Turkana Oil got to be a blessing, Come what may!

Creativity at its best; demonstrating the excitement in Turkana Oil discovery

“At least now Turkana County will refund the Kenya 4 Kenyans money,”

“Now I’m sure we shall achieve vision 2030,”

…These are just some of the numerous optimistic opinions that Kenyans has on the news about Turkana Oil discovery. Such opinions have chromed the social network with some creative Kenyans going ahead and designing edited photos that communicate their optimism better.

Yesterday’s announcement of Oil findings in Turkana County by the President has aroused discussions prospecting future benefits this country is about to bag. As a matter of fact, Kenyans with eye for business opportunities have all over sudden rechanneled their ambitions from the upcoming Konza city to Turkana County. Yes, even some have suggested creation of another city in the Northern region.

However, there is something economists call Natural Resource Curse that mainly affect countries with deposits of Oil or immense natural resources. Such countries are posed with political instability threats and often end up in the hands of dictators and autocrats. And with the recent oil discovery in Turkana Kenya has no choice but to avoid this curse that many developing and developed countries have been unable to avoid.

The Turkana Oil will be drilled by two companies, Tullow oil Plc and Africa Oil, who are expected to make Kenya an Oil producer in probably the next three years. Report has it that despite the oil having similar properties to that of Uganda, the Kenyan deposits seem to have deeper potential. In addition to this awesome story is the fact that Kenya already has a refinery and with the LAPSSET pipeline passing through those areas, the process might be much faster than we think. Definitely, these optimists have a reason to post all those positive messages.

To reap maximum benefits from this project, Kenyans have a duty to elect responsible leaders in the next general elections who will turn this fortune into a blessing and not a curse. These leaders should learn from countries who have avoided the curse, a good example of such a country is Norway.

Some of the tactics employed by Norway to avoid the curse was to hand out just a couple drilling permits a year. In an even more stunning act of self-restraint, the Norwegians decided not to spend most of the oil money. Instead, they put it in an oil trust fund that's now worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The Norwegian government only spends the interest that the fund generates.  

In my opinion, this seems to be a wise move that the government can employ, restraint itself from falling into traps of capitalist-greedy-opportunistic West ready to leap where they never sowed. How I wish our politicians could for once put Kenya’s interest first and set guidelines that would make Turkana Oil a blessing.

Since we were discovered or rather since Kenya was structured I’m very sure we’ve been supplying the Northern Kenya with resources. And despite feeding its people year in year out we’ve managed to get where we are as compared to where we were 50 years ago. Now kindly picture where we are set get once Kenya starts pocketing resources from the Northern Kenya. A positive mind will definitely tell you that the future is bright.

I need not to say more.

December or March, Peace is paramount

The announcement of March 4, 2013 as the date for the next general elections has triggered various reactions divided between the supporters of the date and those that support a December date. Led by the Prime minister, those for a December date have cited risks of running in a constitutional crisis once the next polls are held in March.

Raila says the budget process will be disrupted if elections are held in March next year. According to the constitution, the estimates of revenue and expenditure should be submitted to the National Assembly at least two months before the end of each financial year. And in accordance to this, Raila believes the new treasury cabinet secretary will not have enough time to prepare and submit the financial estimates to the parliament by April 30.

Raila's support for a December date polls has been echoed by KNUT and KUPPET saying the March date will interfere with the learning process. The teachers say the campaigns and subsequent elections would fall in the middle of learning term and significantly affect the examination registration process. The education sector has recently gone through radical changes that have replaced the 8-4-4 system with a new 2-6-3-3-3 system and according to the union of teachers, March election would alter with the implementation of the new system.

These sentiments from teachers, however, have been brushed off by the Education minister Sam Ongeri saying the election process would only affect the learning process for two days.

Led by President Kibaki, those supporting a March date for elections believe the country is not well prepared for a December date. They also flank their argument saying the parliament's current term legally ends in January 15 hence the elections should be held after 60 days. CIC has supported the IEBC March date and urged Kenyans to respect the electoral body verdict.

BUT…

My main concern is not whether a March date or a December date is suitable but rather, Is Kenya prepared to uphold peace and unity through the election process?

Day by day politicians have diverged focus from promotion of public good to propelling ones individual political interest. This has consistently been demonstrated by the manner political aspirants have been exchanging accusations and counter-accusations with less interest on the impact they have on the public unity.

Kenya is coming from a dark stage where reckless public statements by politicians saw us experience the worst post-poll chaos in our history. A repeat of this should never be allowed to happen. It is therefore the obligation of each and every Kenya n to guard the peace and stability reigning today.

Holding the next polls either in December or March will have no difference if we fail to recognize the importance and the value of a stable KENYA.

In my opinion, a good leader should not be giving a damn about the election date; instead he should be preaching national unity and engaging less in politics based on unnecessary accusations.

How I would like to see these presidential aspirants work together first to reallocate thousands of IDPs still in camps before asking them for votes.

Maturity in politics will not only sustain the essential stability we are enjoying today, but will also attract investors in our country. And we enter the next governance let us beware that potential investors from both east and west have their eyes on us. We are obligated to implement the constitution, tackle hard corruption and conduct politics with maturity in order to woe these investors.

We need Engineers to maintain our infrastructure once the 'chinaman' has left.

The ongoing accreditation tussle between the Engineering Registration Board and Engineering graduates from Masinde Muliro University has more than meets the eye.

Despite pushing for recognition by the ERB for over four years, the engineering students as well as graduates from Masinde Muliro University are still having sleepless nights. According to the ERB the varsity’s engineering curriculum has flaws hence the board’s decision to decline recognition of the varsity’s products as engineers. This has led to students who graduated between 2008 and 2011 going to the court to seek justice.

I would try to picture the devastation that a student can experience after going through six years of training and examining in an engineering class only to graduate and lack employment opportunity because some board does not recognise him. From my point of view, this is unfair, noting the amount of testing and trials the students go through before being promoted to the following academic year and later being awarded the title ‘Graduate.’

Tarmacking with recognised papers in Kenya today is an uphill task regardless of the course you undertook, nonetheless I wouldn’t expect tarmacking with unrecognised papers to be easier. These qualified, ambitious, yet unrecognised brains from the faculty of engineering in our eighth Public University are crying for help and it’s up to each and every stakeholder to save the show because we need engineers to facilitate national infrastructural growth.

It is my opinionated view that someone has been intentionally standing between these engineers and their dreams. It’s beats my understanding how such a simple and clear issue can take the University, The ERB and the Commission for Higher Education so many years-and still counting to resolve. Every year since 2008, there have been demonstrations by engineering students in Masinde Muliro University airing the same old grievance- recognise us. These demonstrations have always been silenced by a cheap yet unkempt promise of change by relevant authorities.

Now, these students’ patience has grown thinner with time and the ultimate solution seems to lie in court.  Yesterday, these ex-students filed a petition arguing that prior to elevation of Masinde Muliro University to a fully-fledged university, it used to operate as a satellite campus of Moi University and the inherited the curriculum from Moi. They therefore view ERB’s decision to decline recognising the varsity’s curriculum as discriminatory.

In Kenya it is illegal for a graduate to practise or call himself an engineer if he or she is not registered with ERB. It therefore means for these ex-students to earn a living through their course they must work under particular registered engineers. This makes me think that there must be someone, most probably in the ERB and registered, who intends to benefit from exploiting these fresh brains. Otherwise what else could be cooking behind the scenes?

Let’s think about it, today we are importing engineers from China to construct roads for us, how long do we (as Kenya) intend to import engineers yet every year we award thousands of our young engineers with degrees in engineering only to deny them the channel to develop career wise. Really, Are we headed in the right direction?

 At the same time, I find it vague when the board argues that the quality of lecturers, coursework, workshops and other training facilities are the reasons behind their decline to register the graduates. I believe this conclusion has been arrived at without first checking the real situation on ground. Since 2007 when these protests started, the University has taken drastic measures to improve facilities in the varsity. I personally, have been in Masinde Muliro and if there is a single faculty I know of that is full of doctors and professors it got to be the faculty of Engineering.

As we await the court ruling and the mentioning of the case scheduled for March 27, let us ask ourselves (as Kenyans) Is this how we intend to curb unemployment in Kenya, training our youth for over five years later to deny them the capacity to gain employment?

The future of our country is more important than any individual’s interest and we shall ever remain vigilant of those ill-minded Kenyans willing to gash the dreams of upcoming engineers.    

       

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NCIC should be more vigilant for we need to safeguard peace and stability in our country.

By the look of things, it is that time again when, unfortunately, politicians make reckless remarks without caring much about the impact such comments have on the national stability. To most of these politicians their main aim is to get the target votes and consequently ruin their opponents’ chances. For the last two weeks the media has consistently carried stories depicting the ugly side of a tug of war between the presidential aspirants with involved parties uttering remarks that raise the political temperatures capable of breeding division and intolerance in the country.

Editors have entertained subjective stories, political statements and opinion pieces on their papers and bulletins that promote negativity in the political arena. It is with great concern that I condemn such negligence of duty emanating from the media. The media has an obligation to inform, educate and inform the public unfortunately, this duty is being neglected as day in day out columnists to write accusations and counter accusations by politicians.

And after following political accusations and counter-accusations by power-hungry politicians over the media, I got stuck at the question: Where is Mzalendo Kibunja?

It puzzles me how long it takes National Cohesion and Intergration Commission (NCIC) to prosecute people who go round the country preaching hates speech and flanks the accusations with columns on the newspapers. Nobody is above the law despite his position in the society and it’s upon Kibunja to bold and prosecute those promoting hate speeches. In addition, Media editors should not abuse freedom of expression which is vital and should be protected and nurtured. It is therefore affirmative for Kibunja team to show more actions and not words.

National peace and unity is more valuable than any of our dreams and aspirations. Unfortunately some political individuals are getting the limelight to continue with their ill-driven speech right under the nose of the NCIC.

So sad it is to a deeply concerned Kenyan to hear NCIC defend their effort saying they are carrying out investigations on the suspects. I ask, “How long do these investigations take to get sufficient information.” It is imperative to note that Kenya belongs to all of us therefore it is the obligation of each and every one of us to be vigilant in embracing peace, unity and non-violence.

Kenyans are getting worried to see leaders or politicians put their interests ahead of national interests by making statements that could threaten the stability of our country.

Young Kenyan: Youth of Kenya it's about time we wake up, get up ...

Young Kenyan: Youth of Kenya it's about time we wake up, get up ...: Youth of Kenya it's about time we wake up, get up and move towards a brighter future. A recent visit to the central Kenya revealed the...

Youth of Kenya it's about time we wake up, get up and move towards a brighter future.

Youth of Kenya it's about time we wake up, get up and move towards a brighter future.
A recent visit to the central Kenya revealed the unseeable yet existing rotten attitude towards life that is common among quite a lartge number of youth in Kenya today. It was during a light conversation with a group of these young Kenyans that the real impact of joblessness has on these lads. According to one of them he had gone through the infamous 8-4-4 system, graduated from college but could not nail a job. To him the future was growing dimmer day by day now that he got the papers required for getting a job, which he couldn't get, and he had no way to start his own business.
His was a lamentation about the current state of unemployment in Kenya. He seemed stuck between a rock and a hard place- in this case the rock being unemployment while the hard place being lack of capital to start a  business of his own.
Guys nowadays things have changed. Gone are the days when one was born of an aging father and by the time this new born passed teenage and gained full maturity the old man is at his final days and is willing to leave to his sons all his fortunes. Nowadays things are different, young Kenyans reach maturity when their fathers are barely forties. you cannot dare to bring up a topic on inheritance to such a father. As a matter of fact, at 40s the senior guy has just started to enjoy his life. He's at a relieving stage after channeling much of his money to your education.
So what happens to today's youth, they are obligated to hit the road and make a living through ways God knows how. Most of them will knock at the offices that they believe can tap their untapped potential. this does not end well as most of them are dismissed with a simple yet heavy statement "we shall get back to you soon". Honestly, most of these job application letters don't go past the reception and if they do their destiny is litter bin. At first the faith of these jobseekers is enough to make them wait but as time passesby the faith grows thin. They start losing hope.
By the time these young jobseekers become impatient, their pockets are drying up and living an extra day in the city tarmarking becomes almost impossible. Inadequancy in finance knocks these upcoming adults down to the ground sending them back to their mother's houses. So unfortunate is the weak-at-heart young Kenyans who accept defeat and condemns himself to hopeless life.
 The harsh truth that these youth are finding hard to stomach is the fact that corruption is so huge on  ground that the day-to-day develpments being attained by the nation have been relegated to an unnoticeable point. But this is the reality that we must accept or better yet try to make it better.
In my opinion the best solution  to these youth is to maintain a sound mind and try to live your life more positively. None of us knows when we die and until then it is important to make each and every day count. Make sure you your actions and thoughts are set on a positive note.
Take care and let's all look forward to a brighter Kenya.   

Condoms in the prevention of HIV/AIDS, a success or a flop?

By Kevo Chiwa

Since 1980s efforts to curb HIV/AIDs has been employed throughout the world with notable positive responses being noted especially in the developed world. Measures such as absteinance, reduction of multi-partner relationship and use of condoms have been over time advocated for in the fight against HIV/AIDs.

There has been debate over the years on the effectiveness of condoms in prevention of HIV/AIDS with proposers highly recommending the use of the rubber while opposers arguing that the protective rubbers may not be a 100 per cent effective. These opposers believe the most reliable ways to avoid transmission of STDs are to abstain from sexual activity, or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner.

On the other hand the proposers have been versatile in campaigning the use of Condom as a preventive measure against STDs. Spearheaded by the World Health Organisation, the proposers have endorsed condoms as an integral and essential part of comprehensive prevention and care programmes.

Condoms have played a decisive role in HIV prevention efforts in many countries. Condoms have helped to reduce HIV infection rates where AIDS has already taken hold and curtailed the broader spread of HIV in settings where the epidemic is still concentrated in specific populations. Condoms have also encouraged safer sexual behaviour more generally. Recent analysis of the AIDS epidemic in Uganda has confirmed that increased condom use, in conjunction with delay in age of first sexual intercourse and reduction of sexual partners, was an important factor in the decline of HIV prevalence in the 1990s. Thailand’s efforts to de-stigmatize condoms and its targeted condom promotion for sex workers and their clients dramatically reduced HIV infections in these populations and helped reduce the spread of the epidemic to the general population. A similar policy in Cambodia has helped stabilize national prevalence, while substantially decreasing prevalence among sex workers. In addition, Brazil’s early and vigorous condom promotion among the general population and vulnerable groups has successfully contributed to sustained control of the epidemic.

Condom effectiveness for STD and HIV prevention has been demonstrated by both laboratory and epidemiologic studies. Evidence of condom effectiveness is also based on theoretical and empirical data regarding the transmission of different STDs, the physical properties of condoms, and the anatomic coverage or protection provided by condoms.

Laboratory studies have shown that latex condoms provide an effective barrier against even the smallest STD pathogens.

Epidemiologic studies that compare rates of HIV infection between condom users and nonusers who have HIV-infected sex partners demonstrate that consistent condom use is highly effective in preventing transmission of HIV. Similarly, epidemiologic studies have shown that condom use reduces the risk of many other STDs. However, the exact magnitude of protection has been difficult to quantify because of numerous methodological challenges inherent in studying private behaviors that cannot be directly observed or measured.

Theoretical and empirical basis for protection: Condoms can be expected to provide different levels of protection for various STDs, depending on differences in how the diseases or infections are transmitted. Male condoms may not cover all infected areas or areas that could become infected. Thus, they are likely to provide greater protection against STDs that are transmitted only by genital fluids (STDs such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and HIV infection) than against infections that are transmitted primarily by skin-to-skin contact, which may or may not infect areas covered by a condom (STDs such as genital herpes, human papillomavirus [HPV] infection, syphilis, and chancroid).

Conclusive evidence from extensive research among heterosexual couples in which one partner is infected with HIV shows that correct and consistent condom use significantly reduces the risk of HIV transmission from both men to women, and also from women to men. Laboratory studies show that male latex condoms are impermeable to infectious agents contained in genital secretions. To ensure safety and efficacy, condoms must be manufactured to the highest international standards.

However despite the above observations, it is logistically and ethically impossible to conduct randomized controlled trials to find out whether condom use reduces the risk of HIV transmission. Hence, we have to rely on observational studies, which inherently carry a risk of bias. In such studies, consistent use of condoms has been found to result in an 80% reduction in HIV incidence.

As a result of impressive effectiveness of the sex rubber, it has been highly recommended that condoms must be readily available universally, either free or at low cost, and promoted in ways that help overcome social and personal obstacles to their use. Condom use is more likely when people can access them at no cost or at greatly subsidized prices. Effective condom promotion targets not only the general population, but also people at higher risk of HIV exposure, especially women, young people, sex workers and their clients, injecting drug users and men who have sex with men.

REFERENCES

aids.about.com/od/safersexquestions/f/latex.htm

UNAIDS. 2004 Report on the global AIDS epidemic, page.72.

Holmes K, Levine R, Weaver M. Effectiveness of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted infections. Bulletin of theWorld Health Organization. Geneva. June 2004.

WHO/UNAIDS. Information note on Effectiveness of Condoms in Preventing Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV. Geneva. August 2001.

UNAIDS. 2004 Report on the global AIDS epidemic. Geneva. July 2004.

 Singh S, Darroch J.E, Bankole A. A,B, and C in Uganda: The Roles of Abstinence, Mongamy and Condom Use in HIV

Gremy I, Beltzer N. HIV risk and condom use in the adult heterosexual population in France between 1992 and 2001