trampled by big corporations or governments and that Africans’ food security is not further threatened. “In the worst cases it’s fair to say we are looking at neo-colonialism,” said Dr Hallam.

In the last year Saudi Arabia has added to huge holdings in Sudan with a $100 million deal for land in famine stricken Ethiopia; Qatar has begun acquiring 40,000 hectares in Kenya’s Tana River Delta to grow fruit and vegetables despite a drought that sees the UN feeding four million Kenyans; China has added to its huge holdings in Zimbabwe and Algeria; and Egypt has leased 2 million acres of land from Uganda to grow corn and wheat.

The deal that really brought the phenomenon to the surface was the Madagascar government’s decision to lease 1.3 million hectares, or half the island’s arable land, to the South Korean giants Daewoo for 99 years for biofuel plantations. When it was revealed that Daewoo would pay nothing for the land and would instead barter it for infrastructure projects, president Marc Ravalomanana’s administration became the first to be toppled over “land grabbing”. The deal has been scrapped.

The scramble has its roots in last year’s food crisis, which saw a huge spike in the price of staples and food protectionism, where countries slapped export bans on rice and other foodstuffs. Food was not only more expensive, it was unavailable. Then came the oil price rises. “Oil-rich and water-poor countries suddenly became interested in securing their long-term food supplies,” said Ruth Meinzen-Dick, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington.

“Many of these deals were quite secretive and there was no clear benefit for the people living in these areas.”

Added to these factors was the historic switch from food to fuel, driven by US subsidies for corn-based ethanol and hasty moves by the EU to set targets to switch from fossil fuels to bio-fuels which have since been reversed.

The IFPRI is calling for a watchdog “with teeth” to ensure that there is “informed consent” in poorer countries where land is being leased, as well as respect for African customary law, which is supposed to protect the traditional rights of smallholders.

Meinzen-Dick advocates a system that would ensure that in times of shortage there would be restrictions on the amount of food exported from foreign-owned land.

The irony is that the current trend could be a win-win situation as everyone is agreed that Africa is in dire need of investment: foreign aid and domestic spending on agriculture has dipped alarmingly in the last two decades.

The London-based International Institute for Environment and Development rejects the “land grab” analysis as too “simplistic”. In a recent report the think-tank argued that there can be an upside if the investments are structured to create “new opportunities”.

The report does warn that too much of the land being signed away is “high value” and that African governments are pushing through deals under the pretence that common land is “unused”.

Speaking at an FAO event in Washington earlier this year Chido Makunike, a Zimbabwean agricultural consultant, explained: “In Africa, far from being perceived as a mere economic resource land has cultural, sentimental, and political meanings, and represents one of the strongest symbols of dispossession during the colonial era.”

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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Subject: UN attempts to slow the new scramble for Africa

From: barack abonyo
Date: Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 1:51 PM

One does not have to do a long google search before they realize that the Kenyan situation is becoming terrible with each single day. Kenya is a country where an MP, the so called people’s servants earns 1, 000, 000 Kenya Shillings tax free, a salary that is equivalent to that of senators in the US while a common man is worried about the next meal. Kenya, my mother land, is a country where a minister purchases Passats using the poor people’s money at double the prevailing market price without winking. Kenya is the place where public land is sold at way below the market price and life still goes on. And yes, Kenya is where the constitution review takes ten years, costing tax payers millions of shillings. Worse still, Kenya is the country where a policemen is the thug that guns down a common man.

In essence Kenya is a land of failed leadership. It is a man eat man society, where the people we elected are not their neighbors keeper. My question is, “Can Kenyans demand change this time?” And if they do, will there be a Mosses to lead them out of slavery.

In my view, Kenyans, including myself are glued to a kingdom syndrome. Even though we do not have kings, some families have served in our minds as the only gene pool from which we obtain leaders. The Kenyatta family, the Moi family, the Odinga family, now the Kibaki family and the list goes on. Many of my friends would qualify this trend by arguing that these people have name recognition and that without this, it is near impossible to be elected the president of Kenya. My answer is that this theory must be debunked. We must do what United States did.

Well even I do not want to elect a nobody to be my president, but I am tired of electing somebodies who, for over fourty years, have transformed Kenya from the pride of Africa to the hell of Africa. I am tired of the same names, day in day out, that I cannot associate with anything good, except gaining independence. Can someone tell me why we still insist on the Uhuru’s, the Odinga’s, the Kibaki’s and the Moi’s. Everytime one talks about presidential elections in 2012, the arena seem to be preserved to the same folks who have led our country into doom. When will Kenyans wake up and say enough is enough? When will Kenyans test a different gene pool?

A few have decided to put their names forward. Professor George Wajackoya and Mark Matunga have bravely come forward and said, “I want this job”. My worry is that Kenyans have not bothered to even check them out. I think Kenyans should start looking at names such as Wajakoya and Matunga, as potential leaders. Give these people a chance. They may just change your world.

Kenyans should not be glued on Ruto, because Ruto is the one who was propelled to leadership by Moi through the YK92.Ruto distributed printed 500 kenya shillings notes like a supermarket groundnut vendor. I hope Kenyans remember that this money was theres, and hold this against him.

Some Kenyans still think Kalonzo is the real deal, and yet this guy cost us an election, and drove us right back into hell. He scuttled democracy. His name should not be mentioned among noble men.

Many still tell me about Raila, and yet he has been there with no change in vicinity. Luoland, where his family is head of the kingdom, is not doing very well.

And why do Kenyans talk about Kibaki’s son? His father’s insistence on presidency resulted in loss of many lives, loss of property, and as evidence, we still have IDPs with nowhere to go.

Just why Kenyans are unable to shake off this curse baffles me. My prayer is that it is not too late. It is time for change.Kenyans should let these big names go and start subscribing someone who has never made it to parlierment like the Matunga’s and Wajakoya’s. I believe this will end the era of impunity.

I therefore urge all the great sons of Kenya to rise and be counted for president. May all who believe they have the passion for uplifting poor people’s lives come out and state their interest in the presidency. We cannot afford to have any of these household names hold Kenya for a ransom for another five years. We cannot afford to dig many more graves for our sons and daughters.

http://glw4president.com/

http://hi-in.facebook.com/posted.php?id=82170757076

Dr. Barack Otieno Abonyo.
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Subject: CAN KENYA ELECT A PRESIDENT WHO HAS NEVER SERVED AS A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT?