As questions abound over a crisis at the heart of Kenya's grand coalition government, L. Muthoni Wanyeki argues that the coalition will hold, if only because of the absence of political alternatives.

cc E C KColleen Lowe Morna states that Zuma’s behaviour is a reminder that ‘there is still a long walk to freedom for South African women’. She argues that Zuma’s polygamy and promiscuity go against strides towards gender equality and asks: ‘How … are we to square polygamy, promiscuity and the progressive values of the ANC that Mandela gave his life for and that Zuma agrees he must uphold? If we are to push our democracy to greater heights, how now are we to emerge from this quagmire?'

There shall be no change
In these lines,
In open mic rhymes,
In comfort that hides,
In freedom that lies,
In cool compromise.

There shall be no change.
It shall be no surprise.

A cynical age
A critical stage
A lost generation
A meaningless rage

There shall be no change
In this passionate page.
All the world’s not a stage.
All the world’s not a stage.

No.

It is passion, but pain;
It is often mundane;
It is struggle for gain;
It is trying in vain,
Then trying
And trying
And trying again.

It’s the youth on the street in ’76.
It’s the how why and when –
The questions that kick
For equality, freedom –
The answers that stick.

So today is the future of our history,
And what shall we say? Where,
Where were we?

Were we sleeping,
Or dancing,
Or watching TV?
While we wore noble wristbands,
With self-absorbed glee?

There shall be no change
In this passionate page.
All the world’s not a stage.
All the world’s not a stage.

There shall be no change
For this age
At this stage,
Unless there is change
Unless
There is change
In you and me.

As part of a series of testimonies from the Antanosy people in Madagascar, this week Pambazuka listens to Sambo. Sambo, 46, tells a twisted story: While the mining companies have brought better dwellings and healthcare, his people struggle with everyday survival. He explains that the key reason is because access to fishing grounds has been taken away.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/471/i-neda-agha-sultani.gif

Khadija Sharife investigates how the tax havens that prop small island economies up do so to detrimental effect. She argues that ‘as the G20 spends its time creating a carbon trade market that does little to reduce carbon emissions, multinationals continue to expand their extractive enterprises, dictators continue to siphon off capital, financial firms continue to cash in on pollution and this illicit capital continues to be laundered through offshore locations that are themselves threatened by the rising waters associated with global warming.’

Samir Amin

Bangladesh has voiced strong opposition to plans by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to provide close to US$100 million in climate change aid - because of its delivery through the World Bank.

The European Union's decision to extend sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and senior members of the ruling ZANU-PF party was endorsed by a leading human rights organization.

The World Bank has pledged to speed up funding for South Sudan after acknowledging that the slow delivery of aid was hindering the region's development. Government officials and development groups have criticised the organisation for distributing only 188 million US dollars out of the 524 million US dollars given by Western donors

Over 400 Bushmen were denied the right to vote in Botswana’s 2009 general election, with five Bushman communities inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve omitted from the electoral register.

Officials are appealing for calm during the campaign period ahead of upcoming historic elections in April as insecurity remains a major concern in Southern Sudan. Electoral campaigning in the highly charged contest opened on 13 February, two months before three days of polling from 11 April, with the results due a week later.

The top United Nations envoy in Côte d'Ivoire is holding intensive talks with all sides in the divided West African country to ensure that last week’s dissolution of the Government and the independent electoral authority does not affect repeatedly delayed elections, currently slated to be held next month.

Communities, environmental groups, academics and NGOs are calling on the World Bank to cease and desist from a proposed loan of R29 billion ($3.75 bn) to Eskom. If this loan – which may come up for a Board vote in March or April – goes through, poor South Africans will have to bear the burden of Eskom’s debt and the World Bank’s cost recovery programme, and climate change will intensify.

The US has imposed impossible conditions on aid agencies in Somalia, a UN envoy to the country says. Humanitarian co-ordinator Mark Bowden said the US was trying to ensure that aid was not diverted to Islamist insurgents fighting the government.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki says his country is not in crisis, despite repeated reports of a bitter power struggle among the nation's elite. Mr Kibaki acknowledged there had been a "heated debate" but said Kenyans should not be worried.

The African Union has condemned a coup in Niger, where soldiers have detained President Mamadou Tandja. AU chief Jean Ping said he was watching developments "with concern" after a day of gun battles culminated in a takeover led by Colonel Salou Djibo.

The International Monetary Fund's board will consider whether to restore Zimbabwe's IMF voting rights in a meeting on Friday, an IMF spokesman said on Thursday. By reestablishing Zimbabwe's voting rights -- which would allow the country to take part in IMF decision-making again -- the international community would be sending a strong signal of support for policies of the new unity government led by President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

'Environmental determinism’ – the theory that Africa’s development has been hindered as a result of ‘the environmental conditions that Africans inhabit’ – does not accurately explain Africa’s poverty. Environmental determinism is both ahistorical and apolitical: "Poverty is not a problem of nature, it is a problem of power." To tackle the real issues behind Africa’s slow development and poverty would mean to go against Western economic interests and to radically change the world system in which we exist.

For the sake of the ANC, Jacob Zuma should come clean, apologise, ask for forgiveness - and resign from the national presidency, writes Peter Townshend.