Review of African Blogs

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/331/blogs_01_mirrorofjustice.g… writes about the improvement of the food situation in Malawi after the government ignored advice from the World Bank and USAID and subsidized fertilizer and seed to farmers:

“Clearly leaving things to market forces didn't work. Equally clearly, the subsidized fertilizer is having a dramatic positive effect - not only can do people now have enough food to feed themselves, but they have food to sell to other countries. Are government subsidies perfect? Probably not, and doubtless there is some displacement of commercial fertilizer sales. But government programs aimed at helping people become self-sufficient are a different matter than those that simply hand someone a bowl of food.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/331/blogs_02_ndagha.gifMalawian blogger Victor Kaonga commemorates World Aids day by discussing the challenges of Aids sensitization, primary among these, the stigma and silence that still surrounds the disease:

“Admittedly, it is not easy to disclose one's status because there are so many fears and consequences. Though this years' theme is on leadership, I have some worry over the performance of most of our leaders in Malawi…

AIDS is an area where silence still reigns. I just pray and hope that as leaders, they (and some people claim I am also a leader in my own right!) need to be more aggressive. May be this year's theme will remind them (us) about our roles when it comes to AIDS.

I think the theme is ideal as most leaders are men in our region and yet very few of them ever disclose their sero-status. My observation is that it is mostly women who easily disclose their sero-status. No wonder that often when it comes to programming, most of the interview voices on air have been those of women who are free to say they are living with the virus.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/331/blogs_03_whichwaynigeria.g…Which Way Nigeria comments on the recent declaration by the Nigerian Senate that the handing over of the disputed Bakassi peninsular to Cameroon by the Obasanjo administration was unconstitutional:
“One wonders, if this ceding off of Bakassi is the only unconstitutional act of Obasanjo? The Senate should spend their time on legislating and carrying out their oversight functions to see that all the depilated infrastructures are functional. The mobile telephone service providers are ripping off Nigerians with diverted calls, dropped calls and poor reception. A handful of schools in Nigeria are paying either in pounds or dollars, yet Nigeria is a Sovereign state. While sympathizing with the displaced Nigerians of Bakassi extraction, one is tempted to say that these displaced people are better off being Cameroonians than Nigerians.
The degradation in the Niger Delta – the goose that lays the golden egg – is a pointer that most oil producing areas are better off in their own Republic. This unwarranted declaration of war by the Nigerian Senate, is most unfortunate as Nigeria parades herself as giant of Africa and parrots that Africa is the at the heart of Nigerian Foreign Policy.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/331/blogs_04_sierraeye.gifSier… Leonan blogger Sierraeye reproduces an article from Worldpress which reviews the downward spiral of the Sierra Leonan civil service in the past decade:

“At the dawn of independence, Sierra Leone's civil service was one of the best in Africa. The work of the civil service was widely accepted and respected, as it worked to serve the people of Sierra Leone. That reputation of the civil service has quickly been eroded since the late 60's. The civil service became entirely corrupt and grossly inefficient. And it did not get better even when after the war ended in 2002, and the international community rallied behind Sierra Leone as never before, supporting efforts to build capacity and helping to address the problems of the civil service.
[…]
Sierra Leoneans have paid a heavy price for being too susceptible to the deviant and corrupt practices of civil servants nullifying the competence of the civil service once enjoyed in colonial times and the years immediately after independence—a civil service that was rooted in a preference for being honorable over exhibiting selfishness, for being progressive over showing lack of will to make a difference. At a moment in history when the country's most pressing problems require unprecedented civil service performance, [former President] Kabbah's lenient administration only contributed to the ruin of the nation.”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/331/blogs_05_pitsotsibs.gifThe ANC Women’s League endorsement of Jacob Zuma for the ANC party presidency has been hotly debated in the African blogosphere. South African blogger Pitso Tsibolane is among those bewildered by the choice of the Women’s League:

“But why? Why did the women choose the “Kanga-Man”, one who exposed his attitudes about women and sex when he slept with an HIV+ woman (Kwezi the faceless one, now exiled lesbian and a family friend) without protection? The same man who is polygamous and yet divorced? Do they condone his actions?

Allow me to think aloud;

- Could it be that most women of the ANC believe that JZ’s troubles are all a conspiracy by Mbeki?
- Could it be that most women of the ANC actually believe that Zuma is a good man, and actually do not share the “more bourgeoisie sentiment” that he is a ticking time bomb, bad for the country’s image?
- Could it be that most women in the ANC really believe that there is nothing wrong for their future president to be sleeping with friends of the family and begging for money in brown envelopes from convicted fraudsters?
- Could it be, that most women in the actually choose to see the good in Zuma, the humble man, the people’s person, a real MK man, a soldier, a survivor, rags-to-riches genius, the victim of the aloof jealous leader president!

Allow me to surmise, Zuma sure knows how to rise to the occasion when he has to, he outsmarted the “intelligent native” with his charm. However, he has not swayed me to his side; I actually do not believe he is what South Africa needs now. I do hope he chooses his deputy and cabinet well for South Africa’s sake (but first he must win at Limpopo!)”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/331/blogs_06_chippla.gifThe case of the English teacher who was jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear “Mohammed” is still generating lots of discussion on the blogosphere. Chippla’s Weblog looks at the broader implications of the actions of the Sudanese government:

“What the Sudanese authorities ought to have done was to educate Ms. Gibbons on the religious and cultural values of the Islamic parts of Sudan (Khartoum, where Ms. Gibbons taught, is in the Islamic part of Sudan). Instead, they ended up doing something reminiscent of the backward Middle Ages—sentencing her to jail. An event like this sometimes makes rational people laugh at the chocking effect of blind adherence to religious faith. And few things could be more potent than when the state exalts religious dogma and has religious laws against ‘blasphemy’!”

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/331/blogs_07_meskelsquare.gifT… view is similar to the one expressed by Sudanese newspaper Al-Sahafah which is quoted by Meskel Square:

"If this issue had been raised to the Prophet he would have sided with the innocent children who gave their beloved toy his name. He would have considered this as an example of love and truth... Commoners, let alone elites and educated people, can easily distinguish between what really angers God and his Prophet, and who is striving to take advantage of some issues for other reasons...

Whoever creates a battle where there is no place for one in the name of religion thus insults Islam and its Prophet, and creates a wrongful impression of the religion making it to be hated by people, is committing a great offence incurring the wrath of God and his Prophet."

* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den, http://www.dibussi.com

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org