The example Kenya can set for South Africa and the rest of the continent

IN AFRICA, a hard-fought but fair election in a pivotal country is an example-setting event. No, this is not South Africa, where the election of Jacob Zuma as president of the ruling African National Congress on December 18th dealt a shattering blow to his rival, Thabo Mbeki. Although this puts Mr Zuma in a strong position to lead South Africa when Mr Mbeki's second term as president ends in April 2009, his succession is far from certain (see article). In Kenya on December 27th, however, power may very well change hands after the tightest electoral contest in the country's history.
Kenya may not be as sexy as South Africa, but as a haven of stability and prosperity in eastern Africa the quality of its democracy matters. Its northern and western neighbours—Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Somalia—suffer in various degrees from war, tribal conflict, government repression, separatism and all that follows. From the countries of the war-ravaged Great Lakes region, such as Congo and Rwanda, Nairobi appears an oasis of calm. But this success is relative. Kenya itself has long been beset by bad governance, corruption and tribalism. Despite receiving billions of dollars of aid, most of its 35m people remain poor. True, few countries have had to contend with the ethnic complexity of Kenya, which has more than 40 recognised tribes. Nor does erratic weather help a largely rural economy. But the main culprit is a system of politics in which a ruling class has hogged most of the cake for itself.
That is why the unusual sharpness of this election campaign is so encouraging (see article). Mwai Kibaki, the 76-year-old president seeking a second term, has presided over economic growth of about 6% this year. Having tolerated greater political and press freedom than his kleptocratic predecessor, Daniel arap Moi, he promises to extend free schooling and fix a decrepit infrastructure. But he has failed to attack corruption in high places with any vigour; indeed, he has let some of the worst crooks stay in government.
His leading opponent, Raila Odinga, who is 14 years younger, is a more energetic figure who now disavows his past socialism and East German education while still appealing to the poor and to some of the marginal tribes, particularly his own Luo in the west and the country's Muslims in the east. Mr Kibaki, by contrast, has long been at the heart of the Kenyan business establishment which his own Kikuyu tribe, the country's largest and richest, dominates. Although polls give Mr Odinga the edge, the president's media machine may help him catch up by the vote on December 27th. Both candidates have flaws: Mr Kibaki's departure is overdue, but the more energetic Mr Odinga's campaign carries a divisive flavour.

Whoever wins, what matters next is that the result should be accepted by the loser and Kenyans should be seen to endorse the principle of peaceful competition. Most of Africa has left behind the era of the one-party state, but its people have yet to be fully persuaded that multi-party politics need not be chaotic. South Africa's ruling party seems unhappy to have submitted itself to an internal contest that has humiliated President Mbeki, who himself seems loth to badger neighbouring Zimbabwe's dictatorial Robert Mugabe into holding fair elections. But if a country as complex and poor as Kenya can hold genuine elections without civil strife, then any country in Africa can. This is its chance to set an example.

Lack of Credibility in the 2007 East Africa’s Most Respected Company Awards.

Over 350 business executives took part in a survey to award one of their own as East Africa’s most respected company. Under the theme “Strength in numbers” organizers of the annual event analyzed collective opinions of chief executives (CEOs) on topical issues influencing the business environment under which they operate. Companies attracting the strongest respect have been those that continue to perform well financially, while maintaining a steady growth and increase in market share attributed to strong executive leadership.

This year’s survey sought views from CEO’s on whether the proposed East African integration was right for the region as well as the role the private sector needed to play in achieving regional success. The nature of response indicates that the CEOs view regional integration as a key pillar in attaining greater development. Working together within a system, overcoming political differences and consolidating advantages a wider market presents would make the region more competitive at the global marketplace.


Winners were unveiled at the Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel in Dar es salaam, Tanzania, on November 24 where Kenya’s leading Mobile Phone Service provider Safaricom was voted East Africa’s most respected company and Kenya’s top company in the country’s category. The win comes in the wake of a seamless network the company jointly developed with MTN Uganda, Vodacom Tanzania and Vodacom Rwanda that enables regional roaming at local rates. In 2006 Safaricom registered a pretax profit of $200 million, the highest ever in Sub-Saharan Africa to date. Two other winners in the country’s category included Tanzania Breweries and MTN Uganda (in Tanzania and Uganda respectively).

Last year’s overall winner Kenya Airways scooped the services sector award with Nakumatt Supermarkets and Aga Khan Hospitals coming in second and third respectively. East African Breweries won the manufacturers title, Barclays bank Tanzania (financial services), Serena Group (Hotels and Tourism), Homegrown (Agriculture category). In the telecoms and ICT category, Celtel Tanzania emerged winners.

While it is worth noting that most companies that scooped various awards play significant roles in regional business, one is left to wonder whether the adage “customer is king” would have yielded the same result. An example of an erroneously awarded company is Kenya Airways, which has of late been in the press for all the wrong reasons. Over the past 6 months passenger complaints have been doing rounds in the media attributed to poor service by the company. Even with new ‘state-of-the-art’ planes, issues have been raised concerning dirty and clogged washrooms, absence of in-flight entertainment (even in long haul flights), unexplained flight cancellations and delays, lost and/or damaged luggage without any recourse from the company. The most common complaint across the board was overbooking which meant that some passengers had to forego their travel because their seats had been “overbooked”.

Asking CEO’s to award one of their own is a good thing but we should put in mind that it is the common consumer who is in a better position to give a more accurate account regarding services from the so called top companies. Since CEO’s are considered wealthy and respectable, they most likely receive special form of treatment when it comes to service delivery from companies such as Kenya Airways. Naturally they will vote for it, but what about the passenger who is forced to make do with sub-standard services?

One of the workers at the company reckons that the win came as a shock. Company staff did not expect Kenya Airways to be mentioned among the list of winners let alone be nominated for the award. He however attributed recent complaints that have dodged the airline to lack of enough planes to service its current and other emerging routes. To put this into perspective, the plane that recently crashed in Cameroon is yet to be replaced but the airline still maintains the Doula- Nairobi route. Limitation in the number of planes has resulted in chains of delay making Kenya Airways to operate like a matatu (shared public taxis found in Nairobi), by running round the clock without any significant service or proper customer care regardless of the consequences.

Future organizers of such awards should aim at achieving credibility by combining views from both the corporate world and the common consumer.

Is Africa Chocking on its own development?

Majority of African countries have reported increased economic growth rates over the past year signalling a wave of new foreign direct investments on the continent. This is good news given that increased returns from such investments will fuel Africa’s quest for development. However, this has had some negative connotations because benefits of such growth are not visible in major cities across Africa. A case in point is the Kenyan capital city, Nairobi, which has seen its population increase by 6% per annum to 3 million and is projected to hit 4 million within the next 3 years, according to a recent UN Habitat conference held in Monterrey, Mexico in 2007. Being a regional headquarter to several international companies and organizations, Nairobi is one of the most influential cities in Africa. In 2007 alone, major international companies like Google Inc. and Coca-Cola relocated their Africa headquarters to Nairobi, which also plays host to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and UN-Habitat.

Development trends of major African cities have been fuelled mostly by centralisation of important ingredients that spur economic growth. Most resources are revolving around capital cities, which report tremendous growth each financial year at the expense of the rest of the economy. Economic growth is not uniform since such centralisation has had the effect of reversing progress made in terms of economic growth given that everyone is running to the city for opportunities at the cost of the city’s infrastructure, which can hardly support the increased activity. This has turned Nairobi city into a pocket to mouth economy because any monetary gains made in the past are being used to repair damage caused by increased strain of the same resources.

A recent World Bank report estimates that over 5,000 vehicles are registered to Kenyan roads every month, against a back drop of an already over used, narrow and dilapidated road network. Another problem this trend presents is the importation of second hand vehicles which are deregistered from their home countries due to high fuel consumption, old age and high carbon emission into the atmosphere. The result has been increased wastage of time due to preventable traffic jams, environmental damage and an advent of respiratory diseases. With very low earning power, a majority of the city residents cannot afford treatment. Resources that could have been used to develop other regions to create uniform economic growth for the country are being diverted to revert problems of preventable respiratory diseases, damaged roads, increased crime, drug and alcohol abuse among other preventable issues.

Given the above recount, one way of ensuring that growth rates reported reflect the situation on the ground is to decentralise management of the economy in such a way as to create more economic opportunities at the grassroots level thus minimising rural to urban migration. Moving or replicating key economic growth boosters such as roads, information and telecommunication technology (ICT) and government administration from the capital city will present better prospects for growth. Unfortunately, devolution of resources and government is an emotive political issue especially in Africa where there are unfounded fears that different cultural affiliations may create chaos, anarchy or even war; as is the case in Kenya, which is preparing for elections in December 2007 where presidential aspirants are using devolution as a basis for the next government. Devolving government administration and economic centres to areas that desperately need growth would serve to develop these areas thus improve the overall picture of success.

A classic example of a successful devolved approach to resource planning at local level is Norway, which reported the highest quality of life worldwide according to the 2006 Human Development Index (HDI), published annually by the UN, and ranks nations based on their citizens' quality of life rather than traditional economic figures. Norway has managed to successfully devolve its resources and legislation enabling it to report an all-inclusive economic growth year after year. If this has succeeded in the developed world, Africa should not be an exception.

Tanzania on a mission to wipe out Kenya’s flamingoes

By Ken Opala Daily Nation

Kenya’s multi-billion shillings tourism industry faces major test as Tanzanian authorities plan a soda ash project that could eliminate the flamingos in the region.

The plans have sent world conservationists into a spin.

A number of them attending a key international environment meeting here in the Norwegian coastal city of Trondheim are busy lobbying global action against the project that seeks to mine soda (used in the making of glass) from Lake Natron, considered the cradle of a type of flamingo that is endangered.

This writer was able to see a number of petitions signed by conservationist seeking to block the project on grounds that, if implemented, it will kill “the world’s greatest ornithological spectacle”, even as it damages livelihoods that are intricately linked to the Rift Valley tourism industry.

Dr Hazell Shokellu Thompson, the head of Birdlife Africa Partnership Secretariat, says his organisation has listed the services of two lawyers (a Kenyan and Tanzanian) to look at the possibility of moving to the East African Court of Justice sitting in Arusha, Tanzania, to block the envisaged project.

“We are meeting this Friday to look at that possibility,” he told this writer by the sides of the UN/Norway Government Trondheim Conference.

“We have already contacted our lawyers in both the countries.”

Dr Thompson was one of the speakers at the conference.

Others from Kenya included Unep’s Bakary Kante, Walter Jami Lusigi (a senior adviser to the World Bank in Washington), and Lucy Mulenkei (a minority rights activist)

In one of the petitions, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) and the Birdlife Africa Partnership, say Lake Natron Resources Ltd, a company jointly owned by the Tanzania Government and TATA Chemicals Ltd. of Mumbai, India is proposing the development of a soda-ash facility at Lake Natron.

According to the conservationists, this development could “bring about changes in the lake’s chemical composition, affecting the cyanobacteria on which the flamingos feed”.

BirdLife Africa argues that all the three million Lesser Flamingos in the region, from Djibouti down through Tanzania to Malawi, were hatched at Lake Natron

“New roads and railways, and an influx of settlers into an otherwise pristine area (with a low population of Maasai pastoralists), will cause substantial disturbance. Following the people will be scavenging birds such as Marabou Storks, associated with mass desertion of flamingo nests elsewhere.”

The salty Lake Natron is close to the Kenyan border and is very shallow, just three metres deep, although this depth varies from one end to the other.

Its bed is covered by the salt crust that runs through Kenya’s Lake Magadi, in the north.

Magadi is the world’s largest soda ash mine, and is just kilometres from Lake Natron.

“It is likely that the proposed plant would lead to a collapse of the lesser flamingo population in East Africa,” says Dr Thompson.

The Nation has gathered that the Tanzanian National Environment Management Council (NEMC) planned to meet to discuss the project’s likely harm to both the environment and the livelihoods of the local people.

A UN official attending the Trondheim conference confirmed he planned to visit the area of conflict soon.

Flamingos are a major tourism attraction in Kenya. Thousands of tourists visit the Rift Valley lakes of Naivasha, Nakuru and Bogoria to view the pink spectacle of these migratory birds.

Lake Nakuru alone generates some $15 million (about Sh1.05 billion) annually.

Yet the birds have faced constant threat from pollution, but the latest threat could be one of their biggest dangers of all, say conservationists.

The flamingos are attracted to the lake because it offers a reliable food supply and freshwater, even as it acts as a protection against most predators, conservationists argue.

According to documents by BirdLife Africa, the lesser flamingo stands between four and five feet high but is the smallest of the six flamingo species.

It has long pink legs and a long neck. Its large body is rose-pink, the colour coming from pigments in its main food. The birds eat by holding their bills upside down in the water.

They are found throughout Africa south of the Sahara, and from the Arabian Peninsula to Pakistan. They occasionally migrate to areas bordering the Mediterranean.

According to estimates, there are about 3.25 m lesser flamingos in the world of which around three-quarters, about 2.5 million, are found in East Africa.

“Lesser Flamingos are extremely sensitive to environmental disturbance, particularly when breeding. They easily abandon colonies,” says Dr Thompson.

Flamingos live until they are about 40 years old but only breed every five or six years. Non-breeding birds do not return to breeding sites until they are ready to breed again.