Pambazuka News Issue 769: Dictatorship, corruption and state capture

‘Now that the court has found that the President failed to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law, how should I relate to my President? If we are to continue to be guided by growing public opinion and the need to do the right thing, would he not seriously consider stepping down?’

South Africa’s once revered ANC ruling party now behaves as if it is entitled to the republic. The motto on the country’s parliamentary coat of arms may as well be changed from ‘We, the People’ to ‘We, the ANC.’ Firebrand opposition leader Julius Malema may have a point when he says the liberation party is turning the country into just another banana republic.

It is troubling that an electoral body that is unanimously declared grossly incompetent for noncompliance of electoral laws by the highest court in the land can still be deemed by the same court to have conducted valid presidential and parliamentary elections. The findings and the conclusions are a contradiction in terms.

Pambazuka News 768: Gangsters in power: Where is the people's anger?

In Rivers State, four undergraduates are lynched for allegedly stealing laptops and cell phones; in Lagos a woman is beaten and sexually assaulted for stealing pepper; in Ondo State, a man is bludgeoned to death for being gay; and somewhere in Kano, a man is set free after more than two decades in prison for stealing a transistor radio. But there is no national outrage against high-profile thieves who have pocketed billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.

The destiny of Ethiopia is in the hands and feet of all Ethiopians. They have the power to pick her up or to drop her and shatter her like glass. They can walk with her on the long road to freedom or they can leave her in the wheelchair built for her by the current dictatorship.

Half a decade after the United States led destabilization and bombing of Libya, the attempts by imperialism to establish a stable neo-colonial dominated regime have not materialized.

Unless South Africans stand up to reclaim the right to determine their own destiny, they are in danger of watching our beloved country becoming a predatory state. The hyenas are gathering.

The conduct of embattled president of Nigeria’s senate, Bukola Saraki, is forcing some of his fans to question his innocence in the corruption case instituted against him.  

Tagged under: 768, Abdulrazaq Magaji, Governance

Professor Mafeje contributed enormously to the concrete understanding of the African socio-political and economic situation. He emphasised the structural need to substantiate theoretical positions on issues in practice as a means to solve Africa’s problems. The annual lecture in his honour immortalizes his perspectives.

Any initiatives that seek to rekindle the dreams of Africa’s founding fathers and mothers must be welcomed by all. But it is a strong indictment on the continent’s post-independent leadership that almost 60 years after many of the countries gained political freedom, Africans are more divided than ever.

This article by Kenyan economist and public affairs analyst Dr. David Ndii drew sharp reactions from pro-regime supporters, with some of the more virulent ones calling for his arrest – in a country that is increasingly anti-intellectual and repressive. Dr. Ndii’s contention is that Kenya is a failed project. The country, he proposes controversially, should break up into independent, viable nations.

Black people in the US are a domestic colony. The contradictions arising from this status can only be resolved through explicit, conscious class struggle.  The class struggle in this period will take the form of a fight for community control of institutions and demanding more than the minimum civil rights advanced by the Black Liberal Establishment. 

In recent years, over two dozen articles have appeared in African American and African media detailing deep-rooted institutional racism against Black workers at the World Bank. Conspicuously, the Western media has kept the issue out of its radar screen. But branding Africa as "a hopeless continent" comes naturally to the Western media pontiffs.

Tagged under: 768, Governance, Mikael Mohapi

South African society’s conflict with a mainstay of the country’s corporate economy – resource extraction – is permanently on display in the platinum, gold and coalfields in the north and north-east of the country.

Either by omission or by commission, the US media actively misinforms the public on crucial issues that matter. The reason they do this is because they legally can.

The assassination of community activists fighting against mining interests in rural communities is becoming an extremely worrying trend in South Africa.

It behooves the Committee to produce an official report detailing the “consultations” they claim to have done for all to know why Parliament still refuses to heed the demands of Ghanaian civil society groups and faith-based organisations which who have formally petitioned them. The minimum courtesy one expects is a report detailing why their objections were not taken into consideration.

While the government provided limited compensation to some of the people who were displaced or lost property in 2009 and in 2011-12, survivors of rape and other sexual violence have been excluded as a group from compensation unless they also lost property or were displaced.

On March 30th, Eva's extradition was confirmed. Lawyers tried to reverse the decision, but were not given enough time to stop the expulsion.

Pambazuka News 767: From capitalist greed to a culture of sharing

The abuses appear to have increased as public protests and demonstrations escalated following the Arab uprisings, the secession of South Sudan in 2011, Sudan’s economic downturn, and the proliferation of new wars in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.

There is no question whether the Bank's institutionalized, widespread and sustained racial discrimination and systemic denial of due process against an entire group of people is a crime. Whether it is a crime against a group of people or a crime against humanity may be debatable in theory. But in practice, the difference is indistinguishable to the victims.

For years, the program has been associated with human rights abuses and the forced relocation of indigenous communities while paving the road for large-scale land grabs. These issues were highlighted in a report by the World Bank’s own independent Inspection Panel in 2015. Rather than addressing the grave concerns raised about the program, the Bank, instead, chose to launch an almost identical initiative under a new name.

The Justice for Walter Rodney Committee is concerned that, despite a promise by President Granger, the renowned intellectual and activist’s family and the public in Guyana and abroad are yet to receive the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry Report.

Beyond being inconvenient for knowing too much, Gustavo Castro Soto falls into the repressive government’s category of public enemy. Like Cáceres, Castro has been a vocal opponent of dam construction on indigenous rivers, as well as of the broad powers given transnational corporations and the local elite to plunder democracy and the riches of nature.

Today’s Angola proves the African proverb that all manner of knives are brought out the day an elephant is killed. Pity is that the party that should have all Angolans in attendance is for a select few. On the high table, surrounded by members of his family and a few cronies made up of generals and sundry leeches, is His Excellency President Eduardo dos Santos and his eldest daughter, Isabel.

Despite the allure of the solar mega-project, the environmental/climate justice movement must question the Moroo’s propaganda and the emergent dominant global discourse around environmental governance to which it is linked. The urgent questions about this project include: Who owns what? Who does what? Who gets what? Who wins and who loses? And whose good is being served?

The escalation of war and de-facto blockade in Yemen have resulted in the country's largest ever displacement of civilians and unprecedented levels of poverty. Within one year alone, there has been a six-fold increase of people forced to flee their homes, raising the number to 2.4 million.

Where rights are at stake, immediate action is required. Those who continue to uphold the existing, highly skewed international economic and financial order delay the realization of human rights by many decades, thereby becoming responsible for hundreds of millions of poverty-related deaths in the meantime.

In 22 years there has been no real transformation of the bedrock structures of colonialism. Under-developed rural areas administered by colonially transformed traditional leaders, aommodation of migrants in degrading urban hostels, rampant human rights violations, are some of the manifestations of this failure. South Africans must do more to realize the dream of democracy.

The recent controversy surrounding the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College provides an excellent backdrop to understanding Oxford’s structural and institutionalised backwardness in the area of social science teaching and research.

The recent arrest comes only six months after the activist was released released from prison on fabricated charges of committing arson. On 16 May 2014 he was convicted to seven years' imprisonment – a sentence that was later reduced on appeal to two years.

The real crisis is not the influx of refugees to Europe per se but a toxic combination of destabilising foreign policy agendas, economic austerity and the rise of right-wing nationalism, which is likely to push the world further into social and political chaos in the months ahead.

In the run-up to the election of a new secretary general this year, it is essential that governments think carefully about what they want out of the United Nations. The organization is a Remington typewriter in a smartphone world. If it is going to advance the causes of peace, human rights, development and the climate, it needs a leader genuinely committed to reform.

As a wealthy white westerner with power and aess to resources, Brennan philanthropic mission to help Malawian prisoner-musicians feels too close to the archetype of the great white savior who is also selling the story of ‘poor Africa’.

The Court of Appeal reaffirmed that the refusal to register a gay organisation was both irrational and in violation of the right to freedom of association. In an important judgment for the LGBTI community, the Court emphasised that there is no legislation in Botswana which prohibits anyone from being homosexual.

Pambazuka News invites contributions to assess the extent to which the African Union (AU) has promoted and protected Africa’s unity in the current globalised world.

Pambazuka News 766: World Bank racism, sham elections and interventions

Lagos, 17th March 2016 - The rejection of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill (GEOP) by members of Nigeria’s Senate on Tuesday the 15th of March 2016, did not come as a surprise, given the consistent indications of trivializing gender related issues observed in the present political dispensation in Nigeria which also has the lowest representation of women in key elective and appointive decision making positions since 2007. The Nigerian parliament as presently constituted has roughly 4% of female members of parliament. The overwhelming rejection of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill by a male dominated legislature is a clear indication of why more women are needed in decision making positions in order to safeguard the erosion of their rights and welfare.

With opposition candidates roughed up, arrested and held in house detention for fear they might ‘disrupt’ the electoral process, the man who once preached that staying too long in power would lead to corruption has been “re-elected” for an incredible fifht term to stretch his 30-year reign - and now himself lives under a cloud of corruption and abuse of power. What can Ugandans do?

As Kenya prepares for its next general elections in 2017, the parallels to previous violent elections are staggering. The electoral commission and the courts have lost credibility in the eyes of the public. Already the country is polarized along ethnic lines. The ruling party insists it will win a second term. The opposition says there are rigging plans afoot and that it will not aept a fraudulent outcome or go to court to seek redress. The signs are ominous.

March 5 marked the third anniversary of the death of the revolutionary Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. Revolutionaries are rare. Chávez’s socialist thought and visionary policies aimed at radically transforming his country and meeting the needs of the majority of his people have vital lessons for Africa and the rest of the Global South.

Women’s exclusion from public spaces, and particularly the political realm, is systematic. It is structural in nature and is intensified by attitudes, cultures, norms and practices that seek to explain rather than address their exclusion from positions of power.

On February 16, 2016, Pambazuka News carried an article by Yonas Biru, a former World Bank staff, titled, compares African staff to animal in official report’[/url]. The article precipitated an exchange among three former senior staff of the Bank, which we reproduce here. We have withheld their names and edited their comments slightly to protect their identities.

The New York City Bar’s Committee on African Affairs and the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice cordially invite you to a presentation by REED BRODY, Esq., Counsel and Spokesperson for Human Rights Watch, who specializes in pursuing abusive leaders for atrocities and human rights violations.

Monday, April 11, 2016 at 6:30 p.m.

Fordham Law School, Classroom 3-02
140 West 62nd St., New York, NY (between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues)

Dubbed the "Dictator Hunter" in one of the four documentaries about him, Reed has worked since 1999 as counsel for the victims in the case of the exiled former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, who was finally tried in Senegal after a 25-year campaign to bring him to justice. The historic trial is the first time a deposed ruler has been tried by a court of a country other than his own for human rights violations. It also marks the first time that a trial in Africa has relied on the international law principle of universal jurisdiction a trial in Africa has relied on the international law principle of universal
jurisdiction which allows a court to hear a case concerning serious crimes committed by foreign actors against foreign victims.

Reed has also worked with the victims of Augusto Pinochet and Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. He is the author of four Human Rights Watch reports on U.S. treatment of prisoners in the “war on terror”.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the NY City Bar’s Committee on African Affairs (co-Chairs, Elizabeth Barad and Jason Spears) and the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School (Executive Director, Elisabeth Wickeri) and co-sponsored by the NY City Bar’s Committees on International Human Rights (Chair, Anil Kalhan), and International Law (Chair. Caline Mouawad), Council on International Affairs (Chair, Martin Flaherty) and the Cyrus R.Vance Center
for International Justice (Alexander Papachristou, Exercutive Director).

Please R.S.V.P. to [email][email protected][/email]

One year after their arrest on March 15, 2015, three food, land, and human rights defenders continue to languish in an Ethiopian jail. After several court hearings, the prosecution has yet to present any evidence to support the spurious charge of “terrorism” under Ethiopia’s controversial counter-terrorism law. A March 1 hearing was once again adjourned and rescheduled for March 15, due to the failure of witnesses to appear in court.

By all aounts, Uganda’s elections last month were far from free and fair. Many people find it difficult to aept that the declaration of Museveni as winner reflected the will of the people. Irregularities were massive. Repression of the opposition was shocking – to the extent that leading Museveni opponent Kizza Besigye was placed under house arrest to prevent him from lodging a petition at the Supreme Court. It is not clear how the post-election period will unfold.

The whole point of the freedom struggle was the repossession of land by African people from the hands of Europeans who had grabbed it. But the ruling ANC will never resolve land question in South Africa. Its “Freedom Charter” long renounced the land question in 1955. Its “willing seller and willing buyer” policy is an unmitigated disaster.

The latest phase in the war of containment, domination and control of the resource-rich Horn of Africa state is approaching ten years since Washington attempted its renewed efforts to impose a political dispensation on the country beginning in 2006.

Dr. Kim has taken an uncompromising stance protecting violators of human rights and denying their victims aess to justice, even in the most egregious cases involving those who are battling cancer and depression. Dr. Kim has only one honourable thing to do: Resign. If he fails, the Bank’s Board of Governors should force him out.

The overlords in the World Bank, who are protected by absolute immunity from lawsuits, do not realize that racial discrimination is not all about rejected positions and denied promotions. It is a traumatic experience because it chips at people's human dignity. It costs lives.

The US-NATO intervention was allegedly undertaken on humanitarian grounds, after reports of mass atrocities. But Hilary’s emails reveal that the chief concern was not about the security of the people. It was about the security of global banking, money and oil.

Archie championed the pan-Africanist ideal that Africans should speak for themselves and understand themselves through their own efforts. As an anthropologist he made immense contributions to a better understanding of African people, their achievements and struggles. In a continent where the academy is often oupied by fence-sitters and academic cowards, Archie’s thought is an outstanding challenge.

The invented “Rodney” as human rights activist and advocate of economic development is reconcilable with a sense of wonder that, had he not been assassinated, he may have become a future president of Guyana. Why have there been silences in recent years avoiding the matter that Rodney was a revolutionary who wished to overturn nation-states and ruling classes above society?

INGOs moving their HQs to the Global South will not alter the management problems with international development and human rights work, manifest in elitist decision-making and unequal resource distribution.

Pambazuka News 765: "Are women human beings?"

Berta was indefatigable. Unflappable. Even as she served her community, Berta rose to become an international people’s diplomat. She was a heroine to many global movements, a critical player in many struggles, a keynote speaker at many venues. Berta was someone consulted by government officials, by international networks, and even, a few months ago, by Pope Francis.

Nigeria’s policy framework on gender parity is ten years old this year. The National Gender Policy adopted in 2006 embraces a system-wide approach of promoting gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment in all public and private policies and programming priorities. The 2016 International Women’s Day provides yet another opportunity to reflect on past failures of the policy’s implementation and prepare for future progress.

Ethiopia’s kangaroo courts have repeatedly handed harsh sentences to innocent people, simply for raising their voices against injustice. There is little reason to believe that Mr. Okello’s case will be any different. His hope lies with the international community.

Diana Kendi is the winner of the inaugural Efua Dorkenoo Pan African Award for Journalists reporting on FGM across the African continent. The award is intended to increase media awareness and engagement on FGM within community, national and regional media outlets. Diana shares her views on the suesses and challenges of ending FGM in Kenya.

It is necessary to look into indigenous African knowledge for solutions to the problems of food security and sovereignty. Purikeria Tindikahwa knew a wide variety of indigenous foods and how to produce and prepare them. There are millions of ordinary women across Africa who do exactly what she did. They feed the continent. We need to celebrate these women and learn from them.

The unprecedented contagion of what President Zuma has called ‘gossip and rumour’ around his inner circle threatens the internal stability of the Pretoria regime. The loyalty of many key individuals is being tested. Indeed the ANC’s schizophrenia was amplified recently Zuma himself finally agreed to repay some of the $16 million spent on upgrading his rural palace, Nkandla.

To mark International Women's Day, Professor Naila Kabeer looks back over the history of feminist economics and outlines her reasons why it matters for the future.

South African Finance Minister Gordhan’s 2016 Budget Speech compels the South African Government to adopt a Leadership style that is oriented toward being inclusive, collaborative and of service to individuals and society at large.

As a musician, Mama Africa enthralled millions from Cape Town to Nova Scotia. As a woman, her struggles to find love and selfhood speak to women worldwide. As an indigenous South African, she always used her voice as a weapon in the struggle against apartheid.

Woineshet is now 27 and living in relative safety. This week's ruling means that she can finally complete the horrific chapter in her life and move on in the knowledge that she has helped to make life better for future generations of Ethiopian women and girls.

Find a movement, get involved, start a campaign, participate in an action, build an alternative system, and find ways to make change right where you are.

Since 1975, 8 March has been a rallying point for feminists worldwide. Established by the UN, it has traditionally been a moment to celebrate women’s achievements while highlighting serious inequalities between the sexes. But 41 years later, is it still necessary?

Plans for real estate development, tree planting, and new cash crops for economic up-liftment in the area of Mwireri/Gitugi and its neighbourhood in Laikipia County, have been dealt a severe blow by the illegal siting of a stone crusher and quarry on land earmarked for agricultural and residential development.

How far have we come as a species, in terms of our spiritual and intellectual development, if in the 21st century some can question: “Are women human beings?” The reality is that globally, whilst women may have made great strides, patriarchal attitudes prevail in a male-dominated world.

Women’s emancipation is never possible under imperialism. Women must continue to expose and oppose the ruling bourgeoisie and the state for feeding them lies about the goodness and permanence of capitalism and imperialism. The goriest manifestation of imperialism is the ceaseless outbreaks of war, destruction of lives and property and displacement of millions of people.

Young feminists are organising across movements in an intersectional way, locally, nationally and regionally, and they are using artivism and technology as core tools in their work.

A new report maps the growth of LGBTQ organizing in West Africa, highlighting challenges and opportunities.

The drama surrounding Nigerian kid, Ese Oruru, is the result of failed parenting. The girl is not the last of her kind around even though many would wish her case was a bad dream that will soon go away. A bad dream, yes, but this one is not about to go away in a hurry.

UAF Supporting Women Human Rights Defenders working on Extractives: Field Experience Sharing Session

Pambazuka News 764: Africa: Our glorious heritage of struggle

The struggle of African Americans against national oppression and economic exploitation has continued through the 20th century up until the anti-racist struggles today against police terrorism and the demands for self-determination in the workplace, public service, education and cultural affairs. 2016 being an election year makes it appropriate to review some of the important historical developments that continue to shape the politics of the second decade of the 21st century in America and the world.

The battle - and the greater narrative of Ethiopia’s independence – is a powerful symbol of African resistance to European imperialism. “Ethiopianism” has often served as a basis for other black and African peoples’ visions of political and spiritual liberation from colonial forces, both formal and informal.

Nkrumah wanted to industrialize Ghana within a generation, and everything was on course until the Americans and their British cousins used some disgruntled and self-serving Ghanaian soldiers to stage that terrible coup on 24 February 1966. It was a major setback, not only for Ghana but the whole of Africa!

In a ‘Requiem for Amílcar Cabral’, which is full of praises and admiration for Cabral, the Sao Tomean poet Espirito Santo underlines the important position of the Guinean leader in Africa before the barbarous act of his ambush and assassination and calls him the ‘Guevara of Africa’, an allusion to the great historic leader of the Cuban guerrilla warfare that overthrew the US- supported corrupt regime of Batista in 1959.

Over the past few years, Russian authorities have been prioritizing media cooperation and the use of soft power to address the falling image of Russia among the political and business elites in Africa.

How the National Constitution treats minorities is a good test of a nation’s maturity. How government applies their rules is a good test of the state’s maturity.

Popular Kenyan politician Josiah Mwangi Kariuki is widely believed to have been assassinated by agents of the regime of Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta, whose son, Uhuru, is now head of state. JM was a sharp critic of Kenyatta’s corrupt ethnic state. The truth about his murder – like several other political assassinations in Kenya – has never been fully known.

The women say that presidential election data are impossible to explain logically and warrant immediate independent scrutiny by patriotic Ugandan citizens.

Guyana’s President Granger has dismissed the report of the Walter Rodney Presidential Commission of Inquiry, without making the findings public. The Justice for Walter Rodney Committee insists that the report should be released to Dr Rodney’s family, lawyers representing all sides and to the people of Guyana.

Kenya is now the third most corrupt country in the world, aording to a survey on prevalence of economic crimes released in Nairobi last week by audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Kenya only fared better than South Africa and France. The Jubilee government's numerous pledges to deal decisively with graft remain just that - pledges. Public despair is growing.

The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) passed a resolution at its 31st world congress that called for a process that would unban political parties, remove repressive legislation and introduce multi-party democracy in Swaziland.

The BVR system worked well in Uganda’s recent elections. But BVR is not a silver bullet in solving all electoral issues. Inadequate voter education was a major problem as well as state interference and harassment of the opposition. The electoral commission was also perceived to be partisan in favour of Yoweri Museveni.

Claudia Jones' Pan-Africanism led to her advocacy for freedom of Caribbean and African peoples from colonialism. She used the organizational space of the Communist Party to advance the cause of anti-racism, world peace, decolonization and the class struggle.

“I am a victim of circumstances”, says activist Mphandlana ‘Victim’ Shongwe of the nickname he is known by because of the decades of state harassment he has endured in his homeland, Swaziland. “But what has kept me going is the desire to be free”.

Eminent scholars from around the world have written to the president of Sierra Leone to intervene to save the career of Prof. Ibrahim Abdullah of the University of Sierra Leone. His treatment by University authorities could terminate his career or tarnish his hard­-earned academic reputation.

The Ethiopian dictatorship has sueeded to transform an ordinary teacher and journalist into an international symbol of press freedom, resistance to tyranny and courage under fire. Reeyot’s story of commitment to truth, sacrifice, virtuousness, honesty, decency and humanity should inspire all young people in Ethiopia and Africa to stand up for their beliefs.

March 1 marks the 120th anniversary of the Battle of Adwa, a decisive victory of Ethiopia over Italian colonialism. This great victory has been a source of inspiration for struggles for freedom throughout the pan-African world. Adwa has important lessons for Africans in their resistance against new forms of oppression.

When the African American freedom fighter, Malcolm X, visited Kenya in 1959, he found he had a lot in common with Pinto. They planned a common strategy to deal with the daily humiliation and indignities suffered by both Africans and African-Americans. Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, three days before Pinto.

A chance meeting in a hotel and a missed opportunity… How one journalist, with nothing to talk about, had his love of music transformed by a guitar riff and a drum beat. Cameron Duodu shares his memories from four decades ago.

The refugee crisis in Europe continues to deepen, with knock-on effects around the world. Recently, NATO sent warships to the Aegean Sea in a very opaque manoeuvre – what could be the real intent of this? And what are the implications for the fleeing refugees?

Politicians of the ruling Jubilee coalition in Kenya and public officials routinely lie to citizens, and the public has come to aept that as normal. This has led to a debilitating cynicism and resignation to the inevitability of deception. When the lies are not just expected but aeptable, when they no longer arouse outrage and when national policies can be built around them, it is evidence that the nation is sick.

The government of President Uhuru Kenyatta in Kenya has lost credibility in the eyes of citizens because of extensive corruption by people that are very close to the seat of power. New scandals are coming to light every other day. While Uhuru keeps talking about fighting the scourge of graft, nothing is happening on the ground.

Pambazuka News 763: Walter Rodney and the scourge of state violence

Pope Francis has remained silent several months after a letter was sent to him providing compelling evidence of entrenched racism at the World Bank and the systemic exclusion of Africa as a continent and Africans as human beings from participation in international forums even in areas that determine their destiny.

Tagged under: 763, Features, Governance, Yonas Biru

Indeed, manners maketh the man, but what happens when the man who insists on being treated as a highly-respected elder uses his position to steal millions of dollars of public money to redecorate his private home? Maybe being a conscientious people with good manners is what is causing the downfall of Africa.

The ‘No to ProSavana Campaign’ has been monitoring the ProSavana Programme. This programme raises many concerns and fears because of the way it was conceived and the negative impacts it has had on peasant agriculture, the environment and human rights.

On February 7, popular resistance forced U.S.-backed Haitian dictator Michel Martelly out of office following a flagrantly fraudulent election that sought to put Martelly’s minion in power. As it has done for many decades, Washington is still hell-bent on frustrating the people’s aspiration for true democracy. But Haitians are adamant and need international solidarity.

Former President Daniel arap Moi should explain to Kenyans what happened to the canteens that were looted during his regime in the 1980s. The present government of Uhuru Kenyatta needs to trace these properties, return them to the police and punish the looters.

There is a plan to develop 25 acres of Sigiria Block in Karura Forest for commercial use. A company by the name Ibis Hospitality Ltd is alleged to have proposed to build a six-star hotel in the forest against public interest.

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