Monthly Archives: July 2011

Drought Situation in East Africa

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In August 2010, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center (NOAA/CPC), both, officially declared a La Nina event.

Sea Surface Temperature (SST) measurements in 2010 indicated rapid cooling, thus yielding “a moderate La Nina event…” projected to last for 9 to 12 months, Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) reported. “La Nina events are generally associated with drier than normal conditions in the eastern sector of East Africa, and wetter than normal conditions in the western and northern sector of the region.” FEWSNET reported. According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the La Nina phenomenon results in “drought over most parts of East Africa and floods and lush vegetation in Australia and other parts of southeast Asia.” guardian.co.uk reported. Jan de Leeuw, the Operating Project Leader (OPL) in the Vulnerability and sustainability in pastoral and agro-pastoral systems within ILRI’s People, Livestock and Environment theme (PLE) was put on record saying, “this La Nina event is one of the strongest since the 1970s.” Meanwhile, Daily Nation reported that “Kenya has been listed among countries facing the world’s worst food security crisis in the eastern horn of Africa.” Further afield, Associated Press (AP) reported that, “UN officials sounded the alarm Tuesday about a deepening humanitarian crisis in East Africa caused by a severe drought and fighting in Somalia…” Approximately 10 million people in northern Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea and South Sudan need urgent humanitarian assistance as the region experiences the worst drought in 60 years. An estimated 1,300 Somali refugees stream into Dadaab refugee camp daily following continued conflict in Somali, coupled with severe drought. The situation on the ground is getting worse as the world’s largest refugee camp- Dadaab, in Kenya has been forced to house people, four times its full capacity.

I echo Kimani wa Njuguna’s opinion on Tuesday that, “Rather than being preoccupied with weighty bread and butter issues which will add value to the lives of Kenyans, we have seen most elected leaders concentrating on non-issues like singing to the tune of tribal kingpins, how to escape paying taxes, and the 2012 elections.” Real issues are on the ground; drought, a looming food shortage, high inflation, delayed constitutional implementations, and so on. “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”, Winston Churchill said. The Kenyan Government should savor the opportunity to act decisively and do something significant to comprehensively take care of the current drought situation.

What’s your say?

The Conversation begins…

References:

Kenya in urgent need of food aid, says US Daily Nation July 11, 2011

La Nina blamed for east African drought guardian.co.uk July 14, 2011

UN struggling to cope with East Africa drought Associated Press July 12, 2011

Executive Brief: La Nina and Food Security in East Africa August 2010 FEWSNET as of July 14, 2011

East African drought ‘worst in 60 years’ Channel 4 News June 28, 2011

Leaders must get their priorities right and put food security at top of agenda Daily Nation:-Opinion July 12, 2011

 

 

 

Replacing Paul Scholes

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Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes

Paul Scholes decided to hang his boots at the end of last season, 2010/11; ending a successful career of 17 years dominating the midfield. This has left the Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, with a huge task of finding a replacement for Scholes. The United boss says that it is impossible to replace Scholes, a player he ranks among the top four midfielders in the world.

The United boss is in the efforts of rebuilding a team that was out classed in all possible ways by FC Barcelona in the Champions League Finals. Having already made a combined £50million signing of Phil Jones, Ashley Young, and David de Gea; United have more room and money for at least one more signing to fill the position left by Scholes. Manchester United is targeting Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder as a possible Scholes replacement. Sneijder’s eye for goal, good vision, and accurate passing are some of the qualities the United boss is interested in.  Sniedjer, however, will not come cheap. Inter Milan are demanding an estimated £35million to release the player. The deal will also see Sneijder pocket £190,000 a week. Arsenal’s Samir Nasri and Luka Modric of Totenham were the other names linked with a move to United, but Sneijder is the main priority at moment with a deal expected to go through within the next 48 hours.

Manchester United and the fans expect the new signings to help the club clinch their 20th Premier League title and possibly the Champions League. A rebuilt Manchester United will face the ultimate test when the play Barcelona, arguably the best football team ever, in a friendly on 30th of July.
References:
An expensive gamble by Sir  Alex Ferguson FootballFanCast.com July 13th, 2011
Sneijder agrees terms with United Mirrorfootball.co.uk July 13th, 2011
Man Utd confident of landing £ 35m top target Footylatest.com July 13th, 2011

Facebook Launches a Video Calling Feature

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Facebook has launched a video calling feature powered by Skype. The announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon at the Facebook news conference. Along with the launch of video calling, Facebook also rolled out a new feature for group chatting. To get started with video calling, a small install is required; it can be downloaded from the Facebook site. The chat tool did get a little facelift as well.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqd_4KSbnJo

The announcement comes just a week after the launching of Google+ project, Google’s social network, which is currently in limited field trial. Google+ has its own video calling feature, Google Hangout, which supports group calls of up to ten users. Facebook’s video call currently supports only one-on-on calls, but the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said that most video calls are one-on-one and that is what Facebook is focusing on. Skype is also set to benefit from the partnership with Facebook by having their service accessible by the 750 million Facebook users.

Even though Facebook lacks group calling, video calling is expected to be a new and exciting experience to its massive user base. Video calling will ensure Facebook stays ahead of Twitter and Google+, who are said to its closest competitor.

References:

Facebook announcesSkype-Powered Video Chat BGR July 6th, 2011

Facebook Video Chat V. Google Hangout: It’s no contest Techcrunch  July 6th, 2011

Facebook Releases Group Chat Mashable July 6th, 2011

The Alcohol Dilemma

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In an already soaring economic environment, the so soon effected directive to increase excise duty on alcohol is projected to reduce government revenue.

On March 22nd 2010, National Campaign against Drug Abuse (Nacada) acceded to legalizing chang’aa so that its production can be regulated. On July 22nd the same year, Sam Ikwaye, the Executive Officer of the Pubs and Restaurants Association of Kenya (PERAK) was reported saying that “the proposed laws(Alcoholic Drinks Control Act) will do to the alcohol industry what the “Michuki Rules” did to the public transport sector.” However, we should note that the cause/effect of either vary significantly. Ideologically, the new alcohol law is designed to limit drinking hours in an effort to allow for more time to be spent on productive activities. In a society characterized with high unemployment, and rising cost of living, compounded by increased taxation on alcoholic drinks, it will be difficult to implement the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act because, frequent alcohol consumers who can now not afford the bottle would compulsively opt for cheaper nonstandard alcoholic drinks, which are still highly unregulated, thus reduced revenue collection from licensed alcohol. “Increase of excise duty on alcohol is ‘counter productive’ and likely to reduce government revenue from the industry which is one of the major contributors”, said Consultancy firm Deloitte and Touche Kenya.

Instead of aggressively enforcing regulation of the alcohol industry by strict adherence to directives by the district liquor licensing boards, the government should consider a more overt system to address the issue of alcohol abuse by establishing adequate and affordable rehabilitation facilities and advocate for aggressive civil education on the economic, social, and psychological effects of alcohol abuse. Do not bite the hand that feeds you, and two wrongs never make a right.

References:

High Alcohol Tax Likely to Affect Revenue-Analyst allAfrica.com June 10, 2011

License Chang’aa, Nacada tells State Daily Nation March 22, 2010

New alcohol law hard to effect, say players Daily Nation July 22, 2010