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Why Politicians Don’t Deliver Electoral Promises

In case you do not have enough time to read this brief piece, the answer to the question raised above is: corruption. Yes, sounds familiar? I am talking about politicians in developing countries. In general terms, politicians in developed nations are not angels but they are structurally constrained to corner public monies to build private mansions and buy private jets. They hardly can stash away their taxpayers’ monies in ‘foreign accounts’. Any time a leader in Africa is removed, what you hear next is that his assets (and many of the guilty leaders are men) are being frozen in Switzerland or London. It still beats my imagination why someone entrusted with public trust will embezzle public monies and lodge same in private accounts in foreign lands.

Not all politicians make empty promises, and some of them do try to deliver. Human problems cannot be solved a hundred per cent. Some politicians sincerely want to make a difference in the lives of the electorate. Some want to genuinely improve the welfare of the people; build more roads to connect rural farmers to urban consumers, make drinking water available to millions who need it, make environment clean to reduce health hazards, and pay more wages to teachers, civil servants, doctors and nurses to deliver services. But public funds cannot duplicate themselves. As promises and plans are made, and contracts awarded, the same politicians or their cronies or their patrons are somewhere busy, planning and promising themselves and their concubines some big mansions and exotic cars and jets in Dubai, London, New York and Geneva. You see, out of nothing, nothing comes. And the cycle continues till the next election. To break such an ugly trend, people will generally need to wake up, vote right leaders into power and devise means to hold them accountable.

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The African Woman

The International Women Day has come and gone, with much pomp and pageantry. It is indeed noteworthy that a day has been set aside to celebrate and recognize the achievements and importance of women the world over. The contributions of women to national development in different parts of the world can hardly be faulted.

However, in as much as the achievements of women are recognized and worldwide, the situation of the African woman still paints a pathetic picture. In most parts of Africa, harmful cultural practices such as female circumcision, some prefer to call it female genital mutilation, forced marriages, child rape [pedophilia], denial of access to education for the female child, sex slavery in Europe and other Western nations are still the order of the day. This has made the lot of the African woman pathetic and almost hopeless as against their counterparts in other parts of the globe.

The African woman has come of age, and it is important for society particularly the African society to begin to revisit some of these harmful and detrimental cultural practices that tend to inhibit or lock up the development potentials of women. It would not be surprising to learn that the current state of underdevelopment in Africa can to some extent be attributed to the state of the African woman.
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South Africa: Opportunity for HIV Prevention That Works

Oprah Winfrey takes an HIV test in South Africa in 2007. The nation has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world

Joanne Brink

South Africa’s HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan for health has two objectives – reducing the incidence of new HIV infections by half and placing 80% of those in need onto anti-retroviral treatment. As a country, we are making some progress in scaling up our national HIV treatment programmes, but concurrently we need to maintain the status of those that are HIV negative.

Over 95% of grade 8 to 12 learners are HIV negative. Although not preventative, testing for HIV in secondary schools presents a significant opportunity for establishing a culture of knowing your status, allowing for the enforcement of a healthy lifestyle. Yes, there are many concerns, but let us focus on addressing the concerns by involving learners and their parents in the design and implementation of any school health and HIV testing programme, rather than lose this opportunity. By instilling healthy habits and regular HIV testing amongst our teens of today and at an early age, we have a better chance of reducing new HIV infections amongst our adults of the future.

And make no mistake, many of our teens are having sex and are very much at risk of contracting HIV. A recent study conducted in Tshwane Municipality by The Foundation for Professional Development (FPD), a private institute of higher education, found that 40% of grade 8 to 12 learners are engaging in sexual activity, half of them with more than one sexual partner. However only 22% of these sexually active teens had been tested for HIV or thought they were at risk of contracting the disease. Yet, the vast majority reported that HIV was a topic discussed in their school at least once a month. This suggests that our current classroom model of delivering HIV prevention programmes to our learners is excelling on a theoretical manner, while the reactive behaviour that should stem from such knowledge is not evident.

Focus groups conducted through FPD’s HIV management courses for schools, have provided some insight into the reasons that HIV prevention is not working in our schools and how to improve on the current approach. Discussions in the grade 8 to 12 learner focus groups confirmed an extensive factual knowledge of HIV – learners were able to quote statistics and recite the majority of HIV transmission and prevention methods. Yet they did not see themselves at risk of contracting HIV, even though the majority reported to be sexually active.

The critical insight here is that learners are not able to relate to or internalise the meaning behind these “HIV facts” that they are being taught at school. According to them, the current HIV prevention messages are delivered through didactic classroom lectures – often emphasising abstinence – whereas they would prefer to engage in the open and have direct conversations about the reality of their lifestyles and sexual health, as young adults, rather than focusing on HIV only. They advised that we should not be “coming in saying HIV HIV”, but make the campaign part of a wider focus about looking after their overall health. “Talk to us about what has been happening in our lives and [then] compare it to HIV and AIDS – helping us to differentiate between the lives that we are living and the lives that we need to lead” – female Grade 12 learner.

A school based health screening and HIV testing campaign will give learners a chance to engage with counsellors and health workers, whether they choose to test for HIV or not. For many, this will be their first open conversation with an adult about sexual health and lifestyle choices. Broadening the school based HCT campaign from an exclusively HIV screening focus to an integrated health programme, as proposed by the departments of health and education, will help to make HIV testing routine amongst our teens. The pre- and post-test counselling experience will provide learners with the opportunity to ask direct questions and reflect on their own lifestyle and behavioural choices.

Furthermore, learners shared that their most trusted and valued source of information was their parents or caregivers. Yet their parents were unwilling and uncomfortable discussing sexual health matters or HIV with their children. The majority of parents believed that their role would be fulfilled once the “birds and bees” had been discussed once, whereas their teens craved regular conversations starting at a much younger age. Parents were however accused by their kids of being relatively uninformed about HIV and its effects. “They only know to tell us to use condoms to prevent HIV and that’s it. It would be nice to have parents who are informed about HIV. And if we could do something to inform our parents”- male Grade 12 learner. Although talking about sex to their parents would initially be awkward, learners yearned to do so and wanted to find a way to make the conversation easier for their parents.

A school health and HIV screening campaign is an opportunity for parents to become better informed and thereby help to open the conversation between parents and their teens. Parents should be encouraged to accompany their children for health and HIV screening at the school, not only for their own wellbeing, but so that they can better understand the emotions and questions that their children will face during an HIV test and can better provide ongoing support and compassion post-testing.

Grade 8 to 12 learners were born after the years when South Africa started responding to HIV and have grown up knowing about HIV and anti-retroviral treatment. This implying, that the messages to this group should be different to those of other generations.

School based HIV counselling and testing, integrated with a general health screening programme, is a chance for us to get HIV prevention right amongst our adults of the future. What is clear is that our teens have a lot of good advice to offer about how to improve HIV programmes that target youth. Involving them in the design of any school based health and HIV screening programme is critical to ensuring its success.

Joanne Brink works for Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) – The Foundation for Professional Development’s (FPD) vision is to build a better society through education and development, and the best place to start is with the foundation of society – our teachers – developing their ability to manage classrooms and inspiring them with the latest international teaching methodologies.

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The Women of Benghazi

 

 

The story from the revolution in Libya and Egypt tell us one simple truth: the desire to be free is universal. Men or women, children or adults, Muslims, Christians or Jews; the desire in the soul to be free is collective.
With husbands, sons and brothers at the front, women are supporting them with meals and supplies.

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UN Rights Chief Denounces Violence Against Journalists by Libyan Security Forces

 
10 March 2011 –The top United Nations human rights official today condemned the detention and possible torture of three journalists working for the British Broadcasting Corporation by Libyan security forces, stressing that the media must be allowed access to report what is happening inside the country.

The three were trying to cover the situation in the western city of Zawiya when they were detained and reportedly beaten and subjected to mock executions by members of the Libyan army and secret police.

“Journalists take great risks to ensure that an accurate picture of what is happening in conflict zones emerges,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. “They play an extremely important role in bringing human rights violations to light. In this case, the crew’s own experience provides a graphic example of the types of violations that are being committed in Libya.”

The North African nation has been in turmoil since mid-February when protesters took to the streets demanding the ouster of long-time leader . The ensuing violence has caused hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, with most crossing over into neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt.

Ms. Pillay said that for a news team to be targeted, detained and treated with such cruelty, which she said could amount to torture, is “completely unacceptable” and in serious violation of international law.

“If an international television crew can be subjected to this type of treatment, it makes me extremely concerned about the treatment that is most likely being meted out to Libyan opponents of the regime who have fallen into the hands of the security services,” she stated.

“The media must be allowed access to report what is happening in Libya, without facing either restrictions, intimidation or violence.”

She noted that the journalists had reportedly observed terrible conditions in the detention centre where they were held, “including clear signs that other detainees had been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” She also voiced concern about reported aerial bombardment of civilians and the use of military grade weapons and tanks on city streets, as well as accounts of summary executions, rapes and disappearances in the country.

The High Commissioner reminded security personnel that they will be held accountable for their actions. “Be warned: whether you are ordering torture or carrying out the orders, you will be held personally criminally responsible,” she said.

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Human Rights in Ivory Coast Deteriorating, Warns Top UN Official

 10 March 2011 – A top United Nations official warned today that human rights violations, including rapes, abductions and killings, are escalating amid the ongoing post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, with at least 27 people killed in just the past week. 

According to investigations conducted by UN human rights officers in the country, at least 392 people have been killed in Côte d’Ivoire since mid-December amid the unrest resulting from Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to leave office after his UN-certified defeat by opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in last November’s presidential election.

“Overall, the situation appears to be deteriorating alarmingly, with a sharp increase in inter-communal and inter-ethnic confrontations,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“Human rights abuses, including rapes, abductions and killings, are being committed by people supporting both sides,” she added. In addition, families of high-profile individuals known to be politically active have been targeted, media groups seen as pro-Ouattara have been threatened, and the residences of members appointed to the Ouattara Government have been the targets of looting and ransacking.

Ms. Pillay cited the killing last week of seven women by security forces supporting Mr. Gbagbo at a peaceful demonstration in Abobo in support of Mr. Ouattara, saying video footage of the slayings was shocking and could be used to prosecute the individuals responsible.

Another four people were killed in clashes yesterday between the Forces de Défense et de Sécurité (FDS), loyal to Mr. Gbagbo, and the “Invisible Commando,” a previously unknown group which appears to be opposing pro-Gbagbo forces, after a peaceful demonstration to mourn and pay tribute to the seven women killed last week.

The High Commissioner condemned the reported use of civilians as human shields by the Invisible Commando, which is said to be actively preventing civilians from leaving Abobo and other tense areas of the commercial capital, Abidjan.

“I strongly urge all sides to respect the rights of civilians,” said Ms. Pillay. “Particularly worrying is the constant incitement to violence by influential leaders, most notably Blé Goude, who appear to be deliberately stimulating attacks against political opponents, other ethnic groups, nationals from other West African countries, as well as against the UN staff and operations working in Côte d’Ivoire.”

Warning of a risk of a resurgence of the civil war that in 2002 split the country into a Government-held south and a rebel-controlled north, she urged all parties to show utmost restraint to prevent it, and to resolve their differences peacefully.

Also today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon confirmed that the UN peacekeeping mission in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) will maintain its flight operations and take “all necessary measures” to protect its assets and fulfil its mandate, particularly with regards to protecting civilians.

This came after the Ouattara Government issued a statement invalidating a declaration by the authorities supporting Mr. Gbagbo that banned UN and French peacekeeping aircraft from flying over or landing in Côte d’Ivoire.

Mr. Ban deplored this latest attempt to disrupt UNOCI’s operations and warned all parties that any attempt to disrupt flights conducted by the impartial forces is “unacceptable,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

The 9,000-strong UNOCI has been supporting the stabilization and reunification efforts in the country over the past seven years. The Security Council has rejected Mr. Gbagbo’s demands for a withdrawal of the mission, instead extending its mandate and authorizing the deployment of an additional 2,000 troops and three armed helicopters.

The Secretary-General notes with satisfaction the statement issued by the Government of President Ouattara regarding as invalid a declaration by the authorities supporting Mr. Gbagbo, banning United Nations and Licorne flights inside Côte d’Ivoire.

He deplores this latest attempt to disrupt the operations of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) and warns all parties that any attempt to disrupt flights conducted by the impartial forces is unacceptable.

The Secretary-General confirms that UNOCI will maintain its flight operations and take all necessary measures, as directed by unanimous Security Council resolutions, to protect its assets and fulfil its mandate, particularly with regards to protection of civilians.

UN News Center
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Cuts That Kill: The Senate Must Restore Global Health Funding

Joanne Carter
Executive director of RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund (REF)

Last week Congress approved a two-week extension of federal funding to avoid a looming government shutdown. The vote postpones — but does not resolve — potentially devastating cuts to global health programs. The House-proposed bill for the balance of 2011 proposes deep cuts to some of the most effective investments the US makes globally, including a drastic 40 percent reduction for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In a recent interview Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter and advisor to President George W. Bush, called the cuts “irrelevant and destructive.” He’s right on both counts, and there’s still time for Congress to reverse course.

The cuts are irrelevant to the deficit problem that members of Congress are ostensibly trying to solve. Our entire foreign aid portfolio amounts to little more than a rounding error in the federal budget. Foreign aid focused on health, education, economic opportunity, and other anti-poverty programs account for less than 1 percent of federal spending. Even if Americans believed that erasing these programs was a good idea — and they don’t, as public opinion polls consistently reveal — it wouldn’t put a dent in the deficit.

These cuts are destructive because they would be measured in human lives.

With the U.S. as a leading donor, the Global Fund has helped save more than six million lives, and in just a decade has fundamentally altered our ability to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria, among the biggest killers on the planet. If the House proposal to slash $450 million from the Global Fund were adopted it would mean six million treatments for malaria would not be administered. More than 400,000 people won’t be provided with antiretroviral medication to treat AIDS, and nearly 60,000 women won’t receive the drugs they need to prevent transmission of HIV to their newborn children. More than 370,000 people won’t be tested and treated for tuberculosis, the world’s leading curable infectious killer of adults.

This budget crunch comes just as new tools are available to transform the fight against infectious diseases. A new way to diagnosis TB using a machine called Xpert is one such breakthrough. The current method of identifying TB bacteria under a microscope was developed nearly 130 years ago and is still used throughout the developing world. This method often fails to detect TB in people living with HIV/AIDS and in children, cannot detect drug resistance, and is frustratingly slow. Patients must take time off from work and family to return to a clinic and submit multiple specimens over several days — often an impossible demand in very poor communities. Although TB is curable, correctly and rapidly diagnosing the disease has been a major stumbling block.

Xpert has the potential to change that. It’s fast, accurate and easy to use. About the size of an espresso machine, it relies on DNA technology to diagnose TB, detects drug-resistant strains of the disease, and returns the results in about 90 minutes. That may not grab headlines, but in the world of TB control it’s nothing short of revolutionary.

Other breakthroughs abound. The promising trial results for a microbicide gel to prevent HIV transmission electrified the HIV/AIDS community in search of new prevention methods. Vaccines to help prevent pneumonia and diarrhea — the two leading killers of young children — are newly available in poor countries through the GAVI Alliance, an international partnership to expand access to childhood immunizations.

The question for Congress is whether global health policy and funding will keep up with global health evidence and opportunity.

The innovations in global health now at our fingertips are not just new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics, but also the means of financing and delivering them. For example, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has led the way in changing the business model for how aid is delivered. Last week the conservative-led UK government released an exhaustive multilateral aid review of 43 development institutions which rated the Global Fund as one of nine organizations with an “excellent track record” for delivering results. Global Fund proposals are developed by the countries who implement them, they are evaluated by an independent review panel, and continued funding is awarded according to performance. Project documents — everything from glowing reports to unforgiving audits — are made publicly available on the Fund’s website.

That may sound like common sense, but it’s not necessarily common practice among global health and development aid donors.

As a board member of the Global Fund, I see the Fund’s challenges up close, and I also see its ground-breaking model, its impact and the even greater potential it represents. The proven success of the Global Fund allows us to think about seizing the next set of opportunities presented by modern medicine and break the backs of the world’s greatest epidemics.

Congress faces unenviably tough budget decisions this year, but funding for these programs is not a close call. The Senate should reverse the House’s proposed cuts to global health for 2011, and restore this sliver of the federal budget that delivers unparalleled results. To do otherwise would be irrelevant and destructive.

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Chinafrik –Economic Model and Blueprint for African Development.

CHINAFRIK as a concept is defined as ”the process wherein developing states in Africa adopt economic measures from China and localize such measures for their respective development.

While the developed countries of the world worry over the management of technological breakthroughs and volatile economic landscapes, many developing and underdeveloped nations are cringing in poverty, hunger and starvation, woeful health conditions, high maternal and child mortality rates, energy crisis, and high incidences of corruption, among others.

Most Africa countries, unfortunately, find themselves in the latter categories. The failure of African  nations to develop and match such countries as the Asian Tigers, who started the race to nationhood with us, is essentially a leadership problem, a self-imposed crisis of underdeveloped psyche that makes our leaders enslaved to primordial instincts. They focus on power acquisition as a means to self-aggrandizement; undoing and sometimes, complete elimination of perceived enemies.

Consider a report by GOLDMAN SACHS: The rise of the BRICs(Brazil, Russia, India and China). Goldman Sachs had to say in its original report, ”Dreaming with BRICs: The path to 2050,” published in 2003; that: China’s economy will surpass Germany in the next few years, Japan by 2015 and the United States by 2041. India’s growth rate will be the highest – not China’s- and it will overtake Japan by 2032. Taken together, the BRICs could be larger than the United States and the developed economies of Europe within 40 years.

According to the Goldman Sach’s report, the economy of China overtook Germany’s a year earlier than expected, and has already overtaken Japan’s by July 2010. It is now believed that the Chinese economy will overtake the United States by 2027. And with India accounting for 10 of the 30 fastest growing urban areas in the world and 700 million people moving to cities by 2050, its influence on the world economy will be bigger and quicker than was implied in 2003 (source: Wikipedia).

Closely following the BRIC prediction is the 2004 Report on the NEXT ELEVEN (N-11), in which Nigeria is included among eleven nations also warming up to assert themselves in the global economic map. While China overtakes the United States as the greatest economic power in the world by 2047, Nigeria would become the 20th largest economy by 2025 and the 12th by 2050 ahead of G-7 giants, Italy and Canada.

Of interest to me is that the BRICs have gone through abject poverty, but armed with a strong demographic profile, vast natural resources and an adjusted purposeful leadership with vision, have asserted themselves in the new economic order where demography has become a major factor in a world of competitiveness. They planned for it, made it work and today are economically challenging the G-7 nations. The same story can be an economic reality for Africa if African leaders and the African people can show the same spirit of national interest, patriotism, and selfless devotion to the development of the continent.

The development of most western economies and the G-7 nations can be attributed to investments in science and technology. Nations such as the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Japan, Korea and China, among others, are economically developed today largely due to strong and dynamic technological-based system. Needless to say, science and technology are not the only basis for the attainment of economic growth and development around the world. There are economies that appear technologically disadvantaged but have been able to pride in their local resources or strength to achieve optimum development. In other words, they have learnt to globalize the local, and localize the global for their development. That is exactly what China did, and that is what needs be replicated locally by Africa nations. Today, the economies of China and India thrive, amongst others, on healthcare. Brazil has been able to develop soccer locally to a world-class level. Others have invested in the area of tourism for their economic development.

A call goes out in this respect to African leaders under the auspices of the African Union. As addressed in an earlier article titled ‘GLOCALISATION, in my view, African Union should positively challenge itself towards what China has been able to achieve today in economic terms. If nations such as Brazil, India and China who started the race to nationhood building with nations in Africa such as Nigeria, Ghana, and South-Africa can achieve this much economically, then the latter can do it with commitment and determination. To this end, the African Union should collaborate with sub-regional bodies such as ECOWAS, SADC in the actualization of CHINAFRIK locally. There is the need to locally identify what defines each region in terms of its resources and potentials. This should be followed by an integrated developmental framework, short or long-term, designed for each respective region out of the identified potentials therein. Such a framework or model needs to outlive any government in power in all the states concerned.

The end product we envisioned to see is an Africa with globally recognized in academic prowess and intellectual proficiency, an Africa with the North reckoned globally in sports and healthcare, the East recognized globally in tourism and athlete, and the South globally reckoned in international diplomacy and academics. Consolidating efforts by the AU and sub-regional bodies in this respect over a reasonable period of time will take the continent to her rightful position among the comity of nations. The common practice of employing the services of foreign expatriates in human and infrastructural projects needs to be discontinued henceforth by African leaders. Until we begin to believe and pride in ourselves as a people, much of our desired expectations will not begin to materialize. Juxtaposing and applying the principles inherent in both ‘Glocalization’ and CHINAFRIK will result in an African continent that the citizenry will be proud of. It is our individual and collective responsibility to make Africa a continent of global recognition in human and infrastructural development.

Let’s DO it NOW!

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