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The Power of the Rising Development Generation Africa
The Power of the Rising Development Generation Africa
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AFDB's Plan to Promote Africa's Economic Growth
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The African Development Bank (AfDB) has for some time now been on a campaign to involve African intellectuals into dialogue on the African development agenda. Recently, the AfDB, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Economic Consortium, convened the second African Economic conference to encourage such dialogue. East African Business Week's Geoffrey Kamali caught up with the President of AfDB, Dr. Donald Kaberuka over the new partnership and below are the excerpts.



The idea you initiated to involve African economists and researchers into debate on development issues affecting the continent appears to be wide, how is it going to work?



It is working already, because the idea to widen debate on African development issues to include African economists, the think tanks has results. These are researchers from univerisities and the think-tanks and they come here to share ideas. The objective of this conference is to allow African economists and think-tanks to share scientific thinking on the development issues of the day. We were in Tunis (last year) and we have done so now. Every year, we add to our stock of knowledge on how things will work or not.



Has the process started feeding into policy making?



It's still too early but there have been extensive discussions at this conference on managing the natural resources boom. Clearly now, there is positive dialogue, but this is quite bigger. If it is feeding into policy immediately, maybe not. But at least policy makers now have got a wide range of instruments that have been produced by the economists.



When is that time coming when research findings should feed into policy making?



Policies are made over a long period of time. Policies are not static, they evolve everyday. And my take will be that they are already getting together economists and policy makers in an understanding. On one hand you have practitioners handling issues on a daily basis, and on the other side you've got economists who handle things maybe on a theoretical point. Now, there are realities of both sides. As they interact, I expect the quality of policies to keep improving. But the thinking of African economies is mainly done outside Africa and there's nothing wrong with that. International financial institutions and agencies have in as much driven the African agenda, but what is happening here is now an African perspective to drive that agenda. Africa's own economists are adding in their own perspective. It is the totality of this perspective that we are talking about.



Is this process going to work like a charter to legally compel African governments to implement such policies?



No, African governments are democratically elected. They are accountable to parliament, not to economists. This is not about a government receiving, it's an exchange of experiences and there is an academic, theoretic confrontation of data, objective facts, with day to day realities. It is the interaction of the two which improves the quality of policies. It's a confrontation of policy realities, which enables Africa's own thinking on Africa's own problems. Please understand this, there is such a difference to continue thinking that you got governments here receiving ideas from economists only is wrong.



There are economists in universities, in ivory towers, they have never been confronted with managing a country or managing a ministry or the Central Bank. But economists also have information, which can be useful. I expect yearly improvments. For example, next year, we will concentrate on an issue, such as growth. So, we'll get economic growth at the centre of the agenda. Now, you can come to economic growth from very many angles; institutions, investments, governance, education, whatever you want. But the finality will be the growth agenda, which is issue-based. What's important is that African intellectuals themselves and African policy-makers feeding into policies in Africa. It is not an exclusion of non-African ideas, far from it! It is aiding to those ideas in another perspective, by Africans and Africans in the Diaspora.



Various issues were raised at the conference, such as corruption, infrastuctural challenges and governance, aren't these likely to affect the process of this dialogue and policymaking?



The issues raised are numerous and they are all important. They recognise such challenges by governments and all the things you have mentioned. So here are experts, the AfDB and others to debate over them. Now, the issue is how is it done? Fighting corruption for instance is critical, getting experiences and sharing them. Some recommendations made, such as private sector credit support and lowering interest rates by a half, are unrealistic and likely to be disruptive... Okay, there is a recommendation to lower interest rates, for example. Well, let me come to it from this perspective. I expect economists to go back to their countries and look at the cost of capital, the competition in the banking sector, level of government borrowing and barriers, which influence interest.



And then, depending upon the findings, we see if the mechanisms are efficient enough to lower interest. There might even be cases for raising interest! So a scientific subject like this cannot be made into a recommendation...it cannot be. Certainly, interest rates vary from economy to economy and so, we cannot declare them from here. I think the issue is that competition should be increased in the banking competition. But these are highly technical issues, such as excess liquidity in the economy... the Central Banks know what to do.



Africa's current economic boom is pegged on newfound and existing resources such as oil and minerals, yet you seem to disagree.



Well, what I said on geology is not new. There is not much geology (resources that are under the ground) in India and China; there isn't much under the soil. But they are the ones now driving the world economy. I said, use the resources from the boom to develop other resources. And among these other resources, I put talent as number one.



What time frame have you given this process (of interaction between economists and researchers) to feed into policy?



Each country is different, what we call initial conditions are different. Take a country like Liberia, which has just emerging from 20 years of crisis. You cannot have one formula for different countries. The important thing is to kick- start the economy to make it move.



You said the AfDB will support African universities to promote scientific training, how will this be achieved?



That support started before I came to the bank. It is part of a comprehensive approach and some examples of the support the Bank is doing is the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology. It has been getting this support. This was not because of me because I was not there yet. Now, if we could find centres of excellence like this in every region...like the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture, it is an excellence centre. There is some idea to identify in every region, centres that have built excellence or where excellence can be built, and then we support them.



We have limited resources, we cannot do this in every country or university but at least...in West Africa, Central Africa and East Africa, we will identify centres of excellence and go there and support them. Technicians of AfDB will identify how to support and see the missing gaps...like the Bank tha just started... the Bank has supported to build laboratories and providing equipment.



You said AfDB has decided to adopt a particular economic approach for fragile economies. Please explain.



Every country has got its own natural resources endowment, like Liberia. Before Liberia went to civil war, at least it was a middle-income country. It made huge profits. Liberia is a country rich in natural resources but it is a traumatised country in terms of institutions. Now, to help Liberia is not the same thing like helping say, Botswana...the problems are different. You need to appreciate that we cannot have a formula, which fits every country. There is a new policy for fragile states, any of the fragile states emerging from conflict. The Bank has in the past helped them to clear the debt arrears...that was the first step, so they can re-engage with international financial institutions. Once you have cleared arrears, you must now kick-starts the economy. And money alone is not always enough, you need to help them rebuild institutions. A country like Mozambique had to be helped to rebuild its institutions, especially the customs on its coast. So we are helping the to, one, clear arrears, kick -start the economy and then building capacity.



What in the Bank's view should the citizens of Africa expect to achieve in the next 10 years?



Now, AfDB is one of the players, the biggest player in every country is that country itself. International organisations come in to support. We have no different agenda from other countries. Our agenda is to promote economic growth...I would hope that in 10 years, we will have attained the Millennium Development Goals and economic growth which is necessary for the MDGs. I hope that our share world trade and investment is growing everyday...now it is 2%. Asia is 8%, so I would hope our share also increases. Our dependence on foreign aid is declining. For that to happen, it means that we expect our institutions to have become stronger and governance is strengthening every day. If that happens, I think we will have contributed to what the countries themselves want to do.


November 27, 2007 | 1:32 PM Comments  0 comments

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African Development Fund Approves U.S. $ 264 Million Loans
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Kenya, Madagascar and the Gambia are the beneficiaries of loans and grants with a combined value of 167.8 million Units of Account (UA*), about US$263.76 million, approved in Tunis on Wednesday by the Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group. Kenya will receive 156.9 million UA in loans and grants to finance the Nairobi-Thika highway improvement project as well for support services to the boards of its water services.



The loan of 117.85 million UA and grant of 3.15 million UA will be used to finance the entire foreign currency and part of the local currency costs of the Nairobi-Thika highway improvement project in order to improve road transport services along the corridor and enhance urban mobility within the metropolitan area by reducing traffic congestion. It will contribute to the development of a sustainable urban public transit system for the Nairobi Metropolitan Area as well as promote private sector participation in the management, operation, and financing of road infrastructure in Kenya. The overall goal of the project is to improve the accessibility, affordability, and reliability of the transport infrastructure in order to promote economic growth and socio-economic development in Kenya as well as contribute to regional integration in the eastern and Horn of Africa regions.



The 35.19 million UA, approved for the Water Services Board Support Project, will address the capacity problems of Kenya's water boards as well as water service providers so that they can better cope with demand. It will also support the implantation of water supply and sanitation programs, the development of monitoring and evaluation capacity, systems and tools, implementation of water tariff studies to support water pricing policies, and address the development of good governance in the water sector.



The Kenya Water Services Boards Support Project will receive an additional 10.07 million UA grant from the Bank Groups Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Trust Fund when approved by the Board of the AfDB. This project, which is also receiving support from other development bodies, will address some of the water and sanitation infrastructure problems at Kibera, a sprawling informal settlement outside Nairobi. The settlement is one of the largest in Africa with a population estimated at over 500,000.



Madagascar will receive a loan of 9.202 million UA and a grant 298,000 UA to finance the rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure in the Manombo area in the south west of the country. The goal of the project is to help reduce rural poverty by improving agricultural production through rehabilitation of infrastructure and support services to farmers and their organisations. The Gambia, for its part, will receive a grant of 1.4 million UA to finance the country's Institutional Support Project for Economic and Financial Governance. The grant will help strengthen macroeconomic management and improve capacities in key public institutions engaged in economic management and governance, with a view to helping reduce poverty.


November 27, 2007 | 1:32 PM Comments  0 comments



Commonwealth ICT Project for Rural Africa
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The Commonwealth heads of state assembled in Kampala last week launched an information communication technology (ICT) project, a move that is hoped to improve ICT connectivity in poor African countries and reduce the digital divide between the more developed northern hemisphere and the less developed southern hemisphere. The project known as the Commonwealth African Rural Connectivity Initiative (COMARCI) is designed to identify and assist to connect rural communities in 18 Commonwealth countries on a pilot basis.



Uganda's ICT minister Mr. Ham Mulira told journalists at the Chogm media centre in Kampala (Thursday, november 22) that the project was launched by the ministers of foreign affairs from Commonwealth countries on behalf of their governments. Mulira said COMARCI would chat out ways of how best to take new technologies like computers, Internet and telephones to Africa's rural populations who have been technologically marginalised. "Most people in rural Africa never get to enjoy the benefits of ICTs, therefore this project, COMARCI, will have a positive impact on them and ensure that the majority of the people in the Commonwealth have access to ICTs because their importance in the development needs of communities," Mulira said. The project is expected to cost $1.2 million of which Malta has already donated $500,000.



The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) chief executive officer, Mr. Ekwow Spio - Garbrah said that the project will help Africa to achieve the majority of its Millennium Development Goals, by addressing the special challenges posed by poverty, illiteracy, and marginalisation of rural populations. He said COMARCI will take into account technology transfer opportunities and will assemble a body of knowledge that could constitute a 'connectivity roadmap for Africa' to roll out to more countries at a later stage after the pilot period. "ICT is a major instrument to knowledge transmission, storage and an important fact for development and good governance," he said.



Mulira said Commonwealth countries need to put in place enabling regulations and environment for ICTs to take root. He said that countries need to understand their state of ICTs, identify the gaps and mobilise funds to enhance their ICT connectivity. He said that COMARCI has five main pillars; to build a knowledge research platform based on research and studies, to organise capacity building and training workshops for best practice sharing, to organise a global Commonwealth conference aimed at mobilising investment, funding and technology partnerships, to implement replicable pilot projects based on tested examples that work like the Hole in the Wall ICT project launched recently at a Kampala primary school, Kiswa P/S and to over see an undertaking by member states to fully implement rural connectivity in their respective countries.



Spio said that the project will be managed by the CTO under the auspices of the Commonwealth Connects Programme with the support of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the government of Malta and 30 other Commonwealth countries. He said the agreement to this effect was signed at the Connect Africa Summit held in Kigali, Rwanda last month. Uganda has been chosen to host a CTO annual conference on e-governance Africa slated for March 4th - 6th, 2008 in Kampala.




November 27, 2007 | 1:32 PM Comments  0 comments



UN Humanitarian Chief Begins Three-Nation Tour
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The top United Nations humanitarian official begins a nine-day mission to Africa today that will take him to Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya to meet with aid agencies and officials coping with emergencies affecting millions of people on the continent. The first stop for Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes is Ethiopia, where he plans to visit the Ogaden region, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York. Humanitarian conditions in that region have worsened in the past several months due to fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The situation has resulted in the doubling of food prices, inadequate access to clean drinking water and shortages of medical supplies, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).



Mr. Holmes, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, will then travel to Sudan. Following a stop in Khartoum, he is scheduled to go to Nyala and El-Fasher in the strife-torn Darfur region, where he will meet people who have been affected by the conflict there. In the past four years more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others displaced from their homes because of the violence in Darfur, while an estimated 4 million now depend on humanitarian aid for survival. Mr. Holmes will then wrap up his visit in Kenya with meetings with aid agencies and diplomats working on Somalia, which has been wracked by violence in recent months resulting in the displacement of 1 million people.


November 27, 2007 | 1:32 PM Comments  0 comments

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Humanitarian cost of climate change understated
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Donors should provide an additional US$85 million for humanitarian and development programmes by 2015 to deal with the global food shortages and increasing frequency of natural disasters that will be caused by climate change, the UN Development Programme warns today.

The figure marks an increase in the total money UNDP recommends donor countries devote to aid to 0.9 percent of gross national income (GNI) from the current recommendation of 0.7 percent.

"Today's problem is tomorrow's emergency," Cecille Ugaz, deputy director of the UNDP human development report. "Basically, temperatures are going to keep rising and it's likely we will have to keep protecting vulnerable people until at least 2050."

"Even as we advocate for mitigation of climate change, politicians around the world have to understand that the world is already experiencing some effects," she said.

Bad timing

The agency's call for more money comes as humanitarian projects are already more than 50 percent under-funded, according to the latest UN Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) review.

Simon Maxwell, Director of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London said UNDP's request might be optimistic.

"Let's not overreach ourselves," he said. "More aid is needed, but we'll be doing very well if we manage to reach existing commitments... Our key priority is to stop countries defaulting on their existing commitments. Let's not set ourselves up to fail."

Emergency aid donors are currently grappling with one of the most expensive years for natural disasters on record.

Some 200 million people - 96 percent of them living in Africa - are already affected by natural disasters every year according to the UN - more than seven times the number caught up in conflict.

By mid-November 15 'flash appeals' for emergency funds had been launched by the UN's humanitarian agency (OCHA) - the most it has ever launched in one year - as floods hit four times as often in 2007 as in the year before.

All but one of the OCHA appeals were in response to climate-related disasters.

Flash appeals for flood-hit Burkina Faso received 2.3 percent of what was requested, Dominican Republic 23 percent and for the West Africa region which experienced the worst floods in decades, 25 percent.

New approaches needed

Piling on pressure for increased funding, in a report released on 25 November the poverty NGO Oxfam warned that donors as well as humanitarian agencies are struggling to keep up with the challenge of this increase in the frequency and scale of natural disasters.

"New approaches to humanitarian action are needed as well as new money," Oxfam said. "Humanitarian response is still skewed, for example to high-profile disasters, and it will certainly be woefully inadequate as global temperatures continue to rise, unless action is taken quickly."

And UNDP's human development report states that the increased frequency of natural disasters seen in 2007 is likely to continue, with cyclones, typhoons, mudslides and floods happening more frequently in areas already experiencing them, and occurring in places that have not seen such phenomena before.

In addition, the world will face new hazards especially rises in sea level and temperature, the humanitarian effects of which remain to be seen.

Dry areas mostly in Africa and Asia will grow from 60 million to 90 million hectares in this period. By 2025, UNDP says 3 billion people will live in areas that have water shortages.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 85 percent of people will be "water poor", up from 30 percent now. In North Africa, water availability will decrease by 50% percent, and China and India will also be affected, UNDP predicts.

By 2080, world cereal production will have fallen by 25 percent and there will be an increase from 75 to 120 million people around the world affected by malnutrition.

More frequency and intensity

"We're worried," said Jenty Kirsch-Wood, a climate change expert at OCHA in Geneva, speaking to journalists on 21 November about the expected humanitarian impact of climate change.

Currently, 80 percent of the disasters that happen around the world are handled internally by national authorities and communities themselves without outside intervention but with the greater frequency and intensity of disasters predicted, that is going to change, OCHA's Kirsch-Wood warned.

"The frequency of climate-related hazards is going to increase and while we know a community might be good at coping with one or two cyclones in a season, it is too much to ask them to cope with three or four."

Killer epidemics like malaria and dengue fever will start occurring in areas that were previously deemed immune as rainfall shifts. Shrinking water sources will mean more cholera and diarrhoea, both common causes of death especially among children.

The increased burden of food shortage related problems will pose the greatest challenge to existing humanitarian operations, according to OCHA.

"We need to get better at understanding food security as it is probably going to come up more and more in the way humanitarian work functions," Kirsch-Wood said. "We will have to reassess our understanding of risk and engage more with the scientific community."

Preparedness a priority

With disasters increasing and funds likely to remain in short supply, disaster preparedness and prevention should be a priority for cost-conscious donors, according to OCHA.

Former UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland calculated that $1 spent on preventing disasters from affecting people saves between $4 and $7 that would otherwise go to responding to a humanitarian emergency after a disaster.

"We know there is a need for greater preparedness but I cannot underline enough that in the current global humanitarian system there are no clear funds allocated necessarily for this," Kirsch-Wood said.

November 27, 2007 | 1:32 PM Comments  0 comments



Abuja: The Many lives...
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Patience Israel, a 20-year-old hairdresser, lived in a decent home in Karimo, a squatter settlement near Nigeria's political capital, until it was demolished in January 2006.

"That day was like a war," said Israel, who had to move into a room with her mother at Chika, another squatter settlement on the other side of Abuja.

"It was so unexpected. [After the demolition] we had to sleep outside for two days."

Central Abuja looks like a modern capital with wide streets and a skyline with spectacular public buildings. But four years after a massive urban demolition programme began in 2003, little progress has been made in resettling the roughly 800,000 people that the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) estimate have been displaced.

As a result of this and the eviction of 1.2 million other people in different parts of the country since 2000, COHRE has deemed the Nigerian government "consistently one of the worst violators of housing rights in the world".

Over 24 settlements have been demolished around Abuja, many by force. "The government gave inadequate notice," said Deanna Fowler, coordinator of the Global Forced Evictions Programme for COHRE.

"Sometimes they would come in, mark out houses, and evict within a week. Other times they would wait months so people didn't know what to do," she said.

"In some cases there was violence between police and residents," she added. Homes were destroyed while their owners watched, often before they had a chance to clear out their belongings.

She has called on the government to rehabilitate slum communities rather than continue demolishing them.

Utopian thinking

The city's master plan - written in 1976 when the military government decided to move its political capital from Lagos to Abuja - included a system of highways, infrastructure and new buildings that would wipe out surrounding farming communities, poor towns and squatter settlements.

The plan was to resettle those communities but that has not happened. Some of the families displaced by the demolitions have resettled in nearby slums or overcrowded satellite towns, or returned to the sites where their homes were demolished and built temporary housing there again.

The Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) in Lagos estimates that 70 percent of Abuja's population lives in slums or poor areas of towns. "Today, you cannot find where the people from the destroyed communities are in Abuja," said Daniel Mbee of SERAC. "Some went to villages, some to Abuja and some to squatter settlements."

A lack of low-cost housing has pushed most of the city's workers far from the city limits to settlements that are growing rapidly. Civil servants, who make up much of Abuja's workforce, earn as little as 30,000 naira (about US$250) a month, while a room in the city centre costs at least twice that and rent must be paid one or two years in advance.

In satellite towns, a room is more affordable - around 2,500 naira ($20) a month - but water and sanitation is often grossly inadequate in these communities. "There has been decay in infrastructure, and the government has not done really well in keeping up," says Mbee. "A number of communities do not have access to basic services."

Resettlement problems

The house where Israel and her mother are now living is also in a community slated from demolition. Many people there are living in shacks made of wood and corrugated iron.

Some workers have been given plots of land at a discount, but in areas that are inaccessible and few can afford the building materials for construction of their own homes, residents told reporters.

The Federal Capital Development Authority building inspector, Clement Deyn, said in one area over an hour's drive from Abuja, on a dirt track on the way to the village of Pegi, 5,000 people were meant to resettle but so far only 100 have taken possession of the land.

This area has no electricity, no proper road and insufficient water, said 35-year-old Matta Godwin, who fled her home in Jabi village after it was demolished in April. It is also too far from the city. "If you want to go to market, you suffer," Godwin said. She estimates that transportation costs about 500 naira ($4) each way, eating up nearly all of a daily income.

Many of the people who had moved there are now packing up and getting out, she said.

New minister, new plan

A new minister for the Federal Capital Territory, Aliyu Modibbo Umar, took office in late July. He has promised a new approach to future demolitions that includes bringing in the private sector to build low-cost housing for Abuja's working class.

"This is the new trend in Africa where the private sector will pay for certain things," Modibbo told Reporters "Even [in resettlement] we want to use the private sector."

One scheme, a partnership between the government and the real estate investment company FHT Ventures Plc, is offering potential homeowners low-cost mortgages repayable over 30 years.

The head of FHT Ventures Plc, Prince Olu Faboro, says he has already received 5,000 applicants - about 30 percent of whom he thinks were victims of the demolitions.

He told IRIN he expected about 50 percent of Abuja's civil servants would apply for the scheme and that the company should have houses ready for some 20,000 of them by the end of the year.

The ministry also recently announced that contractors working on resettlement houses now under construction would have their contracts revoked if building was not complete by January 2008.

Housing advocates say the new government is saying the right things but that it remains to be seen whether the situation will improve for hundreds of thousands of people being displaced.

November 23, 2007 | 1:52 PM Comments  0 comments

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Calabar - Why so Clean?
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Of the many towns and cities on the African continent Calabar must be one of the cleanest.

"We are proud of the environment in which we live," said Helen Ewar, a student at the local university. "It is part of our identity."

She and other people gave a cultural explanation for their high level of hygiene. "Cleaning is not seen as an activity that is beneath us Efek people," Ewar said, referring to the majority ethnic group in the city.

There are few other explanations. "We don't spend a lot of money on sanitation," said Elegance Edim, Executive Secretary of the Calabar Urban Development Association (CUDA) the agency charged with keeping clean this city of 800,000 people.

Neighbouring states in the Niger Delta where cities are far dirtier have bloated budgets from state oil revenue while the budget in Calabar's Cross River state government is relatively small. It allocates 12 million naira [US $102,209] a year for sanitation in Calabar, Edim said, which includes programs to plant trees and grass in the city and raising awareness on the environment with 'Keep Calabar beautiful' signs everywhere in the city.

"We are painfully short of resources and we have huge challenges with one of Africa's heaviest rainfalls clogging up our storm drains," he said.

But somehow the system works. Not only does the city look cleaner then most others in Nigeria, but it is also more hygienic. While cholera is common in nearby cities, Edim said it has not occurred in Calabar for years. Other water-borne diseases are also comparatively rare.

The former colonial power had done little to develop Calabar. "It was an important port town for slaving and trade but the British never built a proper water and sewage system here and back then it was actually quite dirty," Edim said.

"What we have now was built after independence," he said. "We still don't have a lot but we try to use what we have wisely," he said of the Cross River state government, which has a reputation for providing other basic services efficiently

One resource that is abundant in Calabar is people, Edim said. "Women eager to earn a little cash are willing to take a few hours in the early morning cleaning the streets before going home to get their children ready for school," he said.

Some 823 women are employed to sweep the city's streets for three hours a day earning around 7,000 naira ($60) a month.

The city also employs around 700 men to clean storm drains, prune trees, cut grass and collect refuge. Litter bins are on almost every corner.

Currently there are only seven garbage trucks which is grossly inadequate Edim said. "But we keep them well maintained and they're in the streets every day".

The biggest problem, like in most African cities, he says is that Calabar lacks a proper landfill. "We have a place where we dump rubbish but it just gets bigger and bigger and we are worried that it could pollute the water table," he said.

The city does have 69 health officials who make sure private septic tanks are working properly. The officials are also on the look out for illegal dumping.

The city also has two 'environmental and sanitation courts' which strictly enforce laws on dumping and unsanitary housing. "We have two courts to make sure there is no backlog," Edim said.

But Calabar is not a police state, Edim insists. "We do not punish people for minor littering offences."

"Rather, we have a culture of cleanliness in which anyone can ask a person who dropped something to pick it up" he said.

November 23, 2007 | 1:52 PM Comments  0 comments

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Why Kano is so Dirty!
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Nigeria's commercial capital in the north is creating more refuse than it can handle.

"The challenges are enormous," Garba Yusuf, Kano environment commissioner, "This is the most disturbing environmental problem we are facing."

Of the 2,000 tonnes of garbage Kano produces every day, sanitation workers can dispose of only 800, he said.

The remaining 1,200 tonnes are piling up on the streets and alleyways of the city, posing serious health risk to Kano -- one of Nigeria's most populous cities with more than five million inhabitants.

People have no choice but to dump on the streets outside their homes and on any unused space in their neighbourhoods including open sewers and ponds.

"In a few years all the ponds in the city will be filled," Lukas Buba, an environmentalist at Bayero University in Kano "The city is already so dirty now. Imagine what it will look like then."

In poor neighbourhoods children play on rubbish heaps or are sent by parents to rummage through the piles for recyclable items.

"Children that frequent refuse dumps stand greater risk of contracting diseases, especially poliomyelitis," said Ibrahim Musa, a doctor in the federal government-run Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.

He said that the rubbish also exposes the general population to serious diseases "When the wind blows it carries germs along with it and deposits them on uncovered food and water," he said. "This accounts for the high rate of typhoid fever, cholera and diarrhoea cases we treat in [Kano] hospitals."

Blame the people or the government

"Our people have no culture of refuse disposal," Hassam Musa Kari, the managing director of Kano's Refuse Management and Sanitation Board (REMASAB), the agency responsible for cleaning the city.

He attributed the problem to illiteracy. "People don't seem to know or care about the dangers refuse poses to life and the environment,"
But residents more often blame REMASAB and the environment ministry. "The authorities have not provided us with adequate [dump] sites," Salisu Ahmad, a resident said.

Residents say that even in areas where there are dumps the trash often fills up and overflows into the street.

The problem is worst in Kano's cramped old city with its labyrinth of alleys and recesses. "Our only option is to take our garbage and dump it by the road", Buhari Dan-Malam, a resident of Kulkul old of oldest parts of the city. "REMASAB either takes it or leaves it."

Failed Measures

In recent years the government tried to resort to the tradition of using donkeys to collect refuse. But that failed when the state tried to purchase 500 donkeys for the job.

"It was a weird and absurd idea," Igiri West, an environmental activist in the city. Many people said it would be a waste of city funds as the donkeys would have to be fed and housed. "So the idea was dropped," he said.

Many sanitation plans for the city have failed before they even began. Six years ago the state set up a waste recycling company called WASCO for converting refuse to fertiliser and bio-fuel but the effort collapsed even before the company got up and running after it was forced to privatise.

In 2005 an agency established by the federal government to change people's mentality -- the Societal Re-orientation Directorate -- initiated a project called 'polythene is wealth'. It set up a small recycling plant and employed local boys to collect used plastic bags on the streets for a fee.

"We paid them 20 naira (US 2 cents) for every kilo of used bags they collected," Bala Mohammed, head of the directorate said. "But for a city that produces hundreds of tonnes of plastic bags a day, collecting a few kilos changed nothing."

The project ran for just one year until it was transferred to REMASAB and then died, he said.

The many failures have spurred Mohammed and his team to come up with a new public-private partnership called 'the Clean City Initiative', which aims to mobilise communities to clean their own neighbourhoods for a monthly stipend.

"We have realised that we must involve the communities in this war against refuse," Mohammed said. "We will supervise and monitor the project for a year and then transfer it to the environment ministry."


November 23, 2007 | 1:52 PM Comments  0 comments

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Facing the scourge of corruption in the context of the Africa’s judiciary
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Judges, magistrates and anticorruption civil society actors met under the theme, “Deepening the Judiciary’s Effectiveness in Combating Corruption”. The meeting grappled with the dual complexity faced by the judiciary in curbing corruption and the need for the judiciary to purge itself of corruption within its own ranks. The discussions aimed at proposing practical modalities to enhance the role of the judiciary in combating corruption.

Speaking at the opening of the 3-day experts group meeting, Mr. Okey Onyejekwe, Director of the Governance and Public Administration Division (GPAD) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said, “Corruption has a corrosive effect on development, it increases the cost of doing business, undermines the efficient delivery of services, compromises the capacity of the state and creates a wedge between the governors and the governed.”

Mr. Onyejekwe welcomed the progress made on the continent in the fight against corruption by the judiciary and pointed out that as a custodian of the law and due process, the judiciary must ensure that unjust and corrupt acts, and the abuse of power, which violate the law are duly punished.”

Participants outlined a number of concerns that plague the anti-corruption crusade, including the lack of transparency within the judiciary as well as the lack of training and awareness in both the government and civil society.

“Our anti-corruption efforts are compounded by the difficulty of managing the expectations of the public”, said a participant from Zambia. “Most cases involve highly complex transactions, spanning many jurisdictions, which brings about a lot of frustrations due to the apparent lack of progress,” he added.

“In addition, lay magistrates do not have adequate legal training, and it is difficult to attract and recruit qualified lawyers in the civil service. He said, adding that conditions of service are more attractive in the private sector.

According to Mr. Dingi Madise from Malawi’s Mzuzu Court House, political interference and institutional capacity are major weaknesses. “High profile case syndrome is a huge problem in Malawi, with no results, 2-3 years down the line,” he said, adding, “Malawians are asking, “are we succeeding in the fight against corruption?”

Despite the challenges, progress was reported on. In Nigeria, the government’s zero tolerance policy against corruption contributed to a debt relief amounting to over $ US 18 billion. Further, over USD $ 5b worth of assets have been recovered.
“In a country that at one point had the reputation of one of the worst countries to do business, we are fighting corruption on many fronts, including introducing anti money-laundering, and public procurement laws”. Said the representative from Nigeria noting that it has not been an easy task and that heads of anti-corruption agencies “must be incorruptible and must be ready to die in the course of duty.”

Zambia’s current zero tolerance has seen unprecedented efforts in trying, convicting and seizing the assets of leaders of the former government. In addition, the former president is facing corruption charges. The efforts made by Zambia in reforming public service delivery institutions through initiatives such as the Millennium Threshold Project have helped to simplify procedures through computerization, thus reducing incidences of corruption.

In Mauritius, the presence of a vigilant and dynamic press, as well as a human rights commission creates a healthy environment that gives the public the right to report corrupt practices according to Ms. Veronique Kwok Yin Siung Yen of the Supreme Court of Mauritius, who noted that the government is committed to systems and institutions that are accountable and transparent.

However, in countries such as Burundi, despite the serious intentions of tackling corruption, the country’s priorities are split, in part due to the urgency of current peace and security matters. “Over a decade of political crisis provided ample opportunity for civil servants to engage in all sorts of mal practices”, said the representative from Burundi, adding that mechanisms have been set up to enshrine the protection and respect of public goods in the country’s constitution and to conduct investigations through an independent consultancy firm from Benin.

Equally, Congo Brazzaville’s major problem lies in its fragile institutions that lack in transparency and accountability and that have been hugely compromised due to the country’s prolonged political crisis. Djibouti decried the fact that confronting corruption is not only taboo, in addition, the deeply entrenched family ties protect the corrupt.

“More attention is needed on the bigger fish in the judiciary”, said a participant from Malawi, noting that in that country’s case, three magistrates have been arrested, with two convictions. “We are yet to see a judge appearing in court as the allegations of corruption on the bench are not visible”.

“The fight against corruption is a matter of political will”, said a participant from Burkina Faso. “Legal provisions are needed, but appropriate sanctions are even more important to mete against the corrupt, especially among the judiciary,” he added.


November 21, 2007 | 1:42 PM Comments  0 comments



Climate Change and young people
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Climate change is one of the most critical global challenges of our age. The many recent events have emphatically demonstrated our growing vulnerability to climate change, it is demanding as the day pass by our definition of the issue. Climate change impacts will range from affecting agriculture- further endangering food security-, sea-level rise and the accelerated erosion of coastal zones, increasing intensity of natural disasters, species extinction and the spread of vector-borne diseases among other effects, especially to the people of today, talk more of the next generation.

What do young people need to face this challenge but partnership with adults to promote environmental education among themselves and others on the issue . This partnership should cover all countries and should feature the establishment of youth climate clubs, workshops and seminars for young people, arranging climate-related shows and presentations and compiling guide books on climate change for teachers now, espacially for us in the developing nations to understand the issue more and get the knowledge and information to be at alert and better equipped to confront the impacts today and tomorrow!

November 21, 2007 | 1:42 PM Comments  1 comments



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