Why is life expectancy in some countries in our region 40 years longer then others? How well are we meeting commitments made by leaders to spend 15% of government budgets on health? What can we do about the loss of health workers due to migration? These issues are discussed in the new book published by EQUINET “Reclaiming The Resources For Health: A Regional analysis of equity in health in east and southern Africa” launched in the region in Lilongwe Malawi on October 23rd 2007, at an event locally hosted by REACH Trust Malawi and Malawi Health Equity Network, two EQUINET steering committee member institutions.

Kenya is gripped by election fever. In the frenzied atmosphere everything has become extremely partisan and claustrophobic operating essentially as 'if you are not for me' then you are against me!

Last Saturday, 3rd November 2007, at Nairobi's famous Ufungamano Hall, I (not unexpectedly) walked straight into the brawling ring of Kenya's ongoing 'do or die' political campaigns. I was a key note speaker at a public Lecture on 'the Great Majimbo debate' organised by the Young Professionals for Raila.
It was obviously a partisan platform but the matter being discussed was of a very public nature in which I had both personal and professional interest. I will debate this matter on any platform. We may not yet have votes in other African states but we should not collaborate in our silencing by also refusing to contribute to public spaces. What gives foreign diplomats, NGOs and so called 'experts' the right to lecture our leaders on all things under the sun and beyond the skies but require other Africans 'to stay quiet'?
I had made it clear to my hosts that I was not coming to speak as a UN staff but rather as a concerned Pan Africanist and a political scientist with some insight into the subject matter.

That entire caveat was of no use in the ensuing reports of the meeting in the Kenyan papers. I do not usually blame the media for 'misrepresentation' or 'misquoting' but on this occasion my colleagues in the fourth estate of the realm really undersold themselves. Sample these headlines: 'UN envoy defends Majimbo system' (Sunday Nation, November 4); 'UN official backs controversial Majimbo system' (Sunday Standard November 4); or 'Majimbo system: ODM now brings in an expert' (the people on Sunday, Nov 4) including claims that I was specifically flown in by ODM for the event! Even in their preoccupation with my UN status they did even bother to be accurate. All the reports managed to get my position and particular UN affiliation wrong.

But this should not detract us from the political significance of the debate that is wrongly termed Majimbo by Kenyans and Ugandans will know as FEDERO. For me it is about wider issues of political and economic governance, devolution of power and the degree to which people of Kenya should have control over their destiny and the accountability of their leaders to them at various levels. It is a debate that has echoes in many African countries. It is about how to deepen democracy beyond just the right to ritually vote periodically. It is about how to stop our Presidents from monopolising power at the centre and reducing representative institutions like parliaments to personal choir groups. It is about creating alternative centres of power and a wider democratic basis for recruitment of leaders and avoid the 'he is the only one they have got ' syndrome that has turned formerly visionary leaders into tin pot, overstayers in office. In the current charged competition for votes the Kenya debate is couched in exclusive terms. President Kibaki's side have succeed in wrong footing the pro devolution group as Majimboists (code word for Tribalists just as Federo is seen as another word for Buganda hegemony in Uganda) and their supporters as enemies of the Unity of the country. Whereas in Uganda it is the majority nationality that has historically championed Federo, in Kenya it is the minority groups, with majority Kikuyu elite being opposed to it.

The opposition has reacted defensively to say that it is not the old divisive Majimbo of the 1960s that they are clamouring for rather it is a limited political devolution that will give Kenya back to every Kenyan. What is clear is that both sides agree on devolution but cannot agree on by how much. The government thinks the Constituency Development Fund which came under this regime (even though it was from a Private Members bill instead of government or opposition Legislative agenda) is enough. The opposition thinks it should be extended to regional levels. I think if devolution is so good why is it being limited to 2.5 %? Who controls the rest? Both Government and Opposition have to give clear answers to the voters.

Whether you call it Majimbo or devolution the consensus means that everyone is not happy with the status quo. This is where my defence of Federalism begins and the substance of my contribution to the debate last Saturday. One, the response to an overbearing centralised state is devolution of power and clamouring for same by the constituent units in that system. They could be Districts, provinces, regions or other administrative areas.

Two, in the specific case of Kenya it is clear that the BOMAS consensus was to have a very weak form of federalism / devolution which shares powers and resources between the constituent units on a more equitable way but retaining substantial and most importantly the power to levy taxes, at the centre. It will be very much different from the Nigerian federalism which is though centre-centric (all mineral resources are controlled by the centre) but every state (and even local governments) can levy and collect taxes as they deem fit and permissible under the constitution. They can also make laws on non exclusive legislative areas However if there is a clash with federal law the Federal law will prevail. The Kenyan model also differs from the Ethiopian federalism which is based on Ethnic Nationalities and guarantees 'the right to self determination including secession'. It will appear that what the political class in Kenya agreed in BOMAS as more generic association with the South African halfway house between federalism and unitarism. And even that may seem too much for sections of this class as evident from the inability to implement it and the emotional debates around it.

The political scoring games between the politicians is preventing a serious discussion but whoever wins the election cannot defer the matter any longer, Unfortunately the government side seem to be scaring Kenyans with a break-up of the country if federalism is accepted and the opposition side is too fearful of losing support to put up a principled case for a devolved federalism with Kenyan compromises (even scared of using the word). Both sides are surcharging the public.

While there may be many challenges with establishing a federal system including threats of narrow nationalism, regionalism or statism. The solution is not to continue to defend the unsatisfactory status quo but to agree on rights of all Kenyans wherever they may be and the full commitment to the rule of law to defend them. The opportunities of a federal system are just too many for fear to intimidate supporters from articulating it. One, it offers greater opportunities for wider political recruitment of leadership instead of the current situation of being limited to National cabinet level. For instance you may not have heard of Yar'Adua in Nairobi but he did not come from inside Obasanjo's hat of dirty tricks because he had been Governor of one of Nigeria's 36 states for two terms. Two, Marginalised peoples or regions, Youth, Women and others have wider opportunity for accessing leadership position through the state / regional levels and graduating to national level. A situation in which 60 year old Kenyans are being asked 'to wait for their turn' or regarded as 'Young Turks' only demonstrate the limited space available at the top.

Three, gone are the days when it was wrongly assumed that in order to be a nationalist you have to deny being part of a particular community. That strategy has generally not worked instead it produced all kinds of ethnic, regional and religious manipulation in the name of nation-building. The problem is not in our diversities but the denial of those differences and the politics of exclusion required to enforce this regime of denials. There are greater opportunities for real 'unity in diversity' in a genuine federation of peoples at peace with themselves than being forced to remain in political community as though it is a catholic marriage. The possibility or fear of divorce does not mean that all marriage will end in divorce. The fact that the option exists does not mean it will be exercised. Local autonomy gives the constituent units the security to be genuine 'good neighbours' and free citizens of a larger unit. That is why even in its 5th decade of Independence marginalised groups in Nigeria are still calling for 'real federalism'. It is not a call to break up the country it is a cry for equal participation for all Nigerians so that they are real stakeholders in the joint affairs of their country. "Forward ever, backward never".....Kwame Nkrumah (1909 - 1972)

..................DON'T AGONISE! ORGANISE!!....................................

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Hunger and HIV/AIDS are reinforcing each other in Southern Africa, "leading to a potentially tragic new level of famine", says a book published by a regional agricultural think-tank. The World Bank's annual report, released last week, also raises concerns over the pandemic's impact, pointing out that most people affected by HIV and AIDS depend on agriculture.

Donor funding for HIV/AIDS has skyrocketed in the last decade: from US$ 300 million in 1996 to US$ 8.9 billion in 2006; yet, little is understood about how these resources are being spent. This paper analyses the policies and practices of the world’s largest AIDS donors as they are applied in Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia.

This AFRODAD report highlights how HIV/AIDS has become a leading cause of death in the African continent. It not only constitutes a serious constraint to growth and stability of most African economies and societies, but has actually begun to destroy the hard-won development.

Multiple sex partners, sex for pay, and sexual coinfections (particularly genital herpes, or HSV-2) continue to act as major risk factors for HIV transmission in Africa, according to a systematic review of 68 separate epidemiological studies conducted over the past 20 years. The analysis, published in the October 2007 issue of PLoS One,, found that these factors have remained significant over time and have not declined in importance as HIV prevalence becomes higher in the general population.

Health systems cannot properly diagnose, treat, or contain the co-epidemic of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) because not enough is known about how the two diseases interact. A report by leading global health experts warned that the largely “unnoticed collision” of the global epidemics of HIV and TB has exploded to create a deadly co-epidemic that is rapidly spreading in sub-Saharan Africa.

Experts on HIV/Aids issues were on Thursday questioning the authenticity of recent figures released by government which suggested that epidemic’s prevalence rates were dropping. The government on Wednesday released new statistics that showed that the HIV/Aids prevalence rate has declined from 18,1 percent to 15,6 percent over the past four years. The Ministry of Health was quick to claim the “victory” as a “reflection of the unrelenting campaign by the government”.

The Global Health Workforce Alliance will convene the first-ever Global Forum on Human Resources for Health from 2-7 March 2008 in Kampala, Uganda. As Africa is the worst affected by the health workforce crisis, it is a demonstration of commitment and solidarity that the first Forum will be organized in Africa.

The African Journal of Agricultural Research (AJAR) is currently accepting manuscripts for publication. AJAR publishes high-quality solicited and unsolicited articles, in English, in all areas of agriculture. Instruction for authors and other details are available on our website Prospective authors should send their manuscript(s) to [email][email protected]
AJAR is also seeking for qualified reviewers as members of its editorial board. Please contact me if you are interested in serving as a reviewer.

The government of Swaziland announced this week that it would be allocating thousands of hectares to a private company to cultivate cassava for biofuel. About 40 percent of the country's one million people are facing acute food and water shortages. "The cassava ethanol project has restarted the debate on how the country should use its agriculture land," said Sipho Mthetfwa, an agriculture extension officer in Shiselweni Region in the south of the country.

US and African researchers have developed an algorithm, based on rapid test results, symptoms and risk behaviours, that makes it possible to accurately detect acute HIV infection without widespread use of HIV RNA assays. Identifying acute infection has significant implications for curbing the spread of HIV infection, particularly in resource-poor settings. The findings were published the October edition of AIDS.

Small teams of Israeli doctors will travel to Swaziland to perform circumcisions for two-week stints this year under a program organized by the Jerusalem AIDS Project and financed by Hadassah, a US-based Jewish organization, and other donors. The effort to circumcise Swazi men is being carried out in the hopes of curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS in a country with the world's highest HIV infection rate.

Unless urgent attention is paid to decreasing the burden of cancer, there are going to be e catastrophic results especially in Africa and parts of Asia, experts warned at a gathering in Cape Town this week. In 2000, there were an estimated 10,4 million new cases of cancer diagnosed worldwide, 6,5 million deaths from cancer, while over 25 million people were living with cancer. By 2030, it is projected that there will be 25,4 million new cases of cancer, 16,4 million cancer deaths annually and a staggering 75 million people living with cancer.

Malawi's government is calling on all sexually active people in the country to take an Aids test, saying this would help it combat the pandemic. About 14% of Malawi's 12m people are believed to be HIV-positive but more accurate figures would help planning and enable people to get treatment.

South Africa is in danger of losing the battle against HIV/Aids, the United Nations children's agency has warned. Unicef's South Africa representative, Macharia Kamau, said infection and death rates were outpacing treatment.

The Aids virus is killing more than 1,000 teachers each year in Mozambique, adversely affecting the education of a generation of students, the country's education minister has said. Aires Aly said that the disease is the single biggest threat to the development of the education sector.

Using data from a 2004 household-based survey of children, this paper examines differences between boys and girls in self reports of food insecurity in Zimbabwe. Previous studies have taken only the views of the household head into consideration in categorizing the food insecurity status of the household. By so doing, the possibilities of differential experiences of food insecurity by individual household members were ignored.

This report by the African Biodiversity Network looks at case studies in Benin, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, as well as trends elsewhere in Africa. The report indicates that big companies are seeking to convert large areas of Africa’s best land over to biofuel production, even if this means privatizing customary land, evicting farmers, raising food prices, competing for water resources, and cutting down forests and conservation areas.

Microsoft Research has issued a worldwide RFP to incubate creative and novel healthcare solutions that are accessible, affordable, and relevant for ‘smart’ mobile phones. Microsoft Research will support selected academic research with the goal of advancing the state-of-the-art in ‘smart’ cell phones for healthcare applications. Successful projects must seek to increase the capacity of cell phone-based healthcare solutions in under-served rural and urban communities. They must also take into consideration the social context of application deployment. deadline for submission of proposals is October 29, 2007.