Africans In China

Prime Minister Raila Odinga led one of Kenya’s largest delegations to an international conference in which an estimated Sh40 million may have been spent in a single week.

The 89-person government delegation to the fourth forum of the United Nations Habitat Conference in China included six Cabinet ministers, two assistant ministers, seven MPs and three permanent secretaries.

The conference is held every two years and seeks to analyse and provide solutions to the issue of rapid urbanisation and its impact on cities and policies.

VIP treatment

According to an official familiar with the preparations, the VIP delegates flew first class from Nairobi to Nanjing, China, and were booked into the five-star Sheraton hotel. Some of the ministers took along their bodyguards along as well as personal assistants at taxpayer expense.

Also in the delegation were 30 councillors, two town clerks and 20 technocrats led by the director of housing in the ministry of Housing.

Among the Cabinet ministers who accompanied the Prime Minister were Musalia Mudavadi (deputy prime minister and minister for Local Government), Soita Shitanda (Housing), Mutula Kilonzo (Nairobi Metropolitan Development) and James Orengo (Lands).

Others were Amos Wako (Attorney-General), Fred Gumo (Regional Development) and assistant ministers Peter Kenneth (Planning and Vision 2030) and Richard Onyonka (Foreign Affairs).

The Prime Minister is reported to have been invited by UN Habitat executive director, Mrs Anna Tibaijuka, and he was among the key speakers at the forum. Other key speakers were Bahrain’s prime minister and the vice-president of the Philippines.

The ministry of Housing had a direct interest in the conference. The Nairobi Metropolitan ministry was signing an agreement with Chinese authorities on the development of Nairobi, and the ministry of Local Government is involved in slum upgrading projects in various municipalities in the country.

The team from the ministry of Housing is said to have kept abreast of the Nanjing meetings, but it is not clear what the other delegates did.

Nor is it clear who invited the rest of the delegation. Usually, government delegates attending UN Habitat meetings are invited through the Kenya Mission to the UN headquarters in Gigiri that is headed by Ambassador Solomon Karanja and his deputy, Yvonne Khamati.

Efforts efforts to get a comment from Mr Karanja were unsuccessful, but the Sunday Nation confirmed that arrangements in China for Kenyan delegates were handled by Ms Khamati.

Tickets purchased by Kenyan taxpayers are estimated to have cost Sh15 million while accommodation for the delegation plus their upkeep allowances were in excess of Sh24 million.

Upkeep allowances

The PM, ministers, assistant ministers, MPs and permanent secretaries were booked at the Sheraton while the other members of the delegation were put up in three and four-star hotels in Nanjing.

According to Habitat officials, each delegation was to meet its own expenses, and a senior official in the ministry of Housing confirmed that each ministry was responsible for the officials who travelled to China for the conference.

The Prime Minister’s delegation alone consisted of 54 people, including the mayors of Vihiga, Kakamega, Busia, Thika, Nyeri, Kisumu and Homa Bay.
Four ministers were accompanied by their personal assistants while three ministers went with their bodyguards. The Prime Minister had two personal assistants on the trip and four press officers.

Among the permanent secretaries who made the one-week trip that started with the arrival of dignitaries in Nanjing on October 30 and ended on November 8, were Sammy Kirui (Local Government), Kosgey Tirop (Housing) and Omondi Caroli (Prime Minister’s office).

Disorganisation

An official involved in organising the China trip said the staff were overwhelmed by the unexpectedly large Kenyan delegation in Nanjing, and they were forced to make adjustments in transport and accommodation arrangements which led to chaos.

Such was the disorganisation, according to someone familiar with the trip, that an official from the Prime Minister’s office travelled all the way to Dubai only to realise that he did not have an onward ticket to Nanjing. He took a flight back to Nairobi.

Many delegates lost their luggage on arrival in China as they scrambled for the scarce transport the Kenya Habitat mission office was able to arrange.

The Sunday Nation tried to contact officials in the office of the Prime Minister, but they were not available for comment.

The Prime Minister’s permanent secretary, Dr Mohammed Isahakia, was said to be in meetings, but a secretary in his office promised to respond to our questions on Monday. The PS is the ministry’s accounting officer.

The Sunday Nation also placed calls to the office of the Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr Francis Muthaura, this week seeking an explanation, but the calls were not returned.

A civil servant who attended the conference said all the government delegates were either cleared by the office of the Prime Minister or the office of the President.
(Nation Kenya)

Seriously. We have an economy that’s crashing and a vacuum at the top. Bush — who is currently on a trip to Peru to meet with Asian leaders who no longer care what he thinks — hasn’t got the clout, or possibly even the energy, to do anything useful. His most recent contribution to resolving the fiscal crisis was lecturing representatives of the world’s most important economies on the glories of free-market capitalism.

Putting Barack Obama in charge immediately isn’t impossible. Dick Cheney, obviously, would have to quit as well as Bush. In fact, just to be on the safe side, the vice president ought to turn in his resignation first. (We’re desperate, but not crazy.) Then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would become president until Jan. 20. Obviously, she’d defer to her party’s incoming chief executive, and Barack Obama could begin governing.

As a bonus, the Pelosi presidency would put a woman in the White House this year after all. On the downside, a few right-wing talk-show hosts might succumb to apoplexy. That would, of course, be terrible, but I’m afraid we might have to take the risk in the name of a greater good.

Can I see a show of hands? How many people want George W. out and Barack in?

A great many Americans have been counting the days all year on their 2008 George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown calendars. I know a lot of this has been going on because so many people congratulated me when the Feb. 1 Bush quote turned out to be from one of my old columns. (“I think we need not only to eliminate the tollbooth from the middle class, I think we should knock down the tollbooth.”)

This was not nearly as good as Feb. 5 (“We ought to make the pie higher”) or Feb. 21 (“I understand small business growth. I was one.”) But we do what we can.

In the past, presidents have not taken well to suggestions that they hand over the reins before the last possible minute. Senator J. William Fulbright suggested a plan along those lines when Harry Truman was coming to the end of a term in a state of deep unpopularity, and Truman called him “Halfbright” for the rest of his life. Bush might not love the idea of quitting before he has a chance to light the Christmas tree or commute the execution of one last presidential turkey. After all, he still has a couple more trips planned. And last-minute regulations to issue. (So many national parks to despoil, so many endangered species to exterminate … .) And then there’s all the packing.

On the other hand, he might want to consider his legacy, such as it is.

In happier days, Bush may have nurtured hopes of making it into the list of America’s mediocre presidents, but somewhere between Iraq and Katrina, that goal became a mountain too high. However, he might still have a chance to avoid the absolute bottom of the barrel, a spot currently occupied by James Buchanan, at least in my opinion. Buchanan nailed down The Worst President title in the days between Abraham Lincoln’s election and inauguration, when the Southern states began seceding and Buchanan, after a little flailing about, did absolutely nothing. “Doing nothing is almost the worst thing a president can do,” said the historian Michael Beschloss.

If Bush gives up doing nothing by giving up his job, it’s possible that someday history might elevate him to the ranks of the below average. Better than Franklin Pierce! Smarter than Warren Harding! And healthier than William Henry Harrison!

The person who would like this plan least probably would be Barack Obama. Who would want to be saddled with the auto industry’s problems ahead of schedule? The heads of America’s great carmaking corporations are so dim that they couldn’t even survive hearings run by members of Congress who actually wanted to help them. Really, when somebody asks you exactly how much money you need, the answer should not be something along the line of “a whole bunch.”

An instantaneous takeover would also ruin the Obama team’s plan to have the tidiest, best-organized presidential transition in history. Cutting it short and leaping into governing would turn their measured march toward power into a mad scramble. A lot of their Cabinet picks are still working on those 62-page questionnaires.

But while there’s been no drama with Obama, we’ve been living a Technicolor version of “The Perils of Pauline.” Detroit is tied to the railroad tracks and the train is coming! California’s state government is falling into the sea! The way we’re going now, by the time the inauguration rolls around, unemployment will be at 10 percent and the Dow will be at 10.

Time for a change.

(nytimes)

The Standard Bank of South Africa reports that it has seen an upsurge in demand for trade facilitation services from its customers who do business with Chinese firms in the last two months.

The increased interest, the bank says, has been spurred by last month’s purchase of a 20 per cent stake in the continent’s biggest lender by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

The Standard Bank director and global head for structured trade finance, Mr Craig Polkinghorne, told Business Daily last week that the bank has recorded a rise demand for trade finance and letters of credit from old and new clients who have business links with China.

“We have since increased demand for trade facilitation for our customers all over Africa and even had enquiries from as far off as Brazil since our partnership with ICBC Bank was announced,” said Mr Polkinghorne.

(bdAfrica)

Ethiopia is attracting growing amounts of Chinese investment, which could see it play a bigger role in regional and international trade.

A Chinese company has started building Ethiopia’s first industrial trade zone, aiming to bring around 80 companies to the park. They will include electronic goods companies, machinery and building material makers and textile and apparel producers.

The China-Africa Development Fund has also agreed to invest in a cement plant in Ethiopia, the fund’s second project there. The US$60 million plant has a targeted output of 500,000 tons per year, surpassing domestic demand. It is expected to export to the East African region.

Ethiopia is enthusiastically courting Chinese investors. Ethiopia is attractive to Chinese companies because of its low labour costs and perceived stability.

(bdafrica)

Africans rejoiced at the victory of Obama. I was one of them. After a wide-awake night, in the unreality of dawn’s light, my tears ran as he gave his victory speech. At that point, I was also a winner. The same happiness that ran through me when Nelson Mandela was released and the new South African statesman consolidated the path for the dignity of Africa.

On the night of November 5, the new North American president was not only a man talking. He was the reborn voice of suppressed hope rising, free, within us. My heart had voted, even without permission: used to expecting little, I celebrated a victory without dimensions. Going out on the street, I found that my city had moved to Chicago, blacks and whites breathing and sharing the same happy surprise. Because the victory of Obama was not one race over another: without the mass participation of Americans of all races (including the white majority) the United States of America would not have given us reason to celebrate.

In the following days, I was taking in the euphoric reaction from the nost diverse corners of our continent. Anonymous people, ordinary people wanted to witness to their happiness. At the same time I was taking notes, with some reservations, of the messages of solidarity from African leaders. Almost all called Obama “our brother”. And I thought: are all these leaders being sincere? Is Barack Obama actually related to so many people so politically different? I have doubts. In the rush to see only the prejudices of others, we are not able to see our own racism and xenophobia. In haste to condemn the West, we forget to accept lessons arriving for us from the other side of the world.

It was then that I saw a text by a Cameroonian writer, Patrice Nganang, entitled: “And if Obama were Cameroonian?”. The issues that my colleague of Cameroon raised prompted several questions, all tied to the following hypothesis: and if Obama were African and running for the presidency in an African country? These are the questions I would like to explore in this text.

And if Obama were an African and an candidate for the presidency of an African country?

1. If Obama were African, his opponent (any of Africa’s George Bushes) would find a way to change the constitution to prolong his mandate beyond the expected term. And our Obama would have to wait a couple more years to run again. The wait could be long, if we take into account the permanence of a single president in power in Africa. Some 41 years in Gabon, 39 in Libya, 28 in Zimbabwe, 28 in Equatorial Guinea, 28 in Angola, 27 in Egypt, 26 in Cameroon. And so on, running through as many as 15 presidents on the continent in office for more than 20 consecutive years. Mugabe will celebrate his 90th birthday when the latest mandate which he imposed in defiance of the popular verdict runs out.
2. If Obama were African, it is probable that, being a candidate of the opposition party, he would have the opportunity to campaign. They would threat him, for example, as in Zimbabwe or in Cameroon: he would be physically attacked, arrested again and again, have his passport withdrawn. The Bushs of Africa do not tolerate opponents, do not tolerate democracy.
3. If Obama were African, he wouldn’t even be eligible in many countries because the elites in power invented restrictive laws that close the doors of the presidency to children of foreigners and descendants of immigrants. The Zambian nationalist Kenneth Kaunda is being questioned, in his own country, as a son of Malawians. They conveniently “discovered” that the man who led Zambia to independence and ruled for more than 25 years was, after all, a Malawian, and therefore had governed “illegally” for all this time. Arrested for alleged coup intentions, our Kenneth Kaunda (who gave his name to one of the most prominent avenues of Maputo) was banned from engaging in politics, thus freeing the regime of an opponent.
4. Let us be clear: Obama is black in the United States. In Africa he is mulatto. If Obama were African, he would see his race used against him. Not that skin color is really important for people who want to see leaders that are competent and and work seriously. But the predatory elites would campaign against someone who they would designate as “not an authentic African.”. The same black brother who is hailed today as the new American president would be humiliated at home as being representative of “the others”, those of another race, another flag (or perhaps no flag at all)..
5. If he were African, our “brother” would have to give an account to moralists when he thought of including thanks in his speech for support from gays. A mortal sin for advocates of the so-called “pure African.” For these moralists - so often in power, or with the powerful - homosexuality is an unacceptable defect that is external to Africa and to Africans.
6. If he should win an election, Obama would probably have to sit at the negotiation table and share power with the loser, in a degrading negotiating process that in some African countries allows the loser to renegotiate that which seems sacred - the will of the people expressed in the votes. At this point, Barack Obama would be sitting at a table with a Bush in endless rounds negotiating with African mediators who would tell us to be content with crumbs from those electoral processes that do not satisfy the dictators.

Inconclusive findings

Make no mistake: there are exceptions to this general picture. We all know the exceptions we are talking about, and we Mozambicans ourselves, we were able to make one from such conditions.

And equally make no mistake: all these obstacles to an African Obama would not be imposed by the people, but by the power holders, by elites that unscrupulously make governing a source of enrichment.

The truth is that Obama is not African. The truth is that Africans - ordinary people and anonymous workers - celebrated with all their heart the American victory of Obama. But I do not believe that dictators and corrupt African leaders have the right to be invited to this party.

Because the joy that millions of Africans felt on November 5 came because they invested in Obama exactly the opposite of what the know from their experience with their own leaders. As much as it hurts us to admit it, only a minority of African states know or knew leaders preoccupied with the public good.

On the same day that Obama was confirmed the winner, the international media was filled with terrible news about Africa. On the same day the victory of most Americans, Africa was still being defeated by war, mismanagement, the excessive ambition of greedy politicians. After they killed democracy, these politicians are killing politics itself. What is left is war in some cases. Iun others, withdrawal and cynicism.

There is only one real way of celebrating Obama in African countries: it is to struggle so that more flags of hope may rise here in our continent. It is to struggle so that the African Obamas can also overcome. And for us, Africans of all races and ethnicities, to claim victory with these Obamas and celebrate in our own house that which we now celebrate for a house across the ocean.

(africafocus)

It appears that the Chinese car makers SAIC and Dongfeng have plans to acquire the Big 3:
A take-over of a large overseas auto maker would fit perfectly into China’s plans. As reported before, China has realized that its export chances are slim without unfettered access to foreign technology. The brand cachet of Chinese cars abroad is, shall we say, challenged. The Chinese could easily export Made-in-China VWs, Toyotas, Buicks. If their joint venture partner would let them. The solution: Buy the joint venture partner. Especially, when he’s in deep trouble.

At current market valuations (GM is worth less than Mattel) the Chinese government can afford to buy GM with petty cash. Even a hundred billion $ would barely dent China’s more than $2t in currency reserves. For nobody in the world would buying GM and (while they are at it) Chrysler make more sense than for the Chinese. Overlap? What overlap? They would gain instant access to the world’s markets with accepted brands, and proven technology.

All the Shock Doctrine fanatics cheering to drive the the Big 3 into bankruptcy “restructuring” (like Mitt Romney, who can kiss future hopes of electoral victory in Michigan goodbye) might want to think about the implications of this.

Of course the same legislators clamouring for bankruptcy could block the sale. (This assumes they have the fortitude to stare down the Chinese, who currently hold a whopping portion of US debt, and deny them something they really want). But in doing so, and at the same time refusing a bridge loan to the automakers, they are basically legislating the destruction of the Big 3. They will be forcing them to stiff all their creditors and stockholders and tear up their union contracts by refusing to let the “free market” they love to bang on about step in and assume the company’s legitimate debts. Or were all those insufferable lectures about “personal responsibility” when the bankruptcy bill was going through just so much claptrap?

Because selling the company would be far preferable to the Big 3 and those who are dependent on them than Chapter 7. But long-term it would not be without peril for the US. As one FDL commener noted:

With no big three making cars what to stop Toyota and Honda from moving the plants to Mexico where costs are really low. Its only the threat of being shut out of the American market that keeps the Japanese building cars here. If we no longer have cars made in America by American companies we will have no choice but to buy their cars no matter where they are made.

I know long-term thinking isn’t his forte. But as Richard Shelby is salivating at the prospect of yet another BMW SUV plant in his right-to-work state, it might be something for him to consider.
(huffingtonpost)

Lesley Stones
Johannesburg

MTN has sent a team of engineers to China to assess cellphone handsets that can retail for about $10, which it believes is crucial if cellular services are to spread throughout Africa.

Cellphone penetration was highly dependent on cheaper equipment as well as cheaper call fees, and the reliability of the Chinese handsets was no different from the more expensive brand name models, MTN regional vice-president Tim Lowry told the AfricaCom conference in Cape Town this week.

“In markets such as Uganda and Zambia we are able to sell five to six thousand of these phones per week,” he said.

Lowry also wants to source flashier multimedia handsets for about $40 each, and said the first manufacturer to achieve that target would be the winner in Africa.

Telecoms research house Informa predicts that 485-million Africans will be cellphone subscribers by 2013, yet that will still be a penetration rate of only about 38%. Today, many countries have a penetration rate of only about 18%.

Informa’s prediction may prove too modest if operators can slash the cost of their services, the speakers at AfricaCom believe.

Technology developer Qualcomm is using its office in Johannesburg to serve an increasing number of countries in Africa and agrees that low prices are essential for spreading communications across the continent. Qualcomm’s wireless technologies transmit high-speed data and video traffic, and demand for those services is finally beginning to grow, despite about 70% of Africans still not having access to basic voice calls.

Vice-president Jing Wang said there were tremendous growth opportunities in Africa because of the dearth of fixed-line telephony, and because wireless systems were far cheaper to deploy. “We are treating Africa as a high priority.”

Qualcomm licenses its technologies for network infrastructure and handset chip sets to equipment manufacturers such as Ericsson and Alcatel, which sell to operators including MTN, Vodacom and Neotel.

James Munn, vice-president of business development for southern Africa, is now targeting Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania and also plans to tackle Ethiopia, where only 9-million of its 90-million population have access to cellular services.

Wang said: “We are going to become a more active player in this continent and add resources in the region to work more with the regulators and operators to enable them to provide consumers with better services that are better quality and more affordable.”

He said it was not unrealistic to want to take high-speed data services to rural areas not yet enjoying voice coverage, since the two went hand in hand if the right technologies were used.

“Wireless broadband connectivity is very important for Africa and it’s the most economical and quickest way to bridge the gap,” Wang said.

“We need to work with the vendors to reduce the costs of the infrastructure and handsets so consumers in developing markets can afford these devices and services.”

Michael Joseph, CEO of Kenya’s Safaricom, said: “African operators have to be more innovative and look at data as a way to pump up their revenues.
“We also need to decrease costs, and sharing our infrastructure is one way we will probably all go in the end.”
(allafrica)

written by Liz Dwyer, Anti-Racist Parent columnist

My seven year-old son is very tall for his age. He’s been in the 90th percentile for height his whole life. He’s also African-American. It seems like in our country, Black + Tall + Male = having to constantly hear, “You better put him in basketball! He could be the next Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.”

Yes, if you’re a tall, African-American boy, you are destined to be a basketball player.

Never mind that he’d rather spend his time at a science center, and never mind that if you ask him what sport he really wants to play, he’ll tell you football because his grandpa works at Notre Dame.

Even though he could have begun playing in our local sports leagues when he was five, I was reluctant to register him because I didn’t want to feed into the stereotype that the only thing of value in an African-American boy is athletic ability. But, when he turned six he begged to play soccer. I felt a little like I was putting my own baggage about sports and black males onto him, so I signed him up.

No one assumed that he knew how to play at all, and the coaches emphasized that the goal was exposure to the sport. However, I noticed that the performance expectations seemed to be much higher for the Latino boys on his team than it was for him. One Latina mother explained to me that it was because soccer is so much more popular in Latin America. She claimed that Latino fathers give their children soccer balls before they can walk. Clearly, this seemed like questionable stereotyping to me, but I found the sentiment echoed quite frequently by other parents.

When the soccer season came to a close, it only seemed natural to move my son on to the next sport, basketball. He was assigned to a team and it quickly became clear that he was the tallest kid on it. He was also the only black child in the entire division. I can’t begin to tell you how excited his coach was. “Come on over here! You’re going to be our rock star.”

I was immediately irritated. I found myself sitting in the bleachers, watching the first practice and thinking, “That coach only said my son’s a rock star because he thinks that since my boy’s black, he knows how to play.” The truth of the matter was that up till then, my son had only played basketball a couple of times. My husband never played competitive sports so it doesn’t come natural to him to toss a basketball or football around every day. I was a cheerleader, not a basketball player, and quite frankly, his learning to read above grade level has been our top priority, not sports.

The very first game of the season, my son scored three baskets and led his team to victory. Afterwards, the coach gushed about my son, saying, “He’s really got some natural talent there.”

I wanted to ask, “What do you mean ‘natural talent’?” but before I knew it, the coach was talking to another parent.

Even though it feels like black folks are always treated like they’re naturals at sports, dancing, singing, joke-telling and hip-hop, I again asked myself if I was reading too much into such a comment. Was this coach just being complimentary or did he assume that blackness = basketball like everybody else?

As the weeks passed, it became clear that my son was not the best shooter on the team. Making three baskets in the first game was a bit of beginner’s luck. But, one of his Latino teammates managed to hit 80% of his baskets. Instead, because of his height, my son became the king of rebounds. Needless to say, they won every game and my son genuinely enjoyed playing on the team.

This year we were out of town and so we missed soccer registration, but back at the beginning of August, the guy working in the recreation center office made sure to mention that basketball registration would be happening in November.

Again, I found myself wondering, am I only being told this because the guy behind the desk figures a black kid will like basketball more, or does he genuinely not want my son to miss out?

It made me realize that this is one of the most insidious things about racism: It takes a psychological toll on you since you constantly have to turn this stuff over in your head. The vigilance it requires to be sure my son is not being treated in a prejudicial manner gets exhausting. I don’t like having to wonder whether something I’m told or the way my boy is treated is a symptom of either conscious or subconscious racism.

Come to think of it, one of the reasons I like my son’s pediatrician so much is that after checking my son’s vision, the doctor said to him that he has such perfect eyesight that he could be an airline pilot. The doctor never says, “Wow, you’re tall! You should be a ball player!” I wish no one else did either.

Liz Dwyer lives in Los Angeles with her husband of eight years, Elarryo Bolden and her two sons, ages six and three. Her great sense of adventure and desire to learn about diverse cultures took her to Guangzhou, China where she taught English to third and fourth graders, picked up some Mandarin, and managed to get into seven bike accidents. Liz taught in Compton, CA for three years and later worked for national education non-profit Teach For America. Liz has written and reflected on the world around her for the past three years at Los Angelista’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness. She’s currently freelance writing and working on her first novel.

Image courtesy of Balakov on Flickr
(antiracistparent)

The management of NigComSat Limited has appealed to the House of Representatives Commi-ttee on Science and Technology to prevail on the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to approve the utilisation of $500 million (N59 billion) concessionary loan for the construction of NigComSat 2 and 3 advanced series.
The loan, according to the firm, would come from the China Exim Bank.
The appeal follows the final confirmation of the loss of the N40 billion NigComSat-1, as exclusively reported by THISDAY last week.
The two proposed facilities will serve as back-ups to the construction of a NigComSat-1R meant to replace the lost satellite.
Managing Director of the firm, Professor Ahmed Rufai, disclosed this yesterday while briefing members of the House Committee.
Rufai, who said NigComSat-1 had become “irreparably damaged” and therefore flown out of orbit, added that given the importance of the facility, there was need for its urgent replacement and the construction of back-ups.
He also urged the House to assist the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and NigComSat Limited in convincing FEC to approve the bulk purchase of bandwidth under a Back-Up Services Agreement with an alternative satellite operator who has a satellite as powerful as the collapsed NigComSat-1.
Rufai proposed that in the alternative, the Nigerian government could open discussions with the Chinese government and the satellite manufacturer, the Chinese Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGW-IC), on the reassignment of an emergency satellite with technical specifications similar to NigComSat -1 either in orbit or in advanced stage of manufacture.
According to him, NigComSat remains optimistic on the future and potential of the project despite the temporary setback being experienced in the implementation of the nation’s satellite project.
He said the current experience of the loss of the satellite was neither uncommon nor bizarre in the industry, adding that on the same day NigComSat-1 crashed, a private satellite operator recorded six failures on six satellites.
He debunked claims that the facility failed because of the use of inferior components and the speed at which it was installed during the twilight days of the Obasanjo regime.
The NigComSat boss also allayed fears on the status of the facility in terms of insurance, stressing that NigComSat-1 was fully insured to the tune of 112 million euros by renowned international underwriters with proven integrity and in accordance with industry standards.
Giving some details on the failed satellite, Rufai said the problem was caused by what he described as “solar flare”, an accidental occurrence which cut of the fuel supply linkage with the solar panels and the battery.
“The first incident occurred on April 17th, 2008 when half of the power was lost from the South Solar Array due to a single event offset leaving the North Solar Array as the only source of power,” he told the committee.
“Unfortunately, a similar incident occurred on the Northern Solar Panel Array on the 9th November, 2008 at about 10:34pm Nigerian time during a non-eclipse position. The batteries are only supposed to discharge during eclipse and recharged when in non-eclipse position, while the solar array acts as the source of power to the satellite. This anomally was noticed by NigComSat Ltd engineers on night duty and reported to the satellite manufacturer, China Great Wall Industry Corporation.
“Both teams worked tirelessly for over 24 hours to perform rescue operation on the satellite. Regretfully, all efforts to recover power supply to the power panel failed. The satellite was consequently de-orbited to avoid total loss of power and control which would result in damages to other satellites in orbit or even aircraft in flights. The satellite has now been manoeuvred to the parking orbit and cannot be recovered for use again.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Science and Technology Chief Grace Ekpiwhre, has held a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry to chart a way forward.
In attendance at the crucial meeting were Rufai and the DG of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Prof Robert Boroficce.
Also at the meeting were chief executives of technical departments of the Ministry, including the Minister of State, Dr.Alhassan Bako Zaku, and the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Raymond Ezenwa.
The meeting which lasted over three hours received detailed briefing from chief executives of the corporate agencies concerned – NigComSat and NASRDA.
Officials of CGWIC are expected to arrive the country soon to meet with Nigeria officials to work out both technical and political solution and also get another mission ongoing.
(thisdayonline)

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. The bartender says “You’re all idiots”, and pours two beers.

China’s Shenzhen Energy Group plans to build a 3,000 megawatts (MW) power plant in a joint venture with Nigeria’s First Bank FBNP.LG at an estimated cost of $2.4 billion, the financial institution said on Friday.

Shenzhen signed a preliminary agreement last month with First Bank as project financiers and advisers for the gas-powered plant, Nigeria’s most profitable bank said.

The Chinese firm had already applied for a licence from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the bank said in a statement, without giving a timeframe for completion.

When finished, the plant should significantly improve Nigeria’s generation capacity and help provide relief to the country’s power crisis, considered one of the main brakes on economic development in Africa’s top oil producer.

Nigeria, the world’s eighth biggest oil exporter, has the capacity for around 3,500 MW, but power generation often plunges below 1,000 MW, largely due to poor maintenance of its aged power stations, corruption and mismanagement.

The problems have become so severe that much of Africa’s most populous nation goes without mains electricity for weeks, throwing those without private generators into darkness and heightening frustration among its 140 million people.

President Umaru Yar’Adua, who took office in May 2007, has promised repeatedly to declare a state of emergency over the crisis. As yet, no such emergency has been declared.

The federal government has said it will spend $5.37 billion of its windfall oil savings to develop the dilapidated power sector over the next few years. Approval to spend was given last month by the 36 state governments, joint owners of the account.

Yar’Adua’s predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, set a series of targets for increased power generation and said his government invested billions of dollars, but there was no tangible improvement.

Efforts to revamp the sector over the years through the promotion of independent power plants have attracted little foreign interest, with potential investors saying the government has not completed its deregulation started in 2005 with the setting up of the NERC.

Prospective investors also said the sector was poorly run and that low tariffs made their investments unviable. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ ) (Editing by Nick Tattersall)

THE Chinese Embassy in Lagos has decried the volume of fake documents usually submitted to it by prospective visa applicants in Nigeria.
Its Consul-General in Lagos, Mr Guo Kun, said yesterday in Lagos that the development was responsible for the delays usually associated with visa processing at the embassy. “The Visa Section personnel expend much time in the verification of documents because of the high spate of fake documents.

“Some applicants, especially businessmen, go the extra mile to forge business letters purportedly inviting them for business in China.

“This delays the process and makes it even tedious for the few hands we have in that section,’’ he explained.

Kun added that the section remained under-staffed because the Foreign Office in Beijing had yet to send more personnel.

Only on Wednesday, the police nabbed some suspects at Murtala Muhammed International Airport for forging Irish visas. Two ladies who purportedly bought the visas were also arrested.

Meanwhile, officials of the Chinese Embassy said they had yet to be briefed on the proposed visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama to Nigeria. The Tibetan leader is expected to present a paper at the annual Anyiam Osigwe Lecture in Lagos later this month.

Kun explained that he would, however, meet with organisers of the lecture before making further comments.

The Chinese authorities do not recognise the authority of the Dalai Lama, who they alleged is encouraging the people of Tibet in South-West China to secede from the Republic. He has lived in exile in India since 1959.

(my-nigeria)

BY INVESTIGATIVE WRITER.

The ministry of immigration is once again on the spotlight over how senior officers at its Nyayo house offices in Nairobi handled a controversial deportation saga involving three Chinese nationals who were found to be in the country illegally and ordered back to their country 3 months ago.

The 3 Chinese ,according to documents availed to us by our sources were ordered to leave the country immediately in August this year by a Kisumu court after they were found to have violated various immigration rules and regulations regarding aliens.

According to our sources the court issued the deportation orders after the immigration officers responsible for handling prosecution matters in the department successfully provided evidence in court against the Chinese prompting the magistrate to pass a verdict.

The trio had faced various charges ranging from being in Kenya illegally to engaging in employment without obtaining a work permit and failure to register as aliens all of which were considered as violations of the Country’s immigration laws .

They are understood to have pleaded guilty to all the charges brought against them in court and the trial magistrate ordered them to be deported immediately back to China.

According to the documents in our possession,the court also ordered them to pay shs. 10,000 each or go to prison for a period of six months for each of the three counts they faced.

However they opted to pay the fines and were handed back to the immigration officers in Kisumu who were to facilitate the deportation arrangements in coordination with their Nairobi office.

But in what appears to be a high level corruption syndicate some unscrupulous immigration officers based in Nyayo house,the ministry’s headquarters allowed the deportees to slip away in their hands.

Three months down the line the court’s directive to the ministry to have the Chinese deported is yet to be effected and nobody is explaining why it was defied.

Revelation that might shock even the magistrate who gave the orders is the fact that the Chinese found their way back to Nakuru where they continue with their daily activities without any hitch or fear of being arrested.

This is the town where only three months ago they had been nabbed by the immigration officers from Kisumu who took them to court but whom they no longer have the need to hide
from any more.

Nakuru town is under the jurisdiction of the western Kenya region immigration office whose principal immigration officer sits in Kisumu.

Kisumu’s immigration office whose officers effected the arrests that saw the chinese arraigned in court are now a dejected and a frustrated lot.

After several weeks of investigations they pounced on some three Chinese nationals whom they had enough grounds to suspect had been flouting the rules of the land being foreigners and they chose to act.

But the manner in which the immigration office in Nairobi handled the deportation case against the Chinese has left a bitter rivalry between its officers who were involved in the case in Kisumu.

While the officers in Kisumu immigration office want the court order obeyed and the Chinese thrown out of the country, those in the Nyayo house office want the issue abandoned and forgotten.

The matter has left a division amongst the officers who now feels they are not being appreciated for implementing the law by colleagues whose sole aim is to make a kill out of
foreigners who brake the law but get away with it after parting with bribes.

In an interview with this journalist an officer who wished not to be named said they want the minister to per-sue the case.He said this was not the first case where they are ignored by their superiors in Nairobi.

He said the Kisumu office risk becoming irrelevant because it was not allowed to perform its mandates effectively as demanded.

”We did our best according to what is required of us and we want the court order obeyed.we have realised that some officers in our Nairobi office are interested in defying the order and we suspect money exchanged hands otherwise why would they fail to act as directed by the court.” posed an officer in a Kisumu office.

Another officer at the office also informed this writer that they did what was required of them but now little can be expected from them because they are not allowed to follow up matters once it is forwarded to headquarters for action.

”We even have been warned by our seniors in Nyayo house to forget about this matter and not talk about it.”he said.

The officer confirmed that he was involved fully in making arrangements to ferry the Chinese from Kisumu to Nairobi so that ministry headquarters could facilitate how the deportees were to eventually exit the country.

”I personally gave out night out to our officers who were detailed to escort these people to Nairobi and did confirm also that they took the Chinese up-to our offices at Nyayo house so it was not the mistake of this office that the Chinese are still around.” he said.

The Chinese whose details including passport numbers we have obtained, first came to Kenya as tourists but soon began working for a Chinese investor whose firm is engaged in sale of motorcycles,fittings, maintenance services and sale of accessories.

The company which has also employed a few Kenyans is situated in Nakuru along the busy Kenyatta avenue.

When we visited the company recently to investigate the authenticity of the facts we had about the presence of the Chinese we found them working without fear of being apprehended.

Our probe reveals that one of the Chinese who were ordered to leave the country by the courts is now heading a branch newly opened by his employer in Eldoret town along the Uganda road.

Our crew posed as clients who wanted to buy a motorcycle and pretended to even know one of the Chinese whose name had been picked from the court documents.

He emerged from his office after the Kenyan staff working as a salesman told him that he had friends who wished to be served personally by him.Little did he realise that the scheme was intended to smoke him out.

The three according to our source at the firm have been working as supervisors and middle level managers even though they don’t possess any special skill to work in the country
since what they do can also be done by locals.

Kenya, just like any other country has its strict rules and regulations governing employment when it comes foreigners.Those who want to work must only be expatriates whose skills may not be sourced locally or where locals who posses the skills are inadequate .

Allowing foreigners to take up jobs which can be done by locals has been condemned by leaders who feel the government is not doing enough to ensure the Kenyan jobless are not
subjected to unfair competition by these people.

When we reached the immigration minister Otieno Kajwan’g said the issue was never brought to his attention by the officers who handled it.

He however promised that action will be taken against officers from the ministry who flouted the law.

” We are definitely going to investigate the matter seriously because we don’t want to encourage corruption in this ministry and any officer who was compromised will answer for his mistakes accordingly” said the minister.

(majimbokenya)

Alfred Ngotezi,

One Netanyahu, the famous Israel officer who led the successful raid at the Entebbe Airport to free captured Jews in 1976 left behind an impressive tale. It is said that he was such a terrifying fighter that to kill him, Idd Amin’s soldiers had to shoot him from behind. That is exactly what Germany’s recent abduction of Rwanda’s Director of Protocol, Rose Kabuye, boils down to.

It is a test of wits not only against Rwanda but also against all Africans, not least because the African Union had earlier on rejected Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere’s November 2006 indictments against Rwanda’s leaders. Kabuye’s arrest came under a controversial French universal jurisdiction clause, the equivalent of the US’s interventionist law that for more than twenty years has held behind the bars Panama’s former President Manuel Noriega.

Of course this is nothing but jungle justice, which must be fought by all civilized humanity. I have argued before that such unwarranted actions against African leaders are a clear testimony of disunity among them. One would have expected that after the AU’s strong statement at Sharm el Sheik, against wild indictments and especially the noise against Rwanda’s leadership, Africa would fiercely fight against attempts to execute Judge Bruguiere’s claims.

After all, Kabuye’s charges cannot be proved in a French court because prosecutors will need to do more investigations in the locus of the 1994 genocide that is Rwanda, as well as bring witnesses. But the country is a no go-area for them now. Surprisingly, the East African Community and the AU, to which Rwanda is affiliated, have not strongly condemned or taken visible measures against Rose’s kidnappers.

On the one hand this could be construed as a muted support for Germany’s bullish act, while on the other it could simply disclose the continent’s total impotence at world politics. How many times must we invoke Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s past deeds to guide our political path? We should learn from Mwalimu’s maximum exploitation of his membership, first to the threesome Mulungushi Club and then to the Frontline States, of how weak Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and later Mozambique clobbered colonialism and racism in southern Africa.

It was a gigantic piece of work that could not have been accomplished by a single country, however powerful. Mwalimu and company’s blitzing diplomatic onslaught pushed forward Africa’s interests by bringing down entrenched colonialists and rabid racists in Portugal, apartheid South Africa, former Rhodesia, Mozambique and elsewhere. That is exactly what this continent needs today, not passive leaders who bask in the molestation of their own colleagues, thinking they are safe.

Unfortunately, the West, as it were, cannot guarantee the safety of our leaders for long. They can only do it as long as we defend their interests, but as soon as they feel we are useless they will come after our neck. Didn’t they do that with former Zaire strongman Mobutu Sese Seko and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein? That should explain Rwanda’s present ordeal apparently because of her unfinished business with France.

In the last few days, for example, the Central African country ditched the French language, putting the last nail in the coffin of their relations with her former colonial masters. Weak Africa should stop behaving like a monkey who saw his burning bush and broke down laughing, forgetting that he had become homeless. Today they indict al Bashir and Rwanda’s leadership; tomorrow it could be our turn.

If some of us think Africa’s interests are secondary, they should see why the US has so far refused to ratify her membership to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Because they know their past war-monger leaders could face the music in The Hague. Yet, as earlier suggested, this is not an effort to exonerate the leadership in Kigali. Far from it, I believe there are problems in Rwanda, like elsewhere, but certainly it is neither for the Bruguieres nor the Fuhrer’s descendants to dictate how to sort them out.

Africans have the capacity to put their house in order. It recently happened in Kenya, Burundi, and the Comoros and seems to be succeeding in Zimbabwe, why not in Rwanda and elsewhere? I know someone will picket me for mentioning Africa’s seemingly failure in Zimbabwe.

Doubtlessly, our leaders owe us a reason for protecting President Robert Mugabe’s intransigence. But again we don’t need the Bruguieres or Adolf Hitler’s offspring to sort it out because the SADC and the AU and even the international community, for that matter, have the diplomatic and military muscle to untangle the situation there.

Clearly though, we are not against the person of Judge Bruguiere or the ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. To the contrary, we are opposed to setting a dangerous precedent that could allow foreigners to abduct our leaders at will. In this case, therefore, African leaders should do a stitch in time to save nine.

(habarileo)

The construction of an eight-lane highway on Thika Road begins on Monday. This follows the Government’s signing of a Sh27 billion contract with three Chinese road construction firms.

Acting Roads Minister Chris Obure, yesterday said the construction of the first modern highway in East and Central Africa will take 30 months to complete.

Obure said the 50.4km highway expansion project would open a new chapter in the construction of roads.

Chinese firms, China Wu Yi Company, Synohydro Corporation Ltd and Shengli Engineering Construction, have been contracted for the project.

“Thika highway has been made possible today, with the support of African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Kenya, we envisage the completion of a model road in the region in 30 months,” Obure said.

He said the highway will have all the T-junctions done away with, and extra features such as flyovers, underpasses, interchanges, pedestrian grade separators, cross drainage system and modern street lighting to Thika town, introduced.

It will also have a well-lit underpass and a flyover between Uhuru Highway and Muthaiga, and Kenyatta University.

The highway starts at Globe Cinema roundabout. Highway designers have proposed the construction of four major interchanges between Globe Cinema and Ruiru and three underpasses between Globe Cinema and Kasarani.

The interchanges will replace the roundabouts, blamed for unwinding traffic jams.

Incidents of pedestrians being knocked by speeding vehicles have also been addressed. Pedestrian separators will be built along the highway.

Parking Yards

The minister also said his ministry would work with that of the Nairobi Metropolitan Development to re-plan roads in the city to ensure parking yards are outside the central business district.

Obure also cautioned the three contractors, saying the Government would not tolerate unnecessary delays.

He said plans to expand major roads across the country were underway and warned wananchi against building on the road reserves.

He said the Government was also planning a major expansion of the Outering Road, which connects Mombasa Road and Uhuru Highway to Thika Road.

Kangundo Road, Bomas–Ongata Rongai, Langata, Jogoo, Juja, Kiambu, Limuru, Waiyaki Way and Mbagathi/Valley roads are among those whose expansion programmes the minister said donors have agreed to fund.

Obure said studies are being conducted on a proposal to introduce a Light Rail transport and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) within Nairobi to decongest the city.

“There is a study going on under the Nairobi-Thika highway improvement project to look into how we can make this a reality, I want Kenyans to know we are not just talking, we are going to make it happen,” he said.

He said once the proposed city by-passes covering 110km are built, access to the city centre would be easier and wastages resulting from congestion minimised.

Funds for the construction of the Northern, Eastern and Southern by-passes have been set aside.

He said the European Community and the African Development Bank are among the main donors.

“I hate seeing damages associated with demolitions when we are preparing to start a road project, but I want Kenyans to know roads cannot be built on air, we shall demolish encroaching structures because we want to build roads,” Obure said.

Agencies

The Government has now put more emphasis on road constructions and three state agencies have been created to handle the planning and building of various roads.

Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) will now take charge of various clusters of roads after they were created a few months ago.

On Thursday, the Government appointed Meshack Otieno, Joseph ole Nkadayo and Mwangi Maingi as Director Generals of the road authorities.

(eastandard)

A major boost was given to Nigeria’s quest for foreign investment inflow at the weekend as the country was named the least vulnerable economy in the world, according to a report, Global Economics, compiled by a team of experts from Merrill Lynch.
Merrill Lynch is one of the world’s leading financial management and advisory companies, providing financial advice and investment banking services.
The report, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY at the weekend, was compiled following several data requests from clients of the investment bank for key risk indicators for all major economies including Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
According to the statistics, the world’s 10 least vulnerable economies are Nigeria, Mexico, Phili-ppines, Colombia, Egypt, Oman, Indonesia, Peru, China and Russia.
Also, the report identified Australia, Switzerland, Korea, Romania, Hungary, Sweden, Bulgaria, Euro area, United Kingdom and the United States of America as the highest risk economies in the world.
The risk ranking was based on seven indicators and they are - current account financing gap, foreign exchange reser-ves/short-term external debt ratio, private credit-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, and private credit growth, loans to deposits and banks capital-to-assets ratio. Merrill Lynch said the report also addressed all the requests in 62 indicators of the 60 world economies.
According to the report, Nigeria, with a population of 141.41million, was able to record a 7.3 per cent growth in GDP, with its Consumer Price Index hovering at 11.5 per cent, its current account balance, fiscal balance and public debt at 6 per cent, 6.3 and 10.4 percentage respectively.
To determine its external vulnerability, Nigeria’s external debt position was put at 12.9 per cent of the GDP, while external debt /exports ratio was put at 9 per cent. Her forex reserves totalled $60.8billion.
The percentage of Nigeria’s total external debt in relation to the GDP was put at two per cent, total foreign claims is $15.3billion while international claims stood at $13.1billion.
The report stated that the percentage of Current Account Balance plus net Foreign Direct Investment of the Nigerian GDP was 34, Forex reserves/short-term external debt totalled 41, while percentage of export of the GDP was 38 point.
The percentage of private credit of GDP was 43, while the percentage of bank capital to assets, according to Merrill Lynch was 41.
The 10 most vulnerable countries, which are mostly European countries, were said to have exhibited worse balance of payments positions, stretched external debt service ratios and overleveraged financial systems.
“Many of the economies that top our risk ranking have been identified by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) as those that have experienced capital flow bonanzas in the past five years and hence exhibit higher likelihood of economic crisis,” the report explained.
Explaining further on how it put the report together, Merrill Lynch states that: “While we believe that our country risk ranking produces plausible results, one needs to be aware that, as any ranking of that type, it is highly sensitive to the selection of indicators employed. For example, developed countries can probably sustain higher external vulnerability indicators than emerging markets; some Euro area country statistics are possibly misleading given there is a monetary union.”
In their reactions, the leadership of the Nigerian organised private sector said the various investment-friendly programmes put in place especially in the past five years largely gave Nigeria a pride of place in the ranking.
Immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Dr. Mansur Ahmed said the latest ranking has confirmed that Nigeria is indeed an investors-haven. The feat, he said, should be traced to a regime of consistent and sustained improvement in the nation’s fiscal management.
Speaking with THISDAY in a telephone interview yesterday, Ahmed acknowledged that Nigeria has been able to maintain a healthy foreign exchange management, low budget deficit and heavily low external indebtedness, which he said have combined to grossly reduce the nation’s level of risk. He said those indices have also endeared the nation’s economy to foreign investors.
However, the incumbent DG of NESG, Mazi Sam Ohuanbuwa said the investment community would not be surprised at the latest ranking by Merrill Lynch.
According to him, the key indicator to the safety of investment in Nigeria is the freedom to invest in any part of the country without government’s intervention.
He maintained that issues like hostile acquisitions, or government take-over is not common in Nigeria, explaining that even in cases where government reversed policies, it is always limited to government investments.
“In Nigeria, people can invest anywhere without hindrance.  Other important considerations are the sheer size of the Nigerian market and underlying macro-economic issues,” Ohuanbuwa said.
He noted that although investors in Nigeria are still complaining of high cost of doing business, the level of risk is far lower than what obtains some other economies of the world.
On measures to improve on the latest ranking, the experts were unanimous in their call for the sustenance of investor-friendly policies by the government.
Ahmed emphasised the need for effective management of the nation’s foreign asset especially in the face of the dwindling prices of crude oil at the international market.
Ohuanbuwa charged the government to liberalise the economy by removing all hindrances to the economy.

(thisdayonline)