Amina Mohamed is the first woman to be nominated head of Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI , May 9 2013 (IPS)

Kenya’s nominees for cabinet secretary positions, who include an unprecedented number of women – six out of 18 – will undergo a gruelling public vetting process by the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments Thursday.

Despite the appointments – which are yet to be confirmed – women’s rights organisations in this East African nation say President Uhuru Kenyatta’s new government must do more to seriously mainstream gender issues in the country.

Kenyatta made history on Apr. 25, when he nominated the six women to the cabinet – the highest number the country has had since independence.

The nominees include former diplomat Raychelle Omamo, who was proposed to head the sensitive Ministry of Defence, a docket which has never before been held by a woman.

And Anne Waiguru, an economic and public policy expert, is expected to head the critical Ministry of Devolution and Planning, which will coordinate the implementation of Kenya’s new devolved system of government in 47 counties.

Charity Ngilu, a former government minister, was nominated to head the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development; Phyllis Kandie, an investment banker, was nominated to head the Ministry of East African Affairs, Commerce and Tourism; and Judy Wakhungu, a former associate professor of science, technology, and society at Pennsylvania State University, was tapped to head the Ministry of Environment, Water and National Resources.

Earlier, on Apr. 23, Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto had announced the nomination of Amina Mohamed as the first woman to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Twenty-three men, including Kenya’s founding president Jomo Kenyatta, have held this key post since 1963.

But ahead of the vetting process, which will pave the way for the tabling of the list of nominees in parliament for debate, approval and subsequent confirmation, Maria Nzomo, the first Kenyan woman to obtain a Ph.D in political science and international studies, from Dalhousie University in Canada in 1981, told IPS that despite the historic appointments, women here still lag far behind men on a number of fronts.

She said many of them continue to suffer from restricted access to health care, education, political participation and cultural life, as well as legal protection and economic opportunities.

Consequently Nzomo, who teaches at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies at the University of Nairobi, said the government must do more to address the plight of Kenyan women.

“Women lack required skills, access to affordable credit or even better education, meaning therefore that they are perennially disadvantaged to men and can only survive by plying informal sector jobs,” she said.

Her comments were echoed by Grace Mbugua, the executive director of Women’s Empowerment Link, a non-governmental national women rights organisation, who told IPS that empowering Kenyan women would take more than the nomination of the six women to the cabinet.

“While we must say that we appreciate that President Kenyatta’s administration actually complied with the constitutional requirement regarding appointment of women in public offices, this is not the glass ceiling for Kenyan women and the state must do more if we are to bridge the gender gap in Kenya,” she said.

The nominations mean that once the nominees to the 18-member cabinet are finally vetted and approved by parliament, the cabinet will meet the one-third gender threshold provided for in the Kenyan constitution as part of a principle of affirmative action.

Article 81 (b) of the constitution provides that “not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.”

The Kenya Supreme Court ruled in December 2012 that a constitutional provision calling for a mandatory one-third gender representation would not apply to the 2013 general elections but instead should be implemented progressively by August 2015.

According to the World Bank’s annual World Development Report 2012, efforts at empowering women in developing countries like Kenya have over the years considerably paid off, yet despite achievements in the advancement of women’s rights and privileges, gender inequality gaps between men and women in key areas of society still persist.

Highlighting this, Mbugua told IPS that the government must now create and implement mechanisms to bridge the existing gender inequalities.

“It must for instance create the proper structures to encourage women in leadership through continually reforming laws surrounding elections to enable more women to participate fairly in elective politics and ascend to decision-making positions,” she said.

According to Nzomo, the appointment of six women to the cabinet may not necessarily translate into the prioritisation of a women’s agenda for the cabinet due to what she terms the entrenched patriarchal decision-making nature of the government.

“Numbers in the cabinet are not enough to enhance gender equity as the Kenyan governance framework is still male-dominated and hostile to women’s participation,” she told IPS.

Nzomo, however, said the move was a step forward in the right direction for women’s empowerment, considering the significance of the ministries the six women have been tapped to head.

“It is a signal of good will, but we are a long way from that point where we can say Kenya has attained gender equality and equity,” she said.

But according to Wambui Kanyi, the executive director of the women’s lobby Women Political Alliance Kenya, the appointment of the six women will create needed awareness that women too can hold critical dockets. She said most Kenyans at the grassroots level still lack confidence in women’s leadership, going by the outcome of the country’s recent elections.

“At the national level we are faring commendably in terms of women’s representation, but we need to do more to increase women’s representation at the grassroots leadership level. It seems the national leadership believes in the capability of women to lead while at the grassroots it is a different story,” she said.

In the country’s Mar. 4 general elections, no female candidate was elected to the 47 gubernatorial or senate positions up for grabs.

According to their share of elected seats, however, political parties nominated another 16 women. Additional nominations were made for two members representing young people and two members representing persons with disabilities.

But only 16 women were elected, out of 290 member of parliament positions. A further 47 women were elected, however, as women representatives on the basis of affirmative action.

Women’s rights organisations blamed this poor performance on a controversial ruling against the implementation of a gender quota in parliament by Kenya’s highest court.

“Women were disadvantaged in the elections because of this ruling as well as cultural barriers and financial constraints to mount campaigns, and this tells you that while the executive may believe in women’s leadership, the story is different at the grassroots,” said Kanyi, adding that the state must do more to create awareness and support women’s participation in leadership.

Kenya's new President Uhuru Kenyatta on a military land rover acknowledges greetings from supporters after he was sworn in at the Moi International Sports Centre on Apr. 9. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Apr 16 2013 (IPS)

Kenya’s newly sworn-in President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta may be faced with a number of challenges, including an impending International Criminal Court case and a slow economy. But he must also tackle corruption and ethnic divisions as he embarks on his five-year term as head of state of East Africa’s largest economy.

This is according to newly-elected senator Bonny Khalwale, from Kakamega county in western Kenya.

Khalwale, who is a prominent anti-corruption crusader, told IPS: “What divides this country is not our tribes, it is the unequal distribution of resources, which has ensured that a section of tribes feel alienated.”

Ethnic violence followed Kenya’s disputed December 2007 poll, claiming around 1,200 lives and displacing 600,000 people. The country has 42 different ethnic groups.

Land was one of the biggest issues during the violence and at the time an economics professor at the University of Nairobi, who asked for anonymity, told IPS that the state had “showed a blatant bias in favour of one tribe at the expense of the rest at the time of independence when the land left behind by the British was to be distributed among the local people.”

A 2009 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report ranked Kenya as one of the most unequal societies in the world, as 30 percent of the population here live in poverty. The report further revealed that the country’s top 10 percent of households control 42 percent of total income, while the bottom 10 percent control less than one percent.

“Consequently, Kenyatta must quickly address these challenges facing Kenyans, including unemployment, food insecurity and corruption,” Khalwale said.

Ndung’u Wainaina, the executive director of the International Centre for Policy and Conflict (ICPC), said Kenyatta should fully implement the constitution without seeking “to circumvent it.”

“With the help of the constitution they (Kenyatta and and his deputy, William Ruto) have to tackle the unfinished issues of equal distribution of resources and land, that partly led to Kenyans turning against each other in 2007,” Wainaina told IPS.

Prior to Kenyatta’s win, the ICPC went to court to question whether the integrity rules of the Kenyan constitution could prevent him and Ruto from participating in the election in light of their ongoing cases at the ICC.

Both are facing charges for crimes against humanity, which were allegedly perpetuated during the 2007 post-election violence. But they have made a number of economic pledges to Kenyans in the run-up to the elections.

In his inaugural speech at the Moi International Sports Centre on Apr. 9, Kenyatta said he would fulfill the promises, which include improving primary healthcare and education, and creating one million jobs a year for the youth. Some 36 percent of Kenya’s 41.6 million people are between 15 and 35 years old, according to the UNDP report.

But regulation and competition policy expert at local think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs Kenya, David Owiro, told IPS that although the promises are largely in tandem with the country’s needs, they lacked a clear implementation framework.

“It’s real hard to see where the money will come from for most of the projects they promised.

“The government is going to struggle to meet public sector commitments given the prevailing status of the economy,” Owiro said.

Kenyatta also promised seven to 10 percent economic growth over the next two years. He had said that in order to achieve this, his administration would focus on improving the manufacturing industry and increasing agricultural production through equitable access to land.

Owiro added that most of these pledges were very broad and capital intensive and it was not clear how Kenyatta’s government would implement them.

Nairobi economic analyst, Abdi Mohammed, told IPS that within the current economy it might be difficult for the Kenyatta administration to meet their pledges. According to the International Monetary Fund, Kenya’s economy grew between 4.5 and five percent in 2012.

“Unless Kenyatta’s administration is banking on the oil Kenya has discovered, which if proved to be commercially viable could be an economic game changer, relying on sectors like agriculture and tourism to deliver growth without bringing them up to speed by investing in them is a hard call,” Mohammed said.

In March 2012, Kenya discovered high-quality oil deposits in the northwest Turkana region, which exploratory firm Tullow Oil said would yield significant gasoline and diesel outputs.

Mohammed said that balancing the country’s widening development and recurrent budgets to promote growth would be a monumental task. He added that the highest growth the Kenyan economy has ever reached was seven percent in 2006.

“The cost of devolution has further inflated the wage bill and from a resource allocation perspective it is hard to get all sectors growing at such a pace,” he said. From midnight on Mar. 5, Kenya implemented a new devolved system of government and with the new system decisions affecting Kenya’s 47 counties will now be taken at local, as opposed to national, level.

According to political scientist Professor Edward Kisiangani of Kenyatta University, Kenyatta takes over at a time when the nation is sharply divided and plagued by challenges, including entrenched corruption and pervasive poverty.

“The president must reach out to all communities, even those who did not vote for him, so as to unite the country after the deeply-divisive general election and the presidential petition soon after,” Kisiangani told IPS.

Kenyatta’s main opponent, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, filed a presidential petition with the Supreme Court challenging the election results and citing massive irregularities. On Mar. 30, the court ruled that Kenyatta and Ruto were validly elected.

“(Kenyatta) must also demonstrate political will in tackling corruption,” Kisiangani added.

According to Transparency International Kenya, a governance and accountability NGO, the country still ranks as one of the most corrupt in the world

Its 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Kenya 154 out of 182 countries that were surveyed – it is in the same position as Zimbabwe, and only slightly higher than war-torn Somalia, and North Korea, which were ranked most corrupt at 182.

Morris Odhiambo, the president of the National Civil Society Congress, a consortium of local governance lobbies, told IPS that Kenyatta and his administration must demonstrate a clear will to fight corruption.

“If Kenyatta does not seriously fight corruption by starting off with unearthing past major corruption scandals like the Goldenberg scandal, which led to suffering of Kenyans, he will go down in ignominy just like other past presidents,” Odhiambo said.

The 1992 600-million-dollar scandal involved the exportation of gold from Kenya in exchange for high government subsidies. It remains one of the largest corruption scandals to date as it involved nearly the entire government of former President Daniel Arap Moi.

Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission chair Mzalendo Kibunjia, (right) flanked by constitutional expert Paddy Onyango (left) says that the country should opt for power sharing in the next government. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI , Feb 25 2013 (IPS)

Days ahead of Kenya’s general elections, the country’s former deputy Minister of Information Koigi Wamwere has slammed calls for power-sharing among minority ethnic groups in the next government, calling it a “dangerous concept”.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), a government agency set up to address inter-ethnic conflict, and a section of Kenyan civil society have called for this East African nation to adopt negotiated democracy as a way to stem the deep-seated differences between various ethnic groups here.

Ethnic violence followed Kenya’s disputed December 2007 poll, claiming around 1,200 lives and displacing 600,000 people.

But Wamwere told IPS that a sharing of power could threaten the country’s young, multiparty democracy.

“It is pure nonsense to imagine that Kenyans are not ready to live with democracy. Democracy is not easy to implement, but we should not opt for short cuts, but go by its principles for the long-term good of the country,” he said.

All eyes are on Kenya to see whether it will avoid a repetition of the 2007 violence when it goes to the polls on Mar. 4. Several rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group (ICG), have warned that this year’s elections could be ethnically divisive if rising tensions are not curbed.

According to HRW, inter-communal clashes related to pre-electioneering have claimed more than 477 lives and displaced some 118,000 people since the beginning of 2012.

But according to the chair of the NCIC, Mzalendo Kibunjia, negotiated democracy – a system in which political power is shared evenly among various ethnic and interest groups – would enhance inclusion among Kenya’s 42 ethnic groups by doing away with Kenya’s current political model where “the winners take all and the losers lose all until the next elections.”

“Kenyan politics is about numbers and you get those numbers, not by selling ideas, but by retreating into your tribal cocoons. This means that small tribes continually feel neglected once the dominant ones win power, and this feeling of seclusion is being replicated in the run-up to this election,” Kibunjia told IPS.

But Wamwere, who is author of the book “Negative Ethnicity: From Bias to Genocide”, which looks at the ways ethnic rivalries in Africa undermine democracy, pours cold water on claims that power-sharing enhances inclusion and cohesion among various ethnic communities.

“If people are clear about whom they want to be led by, that person can come from the smallest ethnic community or grouping in the country,” he said.

Retired President Daniel Arap Moi, whose regime spanned 24 years from 1978 to 2002 and was widely seen as dictatorial, had embraced a similar mode of politics by insisting that Kenya was not ready for democracy, according to Wamwere.

“Moi kept telling Kenyans that they were not ready for multiparty politics and democracy,” he said, “And that is partly how he maintained his grip on power for more than two decades. Kenyans should be wary of those advocating for negotiated democracy.”

Cedric Barnes, Horn of Africa project director at the ICG, agreed that Kenya was ripe for democracy in its original sense and a repetition of the 2007 post-election violence was unlikely.

“If (in 2007) Kenya had strong and independent institutions such as a strong judiciary and electoral body that could have instilled confidence among Kenyans, this would have seen people confide in its institutions, reducing the risk of people taking to the streets and against each other to protest election results,” Barnes told IPS. He added that since the country’s new constitution was adopted in 2010, it had strengthened government and institutional frameworks.

But Cyprian Nyamwamu, the executive director of the National Convention Executive Council, which lobbies for good governance and reform, told IPS that there was needed for the inclusion of minority groups and communities in the government.

“Negotiated democracy is a platform to end suspicion and mistrust among antagonistic groups,” said Nyamwamu. “Whereas the new constitution has brought checks and balances of executive power and devolution promises to promote equal distribution of resources, we need negotiated democracy to ensure that all ethnic groups are brought to the table.”

According to Rose Waruhiu, a Democratic Party of Kenya politician and former member of the East African Legislative Assembly, the idea is a practical one for Kenya.

“Any party that wants to lead in today’s Kenya must reach out to all the various ethnic groups in the country. All ethnic groups want to see parties and politicians reach out to them in a special manner and, as such, negotiated democracy is a plus for both politician and voter,” Waruhiu told IPS.

Most say that it will take more than the negotiated sharing of elective positions to heal the country and enhance ethnic cohesion.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya, which was set up to investigate past injustices and lead reconciliation efforts, has yet to file a report three years after its formation.

Leadership wrangles and financial problems have rocked the commission, whose mandate covers alleged violations between December 1963 and February 2008, and has delayed its work by over six months.

It remains unknown when the commission will file its report after parliament refused to grant it an extension.

Zipporah Kittony (l) former chair of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation, Justin Muturi (c) chair of the Centre For Multiparty Democracy, and Alice Wahome, vice-chair of the CMD (r) addressing journalists in Nairobi on Dec. 13. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI , Dec 14 2012 (IPS)

Kenya’s rights activists are furious that the country’s highest court “violated” women’s constitutional rights by ruling against the implementation of a gender quota in parliament ahead of the 2013 general elections.

Activists here are threatening to boycott the Mar. 4, 2013 elections and bring the government to a standstill unless the gender parity law, which states that no more than two-thirds of one gender should hold elected office, is enforced in the senate and national assembly in the upcoming elections.

Rukia Subow, chair of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation, the largest women’s rights NGO in Kenya, told IPS that this East African nation was headed for a constitutional crisis if it failed to heed the provisions of the 2010 constitution.

The Kenya Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, Dec. 11 that the constitutional provision calling for a mandatory one-third gender representation would not apply to next year’s general election and instead should be implemented progressively by August 2015.

“We respect the Supreme Court, but still we have to fight its ruling even if it means going to higher courts in the region. We will ensure that there will be no parliament next year as it will be unconstitutional should we fail to implement the gender principle,” she said, adding that the organisation would see to it that the principle was implemented by “any means necessary.”

As the Supreme Court is the highest court in the country, the next court of appeal would be the East African Court of Justice.

Article 81 (b) of the constitution provides that “not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.”

Further, Article 27(8) of the constitution states that there shall be legislation to provide for the above principle. But the failure of parliament to pass this legislation prompted the attorney general Githu Muigai to petition the Supreme Court for an interpretation on how the country should attain the gender equity principle.

In the landmark decision by four of the five judges hearing the case, Jackton Boma Ojwang, Njoki Ndung’u, Philip Tunoi and Smoking Wanjala ruled that the one-third gender requirement for the national assembly and senate could not be enforced in the 2013 elections.

They said that the historical marginalisation of women in elective politics could not be resolved by quotas but would only be realised over time and in stages.

The fifth judge on the bench, the country’s chief justice Willy Mutunga, ruled in favour of the principle being implemented ahead of the upcoming elections.

According to Rose Waruhiu, a prominent Kenyan women’s rights activist and former member of the East African Legislative Assembly, the ruling is a blow to the empowerment of women.

“The women of Kenya are seeing this as a blatant and direct violation of women’s constitutional rights of equality and non-discrimination based on sex. The ruling makes a charade of the whole idea of constitutionalism and is the ultimate insult to Kenyan women, women around the world, and in essence the Kenyan people,” Waruhiu told IPS.

The Centre for Multiparty Democracy Kenya has consequently advised political parties to immediately file a case with the East African Court of Justice, to force Kenya to observe gender equality in elective and appointive public positions.

According to the lobby’s chair, Justin Muturi, Kenya “is the only country within the East African community which has not (achieved) this.”

“We have resolved to sensitise Kenyans around the theme ‘no women, no elections on March 2013’, unless and until women are included in public office as stipulated in the constitution,” Muturi told IPS during a press conference in Nairobi on Thursday Dec. 13.

“The Supreme Court ruling effectively denied women their constitutional right to fair representation. We hold the view that the Supreme Court itself has failed to uphold the constitution and it is time the people who hold sovereign authority acted to stop further erosion of constitutional provisions,” added Muturi.

Meanwhile, Waruhiu said the court ruling was a fraudulent act.

“It has set women back in a big way. More importantly, however, it’s not a women’s issue, but an issue at the heart of our constitution. It’s about the affront to the sovereign will of the people,” said Waruhiu, who is also the vice chair of the Democratic Party of Kenya.

“Women of Kenya do not, and will not, accept a zero or minimalist approach in terms of the fulfilment of their constitutional rights. They are entitled to them as a matter of course, they fought for independence, and they continue to carry the greatest burden in building this nation,” she said.

Her comments were echoed by Winnie Lichuma, the chair of the National Gender and Equality Commission, the body charged with women’s empowerment in Kenya. She told IPS that women must demand that the principle be implemented immediately and not in stages.

“The gender equity principle on representation must be implemented now and can’t wait,” she said. Political representation for women in the current Kenyan parliament is considered low at only 9.8 percent, according to Lichuma.

Prior to the controversial ruling, the country was awash with heated debate about how the principle could be achieved.

Some legislators had said that it should not be implemented in the 2013 general elections. However, the attorney general and other observers had said that if the gender rule was not implemented, Kenya would head towards a constitutional crisis.

“This action by the highest court in the land of Kenya, if left uncorrected, would widen the inequality gap between men and women in leadership positions,” said Waruhiu.

A man walks past the general service unit with his kid during the inter-ethnic riots in Kenya's Eastleigh suburb. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Dec 1 2012 (IPS)

The wave of insecurity that has hit Kenya in the last few months is causing severe damage to the country’s recovering economy, local economists have warned.

Abdi Mohammed, an investment analyst at Stanbic Investment Management Service, told IPS that even though the real extent of the damage to the country’s economy has yet to be quantified, key sectors are losing money due to unprecedented levels of insecurity.

Over the past year, the country has witnessed a spate of terror-related attacks on civilians, which have been mostly blamed on Somalia’s Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab. These attacks have prompted travel advisories from nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States, which have urged their citizens to keep away from this East African nation.

Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere told IPS that Kenya has witnessed a total of 58 grenade attacks carried out by suspected Al-Shabaab sympathisers this year, which caused the deaths of 67 people and injured a further 308.

And according to Mohammed, among the sectors worst hit by this violence is the tourism industry, especially as it heads into peak season in December.

Mohammed told IPS that if the level of instability here escalated, Kenya’s fragile sense of business confidence would be hurt, both locally and internationally. 

“We understand already that many potential investors are reconsidering whether to relocate their investments if insecurity persists,” said Mohammed.

His comments were echoed by Johnson Nderi, researcher for Corporate Finance at Suntra Investment Bank in Nairobi, who said that the country’s economy had been affected to the tune of millions of dollars on a monthly basis.

“The image being propagated around the globe of all these incidents of insecurity will wear away at the recently-renewed investor confidence in the country. In real terms and in due time we will be able to tell the damage to the economy, but it is happening now,” he told IPS.

Internal Security Minister Katoo Ole Metito also said that terrorism was one of the most crucial challenges faced by security agencies in the country.

“I want to assure Kenyans that we are committed to fighting terrorism in this country and we need their support,” Metito said last month.

Kenyan business leaders, in interviews with IPS, said that the government needed to deal firmly with the rising insecurity.

“Among the Kenyan business community there is serious concern about what is happening in the country,” Vimal Shah, the chairman of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, told IPS.

“The continuing episodes of disorder are hurting sectors like tourism directly, as visitors are keeping away. But it is also having an impact on retail trade, as we have seen in many towns,” he said.

According to Patrick Obath, the chair of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, the country’s image as a business destination of choice is being hurt internationally and this might delay foreign direct investment in the country.

“Kenya is a very stable country but due to these security challenges we are, in the short term, bound to see investments delayed,” Obath told IPS.

His comments were echoed by Fred Kaigua, the chief executive of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators, who said: “We would like the government to step up intelligence as well as its response to cases of violence in the country.”

Meanwhile, the increased insecurity has given rise to fear and suspicion of foreigners, especially Somalis.

Mohammed Hirsi, 64, a businessman in Kenya’s Eastleigh suburb, located two kilometres east of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, is among hundreds of affluent traders of Somali descent who have been affected.

On Nov. 18 suspected terrorists killed seven passengers and injured 30 others in a blast that occurred inside a matatu or mini-bus taxi in the area. Inter-ethnic clashes and looting broke out and lasted until Nov. 20 as locals blamed the immigrant Somali community for the terrorist activity.

Hirsi’s supermarket is among the many Somali-owned businesses that were looted in the rampage. In the ensuing two-day melee, more than 30 casualties were reported at the Kenyatta National Hospital, while contingents of police and soldiers were deployed in an effort to contain the situation.

Since then fear and suspicion have remained rife in the area.

“The attacks and the ensuing revenge looting, in which I lost goods worth millions of shillings, have dented the long years of good relations between Somali and non-Somali communities living here,” an obviously bitter Hirsi told IPS.

“We feel these attacks on the Muslim community are being carried out by ignorant individuals who are targeting Muslims, especially Somalis, primarily due to their religion,” he said, adding that his fellow Somali businessmen are living in constant fear of further reprisal attacks.

Local residents are indifferent to opinions like his, however.

According to one, John Njoroge, the Somali community in the area is culpable of abetting the terrorists by failing to report to police the names of Al-Shabaab sympathisers who live among both communities.

“If they maintain that they are law-abiding citizens, why have they been reluctant to report the criminal elements among them to the police?” Njoroge asked IPS.

The country’s two leading politicians, President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have since broken their silence over the recent attacks.

Speaking when he led the launch of the national voter registration exercise in the capital on Nov. 19, Kibaki issued a stern warning to those planning to disrupt the process, saying they would face the full force of the law.

Kibaki said the government had already stepped up security around the nation to ensure that the process went smoothly.

“Please don’t seek to be forgiven for any mischief you do, because whoever you are we shall take action,” a tough-talking Kibaki said. “There is no point in anybody trying to mess up an election. Nobody has a right to interfere.”

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Nov 2 2012 (IPS)

As Kenya gets ready for voter registration this month, ahead of the country’s Mar. 4, 2013 polls, women’s rights organisations are hoping that the provisions for gender equality in the new constitution will mean significantly increased representation in the government.

Winnie Lichuma, chairwoman of the National Gender and Equality Commission, the body charged with women’s empowerment in this East African nation, is guardedly optimistic.

“With regard to political representation in the current parliament, women are at only 9.8 percent, which is very low,” she said.

She told IPS that the country needed to “wise up to women’s leadership” as it prepared for the general elections – the first since Kenya adopted a new constitution in 2010 that recognises women’s rights and makes provisions for their representation in parliament.

Article 177 (1) (b) of the constitution seeks to provide a mechanism for the two-third gender principle at county level. The principle ensures that no gender shall exceed two-thirds representation in public, elective and appointive bodies.

Lichuma said that the constitution’s provisions meant that the number of women represented at county level would increase overall. According to the new constitution, 47 counties will now replace the provincial and local government administration systems.

She said that women would soon “be represented at the highest decision-making level of governance.

“The campaign message for women is that they should come out in large numbers, register in political parties and take part in the competitive elective process. If they do not meet the one-third gender requirement, political parties will nominate women based on proportional representation by use of political party lists, as provided in article 90 (1) of the constitution,” she said.

Voter registration is set to begin on Nov. 12.

Excerpts of the interview follow.

Q: Have there been any notable gains made by women in Kenya since the promulgation of the new constitution two years ago?

A: First, I think it is a very unfair question to put to the women of Kenya. I do not think the same can be asked of men.

However, I wish to note that women have been discriminated against for a long time and have been absent in the public sphere, their roles being relegated to the private sphere. Women have now benefited from the gender equality and freedom from discrimination principle in the constitution where they are now entitled to a 30 percent representation in public, elective and appointive positions.

All the new public bodies, especially the constitutional commissions and judiciary, have paid attention to the two-thirds gender principle. The implementation of the two-thirds principle is an on-going process, however, and only after the next general election will we really appreciate its impact.

Q: Clearly there is a huge disparity in the number of men compared to women in critical decision-making areas in both the political and corporate arena. Why is this?

A: The answer is obvious. Historically, women have been locked out of the public sector. There has been very little effort made to increase women’s representation in the political and corporate arena. Socio-cultural barriers have worked against women and hindered their representation at this level.

Sometimes women’s reproductive roles are used to deny them entry into the corporate arena. This is bound to change thanks to the constitution.

Q: Are Kenyan women ready to face their male counterparts in the upcoming political contest?

A: Well, the law is on the side of women but many other barriers are still there. The barriers that women have experienced politically include ideological and social-cultural ones. (Women also have to deal with) violence, especially sexual-based violence, limited resources and the fact that the majority of political parties are in the hands of the male gender.

Women also lack support from family members. In some communities clans have only endorsed male candidates to run, especially in the pastoral communities.

Women are ready but these barriers, coupled with the male propaganda that seems to have convinced Kenyans that women can only run for the seats set aside for women, is a blow to female candidates.

Q: There have been calls for countries to adopt gender-responsive budgeting, where public finance is planned with gender dynamics in mind. How does Kenya fare in its adoption?

A: The commission has supported the Ministry of Finance and Planning to mainstream issues of gender in the budgeting process. It is somewhat challenging … We urgently need to strengthen the capacity of the officers responsible for planning and budgeting in sector working groups and at the planning and finance level.

Guidelines on this also need to be well understood by all the players, and the commission has been looking at the process of coming up with gender-responsive budgeting guidelines. We are, however, still working to refine the tools that will be used in future budgeting.

Q: Rwanda is said to be doing well in the fair representation of women in government. It is the first and only government in the world where women make up the majority of members of parliament. What can we learn from them?

A: The key to their success is political goodwill. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is a firm supporter of women’s representation, which in turn has helped to increase representation of women at all levels of government including in political circles.

Q: Does the Kenyan government have the same political goodwill?

A: It is a gradual process but over time we are seeing many in the government warm up to the idea of fair representation for women.

David Rudisha, far right, trained with Kenya’s top athletes in a strict regimen of pre-Olympic training before heading off to the games in London. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Aug 11 2012 (IPS)

When Kenyan athlete David Lekuta Rudisha simultaneously became the first person ever to break the 1min 41sec mark in the 800m while also becoming the first person to set a world record at this year’s London Olympics on Thursday Aug. 9, he managed another first. He briefly united an ethnically divided nation.

Across this East African nation people gathered in homes, shopping malls, restaurants and pubs to witness Rudisha, locally nicknamed “King David”, confirm his status as the champion of the 800m with his winning time of 1min 40.91sec.

On the night of Rudisha’s win ethnic rifts melted, and it was not uncommon to see men and women from the Kalenjin and Kikuyu ethnic groups, the two main rival groups in the country’s 2007 post-election violence, dancing together in jubilation.

“I hope the sense of unity that was brought about by Rudisha’s win will trickle down to all aspects of our lives,” Samuria Pulley, a 32-year-old resident of Kibera slums in Nairobi, told IPS.

Barely five years ago Kenya found itself on the verge of destruction after post-election ethnic violence, triggered by a bungled general election in December 2007, saw neighbour turn against neighbour. Almost 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced from their homes in the ensuing mass violence.

And tensions still remain as, according to Human Rights Watch, “victims of rape, assault, arson, and other crimes still await justice.”

“Police officers, who killed at least 405 people during the violence, injured over 500 more, and raped dozens of women and girls, enjoy absolute impunity,” the organisation said in a December 2011 report.

Four prominent Kenyans suspected of inciting the nationwide violence are yet to stand trial at the International Criminal Court.

The suspects, who face crimes against humanity, include former Higher Education Minister William Ruto, radio presenter Joshua Sang, current Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and former civil service boss Francis Muthaura. Their trials will only commence on Apr. 10 and 11, 2013.

Ethnic tensions remain raw and are festering across the country. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission, which was formed as part of reconciliation efforts after the 2007 violence to facilitate and promote the peaceful co-existence and integration of Kenyans, warned that violence could flare up again if this remains unchecked.

On May 8 the National Security and Intelligence Service informed the government that strong indicators of violence exist as an increase in tribal politics has fuelled ethnic hostilities, as campaigning for the March 2013 general election enters high gear.

But when Rudisha did what no one else has been able to do at the games, including the 100m and 200m gold medallist Usain Bolt, by setting a new world record – the country erupted in celebration.

Prior to Rudisha’s win, Kenyans were disappointed that their legendary middle-distance runners failed to win gold. Ezekiel Kemboi had been the country’s only gold medalist after winning the 3,000m steeplechase. But Kemboi’s victory did not automatically inspire unity among Kenyans the way Rudisha’s did, as he faces criminal charges.

Kemboi, who won Kenya’s first gold medal at the games, competed after being granted bail following his arrest for allegedly stabbing a woman on Jun. 27 in Eldoret, in Kenya’s Rift Valley province.

The woman claimed Kemboi stabbed her for allegedly refusing his sexual advances after a drinking bout. Kemboi denied the allegations.

“It is defeatist for an athlete to hope to inspire unity among Kenyans while his actions outside of the field are contrary to that,” 23-year-old Kenya Polytechnic University College student Wambui Kuria told IPS of Kemboi’s victory.

So it is no wonder that Rudisha’s run, which pushed not only him, but also the rest of the field to personal bests, inspired such elation and unity.

“I believe this unity is not false and I hope it persists beyond the Olympics,” Faith Kyomukama, a 24-year-old student at Daystar University, told IPS.

“Why would we discriminate against one another on the basis of tribe? We have shown that our unity can override these small differences,” added Kyomukama.

And social experts are hopeful that sport can be used to permanently bridge ethnic divisions in the country.

Dr. Gidraph Wairire, a sociology lecturer at the University of Nairobi, told IPS that sport could help Kenya permanently bridge ethnic divisions.

He said that sport produced, for both those participating and watching, a special “feel-good chemical”, which triggered a unifying bond among citizens.

“Once you see someone winning … at that point you can actually forget your differences as individuals in ethnic communities,” he said.

“In the case of Kenyan athletes, if this power of sport can be prioritised and tapped, Kenya would be able to bridge these ethnic divisions which in any case are equally triggered by minor differences,” he said. He added that these divisions were only superficial and not inherently permanent.

According to Dr. Joyce Nyairo, the resident representative of the Ford Foundation and an expert on Kenyan popular culture, Kenya can use sport to rewrite its national narrative and forge an even stronger national unity with great effectiveness.

Nyairo, who has written about ethnicity amongst the country’s 42 ethnic groups, said it was a pity that Kenya’s government failed to build policies around nation-building projects that involved sport.

She said that the impact sport had in inspiring unity surpassed any other reconciliation effort, and added that Rudisha’s victory had done just that.

“Our sense of who we are, of what we have in common with one another is marshalled and defended on the sports field just as it might be written in constitutions and debated in parliaments,” she told IPS.

Nyairo said that sport could help bridge existing ethnic divides in unimaginable ways.

“If we shield ourselves under our athletes’ stories, embrace them and learn from them, we will surely see the seamless contours that join Kenya over and above the rifts that threaten our appreciation of a common past and a common destiny,” she said.

It is a common destiny that many of the country’s athletes had hoped to inspire by participating in the Olympics.

“I am hoping that our victories will inspire long-lived unity beyond the ones Kenyans show when they cheer us,” the country’s Olympic women’s 800m silver medallist, Janeth Jepkosgei, told IPS prior to her departure to London.

Jepkosgei said that the post-election violence marked one of the saddest points in her life and added that Kenyans should realise that national unity was more important than ethnic pride.

“Some of my friends with whom I train are Cuban, American and also Ethiopian. I don’t see why my fellow Kenyans can’t de-tribalise their mindsets too and see that we are one,” she said. Jepkosgei has qualified for the women’s 800m final on Saturday, Aug. 11.

While the Kenyan athletics’ team head coach Julius Kirwa has been under fire for his team’s performance, he will be satisfied with having achieved one of his goals: “We want to see these games unite Kenyans beyond the track. That’s our wish,” he told IPS prior to departing for the games.

And now many Kenyans hope that the sense of unity shown on an August night can outlive a historical Olympic moment.

David Rudisha, far right, trained with Kenya’s top athletes in a strict regimen of pre-Olympic training before heading off to the games in London. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Aug 1 2012 (IPS)

On a chilly morning at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi, the largest multi-purpose sports centre in Kenya, 800m world record holder David Rudisha looked like just another athlete.

At 1.90m tall, Rudisha is not diminutive. But as he trained with Kenya’s reigning Olympic and world 1,500m champion, 23-year-old Asbel Kiprop, and close to two dozen of the country’s top athletes in a strict regimen of pre-Olympic training, he appeared to be just another member of the Kenyan team.

But Rudisha and his teammates are far from average. The East African nation’s athletics team competing in this year’s summer London Olympics consists of three Olympic and four world champions. Rudisha, 23, has been tipped as a potential favourite to break his own 800m world record time of 1.41.01 at the games.

Vanity Fair called him “the best Olympic track star” yet to be discovered. The magazine said that once he takes to the track in London, Kenya’s star runner will become a global household name – just like the Olympic and world sprint record holder Usain Bolt. However, Rudisha is already a household name in Kenya, with locals nicknaming him “King David”.

Any medals he and his team mates win will really be medals also for the developing world, given that athletics is dominated by sportsmen and sportswomen from the developed world.

But when IPS met with him after his training session, he played down the adoration.

Instead, his mind was focused on winning gold.

For almost a month, the athletes trained uninterrupted and in isolation, with no visitors allowed. But the media was given access to them during one of their last training sessions on home soil before they boarded a flight for the United Kingdom on Jul. 30. The team had opted to remain at high altitude for as long as possible, deciding against training in England.

The soft-spoken athlete told IPS that he was confident of winning a gold medal at his Olympic debut in London.

“I don’t think I am going for anything less than gold. This is my first Olympics. Since I am the world record holder and the world champion, so far, I want to clinch Olympic gold. It is the only medal missing on my shelf,” Rudisha said.

He exuded optimism, buoyed by his good running times this year.

“This is my best year already and I am in the best shape of my life. So I want to go there and win,” Rudisha said.

“There are good guys out there who have processed good times this year, but I am confident because they haven’t come close to what I have done this year. I am very confident, I am in a shape of my own.”

He said spirits in the Kenyan camp were very high and the team expected to win a number of medals at the Olympics.

“We expect good results, and good things to come from this competition,” he added.

Teammate Kiprop told IPS that Kenya currently boasts the best team in middle-distance running, and that the world should expect his country to take all the medals in the 1,500m.

“We have a very strong team in the 1,500m with me, Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Kiplimo Chepseba being the three top athletes in the world at the moment. If things work well, we are surely talking of a clean sweep in the 1,500m,” Kiprop said after his training session.

Also included in the team are double world 5,000m and 10,000 champion Vivian Cheruiyot; reigning 800m Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo; former 800m world champion Janeth Jepkosgei; and world champion marathon runner Edna Kiplagat.

Ezekiel Kemboi is the reigning Olympic 3,000m steeplechase gold medallist, and Brimin Kipruto is the current 3,000m steeplechase world and Olympic champion.

Kiprop, meanwhile, played down expectations of breaking the 1,500m record. He effortlessly won the 1,500m with a world-best time of 3:28.88 at the Herculis Meeting in Monaco in July.

“At the moment I think the first priority is to win an Olympic gold medal, and then we’ll see when to attack the record. If not this year, maybe next year,” he said.

Jepkosgei, the country’s Olympic women’s 800m silver medallist, wants to bring home a gold medal.

She said that her primary focus was to make it to the finals of the 800m.

“Obviously, I want to be on the podium. The 800m is a tactical race, but I am prepared for this,” she told IPS.

Jepkosgei said she anticipated stiff competition in the heats. She singled out African champion Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, her Kenyan compatriot Jelimo, South Africa’s Caster Semenya and Russia’s Mariya Savinova as some of her biggest threats.

She could not say if she would be able to beat Jelimo if they met in the finals. “I can’t tell if I can beat her, but am going to do my best,” she said.

Indeed Jepkosgei and her fellow athletes know that Kenyans expect nothing less than victory from them. The country’s runners are legendary and Kenya has been a fertile training ground for the development of world record-setting athletes.

Since Kenya participated in the Olympics for the first time in 1956, the country has won a total of 78 medals, mainly in athletics and boxing.

Kenyan Henry Rono is considered the greatest long-distance runner the world has known. In 1978, in less than three months he broke four world records: the 10,000m, the 5,000m, the 3,000m steeplechase, and the 3,000m. It is an achievement that no one has been able to beat.

Kipchoge Keino, a two-time Olympic gold medallist whose winning time at the 1978 Summer Olympics remained the 1,500m record for 16 years, is still a national hero.

Assistant head coach for the Kenyan Olympic team, Sammy Rono, told IPS that they would enter as many athletes as possible in the races as part of the country’s game plan to win as many medals as they could.

“It will then give us a strong base to execute their strategies in the individual races,” Rono said.

“Anything goes in these championships…There is no room for mistakes,” said Rono.

Olympic head coach, Julius Kirwa, told IPS that beyond seeking to maintain the country’s success in middle-distance running, Kenya will aim for medals in the men’s and women’s 10,000m, and in the 5,000m men’s race.

“We have trained well and are hopeful, but at the same time we are cautiously optimistic. In 2008 we had six gold medals; we hope to surpass this number,” he said. The team landed in London on Tuesday Jul. 31.

A mother and daughter who survived the dangerous journey from south Somalia to an aid camp in Mogadishu during last year's famine. Credit: Abdurrahman Warsameh/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Jul 18 2012 (IPS)

The United Nations has called for sustained aid efforts in Somalia to prevent the war-torn country from experiencing another humanitarian crisis as more than three million people remain in need of urgent aid.

The U.N. said on Tuesday Jul. 17 in Nairobi that while the situation in the Horn of Africa nation had greatly improved over the last few months, millions remain threatened by acute food shortages and a lack of basic necessities. This, the U.N. said, was compounded by insecurity and insufficient rains. It warned that if aid agencies do not step in to stem the escalating situation, a humanitarian catastrophe could develop.

“While famine conditions are no longer present, we need to make no mistake – the absence of famine does not mean that people are not in crisis. Today, 2.51 million people are still in urgent need of aid and a further 1.29 million could slide back into crisis without sustained assistance,” said Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.

Bowden, who spoke ahead of an official launch of a revised consolidated appeal for 1.16 billion dollars by global aid agencies on Thursday Jul. 19, said that aid efforts have to be sustained in order to consolidate the gains made in Somalia.

According to the U.N., within 90 days of last year’s famine declaration on Jul. 20, the number of people receiving food aid more than tripled to 2.6 million, while hundreds of thousands of acutely malnourished children received nutrition supplements.

“Mass vaccination campaigns reduced cases of measles by almost 50 percent. By November, 500,000 people in the affected parts of Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle were lifted out of famine conditions. The situation continued to improve, largely due to the effective delivery of aid under extremely difficult circumstances and helped by an exceptional harvest at the beginning of the year,” Bowden said.

“We need to finish the job that we started when we announced the famine last year and act now to consolidate the gains and break the cycle of repeated crises that continues to exist. To do this, we must restore people’s lives and livelihoods,” he said.

Bowden said that half the sum had been raised, but the remaining 576 million dollars was needed to address the requirements of 3.8 million Somalis until the end of the year.

“Humanitarians need these funds to provide urgent assistance for the most vulnerable, while building up Somalis’ ability to cope with future drought and other shocks,” he said.

Friday Jul. 20 will mark a year since famine, which claimed tens of thousands of Somalis, was declared in the war-torn nation. The drought had been prevalent in entire Horn of Africa and was described as the worst in 60 years. It was compounded by high food prices and instability in the region.

According to the Kenyan Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Romano Kiome, the food situation in the Horn of Africa remains precarious and has been made worse by poor harvests and low rainfall.

“Even in most parts of Kenya, the situation is similarly unfavourable as a result of the poor rains. The government has been forced to go back to the drawing board and strategise on how we will distribute food. We have a considerable number of regions where there are widening shortages,” Kiome told IPS.

Kiome said the worsening food situation in Somalia was compounded by the ongoing conflict in the country.

“Security in Somalia is still a major concern and we second the U.N.’s call for the need to sustain large-scale humanitarian activities across the country,” he said.

Kenya, backed by African Union forces, is engaged in fighting the Somali militant Al-Shabaab in the country that has been afflicted by conflict for more than 20 years.

Most Somalis are still living in refugee camps and remain dependent on food aid from agencies. Many are yet to return to their villages, opting to remain in camps where there is a supply of medical and food aid.

Statistics released separately by the U.N. Refugee Agency on Jul. 17 showed that more than a million Somalis fled their homeland to neighbouring countries during the famine.

Bowden warned that in parts of Somalia, the food situation would deteriorate before it improved as a result of the poor rains from April to June, which were not only delayed but also unevenly distributed.

“We do not expect the south of Somalia to deteriorate into famine in the coming months. But that should not in any way lessen the urgency with which we act,” he added.

Bowden noted that by providing Somalis with sustainable livelihoods, aid agencies could prevent future droughts from developing into a humanitarian emergency.

“We need to help 2.51 million people to obtain life’s basic necessities, such as clean water, sanitation facilities and medical care. We need to help build sustainable livelihoods for people who have been left with few or no resources after years of drought and conflict,” he said.

Everlyne Wanjiku, a single mother of five, has earned a living selling vegetables in the sprawling Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for over three decades. And even though her earnings were meagre, she was able to provide all her children with a tertiary education.

Everlyne Wanjiku, a single mother of five, has earned a living selling vegetables in the sprawling Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for 30 years. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

But now, like her many fellow poverty-stricken slum dwellers in this East African nation, she is feeling the pinch of the high cost of food and other commodities, which have skyrocketed globally. And Wanjiku says that she is unable to afford her family’s upkeep.

“Most of my daily customers no longer come to buy from me because of the prohibitive food prices. As you can see, I have not replenished my stock because the little savings that I had have already run out,” she says, pointing to the few vegetables on a table outside her shack dwelling.

“On a good month, I would make over 6,000 shillings (67 dollars). But things are bad now, and I am unable to feed my family,” she adds.

Janet Adhiambo, one of her customers, says life is just as hard for her.

“It’s a pity that I can no longer buy basic ingredients, like onions. I just choose to forgo them because they are too costly. It’s just too tough,” she says.

The woes of both women are all too familiar to Kenyan families as they struggle to put food on the table in the face of unprecedented high food prices here.

However, these food insecurity challenges are being faced by all Africans, as highlighted in a new report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which paints a gloomy picture of the food situation on the continent.

The report, which was released on Tuesday, May 15, by the UNDP in Nairobi, decries what is says is the paradox of Africa being agriculturally endowed, but still acutely food insecure.

“The Africa Human Development Report 2012 ‘Towards a Food Secure Future’” notes that despite the impressive growth by African economies over the past decade, sub-Saharan Africa is still plagued by food insecurity.

“More than one in four Africans are undernourished, and food insecurity — the inability to consistently acquire enough calories and nutrients for a healthy and productive life — is pervasive. The spectre of famine, which has virtually disappeared elsewhere in the world, continues to haunt parts of sub- Saharan Africa,” says the report.

It continues: “Yet sub-Saharan Africa has ample agricultural land, plenty of water and a generally favourable climate for growing food. And in the last 10 years many African countries posted world- beating economic growth rates and became among the fastest movers on the Human Development Index.”

These two jarring paradoxes form the basis of the findings of the report, which goes on to pass a harsh indictment on African governments, saying that they have failed to embrace and institute the right policies.

“Sub-Saharan Africa has abundant agricultural resources. But shamefully, in all corners of the region, millions of people remain hungry and malnourished — the result of glaringly uneven local food production and distribution and chronically deficient diets, especially among the poorest,” says the report.

It says that despite a decline in poverty in the 2000s, almost half of sub-Saharan Africans still live in extreme poverty.

Last year, the Horn of Africa was struck by famine and food insecurity, which affected some 9.5 million people.

According to Tegegnework Gettu, the head of the UNDP Africa bureau and an assistant U.N. secretary- general, the chronic food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa mainly stems from decades of poor governance.

The Permanent Secretary in the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture Romano Kiome admits that African governments are not doing enough to stem food insecurity.

He cites the example of Kenya, where he says that the Ministry of Finance in its 2010/2011 yearly national budget allocations set aside 539 million dollars for agriculture in government bodies such as the Ministries of Water and Irrigation, Environment and Mineral Resources, Livestock and Fisheries, and Trade.

This amount was less than five percent of the government’s total national budget and contrasts sharply with the allocation to the Kenyan military, which was reported to be 685 million dollars in 2011.

Gettu says spending priorities in some African countries need to urgently shift from the military to agriculture, to help the continent escape the perennial trap of food insecurity.

“If some African countries can acquire and deploy jet fighters, tanks, artillery and other advanced means of destruction, why should they not be able to master agricultural know-how? Why should Africans be unable to afford the technology, tractors, irrigation, seed varieties and training needed to be food secure?” he asks.

With the right policies and institutions, however, Gettu argues that Africa can sustain a virtuous cycle of higher human development and enhanced food security.

“Africa can extricate itself from pervasive food insecurity by acting on four critical drivers of change: greater agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers; more effective nutrition policies, especially for children; greater community and household resilience to cope with shocks; and wider popular participation and empowerment, especially of women and the rural poor,” he says.

Gettu concludes that: “Africa has the knowledge, the technology and the means to end hunger and food insecurity. But still missing have been the political will and dedication.”

Kiome concurs, saying that even though there is no magical solution to the issue of food insecurity, African governments need to do more by investing in agriculture.

“We have the knowledge, the capacity, the right people. But we do not have enough political will to implement the right policies that will see us achieve food security,” says Kiome.

He says that even in the African island nation of Mauritius, over 50 percent of irrigable land is irrigated. This is high compared to the rest of Africa where only 10 percent is under irrigation.

“When countries achieve food security, it is because of the implementation of the right policies,” says Kiome.

Calestous Juma, a Kenyan professor who is an internationally recognised authority on the application of science and technology in sustainable development worldwide, agrees.

“There is no single bullet or panacea in tackling food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa,” says Juma, who is presently a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.

The report calls for “smart subsidies,” which would encourage smallholder farmers to shift to high-yield crop varieties without saddling the state with long-term costs. It says that this can energise food production and markets.

“Boosting productivity requires more fertilisers and seeds, stronger research and development, and a more coordinated and responsive extension system staffed by experts versed in the behaviours and habitats of local farming communities,” the report says.

It also states that attracting young Africans to participate in agriculture will bring new energy and ideas to its development.

“Technology and innovation can create enticing and profitable openings, enterprises and occupations along the value chain of a sector that young people have come to denigrate as a backwater,” it says.

(END)