We did not send you to public office to do business with our state

First published Saturday Standard, June 23, 2018. Kindly reproduced here with permission from the Standard Group

Life-style audits and integrity testing are all the rage again. Politicians are discussing it, Kenyans on twitter are discussing it and I hope our law enforcement agencies are acting on it. The debates reveal the very best and worst of our moral economy.

Lifestyle auditing was relevant when Jacob tricked Esau out of his birth-right in the bible. It was needed when the colonial fraudsters swindled East African chiefs under the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) back in the 1890s. We needed it when the Ndegwa Commission obliterated the notion of public servants engaging in business as a conflict of interest. We needed it when Jubilee promised it and then abandoned in 2013. We really needed it in 2015, when I and civic leaders demonstrated the control that vendors wielded over our very budget and the profound flows in our procurement systems.

Instead, we have built and polished a state and public culture that thrives on secrecy, private wealth accumulation and a lack of care. The Official Secrets Act led us to the absurdity of even marking national newspapers in Government offices as “Highly Confidential” despite the fact that they were the same ones everyone else was buying and reading on the streets. Wealth declarations by state officers seeking office in 2013 were likewise kept secret when the evidence of their wealth accumulation was glaring for all to see.

Thousands of Kenyans tweeting photos and figures of properties allegedly owned by elected and appointed state officials under the hashtag #Weknowyoursalary was #KOT at it’s finest. Comedian Jamymo ule Mzee also weighed in. He asked us to be suspicious of those who were travelling in matatus, ordering Blue Moon vodka and half kilo nyama yesterday and are now Ubering everywhere and ordering Hennessy brandy and five kilos of chicken. The broader point has been made. Life-style auditing is both an exercise for the public and our law enforcement agencies. Any intelligent taxi-driver, security guard, travel agent, bank-teller or estate agent without a twitter account can tell you who owns large chunks of our country.

The net worth, sources and uses of their monies and properties, income tax returns and bank deposits lies at the heart of solid life-style auditing and assessing hidden incomes of individuals, families and close friends and partners. Speed is, of the essence. Hidden assets are transferrable and there are a few countries that still accept corruption proceeds. Other countries like USA, Canada and South Africa are perfecting systems of catching those we can call Thieves In State. We can learn from them.

We are at a critical moment in the fight against corruption. Public naming and shaming must be accompanied by an anti-theft and anti-fraud strategy that operates within criminal procedures. Rushed, unfocussed or intrusive investigations that are not guided by our laws will squander this moment and imperil the nation. Search warrants, court orders, records and witness protection are crucial elements in criminal procedures and must be used creatively now.

For the rest of us, we must also challenge our comfort in holding situational ethics. Too many of us still argue that leadership integrity is not for our offices and homes, it is only for those in Government. We can steal a little as long as we get the job done or we are not likely to get caught. We will not win the war against corruption until we have more people seeking to study leadership integrity testing and not how to circumvent public procurement ethics and procedures.

We must have this conversation with our children also. My youngest child recently turned 18. Six months ago, he tried to justify going to an adult night-club saying, “there is an 3% chance of being caught by the karoo”. His interest ended abruptly when I argued that even if it was slim, if caught, there was an 100% chance that he would sleep the night in Parklands Police Station. My duty as his parent is to keep the bar of 100% integrity as a standard for his life. It is his duty as a citizen to maintain it for our country.

We have to share with each other the inspiring stories of Thomas Sankara and other leaders who led with the belief that simple lifestyles is not poverty. We must also demand of our appointed and elected leaders to live within their salaries or step down. We did not send you to public office to do business with our state.

Six months after this article, the state seized assets while one the biggest corruption cases was underway. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001302174/nys-rip-off-inside-former-ps-omollo-frozen-bank-accounts/business/

Forest dependent people key in conservation

First published Saturday Standard, May 19, 2018. Kindly reproduced here with permission from the Standard Group

Last week, the Environment Ministry’s spirited #PandaMitiPendaKenya campaign rallied Kenyans to plant over a billion trees and restore Kenya’s depleted forest cover. The excellent campaign comes in the wake of recent reports that emphasize the importance of locally driven forest conservation efforts.

Forests are at the heart of our current economy and future survival. The recently completed Taskforce report on Forest Management and Logging estimates our forests contribute 7 billion shillings per annum and employs 50,000 and 300,000 people directly and indirectly respectively. Trees and especially the Cedar tree is big business for some.

We lose 5,000 hectares of tree cover or if you like, 5,000 rugby pitches each year, to commercial logging, illegal encroachment and infrastructure. Ten counties namely Narok, Nakuru, Kilifi, Lamu, Kwale, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Kericho, Nandi, Uasin Gishu and Baringo are responsible for the greatest losses.

Our forests hold our water towers and are directly responsible for all the water that is available for human consumption and our entire eco-system. We lose 62 million cubic litres of water each year due to deforestation. Put it another way, every year, 4,300 Kenyans lose their complete access to water. Left unchecked, Kenya will join Egypt and other water stressed North African countries in under ten years

The Taskforce also found the very agency assigned the duty of protecting our forest culpable of involvement in corruption and widespread logging. In a rare and decisive action, Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko braved the cartels, disbanded the Kenya Forestry Services Board, sent senior officers packing for abuse of office and implemented a 90 day ban on commercial logging.

Contestation over the exploitation and conservation of our forests stems back to colonialism. At the heart of this, has been the rights of indigenous peoples and forest-dwelling communities like the Sengwer and the Ogiek of the Embobut and Mau forests. These and other communities have lived, worshipped, harvested and restored our forests for a century.

Indigenous people are recognized in our constitution and international rights standards. The term indigenous does not mean these communities came first. Rather, an indigenous community lives as a collective, has a spirituality and a culture that depends on their access and rights to their traditional forest lands and natural resources. It also recognizes that they have been historically marginalized by central government. Denying these communities access to their subsistence economy threatens to extinguish their very identity.

Having dominated the January headlines, the forced evictions of the Sengwer were revisited this week in a new Amnesty International report that documents the use of excessive force and state violence by the Kenya Forestry Service. Over the last five months, Government has justified the evictions as a military operation to stop banditry, a forestry conservation program and more recently that the Sengwer no longer strictly depend on the forest for their livelihoods. There is a tragic irony that glares at the nation here.

Since January 2014, Kenya Forestry Service rangers burnt down 2,531 forest based dwellings in 76 incidents, killed at least one person, injured tens of others and made thousands homeless. Suffering, destitution, cutting down of more trees to build new homes and disruption of traditional practices of community based forest management has been the impact. To add more pain to injury, Sengwer attempts to denounce illegal logging by companies and KFS collusion in 2015 were ignored. It is absurd to expect this community, after all that has happened to them, to have a consistent strategy and investment towards conserving the forest

Correcting injustices against the Sengwer must include prosecution of all state officers who abused their office and used excessive force to evict hundreds of families against their will. In the light of the Forestry Management Taskforce, Amnesty International Kenya and the soon to be completed Kenya National Human Rights Commission reports, Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Tolgos must urgently convene an inclusive dialogue of national and county actors.

Community forest management and ownership is globally recognized as the most sustainable model for forest conservation. Asking 47 million Kenyans to plant 1.5 billion trees and not hold the very same communities accountable for their nurture and protection doesn’t make sense.

The forest dependent and indigenous peoples of Kenya are easy allies for the state. Instead of forced evictions, the state must move to create partnerships with them for our forests. The rest of us must continue to plant trees in our farms, gardens and remaining urban green spaces while the rains continue to pound. This is the only way to move Kenya from #Grey2Green.

Our Nairobi National Park is threatened again and we must speak up

First published Sunday Standard, April 8, 2018. Kindly reproduced here with permission from the Standard Group

If we are not careful, we may lose the big five in the rush to deliver the big four. Last week, the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA) gave us until April 28 to give our views on yet another proposed encroachment into the Nairobi National Park.

Kenya Railways is preparing to construct a 4,153 kilometer access road through the park from the Nairobi Inland Container Depot through to the Southern bypass. Early signs of a construction site in the park suggest the proposed Environmental and Social Impact Assessment may be a ritual without a purpose. Ironically, the very agency assigned to manage our wildlife and national parks, Kenya Wildlife Services appears to support the proposal.

The struggle to keep our national heritage safe from the railway, highways and human settlements is older than the 72 year old park. Hundreds of species of animals, birds, trees and grasslands are scattered across its 28,963 acres. Among them is the black rhino. The park has supplied over half of the founder black rhinos to all the rhino sanctuaries in Kenya. Thanks to new initiatives like the popular NTV-Wild show and others, 100,000s of Kenyans and tourists now visit the park each year.

Public voices and action is growing to protect the park from the loss of another 20 acres. Under the hashtag #SaveNNP, they argue that the two phases of the Special Gauge Railway have already damaged the eco-system and the annual migration corridor for thousands of animals. In this sense, the lions that took a stroll in Kibra and South C recently were Internal Displaced Animals (IDAs) roaming in search of their rapidly disappearing natural habitat.

Left unprotected, our park will soon be no more than a zoo. A prison that is too restrictive to allow animals to feed or breed naturally. When that happens, Nairobi will no longer be the only city in the world with its own national wildlife park. We can then start planning to hold more memorial services like the one we held last month for Sudan and the entire northern white rhino species.

In this sense, the silence of the Kenya Wildlife Services, Tourism and the Environment Ministries is puzzling. Civic organization Africog has called on KWS international partners to suspend funding to the agency for mission failure. Perhaps it is also time for our artists to organize a vigil for our wildlife or our citizens to dramatize a Nairobi without the park.

Transport Cabinet Secretary has reportedly dismissed these critics as “busy-bodies”. It is worth reminding him that busy-bodies are still citizens. They are still entitled to a view and a say on everything +254. The distinct exasperation in the tone of our public officials worries me. A leadership that no longer listens is lost. It loses the opportunity to offer options, discuss trade offs and host a skillful public policy conversation first. It then loses public confidence and ownership.

A society that no longer cares, on the other hand, is unconscious and comatose. Too numb, as Mavuno Pastor Linda Ochola powerfully reminded us over Easter, to change the injustices in our lives. Bodies that are busy and actively engaging Government is what Kenya really needs now.

Busy-bodies are sometimes our only savior from poorly planned infrastructural projects built rapidly on the quicksand of tokenistic consultation. Ironically, state officials don’t seem to have a problem with the same busy-bodies who rose this week to thank the same ministry for their Bus Rapid Transport lane initiative.

Large infrastructural projects that permanently disfigure our national heritage must be honestly and openly debated. To allow them to proceed will inevitably drive the country towards ecocide, the deliberate and extensive destruction of our wildlife and environment.

If Margaret Mead were alive she would remind us that without the environment, there is no economy or society. I would go further. Jobs, housing, health and food security cannot hang in the air. Destroying our forests, rivers and now parks is a sure way of losing everything that really matters to us. If you and I cannot stand for anything, nothing really matters. Bodies, get busy.

It is time all busy-body citizens who value the park to exercise their right to email dgnema@nema.go.ke on their views. Dear NEMA, kindly consider this to be my open letter in complete opposition to the proposed access road across our Nairobi National Park.

 

 

Jobs with justice: A message for county leaders this Christmas

First published Sunday Standard, December 24, 2017. Kindly reproduced here with permission from the Standard Group

The chickens just came home to roost. Identity based political campaigns just deteriorated into discriminatory employment policies in two very different counties. The Kiambu County Assembly has just passed a motion to force employers to give seven out of all ten jobs to locals. Kilifi MCAs are now threatening to pass a similar motion. The risk to national cohesion today and tomorrow should be all too clear.

Africans are familiar with discriminatory “lock out” policies. Our recent history is full of it. Colonialism introduced hierarchical systems based on race, ethnicity and gender. Kipande pass books restricted our freedom of movement. Discriminatory laws classified where we could live, work and marry.

Drive to the home of one of Kiambu’s most famous freedom fighters Gitũ wa Kahengeri and he will tell you how the Gĩkũyũ were pitted against Luos for jobs and homes in the fifties; how the residents of Bahati and Kaloleni constituencies organized to desegregate their neighborhoods and smashed colonial designed ethnic enclaves and how he and the Kenya Land and Freedom Army took up arms to correct this indignity. There is a very sad irony therefore in what the Kiambu County Assembly has just done. Kiambu experienced the horror of colonial discrimination very acutely in the fifties.

Our diasporan cousins have not had it any better. They have resisted the indignity of slavery and discriminatory “lock out” policies and practices for four hundred years. They are still doing it. Over 100,000 men and women sued their employers for gender, sexual choice and racial based discrimination in the North America last year. Since Travyon Martin was killed in 2014, the Black Lives Matter movement have organized 2,500 protest marches to stop the use of lethal force by police against young African-American men.

Our story cannot be told without acknowledging how devastating prejudice, discrimination and exclusion was and is. Divide and rule policies have always been primary tools for undemocratic and divisive leaders. Cold calculations based on who belongs and who doesn’t, us and them, has always driven this thinking. It informs the treatment of the Rohingya of Myanmar, Libyan slavery and anti-immigration racism globally.

Fortunately, our constitution and labor laws forbids discriminatory policy and practises. If effected today, both County Governments and employers risk an avalanche of expensive labor discrimination law suits. In entertaining these ideas, our Kiambu representatives also lose the opportunity to provide real leadership for all the hopeless and unemployed regardless of their ethnicity.

After restricting jobs, County Assemblies could compel minority communities to register at Bureaus of Non-Majority Community Affairs and legislate Non-Majority Areas Acts. They could then try to prohibit inter-marriage, bank loans, procurement and essential services. All this is only a step away, if this Kiambu law is effected and Kilifi MCAs press on.

The economic challenges facing Governor BabaYao and Deputy Governor Nyoro play out nationally. Joblessness stalks too many young men and women. Kiambu youth between the ages of 15-34 years are set to grow by 40% and job opportunities are not growing as fast. Other counties like Kilifi face not only this challenge but also higher levels of poverty, inequalities and an acute sense of historical injustice. Given these challenges, what stops our constitutional promise on non-discrimination being raped by discriminatory “our people” county policies?

So what other options exist for leaders who want to govern all and not just those that share their mother tongue or last names? Fortunately, the team that produced the Kiambu Manifesto 2017-2022 need not look far. The “United for Kiambu” team were elected on an ambitious social-economic agenda that rested on inclusiveness as a core value and attractive investment projects.

Perhaps, we just need to remind them that it was this vision that got them elected. It is the vision of a competent and competitive workforce that will unleash the promise of their county. “Together we grow stronger” is not just a campaign slogan, it is what won the hearts and minds of voters. There are lessons here for other County Governments.

Lastly, it is worth adapting and applying the wisdom of Colossians 3.11 on this Christmas Eve. In Kiambu and all of our counties, there is not the circumcised or the uncircumcised, the resident or the migrant, the Christian or the Muslim, only the example of Jesus Christ, that’s all. To those that celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Merry Christmas. Enjoy this holiday season all.

 

Uhuru and Raila, there is nothing to govern in a divided Kenya

First published Sunday Standard, October 22, 2017. Kindly reproduced here with permission from the Standard Group

October 26 looms. It looms like a boil on our national and personal conscience. Having run divisive campaigns for the last ninety day campaigns, our leaders are unsure how to handle it. NASA chooses to ignore it. JP demands it be lanced whatever the consequences. Beneath these unequivocal positions lies the common fear that neither party’s position carries the entire nation with it. We are now, officially a divided society.

Hardliners dismissed the growing call for dialogue on the management of the Presidential Elections this week. Some argued that the best form of dialogue was the election itself. When in doubt, have a monologue was what I thought of this argument. Others polished up the unconstitutional two-state succession option. Others still, took confidence in their control of security forces.

JP missed the opportunity for consensus building last week. We approach the Thursday elections with a fractured IEBC, serious administrative challenges and only one significant player willing to take to the pitch. For the rest of us, we remain unsure whether it is worth buying tickets to a football match when only one team wishes to play. The country is deeply divided on how to conclude this electoral season.

As Obama tells us, skillfully governing a country after waging divisive politics is hard. A casual review of Bosnian, Congolese or Iraqi leaders’ biographies will also tell you this. Prolonged adversity produces leadership conservatism, intolerance and over-dependency on counter violence strategies. The rest is just tragedy economics. Two police officers for every polling station, one tear gas canister for every five protesters and five body-bags for every demonstration.

Faced with perpetual legitimacy challenges, it takes an incredible leader to continue to invest in actions that expand their legitimacy. Most remain in repeat mode and stop caring what impact they leave on the people who disagree with them. Inevitably, they come to rely on suppressing than transforming dissent. This is why, the next five days may be the defining moment for the next five years.

Whispers of this can be heard already. Did you know Daniel arap Moi ruled the country with less than 20% of the electorate in the eighties? Or did you know George W. Bush became President in 2000 without the popular vote? These arguments normalize mediocre leadership and must be challenged. Should we celebrate also slavery, colonialism and genocidal regimes which also functioned without popular mandates? The real challenge for all leaders in divided societies, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga included, is how will they leave behind a nationally cohesive country after they have left our political stage.

The answer lies less in what to do with the egos and interests of our political class. I am convinced that our country’s resources are not big enough to satisfy their appetite for more. Before devolution, calls for more cabinet positions or proportional representation may have been useful inquiries. With 47 county administrations, this argument is less convincing. Pro-actively deepening our national values in all our spaces is where our attention needs to turn.

We must welcome and expand the voices of religious, civic and political leaders who called for consensus-building, the artists engaged in #TuliaTubonge flash mobs, the few police officers who have exercised restraint, the protesters who risk their lives to protest the loss of others’ lives and the community peace-workers who rose to stand between those calling for violence. Leadership is defined less in terms of the position you occupy but more by the direction you are leading others towards.

Ultimately, it is the IEBC that holds the key to what happens next. A day is a long time in politics it is said. Last week, this common phrase got shortened to six hours. There is still time for the IEBC to seek an advisory from the Supreme Court on whether the constitutional threshold of Article 81 can still be met given the current political and administrative conditions. There is still time for Kenyatta like Odinga to meet with our chief referee and then for all the parties to meet.

Should they not, we must accept that the freedom to vote or not to vote is also anchored in our constitution. All JP and NASA leaders and supporters must embrace Kenyatta and Odinga statement that this right shall be protected on October 26. Each of us must vote or not according to our conscience. Choose powerfully.

International CSOs in a differentiated, globalised and networked world: Five traits they must drop

 

 

 

Presentation to the IANGO Charter Conference, Amsterdam, 9^th September 2016

“This global wave of restrictions has a rapidity and breadth to its spread we’ve not seen before, that arguably represents a seismic shift and closing down of human rights space not seen in a generation.” James Savage, Amnesty International

“I believe in criticism. As a Member of Parliament, criticism kept me moving over 15 years. I firmly say this now as the Minister, this Government has not sanctioned any Government body to intimidate NGOs in Kenya. It is now time to restore sanity and commence the Public Benefits Organisations Act (2013)” Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri, Ministry of Devolution and Planning, Government of Kenya, September 2016

“We are demanding change. Be prepared to be uncomfortable.” Degan Ali, African Development Solutions (Adeso), 2015

Abstract

The world is increasingly differentiated, globalised and networked. A collapsed North-South world order has released new power centres within countries and across countries. Political elites are flexing new legal and administrative restrictions. Activists are demanding new models of civic organisations. Both are learning from their peers elsewhere in the world. Collectively, these and other challenges pose a threat and an opportunity to international Civil Society organisations. To respond effectively to these challenges, there are five traits that need to be dropped.

Changing Political Context

The historically simplicity of the cold war and the north-south classification exploded in the 21^st century into a complex and ever-changing set of global relationships. Countries that would have been classified only as either Least Developing, Fragile or Highly Indebted today can be classified in a myriad of ways. For those countries that have seen economic growth, reduction in extreme poverty and strengthening of governance systems, power and influence is slowly but surely shifting homewards.

Over sixty Governments across the world have enacted new and restrictive legislation to control the operations of international and national civil society organisations. In ninety-six countries, CSOs and their staff experience vilification, funding caps, administrative harassment, closure and expulsion.

In Kenya, there have been five attempts to introduce harmful amendments to the NGO law. On at least three separate occasions, 1,400 NGOs were struck from the register on grounds of failure to report their accounts, complicity in terrorism and support for gay rights. Many of these deregistered were re-instated within days after public and official uproar.

Until very recently, the administrative unit of the Government responsible for regulation and creating an enabling environment for NGOs issued numerous decrees for NGOs to change their constitutions, close their bank accounts and justify staff recruitment. The cumulative impact of the last three years has been to infect the sector and particularly, international CSOs with a real dose of fear. Most have found themselves paralysed by the legal limbo, rent-seeking of individual officers, administrative aggression and demands for shifts in their governance.

As the democratic space shrunk, most agonised over what they could say or do. Many found themselves without friends in high places. Most delegated their public voice to national CSOs. A few relocated their staff and some contemplated re-location to a regional neighbourhood that had nothing better to offer. The uncertain legal territory had thrown at least 9,000 organisations and an annual budget conservatively set as Kshs 30 billion, development partners and the Government into disarray for the three years.

After consultations with Public Benefits Organisations on September 9^th Devolution Ministry Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri operationalised the Public Benefits Organisations Act (2013) without any changes. The room was packed with PBO leaders, Ministry officials and the national media.  It is hoped that the previous “passive-aggressive” chapter is now firmly behind both the state and the sector. If this does become the case, Kenya can resume its place as global example of an open society with a vibrant civic society. In many ways, this period offers a glimpse into the challenges being faced by international CSOs and offers a number of institutional lessons.

Charles Abugre and others have argued that historically INGOs were primary and secondary citizens. They have primary citizenship in the countries they are headquartered and secondary citizenship in the countries they operate in. In the former, they could speak publicly and even challenge their governments to represent their interests overseas but in the countries that they worked, this role was reserved for local CSOs.

At least two power shifts have fundamentally displaced this model. Today, most African, Asian and Latin American Governments no longer define their domestic policies on the basis of European and North American Government priorities. Secondly, a growing number of European and North American Governments are now openly framing development assistance within trade facilitation, geo-political and commercial interests. There is greater global uncertainty of the stability of bi-lateral overseas development assistance.

International CSOs have begun to respond in at least four ways. Organisations have chosen to reduce their focus to fragile states, initiate mergers with southern organisations and innovate social enterprise models. The “southernisation” of global headquarters and the growing number of ICSO national boards is another logical adjustment to these changes.

What is missing is a set of institutional culture of behaviours and traits that keep ICSOs empowered to challenge the shrinking political space and expanding inequalities in the south. To do this, they will have to drop at least five disempowering traits.

Resource concentration in Europe and North America: Less than 2% of the US$150 billion deployed by international CSOs budgets reach local CSOs in the countries they operate. The remaining 98% serves an international bureaucracy quick sand of international processes, lifestyles of the 1% and multiple layers of internal accountability processes. Until they are able to re-balance the funding and power away from the internal bureaucracies and into the hands of local actors, they will be vulnerable to the challenge of Degan Ali.

Politically Risk adverse: For those ICSOs comfortable with leaving their country and regional offices in the heads of risk adverse expatriates, they will continue to be vulnerable to increasingly muscular local elites. This does not translate into a simple nationalisation argument. While contextual acumen is critical, there is danger in national staff who also live the lifestyles of the 1%. National boards with full governance powers are one way of deepening political legitimacy and a capacity to engage local power structures.

Disinterest in social movements: Many states are embracing development duties framed within international, continental and national human rights standards. ICSOs have to shift to building solidarity with interests and communities seeking empowerment for governance oversight and self-regulation. The insurrectionist uprising in North Africa or the protest movements of #FeesMustFall #NoThirdTermism #ThisFlag #Oromoprotests #UmbrellaRevolution offer sharp lessons for ICSO executives caught flat-footed. Older traditions of NGO capacity building have to give way to institutional strengthening, sustainability financing and cross-sector alliance building work. More ICSOs could look seriously at how to work with local CSOs to generate genuine supporter bases in the public interest. Rather than parachuting what has worked in London, New York and Paris, these must be rooted in local cultures of development education, active citizenship and solidarity.

Governance apartheid: Despite widespread agreement that international Boards must reflect the communities they serve, not much has happened for the majority. 64% of governance and 63% of the Chief Executive Officers across 500 top NGOs are still drawn from the western world according to https://www.ngoadvisor.net. Only 4% of CEOs are of African origin. Where they are African, there is still a preoccupation to recruit Board members from within the 1%

Closed bureaucracies: Our governance systems still slumber on a lie. The lie is that we can control the world around us. That future predictions and short-term programmes give us power to act effectively. That segmenting our programmes into neat silo-ed mirrors of the Sustainable Development Goals, we will generate transformative outcomes. That finances flows from north to south are capable of creating a sustainable financial base for equality, social justice and governance work.

These five traits and ways of being pose an ontological challenge for the ICSO in an increasingly differentiated, globalised and networked world. They can be transformed by a politically networked leadership open to working with independent social movements Greater impact could be achieved through devolving governance and resources and freeing them from internal bureaucracies and systems. The work of INGOs will have power, impact and sustainability if they;

• Deploy tools, tactics and spaces that create mass constituency and impact;
• Seek to interrupt the predictable future of neglect and inaction by states, public, you and me
• Keep the state as primary duty-bearer for guaranteeing rights and freedoms
• Remain agile and exercise a constant capability to reinvent itself as the context shifts,
  

Useful background materials

‘We are demanding change’: The Somali woman taking on international NGOs. (2016). the Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/mar/21/degan-ali-somali-woman-taking-on-the-humanitarian-system

José Antonio Alonso etal LDC and other country groupings: How useful are current approaches to classify countries in a more heterogeneous developing world? 2014

Doane, D. (2016). Do international NGOs still have the right to exist?. the Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/mar/13/do-international-ngos-still-have-the-right-to-exist

Sherwood, H. (2015). Human rights groups face global crackdown ‘not seen in a generation’. the Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/aug/26/ngos-face-restrictions-laws-human-rights-generation

Phillips, T. (2016). China passes law imposing security controls on foreign NGOs. the Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/28/china-passes-law-imposing-security-controls-on-foreign-ngos

Irũngũ Houghton and Stephanie Muchai Protecting civic space against #NGOMuzzle laws. (2014). Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://irunguh.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/protecting-civic-space-against-ngomuzzle-laws-in-kenya/

Irũngũ Houghton: The Real Issues Over Changes to PBO Act. (2015). allAfrica.com. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from http://allafrica.com/stories/201503090976.html

Plan to launch first ever global network for southern NGOs announced. (2016). ReliefWeb.Retrieved 17 September 2016, from http://reliefweb.int/report/world/plan-launch-first-ever-global-network-southern-ngos-announced

Worker, S. (2016). Secret aid worker: by not measuring impact, NGOs are abusing their power. the Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jan/19/secret-aid-worker-ngos-abusing-power-costly-evaluations

Leach, A. & Purvis, K. (2016). UK NGOs raise concerns about Priti Patel’s new approach to foreign aid. the Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/sep/14/uk-ngos-raise-concerns-about-priti-patels-new-approach-to-foreign-aid

Worker, S. (2016). Secret aid worker: ‘High-level’ really means a club of old white men. the Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jun/28/secret-aid-worker-high-level-really-means-a-club-of-old-white-men

Africans Rising. (2016). Africans Rising. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from http://africacsi.org/

CIVICUS etal An open letter to our fellow activists across the globe: Building from below and beyond borders, 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2016, from http://blogs.civicus.org/civicus/2014/08/06/an-open-letter-to-our-fellow-activists-across-the-globe-building-from-below-and-beyond-borders/

 

Closing remarks at the launch of the SID Policy Brief “Why Corruption prevails and what can be done to eliminate it” December 25, 2015

The @SIDKDP policy brief can be downloaded here Why corruption prevails and what can be done to eliminate it http://bit.ly/1NOsBOA

It is not the absence of laws, agencies and policies that Kenya misses. What we miss is the moral imagination that adopts the humility to recognise not all is well and the audacity to declare a new course of action. Every time it shows up, we are left inspired and ready to act.

The true cost of corruption and impunity is not millions and billions of shillings, it is the helplessness we learn when our leaders, agencies and we do not take action in the public interest.

On June 26, 14 organisations made 12 recommendations to the Presidential Taskforce on laws related to corruption. http:// goo.gl/AdGHeC 11 of those recommendations have now been adopted in the report presented to the President. There is much that we can support in the AG’s Taskforce report http://goo.gl/qLTAV2

On November 5, ten organisations including TI-Kenya, CRECO, Mzalendo, Africog, Inuka, KCA, ICJ, SID ACAC and the Devolution Forum advised the President to sack Cabinet Secretaries and reshuffle the Cabinet, review procurement processes and press for company transparency. We also called for lifestyle audits. We gave the President 30 days. http://goo.gl/1bxN8B

17 days later on November 23 and yesterday with the refreshing of the cabinet, three of the four proposals had been taken up by the President. https://goo.gl/nGzPE8

The important lesson here is that the state listens. It may take long, it may not be recognised, but we have voice and when we act we have influence. This is the essence of democratic governance.

We may not be invited to State House to meet the Pope today. We may not be recognised in the state commendations for 2015. This may not be important right now. The only questions are whether

* We have kept the faith of integrity lived and expressed by Pope Francis?
* Have we spoken and acted in the spirit of the constitution?
* Have we acted with humility in the public interest?

Nothing else matters.

On December 9, we move to Central Park, join us in the park or any other space to talk to Kenyans on what actions can they take to #KataaHiyo and build #IntegrityKE

Ends.

Raising Voices for Peace in Kenya: A Personal Reflection

“When the spider webs unite, they can tie a lion” African Proverb

My mobile rang incessantly the morning after Mwai Kibaki was sworn in. One caller was persistent. Three times I was asked, “Irungu, we need to meet, when are we meeting?” With images of anger and mayhem from the entire country flooding my television, it seemed futile. However, we did meet that afternoon on the 31st December 2007 at the offices of the Peace and Development Network in Kilimani, Nairobi.

Thankfully, during the post election crisis, there were very few moments over the next sixty days that I allowed a sense of powerlessness to paralyse me again. Throughout, I kept the words of South Africa’s Oliver Tambo to a young Winnie Mandela close. When she shared how worried she was, he told her, “When at a loss, history provides. Do not do anything. History will provide a situation for you to react. Remember that always, in life. Just wait there. History will rescue you. You will get guidance from within, from yourself”.

With barely three hours notice, forty of us met that afternoon and reviewed the rising tide of hatred and violence. Luos being forcefully circumcised in Gachie and Nakuru, the burning of Kisii, Gikuyu and Indian homes in Kakamega, looting and police shootings in Kisumu, rising number of deaths in Burnt Forest, Kapenguria and Narok, the ban on live reporting and the silence from our leaders. An inescapable set of thoughts ran through my mind in those early days. As political affiliations and ethnicity fused, we were facing the greatest onslaught on our national identity. Our only hope as a country lay in non‐violent ways of resolving the election crisis. ODM, PNU and ODM‐K political leaders needed to find a pathway to resolving the highly contentious elections and the violence had to be stopped.

On the eve of the elections, Kenya had a functional Government, Judiciary, no less than 6,000 non‐governmental organisations, 100,000s of community based organisations, one of the most sophisticated mass media sector in the region, 1000s of international organisations and corporations including the headquarters of various United Nations Agencies. Their collective silence that first week of January suggested that they had all left Kenya. We were about to be reminded of an important lesson. Organisations are as effective as the individuals who work within them. In a time of profound upheaval, it is to individuals that we must look to catalyse and bring people and organisations together.

Raising Voices for Peace
At least five new initiatives sprouted over the first three days in Nairobi. Around the Peace and Development Network, the People for Peace Network, Maendeleo ya Wanawake, ActionAid, Oxfam and World Vision created the Election Violence Response Initiative (EVRI‐1) to call for peace and re‐establish the national network of community peace‐workers (http://www.peaceinkenya.net). Under the auspices of the Inter‐religious Leaders Forum, a social intervention taskforce of humanitarian agencies began to assess and plan for the emerging humanitarian need. Governance, legal and human rights organisations began to call for a rejection of the results of the General Elections. Convened by the Kenyan National Commission of Human Rights, this lobby became known as the Kenya Peace, Truth and Justice network. Elsewhere, Kenyan artists formed Musicians for Peace and Concerned Kenyan Writers. Recognised peace‐workers and professional mediators within the Horn formed Concerned Citizens for Peace, a lobby that operated from Serena hotel.

The Concerned Citizens for Peace pre‐occupied itself with three priorities namely; publicly calling for an end to violence, mediated dialogue at the highest level of the two large parties PNU and ODM and creating a space for concerned citizens to act. It was clear to me that the ODM policy of mass action and the PNU policy of mass denial were recipe for further chaos. Unleashed by a flawed political election, the character of the violence found its shape in social and economic identities. Kenyans were being attacked for being the “wrong tribe”, for being women and girls, for having property or wealth or for being old.

In those days, our radios, televisions, mobile phones and the Internet were flooded with stories and graphic images of this violence. That this was also fuelling the violence was one thing I could agree with the Minister of Information. However, in context of suspicion that the newly elected Executive had rigged itself to power and national uncertainty, the attempt to ban live broadcasting would prove unpopular and futile. The task was to create a third voice, one that called for an end to the violence and a mediated conversation on a political solution.

The role of the Media Owners Council was crucial. The media had to look beyond the sensationalism of youth carrying pangas at roadblocks along the major highways of the Rift Valley, the crowds in our informal urban settlements and the numerous press conferences calling for Kenya to be made ungovernable. CCP had to find and promote the peacemakers, those Kenyans who were trying to hold inter‐ethnic communities together, to build dialogue and alternative ways of expressing their frustration with the political process or even the gross inequities they experienced. A diverse list of fifty men and women from different communities, professions, regions and political affiliations was prepared and sent to media houses for them to interview on the way forward.

Later, media activists working in both CCP and EVRI‐1 composed several peace messages that were later sent round by the major mobile phone companies. One of the most powerful calls for peace was performed by several of Kenya’s finest gospel musicians. It was at one of the early press conferences by CCP that the song Umoja Pamoja was given substantive and free airplay. Members of CCP, the Concerned Writers for Kenya would produce over 100 articles for international and national newspapers and magazines by February 6 2008 (http://www.kwani.org/blog). This proved very successful and soon dominated the airwaves and front‐pages by January 7 2008. A key important message at this time was “we can fix this”.

The international media on the other hand, found itself stuck in the pornography of mayhem and genocide long after the national media had shifted to more balanced reporting. The Media Council issued a statement to these agencies counselling against the “mention of particular tribes involved in the violence by name” as it was fuelling already heightened emotions. They called for the international press to “apply the same international principles … while faced with similar circumstances in western countries where the dignity of the human person is respected and observed”. Lastly, they declared “The local media has taken a stand to unite and use resources available to them to help contain the violence in Kenya and not to exacerbate it. Do join us in these efforts.”

Calling on our political leaders to stop the Violence
Placing direct pressure on the top leadership of ODM and PNU to agree on a way forward on the flawed and disputed elections was the other major focus at the time. This was a pre‐occupation not only of the peace groups at the time but the international community whose capitals were seized with influencing the two Presidential candidates or Principles as they became known to come to the table. Throughout the crisis, we attempted this is different ways. The first early attempt was an evening vigil march to the offices of ODM, ODM‐K and PNU led by the religious leaders. A diverse range of musicians, spiritual and development leaders were supported to convene a well‐attended press conference. After that fifty of us climbed into buses and presented a single open letter to the offices calling for immediate dialogue.

Later, we would write and widely circulate with the political leaders an options paper “A Citizens Agenda”, several press statements and another open letter to the main Principles calling on them to personally lead the process of finding a solution. All opportunities were used to offer guidance. The Serena hotel corridors proved very spacious for sharing materials with the various mediators, political leaders and even those like us who were trying to influence the process. The ODM Presidential candidate even found himself being offered alternative reading material when he stopped to have his haircut at the Serena Hotel salon. Over February, consistent briefing meetings were held with the AU Mediation Team led by H.E. Kofi Annan. A reader on wealth and inequity was prepared for the largely non‐Kenyan technical staff working on the draft Agreements. During the AU Summit at the end of January, a daily newsletter prepared in Nairobi was circulated to national delegates and the AU Commission conflict‐monitoring unit.

It was these actions that established trust with the formal mediation process and allowed us to access and circulate widely the Agreements as soon as they were concluded. Indeed, we found ourselves a source of information for the media and other interest groups on the progress of the talks before the Mediation Team established its own system of consistent reporting back.

Expanding the community of peacemakers
While many of the efforts of the first month were centred in Nairobi, they were accompanied by important initiatives to support the establishment of peace corridors and safety spaces for ordinary people seeking refuge. Visits were made to camps for the internally displaced and inter‐ethnic football matches were organised for youth in Kibera, Korogocho, Dandora and Baba Ndogo.

Community newsletters like the Kibera Journal published calls for the communities not to burn down their houses and destroy shops and schools. Counsellors and social workers in the Rift Valley accepted to offer free counselling services in Eldoret and Nakuru and university students were financially supported to convene meetings when campuses finally re‐opened. Peace monitors were sent phone credit to maintain their surveillance. The Kenya Veterans for Peace would discourage its members from supporting the militia with their military skills. An e‐newsletter Amani Sasa ran as a daily page for the first month and then became a weekly of several pages providing analysis of planned events and profiles of peace actions and peacemakers.

At their height, seventy men and women would meet daily each morning in the Karna room of the Serena hotel. The meetings ranged from 1‐3 hours and were designed around the principle of harvesting ideas. Many of the actions mentioned above and the successful Valentines day flower memorial in Uhuru Park were hatched in this room. While all these actions were taking place, the virus of suspicion and division was always present in the highly diverse space this enabled.

Supporters from antagonistic parties including former Ministers and Ambassadors, youth and the elderly, the careered and the unemployed, Kenyan staff of Embassies met daily to share information and agree on actions. This diversity became uncomfortably apparent one morning when three men stood up and introduced themselves as members of Mungiki sect and that they too, were trying to bring an end to the violence. The Convenors were careful to moderate language and the space given to different viewpoints. The sessions always started and closed with first three stanzas of the national anthem. The best moments for me were when we reflected and decided on a course of action in the morning, acted by the end of the day and reported the next. The worst were when we spent too much time analysing the context or discussing how we should be organised and not agreeing on a practical action to take.

By the end of February, it was clear the tide had turned. The skilful mediation of H.E. Kofi Annan and his team, the national outcry backed internationally for a political solution and a return to the rule of law had wrested the mindset of mass denial and mass action from PNU and ODM. The sense of urgency began to be replaced by a sense of relief. This victory came not without cost to the various initiatives.

The voluntarism that had fueled the ideas, actions and resources began to wane. This voluntarism had seen guards offer to protect peacemakers going into the Rift Valley and designers, journalists, singers, writers and Kiswahili translators produce and publicly distribute peace materials. University graduates daily recorded and circulated minutes, photocopied documents and lobbied our leaders. Social workers, mediators and drivers had voluntarily gone into heal communities, temper and channel their anger constructively. Former campaign party activists had cut thousands of peace ribbons, spoke to their party leaders, held peace rallies and night vigils and mobilised young men and women to protect persecuted communities.

Without sustained funding and firm organisational structures, this voluntarism could not be sustained. Focus and momentum disappeared. Perhaps this was inevitable in these circumstances. Many of us could now return to our normal lives, our jobs and families.

Yet, this was not without the lingering feeling that too many had lost their lives and livelihoods. We had come very close to losing our very nation. We had held together and if Kenya was threatened, we could find each other and do the same again.

Irungu Houghton wrote this as Pan Africa Director for Oxfam based in Nairobi in 2009. It was firstly published “Personal Narratives about the 2007 Post-Election Violence in Kenya” -Ed. Kimani Njogu. This is a personal testimony only in one sense. The views contained are that of the writer. The events described in the testimony were the collective efforts of many Kenyans who over the two months of post-election violence voluntarily gave their time, money and relationships to the pursuit of one Kenya and a political and non‐violent solution to the crisis. The writer is proud to have stood among them.

You can interact with him on twitter: @irunguhoughton

Oxfam challenge African leaders and World Bank to stop land grabs

African leaders and World Bank must freeze land-based acquisition deals for one year

Land equivalent to the size of Cameroon or Kenya was sold off during the last decade to foreign investors, says international development agency Oxfam. The existing 700 land deals on the African continent represent 50 million hectares of land. Globally, the amount of land sold off in the past ten years is enough to grow food for a billion people, Oxfam says. The agency called on African Union member states and the World Bank to freeze large-scale land acquisitions for a year

In its new report, Our Land, Our Lives, Oxfam warns that more than 60 per cent of global investments in agricultural land by foreign investors between 2000 and 2010 were in developing countries with serious food security challenges. However, two thirds of those investors plan to export everything they produce on the land. Nearly 60 percent of global land deals in the past decade have been to grow crops that can be used for biofuels.

Land deals in Africa potentially threaten the livelihoods of the continent’s 80 million smallholder farmers and pastoralists, which contribute 30 per cent of Africa’s GDP and 40 per cent of its exports. From Senegal to Zambia, smallholder producers, many of them women, have lost their homes and the land they rely on for their survival, often violently and without adequate compensation. Oxfam said Africa has been the continent most targeted for land acquisitions, with known deals equal to nearly five per cent of Africa’s total agricultural area.

The report comes as Oxfam steps up its campaign to end land grabs that violate the rights of the world’s poorest people. Oxfam supports greater investment in agriculture and to small-scale farmers. However the unprecedented rush for land has not been adequately regulated or policed to prevent land grabs and poor people continue to be evicted. Many lose their homes and are left destitute, without access to the land they rely on for food to eat and make a living.

Oxfam’s Pan Africa Head of Economic Justice, Mohamed Lamine Ndiaye, said: “With food prices spiking for the third time in four years, interest in land could accelerate again as rich countries try to secure their food supplies and investors see land as a good long-term bet. We are concerned that another wave of land grabs could occur unless better protection is put in place for poor people”.

Oxfam calculates that land deals tripled during the food price crisis in 2008 and 2009 because land was increasingly viewed as a profitable investment. With global food prices again hovering at record levels urgent action is needed to stop the threat of another wave of land grabs.

Oxfam says there is a need for Member States of the African Union to act decisively to freeze land acquisitions of more than 200 hectares for at least one year, to allow impact assessment to be carried out. As an influential investor and advisor in land deals, the organisation is calling for the World Bank to temporarily freeze its agricultural investments in land. This should give time for the Bank to review its advice to developing countries, help set standards for investors, and introduce more robust policies to help stop land-grabs.

Oxfam’s Pan Africa Director Irungu Houghton said: “The rush for land is out of control and some of the world’s poorest people are suffering hunger, violence and greater poverty as a result. The World Bank is in a unique position to help stop land grabs becoming one of the biggest scandals of the century and must act now”.

Mr Houghton continued: “The Panafrican Parliament has given its green light to adopt a moratorium on land grabs until social, environmental and economic impacts are better understood. Member States of the African Union should step in and act now as well. Concerted actions will yield quick results.” 

Oxfam said land grabbing in rural Africa is aggravated by laws, both statutory and customary, that can be very flexibly interpreted when investors get support from local elites or government decision makers.

Oxfam wants the freeze of land acquisitions to send a strong signal to global investors to stop land-grabbing and to improve standards for:

·    Transparency – ensuring that information about land deals is publicly accessible for both affected communities and governments.
·    Consultation and consent – ensuring communities are informed in advance, and can agree or refuse projects.
·    Land rights and governance – strengthening poor people’s rights to land and natural resources, especially women, through better land tenure governance as set out by the Committee for Food Security.
·    Food security – ensuring that land investments do not undermine local and national food security.

Notes to editors:
According to the International Land Coalition, 203 million hectares of land was acquired in major deals globally between 2000 and 2010.
The same research shows that 106 million hectares of land in developing countries was acquired by foreign investors between 2000 and 2010
The World Bank’s investments in agriculture have increased by 200 per cent in the last 10 years, while its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, sets standards followed by many investors. The Bank’s own research reveals that countries with the most large scale land deals are those with the poorest protection of people’s land rights. And since 2008, 21 formal complaints have been brought by communities affected by Bank projects that they say have violated their land rights.

Oxfam is campaigning against land grabs as part of its GROW campaign, which aims to secure a future where everyone has enough to eat.

Fourteen Pan African religious and development organisations react to UN Secretary-General Appointment of the High Level Panel on Post 2015 Development Agenda

2nd August 2012

Fourteen Pan African religious and development organisations react to UN Secretary-General Appointment of the High Level Panel on Post 2015 Development Agenda

Fourteen local, national and international organisations working across Africa on the Millennium Development Goals today welcomed the appointment of four African leaders namely Betty Maina, (Chief Executive of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers) and Graca Machel (Current Member of The Elders), Fulbert Gero Amoussouga (The head of the Economic Analysis Unit of the President of the Republic of Benin and the Current Chair of the African Union) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Hon Minister of Finance for the Republic of Nigeria) to the High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda by the UN Secretary General.

The UN High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development Agenda of 26 equal co-chairs has been established to accelerate the implementation of the existing Millennium Development Goals set to expire in 2015 and draft a new set of global development goals to replace them.

The organisations welcomed the announcements, many of them women as significant. Dinah Musindarwezo, Director of the African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET) says on behalf of the organisations, “This is an excellent first step towards placing African women and leaders at the centre of setting the Agenda for Development Post-2015.”

The civil society organisations are looking forward to working closely with the four Africans and the other 22 High Level Panellists. Mwangi Waituru, African co-chair of the Beyond2015 coalition and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty notes, “The Panel and especially the African members of the High level panel must ensure that there is an agenda that focuses on securing and managing African resources to eradicate poverty for men and women across Africa.”

The organisations would also like to encourage the High Level Panel to facilitate an open and inclusive process that ensures African citizens define and participate meaningfully in the future that they want. They argue that the new Post MDG Agenda must have human rights, equity and gender equality at its centre. Overcoming poverty and generate prosperity will never be attained unless structural causes exacerbating the growing inequalities across the continent are addressed.

The organisations also cautioned against new conversations to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that do not address the fact that many African countries are still unlikely to meet the commitments made in 2000. Irũngũ Houghton Oxfam’s Pan Africa Director argues, “The High Level Panel needs to accelerate the implementation of the existing MDGs while setting a bold global agenda. Without political commitment in completing the MDGs, there will be no integrity in designing a new set of goals.”

Statement is signed by
ABANTU for Development
Action Aid International
African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET)
Agency for Corporation and Research in Development (ACORD)
CAFOD
Global call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) and, beyond 2015 Alliance
Justice, Development and Peace Commission, the Justice, Development and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, -Nigeria
Kariobangi South Welfare & Slums Housing association (KASWESHA Housing Cooperative Society),
Nigeria Network of NGOs
Oxfam
Pan-Africa Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
Plan International
Solidarity for African Women’s Rights coalition

Notes to Editors:

Click to access Press%20release_post-2015panel.pdf

Click to access post_2015_un_development_framework_summary.pdf

Press Contact
Shukri Gesod
Gender Justice Lead-Pan-Africa Programme Oxfam GB
3rd Floor, The Atrium. Chaka Road, Kilimani
P.O. Box 40680, GPO (00100), Nairobi, Kenya.
Cell: +254-(0) 731178158
Email: SGesod@oxfam.org.uk
Skype: shukrigesod
Web: http://www.oxfam.org