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ABIY AHMED AFRICA’S WONDER PM Milestones by Ethiopian leader in his first year in office SPECIAL REPORT - PAGE 2

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 2020

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio joins race for the White House PAGES 14 - 16

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FOCUS ON ETHIOPIA >> Abiy hosts 'the most expensive dinner' in Ethiopia

ABIY AHMED AFRICA’S WONDER PM Milestones by Ethiopian leader in his first year in office

I

t has been a very good year for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who was elected to lead Ethiopia’s ruling coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) following a long and widespread protest movement.

The then ruling party decided to accept a no-nonsense reappraisal wherein it admitted that it had made mistakes during its long tenure of office, offered a public apology and made an unflinching pledge to rectify mistakes and to usher in reform in order to broaden the political playing field, to ensure the flourishing of an unbridled press and to restore investment confidence.

Buoyed up by a prevailing feel-good factor and the support he received from the EPRDF, Prime Minister Abiy quenched the public’s thirst for reassurance concerning the stability of the Ethiopian state.

In his inaugural speech, he told Parliament, in a unequivocal manner, “not to have any doubt about the sanctity of Ethiopian Unity”, and advised “against resting on past laurels but to instead redouble efforts to escape the divisive politics of the past by embracing his vision of “Medemer”– PM Abiy’s vision of unity and diversity.

The Prime Minister embarked on a series of reforms aimed at righting past wrongs and addressing the fault-lines of Ethiopian politics. After forming what he called a “reformist cabinet” – fifty percent of whom are women – he introduced a bill

removing the Oromo Liberation Front and Ginbot 7 from Parliament’s List of Terror Organisations – two organisations which, until the emergence of Abiy Ahmed, were hell-bent on the violent overthrow of the EPRDF-led government.

Then followed an avalanche of reforms: release of all political prisoners, measures to ensure the independence of the judiciary, reform of the National Electoral Board (NEBE) headed by a former judge known for her critical stand against government interference in the judiciary, and the setting up of a Ministry of Peace, commissioned to ensure the maintenance of peace and the restoration of law and order.

But it is with a sceptical Ethiopian diaspora – which until then was a hot-bed of die-hard opposition to EPRDF – that Prime Minister Abiy managed to make formerly unthinkable inroads by assuring his Government’s commitment to maintaining the growth momentum and durable peace.

His rallies in Washington DC, Los Angeles and Frankfurt, not only succeeded in bringing together thousands of Ethiopians from various socio-political backgrounds, who had never imagined they would live to see themselves attending an EPRDF rally anywhere in the world but they fully embraced Abiy’s clarion call for “A Dollar A Day For Ethiopia” campaign.

Mindful of the fact that “the no peace, no war” status between Ethiopia and Eritrea was unsustainable, and a liability to

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

both nations, Abiy made peace overtures that Asmara could ill afford to ignore, such as “Ethiopia will accept the Algiers Agreement”. The Prime Minister then flew to Asmara – previously unthinkable – where he was given a hero’s welcome with the Eritrean public showering him with praise and waving the Eritrean and Ethiopian flags.

Proximity talks leading to closer partnership are ongoing. The ripple effect of the rapprochement between Ethiopia and Eritrea, in turn, served as a catalyst for strategic partnership among the brotherly peoples of Djibouti, South Sudan, and Kenya.

As change without challenges is incomplete, so too were

Abiy’s reforms without hiccups and challenges.

The transformation ushered in by Abiy’s government across the length and breadth of Ethiopia continues to encounter challenges.

However, the reforms and transformations are here to stay because ultimately, they reflect the will of the people.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hosted 200 business people and representatives from several organisations for a dinner dubbed "the most expensive in the country".

Guests had to pay $173,000 (£136,000) to dine at the palace of a former emperor of the country, Menelik.

The event was held to help reach a $1.1bn fundraising target to pay for the regeneration of an area in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Beautifying Sheger Project, as it is called, involves cleaning the rivers and building recreational parks in the capital.

State linked-Fana news site, tweeted pictures of the table setup , alongside models showing what the project would look like when complete.

Since coming to office Mr Abiy has been praised for his reformist agenda, which included normalising ties with bitter foe, Eritrea.

His critics, however, say that he has failed to deal with ethnic conflicts within the country which have displaced more than 2 million people.

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> FOCUS ON ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy wins 2019 UNESCO Peace Prize

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rime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed Ali, has been named as laureate of the 2019 edition of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for his actions in the region and, in particular, for having been the instigator of a peace agreement between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The jury also recognises the laureate's worthiness for the reforms undertaken to consolidate democracy and social cohesion. Finally, the jury considers this distinction as an

encouragement to pursue his commitment to the promotion of a culture of peace in the region and across the African continent.

The Jury met on April 29 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to designate the laureate of the 2019 edition of the prize, which will mark the 30th anniversary of its inception.

The jury was composed of Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Former President of Liberia and Nobel Peace Laureate (2011); Mr François Hollande, Former President of France; Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan - UNESCO Special Envoy

for science for peace; Mr Michel Camdessus (France) - Former Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); Professor Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh), founder of Grameen Bank - Nobel Peace Laureate (2006) and Mr Forest Whitaker (United States of America), founder of the Peace and Development Initiative.

In 1989, in order to pay tribute to President Félix Houphouet-Boigny’s action for peace in the world, 120 countries sponsored a resolution unanimously adopted by UNESCO's Member States to establish the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Prize

- UNESCO Peace Prize.

The Prize is intended to honour living individuals and active public or private institutions or bodies that have made a significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO. Audrey Azoulay, DirectorGeneral of UNESCO, who was on an official visit to Ethiopia on May 2 and 3, 2019 on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, meet with Prime Minister Abiy and conveyed her warm congratulations.

Envoy: Kenya and Ethiopia are strategic partners, not competitors

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thiopia’s Ambassador to Kenya, Meles Alem, has underlined that Ethiopia and Kenya have witnessed a re-awakening of bilateral relations over the last year, revitalising and re-energising a new development chapter for both countries.

He emphasised the clarion call by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for neighbouring countries in the region to integrate.

Ethiopia and Kenya, he said, with an intertwined destiny, should pursue a collective and complimentary outcome for the betterment of their 150 million people.

“Ethiopia and Kenya were strategic partners not competitors,” said Ambassador Meles, pointing out that it was no coincidence that the “Big Four” agenda in Kenya coincided with the main strategic areas of Ethiopia’s development agenda. There are sectors in which Ethiopia was technically and resourcefully endowed and possessed a strong comparative advantage, which could benefit Kenya. The leather industry was a case in point. Equally, Kenya was the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Africa; Ethiopia could benefit from the ICT superiority of Kenya in many ways. Kenya’s entrepreneurial spirit and the vibrant role of its media in nation building were good examples for Ethiopia to learn from.”

Ambassador Meles said the government of Prime Minister Abiy has made great strides to actualising the concept of medemer, a call for unity, synergy and harmony. This was timely and

Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Kenya, Meles Alem.

applicable to Kenya as well as Ethiopia.

Summit meetings between the leaders of Ethiopia and Kenya in 2018 and 2019 had re-awakened the Special Status Agreement of 2012 between the

two countries and underlined that infrastructure development was a common enabler of their respective economies.

Both heads of state had made bold commitments. They had agreed logistics for the One Stop Border Post should be put in

place by the end of the second quarter of 2019; they had agreed to jointly inspect and supervise the Lamu-Garissa-Moyale and Moyale-Hawassa-Addis Ababa road networks. Ambassador Meles noted the Lamu PortSouth Sudan-Ethiopia Trans-

port Corridor (LAPSSET) and the Moyale Joint City and Economic Zone projects also demonstrated the power of bilateral relations.

Ambassador Meles emphasised again that successful development of the Ethio-Kenya

relations would demonstrate that both countries were partners and not competitors, with the exception perhaps of marathon running!

SEE ANOTHER STORY - PG 22

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AFRICA ROUND UP >> African health ministers pledge action on HIV/Aids

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ealth ministers from Africa's Great Lakes Region have vowed to revitalise efforts to eradicate HIV/Aids that affects an estimated 4.3 percent of the population.

The health ministers from six Great Lakes countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said they will ramp up funding towards HIV/Aids prevention and case management.

"Members countries from the Great Lakes Region will intensify cooperation on HIV/ Aids response in addition to

addressing major drivers of the pandemic," Sicily Kariuki, Kenya's cabinet secretary for health told journalists in Nairobi.

Kenya hosted the 15th ordinary session of the Great Lakes Initiative on Aids (GLIA) council of ministers to review progress in the fight against the epidemic that remains a public health challenge in the east and central African regions.

Health ministers, experts and campaigners who attended the two day high-level forum agreed that innovative financing combined with robust public awareness is key to winning the war against HIV and Aids in

the Great Lakes Region.

"There is need for our governments to partner with private sector and foundations to bridge financing towards HIV prevention and treatment for the infected given the economic toll the disease is taking on our countries," said Kariuki.

She said that targeted interventions like economic empowerment of vulnerable groups, health insurance and subsidized cost of anti-retroviral drugs is key to minimizing deaths linked to HIV and Aids.

Kenya has rallied behind regional initiatives aimed at hastening progress towards achieving Aids-free status by 2030.

World Bank Launches Human Capital Plan for Africa

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he World Bank unveiled a new plan to help African countries strengthen their human capital. The objective of the plan is to enable Africa's young people to grow up with optimal health and equipped with the right skills to compete in the digitizing global economy.

Sub-Saharan Africa scores the lowest of all the world's regions on the World Bank's Human Capital Index, a measurement of how well countries invest in the next generation of workers.

The score is explained by high mortality and stunting rates in the region, as well as inadequate student learning outcomes - all of which have a direct effect on economic productivity.

In an effort to help countries turn these indicators around, the World Bank's Africa Human Capital Plan is setting ambitious targets to be achieved in the region by 2023. These include a drastic reduction in child mortality to save 4 million lives, averting stunting among 11 million children, and increasing learning outcomes for girls and boys in school by 20%.

These achievements can raise Africa's Human Capital Index

score upwards to increase the productivity of future workers by 13%.

"Preventing a child from fulfilling his or her potential is not only fundamentally unjust, but it also limits the growth potential of economies whose future workers are held back. GDP per worker in Sub-Saharan Africa could be 2.5 times higher if everyone were healthy and enjoyed a good education from pre-school to secondary school," says World Bank Vice President for Africa Hafez Ghanem at the launch of the Bank's Plan during the World BankIMF Spring Meetings.

The Plan also aims at empowering women to prevent early marriage and pregnancy for adolescent girls. "The adolescent fertility rate in Sub-Saharan Africa is 102 births per 1,000 girlsthree times as high as in South Asia. This not only damaging for girls and their children, but it also hurts economic growth," noted Ghanem.

The World Bank will increase its investments in human capital in Africa by 50% in the next funding cycle. This includes new World Bank grants and concessional finance for human capital projects in Africa total-

ing $15 billion in fiscal years 2021-2023. The World Bank will invest these funds strategically to unblock structural constraints to human capital development. The World Bank will also target game changing interventions that leverage technology and innovation and that prevent and reverse damage to human capital in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

The World Bank is already supporting countries to come up with new strategies to invest more and better in their people.

Twenty-three African countries, covering over 60% of the region's population, have joined a coalition of nearly 60 countries to join the Human Capital Project, committing to a set of accelerated investments in their human capital.

"Human Capital Project countries are breaking away from traditional paradigms to make investment in their people a priority and are working in a more coordinated way across government to ensure that households have the right enabling environment to support human capital formation," said Annette Dixon, World Bank Vice President for Human Development.

World Bank Vice President for Africa Hafez Ghanem.

Nduku Kilonzo, executive director of National Aids Control Council said that regional cooperation on bio-medical research, training and public education is key to reducing the Aids burden that affects productive segment of the population.

"Countries in the Great Lakes Region vary in the overall HIV burden but can share best practices that are required to prolong the lives of infected population," said Nduku.

She said that poverty, conflicts, forced migration and broken health systems have fueled HIV infections and deaths in the Great Lakes Region.

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>> AFRICA ROUND UP

African Civil Society Excellence Awards’ Winners Announced

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PIC-Africa has announced the winners of the first (1st) edition of the African Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Excellence Awards. The Awards highlight the importance of organisational capacity to achieve programme impact and improve the well-being of Africa’s citizens.

This year’s winners are civil society organisations who model best practices across eight core elements of organizational effectiveness: Strategic Ability and Adaptability, Leadership and Governance, Financial Health and Management, Human Resources and Staff Development, Operations, Communications, Partnerships and Alliances, Monitoring and Evaluation.

For the expert evaluators, these organisations stood out because of their openness to being assessed and their commitment to learning and growth. They are not only modeling best practices in terms of organisational effectiveness, but also crucially, helping to start an important conversation in Africa about CSO transparency and accountability.

The winners by category are: • Strategic Ability and Adaptability - HakiElimu (Tanzania).

• Leadership and Governancec- HakiElimu (Tanzania).

Dr John Kalage, Executive Director HakiElimu.

• Financial Health and Management - Kenya Community Development Foundation

(KCDF) (Kenya).

• Human Resources and Staff Development - Ghana Center

for Democratic Development (Ghana).

• Communications- Kenya

Community Development Foundation (KCDF) (Kenya).

• Monitoring and EvaluationPartage et Action en Synergie pour le Développement (PASYD) (Togo).

• Operations - Hope WorldWide Kenya (Kenya).

• Partnerships and Alliance - Centre d'Actions pour l'Environnement et le Développement Durable (ACED) (Benin).

The Tanzanian CSO, HakiElimu, was selected as the overall winner of the Awards. In addition to modeling excellence in all areas, HakiElimu stood out in their demonstration of the powerful relationship between organisational effectiveness and programme impact.

John Kalage, Executive Director of HakiElimu said: “We are delighted to have been selected as the overall winner for the EPIC Africa CSO Excellence Awards. HakiElimu will continue to strive for even higher standards of performance, accountability and legitimacy, as we share our expertise and learnings to help build on a vibrant, diverse and influential civil society in Tanzania and beyond. Only together can we continue to deliver tangible improvements to the lives of Tanzanians and Africans across the continent.”

This year, the African CSO Excellence Awards received 950 registrations and 389 completed entries from 46 African countries.

The winners were selected by expert evaluators from the philanthropy, technology and business sectors.

“We are incredibly excited and proud to showcase this year’s winners who are among the most outstanding African CSOs today and are at the forefront of African transformation. We saw excellent strategies and effective ways of implementing them which gives us confidence that these organisations can truly respond to the challenges in their communities in innovative and efficient ways,” said EPIC-Africa co-founder Rose Maruru.

The African CSO Excellence Awards, launched in October 2018 included a rigorous twostage questionnaire, in-depth document review, video interviews, reference checks, and a final jury evaluation to determine the winners.

The winners across each category and the overall winner will get an opportunity to fundraise on the international GlobalGiving Platform, increase their media visibility and participate in networking opportunities through the African CSO Excellence Awards community.

Global partners announce $61.8 million to boost AfDB initiative for women entrepreneurs

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he Governing Committee of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) has approved a funding allocation of $61.8 million for the African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) programme.

We-Fi is a partnership among 14 donor governments, eight multilateral development banks, and other public and private sector stakeholders, established in October 2017 and hosted by the World Bank Group.

“This substantial support from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, We-Fi, will help us scale up our actions and achieve greater results for women entrepreneurs across the continent. Our ambition with AFAWA goes beyond regular assistance to women in business,” Vanessa Moungar, the Bank’s Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society said

about the announcement.

With the We-Fi funding, AFAWA intends to improve access to finance for 40,000 womenowned/led small and medium enterprises in 21 African countries, mainly in low-income and fragile countries, where women entrepreneurs face greater challenges in accessing finance, markets, knowledge, and mentoring programmes. Specifically, the programme’s activities will be implemented in Botswana, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The activities funded by WeFi will be aligned with AFAWA’s three-pronged approach to holistically addressing the $42 billion financing gap between women and male entrepreneurs.

The first AFAWA pillar aims

to increase access to finance for women through innovative and tailored financial instruments, including guarantee mechanisms to back up women entrepreneurs.

In collaboration with strategic partners, the second pillar focuses on providing capacitybuilding services to women entrepreneurs, including access to mentoring and entrepreneurship training courses. AFAWA also helps financial institutions address the specific needs of women-owned/led businesses through tailored financial and non-financial products.

The third pillar concentrates on improving the business environment for women by engaging in policy dialogue with central banks and other relevant authorities and stakeholders.

Lastly, the We-Fi funding will reinforce initiatives of the Bank and partners, such as UN Women and CARE International, in favour of women entrepreneurs in various sectors that are fre-

quently overlooked by traditional financiers, donors and

governments. These special initiatives include Fashionomics

Africa and the African women tech entrepreneurs programme.

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AFRICA ROUND UP >>

UK Foreign Secretary okays £64m British funding for businesses

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ome £52 million of UK funding has been raised for solar power plant, creating up to 250 jobs in Kenya; £11 million investment by British business De La Rue to produce high-tech identity cards, tax stamps, and currency; £1.4 million package of support for creative industries in Kenya and Nigeria.

The Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt welcomed over £64 million of funding for Kenyan businesses during his week-long visit to Africa.

This included a new agreement which will see British firm De La Rue invest £11 million to boost its production in Kenya of identity cards, tax stamps and currency, creating new high-skilled jobs locally.

He also welcomed the announcement that £52 million of UK investment has been raised for a solar power plant, with construction expected to start soon and power to come online in 2020. This innovative project, run by British-headquartered power company, Globeleq, and funded by CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, will bring clean power to the Malindi region in South East Kenya, which currently struggles with regular power shortages and relies largely on expensive thermal plants. This is set to transform the local economy, with up to 250 direct jobs being created and a further 5,600 jobs in the wider economy supported, thanks to the availability of power.

Finally, the Foreign Secretary

announced an additional £1.4 million package of support targeted at the creative industries in Kenya and Nigeria. The Creative Enterprise programme will help 540 entrepreneurs from across the two countries access training and support in the UK. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "I have seen for myself the incredible opportunities opening up between the UK and Kenya and the close partnership which already exists between our countries. It is great to see British investment creating jobs, prosperity and growth in Kenya and across the continent".

As part of a UK aid funded programme 10 shortlisted candidates pitched to the Foreign Secretary and a panel of entrepreneurs and innovators for the chance to ac-

cess up to £100,000 each in grant funding and technical assistance to help them scale up.

The winners of the pitching event were Ten Senses Africa, TakaTaka Solutions, Lynk Jobs Limited, Savanna Circuit and Build Her. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "As a former entrepreneur myself, I have been inspired by the dynamic and talented businessmen and women I have met in Kenya, and look forward to seeing their fantastic companies become the household names of the future."

The pitching event was the first of its kind under the new Kenya Catalytic Jobs Fund, a £5 million UK aid funded programme, announced during the Prime Minister’s visit last year. The Jobs Fund, which is being implemented by MercyCorp, supports tried and tested business ideas, helping them scale up to stimulate largescale job creation in Kenya.

De La Rue’s Regional Director for Africa, Matt West said: "This innovative Joint Venture with the Government of Kenya, which builds on De La Rue’s already long and productive business relationships here, expands the opportunities for highly skilled jobs for Kenyans and opens up the prospect of new business in the region, which will add yet more value to this highly productive partnership".

Moses Anibaba, the British Council’s Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, said: "This is an exciting and highly anticipated launch by the Foreign Secretary of a proven creative enterprise support model that we piloted in Lagos, Nigeria and are now expand-

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

ing in Nigeria and Kenya."

"The programme presents a unique opportunity for young entrepreneurs in the UK and Africa to connect, create jobs and build enterprises in what is a fastgrowing industry and one that is a sector of competitive advantage, in both countries".

"I am convinced that through the programme, the partnership between the Creative economies of the UK and Africa will be strengthened, enhancing creative expression and prosperity".

Successful candidates of this

first pitching event will receive a £100,000 grant and technical assistance to scale their businesses and create jobs. The Kenya Catalytic Jobs Fund is being implemented by MercyCorp.

Creative Enterprise is a £1.4 million UK commitment to extending support for employability and enterprise in the creative industries sector in Kenya and Nigeria with the British Council.

The 2018 to 2019 pilot in Lagos is being replicated in Nairobi this year and expanded in Nigeria to Abuja, Kano and Owerri.

Top Business Minds grace 2019 Africa Shared Value Summit in Nairobi

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his year’s Africa Shared Value Summit brought business changemakers and thought leaders together in Nairobi. Speakers drawn from across the African continent made for an exciting programme, featuring tracks focusing on Africa’s most important industries: agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, energy, the environment and health care.

“Shared Value is the next major evolution of business thinking that will drive productivity and competitive advantage in the global economy,” noted Mark Kramer and Prof Michael Porter in one of their foundational Harvard Business Review articles on Shared Value.

The Summit saw acclaimed Harvard economist Kramer return as keynote speaker. Mark is Co-Founder and Managing Director of FSG and the author

of influential publications on Shared Value, catalytic philanthropy, collective impact, strategic evaluation, and impact investing.

With over 30 years of commercial experience in the telecommunications sector, Robert “Bob” Collymore, CEO of headline Summit sponsor Safaricom, has made it his mission to drive access to essential services through technology. “We cannot succeed in isolation,”

he wrote in the 2018 Safaricom Sustainable Business Report, underlining the relevance of the Summit’s theme, Africa’s Business Growth – Grounded in Collaboration. “We need a ‘coalition of the willing’ to address these challenges.”

LADOL CEO Dr Amy Jadesimi, named Africa’s Young CEO of the Year 2018 by the Africa Leadership Forum, was to deliver the closing plenary at the Summit on May 24, just one of

the many female business leaders on the Summit’s diverse programme.

In addition to her work at LADOL, an oil and gas fabrication and multi-logistics service based in Nigeria, she is passionate about the development of strategic infrastructure that will enable African countries to become leading global economies.

Shared Value thinking – the ability to see the business op-

portunity in driving the creation of a better world through the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – is key to Africa becoming the economic powerhouse of the twenty-first century.

The Summit was proudly sponsored by Safaricom, Old Mutual, Enel, Absa, KCB, JCDecaux and the World Food Programme, and supported by media partners Channel Africa, CNBC Africa and SAfm.

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>> AFRICA ROUND UP AfDB board approves $4.8 million grant to spur African free trade

Kenya should use UN-Habitat meet to reposition itself in region

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enya will host the first session of the UN-Habitat Assembly from May 27 to 31 at the UN-Habitat headquarters in Nairobi.

The UN-Habitat Assembly is the new governance agency for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme with a universal membership consisting of 193 UN member states.

It’s very refreshing to host such a high-level gathering of UN agencies, local authorities and non-state actors, including civil society, youth and women group representatives, the private sector and academia, all who are expected to attend and participate.

Hopefully, the political heat in the country will mellow down to allow proper preparations to host the visitors.

It’s an important event for the country as it shows that in addition to her strength in the ease of doing business and hospitality industry, Kenya is also a diplomatic hub in Africa. This is a major plus in the country’s effort to improve not only its brand and image but increase its credibility among the community of nations as a serious place to invest in.

The theme for the UN-Habitat Assembly will be, “Innovation for Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities” with the sub-theme, “Accelerated implementation of the New Urban Agenda

President Uhuru Kenyatta attends a past UN Habitat meeting.

towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”.

The Assembly is expected to establish the Executive Board of UN-Habitat and elect its members, to review and approve the UN-Habitat strategic Plan 2020-2025 and also review the Progress in the implementation of New Urban Agenda, among other things.

Pursuant to that same resolution, the UN-Habitat Assembly is requested to establish a UNHabitat Executive Board during its first session comprising of 36 member states, which will meet

three times in a year, and the resolution also retains the current Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR).

Kenya is a signatory to the SDGs and will soon be reporting on the progress it has made including on SDG 11. This provides the country with the opportunity to increase her efforts in their realisation.

All eyes are on the government not only to accommodate the global gathering but relook at its policies and interventions towards improving the quality of the lives of urban dwellers.

Such global meetings not only

end with big statements but provide the country to showcase what it has done or the gaps.

It’s expected that those in charge of our international relations prepare adequately with the rest of the government not only to host the meeting, but aggregate what the country has done, and more importantly the counties, especially Nairobi, to improve the lives of her residents.

Discussions will centre on what countries and local governments globally are doing on issues, including improvements

in the environment, health and safety, security, infrastructure and urban economy. It will be a time to hear from the Kenyan government on the progress it has made on making our cities better and what we can learn from our peers. It will be interesting to get an update on Nairobi Regeneration team, the Rapid Bus Transport, slum upgrading projects, Mombasa beautification project and hopefully hear more about the Meru County New Urban Agenda project.

As a host of two UN agencies, Kenya is expected, like other major global powers, use foreign relations and diplomacy as principle strategies to position herself at vantage points in the economic, political and cultural order in the region.

The West, the US and China discovered the major global players push their agenda into the global arena and lobby to place their citizens into powerful strategic regional and global institutions to speak for them during such meetings.

Such opportunities are rare and whenever they come, they offer the country the opportunity to showcase what it is doing in tackling insecurity, infrastructure, negative politicking and ease of doing business bottlenecks.

It would be interesting to see media focusing on some of these events that are happening as we continue keeping a tab on the other unmet promises by politicians and the Government.

The Board of the African Development Bank has approved an institutional support grant of $4.8 million to the African Union (AU) to accelerate the momentum of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), which received its 22nd ratification on April 2, thus bringing the agreement into force.

The AfCFTA is a major force for continental integration. It will expand intra-African trade by up to $35 billion per year and usher in freedom of movement for goods, services and people across the continent’s internal borders, with a regime of reduced tariffs and non-tariff barriers to cut the cost of doing business on the continent. It will also boost agriculture and industrial exports by up to $66 billion per year.

The bank’s grant is targeted at laying the institutional foundations for the AfCFTA implementation secretariat and the roll out of the implementation programmes. “The momentum is now in full swing”, said Andoh Mensah, Manager, Trade and Investment Climate Division at the bank, “It is now crucial to establish a robust, efficient, purpose-driven secretariat, capable of addressing improved stakeholder engagement, inclusiveness and ownership in the AfCFTA implementation”.

The grant will also assist efforts towards full ratification of the agreement by all AU member states including the application of tariff reductions and related commitments, while generating stakeholder support for the AfCFTA to ensure inclusiveness and common ownership.

This is a decisive response to the call by African political leaders for the Bank and other partners to support the AU Commission and work assiduously towards the realisation of AfCFTA objectives.

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WORLD NEWS BACKGROUND >>

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Is the United States heading for war with Iran?

here are two competing narratives.

The first, which is favoured by US President Donald Trump's administration, is that Iran is up to no good. Preparations are said to have been seen for a potential attack on US targets, though few details have been revealed publicly.

The US has moved reinforcements to the region; it is reducing its non-essential diplomatic personnel in Iraq; and it is reportedly dusting off war plans.

The message to Tehran is clear: any attack on a US target from whatever source, be it Iran or one of its many proxies or allies in the region, will be met by a significant military response.

The second narrative lays the blame for this crisis squarely at Washington's door.

Iran - not surprisingly - holds to this view, but so too do many domestic critics of the Trump administration's approach.

Indeed, to varying degrees many of Mr Trump's key European allies share some of these concerns.

According to this narrative, the "Iran hawks" in the Trump administration - people like National Security Adviser John Bolton, or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - sense an opportunity.

Their goal, this narrative ar-

B

gues, is regime change in Tehran. And if maximum economic pressure does not work then they believe, military action is not ruled out in the appropriate circumstances.

These two narratives reflect different interpretations of the reality and, as so often, they play up certain facts and ignore others to make their case.

But perceptions here matter just as much as reality. Indeed, in many ways they produce the reality.

And that reality is that a conflict between the US and Iran - albeit by accident rather than design - is more likely today than

at any time since Mr Trump took office.

Tensions in the Middle East are certainly mounting.

Iran, its economy suffering from the re-imposition of US sanctions that were lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with world powers, is pushing back.

It has warned that it may no longer abide by the restrictions on its nuclear activities.

The arrival of Mr Trump was a turning point.

The president pulled the US out of the nuclear deal a year ago and embarked upon a policy of maximum pressure against Tehran.

Iran has had enough. It is pushing the Europeans to do more to help its ailing economy and threatening if they do not - and it is hard to see what they can do - it will go ahead and breach the nuclear deal.

Much now depends upon the dynamics inside the Trump administration and also on Tehran's assessment of what is going on there.

The president himself has sought to play down the idea that his officials are divided regarding Iran, and reports indicate that he has little enthusiasm for war.

His opposition to military

entanglements abroad is wellknown. However Mr Trump is unlikely to back down if US forces or facilities are attacked.

However this is not necessarily the way things may be seen in Tehran.

Might Iran think that it can play off Mr Bolton against his boss; raising tensions enough for the national security adviser's perceived designs to be revealed perhaps precipitating his downfall?

While Washington's key Middle Eastern allies - Israel and Saudi Arabia - may be applauding from the sidelines, Mr Trump's European partners are uneasy at the way things are heading.

Spain, Germany and the Netherlands have all taken steps to suspend military activities in the region alongside the Americans, citing the rising tensions.

This is not the moment to rehearse what a conflict between Iran and the US would look like.

But comparisons between such a conflict and the 2003 Iraq war are unhelpful.

Iran is a very different proposition to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

A full-scale invasion of Iran is not going to be on the cards.

Rather, this would be an air and maritime conflict with a huge dose of asymmetry in Iran's responses. It could set the whole region ablaze.

There were those who predicted a major foreign policy ca-

tastrophe when Mr Trump took office.

Instead, there is an unfolding and multi-dimensional crisis that has many elements and the Iran situation illustrates them all: an antipathy to international agreements; an over-reliance on regional allies with their own agendas to pursue; rising tensions with long-standing Nato partners; and, above all, an inability to determine and to prioritise Washington's real strategic interests.

With the revival of great power competition, when the US is seeking to re-orientate its deployments and to bolster its armed forces to face a rising China and an emboldened Russia, where should Iran rate in Washington's strategic priorities?

Does the Iran threat really merit a major conflict? Many US strategic pundits would say no.

Many accept that containing Tehran and, yes, threatening severe reprisals if US interests are attacked, may be necessary. But the steady drumbeat towards war is not.

And one thing should be clear.

There is no "drift" towards war.

That suggests an involuntary process that people can do little about.

If there is a conflict then it will be down to conscious decisionmaking, to the calculations and miscalculations of the Iranians and the Americans themselves.

WHY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS ARE SIGNIFICANT

etween May 23 and May 26, citizens of the (for now) 28 countries of the European Union will elect 751 members to the European Parliament.

Together, the national contests will send representatives from dozens of parties to be sorted into at least seven somewhat unwieldy party groups, influence the composition of the European Commission slated to take office in November, and shape EU policy in a treacherous period.

There are dozens of subplots, from the ambiguous political loyalties of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the likely return to public office of 82-yearold former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as a member of European Parliament (MEP) for Forza Italia.

The election results will have immediate national political im-

plications.

• With Brexit delayed amidst gridlock and indecision in UK Parliament, the British electorate will have a chance to weigh in at the ballot box for the first time in two years. Nigel Farage’s new platform, the Brexit Party, will contend with Labour and the Conservatives to top the polls.

Meanwhile, ChangeUK, formed by centrist defectors from Labour and the Conservatives, represents a new offering.

• French President Emmanuel Macron will be looking for a show of strength for his La République En Marche (LREM) to buttress his reform agenda after months struggling with the Yellow Vests protests; Marine Le Pen’s National Rally will be looking to send the opposite signal.

• A bad result for Germany’s Social Democrats, nationally and in simultaneous state elections in

their stronghold of Bremen, could weaken an unenthusiastic grand coalition in Berlin and hasten the end of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s political career.

• Italy’s governing Five Star Movement and League both aim to form new party groups around themselves, with the League’s farright European Alliance of Peoples and Nations looking rather more successful than Five Star’s more abstract group.

• Poland’s opposition has a chance to make political gains ahead of national elections in the fall in which it will try to dislodge Law and Justice (PiS), which has systematically weakened checks and balances since returning to power with an absolute majority in 2015.

At the European level, the three largest groups—the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the center-left Progressive Alli-

ance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in partnership with LREM—are together estimated to win something like 55 percent of the seats.

So nationalists are unlikely to win the European election or choose the new EU executive. But they will have a stronger presence and stronger influence than in the past.

The main groupings are themselves somewhat fractured and include problem children. The EPP has wrestled for years with the inclusion of Fidesz, the authoritarian-minded party of Viktor Orbán, in its ranks.

Under external and internal pressure ahead of the European Parliament elections, it suspended Fidesz. President Trump, however, welcomed Orbán to the White House at the height of the cam-

paign. Meanwhile, the S&D has frozen relations with Romania’s ruling Social Democrats (PSD), which has been doing its best to block the country’s former chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kövesi from leading the new European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

These elections are the second in which Europe is seeing a race between lead candidates nominated for the Commission presidency by the different party groups, known as the Spitzenkandidat system.

This approach directly links the European Parliament elections to the subsequent formation of the EU’s executive, but doesn’t have universal buy-in.

While the EPP’s Jean-Claude Juncker won the job this way in 2014, it may not work this time for Manfred Weber, a member of the Bavarian Christian Social

Union who has led the EPP in the Parliament for five years, or Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European Commission and the candidate of the S&D. A broader governing coalition may require a compromise candidate, and Macron has tried to position himself to be king-or- queenmaker.

The postponement of Brexit to October 31 means that determining the basic framework of future economic relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom and preventing the return of a hard border to the island of Ireland will continue to dominate the EU agenda as the new Parliament takes office and the new executive is formed.

Given British and continental hesitation to allow the default no-deal exit, the knotty problem could yet be kicked further down the road.

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> WORLD NEWS BACKGROUND

NATO’s open door must remain open

By MOLLY MONTGOMERY Like many people, each time NATO approaches a big birthday, the institution and those close to it experience a certain amount of existential angst. And no decision has inspired more intellectual hand-wringing than the enlargement of NATO to include former Eastern Bloc countries.

The Baltic states are the most frequent targets, as critics argue that Russian local military superiority and the ability to deny NATO operational access make them indefensible. In the event of a Russian incursion, they say, the Baltic states would be defeated before the North Atlantic Council could meet to invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

NATO’s newest Allies from the former Yugoslavia—Croatia, and particularly Albania and Montenegro—have also faced questions about their ability to contribute military to the alliance, given their small size. How, critics ask,

can a country of 600,000 people like Montenegro contribute to the collective defense of a 29-country alliance covering more than 800 million people?

There are seeds of truth in these criticisms, and there is ample room for reform—to speed up NATO’s crisis decision-making, to further improve the NATO response force, and yes, to ensure more equitable burden-sharing.

But these arguments miss the point. NATO is the most successful military alliance in the history of the world. But what sets it apart is not the military might of its members, most of all the United States. What makes NATO special, and what has allowed it to grow and prosper for the last 70 years despite dramatic geopolitical change, is an idea.

At NATO’s founding, as the shadow of Communism fell across what became known as the Eastern Bloc, that idea was to “safeguard the freedom, common heritage, and civilization of [Allied] peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law.” As the Cold War drew to a close in 1989, President George H.W. Bush simplified that idea to “a Europe whole and free.”

And so, as the Iron Curtain fell,

NATO opened its doors to countries that chose to embrace democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law, and to embark on difficult reforms to transform their militaries, their economies, and their societies.

With each successive wave of enlargement—beginning with the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland 20 years ago, through Montenegro’s accession in 2017—the vision of a Europe whole and free has come into clearer focus. And it should soon become clearer still.

Last year’s historic Prespa Agreement solved the decadelong dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the latter’s name, which since 2007 had blocked the country’s progress toward NATO and EU membership.

Now the newly renamed North Macedonia stands ready to walk through NATO’s open door. All that remains is for all 29 NATO allies to ratify the instruments of accession.

In the United States, that means the Senate must provide advice and consent, and the president must sign the accession protocols. It should be a no-brainer,

since the name issue is all that has stood in the way of North Macedonia’s membership in NATO for more than a decade.

However, there are sure to be detractors in the Senate, and perhaps even in the White House.

They may point to the Baltic states, or Montenegro, and ask what an ally with a population of only 2 million can bring to the alliance.

The answer is simple. The people of North Macedonia believe NATO membership is so important to the future of their country that they were willing to change its name.

That is the power of the idea of NATO—the allure of a Europe whole and free, comprised of likeminded democracies committed to securing not just their borders, but also their values. This is not just a rallying cry, but a mighty weapon in and of itself.

NATO possesses a powerful military deterrent, but its political deterrent is more powerful still. The Baltic states, for all their vulnerability to a Russian incursion, have no territory occupied

by Russian troops. This stands in stark contrast to the other former Soviet republics that have turned

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

toward the West—Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova—whose territorial integrity Russia continues to violate in order to stymy their Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

As we face an era of renewed great power competition, with a revanchist Russia and an emerging China seeking to remake the international system in their own interest, the idea of NATO has never been more important.

As President George H.W. Bush said in his 1989 speech entitled “Europe Whole and Free”: “The foundation of lasting security comes not from tanks, troops, or barbed wire; it is built on shared

values and agreements that link free peoples.”

NATO is the foundation for lasting security in Europe. A Europe whole and free remains the goal. And the open door must remain open to all that share our values, undertake the commitments and obligations of membership, and contribute to the security of the Euro-Atlantic area, beginning with North Macedonia.

• Molly Montgomery is NonResident Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe, The Brookings Institution.

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MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

EDITORIAL >> Corruption Impeding Nations' Development

C

orruption is not only stifling development in developing countries especially Africa, but also compromising quality and standards thus limiting chances of growth and prosperity.

Corruption has become a big disease that is not only infecting and spreading like bushfire in many African nations but also causing harm and pain to the citizens. It has also ruined nations and eroded the thinking capabilities and capacities of the citizens to the extent that they neither work hard to achieve goals nor study hard to learn or to be innovative.

Research which plays fundamental role in creating knowledge and innovation is no longer an area of focus when formulating development agenda. In Kenya, for example, corruption has been defined as a cancer that is eating the country to its deathbed.

Recently Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha was quoted saying that only one in 10 PhD qualifications in Kenya today is genuine. By so saying, he simply means that the rest are but fake.

This revelation by a person who is not only one of the senior most scholars but also the person in-charge of the education sector in the country, is alarming but self-defeating in that Magoha was himself the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, the country’s top-notch public university for a record ten years, and yet did nothing to stop such a vice.

His pronouncement exposes the rot in the Kenyan society today where mediocrity has replaced merit, and stealing public property has become the yardstick for measuring performance. There is thus an urgent need to overhaul and evaluate education standards in the Kenyan institutions from the highest to the lowest level, to create meaning, sense and value in the country’s education system.

Employers are now afraid to employ graduates and merit and experience should form a strong basis for qualification when recruiting and engaging employees and not just academic papers.

Creating a few millionaires through corruption at the expense of the majority poor is dangerous and a big threat to a country’ stability and future. Like in Japan nearly all citizens are poor and rich at the same time because the government is not tolerating corruption and has created a level playing ground.

It is dangerous and risky to employ someone with fake papers, especially in some key sectors like health. Cases abound in many countries where innocent lives have been lost in the hands of quacks that have very good papers but no idea on what is expected of them.

FAMOUS QUOTE Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston S. Churchill Publisher: Address: Email Website: Tel:

Flashline News Agency P.O BOX 7393 00100 GPO Nairobi Kenya Editorial@liberaltribunemedia.org www.flashlinenewsagency.org 0754556935, 0701009390

Managing Editor: Onyango Omolo Creative Designer: Mark Gikonyo

TIME TO ACT AS MILLIONS FACE STARVATION IN PARTS OF AFRICA

By Denise A. O. Kodhe, Director General, Institute for Development & Leadership in Africa (IDEA for Africa), Chairman- Kenya National Chapter- AUECOSOCC

E

very year, millions of people are threatened

by Hunger in the Horn of Africa region raising serious concerns regarding government’s policies and priorities aimed at ensuring food security for their people. Mitigation against disasters should always be a priority in any planning for government or any other body.

It is always dangerous and most of the time too late to wait or react after a disaster has happened as has always been the case with many governments in Africa, where millions of people are threatened with starvation.

Disaster situation in most African countries can be said to be man-made and not natural as may be assumed. Hunger, flooding and epidemics like cholera, Ebola etc. can easily be managed if proper management and governance system is put in place. With proper planning and commitment, such disasters can be avoided if governments stop corruption, nepotism and tribalism.

Although most of the time rainfall is reliable and predictable in Africa, effects of climate change and globalisation have interfered with the patterns of the rains thus causing massive famine in some parts and regions of the continent. Building of dams, irrigation from the many lakes and rivers in the continent are some of the measures that can be taken to provide enough water to sustain agricultural production without looking for international aid or donor support.

Disaster preparedness is a very key measure when anticipating for a disaster which can happen anytime.

For instance like in Japan,

earthquake and tremors are normal natural disasters which happens anytime and therefore the government is always prepared to deal with the same whenever they occur.

Japan is one of the most recognised and respected countries in the world when it comes to dealing with disasters. It has experienced major natural disasters caused by earthquakes. In 2011 it experienced serious earthquake in Tohoku in north east Japan followed immediately by a very devastating Tsunami which claimed 15,897 lives. Before that in July 1995 it experienced another earthquake disaster in Kobe in western part of Japan which left 6,433 people dead. During the tsunami disaster, Japan was threatened by a nuclear melt down caused by the breakdown of power plants at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power Plant in Okuma.

Interestingly, Japan came out of it and managed the impending nuclear disaster to the surprise of the whole world.

Africa has a lot to learn from the experiences of great countries like Japan. The continent is lucky that it does not experience earthquakes and other natural disasters to the magnitude of island countries like Japan and other Asian and South Pacific nations. Anyhow, it has its own natural threats and disasters like hunger, flooding and outbreaks of epidemics like ebola, cholera etc.

More emphasis should be given to advance mitigation in readiness for any disaster.

Climate change in itself should not be used as an excuse or reseason for continued starvation by the people in Africa. Bad weather will

always happen and does not just happen. There are always signs and indications and professional and well trained weather forecasters should be able to advise government’s accordingly and in good time. Weather conditions should not be based on gaze work.

Its appears that both Climate and weather experts in Africa do not seem to understand their role or are simply ignorant about their work.

They should be specific and clear to the point when giving weather reports. Half-baked data and unconfirmed unreliable reports only worsen situations because they mislead and confuse at the same time.

Like other countries in the Horn of Africa, millions of Kenyans are now facing serious starvation due to the failure of the April- May long rains.

Many rivers are drying up and animals are dying in great numbers because there is no water or food to eat.

The situation is devastating. People are also starving to death in worse hit areas like in northern part of the county. Water and electricity supply is threatening as many people are now relying on boreholes to get water.

The fear is that very soon the boreholes are going to dry up situation is grave and yet water is not accomodity which can easily be imported water from neighboring countries or donor community.

Perennially the Horn of Africa region has always been affected by famine year in year out. The region comprises of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti has a population of nearly 130,700,500 covering an area of about 1,800,200 kms square. Other East African countries like Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda although members of the East African Community Block and members of Great Lakes region are also members of the Horn of Africa region by extension.

The Sahel region is another area partially hit by perennial hunger. The Sahel is the eco climatic and biogeographic zone of transition in Africa between Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savannah to the south. Countries in the Sahel regions includes, Central Africa nations such as Chad, central and Southern Sudan, Eritrea in the East, Algeria in the north and Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, and Niger in the west.

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

AFRICA'S GAME CHANGERS

NARENDRA RAVAL (INDUSTRIALIST, PHILANTHROPIST) Chairman Devki Group of Companies

By ONYANGO OMOLO

B

illionaire Narendra Raval also known as Guru, is a Kenyan industrialist and philanthropist of Indian descent who is the founder of the Devki Group of Companies, which manufactures steel products, roofing sheets and cement.

Raval was born in 1962 in a traditional Gujarati Brahmin family in a tiny village in Mathak, Gujarat, India, but migrated to Kenya in 1978 when he was 18 years old to work as a priest at the EASS Temple in Nairobi.

“As a teenaged priest, I bravely faced all challenges, frustrations and loneliness, with the sole purpose of supporting my family residing in India. Even as a priest, money and business always played on my mind. In 1981, after three years I returned to India. But fate and circumstances forced me come back to Kenya in search of livelihood. My next four years as a priest in Kenya were quite eventful — it was during these years people nicknamed me “Guru”. Later, I joined a steel industrialist to understand the steel and hardware market,” he was quoted saying.

Raval built his business empire from a humble background with the support of his wife Neeta Naval whom he met and

got married to in 1985. They started a small steel processing store in Nairobi’s Gikomba market – Steel Centre Limited - that grew to become Devki Group of Companies.

Today, Raval owns Kenya’s largest steel and cement empire with a turnover of $650 million.

He set up the then small steel rolling mill near Nairobi in 1992 to manufacture roofing and fencing materials; which later ballooned into Devki Group, East Africa’s largest construction material company, which manufactures steel, roofing sheets, and cement.

Companies under the conglomerate include Devki Steel Mills Limited, National Cement Companies Limited, Maisha Mabati Mills Limited and Northwood Agencies Limited, which offers helicopter services.

Today, Raval’s Devki Group owns four such mills, two cement factories in Kenya, and one in Ethiopia, Uganda and the Congo with $650 million in annual income.

According to Forbes, Devki Group, which employs more than 4,500 employees, has an annual revenue of more than Sh65 billion.

The down to earth billionaire is currently one of the wealthiest people in Kenya and Africa with an estimated net value of Sh40 billion. He was featured among the top 50 richest men in Forbes Africa 2015 list.

“Our steady growth led us to an investment of $100 million and helped us to build a roofing sheet mill ‘Maisha Mabati Rolling Mills’, which went into commercial production in 2010. A long cherished dream was fulfilled when we led the foundation of our cement business ‘National Cement Company’. This was a major achievement for our group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) contributed more than USD $ 250 million, which become operational in 2011. “ Today, after four decades of tireless hard work, perseverance, dedication and ambitious spirit, we have a workforce in excess of 4,500 and a group annual turnover in excess of $700 million, we have created a niche for ourselves in the East and Central African infrastructure industry,” he was quoted saying by Entrepreneur Magazine.

In 2013, at the age of 53, Raval acquired a Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL) and fulfilled his cherished dream of flying his own helicopter and also set up his own aviation company, which charters helicopters.

“I have come a long way in life. God has filled my life with all colours he could possibly fill in life - poverty, starva-

tion, struggle, frustration, failure, loneliness, love, happiness and tears, jealousy and success.”

Raval is a devoted philanthropist who funds a string of children homes in Kenya and beyond. The father of three told Forbes in 2017 that he would donate half of his wealth to charity, with the other half going to his family as inheritance.

Raval is reputed to wake up at 5.30 every day, and starts his day with prayer before proceeding with other activities Ironically, with all his successes, Raval did not make it college or university. “I did not get the chance to study in the university…but that doesn’t matter. I would like other people to study,” he said in an interview with a local station.

In his autobiography: “Guru: A Long Walk to Success”, he reveals that his “guidelines for succeeding as an industrialist are based on his experiences as a businessman and not drawn from any management textbook.

Guru published by Bloomsbury India, is based on the life and times of the steel manufacturer from his days in Gujarat, growing up in poverty, palmreading and working in the temple; the way through which he found his way to Kenya from his place of birth, India, to find his knack for business, a move that has since snowballed into his business empire in Kenya, Uganda and Congo.

Raval underscores that family is just as important as the work life. The father of three says “family is where life begins and ends.” His wife Neeta, and son Devang, daughter in-law Prakurti, daughter Tulsi and last born son Devrath, all took turns to write in his book (Guru).

Raval has received a number of accolades for his service to society and humanity, including the Order of the Elder of the Burning Spear, the highest civilian award of Kenya in 2007; and a special philanthropy award by the British government in 2012. He has equally been interviewed in many African media, Times of India among others and made it to the front page of Forbes Africa. He was also honoured by the Lions International Foundation with the Melvin Jones Fellowship, becoming the 12th person in the world to receive such recognition.

Raval’s priority is helping the needy as he donates millions for education, nutrition and health care in Kenya and other African countries.

In March, this year, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him as Egerton University’s Chancellor to replace the then outgoing Chancellor Prof Shem Oyoo Wandiga.

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MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

PERSPECTIVES >>

It's Arab Spring’s Second Chance

Demonstrations on the streets of Khartoum, Sudan.

By MICHAEL J. BOSKIN With the first debate between Democratic candidates just four months away, the 2020 US presidential campaign is off to an early start.

This election will be hugely consequential for the United States, its allies and adversaries, its trading partners, and the global economy. US policy on trade, energy, corporate taxation, debt, defence, climate change, and more is on the line.

It is far too early to predict the eventual Democratic nominee, let alone whether he or she will win the presidency in 2020. But with 12 candidates already in the race, Democrats clearly believe that President Donald Trump is extremely vulnerable (his job-approval rating currently hovers around 44%). An early take on the Democratic field is therefore in order.

Attention so far has focused on the senators: Kamala Harris (California), Cory Booker (New Jersey), Kirsten Gillibrand (New York), Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), and Bernie Sanders (Vermont).

Former Vice President Joe Biden is expected to join the race; in early polling, he runs first, and Sanders second.

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, Senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and media sensation Beto O’Rourke may also run.

The current Democratic can-

Demonstrators in Algeria and Sudan want to reduce the army's political role, and seem to have learned the lessons from a decade of stymied political transitions in the region.

The next few weeks will show whether they can wrestle enough control from the military to start building a more hopeful future. didates fall into two camps.

Those on the far left (Sanders, Warren, Harris, Booker, and Gillibrand) favour a huge expansion of government along Scandinavian democratic socialist lines. This entails higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and a governmentrun health-care system. They also support a radical restructuring of American energy under the so-called Green New Deal, which is being backed by new Democratic congresswoman Alexandria OcasioCortez, among others. The initiative calls for retrofitting every building in the US for green efficiency, rapidly phasing out fossil fuels, and replacing much air travel with a national high-speed rail system. Also included is the left’s “social justice” wish list of guaranteed jobs and vacations, and a basic income for those “unable or unwilling to work.”

By contrast, the likely centerleft candidates – Biden, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, and Brown (if they run) – favour more incremental policy proposals,

claiming that the country is willing to go only so far and can afford only so much. All will claim they can win the presidency with the support of undecided independents and moderate Republicans.

If history is any guide, candidates who are not incumbent presidents rarely waltz to their party’s nomination. Bill Clinton eventually won the 1992 Democratic nomination after recovering from potentially fatal setbacks early in his campaign. And on the Republican side, John McCain was down and almost out before roaring back to capture the 2008 nomination.

Some of the Democratic candidates for 2020 may also overcome inevitable early stumbles.

These include Warren’s controversial DNA test that disproved her Native-American heritage, Booker saying that the world can’t continue eating meat because cow flatulence emits methane, and Harris planning to eliminate employer-provided health

insurance, upon which most Americans now rely. One of these three may even record an upset and become president.

Or they may secure the nomination, fizzle on the big stage, and fade to an historical footnote, like George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and Michael Dukakis.

There is far less uncertainty among Republicans: barring a lightning strike, Trump will easily be renominated. Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld is a minor distraction, while former Ohio Governor John Kasich also is considering a challenge.

Ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz may run as an independent, enraging Democrats who fear he would siphon off votes from their candidate.

The most important factor in the 2020 election will be the state of the economy, which is currently very strong, thanks in part to Trump’s tax reforms and his rollback of stifling Obamaera regulation, although only a fraction of voters give him credit for this.

In addition, Trump can appeal to likely Republican voters by pointing to some of his other major first-term accomplishments.

These include the start of military rebuilding, the appointment of two conservative Supreme Court justices, and new (albeit risky) approaches to North Korea and China.

The challenge for Trump in 2020 will be to persuade enough voters in the middle to give him another four years, despite their discomfort with some of his behaviour. It remains to be seen whether Trump can tone down his tweeting to offend fewer potential voters and, as in his recent State of the Union address, reach for bipartisan compromise on important issues, as he recently did on major legislation to reform the criminal justice system.

Polls show that Democrats most value a candidate who can defeat Trump. Should Trump’s reelection prospects weaken, this could increase the likelihood of a far-left Demo-

cratic nominee with a radical agenda.

But if Trump’s approval ratings improve, such a nominee could spell electoral disaster for the Democrats.

If the 2020 election is close, the result will hinge on a modest number of contested states, some of which are in the Midwest and are home to workingclass voters who feel under assault from national Democrats.

The Green New Deal will not go down well with Pennsylvania’s frackers, Ohio’s coal miners, and the region’s electricity consumers. Nor will the left’s cultural agenda.

As of now, the best thing going for the Democratic contenders, absent an economic downturn, is Trump’s behaviour, whereas Trump’s best hope is the radical policy agenda of many Democratic candidates. If these trends continue, the 2020 presidential election could be as dramatic and unpredictable as the last one.

• Michael J. Boskin is Professor of Economics at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He was Chairman of George H. W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 1993, and headed the so-called Boskin Commission, a congressional advisory body that highlighted errors in official US inflation estimates.

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> PERSPECTIVES

A TRUMP VISIT TO AFRICA IMPORTANT, CARRIES SOME URGENCY

By LANDRY SIGNE Ivanka Trump recently landed in Ethiopia to promote the Trump administration’s $50 million Women’s Global Development and Prosperity initiative, funded through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The goal of the initiative is to empower 50 million women through employment and economic stability by 2025. She met with women working in textiles and coffee, and then headed to Côte d’Ivoire to meet with women working in the cocoa and coffee industries.

But although this trip and first lady Melania Trump’s visit to Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Egypt last year are positive signs for US-Africa relations, President Trump himself has yet to visit the continent.

Given its rapid growth and great potential, the African continent is set to be the site of an impending economic and political struggle between the United States and the rival powers of China and Russia. The four fundamental drivers of US foreign policy are security, power, economic prosperity, and influence (in areas such as human rights, democracy, and American values). The recently released US Africa Strategy focuses in particular on countering China’s commercial, security and political influence in Africa, although specific programmes and action plans have yet to be revealed, including the initiative “Prosper Africa.” A winning American strategy in Africa should focus on advancing mutual interests.

Despite the new US Africa Strategy, and the clear assertion of American foreign policy goals throughout the rest of the world, Trump’s administration continues to overlook obvious opportunities on the African continent and underestimates the importance of unlocking Africa’s potential for mutually beneficial relations.

Africa garnered less than 1 percent of total US foreign direct investment (FDI) and 1.2 percent of all US exports in

2017, indicating that it is one of the lowest priorities for US trade and investment. Between 2014 and 2017, US goods exports to Africa fell by almost half, from $25 billion to $14 billion. The current administration also recently cut important health programmes related to Africa, including annulling $252 million in funding for Ebola containment and prevention and removing the global health security and biodefence directorate from the National Security Council.

Sub-Saharan African countries are facing economic downturns as a result of the US-China trade war, which risks indirectly undercutting US goals of promoting African self-reliance, increasing US-Africa trade and investment, and countering Chinese influence.

Leaders of other countries, including China, Russia, and emerging countries such as Brazil, South Korea, and Turkey, are traveling to the African continent and establishing mutually beneficial partnerships centered on investment, trade, security

collaboration, and diplomatic engagement. The United States is quickly losing ground to China in particular, which increased its exports to Africa more than fivefold, to $90 billion, from 2005 to 2017, and whose exports to Africa reached a high of $150 billion in 2015.

Chinese lending in Africa has increased significantly in the past decade, totaling $116 billion from 2010 to 2017, with a pledge for an additional $60 billion in lending to be disbursed between 2018 and 2021.

Other emerging partners also are rapidly moving to fill the space left by the United States.

Africa’s trade with Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and Turkey increased by nearly 50 percent between 2010 and 2017.

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are proving to be vibrant places for investment, bilateral trade deals, and commercial business. Six of the 10 fastestgrowing economies in the world in 2018 were located in Africa and, by 2030, Africa will be home to more than 1.7 bil-

lion people with a combined consumer and business spending of about $6.7 billion. These signals of growth and the potential for high returns on investment align with the United States’ principle of economic prosperity — it is time for the US to recognise this fact and adapt its stance toward Africa.

Presidential visits, especially state visits, are one of the highest expressions of friendship and cooperation between two countries. For African countries, it is of great significance to host the presidents of great and emerging powers. China has not hesitated to pay respect and show expressions of friendship to African countries, which has contributed to the substantial increase of their investments, market shares and influence in Africa. Other leaders who have visited Africa include Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, and United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Theresa May, all in 2018, and Brazil’s former President Luiz Iná-

cio Lula to 21 African countries between 2003 and 2010. The lack of a US presidential visit suggests that Africa is on the periphery of US foreign policy.

The Trump administration has invited African leaders, including Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, to the White House instead of visiting the continent. In all, US presidents have visited only 16 of the 54 African countries; most visits were to Egypt, where the United States has strategic and security ties. Hosting official state visits at the White House implies that Washington is the epicenter of US-Africa relations and that the US president determines relational priorities. The United States is getting it wrong.

Moving forward, the Trump administration should make it a priority to accelerate the implementation of a comprehensive, mutually beneficial US-Africa strategy. The Prosper Africa initiative is a step toward increasing economic ties with African countries by investing

in the private sector to improve the business climate across the continent, but USAID and other federal programmes also must expand their focus toward subSaharan Africa and countries that have not been primary partners.

A clear statement in support of the African Continental Free Trade Area would send a strong signal to Africa that the United States understands and is open to engagement with the continent in mutually beneficial ways.

President Trump should visit Africa in 2019 and engage in regional summits and bilateral meetings. That would encourage American investors and business leaders to shift toward Africa, and ultimately bolster US interests and influence. The stakes are rising, and the United States must ensure it is not left behind.

• Landry Signé is David M. Rubenstein Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings.

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MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

FOCUS ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020 >>

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio joins race for the White House

N

ew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has entered the crowded 2020 presidential race, arguing that his record of progressive accomplishments in the country's biggest city positioned him as the perfect foil to President Donald Trump.

De Blasio, 58, launched his candidacy with the central campaign message, "Working People First," becoming the 24th Democrat seeking to take on Trump in next year's election.

In a video, de Blasio returned to the theme of income inequality that had animated his first mayoral campaign in 2013, when he emerged as a leading voice for the burgeoning left wing that has since reshaped his party.

"People in every part of this country feel stuck or even like they're going backwards," he said in the video. "But the rich got richer."

The mayor, who is barred from seeking a third four-year term in 2021, has struggled to build a national profile, eclipsed in the national consciousness by progressive US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, now his rivals for the presidency.

He will campaign this weekend in Iowa and South Carolina, which host key early nominating contests.

De Blasio emphasised a list of progressive wins under his leadership, including universal pre-kindergarten, the end of the policing practice known as stop-and-frisk and paid sick leave, all in a city that has a bigger population, more than 8 million, than most US states.

"We are the safest big city in America," he told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.

"We have the most jobs we've ever had. We have the highest graduation rates from our schools that we've ever had... these are not words, these are deeds."

He promised to stand up to Trump, a fellow New Yorker, calling him a "bully" and a "con artist."

"I'm going to keep calling him 'Con Don,' because that's what he deserves to be called," de Blasio said.

In typical fashion, Trump hit back on Twitter, calling de Blasio "the worst mayor in the US." "He is a JOKE, but if you like high taxes & crime, he's your man," Trump said in a tweet.

"NYC HATES HIM!" De Blasio is the third New York City mayor in a row to flirt with a presidential bid.

Former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who left office in 2001 and is Trump's personal lawyer and close confidant, ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008.

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg has seriously considered running several times, both as an independent and a Democrat. In March, the billionaire announced he would not seek the White House.

Most New Yorkers appear unenthusiastic about de Blasio's presidential aspirations.

A Quinnipiac University poll in April found more than three-quarters of New Yorkers did not feel he should make a White House bid.

De Blasio faces an uphill battle to stand out in a crowded field that includes former Vice President Joe Biden and a long list of experienced politicians. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 1 percent of Americans supporting de Blasio for president.

"It's not where you start, it's where you finish," he said when asked about his poll numbers.

Like Biden, de Blasio is a white heterosexual man running in a party that values diversity.

But he has consistently polled well among African-Americans in New York and he is married to a black woman, Chirlane McCray, a poet and activist who describes her sexual orientation as fluid.

His popularity took a hit after a federal investigation found the mayor made inquiries to city agencies on behalf of donors, though it cleared him of criminal wrongdoing.

De Blasio has denied any misconduct.

De Blasio has sharply criticised Trump on issues like climate change, immigration and policing. He recently held a news conference inside Trump

Tower to call on the Trump Organisation to meet newlyenacted emissions standards in their skyscrapers, or face significant fines.

The event drew insults on Twitter from Trump's two oldest sons, Eric and Donald Jr., who run the family company.

15

LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> FOCUS ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020

WHY THERE WILL BE A WOMAN ON THE US 2020 PRESIDENTIAL TICKET STORIES BY ELAINE KAMARCK So far 19 Democrats have announced, in one way or another, that they are running for the Democratic nomination for president. This is an exceptionally crowded field and one that is very hard to read. The two current front-runners, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, may

turn out to be just too old for a party that is trending young.

Some candidates in the race appear to be running to enhance their brand—the initial Trump strategy, which Democratic voters probably won’t try again. Everyone else in the race, from Congressmen to Senators to Governors are, so far, plausible vice–presidential nominees hoping to break out.

At this point, however, one thing is pretty clear. There will be a woman on the 2020 Democratic ticket. A woman may break away from the pack and win the top seat; there are several strong female candidates. But if that doesn’t happen, there will almost certainly be a woman in the vice-presidential slot. Women have led the opposition to Trump from

Election Day 2016 on—54 percent of women voted for Hillary and 53 percent of men voted for Trump. The day after he was inaugurated, thousands of women assembled in Washington and in cities around the country in protest.

Things haven’t gotten better as the Trump presidency has matured. Trump’s approval/disapproval rating among men is equal as of this spring, with 47 percent approving of the job he’s doing and 47 percent disapproving. But among women only 32 percent approve of Trump’s performance while 63 percent disapprove. Separating children from mothers at the borders may be outweighing Ivanka’s work on the child care tax credit.

Unlike other groups that

dislike Trump, unpopularity among women may be the most consequential simply because there are so many women in the electorate. Ever since 1980 women have been turning out to vote more often than men. From 1980 (when turnout for men and women was about equal) to 2000, the gap was around 2 percent. It gradually widened to 3 percent and grew to 4 percent in 2016, contributing, no doubt, to Hillary’s large popular vote victory.

Nowhere did women’s general antipathy to Trump show up more clearly than in the 2018 midterm elections. In that election women maintained their edge in turnout, voting at a 4 percent higher rate than men. But they also skewed even more Democratic

than they did in 2016, voting for Democratic candidates at a rate of 59 percent, while men skewed Republican at a rate of 51 percent. In addition, a record number of Democratic women ran for office; winning primaries more often than male candidates and eventually winning their elections. The result? With the help of many formerly Republican or independent women, the House changed hands and Nancy Pelosi became Speaker.

The goal for the Democratic nominee in 2020 will be twofold: hold onto the states that Hillary won, and expand the map just enough to get to 270. The first goal should not be too difficult—it’s hard to find a blue state in 2016 that is trending purple or red in 2020.

So the name of the game will be to flip a few states into the blue column. In 2018 suburban women were the key and in 2020 they will be key again.

But nothing about this is straightforward. Melania may emerge from her cocoon to prevent her husband from once again separating mothers and babies at the border— something he keeps wanting to do. Or Democrats may move so far left that they send swing voters scurrying back to the pro-business security of the Republican party.

Nancy Pelosi’s deft manipulation of Trump during the shutdown shows that yes, women can play in the majors and play well. One way or another there will be a woman on the Democratic ticket.

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MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

FOCUS ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020 >>

DEMOCRATIC RACE: TAKING A HARD LOOK AT ELECTABILITY

A

s the field of Democratic candidates has grown, the list of theories about how to beat Trump has grown even larger. Some people seem to want a candidate who can be as rude and mean to Trump as Trump is to just about everyone but Ivanka. Others think it’s time to throw off the cautious progressivism of recent Democratic presidents in favour of a more full-throated and radical progressivism. Still others want a grown-up or new-generation nice guy (or gal). And some think that only a woman or person of colour will fit the bill for a new generation of Democrats.

It’s impossible to tell which of the many theories that abound are right at this point in time.

One problem in trying to conduct a rational analysis is that Trump won the Electoral College

by a very small margin: 10,704 votes in Michigan, 22,748 votes in Wisconsin and 44,292 votes in Pennsylvania out of more than 136,669,237 votes cast nationally.

So a variety of small changes in the right places can make a big difference. One way to begin to understand the electability argument is to look back at what happened in 2016. In doing so, a few themes emerge. First, given how close the election was, the Democratic nominee should do no harm. Second, they should be prepared to execute a northern strategy, win back some ObamaTrump voters, increase black turnout and make the gender gap work.

First, do no harm. As my colleague Bill Galston has pointed out, the 20 states and DC (with 232 electoral votes) that went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 ap-

pear to be very likely to go for the Democratic nominee again in 2020. Hillary Clinton won 14 of those states by more than 10 points and thus they are not likely to turn from blue to red in 2020—especially given the fact that Trump, unlike all previous presidents, has rejected a basebroadening strategy. Instead, he has sought to put in place a “punish the blue states” strategy.

In the six states Clinton won by less than 10 points—Colorado, New Hampshire, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, and Virginia—Trump’s approval rating has declined badly during his presidency. So the first test of electability is to find a Democrat who is acceptable to a broad swath of the party and therefore likely to hold the states Hillary won.

The northern strategy. To pick up the states needed to get to

270, the Democrat in 2020 can pick a northern strategy by trying to win Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. The alternative would be a southern strategy that targets some combination of Florida, Georgia, Texas and Arizona—states that might be trending blue but that aren’t there yet—to add the necessary additional 38 electoral votes.

Galston and I agree that the northern strategy is the safest route, especially given the outcome of the 2018 elections. In this case, the electability argument favours a mid-westerner like Senator Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), and it’s the reason many Democrats were disappointed that Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio declined to enter the race.

Win over the Obama-Trump voters. Yes, they exist. Strange as it might seem, there are voters who voted for Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2016. The counties where the vote flipped from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016 include eleven in Michigan alone and more than 20 counties in Wisconsin; given the small margins by which Trump won those states, some shift back to the Democrats should be enough to take them. Pennsylvania, the third state of the northern strategy discussed above, only has three counties that flipped: Luzerne, Northampton and Erie. Putting Pennsylvania back in the Democratic column argues for former Vice President Joe Biden, who has always boasted of his working-class roots in Pennsylvania and his ability to bring those voters back home to the Democrats.

But Biden isn’t the only one who thinks he can win back some of these voters. Bernie Sanders has argued that he can – going so far as to appear on Fox News to reach them.

In a CNN Town Hall interview, Sanders argued that his agenda “is a message that will resonate in many of the states that Trump

won.” In addition to Sanders, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Kristin Gillibrand (New York) have touted their successes winning rural red counties in their own states.

Bring Back the Obama Coalition. A third argument for electability is to look for someone who can increase AfricanAmerican turnout to 2012 levels.

As political scientists John Sides, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavreck point out in their book on the 2016 election, African-American turnout dropped five percent nationally and even more in swing states. Decreases of over 12 percent in Michigan and Wisconsin were especially devastating to Hillary Clinton.

No one can quite put their finger on the reasons for this drop.

Clinton herself blames stricter voting laws. I have argued, along with others, that digital voter suppression techniques aimed at African American voters and pushed by the Russian Internet Research Agency may have contributed to critical drops in the black vote. Others counter that it was unrealistic to expect high black turnout for a white candidate regardless of how sympathetic he or she might be to the black community. This argument leads one towards the candidates of colour in the race—Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.

Win some more white men.

To the surprise of many, the fact that Hillary Clinton was the first woman to run for president as the nominee of a major political party did not result in an advantage sufficient to win. In the exit polls in 2012, Obama also did better among women by 11 points, and Romney did better among men—but by only 7 points. In 2016 Hillary did better among women by 13 points, but Trump did better among men by 11 points and among white men Trump’s advantage was even bigger. This is a tough one to explain but Sides et al use a composite measure that they call “Mod-

ern sexism” to characterise the voters in 2012 and 2016. They conclude: “Although Clinton appeared to do somewhat better than Obama among white men who scored low in modern sexism, white men with higher scores were more likely to vote for Trump than they had been to vote for Romney… In the exit poll Clinton lost white men by a whopping 31 points—a wider margin than any candidate since Walter Mondale lost fortynine states to Ronald Reagan in 1984.”

Thus, for the many well-qualified women running in the 2020 Democratic primaries, the electability question boils down to a straightforward challenge: can you hold onto (or increase) the women’s vote without creating a nearly equal or greater backlash among men? So far in Trump’s presidency, women remain far more critical of his performance in office than men. In fact, Pew Research finds that the gender gap in presidential approval ratings under Trump is larger than for any recent president. While men are evenly split (47 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving) on how Trump is handling his job, among women 32 percent approve while 63 percent disapprove. If these numbers were to translate into votes it could provide a significant advantage to the democratic nominee.

All of this is a tall order but not an impossible one. Any nominee will need to hold onto what Hillary won. In addition they will need to do one or two of the following: add a few key states, woo back some Trump voters in key places, increase African-American turnout and attract enough white men to narrow the Democrats’ gender gap. Ready, set, go!

• Elaine Kamarck in the Founding Director - Center for Effective Public Management and Senior Fellow - Governance Studies at Brookings.

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> OPINION

Five Priorities for World Bank's New Leader

By MASOOD AHMED Despite critical commentary about his professional credentials and commitment to the multilateral system, David Malpass was elected unopposed as the next president of the World Bank. Complaints about the outdated gentlemen’s agreement that led to this appointment will soon be overshadowed by Malpass’ initial signals on where he wants to lead this still globally important development institution.

During his campaign, Malpass said some of the right things but was silent on other priorities for the World Bank.

To win the support of all his 189 members, Malpass must now unambiguously endorse the bank’s role in helping the world meet five challenges.

First, he must prioritise support for Africa’s development and integration into the world economy. The central development challenge for the next two decades is to help Africa deal with its demographic, environmental, and developmental challenges.

The success or failure of this endeavour will determine the future of the 2.5 billion people who will inhabit the continent by 2050 — with major spillovers for every other region.

The World Bank is already the largest multilateral financier of Africa’s development, but it can play an even stronger role to facilitate a more coherent approach by Africa’s other large development partners — including the European Union and China.

Second, he must help middle-income countries make the right development choices. Emerging markets and middle-income countries will increasingly drive global growth. Their new infrastructure’s sustainability will define how livable our planet will be for the next century.

Their economic success will provide expanded markets

for global exports and jobs around the globe. And they are home to women, minorities, and other vulnerable groups who struggle with basic numeracy and literacy, lack human security, and live in fear of slipping back into absolute poverty. It would be a missed opportunity of historic proportions for the World Bank to watch these developments from the sidelines.

Third, he must target the people affected by fragility, conflict, and violence. Two billion people live in countries where their daily lives and development prospects are blighted by fragility, conflict, and violence. While the development community has an important role in addressing this challenge, it can only do so by working with the United Nations and other security, humanitarian, and diplomatic partners and by being willing to change some of its own operational practices and procedures. Jim Kim — Malpass’ immediate predecessor — helpfully pushed the bank further into these spaces and Malpass would do well to confirm the institution’s continued focus on this agenda.

Fourth, Malpass must look beyond borders. Whether it is preparing for the next pandemic, dealing with climate change, managing the everincreasing flow of displaced people, establishing an international tax regime that limits avoidance through tax havens, or coping with the regulatory and ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence and other technological advances, action will need to be coordinated across countries and regions.

The bank has progressively become a major player in a number of these areas, but it still does this as a grudging add-on to its main business, which continues to be organised around country-by-country lending. Malpass has the opportunity to focus on issues that go beyond borders and to make this a core part of the bank’s regular operations.

Finally, he must make sure that the bank is an active player in the debate on development

best practice for the 21st century. Malpass takes over the bank at a time when much of what was taken as “good practice” in development cooperation is being questioned.

Many developing countries are looking to China not only for long-term funding but also as the model for shaping their own economic development strategy. No doubt, there is much to learn from China’s extraordinary journey over the past 50 years, and the World Bank, as a global organisation, should provide the home for discussing which of those lessons can be usefully emulated by others.

Similarly, the bank should reach out to work with regional banks and to the private sector which has both expertise and funding to bring to the development agenda.

Being World Bank president isn’t an easy job, especially at a time when the country that appointed you has signaled its intentions to pull away from multilateralism and

articulated its view that the World Bank is an instrument in a broader stand-off with China.

To overcome this unfortunate context as well as his own history with the bank, Malpass must clearly demonstrate that he understands the bank as a zone of mutual interest, where — with the earned trust of its shareholders — he can advance a global agenda that will benefit all.

• Masood Ahmed is president of the Center for Global Development and previously spent two decades driving economic development policy initiatives relating to debt, aid effectiveness, trade, and global economic prospects at the World Bank.

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MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

PEOPLE >>

Breaking through the glass ceiling: The woman looking after the health of a billion Africans

F

our years ago, Dr Matshidiso Moeti smashed the glass ceiling when she became the first woman to lead the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa.

Her appointment as the continent's most senior public health official hit the headlines – and not just because of the then 60-year-old’s gender.

At the time, the West African Ebola outbreak was in full swing, and so too was criticism of WHO Africa’s response. A slow reaction to the epidemic – which went on to kill more than 11,000 people – was seen as characteristic of an inefficient organisation which had an overly cosy relationship with politicians.

But Dr Moeti, a well-respected public health veteran with experience in three UN agencies, was heralded as a competent leader capable of overhauling the office.

Her appointment was welcomed with optimism.

Four years later, as she sits down for interview at the Africa Health Forum in Cape Verde, the warm, thoughtful leader is clearly proud of the reforms she has instigated.

“One of the big successes that I personally feel I’ve had is to stop hearing complaints about the African region when I sit in the executive board in Geneva,” she says. “It’s a silly detail, but I think it’s very much linked to the management improvement.”

And Dr Moeti says the organisation has learned from the chaotic initial response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak. At the time, the team working on outbreaks and public health emergencies was tiny - “probably not even eight people”. A number that seems tiny compared to Africa's 1.2 billion population.

Since then, WHO Africa has hired some 80 additional experts and established two sub-regional offices outside the organisation’s headquarters in Brazzaville, Congo.

“I’ve observed a sea-change in the effectiveness of the work that we are doing. We manage over 100 public health events a year, and through the reform of our programme… we’ve been able to close off and stop most of the outbreaks in a shorter time than was happening in the past,” she adds.

But there are concerns that the current Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, which is now entering its ninth month, is escalating.

As of recently, there have been 1,264 cases, including 814 deaths - with more than 230 of these infections reported within the last three weeks.

Community mistrust remains high, but Dr Moeti says that local people must be at the centre of efforts to control the disease.

“One of the biggest lessons that we learned in West Africa, which is very important for the ongoing outbreak, is to engage with people. Really engage with communities and link them up with those who are responding.”

But responding to outbreaks is a small part of the WHO’s work and Dr Moeti is focused on the biggest challenge facing the continent: achieving universal healthcare coverage, a key element of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

That challenge was the theme of this year’s Africa Health Forum - an event Dr Moeti’s office created two years ago to bring together health ministers and experts from across the continent.

The key message the director wanted them to take home is the economic argument for investing in healthcare - each year, Africa loses $2.4 trillion in GDP due to disease.

But in terms of reaching universal healthcare coverage, Dr Moeti avoids asserting that the aim will be fully realised across the continent by 2030, as set out in the SDGs. Instead she highlights a political shift which has put health at the centre of the development agenda.

“I am quite confident that we will start to see a move towards universal health coverage, and I think some countries will achieve it,” she says.

Dr Moeti is a passionate advocate for public health, but her ascent to the top of her field was not the career she imagined as a young doctor working in her home country, Botswana.

“Public health, it was definitely a second option,” she says. “I worked a lot with children, and I loved it. I wanted to train to be a paediatrician.”

Her hopes were grounded by reality - a reality similar to that women across the world face when balancing motherhood and work. Botswana at the time did not have a medical school, so Dr Moeti faced moving away for four years to train. With a young daughter, this did not seem feasible.

“So I trained in public health, because I already had an interest in it. I’d worked in a district in Botswana and both my parents worked in public health, so it was natural.

"But it was not what I had meant to do with my career in the future, and that was directly to do with the fact that I was a mother and had a small child.”

That’s not to say the path she chose was devoid of sacrifices.

Dr Moeti continues to struggle to navigate the work-life balance “my daughters are grown up now, but I’m reduced to WhatsApp messaging and a weekly phone call” - and fears similar challenges limit women rising through the ranks.

According to a recent Lancet study, 75 to 80 per cent of health workers are women worldwide, yet only a handful hold health leadership positions.

“The work-life balance shouldn’t be a personal struggle for individual women” says Dr Moeti. “There are qualified women out there who do not apply for positions, I’m quite confident there are, we just have to find them and encourage them.”

“But we also need to make it easier for women to take up these positions and to operate within a system once they’re employed,” she adds. “It’s something I am strongly working on.”

• This article was first published in ‘The Telegraph.’

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> SPECIAL REPORT

How Kagame is transforming Rwanda into an African powerhouse

By Denise A. O. Kodhe

R

wanda recently marked the 25th year anniversary of genocide in which it lost more than 800,000 of its citizens. About 70% of the Tutsi population was wiped out during the ethnic war. According to national census conducted in 1991, Rwanda’s population was 7.7 million of which 90% were Hutus, 95% Tutsi and 15% Twa. Last year Rwanda’s population increased to 12,501.156.

Despite the devastating ethnic cleansing by the majority Hutus against the minority Tutsi in 1994, Rwanda today has become one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. Its GDP per capita is now 776.39 US Dollars, with an inflation rate of 1.1 percent as at March 2019.

Unlike other leaders who might have resorted to revenge, President Paul Kagame embarked on reconciling and transforming the nation both economically and politically. Kagame’s first task after taking over the country’s leadership was to promote national unity by urging both Hutus and Tutsis to play an active role in rebuilding the nation.

Under his visionary leadership, charisma and iron-fist type of administration, President Kagame has managed not only to create sanity and unity in the country, but also to develop a sense of hope and order for the people of Rwanda. He has established a working governance structure where leadership is transparent, accountable and responsible. He has embarked on both short and long-term policies aimed at developing a strong sustainable economy for the country instead of relying on foreign aid.

Regis Miriteri an orphan of 1994 ethnic cleansing contends that Kagame should be given another ten years in power to enable him realise his agenda for the country. “What we are witnessing today is just a small fraction of the great plans President Kagame has for this country,” he observed. Regis became an orphan when he was hardly nine years old. All his parents and relatives were wiped out during the genocide.

He says Kagame is a man with a vision and is more interested in seeing Rwanda develop. He dismisses claims that Kagame is a dictator who is out to cling onto power.

Although Kagame has done extremely well in developing

President Paul Kagame.

Rwanda, his critics claim he is a dictator practicing favoritism in his administration; and also that he does not believe in democracy and has a bad human rights record.

Streets of Kigali, the capital city, are not only one of the cleanest in the continent but also the safest. Whether a local or foreigner, it is safe to walk along the streets of Kigali during the day or night without worrying about security.

Social places are equally secure and fully packed during weekends.

It appears Kigali is much cleaner and safer than many big cities

in European cities.

Driving around the city and other towns like Gisenyi, one is left imagining how the situation would be like when Kagame is out of power. So far, the future is promising and he seems to be on the right track with his development agenda.

An ethnic Tutsi born in 1957, the young Kagame fled his country to Uganda with his family in 1959 when the majority Hutus overthrew the Tutsi monarchy.

While in Uganda, Kagame joined the Uganda army, before moving to the United States in 1990 for further studies. He later joined

the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) which was a rebel group against the regime of the then President Juvenal Habrayarimana.

The situation got worse in April 1994 when Habrayamana was killed when his plane was hit by a missile on the outskirts of Kigali, sparking the ethnic cleansing as Hutus blamed Habrayarimana’s death on the Tutsis. Since the US, UN and other international forces failed to intervene to stop the ethnic cleansing, Kagame who was by then operating in Uganda mobilised his rebel forces that had crossed the border into Uganda to stop the killings and the war

altogether. Since then Kagame has remained steadfast and forecast on creating stability and unity in Rwanda and also in building a strong sustainable economy.

To achieve his goals, Kagame set out a three-factor approach: Free market Enterprise, Cultural Revolution and Targeted Social Welfare programmes.

Under Free market enterprise, he focuses on the private sector which is the primary driver of the economy and infrastructure development. Under Cultural Revolution, Kagame and his government have embarked on the eradication of corruption and

tribalism by adopting very strong anti-corruption stance and also ensuring Rwandans are classified as one, without ethnic references.

In 2008, the national language was changed from French to English basically to promote business and trade and also to attract direct foreign investments.

It is interesting to note that Rwanda has the highest number of female representatives in its parliament today. Compared to UK’s 32 and US’ 19%, 56% of Rwanda’s representatives in Parliament are women.

The government of Rwanda has set out very attractive policies to attract both direct and foreign investments including the establishment of strategic economic zones across the country where manufacturers can put up large plants and factories. Vision 2020 is the country’s dream to enhance and promote globally recognised education system.

The government of Rwanda is also enhancing and promoting large informal sector investments in markets and hospitality industry through global tourist destination initiative. Targeted Social Welfare programmes are public sector-driven and focus more on empowering the poor and improvement of day-to-day lives of the people with an aim of eradicating poverty.

Focus is now on Kagame on the future of East African Community (EAC) after he took over its leadership from Uganda’s president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni late last year.

The future of the regional body is not certain as it is facing various challenges among them suspicion among leaders of the member states themselves.

Currently Kagame is said not to be in good terms with Museveni over bilateral issues. On the other hand, other EAC member States like Burundi, South Sudan and Tanzania seems to have some disquiet and reservations on some of the resolutions made during regional body Heads Summit meetings.

Many observers believe that Kagame has ability to transform EAC the way he has done with his own country.

According to most Rwandans, Kagame is a simple leader who is always available to his people. He is not special and always sees himself as the servant of the people.”

It is not unusual in Kigali to meet President Kagame driving himself or jogging around with ordinary residents without security,” observed a taxi driver based at the famous Mille Collins Hotel in Kigali.

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YOUTH & GENDER >>

NEPAD rewards African Youth Champions for #TheAfricaWeWant

D

uring an advocacy ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa, the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD gave awards to five distinguished African Youth Champions for their contribution to Africa’s progress towards the goals of Agenda 2063. On this occasion, five young Africans who won ‘#TheAfricaWeWant Youth Essay Contest’ were also announced.

Much discussion and interaction between AUDA-NEPAD, African media, development partners and communication stakeholders has brought out the need to collaborate on advocacy and awareness of Agenda 2063 through #TheAfricaWeWant campaign.

To this end, several initiatives have been embarked on by the AUDA-NEPAD Communications team, including the launch of the Agenda 2063 Media Network in April 2018; the identification of young ‘champions’ who represent the ethos of #TheAfricaWeWant to create awareness of Agenda 2063 in their respective spheres of influence; as well as the Youth Essay Contest held in the first quarter of this year, in order to step up momentum with regards to coverage and awareness of the continent’s for transformation.

On this special occasion, winners of the essay contest on #TheAfricaWeWant were awarded with prizes sponsored by the

AUDA-NEPAD and Old Mutual South Africa. In first place was David Nyabenda from Burundi and the second prize winner was Mwanje Charles from Uganda.

The third prize went to Fanto Foday from Sierra Leone, who was followed in fourth place by Bakani Mark Ncube from Zimbabwe. The fifth prize went to

Grace Nakomolwa from Tanzania.

The winners were chosen by a panel of six judges, headed by the AUDA-NEPAD Goodwill Ambassador for TB and Nutrition, Yvonne Chaka Chaka. The winning essays were selected based on innovative ideas, creativity, originality and applicabil-

ity of proposed solutions to the continent’s challenges.

Five youth champions were also recognised for their entrepreneurial actions, resilience and activities. They are: • Angele Messa, an awardwinning Education Technology Entrepreneur and founder of Kamer Big Bang (EduClick).

Kamer Big Bang specialises in alternative education solutions for those who cannot access formal learning.

• Silas Adekunle, a technology entrepreneur known for creating the world's first intelligent gaming robot. At the age of 26, Silas is part of Forbes’ latest 30 Under 30 list for European Technology.

• Mogau Seshoene, founder of The Lazy Makoti, a business she started after leaving the corporate world to focus on her love for food. She not only offers cooking lessons, but aims to preserve South African cuisine and its heritage.

• Ndeu Stefan Naukushu, CEO of Africa Productivity Specialists, an operations and productivity improvement company that harnesses tech of the 4IR. He implements solutions that use enabling tech of AI, big data, blockchain and mobile apps.

• Edzai Conilias Zvobwo, Edzai Conilias Zvobwo, founder of the MathsGenius Leadership Institute believes that Africa has the capacity to solve its issues given the rich philosophical and cultural diversity on the continent. He is convinced that Africa's people need to be trained to become prolific problem solvers and that subjects like mathematics and coding can be used as vehicles to achieve social and economic upliftment of Africans.

At the ceremony, AUDA-NEPAD’s CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, declared: "The Youth Champions are crucial in making #TheAfricaWeWant a reality. Promoting youth entrepreneurship is key for economic growth and inclusive societies, being mindful that the majority of youths live in rural areas. Agenda 2063 is a way of achieving inclusive growth, by allowing us to get closer to the citizens of Africa."

Biha: Women can change face of Africa with access to finance

A

ccess to finance by women in Africa is critical if the continent is to attain the sustainable development goals, Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) Deputy Executive Secretary, Giovanie Biha said.

Speaking at an event to discuss the African Women Leadership Fund (AWLF) in Marrakesh, Morocco, ahead of the fifth Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD), Ms Biha said adopting the right actions to integrate gender in Africa’s economies will result in financial inclusion, guarantee women’s economic empowerment and achievement of the SDGs, thereby helping change the face of the continent.

According to the ECA’s Wom-

en’s Report (2013), failure to integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment into national economies has cost African countries a combined $95 billion in lost productivity annually.

“This is an indicator that financial exclusion of women is not an option for our continent,” said Ms Biha, adding the African Women Leadership Fund was an impact fund that aims to strengthen economic empowerment of women and accelerate the emergence of African women fund managers who in turn will invest in and develop African women-led businesses and micro-businesses.

Over the next decade the fund is envisaged to have made an investment of up to $500 million in African owned and women-

led companies.

The fund is anchored on six pillars; • Providing African women entrepreneurs access to sustainable capital.

• Providing African cooperatives access to sustainable capital.

• Lowering barriers to entry for capable women asset managers focused on investing in women-owned and women-led companies.

• Providing technical assistance to accelerate the fund management learning curve and supporting growth and expansion.

• Providing seed capital to develop a track record and accelerate fundraising and scale.

• Focus on sustainability and

scalability of the platform.

The ECA is supporting the operationalisation of the innovative fund, a brainchild of the United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina J. Mohammed, African Union Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat and the AWLN. Speaker after speaker praised the formation for the fund saying it will address the fundamental gap in the access of women to finance architecture.

Djibouti’s Women and Family Affairs Minister, Moumina Houmed, said the story of women and finance was similar to that of every other African country. She shared efforts being undertaken by her country, including capacity building of associations and cooperatives; partnerships with the private

sector to train women entrepreneurs and getting banks to give women more access to finance.

“We know that even in family-owned businesses women have a much lower share. We have very few women entrepreneurs on the continent because of the hurdle of access to finance. As such, the fund seeks to lower these hurdles faced by women-owned businesses, promote investments in micro enterprises and take women’s cooperatives to the next level,” said Nabila Freidji, a Moroccan entrepreneur and member of the AWLF committee.

Thoko Ruzvidzo, ECA’s Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division Director, spoke about the AWLF and what it is expected to achieve. “Failure is not an option,” she said, adding

women’s financial inclusion in African economies was a must.

She said funds will be earmarked for each of the five regions of North Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa with a strategy being established for each region to address unique elements of the markets, or to reflect priorities for each region.

Priority would be given to women-led businesses. At least 65 percent of capital will be invested in women-led companies.

Ms Leila Rhiwi, a representative of UN Women in Morocco, emphasized the importance of women accessing finance to bolster their businesses saying they have already proven themselves as entrepreneurs and drivers of the economy.

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>> CLIMATE CHANGE & BLUE ECONOMY UN, AU to join forces for development and climate change financing

U

N SecretaryGeneral António Guterres has called for a “quantum leap” in funding for development and climate change for Africa, speaking to journalists, following the plenary meeting of the latest United Nations-African Union (AU) Conference, which took place in New York.

Mr Guterres declared that the Organisation’s work to promote peace and security, human rights, development and climate action, can only progress in Africa if the UN works hand in hand with the AU.

The UN chief emphasised the “alignment” between the UN’s and African Union’s respective plans to ramp up inclusive and environmentally responsible economic development: the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

The common battle they face, he continued, is to secure the necessary financing for development, particularly for Africa.

Mr Guterres said that development there is a “fundamental precondition” for a more peaceful world, and for well-managed migration, and, therefore, that improved funding is “in the

interests of the whole international community.”

With regard to climate change, the Secretary-General warned that more ambition is needed, because “we are not winning the battle,” and Africa is disproportionately affected: “the African continent practically does not contribute to climate change, but the African continent is one of the areas of the world where the impact of climate change is more dramatic and devastating.”

A joint communiqué released by the UN and African Union welcomed the “strong cooperation and collaboration between

the two organisations”, and committed to continue to work closely together in addressing peace and security issues, and achieving sustainable development issues in Africa.

The communiqué described the UN Climate Action Summit, which will take place in September, as “critical to mobilise the needed partnerships, resources” necessary to achieve international climate action goals, and noted the agreement of the leaders of both organisations to further strengthen their cooperation on adaptation for climate change ahead of the Summit and beyond.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Africa Blue Economy Forum 2019 challenge to African businesses

A

frica Blue Economy Forum (ABEF) is set for Tunis on June 25-26, 2019; and aims to raise awareness of the economic, social and environmental benefits of the Blue Economy.

African businesses are being challenged to wake up to the economic, social and environmental power of the Blue Economy. Momentum is gathering for companies based in Africa’s coastal nations to fully recognise and understand the benefits of backing a Blue Economy, which covers a wide range of productive sectors that are crucial for the continent’s sustainable development, including fisheries, aquaculture, transport, energy, trade and tourism as well as extractive industries.

Research indicates that the Blue Economy has the potential to be a major source of wealth and prosperity for the continent and help advance the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

Businesses interested in learning how they can be part of the rising tide involved in the Blue Economy are invited to attend the second Africa Blue Economy Forum (ABEF) in Tunisia.

This year’s ABEF2019 builds on the inaugural event in London last year which explored what the Blue Economy was.

This year’s forum aims to take it a stage further and explore how business and government can implement actions that will proactively boost the economic, social and environmental welfare of the continent.

The importance of a cohesive strategy that will protect and utilise Africa’s coastal waters cannot be overstated: • 70 per cent of Africa’s nations are coastal • 90 per cent of the continent’s imports and exports are done via sea transportation • Africa’s maritime industry is estimated to be worth US$1 trillion per year • The asset value of ocean economy eco-systems is valued at US$24 trillion • Plastic pollution costs $13 billion per year due to damage caused to marine ecosystems ABEF2019 will deliver a strong focus on business and government collaboration, highlight investment opportunities and reveal environmental and social impact. Discussions will explore the opportunities and innovations in emerging and frontier sectors of the blue economy and how they can help accelerate Africa’s transformation, create jobs, sustain livelihoods and communities and offer low cost but impactful climate change measures.

Government ministers and officials from Gabon, Ghana, Morocco, Somaliland, Tunisia

and Seychelles already confirmed speakers whilst more official delegations from other African countries are also expected to be present.

They will be joined on the platform by business leaders, international investors, ocean innovators and environmental

organisations from across the globe, who will share the importance of the Blue Economy in advancing Africa’s development agenda.

Leila Ben Hassen, organiser and founder of ABEF2019, said: “There needs to be more awareness of the Blue Economy

and a realisation of how important it is to the future of Africa.

Governments are beginning to understand this and beginning to implement policies but it still needs the private sector to grasp this and to look at how they can work in partnership with governments and other

organisations to make this succeed. Collaboration is necessary to make this work and deliver huge benefits for the continent enabling it meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. ABEF2019 will begin to lay the foundations for this collaboration process.”

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MEDIA >>

Under PM Abiy, Ethiopia's media have more freedom but challenges remain

By Muthoki Mumo

D

uring a trip to Addis Ababa in January, it was impossible to miss the signs that Ethiopian media are enjoying unprecedented freedom.

A flurry of new publications were on the streets. At a public forum that CPJ attended, journalists spoke about positive reforms, but also openly criticised their lack of access to the government. At a press conference, journalists from state media and the Oromia Media Network, an outlet previously banned and accused of terrorism, sat side by side.

Mesud Gebeyehu, a lawyer who heads the Consortium of Ethiopian Rights Organisations, an alliance of human rights groups, told CPJ he had been on television "many times" in the past year to speak about human rights, an issue that was previously taboo for the media.

Ethiopia, which was one of the most-censored countries in the world and one of the worst jailers of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, has gone through dramatic reforms under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who took office last April. In 2018--for the first time in 14 years--CPJ recorded no journalists behind bars in its annual census. And the country ended its block of over 260 websites and ban on media outlets forced to work in exile.

"I was fighting for [press freedom], but I did not expect it to happen in such a short time," said Abel Wabella, a journalist who was detained and charged with terrorism under the previous government.

In May, Ethiopia will host UNESCO's annual World Press

Freedom Day: a reflection, UNESCO said, of the country's commitment to democratic and media reforms.

Though the Ethiopian press is much freer today than before Abiy took power, CPJ spoke to over a dozen journalists and rights defenders who said that challenges remain, including the risk of attack and arrest, especially in restive regions; attracting advertisers in a market where businesses are wary of being seen to support critical publications; accusations of sowing divisiveness; and a proposed law that could curtail their newly found freedoms.

CPJ also attempted to reach the government for comment on conditions for the press.

The Prime Minister's press secretary, Billene Seyoum, acknowledged receipt but did not respond to CPJ's emailed questions sent on April 24.

Perhaps most fundamentally, journalists told CPJ they are anxious for the freedoms they are enjoying to be rooted in law, rather than guaranteed only by the good will of the Abiy government.

The reforms "are not legally nor institutionally guaranteed until now. They are so because the leaders on top are willing, but neither their willingness nor their hold on power is permanent," Befekadu Hailu, a journalist and social activist who edits the Addis Maleda weekly, told CPJ. A council established under the attorney general's office is reviewing a raft of laws including those previously used to restrict the press, such as the anti-terror proclamation and the mass media law, according to media reports.

Most of the journalists with whom CPJ spoke with said they were happy with the reform process, which included public consultations. Befekadu said he believes those involved are "independent." Jawar Mohammed, executive director of the Oromia Media Network, said that those involved could move faster and communicate more frequently and clearly with the public.

However, a proposed law on hate speech is splitting opin-

ion.

The government last year said it would draft the law in response to concern abouttoxic rhetoric online that some say amounts to incitement to violence or has the potential to exacerbate divisions, largely along ethnic lines, according to reports. The government has previously responded to tension by cutting off access to the internet. CPJ documented two such shutdowns under Abiy's government, during unrest in Addis Ababa in September and in the Somali region during a crisis in August.

Yared Hailemariam, the executive director of the Swissbased Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, told CPJ said that the media stand accused of "aggravating" tension.

"It is a reflection of the political situation in the country, tension is high," he said.

Most of those who spoke with CPJ said they felt there was a need for Ethiopian media to grow into "professionalism" and to act more "ethically" and "responsibly" within the newly opened space. But even so, some, like Befekadu, said they feared the hate speech law could have a "chilling effect on freedom of expression."

"They want to give the government more power to regulate speech. Given the divisiveness in the country, it is understandable. But we need to be careful... we should not allow government to pass legislation which gives them reason to take down content they don't like," said Endalk Chala, assistant professor at Hamline University in Minnesota, who has studied Ethiopian media.

A copy of the draft law, viewed by CPJ, includes criminal penalties for hate speech and publishing "false news."

The privately owned Addis Fortune warned in an April 13 article that the draft law would not be a "golden bullet ... to contain hate speech" and raised concerns that it harks back to laws Ethiopia previously used to suppress critical speech.

Eskinder Nega, who launched the weekly Ethiopis last year, months after he was

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

freed from almost seven years in prison, said that ideas ought to be allowed to flourish, hate will be "filtered out". Jawar said it was "dangerous" to invite government regulation of speech, suggesting instead a peer regulatory mechanism for the media.

Jawar and Eskinder are among the prominent media personalities whose work has been criticized for inflaming tensions, according to media reports.

Both strongly refuted these views. Jawar said that a strong political and advocacy position was being conflated with divisive speech.

Eskinder said that while he has strong opinions, he has never advocated for violence.

In a follow up email exchange on April 26, Eskinder told CPJ that the allegations of divisiveness were part of a "manufactured debate" and based on a misinterpretation of his work.

For the new papers that have mushroomed in Addis Ababa, financial concerns are urgent.

Abel can attest to that-- he established the weekly Addis Zeybe in October, only for the paper to go out of print after four editions following financial pressures and distribution

challenges.

Abel told CPJ that publications have a hard time attracting advertisers, whom he said can be shy of being associated with critical publications. This was a sentiment echoed by Jawar, who recently established a magazine, Gulale Post.

"Businesses are cautious.

This is a popular government so they don't want to be seen as being anti-government," said Eskinder.

The government has also not been very open to the media, with Abiy hosting only a couple of press conferences with local journalists since he came to power, according to media reports and two of the journalists with whom CPJ spoke.

Journalists in Ethiopia also still face the risk of attack. CPJ has documented how mobs attacked a crew from the staterun Dire Dawa Mass Media Agency, in Meiso, in the Oromia region in July, in an incident that killed their driver, and how two journalists with the privately owned Mereja TV were briefly detained by police in Legetafo, in the same region, and assaulted by a mob upon their release in March .

The regional government made initial promises to in-

vestigate, but Mereja TV chief executive Elias Kifle told CPJ in April that authorities had not investigated the crime.

Oromia government spokesperson Admasu Damtew did not answer CPJ's phone calls or text messages on April 24 and April 27.

"They [have fulfilled] their obligation of respecting human rights, but the Abiy administration also has to protect people, to protect journalists, to protect human rights organizations from being attacked," Yared, from the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, told CPJ. The Economist reported last month that reform under Abiy "is not the first blossoming of free media," pointing to how liberalization in the 1990s was followed by crackdowns in the 2000s.

When CPJ asked Befekadu if he thought this current era of freedom would last he said, "I cannot say yes or no.

But there is equal chance for the change to regress as it can progress. It needs collective effort of the media, civil society, and government to save it from falling into the vicious cycle." • The writer is CPJ’s Sub-Saharan Africa representative.

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>> MEDIA

World Press Freedom Day Marked The theme for 2019 was “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation”

W

orld Press Freedom Day is celebrated around the world on May 3, and this year the main celebration took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia over three days.

The theme for 2019 was “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation” and the event provided a platform for officials, representatives of civil society, media organisations, professional associations, academia and the judiciary to discuss current issues, threats and achievements, on the freedom of the press.

The occasion saw the attendance of thousands of journalists from across the world, NGO representatives and officials from government and regional and international organisations.

There were a wide range of plenary sessions, debates, talks and other opportunities to address different aspects of the theme as well as an academic conference on the safety of journalists and the dangers they face and a Youth Newsroom for young journalists

and journalism students to cover events and extend their reporting skills.

It was aptly for Ethiopia to host the occasion this year as it has demonstrated the largest improvement in the treatment of journalists over the last year.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed laid out a new approach to the media in his acceptance speech after his election a year ago: “We need to respect all human and democratic rights, especially of those of freedom of expression,” and followed this up in a spectacular manner to provide for freedom of the press, releasing a wide range of political prisoners, including both journalists and social media activists and bloggers.

Within a couple of months, 264 websites had been unblocked and two externally based opposition TV stations set up inside Ethiopia. Working groups are revising the main laws covering media activity, and the changes have allowed a free press to flourish again in Ethiopia.

Ms Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, noting the changes, said she hoped Ethiopia would be

ranked in the top 20 for press freedom next year; African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson Thomas Kwesi Quartey praised Ethiopia for notable achievements in reforming aspects of government functions, referring to a year “of remarkable reform.”

In his address at the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize dinner, Prime Minister Abiy said: “We acknowledge with great honour Ethiopia’s selection to host World Press Freedom Day,” adding that as Ethiopia strives to introduce comprehensive legal and institutional reforms, it was reassuring to note that “our measure so far to effectively realise the right to freedom of expression and the press, are duly recognised by the international community.” He added that the symbolism of such a grand gesture was even more significant, given that only a year ago, Ethiopia was labeled as Africa’s foremost jailer of journalists and one of the worst environments in the world for the functioning of independent media.

Prime Minister Abiy underlined that his government had no misconception that a free, independent and responsible media, augmented by the workings of citizen journalism, is an imperative prerequisite for building a viable democratic political order. However, the Prime Minister underscored,

“It is also important to highlight that freedoms come with responsibilities. Media establishments and citizen journalists need to seize this current enabling environment and use their voice and pen with ethical considerations. We need to ensure that the opening up of the media space does not facilitate misinformation, the spread of hate speech and fake news.”

The theme this year,“Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation” also relates to the media’s potential in supporting

peace and reconciliation processes, a subject of particular relevance to Ethiopia today, and for the elections due next year.

To quote UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “no democracy is complete without access to transparent and reliable information.” The theme is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG 16, for example, concerns issues of peace and democracy as preconditions for equitable and sustainable development: “When freedom of expression

and safety of journalists are protected, the media can play a vital role in preventing conflict and in supporting peaceful democratic processes.” It also urges states to “ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.” This year’s UNESCO/ Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was awarded to jailed Myanmar Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone by Ethiopian and African Union officials.

LOOK OUT FOR OPPORTUNITIES IN JOURNALISM IN THIS COLUMN

Competition recognises war correspondents [Worldwide]

War correspondents worldwide can enter the competition.

The Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents, sponsored by the Calvados General Council, the town of Bayeux, France, and others, honours coverage of conflict situations or news events relating to the fight for freedom and democracy.

Categories include young reporters, long and short-form

TV, radio, print, online and photojournalism. Entries must have been published or aired between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019.

The winner of each category will receive EUR7,000 (US$7,890). There are also four special prizes, ranging from EUR3,000 (US$3,381) to EUR4,000 (US$4,508).

The deadline is June 7. http://www.prixbayeux.org/ en/?lang=en

Filmmakers Without Borders Science journalism contest offers grants [Worldwide] accepting entries [Worldwide]

Novice and experienced documentarians can compete for a grant.

Filmmakers Without Borders provides grants for narrative, documentary, experimental and new media projects in various stages of production.

Grant amounts range from U$100 to U$5,000 and can cover

development, production, postproduction and film festival applications.

Applicants must submit a variety of materials including a project proposal and a video essay.

The deadline is June 1, 2019. http://filmmakerswithoutborders.org/grants/

Science journalists are eligible for this award.

The AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards, organised by the Kavli Foundation, recognise outstanding reporting for a general audience and honour individuals for coverage of the sciences, engineering and mathematics.

The categories are large newspaper, small newspaper, magazine, audio, video spot news/ feature reporting, video in-depth reporting, online and children's science news.

Entries must have been published, broadcast or posted online between July 16, 2018 and July 15, 2019. Works in a language other than English must include an English translation.

There will be two awards for each category, a Gold award worth US$5,000 and a Silver

award worth US$3,500. One winner for each award in each category will also receive reasonable travel expenses to attend an awards ceremony in February 2020 at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle.

The deadline is August 1, 2019.

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SPECIAL REPORT >>

How Bill and Melinda Gates Are Transfor The Gates Foundation is transforming the lives of billions of people — but it wouldn’t be the force it has become without the distinctive visions of the couple behind it.

I

t was March 2018, and once more Bill Gates found himself behind a podium. In the previous few months, he had given one keynote address after another—in San Francisco, he had urged drug-makers to focus on diseases that affect the poor as well as the rich; in Andhra Pradesh, India, he had preached the value of smallholder farms; in Abu Dhabi, he’d enjoined the Crown Prince and other princelings to continue their financial support for global health initiatives; in Cleveland, he’d promoted investment in better schools.

Now the world’s second-richest man and foremost itinerant advocate for the poor was in Abuja, Nigeria, talking about the same theme that had underlain all of these speeches: the need to invest in “human capital.” Among those gathered at the conference center, in the shadow of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, was the Nigerian President himself, Muhammadu Buhari, and what seemed like the entire seat of government, from legislative mandarins to a full house of governors and business leaders—all primed to hear from a man who had, so far, lavished the country with $1.6 billion in grants through his eponymous foundation.

Two months earlier, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had taken the unusual step of absorbing a $76 million IOU Nigeria owed to Japan, for money Nigeria had borrowed to fund a polio eradication effort. The progress there

had been striking. In 2012 the country had more than half of the worldwide cases of this paralysing disease; that number had since been cut to zero.

But Gates wasn’t there to deliver a keep-up-the-good-work speech. He was there to say the opposite: to tell his hosts that their nation—Africa’s richest and most populous, with 190 million residents—was on a knife’s edge. The country was facing an “epidemic of chronic malnutrition,” with one in three Nigerian children chronically malnourished, Gates told his audience. Nigeria had the fourth-worst maternal mortality rate on the planet, making it “one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth.” More than half of rural Nigerian children could not adequately read or write. The primary health care system was “broken.”

The harsh litany went on. On the basis of per capita GDP, oil-rich Nigeria was “rapidly approaching upper-middle-income status, like Brazil, China, and Mexico,” Gates said. But by every meaningful measure, it still resembled an impoverished nation: Life expectancy was a meagre 53 years—nine years lower, on average, than its low-income neighbours in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria was headed for a perilous future— unless it changed course, that is, and began to substantially invest in the health, education, and economic opportunity of its people.

“It may not be polite to speak so bluntly when you’ve always been so gra-

cious to me,” Gates told the gathering, veering a bit from his prepared remarks.

But, he explained, he was “applying a lesson” he’d learned from Nigerian businessman and fellow billionaire Aliko Dangote, who told him: “I didn’t get successful by pretending to sell bags of cement I didn’t have.” I took from that, he said, that while it may be easier to be polite, it’s important to face facts so that you can make progress.

It was a speech that “rattled” the government, according to the next day’s headlines. And it could have been given only by Bill Gates, says Ngozi OkonjoIweala, chair of GAVI, the international vaccine alliance, who twice served as Nigeria’s finance minister. Years earlier, when Gates was CEO of Microsoft, the company he cofounded with Paul Allen in 1975, he’d had no trouble speaking bluntly to government leaders—vigorously challenging, for one notable example, the US government’s antitrust case against the company during the 1990s.

The post-Microsoft Gates was still unabashedly candid—“He did that in Nigeria, and he didn’t mince words,” says Okonjo-Iweala—but the frankness was now infused with something else: a driving sense of purpose. A more tender kind of, well, passion.

That’s a word that’s used quite a bit these days to describe Bill Gates, 63, who in the waning decades of the 20th century was often pilloried as a brash— and sometimes soulless—corporate predator.

Ray Chambers, an influential American philanthropist who is now the World Health Organization’s Ambassador for Global Strategy and who for several years served as a UN SecretaryGeneral’s Special Envoy for Malaria, says Gates’ “passion for the subject”—whatever that might be in global health—

Bill and Melinda Gates speak with Neema Malachi Najwale, a nurse at the Mapinga Dispensary, during a visit to Tanzania in 2011.

“and his compassion for the victim” are equally striking. Physician Helene Gayle, who spent five years with the Gates Foundation, overseeing its HIV, TB, and reproductive health programmes and who is now CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, singles out the word “determined” before saying, “that’s not quite right—that’s too pedestrian.

It’s somewhere between determined and passionate. I mean this guy is on a mission, and he is—the word is ‘undeterred.’ ” And if you’re wondering what drives this perpetually refueling zeal, a big part of the answer can be found on the other side of the ampersand in his foundation’s name: ¬Melinda Gates.

If Bill’s superpower is speaking truth to the mighty, Melinda’s may well be hearing the truth of the unmighty— and then internalising and sharing that secret, often brutally repressed wisdom.

For a generally soft-toned speaker, her

voice has the command of a church bell.

But those who know her say her truly uncanny talent is simply the ability to listen.

Gayle recalls one trip with Melinda, now 54, and Bill in the early 2000s to India, meeting with a group that was

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> SPECIAL REPORT

ming Life for Billions in the 21st Century particularly hard-hit by HIV, women in the commercial sex industry. Melinda— as was often the case—sat on the floor with the women and listened. “Many of them were despised and stigmatised in their own communities,” recalls Gayle, “and having her listen to these women’s stories and hear the lives that they led—

why they ended up having to trade sex for basically survival, and what it meant to them to have people from outside come and listen to them, listen to their stories, be willing to hug and embrace them, and treat them like human beings with equal value—was a very, very moving moment,” she says.

In Mozambique, it was the same.

The ¬Gateses would travel to a remote rural area, talking with women about their desires for their children—“and their fears that they wouldn’t be able to provide for their children and care for

them,” says Gayle. “And Melinda would sit on the ground, talking woman to woman about the things that mothers care about. She has this remarkable ability to connect with everybody.”

Raj Shah, the CEO of the Rockefeller Foundation, has likewise worked at the Gates Foundation and travelled frequently with its founders, but there is one trip that stands out: Bangladesh, December 2005. The government had pulled out all the stops in welcoming the famous couple to Dhaka, putting their giant faces on billboards lining the highway from the airport. The Gateses, however, just wanted to visit the famous International Center on Diarrheal Disease Research—or, as everyone called it, the “Cholera Hospital.”

Established in the 1960s, the hospital had long been a pinnacle of research on ways to help children with diarrhea survive. “At the time,” recalls Shah, “there was a cholera outbreak, and we were walking through. And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a cholera cot, but basically it’s a raised cot with a hole in the middle, and they have a blue tarp over it, for obvious reasons.” On each cot was a child. “And the kids just have constant diarrhea,” says Shah. “There are buckets under the cot to capture all that. And the mothers sit next to their kids and constantly give them a combination of oral rehydration, salts mixed with purified water and some other electrolytes.” That ORS, as it’s called, keeps the child from dehydrating and dying during the diarrheal episode.

Melinda sat down beside one mother and began helping to spoon-feed her child, as the two women—one born in Dhaka; the other, in a middle-class home in Dallas—talked through a translator about what they ate for dinner. It was a moment when Shah realised that Melinda could bond with anyone. He pauses for a moment in the conversation: “I could be wrong in all my recollections. But I just remember her saying that ‘Oh, my family ate rice and beans also!’ It’s just who she is: People connect with her in a very special way.”

From January 1995 through the end of 2017, their namesake philanthropy (along with earlier Gates family foundations that were merged into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000) has deployed an extraordinary, barely countable $45.5 billion. (When I asked the foundation, partly as a hypothetical, if they could send me an accounting of every single grant they’d doled out since inception, I got back a spreadsheet with 41,487 line items.)

That $45 billion has launched, and then continually supported, what global health experts widely acknowledge to be two of the most successful international, private-public partnerships ever formed. The first is the aforementioned GAVI, which has helped developing countries immunize 700 million children against preventable diseases.

The second is The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The fund, through its own community partnerships, has put more than 17 million people on retroviral therapy for HIV, cared for 5 million people with

TB, and treated more than 100 million cases of malaria in 2017 alone—even as it helped prevent an untold number of infections in all three diseases. (Apart from national governments, the foundation is also the largest donor to the World Health Organization.)

The Gates money, put to work through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, has helped bring that horrific paralysing disease to the brink of elimination, leaving only two places on the earth, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the wild poliovirus remains active. In 1988, the disease could be found in 125 countries.

The eradication quest is, as nearly all foundation efforts are, sophisticated and data-driven. Gates-funded disease hunters have plumbed sewage systems in hotspot regions to check for lurking poliovirus and used digital satellite data to understand how many kids were in a given area—and, therefore, how many houses inoculation teams needed to visit.

The foundation has spent more than a billion dollars to date to reduce the burden of ancient, and long neglected, tropical diseases (NTDs) that can cause everything from blindness to anemia to an elephantine swelling of limbs— and that, despite the progress made, continue to debilitate one-seventh of the earth’s population. It has fortified health systems in developing countries and brought new innovations to agriculture.

The foundation jump-started a national conversation in the US on education reform: one backed by data, as well as dollars—though there have been many of those, too. (It spends $300 million annually on K-12 learning, and on learning about learning.) The Gateses have even changed the nature and scale of family philanthropy—partnering with Warren Buffett in 2010 to convince other billionaires to give half or more of their money away during their lifetime or in their will. Today, nearly 200 families have joined the aptly named “Giving Pledge.”

“Every one of their actions has a multiplier effect,” says Warren Buffett in a phone interview about the pair, with whom he has been close friends for decades. His own fortune became part of that multiplication as well, when he donated 500,000 Berkshire Hathaway B shares to the Gates Foundation—a gift then worth about $1.6 billion.

But the impact of Bill and Melinda Gates is due to more than money. Buffett returns to his earlier thought: “The two of them have a multiplier effect— the two of them together. They act with a unity of purpose and with a difference of style,” he says, chuckling at the truth of his own line: “That just came to me— and it’s really true.”

“They are so results-orientated that most people have no idea all the things that would not be happening without them,” says Bono, who, like the Gateses, has been a tireless champion for global health, and whose own (RED) and ONE campaigns have received funding from the couple. “For as long as I’ve known them, their only interest in their income is the outcomes it can generate for oth-

ers in terms of changing lives,” he adds.

“They don’t ask for acknowledgment; they just get on with it. They set up the scene, hire the photographer, but are so focused on results, they sometimes forget to be in their own photograph.”

Their work over the past 20 years has helped transform the lives of hundreds of millions of people—and will surely affect billions more if the research they’re funding now helps prevent and cure AIDS, multidrug-resistant TB, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, and the flu. It will help immeasurably more if the work they’re doing now to empower women, provide sanitation, boost agriculture, and improve education (as well access to education) comes to full fruition.

For all that, Fortune has chosen Bill and Melinda Gates as its 2019 World’s Greatest Leader. The pick, pointedly, is a singular one; the power of their leadership is definitely double-barreled.

This is just a guess, mind you, but it’s likely that there are few people on the planet who get more excited talking about commodes than Bill Gates does. In a world where as many as 4.5 billion don’t have “safely managed sanitation,” according to the World Health Organization—and of whom nearly 900 million (mostly rural) people still defecate in the open—a safe, affordable, self-contained waste treatment apparatus that requires neither running water nor sewers is the sine qua non of public health interventions.

To make the point, Bill again took to the podium, flying to Beijing this past November for the Reinvented Toilet Expo. Next to him, for their shared keynote—and resting on its own, shorter podium—was a jar of human excrement. “This small amount of feaces,” said Gates, “could contain as many as 200 trillion rotavirus cells, 20 billion shigella bacteria, and 100,000 parasitic worm eggs.”

Despite the laughter in the audience, the container was filled with deadly stuff: In much of the developing world, in fact, it is a weapon of mass destruction, as proven by history’s seemingly unbroken epidemics of cholera, typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, and diarrheal disease.

The toilet expo showcased a number of ingenious prototypes—the “most significant advances in sanitation in nearly 200 years,” Bill called them—and the Gates Foundation has put some $200 million into the effort so far.

But as Bill and Melinda explained in a joint interview in Seattle in late March, the reinvented commodes represented something potentially more liberating still. The toilets were a direct link to girls’ and women’s health and, ultimately, their economic empowerment. In sub-Saharan Africa, one in 10 school-age girls don’t go to school during their menstrual period, according to UNICEF, and many drop out after menstruation begins. “Think about what it’s like for a child to miss five or six days and how far behind they get,”

Continued - Page 26

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SPECIAL REPORTS >>

The Gates Transforming Life for Billions From - Page 25 says Melinda. Sometimes it is the threat of violence that keeps a woman or a girl from a public latrine—and because it’s usually women who take their children to the bathroom, that has a cascading effect.

“We have to draw the line” between all of these connecting data points, she says. “Because if people don’t draw the lines—if we just talk about the importance of sanitation in terms of people’s health,” we fail to fully comprehend the missed opportunities and challenges.

“What we’ve learned in our work is that you have to talk about the gender pieces, too, because they are specific.”

Indeed, as Melinda discovered in her two-decade journey through the developing world, for virtually everything that tends to limit human capital, there is a line connecting it to gender in some way. The boldest of these lines, certainly, concern the rights of women to decide if and when they get married, and if and when they have children. Both of these choices, in much of the world, have been taken away from women, with devastating and transgenerational consequence.

Melinda, a practicing Catholic who attended an all-girls Catholic high school in Dallas (where she graduated as valedictorian), has met resistance from some quarters on some of her family planning efforts, which involve offering women access to contraception.

But as Geeta Rao Gupta, a senior fellow at the UN Foundation in Washington, D.C., explains, the Gates Foundation stance on family planning has been, as with everything else it does, about “meeting unmet need.”

The effort isn’t about telling women in the developing world to have fewer kids, says Rao Gupta: “It’s that women want to control their fertility. They’re asking for contraception. They don’t want this many children or too many children, and they don’t have the ability, the tools that are available to the world, to be able to make that choice.”

Filling that gap is not just about understanding social, cultural, or religious barriers, as important as they are. “What Melinda found was that there were supply barriers and logistical barriers in getting contraceptives into the hands of women. So then even when societies were open to that idea, there were challenges,” says Rao Gupta, who also founded the 3D Programme for Girls and Women, which focuses on economic empowerment.

There were other gender lines, too— like those connecting birth choices to education, and then to child mortality.

When it comes to the survival of kids under 5 years old, says Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond-¬Hellmann, who is both a physician scientist and former chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, “one of the best determinants of a child’s health is the educational status of the mother.”

“And so when you invest in education for both boys and girls, which most of the world happily does now, you’re investing in the future of those women as mothers—and in the health of their

Bill and Melinda Gates during one of their visits to Africa.

children.”

Melinda, who earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Duke University and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School—and who spent the next nine years at Microsoft—has carefully studied the data on gender-based barriers. And the data that wasn’t already available, she has commissioned through her foundation. But mostly she has learned through in-person absorption—through a kind of human osmosis: from listening to women in self-help groups in India; from talking to girls and mothers everywhere from Bangladesh to Indonesia. The insights came when she and her then 17-yearold daughter Jenn spent the night in the “goat hut” of a Maasai couple in the Tanzanian village of Mbuyuni, as they did in her homestay with son Rory in Malawi.

“It’s not at all where we started as a foundation,” Melinda says. “But I would say in the last six, seven years, we’ve really started to talk about this gender piece and have put specific investments down to make sure we address it.”

The complex interplay between gender and global health and opportunity is also the subject of Melinda’s book, The Moment of Lift, which debuted in April. The stories within are often raw and moving.

But the real theme of the book—as it is with all things Gates, it seems—is optimism: what Bill and Melinda see as the endless opportunities to fix what’s dragging us down and to “summon the moment of lift for human beings,” as Melinda writes in her book.

“The enormously impressive thing is that Bill and Melinda both bring a kind of infectious optimism that these are problems that can be solved,” says Peter Sands, the former CEO of Standard Chartered who is now executive director of The Global Fund. “Humanity

has enormous capacity to innovate and think through and find ways of doing things. And when you spend any time with them, they’re constantly in the mode of saying, ‘What do we do next?’

And I think that’s a fantastically catalytic and inspiring turn to have.”

Both Gateses acknowledge how central this bright-side view is to the mission—and seem to wield it in nearly every public speech and presentation.

“Optimism is fundamental to our work,” Melinda says in our March interview in Seattle. “We have to be able to see the reality of what’s going on in the world, and to know that and to listen to that. But we have to believe in the world getting better. And we do believe in the world getting better because it is getting better.”

“Bill and Melinda both bring a kind of infectious optimism that these are problems that can be solved.” – Peter Sands, The Global Fund A child born today is half as likely to die before the age of 5, compared to a child born in the year 2000, she says.

The poorest parts of the world are less poor than they were. “And we have to hold that belief in progress and help others hold that belief so they’ll come along on the journey with us. Because look, the journey we’re on is not a solo journey. Many, many, many partners need to be at the table to create, for instance, a new vaccine or a new technology that’ll benefit everybody.”

Bill chimes in, “I’d say that kind of optimism is particularly important now where there’s a kind of turning inward [politically speaking], and the trust in various institutions is down a lot.

“A lot of the things we do take a long time,” he says. “I mean, we’ve been working on an HIV vaccine for over 15 years, and it’ll probably be 10 more years before we get there—so 25 years in total. Malaria eradication, if things go

well, is 20 years away. The polio effort started in 1988; we didn’t get engaged until 2000. You know, it’s a long journey.” That’s challenging, he says, when it comes to getting people to commit— especially when the initial impact of the effort, as in malaria reduction, is far away from many of the donors’ front yards. “Optimism,” he says, “is a key part of it to engage people.”

“Yes, we have to believe in what’s possible,” adds Melinda. “It’s not at all a naive optimism. It’s a realistic optimism.

We’re trying to envision the future—as leaders envision the future of where their company or their mission will go.

And for us it’s a mission that all lives have equal value.”

The argument for optimism has some awfully good evidence in Rwanda. A quarter-century after a genocide tore the already poor East African country apart, Rwanda is a case study in what’s possible. Led by physician Agnes -Binagwaho, the nation’s former health minister, and others, Rwanda has steadily invested in health infrastructure, primary care, massive childhood vaccination, and maternal health.

Groups like the Gates Foundation, GAVI, The Global Fund, and Partners in Health—cofounded by Paul Farmer, who lived in Rwanda for years—have financed the effort substantially. But much of the innovation and footwork has been homegrown. Child mortality, meanwhile, has dropped from one of the highest rates in sub-Saharan Africa to one of the lowest.

The turnaround is so extraordinary that Farmer, a Harvard professor of global health and social medicine and a celebrated pioneer in treating tuberculosis, has launched an academic center to study it: the University of Global Health Equity. Binagwaho has been named vice chancellor.

“We see it in lots of places: real ex-

amples of governments making investments—working with UN agencies, with NGOs, with others, but really driving their own future by investing in their young people,” says DesmondHellmann. “It’s happening not just in Rwanda, but also in Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and elsewhere.”

“We have to be able to see the reality of what’s going on in the world … But we [also] have to believe in the world getting better.” – Melinda Gates But it is work that has to be sustained, say the Gateses—and virtually every other global health expert. The sobering truth is that Rwanda, like Nigeria, is on a knife’s edge: If efforts to combat malaria, TB, AIDS, and tropical diseases slow or even remain static, the cases of disease do not stabilise, they go up.

And the next generation of kids loses ground.

It’s why the Gateses are so focused now on replenishing contributions for The Global Fund, a triennial fundraising push that takes place in October— and the financial refueling of GAVI after that. These two institutions are the outstretched limbs of the Gates Foundation, and the couple have spent more of their philanthropic dollars supporting health delivery programmes like these than anything else.

“They could have elected to do anything with their lives,” says Warren Buffett, “and both of them are not only spending money but huge amounts of their time and energy around the world to make life better for people. Think about that.”

• A version of this article appears in the May 2019 issue of Fortune magazine. The article is part of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ feature, the magazine’s annual list of world-changing leaders in business, government, philanthropy, and beyond.

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>> ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Stakeholders Discuss World Bank Guidance on Public-Private Partnerships

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ore than 50 participants from the private sector, banks, legal firms, academia and the public sector gathered in Dar es Salaam, to share their feedback on the proposed 2019 edition of the World Bank’s Contractual Provisions for Public-private Partnerships (PPPs).

“This is a guidance note meant to help governments prepare PPPs that deliver muchneeded infrastructure and public services,” said Christina Paul,

Senior Counsel for the World Bank. “The Guidance explains how governments can protect their rights while ensuring the reasonable rights of their private partners.”

The complexity of PPPs frequently means that considerable time and expense is involved in preparing and finalising PPP contracts. To make the contractual drafting process quicker and less expensive, many countries— and especially those with wellestablished PPP programmes— have undertaken efforts to standardise the provisions in such

contracts.

According to the World Bank Group’s 2018 Procuring Infrastructure PPPs Report, 52 out of 135 surveyed countries developed at least one model contract and/or standardised document applicable to PPP transactions.

To assist contracting authorities in developing and emerging markets to prepare PPP contract clauses in line with international good practice and standards, the World Bank initially developed the Guidance on PPP Contractual Provisions, 2017 edition, which focused on eight critical

contractual provisions that are most essential for a project’s bankability and are found in virtually every PPP contract.

The 2017 edition is now being updated, taking into consideration stakeholder feedback that was received after its publication. The draft document has been shared for public consultations and is accessible on the World Bank’s consultation page.

This consultation period started on February 5, 2019 and will run through April 30, 2019. The aim of this consultation is to capture inputs and recommendations

by all relevant stakeholders to help inform the updated version, expected to be released in mid-2019. ‘‘The Guidance offers great learning material for legal and other PPP practitioners both from the public and private sector. Use of this document will increase confidence in PPPs and avoid disputes during their implementation,” said Paul.

The consultative meeting attracted a wide range of stakeholders from the private sector, including banks, pension funds and law firms, as well as PPP

units, Ministries Departments and Authorities, and Local Government Authorities. Participants shared their experience with PPPs and learned how to strengthen areas where they are still facing challenges.

The Government of Tanzania is currently working on developing model documents for small, low-risk PPPs. The model documents have been developed with World Bank assistance through the Tanzania PPP Support Programme funded by the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development.

UK-Kenya Economic Development Forum resolutions

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he following joint statement was issued after the recent UK-Kenya Economic Development Forum on the next steps for long-term and wide-ranging prosperity partnership: "The UK and Kenya enjoy a strong and multifaceted economic relationship, embedded within a mature bilateral partnership that draws from our shared values, systems, challenges and aspirations. We commit to the measures set out below as next steps in a long-term and wide-ranging prosperity partnership."

"The Forum agreed to collaborate to achieve a successful Africa Investment Summit in the United Kingdom in 2020 and use the opportunity to present a strong pipeline of investable projects in Kenya that seek partnership with British investors particularly to support initiatives around the Kenyan government’s “Big Four” priorities."

"The Forum also welcomed the commitment made by the UK Prime Minister to maintain Kenya’s duty and quota free access to the UK after the UK departs the European Union.

Once the terms of the UK’s departure are finalised, the UK will engage with Kenya and the wider East Africa Community to secure a long term and prosperous trading agreement."

"The Forum noted Kenya’s continued upward trajectory in World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index and commits to addressing ongoing challenges for businesses operating in Kenya both at national and

county level."

As directed by President Kenyatta and Prime Minister May the Forum discussed the following areas in detail: • Mobilising Private Sector Finance: the Forum welcomed the commitment today between our governments to reach an agreement on creative new models for project financing, mobilising private investment along with government-backed instruments and

programmes to provide lower cost, more flexible financing, better suited to Kenya’s needs and more attractive to a wider range of investors.

• Procurement: both delegations agreed on the importance of ensuring that procurement legislation works to encourage international investment in manufacturing in Kenya.

• Land: both delegations recognised the importance of security of land tenure as a

basis for a sound investment environment, and of the importance of all actors respecting the rule of law and clearly-established policies on leases and their renewal within that context. • Interest rates: the Forum recognised the negative impact of Kenya’s current interest rate cap on the availability of credit to businesses, which impacts on wider economic growth, and noted the Kenyan government commitment to working

with Parliament towards a lifting of the cap in a way which protects consumers, and meanwhile identifying mitigating actions whilst the cap remains in place.

• Development partner coordination: the UK reiterated its desire to align its development programme with the government of Kenya’s “Big 4” agenda and both parties agreed the importance of effective and structured development coor-

dination between partners.

"In closing, the Forum reaffirmed commitment from both the Kenyan and British governments to meet in this format regularly, to explore innovative ways to strengthen our trading relationship, increase the quantity and impact of economic investment, and develop quality jobs that will underpin sustainable and inclusive economic growth and drive prosperity."

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INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP >>

Date Set for Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum 2019 The two-day event aims to promote and accelerate the growth of women-owned and women-led businesses for Africa’s inclusive economic growth

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he Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF), which will celebrate its 5th year anniversary in 2019, has announced the dates for its prestigious annual conference and awards, which will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), October 29-30, 2019.

The conference theme this year is, Enhancing Impact: Digitalisation, Investment and IntraAfrican Trade. The two-day event aims to promote and accelerate the growth of women-owned and women-led businesses for Africa’s inclusive economic growth. AWIEF is a platform that sees global thought leaders, industry experts, policymakers, academics, development organisations and investors gather to dialogue, connect, network, share, collaborate and transact in a combined effort to boost Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

“The digital economy is driving business and is enhancing the impact of our work. Investment in women-owned businesses is needed across the continent of Africa,” said Irene Ochem, Founder and CEO of AWIEF. The theme will be unpacked as follows at the conference: • How to leverage the digital economy.

• How to provide more access to affordable investment and finance to women to drive women entrepreneurship.

• Analysing the importance

and role that women have to play in the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

“It is important for Africa to trade amongst itself, to collaborate and cooperate. What we need to look at is the critical roles that women have in this integration process,” Ochem explained.

AWIEF is a Pan-African nonprofit organisation with offices in both Nigeria and South Africa, including the annual conference, awards and expo; as well as events all year round and programmes to mentor, fund and grow women entrepreneurs on the continent. AWIEF runs several programmes for women across the continent, such as the flagship AWIEF Growth Accelerator Programme for getting businesses “investment ready”; the FemBioBiz Accelerator Programme in partnership with HIVOS and NEPAD-SANBio, which builds and supports the growth of women-owned and led businesses in the health and agricultural biotech field and other biosciences, with impact on health, nutrition and food security. The #VALUE4HER programme is in partnership with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), a European Union funded institution headquartered in The Netherlands, which strengthens women’s agribusiness enterprises in Africa.

The AWIEF Awards each year showcase a diverse representation of finalist entrepreneurs from across the continent, including, in 2018, from Angola,

Zanele Mbeki, Former First Lady of South Africa and Irene Ochem, AWIEF Founder and CEO (r) at a past AWIEF function.

Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The awards have grown exponentially, from entries of just under 300 in 2017 when the AWIEF Awards were launched, to 1200 in 2018. Judges are drawn from thought lead-

ers, decision makers and specialists in the various sectors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

AWIEF support comes from global organisations such as UN Women, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Union-funded Technical Centre for Agricultural

and Rural Cooperation (CTA).

Partners and sponsors also include: Shell, Nedbank, City of Cape Town, Bank of Industry, Nigeria, GE, AGRA, Embassy of Sweden (Nigeria and South Africa), Embassy of Switzerland (South Africa) , IDC, MTN Business, ARC, Johnson & Johnson,

Old Mutual, and Tsogo Sun. Online registration is now open with early bird opportunities. To register for #AWIEF2019, follow the link: https://bit. ly/2OQJ3qP For exhibition and sponsorship opportunities, email: awief2019@awieforum.org

Nigeria's economic growth slows as oil sector shrinks

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rowth in Nigeria’s fragile economy slowed to 2.01% in the first quarter as the country’s dominant oil sector shrank, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

The annual pace dropped from the previous quarter’s 2.38%, when activity was likely to have been boosted by state spending in the run-up to February and March elections in which President Muhammadu Buhari won a second term.

Nigeria’s central bank has forecast growth of 3% for 2019.

The largely crude-dependent economy emerged from recession in 2017 and has been recovering in great part due to higher oil prices. In the first quarter the non-oil sector grew

2.47% while the oil sector shrank 2.40%, according to the statistics office. Crude production rose slightly to 1.96 million barrels per day from 1.91 million in the previous quarter.

Growth in the first quarter of 2018 was 1.89%.

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>> BUSINESS & ECONOMY DHL brings 200EIGHT global online consumers withOFinnovative platform HILTON TO OPEN HOTELS IN stores AFRICA to African THE UNSEEN SCANDAL HOTEL FOOD WASTE

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HL Express has announced the launch of its new mobile and desktop app aimed at improving the online shopping experience for Africabased consumers. The exciting new platform, DHL Africa eShop, enables customers to shop directly from more than 200 US- and UK-based online retailers, with all shipments delivered by DHL Express, to the shopper’s door.

DHL Africa eShop will be available in 11 African markets to start – South Africa, Nigeria,

Kenya, Mauritius, Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, Malawi, Botswana, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

This solution was developed in partnership with Link Commerce – a division of Mall for Africa.

Hennie Heymans, CEO of DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, says that the DHL Africa eShop app offers African consumers much greater access to international retailers on an easy-to-use platform.

“DHL Africa eShop provides convenience, speed and access for online customers in Africa. As the global leader in

express logistics, DHL is well positioned to connect African consumers with exciting global brands. This is yet another opportunity for DHL to reaffirm its commitment to supporting the growth of e-commerce in the region.”

According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute, the demand for world-class online shopping opportunities is growing exponentially in Africa’s leading economies, as urbanisation and incomes continue to rise.

Despite the growing demand, many US and UK-based retail-

Pulse: Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa Remains Below 3pc Digital revolution can unlock inclusive growth and job creation across Africa

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rowth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been downgraded to 2.3 percent for 2018, down from 2.5 percent in 2017, according to the April 2019 issue of Africa's Pulse, the World Bank's bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies released recently. Economic growth remains below population growth for the fourth consecutive year, and although regional growth is expected to rebound to 2.8 percent in 2019, it will have remained below three percent since 2015.

This issue of Africa's Pulse also looks at how fragility is holding back sub-Saharan Africa, and how the digital economy can help the continent move forward.

"The digital transformation can increase growth by nearly two percentage points per year and reduce poverty by nearly one percentage point per year in sub-Saharan Africa alone. This is a game-changer for Africa," said Albert Zeufack, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa.

The slower-than-expected overall growth reflects ongoing global uncertainty, but increasingly comes from domestic macroeconomic instability including poorly managed debt, inflation, and deficits; political and regulatory uncer-

tainty; and fragility that are having visible negative impacts on some African economies. It also belies stronger performance in several smaller economies that continue to grow steadily.

In Nigeria, growth reached 1.9 percent in 2018, up from 0.8 percent in 2017, reflecting a modest pick-up in the non-oil economy.

South Africa came out of recession in the third quarter of 2018, but growth was subdued at 0.8 percent over the year, as policy uncertainty held back investment. Angola, the region's third largest economy, remained in recession, with growth falling sharply as oil production stayed weak.

Growth picked up in some

resource-intensive-countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger, as stronger mining production and commodity prices boosted activity alongside a rebound in agricultural production and public investment in infrastructure. In others, like Liberia and Zambia, growth was subdued, as high inflation and elevated debt levels continued to weigh on investor sentiment. In the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, a fragile recovery continued as reform efforts to reduce fiscal and external imbalances slowed in some countries. Nonresource-intensive economies such as Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and several in the West African

Economic and Monetary Union, including Benin and Côte d'Ivoire recorded solid economic growth in 2018.

Africa's Pulse also found that fragility in a handful of countries is costing sub-Saharan Africa over half a percentage point of growth per year. This adds up to 2.6 percentage points over 5 years.

"The drivers of fragility have evolved over time, and so too must the solutions," said Cesar Calderon, Lead Economist and Lead author of the report. "Countries have a real opportunity to move from fragility to opportunity by cooperating across borders to tackle instability, violence, and climate change."

ers do not offer shipping to African countries, owing to the perceived logistical challenges involved such as high last-mile delivery costs and fraud concerns. However, DHL Express was the first express operator to set up in Africa over 40 years ago, so we are well positioned to offer innovative and reliable solutions for on the continent.”

“E-commerce offers enormous potential for the region, and we are proud to provide this platform to further connect African consumers with global opportunities,” concludes Heymans.

Ecobank debut $450 million Eurobond oversubscribed Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, ETI, the Lomé-based parent company of the Ecobank Group, announced it has successfully raised $450 million in its debut Eurobond which was oversubscribed.

The Global Offering is a 5-year unsecured note (144A/RegS) listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The bond matures in April 2024 and was issued with a coupon pricing of 9.5% with interest payable semi-annually in arrears.

The proceeds will be used for ETI’s general corporate purposes and to refinance existing Holdco obligations.

Investor interest was global, including United Kingdom, United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

On this debut Eurobond issuance, Mr Ade Ayeyemi, Group Chief Executive Officer of ETI, stated: “This is another first for Ecobank and I’m very excited at the prospects for the Group as we continue the second phase of our 5-year ‘Roadmap to leadership’ strategy. Our efforts toward greater operational and capital efficiency are paying off, and this offer is another example of the measures we are taking to strengthen our institution and deliver value for all of our stakeholders”.

The Group Chief Financial Officer, Mr Greg Davis, commenting on Eurobond said: “The success of this Eurobond reflects appetite from high quality and real money institutional investors globally and the trust that continues to be conferred on our institution and the markets we have chosen to participate in.”

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ECONOMY >>

New report casts doubt on World Bank’s 'billions to trillions' agenda

By SOPHIE EDWARDS The World Bank’s ambitious strategy to use its public finance to unlock trillions in new private capital to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals is “completely unrealistic,” according to a new report.

New research from British think tank the Overseas Development Institute, finds that the multilateral development banks are failing to meet expectations when it comes to catalysing additional private finance into low-income countries, mobilising just $0.37 of additional capital for every $1 of public money invested.

“Our research shows that an urgent reality check on blended finance is needed. The current approach is not leveraging significant amounts of private investment overall and very little for low-income countries,” Samantha Attridge, senior research fellow at ODI said.

Instead of going as planned to low-income countries, most concessional finance being provided to blend with private money is going to middle-income countries. And instead of addressing market failures and taking on more risk, the funds are directed toward relatively low-risk investments, the report finds.

Furthermore, while there are disputes over how blended finance volumes are measured, even the most generous estimates reveal flows are way below what is needed to fill the estimated $2.5 trillion annual SDG financing gap in developing countries, the report and experts say.

Released during the World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., the ODI report appears to throw cold water on the “billions to trillions” agenda, first announced in 2015 by the bank’s former president Jim Kim. The agenda promised to drastically ramp up financing for development by blending public and private financing in order to unlock more private capital, as well as increasing domestic

resource mobilisation, in the wake of stagnating public aid flows.

Donors have welcomed the blended finance plan, seeing it as an opportunity to make their aid budgets go further. However, the report calls for a major rethink, warning that if unchecked, blended finance could end up steering aid away from low-income countries where it is most needed.

The report also highlights a lack of transparency, data, and accountability around the development banks’ use of blended finance, raising questions about accuracy and efficacy of numbers being reported.

“We don’t know how much blended finance is costing us and we don’t understand what the poverty impacts are … There could be cheaper and more impactful ways for donors to achieve their development objectives, especially in the poorest countries,” Attridge said.

“The ‘billions to trillions’ mantra is completely unrealis-

tic without significant changes to the system,” she added.

The World Bank’s role in catalysing private finance for development, especially in lowincome countries, has been a hot topic lately. US lawmakers raised concerns about the World Bank’s efforts to catalyse private investment in low-income countries through its “private sector window,” a blended finance instrument.

The Center for Global Development also hosted an event on the topic during the summit.

Talking specifically about private finance for infrastructure in low-income countries, CGD senior policy fellow Nancy Lee said that private flows were falling instead of rising and that despite their potential to act as catalysts, multilateral development banks had only played a “marginal role.” She called for “significant changes” to the MDB’s financial models, and also greater collaboration, to make them more effective catalysts of private finance.

All eyes are now on the institution’s new president, former US Treasury official and investment banker David Malpass, to see whether he will embrace his predecessor’s private sector strategy or go in a different direction.

The World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, is one of the biggest and most influential blended-finance actors, and is projected to dramatically increase its blended finance investment thanks to a $5.5 billion capital injection, announced in April 2018, and also through the creation of the $2.5 billion “private sector window” in 2017.

According to its own estimates, IFC is the biggest mobiliser of private sector finance compared to other development finance institutions, mobilising $20 billion in 2016.

However, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts the total at closer to $5 billion. The ODI

report also flags that the French and American bilateral DFIs have mobilised more private finance in low-income countries compared to IFC even though it makes larger overall commitments in those countries.

These discrepancies can be explained by differences in the way that OECD and IFC define and calculate blended finance, Martin Spicer, IFC’s director of blended finance, said. IFC leads the MDB Mobilisation Task Force, which calculates and jointly reports on private investment mobilisation by the major MDBs. “The OECD DAC [Development Assistance Committee] methodology is not aligned to the MDB methodology largely due to different approaches [and] mandates,” Spicer said.

The IFC director also said that his institution would be doing more blended finance in low-income countries going forward, thanks in part to the additional resources made available through the private sector win-

dow and in response to increasing demand from donors.

“Before the establishment of the IDA [International Developmnet Association] private sector window, most of the blended finance resources [that] IFC had under management were in the climate space, with a focus on climate mitigation, where MICs play a key role. Over time, donors wanted to see greater use of blended finance in low-income countries,” Spicer said.

• Sophie Edwards is a Reporter for Devex based in London covering global development news including global education, water and sanitation, innovative financing, the environment along with other topics. She has previously worked for NGOs, the World Bank and spent a number of years as a journalist for a regional newspaper in the UK. She has an MA from the Institute of Development Studies and a BA from Cambridge University.

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> ECONOMY

Fixing Africa’s Budget Problems

A

fricans had good reason to be hopeful when all 193 United Nations member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. Alongside their ambitious pledges to end poverty by 2030 and “leave no one behind,” world leaders aimed to mobilise a wide array of domestic and international resources to realise the SDGs. But rising national debt, a slowing global economy, and weakening multilateralism are preventing many African countries from making progress.

Faced with these headwinds, African governments must improve their own public financial management (PFM) to help realise the SDGs. This will require governments and their development partners to rethink the standard approaches to tackling Africa’s complex public-finance challenges.

Most African governments’ budgets are already under stress, even before SDG-related spending is taken into account.

And the situation for some could become even more challenging as commodity prices fall and developed countries consider whether to raise interest rates.

To make reasonable strides toward the SDGs in these circumstances, governments will need to deliver public services more economically and efficiently. Besides providing greater value for money, many of Africa’s developing and lowincome countries also need to improve their policy design, planning and budgeting, implementation, and evaluation.

These adjustments may not be easy in countries that

struggle to carry out basic state functions. For some, even the seemingly simple act of using budgeted resources to procure and deliver textbooks to rural schools in time for the start of the academic year could prove to be a daunting task. And although many African countries have inadequate budgets for much-needed capital investments, some governments spend as little as 2% of even these amounts, owing to misaligned procurement policies and insufficient administrative capacity.

The problem often starts with the preparation and presentation of the annual budget.

Weak revenue forecasting, unpredictable donor funding, and

fragmented decision-making processes can make this a highly uncertain exercise. The most recent round of Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessments, covering 40 African countries, points to the likelihood that, in the typical African country, the existing budget calendar “is rudimentary and substantial delays may often be experienced in its implementation.”

These delays are often accompanied by poor budget execution, which leads to overspending, extra-budgetary transactions, and resources being shifted away from development priorities. Transparency and accountability suffer, too, not least because legislatures usually lack

the capacity to scrutinise budgets effectively. The 2015 Budget Practices and Procedures survey of 23 African countries, for example, gives legislatures’ budget-research capacity an average score of just 11%.

There is no shortage of development assistance to tackle these problems. Development partners have spent an estimated $20 billion worldwide since 2002 to improve PFM in lowand middle-income countries.

There is now an entire industry of PFM advisory services, and hundreds of technical advisers have crisscrossed the continent trying to help struggling countries get their financial house in order.

Despite all that money and

effort, Africa’s public-finance challenges persist. The Gambia, for example, has a modern PFM regulatory framework, but the frequent shifting of funds between line items continues to create discrepancies between budget appropriations and actual spending. And off-budget expenditures remain common in Liberia, despite bilateral and multilateral assistance aimed at boosting fiscal credibility.

Many PFM investments in Africa have financed the rollout of costly integrated financialmanagement information systems, known as IFMIS. These computerised systems were meant to solve problems such as corruption, lack of transparency and accountability, and

poor service delivery. But they have generally failed to do so.

This is because most PFM problems tend to have multiple interlinked causes. True, some of these may be technical, and can be fixed by applying a known solution, such as a robust information-technology system or a best-practice norm.

In many cases, however, the problems are more complex and rooted in the local context; as a result, transferable solutions often fail.

Such dysfunction is more pervasive in the “downstream” tier of government, such as state-run schools and hospitals, where tacit local knowledge is more critical. This bodes ill for Africa’s prospects of making progress toward the SDGs, because much development depends on the performance of such institutions.

We need a different PFM approach, one that helps African governments prioritise better, improve planning and budgeting, and deliver much-needed services to their citizens. Instead of relying on one-size-fitsall solutions, such an approach should acknowledge that PFM reform requires careful management of political and administrative constraints, together with a deep understanding of the local context.

Reform programmes should therefore put government officials center stage and aim for incremental change.

There is no shortcut to building effective public administrations, or to realising the SDGs. But by finding new and improved ways to manage their public finances, African countries can take big steps in the right direction.

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT >>

Why the World Needs National Development Banks

By STEPHANY GRIFFITHJONES

S

upport for national and multilateral development banks has grown worldwide in the decade since the global financial crisis. And the continued success of national development banks (NDBs), in particular, will be vital to achieve more sustainable economic growth in the future.

Development banks help to counteract the pro-cyclical nature of the private financial system, which lends too much in booms and rations credit during crises.

The private sector also often fails to provide enough financing for small and innovative companies and infrastructure projects.

Nor does it support enough of the investments in innovative activities, credit to small producers, and environmental projects that are urgently needed to make economies more dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable.

Although governments provide their paid-in capital, development banks raise funds on na-

By counteracting major shortcomings of the private financial sector, national and multilateral development banks play a crucial role in supporting economic growth.

Countries that already have national development banks should aim to expand their role, while others should consider establishing them. tional and international capital markets. Moreover, these banks’ loans are typically co-financed by the private sector, which is especially helpful for governments facing budget constraints during and after economic crises.

The World Bank and regional multilateral development banks (MDBs) sharply increased their lending during and after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The European Investment Bank, the largest MDB, doubled its paidin capital and is playing a central role in implementing the European Commission’s so-called Juncker Plan, which aims to generate €500 billion ($561 billion) of additional investment across the European Union by the end of 2020. In addition, the recent establishment of two other large

MDBs – the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank established by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) – will contribute further to a more balanced public-private mix in development finance.

The financial crisis also prompted some European, African, and Asian governments to establish new NDBs, and other countries to expand theirs. As a result, the total assets of NDBs reached approximately $5 trillion in 2015. Today, they are an important feature of most developed and middle-income countries’ financial sectors, notably in China, Germany, India, and South Korea. And large NDBs can have a big impact, especially in emerging economies.

Unsurprisingly, academic researchers are finally starting to pay more attention to NDBs after a long period of neglect.

They are looking to understand how these banks operate, which instruments, incentives, and governance structures work best, and how such institutions interact with the private sector and government policies.

In a recent book, we analysed NDBs in seven countries – China, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru– and concluded that these banks tend to be successful overall. They have been broadly efficient instruments of national development strategies in their respective countries, and they have helped to overcome major market failures in a flexible way.

Our research identifies five crucial functions of NDBs in the development process: providing counter-cyclical finance; encouraging innovation and structural transformation; enhancing financial inclusion; supporting infrastructure financing; and promoting environmental sustainability, in particular by combating climate change.

NDBs were strongly countercyclical in the wake of the global financial crisis. According to World Bank data, NDBs increased their lending from $1.16 trillion in 2007 to $1.58 trillion in 2009. This 36% increase was far greater than the growth in private bank credit in the same countries over that period.

NDBs have been innovative, notably in supporting

new activities. China’s CDB, Germany’s KfW, and Brazil’s BNDES have financed technological advances, for example, while others, including Chile’s CORFO, have supported entrepreneurship. Such banks have also introduced guarantees and established new equity (including venture capital) and debt funds. Furthermore, they have developed new programmes to increase financial inclusion, such as “correspondent” stores and post offices that provide financial services from one or more banks.

In addition, NDBs have been prominent supporters of important new sectors, such as renewables and energy efficiency.

For example, KfW was initially the sole lender to private companies investing in solar energy in Germany; private banks got on board later. In China, CDB helped to design policies to encourage investment in renewable energy – particularly solar – and provided significant initial funding. As a result, Germany and especially China have been major global promoters of solar power, helping to make it increasingly competitive relative to fossil-fuel energy.

To be clear, we favour “good” development banks: well-governed institutions with highly professional staff and clear mandates that fulfill their functions well. Such banks should maximize their development impact rather than profits, while ensuring some minimal level of return.

Countries that already have NDBs should aim to expand their role, while others should consider establishing them. Doing so would help to create a financial system that better serves countries’ economic and social needs.

• STEPHANY GRIFFITHJONES is Financial Markets Director at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University.

S.Sudan’s new petroleum pact with SA to boost peace, oil industry

T

he signing of the new exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA) between South Sudan and South Africa’s Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) is a boost to the oil sector and promotes peace and stability within the country.

This landmark oil deal marks yet another achievement for Africa’s growing energy investments and will provide

further boost to South Sudan’s economic revival.

This is the second petroleum exploration agreement that South Sudan has signed since independence. Singing this deal with South Africa’s state owned company marks the emergence of a strong intraAfrican energy cooperation and signals the willingness by South Sudan to provide investors with an enabling environment to invest and do business

in the country.

“This is a brilliant deal and the future outlook for exploration in South Sudan and Block B is huge, with prospective resources into the billions of barrels of oil. The potential discoveries can be quickly and cheaply tied into existing infrastructure,” stated NJ Ayuk, CEO of Centurion Law Group and the Chamber’s Executive Chairman.

“I am also impressed by

the deals commitment to local content, dedication to hiring citizens of South Sudan and investment in education.

Education is likely going to do more to strengthen the overall economy than anything else the government can do. South Sudan’s ability to attract, retain, and leverage energy investment is key for an inclusive and sustainable economic growth. The Chamber will continue to provide, and support market driv-

en, and people centered polices in oil states,” added NJ Ayuk.

The Chamber believes that the potential for large discoveries of oil and gas is immense in South Sudan, which remains largely under-explored despite already having proved oil reserves of 3.5 billion barrels.

New entrants like the SFF are important to ensuring socioeconomic development in South Sudan and show the way for more investors to come.

South Sudan is expecting to produce close to 270,000 bopd by the end of this year and is seeking investment across its value chain. The expansion of the country’s oil and gas industry offers tremendous investment opportunities in upstream, midstream and downstream via the laying of additional connectivity pipelines, refining infrastructure and the expansion of the country’s marketing network.

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> OIL AND GAS

Kenya to make its first shipment of crude oil in June 2019

K

enya’s Cabinet Secretary for Petroleum and Mining, John Munyes has disclosed that the country was on course with the exploitation of its oil fields and was expected to ship its first 200,000 barrels of crude oil in June 2019 after hitting the 200,000-barrel mark set by the government for it to be able to ship out the product.

Munyes was addressing delegates at the 9th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition 2019 in Mombasa, themed East African Region - The Destination of Choice for Oil and Gas Investment Opportunities to Enhance Socio-economic Transformation.

The Cabinet Secretary also disclosed that Tullow Oil had so far transported 87,000 barrels of crude oil to the Kenya Petroleum Refineries storage tanks in Mombasa.

According to Munyes, Kenya has a total of 94 wells of oil that have been drilled, 63 exploration blocks that have been gazetted, 276 blocks licenced and 36 blocks open to investors, adding that “the Government was constructing a 820km 20inch diameter, South Lokichar – Lamu Crude Oil pipeline that will connect Turkana to Lamu Port, which will be operational by 2022.”

The Cabinet Secretary revealed other major petroleum infrastructure that have been put in place/or whose construction is ongoing including the 450km, 20-inch diameter multiproduct Line 5 from Mombasa to Nairobi, which has been completed; construction of four tanks of 133,000 cubic metres in Nairobi to ensure adequate storage of products coming through Line 5; the 122 km, 10-inch diameter multi-product line from Sinendet to Kisumu, and; completion of the Kisumu Oil Jetty.

Munyes called upon investors to come to the EAC not only to invest in the Oil and Gas sectors but also to support the Partner States develop their fledgling petroleum industries.

“There are challenges in this area and we really need your support,” said the Cabinet Secretary.

On his part, the Tullow Oil

Executive Vice President for East Africa, Mark MacFarlane, disclosed that the compnay had invested $2 billion in Kenya, and it was upbeat that they will hit the 200,000 barrels required for shipment.

Tullow discovered crude oil in Uganda in 2006 and later in Kenya in 2012 but no exports have been made as yet.

Addressing delegates on behalf of the EAC Secretary General Amb Liberat Mfumukeko, the Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Christophe Bazivamo, said a few years ago the East African region did not attract significant investments in the oil and gas sector, but that today the region had benefited from advances in technology and management of exploration and production which has led to the discovery of commercially viable oil and gas deposits.

“Recent discoveries were very impressive; Uganda has 6.5 billion barrels of oil and 500 Billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas; Kenya 754 million barrels of oil, Tanzania 57.25 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas, Rwanda 63 billion cubic metres of methane gas and huge commercial reserves in South Sudan, and reports at hand indicate that exploration process in Burundi is also on going and that it has reached an advanced stage,” said Bazivamo.

The Deputy Secretary General informed the delegates that the conference aims at fulfilling one of the objectives of the Community enshrined in Chapter 19, Article 114 of the EAC Treaty and Article 40 of the EAC Common Market Protocol of promoting sustainable utilisation of the natural resources of the Partner States and putting in place measures that would effectively protect the natural environment of the Partner States.

Bazivamo said that exploitation of petroleum resources on the continent, had certainly not achieved the intended socioeconomic transformation, hence, “we have the obligation to draw lessons and ensure we are better off in the EAC region.”

"Since the inception of the EAPCE, impressive achievements have been reported in every subsequent conference

and I am happy to report that the EAC Partner States have established clear, harmonised, stable, regulatory, legal and fiscal frameworks that are supporting the achievements and developments in the sector," he said.

At the Conference, Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Eng. Irene Muloni launched the country’s second open competitive licencing round in petroleum exploration, development and production in Uganda.

At the launch, Eng. Muloni disclosed that the licencing

round covers five (5) Exploration Blocks in the Albertine Graben, which is the most prospective area of exploration, development, and production in Uganda. The Blocks are:LR2_2019_Block01 (Avivi), area coverage of 1026km2; LR2_2019_Block02 (Omuka), area coverage of 750km2; L R 2 _ 201 9 _ B l o c k 03 ( Ka suruban), area coverage of 1285km2; LR2_2019_Block04 (Turaco), area coverage of 637km2; and LR2_2019_ Block05 (Ngaji), area coverage of 1230km2.

The licensing round was driven by a number of factors including, among others, the establishment of additional resources and reserves to the current confirmed 6 billion barrels of oil, out of which about 1.4 billion barrels are recoverable, and 500 billion cubic feet of non-associated gas; and existence of comprehensive and robust legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks which guarantee certainty to investors.

The second launch follows the first licencing round through competitive bidding undertaken

in 2017.

Uganda made its first commercial oil discovery in 2006.

To date, over 121 wells have been drilled with a success rate of over 88%. Preparations are under way to commence production following the issuance of production licenses to Total E&P Uganda B.V, Tullow Uganda Operations Pty Ltd, and CNOOC Uganda Ltd. The commercialisation of the oil in Uganda will involve export of part of crude oil by the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline through Tanga Port in Tanzania.

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SPECIAL REPORT >>

Second Belt and Road Forum Results in Over 283 Deliverables

H

eads of State and UN leaders agreed on a Joint Communiqué and over 283 deliverables at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF). UN agencies and others announced joint projects and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in support of inclusive, sustainable development during the Forum.

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the Forum with a keynote address. He identified infrastructure as “the cornerstone of connectivity and a bottleneck of development confronting many countries,” and stressed that building infrastructure can help countries to better integrate into global industry, supply and value chains. Xi highlighted the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as an opportunity for building affordable, high quality, inclusive, resilient and sustainable infrastructure.

In his remarks at the Forum’s opening, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed two main concerns. First, he stated, at current trends, the world will only be “halfway towards achieving the SDGs” by 2030, and financial resources available for developing countries are not sufficient. Second, he warned, climate change “poses an existential risk to all countries,” jeopardises plans for inclusive, sustainable development, and threatens decades of progress.

Guterres urged leaders to come to his Climate Action Summit in September 2019 with “credible and ambitious plans.” He called for three key actions: ensuring that the BRI accelerates efforts to achieve the SDGs; using the BRI to close significant financing gaps to achieve the SDGs, particularly for inclusive, sustainable and durable infrastructure investments in developing countries; and expanding policy options for green and sustainable development that is backed by green financing instruments.

In his remarks to a ‘Leaders’ Roundtable of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation,’ the SecretaryGeneral echoed the emphasis on green and sustainable development, and his call for ambitious climate action. He urged leaders to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, end fossil fuel subsidies, refrain from starting construction of new coal plants beyond 2020, and transform the world with inclusive, sustainable growth that is “fully compatible

with the Paris Agreement on climate change and the SDGs.” Infrastructure is the cornerstone of connectivity and a bottleneck of development confronting many countries.

Leaders of 40 countries and international organisations participated in the Leaders’ Roundtable, chaired by Xi. The Roundtable agreed on a Joint Communiqué that reaffirms the essential role of strengthened multilateralism in addressing global challenges and recognises that an “open, inclusive, interconnected, sustainable and people-centered world economy can contribute to prosperity for all.” The Communiqué reaffirms commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and looks forward to “restoring and rejuvenating” the spirit of the ancient Silk Road and enhanced connectivity and cooperation based on “extensive consultation, joint efforts, shared and mutual benefits.” Leaders emphasize their support for partnership based on transparency, openness and inclusiveness, and a universal, rules-based, transparent, open and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) “at its core.”

On the environment and a green economy, the Joint Com-

muniqué underlines the importance of addressing the challenges of climate change and environmental protection, including through enhanced cooperation to implement the Paris Agreement. Leaders underline the importance of promoting green development, and express commitment to “promoting sustainability in all its forms.” Leaders further support the development of sustainable blue economy, and call for further intensifying international maritime cooperation while sustainably managing marine and coastal ecosystems.

The Joint Communiqué also encourages, inter alia: development of green finance, including green bonds and green technology; enhanced cooperation on a circular economy, environmental protection and integrated water resources management (IWRM); increased cooperation in protecting biological diversity, sustainable agriculture and forestry, and resilience and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk management (DRM).

On infrastructure, leaders strive to build “high-quality, reliable, resilient and sustainable infrastructure” that contributes to sustainable development of participating countries and industrialization of developing countries.

The Joint Communiqué empha-

sizes the importance of projects’ economic, social, financial and environmental sustainability and “striking a good balance among economic growth, social progress and environmental protection.” To promote investable, bankable, economically viable and environment-friendly projects, leaders support improving cooperation in project preparation and implementation, and call on all market players to fulfill their corporate social responsibility and follow the UN Global Compact (UNGC) principles.

Leaders further support strengthening energy infrastructure to enhance energy security and promote access to affordable, clean, renewable and sustainable energy for all.

The BRF list of deliverables includes 283 results across six categories: 1) initiatives proposed or launched by China; 2) bilateral and multilateral documents signed immediately before or during the second BRF; 3) multilateral cooperation mechanisms under the BRF framework; 4) investment projects and project lists; 5) financing projects; and 6) projects by local authorities and enterprises. For example, China will continue to implement the Green Silk Road Envoys Program to train 1,500 environmental officials from participat-

ing BRF countries over the next three years. China also officially launched the BRI Environmental Big Data Platform and the Belt and Road South-South Cooperation Initiative on Climate Change. China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) jointly launched the Declaration on Accelerating the SDGs for Children through Shared Development in the Belt and Road partner countries.

China’s Industrial and Commercial Bank issued the first Belt and Road Bankers Roundtable Mechanism (BRBR) green bond, and jointly released the Belt and Road Green Finance Index with BRBR mechanism members, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and the Mizuho Bank.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission also launched the Belt and Road Green Lighting Initiative, with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the Belt and Road Green Cooling Initiative, with UNIDO, ESCAP and the Energy Foundation.

According to ESCAP, these two initiatives will deepen collaboration on market reform, policy and technology to improve the efficiency of energy use for lighting and cooling. ESCAP will support knowledge management and policy dialogue on efficient energy cooling, and strengthen capacity building on energy efficiency policies and standards.

Over 100 international and Chinese partner institutions, including the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and eight intergovernmental organizations, launched the Belt and Road Initiative International Green Development Coalition (BRIGC).

The Coalition aims to help integrate sustainable development considerations into the design, execution and implementation of BRI projects.

It is anticipated to serve as a platform for policy dialogue, data exchange and cooperation on green technology.

On sustainable cities, China announced a Belt and Road Sustainable Cities Alliance. The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) announced additional collaborations within the framework of the BRI. China hosted the Second BRF in Beijing, China, from 25-27 April 2019.

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>> HEALTH

JAPANESE GOVT’S MOVE TO SUPPORT TB ERADICATION IN KENYA

T

he government of Japan is supporting the eradication of Tuberculosis (TB) in Kenya. Through advocacy, campaigns and training the government of Japan through a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) has helped to construct a TB Laboratory at Kangemi Health Center to support screening for TB symptoms. It has also conducted training and organised campaigns to sensitise the local people about TB, its control and management.

Working with community health workers and Community Health Volunteers (CHV’s) Japan through the Results Japan Kenya Office Organisation has been able create a very strong impact about TB, especially how to avoid being affected, how to manage the disease and more importantly how to live with victims within Kangemi slums. The laboratory is now helping many residents in the area not only to understand what TB is all about, but also to get tested to know their status and also receive information about the disease.

According to Mr James Kithome, the Chairman of Results Japan Kenya Office Organisation, in the modern world today, infectious diseases such as TB, Cholera, and HIV- AIDS among others

can be avoided if information about them is available and if sensitisation through education is conducted in good time, to make the people aware about such infectious diseases and epidemics.

He lauded the government of Japan for supporting the Kangemi project and for its commitment to help eradicate the disease in the country.

Mr Kithome observed that Japan being a developed country, has experiences and expertise which are important for developing countries like Kenya in dealing with such infectious diseases and pandemics. He appealed to the government of Japan to continue supporting the fight against TB not only in Kangemi but also in other parts of the country like Garissa, Turkana, Kisumu, and Kitui among others.

In commemorating the world TB Day in March this year, Community Health workers and CHV’s organised various events in Kangemi which were supported by the government of Japan.

As part of the celebrations, the community also carried out cleaning exercises to make the environment clean.

In Thika town, the Cabinet Secretary for Health Sicily Kariuki said that TB was the fifth leading cause of death in Kenya and observed that the statistics about the disease were alarming. “TB remains a public health concern globally and in the country. We will require a multi-sectoral approach to get rid of the disease,” she said.

Kenya Government recently launched the National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis to eradicate the disease that has reached alarming levels.

According to the Ministry of Health, last year 94,400 Kenyans were diagnosed with TB among them 10,000 children and about 670 were multiple drug resistant cases World Health Organization representative in Kenya Rudolf Richard Eggers observed that 10 million people develop TB globally every year, resulting to an estimated 1.6 million deaths. World TB Day is commemorated every 24th Day of March to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB and also to step up efforts to end the disease globally.

TB is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Kenya affecting all age groups although it has its greatest toll in the most productive age groups of 15-44 years.

As Kenya celebrated World TB Day last March, statistics indicated an increase of TB affections in the country. New data from the National TB Prevalence Survey estimated that 558 per 1000,000 people have been affected. The percentage is higher in young men between 25-34years and older Women over 65 years old.

Us government has donated $ 21 million through the US President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), USAID, CDC making it the largest donor to TB control in Kenya.

The donation by the US government is used to prevent, diagnosis and treat TB and TB/ HIV Co- infection and also in conducting re-

search on TB Prevalence and Control in Kenya.

The three-year Kangemi TB project was started in 2016. It is now in its third stage where they are sensitising local communities including local institutions of learning on the importance of washing hands and keeping the environment clean since TB is a contagious diseases spreading through contacts.

The main objective of the project is to scale up community-led responses to TB in Kangemi by increasing the rate of diagnosis of the disease through screening and referral of cases, increasing the rate of recovery from the disease through better diagnostic and monitoring systems, and by preventing new cases by creating awareness and improving nutrition, and providing good living environment .The project when completed will cost nearly 100 million Kenya shillings.

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HEALTH >>

WHO Under Fire for Giving Nod to Traditional Chinese Medicine

F

or more than 2,000 years Chinese healers have used herbal powders and tinctures, dust made from various animal parts and strategically placed needles to treat a host of human ailments. These are used in hundreds of nations globally, but the practice in China is perhaps the most extensive, documented and catalogued.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on the concept of qi, a system of energy that flows along meridians in the body to maintain health.

Over the past decade proponents of TCM have worked hard to move it into the mainstream of global health care—and it appears those efforts are coming to fruition. The latest (11th) version of the World Health Organisation's list known as the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) will include these remedies for the first time.

According to its own mandate, the WHO sets the norms and standards for medical treatment around the globe and articulates “ethical and evidencebased policy options.” It categorises thousands of diseases and influences how doctors treat them; how insurers cover those treatments; and what kind of research is done on which ailments. More than 100 countries rely on the document to determine their medical agendas.

To include TCM in the ICD is an egregious lapse in evidencebased thinking and practice.

Data supporting the effectiveness of most traditional remedies are scant, at best. An extensive assessment was done in 2009 by researchers at the University of Maryland: they looked at 70 review papers evaluating TCM, including acupuncture.

None of the studies proved conclusive because the data were either too paltry or did not meet testing standards.

To be sure, many widely used

and experimentally validated pharmaceuticals, including aspirin, decongestants and some anticancer chemotherapies, were originally derived from plants or other natural sources. Those drugs have all gone through extensive clinical testing of safety and efficacy, however. Giving credence to treatments that have not met those standards will advance their use but will also diminish the WHO's credibility.

China has been pushing for wider global acceptance of traditional medicines, which brings in some $50 billion in annual revenue for the nation's economy. And in 2016 Marga-

ret Chan, then the WHO director, praised China's plans to do so. But while it's a good idea to catalogue TCM and make health workers aware of treatments used by millions, their inclusion in the ICD recklessly equates them with medicines that have undergone clinical trials.

In China, traditional medicines are unregulated, and they frequently make people sick rather than curing them. One particularly troublesome ingredient, aristolochic acid, is commonly used in traditional remedies and has been linked to fatal kidney damage and cancers of the urinary tract.

A 2018 study in the British

Journal of Clinical Pharmacology tested 487 Chinese products taken by sick patients and discovered 1,234 hidden ingredients, including approved and banned Western drugs, drug analogues and animal thyroid tissue. And in 2012 a team led by Megan Coghlan, then at Murdoch University of Australia, identified the DNA sequences in 15 samples of traditional medicines in the form of powders, tablets, capsules, bile flakes and herbal teas. The samples also contained plants that produce toxic chemicals and animal DNA from vulnerable or endangered species (the Asiatic black bear and saiga antelope, for example) and other creatures protected by international laws.

Thus, the proliferation of traditional medicines would have significant environmental impacts on top of the negative health effects. It would contribute to the destruction of ecosystems and increase the il-

legal trade of wildlife. China announced last October that it was legalising the controlled trade of rhinoceros horn and tiger bone.

(The move was postponed in November, following a global outcry.) Both are believed by practitioners to have the power to cure a range of ailments, from fever to impotence—although no study has found any beneficial outcome of ingesting either.

Allowing even the controlled harvest of otherwise endangered creatures will boost illegal poaching, critics say.

Until they undergo rigorous testing for purity, efficacy, dosage and safety, the WHO should remove traditional medicines from its list. These remedies should be given the same scrutiny as other treatments before being included in standard care practices.

• This article was originally published with the title "The WHO Takes a Reckless Step" in Scientific American 320, 4, 6 (April 2019) doi:10.1038/scien-

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LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> HEALTH

Why is Malaria on The Rise Again?

By FREDROS OKUMU

I

n recent decades, strategies for combating malaria have emphasised distributing easy-to-use commodities – including insecticides, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and artemisininbased antimalarial drugs – and expanding access to prompt diagnosis. This approach is reaching its limits.

Mosquitoes are often described as the most dangerous animals on earth, because the diseases they transmit – including malaria, dengue, and Zika – cause more than a million deaths annually.

But strategies for mitigating

these threats remain far from adequate.

Consider malaria, which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), infected over 200 million people in 2017, killing 435,000. Until the 1940s or so, anti-malaria strategies rested on three pillars: better environmental management, improved housing, and stronger health systems.

Accounting for the mechanisms of malaria transmission (first described over 100 years ago), public-health authorities focused on minimising the proliferation of the Anopheles mosquito, people’s exposure to it, and their access to appropriate medical care.

The countries that adopted this approach achieved great progress – and in most cases, have remained malaria-free. In the United States, for example, malaria deaths declined by 75% between 1920 and 1939.

Then, in the 1940s, the arrival of the highly effective insecticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichlo-

roethane (DDT) changed everything. DDT quickly became the cornerstone of malaria-control strategies, including the first attempt to eradicate malaria globally. Thanks to its widespread use, substantial progress on malaria was made in Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, and some parts of Asia.

In Africa, however, the DDTbased malaria campaign largely never got off the ground, owing to a poor logistical capacity, ineffective public-health administration systems, or a lack of resources to scale up use. Starting in the 1960s, malaria cases skyrocketed across the continent.

But the world started paying attention only in the late 1990s, when malaria was causing over one million deaths annually and contributing to economic stagnation through lost labour productivity.

Finally, in 2000, African heads of state and government gathered in Abuja, Nigeria, to confront the emergency, pledging to halve malaria mortality

by 2010.

Faced with limited funding and capacity, however, governments handed over much of the responsibility for fulfilling their commitment to external donors, bilateral partners, and non-governmental agencies.

The strategies that emerged emphasised distributing easyto-use commodities including insecticides, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, and artemisinin-based anti-malarial medicines – and expanding access to prompt diagnosis.

From 2000 to 2015, the number of malaria deaths in Africa was halved and 750,000 malaria cases were averted.

Experts credit insecticidetreated nets, house spraying, and artemisinin-based treatments with 80% of these gains.

But, despite its advantages, there is a serious problem with this approach: it has fueled the rise of a massive malaria-control industry that is increasingly disconnected from the core mission of keeping communities healthy.

The most affected African countries – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, and Uganda, which together account for 60% of the global malaria burden – regularly import the bed nets, insecticides, and medicines being promoted by industry play-

ers.

Yet malaria is on the rise again, with the number of new cases rising in 16 African countries by more than 100,000 from 2016 to 2017, according to the WHO. It does not help that “commoditisation” of malaria control has also contributed to the depletion of practical malaria expertise in endemic countries.

As the world pursues the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – which include the target of ending the malaria epidemic by 2030 – it must rethink its approach. If global anti-malaria campaigns regress, malaria cases could surge by up to 74% by 2030.

But even if commodity-based strategies are maintained, the result will be only a marginal reduction of global malaria incidence in 2030, relative to 2016.

That is why, as major international partners continue to advance the commodity-based approach, African governments and other partners should be pursuing a long-term strategy focused on building resilience.

They should be localising the manufacture of mosquito nets, upgrading housing (such as by screening windows and closing eaves), ensuring that health systems have the capacity to identify and treat new malaria cases, and expanding health education in schools and com-

munities.

Given that malaria disproportionately affects the poorest households, there is also a need to focus on boosting food security and, more generally, on improving household economies.

Since these programmes are not typically managed by health ministries, alliances must be built across relevant sectors.

Such a holistic approach will be crucial to progress on the entire SDG agenda.

To fund these efforts, countries should take advantage of domestic resources, subsidies, tax rebates, or other innovative financing mechanisms, such as a $10 malaria levy paid by international travellers visiting endemic countries.

As progress accelerated, the burden on national health systems and economies would be reduced, freeing up more resources to support further progress on combating malaria and in related areas.

Commodities can continue to deliver some short-term gains in the fight against malaria. But the only way to defeat the disease once and for all is with a long-term, resilience-building approach.

• Fredros Okumu, a mosquito biologist and public-health expert, is Director of Science at Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania.

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MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

HEALTH >>

WHO Africa Forum closes with a road map to achieving universal health coverage, health security

T

he second World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Africa Health Forum culminated with a road map that governments in the region as well as partners should urgently implement to manage and mitigate Africa’s health needs.

Hosted by the Government of the Republic of Cabo Verde and WHO and seeking new ideas and challenging questions under the theme “Achieving Universal Health Coverage and Health Security: The Africa We Want To See”, the Forum underscored the central role of good health in the sustainable development of the continent.

Participants ranging from high-ranking government officials to youth representatives and from United Nations officials to private sector representatives came together over the three days to explore how to take universal health care and health security to the next level.

In his closing address, José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva, Prime Minister of the Republic of Cabo Verde, said: "In several countries of the world, particularly in Africa, universal health coverage and health security are challenges to be overcome.

With strong political and civic awareness, engaged leaderships, good partnerships for development, favourable conditions

for investment and for private activity in the health sector and better regulation we will overcome these challenges."

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, noted the need for an African perspective on universal health coverage: “We must recognise the specific needs of the region and prioritise innovative service delivery approaches that will result in a long-term impact and lead to our common goal of quality health care for everyone, everywhere.”

Cabo Verde Minister of Health and Social Security, Dr Arlindo Nascimento do Rosário, unveiled a list of recommendations that powerfully conveyed the next steps that Member States especially but also NGOs, development partners and private sector stakeholders, should take to heart to deliver the health care systems that Africa needs and deserves.

To take universal health coverage to the next level, the recommendations call for faster action in building stronger, more resilient national health systems, the prioritising of primary health care, ensuring that vulnerable groups are reached, the strengthening of public-private partnerships and greater, more efficient, investment.

Greater preparedness and prevention of disease outbreaks and other public health emer-

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

gencies as well as preparedness for detecting and responding when they do occur and preparedness for the impact of natural disasters formed the core of recommendations for health security. The full implementation of the International

Health Regulations, which cover the capacity standards for all countries in preventing and responding to acute public health risks, needs to be accelerated, with cross-border collaborations strengthened.

Crucial for improving both

universal health coverage and health security are public-private partnerships. In addition to the financial and technical support possible through such partnering, the recommendations emphasised the essential role of the private sector in har-

nessing and scaling up innovations for universal health care delivery. WHO will work with governments, civil society and other partners to track the progress the region makes towards universal health care and improved health security.

Mobile phone app that discovers disease and saves lives in Africa

W

hat if a mobile phone could prevent a health epidemic? It may sound like science fiction, but the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Polio Geographic Information System (GIS) Technology is doing just that in 43 countries in Africa.

The idea is simple: Health workers visit remote villages to check if local inhabitants have any symptoms of a range of life-threatening infectious diseases, including polio and measles. Then, with the mobile app, they quickly and easily alert WHO. "This is one of the most ex-

citing things that is happening in the WHO regional office in Africa," Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, told participants during the GIS session, which took place during the second African Health Forum in Praia, Cabo Verde.

The system allows WHO and health ministries to monitor in real time the visits that people and caregivers make to the most remote areas and to make sure that people most in need are being reached.

"Overlaying the geographical location of the mobile phone signal and the route of the roads, we noticed that sometimes visits were only made

along the main road and not to the most remote places, which is where we need to be if there is a problem," explained Dr Moeti in describing the GIS app.

"This is an absolutely powerful tool," she exclaimed. Supported by the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation and created primarily for polio surveillance, GIS uses the AVADAR computer platform, which records changes in the health of inhabitants and identifies possible disease outbreaks.

"People think that this is all very high tech, but in fact, it is not – it is super user-friendly, and it gives us what we need, which is data. The AVADAR is very versatile and simple and

can be used by everyone," said Dr Magaran Bagayoko, Acting Director of the Health Systems Strengthening Cluster.

With more than 6, 000 community outreach workers and more than 1, 000 health workers, the programme for research and geographical control of diseases is the future of health surveillance – helping to ensure that we not only prevent a recurrence of diseases like polio but eradicate them once and for all. It shows how far we have come since 1996, when Nelson Mandela launched the Kick Polio Out of Africa campaign, a scourge that, at that time, affected 75, 000 African children every year.

39

LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> TOURISM AND HOTEL

Hilton Garden Inn expands footprint in Africa

H

ilton Garden Inn, Hilton’s globally recognised midscale hotel brand, is celebrating strong growth in Africa with four open properties and an ad-

ditional 14 in the pipeline just three years after opening its first hotel on the continent in 2016.

Many of these properties represent first-in-country openings for Hilton Garden Inn and for the Hilton enterprise as a

whole, including Botswana, Zambia and Uganda.

The global head, Hilton Garden Inn, John Greenleaf, said: “We have positioned Hilton Garden Inn for success in Africa with a prototype developed

specifically for the region. This prototype has been curated to meet the expectations of both travellers and owners throughout Africa, while maintaining the brand’s signature light, bright and airy design as well as the consistent, core guest offerings and amenities that the brand is recognised for around the world.”

Each hotel is built in the Hilton Garden Inn tradition featuring modern guest rooms, perfect for work and comfort.

Guests may unwind in a relaxing social setting, enjoying handcrafted cocktails, light bites or dinner. The Shop, a 24-hour, grab-and-go retail space, offers an upscale mix of healthy, indulgent and fresh foods, varietal beverages and a self-serve specialty coffee bar.

To date, Hilton Garden Inn has four properties and nearly 800 rooms open in Africa, including: • Morocco: Hilton Garden Inn Tanger City Center (Opened March 2016) – Hilton Garden Inn’s initial entry into Africa; this property is steps away from the beach and the famed Tanger City Mall with stunning views of the city and Mediterranean Sea. • Kenya: Hilton Garden Inn

Nairobi Airport (Opened February 2018) – Hilton Garden Inn’s first property in Kenya is a welcoming oasis close to Nairobi’s international airport with a rooftop infinity pool.

• Zambia: Hilton Garden Inn Lusaka Society Business Park (Opened August 2018) – Zambia’s first Hilton hotel, this Hilton Garden Inn property is centrally located in the heart of Lusaka City, perfect for business travellers.

• Botswana: Hilton Garden Inn Gaborone (Opened February 2019) – Hilton’s first hotel in the country; this Hilton Garden Inn property is centrally located in the city's new Central Business District.

“Countries such as Botswana and Uganda are some of the fastest growing economies in the world, with impressive visitor offerings. The Hilton Garden Inn brand appeals to the rise of middle-class travellers into and across Africa, providing an opportunity for us to open hotels and meet guest demand in key destinations,” said Jan Van Der Putten, Vice President Operations, Africa and Indian Ocean, Hilton.

With 14 hotels and nearly 2,400 rooms in the Africa pipeline, Hilton Garden Inn Kam-

pala in Uganda and Hilton Garden Inn Mbabane in Eswatini are in the pipeline to open this month as first-in-country properties for both Hilton Garden Inn and the Hilton enterprise.

The pipeline also projects Hilton Garden Inn Windhoek in Namibia to open later this year, another first-in-country for Hilton Garden Inn. Other African countries in the Hilton Garden Inn pipeline include Malawi, Ghana, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa.

As Hilton Garden Inn expands in Africa, the Hilton enterprise as a whole is also expected to double its footprint across Africa from 44 hotels today to almost 100 over the next several years.

Hilton, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month, has a rich legacy of hospitality leadership in the region.

As shared in The Hilton Effect, Hilton was the first international hotel brand in the newly-created capital of Abuja more than 30 years ago.

Hilton Garden Inn is part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning guest-loyalty programme for Hilton’s 17 distinct hotel brands.

Autograph Hotels debuts in Kenya welcoming Sankara to its portfolio

A

utograph Collection Hotels, Marriott International’s distinctive collection of passionately independent hotels, welcomed Sankara Nairobi to its diverse and distinguished portfolio of over 171 hotels around the world, marking the debut for the brand in Kenya.

Set in the heart of Westlands, Sankara Nairobi lies in the epicentre of the city’s commercial, retail, and entertainment quarter and boasts quintessential Kenyan charm and hospitality, contemporary interiors and carefully curated modern African art throughout the hotel.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sankara Nairobi, a distinctive hotel which evokes the spirit and heritage of this vibrant city, to our portfolio,” said Alex Kyriakidis President and Managing Director, Middle East and Africa, Marriott International.

“As the first Autograph Collection Hotel in Kenya, Sankara Nairobi is a significant addi-

tion to our rapidly growing portfolio in the region and a testament to our conversion friendly strategy. The hotel perfectly embodies the brand’s unique perspective on design, craft, hospitality and its Exactly Like Nothing Else philosophy.

This rebranding is in lockstep with the growing demand from consumers and their desire for differentiated experiences wherever they travel.”

Just a short drive away from the city centre and the United Nations Headquarters, and within easy access from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Wilson Airport, the hotel is situated at the heart of the city’s vibrant social and business life. It comprises 168 thoughtfully designed rooms, a tempting choice of authentic and award-winning restaurants, destination bars, social and meeting spaces, and fitness facilities. The newly-refurbished guest rooms including a brandnew Presidential Suite captures the hotel’s personality with

signature elements showcasing a unique character and a defining sense of place.

The culinary experience at Sankara Nairobi is a delightful indulgence offering both variety and authenticity. From the finest global cuisine with a live show kitchen and a focus on fresh, seasonal and organic produce at Artisan, to the award winning New-York style steakhouse Graze; from a Parisienne inspired Opera Patisserie, to a Gourmet food and wine bar designed to delight the inner gourmand, The Gallery; to a spectacular rooftop pool and bar Sarabi and The Champagne Bar, Sankara Nairobi sets the tone for a stylish urban experience in a pulsating city.

From arrival guests are invited to enjoy hometown inspired traditions with a warm welcome and signature drink “Sankara Kombe” – a popular homemade recipe made with local honey, herbs and lemon.

A signature turn down experience is specially crafted to de-

light guests with a handmade soapstone animal collection of the ‘Sankara 7’. This unique gift which includes the BIG FIVE of Kenya, supports local craftmanship. As part of the hotel’s commitment to protecting local wildlife it has partnered with WWF Kenya to fundraise for the African Elephant programme – Herd of One. Hotel guests may

donate $1 per stay with the goal of elephant conservation in the Mara.

“We are excited to join the brand’s global portfolio of iconic hotels around the world and deliver a thoughtfully curated and authentic experience,” said Krishna Unni, Group General Manager of Sankara Hotel Group. “Socially and culturally

immersive, Sankara Nairobi creates a vibrant and warm character that is deeply ingrained in the art, culture and lifestyle of Nairobi. We are confident that Sankara Nairobi will soon emerge as a preferred choice for travellers to Nairobi welcoming both Marriott International’s loyal members as well as new guests”.

40

MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

HOUSING >> World Bank Approves $250m for Affordable Housing Finance for Kenyans

T

he World Bank has approved a $250 million International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loan to enhance access to affordable housing finance for Kenyans who are unable to access longterm housing finance.

The Kenya Affordable Housing Finance Project (KAHFP) will support the establishment and operationalisation of the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Corporation (KMRC), a largely private sector-owned and nondeposit taking financial institution under the supervision of the Central Bank of Kenya.

KMRC’s goal is to drive affordability of mortgages by providing more long-term funding to financial institutions, an

incentive to enable them to offer long tenure loans to homebuyers. The project will also assist the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning to improve property registration and address structural constraints in the land management system in Kenya.

“We believe that Kenya’s vibrant private sector offers an excellent opportunity to crowd in privately held skills and resources towards achieving the country’s Big 4 affordable housing goals and in alignment with the World Bank Group’s Maximizing Finance for Development agenda,” said Felipe Jaramillo, World Bank Kenya Country Director.

“Urban housing currently remains unaffordable for most Kenyans due to cost of financ-

ing, the short loan tenures and the high cost of properties.”

Currently, commercial banks in Kenya hold only about 26,000 mortgage loans of an individual value of $110,000 (KES 11,000,000). The interest rate cap of 2016 coupled with an overall Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio of 12% led banks to tighten their credit standards and offer variable rate loans locking out middle to low income would-be homeowners. Kenyans largely access loans from Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) that are estimated to provide almost 90% of Kenya’s total housing finance. While SACCOs’ interest rates remain low at 12% they remain highly constrained by the short-term nature of their deposits liabilities and short

loan tenures of not more than five years.

The KAHFP support will target households that are classified by the Government of Kenya to fall within the mortgage gap and low-cost categories and represent 95% of the formally employed population.

“The project will endeavour to boost shared prosperity for all Kenyans by addressing rapid urbanisation which often manifests itself through the development of slums,” said Caroline Cerruti, World Bank Senior Finance Specialist and Task Team Leader for the Project. “The World Bank has supported many mortgage refinance companies in emerging markets, and Kenya has the right pre-conditions for KMRC to be successful, such

as supportive macroeconomic conditions, well developed capital markets and financial institutions active in housing

finance.”

KAHFP is expected to increase access to finance by tripling the proportion of urban households having access to a mortgage. The project will promote inclusive finance through KMRC serving SACCOs and microfinance banks which target borrowers on low and irregular incomes. Investment into affordable housing will have a strong economic multiplier effect given the number of linked sectors and could support 132,000 new jobs. Better housing conditions are also linked to improved health and education outcomes.

The project will be implemented through KMRC, the National Treasury and the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning.

Smart housing prototype shows promise in rapidly urbanising Africa

A

frica is urbanising fast, as its population grows and many flocks to cities in search of jobs, education and healthcare.

Studies show that hundreds of millions more Africans will live in cities over the next three decades.

Many of these new urban Africans, however, are likely to end up in informal settlements. Already an estimated 200 million Africans live in informal settlements—often without access to energy and sanitation.

The growing class of urban poor need access to decent housing. But the challenge is that the global housing sector already emits almost a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and uses up to 40 per cent of the planet’s total resources. New approaches are clearly needed.

As the housing sector grows— and it must grow if we want an equitable world—we need to reduce its environmental impact, not raise it,” said UN Environment Acting Executive Director, Joyce Msuya. “Smart design is the only way to meet our housing needs and stay within planetary boundaries.”

UN Environment, UN Habitat, the Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture and associated partners are working on these designs, one of which is on display at the UN Environment headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

First unveiled at the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly, the 3D-printed mod-

ular structure, made from biodegradable bamboo, aims to spark ideas and debate on how future biomaterial processes can help meet the Sustainable Development Goals, Habitat III New Urban Agenda and Paris Agreement.

The pavilion shows how post-agricultural waste—like bamboo, coconut, rice, soy and corn—can be turned into construction materials. It demonstrates solar energy and water systems that make homes selfsufficient and zero carbon. It highlights how micro-farming can be achieved with plant walls.

All these features, and more, are integrated, monitored and managed by sensors and digital controls.

“As urbanisation gallops forward, people around the world are tired of seeing precious natural habitats paved over with toxic, energy-intensive materials such as concrete and steel,” said Anna Dyson, Director of the Center for Ecosystems in Architecture at Yale University. “In the 21stcentury, global construction practices must innovate towards nature-based solutions for future cities. Our research consortium with East African collaborators is devoted to advancing state-of-the-art locally produced building systems.”

It is fitting that the pavilion is based in Kenya, as the government there has prioritised affordable housing as a key pillar of its Big Four Agenda, which aims to make the East African nation an upper middle-income

Anna Dyson (Director of the Center for Ecosystems in Architecture at Yale University) together with Amina Mohammed (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations) at the Nairobi Ecological Pavilion.

country by 2030. Over the next five years, the Government plans to build over 500,000 affordable houses across the country to meet the ever-growing housing demand.

To achieve the low-cost housing agenda, however, the industry needs to embrace technological changes that will result in the

use of innovative sustainable construction, the aggregate effect of which would be to lower the embodied energy and average cost of manufacturing and housing. “Architecture must address the global housing challenge by integrating critically needed scientific and technical advances in energy, water, and material

systems while remaining sensitive to the cultural and aesthetic aspirations of different regions,” said Deborah Berke, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture.

The pavilion serves as a starting point for those in government and industry to think about what they can do better. It is part of a series of demonstra-

tion buildings, which started with a 22-square-meter “Ecological Living Module”, powered by renewable energy and designed to minimise the use of resources such as water. This module was displayed at the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2018.

41

LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> REAL ESTATE

4 Turning Points Needed to Salvage Kenya's Real Estate Market Kenya’s real estate industry is set to boom once again in 2019 from the growing middle class

E

merging from a stagnant economy after political turmoil, Kenya’s real estate industry is set to boom once again in 2019 from the growing middle class, rapid urbanisation which is currently at 4.3% per annum against global averages of 2.0% coupled with other demographic trends. For real estate agents and developers to succeed, they must embrace a multiphased approach including consumer preferences of online platforms like BuyRentKenya.com, being responsive to market changes in pricing, commoditise high-value areas with a vertical building approach, and aligning with the President’s affordable housing projects.

Consumer Preference to Online Platforms

Market insights from BuyRentKenya.com, which has bagged several Real Estate Awards, show that 68% of property seekers use their mobile device to search for property online. This elimi-

nates the tedious process of scouting for property, contacting brokers and owners and constantly making frequent visits to view the property to avoid getting scammed.

Consumers want to see listings with detailed descriptions, different price options, and also want to have someone who will answer all their questions without having to physically visit the property.

Agents and developers need to embrace this modern way of consumers searching for property by working with real estate portals to post listings online which will be available to anyone and everyone.

Because the internet has consumers with different purchasing powers, agents and developers who post their listings on property portals such as BuyRentKenya.com will reach a wider target audience by providing both low and high-end property options. This will cause a shift in the demand and supply curve by focusing on areas where demand for property is high and giving consumers what they want.

Pricing Changes in the Market

Over the past three years, there have been changes in market prices. BuyRentKenya. com’s market predictions are based on pricing shifts, economic key drivers, and real estate trends. Largely, there is an increase in the demand and supply of townhouses in the satellite towns such as Kitengela judging by the 3% increase in the rental price of an apartment and an 11% price increase from people buying townhouses in the same area.

This increase is attributed to infrastructural improvements making it easier for commuting to Nairobi while spending less on property respective to Nairobi properties.

Apartment prices are set to increase in high-demand areas such as Westlands and Lavington from the growth of consumers earning a higher income and wanting to live close to the city centre. These areas are also attracting the expatriate community through available amenities, location, and proximity to conference centres.

Developers Using the Vertical Building Approach

Land to develop in Nairobi is scarce, that’s why there is a price hike in the value of existing land. Accordingly, satellite towns such as Ruiru, Kitengela and Athi River are growing with more people looking for townhouses. In areas such as Westlands and Parklands, the rental prices of townhouses have gone up by 17% and 11% respectively over the past 3 years. This is different for apartments in the same areas where there have been nominal changes in the rental price.

Developers should consider building vertically and leverage on air rights as mentioned on BuyRentKenya.com’s Kilimani Neighbourhood Guide.

By demolishing old houses and building apartment blocks on the same land, developers can maximise the return on high-demand property. Building vertically is the solution to meet the needs

of people who can’t afford to relocate to satellite towns and want to live in Nairobi due to easier access to social amenities such as healthcare services, restaurants, schools, shopping malls and many more.

Affordable Housing Project

BuyRentKenya’s pricing review will help property seekers and investors make informed decisions to get better returns on their investments. However, there are external factors which will impact the prices of property in Kenya such as the President’s initiative to provide affordable housing to Kenyans through the “Big Four Agenda”.

According to BuyRentKenya. com’s CEO Lizzie Costabir, the affordable housing project will have a positive effect in other

areas such as the cement industry which will force suppliers and contractors to reduce construction costs. There will also be an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI). This she says, “...has continually brought about an increase in urbanisation and subsequently increased property demand”.

A major challenge that developers and real estate agents experience is targeting the right people to see and occupy the property. On the other hand, property seekers struggle to find property within their price range. Online property marketplaces such as BuyRentKenya.com continues to connect property seekers to agents and developers causing a shift in the supply and demand curve. These four key changes will propel the growth of the property industry for developers, estate agents, and property seekers.

42

MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

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Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta sets pace for African leaders who are beginning to reason and see sense in the meaning of peace and stability.

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The big face-off between Buhari and Atiku 0

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SPECIAL REPORT - PAGE 2 TSHISEKEDI: SON,HEIR AND PRESIDENT-ELECT

AFRICA'S GAME CHANGERS MOHAMMED ‘MO’ IBRAHIM (BUSINESSMAN) - SUDAN

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NIGERIA'S PRESIDENCY: REPORTS - PAGES 3-4

January, 2019 Issue No.005

REDEFINING AFRICA'S POLITICS

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43

LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

WORLD'S LARGEST EVER ATHLETICS EXHIBITION ON IN DOHA

S

ix global champions were in City Center Doha for the opening ceremony of the IAAF Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhibition.

The exhibition, the largest ever of its kind, celebrates the history of the IAAF World Athletics Championships whose first edition took place in Helsinki, Finland, 36 years ago, and which remain today the third most important sporting event on the planet.

The ceremony was presided over by IAAF President Sebastian Coe and Dahlan Al Hamad, IAAF Vice President and Director General of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 Local Organising Committee.

The exhibition, which is occupying 400m2 of space in the

largest shopping mall in Qatar, will be open daily to the public for six months, closing on Monday, October 7. During this time the Asian Athletics Championships, Doha Diamond League and IAAF World Athletics Championships will be hosted by Doha, drawing thousands of athletes, official, media and fans to Qatar.

“Athletics is an ancient sport but there is nothing old about how this exhibition displays our history,” commented Seb Coe. “There are huge audio photo walls, LED screens showing archive competition action.

There’s the chance to explore the heights and weights of champions, lift the throwing implements, touch the hurdles and stand back in awe and admire the world record heights and distances of the jumpers.”

“Add to those attractions,

there are 100s of items of wonderful athletics clothing and equipment donated and loaned by some of the greatest stars of our sport on display.

This exhibition is a must see for all sports fans,” concluded Coe. During the ceremony, donations and loans of kit were made by six global champions.

Four-time Olympic champion Lasse Viren donated the pair of Onitsuka Tiger ASICS shoes which he wore when running the marathon at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

Following his second Olympic 5000m and 10,000m double, Viren took 5th place in the marathon.

Seb Coe then stepped-up to hand over his 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games spikes and national vest from his second 1500m Olympic victory.

Another British running great Liz McColgan, the 1991 world 10,000m champion, was next up on stage. McColgan loaned her winning spikes – already donated to the ASICS museum in Kobe – for display at the Heritage Exhibition.

The most-weighty of the donations in two respects came from Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk. Firstly, the twotime Olympic and three-time world champion was the most bemedaled of all attending guests. Secondly, Wlodarczyk donated the 4kg hammer to the IAAF Heritage Collection, with which she set the first 80m+ world record by a woman.

Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Abderrahman Samba then came to the stage to officially hand over their pre-announced donations of kit. Barshim, the reigning world high jump champion, presented his London 2012 Olympic Games competition vest and number, while Samba handed over the bodysuit which he wore when winning the 2018 IAAF Continental Cup Ostrava 2018 400m hurdles title.

It was an evening that summed-up the past, present and future of athletics.

Immediately before the official tape cutting to open the exhibition took place, the talented young Qatari national 4x100m relay squad, who will compete in the World Championships, also made an appearance on stage.

- IAAF

44

MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

SPORTS >>

Champions

The teams are going but

L

Victor Wanyama

ike most football-obsessed kids, those playing on the streets of Hargeisa dream of one day representing their country. The problem is their country, officially at least, doesn't exist.

Somaliland has everything you expect from a country. Its people have Somaliland passports and pay with Somaliland shillings. The Somaliland flag flies in the Somaliland Parliament. The president was democratically elected in a “smooth and peaceful” election.

What it doesn't have is a FIFA-recognised international football team or the means to maintain one. However, that is something four Britons of Somaliland descent are determined to change.

In February, Ahmed Ali and Mohammed Saeed, both 26, from Birmingham, joined Abdisalam Ahmed, 22, and Hussein Adan, 26, from London to establish the Somaliland Football Academy in their parents' homeland.

“We think every young person should have the opportunity to play football,” Ali, a former community coach and scout for West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff City and now head of youth football and coach education in Somaliland, says.

“In most other countries there’s already some sort of structure in place whereas here the challenge was to build everything from the bottom up. The thing that excited us most was literally starting from grassroots football to one day forming a national team.”

The quartet arrived with coaching backgrounds but to no facilities, no money and no players. As it is not a FIFA

member, Somaliland does not receive international funding and its government, perhaps understandably, has other priorities.

“The four of us went to the Sport ministry and said ‘look, we'll do it for free. We'll do the whole youth development and coach education courses,” says Ali, who credits Ahmed Adare, the former Justice Minister and Somalia international, with helping to open doors.

“They said go ahead, let us know if there's anything we can help with, as long as it's not money.”

The Somaliland 'national' team Organised by London-based president Ilyas Mohamed, the Somaliland team played their first friendly fixture in 2014. A squad of mainly UK-based amateurs, including a PE teacher and hospital administrator, competed in the 2016 CONIFA World Football Cup in Abkhazia, a partially recognised break-away region of Georgia.

Playing against other de facto nations, autonomous regions and minority peoples, Somaliland lost three of their four matches, finishing 10th out of 12. Their one victory was a 3-2 win over the Chagos Islands, a diaspora team representing the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

Though the squad included four players based in Somaliland, the government at the time claimed the team could not represent the ‘country’ and that the goal was to be accepted into FIFA. Cut off from international assistance, the average Somalil-

ander lives on US$347 a year.

One in 11 children do not survive to their fifth birthday and the average life expectancy from birth is 50.

In Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, camels and donkeydrawn carts merge in traffic with battered taxis.

Though it is attracting growing foreign investment, Somaliland is a place with plenty of challenges. Chief among them: proving it is a 'real' nation.

After gaining independence from Britain, Somaliland unified with Somalia in 1960. As Somalia fell into civil war, Somaliland re-declared independence in 1991. Ever since, as Somaliland has strived to show the world it is independent, the world has looked the other way.

Compared to Somalia, which suffers regular terrorist attacks, Somaliland is relatively stable and, though it may be poor, its people are proud.

Somalilanders will tell you their 'country' is in the Horn of Africa, bordering Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia, with a small (pirate-free) coast on the Gulf of Aden. Ask the United Nations, or any government in the world, and they’ll say Somaliland is an autonomous region in northwest Somalia.

Somaliland's presence in the football world is similarly hidden. An unofficial ‘national’ team plays in CONIFA (the Confederation of Independent Football Associations), but draws largely on players from the roughly one-million-strong diaspora in areas including the UK, US and Scandi-

navia.

Until recently, the region roughly the size of Uruguay, with a population of 3.5m, also had no structure for youth football, but that too is being addressed by the Somaliland Football Academy.

From the academy base in Hargeisa, the four founders have self-funded travel across the country, training 132 coaches and recruiting 1,600 players.

“In the UK everything is setup and you're just there to deliver a coaching session, but here it was literally at zero,” Ali says.

“There were a lot of kids playing football in the streets but there weren't any organised teams.”

What wasn't lacking was a passion to play.

“We once had 140 kids turn up on a seven-a-side pitch” Ali says. “You'd have one kid come and the week after he’d bring six friends, and then they’d bring 20 friends and before you knew it you’d have hundreds of little ones wanting to play.”

Adan, who moved to Somaliland in July 2017 and set up the All Star Sports Academy, now one of seven centres under Somaliland Football Academy, adds: "The country loves football. Tell someone a team and they will tell you about any player in that team," Adan, who also works with schools to design and deliver physical education programmes, says.

"I was walking around the city and you see kids playing on street corners kicking around a bottle or socks wrapped into a ball."

45

LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> SPORTS

League Final: can fans afford to?

'It is about giving them hope' The academy has relied on donations. West Brom gave training equipment and a delivery from KitAid means somewhere in Somaliland youngsters are proudly wearing last season’s Port Vale and Walsall shirts.

With astroturf pitches scarce and expensive, they have also had to be creative finding places to play, often utilising disused patches of dusty land.

“The boys will come to a pitch before the session and sweep the place to make sure there aren't any bricks or rocks. It's helped us - one, by not having to pay for facilities and two, the players put a bit of care into their local area,” Ali says.

Within a year, the academy has established national leagues for boys at Under 13, 15 and 17 level. They also want to develop football for women and, at a recent girls' tournament, the Vice-President congratulated the winning team.

The academy works closely with Lions Gate, a sports centre set up by another Brit, Mohammed Yusuf, in one of Hargeisa's poorest areas. Established to combat gang violence, Lions Gate has trained former gang members to be coaches, referees and ground staff.

Youth unemployment is high and many Somalilanders attempt the dangerous journey to Europe via Libya. One Unicef-funded study found those emigrating were typically young men, some as young as 14, and “abuse and death are common.”

“We've had mothers crying

and hugging us because we stopped their boys from trying to emigrate. We gave them hope and something to look forward to and we didn't even know it,” Ali says.

“For some, coaching is about developing players to play in the Premier League but for us it's about giving them hope to keep going and not give up.”

The diaspora-heavy Somaliland team is ranked 27th out of 40 CONIFA members while FIFA ranks Somalia joint-sixth lowest in the world.

Recognition from FIFA seems unlikely but would not be without precedent. The organisation has 211 members, 18 more than the United Nations. In 2016, Gibraltar and Kosovo became FIFA's latest additions. Both have since claimed victories on the pitch, even if political recognition off it is missing.

Instead, the academy is focused on recruiting and training more players and coaches, with the aim to build elite youth teams at Under 15 and Under 17 level.

The academy founders have seen enough talent to believe the place that claims Mo Farah as its own (his family live in Somaliland) can have a positive future on the pitch - if given the chance.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the players here are physically good. They can run and technically they are good because they have played a lot of street football.

“I think you can com-

pare it a lot with the favelas in Brazil. There's a lot of raw players, there's a lot of raw talent, but they need a lot of coaching to fulfill their potential."

A team allowed to compete against other 'nations', even at youth level, could boost Somaliland's bid for international acceptance.

"We are trying to gain recognition and sport is the best way," Adan says. "If I ask people in Somaliland 'what's the capital city of Egypt?' many can't answer. But if I ask 'who's the best player from Egypt?' they'll tell you 'Salah' immediately.

"Football is an international language and if we were producing talented players and they were making noise on the international stage that would do Somaliland the world of good.

"The people of Somaliland are so passionate about their country. If there was a group of people representing Somaliland on the international stage, it wouldn't just be for the young people, it would be for everybody.

"I hope one day it does happen, but we've got a long way to go."

Divock Origi

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MAY/JUNE, 2019 | LIBERAL TRIBUNE

SPORTS >>

ATHLETICS TIMETABLE FOR TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS RELEASED

A

thletics timetable for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was unveiled recently during a ceremony in the Japanese capital.

Spread over ten days, athletics competition at the 29th Summer Olympic Games will commence on Friday, July 31 with the men's 20km race walk, which will finish in front of Japan’s imperial palace, and conclude on the final day of the Games, Sunday, August 9, with the men's marathon.

In between, competition will be spread over 17 exciting sessions at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium.

“The Tokyo 2020 schedule is sub-

stantially different from our previous Olympic timetables, but will offer the vast majority of athletics fans attending the Games the opportunity to see Olympic medals being decided, with finals scheduled in 15 of the 17 sessions in the main stadium,’’ IAAF Competitions Director Paul Hardy said.

“Having finals in the morning, as requested by the International Olympic Committee, will enhance the visibility of athletics across all time zones. The stadium-based distance events remain in the evening sessions to reduce the risk of very hot conditions for our endurance athletes, while the road

events will start as early as practicable in the morning.

“The new schedule also accommodates both the traditional doubles and the historic addition of the mixed 4 X 400m relay, the first time that athletics has combined the talents of both male and female athletes in one event at the Games.”

Some of the key features: • Nine finals will take place during the morning sessions - plus the finish of both marathons and all three race walks – which will allow more of the global audience to watch finals in prime time.

• The spread of events will allow most of the traditional doubles - 100m/200m, 200m/400m, 800m/1500m, 1500m/5000m, 5000m/10,000m - to be contested by athletes who are capable of contending in more than one event.

• All five road events are being held on separate days with no overlap so each will have its own chance in the spotlight. All races will start at 6am or earlier (the gun will sound the start of the men’s 50km walk at 5:30am) to give athletes the coolest and safest possible race conditions.

• The first athletics event of the programme, the men's 20km race walk,

will be a final, where athletes from host Japan will figure prominently in the medal chase.

• The multiple events will be showcased, with the decathlon and heptathlon staged together in the same two-day period (August 5-6), making a great experience for fans of combined events.

• The schedule will allow enough time for 400m specialists to compete in the new mixed 4x400m relay event that will be contested on day two, as well as the individual 400 events and the traditional 4x400m relay if they so desire.

- IAAF

47

LIBERAL TRIBUNE | MAY/JUNE, 2019

>> SPORTS English clubs make history in Europa, Champions leagues

E Record 11 Unions Bid to Host 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens

W

orld Rugby has confirmed that a record number of unions have formally expressed their interest in hosting Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022.

Eleven unions – Argentina, Cayman Islands, France, Germany, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Qatar, Scotland, South Africa and Tunisia – confirmed their expression of interest to the international federation by the March 31, 2019, deadline having reviewed the detailed bid guide.

The record level of interest is a strong endorsement of the sevens format, which is the driving force behind record rugby fan growth – particularly among young people in emerging rugby markets.

The success and spectacle of the event, which puts teams and fans first, was a major factor behind sevens’ inclusion in the Olympic Games programme, debuting in style at Rio 2016.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “Rugby World Cup Sevens is a major event on the global sporting calendar, a fan and team favourite and is an attractive proposition for unions and cities as a low-investment, high-return event that is great for the city and great for rugby.

“We are delighted with the record level of interest. With a core objective of growing the global rugby fan and participation footprint, it is superb to see new interest from emerging rugby nations, which is great for the sport.

“We now move forward to a detailed phase of consultation and evaluation against set operational, team, fan and legacy criteria before the World Rugby Council selects the 2022 host at the interim meeting in Tokyo in October.”

The 2018 edition in San Francisco was a resounding success, delivering extensive sporting, social and economic benefits for the wider Bay Area and showcasing the world’s best men’s and women’s sevens players to an unprecedented domestic and global audience.

Beaumont added: “Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 attracted a record attendance for a rugby event in the USA

of 100,000, generated a record domestic broadcast audience of more than nine million and showcased the very best of San Francisco and rugby to a global broadcast audience in 224 territories. Research conducted by Nielsen Sport confirmed that the tournament generated a US$90.5 million economic contribution to San Francisco, so it was ground-breaking on every level.”

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 will be played during the September and October 2022 window considering the international calendar, including the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and the Commonwealth Games that

will take place in July 2022. The event will again comprise 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams and will be played over three days in one venue.

The unions have been issued the formal bid application documents and now have until July 16, 2019 to submit their responses.

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 host selection process timelines: • July 16, 2019: Bid responses submitted by unions to World Rugby.

• October 29, 2019: World Rugby Council selects Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 host.

nglish clubs have created European football history by clinching all four final spots in the continent's two major competitions.

Arsenal won in Valencia and Chelsea beat Eintracht Frankfurt to reach the Europa League final.

That followed dramatic wins for Liverpool over Barcelona and Tottenham against Ajax in the Champions League.

It is the first time all four finalists in Europe's top two competitions have come from one nation.

There have only been two all-English finals before, with Tottenham beating Wolves in the 1971-72 UEFA Cup and Manchester United beating Chelsea in the 2007-08 Champions League.

Spain had three teams in the finals of the two competitions in 2015-16, with Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid contesting the Champions League trophy and Unai Emery's Sevilla winning the Europa League.

"In England the level is very high and the Premier League is the best championship in Europe," said Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri.

Arsenal and Chelsea will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan - 2,468 miles from London - on May 29, with a Champions League spot at stake for the Gunners, who could become the fifth English side to qualify for next season's competition. Chelsea are already assured of their place after cementing a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Baku's Olympic Stadium has a capacity of 68,700 but UEFA has allocated only 6,000 tickets to each club, a decision Arsenal described as "disappointing", adding that it presents them with "extreme difficulties" in how to allocate tickets."

Tottenham and Liverpool will meet in Madrid on June 1, with fans of those clubs also facing travel issues of their own, with direct flights from the UK reaching £1,300 and some airlines being accused of "profiteering".

The Premier League clubs' achievements means there will also be an allEnglish UEFA Super Cup in August.

That game will be played in Istanbul, Turkey.

48 LIBERAL TRIBUNE|MAY/JUNE, 2019

Special Coverage Champions League Final - PAGES 44 - 45

Petr Cech says Chelsea game is dream end

A

rsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech says it is the "ultimate dream" to face former club Chelsea in the Europa League final in the last match of his career.

The Gunners booked their place in Baku after beating Valencia 7-3 on aggregate in the semi-final.

Cech, 36, will retire after the final but has consistently played in Europe this season, despite dropping behind Bernd Leno in the Premier League.

"Arsenal v Chelsea will really be very emotional for me," he told journalists.

"The ultimate dream would be to lift the trophy for the last time in the last game," he added.

"Hopefully we can win the final and have the fairytale ending to my career - something that would be special."

The former Czech Republic international believes he could continue playing, but "wanted to retire on my terms."

"I'll be 37 soon but it's not about the age," he said, speaking before Arsenal's 4-2 second leg win in Valencia that sealed a spot in the final.

"I could play for another two years but having played for 20 years at the professional level, I feel that my body has got some scars and my biggest fear was to start the new season and get injuries and not be able to do things 100 percent.

"The time has come. It might be one or two years early, but I prefer that to being one year late."

Liberal Tribune is published in Nairobi, Kenya by Flashline News Agency P. O. BOX 7393 00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya: Telephone 0701 009390, 0754556935: email Editorial@liberaltribunemedia.org

Arsenal will play London rivals Chelsea in Baku, Azerbaijan on Wednesday, May 29 and manager Unai Emery said he was "proud of the whole club" after their impressive victory at Valencia.

Leading 3-1 from the first leg, Arsenal fell behind to Kevin Gameiro's opener before Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang struck an impressive hat-trick and Alexandre Lacazette scored another as Arsenal progressed to their first European final since 2006.

Emery believes his side take "confidence from their strikers taking chances."

The Gunners boss said: "We knew we had to be calm after they scored and we needed to control our emotions. It is very difficult to score four goals against this team because they are very organised.

"It is very difficult to play in finals and we took our opportunity which we are happy about."

Aubemeyang and Lacazette have been pivotal in Arsenal's route to the final, having scored 13 competition goals between them, and the former says the club have "learned from last season" when they were knocked out by Atletico Madrid in the semi-final.

"This year we didn't make the same mistakes," the Gabon striker said. "Now we are through to the final.

"We have talked a lot about our relationship [with Lacazette] and it is a pleasure to play with him, above all, when you win games like this."