Find ways to reduce waste, counties told

 

Nairobi county governor Evans Kidero inspects a parade by City Council workers. Photo/FILE  Nation Media Group

By MWANIKI WAHOME 

County governments will be hard pressed to increase the current service charges and have been advised to come up with innovative ways to raise revenue from the private sector.

Economic think tank, Institute of Economic Affairs, says county officials should concentrate more on cutting wastage and corruption to have sufficient funds for development.

The counties are not likely to raise funds from external borrowing either as it process requires sovereign guarantee from the national government, which is unlikely to take the burden.

“There is expectation that taxes at the counties will be increased by between 50 and 75 per cent to raise revenue. There will be a lot of resistance to this and the counties need to find innovative ways, like improving efficiency and cutting on corruption, to reduce the current budget shortfalls,” said Mr David Owiro, IEA programme officer, regulation and competition policy.

He was speaking during a forum organised by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers on improving local governance through public-private participation.

Offshore sources

Owiro advised the counties not to rely on the fact that the constitution allows them to borrow from offshore sources, adding that the national government might be reluctant to take the risk through sovereign guarantee.

“The experience shows central governments are wary of offering sovereign guarantee. The legal framework is not there and the national government would not want to mortgage the country to fund one county,” he said.

The advice comes against the backdrop of the passing of county budgets that outline lavish spending on recurrent account estimated at 80 per cent on average.

The situation could starve the devolved units of development funds.

Mr Owiro said the counties should mobilise capital investment funds from the private sector, adding that counties should create a conducive environment for them.

Nairobi City County governor, Mr Evans Kidero, and his Kiambu County counterpart Mr William Kabogo said their counties are attracting manufacturers and franchises with major international companies setting up offices.

Mr Owiro said Kiambu should closely follow the happenings in Nairobi county to enable it be competitive in attracting investors.

Tanzania on the spot for blocking tour firms

 

Tourists at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Photo/FILE 

By MATHIAS RINGA 

Kenyan tour operators have criticised Tanzania’s border officials for denying them access to the neighbouring country.

Oliver Tours and Safaris director Omar Rachitu said that for the last two years, Kenyan tourist vans have been barred from crossing into Tanzania.

He said when the local tour drivers reach Taveta, Namanga, Lunga Lunga and Isebania border areas, they have to hire Tanzanian drivers and vans to ferry tourists to the neighbouring country’s game parks.

 This had adversely affected their trade as they have to pay hefty fees to Tanzanian tour firms before tourists are driven into the neighbouring country, he said.

Kenyan tour drivers have to stay at the borders for up to a week awaiting the holidaymakers return from Tanzanian parks, he added.

“Over the years, Kenyan tour operators have been getting a raw deal when they want to take tourists to Tanzanian wildlife spots,” he said.

And yet, Mr Rachitu said, their Tanzanian counterparts are normally allowed to enter Kenya without restrictions.

He wondered why Kenyan firms were being denied entry into Tanzania when the East African Community Common Market Protocol, which took effect three years ago, guarantees free movement of people, goods, capital and services.

The South Coast tour operator spoke at a tourism stakeholder meeting in Diani, which Tourism Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie attended.

Big Five Venture Safaris managing director Catherine Muli said the national government should address the matter urgently to spare local tour firms heavy losses.

Border disputes

She said small-scale tour operators from the country might be pushed out of business if the border disputes were not resolved.

Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers Coast branch vice-chairman David Ngunjiri said leading Kenyan tour firms don’t feel the pinch as they had opened branches in Tanzania that pick the holidaymakers from the border

Board’s plan to treat maize hit by court tussle

 

Cereals being weighed and packed in an NCPB depot in Nairobi. Photo/FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By DENNIS ODUNGA

 

In Summary

• Some 2.5m bags are at risk of going bad after court froze NCPB’s accounts

Plans by the cereals board to fumigate some 2.5 million bags of maize in its stores have been hit by the on-going court case, which saw its bank accounts frozen.

National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) operations manager Ernest Ogwora on Tuesday said the row pitting the board against Erad Supplies over a Sh500 million debt had adversely affected their operations.

“It is a desperate and frustrating situation. It is some kind of magic that we are still operating. We are even struggling to pay employees. It’s difficult to operate smoothly if your accounts are not operating,” he said.

He blamed delay in acquisition of subsidised top dressing fertiliser on the row, but expressed optimism that more Calcium Ammonium Nitrate would be available at their depots next week.

Farmers have warned of low yields this season due to the delayed acquisition and distribution of the cheap plant food.

The manager was addressing journalists on the sidelines of a meeting between consultants from Ernst and Young and farmers from Uasin Gishu on the planned restructuring of the board’s operations.

The farmers who included Mr Tom Murgor, Mr Julius Chemweno and Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir arap Menjo, said procurement of farm inputs should be reverted to KFA.

“It is unfortunate that the government can deliberately bring down an institution like KFA just to create room for some few influential people to benefit at the expense of a majority of Kenyans,” Mr Chemweno said.

The guaranteed minimum returns that the government scrapped some years back, the farmers said, should be reintroduced to cushion them from losses caused by bad weather.

Obama targets EAC for big increase in trade

 

Containers at the port of Mombasa. Obama's plan aims to cut by 15 per cent the average time for shipping a container to or from the ports of Mombasa or Dar es Salaam to land-locked Rwanda or Burundi. Photo/FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By KEVIN J KELLEY New York

President Obama will on Monday announce a move to double trade within the East African Community and to boost the EAC’s exports to the United States.

“The EAC is an economic success story,” declares a fact sheet issued by the White House in advance of Mr Obama’s announcement.

The five EAC member-states have “increasingly stable and pro-business regulations,” the fact sheet adds.

“They are home to promising local enterprises that are forming creative partnerships with multinational companies. And EAC countries are benefiting from the emergence of an educated, globalised middle class.”

Mr Obama’s initiative, called Trade Africa, aims to double trade among EAC members while increasing their total exports to the US by 40 per cent.

The plan also aims to cut by 15 per cent the average time for shipping a container to or from the ports of Mombasa or Dar es Salaam to land-locked Rwanda or Burundi, the White House says.

A 30 per cent decrease is also sought in the average time it takes a lorry to pass through EAC countries’ borders.

Trade Africa is the second plan providing significant benefits for Kenya that Mr Obama has announced in the past two days. He said on Sunday in South Africa that Kenya is among six black African countries chosen to take part in a $7billion electricity-generation effort intended to light 20 million homes and businesses in the next five years.

The version of the trade project outlined by the White House includes no specific new funding commitments by the United States. It is also vague on how the trade-enhancement goals are to be met.

Obama, Bush team up in Africa

PHOTO | SAUL LOEB US President Barack Obama speaks following a CEO roundtable forum with regional and US business leaders in Dar es Salaam, on July 1, 2013.  AFP

By AFP

 

In Summary

• Obama and Bush to lay a wreath at a memorial to those killed in a US embassy bombing
• The bombing of the US embassy in Tanzania which killed 11 people was timed to coincide with a separate attack on the US embassy in the Kenyan capital Nairobi that left 213 dead and several thousand wounded
• Tanzania, the final leg of an three-nation continental tour, is the kind of African democracy, aided by US health and infrastructure programs, that Washington wants to see duplicated in a region scarred by poor governance
• Throughout his Africa journey, which also included South Africa and Senegal, Obama has implicitly touted US-style investment and partnership as superior to Beijing's own Africa push, arguing US firms do more to build local economic capacity

DAR ES SALAAM

US President Barack Obama ends his Africa tour Tuesday, with an unusual double act with his predecessor George W. Bush, whose HIV/AIDS program saved millions of lives on the continent.

Democrat Obama and Republican Bush will together lay a wreath at a memorial to those killed in a US embassy bombing here in 1998, in an appearance the White House says is proof that both feuding parties care about Africa.

Obama will also visit the Ubungo power plant, after unveiling a new $7-billion programme, a mix of private and public funds, loan guarantees and other instruments, to boost African electric power networks.

The initiative is designed to improve infrastructure to incentivise foreign firms to invest and to improve conditions for Africans seeking the kind of education that would help them compete in a global marketplace.

Bush is in the country for a forum of regional First Ladies, hosted by his wife Laura, which will also be attended by Michelle Obama.

Obama came to power lambasting the former president over the Iraq war and his economic policies, but White House aides say they now have a good personal relations -- aided by Bush's decision not to publicly criticise his successor.

But even Bush's political foes praise him for his plan to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which is now a decade old.

"This is one of his crowning achievements," Obama said Monday.

"Because of the commitment of the Bush administration and the American people, millions of people's lives have been saved," Obama said.

Delighted crowds thronged Obama when he arrived on Monday, free to drive home the message that he wanted to help "Africa to build Africa, for Africans" after days paying tribute to his ailing political hero Nelson Mandela.

As well as the power plan, Obama is pushing initiatives to boost regional trade with America, to tear down customs and border logjams delaying exports and to save Africa's endangered elephants and rhinos.

Tanzania, the final leg of an three-nation continental tour, is the kind of African democracy, aided by US health and infrastructure programs, that Washington wants to see duplicated in a region scarred by poor governance.

"Ultimately the goal here is for Africa to build Africa, for Africans," Obama said after talks with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

"And our job is to be a partner in that process, and Tanzania's been one of our best partners," Obama said, saying that "we are looking at a new model that's based not just on aid and assistance".

It did not escape Washington's notice that Xi Jinping included Tanzania on his first foreign trip as president of China in March.

Throughout his Africa journey, which also included South Africa and Senegal, Obama has implicitly touted US-style investment and partnership as superior to Beijing's own Africa push, arguing US firms do more to build local economic capacity.

When Air Force One touched down after a flight from Cape Town in Dar es Salaam, Obama was serenaded by marching bands in red tunics and traditional dancers clapping as a guard of honor blasted off a 21-gun salute.

President Kenyatta sees deeper Burundi ties

President Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta are received by senior government officials on arrival from Burundi at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi July 1, 2013. PPS  

By PPS

 

In Summary

• President Kenyatta praises Burundi's contribution to regional peace noting that the country's troops were part of the Amisom force in Somalia.

President Kenyatta has said his government will strengthen relations will Burundi to enhance development.

The President said he will work with Burundi and other countries to promote peace and security in the region and especially in Somalia.

He was speaking during Burundi's 51st independence celebrations at Boulevard de’ Independence grounds in Bujumbura Monday.

President Kenyatta praised Burundi's contribution to regional peace noting that the country's troops were part of the Amisom force in Somalia.

He was accompanied by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed among other senior government officials.

The President later travelled back home and was received by Deputy President William Ruto, Chief of Defence Forces General Julius Karangi and the Cabinet Secretary, Interior and National Coordination Joseph ole Lenku.

Houseboy-turned cab driver and land owner

Charles Alisingura poses by his cab at Kisementi. He started making his living as a houseboy but now owns his own cab and 16 acres of land. Photo by Brian Klosterboer. 

By Brian Klosterboer

In Summary

In the late 1970s, Charles Alisingura earned Shs250 per month but now he earns Shs15m every 18 months.

It is a relatively short drive from Masindi to Kampala—three hours under the best of conditions. As a special hire driver in Kampala, Charles Alisingura knows this trip well. But for him, a former houseboy with 41 brothers and sisters, the journey from living in the village to becoming a businessman in Kampala took half a lifetime.

There are thousands of houseboys and girls in Uganda. Most of them are young, uneducated, and do menial tasks for as little as Shs5,000 per month. Although they are compensated with room and board, most house helps have no social or economic mobility. Some of them live and work in a compound for 24 hours a day and are rarely allowed to visit friends or family members.

Sending a child to work as a houseboy or girl is seldom a parent’s first choice, but with Uganda’s birth rate being one of the highest in the world, over six births per woman, some families have few options.

Getting into domestic work
Alisingura’s father had six wives and 42 children. Although some of his elder brothers and sisters were able to attend secondary school, the school fees quickly ran out and in 1979, Alsingura’s parents decided to send him to Kinyara Sugar Works to become a houseboy for a family from Pakistan. Alsingura was 16 years old.

Alsingura reflects fondly on his first few years as a houseboy. It was difficult work—he often laboured from 6am until midnight—but he gained valuable skills like cooking, cleaning, and speaking proper English.

With the Shs250 he earned per month, Alsingura helped to pay the school fees for some of his younger siblings. Three years later, the family at Kinyara returned to Pakistan. Because Alsingura was a hard worker, they recommended him to an Indian family living in Kampala.

For a young man from Masindi, Kampala was a big and exciting place, but Alsingura felt trapped when his new family refused to give him a single day off. “I asked them to go see my parents and they wouldn’t allow me,” Alsingura said. “And that made me hate the work.”

Alsingura remembers being trapped inside the family’s compound as the darkest moment of his life. When he was finally allowed to leave for a short visit, he met a friend of his brother who was working as a taxi driver in Kampala.

When Alsingura told him about his predicament, the man invited him to become a conductor. Alsingura began working as a taxi conductor in 1985 and for the next five years, he shuttled people into Kampala’s taxis for a small amount of money every day. During the end of Milton Obote’s presidency, inflation soared and soldiers would force themselves into Alsingura’s taxi without paying.

Some days, he would earn Shs500,000, but the money was almost worthless until the National Resistance Movement captured Kampala and reset the currency.

Even under the new regime, working as a conductor was hardwork and Alsingura only earned about Shs60 per day. But once again, he saw an opportunity. Whenever he could, Alsingura took the wheel and taught himself how to drive.

By the end of his stint in the taxi business, Alsingura was a capable driver. In 1990, “there was a friend of mine who knew me, who contacted me to drive a special hire,” Alsingura said. “Because I was a good driver, they gave me a car and I started driving and saving some small money.” With 41 brothers and sisters, and an entire network of family burdens and obligations, Alsingura found it incredibly difficult to save money. He frequently sent money back to the village, but he also tried to save a little for himself.

Acquiring land
For every Shs1,000 Alisingura earned, he tried to save at least Shs100 and by 1994, he had saved up Shs120,000, enough to purchase 16 acres of land in his home village. Today, with the improvements he has made, that land might sell for Shs50m.

Although Alsingura knew how to dig on farms, he was not a farmer by profession. But he found yet another opportunity in life; to become an outgrower for Kinyara Sugar Works, the same place where he had worked as a houseboy.

“When I first bought my land, I dug on it, slowly,” Alsingura says, “But when they, [Kinyara] said they needed outgrowers, I went and registered and they planted for me. They give you the workers and they even bring tractors to dig for you. They call it a loan and take the harvest, to pay up the loan.”