TENDERING PROBLEMS AT NZOIA SUGAR COMPANY

 

Wednesday, April 6, 2005 10:01 AM

BY  LUKE KAPCHANGA   DN/WEBUYE   NZOIA         6/4/2005
The Kenya Anti-corruption committee has been called to investigate the tendering process at the Nzoia sugar company.
Mr Lucas Watta who is the official of the Kenya sugar cane growers association  has claimed that the company was losing million of shillings in corrupt deals and those involved  need to be prosecuted.
Mr Watta said the management should be probed on how they gave out shs.121million to a company supposed to supply fertilizer without delivering the product.
He claimed that cane yields among out grower farmers had dropped due to lack of fertilizers yet the money was paid out to the supplier.
The official said there is enough evidence showing that the money was paid yet those behind the syndicate are not bothered with the suffering they have inflicted to farmers who depend on the company to get fertilizers.
Cane farmers contracted to Nzoia sugar company have written a protest letter to Agriculture minister Mr Kipruto Kirwa for his failure to intervene  and have their problems addressed by the management.
The Kenya national  sugarcane growerrs union chairman Mr Joseph Nato Muleme has written to Mr Kirwa asking for his reponse on illegal deductions and overcharges on delivered crop.
The letter dated  23/3/2005 says in part,"We shall be grateful to hear from you as soon as possible because the situation of farmers at Nzoia is getting worse".
Mr Muleme complains that the minister has not respondend to the letter he wrote to him on 17/11/2004 demanding payment of shs.415,878,488. accrued interest for cane delivered from 1999-2003 from Nzoia management.
Then  the  union official claimed the interest was realised after the government waived the interest rates from sugar development fund(SDF),and also lowered interest on loans from 10%-5% last year.
Mr Muleme accused the management at Nzoia for charging interest on payments to farmers against the directives of the government.
He  stated that farmers who benefited from shs.300million released by the government in May to clear the outstanding debt were deducted interest on land preparation, seed cane,harvesting and fertilizers yet this was money from SDF,
The chairman said then that the accrued amount covered the period between 1999-M ay 2003 as the management had flouted the guideline spelled out making farmers to continue suffering.
He accused the management at the factory for denying out grower farmers from getting high yields when the cane is harvested by not supplying them with fertilizers.
He said most of the farmers depend on the fertilizer from the company because poor payment system has made them not to operate independently.
The union chairman accused the management of stealing from farmers by raising transport costs when the distance from the farm to the weighbridge remains the same.
He also claimed that more than 3000 farmers have  not benefited from from shs.300million released last year to clear the 1999-2002 arrears.

TYPHOID AMONG STUDENTS

Saturday, April 9, 2005 11:21 AM

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BY LUKE KAPCHANGA DN/WEBUYE TYPHOID 9/4/2005
The outbreak of typhoid in Bungoma district which has killed three students and a villager were caused by expired chlorine used in the treatment of water.

The minister of water & Irrigation Mrs Martha Karua said on Friday that contaminated water due to expired chlorine may have been the cause of the outbreak which has affected hundreds of people in Kimilili division.

The minister admitted that officials in her ministry were found treating water at the supply system with chlorine which had expired in November last year.
"Expired chlorine was found in the stores but strict instructions have been given to stop using it immediately," She said.
Mrs Karua who was touring the affected area with trade & industry minister Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, announced the formation of a monitoring team to ensure a continous use of proper chlorine in the treatment of water at the source in Mt Elgon district.
She hinted that the ministry may take displinary action against those involved in the procurement and supply of expired chlorine.
"The ministry may be forced to take internal steps of displinary action only after consultations and investigation", she said when asked to comment on her reaction about the use of expired chlorine,
However, she said the purpose of her visit was not to pronounce the sanctions on the ministry employees who were accused of failing to perform their work .
Dr Kituyi who is the area MP demanded for the removal of the district water officer Mr Anthony Mweje for not knowing his work and just misleading the public on water treatment.
The minister is said to have told a closed door meeting at the Kimilili municipality that the water deptment in the district was in a mess as a reason for frequent outbreaks of water borne diseases.
The source from the meeting were the press was barred said the area Mp also called for the resignation of Bungoma medical offficer of health Dr Isaac Wasike for not acting fast to contain the outbreaks.
The meeting was attended by district commisioners of Bungoma Mr Joseph Irungu and Mr John Ole Serian of Mt Elgon, The Western provincial medical officer Dr Olango Onudi , Commisioner Jack Tumwa, officials from both ministries of water and health and Kimilili mayor Mr Wycliffe Tabani.
Dr Kituyi complained that information on the ground was being distorted by government agents on the extended of the outbreak and efforts being taken to contain it.
He said the figure of those who have died of typhoid is not clear due to poor record keepning or refusal by the concerned persons to put records correct.
On the side of treatment for typhoid patients the minister accused the health staffs for charging them when drugs had been supplied by the government.
He told the patients at Kimilili sub-district hospital not to pay for services or buy drugs until he will tell them to start paying.
"The government has supplied enough drugs and nobody should be asked for money , the services here are free and report anyone who will demand for money", Dr Kituyi said.
He observed that patients suffering from typhoid are being told to buy expensive drugs at near by pharmacies while at the hospital are given just painkillers.
The ministers who were visiting patients after the outbrea last month promised that the government was going to iprove on water supply systems in the area to provide clea and safe drinking water.
The disease which was fisrt reported at Moi girls Kamusinga and later Kimilili boys claimed the lives of students one in each school.
The PMO Dr Onudi dismissed reports that those who have died had reached 20 puting the number at only four.
He maintained that according to thier records those diagonised and found to be invected with the disease and later died was four ,saying other reported deaths within the affected areas was due to other causes not typhoid

MUKHISA KITUYI AND POVERTY AMONG THE LUYIA

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BY LUKE KAPCHANGA DN/WEBUYE KITUYI 11/4/2005
Trade & industry minister Dr Mukhisa Kituyi has said that members of the Luyia community will remain poor if they do not change the attitude of being reluctant to venture into business.
Dr Kituyi observed that the community will always be labelled as producers of cooks and watchmen when they leave business opportunities slip away.
He complained that the people of Western province have taken poverty to be away of life and do not struggle to get out of it.
Addressing mourners at the burial of the late Samuel Wamalwa Wanyonyi at Chebukaka village in Sirisia constituency, Bungoma district , the minister challenged the youth to fight poverty like a disease.
He said the region was marginalized during the KANU government and people thought poverty was part of them and to make money is like an accident.
"Our people have to raise up and fight poverty mercilessly like a plague to make money and develop the region" he remarked.
He told the people of the region to take a brake from political squabbles and concentrate on income generating projects which will change their living standards.
Dr Kituyi said the Luyias were not taking risks and are only waiting for the government sponsored projects to claim that development was coming to their respective areas.
"Development is not building of roads, schools, hospitals and supply of electricity only but is about involvement of local people to generate money", he said.
He gave the example of the community to two watchmen, one with shoes and another barefooted. He explained that the one with shoes will buy new ones when they get stollen yet the barefooted will never think of buying a pair because he is comfortable in that state.
He claimed the community was not being ambitious enough to participate in the global economy when the doors are open to third world countries.

The minister was accompanied by more than twenty councillors drawn from Bungoma, Trans-Nzoia and Lugari districts .

Dr Kituyi appealed to the residents of the province to concentrate on development issues and leave politics to the next general elections in 2007.
"There will always be elections after five years in this country unless the military takes over, so people should waste time on politics every time they have the opportunity to address the public" he said.
He said elected leaders were dwelling much on politics to hide their failures in addressing peoples needs and ensuring that government services are delivered.

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KIRWA AND FARMERS PAYMENT AT NZOIA

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BY LUKE KAPCHANGA DN/WEBUYE KIRWA 23/4/2005
The minister of agriculture Mr Kipruto arap Kirwa is to recall the farmers list of Nzoia sugar company to srutinise the beneficiaries of shs.300million given by the government last year.
Assistant minister for foreign affairs Mr Moses Wetangula told cane farmers at Mabanga yesterday that they had requested for the ministers intervetion.
Wetangula said elected leaders from Bungoma had approached Mr Kirwa to have the list properly checked to establish the farmers who were paid after compalins that some were left out.
"The minister will definately ascertain the beneficiaries who were not farmers following complains of shortcomings at the company with management,"he said.
He also promised farmers that the issue of missing files which made most of them not to be paid will be investigated as the minister is very much concerned to have the debt cleared.
Mr Kirwa led a high powered government delegation in March last year at Bukembe primary school were he announced that Nzoia sugar company was to recieve shs.300million to clear the accumulated debts .
The money was supposed to clear debts piled up from 1999 -2002 but farmers have been complaing about the poor payment procedure.
The farmers claim that management caused the loss of files and tampered with the records leaving most of them out.
In September last year the company board of directors chairman Mr Burudi Nabwera told the press that they had identified ghost farmers who were to be handed over to police for action.
Mr Nabwera said then that ghost farmers were being paid in collusion with some corrupt managers leaving oput genuine farmers.
The chairman explained that ghost farmers were discovered after a rigorious screening exercise by registering farmers afresh physically assisted by chiefs.
Mr Wetangula on his part promised farmers that MPs from the sugar belt are fighting to have the price of sugar increased to motivate them.

He however called on the goverment toremove VAT and reduce taxes on sugar to make it appealing to farmers and profitable.

He complained that the major problem in sugarcane farming is taxation and the leaders were consulting with the government to remove VAT the way it is with coffee and tea.
He claimed taxation is discouraging farmers because they are being paid peanuts when the crop is harvested and the proceeds goes to the millers and transporters.
He asked farmers not to vote for the Kenya sugar Board director who will oppose the increase of cane tonnage because the current directors were the ones who reduced the prices.
He said MPs want a director who understands sugar cane problems and willing to coperate with them to protect farmers interests.

WETANGULA ON FAMILY PLANNING

BYLUKE KAPCHANGA DN/WEBUYE WETANGULA 23/4/2005
Family planining is not good for competitive politics which is about numbers ,an assistantminister has said.
Mr Moses Wetangula of foreign affairs said people of Western and Bungoma in particular should have more children to make Ford - K a strong party.

Mr Wetangula explained that politics of alliances the country has adopted each party in parliament need more votes in areas they dominate to enable it have better chances to negotiate for power.

"Leadership is about people not trees .Every one big or small has got just one vote and we require numbers to make our party vibrant" Mr Wetangula said.
Addresing the public at Sirare , in his Sirisia constituency, the assistant minister urged women not to use contraceptives because the party depends on themto increase the number of supporters.
He complained that health facilities in the constituency are being constructed but women who are pregnant are rarely seen to make use of them.
He caused amusement among the women and men at the meeting when he remarked that one will traverse the constituency without finding a single woman who had concieved.
He observed that failure by mothers not to concieve defeats the purpose of having health centres within walking distances and also diminishes chances of F-K ascending to power.
"Necessity is the mother of invetion.The more children a couple has the harder they will struggle to get out of poverty," he added.
People he said should not fear having many children because presure of populayion growth will force those trapped in the circle of poverty to seek ways of survival .
He however clarified that he is not opposed to the government effort on couples having small families but was urging his people to make use of sprouting dispensaries and health centres.
The assistant minister called on his copnstituents to be vigilant in monitoring the use of constituency development funds and the projects under implementation.
People he said should be constantly demand how the CDF is being spend and should not fear inquiring on the progress of project implementation.
"The public has the right to access informantion and everything done has to be open ,transparent and those concerned be accountable for the electorates to benefit,"he said.
He stated that schools were the most likely areas were the public need tobe very investigative on constructions and equipments.
The assistant minister also said the district of Bungoma has to be split into two to enable it get more resources fromthe governmnt.
He appealed to local leaders not to oppose thr creation of another district as it will be for the benefit of the peopleand the call be supported.
He complained that one constituency districts were getting similar allocations from the government as Bungoma which has five saying this was not fair.

FINANCING CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECTS A PROBLEM

UNMET PROMISES ON CLIMATE FINANCE:

RICH NATIONS SCORE POORLY IN MOST DETAILED ANALYSIS TO DATE

by LUKE KAPCHANGA

 So far, only US$23.6 billion of the US$30 billion promised has been committed as funds to tackle climate change.
And of this, only 20 per cent of the fast start finance has been allocated to projects that will help poor nations adapt to a changing climate.
The most detailed analysis to date of how well rich nations have kept promises to provide poorer ones with funds to tackle climate change which was released late November says.
The research concludes that they have collectively failed to fulfill eight substantive pledges.
Published by the International Institute for Environment and Development — the study comes as countries prepare for the latest round of intergovernmental climate-change negotiations, which begins late November in Doha.
The poor track record of rich nations in meeting their fast start finance pledges has raised serious concerns that these countries will also renege on their bigger promise to ensure that US$100 billion flows to developing nations each year by 2020 to help them to respond to climate change.
The wealthier nations promised in 2009 to provide developing countries with US$30 billion by the end of 2012, and saying this should be “new and additional” finance balanced between support for adaptation and mitigation activities. 
They made additional pledges about transparency, governance and the need to help the most vulnerable nations first.
“Without transparency about how and when rich countries will meet their climate finance pledges, developing countries are left unable to plan to adequately address and respond to climate change,” says co-author Timmons Roberts of Brown University in the United States, whose Climate and Development Lab led the research.
Less than half of the fast start finance is in the form of grants. The rest is loans, which means poor countries must repay with interest the costs of adapting to a problem they have not caused.
And rich nations have not provided enough transparent information to prove that their contributions are really new and not just diverted from existing aid budgets.
David Ciplet, also of Brown University, adds: “Only two of the ten donors we assessed are delivering their fair share of climate finance, based on their ability to pay and how much they have contributed to climate change through emitting greenhouse gases in recent decades.”
To examine transparency in more detail, the researchers evaluated donor nations across 24 measures. On the resulting scorecard, no donor nation scored more than 67 per cent.
On these measures, Norway has performed best, providing five times its fair share. At the other end of the scale, both Iceland and the United States contributed less than half their fair share.
The broken promises will make it harder for developing countries to take seriously what richer nations say at the UN climate change talks, which take place in Doha, Qatar from 26 November to 7 December.

One way to restore trust would be for rich countries to channel their climate finance through funds that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change set up as they have a governance structure with equal representation from developed and developing nations.
Also critical will be to fulfil the US$30 billion promise by the end of the calendar year, and to ensure that this money is delivered to support projects in a timely manner.
This is something that, in 2010, all rich countries agreed should be a feature of funds through which they channel their climate finance. Yet, so far, rich nations have channelled only two per cent of the climate finance through these UNFCCC funds.
“With trust in short supply, and little time to negotiate a global response to climate change, the UN talks need an injection of goodwill,” says Saleemul Huq of IIED.
“The rich nations can provide this by making good on their past promises and showing the poorer nations that they are serious about working together to tackle this global challenge.”

ECONOMY AND POLITICS

Thursday, August 21, 2008 2:23 PM

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BY  LUKE  KAPCHANGA    DN/ BUNGOMA      21/8/2008   COMMENTARY.

On August 15^th , two functions were simultaneously held in Bungoma, whose purpose was to spur economic development of the people.

One function at the Kenya Industrial  Estate, within Bungoma town, which was to be presided over by deputy prime minister and minister for  trade , Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta had the initiative focusing on Micro and Small Enterprises.

The other held at Mabanga Farmers training centre, to be presided over by minister for Agriculture Mr. William Ruto, was  a framers field day.

Both ministers failed to turn up, for the official opening and in there places delegated junior ministry officials .

The functions turned out to be very low keyed even local MPs did not attend or sent apologies.

Mr. Kenyatta was to launch the Bungoma district Business solution centre, which is to serve as a one-stop-shop for businesses.

The centre is expected  to provide a number of business services to the youths and any other individual or groups , taking up self-employment within  the micro-and small enterprises sector.

The initiative is aimed at ensuring that businesses in the area flourish to create more employment especially among the youths.

The District Business Solution Centre(DBSC), is to provide among such services as :business skills and entrepreneurship development; identification of  potential business opportunities ; provision of facilities for business services ; information on potential markets , investments and technology; development of incubations in support of micro and small enterprises; avenue for accessing financial services and development of rural markets and linkages.

On the other part, the farmers field day at Mabanga , was the only opportunity the local people can access new developments in the farming sector after the closure of the Harambe Agriculture show, when its land was grabbed by mainly politicians.

More so for the sugar cane farmers, the occasion was to meet the minister and ask him in person questions regarding the collapsing Nzoia sugar company.

Currently private sugar cane harvesters are supplying cane to upto Kibos in Kisumu, Lubao, and west Kenya factories in Kakamega ,at throw away prices.

Most of the agricultural produce has no markets and government interventions , when available in assisting farmers mostly on fertilizer normally comes late.

The planting season for maize in Bungoma starts in March , and whenever the minister for agriculture announces reprieve is around May or June, indicating that the people here feel abandoned by government programmes.

What beats logic is the failure by elected leaders to attend the  two meetings and also mobilize the residents to come in big numbers .

Another worry is how comes two senior ministers arrange to come and then fail at the same time, pointing out that possibly local leaders did not approve of their coming.

Leaders from Bungoma, including the minister of foreign affairs Moses Wetangula, assistant ministers Bifwoli Wakoli and Alfred Khangati and MPs Alfred Sambu and David Eseli and nominated MP and Ford-K chairman Musikari Kombo ; are people one could be impressed as development conscious .

More so, Kombo and Wakoli have declared presidential ambitions.

But when they deliberately refuse to mobilize their foot soldiers for a noble cause of economic empowerment , then truly what intentions do they have?

Bungoma is in the category of the Millennium district, implying that its poverty level is high, so one thinks the politics should be about improvement  of living standards.

But this actions by elected leaders is a clear statement that government services coming from people they perceive as political enemies are not encouraged.

Since 1992,  when Bungoma voted almost to the man against retired president Moi, a mistaken believe has been created that until one of their own occupies state house no meaningful development will ever take place.

That stupid notion has created room for the local people to put politics ahead of development . making them to loose opportunities.