Tag: GreatLakesNews

{“We should move from speeches by political leaders and sensitization campaigns to concrete actions to effectively fight corruption in Burundi. Awareness is still needed but it is not enough as the situation is becoming more and more alarming “, says Faustin Ndikumana, Chairman of the local NGO aiming at awakening conscience and changing Burundians’ mentality-PARCEM,on the occasion of the week dedicated to the International Anti-Corruption Day that started on 5 December.}

Transparency International report ranked Burundi among the most corrupt countries in the world. The Burundi anti-corruption activist says the most affected sectors are the police, justice, customs, central administration, political parties, education and health.

“Corruption offenses are widely committed with impunity in the country.There is misappropriation of public property, money laundering, illicit enrichment as well as excessive fines imposed on some services. People launder their money and act as benefactors who contribute to development work, giving gifts to administrators to hide the obscure origin of their funds”, says Ndikumana.

He regrets that all this should have been fought through all initiatives that have been set up since long ago, especially through an effective national legal framework for good governance and the fight against corruption that the Government of Burundi has developed but which has not so far been implemented.

Ndikumana explains that the fight against corruption is always blocked by some groups of civil servants who constitute a resistance to the good progress of the initiated reforms that come to challenge their bad habit.

He says the government should use its power to destroy this resistance which hinders the effective fight against corruption in Burundi. “Every leadership should feel the need to protect the public property,” concludes Ndikumana.

The Government is willing to strongly fight corruption

Ernest Ndikumukama, Legal adviser to the Good Governance Minister says the government has shown its good will by elaborating two fundamental documents that guide the fight against corruption; one of them being the National Strategy for Good Governance and the Fight against Corruption.

For him, there are preventive and repressive actions to technically and effectively combat corruption. He says the repressive actions that should be carried out by the judiciary have not been satisfactory. He calls for the involvement of civil servants, members of civil society organizations and privatesector in the fight against corruption.

{The resolution was reached yesterday during a meeting at State House in Entebbe between the President and a team led by IFC’s regional director for East and Southern Africa Cheikh Oumar, according to a statement posted on social media by senior presidential press secretary Don Wanyama.}

President Museveni and a team from World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), have agreed to further discussions on the prospects of lowering the cost of power generated at Bujagali dam from the current $0.113 (Shs411) per unit to at least $0.05 (Shs182).

The resolution was reached yesterday during a meeting at State House in Entebbe between the President and a team led by IFC’s regional director for East and Southern Africa Cheikh Oumar, according to a statement posted on social media by senior presidential press secretary Don Wanyama. IFC is an arm of the World Bank Group that offers investment, advisory, and asset management services to encourage private sector development in developing countries.

“An array of issues was discussed but key being the cost of power from Bujagali that is priced at 11.3 US cents per unit. The President indicated that this price was exorbitant and was hampering the country’s industrialisation drive,” the statement read in part.

Located on the River Nile near Jinja, the 25Omw dam is owned by Bujagali Energy Ltd (BEL), a special-purpose vehicle owned in turn by Industrial Promotion Services, which is part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, and SG Bujagali Holdings, an affiliate of Sithe Global Power, LLC, part of Blackstone, the US-based private-equity fund. IFC was one of the key funders of the project.

The government holds a 4.63 per cent stake in BEL, which has a 30-year build-own-operate-transfer concession over the dam.

For several months now, since the dam was commissioned in 2012, President Museveni has repeatedly complained about the tariffs offered by BEL. In his State-of-the-Nation address for 2015 he said these exorbitant tariffs had distorted electricity prices in the country.

Power from the dam is currently more expensive compared to power generated from from Kiira and Nalubaale hydropower dams.

Recently, there has been corridor talk about the possibility of government buying the dam, however, senior officials in the ministry of Finance in a recent interview with this newspaper disowned the proposal.

Construction of the project was completed in July 2012 and began operations in October 2012. It consists of five 50MW turbines. The project cost estimate was revised from $530m (Shs1.9 trillion) to $900m (Shs3.3 trillion) .

{Helplessness on the part of relatives with patients in public hospitals greeted the second day of the doctors strike as the sick battled pain and misery.
}
In Kisumu, Mr Otieno Makaleba’s relatives have lost hope. Emaciated, in pain and weak due to the ravages of disease, the 76-year-old cancer patient lay on the floor at Jaramogi referral hospital.

On Tuesday, his relatives said they had left him at the mercy of God since they could neither transfer him to a private hospital nor clear his huge medical bill.

In the next ward was Mr Kennedy Omware, with an open wound in his stomach, was being helped to walk as he carried his catheter bag full of urine.

His wound is open and rotting. His wife Rael said the family had no money to transfer him and they had a bill of Sh30,000.

At the Kisumu County Hospital an Aids patient was being helped by a guard to feed.

In Mombasa, when Mr Stephen Mwaura brought his 28-year-old ailing sister for treatment at the Coast Provincial General Hospital on December 2, he was optimistic that she would be well and soon they would be back home.

But Mr Mwaura, who hails from Murang’a, said despite Ms Emma Waithera showing signs of recovery, died at 11.30am on Tuesday with no doctor or nurse by her side after her condition deteriorated suddenly.

Meanwhile, Mr Stephen Ngang’a, 40, who is in a coma, was discharged from Port Reitz District Hospital on Monday.

His distraught mother and relatives had no choice but to take him away.

{{INFLUX OF PATIENTS}}

In Nyeri, private hospitals have been over stretched by an influx of patients from public hospitals.

Mission hospitals such as Consolata Mathari are admitting patients from as far as Laikipia and Murang’a.

In Kirinyaga, Kerugoya referral hospital faced imminent closure after patients were withdrawn due to the ongoing strike by health workers.

A spot check by the Nation on Tuesday established that all the wards were completely deserted with relatives saying they had to take their patients to private clinics when the striking workers left them unattended.

Others took their patients home to die as they could not afford the high cost of private hospitals and clinics.

In Nairobi, when Lucy Wambui and her 18-year-old nephew Elvis Kinyanjui embarked on a journey to Mbagathi Hospital in search of better care, their hope was to go back home walking hand-in-hand.

Elvis was transferred from Maragua District Hospital two weeks ago after suffering a stroke that left him partially paralysed.

When there was no noticeable change in her nephew’s health, Ms Wambui decided to request for a transfer to Mbagathi.

Elvis can neither feed nor hold his body in a straight position. He fully relies on the assistance of nurses —who have since gone on strike— or his aunt who goes to visit him every day.

While he was getting help at the hospital, the nurses prepared his aunt to take over before they went on strike.

Ms Wambui added that she thought they (government and doctors) would reach an agreement before the strike commenced “but from the look of things, I doubt this will end any time soon.”

{{PATIENTS TURNED AWAY}}

At KNH, the number of patients streaming in was low compared to other days where the hospital receives about 1,400 patients. Clinics were the worst hit with some patients scheduled for surgery being turned away.

“The doctor called me in the morning to tell me that he could not perform the surgery until further notice,” said a patient who had already paid.
the Sh20,000 required for her surgery.

Across the road is 25-year-old Donatus Onyango, who found himself in the same predicament as Ms Wambui. Only that for him, he was not able to take home his nine-month old daughter his wife despite being discharged from Kenyatta National Hospital.

“I travelled overnight from Meru but when I got here, I was informed that the doctor was yet to write the discharge summary, without which I could not settle the bill and take my family home,” he said.

Mr Onyango said that numerous calls to the doctor were futile as they did not pick their phone calls.

“We have been waiting all morning for the doctor to come write the summary with no success,” he explained.

His daughter was admitted at KNH two weeks ago after being diagnosed with a condition known as hydrocephaly, a condition cause by an abnormal build-up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles of the brain. The fluid is often under increased pressure and can compress and damage the brain.

Doctors, nurses and clinical officers begun a nationwide strike and boycotted work to push the government to implement a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) they signed in June 2013.

DEPLORABLE SITUATION

This is after the 21-day strike notice they issued on November 14 expired on Monday.

As a result, many hospitals were left without medics and patient left unattended. A spot check by Daily Nation on Tuesday in Kenyatta National Hospital, Mbagathi and Mama Lucy hospitals revealed the deplorable situation in which many patients had been left.

At KNH, the number of patients streaming in was relatively low compared to other days where the hospital receives about 1,400 patients in a day.
Clinics were the worst hit with some patients scheduled for surgery being turned away.

“The doctor called me in the morning to tell me that he could not perform the surgery until further notice,” said one patient who had already paid the Sh20,000 the hospital needed for her surgery.

When reached for a comment on the impact of the strike, KNH’s Chief Executive officer Lily Koros said: “We are still assessing the situation before acting.”

{The Minister of State in the President’s Office, Public Service Management and Good Governance, Ms Angellah Kairuki, has ordered the suspension of five top officials of Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), after a verification exercise unearthed a total of 55,692 ineligible TASAF’s scheme households.}

She also directed the suspension of 106 Community Based Conditional Cash Transfer (CBCCT) Monitoring and Consultative officials, who were responsible to register the ineligible beneficiaries of the TASAF-run CBCCT scheme in the municipalities.

Ms Kairuki told a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the government had saved 6.4bn/- after scrapping 42,034 ineligible CBCCT households (beneficiaries) between January in 2014 and September in 2016.

“I also direct TASAF to conduct investigations on the officials to establish their involvement in the matter so that action will be taken against them. The investigations should be completed within one month from today,” said the minister.

Ms Kairuki noted that the fund’s senior officials including the Director of Coordination, Mr Alphonse Kyariga and Coordination Manager, Ms Tunu Munthali, who were responsible to supervise the CBCCT consultative and monitoring officials in municipalities while registering poor households for the scheme.

“I have consulted Minister of State in the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government, Mr George Simbachawene, who has already directed the suspension of TASAF district coordinators involved in the matter,” explained the minister.

Ms Kairuki pointed out that the verification, which started in January, this year, discovered that 13,898 households that benefited from the CBCCT scheme were no longer existing while households that were actually not poor numbered 13,468. Also, 17,746 households did not show up in the verification exercise.

She mentioned other ineligible beneficiaries removed after the verification as village CBCCT committees’ members (4,352), while households that moved to the project areas before the scheme commenced totalled 6,228.

Ms Kairuki pointed out that since the exercise to remove ineligible households in CBCCT scheme was sustainable, the government will announce again the amount saved from the exercise in January 2017.

“The actual amount saved from the exercise between October, 2016 and January 2017 might change after completion of the payment to the eligible households in the CBCCT scheme,” she said.

According to the minister, eligible households in the CBCCT scheme would from now have to submit two identification cards to get paid, pointing out the identification cards as voter card or citizen identification card.

“This is to ensure the payment is made to the right beneficiaries. District Executive Directors (DEDs) will supervise the exercise of paying the poor households,” she concluded.

{Doctors have said they will continue with their strike until their demands are met.}

Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union Secretary-General Ouma Oluga said on a radio talk show Tuesday that Kenyans are entitled to quality and adequately paid doctors.

He made the remarks on the second day of the medics’ countrywide strike.

The doctors are pushing for promotions, better pay and a review of job groups under a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2013.

The strike has paralysed health services in public hospitals across the country.

By Monday evening, at least seven patients had died while thousands were discharged prematurely.

Patients seeking treatment at public hospitals have been forced to turn to private hospitals for services.

In the North Rift region, private hospitals had to recall staff who were on leave to cope with the increase in the number of patients seeking help.

Wards at Kerugoya Referral Hospital in Kirinyaga County were deserted after relatives transferred patients to private health facilities.

Patients were turned away Tuesday morning as there were no health workers at the hospital.

“We had to go back home after being informed that clinical officers have also downed their tools,” said Njeri Kariuki, a patient.

The casualty and emergency department of Kilifi County Referral Hospital remained closed for the second day running.

Several people who had taken family members to the hospital for treatment had to turn to private hospitals instead.

“I have come with my grandfather from Matsangoni but the emergency [department] is closed. One nurse we found in the premises said medics were on strike. I am taking him to a private hospital.

“This is the only health facility that we mainly depend on. I want this strike to end because we don’t have money to seek medical services in private hospitals,” said Zawadi Kenga.

In one ward, relatives were attending to their loved ones as a nurse kept an eye on them. However, security guards chased away reporters who were trying to access the area.

At one point, members of the news media were barred by the security guards from entering the hospital, with the guards saying they were acting on orders from management.

{President John Magufuli is expected to officiate at this year’s Independence Day celebrations on December 9, the first time since he assumed the presidency on November 5, 2015.}

Dr Magufuli cancelled fanfares for his first Independence Day in office last year, serving the 4bn/- budget, which he directed to the expansion of a Dar es Salaam road.

The Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and Disabled, Ms Jenista Mhagama, said in a statement yesterday that the country will on Friday celebrate the 55th independence anniversary with pomp, colour and style at Uhuru Stadium in the city.

The minister said President Magufuli is scheduled to grace the celebrations, which will be coloured by various activities, including a military parade, choirs and traditional dances.

With hardly a month in office last year, Dr Magufuli scrapped the Independence Day celebrations, ordering all Tanzanians to celebrate the day through a cleanup exercise.

Through celebration cancellation, the government saved the 4bn/- allocated budget, which President Magufuli directed to the expansion of Mwenge-Morocco road in the city.

Construction works to expand the 4.3-kilometre stretch from the previous three to five lanes started immediately and its completion eased traffic congestion along the route.

The then Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue had announced that there would be no official ceremony to celebrate independence anniversary, instead directing the public to engage in nation building work, especially the cleaning campaign to check re-occurrence of filthy-borne diseases.

Dr Magufuli surprised the world on the independence day when he walked out of State House in full gears to collect rubbish off the streets. Dozens of fishermen joined in the clean up with the president who shovelled leaves and plastic rubbish close to a fish market near the presidential palace as hundreds looked on.

He was supported by all Tanzanians including former president Jakaya Kikwete, who took part in the exercise at his Chalinze home where he participated in sweeping and gathering rubbish.

“I am happy with his exercise. Let us give our president full support in his campaign to fight cholera and other communicable diseases,” former president Kikwete was quoted as saying.

This year’s theme of the celebrations, according to Ms Mhagama, is ‘Let us support government efforts against corruption as well as strengthening an industrial economy for our development.’

“On behalf of the government, I want to request Tanzanians from all walks of life to celebrate this day by remembering the founders of the nation who fought tirelessly to ensure that our country is independent,” she said, underscoring the need for Tanzanians to rally behind the government’s fight against graft.

The minister said special parade mounted by members of the defence forces, traditional dances from Mbeya, Coast, Lindi and Zanzibar as well as dances from Bongo Flavour artists, among others, will colour the event.

“I invite all Dar es Salaam residents to turn up in big numbers to celebrate the independence day,” she appealed.

{An internal United Nations inquiry has identified 25 peacekeepers from Burundi and 16 from Gabon accused of sexual abuse and exploitation in the Central African Republic in 2014 and 2015, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.}

“Responsibility for further investigations lies with Burundi and Gabon,” Dujarric said, adding that the U.N. had asked those states to interview the identified troops, who all left Central African Republic before the allegations surfaced.

The 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force there, known as MINUSCA, has been dogged by allegations of sexual abuse since its deployment in April 2014 to curb fighting between the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and rival anti-balaka Christian militias.

Central African Republic, which holds reserves of uranium, gold and diamonds, suffered the biggest crisis in its half-century of independence in early 2013 when Seleka toppled then-President Francois Bozize.

French troops deployed in a separate intervention in the former French colony have also been accused of abuses.

The 41 troops from Gabon and Burundi were identified by 45 possible victims in Central African Republic’s Kemo prefecture, Dujarric told reporters.

However, in 83 of the 139 cases investigated by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the possible victims were unable to identify the peacekeepers they accused of abuse or exploitation or provide corroborating evidence. A further three cases were considered unreliable.

The inquiry found another eight victims described distinctive traits of peacekeepers accused of abuse, but could not identify them through photos or corroborating evidence.

A draft U.N. memo, written by the chief of the U.N. Department of Field Support’s Conduct and Discipline Unit in August citing information from the OIOS inquiry, suggested many accusations were strikingly similar and appeared to be motivated by financial gain.

The memo, seen by Reuters, said: “OIOS notes that many of the complaints followed a specific pattern of accusations; many of the complainants’ stories were nearly identical, lacked specific details and fell apart when probed. It appeared as though the complainants had memorized a script.”

The memo said a local charity tasked with referring abuse accusations to the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF had placed complainants on a monthly remuneration scheme, offering a financial incentive for people to present themselves as victims.

In December, an independent review panel criticized the United Nations for mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse by international peacekeepers, who were not under U.N. command, in Central African Republic.

“The alleged perpetrators, if allegations against them are substantiated, and, if warranted, their commanding officers, will not be accepted again for deployment in peacekeeping operations,” Dujarric said.

{Mining magnate Gertler is a close friend of Congolese president Joseph Kabila.}

The United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office is investigating Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler over mining deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The DRC is home to some of the world’s largest deposits of copper and cobalt, and its mineral potential is estimated at $24tn (£16.9tn) – the size of the US and European GDPs combined.

The UK body, which investigates and prosecutes serious and complex fraud, is pursuing its three-year investigation into Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), a Kazakh-based mining company. ENRC withdrew from the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 in 2013 amid allegations of corruption.

Alongside four former Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation executives, Gertler is under investigation in relation to the company’s acquisition of copper and cobalt mining projects in the DRC, according to reports.

Launched in April 2013, the probe centres on three sets of transactions through which the Kazakh company acquired five mining projects in the DRC between 2010 and 2012. According to the investigating body, the Congolese state sold mining rights to Gertler, a close friend of Congolese president Joseph Kabila for a small sum. Gertler then sold the rights to the ENRC, for a much inflated price.

Commentators claim that these transactions “deprived a poor African nation of revenue to the benefit of Mr Gertler”, according to the Financial Times.

Prior to the Serious Fraud Office’s probe, ENRC, which no longer exists under the same acronym, also launched internal investigations into alleged fraud at its African operations following whistleblowing reports. Taken private by its founding trio and the Kazakh government in 2013, the renamed Eurasian Resources Group could not be reached for comment.

Gertler, who amassed a fortune through the DRC’s natural resources industry, has always denied any wrongdoings in his dealings in the region and has never been charged with a crime related to his activities. Gertler’s Fleurette Group also declined to comment when approached.

“Mr. Gertler has always made it clear that his business dealings in the DRC are entirely proper and appropriate. That remains the case. Beyond that, he is not able to comment on allegedly leaked documents,” the company said in a statement.

“I think it’s a good thing because these allegations were made a long time ago. Groups such as Global Witness had carried out many investigations themselves, and always alerted both Congolese public and international community with regards to alleged illegal contracts and deals,” Bandi Mbubi, the founder of Congo Calling exclusively told IBTimes UK.

“We welcome the fact that the SFO has now re-opened its probe, because legally we may be able to know exactly what happened, and Congolese will be reassured that a responsible body will carry out a thorough investigation. In the case it transpires that a crime may have been committed, this means reparations for victims.”

Congo Calling campaigns for ethical management of ethically-sourced, conflict-free minerals in the DRC.

As uncertainty shrouds presidential elections in the DRC will should have gone ahead in November, analysts have said only a democratically elected president can put an end to the human rights abuse linked to Congo’s mineral trade.