Kenya

Kenya: Still on the brink?

Jan 12th, 2010 3:46 PM UTC
By Helen Palmer

It’s now two years since post-election violence in Kenya killed 1,500 people and drove 250,000 from their homes.

Last night the Royal African Society hosted a packed event in the Houses of Parliament in London looking at what has happened since and the chances for Kenya to avoid future bloodshed.

The speakers were Maina Kiai, the eminent Kenyan human rights champion, and Michela Wrong, author of “It’s Our Turn to Eat”, the story of John Githongo, Kenya’s corruption whistle-blower (and ONE Policy Advisory Board member).

“Right now Kenya is calm but it is not peaceful,” said Kiai. “The tension in the country is palpable.. and there is still this ethnic unease… We are not out of the woods. We have postponed a crisis but it could still happen.”

Both speakers laid the blame squarely on Kenya’s corrupt politicians. “Corruption is the one ideology that Kenyan politicians believe in,” Kiai said. “The coalition is united in corruption.”

A major topic of debate was the question of bringing to justice those political figures responsible for promoting the violence, and still reportedly arming militias. The role of the International Criminal Court was hotly debated. Kiai said 62% of Kenyans wanted it to act to bring the perpetrators to justice. But, he argued, it was critical that the ICC took a completely even-handed approach to all sides, to state sponsored violence, attacks by Kalenjin against Kikuyu, and by Kikuyu against Luo and other tribes.

“If it was done properly we could see a cooling down.. it could be almost indispensable,” he said.

But Michela Wrong was less upbeat about the criminal court’s chances. “The ICC process and the drive to end impunity could trigger the next conflict,” she said. “Can you expect justice so soon after such violence?”

Both speakers thought the next flash point might come sooner rather than later – with the Referendum on the Constitution which is due in May or June. They argued for the British Government to take a “tough love” approach, extending visa and travel bans to all alleged perpetrators and their families, and prosecuting British citizens found to be colluding in corruption. “Every Kenyan scandal has a British connection,” said Kiai. He also urged a “bottom up” approach to development aid, arguing that donors should channel it to boost citizens’ groups in Kenya rather than giving it to the Government.

John Githongo on the impact of technology

Jan 7th, 2010 4:19 PM UTC
By Jessica Gomez-Duran

John Githongo, anti-corruption activist and chair of the organizations Zinduko and Twaweza in Kenya, popped in to the ONE office in London recently and took some time out to talk to us.

Twaweza (which means “we can make it happen” in Swahili) is a 10 year initiative that was launched last year. It seeks to enable people in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to improve their quality of life by getting them to become more informed and motivated, and thereby holding their governments accountable.

Digital technology and mobile communications will play an important role. In this short clip John talks about mobile phones and their growing presence and significance across the continent. According to a BBC report, Africa has the fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world, with 4 in 10 people now having a mobile phone. In Kenya there are over 15 million handsets in use whereas that number used to be more like 15,000 a decade ago. As well as personal communication, mobile phones are fast becoming vital for distributing news, and are a valuable tool to help citizens become powerful agents of sustainable change.

Watch the video:

2009 ONE Africa Award Winner: Slums Information Development and Resource Centers of Kenya

Nov 15th, 2009 11:00 AM UTC
By Edith Jibunoh

Right now, I’m at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Forum in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania about to announce the 2009 ONE Africa Award winner: “Slums Information Development and Resource Centers” (SIDAREC) of Kenya.

Founded by a group of young people from the slums, SIDAREC focuses on lifting the standard of living of the youth living in Kenya’s slum communities by tapping into their skills and talents. The slums that SIDAREC operates in were spared the violence after the 2007 elections in large part because residents had an outlet for getting their voices heard through SIDAREC. Innovative approaches include the use of drama,
art, and Ghetto 99.9 FM radio to reach residents with development-oriented information.

You can learn more about SIDAREC and other outstanding ONE Award applicants here.

This is our second annual ONE Award-a onetime prize worth US$100,000 designed to recognize innovative African efforts to tackle the Millennium Development Goals. We received 170 applications in total and narrowed the field to eight final candidates, including the winner, all of whom are featured on our website.

-Edith Jibunoh

Clinton on Kenyan Governance

Aug 10th, 2009 2:04 PM UTC
By Edith Jibunoh

Last Thursday Secretary Clinton delivered her message of good governance to Kenyans when she spoke at a public forum hosted by the University of Nairobi. She expressed dissatisfaction with the progress made by the Kenyan leadership in addressing governance issues, especially after the post-election violence. She focused on corruption and told the audience that the public has a significant role to play in the fight against corruption by being watchdogs and exposing corrupt practices. She used Iran as an example of the use of technology in forcing government reform and encouraged the Kenyan youth to use social tools on the internet, such as Twitter and Facebook, to report cases of corruption.

Secretary Clinton was asked for a response to Prime Minister’s Odinga’s statements earlier in the week where he said Kenya did not need a lecture from the west on governance, she said that ignoring Kenya’s internal issues was the easy option but the U.S. government’s criticisms were from a friend to the Kenyan people.

In addressing public concerns that even when corruption is exposed, charges are never acted upon, Clinton insisted that this should not stop the pressure, as the discourse would eventually force change. In this context she said that only Kenyans could figure out what would work for them, once again echoing President Obama’s messages in Ghana about the need for home grown solutions.

Sec. Clinton left Kenya on Thursday and continued her Africa tour in South Africa where on Friday, August 7th, she announced that the U.S. and South Africa would work more closely together to push reforms in Zimbabwe so that the power sharing agreement would be fully implemented. She noted the important role of South Africa on the continent, as well as their sound economic policies which leave them well positioned to propel growth throughout Africa. Because of President Obama’s high prioritisation of Africa, the administration recognises the importance of working with South Africa to tackle the continent’s social and development concerns. Secretary Clinton also had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. From South Africa, Secretary Clinton will proceed on to Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde.

-Edith Jibunoh

The War on Stem Rust

Feb 18th, 2009 1:40 PM UTC
By Chris Scott

The Washington Post today reports that a new version of an old fungus is ravaging Kenya’s wheat fields and threatens to spread beyond Africa. Stem rust was thought to have been defeated 50 years ago, but a virulent, more resistant version is now posing a major problem for Kenya’s most fertile wheat fields, and could soon become a widespread crisis.

As farmers watch their crops – and livelihoods – wither, this outbreak yet again underscores the immense importance in supporting agricultural initiatives and research innovation in the developing world.

Excerpts below, full piece here

Nobel Peace laureate Norman Borlaug, the world’s leading authority on the disease, said that once established, stem rust can explode to crisis proportions within a year under certain weather conditions.

“This is a dangerous problem because a good share of the world’s area sown to wheat is susceptible to it,” Borlaug said. “It has immense destructive potential.”

Coming on the heels of grain scarcity and food riots last year, the budding epidemic exposes the fragility of the food supply in poor countries. It is also a reminder of how vulnerable the ever-growing global population is to the pathogens that inevitably surface somewhere on the planet.

-Chris Scott

Fighting corruption in Kenya

Aug 22nd, 2008 2:58 PM UTC
By Chris Scott

News of a great development in Kenya ran on the BBC.com and in other media outlets earlier this week. On Wednesday, anti-corruption czar John Githongo returned to Kenya after four years of self-exile. During his tenure as Kenya’s secretary for ethics and governance, Githongo earned the reputation for being tough on corruption— in 2005, one of his investigations forced the resignation of several ministers over a scandal that involved state contracts worth more than $1 billion being secretly awarded to non-existent firms. After exposing the scam, Githongo fled to the UK because of threats to his life.

Githongo’s return is an important step forward for Kenya’s new coalition government, which was put in place after controversial elections set off two months of violence earlier this year. He is back for only two weeks, but his return (at the invitation of the new government) is hopefully a sign that Kenya’s new government is serious about tackling corruption and addressing some of the underlying issues that caused the election crisis. Speaking to the Kenya Human Rights Commission on Wednesday, Githongo submitted the controversial proposal of offering amnesty as a means of closing old corruption cases and moving Kenya forward.

Whistle-blowers like Githongo are vital to beating poverty in Africa and across the world. The fight against corruption and efforts to promote transparency and good governance help ensure that aid is spent well and channeled to the people who need it most. ONE is also proud to note that John Githongo currently sits on our Policy Advisory Board and serves as an important advisor on issues of accountability and governance.

Excerpt below, full piece here.

Addressing a public forum on fighting graft in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Mr Githongo said economic crimes must be resolved quickly and transparently. “The temptation to subject economic crimes to prolonged processes and the deliberation of committees not only delays justice but makes ultimate accountability less likely,” he said. Mr Githongo noted that there was a myth that corruption does not really matter as long as the economy is growing. “If you have high economic growth [and] a high level of corruption… then corruption causes political contradictions that leads to the kind of difficulties we had in Kenya at the end of last year,” he said.

-Chris Scott