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Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Kenya Presidential Candidates Face off in Debate

    At 7:45pm Monday night Kenya rewrote its electoral history as an unprecedented debate among the eight candidates from among whom Kenyans will pick their Fourth President next month hit the airwaves.

    Watched on television and listened to on radio by millions across the world, a process complimented by live streaming Online, the debate turned out to be the single most important bid in the road to getting a successor for President Kibaki.

    Apart from the six initially announced by the debate organisers as the final list, there were also two more additions — Mr Paul Muite and Mr Mohammed Dida.

    They joined in following a court order that almost threw the debate in a spin but was sorted out through late invitation for the two to join the debate at Brookhouse School, Karen.

    The candidates started arriving at the venue over an hour before the kick off. Restore and Build Kenya’s James ole Kiyiapi was the first to arrive at the venue, followed by Martha Karua (Narc Kenya), Peter Kenneth (Eagle Alliance), Musalia Mudavadi (Amani Coalition), Raila Odinga (CORD), Jubilee Alliance’s Uhuru Kenyatta and Mohamed Dida of the Alliance for Real Change.

    “If the constitution is implemented and governance issues corrected then ethnicity will be a forgotten story,” declared Dida.

    Prof Kiyiapi said: “I want a government of inclusion where ministers and accounting officers are picked fairly and on merit”.

    Uhuru said: ‘Ethnicity has been a battle for resources where those in power feel they and their people are entitled to a bigger share of the cake. This can be dealt with through devolution and distribution of resources equitably.”

    Ethnicity real

    Karua’s opening line was: “To deal with ethnicity I will ensure we equalise development in all areas by deliberately giving more funds to undeveloped areas.”

    Raila said: ‘Ethnicity is a disease of people who are in competition for resources but we now have a legal framework that can deal with this problem so that we can have a Kenya for all.”

    Kenneth declared: “The problem of this country is due to poor and weak leadership and if it was dealt with speedily impunity could have been a thing of the past.”

    Mudavadi insisted: “Ethnicity is real has brought a sense of insecurity among communities. If an audit was done in the public and private sectors you will find a lot of inequality along tribal lines.”

    Read details….http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000077131&story_title=Kenya-Presidential-candidates-face-off-in-debate

  • Lamai Camp Named Africa’s Best new Safari Property

    Tanzania’s Serengeti Lamai camp has won the 2013 Award of ‘Best new Safari Property’ in Africa.

    The award comes shortly after the Serengeti national park topped all global tourism destinations and named the 2013 global winner of International Award in tourism, Hotel and catering industry.

    Lamai-Serengeti operates under the Arusha-based ‘Nomad Tanzania’ and is tucked amongst the rocks of the endless Kogakuria Kopje plains, just a few miles from Mara River.

    “This is a prestigious award for us and further proof that Tanzania is one of the very best safari destinations in the world,” said John Corse, the managing Director of Nomad Tanzania.

    With the additional global award for the park , he said Serengeti should emerge as the best area for tourism this year.

    Serengti Park gets 350,000 tourists a year, earning the country about shs42Billion thus the 3rd highest earner of tourism revenue after Mt.Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro crater.

  • Kenya Hits at EU Countries Over Election Comments

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    Kenya government has rebuked European Union ambassadors over what the minister says appears to be an orchestrated attempt to influence Kenya’s presidential election.

    Foreign Minster Sam Ongeri (pictured above)called in the ambassadors on Monday to relay his displeasure over statements made last week from some European countries about how they will not meet with suspects indicted by the International Criminal Court.

    Kenya holds a presidential election in early March. One of the top contenders for president is Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces charges before the ICC related to postelection violence that killed more than 1,000 people after Kenya’s last presidential election.

    Last week the U.S., France and Switzerland made statements that appeared to caution Kenyans against voting for Kenyatta.

    A diplomatic note was sent to the U.S. asking for an explanation.

  • More Companies want Kenya-Uganda Pipeline Deal

    Kenya’s state-owned National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock) and Indian Oil Corporation is among 14 companies battling for a major oil pipeline contract connecting Kenya with Uganda.

    The companies have submitted their bids for the Sh26 billion Kenya–Uganda refined petroleum products pipeline project that will run from Eldoret to Kampala via Malaba.

    Other companies that have submitted their bids are Capital Star Steel Limited, a consortium of South Africa’s Capital Africa Steel (Pty) and Seven Star Group of China, Punjloid Infrastructure Limited and Inpex Construction Limited of Japan, Eiffage SA of France and Consolidated Contractors Group, Oil India limited, and Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited, China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau, Turner and Townsend, Mota – Engil, and Engenharia e Construção of Portugal.

    Oasis Consortium Group, Denys NV of Belgium, Alfaraa Jihind Consortium, Vitol SA of France, National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago, and Orascom Construction Industries of Egypt also bid for the contract.

    Kenya and Uganda embarked on a fresh process to construct the pipeline after terminating a contract awarded to Libyan company, Tamoil East Africa Ltd.

    Tamoil, a subsidiary of the Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAIP), had won the contracts to construct the Eldoret-Kampala pipeline in 2006, and later in 2008 to extend it from Kampala to Kigali.

    But the freezing of LAIP assets following the collapse Gaddafi’s regime generated a financial crisis for Tamoil, making it difficult for the company to carry out the project.

    The pipeline will be developed as a public-private partnership under a 20-year build own operate and transfer arrangement.

    The 352km pipeline will interconnect with the existing 14-inch diameter pipeline running from Nairobi to Eldoret and should be able to transport products across the two countries.

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  • Nairobi Ranked 2nd Most Expensive City in Africa

    The Kenyan capital, Nairobi is now ranked Africa’s second most expensive city after Nigeria’s Lagos, putting to test its ability to attract foreign investment and tourists.

    This latest ranking is the opposite of last year’s edition when Nairobi was listed as the second least expensive city in Africa after Egypt’s Cairo.

    The new survey did not include Angola’s capital Luanda, which has consistently ranked as Africa’s most expensive city.

    The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the UK firm that conducted the research, said the change in Nairobi’s ranking is linked to the steep rise in the cost of six goods in a basket used to measure relative prices.

    The survey found that the Kenyan capital is particularly expensive for the middle and upper class residents who consume luxury goods and prefer private cars to public transport.

    The high cost of living in the Kenyan capital is mainly driven by the prices of consumer goods such as petrol, beers and wines. A litre of petrol costs an average of $1.3 in Nairobi, up from $1.24 last year – nearly five times the $0.35 price that consumers are charged in Cairo and Lagos’ $0.61.

    Egypt and Nigeria offer heavy subsidies to consumers of petrol while Kenya did away with all subsidies in the early 1990s.

    The price differences are equally high in Nairobi’s wines market where a 750 ml bottle costs an average of $12.23 compared to $10.09 in January last year.

    A similar quantity of wine costs an average of $7.81 in Johannesburg, Lagos ($11.48), Cairo ($7.06) and Pretoria ($8.21).

    Nairobi’s consumers are however bearing a lighter burden in the foods compared to other African cities. EIU found that a kilogramme of bread costs $1.4 or nearly half the $2.47 price in Lagos.

    EIU says highly priced consumer goods have eroded the quality of life for millions of Nairobi residents than the previous year when the city ranked 174 in the quality of living index prepared by Mercer – an international human resource consultancy.

    EIU has placed Nairobi in the 177th position in the quality of living index.

    Austrian capital Vienna is the city with the highest quality of living, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich, and Vancouver, according to the EIU index.

    This year’s index shows that residents of Nairobi are enjoying a lower quality of living than those who live in the Ugandan capital Kampala which is ranked 162.

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  • Sudan Classfies Uganda as Enemy State

    The Sudanese government may soon ask Kampala to slash the diplomatic staff at its embassy in Khartoum, an official with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said Sunday.

    The NCP spokesperson Badr al-Deen Ibrahim said that Uganda is now classified as an enemy state adding that they have no mutual interests with Kampala.

    Ibrahim said that Uganda is not home to a large number of Sudanese and as such any move to downgrade diplomatic relations would not impact their citizens living there.

    “Even if a community of Sudanese exists [in Uganda] their status will be arranged in accordance with diplomatic norms,” the NCP official said.

    The ties between the two countries have reached a low point particularly after several Sudanese opposition parties and rebel groups signed a joint charter in Kampala last month calling for the overthrow of the Khartoum government.

    Sudan has lodged complaints with several regional organisations to protest against Uganda’s hosting of anti-Khartoum groups.

    This month Sudan voiced its objection to electing Uganda to a position at the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) commission office during a summit in Cairo.

    Ugandan officials on the other hand continue to accuse Sudan of harbouring the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, which has been forced out of northern Uganda.

    Some reports have claimed that the Sudanese government continue to back the group, which it used a proxy to fight southern rebels in the civil war that led to South Sudan’s independence.

    During the conflict Uganda was a strong ally of the former southern rebels who have governed the Republic of South South since 2011.

    Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has infuriated Sudanese officials in the past for his public support to South Sudan’s independence and his views that Arab Muslims in Sudan are suppressing Africans in the country.

    (ST)

  • Kenya Cuts Troops Size in Somalia

    Kenya will reduce its troop presence in Somalia by about 20 per cent in the coming weeks, according to a report to the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

    A battalion of 850 Sierra Leone troops is scheduled to be added to the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) in February and March, with Kenya reducing its deployment by one battalion, the report says.

    Kenya had a total of 4,652 soldiers assigned to Amisom as of last November, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon tells the Security Council in a report expected to be discussed next week.

    The scheduled reduction to around 3,800 Kenyan soldiers comes amid complaints that the UN has paid only a small fraction of the $132 million it had agreed to provide Kenya by this July as reimbursement for contributions to Amisom.

    The UN has paid less than $1 million of that sum. Kenyan UN Ambassador Macharia Kamau told the Security Council last month that delay in paying the pledged amount is “unacceptable and unsustainable.”

    Kenyan forces have helped make “significant progress” in securing the port of Kismayu in southern Somalia, the UN secretary general’s report says.

    Amisom detachments in Lower and Middle Juba, which consist mainly of Kenyan troops, “have deprived al-Shabaab of revenue from seaport taxation, custom duties and smuggling of contraband, notably the import and export of charcoal and sugar,” the report notes.

    At the same time, however, “al-Shabaab has intensified its outreach in the region, attempting to establish links with local extremist groups,” the report warns.

    “It continues to recruit fighters in neighbouring countries, train them and facilitate the return of those who want to wage war against their homeland, as demonstrated by the recent spate of attacks in Kenya.”

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  • Uganda: 42,000 Students Get free Advanced College Education

    In Uganda about 42,000 students will study for free under the government’s Universal Post-O-Level Education and Training (Upolet) programme, the country’s Education ministry announced on Friday.

    The Upolet scheme was rolled out early this year to enable eligible O-Level graduates enroll in tuition-free secondary and vocational training institutions.

    To qualify for the scheme, one must have passed in Division One to Three.

    Basing on Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) records, 128,773 candidates passed in Division One to Three, meaning that the remaining 99,740 candidates though they passed, cannot benefit from Upolet.

    Education Minister Jessica Alupo on Friday said 3,511 candidates, out the 42,000 will be absorbed in Upolet implementing technical and vocational institution.

    “We would have preferred to take more but we are limited by resources. But I am sure, we shall be increasing the number every year,” she said.

  • Kenyan Envoy Denies influence Peddling

    Kenyan Envoy to the US on Saturday denied allegations by The National Alliance (TNA) that he met with Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs at the Kenyan embassy in Washington, DC on Tuesday to discuss a US statement delivered on Thursday that was regarded as being critical of TNA’s presidential candidate.

    Elkanah Odembo said his meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson was convened specifically to shore up support for Kenya’s candidate for the top job at the World Trade Organization (WTO), Amina Mohammed and had nothing to do with influencing America’s position on the forthcoming general elections.

    “As you know, Kenya has forwarded the name of Amina Mohammed for the position of Director General which is an important position and so I have communication from the ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nairobi that we need to do what we need to do to advocate for her candidature so I had a series of meeting,” He said.

    In a conference call with reporters, Carson repeatedly said that Kenyan voters should be ready to face the consequences of their choice come election day.

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  • Juba says Pipeline Construction Begins October

    Construction of South Sudan’s oil pipeline, to by-pass reliance on neighbouring Sudan, will commence by October, the country’s petroleum and mining minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, announced Saturday.

    Juba says it is engaged in a series of direct discussions with a number of donor countries to help provide funds for the construction of an alternative pipeline to resume production and transportation of its crude oil to international markets,

    In January 2012 – 18 months after seceding from Sudan – the young nation stopped its oil production over a transit fee dispute with Khartoum.

    The move has severely affected South Sudan’s economy, with oil revenues accounting for 98% of the government’s income.

    Dau said he had met with “potential investors” in the oil sector who have expressed readiness to finance construction of the pipeline during a recent visit to South Africa, where he participated in a mining conference.

    No deals have been signed but the government is in “talks with companies and governments who have expressed readiness to finance the construction of the alternative pipeline”, Dau told media.

    South Sudan is still considering three potential routes to reach the East African coast. Prior to the shutdown Southern crude was exported through Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

    Despite agreeing on new transit fees over four months ago, border tensions have meant that production has not yet resumed.

    Sudan insists that border security be resolved as a precondition to other aspects of the September deal being implemented.

    The impasse continues, with Juba accusing Khartoum of adding additional demands in order to block its implementation.

    The official said previous Memorandums of Understanding (MoU), which his ministry has signed with Ethiopia and Djibouti authorities to create a mechanism for the construction of a pipeline through their countries, still stood.

    However, Dau also expects his country to sign similar deals with the government of neighbouring Uganda and Kenya, which would allow the construction of a pipeline to the Kenyan ports of Lamu and Mombasa.

    The construction of one of the new pipelines would begin around October or earlier “if all goes according to the plans”, Dau said.

    Companies including a Japanese company which has just completed feasibility studies on the Lamu route, have shown interest to partner with a number of American companies to jointly fund the project.

    “We have already reached an understanding with some international companies to do more exploration and to build [a] pipeline with understanding that they will own it, operate it and transfer later. We shall only be renting it from them during the period of the agreement”, he said.

    A senior member of the country’s governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said his ministry had already given a contract to German company ILF to carry out a feasibility study on the South Sudan-Ethiopia-Djibouti route.

    The study is underway, but will take between six and nine months before it is completed, he added.

    South Sudan took with it nearly 75% of the oil resources it previously shared with Sudan when it seceded in July 2011 after a self-determination referendum conducted in January that year.

    The vote was a key part of the 2005 peace deal, which ended over two decades of civil war between the north and South.

    (ST)