Thursday - August 12, 2010

International Interconnectivity

Kenyans have today approved a new constitution in a landmark referendum vote. Thank you, fellow Kenyans! And welcome to Kenya 2.0! This new constitution - which is probably one of the best in Africa, if not the best - is redefining Kenya and is indeed a very historic moment signalling a new dawn for East Africa’s most vibrant economy. The wind of change has blown through our country, and we should all be ready to contribute to the building of a great nation, creating an example for Africa, and becoming an important and respected player in the world. This time for Africa, our time for change has come.

Yesterday Kenya defied expectations. Voting in a referendum on a new constitution was peaceful, and yet the changes this piece of paper could make are potentially momentous. It would introduce an impeachable president, MPs recallable by their constituents, a land commission to look at historic injustices, an expanded bill of rights, a reformed judiciary. These are causes for which generations of opposition leaders have fought. It took a fraud-plagued election in 2007, in which Kenya teetered on the edge of civil war, to put this on the agenda, as a requirement of the peace deal. But, if the opinion polls are correct, it will happen. It is not a magic wand, but – as Maina Kiai, a former chairman of the Kenya national commission on human rights, said – it is a chance for a new beginning.

Not that it will be easy

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The passage of Kenya’s new constitution ends a decades-long struggle to cut down the massive powers of the presidency, although it now will take up to five years to implement all the changes approved in this week’s referendum.

New institutions such as a Supreme Court and a Senate must now be formed. The country’s judiciary is to face a vetting process aimed at ridding it of corrupt or incompetent judges. And Parliament will have to pass 49 new laws under a timetable.

“Kenyans can’t just sit back and relax. We have to pay attention now to the criteria and process of appointing people to the commission that is responsible for implementation. That is going to be the first big political battle in terms of interests,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, the executive director of the independent Kenya Human Rights Commission.

But they’ve got to try, waka waka eh eh? And when they say radical, they mean it. Land reform plays a prominent role in their new document, attempting to both rid themselves of colonial holdovers and even out past injustices; former Kenyan Presidents always set things up for their own tribes at the expense of all the others. So Kenya is really going to level the playing fields. And the growing fields as well.

One of the clauses allows parliament to set a limit on the maximum and minimum acreage of land that can be owned by any individual, clearly a cause of concern to Kenya’s landowners. All other land outside the minimum or maximum bracket will revert to the state.

Those who have huge tracts of land come mostly from the Kikuyu community, which has produced two presidents (Kenyatta and Kibaki), and Kalenjins, who produced Moi. So voters from such groups would be reluctant to vote in someone who would be seen to upset the status quo. They will be comfortable with a president they can trust to lobby MPs to set maximum land limits in their favour.

The constitution provides for a land commission and allows for the repossession of land illegally acquired, such as land which was previously forest but was then recategorised and given away to individuals.

Not sure how that one will work out, especially since farming is one of the major exports Kenya has. Too many little farms and there won’t be any confidence in what crops will be raised, or whether produce will get to market fresh or even at all.

Nairobi — To other East Africans and, indeed the rest of the world that do business with Kenya, the draft constitution, passed in the referendum this Wednesday, will not radically change the way things are done in the country.

However, while the words “radical reform” have been used in heated debate ahead of the referendum, the new constitution will certainly rearrange its politics in ways that only the Ethiopian constitution of 1994 did in the wider East African region.

Kenya’s food basket, the Rift Valley Province, has always been key to Kenya’s politics—from colonial times to post-Independence—but usually for the wrong reasons. The same is true as the country goes to a referendum on a new constitution. Rift Valley is not just Kenya’s food basket, it is also the region where most of the flowers for the country’s lucrative export industry are grown.

Yes, they grow flowers in Kenya. For export. Specifically, Kenya is the leading world source of chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium, the pyrethrum daisy. The what? It’s a flower that is used to make insecticide. Tasmania is also in the pyrethrum game, but only contributes 10% of the world market. Because of the 5 year life cycle of the plant, the political upheavals in Kenya from the 2007 election caused a worldwide insecticide shortage that lasted 3 years. We’re still feeling some of the effects.

Kenya and pyrethrum
The Republic of Kenya lies on the Indian Ocean coast of eastern African. While it is the most developed economy in East Africa, Kenya’s population of over 30 million people realize a GDP per capita of only US$ 390. Employment in Kenya is largely dependent on the agricultural sector. The major export commodities in Kenya include tea, coffee, horticultural products including cut flowers,
processed petroleum products, pyrethrum, and chemicals including fluorspar, soda ash,
sodium carbonate and diatomite. Kenya’s development challenges are not unlike those of other developing economies. Longterm barriers to growth, such as the dominance of key sectors by the government, endemic corruption and a high population growth rate continue to retard development.

Natural Pyrethrum and synthetic pyrethroids
Pyrethrins are the class of insecticides derived from the dried flowers of the pyrethrum daisy (chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium). Natural pyrethrins are not used widely in agriculture because they degrade easily upon exposure to sunlight. For this reason, several pyrethroids - synthetic chemicals with a molecular structure and biological activities similar to natural pyrethrins - have been developed for use in agriculture. The largest use for natural pyrethrum is in the manufacture of consumer household insecticides.

Pyrethrum was introduced to the highlands of East Africa in the 1920’s and by 1938 Kenya had become a major world producer. It has been the largest source of natural pyrethrum for the last 60 years and currently produces over 70 percent of all pyrethrum traded in the world. Pyrethrum provides valuable economic and social benefits to more than 200,000 subsistence and low-income farmers in Kenya.

Pyrethrum is a perennial crop that requires renewal once every five years and is grown in highland areas enjoying moderate well-distributed rainfall, cool night temperatures and rich volcanic soils. In some areas where pyrethrum is grown, the climate and soil structure cannot support other cash crops such as tea or coffee. Other advantages for farmers are that it grows with limited inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, and farmers can rotate it with other crops to compliment land use and avoid disease difficulties. The size of the land owned by pyrethrum growers in Kenya averages three to five acres in which the homestead is located and where farmers grow pyrethrum and food crops such as maize, potatoes, cabbages and kales.

Ok, so what does all this have to do with India? Pyrethrum insecticides, especially those made with Piperonyl Butoxide are great mosquito killers. [They do an awesome job on yellowjackets too, as I’ve learned 3 times in the past week alone!] And India is having a terrible malaria outbreak.

Malaria is spreading like wildfire in Mumbai. In July, there has been a three-fold rise in cases diagnosed with the disease compared to last year. Amidst the lack of beds in hospitals and shortage of medicines, here comes another shocker. Civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) does not have enough insecticides to ward off the mosquitoes spreading the disease.

According to a few BMC officials, the municipal authority does not have enough stock of insecticides to curb this disease. They said that the government has not been able to provide adequate funds for buying insecticides, plus payments have not been made to the insecticide manufacturer; even the supply chains are not working.

According to BMC data, in July, 12,000 people tested positive for malaria from the one lakh slides taken in house-to-house surveys. Last year, during the same period, there were 4,380 positive cases. The number of malaria cases in July has not only more than doubled compared to last year, it could very much be the highest number ever recorded in Mumbai.

There is a shortage of stocks for medicines like Vectobac, and insecticides such as DDVP and Pyrethrum, to combat the disease. Another BMC official told us that ward officers have been asking for the insecticides, but have not been receiving them.

Yes, India always has malaria. And so does Africa. Always. But without DDT, pyrethrum products like RipTide, ($210/gallon) are one of the few effective control agents. (And they’re “green” too!!). So peace in Kenya is in everyone’s interest, but an organized and productive Kenya could save the lives of millions. Through flower power.

There. I can write about flowers too. Ha.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/12/2010 at 04:57 PM   
Filed Under: • International •  
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