Meaning of state acceding to international sovereignty?

Something I previously hadn’t paid attention to caught my eyes as I was reading through the history of Benin. It had to do with acceding to international sovereignty. Although this happened on the First Day of August 60 years ago, which explains why I was keen to dig into the history of Benin, the idea that an independent nation could cede sovereignty seemed queer. So I decided to do some research.

It turns out that in order for countries to be admitted as members of the United Nations, they have to file a formal Declaration of acceptance of the obligations contained in the Charter of the United Nations, which the regime in Porto-Novo did on the 2^nd of August 2020, a day after acceding to “full and complete” independence.

In a letter addressed to the then Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Dag Hammarskjöld, Mr Hubert Maga, then Prime Minister of the Republic of Dahomey stated that his country wished to “assume all the new responsibilities which have devolved upon it at the international level and to co-operate in the activities of the United Nations community”. The application letter goes on to state that the Government of the Republic of Dahomey “declares that it accepts obligations stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations…” To satisfy my curiosity, I dug farther to uncover what those obligations were because that is the heart of the matter.

According to Article 4 of the Charter of the United Nations, firstly, membership in the UN is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the Charter and, in the judgement of the UN, are able and willing to carry out those obligations. Secondly, the admission of any such state to membership in the UN will be effected by decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. This didn’t seem satisfactory. So I turned to Article 2, which espouses the following five principles of the UN and its members:

1. Sovereign equality of all its Members
2. Good faith in fulfilling all obligations in accordance with the present Charter
3. Settlement of international disputes by peaceful means
4. Exercise of refrain in international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the UN
5. Giving all assistance to the UN in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and refraining from giving assistance to any state against which the UN is taking preventive or enforcement action.

So, in a nutshell these are the things that a state accedes to in its “declaration of acceptance of the obligations contained in the Charter of the UN”. As noted earlier, the Republic of Dahomey presented to the Secretary General of the United Nations its Declaration on the 16^th of August 1960 and by Resolution 1481 (XV) adopted by the General Assembly at its 864^th plenary meeting on 20^th September 1960, Dahomey was admitted to membership of the United Nations.

In discussing the contested subject of international delegation and state sovereignty, Oona Hathaway (2008)[1] demonstrates the existence of a tradition of scholarly work critical of the threat to state sovereignty that international law poses. This happens to be where I was also coming from. However, Hathaway’s contention is that in spite the existence of tension between international delegation and state sovereignty, it is not always a zero-sum game. There exists “substantial benefits of [international] cooperation”.

His thesis can be summarised as follows: “international law and international delegation are deeply intertwined: international delegation arises from international law, and most international law designed to have binding effect involve some form of delegation. Hence, it is often necessary to expand our field of vision to include both if we are to understand either one”.

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[1] Hathaway, Oona A. “International Delegation and State Sovereignty.” Law and Contemporary Problems 71, no. 1 (2008): 115-49. Accessed August 1, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/27592224.

Benin

Earlier today I took to Twitter to join the brotherly people of the great nation of #Benin as they celebrated 60 years fo freedom from #French colonialism.

According to the Government of the Republic of Benin Website, present-day Benin (see Map) was occupied by several kingdoms. The most prominent were Danhomé (Abomey), Xogbonou (Porto-Novo), Allada, Nikki, Kouandé, Kandi…. The first rulers of Abomey and Porto-Novo came from the Adja-Fon migration, from neighbouring Togo (Tado). The other peoples come from present-day Nigeria, Niger or Burkina Faso. Thus, the country was once a hotbed of ancient and brilliant civilizations, built around these kingdoms: city-states. These well structured political entities had functional urban centres. They had developed a local trade, based from the 17th century slave trade, then on oil palm after the abolition of  slave trade in 1807.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the Peoples Republic of Benin consists of a narrow wedge of territory extending northward for about 420 miles (675 kilometres) from the Gulf of Guinea on  which it has a 75-mile seacoast, to the Niger River, which forms part of Benin’s northern border with Niger. Benin is bordered to the northwest by Burkina Faso, to the east by Nigeria, and to the west by Togo. The official capital is Porto-Novo, but Cotonou is Benin’s largest city, its chief port, and its de facto administrative capital.

Writing in African Studies Review (Volume 17, No. 3: December 1974), Augustus A. Adeyinka[1] provides a rich historical account of the Dahomey Kingdom focusing on the exploits of King Gezo (1818-1858). Renowned for being ‘war like’, the Kingdom was founded in the first half of the seventeenth century, circa 1620. Dogbagri Genu (Dako) is recognised as its founder. Like most other Kingdoms, Dahomey had its ups and downs. At the height of its power in the eighteenth century, Dahomey demonstrated expansionist tendencies particularly as it needed a direct route to the coast for purposes of trade.

Advent of Colonial Subjugation

The expansion to the coastline not only brought the inland kingdom face to face with English, Danish, Portuguese and French slave traders and merchants opening up trading relationships. It also had far-reaching if more nefarious consequences, for example, with initial encounters giving way to power dynamics that forced local power elite to gravitate towards the soon-to-become colonial masters. France was the first to extract some concession from Dahomey when they were granted authority to build a port at Ouidah in 1704. But the vulnerability of the local fiefdoms was to be laid bear as the following  examples demonstrate. In 1863, the French protectorate was established with King Toffa of Porto-Novo who sought help in the face of claims of the King of Abomey and attacks by the English living in Lagos. The same year, Glèlè, King of Abomey authorised the French to settle in Cotonou.

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[1] Adeyinka, A.A., 1974. King Gezo of Dahomey, 1818-1858: A Reassessment of a West African Monarch in the Nineteenth Century. African Studies Review, 17(3), pp.541-548

Celebrating Africa Women's Day

I decided to educate myself about women's rights as a way to commemorate Pan Africa Women's Day 2020, a day that was set aside in 2019 to mark the 57th anniversary of the Pan-African Women’s Organisation, the Specialised Agency of the African Union (AU) dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

To do this, I have just completed reading the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Right of Women in Africa that was adopted by the Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Government of the African Union (AU) in Maputo on 11th of July 2003, and entered into force on 25th of November 2005. It is a wonderful document. I would recommend it to anyone interested in gender equality.

For the avoidance of doubt, “RIGHTS of WOMEN” include the following 13 rights, among others:

1. The Right to Life, Integrity and Security of the Person (Article IV)
2. Equal Rights in MARRIAGE (Article V)
3. [Rights of] Access to Justice and Equal Protection before the Law (Article VII)
4. Right to Participation in the Political and Decision-Making Process (Article IX)
5. Right to Peace (Article X)
6. Right to Education and Training (Article XII)
7. Economic and Social Welfare Rights (Article XIII)
8. Health and Reproductive Rights (Article XIV)
9. Right to Food Security (Article XV)
10. Right to Adequate Housing (Article XVI)
11. Right to a Healthy and Sustainable Environment (Article XVIII)
12. Right to Sustainable Development (Article XIX)
13. Right to Inheritance (Article XX).

Additionally, the Charter provides for Protection of Women in Armed Conflicts (Article XI), Special Protection of Elderly Women (Article XXII), Special Protection of Women with Disabilities (Article XXIII), as well as Special Protection of Women in Distress (Article XXIV).

Happy Africa Women's Day 2020

Viva Gender Equality! Viva Non-Discrimination! 

Source: https://au.int/sites/default/files/treaties/37077-treaty-charter_on_rights_of_women_in_africa.pdf 

  

Dear Mother

Twenty one years is a long time! I mean, even our eldest daughter hasn’t attained the age of 21. Yet, that is the length of time gone by since we beheld our dear mother last. It was July 16, 1999 to be precise when Mama Esther – as she was affectionately known – took her last breath in this world only to enter another, more glorious one I suppose. Life has never been the same without her. But, in equal measure life was materially different when mama Ester was present. Today, I borrow the lyrics of Prince Mbarga’s song Sweet Mother[1] to express the love I had (and still have) for her.

Sweet mother I no go forget you

For dey suffer we you suffer for me yeah [2x]

When I dey crry my mother go carry me
She go say my pikin wetin you dey cry yeah yeah
Stop stop! stop stop!! stop stop!!!
Make you no cry again oo

When I wan sleep my mother go pet me
She go lie me well-well for bed
She go cover me cloth say make you sleep
Sleep sleep my pikin oooo

When I dey hungry my mom go run up and down
She dey find me somthing we I go chop
Sweet mother eeeeee…sweet mother oooo…eee

When I dey sick my mother go cry cry cry
She go say instead wey I go die make she die
She go beg God, God help me, God help me, my pikin oo

If I no sleep, my mother no go sleep
If I no chop, my mother no go chop
She no dey tire ooo
Sweet mother I no go forget dey suffer wey you suffer for me yeah yeah
Sweet mother eeeeeeeeeeee
Sweet mother oooo....eeeee

(Interlude...instrumental...)

You fit get another wife
you fit get another husband
but you fit get another mother? No!

(Interlude...instrumental...)

when I dey hungry my mom go run up and down
she dey find me somthing we I go chop
sweet mother aaaaaa...sweet mother oooo..eee

When I dey sick my mother go cry cry cry
she go say instead wey I go die make she die
she go beg God, God help me, God help me, my pikin oo

If I no sleep, my mother no go sleep
If I no chop, my mother no go chop
she no dey tire ooo
sweet mother i no go forget dey suffer wey you suffer for me yeah yeah
Sweet mother aaaaaaaaaaaaa
Sweet mother eeee…ooooooo
Sweet mother aaaaaaaaaaaaa
Sweet mother eeee…ooooooo

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[1] Released in 1976, Sweet Mother is a highlife song by the Nigerian and Cameroonian singer Prince Nico Mbarga and his band Rocafil Jazz. The song is a celebration of motherhood, sung in Nigerian Pidgin English. The music is West African highlife, with Congolese Soukous-style guitar finger-picking. [Source: WikipediA – Free Encyclopaedia. Accessed on 16 July 2020]

Public Participation during Covid-19

Public participation is a key national value and principle of governance ingrained in the Kenyan Constitution (2010). 

Under Chapter 69, for example, the state is obligated to “encourage public participation in the management, protection and conservation of the environment. 

Parliament is required under Chapter 8 (118 (1) b) to “facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other business of its committees”.  

At the sub-national level, County Assemblies are required to “facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other business of the assembly and its committees” (Chapter 14 (196 (1) b)). 

Much remains to be seen how creative legislatures will be in fulfilling theses constitutional mandates under Covid-19.

My take on the current issue of AC

Zimbabwe's economic situation can be described as a fast-paced action movie. Only it is real! 

From Abuja to Nairobi the story-line and political plots on succession sound eerily similar. So to, unfortunately are the debates around what to do with collapsed SAA and near comatose KQ

Strangely, finance ministers from a number of African countries are betting on increasing tax revenue at a time when economic activities have literally collapsed

Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s 58.5% majority win in the just concluded Malawi's presidential election re-run appears tenuous at best. Will the Tonse Alliance hold or will it suffer the disagreements that more often than not befall pre-election agreements?

Tanzania’s and Ghana’s presidential elections in October and December respectively will likely to be a ‘game of contrasts’

The Arab League seems hell bent to stalk conflict between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam forcing the current AU Chair Cyril Ramaphosa to dig deep into his toolbox of negotiating skills to calm a restive situation that could easily get out of control if not managed.

Virtual assessment need not terrify universities

In one of the big stories in The Standard of May 26, 2020, it is reported that public universities in Kenya are facing a challenge in administering end of semester exams following the end of online lectures. Assessment and feedback practices can be challenging even in the best of times, especially if virtual. It is therefore understandable that universities are struggling to manage assessment during the current pandemic.

I have had occasion to reflect on the question of the role of assessment and feedback in a student-centered learning environment. My conclusion, which some may (dis)agree with is that, in both theory and practice, there needs to be alignment between the learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, as well as the assessment strategy.

John Biggs – the famous Australian educational psychologist – proposed[1] the adoption of a constructivist pedagogical approach where the focus is always on what the learner is actually doing, placing the learning activities at the heart of the process. This is easier said than done in time of "inside and online".

While Kenyan universities would in all likelihood have established clear guidelines for teaching, learning and assessment that faculties and departments are required to implement, the need to have complementary mechanisms for quality inspection and quality control with regard to assessment and feedback as central components of the teaching and learning process cannot be overstated. 

In the referenced story, university officials are said to be exploring ways to come up with secure and cost-effective methods of assessing students online, which will guarantee quality and check exam malpractice.

I have previously argued that assessment and feedback has an important role in students’ learning. It acts as an important interface between learning objectives and outcomes. Judicious use of effective assessment methods and practices has value and potential to significantly improve learning outcomes. Given that there are diverse assessment methods, selective application of such methods is of essence and has a bearing on learning, particularly in the context of virtual teaching and learning.

In my experience I found that adapting assessment methods and practices to students’ learning styles and processes holds great promise to improving learning outcomes. This means that assessments methods and practices must be adapted to the reality under Covid-19. Since this is new for most of us it goes without saying that there is need for research on design and use of diverse assessment methods in all levels of learning domains.

Sharing experiences on various aspects of assessment design and application across the academe can go a long way in making the search for effective assessment solutions less daunting, and certainly less traumatic than the report suggests.

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[1] Biggs, J.B., 2011. Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does. McGraw-hill education (UK).