{{Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said Friday that Kenya is ready for Economic take-off.}}
Kibaki was addressing his top advisers on social and economic growth during the 30th National Economic and Social Council meeting.
He said the industrial take-off follows 10 years of investment in infrastructure and expansion of education.
“The country is at a stage where we need to take full advantage of the gains made in the past 10 years.” He said.
{{Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and those of the Mission of the United Nations for Stabilization of Congo (MONUSCO) launched on October 22, a new joint military operation called Taharazi (Alert) against armed groups operating in the territory of Fizi, in South Kivu province. }}
According to Felix Prosper Basse, military spokesman of MONUSCO, the main target of the campaign is a coalition of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the National Liberation Forces (FNL) and Mai Mai Yakutumba.
This operation is in its second phase and has allowed FARDC to stop 18 rebel elements, authors of abuses against civilians.
The South Kivu citizens believed that with this action, they will be able to back and indulge freely in their field of work and other social activities.
{{The 2nd Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Gender, Youth, Children, Social Protection, and Community Development is taking place 22 to 26 October 2012 at Snow Crest Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania.}}
The Sectoral Council is considering, among others, the status of implementation of previous Decisions; the tools for mainstreaming gender into EAC policies and structures.
These tools include a Report of the Gender Audit for EAC together with the proposed Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and Action Plan, Training Manual and Guidelines for integrating Gender into EAC interventions.
In addition to these tools, there is also Gender Sensitive Outcome Indicators for the 4th EAC Development Strategy which were developed on the basis of the Gender Audit.
Since 2010, the EAC has been developing a comprehensive Social Development Framework in order to address cross-cutting social concerns for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
After various consultations at national and regional levels, the Final Draft Social Development Framework was completed and is being tabled before the 2nd meeting of the Sectoral Council.
The Sectoral Council is also considering a proposal for an increased budget for the Gender and Community Development Department. So as to implement the EAC Strategic Plan on Gender, Youth, Children, Persons with Disabilities, Social Protection and Community Development (2012-2016) together with the Policy on PWDs,
and to implement the Social Development Agenda for EAC, it is of paramount importance that the Sector receives substantial resources from Partner States while the Secretariat continues to mobilize other resources from Development Partners.
{{Uganda has moved three steps forward in the 2013 “Doing Business Report”, placing the country in a safer investment position.}}
The country moved from position 123 to position 120 out of 182 surveyed countries, according to the 2013 Doing Business report conducted by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation.
Last year the same report had placed Uganda at position 123 out of the 182 economies surveyed.
The report which is produced annually looks at the various reforms countries are making in regard to regulatory frameworks in boosting the investment climate.
Uganda according to the report has in the last 12 months managed to make reforms in its business regulation.
The report shows that an investor in Uganda will go through 15 procedures compared to other countries like Rwanda which only takes two procedures.
Rwanda was ranked at position 114 in global ranking. However the country still remains among the 10 top global reformers in business.
Kenya was ranked at position 121 with a number of reforms registered whereas Tanzania stands at position 134 and Burundi at position 159.
{{Mkuju River project will put Tanzania among top 10 African countries in uranium mining with over Sh 1.6 trillion earnings from foreign direct investments, ac cording to Mantra Tanzania managing director Asa Mwaipopo.}}
Presenting a paper on Tanzania’s Uranium mining potential during the country’s mining, energy, oil and gas and infrastructure Indaba 2012, Mr Mwaipopo said the project was going to benefit all players and the country at large.
“The project apart from diversifying the mineral sector will generate direct and indirect cash flows to Tanzania in excess of $640 million over the current life of the mine of 12 years and also attract FDI in excess of $1 billion over the life of the mine,” he said.
According to him, the Mkuju River project will be operated under the terms and conditions prescribed in the country’s 2010 Mining Act that among other things addresses the need to increase loyalty payment levels.
Mantra Tanzania and its investors are committed to developing the Mkuju River project in spite of the continuing depressed uranium market after the Fukushima event, he said.
Mr Mwaipopo said the project will be developed in accordance with the set safety and environmental standards to ensure minimal risks when the project finally starts.
{{The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has visited victims of the violence that followed Kenya’s 2007 election.}}
Fatou Bensouda says she was concerned about ICC witnesses being intimidated ahead of a criminal trial at The Hague in the Netherlands.
In her first official visit to Kenya, Bensouda sat surrounded by some of the 350,000 people displaced by the deadly violence in 2007-2008, still living in a camp of tightly packed tents known as “Pipeline Camp” in the Rift Valley, one of the hardest-hit areas.
The next general election is expected within the next six months, but Bensouda sought to distance herself from Kenya’s restive domestic political scene.
“Ours is a judicial process and what we want to do is to bring justice,” she said. “Justice for those who suffered the post-election violence. It is a separate process. It is not part of the elections. It is not part of the politics.”
{{Kenya will November start lobbying neighbours Uganda and Tanzania for a joint bid to host the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations.}}
Minister for Youth and Sports Ababu Namwamba revealed that negotiations for the joint bid will start during next month’s Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) championships in Kampala Uganda.
“During next month’s Cecafa championships, I intend to meet my two counterparts from Uganda and Tanzania with a view of placing our bids to jointly host the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations,” said Mr Namwamba.
The Minister regretted that failure to invest in sporting facilities had locked Kenya from making bids to hosts major continental championships since the fourth editions of 1987 All Africa games.
{{The inaugural EAC Secretary General’s Private Sector Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Forum for Burundi was held 22 October 2012 at the Hotel Club du Lac Tanganyika in Bujumbura, Burundi.}}
The overall objective of the SG’s CEO Forum is to provide a platform for the EAC Secretary General and CEOs of businesses in the region for continuous dialogue to ensure the integration process works for business and trade, EAC competitiveness, and ultimately economic growth.
Addressing the CEOs, the Secretary General Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera disclosed that in 2011, EAC Partner States sustained an average of 5% GDP growth against the global average of 3%. All performance indicators depicted significant growth trends, including Foreign Direct Investment inflows, which increased from USD 683 million in 2005 to USD 1.7 billion in 2011.
Amb.Sezibera informed the CEOs that the State of East Africa Report 2012 shows the value of EAC’s total trade with the world doubled from $17.5 billion in 2005 to $37 billion in 2010.
“I launched the Doing Business 2012 Report here in Bujumbura, Burundi in mid-April this year, and the Report features Burundi among the top 10 economies that improved the most on the ease of doing business, moving up 8 places in the global ranking (from 177 to 169),” said Amb. Sezibera.
He noted that according to the 2011 Doing Business indicators, it still takes an average of 47 days for people in Burundi to export a product; as a compared to the Dominican Republic, which takes 8 days for a person to export a product.
The EAC official reiterated that the problem can’t be accredited to Burundi being a landlocked country. He said an exporter in Vienna, a landlocked city in Europe for example, takes 2 days to arrange for and complete the transportation of cargo to the port of Hamburg some 900 kilometers away.
“This is almost the same distance from Burundi to the port in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania but that that trip here in East Africa can take one week or longer mainly due to inadequate infrastructure, as well as additional controls and waiting time at our border posts,” said Amb. Sezibera.
The Secretary General stated that EAC Secretariat is working fulltime to implement policies which have the potential to increase investment and growth, and which also address directly issues of poverty and inequality.
“I would like to mention one special set of policies which has the potential to increase investment and growth, and which also address directly issues of poverty and inequality. By promoting free trade and movement of labor, the EAC as a region can deploy to the maximum extent possible the law of comparative advantage, leading to higher incomes for their citizens. By lowering barriers to entry into business and improving regulatory frameworks, we would both promote investment and stimulate growth,” he added.
At the same occasion, Amb Laurent Kavakure, the Minister of External Relations and International Cooperation of the Republic of Burundi said much effort had been done by the government to make sure that the private sector become stronger. He noted that the progressive liberalization of trade and banking reforms that are underway will primarily benefit the private sector.
Amb. Kavakure informed the CEO’s that progressive elimination of non-tariff barriers; the ongoing construction of one-stop order posts and the creation of the Single Customs Territory will facilitate trade and improve the living standards of the people.
The Secretary General CEOs Forum in Burundi is the fifth edition of CEOs breakfast meetings at the national level. The other four CEO’s breakfast meetings have been held in each of the Partner States’ capitals. A regional forum is expected to take place on 15 November 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The SG’s CEO Forum is hosted by the East African Community Secretariat in partnership with East African Business Council (EABC) and Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA), based on the three organizations’ shared objectives of fostering the interests of the business community in the integration process.
The Forum was attended by among others the Vice Chairperson of Burundi Private Sector Mr. Antoine Ntisigana; the EABC Executive Director Mr. Andrew Luzze; Country Director, TMEA, Burundi, Anthe Vrijlandt and over 60 CEOs.
{{Judges from the East African Community member states are undergoing a three-day training aimed at equipping them with modern skills discharging their duties expeditiously to solve the backlog problem.}}
According to a statement, the East African Community secretariat, Chief Justices, Judge Presidents, Principal Judges, Heads of High Court Divisions and all judges with Administrative Responsibilities are being equipped with leadership skills advancing justice to a higher level in their respective countries.
“The aim of the training is to enhance leadership and management skills in the judiciary as well as in promoting legal and judicial knowledge and harmonization of processes in the judicial sector in the regional bloc,” the secretariat said in the statement.
Addressing participants, the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration Mr. Jean Claude Nsengiyumva hailed the East African Judicial Education Committee for the tireless efforts in putting together the training programme for the highest cadre of the national judiciaries, with particular emphasis on leadership skills.
He said the training was a very important step in operationalizing the provision of Article 126 of the EAC Treaty which sets out the scope of co-operation in judicial and legal affairs to include approximation and harmonization of legal learning and certification; encouraging the standardization of the judgments of the Courts within the Community; promoting exchange of legal and judicial knowledge; and the revival of the East African Law Reports and journals among other wider objectives of the Community.
Nsengiyumva urged the participants to use the forum to identify modern innovations to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the judicial systems of the Partner States so as to positively impact on their mandate which is effective and timely delivery of justice to people of East Africa.
The Deputy Secretary General said the training was providing a perfect opportunity for the Members of the judiciary to learn from and to share the different leadership experiences from their respective Partner States.
He encouraged the East African states to adopt judicial practices both from the common law regime and civil law regime.
“We hope to learn from the Chief Justices lessons from the common law regime as practiced by the Republic of Kenya; Republic of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania as well as that of civil law regime practiced by the Republic of Rwanda and the Republic of Burundi,” Nsengiyuma said.
The programme has been attended by Chief Justices of the Supreme Courts of the EAC Partner States; the President and the Principal Judge of the East African Court of Justice; Judges of the High Court and Heads of High Court Divisions of the Partner States, Principal Judges of the Partner States, Chairmen of the National Judicial Training Committees, and the Registrar of the East African Court of Justice Prof. John Ruhangisa, among others.
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{{The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Tuesday met with Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki following concerns that Kenya has been reluctant to surrender key evidence required in the prosecution of four Kenyans accused of crimes against humanity following the 2008 post-election violence.}}
During the meeting between ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Kibaki pledged that Kenya will hold peaceful elections to ensure the country does not follow the route of 2008.
“The Head of State said that the government is committed to ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections next year. President Kibaki emphasised that measures are underway to ensure that the country will be fully prepared by March next year for the polls,” a statement from the Presidential Press Service indicated.
Bensouda in her first press conference on Monday complained that the Kenyan government had delayed in submitting information the court had requested to use in the two cases against four Kenyans.
She also raised concerns over the continuing harassment and intimidation of victims and witnesses of the post election violence saying that the court was interested to tighten talks with the government to ensure their protection is assured.
Bensouda reiterated to the government officials that the court was independent and its main interest is to pursue justice for the victims of the 2008 violence.
She further clarified that the court will not bend its operations to fit in Kenya’s politics but will follow its judicial calendar irrespective of the country’s political process.
“She stressed that she is not against the Kenya government or any ethnic community, adding that the ICC will not interfere with the ongoing political processes in the country,” the statement indicated.
The meeting held at the Office of the President for the better part of Tuesday morning was also attended by Internal Security Minister Katoo ole
Metito, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Eugene Wamalwa and Attorney-General Githu Muigai.
Later, Bensouda held meetings with members of the diplomatic corps.
She is later in the week expected to meet victims of the post election violence in the Rift Valley before giving a final briefing on Thursday evening following her five-day visit in the country.