Tag: GreatLakesNews

{In three decades from now, Tanzania is set to record a population explosion; according to experts, the country is heading towards having nearly 140 million residents by the year 2050.}

That was among the observations noted during the just concluded budget sessions of the East African Legislative Assembly in that regional parliamentarians warned of focused major population burst for Uganda and Tanzania in 30 years period.

Moving the motion, a legislator from Kenya, Ms Nancy Abisai told the East African Parliament sitting here that population growth has doubled in a number of countries in the world but in East Africa it is Uganda and Tanzania that are expected to double their population by the year 2050.

Ms Abisai told the house that Uganda, which has a populace of 39 million, is expected to have over 100 million in the next thirty four years, while Tanzania which has an estimated population of 53.7 million people as of 2016 will see this growth reach 137 million people during the same period.

In line with that, the East African Legislative Assembly has directed the EAC Council of Ministers to develop a regional urban planning policy for Uganda and Tanzania, as well as Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi which will help to have better co-ordinated cities and cross-border towns.

The legislators also called upon minister to hatch remedial measures to intercept and curb disasters in urban areas, citing recent cases of collapsing buildings in Nairobi, floods in East African cities and similar catastrophies.

A Resolution to that effect was adopted by the Assembly following the Resolution moved by Ms Nancy Abisai who further wants the Council of Ministers to establish an Urban Development Desk at the EAC to co-ordinate urban development matters in the region.

In order to harmonise ideas and have a regional position on Habitat 111 agenda, the Assembly has urged the Council through the EAC Secretariat to convene a regional position on habitat matters.

The Resolution takes cognisance of the fact that the scale and pace of urbanization is opening up unforeseen possibilities. “Large concentrations of people and goods providing for increased opportunities for creativity, larger labour markets, and higher levels of productivity, not to speak of the cultural and political opportunities associated with urban life is the norm” a section of the Resolution states.

The Resolution supported by the House also states that urban planning mitigates the impacts of disasters. Policies and programmes to reduce poverty can not only increase the productivity of the poor in the region, but can also raise consumption, thereby boosting local economic development for the benefit of all.

Cities that are inhospitable to business and that deter investors usually represent even worse prospects for their poorest residents. During debate, Legislators; Christopher Opoka; Kirunda Kivejinja; Sarah Bonaya and Frederic Ngenzebuhoro all supported the Motion.

Analysts contend that the recent rainstorms, mudslides and floods in the capital cities of some of the EAC Partner States and other weather phenomena have exacted devastating tolls on property, human welfare, natural resources and the economies. More than 95 per cent, of all deaths caused by disasters have occurred in areas which are mostly unplanned.

Among the factors that have contributed most to the damage inflicted during a hazard event is the location of infrastructure and housing developments as well as how they have been constructed, and how land use affects the natural environment recurring natural phenomena into human and economic disasters.

{Mr Odinga has been pushing for the removal of the commissioners ahead of next year’s General Election.}

Cord leader Raila Odinga on Monday escalated demonstrations on a day that at least one protester was shot dead and 53 injured in Kisumu Town.

Mr Odinga announced that there would be two protests a week, up from one, after leading a relatively peaceful march in Nairobi.

But in Kisumu, where a handcart pusher was shot in the chest, there were ugly scenes of riots, confrontation with police and attempts to storm business premises.

Enraged protesters carried the man’s dead body and used it to taunt police and block a street before it was eventually taken to the mortuary.

In Nairobi, the demonstration was uneventful unlike in previous weeks, when police violently dispersed the protesters. Police, except for a few officers at the headquarters of the electoral commission, kept well away.

The Opposition has called the protests to force out of office the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), which it accuses of, among other things, corruption and favouring Jubilee.

Of those injured in Kisumu, 24 were being treated at the Kisumu County Hospital, 22 at the Jaramogi Referral and Teaching Hospital and another seven in Homa Bay County Hospital.

Speaking at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, after the demonstration, Mr Odinga said election officials had sent emissaries to meet him on Sunday evening inviting him for talks but he said the time for consultation with the commission was over.

Mr Odinga has been pushing for the removal of the commissioners ahead of next year’s General Election.

He and Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetang’ula criticised the police over the shooting of the Kisumu protester.

Mr Odinga announced that from next week, the Opposition will be demonstrating in the streets twice a week to put more pressure on the government to start negotiations on the removal of the nine electoral commissioners.

“We are ready to sit down and talk over this matter. Our position, however, is that this commission has lost integrity and cannot be trusted with our 2017 elections. If by Sunday the government will not have come to the table then I declare that from next week we will demonstrate on Monday and Thursday,” Mr Odinga said.

NO BACKING DOWN

The Opposition, he added, was concerned at the manner in which the commission — chaired by Mr Ahmed Issack Hassan — handled the 2013 elections, which he claimed had been stolen.

“All the total votes cast for candidates competing in the county assembly wards, county women representatives, senators, Members of Parliament and governors were on average 10 million but that of the presidential candidates was 12.2 million. This shows the magnitude of the theft,” Mr Odinga said.

He also said that talks with the Government will not focus on the exit of the commissioners but what will be done after they leave.

He dismissed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s and Deputy President William Ruto’s position that talks on the exit of the commissioners must be held within the confines of the Constitution.

This, he said, exposed the dishonesty of the Jubilee leaders.

“When they hounded out Grace Kaindi from her office as Deputy Inspector-General of Police, they humiliated her without consulting the Constitution. They did so with EACC when they wanted Mumo Matemu and his team out,” Mr Odinga told supporters. “Yesterday, the IEBC sent some people to me so that we can talk. But I told them time for consultations with the commission was up.”

Senators Wetang’ula, James Orengo and Johnson Muthama also said various groups had been sent to Mr Odinga for talks with the IEBC but he declined.

The Bungoma Senator warned: “We want to announce that next year, there will be no elections if this commission is not removed.”

INCOMPETENT TEAM

Mr Wetang’ula also asked security agencies to “refrain from manufacturing laughable propaganda” as a way of winning sympathy against the Opposition protests.

“The fact that we want talks is not a sign of cowardice. Outbursts by police will not help in this situation,” said the Ford Kenya leader.

Mr Orengo insisted that they would not retreat until the commissioners are sent parking. He blamed police for casualties recorded in the Monday protests and in previous weeks.

“They should know that we shall not retreat until we get this matter fixed. We will not be cowed by any amount of pressure,” he said.

The coalition circulated a document titled The Kenyan People’s Case against IEBC, enumerating issues they have against the electoral body.

The charges against the commission include a claim that it manipulated the 2013 presidential election results, that top IEBC officials are corrupt and intolerably incompetent.

“There exists overwhelming evidence that IEBC had a predetermined two million votes statutorily unaccounted for and which was used to fraudulently adjust the votes cast in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta,” the document said.

{The government of the United States has announced that it will pump 2.650 trillion/- (1.21 billion US dollars) to Tanzania, just two months after its foreign aid agency – Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), pulled 472 million USD (nearly 1tri/-) of funding in protest over alleged suppression of democratic rights.}

US ambassador to Tanzania Mark Childress told President John Magufuli at the State House in Dar es Salaam yesterday that his government will release 800 million USD, nearly twice the fund cancelled by MCC, to support development projects.

“The USAID is expected to sign another pact with the government of Tanzania. The pact will see the aid agency commissioning 410m USD next year,” the ambassador said shortly after meeting President Magufuli.

According to the envoy, the new support is not related to the one suspended by MCC earlier this year. “Cancellation of MCC-2 funding has not changed our relations with Tanzania, and this includes development support,” Mr Childress noted.

The envoy assured President Magufuli that his government had a number of shared interests to team up with Tanzania, notably in the area of improving agriculture, education and health in the country.

The US independent foreign aid agency ceased its maiden support to Tanzania, citing the March 20 election re-run in the semiautonomous Island as ‘neither inclusive nor representative’. In the election, incumbent president Dr Ali Mohamed Shein emerged victorious with 91 per cent of total votes.

The planned 472m USD was an addition to 700m USD the US had given to the Tanzania government in 2008 to improve transport, energy and water. Mr Childress, who was in full support of the MCC decision, immediately noted that Tanzania was the US’s largest bilateral development partner.

“We will continue our work together to improve health and education, promote economic growth, and advance security.”

Before the support was brought to annihilation, the government has earmarked to speed up clean energy supply and policy reforms that would change the state-run utility, Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO).

However, in his remarks to the US ambassador, President Magufuli said his government will continue improving bilateral relations with Washington, adding that the funds were vital for economic development.

“The ambassador has assured us that the US will offer development support to Tanzania amounting to 800m USD. Moreover, another agreement amounting to 410 USD will be signed anytime from tomorrow,” he said.

He added that the decision to suspend MCC support has not affected the country’s friendship with the US. ‘’Tanzania and the US will continue being friends and now they are pumping more money to facilitate Hapa Kazi Tu efforts,” the president observed.

President Magufuli had in the morning met Belgium Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders to chart ways to improve bilateral relations between the two countries.

The two also discussed on the progress of projects implemented by Belgium in Kigoma, vowing to strengthen trade and investment relations.

{Police in Zanzibar have arrested and charged a traditional healer identified as Khamis Pandu Pili for allegedly abusing his three stepdaughters aged 11, 12 and 16 years on separate occasions. On unspecified day, neighbours heard a girl screaming and later ran away.}

The suspicious incident prompted a neighbour to phone their mother who was away from home when the incident took place. The mother immediately came back home and later called the police who took all the girls to a hospital, where a doctor proved that the two girls had been raped, while one was defiled.

Police officer, Sergeant Haji Mohamed, at the ‘Police Gender Desk’ in South Unguja, informed journalists here that the 29-year-old accused, a husband with two wives, remains in custody pending further investigations.

He said, “We have been told that the traditional healer has been abusing the girls for the past ten months until his arrest.” The Gender Desk in the region has about 16 cases of abuse against children and Women registered between January-June.

It has been alleged that whenever the girls fell sick and asked him for medicine he would ask each to come alone for treatment and that ‘sex’ was important for healing.

The police officer said the accused, when asked to respond before the magistrate, pleaded guilty and the case comes up for another mention on June 16, this year. Rape and defilement are punishable with up to 30 years imprisonment and a fine.

{Police in Rukungiri District are investigating the motive of a man who was arrested vandalising the house of former FDC presidential candidate Kizza Besigye last Saturday night.}

The suspect is alleged to have vandalised the power wiring system, the solar system and broke the glass door leading to the sitting room of the house in Rwakabengo cell, Southern Division in Rukungiri Municipality.

The 20-year-old man, a resident of Kiyaga cell, Western Division, is said to have been arrested at about 10.30pm after the housekeeper, Ms Gauda Kemigisa, informed police.

The district police commander, Mr Ronald Wotwali, said they had been informed of the vandalism by Ms Kemigisa.

“The information we are getting is that the boy is not in his normal senses. We are investigating that,” said Mr Wotwali, adding that they had asked his [the suspect] relatives to help in the investigations.

Ms Kemigisa said she informed police after she had heard “things breaking only to find a man breaking the glass door”.

According to Christians at Christ the King Church, where the suspect plays the keyboard in the church’s choir, Fr Mathias Kwehangana, the parish priest had on Martyrs Day announced the disappearance of the suspect, asking Christians to help him return so that he could be assisted.

Christians at the church including, Mr James Mukumi said the suspect is known to them.

However, Ms Kemigisa urged police to investigate the matter, claiming someone could have taken advantage to use him.

“He may appear not to be okay but someone can send him to do something and use that (being mad) to disguise everything,” she said, adding: “This man jumped over the fence, went to the sink and opened water; he went to the main switch, opened the box and dismantled the wires. He then went to the solar power house and removed five tiles, probably to see what is in side.”

Dr Besigye is currently remanded in Luzira prison over treason charges.

{Spending a large portion of one’s income on food and drink — which are needed for basic survival — is an indicator of poverty.}

Kenyans spend the lion’s share of their disposable income on food and beverages, a review of consumption data by Nation Newsplex reveals.

For every Sh100 that a Kenyan spends, Sh45 goes to food and drink.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that between 2010 and 2015, Kenyans spent nearly half of their disposable income on these items. Their spending remained steady at between 43 per cent and 46 per cent of total consumption expenses during this time.

Spending a large portion of one’s income on food and drink — which are needed for basic survival — is an indicator of poverty. Such a spending pattern means that little money is left over to be spent on other things that are important for quality life, including clothing, shelter and transportation.

Indeed, spending on clothing and shoes was equivalent to five per cent of the expenditure on food and beverages. That means for every Sh45 that Kenyans were spending on food, they were spending about Sh2.50 on clothes and shoes.

The relatively large spending on food and drinks is in line with the characteristics of a lower middle income economy in which wages are low.

As countries develop, people spend proportionally less on food and that leaves more money for investments as well as luxuries.

{{POORER NEIGHBOURHOOD}}

Research from the United States Department of Agriculture and Washington State University shows that households that spend a greater proportion of their incomes on food generally consume fewer calories than those who spend a smaller proportion.

This exposes children to the risk of malnutrition, which can also affect both their physical development and their ability to remain in school.

Generally, the US proportionally spends less on food than anyone else in the world, according to research from US Department for Agriculture Americans spend less than 10 per cent of their income on food and drinks compared to 20 per cent for South Africans and 25 per cent for Indians. Nigerians and Egyptians spend about 40 per cent of their disposable income on food. Kenya is at about 45 per cent.

According to the KNBS, the proportion of spending on housing gradually reduced between 2010 and 2015, from nearly eight per cent in 2010 to about six per cent in 2013.

However, spending on other goods and services remained fairly constant, meaning that people are cutting back their housing costs to buy food and beverages. This is like moving to a poorer neighbourhood so that one can afford to spend more on food.

In monetary terms, the average spending per person on food and beverages was Sh22,658 in 2010, Sh27,756 in 2011, Sh30,892 in 2012 and Sh32,457 in 2013. In contrast, housing consumed Sh3,940 in 2010, Sh3,942 in 2011, Sh4,404 in 2012 and Sh3,850 in 2013.

{{SUGAR AND BEER}}

These figures tell an interesting story. While the amount of money spent on food and drinks increased by 43 per cent during the period under review, that of housing actually reduced by about 10 per cent. In other words, inflation on food items has been much higher than that on housing.

This deduction is supported by the Central Bank of Kenya’s Monthly Economic Report for December 2013. The report shows that inflation on food items averaged 10.4 per cent in 2013 while that on housing was just five per cent. Indeed, food and beverages were the greatest contributors to the overall inflation that year – accounting for 57 per cent of the inflationary pressure.

The analysis found that only sugar and beer show marked variation in consumption rates. From 20kg per person per year in 2007, the intake of sugar fell to 17kg in 2009, then up to 20kg the following year, down again to 15kg in 2011 and back up to 20kg by 2013.

The consumption of beer, however, moved in the opposite direction: going up when that of sugar went down and vice-versa. Without attempting to read too much from the data, it appears that people replace alcohol with tea depending on the economic situation!

High-income countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have higher food spending in absolute terms, but the share of household consumption expenditures devoted to at-home food is relatively low — less than 10 per cent.In Kenya and other low income countries, at-home food’s share of consumption expenditures can approach 50 per cent. Per capita calorie availability follows the reverse pattern. In 2011, US per capita calorie availability was among the highest at 3,639 calories per day, while Kenya’s was only 2,170, 40 per cent less.