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06:45Last update on: 13 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Tue 13 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair? Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform. SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
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NEWS - AFRICA
| 2013-08-01
Outcry over Kenya US$30m party
NAIROBI - A government proposal to spend nearly US$30 million celebrating the country’s 50th year of independence is causing an outcry among civil society groups who say the country does not have any reason to celebrate let alone the means to do it.
Civil society activists are also questioning the government’s spending priorities because public servants like doctors, police officers and teachers remain unmotivated to work because of poor pay and working conditions.
Morris Odhiambo, president of the National Civil Society Congress, said on Tuesday that the proposal to spend nearly US$30 million was the latest of a pattern of questionable expenditure of the four-month-old government of President Uhuru Kenyatta. Others include the proposal of building an office and home for former President Mwai Kibaki at a cost of nearly US$6 million, he said.
More than half the Kenyan population lives below the poverty line and the country has an external debt of about US$6.8 billion, so the government should practice austerity instead of spending money for a celebration, Odhiambo said.
“All these things are avenues of corruption,” he said. Kenya is ranked 139th out of 182 nations by anti-corruption campaigners Transparency International.
Kenya’s government spokesperson Muthui Kariuki did not answer calls seeking comment.
Kenya gained independence from Britain on 12 December 1963 and became a republic one year later. The Coalition for Constitution Implementation said the government’s celebration proposal is a “serious economic crime”
“This is also a slap on the face of Kenyans who are currently overburdened by the cost of living and the majority of whom have nothing to show or to celebrate as the last 50 years have been characterized by economic plunder, corruption and oppression,” the group’s Cidi David Otieno said.
The minimum wage in Kenya is about US$1 000 a year but many here live on even less.
Seth Panyako, the secretary general of the Kenyan National Union of Nurses, said the money the government is proposing to spend can run free maternal health care services for five years.
Nurses are planning to go on strike because they are being overworked due to a shortage of up to 40 000 nurses, Panyako said. The introduction of free maternity health care in public hospitals on 1 June has worsened the situation, he said.
“You cannot have one nurse managing 20 expectant mothers,” Panyako said. “We are condemning the government for having misplaced priorities.” - Nampa-AP
Civil society activists are also questioning the government’s spending priorities because public servants like doctors, police officers and teachers remain unmotivated to work because of poor pay and working conditions.
Morris Odhiambo, president of the National Civil Society Congress, said on Tuesday that the proposal to spend nearly US$30 million was the latest of a pattern of questionable expenditure of the four-month-old government of President Uhuru Kenyatta. Others include the proposal of building an office and home for former President Mwai Kibaki at a cost of nearly US$6 million, he said.
More than half the Kenyan population lives below the poverty line and the country has an external debt of about US$6.8 billion, so the government should practice austerity instead of spending money for a celebration, Odhiambo said.
“All these things are avenues of corruption,” he said. Kenya is ranked 139th out of 182 nations by anti-corruption campaigners Transparency International.
Kenya’s government spokesperson Muthui Kariuki did not answer calls seeking comment.
Kenya gained independence from Britain on 12 December 1963 and became a republic one year later. The Coalition for Constitution Implementation said the government’s celebration proposal is a “serious economic crime”
“This is also a slap on the face of Kenyans who are currently overburdened by the cost of living and the majority of whom have nothing to show or to celebrate as the last 50 years have been characterized by economic plunder, corruption and oppression,” the group’s Cidi David Otieno said.
The minimum wage in Kenya is about US$1 000 a year but many here live on even less.
Seth Panyako, the secretary general of the Kenyan National Union of Nurses, said the money the government is proposing to spend can run free maternal health care services for five years.
Nurses are planning to go on strike because they are being overworked due to a shortage of up to 40 000 nurses, Panyako said. The introduction of free maternity health care in public hospitals on 1 June has worsened the situation, he said.
“You cannot have one nurse managing 20 expectant mothers,” Panyako said. “We are condemning the government for having misplaced priorities.” - Nampa-AP
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