An activist's story for African Liberation Day – Not Yet Uhuru!

Today marks African Liberation Day founded in 1958 when Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah convened the First Conference of Independent States. The day symbolizes the determination of the people of Africa to free themselves from the shackles of domination and exploitation; first from colonial powers and today from dictatorial regimes.

However African social justice activists still face intimidation and outright violations of their basic human rights. The story below written by George Nyongesa of Kenya’s Bunge La Mwananchi is just one of the many examples that respect for human rights is still elusive to Kenyans.

It is also tragic to note that even though African Liberation Day was founded over half a century ago, unfortunately it is as the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga titled his seminal autobiography: (it is) Not Yet Uhuru. Today also marks the first anniversary of the death of Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, one of Africa’s champions in the struggle for human rights, justice and democracy. To pay tribute to the lives of the late Tajudeen and other social justice crusaders who have transitioned, surely African leaders should today hear the call of the citizens who are demanding social accountability. Not in 1958, not tomorow, but Today. We demand Uhuru Today …

YIPE

Mr. Shitati a Bunge la Mwananchi member arrested distributing copies of Katiba!

Dear Kenyans and friends of Kenya,

I would like to bring to your attention the arrest of Mr.Nathan Shitati, a member of Bunge la Mwananchi, by 4 CID officers. At the time of arrest Mr. Shitati was distributing copies of the proposed constitution and talking to a group of people on the streets of Nairobi around Prudential Building next to City Hall. The copies of Katiba that he was distributing had been picked from Uraia.

Mr. Shitati, aged between 60-65 years, was picked out of a group of close to 100 people and was driven away in a motor vehicle bearing number plate KAJ 945U to what we later learnt was Central Police Station.

I was informed by those present during the arrest, that the arrest took place at around 1.30pm ( Monday 24th). While arresting Mr. Shitati, the arresting officers remarked that he was to be a lesson to the rest and ordered the rest of the group to disperse or they would be arrested too.

When I visited Central Police Station to inquire about the charges against Mr. Shitati, I was taken on a run-around between DCIO (not sure of his name); Mr. Francis Muguai, the Officer Commanding Police Department, (OCPD); and Officer Commanding Police Station (OCS), (not sure of his name too).

In my meeting with the DCIO in his office, he could not say anything more than: “the matter is with the OCPD” and “why cant you people keep quiet?” Realising the futility of dealing with the DCIO, I and others who had accompanied me to follow up the matter, went to the OCPD’s office, where we knocked, entered and greeted him but he did not respond. I went ahead to tell him what had brought us to his office. He kept quiet for almost 10 minutes just watching TV. When I insisted to know what offense Mr. Shitati is alleged to have committed, he jumped from his sit almost hitting me with his baton and shouted: “did he have permit to hold a meeting”. He then ordered me plus the people I was with out of his office.

At around 7pm an unidentified police officer in uniform came to me and told me that Mr. Shitati was going to be taken tomorrow morning to City Court for charges of CREATING PUBLIC NUISANCE. On learning this, I decided to go back to the OCS, who just waved us out of his office saying we should just wait for Mr. Shitati to be presented in court because that matter was above him. I tried to persuade the OCS to release Mr. Shitati on bond on grounds that he was being charged with a petty offense and he is an old man and sickly. But the OCS just remarked that “that there is something called occupational hazard”. The police could not let me confirm from the Occurrence Book (OB) if the charge of public nuisance is what is recorded there.

It is very sad that Mr. Nathan is spending a night in a cold, filthy, police cell for exercising his constitutional rights of assembly, association and expression. It would be interesting to see what is defined by police officers as a public nuisance. If it turns out to be true that Mr. Shitati shall be charged at the City Court then it is worrisome that nowadays CID officers can arrest and charge people under City By Laws which is traditionally the docket of City Council Askaris.

The kind of (mis) treatment that we received at Central Police Station is unacceptable and smirks of something else more than the alleged offense that Mr. Shitati is being charged with.

While I am shy of drawing conjectures it is important that I inform you that Mr. Shitati is a well known grassroots leader and a YES activist. Mr. Shitati is not new to the streets. He is part of the large group of citizens that meet during lunch hour and after work on the streets around Prudential House to discuss public interest topics and it is surprising that he was arrested for distributing copies of the proposed constitution.

We invite you to stay vigilant with us and if you can, join us in court, possibly at the City Court or High Court tomorrow Tuesday 25th May, 2010 at 8.00am. We still have not firmed up on legal representation and will also possibly require to raise cash bail to secure Mr Nathan Shitati’s release from custody tomorrow. Therefore, if there is anyone or oganisation out there who can help us in this matter please get in touch at the below contacts.

Yours in organizing for change,

George Nyongesa

Bunge la Mwananchi

info@bungelamwananchi.org

www.bungelamwananchi.org

Africa Progress Report calls on African leaders to turn “scramble for Africa” into results

Johannesburg – 25 May 2010: The Africa Progress Panel (APP) has called for a more assertive approach from African leaders to translate the continent’s “immense resources” into social benefits for its people. The report warned that “Africans beyond elite circles are not benefiting sufficiently” while at the same time there was great scope to improve Africa’s partnerships with the Global South.

Kofi Annan, Chair of the Panel and fellow Panel members Linah Mohohlo, Peter Eigen and Olusegun Obasanjo  presented the Africa Progress Report on Africa Day – five years since the establishment of the Panel and 10 years since world leaders signed up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report takes stock of Africa’s progress since 2005 and assesses future opportunities for the continent.

“This landmark report argues that Africa’s future is in its own hands, but that success in managing its own affairs depends on supportive global policies and agreements,” Annan said. “There is no lack of resources, no deficiency of knowledge and no shortage of plans. Africa’s progress rests above all else on the mobilisation of political will, both on the continent and internationally.”

The panel has called on the continent’s finance ministers, who are meeting in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire for the Annual African Development Bank summit, to “climate proof” the continent’s economic growth and development. “Climate change will increase the cost of MDG attainment, whether in food production, health, water, energy, infrastructure and other areas; it will have disproportionate effects on women and the poor,” the Panel said. “As a result, it cannot be treated as a stand-alone issue; climate-proofed development plans can provide the basis for disaster risk reduction and adaptation strategies as well as help identify investment opportunities for low carbon and job generating growth.”

Focusing on Africa’s emergence as a “new economic frontier”, the Report notes that economic engagement with the Global South - China, the Far and Middle East, South Asia and Latin America - “is already having a substantial development impact on Africa”.  However, the report asserts that “Africans beyond elite circles are not benefiting sufficiently” while at the same time “there is great scope to improve Africa’s partnerships with the Global South”.  The report also notes that “African leaders... need to realize that the benefits of increasing economic ties are not automatic, but only accrue to those that take adequate and pro-active steps to exploit them through targeted policies.”

In particular, the report calls for:

• Transparency throughout the entire resource system, from how contracts are awarded and monitored, to how taxes and royalties are collected, to how investment choices are made and executed.
• Policies that ensure that the revenues from the continent’s natural wealth reach everyone. This requires major policy shifts and significant investments of resources in institutions, human capacities, women, health, education and infrastructure.

Stating that “Africa’s development and the welfare of its people depend above all upon the political commitment and capacity of its leaders”, the Panel also urges African policymakers to:

1)     Empower women by enforcing existing conventions, laws and policies and link their efforts with effective implementation strategies including reliable reporting mechanisms 

2)     Climate proof development, not least through integrating adaptation to climate change into growth and development strategies, accelerating regional integration, harnessing the potential of information technology and anticipating demographic shifts  

The Panel also identifies three priority areas for action for Africa’s partners, recording that Africa’s leaders “need an international environment that is fair and supportive of their efforts.” The report calls for international policymakers to:

1)   Provide a level playing field, addressing the fact that “the continent is starkly underrepresented in virtually all international fora” and that “bloated subsidy regimes and unfair trade rules” leave African countries “heavily disadvantaged.”

2)  Increase policy coherence for development, “recognising the overall impact that countries’ domestic and international policy mix has on the continent and seek to minimize their negative effects.”

3)  Fulfil promises on resources and assistance, and “Africa’s partners to recommit to the consensus on the continent’s development and fulfil the many promises on financial support and assistance they have made over the last decade”.

Focusing on the approximately $100billion of financial assistance in annual expenditure from Africa’s partners required to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in the presence of anticipated climate change, the report records that “much of this could actually be met if partners were to fulfil the pledges they made over the last couple of years and realize the financing ambitions outlined in the Copenhagen Accord.” It notes that “the mechanisms to collect, administer, and disburse these funds are already in place.”

Looking back on Africa’s progress over the last five years, the report describes it as “a truly mixed picture.” It states that “remarkable progress has been achieved in many fields, but... a number of set-backs, chronic problems and the effects of the global economic crisis and climate change combine to threaten the gains made since 2005.”

The Africa Progress Report highlights that the central challenge for Africa’s leaders is to inspire processes and build practical capacities, both nationally and regionally, to ensure that assets are translated into social benefits and that their people are able to access opportunities that can transform their lives, countries, and continent. 

ABOUT THE AFRICA PROGRESS PANEL:

The Africa Progress Panel brings together a unique group of leaders under the chairmanship of Kofi Annan. The Panel monitors and promotes mutual accountability and shared responsibility for progress in Africa. Its three focus areas are economic and political governance; finance for sustainable development, including ODA; and MDG achievement – notably in light of climate change. The work of the Panel aims to track progress and draw attention to critical issues and opportunities for progress in Africa.

The Africa Progress Panel is comprised of:

§         Kofi Annan (chair of the Africa Progress Panel, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Laureate)

§         Tony Blair (founder, Africa Governance Initiative and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

§         Michel Camdessus (former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund)

§         Peter Eigen (founder and Chair of the Advisory Council, Transparency International and Chairman of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative)

§         Bob Geldof (musician, businessman, founder and Chair of Band Aid, Live Aid and Live8, Co-founder of DATA and ONE)

§         Graça Machel (President of the Foundation for Community Development and founder of New Faces New Voices)

§         Linah Kelebogile Mohohlo (Governor, Bank of Botswana)

§         Olusegun Obasanjo (Envoy of the Secretary-General on the Great Lakes region and  former President of Nigeria)

§         Robert Rubin (Co-Chairman of the Board, Council on Foreign Relations and former Secretary of the United States Treasury)

§         Tidjane Thiam (Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Plc.)

§         Muhammad Yunus (economist, founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel Laureate)

African Leaders are saboteurs of development

By Lord Aikins Adusei

 

It is a waste of time to argue that there is anything remarkable or worth emulating about the brand of leadership that is seen in Africa. Throughout Africa not a single country has been able to deliver its people from poverty, malnutrition and diseases. Almost all countries in Africa South of the Sahara are facing deep poverty and that includes resource rich counties like Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, and even South Africa.

 

Everywhere in the world whenever the word Africa is mentioned four words come to mind: poverty, hunger, wars and diseases. Apart from Botswana where the leaders have relatively been able to use their resources to advance the development of their people, the rest of Africa is nothing but misery. Misery in sense that the average African is hardly able to live one-third of the comfort that a citizen of the global north (US, Canada and Europe) is able to enjoy in his/her lifetime. Apart from the corrupt politicians, dictators and their cronies who live in luxury, the rest of the population have to survive the harsh realities of the African economy on less than two dollars a day.

Why is black Africa so different? Any time the question of poverty is raised black African leaders are quick to point to colonialism and slavery. But it is a fact that the era in which everything is blamed on colonialism and slavery is past and gone. India, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong were all colonised yet they have been able to shake themselves of what Dambisa Moyo terms the 'four apocalypse of hunger, disease, war and poverty'.

A visit to rural parts of Ghana shows that very little has changed economically since independence more than 50 years ago. In spite of the availability of tractors and other advanced farming technologies that can be employed to increase productivity, farmers in Ghana still cultivate and harvest their crops with cutlasses and hoes, tools their forefathers used before they were colonised. 

The situation in Niger, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Togo, Benin is not different from that of Ghana. The extreme poverty and deprivation in countries in the Horn of Africa region and Ethiopia in particular continue to baffle economists and development thinkers after so much aid money has been poured into that region to no avail as politicians divert aid money into their own private bank accounts.

Any major study about why Africa is so different from the rest of the world points to the kind of leadership that exists in Africa. The leaders in Africa love power and will do anything to get it: rigging elections, organizing thugs to cause mayhem and violence, refusing to step down when their term of office end. The likes are Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who employed violence and intimidation against members of opposition parties after loosing elections.

The leaders love to be worshiped and served as kings even though they claim to be servants of the people. They love to live in fine palaces, drive in convoys, attend state functions, deliver long speeches yet do not raise a finger to fight poverty and deprivation that are so common in their countries. 

 

African politicians and traditional leaders and those in control of economic and political affairs are always interested in titles and the financial rewards that go with their office not the responsibilities attached to the office. Ghana's current President is a Law Professor but he seems to have no clue on how to move his country forward. He is surrounded by others with academic titles similar to his but the ministries, departments and the sectors they head have not changed since they took office earlier this year.

Malawi's president holds a doctorate degree but his country is no different from that of Togo, DRC or Gabon which are all being governed poorly by children of former dictators and thieves who took decades to mismanage their countries' economies and resources. Nigeria's current president has been titled "the first graduate president of Nigeria" but Nigeria with all its oil revenue and human resource is still deep in poverty, sometimes not even finding enough petrol to feed her economy despite being the biggest oil producer in Africa.

This contrasts the president of Brazil, Lula Da Silva who used to be a shoe shine boy and street vendor but is increasingly turning his country into an economic power house, thereby steering his country into economic independence and freedom . Where did Yar' Dua leave his thinking cap when he became president or what did he graduated from? I want to know because I still wonder why they are not applying what they learnt in school to free their countries from the international disgrace and weakness that have come to be associated with the continent. A poor Cuban seeking to leave her communist country said she "would be prepared to go anywhere except Africa". When asked why she said "how can I jump out of a frying pan into fire?". Meaning she cannot leave a bad situation in Cuba and get into a worse one in Africa.

In a conversation with a female Professor in Stockholm, Sweden about the poverty situation in Africa she asked angrily "well the leadership in Gabon claim to have used the huge oil revenue for infrastructure investment but is that the reality on the ground?" She continued, "Democratic Republic of Congo is a mess, Angola, Congo and Equatorial Guinea are an eyesore and as for Nigeria well I reserve my comment".

The monumental failures on the part of African leaders have given birth to the phrase 'Africa South of the Sahara' and the leaders seem to be happy with that phrase. Black African leaders have accepted the phrase with all the negative connotations it carries without reacting to challenge it. The phrase in its proper sense refers to a part of Africa which does not count in global politics; a toddler in everything important in the world, a backward part of the continent that continues to stand still while the rest of humanity is moving forward both technologically and scientifically. Africa whose people live in darkness despite 365 days of sunshine and availability of solar technology to convert the sunshine into solar energy.

It means Africa which is so poor in an economic, social and political sense  - despite being rich in natural resources and hard working people: an Africa which is so poorly governed, whose leaders are corrupt and lack the capacity to plan and to initiate any programme of development on their own without being told to do so or helped by outsiders.

Africa where infrastructure decay is a norm, where rural life is nothing but a condemnation to abject poverty, hopelessness, misery and frustration. 

Africa where ethnicity and tribalism are exploited by corrupt dictators and opportunists bringing a wave of negative tendencies of cronyism, nepotism, corruption and conflicts in its trail. 

Africa where politicians are happy to exploit the ignorance and illiteracy that have enslaved and prevented its people from taking their rightful place in the world community of continents.

Africa that has not learned anything from its colonial experience and whose leaders continue to dance to the tune of Western and Chinese rhythm to their own peril; Africa which can be and is being recolonised by China and its rival competitors in Europe and North America through their multinational corporations. (Have you heard of Africom)? 

Africa whose leaders can be bought by multinational corporations with some few thousand dollars and allow multinational corporations to plunder their resources without any accountability.

Africa which is both economically and politically fragmented, having no common foreign policy, and no economic, immigration and agricultural policies and whose leaders see no wisdom in unity and are without a mouth in world affairs.

 

Africa which is so militarily weak and technologically paralysed to defend itself against external forces, their ideologies, philosophies and cultural pollution.

Africa whose leadership are morally bankrupt to criticise one another. 

Africa whose leaders have great ideas about how to rig and win elections, kill journalists, stifle press freedom, freedom of speech and association but have not the slightest idea as to how to fight chronic poverty. 

Africa whose leaders prefer to steal from their countries and bank their loot in foreign countries instead of using the money to build roads, hospitals, railway tracks, irrigation facilities, schools, electricity, housing and other social and economic infrastructures for the development and benefit of their own people. 

Africa where natural resources are a curse rather than a blessing.

Africa where an illiterate soldier with a gun in hand can easily become a president of a country tomorrow. Examples are Yahyah Jammeh of Gambia, Moussa Camara of Guinea, Gaddafi of Libya, Joseph Kabila of DRC, Mamadou Tandja of Niger, Museveni of Uganda, Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz of Mauritania, Al Bashir of Sudan,Francois Bozize of Central African Republic, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, Valentine Strasser of Sierra Leone, Sergeant Doe of Liberia, and Kolingba and Jean-Bedel Bokasa of Central African Republic.

 

Egypt a purely desert country and a member of 'Africa north of the Sahara' recently sent food aid to Uganda, a country rich in minerals, soil, natural lakes, rivers but whose leaders see no wisdom in employing irrigation technology that could be used to increase food production to reduce hunger.

Africa which continues to beg for and depend on foreign aid despite sitting on huge natural wealth an act that defies any economic wisdom. Africa which continues to depend heavily on natural resource exploitation as the main economic activity without diversification despite the dangers of such economic approach to development.

Africa where women are treated as second class citizens, denied political representation and are coerced and used as sex objects and commodities by those in power. 

Africa where child bearing is a matter of life and death, where pregnant mothers die of preventable causes of deaths; where so many children die before they reach the age of five; where child labour and child poverty are the norm, and where both rural and urban children grow without proper education, healthcare, food, shelter, clothing and without future or hope.

Africa where economic hardship put people on death roll and cut short young bright lives. Africa where there is no mortgage, safety net for the poor and the aged and where owning a house or a car can be as daunting as climbing Everest. That is the true meaning of 'Africa South of the Sahara' which the leaders have accepted without a fight.

Most of these leaders make an annual pilgrimage to London, Washington, Tokyo, Berlin, Beijing and see the infrastructures and the living standards of the people in these countries yet nothing pricks them to help their countries to do the same. When they are sick they are quick to take the next available plane to America, Europe or north Africa for treatment but forget to build the same hospitals and other institutions and infrastructures for the good of their countries. After blaming their monumental failures on colonialism and slavery they have now found a new scape goat: climate change and with it they can continue with their decades of inaction without having to lose anything.

Yoweri Museveni seems to be okay living in his palace enjoying almost three decades of his loot of Ugandan resources with his family and cronies. Obiang Nguema and his circle of friends live in their mansions surrounded by bodyguards yet the only 600, 000 people in his oil rich country live in 18th century conditions and likewise Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville and Dos Santos of Angola.

The black African leader will accept bribes from companies and interest groups to stop implementing policies, programmes and projects that could help alleviate poverty in his country. The failure of Omar Bongo of Gabon to make his country the Switzerland of Africa can largely be linked to the hundreds of millions of dollars he received as bribes from Elf which allowed the company to loot Gabon's oil proceeds.

It is sad despite being the continent's biggest oil exporter Nigeria does not have a well developed petro-chemical industry and has to import most of her oil products abroad. How come Cameroon is so poor when the country exports oil every day? How come Equatorial Guinea is so poor when it is the third biggest oil exporting nation in Africa?

How come Angola is mired in deep poverty when oil revenues bring the country billions of dollars annually? How come Nigerians live in 18th century environment when oil proceeds flow into the country every day? The answer is the leaders. They are corrupt, power hungry, arrogant, ignorant, illiterate and visionless buffoons, who can neither think out of the box or understand what it means to be president, prime minister, senator, MP, councillor, Assemblyman, or a chief and who prey on the ignorance and powerlessness of their people to stay in power while amassing wealth at the expense of their countries. Chief among them is Yahyah Jammeh a murderer, blood sucker, sometimes a president, sometimes HIV/AIDS healer who makes a mockery of himself and the seat of the presidency in The Gambia and who like the rest of his colleagues in Guinea, Guinea Bissau, CAR, Ethiopia, Burkina Fasso, Niger, Mauritania and Ivory Coast cannot devise plans to steer their countries out of economic predicament.

They are what Ghanaians call 'Konongo kaya' which literally means saboteurs who will not raise a finger to do anything to help their countries and yet will not allow others to do it. Saboteurs whose continuous stay in power is the cause of Africa's woes and underdevelopment. If you happen to be in economic or business class and economic or development regions is discussed you will be surprised to know how Africa is bypassed several times even though it is strategically located at the centre of the globe. The discussion moves from North America to Europe to South East Asia then back to Latin America and to the Middle East without the mention of Africa. All these the leaders do not seem to worry about it. They are not bothered because they no know they are the cause, the saboteurs and enimies of Africa's development.

Black African leaders must put on their thinking caps. It is very disheartening to see women, and children die of starvation in many parts of Africa. At least we know these leaders don't care but at least they should give the people the chance they need to initiate their own development. I hope that some of the advice I have offered will be adhered to by the leaders so that Africa can also take her rightful position in the world community of nations.