In case you were wondering, the 2009 UN Human Development Index rankings for Kenya and Haiti (using 2007 data) are 147 and 149, respectively, separated by Papua New Guinea (see the link at Studies and Reports in the column at right). Very different places, but a point of reference nonetheless.
From the new Human Rights Watch World Report. Note: “The police regularly targeted civilians for killings and other violence in 2009, as in previous years.” http://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2010/kenya
The Uganda chapter is here, and the Ethiopia chapter is here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/mobile/americas/8469117.stm
This is good news. People actually getting arrested–and before the fact, rather than years later. Note that this involved efforts to sell “small and light arms”. A good bit of State Department security assistance in places like Kenya is to combat traffic in this type of arms.
Also encouraging is the cooperation of UK authorities with those in the US.
Check BBC News on the feed below for reports that Kenyan authorities are losing their appetite for the role of host to Somali politicians, as reflected in the brief arrests of Somali MPs in the Eastleigh raids today following the Jamia Mosque protest Friday. The comment is that perhaps Somali politicians should either enter the country as refugees and stay in the camps or stay in Somalia.
One more messy and complicated situation handled with characteristic subtlety by what Ben Rawlence of Human Rights Watch has aptly called Kenya’s “State within a State”–the police and security forces and key security ministries that were “off the table” in the Kenyan election and formation of a coalition government.
Kenya, if it is to become stabilized and return to democracy, must learn to tolerate political expression by citizens which continues to be regularly suppressed by force. This would create a climate in which security forces could hope to become trusted and gain public cooperation. There are conflicting reports about the protests last Friday and I can’t really weigh in on the details of that specific situation, but until I see otherwise I have to assume that the actions of the police and GSU are more likely to inflame than secure.
The questions raised are real, however, of how helpful to either Kenya or Somalia is the role of Nairobi as the back office for both Somali politicians and for the diplomatic and aid infrastructure for Somalia. In the case of United States government specifically, doesn’t Kenya warrant its own ambassador, rather than having to share one who is also in charge of the US role in ungoverned Somalia?
Monday’s Standard reports that Kenya is only consuming 5% of its own coffee production, terming this a risk to the success of the sector.
The Kenyan government’s lack of appreciation for the value of the cachet of Kenyan coffee was brought home to me quite quickly upon my arrival in Nairobi as director for the International Republican Institute. Calling on the Minister of Trade and Industry, we were served the usual choice of tea or instant Nescafe, as in the various other offices of high government officials and politicians. When the Trade Minister of a country with a reputation for growing some of the world’s finest coffee is serving Nescafe to his visitors, there is an obvious disconnect somewhere.
A local coffee house in New Orleans sells what it calls a Kenyan Press for brewing coffee. It appears to be quite the same as what the rest of us would call a “French Press”–basically a simple glass cylinder with a lid with a plunger with a screen to filter the brewed grounds and hold them at the bottom when the coffee is poured. Obviously the label “Kenyan” has market value to coffee drinkers. From my experience, it was in fact very hard (and unduly expensive) to actually buy a French Press in Nairobi.
It would be great to see Kenyans taking pride in the reputation of the quality of their coffee production and to see the government paying attention to promoting the market (rather, than, perhaps, being too distracted by worrying about who is going to win the next election).
Addendum: Turns out I have a picture of the coffee maker in New Orleans, a Bodum “Kenya Coffee Maker” that is also labeled in smaller print “French Press”:
Here is a link to more information and reviews from “dooyoo”. “Cafetiere (the French for coffee pot) has become the established description in Britain but ‘French Press’, or ‘Coffee Plunger’ is used in other parts of the world,” says reviewer “suehome”.
The Indian Ocean Newsletter reports in its monthly “free article” that Jimmie Kibaki, the President’s son, has been turned down serially by three politicians his Simama Kenya Youth Initiative has approached to back for State House in 2012. The most recent is Eugene Wamalwa, the younger brother of the late Vice President, who is said to plan to run under Ford Kenya. The original choice is said to have been Uhuru Kenyatta, who declined to leave KANU, followed by Deputy Minister Peter Kenneth.
HT to texasinafrica for this on Somalia.
And then read this about countries wanting get in on the financial action of supporting the AMISOM.
I’m sure with the situation in Yemen and the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing, Somalia will continue to distract the US from the unfinished and “overripe” situation in Kenya. I think that it is a shame that we focus on the places that we really can’t fix or do a lot about to the detriment of more realistic opportunities. Nairobi is in some ways unfortunate to be the diplomatic base for the US and others addressing Somalia–as well as the “back office” for aid organizations for NGOs, QGOs, etc. for both Somalia and Sudan. Not only does it mean that Kenya doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, or adequate funding for a country its size for a lot of programs to operate effectively outside Nairobi in a country of 40M people–it also gives a lot of direct and indirect leverage to “the powers that be” in Kenya.
I will say that it is good to see Hussein Ali, now Kenya’s postmaster after being moved out of his position as head of Kenya’s police, denied a US visa. Small thing, but at least a start in a direction that we haven’t followed through on in the past.
The Standard reports on the numbers disclosed in the Nairobi Star story mentioned in my last post.
via The Standard | Online Edition :: New Sh5.5b puzzle hits Jogoo House school funds.
And make no mistake about how badly needed these funds are. The reality remained during my time in Nairobi in 2007-2008 that even in the capital the public schools were treated by parents as a last resort. Classroom conditions were very poor even where the exteriors were brightly painted, sometimes by advertisers. And of course no electricity. These funds were certainly needed.
