Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Kenya (Guardian 2012)
Kenya struggles to exorcise old demons before elections
Clar Ni Chonghaile Nairobi
Karibu Kenya, hakuna matata – “Welcome to Kenya, there are no problems.” So goes the traditional greeting for visitors to east Africa’s top tourist destination.
But Kenyan wags have come up with a new version: Karibu Kenya, hakuna matata, hakuna maji, hakuna stima, hakuna gas – “Welcome to Kenya: no problems, no water, no electricity, no gas.”
This sarcastic take on the well-known slogan reveals the frustration felt by many in a country that is flexing its military muscles on the regional stage but failing to deliver on promises at home before critical elections in 2012.
Kenyans will go to the polls, probably in December, to choose a new president and parliament. The last election, in 2007, brought the country to the brink of civil war amid accusations of fraud. Around 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced.
Few analysts are willing to take a punt on whether the 2012 polls will be disrupted by the same toxic mix of ethnicity, politics and greed. Kenya is still fighting those demons, but it also faces new pressures.
Recent military incursion into Somalia has compounded a sense of uncertainty and insecurity. Heavy rains have displaced thousands, ruined crops, caused power blackouts and turned Nairobi into a gridlocked quagmire. There was a shortage of water in some places and for weeks, in an unrelated scarcity, no cooking gas.
Kenya’s current account deficit has reached double figures as a percentage of GDP, leading to comparisons with Greece
10%
The rains and floods, coming as drought continued to bite in the north, laid bare the weaknesses of east Africa’s biggest economy, which has long been at the mercy of endemic corruption and government lassitude.
“The economy has been blinking amber all year,” said Aly-Khan Satchu, a Nairobi-based analyst. “The current account deficit has crossed 10%, putting us on a par with Greece and Swaziland.”
The World Bank has revised down growth estimates, and the Kenyan shilling sank to a record low against the dollar in October, pushing food and fuel prices higher. The central bank raised rates repeatedly as inflation climbed to nearly 20% in November. The currency has strengthened since, but for many the damage has already been done.
Satchu says there are two economies in Kenya: the old one, which exists to serves the interests of a ruling elite, and a new economy based on IT and mobile technology. Overall, though, Kenya has shown resilience, bouncing back from the post-election crisis, thanks mainly to tourism and a thriving IT sector.
Nairobi embodies this dual reality: the city, where 60% of the population live in slums, is also a regional hub for IT development and entrepreneurship.
Politically, too, the picture is not uniformly bleak.
Last year, a new constitution was ratified in a peaceful vote seen as an important first step towards eradicating the dangers of poll-related violence. But the old demons persist.
“We must continue to work towards national unity rather than balkanise our nation along ethnic lines,” said the prime minister, Raila Odinga, who is the frontrunner to win the presidency.
J Peter Pham, director of the Africa Programme at the Atlantic Council in Washington, says Kenya needs strong political leadership to overcome the many hurdles it faces this year, but that has been in “critically low supply”.
The first test will come later this month, when the international criminal court rules on whether six political figures, including the deputy prime minister and presidential hopeful Uhuru Kenyatta, should stand trial for their alleged roles in the post-election violence.
The former UN chief Kofi Annan, who helped mediate the 2008 peace deal, said in December that Kenyans had moved on from the past and wanted no more violence, impunity or corruption. The question was whether their leaders wanted the same. “I think some of the politicians are behind the curve,” Annan said.
Previous1/14
Eradicating polio, drop by drop: India on track to win war against crippling disease
Next3/14
Ruler’s opponents urge Coca-Cola to quit Swaziland
On the website
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies.
All rights reserved.
Swaziland (guardian 2012)
Ruler’s opponents urge Coca-Cola to quit Swaziland
Mswati III accused of looting country’s wealth
Drinks firm ‘contributes to social welfare’
David Smith Johannesburg
Coca-Cola has been accused of propping up one of Africa’s most notorious dictators by human rights campaigners.
The multibillion dollar beverage company owns a concentrate-manufacturing plant in Swaziland, an impoverished kingdom ruled by Africa’s last absolute monarch, Mswati III.
The king has travelled to Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta in the US, much to the disgust of Swazi political activists who blame him for human rights abuses and looting the nation’s wealth.
Mary Pais Da Silva, co-ordinator of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign, urged Coca-Cola to pull out of the country immediately.
King Mswati III has a personal fortune of about £64m despite presiding over one of the poorest countries in the world
“Coca-Cola must know they’re doing business with the wrong people,” she said. “At the end of the day it doesn’t benefit the economy in any way. Their profits don’t help the average Swazi, while the king is getting richer by the day.
Mswati III has 13 wives and hosts an annual dance where he can choose a new bride from tens of thousands of bare-breasted virgins.
With a fortune of about $100m (£64m), he presides over one of the worst-off countries in the world, with most people living in absolute poverty. Political parties are banned and activists are regularly arrested, imprisoned and tortured.
Coca-Cola says Mswati III does not receive any profits or dividends from its Swaziland operation, its biggest in Africa. But some activists estimate that Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest beverage company, contributes as much as 40% of the country’s GDP. The company admits it cannot account for how the money it pays in taxes is used by the Swazi government.
Lucky Lukhele, a spokesman for Swaziland Solidarity Network, said: “Coca-Cola should find a way of directing the profits to the people of Swaziland. They should start supporting the pro-democracy movement.”
He compared the moral imperative to that of boycotting South Africa during the racial apartheid years. “Many supported the people of South Africa. There is no such thing as neutral ground – you’re for or against. The king is looting and destroying the economy. So either they support the people or they go into the dustbin of history along with the king.”
He added: “It has become crazy in Swaziland. The people are desperate. They are dying from HIV/Aids and TB as the result of the misbehaviour of the king. There’s enough evidence for the international criminal court to come in.”
Coca-Cola said it adhered to the “highest ethical standards” and aimed to be “an outstanding corporate citizen in every community we serve”. It set up in Swaziland in 1987 after leaving apartheid South Africa. It denies claims from some activists that it was motivated by Swaziland’s sugarcane fields – its concentrates do not contain sugar – or that the king personally owns shares in the Swazi factory.
Sherree Shereni, spokeswoman for the Coca-Cola central Africa franchise, said: “King Mswati III does not receive any profits or dividends from Conco Swaziland [Coca-Cola’s concentrate production plant].”
Conco, like all the Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) concentrate plants, is 100% owned by TCCC.
Shereni added: “Through the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, which was set up in Swaziland in 2001, the population of Swaziland has, however, benefited from Coca-Cola’s contributions to their social welfare in the areas of water stewardship, health, education and entrepreneurship.”
Asked if the king uses tax revenue from Coca-Cola for his personal benefit, Shereni said: “TCCC, like any other taxpayer, does not determine what the taxes paid to the governments of countries in which it does business are used for. This is the statutory prerogative of the governments themselves.”
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy New Year
2011 is about to "expire." It has been filled with ups and down, yet, one should be glad to be alive and well. "To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus." I do wish you all what I wish myself this new year coming: hope filled life, great expectations, ability to face the future with poignancy and fervor. Happy New Year.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sociological Theory
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Sociological Theory
View more presentations from E Bogue.
Sociological Theory
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Sociological Theory
View more presentations from E Bogue.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)