FortySouth

The United Nations Security Council on Friday deadlocked on what action to take following the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) indictment of President Omar al-Bashir:

Mr. Bashir’s supporters, led by Libya and China, insisted that any official statement issued by the Council simultaneously address the potential humanitarian crisis and a possible deferral of the charges, while Western nations blasted the idea of linking the two issues and warned of a potential humanitarian catastrophe that could affect millions.

In the meantime, aid agencies have been expelled from the region leaving hundreds of thousands without medical assistance and food. Continue reading

In this coming fiscal year, developing countries around the globe could potentially face a huge gap in financing which would in turn deal a blow to infrastructure development and poverty alleviation initiatives.

According to the World Bank,

Developing countries face a financing shortfall of $270-700 billion this year, as private sector creditors shun emerging markets, and only one quarter of the most vulnerable countries have the resources to prevent a rise in poverty

This is especially grim news for many African governments that rely on Direct Budgetary Support from the WB, IMF and other private donor institutions to run government programs and payroll. According to UNCTAD, it represents about 30% of central government spending in countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Continue reading

So it’s now official – the Kenyan Government will indeed push for the repealing of contentious sections contained in the Kenya Communications Act 1998, most notably a number of clauses in Section 88.

So what are they looking to amend?

1. Deletion of Section 88, which gives the Internal Security Minister authority to “take temporary possession of any telecommunication apparatus or any radio communication station or apparatus within Kenya”
2. Establishment of a Broadcasting Service Advisory Board which will deal with issues of content and registration of the stations
3. Expand the Appeals Tribunal, established under Section 102, from five to seven members to allow for the appointment of two other people in consultation with the media industry stakeholders

On the Media Act 2007, the government agreed to fund the Media Council, the Board constituted by the Act for regulation of the media. (The Kenya Communications Amendment Bill passed in December 2008 has erroneously been referred to as the Media Bill even by though we had a Media Bill in 2007, now it’s an Act of Parliament).

Once Parliament reconvenes, the AG says that the motion will be tabled. The amendment when presented will likely, pass with little or no filibustering.

This is a first step, hopefully the political will doesn’t peter out.