A Tribute to Professor Hastings Winston Opinya Okoth-Ogendo

Prof. H.W.O. Okoth-Ogendo taught me land law as a postgraduate at the University of Nairobi. He was a brilliant scholar and a good teacher. The last time I saw him alive was in Kampala where we were both attending the Regional Workshop on Land Issues in Africa held on April 29 - May 2, 2002 at Hotel Africana. We drank fine wine, for which he had an excellent taste. Prof. Okoth-Ogendo was a soft-spoken deep thinker. He walked with a characteristic forward bend you could miss. He towered among African and global scholars and was a friend of many, both lowly and mighty. His razor-sharp mind endeared him to many who would not allow him to slow down even when his health begun to fail. He never shied from taking on demanding challenges. As Vice-Chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission he set out to accomplish that which is seen as a stumbling block to good governance in the country. In my conversation with a friend, he reminisced that (Prof. Okoth-Ogendo) “would have been a natural for the constitutional review… he is brainy, not chauvinistic…He now goes to his grave knowing that we have not taken (full) advantage of his skills”. He was a fighter who fought a good fight. Rest in peace!

Reforming Kenya's Schools' Curriculum

It bothers me a great deal that the form of education built around the empirical, discipline-based model that we have in our universities today is the product of 15th and 16th centuries transformation. As two leading scholars-Prof. Jeffrey Steinfeld of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Prof. Takashi Mino of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo-have recently noted, "this model has served us very well in the past, leading to enormous expansions of human knowledge, technology, and the global economy, but it may not be sufficient to address the problems of global sustainability that we now face (emphasis mine), which result, in part, from this growth in human activity. Indeed, this transition must succeed if we are to leave a healthy environment, a just society, and sustainable future to our descendants" (Sustainability Science (2009) 4:1–2). It is this that informs Climate XL's work on Kenya's schools' curriculum. 

Private Sector Participation

The thought that my hometown is wallowing under mounds of solid waste is disturbing as it is unecessary (see http://www.eastandard.net/environment/InsidePage.php?id=1144011609&cid=467&). The Ministry of Local Government or NEMA ought to have come up with 'good practices' that local authorities should emulate. There are many case studies of successful waste collection schemes all over the place! The central government and local authorities seem to have resigned to contracting out solid waste collection and disposal services. There is essentially nothing wrong with that only that private sector participation entails a number of things: sharing of invetments, risk, responsibility and reward between partners. Before becoming involved in public-private partnerships, a local authority must make certian adjustments to exisitng processes and arrangement for effective partnership. For example, the local authrotity should develop or access expertise necessary to evaluate, negotiate and implement the scheme. As the Eldoret Municipal Council should have learnt by now, even negotiating with street children requires certain competencies which may or may not reside within the council. So, consult consult and consult. Secondly, establish policies to guide decisions on public private participation. Unless there is a structured way of making decisions a council will underperform! Lastly, establish procedures that enable effective evaluation of delivery of service. This is the only way to determine if the council and by extension, the community is getting value for money.

A Dollar a Day Good for the Environment

Poverty has been blamed for environmental degradation since the United National Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio de Jenairo in 1992. The clock has since turned full circle; it is now acknowledged that the greatest threat to the environment is unsustainable production and consumption patterns. The tragedy of the 20th Century was in conceptualizing and gloryfying materialism. The more energy and food one consumed, in other words the more affluent they were, the better. This became the index for development. Not even the Limits to Growth thesis would deter the proponents of this accumulative culture. But alas, climate change has now come knocking and threatens to disrupt "our way of life". So, who is wiser? Is it the 65 percent of the world population who chose to fratinize with the environment by withdrawing minimally from it, or the 35 percent who pulled all stops and went for the gravy train to gratify unholy greed? Who has been more environmentally accountable? If all humanity had been rapacious to accumulate till their storehouses were full to the brim wouldn't ecosystems have collapsed decades ago? As the dash to the bottom gathers steam it is important to pause and reflect on whether the poor are environmentally smatter or not. If they ain't then the affluent must bare full responsibility of deprivation and the consequences of a changing climate. Period. If they are, have always been, then they have invested in our future and the rest of the world owes them infinite compensation.

Africa should do more to attract Low-carbon Investments

 

Although sub-Sahara Africa is responsible for only 2 percent of global GHG emissions it should not loose out on the sustainable development market. "Only about two percent of the entire CDM projects worldwide are in Africa which is unacceptably low in contrast to 45 percent located in China, 16 percent in India and 13 percent in Chile," head of Nigeria-based International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development Ewah Otu Eleri said recently. To date Africa has just 53 of 3,902 projects worldwide -- just 1.4 percent of the total, and nine times smaller than its share of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to a World Bank study released in Dakar on Wednesday September 3 2008.

Critics have argued that Africa gets a small fraction of the CDM intervention because it offers smaller emissions reduction potential compared to Asia and Latin America. i.e., countries with higher economic growth also attract more investment.

That the CDM benefits the great emerging economies of China and India, among others, more than Africa because of their fast rate of development and stable conditions for investment.

 Africa must grasp funds generated by carbon credit trading to pay for cleaner low carbon energy and help fight climate change that threatens to undo years of economic development, Yvo de Boer, the UN climate chief said on Wednesday. Speaking at the first pan-African carbon-trading forum designed in part to match specialist investors with low-emission projects in Africa, de Boer added "If you look at the potential impacts of climate change those are likely to undo many of the investments that have been made to eradicate poverty, so I think dealing with climate change is an economic imperative,"

 Experts see a market for carbon dioxide allowances and emission reduction credits eventually developing into the world's largest commodities exchange, rivalling oil trading.

The Energy Debate

With the ever-escalating price of energy in Kenya, contrasting views have emerged prompting differing proposals. While the government seems bent on letting the market set the price of fuel, captains of industries under the auspices of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) wants the government to reign in on the cost of electricity through price controls and or subsidy. But this is not where the problem lies however. KEPSA has intimated that some of its members are considering or are in the process of relocating to countries where electricity prices are more affordable.

The government has not responded directly (at least not publicly) to the 'threat' issued by KEPSA, which seems to suggest that it is probably serious about its market friendly position. Meanwhile, a National Energy Conference (NEC) is scheduled to begin in Nairobi this week from 7-10 October 2008. The 2008 National Energy Conference aims to provide an insight into pricing issues impacting development of competitive energy markets, among other topics.

The position taken by the government to let the market reign supreme is perilous from several perspectives. One, fuel and energy are major inputs in the process of production and transportation and any significant rise in the cost of these two means higher inflation. Higher inflation and decline in consumer demand will result in a slowing down of the economy. Given the crisis that followed the 2007 Elections, the last thing that the Kenyan economy requires is another shot in the foot.

 

Two, higher and rising prices of locally manufactured goods and services will reduce our regional competitiveness with the attendant risk of losing to our competitors in the region the lucrative East African Community (EAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Three, with food prices already beyond the reach of many households and a looming national food shortage (with famine having been declared in parts of the country), there is a danger of major social and political unrest breaking out unless urgent action is taken to remedy the situation.

 On the other hand, the position taken by KEPSA members is surprising given trends in other countries where the high cost of energy has inspired investments in energy efficiency (EE) and energy technology (ET). Given Kenya's higher energy cost relative to its competitors, shouldn't more be done to promote EE? This is the crux of the matter and where vision and leadership is mostly required. Many things need to happen at the legislative, policy, research, design and development (RD&D) and financing levels if Kenya is to become energy efficient. Certainly one hopes that going into the NEC some of these issues will be discussed and clear positions taken with regard to each.

A growing economy and expanding industry and manufacturing sector will demand more energy in the future. Vision 2030 acknowledges that Kenya must generate more (sic cleaner) energy at a lower cost and increased efficiency in energy consumption. There is need for substantial amount of investments to deploy Best Available Technologies (BATs) as cost effective emission and energy reduction options.