When The Brewing Business Turns Deadly

Last Friday, once again Kenyans were shocked as they watched the death toll rise of consumers of the illicit brew – changaa in Shauri Moyo Estate in Nairobi’s sprawling Eastlands area; which as of today has reached 9 according to the Daily Nation.

Changaa is a local brew that resembles vodka, Tanzania’s Konyagi and Uganda’s Waragi. However unlike it’s East African sisters, changaa has not as yet been legalised.

This is not the first such case in Kenya. In June 2005, 49 people died in Machakos (Eastern Province) after they consumed an illicit drink suspected to have been laced with a poisonous chemical, and it seems that such cases are not going to end easily.

A regular changaa drinker was quoted in the media after learning that five of his friends had succumbed to the Shauri Moyo brew as saying it was "bahati mbaya", bad luck.  However he added: "I will go back to drinking busaa, although it is more expensive, (than chang'aa)".  

Indeed as John Mututho the Member of Parliament behind the recently passed Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill asserts, that the deaths and blindness were caused by extra chemicals added to the brew and “sold to unsuspecting poor Kenyans in the name of chang'aa".

Some commonly used additives include methanol and ethanol. Methanol has a high human toxicity. If ingested, as little as 10 milligrams can cause permanent blindness destroying the optic nerve while 30 ml is potentially fatal. Based on its abilities to change human consciousness, ethanol is considered a psychoactive drug. Death from ethyl alcohol consumption is possible when one’s blood alcohol level reaches 0.4% and a blood level of 0.5% or more is commonly fatal.

If the historic Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill which repeals the Chang’aa Prohibition and Liquor Licensing Acts receives presidential assent, this will mean that brewers of such liquor will have to face stringent quality standards and inspections. However with the current enforcement agencies so far being unable to cope in preventing future loss of life and blindness, it seems that more has to be done to ensure that the vendors adding dangerous substances to these brews are stopped.

Unfortunately the business opportunities in this sector remain attractive for those seeking to make a quick buck. Changaa is popular because it is cheap. A mug costs Sh10 (approximately 20 US cents). It also has the added attraction of being readily available, though not on  supermarket shelves nor established bars.

And it is not just slum dwellers who have taken to changaa. Crippling taxes have forced formal sector brewers to hike their prices and the informal sector brewers have benefited from more customers due to their low priced product. However, unlike Kenya Breweries or Keroche industries who have to go through rigorous quality standardisation and expensive marketing to manufacture their products and attract customers, changaa brewing is a home based cottage industry where not even a hygiene inspection happens. Word of mouth is generally the marketing tool, and if the price remains low – customer loyalty is assured.

For the Bill (if enacted) to make any significant inroads in preventing the deaths that occurred in Shauri Moyo from happening again, emphasis must be placed on ensuring proper regulatory structures are put in place. The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse Authority (NACADA) has so far been instrumental in making the public aware of the hazards of excessive alcohol consumption. However, the main thrust of their campaign has been the “don’t drink and drive” approach. This means nothing to the changaa drinkers whose main mode of transport is their legs.

Though the objectives of the Bill are noble, there has to be a holistic approach that also educates the changaa brewers and consumers on the dangers of additives. However, as these vendors generally tend to operate from their homes, the Bill does not give cognisance to their informal business culture. To say that brewers will have to be licensed will only mean that many will continue to operate illegally. For those that do get the licence from the proposed District Committee’s, the prescribed licence fee will be passed onto the consumers meaning loss of market.

Even the application for licence procedures will be an issue for brewers who will have to provide “a comprehensive proposal on the nature, orientation and other justification for the establishment of the alcoholic plant” amongst other requirements.

It remains to be seen whether the Bill will make a difference in the lives of the  changaa consumers and brewers. Ensuring that the barriers to entry remain attractive but also strictly enforcing quality standards by providing the relevant agencies with appropriate resources will most definitely prevent future loss of life.

Missing files and Tender Entrepreneur Brokers

“The abuse of entrusted power for private gain is always fine for the one person doing it, but it becomes catastrophic if everybody starts doing it.” - David Pitt-Watson

Last night on the news, Kenyans got to witness Dorothy Angote, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands leading what was a day-long graft busting raid on junior officials in her Ministry. The Ministry which handles nearly five million title deeds, has been continuously been named as being one of the top most corrupt public institutions in the country. For her efforts, the PS unearthed thousands of files that had been stashed, some of which had been “missing” since the 1990s.

Kenyans have long become used to the phantom menace called “missing” files. The ghost appears out of nowhere just when one needs to undertake a transaction with the government.

Anyway, Dorothy Angote’s impromptu raid at least saved some Kenyans from the cartel of rogue officers at the Lands ministry as well as what we shall politely call brokers, agents or tender entrepreneurs.

However, Ms. Angote’s prescription to the problem falls short of expectation when she announced that there would be a reshuffle and disciplinary actions for the errant officers. If the Lands Ministry was a private business, for sure at least there would have been mass summary dismissals, if not court prosecutions. To send a clear message, the punishment must be clear.

Kenya has not been alone in handling rogue brokers that encourage public sector corruption. South Africa has also been dealing with such brokers who because of their close connections to the political elite, seem to be amassing great wealth to the detriment of hard working entrepreneurs.

Bobby Godsell the chairman of Business Leadership South Africa was recently mentioned in the media calling for South Africans to stand up to tender entrepreneurs who benefited from state contracts.

He likened this business practice to "a form of economic terrorism" that imposes “a cost on state services and conferring no benefit”.

This came in the wake of allegations that the country’s ruling party ANC’s youth leader Julius Malema's who the BBC recently described “28, a little overweight, impeccably dressed, and rather fond of referring to himself with the royal ‘we’” had irregularly personally benefited from lucrative government contracts. However, Mr. Malema has denied accusations of unearned wealth by saying that he is merely the victim of a political conspiracy and a racist plot. 

Indeed Malema is just another example of South Africa’s “bling culture” which has for some compromised ethical business behaviour. Entrepreneurs have had to be linked to a politically connected personalities in order to effectively compete on the public sector market.

Back in Kenya, business cronyism in the tender sector has led to great resistance each time the government tries to institute measures that will even out the information asymmetry when it comes to public procurement. 

As we mentioned almost two years ago, the broker sector in Kenya has also become a culture where:

“You need a middle man to manoeuvre public processes. For instance, if one goes to the companies, lands or court registries, you have to more or less fight your way to the front of the queue. Brokers have taken precedence and because they have managed to become acquainted with the public officers, they tend to get their work done first … “

And it is this lack of transparent systems and promulgation of red-tape that have been a boon for the broker community. The cost imposed on not just entrepreneurs but every taxpayer in muddling through bureaucratic systems is what ensures that brokers shall always be in demand. After all, the opportunity cost of giving a broker a facilitation fee and lunch money to ensure that your application is submitted or your file is found, is much less than the cost of having to leave your business in order to chase up the matter yourself.

Then there is the issue of business competitiveness which has also had an impact on the need to fast-track (at whatever cost) government procedures. Bending the rules and paying the occasional bribe just to get a process fast tracked or even to be awarded a contract are common dilemmas faced by today’s entrepreneur. Moreover if one is doing it, then you can bet that others just to stay ahead of the competition will also do so.

It has now become recognised that an important catalyst to business growth is enabling entrepreneurs to compete on the public procurement market. And it is encouraging that young entrepreneurs are taking on the bottlenecks in the public sector, and developing new applications that equalize information asymmetries and promote transparency whilst combating public sector corruption. One such business is Tenders Unlimited, a new Kenyan business startup that provides databased access to tenders to business people.

Reducing the opportunity costs of red-tape frees up resources for more productive activities as well as spurring wider economic growth. Thus computerization of government documents should be implemented.

And finally to put rogue brokers out of business, procedures that require in-person attendance should be minimised. As seen by the influx of mobile phone money transfer systems onto the market, banks are now joining the fray and offering mobile payment systems that will eliminate the need for people to stand in long queues just to get their bank statements. Without ZAP and MPesa, chances are that the traditional banks would not have brought banking services closer to the people.

Now we are asking the government to bring it’s services closer to us taxpayers too.

Entrepreneurship - Kenya's Economic Saviour

By Jeconia Omondi Olonde

 

The current economic condition for Kenya is on a down hill while the population growth rate is quite high. This implies there is an increase in unemployment as the new jobs created cannot match the increase in population. A situation is created where the youth are finishing university, college and secondary school expecting to be employed yet the economy cannot accommodate them. This will in the end bring social instability especially with the high cost of education.

But what can the government and the private sectors do to help alleviate the situation that may bring the country to its knees? An initiative such as the Kazi Kwa Vijana was started by the government and has ended as a failure, taking the country back to the maze. The Kazi Kwa Vijana could not have been sustained as we can say the jobs given to them “do not add value” to the economy and the government is spending a huge amount of money in paying recurrent expenses. Also some of the jobs given may seem demeaning to some of the unemployed graduates. Telling an engineering graduate to clean trenches shows that the government has no plans for its citizens who are meant to be assets.
 

Further, unemployment situations in Kenya have been increased by the high requirements by employers in order to get jobs. Requirement of years of professional experience for jobs in Kenya has made it difficult for the fresh graduates to get jobs and their Kenyan dream of finding that dream job after years of education.
 

For the country to be able to create employment, the government and the private sector should highly consider embracing entrepreneurship as a source of expanding the economy and reducing poverty. With the shift towards technology, the government can use the youth to enhance and come up with new technologies which will help accelerate growth and achieve Vision 2030.
 

Some of the ways in which the government can do to help youth embrace entrepreneurship are:

• Providing financial assistance and guidance. Many youth have good business ideas but translating these to actual jobs is hindered by lack of knowledge of transforming ideas into feasible and tangible work. Also financial guidance on how to spend the initial finance is necessary as the projected financial statements are is not enough, for example, purchasing of essential assets, marketing and branding, establishing of internal business controls, and book keeping.
• Providing mentors to the youth who come up with good business ideas or proposals. The mentors are used to guide the youth especially through the tough times as they have been in the business before and they know what to do best in such situations.
• Introducing entrepreneurship as a subject in schools so that the students are able to know early enough how to start their own businesses and succeed. Mentality of students has to be changed from them expecting employment for them to create employment. This should be done for both students in professional courses and those in vocational training. In the earlier years, it was preached in radio stations and songs that at the end of education one will get a good job and this mentality has stuck in the mind of the population. We should therefore start changing the minds of people with regards to this.
• Providing tax incentives for young entrepreneurs who provide employment to others. There are difficulties involved with business start ups and therefore the government should recognize this effort by giving the youth tax incentives. This has been done to Export Processing Zones (EPZs) to attract foreign direct investments. Local investments should also be considered important as this brings more stimulus to growth as there are no profit flights.
• Patenting of special business ideas created by the young people. This may reduce the chances of the ideas being stolen by other capable individuals or by corporations. Good ideas are known to have been submitted to “wrong” organizations which take advantage of the weak protection laws of ideas. These weak laws demoralize the young people with brilliant ideas who may opt to stay with the ideas for long until they are able to finance themselves. Developed countries are known to have proper laws protecting ideas created by its citizens and developing countries should follow suit.
  

These are only some of the things the government should take into consideration if it has to help the country become entrepreneurial. The effect of citizens creating job opportunities in the economy cannot be over emphasized and the government has to act fast to improve the livelihood of its citizens.

Umuro Wario’s reinstatement at Kenya’s Youth Fund is a victory for public officers committed to fighting corruption

The government’s decision to reinstate Mr. Umuro Wario to continue serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund should be highly lauded. It’s a point of victory for public officers who risk their jobs by committing themselves to fight corruption.

Kenya’s biggest problem with the war against corruption has always been having the corrupt have their day whenever they fight back. This has happened to so many competent people before. A number of committed and hardworking officers have often lost their jobs whenever they showed determination to fight graft. A few years back it was confirmed that in Kenya, corruption fights back. It happened to Goldenberg whistle blower David Munyakei who lost his job and died in agony after he revealed how Kenyans had lost billions of shillings through the Goldenberg scandal. The same nature of machinations worked so hard to remove true anti corruption crusaders from transparency international. It was such kind of behind the scene political games by some board members that two very competent CEO’s Mwalimu Mati and Gladwell Otieno were consecutively removed from TI Kenya. Transparency International is just one example among many where officers committed to sincerity end up losing their jobs because of the greed and immorality of some of the board members of those institutions.

The minister in charge must be lauded for taking a bold action and making the truth carry its day by re appointing Mr. Wario. The minister has shown that if we all work for the truth, the just will always get justice too.

The initial sacking of Mr. Wario was like condemning those who fight corruption within the institutions where they work. This is because the ground of dismissal was based on the fact that he didn’t cooperate in the approval of some questionable deals pushed by the board. He must be lauded for standing strong in the interest of Kenyan youth when he refused to approve a ‘loan’ of ksh.300million to a Canadian NGO. Its noticeable that some politically connected board members wanted to use their political influence to blackmail the CEO into approving projects that mattered to their own selfish interests and not in the interest of the Kenyan youth.

It’s important that the minister was able to rescind her own earlier move of sacking the YEDF CEO after finding out the truth.

As the minister appoints new board members it’s important to ensure that new faces are put on the board to make the YEDF operate without any external coercion from various political interests as it has been before. The minister should now move to ensure that the board is fully reconstituted to include people who will work in the interest of the Kenyan youth and not those who will end up arm-twisting the CEO to give’ loans’ to foreign NGOs. A new board I believe will come up with a new way of implementing the youth projects and also oversee the funding of the youth groups by merit and not through political manipulations.

Wario is one of the competent young people who are emerging in providing leadership in different sectors of our economy and it’s wrong for individuals to use tribalism or any other form of bigotry to sabotage such talents. He is also is famed for having rolled out the audit of the Kenya’s free primary education when he worked for the ministry of education.

I really wish that other ministers and government officials emulate the youth and sports minister Prof. Hellen Sambili and stand and support the truth always whenever circumstances of this nature arise. Through this, we shall achieve a lot in our war against nepotism and all other forms of corruption. It must be fought from all corners and sacking public officers who help fight it is not one of the methods of ridding our society of graft.

FWAMBA NC FWAMBA

ICC Prosecutor Supports Three-Pronged Approach to Justice in Kenya

Press Release: 30.09.2009

ICC-OTP-20090930-PR456

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, reiterated today his resolve to address the post-election violence of early 2008 with the Kenyan leaders and to prevent recurring violence through a three-pronged approach: with the ICC prosecuting those most responsible; national accountability proceedings as defined by the Kenyan Parliament, such as a Special Tribunal, for other perpetrators; and other reforms and mechanisms such as the Justice, Truth and Reconciliation commission to shed light on the full history of past events and to suggest mechanisms to prevent such crimes in the future. “Kenya will be a world example on managing violence,” he stressed.

A high level delegation from the Government of Kenya met with Mr. Moreno-Ocampo in The Hague on 3 July 2009, when it expressed its government’s commitment to ending impunity for the crimes committed. The delegation also stressed that prosecuting the perpetrators of the crimes then committed was necessary to prevent new violence ahead of the 2012 elections. The Government of Kenya committed to referring the situation to the Prosecutor in accordance with Article 14 of the Rome Statute, unless the Kenyan Parliament could agree on a genuine national mechanism to prosecute those responsible for the crimes.

In the recent past, the Prosecutor has met on different occasions with members of the Kenyan Government, emphasizing that, with Kenyan leadership, these three tracks should complement each other.

Decisive consultations between the Prosecutor and the Kenyan principals will take place in the coming weeks. Justice will not be delayed.

The International Criminal Court is an independent, permanent court that investigates and prosecutes persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In February 2008, the Office of the Prosecutor announced that it was carrying out a preliminary examination of the situation in Kenya.

For Related Information and Links

For more information please contact:

Ms Florence Olara, Public Information Officer

+31 70 515 8723

email: florence.olara@icc-cpi.int

OTP News Desk

+31 70 515 8759

email: OTPNewsDesk@icc-cpi.int

Source: Office of the Prosecutor

Kibaki should catalyse reforms instead of protesting USA Travel Ban

The two conflicting views on travel ban coming from the President and the Prime Minister who are partners in the grand coalition government shows that one faction is for reforms and another ardent protectors of the status quo.

The two leaders must take full responsibility for failing to provide direction in the reform process instead of duelling on empty rhetoric.

If the Prime Minister is for reforms, he should avoid portraying himself as Mr. Clean, when he is part and parcel of the grand coalition government.

He should instead tell Kenyans and world what he has done individually to catapult reforms in the Country.

His recent speech in Harvard University, where he supported the USA’s travel ban on government officials convinced the world that it’s the government that is behind the delay to bring about reforms in Kenya.

It also showed a fatigued reform process and a disoriented government that lacks operational uniformity.

President Kibaki should also tell us why the government has failed to implement the reforms Kenyans desperately need to pave the way for smooth running of the country’s social, economic and political affairs.

The protest letter to Washington portrays Kibaki as a leader hell-bent on protecting few individuals and not the interests of the masses; the bulk of those who have been voting for him to public office for many decades.

We want him to focus on the wellbeing of the Kenyan people and their future but not the interests of power barons. It would have made sense if the President stated in the protest letter, the reasons for procrastinating reforms instead of just criticizing Washington’s travel ban on government officials.

Kenyans will support any external pressure if it will compel the government to implement the reforms the nation desperately needs. In fact, the USA has made a positive step and it will be fair if other Western powers especially the EU took similar steps.

The president his Vice, the Prime Minister and his deputies all should suffer the travel ban because its them who are in the seats of power but are impediments to the reform process.

Our leaders like being pushed from outside in order to implement reforms. It’s the pressure from outside that compelled former President Moi to accept the reintroduction of multiparty democracy in the early 1991.

Kenyans remember the activities of former ambassadors of Germany, Berndth Muzelberg and the late Smith Hemsptone of the United States in the reform process in Kenya.

Indeed, Kibaki and Raila were pushed externally to agree on power sharing as a result of former US Secretary of State; Condy Rice’s terse statement in Nairobi last year.

It’s sad that after one and a half years of the grand coalition government, the nation is still in limbo on meaningful reforms especially Agenda Four of the National Accord.

We are shocked on the president’s swift response on Washington’s ban on government officials when he is known to be silent on issues that require urgent response especially those that affect the lives of millions of Kenyans.

Why has kept silent on the Ringera circus as well as the trial of the Masterminds of post election violence and now wants to defend a few individuals in the grand coalition government who are likely to be personal non grata in the USA?

Finally, it’s imperative that Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki played pivotal roles to catalyse reforms in Kenya failure to which, we shall conclude that they are the biggest impediments to realize this end.

Joseph Lister Nyaringo,

USA, Georgia

Kenya’s IDP crisis: Only history can judge our collective inaction

In the aftermath of Kenya's 2007 general election over half a million people were displaced. Fleeing homes, loosing livelihoods and loved ones. To date some of the 2007 internal refugees still remain both in camps and transit sites. Yet the anomaly of internal displacement is not new to Kenya. From pre-independence, many Kenyans have been forcibly removed from their homes, having to settle elsewhere as refugees within their own country.

In contemporary history, the IDP crisis has been closely linked to the country’s electoral process, particularly with the advent of the country’s multi-party era. The crisis became the proverbial elephant in the living room – a topic that was too taboo to mention. For years following the post-election clashes of the 1990s the Moi regime swept the issue under the carpet, maintaining that there were no IDPs. However, with more freedom of expression and opening up of the media airwaves, the plight of IDPs has gained more limelight.

Kenya’s internal conflict has been almost like clockwork set to the political scene during general election years of 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 as well as the constitutional referendum of 2005. Every five years people have had to flee their homes and that is why the IDP situation falls into the category of a “complex emergency”.

So why term Kenya’s IDP crisis a complex emergency? For the simple reason that unlike natural catastrophes, people loose all they have in a matter of minutes yet the underlying cause is politically instigated and conflict-generated (Macrae and Zwi, 1994).

The United Nations’ Office for Co-ordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (which draws its definition from the UN's Inter-Agency Standing Committee) defines complex emergencies as ‘a humanitarian crisis … where there is total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external conflict …. (IASC, 1994). However, this reliance on authority breakdown has been criticized. David Keen author of the book "Complex Emergencies" writes on OCHA's definition having shortcomings arguing that in the case of 1994 Rwanda, the problem was not so much the breakdown of authority, rather that the "authority" being imposed was "ruthless” and had “vicious efficiency".

Indeed Kenya has always had a government, and the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement stipulate that it is this same government that should ensure that the IDPs receive requisite humanitarian assistance, are resettled and reintegrated back into society. However the Kenya government has mismanaged this obligation.

The Government’s Ministry of State in charge of Special Programmes initiative to resettle the nation’s IDPs has been dubbed “Operation Rudi Nyumbani” (return home) which includes financial assistance and transport among other short- term measures.The causes of displacement and obstacles to resettlement have not been adequately addressed and the Ministry's stop-gap activities have failed to assure Kenyans that the Operation is not just a PR exercise so the government looks good to donors.

There has also been a disturbing tendency where anyone (whether an IDP or an interested party such as the Kenya Human Rights Commission) who questions how an unaccountable government can accountably distribute funds and materials to IDPs are met with torrents of abuse and muzzling.

Queries on government commitment and initiatives to assist IDPs to ensure long-term peace have centered on: poor co-ordination and corruption; insecurity; child and gender based violations; inadequate shelter and compensation for loss. The Kenya Human Rights Commission in an October 2008 report “A Tale of Force, Threats and Lies” even accused the government of forcing IDPs to go back to their homes.

As for the UN and those that adhere to the IDP Guidelines and rules regarding complex emergencies, they have been confined in that they have to deal with the government of day and trust that the government will most effectively and equitably distribute humanitarian assistance. However when the lives of people and those of future of generations are at stake, a dire need emerges to make sure that this complex emergency does not become a permanent one. It is thus imperative that the international community demands that the government ensures that the rights of all IDPs are upheld.

Indeed recent political events have shown the danger of inaction in enforcing strict observance of ethical standards regarding resettlement. Just last week, the government decided to compensate settlers in the Mau forest. This is hardly the first time such a compensation scheme has been conceived, however the common occurrence has been that the majority of the money falls into the pockets of the fat cats who grabbed the land.

The eponymous Ndung'u report which investigated illegal allocation of public land, lists no less than the families of former presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi as those who grabbed public property earmarked for squatter resettlement. On this issue, Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai was today quoted in the media saying, “… the Kenya government does not have money, it’s your taxes. So if they don’t have taxes they will ask the World Bank to give them money to come and compensate leaders who misused their power (to acquire) land they should never have acquired …”

As it is, the Ministry of State for Special Programmes requires more funds which will come from the National Budget and the excess from donors. Isn’t it about time to first question whether Operation Rudi Nyumbani has been a success and whether indeed the government should still spearhead IDP assistance?

In August 2000, Fr. John Anthony Kaiser, a crusader for the rights of internally displaced persons was murdered. He was vocal speaking out on the injustices meted out to the displaced. However, almost a decade later, even more people languish miserably exiled from their homes.

As it is who knows how many more people will join the ranks of IDPs come the next general election, or for that matter the anticipated constitutional referendum? We also need to re-examine our outlook towards Kenya’s IDPs. In an age of reality television where shows such as Big Brother Africa keep viewers glued to their screens; alas when it comes to our brothers and sisters living in camps we are no longer voyeurs. Indeed, there is no difference between our IDPs and those in Darfur, yet though our eyes face the screen watching news stories on their plight, we no longer see the real suffering; we no longer question why this is happening; we only say a silent prayer that come 2012, we will not be the ones taking up airspace as IDPs.

Is it only in Kenya where we have become immune and impervious to news stories on corruption, impunity and gross violations of human rights? Could this be because this is the country where even those that engineer and carry out grand larceny on our nation’s coffers have the opportunity to transform themselves into televangeslist? Is that why we do not find it dysfunctional to watch the IDPs in their tattered clothes which cover emaciated bodies and hold up despondent faces?

Kenya's Youth Council Bill is merely a means to keep the old guard on top

Kenya's National Youth Council Bill 2009 came up for reading this week in parliament, though lack of quorum once again caused some delay. Though this should be cause for celebration for the country's youth movement, several clauses illustrate the government's inability to respect the needs and demands of Kenya's youth.

Indeed the Bill is ambiguous even when it comes to the definition of who actually constitute the youth. In the Bill's preliminary, the youth are termed as persons between fifteen and thirty years. However,the United Nations categorises youth as those between the ages of 15 to 24 years old. And for one to benefit from a loan from the country's Youth Enterprise Development Fund, one has to be between the ages of 18 to 35 years.

Then there is the issue of actual youth participation in the proposed Council. Section 5 of the Bill states that the Chairperson shall be appointed solely by the Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports. However, she need not even consult with youth groups when making her decision, so she could appoint a geriatric if she chose.

On further perusal of the clauses regarding the composition of the Council, it turns out that it is not only the Chair that could turn out to be old. Apart from the traditional practice of having permanent secretaries from the parent ministry and the Treasury in addition to the Attorney General (or an appointed proxy), the Minister also holds sole powers to appoint six other members to the Council. The clause once again does not insist on any consultation with youth groups, and also has no mention whatsoever of the age of these members.

Further, the Chief Executive of the Council can be as old as Methuselah as far as the Bill is concerned. This is the same officer who should serve as the face of the Council and be the voice of the youth to the Council members, yet the Bill omits to mention that they even need to form any liaisons with the country's youth groups or have any prior experience in youth policy making.

The staff of the Council too do not have to be youth. And remember that it was only a few months ago when the retirement age of civil servants in Kenya was hiked up by five years to 65! Seeing that the government claims to be striving to implement austerity measures, most likely the staff will be deployed from other government ministries; so who is to say that the Council offices will not be manned by 59 year olds? This in the same country where nearly 10% of the total population are unemployed youth, stinks of the same insensitivity government policies have had towards the Kenyan people.

The bid to control the youth through this reactionary document, also rises higher up in government echelons, not merely resting on the shoulders of the Minister of Youth Affairs. The President who himself is inching closer to 80 years holds the sole power to appoint the Chairperson of the proposed Advisory Board to the Council. This is the same person that oversaw the re-appointment of the oldest civil servant in Kenyan history back to the Kenya Airport Authority! Even scanning appointments to commissions and government agencies, it would be more in keeping to norm for the President to appoint someone over retirement age, this time not even having to consult with younger MPs let alone youth organisations themselves.

But there is a glimmer of light where the advisory board is concerned where the Minister of Youth (again!) has the power to appoint eight representatives of youth organisations. However, yet again the youth are locked out in getting extra seats on this board by the following factors:

• Though one member must be nominated by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, to be a member one has be an association or a corporate entity and fork out at least Kshs. 5,000 (US$ 65). Youth entrepreneurs generally tend to be cash strapped, and thus more likely to be unable to even afford this sum, precluding them from such a nomination.
• Including only the Commission of Higher Education to represent the education sector ignores the millions of youth who never had or will have the opportunity to benefit from tertiary education.
• The National Economic and Social Council has a small minority of youth members, who once again only represent the creme de la creme of industry and financial services in the country. What about the informal sector entrepreneurs who form the majority of business activity in Kenya and employ 75% of Kenyans of working age?
• Finally where are the nomination categories that will nominate members to press for the rights of rural and urban poor youth?

Even the experts that are supposed to advise the advisory board do not have to be youthful. To us, the best expert is the one that is living the life - the youth themselves!

Another toothless dog?

It seems that indeed this proposed Council is once again a PR gimmick of the government, a mere toothless poodle to appease and control the youth. Under the Bill, the activities and mandates of the Council are only a duplication of what national youth movements have already being doing for eons. The proposed Council pales in comparison to the youth council in Rwanda, which even has enough power to elect members to the country's Chamber of Deputies, the second chamber of parliament.

As Hon. Denis H. Obua MP of Uganda writing earlier on the yipe.org blog comparing the mainstreaming of youth policy in his country to that of Rwanda commented:

"My observation was that issues of the youth are given top priority by the Rwandan government.

Their youth councils are one of the best supported in Africa and the Ministry of Youth Affairs is considered one of the core ministries ... But does the Rwandan government have more resources than Uganda’s? The answer is no, but issues of the youth attract top attention in Kigali".- Govt crippling youth efforts to live better, November 21 2008

Though the Kenya Bill tries to promote fresh talent by limiting the number of years one can sit on the Council or the Advisory Board to three years, a better measure would be to ensure that the main decision making powers rest with the youth membership, while the permanent secretaries and Attorney General's representative act as advisers to ensure they act within mandate and the law. The maximum limit for the youth Council members can be either 30 or 35 years, after the Ministry of Youth finally settles on one age. After that the Council members should retire.

Also the powers of the Minister of Youth to hire and fire should be curtailed, by insisting that there should be some consultative process with the youth of Kenya, before embarking on such actions.

Open letter to the IMF on the loan request by the Republic of Kenya for US$100 million

2nd June 2009

Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Managing Director
The International Monetary Fund
700 19th Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20431
For the attention of the Board of Directors

Through W. Scott Rogers, IMF Resident Representative to Kenya.

Dear Sir,

Re: Loan request by the Republic of Kenya for US$100 million

We understand that the Kenya government has applied for an emergency credit for US$100 million to cushion its currency from the International Monetary Fund. We also understand that this application is due for consideration at your next board meeting. The Partnership for Change is concerned that while Kenyans continue to demand accountability from the Government of Kenya on our public debt, the government continues to ignore the public and continues to borrow and indebt the poor people of Kenya.

We understand that the Kenya government has applied for an emergency credit for US$100 million to cushion its currency from the International Monetary Fund. We also understand that this application is due for consideration at your next board meeting.

The Partnership for Change is concerned that while Kenyans continue to demand accountability from the government of Kenya on our public debt, the government continues to ignore the public and continues to borrow and indebt the poor people of Kenya.

The position of the Partnership for Change is that transparency requires that Kenyans know what they owe, to whom they owe, and for what purpose they have a debt. The Partnership for Change wants no further contracting of international debts unless and until the government of Kenya accounts to the people of Kenya through parliament by tabling the complete list of all loans and debt registers for the period 1963 to date for public scrutiny. We also want the law amended before any further borrowing, so that it is illegal for the government of Kenya to borrow without prior parliamentary approval and full debate on the merits of the borrowing. We request that all future lending to Kenya be pegged to accountability and transparency. We submit that that most of the debts that Kenya is listed as owing are bogus, corrupt debts, which have impoverished Kenyans who repay these debts annually to the tune of 24 per cent of our national budget. The effect of making poor, starving Kenyans pay these unconscionable debts can easily be described as a crime against humanity.

It is in this context that we write to your organisation as hereunder.

Three years ago, when he was the junior senator for Illinois, US President Barack Obama, famously said in Nairobi that ‘while corruption is a problem we all share, here in Kenya it is a crisis – a crisis that is robbing an honest people of the opportunities they have fought for – the opportunity they deserve.’ If he were to visit Kenya today, he might feel that the situation is no longer a crisis but has reached the tipping point. In fact, corruption in Kenya is no longer a crisis; if one understands crisis to mean that point where there is some hope of recovery should the government intervene. We believe that corruption in Kenya is akin to a terminal cancer that has become malignant, and the government doctors attending the patient are administering placebo treatment, allowing the cancer to spread institution by institution. Among these institutions are the treasury and the ministry of finance whose debt management leaves a lot to be desired.

Aggravating the situation, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are in denial as evidenced by their public statements, that the corruption problem in the grand coalition is not serious. The consequences of their denial is that the fight against corruption is not a government priority and Kenyans continue to suffer as impunity for gross economic crimes becomes entrenched to the same extent as during the Daniel Arap Moi regime. Arap Moi’s greatest scandal, Goldenberg, remains unresolved and beneficiaries named in a judicial commission of inquiry remain in cabinet and public prominence. This despite promises by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga.

Nothing characterises such impunity as the treasury or the ministry of finance. It is this department of the Kenyan government that is responsible for the unresolved scandal of the sovereign debt in the form of irrevocable promissory notes worth close to US$750 million dollars that were illegally issued, without legal consideration, to several phantom credit companies in the Anglo Leasing credit contracts. To date these have not been cancelled and the government that is asking you for emergency credit is actually negotiating payments of these bogus debts with the so-called financiers in Europe, in the full knowledge that no credit was delivered to Kenya and that the poor taxpayers are the ones who will eventually pay for these bogus debts.

To add insult to injury the Government is refusing to seek mutual legal assistance from international authorities who are willing to unravel the Anglo Leasing scandal with respect to their nationals. It is public record that among such authorities whose inquiries are being frustrated by the Kenyan authorities, and the Attorney General in particular, are the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office. The Kenyan authorities have also yet to make a serious request for assistance of the United States department of justice, which has in its custody a US national who was involved in Anglo Leasing called Bradley Birkenfeld. The Kenya Anti Corruption Commission has no interest in international asset recovery.

Beyond the failure of investigative and prosecutorial bodies in Kenya, corruption is systemic because the ministry of finance and the treasury are not accountable to Parliament and can keep the contracting of such bogus loans, shielded from legislative scrutiny in breach of the External Loans and Credits Act which requires Parliament to be informed of such debt by the minister of finance. To date, for example, the detailed separate audits of the 18 security related contracts known as Anglo Leasing worth Ksh56.33 billion, have never been tabled in parliament.

But it is not just parliament that has been kept in the dark. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has been side-stepped by the treasury for decades as it borrows recklessly, especially since the mid 1980s.

Section 31 of the Central Bank of Kenya Act states that the Central Bank shall administer any payment agreements entered into by Kenya, and shall be consulted by the government in negotiating any payments agreement. However in contravention of this law, the Central Bank has been kept out of the loop. Although in 2004, the Central Bank was lobbying for amendments to the External Loans and Credit Act to compel the government to consult it in all external loans borrowing, these amendments have never been enacted. So the situation in 2009 remains as it was in 2004. Although the permanent secretary for finance, Mr Joseph Kinyua, said that he issued a circular abolishing the use of promissory notes and to stop commercial credit agreements of the Anglo Leasing type, the government does not have to consult with the Central Bank before it borrows money abroad. In fact the government is not obliged to give full disclosure of external payment agreements it requires the CBK to administer. As regards external commercial public debt, the Central Bank is legally bound to pay without protest so long as the instructions given to the Bank by the government are proper and there are sufficient funds to honour the transaction without querying the underlying transactions.

This is what happened during the entire Anglo Leasing series of payments of commitment fees, principal repayments and interest servicing from 1997 to date. Unfortunately for the Kenyan people whose taxes are the guarantee for sovereign debt, these Anglo Leasing debts are secured by irrevocable promissory notes and legal opinions by Kenya’s attorney general, Amos Wako, which validated them giving consideration for sham contracts drawn by treasury whose sole purpose was to facilitate embezzlement of taxpayers’ funds. An investigation by the controller and auditor general, Evan Mwai, found that not a shilling in credit was ever provided by Anglo Leasing financiers to justify the issuance of promissory notes. Sadly provisions have been made in the current budget to pay some of these debts for money not received and which is certainly not owed. The budget is prepared by the treasury that has approached you for emergency credit.

As if that were not enough, the permanent secretary for finance and other senior treasury officials have told civil society representatives that there are false entries in the country’s national external debt register. These were apparently inserted between 2001 and 2004 and cover the Anglo Leasing type 18 security related contracts. It would appear that despite having cleaned the external public debt register in 2001, after hiring Lazard Brothers the Government of Kenya in just a few years loaded the external public debt register with close to US$1 billion worth of fictitious credit and debts.

Treasury’s pathetic stewardship of our public resources threatens to cost Kenya billions of shillings. If the debt register contains false entries, Kenyans have no way of knowing how much they owe to external creditors and on what terms. In effect the permanent secretary, Joseph Kinyua has disclosed that there is a multi billion shilling hole in our books comprising what are obviously unconscionable debts.

Kenyans are aware that the largest component of our public debt is to the World Bank and the IMF. We want the World Bank and the IMF to lend responsibly and not to continue impoverishing Kenyans. What Kenyans would like to see from the World Bank and the IMF is comprehensive debt relief, with immediate cancellation of our debts to your organisations. Millions of Kenyans are wallowing in abject poverty and indeed are starving, unemployed and destitute. Without transparency in this matter of national debts, there will be little point in continuing to maintain the fiction, now being put about by your institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, that the government of Kenya has the capacity or will to unravel this shameful system failure and corruption scandals. Kenyans must stop the abuse of borrowing powers by the treasury. We do not want to borrow US$100 million from the IMF. The Government of Kenya should be reminded that they have provided for a similar amount US$100 million to repay bogus Anglo Leasing and Ken Ren fertiliser factory debts in the current budget 2008/2009. Ken Ren fertiliser factory is a phantom project for which annual payments are being made by the treasury to a bank in Austria and a bank in Belgium. They should use those funds to ‘cushion the currency’. The IMF and the World Bank should not assist the Government of Kenya in scamming Kenyans.

We therefore respectfully urge you:
1. Not to approve the request by the government of Kenya in its present form.

2. To insist that the following conditionalities apply before the request is considered:

• The Government of Kenya immediately demonstrates austerity measures, including the reduction of the number of ministries to a reasonable number such as 13 (the size of cabinet at independence). Kenyans cannot afford to maintain a bloated cabinet of 93 ministers and assistant ministers. There are currently 43 ministries in the grand coalition government, many of which have no developmental added value and are mere sinecure positions for the president and prime minister to fill.
• An audit of the external public debt register be made and issued to the public through the national assembly.
• A report on pending legislation and threatened proceedings against the government of Kenya on the basis of sovereign debt be made and issued to the public through the National Assembly
• Immediate retirement in the public interest of the permanent secretary, treasury and the head of debt management and immediate replacement of the two persons with Kenyans with appropriate credentials who can easily be found from within the Kenya public service.
• All wasteful expenditure is removed from the national budget estimates to be presented to Parliament in June 2009 and that the estimates to reflect 60 per cent in development expenditure and 40 per cent in recurrent expenditure.
• Provision by the government of Kenya of evidence that it has requested mutual legal assistance for international asset recovery and has taken action to seize proceeds of corruption in Kenya.
  

3. To consider comprehensive debt relief for Kenya, by canceling our current debts to your institutions in order to alleviate the suffering of millions of poor Kenyans and to enable Kenya to meet crucial Millennium Development Goals.

4. Peg all future support to the government of Kenya to accountability and transparency in the borrowing and implementation of the funds advanced.

We trust the International Monetary Fund Board of Directors will consider the opinion of those who will inevitably be taxed to repay whatever loan the government of Kenya obtains, regardless of whether or not they obtained any developmental benefit from it.

Yours Faithfully,

Mwalimu Mati

For the Partnership for Change

The Partnership for Change is an open initiative of Mars Group Kenya and other like-minded organizations, civil society agencies, NGO’s, youth groups, faith based organisations, social movements and grass roots organisations and networks from all of the eight provinces of Kenya. The mission of the Partnership for Change is to advance the strategic use of non-violent action in calling upon the Kenyan citizen to demand the end of Impunity, the restoration of democratic accountability and the end of dictatorship in Kenya.

c.c.
Open copies to:

1. All members of parliament (Kenya National Assembly)
2. Bilateral donors to Kenya
3. The country resident director, the World Bank
4. The resident representative, African Development Bank
5. The resident representative, International Monetary Fund
6. Media
7. The board of directors of the World Bank

Robert Mugabe as COMESA’s new poster boy bodes ill for trade in Africa

The 13th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit postponed twice since 2008 due to Zimbabwe’s political instability, is ongoing with preliminary ministerial meetings. The Heads of State summit is set to commence on June 6th where Robert Mugabe will officially take over the helm of the trading bloc from Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

According to COMESA’s vision, the regional union is meant to “be a fully integrated, internationally competitive regional economic communitywith high standards of living for ALL its people”. COMESA’s chosen approach to achieve this is through development integration involving a combination of trade development and investment promotion.

Mugabe: The Right Man For The Right Job?

At a time when Africa has been hit hard by the worst global recession, it is inconceivable that a man who single-handedly crushed his own country’s economy can be placed in a position over the economies of 19 member states with a population of over 400 million.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for the past 29 years. His past actions are in stark contrast to the bloc’s Fundamental Principles as enshrined in the COMESA Treaty which include the recognition, promotion and protection of fundamental human rights; commitment to the principles of liberty, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law; maintenance of peace and stability through the promotion and strengthening of good neighbourliness and promotion and sustenance of an accountable and just democratic system of governance.

However, the Mugabe hegemony has overseen countless lives being lost most recently from cholera which even spread across borders. Torture and extra judicial killings to muzzle opponents have also been widely used with the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum reporting more than 20,000 human rights violations including 3,000 acts of torture since 2001. Average life expectancy in the country since 1998 has fallen from 55 years to a paltry 35, in essence meaning that a Zimbabwean has a strong chance of not outliving their youth. Unemployment remains rife with over 90% of the working age population being jobless. Maternal and child health has degenerated to the point where nearly half of all Zimbabweans are at risk of malnutrition and starvation, and a child born in Zimbabwe is the most likely to die in the entire African Continent.

All this misery led to over a quarter of Zimbabwe’s populace fleeing the terror and misery. Yet Mugabe remains to this day either unrepentant or maybe unaware of the devastation he has wreaked on his country. He has numerously been quoted pointing fingers blaming his people’s woes on the British, Americans and any country he perceives to be at fault. Individual Zimbabweans who dare to question his policies have been branded as puppets of the West, overlooking the fact that he as well as his coterie of greedy associates have over the years looted the Treasury and in turn messed what was once seen as the breadbasket of Africa.

As a report The Zimbabwe Papers: A Positive Agenda for Zimbabwean Renewal concluded, the crisis situation in Zimbabwe is solely due to "policies adopted, decisions made, and actions taken by the government of Zimbabwe" – the ZANU-PF government of Robert Mugabe.

Nothing except for a fragile unity government has changed since November 2008 when the majority of COMESA heads of state who had been invited to attend the postponed summit, categorically told the Zimbabwe government of the day that they would boycott the summit.

Robert Mugabe does not stand for the promotion of trade. Hyperinflation and excessive government regulations have heavily penalised the country’s entrepreneurs. Hyperinflation reached a mind-boggling 231 million percent. His accomplice in looting state funds, Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono remains in office. Mugabe even had the temerity to declare that his lieutenant Gono would remain in office up until he leaves office come 2013.

On the authority of Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s Central Bank exercised imprudent monetary policies which included flagrant printing of money regardless of the impact on inflation and the ordinary Zimbabwean. Fiscal policies enforced punitive lump taxes on businesses, further hampering the chances of success for enterprises. Criminality and corruption were the order of the day, with embezzlement, kidnappings and all other manner of vile strategies being used in order to retain control.

The country’s standard of living fell by 80% in the last decade. Even the local Zimbabwe dollar has been suspended. Public utilities were progressively canibalised till the water system became contaminated, electricity erratic and fuel became so scarce that it's market value became akin to gold. Workers in industries were similarly punished when even their health became compromised as a result of a health sector that could no longer provide even the most basic essential drugs.

According to the Ease of Doing Business reports from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, it takes 96 days to start a business, 481 days to comply with licences and another 30 days to register a property. Zimbabwe also currently ranks 7th worst on the World Bank’s Trade Restrictiveness Index.

The years of destruction of social goods now means that Zimbabwe needs at least US$5 billion to revive its almost dead economy. Local industry which should be in the forefront of re-energising the economy virtually collapsed under Mugabe’s totalitarian regime. Production costs are hardly competitive within the COMESA region let alone the rest of Africa. The Zimbabwe papers report laments that Zimbabwe has become one of the worst places to start a business. So how can the same person responsible for this degeneracy promote trade? It beats belief.

As the Corporate Foreign Policy blog writes: Mugabe has created a situation so horrible that if he ever got to the Hague, they would need to invent a new charge for the man.

Though Zimbabwe’s economy has slowly revived after Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai formed a coalition government, a lot remains to be done. However, you cannot be part of a problem as well as part of the solution.

Why is it that the donor community is placing conditionalities on loans such as respect for human rights and the rule of law on Zimbabwe, yet COMESA whose basic tenets rest on the same principles cannot insist that Zimbabwe implements such measures? To elect such an individual, calls into question COMESA’s mission and role in improving the living standards of the over 400 million Africans it serves.