Why we need to know ?

The Obamas’ Africa OpportunityPresident Barack Obama’s trip to Africa this month was focused on the pressing issues of economic growth and investment, democratization, and the next generation of African leaders.The itinerary of the Africa trip—Senegal, Tanzania, and South Africa—highlights key priorities and challenges for U.S. policyPresident Barack Obama’s trip to Africa this month is focused on the pressing issues of economic growth and investment, democratization, and the next generation of African leaders.Yet a central element for achieving those goals is missing from the list—advancing the health and empowerment of women and girls. The Obamas have an opportunity to make this trip historic by explicitly committing the United States to focus on women and girls as a key pathway to progress for Africa. But will they seize it?The president and first lady can speak powerfully to African and global audiences on these issues. On January 30, President Obama issued an unprecedented presidential memorandum on advancing gender equality and empowering women and girls globally, calling it “one of the greatest unmet challenges of our time.” For many who worried that the energy and commitment that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton brought to those issues might dissipate with her departure, this high-level statement was most welcome. Many have also wondered whether Michelle Obama herself might become a champion for global women’s issues in the second Obama term, building on her support for women and girls in the United States.The Africa trip provides a timely opportunity to rejuvenate the administration’s commitment to women and girls in Africa and around the world. Growing evidence demonstrates that investments focused on women and girls—maternal health services, voluntary family planning, access to HIV services, education for girls, economic empowerment for women, and preventing and responding to gender-based violence—are not only critical to improving health outcomes, but produce substantial positive returns in poverty reduction, development, and economic growth.

July 29, 2013

The former Prime Minister of Kenya Mr Raila Odinga and CORD Governors held a town hall meeting with Kenyans in Irving, TEXAS. The former PM was accompanied by the CORD Governors for the Bi-National Governors Summit. The Governors enumerated various developments going on in their respective Counties and asked Kenyans to invest

The constitution approved in 2010 created 47 new counties that elected officials at the 4 March national elections. The county governments will have to provide services, but the earning potential from wooing investors will in some cases be life-changing.

 

June 22, 2013 - White House has now explained that the ICC cases facing Kenya’s leaders are the reason why US President Barrack Obama is skipping the homeland of his late father.

White House officials said the fact that Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto are facing trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague had jinxed a possible visit.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security advisor last night said that “It just wasn’t the best time for the president to travel to Kenya at this point”.

 

June 2013 - As some 1,500 besuited international investors and government officials descended on Maanzoni Lodge in May for a two-day festival of PowerPoint briefings and executive networking, casual observers could be forgiven for thinking that an independent state was in the making.

It was certainly a revolution of a kind.

Alfred Mutua, governor of Machakos County – one of 47 new county governments launched in the wake of the elections in March – was the quickest out of the blocks to take his government to the market.

And Mutua's efforts paid off handsomely: Machakos secured KSh56.3bn ($660m) in investment pledges from more than 20 companies.

The projects ranged from a factory to make surgical gloves to waste disposal and paper recycling plants, fruit-juice processors and a company that will manufacture equipment for the disabled.

That is without the multibillion-dollar plans for the Konza Techno City, the so-called Silicon Savannah, which is also going to be set up in Machakos.

There are few natural riches in Machakos County. A sleepy town some 45 minutes south of Nairobi, Machakos was Kenya's first administrative capital in the early colonial era.

After the railway was built in the early 20th century, the epicentre of activity moved to Nairobi.

Although Machakos lacks Nairobi's entrepreneurial zeal, its land is cheaper and more abundant. Mutua is setting a high bar for the other county governors: he is offering low taxes, long leases and some 4,000 acres of land free to businesses wanting to invest.

A second independence

"Everyone is watching what is happening in Machakos. It's very inspiring especially for counties and regions that have been historically neglected," says Leonard Wanyama, a project officer at the Society for International Development.

Since independence in 1963, the economic development of Kenya's ethnically diverse regions has been designed by planners sitting at the Treasury in Nairobi.

And the president in State House had the final say on policy: those regions deemed unimportant or politically hostile were marginalised by central government.

Most Kenyan citizens – the wananchi, or the people – welcomed the new constitution in August 2010 as a second independence.

New constitutional provisions to enshrine the devolution of power would counter the old diktat from the centre.

Each of the 47 counties could now expect a share of the national cake. The Division of Revenue Bill provided some KSh210bn – or 34.5 percent of projected revenue – until 2014 for the 47 counties.

County governments can collect property and entertainment taxes but in return they have to provide core services such as primary healthcare and transport.

Alongside the high expectations for devolution are suspicions that some in President Uhuru Kenyatta's alliance want to hold back this flow of funds to the counties.

In June, President Kenyatta signed a bill on revenue allocation that had not been approved by the Senate, the upper house in Kenya's bicameral parliament that was established to guard county interests.

Kenyatta justified his de­cision by saying that the bill had been validly presented by the Na­tional Assembly, but the move re­inforced suspicions about his gov­ernment's hostility to devolution.

Raila Odinga, former prime minister and leader of the op­position Coalition for Reform and Democracy, stridently guards against any dilution of devolution.

The Senate and the Council of Governors – a bipartisan body that brings together all 47 gov­ernors­ both warn that the fight over revenue allocations is the first attempt by the Treasury and others to reverse devolution and weaken the governors.

Some 50 years ago, the first independent government under Kenyatta's father, President Jomo Kenyatta, simply starved the old regional governments of state funding and reasserted the power of the centralised state.

Different this time

However, governors such as Mutua, alive to these machina­ tions, are seeking independent sources of finance.

Investors are looking intently at the prospects for access to vast mineral, oil and gas deposits. Now they will have to negotiate with the county gov­ ernments.

This time "the devolu­ tionaries" believe they are on the right side of history.

To read the full article get a copy of the July, 2013 edition of The Africa Report

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22.07.2013 - The ICC outreach coordinator for Kenya and Uganda Maria camera has said that the prosecution’s case against president Uhuru Kenyatta is on course despite the withdrawal of some witnesses over security concerns Speaking at a Nairobi hotel, camera reiterated that the court takes witness protection seriously and it is unfortunate that some felt not secure enough to proceed and testify against the suspects.

 

20.06.2013 - “Utter lack of consonance in official statements coming from both the Presidency -OP and Ministry of Foreign Affairs-MFA. Just the other day, State House & associated mandarins reiterated Kenyatta’s whirlwind trips this week to Japan & UN powers China & Russia were confirmed and planned well in advance albeit not as a consequence of Obama tour that significantly skips Kenya. 
Was Uhuru blocked by Japan, China And Russia? If indeed it was propaganda, Statehouse/OP or MFA should have issued a timely statement to the contrary!