Africa

Photo: Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu (left) wi th his PS Nicholas Muraguri during the press conference at Afya House on October 30, 2016. Credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group

Millions Earmarked for Maternity Care Go Missing in Kenya

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN | GIN) – Dizzying amounts of taxpayers’ money are alleged to have gone missing from Kenya’s Ministry of Health including 800 million shillings (close to US$8 million) designated for free maternity care for poor mothers to be.

The scandal has stunned even the most jaded media pundits who have seen the theft of public monies throughout their careers.

“This is official corruption at its most cruel and unbelievable,” wrote Otieno Otieno of Kenya’s Daily Nation. “You know Kenya has gone to the dogs when they steal from Kenyatta National Hospital, the country’s largest referral health facility mostly in the news for its stone-age problems like the single broken down cancer machine.”

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 01 November 2016

Photo: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks on the telephone [file photo]. UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

Africa Should Not Leave the International Criminal Court

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Many African leaders have been angry for a number of years that the International Criminal Court and the affiliated Rwanda and Sierra Leone war crimes courts appear to have focused exclusively on African war criminals – in Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Kenya and Somalia.

The South African government announced on October 21 its intention to withdraw from the ICC. Burundi said it had already made such a decision. Then, after those two, came Gambia and now observers are saying there may be others that will follow.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 01 November 2016

In countries like South Africa and Zimbabwe, people living in slums still battle to access adequate water as many of them have to walk to the only available water tapes installed in their vicinity to get water, with women often bearing the brunt of fetching the water for domestic purposes: Credit: Jeffrey Moyo / IDN-INPS

Water Crisis a Challenge in South Africa’s Squatter Camps

By Jeffrey Moyo

JOHANNESBURG (ACP-IDN) – For South Africans living in slums crowded with makeshift homes standing side by side, residents battle to draw water from the very few water taps available.

Like countries the world over, South Africa is mandated to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030, but for many South Africans like 24-year old Thembisa Mzwakhe living in Diepkloof, South Africa’s populous slum area in Johannesburg, growing up in the shanty area with inadequate water supplies has become normal.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 October 2016

An assortment of fruits on sale at a market in Busia town, Western Kenya, near the Kenya-Uganda border. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Nutrition Insecurity Impedes Food Security in Africa

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) - Due to a rapid increase in population in African countries, boosting food production through increasing crops yields and livestock production to eliminate hunger is attracting the attention of governments.

However it is emerging that as Africa tackles food security challenges, it must also fight poor nutrition. Stakeholders in the agriculture observe that food and nutrition security issues require a multi-pronged approach that brings on board farmers, policy makers and researchers.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 October 2016

Photo: President Kenyatta signing commutations. Credit: International Scholarships.

Kenya Lifts Death Penalty for Over 2,000 Inmates

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN | GIN) – While American leaders bicker over the fate of the death penalty, with 17 inmates going to their deaths so far this year, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed commutation documents commuting all death sentences into life imprisonment.

The documents, signed this week at State House, Nairobi, affect some 2,747 death row inmates - 2,655 men and 92 women. The last commutation of death sentences was in 2009 by then President Mwai Kibaki who commuted the sentences of over 4,000 prisoners.

Invoking the Power of Mercy under the Constitution, President Kenyatta also signed pardons and released 102 long-term serving inmates.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 October 2016

Photo: International Criminal Court permanent headquarters in The Hague. Photo: ICC-CPI

Opposition Rebuffs ANC Plans to Withdraw from Global Court

NEW YORK | PRETORIA (IDN | GIN) – South Africa has taken the first steps toward withdrawing the country’s membership in The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) but it faces a tough fight from the Democratic Alliance (DA), the country’s major opposition party.

Parliamentarian James Selfe, a leading member of the DA’s legal affairs group, slammed the move which he said occurred before seeking approval from the South African parliament.

“The Democratic Alliance is disgusted at this decision. We think it sends out an entirely incorrect message around our commitment to human rights and our abhorrence of human rights abuses and of genocide…” said Selfe.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 October 2016

Vegetable garden on Albert Waweru’s farm at Kasarani on the outskirts in Nairobi. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Africa Transforming Agriculture To Combat Climate Change

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) - As Africa grapples with climate change induced extreme weather patterns mechanisms to transform agriculture and ensure food security through adoption of innovative ways are gaining prominence.

In Kenya, like most African countries, small-scale farmers who are the majority are opting for sustainable solutions. One such farmer is Albert Waweru, a retired police officer with 1.75-acre farm in Kasarani on the outskirts of Nairobi. He has 50 dairy cows that produce 290 litres of milk daily. He also rears poultry, dairy goats and has several green houses where vegetables are grown.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 October 2016

Women at work preparing the field for the next rainy season – Niger. Photo: FAO/Giulio Napolitano

FAO-NEPAD Effort to Create Jobs for African Rural Youth

ROME (IDN) - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have agreed to generate job and business opportunities for young people in rural Benin, Cameroon, Malawi, and Niger.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Assane Mayaki signed an agreement for the purpose on October 19. The project to be implemented with the help of a $4 million grant from the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund seeks to foster policy dialogue among countries, regional organizations, development and resource partners.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 20 October 2016

Photo: College of Engineering, KNUST auditorium. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Fellowships to Help Avert Brain Drain in Africa

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) - A Fellowship Program will fund 69 new projects at African universities in the coming months, bringing 52 professors and scholars from universities in the U.S. and Canada to universities in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda as visiting Fellows.

Together, the teams will develop curricula, conduct research, teach graduate students, and train and mentor students and professors in priority areas that were proposed by the African universities. The program is also accepting new applications from host universities and diaspora scholars for projects to be conducted in 2017. Deadline is December 8.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 October 2016

Photo: Solar panels outside Strathmore University Energy Research Centre. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Off-Grid Renewables to Tackle Africa's Energy Woes

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) - Nestled in the dry Kajiado County, one and half hour drive from Kenya’s capital Nairobi is the Oloishibor Community Energy Project, an oasis of light in a remote hamlet. It was started in 2009. A brainchild of a community based organisation established by the local pastoral Maasai Community.

Simon Parkesian, the Energy Project’s manager says the community had been facing a myriad of problems ranging from poor health, education to economical. The situation was compounded by lack of electricity.