Saturday  6, April ,2024 {HMC} American firms are losing out on business and contracts in Kenya because top government officials demand bribes, the U.S. trade office said in a report released last week, warning that corruption will hurt foreign investment.

According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, American businesses are finding it hard to secure Kenyan government contracts meant to develop the East African nation because senior government officials seek a bribe before awarding such jobs.

The 2024 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers said that the contracts are going mainly to foreign firms willing to pay the bribes.

This level of corruption, say the authors of the report, will cause Kenya to lose future investment from businesses and countries that shun or punish corrupt activities.

Cleophas Malala, secretary general of Kenya’s ruling party, acknowledged that Kenya’s procurement and payment system has been a problem but said President William Ruto and the government are working to solve the problem.

“We know it’s a challenge to us, but the president is keen on fighting corruption. You’ve seen how hard he has been. He moved very swiftly when the KEMSA saga came up,” Malala said, referring to a corruption scandal last year involving a $28 million contract that led to the dismissal of the top officials at Kenya’s Medical Supplies Authority.

“He has been steadfast in ensuring that any public officer who gets involved in corrupt activities languishes his position and faces the rule of law,” Malala said. “As a political party, we’ve said time and again that we are not going to defend anybody.”

According to a survey by Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the country’s interior, health and transport ministries are the most corrupt. The survey showed that the size of the average bribe doubled in 2023.

Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi told VOA that American businesses are simply being asked to follow what has become a standard procedure in Kenya.

“Kenyans pay bribes every day, not because they want to, but because they are forced to,” Mwangi said. “If you want to apply for an ID, you need to pay a bribe. You go to the police, you tell them to investigate a crime, you pay a bribe. You want to ask for a passport, you pay for a bribe. We are a bribe nation.

“One of the reasons the Chinese succeed in this country very well in doing business is because they are able to pay to play,” he said, adding, “The Americans are not told to do something that is not common. They’ve been asked to do what’s been the norm in this country. … Corruption is a way of life in our country.”

Last year, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said the lack of transparency, accountability and public participation in some government projects creates a breeding ground for corruption.

That aligns with the U.S. trade office report, which said American firms complained of excessive complexity and inefficiency in the procurement process for contracts.

Malala said the government is working to change some of the procurement laws to help fight corruption and allow investors to compete fairly.

“We would want to ensure that all our investors get justice when it comes to the procurement system,” he said.

Kenya finished low on the Transparency International corruption rankings for 2023, ranking 126th out of 180 countries measured for perception and prevalence of corruption.

SOURCE VOA

Saturday  6, April ,2024 {HMC}  U.S. and Chinese defense officials met this week for the first time in nearly two years to talk about unsafe and aggressive incidents between the two militaries’ ships and aircraft in the Pacific region.

The talks, which ran from Wednesday through Thursday in Hawaii, mark the restart of a dialogue Beijing abruptly ended following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own.

Chinese officials have criticized U.S. support for Taiwan as interference.

U.S. officials said the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) working group reviewed safety-related events over the last few years and discussed ways to sustain operational safety and professionalism between China and the United States.

“We’ve observed a reduction in unsafe behavior between us and PLA [People’s Liberation Army] aircraft and vessels over the last several months, so we’re encouraged by that,” one U.S. official told reporters on the condition of anonymity because they lacked authorization to discuss the meetings before their conclusion.

“The United States will continue to operate safely and professionally in the Indo-Pacific wherever international law allows, and we take this responsibility seriously. Open, direct and clear communications with the PLA — and with all other military forces in the region — is of utmost importance to avoid accidents and miscommunication,” the head of the U.S. delegation, Army Colonel Ian Francis, said in a press release.

Last November U.S. President Joe Biden met with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. The first senior military-to-military contact since Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was made about a month later, when the top U.S. military officer, General CQ Brown, spoke with his Chinese counterpart in a video call.

Officials said this week’s meetings included about 18 senior officials from each side.

Beijing has asserted its desire to control access to the South China Sea and bring Taiwan under its control, by force if necessary. Biden has said U.S. troops would defend the democratic island from attack.

Following Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022, China’s military has surged aggressive actions around the island — repeatedly crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait with its warships and aircraft — and firing missiles both over Taiwan and into Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Ely Ratner, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific affairs, testified in October 2023 that there had been more than 180 reckless intercepts of U.S. military aircraft by Chinese aircraft in the past two years, more intercepts than U.S. officials had seen in the entire decade before that.

“And when you take into account cases of coercive and risky PLA intercepts against other states, the number increases to nearly 300 cases against U.S., allied and partner aircraft over the last two years,” Ratner said.

In one of the instances, a Chinese pilot flew within 3 meters (9.8 feet) of a U.S. Air Force B-52 in international airspace over the South China Sea.

SOURCE VOA

Saturday  6, April ,2024 {HMC} Somalia 5 April, 2024 – The Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) calls for the immediate and unconditional freedom of journalist Mohamud Abdirashid Abdi who is detained in Luuq district of Gedo region since 1 April 2024.

Mohamud, who freelances for the Nairobi-based humanitarian Radio Ergo, was detained on 1 April following a social media post that exposed the alleged injury of two local men who are tuk tuk drivers and shot by local police over unpaid ‘fees’ demanded by the police.

According to colleagues interviewed by SJS and voice messages we reviewed, Mohamud had been threatened with severe punishment after his post on Facebook, which he later deleted. Upon arrest on 1 April by the local police in Luuq,he was handed over to the Ethiopian forces in the town.

Radio Ergo also reported that the journalist was transferred to the custody of the Ethiopian forces in the region.

Journalists in the region and the Radio Ergo editor told SJS that they are now concerned about Mohamud’s situation, as his family was denied access to see him. There are reports indicating that he was beaten in the cells where he is being held.

SJS condemns this continued arbitrary detention of journalist Mohamud Abdirashid Abdi. We also share the concerns of colleagues at Radio Ergo regarding the safety and well-being of journalist Mohamud.

“We are extremely concerned about the well-being of journalist Mohamud Abdirashid Abdi held indisclosed location in Luuq district, of Somalia’s Gedo region. We call upon the local Gedo regional administration, the Luuq district officials, and the Ethiopian forces in the region to release the journalist immediately and unconditionally and allow him to carry out his journalistic duties without any further threats,” said SJS Secretary-General Abdalle Mumin. “We also demand an investigation into the officers who allegedly beat the journalist and hold them accountable.”

Saturday  6, April ,2024 {HMC}  A Turkish aid worker was killed Thursday in Somalia in an attack claimed by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab militant group.

The attack took place on the outskirts of Mogadishu as vehicles carrying Turkish and Somali aid workers and their security guards were heading toward a displaced persons camp to deliver food aid.

Witnesses and police said a roadside explosion hit one of the vehicles, killing two people – a Turkish worker and a Somali colleague.

In a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the Verenel Association, the Turkish aid agency delivering the food, confirmed that its Somalia representative, Abdurrahim Yörük, was killed in the attack.

“Brother [Abdurrahim Yörük] was martyred in the bomb attack carried out at 11:30 on 4.04.2024, targeting the team of our Verenel Association, which carries out its work in Somalia within the scope of Humanitarian Aid Activities,” the post said.

A spokesperson for Somali police, Major Abdifatah Aden Hassan, condemned the attack and said the aid workers targeted were delivering food to needy people fasting during Ramadan.

“To target defenseless people who came to assist the Somalis with a landmine shows the brutality of the Khawarij [militants],” Hassan told journalists in Mogadishu. “Khawarij,” which means “a deviation from Islam,” is a term Somali government officials sometimes use to describe al-Shabab.

Turkey has been a major partner of Somalia since 2011 when then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Somalia at the height of a deadly famine. Since then, Turkey has been helping Somalia with humanitarian assistance and budgetary support.

Al-Shabab, which opposes Turkish support of the Somali government, has carried out multiple attacks that claimed the lives of Turkish nationals conducting civilian work in Somalia.

In one al-Shabab attack, on December 28, 2019, two Turkish engineers working on a road construction project were among at least 80 people killed in a truck bomb.

The attacks did not hamper relations between Turkey and Somalia. This February, Somalia and Turkey announced signing the Defense and Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, which was widely celebrated in Somalia.

Under the agreement, Turkey will build, train and equip the Somali navy, according to Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, who described Turkey as a “true and reliable brother.”

Last month, the two countries signed a deal to explore for oil and gas that further strengthens cooperation, according to officials from both countries.

Al-Shabab, in a statement, rejected the defense and economic cooperation agreement, calling it “unlawful.”

SOURCE 

By Harun Maruf

Saturday  6, April ,2024 {HMC} An overhaul of Somalia’s constitution, scrapping its power-sharing system and handing the president increased control, is threatening to destabilise the fragile country, as its wealthiest and most stable state refuses to recognise the changes.

The amendments risk worsening violence, the information minister from the semi-autonomous state of Puntland has warned. Mohamud Aidid Dirir told the Guardian that “almost a totally new constitution” had been introduced without input from the state’s leaders. He accused the Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, of using parliament to “gather authority into his hands”.

Somali lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last weekend to adopt a slew of amendments to the constitution, which will reshape the political and electoral system and hand more power to the president. The parliamentary speaker, Adan Mohamed Nuur Madobe, called the move “historic”.

The amendments give the president the authority to appoint and dismiss prime ministers, transferring that power from lawmakers, and grant him increased control over appointments to the electoral commission, taking away input from federal states. The current power-sharing model of government, a system that ensures the country’s four main clans get equal representation in parliament, will be also scrapped in place of universal suffrage.

“We are a fragile country still recovering from a civil war, which doesn’t have stable politics. If power is concentrated in one person’s hands, there is a risk we could go back to civil war. We have always warned that this could happen,” said Dirir.

“[Hassan] has taken power from parliament, the prime minister isn’t working. He is the foreign minister, the prime minister, the president, he is all the ministers. And now he’s taking power from the states.”

Dirir claimed Puntland was stonewalled by central government when it tried to participate in consultations. He said the region would not recognise the changes.

“We are not declaring independence, but Puntland will stand alone until it is consulted.”

In a sign of escalating tensions, the Somali government on Thursday ordered the closure of Ethiopia’s consulate in Puntland in apparent retaliation for a visit by representatives of the semi-autonomous state to Addis Ababa this week. The government also expelled the Ethiopian ambassador, citing interference in Somalia’s internal affairs.

Puntland, one of Somalia’s five federal states, was established as a separate self-governing entity in 1998, and is the country’s most powerful regional administration.

Dirir said concentrating authority in Mogadishu “threatens national unity”. “Our government is federal, which means powers are divided,” he said.

Somalia’s central government collapsed in 1991, plunging the country into civil war, made worse with the emergence of the jihadist group al-Shabaab in the mid-2000s. Millions of people have been displaced by fighting between militants and the army, and years of drought caused by failed rains. About 6.9 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.

Afyare A Elmi, a research professor at the City University of Mogadishu, said Puntland’s withdrawal from the federal system could further imperil the viability of a unified Somali state.

“If a large chunk of the country is missing in this process we are simply building a constitution for south-west Somalia.”

The other federal states, Jubbaland, South West state, Hirshabelle and Galmudug have yet to comment on the amendments. Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, said: “Somalia’s recent constitutional development is an internal matter.”

The former presidents Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and Sharif Ahmed warned the changes would upset Somalia’s delicate power balance, while the former prime ministers Omar Sharmarke and Hassan Ali Khaire denounced the changes in an open letter also signed by the veteran MP Abdirahman Abdishakur.

Somalia’s current constitution was introduced in 2012, but was intended to be a provisional document and has long been under review. Crafting a new constitution was one of President Mohamud’s key election pledges in 2022. Last month he said further delays were “not an option”. “We are not a provisional government, but we have a provisional constitution,” he added.

Afyare Elmi said the 2012 constitution was based upon a political settlement with broad input from Somalis. “It had four key elements: federalism, clan power-sharing, regular elections and a spirit of inclusiveness to build consensus. What the government is doing now is moving away from this settlement,” he said.

Omar Mahmoud, an east Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group, wrote that “there are fundamental issues about the nature of the federal model that must be sorted out between Mogadishu and Garowe [Puntland’s capital] in order for Somalia’s governance system to function more effectively and get over the hump of recurrent on-and-off relations.

“But without the sides talking, it is impossible to get there, allowing the status quo to continue indefinitely.”

SOURCE 

By Faisal Ali