Ange Iliza

Rwanda answers critics on ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero’s conviction

Saturday September 25 2021

‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina is escorted by police officers after his pre-trial court session on September 20. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

Belgium, which is Rusesabagina’s adoptive country since 1996, was the first to complain, saying that his rights were abused throughout the trial.
Kigali on Wednesday cancelled bilateral meetings between its Foreign Affairs Minister, Vincent Biruta, and Belgian officials in New York.
Rusesabagina’s family and supporters also denounced the ruling.
The US said it was concerned with the ruling and urged Rwanda to “examine shortcomings in Rusesabagina’s case.”

By IVAN R. MUGISHA

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Rwanda has pushed back against criticism of the court verdict in the conclusion of the seven-monthlong trial of Paul Rusesabagina at Nyarugenge Court of Justice in Kigali. Rusesabagina was found guilty and handed a 25-year jail term.

Belgium, which is Rusesabagina’s adoptive country since 1996, was the first to complain, saying that his rights were abused throughout the trial.

“At the end of these legal proceedings, and despite repeated appeals from Belgium, it must be concluded that Mr Rusesabagina has not been given a fair and equitable trial, in particular with regard to the rights of the defence. The presumption of innocence was also not respected. These elements de facto call into question the trial and the verdict,” said Sophie Wilmès, Belgian deputy PM and minister of Foreign Affairs.

Kigali on Wednesday cancelled bilateral meetings between its Foreign Affairs Minister, Vincent Biruta, and Belgian officials in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, saying, “The statement of the minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium reflects the contempt shown by Belgium towards the Rwandan judicial system since the start of this trial, despite the significant contribution of relevant Belgian institutions to the investigation of this case.

Rusesabagina’s family and supporters also denounced the ruling.

His daughter, Carine Kanimba, said that all the criticism that Rwanda is getting indicates that it was “a show trial,” and called on the international community to put more pressure on Rwanda to ensure his release.

The US said it was concerned with the ruling and urged Rwanda to “examine shortcomings in Rusesabagina’s case.”

Human Rights Watch said the trial indicates how Rwanda’s courts are overpowered by political influence.

But Rwanda’s Prosecutor General, Aimable Havugiyaremye, said that all the criticism that Rwanda was facing is unfounded, and that the trial was live online for transparency.

In the headlines

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She expressed her dissatisfaction with the balance of trade, quoting 2019 figures on Tanzania imported and exported goods.

Rwanda hits target in Covid vaccination drive

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Ethiopia’s minister calls for peace amid fears of Tigray reinvasion

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President Kagame in Mozambique for State visit

Kenya upgrades Manda Bay station as second naval base, lookout point

Saturday September 25 2021

President Uhuru Kenyatta lays a wreath at the monument of fallen soldiers at the Kenya Navy Base, Manda Bay in Lamu County. He presided over Presentation and Trooping of the Colour Ceremony. PHOTO | PSCU

Summary

The base in Lamu County, will now serve as a co-ordination centre to secure the maritime and land territories.
Nairobi sees Lapsset and Lamu port as a critical national and international investment deserving maximum security.
Mogadishu sued Kenya at the ICJ, seeking to redraw its maritime boundary from Kiunga, just north of Manda.

By ANTHONY KITIMO

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The upgrading of the Manda Bay station in the north coast of Kenya, into a full military base, is the latest signal by Kenya on just how much it is investing in the security of the new Lamu port and the Lamu Port-South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor and its entire Coastal territory.

The base in Lamu County, will now serve as a co-ordination centre to secure the maritime and land territories.

Nairobi sees Lapsset and Lamu port as a critical national and international investment deserving maximum security.

“Given the growing investments in this part of our country and the promise of the maritime domain, Manda is an invaluable listening and watching tower for Kenya and Kenyans,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday at the presentation of Presidential Regiment Colours to the Kenyan Navy in Manda Base.

“We are steadfastly committed to making Boni area a peaceful and stable economic hub. Those infrastructure projects will support the livelihoods of our people within the region,” he said.

Lapsset, a $23 billion project was mooted in 2012 by Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia to construct interconnected ports, railways, airports and roads. Lamu port has so far set up the first berth. But the project largely relies on security and commitments by the three countries to see the projects built.

Terrorist cells

Although the government says the Manda Base upgrade is about guarding the border against external attacks, it comes as the International Court of Justice prepares to deliver a judgement in the maritime border case between Somalia and Kenya on October 12.

Mogadishu sued Kenya at the ICJ, seeking to redraw its maritime boundary from Kiunga, just north of Manda.

Manda was also critical in Kenya’s entry into Somalia in pursuit of kidnappers and later terrorist cells and the final onslaught on Kismayu which uprooted al-Shabaab .

President Kenyatta said the naval base is strategically located and has played a critical role defending Kenya’s sovereignty, maintaining territorial integrity, and securing the nation’s maritime borders.

“Today’s exercise of presentation of the Presidential and Regimental colours to Kenya Navy Manda Bay Base will see the installation gain expanded operational autonomy as it sets out to become a more geo-strategic facility for national, regional and global security operations.”

The base was established as a forward operating location under the operational control of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa and is now the second Kenya Navy Base after Mtongwe.

It has been a multinational task force that combed the Indian Ocean to guard against piracy.

Now the waters are free from pirate attacks after the International Maritime Organisation recently removed Kenya from the piracy red list.

In the headlines

Rwanda answers critics on ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero’s conviction

Belgium, US, family and supporters questioned fairness of trial of Hotel Rwanda movie hero.

President Samia’s offer to investors abroad

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the balance of trade, quoting 2019 figures on Tanzania imported and exported goods.

Rwanda hits target in Covid vaccination drive

Somaliland objects election of reps to Somalia Senate

Ethiopia’s minister calls for peace amid fears of Tigray reinvasion

Ban Kenyans from going to Saudi Arabia as domestic workers: ministry

President Kagame in Mozambique for State visit

Kagame says troops will stay put in Cabo Delgado to ensure stability

Saturday September 25 2021

President Paul Kagame in Pemba, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, on a visit to the Rwandan soldiers deployed there. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

Kagame was on his first visit to the country since the Rwandan deployment two months ago.
He said the troops were ready to embark on another task of rebuilding and protecting the country.
President Nyusi praised the Rwandan troops, describing them as heroes, who are loved and respected, and have shown immense respect to Mozambican citizens.

By ARNALDO VIEIRA

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By JOHNSON KANAMUGIRE

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A JOINT REPORT

The EastAfrican

President Paul Kagame has praised the Rwandan troops deployed to fight insurgents in Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique for their good work fighting insurgents.

While addressing the joint force of Mozambican Armed Defence and Rwanda Defence Force on Friday at Cabo Delgado, he also said the soldiers will stay put to stabilise and facilitate the return of displaced civilians to their homes.

Kagame was on his first visit to the country since the Rwandan deployment two months ago. He was accompanied by his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Nyusi.

He said the troops were ready to embark on another task of rebuilding and protecting the country.

Duration of mandate

“The work done so far cannot stop here. We now have another task which is to continue rebuilding and protecting this country. The president and people of Mozambique are at the forefront of this and will inform us how long our mandate here should be,” Kagame said.

“The rebels better know that we won’t sit back and let them return and threaten the lives of the people in Cabo Delgado.”

President Kagame is on a two-day state visit to Mozambique and also keep abreast of the military operations against the insurgent groups in Cabo Delgado. He is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with his Mozambican counterpart at which the two leaders will sign co-operation deals.

The Rwanda President’s Office announced that the two Heads of State will attend a military ceremony for Armed Forces Day on Saturday.

President Nyusi praised the Rwandan troops, describing them as heroes, who are loved and respected, and have shown immense respect to Mozambican citizens.

The Rwandan contingent is 1,000-soldier strong, made up of the army and the police who recently launched offensive against the insurgents in Cabo Delgado province

In July, Rwanda was the first to send troops to Mozambique. Botswana later sent a contingent of 296 and South Africa deployed 1,500 soldiers.

Both presidents Nyusi and Kagame have defended the deployment saying it was necessary to counter the rising threat of terrorism and insecurity after the insurgents linked to the Islamic State group took control of most of the five districts in Cabo Delgado in four years since 2017.

President Kagame has defended the deployment, and said his country is footing the deployment bill for now, and the mission will stay on to train the Mozambican army, pointing out that the nature of the threat was regional given that the insurgents not only included Mozambicans, but also Tanzanians, Ugandans, Kenyans, Somalis, Yemenis, Congolese and Rwandan fighters.

“There is nobody who sponsored us for this. Our minister of Finance knows how much we have been draining into this, but I think the outcome and cause are much bigger than the money we have spent. Maybe we will work with the Mozambican government to fill the gaps that have been created.” President Kagame said on September 5, at a press briefing on the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency TV.

In the headlines

Rwanda answers critics on ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero’s conviction

Belgium, US, family and supporters questioned fairness of trial of Hotel Rwanda movie hero.

President Samia’s offer to investors abroad

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the balance of trade, quoting 2019 figures on Tanzania imported and exported goods.

Rwanda hits target in Covid vaccination drive

Somaliland objects election of reps to Somalia Senate

Ethiopia’s minister calls for peace amid fears of Tigray reinvasion

Ban Kenyans from going to Saudi Arabia as domestic workers: ministry

President Kagame in Mozambique for State visit

Rwanda hits target in Covid vaccination drive, off EU red list

Saturday September 25 2021

Refugees from Libya register after receiving their first doses of Covid-19 vaccines at Gashora Emergency Transit Centre in Kigali. PHOTO | FILE

Summary

Rwanda has vaccinated 2,029,038 people with the first jab and 1,466,966 are fully vaccinated as of September 24.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in the latest weekly briefing that African countries have so far acquired 181.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

By BOB KARASHANI

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By Ange Iliza

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A JOINT REPORT

The EastAfrican

Rwanda hit the September global target of fully vaccinating 10 percent of its 12.9 million population against Covid-19 and is among countries recommended by the European Union to have unrestricted access for non-essential travel its territory.

The country has vaccinated 2,029,038 people with the first jab and 1,466,966 are fully vaccinated as of September 24. In August, Rwanda launched a vaccination campaign that targeted Kigali residents above the age of 18.

According to the World Health Organisation, Rwanda has received 3.4 million doses of vaccines so far. Of these, it has administered 3.3 million doses and fully vaccinated 10 percent of its population.

On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in the latest weekly briefing that African countries have so far acquired 181.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines. The agency said around 4.06 percent of Africa's population has been fully vaccinated. Some 136.3 million of the total 181.2 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far. Five countries — Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia -— have acquired and administered the most doses to their populations, according to the agency.

Morocco has so far administered 39.5 million doses, accounting for about 48.63 percent of the country's total population. So far at least 70,739,842 Covid-19 tests have been conducted on the continent. These numbers are expected to increase as Tanzania committed to official publishing of Covid-19 statistics as part of conditions to access $567.25 million International Monetary Fund loan, disbursed earlier this month to mitigate effects of the global pandemic.

Finance minister Mwigulu Nchemba in an official letter dated August 20 to the Fund, pledged; "We are committed to start, by end-September 2021, to regularly and transparently report and disseminate critical information on the pandemic to the WHO and the public at least weekly," said Mr Nchemba. Tanzania stopped official publishing of Covid-19 data in April last year, with only 509 cases and 21 deaths reported then.

The IMF says on its website that the loan endorsement and disbursement are in response to Tanzania's need for "urgent financial assistance" to implement its Covid-19 response plan.

In the headlines

Rwanda answers critics on ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero’s conviction

Belgium, US, family and supporters questioned fairness of trial of Hotel Rwanda movie hero.

President Samia’s offer to investors abroad

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the balance of trade, quoting 2019 figures on Tanzania imported and exported goods.

Somaliland objects election of reps to Somalia Senate

Ethiopia’s minister calls for peace amid fears of Tigray reinvasion

Ban Kenyans from going to Saudi Arabia as domestic workers: ministry

President Kagame in Mozambique for State visit

Come all ye who are loaded: Samia’s offer to investors abroad

Saturday September 25 2021

South Africa’s President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa in a pre-recorded video addresses the 76th UN General Assembly on September 23, 2021 in New York. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

President Samia Suluhu Hassan used her address to market her country as a trading destination.
On Wednesday, she participated in a meeting between Tanzanian and US business people and urged strengthening of trade between the two nations.
President Samia also informed the business people that her country had finally signed the agreement for the African Continental Free Trade Area.

By LUKE ANAMI

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By AGGREY MUTAMBO

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A JOINT report

The EastAfrican

President Samia Suluhu Hassan this week took advantage of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to woo investors from the US and the European Union to Tanzania, promising a raft of policy changes that will make the business environment investor-friendly.

In her first attendance of the Assembly, and six years since a Tanzanian president last addressed the UNGA (it was Jakaya Kikwete who last addressed it in 2015), the Tanzanian leader used her address to market her country as a trading destination.

“I want to take this opportunity to invite you to trade more with our country,” President Samia told a joint gathering of US investors and the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation on the sidelines of the Assembly.

On Wednesday, she participated in a meeting between Tanzanian and US business people and urged strengthening of trade between the two nations.

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the balance of trade between the two countries, quoting 2019 figures which show that Tanzania imported goods worth $241 million and sold goods worth just $46 million.

“The United States invested $5.55 billion and employed 44,118 people while Tanzania invested only $1 million – a small amount compared with the size of the US economy in the world and the opportunities available in Tanzania,” she said.

“I would like to see trade increase, as Tanzania is a member of the East African Community and also the Southern African Development Community, which provides opportunities for US investors and traders in a market with a population of 450 million people, which is favourable for investment.”

President Samia also informed the business people that her country had finally signed the agreement for the African Continental Free Trade Area, through which Africa is relaxing trading conditions in a market of 1.3 billion people.

Political observers say the country stands to benefit immensely from President Samia’s participation in the Assembly.

“She has made deliberate attempts to improve the image of the country both regionally and internationally by visiting all its neighbours,” noted James Aggrey Mwamu, a former president of the East African Law Society.

Areas where the country stands to gain include strengthening economic diplomacy, attracting investments and promotion of tourism.

“Her international travels are very significant. What she is telling her neighbours is that they can deal with her,” Mr Mwamu said.

Her decision to reverse the national approach and sentiment around Covid-19 and roll out of vaccination fits in with US President Joe Biden’s plans to contain the virus that has ravaged people worldwide.

She also met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, president of World Bank David Malpass and director-general of World Trade Organisation Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

“They agreed to co-operate in the areas of economic growth and combating the Covid-19 pandemic,” said a dispatch after the meetings.

Shift in foreign policy

The talks in these meetings signalled a shift in Tanzania’s foreign policy under President Samia from inward-looking to embracing the world for growth.

“It is not by sheer coincidence that I chose to attend the UN General Assembly as my first trip outside Africa since I took office. I did so out of my deep sense of conviction and faith in multilateralism in solving the challenges facing our world today,” she told the audience in her address to the General Assembly on Thursday night.

“Under my stewardship, Tanzania will remain a formidable member of the United Nations and a dependable supporter of multilateralism. We will keep our arms open to those who embrace us and engage with us.”

Ahead of the meetings, civil rights groups had presented a petition on a list of laws and policies they say should be change to make Tanzania better. The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), for instance, asked the Tanzanian President to address gaps in media laws and political and civil society regulations and freedoms.

Critics charge that she has gone back to some of the old practices, citing the recent arrest and detention of opposition leaders on charges they claim are politically contrived.

President Samia, who is promising the world that Tanzania has turned a new page, offered to correct some of the laws on investment and governance, which are necessary for stability.

“Aware of the nexus between economic growth and governance, we managed to maintain peace, political stability with a vibrant democracy and institutionalised good practices, upholding rule of law and human rights,” she said.

She added that her administration is implementing “gender-responsive macro-economic plans,” noting that, as a woman, the burden of expectations is “heavier on my shoulders” to balance the equation. That will include reforming the budget to ensure more funds go to programmes for women and girls, stimulus packages like easily accessible credit lines to uplift women from poverty.

She gave no timelines but said her government “is reviewing policy and legal frameworks in order to come up with actionable and measurable plans to ensure economic empowerment of women but also other aspects pertaining to gender equality and gender parity.”

Recently, the International Monetary Fund approved $567.25 million in emergency financing package to Tanzania under the Rapid Credit Facility to address health, humanitarian and economic costs of the pandemic.

“This emergency financing will help finance Tanzania’s urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Fund said.

Tanzania had received Covid-19 support before, even when the John Magufuli administration denied the virus’s existence within its borders.

As Covid-19 ravaged the world, Magufuli did not initially lock down the country, and mostly doubted its existence. He also closed the door on some external partners.

This week, President Samia admitted that Tanzania was impacted by the pandemic as other countries, citing the collapsing tourism sector, which has been the mainstay of the economy.

“Developing nations must be assisted in addressing the socioeconomic impact of Covid-19. We cannot afford to take refuge on the onset of Covid-19 as an excuse for not making progress in achieving Sustainable Development Goals,” she told the Assembly.

The SDGs are meant to be achieved by 2030, but the pandemic could derail progress unless efforts are made to help the poor, she argued. First, countries that committed to the various climate change programmes will have to honour their commitments on green investments, she noted.

Paris climate pact

Tanzania will demand that the rich countries, mostly responsible for pollution, pay their $100 million committed funding by 2025, under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Samia expressed hope for economic growth, but noted it had slowed down from 6.9 percent before the pandemic to the current 5.4 percent forecast.

She also met and held talks with the president of the Council of the European Union (EU) Charles Michel, who identified four priority areas for discussion: Covid-19, climate change, security in Mozambique and the digital revolution.

Among other things, President Samia said her government is strengthening health infrastructure, even in the face of challenges in accessing medical equipment and the required human resources to deal with the pandemic.

“I wish to extend our invite to the European Union to consider working with us in those areas,” she said.

Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye also attended the Assembly while Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta participated virtually.

President Ndayishimiye told the audience his country is now past the war years, but was still facing a war against poverty.

“The only enemy that remains a threat to citizens, in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic — which is common to all of us — is poverty,” Ndayishimiye said on Thursday.

“We must make concerted, structural changes that will enable a quantum increase in investment and technology transfers, not as charity but out of solidarity,” President Kenyatta said in his recorded address on Wednesday.

“A fast developing Africa will offer the entire world the benefit of its demographic dividend of youth and vast economic opportunities. African can become an engine of sustainable global growth but also as an exporter of peace, stability and transformative prosperity.”

Common enemy in Covid-19

During crucial sidelines meetings Covid-19 was cited as a common enemy, even when leaders discussed trade deficits, food security problems, climate change or intellectual property rights.

At the UN Food Security Systems Summit, for example, the World Health Organisation reported that three billion people in the world have no access to a healthy diet, the reason for 60 percent of ailments in the world. During the pandemic season, the WHO said the situation got worse, affecting 370 million schoolchildren who relied on school meals.

“Health and nutrition need to be a core, cross-cutting and rights-based underpinning of food systems transformation. Fair, equitable and sustainable transformation must start now,” WHO said on Thursday after the summit on food security.

“Food systems in all regions of the world need to be reimagined to deliver nutritious, safe, diverse, and affordable foods, to combat hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition, and food-borne illnesses, and to prevent non-communicable diseases.”

Leaders said better food security systems will lie in innovation and new technology that will be less hazardous to the environment but produce nutritious food products.

President Samia noted that it was disheartening to see Africa’s tally of vaccinated people at three percent as the rich seek booster shots for Covid-19.

Almost all African leaders who spoke called for better green investments and a role for the continent as a partner, not just a recipient of aid.

In the headlines

Rwanda answers critics on ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero’s conviction

Belgium, US, family and supporters questioned fairness of trial of Hotel Rwanda movie hero.

Rwanda hits target in Covid vaccination drive

Somaliland objects election of reps to Somalia Senate

Ethiopia’s minister calls for peace amid fears of Tigray reinvasion

Ban Kenyans from going to Saudi Arabia as domestic workers: ministry

President Kagame in Mozambique for State visit

Kenya’s new ‘Lunatic Express’ reveals lot about the country’s struggles, triumphs

Friday September 24 2021

Passengers disembark from the Standard Gauge Railway inter-county passenger train in Mombasa. Since Kenya’s new railway began operations in 2017, its four daily trains have transported several million people. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NMG

Summary

The Kenyan line is expected to eventually link up with other SGRs being built in East African Community member countries.
The SGR’s main station in Nairobi is located at Syokimau, some 19.2km from the city’s central business district (CBD).
Since Kenya’s new railway began operations in 2017, its four daily trains have transported several million people.
However, even the auxiliary transport providers at isolated train stations could not escape the devastating effects of the coronavirus that swept through the world starting in 2020.

By MORRIS KIRUGA

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Every day, at exactly two minutes past midday, the Madaraka Express Passenger Service inter-county train from Nairobi stops at the Voi station. It departs six minutes later on its way to the coastal city of Mombasa. The six-minute halt at Voi is the longest of the seven stops between Nairobi and Mombasa — it stops for just two minutes at the next station, Miasenyi, 33 minutes later.

When I got off the train at Voi in mid-July this year, having chosen the stop for no reason beyond curiosity, I was just one of the many passengers disembarking. Ours was a motley group of travellers: a man hauling a heavy carton reinforced with adhesive tape, a woman herding two tired children out of the station, a handful of students heading back to school after a break, and several lone travellers like me.

We alighted quickly to give way to the other passengers waiting to take our seats for the onward journey to Mombasa. Once outside, we all faced the same problem; how to get to Voi town, which Google Maps estimates to be 4.2km away.

One of the least discussed issues about Kenya’s new Mombasa-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway (or simply SGR), is the location of its stations and sub-stations. Debate has over the years focused on the politics of the cost of the construction of the railway that is part of the East African Railway Master Plan. The Kenyan line is expected to eventually link up with other SGRs being built in East African Community member countries.

A loved and unloved railway

Many in Kenya consider the cost of the SGR, at $3.6 billion, to be exorbitant while others have questioned its economic viability. However, not much attention has been paid to the location of the 12 stops along the 578.8km route of the passenger train between the Mombasa Terminus and its Nairobi counterpart, and beyond on the track’s latest extension to Mai Mahiu in Naivasha and Suswa in Narok.

The SGR’s main station in Nairobi is located at Syokimau, some 19.2km from the city’s central business district (CBD). The Mombasa Terminus is at Miritini, some 16.1km from the coastal town’s CBD. The trend is repeated for the other stations and sub-stations, which are placed some distance away from the urban areas they serve, just far enough for means of transport to and from the train to be of some concern to passengers.

Some would consider this to be a logistical hurdle in accessing the services of the SGR train, which is admittedly faster and more economical than other means of transport between Mombasa and Nairobi.

This is hardly the case for Kenya’s service economy. For this sector’s stakeholders, the extra distance that the passengers on the SGR train have to travel to get to the destination urban centres presents an irresistible business opportunity. It has proved to be a boon for taxi and tuk tuk drivers, boda boda riders, and even matatu operators.

Besides the train’s staff and passengers, probably no one else knows the Madaraka Express train’s schedule better than these operators. They start arriving at the stations and sub-stations well in advance of the train, eager to grab the best spots to attract the attention of the disembarking passengers.

In Voi, I shared a tuk tuk with a student in uniform, although we each ended up paying the full fare for the short trip. When I finally disembarked at the Mariakani SGR station, I chose a taxi that was waiting in the parking lot. There were other options that included tuk tuks and boda bodas. I realised too late to change my mind that I would also have used one of the many matatus that ply the main road not far from the station. This would have been a much cheaper option.

Millions take the ride

Since Kenya’s new railway began operations in 2017, its four daily trains have transported several million people. In 2018 alone, the Madaraka Express service handled 1,665,627 passengers. In the first few months, the stations had few services to offer the passengers, railway and private security staff, and police officers on guard duty. But now it is totally different. The main Nairobi and Mombasa terminuses have restaurants and, as I found out while sheltering from the rain as I waited to board the train for my return journey from Mombasa days later, even a few bars.

The passenger service is not the Standard Gauge Railway’s main economic activity.

In 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted economies and transport systems, the railway operator made nearly 14 times more hauling cargo than it did moving passengers.

However, moving passengers was a key selling point for the entire enterprise because the new train service cut the journey between the two main Kenyan cities from 12 hours by bus — or 16-plus hours on the old railway line — to just five.

The other selling point, a passenger told me as we waited to board, is that the trains keeps time. Several other passengers and service providers that I encountered during my adventure on the SGR trains echoed the sentiment, and expressed their willingness to pay for a train ticket that allows them to plan their schedules.

This has made it possible for service providers at SGR stations and sub-stations, be it independent auxiliary transporters or the odd hawker waiting outside the gate, to tailor their businesses to the train schedule.

“I have regular clients on weekdays who need me to pick them up and drop them off in the morning and in the evening,” Godwin Mkoo, the cab driver I used in Mariakani told me.

“During the rest of the day, I find other fares to keep me busy, or I just go home.” He, like many other transport providers, arrive at the station at least 30 minutes before the train to catch the passengers as they disembark.

Passengers waiting at the lobby for the train at SGR Nairobi terminus on May 31, 2019. Madaraka Express passenger service is celebrating g 2nd year anniversary. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG

Mkoo has learned to read the passengers. He chuckled as he explained to me that he can tell the passengers who know where they are going or have arranged to have their transport waiting, or those who know that they can get a matatu a short distance away. Then there are those, like me, who end up in his cab.

Although the auxiliary transport business at the main train stops appears to be seamless and orderly, with an apparent hierarchy that has its top licensed taxi operators, this was not always the case. Like all new activities, it had its teething problems.

Talk of a cartel

In January 2018, just months after the train service started operations, drivers affiliated to online taxi-hailing firms protested outside the Mombasa Terminus against what they termed as harassment by security officers.

Apparently, they were not being allowed into the station to pick up passengers and had to wait some distance from the main entrance.

“We suspect that an inside cartel is trying to control the taxi business for its own benefit,” one driver was quoted as saying, a typically Kenyan way of explaining what one doesn’t understand.

“Its not really a cartel,” the cab driver who me picked up from the Nairobi Terminus on the last leg of my trip laughed when I raised the matter. “It’s just business.”

For the better part of an hour, he was at pains to explain to me why “old school” taxi drivers like him deserve to be at the top of the pecking order in getting access to the available parking spots. His view was that the drivers need the slots the most.

He described what sounded like a miniature “last mile” economy, where he faced competition not just from other cab drivers and taxi-hailing apps, but also from a few 14-seater matatus that had figured out that there was a lucrative market at the train station for certain destinations. I had noticed at least two matatus destined for Thika town, some 56kms away.

The operators have come up with ways to adapt to their unique business environment, which has short but intensive periods of activity when passengers disembark, followed by long dry spells until the next train arrives, and maximise their income.

One is to undercut taxi-hailing cabs by asking for lower fares. Another one is as simple as knowing where to park. An important way is to know the passengers to avoid and the ones to approach. Then there are other ingenious “fixes” that might not be comfortable for everyone.

Uncomfortable fixes

I encountered one such fix when my driver in Nairobi convinced me to share the cab with several other passengers. I agreed because it sounded like a good idea at the time. But we ended up getting lost because one of the other passengers was new to Nairobi and hadn’t quite figured out the difference between South B and South C.

After we finally found her destination, we detoured to Eastleigh before finally embarking on my trip home. This inconvenienced me greatly, but it was a boon for the taxi man because he ended up collecting three fares in just one trip. He was quite happy as he headed home to sleep for a few hours before returning to the station to wait for the passengers arriving at 3am on the night train.

The taxi driver and his colleagues seemed to have everything figured out, down to where they fall on the list of essential service providers exempted from the curfew restrictions prompted by Covid-19.

However, even the auxiliary transport providers at isolated train stations could not escape the devastating effects of the coronavirus that swept through the world starting in 2020.

The train services carried no passengers for at least two months in mid-2020, at the height of Kenya’s first major lockdown, which cut off all transport nodes in major hotspot areas in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. The SGR train operator weathered the lockdown and subsequent Covid-19 lockdown measures somehow because passengers are not its main revenue earner.

The Covid-19 toll

However, the auxiliary service industry that depends on the movement of the passengers was decimated. Although the April-July lockdowns did not coincide with the high tourist season of December and early January, they erased the significant gains of the tourism sector and the many bit players who depend on it.

The economy has since to climbed back on its feet,and is expected to rebound soon, but the service industry has not forgotten. Nearly every service provider I spoke with about how their businesses were doing remembered how tough 2020 was.

Before the pandemic, adaptation in Kenya’s service economy had been a slow affair. For cab drivers, the main issue was competition with the drivers of taxi-hailing companies. In the hospitality industry, adaptation was limited to small, functional adjustments, and many refused (and still do) to provide little things like toothpaste in their room care packages. All these concerns paled into insignificance as the coronavirus rampaged through the country. The shock that the pandemic unleashed on economic activities was sudden and brutal for everyone. The trains, buses, and planes that bring tourists, and with them much-needed business for everyone involved, were mothballed for months.

“For nearly three months, the estimated 40,000 beds in Mombasa and the neighbouring counties were empty,” Julius Owino, the CEO of the Kenya Coast Tourist Association, told me as we sat at a socially acceptable distance from each other in his office in Mombasa.

With occupancy rates at zero in a sector that depends entirely on the movement of people, the incomes of more than 200,000 people who depend on tourism, 50,000 of them directly employed in the sector, were on the line.

After the initial shock wore off, and with the government still trying to get a working plan in motion, coastal tourist operators presented a proposal to help restart the sector.

The plan was backed by detailed research on how the virus spreads and suggested protocols that would allow them to reopen their businesses.

“We were probably the first sector to go to the government with our own draft proposals, and it worked! By last December, occupancy rates were back to 80 percent, most of them being local travellers,” Owino said.

Hotels and other tourism providers joined in, taking advantage of the spike in domestic travellers by offering deals targeting the local market.

“It is now safer to be in a hotel than on public transport,” he boasted.

Some tentative sense of normalcy has returned to the service sector, but some providers still worry that a huge surge in Covid-19 cases could lead to another total or even partial lockdown and bring business to a halt once again.

In the meantime, by unspoken consensus, everyone is constantly adapting, and hoping for the best.

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Kenya and WEP team up to fight climate impact

Friday September 24 2021

If left unchecked, climate change-related shocks will cause untold disruptions to the food and nutrition security of the country, with those already disadvantaged bearing the biggest brunt. PHOTO | FILE | NMG

Summary

Through the partnership, the WFP will support the scaling-up of community-led climate-sensitive actions.
Yatani said Kenya seeks to improve co-ordination and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, while promoting greater transparency in line with the Paris Agreement signed in 2015.
WFP Kenya country director, Lauren Landis, said climate change delivers more frequent and intense droughts and other extreme weather, which disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people.

By PAULINE KAIRU

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Kenya will work with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to fight climate change impacts on its economy. The Government-Financing Locally-Led Climate Action Programme (G-FLLoCA) aims to increase access to green technologies to deliver low-carbon, climate-resilient development at national and local levels as well as attract new investments in support of climate resilience.

Through the partnership, the WFP will support the scaling-up of community-led climate-sensitive actions, invest in increasing the capacities of national and county institutions to programme, finance, and implement climate change initiatives, while rebuilding the livelihoods of families who have lost their incomes.

“The impact of climate change on Kenya’s economic development and growth is already significant, with climate-related disasters such as droughts and floods estimated to have an economic liability of between two percent and 2.8 percent of GDP annually,” said National Treasury and Planning Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, during the signing of the agreement. “This liability is driven by Kenya’s climate-sensitive economy, with sectors such as agriculture, water, energy, tourism and wildlife sectors most-affected and compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years,” he added.

If left unchecked, climate change-related shocks will cause untold disruptions to the food and nutrition security of the country, with those already disadvantaged bearing the biggest brunt.

Yatani said Kenya seeks to improve co-ordination and effectiveness in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, while promoting greater transparency in line with the Paris Agreement signed in 2015.

WFP Kenya country director, Lauren Landis, said climate change delivers more frequent and intense droughts and other extreme weather, which disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people.

“These events can quickly spiral into full-blown food and nutrition crises, with the global risk of hunger and malnutrition estimated to increase by up to 20 percent by 2050,” said Landis, adding, “Eradicating hunger requires bold efforts to improve the ability of people to prepare, respond and recover, by investing in anticipatory action to understand the risks before a crisis arises and in long-term resilience-building activities, improving market access and rehabilitating land.”

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Bad hair day: Indian salon told to pay $271,000 for botched trim

Friday September 24 2021

A hair salon. FILE PHOTO | SHUTTERSTOCK

Summary

Aashna Roy went to the salon at a top New Delhi hotel in 2018 and asked staff to trim a conservative four inches (10 centimetres) from her tips, according to a judgement by the city's consumer court.

By AFP

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New Delhi

An Indian salon has been ordered to pay more than $271,000 (Sh29.81 million) in damages to a model for a botched haircut which she claimed caused a “severe mental breakdown”.

Aashna Roy went to the salon at a top New Delhi hotel in 2018 and asked staff to trim a conservative four inches (10 centimetres) from her tips, according to a judgement by the city's consumer court.

“However, to the utter shock and surprise of the complainant, the hairdresser chopped off her entire hair leaving only four inches from the top and barely touching her shoulders,” it added.

The court determined that as Roy had already established a career lending her skills to advertisements for hair products, the botched haircut had led to “severe mental breakdown and trauma”.

“There is no doubt that the women are very cautious and careful with regard to their hair,” said the ruling by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

“They spend a handsome amount on keeping the hair in good condition. They are also emotionally attached with their hairs,” it added.

“She lost her expected assignments and suffered a huge loss which completely changed her lifestyle and shattered her dream to be a top model.”

The court told the salon, which can still appeal the verdict, to pay 20 million rupees within eight weeks of the order.

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Belgium, US, family and supporters questioned fairness of trial of Hotel Rwanda movie hero.

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She expressed her dissatisfaction with the balance of trade, quoting 2019 figures on Tanzania imported and exported goods.

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Afghanistan faces near universal poverty within a year

Friday September 24 2021

Afghan schoolgirls taking mid-term exam at a school in Kabul in 2019 but now need refuge abroad. In the last 20 years in Afghanistan, years of schooling increased from six to 10. PHOTO | AFP

Summary

Depending on how the situation evolves, the country could add economic losses of up to 13 percent to its unfolding tragedy, by the middle of 2022.
According to recent analysis by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) a 10-13 percent hit in GDP could bring Afghanistan to the brink of near universal poverty.
Now, with skyrocketing food prices and an interrupted economy, food insecurity is rising precipitously, and health and wellbeing are expected to plummet.

By ACHIM STEINER

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In the deluge of negative headlines, of violence, and political uncertainty it is hard to see where the future will take Afghanistan. With its governance systems broken, fear and uncertainty are the common currency.

Depending on how the situation evolves, the country could add economic losses of up to 13 percent to its unfolding tragedy, by the middle of 2022. That percentage may seem modest given the scale of the country’s crisis, but not when it translates into the reality of people’s daily lives.

According to recent analysis by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) a 10-13 percent hit in GDP could bring Afghanistan to the brink of near universal poverty – up to a 97% poverty rate – despite the difficult but real progress achieved over the last 20 years.

Afghanistan made considerable progress in the last 20 years. Per capita income more than doubled since the early 2000s. Life expectancy at birth has extended by nine years. Years of schooling increased from six to 10. As the number of students rose from 800,000 to over 8 million, more than 3 million of girls entered the education system.

Now, with skyrocketing food prices and an interrupted economy, food insecurity is rising precipitously, and health and wellbeing are expected to plummet, compounding the problems wrought by Covid-19. The social impact of the latest developments may come down to one major factor: the space and status accorded to women and girls.

Afghanistan also achieved a comparable transformation in women’s employment. While women were often restricted to working in poppy cultivation and opium harvesting, women today make up more than one-fifth of the civil service and one-fourth of members of Parliament.

We must harness the best of what has been seeded, keep it protected and growing. Now is the time for immense courage, wise choices, and dogged determination on what to pursue and how, to protect livelihoods, basic services, human security and human rights.

We are particularly concerned with the continued space for women-run businesses, which form the backbone of an informal sector, that constitutes almost 80 percent of Afghanistan’s local economic activity. Whether selling vegetables from their gardens, woven baskets, or breads, women have been able to hold their households and communities away from poverty’s razor edge. Their children can go to school, their parents can get basic health care, as they have a basic income to rely on. The collapse of these micro and small businesses will spike the poverty rate. Taking away the rights of women to work, to learn, and to live with dignity will push Afghanistan’s economy into a dark abyss.

This situation can and must be prevented. We need to support the local economic, social and environmental assets that have been strengthen in the last twenty years.

To help keep the most vulnerable households afloat and essential services alive, we can harness local networks, the local ‘muscle memory’ needed to keep the country moving. We know from experience what this means – it means supporting community efforts through cash-for-work and social protection through basic incomes; providing assistance to farmers with seeds, fertilizer and flood and drought protection measures; and ensuring health and education services continue with salary support to teachers and health professionals..

Many Afghan families would prefer to stay in their country and communities, if they can provide for their family in a safe and dignified way, rather than uproot themselves and set out on a dangerous trek to another city, camp or country.

Financial stability, by itself, is not enough. Local communities need help to improve their community infrastructure: fix the bridge leading to the village market, repair irrigation at the local orchard or build more schools for girls. We can support this by providing temporary jobs in public works for young Afghans, enabling them to contribute positively, and deepen their stake in their own communities.

At the same time, technology and innovation can also make a difference. There are immediate ways, whether to ease the dependency on imported electricity through solar panels and grids, facilitate mobile cash transfers, provide telehealth that can be accessed by more women, or incorporate new drought and flood resistant infrastructure to farm new lands.

While a national economic implosion must be averted at all costs, through national monetary and fiscal policy and responsibility, we can and must prevent the slide of the most vulnerable households into near universal poverty. Short term humanitarian relief at this moment is critical, but so is urgently responding to protect a generation’s worth of gains in peoples’ capabilities, livelihoods and local development assets. This will avoid a further escalation of humanitarian needs over the coming months and years. Afghanistan is in a development emergency, not tomorrow, but today.

Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme

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