Category Archives: Voices

SYLFF Goes to Mindanao

July 15, 2008
By 21162

An art workshop involving young adults and teens from various indigenous people’s (IP) groups from different provinces in Mindanao, the island group at the southern part of the Philippines, was held on January 26-27, 2008 in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines, in partnership with the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc. Lumads, or indigenous people, are native to Mindanao and are neither Christians nor Muslims. 1　26 participants were taught basic principles and techniques in art by Errol Balcos of the Oro Art Guild CDO, which they were able to apply to their own artworks when they were later given the chance to work on them.

Aside from the art session, there were lots of other activities that allowed the participants to share their identity and aspirations to one another. There was a sharing session, wherein the participants were able to name the IP organization they belonged to, the difficulties and concerns of their tribe, and their personal dreams for themselves and their communities.

There was also a cultural/solidarity night, where each IP group performed their native dances and songs. Other groups also recited poetry. Many of these presentations reflected the participants’ hopes and dreams; some chronicled their tribe’s history whereas others described the oppression and injustice they have suffered from.

There were also icebreakers that allowed the participants to explore the open areas of the venue and at the same time cooperate with each other in a fun, physical activity.

In order to maximize exposure to the living conditions and experiences of fellow Filipinos in the southern part of the Philippines, the SYLFF fellows visited the community of farmers in Sumilao, Bukidnon who participated in a historic walk from Bukidnon to Manila to pressure the Philippine government to bestow upon them ownership of a disputed 144-hectare land in Bukidnon, appropriately called the “144.” 2 This exposure trip was implemented in cooperation with Balay Alternative Legal Advocates for Development in Mindanaw, Inc. (BALAOD Mindanaw). The fellows listened to the farmers’ stories about their experiences during the Sumilao Walk, their struggle for ownership of 144, their dreams and plans for when the land is bestowed upon them, and their steadfast determination to implement more actions consistent with their goal. The fellows also had a chance to visit a camp that the Sumilao farmers had erected outside the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Regional Office in Cagayan de Oro City, with the goal of imposing their presence and objectives upon the agency as a ubiquitous reminder that the latter has yet to fulfill their duty in relation to the said quandary. Here, the fellows witnessed and heard first-hand the difficulties that the farmers had to bear during this protest such as the foul smell emanating from the drainage on top of which they pitched their tent, the extreme heat at noon, the occasional rain, mosquitoes and other insects, the resulting diseases, separation from their families for at least one week, and the inability to till their lands.

    1. The participants of the art workshop are indigenous people known in the Philippines as Lumads. The term "Lumad" is a collective term for all the indigenous people in the Mindanao island group. Therefore there are many different indigenous groups referred to using the umbrella-term "Lumad" (e.g., Manobo, T'boli, etc.). Indigenous people are those who inhabit specific geographic regions in which they have the earliest historical and cultural connection with. One of the biggest issues they face concerns their ancestral lands, which they struggle to protect from logging and mining companies, and multinational corporations.
    1. The Lumad Higaonon tribe farmers of Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao, walked all the way from Bukidnon to Manila (yes, all 1,700 kilometers on foot!) to petition the government to get their 144 hectares of land back. The large corporation ‘San Miguel Foods, Inc.’ had claimed the land and wanted to convert it into a hog farm.

       

      It took the farmers 2 months to walk from Bukidnon to reach Manila. Last year, in December 2007, ownership of this land was granted to them.

 

“Global and Local Encounters” Seminar Organized by SYLFF Association at Helsinki University

July 15, 2008
By null

On a very beautiful autumn day at the end of September 2008, the SYLFF Association at Helsinki University organised a one-day-seminar, “Global and Local Encounters.” It was co-organised with the Confucius Institute at the University.

 

Global and local processes are multilayered and interrelated. Particular cultures, traditions, languages, and histories are in a continuous dialogue. Post-colonial theories look beyond the local-global dichotomy, emphasizing change and continuity. In order to understand global and local encounters a multidisciplinary research is necessary. Thus, different interpretations of global processes at local levels and impacts of local on global flows are needed. Many political, economical and cultural processes are parts of global transformations, but they are connected to local differences that bring new elements to global interconnected processes. This conference sought to gather scholars from different academic disciplines to engage in discussions on the constructions of local and global identities, as well as gender and minority issues linked with shared global spaces. In addition to neo-liberal globalization, the aim was to address the impacts of global political and cultural transformations at local levels. Since both “local” and “global” have been mystified and objectified, papers on the topic of how local and global processes take places in various ways in different places were also encouraged. Understanding contemporary interrelated global and local issues requires an analysis of geographical, cultural, and historical differences linked with spatial distribution of power relations.

 

Professor Kauko Laitinen, the Director of Confucius Institute and the coordinator of SYLFF programmes at the University, opened the seminar.

Dr. Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen, the chairperson of the SYLFF Association at Helsinki University, thanked the Tokyo Foundation and the Confucius Institute for their kind support to make this seminar come true. She also warmly welcomed the audience.

 

All six presenters were SYLFF fellows. The paper presentations were made on the following topics:

 

    • Negotiating Human Rights-Based Approach and Charity-Based Approach: Development Cooperation and Experiences of Deaf Women in Uganda (by Hisayo Katsui)

 

    • Secularization in Contemporary Tibet - Critical Remarks (by Mitra Härkönen)
    • Tibetan Refugee Settlement Thobgyal Sarpa: the Only Tibetan Bonpo Community in India (by Thupten K. Lunch)

 

    • Global Encounters in Indigenous Education (by Tuija Veintie)

 

    • Global Youth Cultures and Amazonian Native Adolescence (by Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen)

 

    • “Partnership” between Northern NGOs and Vietnamese Counterpart Organisations (by Minna Hakkarainen and Hisayo Katsui)

 

 

Each paper received great attention and constructive comments for further improvement of the research. Throughout the day, we had a lively discussion on the set theme of global and local encounters, especially on the topics of whose terms the norms are set, who were represented in the negotiation of encounters, and identity of those who are exposed to both local and global phenomenon, among others. Even though fellows were from different disciplinary backgrounds, we found many interesting aspects in common.

 

At the very end of the seminar, the presenters discussed the seminar proceedings. Our association will be publishing a book with the presented papers under the great leadership of Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen, the chairperson of the association. Pirjo and Tuija Veintie volunteered for the role of editors for the book. The book will be published in the Renvall Publication Series of the University early next year.

 

SYLFF related publications were displayed on one table at the seminar to widely share our activities.

 

Now, I am still excited that we had such a fruitful seminar. We would like to thank the Tokyo Foundation and the Confucius Institute for their moral and financial support in making this activity come true.

About Warmth — Charity Activities Organized by SYLFF Fellows in Vienna

July 15, 2008
By 19588

(The following is an excerpt from the SYLFF Newsletter No.18, May 2007)

Adriana Paler-Nicolescu

Adriana (third from right, standing) and orphan girls with donated gifts at Floare de Colt (Noble Flower).

Adriana (third from right, standing) and orphan girls with donated gifts at Floare de Colt (Noble Flower).

There is much we can learn—such as to walk, speak, read, do business, or play an instrument. There also is much we receive—such as life itself, challenges, and opportunities. And there is much more that we are able to give, almost infinitely, that we can find just near us—tangible, obvious, waiting.

I consider myself a lucky person. If I had to write down all the reasons for saying that, much time—too much time—would be necessary. Therefore in this article I will concentrate on one reason. It has to do with the Tokyo Foundation and some SYLFF fellows at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where I’m studying piano in a master’s program.

To receive a SYLFF Fellowship has been a great honor and great financial help for each one of us; but that is not all. Fellowship-related resources, such as the SYLFF Network Program, give rise to creative opportunities too; that is how our SYLFF Network for Music and Arts Vienna (SYNEMAV) came into being. That is how a handful of SYLFF fellows—my co-organizers Monika Guca and David Szalkay, and myself as the principal organizer—had the modest idea of creating something different. How could we combine an expression of our musical art, networking, and initiative to make the world around us a little bit better? The answer was . . . a charity concert.

There are many people in need, we thought, and so we decided to hold a concert for orphan children (I am, by the way, the mother of two children). I began to look for a children’s shelter in my native country, Romania.

I found the Floare de Colt—translated as Noble Flower—Children’s House in Fagaras, a small town in the Transylvanian mountains, about 20 km from the village where I spent my childhood and first touched a piano. The house director, Ms. Cerasela Dogaru, helped me with information and everything else I needed.

We announced our concert for June 24th, 2006. Because I was the vice-chairperson of the OH at our university—and with kind help from our rector—it was possible to arrange for us to use the big Haydn Hall, with a lovely Steinway piano inside, for our concert.

This was the first time for me to organize a concert; usually I “only” play at such events. To organize a concert involves much more to do, but it was pure networking and very instructive for all of us who were involved.

The performers were six SYLFF fellows and one teacher accompanist. Haiyue Yu, a composer, presented her own piano suite; Monika Guca, flutist (and co-organizer), played Toru Takemitsu; Chi Bun Jimmy Chiang, pianist and conductor, played Mozart and Debussy; Tanja Watzinger sang Alban Berg, with piano accompaniment by Eva Mark-Muhlner; David Szalkay, trumpeter (and co-organizer), played Toru Takemitsu and Perz; Adriana Paler-Nicolescu, pianist (and principal organizer), played Liszt. All of us also said a little about ourselves and our pieces before each artistic moment, so that the audience—other SYLFF members, teachers, friend, and music lovers—could be closer to us and better understand the music, some of it very modern. It was a good concert, which means that we felt at home and connected with the audience, which was very warm. We were like a big family in the inspiring atmosphere of the university.

This feeling continued naturally at the buffet afterwards, where we enjoyed delicious food and good conversation, Romanian wine, and Austrian frizzante (semi-sparkling wine). People from many nations joined in a wonderful drop of time.

As a result of the concert we were able to collect a modest sum of money for the children’s shelter; the members of SYNEMAV also made donations themselves. Our imaginations began to work out how best to use the funds to buy presents for 50 children.

We also started a campaign of collecting clothes and toys for the children during the summer; the response was incredible. In November we were ready to start our journey to Romania. My husband Dragos Nicolescu and I needed a Fiat minibus to hold everything that we would be bringing— sweets, oranges, and 15 sacks of clothes and toys—to the orphans. We had to travel almost 12 hours, from Vienna, through Hungary and Transylvania, to get to the shelter.

Haiyue Yu.

Haiyue Yu.

We made our first stop in Lisa, the village of my grandparents. My aunt bought and contributed 50 new, warm hats and an equal number of pairs of gloves for the children, along with delicious Romanian maize chips, and gingerbread. With the help of my 80 year-old grandmother, we packed the presents and prepared ourselves for the next, big day: the visit to the children’s house.

November 24th, 2006, was a normal day for many people, but for me it was a special day, as well as a joyful celebration for the 50 children. They were waiting for us; they welcomed us into their adoptive house and showed us their classrooms and dormitories; they got two hours off from classes to enjoy the presents. They greeted Director Cerasela Dogaru like a mother and us like family. They wanted to help carry the sacks, and they embraced us the entire time.

I had such a mix of feelings, and I had a lump in my throat that just wouldn’t go away. It was amazing to find so much love and warmth in a place that is filled with so many sad stories about children with deceased, ailing, alcoholic, abusive or neglectful parents. There were children who did not know what it was like to have their natural parents next to them; some of them came from families so poor, with such big problems, that they had to be taken care of somewhere else. Some were undergoing physical or psychological therapy. But all of them were nicely dressed, clean, and smiling. They were aged between 7 and 16. And they embraced us like they were seeing Santa Claus bringing Christmas presents.

Each one got a present and a kiss; the kiss was as wanted and as precious as the doll or toy (maybe their first personal one) that each received. To see that somebody, a total stranger, cared about them meant everything to them. That meant they were important, that they were worthy of love just as much as anyone, for no reason. They were children, like so many others, no more and no less.

I will never forget that day. Apart from the photos, newspaper article, and television reportage, there was something that touched my heart and bothered me: these children were so lonely even though it would be so easy for someone to bring a little happiness to them. It requires very little money—only showing a little interest. And it makes one little soul happy. Those orphan children didn’t need things, but human warmth. And they gave it back enormously, in a genuine and moving manner.

We are honored to thank the Tokyo Foundation and SYLFF for helping us to start such activities. And we are happy to announce our next, larger charity concert for the children of Noble Flower Children’s House in Fagaras, Romania, which will take place in the Bosendorfer Hall in Vienna in November 2007.

There is so much to do, more than just to bring little presents. The children need a kitchen and dining room in their own building; they are temporarily eating in a big dining hall that is shared with older people from other facilities in the same complex. Most important, they need someone who has a vision and can create plans for the time when they will be old enough to no longer have the right to live in a children’s shelter. They have the right to have opportunities to obtain jobs, to start their own families, and to pursue happiness, and they will need to know how to fruitfully realize those goals.

Romania has done well in the last 18 years, since the revolution that ended the half-century of Communism and fear. For my native country the year 2007 meant the big step of joining the European Union. But although there is still so much to do, I am sure that help will be found. We just have to be open and to search for it actively, to do our personal best, to follow our important path.

After all, it’s a matter of warmth—giving and manifesting eternal values like careful attention, love, and warmth. Is there anything more important?

Daily Life in Tanzania Improved by JIP Promotion

July 14, 2008
By null

Millions of low-income families in developing countries do not have adequate access to energy, such as electricity, and they must rely on biomass fuels (like wood) to meet their household energy needs.

An estimated 90% of rural people in developing countries rely on biomass fuels as the primary or exclusive source of household energy. Moreover, access to these resources is more difficult in the cities because urban residents, unlike their rural counterparts, cannot hand-collect fuel, and they are too poor to purchase it.

 

A Community Energy Center in Tanzania

Recent studies completed by the Tanzanian NGO Women Development for Science and Technology (WODSTA; see http://www.wodsta.org) and University College of London have shown that poor households in Northern Tanzania spend on average between 20% and 30% of their household budget on biomass fuels (any fuel that comes from biodegradable matter, such as firewood, charcoal, agricultural products, or kerosene) for cooking and lighting - a share significantly higher than comparable high-income households (DPU/CDTI, 2003/04). Although clean and efficient energy sources are available to save money and time while meeting daily energy needs (such as biogas or solar appliances), poor households in the district lack the income needed to access them.

Four Sylff fellows (one each from Kenya and Italy, and two from the United States) joined people from WODSTA in analyzing this problem and developing possible solutions. With funding from the Tokyo Foundation's Joint Initiative Program (JIP), we implemented a community energy initiatives project to address the problem of inadequate access to energy faced by one poor urban population in some wards in Sombetini-Sokoni One, just south of Arusha, in northern Tanzania, East Africa.

The project was designed by the JIP team and WODSTA in order to provide women with energy alternatives in order to help lower spending for household fuel, to improve family health, and to reduce environmental degradation. Primary to the success of the project was the installation of a Community Energy Resources Center (hereinafter "Center") in Sombetini-Sokoni One. The Center is located near a cluster of dukas (shops) on the main dirt road, a place where most villagers pass daily.

The Community Energy Resource Center in Sombetini-Sokoni One.

WODSTA conducted day-to-day project activities at the Center, while the Sylff fellows offered technical support, such as training, helping in assessments, conducting analyses, and conducting monitoring visits of the Center's progress.

Our project is noteworthy because many of the ideas came from the community members themselves. The Center provides a space that residents can visit and where they can watch demonstrations, attend workshops and training programs, and access literature on alternative sources of energy. Among the technologies being promoted are passive solar food dryers and cookers, plant-oil candles and lamps, fuel-less insulated cooking baskets, energy-efficient stoves, and biogas.

Our team focused on mobilizing women and girls, primarily because in a family the females are generally responsible for many of the household activities, such as housekeeping and cooking, that use energy. The project activities centered on educating, involving, empowering, and building capabilities among females, including local leaders, students, and residents. We wanted to increase the confidence of these poor, often underprivileged women, while providing them access to and knowledge about a wide range of energy alternatives.

 

Local Volunteers: The Heart of the Center

During the project's first quarter (April-June 2007), WODSTA conducted a baseline survey, a local volunteer energy committee was elected, and the Community Energy Resource Center was officially opened. The second and third quarters (July-December 2007) saw extensive training coupled with hands-on practice in technology construction by the energy committee (which also serves as the Center's managing board). Each female committee member gained experience and confidence and now serves as an in-house expert regarding one type of energy-saving appliance or alternative fuel.

Community members at a hands-on stove-construction workshop.

The project emphasized outreach to the larger community and building a larger knowledge base concerning the use and availability of appropriate technologies. The outreach included conducting two market studies and extensive student interaction in the community. During the third quarter (October-December 2007), we focused on training the local people in business skills and on ensuring that the Center's sale of appliances and fuels generated a profit, thus enabling the Center to sustain itself beyond the project-funding period.

In the fourth quarter (January-March 2008), we focused on other business-related skills needed by the energy committee to sustain the Center after the JIP project will have ended. The energy committee has gained significant experience, even authoring a constitution for the Center, registering the Center with Tanzania's Office of the Registrar General, and opening a bank account in which the Center's funds are kept.

BASELINE STUDY, MARCH 2007: We began the project by conducting a baseline survey, intending to measure energy usage, community awareness, and acceptance of energy-saving technologies.

The project's aim for the first six months was to increase awareness in Sombetini-Sokoni One of energy-saving technologies and energy-saving fuels. The project succeeded in raising awareness by executing nine public demonstrations, distributing almost 1,000 informational pamphlets and brochures, holding 12 workshops and seminars on the construction and use of energy-saving devices and on gender norms, and by establishing a public space where women and community members can visit to purchase or simply learn about energy-saving technologies.

We subsequently conducted follow-up surveys to determine how attitudes and outcomes had changed since the baseline survey conducted at the beginning of the JIP project. The answers to the questions that were aimed at measuring community awareness of energy alternatives show that during the project implementation period the percentage of community members who were aware of the Center's activities and energy-saving technologies increased substantially. The share of households having awareness of energy-saving technologies rose from 11% at the beginning of the project to 68% at the project's mid-point and 98% by the end of the project year.

MARKET STUDY, SEPTEMBER 2007: During the project's second quarter, we conducted a market study to determine local people's willingness to purchase different technologies at specified prices. The survey helped the Center's leaders determine which technologies and fuels to focus on based on profit margins and demand. The market study also covered existing shops that sold various types of fuels and stoves. With this information, the Center's leaders determined the best locations for advertising and technology-sales activities and sought commitments from owners of specific shops to promote the Center's products.

The study revealed that 41% of the households indicated they were ready to purchase a technology or fuel at the price presented, and 74% of the respondents indicated that they wished to learn more about how the technologies and fuels worked and that they would visit the Center to learn more, while 39% of the respondents saw the technologies as being too expensive compared to traditional fuels.

EFFICACY STUDY, JANUARY 2008: We also measured significant reductions in household budget expenditures and time used for cooking and fuel-collection after new technologies - namely improved stoves - were adopted by families.

The average saving per day when using an energy-saving stove was equal to US$0.25 (a significant amount in a country where the average person lives on US$2.00 per day). As Figure 1 shows, the percent reduction in household money spent on fuel by the families studied was between 21% and 47%, depending on the type of food cooked.

 

Results of the Project

This JIP-sponsored project successfully implemented the Community Energy Resources Center that is still providing energy alternatives to poor urban women and their families. At the end of the project year (April 2008), our JIP team met or exceeded 90% of the project's initial goals. This work has improved our understanding of the barriers that face poor urban families in accessing clean, efficient, and affordable sources of energy. However, we found that two of the project's aims - increasing the percentage of women involved in energy-related decision making, and creating a more-equitable balance in the division of domestic workloads - were difficult to measure quantitatively.

These two aims relate to a sensitive social issue that relates to the cultural and social lifestyle in Tanzania. Although the women we spoke with preferred a greater balance between the genders as regards decision making and domestic roles, these types of social changes might take much longer than one year to achieve. Lacking data, we found that one local mama (woman) did the best job of evaluating the project in relation to the nature of social change within Tanzania's cultural norms:

At the end, the project provided a concrete solution to the problem of energy accessibility in poor urban neighborhoods. It created a place where people can purchase and construct affordable, clean, and efficient technologies. It directly improves both the health of the women who are responsible for cooking and the local and regional environments. The localization of clean-technology production brings a huge benefit to northern Tanzania, because it reduces the cost of technology production and provides accessible energy alternatives to even the poorest households.

Average Amount of Fuel Used for Cooking

Graham, Stuart

Sylff Fellow
Stuart Graham is the Kauffman Foundation Fellow in Law and Social Science at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and is an assistant professor of strategic management in the College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Mutiso, Stephen

Sylff Fellow
Stephen Mutiso is a program officer with the international donor agency Trocaire in Nairobi, Kenya.

Oursler, Anna

Sylff JIP project member
Anna Oursler is a student in the Department of Environmental and Urban Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, currently working with Women Development for Science and Technology (WODSTA) in Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa

 

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Climate Change Response at a Crossroads

July 14, 2008
By null

CER-based trading of emissions rights has long-term implications for global political and economic power distribution and raises ethical questions about ownership of the right to use the atmosphere.

Globally as well as nationally, we are all at a crossroads. From Rio to Bali, we made efforts to build alternative institutional arrangements for international cooperation to address the problem of climate change. Over these years several positive steps have emerged, but real-world action is still far from the desired level (IPCC 2007, Stern 2007). There has been a marked jump in media coverage on climate change since 2007, but there is a need for further action. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) suggests differentiated responsibilities in mitigation due to differences in levels of fossil-fuel-based economic activity.

In the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, countries were grouped into Annex I and non-Annex I countries. Annex I are the OECD countries with high emissions, which were asked to meet reduction targets. Developing nations with lower fossil fuel consumption were grouped as non-Annex I countries and exempted from meeting targets. This arrangement recognized the reality that GHG emissions stay in the atmosphere for more than 100 years; Annex I countries, which have been using fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, have largely been responsible for the stockpiling of GHGs in the atmosphere.

Though the Kyoto arrangement seemed logical, it was not ratified by such large emitters as the United States and Australia. And the free-riding attitude of the big emitters failed to induce cooperative solutions to the problem. To prompt action, there must be promises of a reward for the actions taken.

 

Reassessment of the CDM

The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol is probably the only platform to coordinate the actions of both developed and developing countries toward a common cause by accommodating differentiated responsibilities and the need for incentives. Under this mechanism, an Annex I country is allowed to locate mitigation projects or buy emission reduction credits from developing countries to achieve its Kyoto emission reduction target. Developing countries, meanwhile, benefit from investment and technology transfer, helping their economies to grow on a low carbon pathway - a characteristics of sustainable development. A reassessment of this mechanism makes good sense, as the Kyoto negotiated period will be reviewed from 2009 with a view beyond 2012.

The CDM requires that greenhouse gas reductions from mitigation projects be calculated using a counterfactual baseline that approximates emissions levels without the project. Estimating GHG reductions is a multiple-step process (Sathaye et al. 2003), including (1) determination of additionality or eligibility of a project, (2) construction of a baseline approximating emissions levels that would have occurred without the project, (3) adjustment of the baseline to account for free riders, (4) calculation of project emissions, (5) adjustment of these calculations for potential leakage, and finally, (6) estimation of GHG reductions relative to the baseline.

Additionally, the estimated baseline may be subject to adjustment periodically to reflect changes in business-as-usual conditions. In order to receive credits for reducing GHG emissions within a given carbon trading scheme, a project may be subjected to additionality or eligibility tests (step 1) before being accepted as a qualified project. These tests are designed to ensure that a proposed project will result in real emission reductions.

 

Trading of CERs

This reassessment of the CDM will not discuss in detail the actual mechanism of certified emissions reductions or challenge its concept. Here, the objective is to highlight two issues associated with CERs that are not well understood, discussed, or researched. When CERs are introduced to an existing socio-political-economic landscape, they represent a completely new "good." It follows from the basic concept that if emissions are "bad" and impose costs on the society, then emission reductions are good and produce benefits. The production of such "good" primary products as power, steel, cement also leads to the generation of undesired emissions.

Suppose a 6 MW power generation project in India proposes to use rice husks as a new fuel by taking advantage of new technology. The goal of the project would be to replace coal, a fuel with high carbon content. Suppose, this project can reduce 40,000 tons of CO2 annually compared to a coal-fired plant. The project would then be eligible for 40,000 CERs while producing 6 MW of power. Like power, CERs can be exchanged and traded on the market. However, given the location of the project in developing countries with no Kyoto-related constraints, the 40,000 CERs generated by the project can now be sold to Annex I investors (although this is not automatic and requires a lengthy process, as mentioned above).

Under the Kyoto regime, Annex I countries with binding reduction targets may require such CERs to achieve their goals. Thus the Annex I countries represent the demand side of the CER market and non-Annex I countries the suppliers. The price of CERs will be determined by the relative market supply and demand. Given the voluntary nature of participation under the Kyoto regime, at present the size of the market is small. With the nonparticipation of large emitters, moreover, the demand is extremely small, keeping the price of CERs at very low levels. As of March 2008 total CERs issued globally were 121,122,134 metric tons (CO2 equivalent) and the price varied from 7 euros to 22 euros per metric ton. This is not to argue how the price situation can be improved but rather to show the implications of owning CERs.

 

Ownership of Global Natural Capital

CERs may be owned by any party. A unique characteristic of CERs is that their ownership effectively provides ownership over global natural capital, that is, the right to use the atmosphere. In simple terms, a new capital good is being introduced, ownership of which will result in global market power in the near future, not unlike knowledge capital and physical capital. Creation of such rights or ownership has both long-term implications for global political and economic power distribution and crucial ethical implications. Unless regulated within a target emission level, the creation of CERs will distort climate stabilization, market power and world order.

Non-Annex I countries like India and China that are market leaders with large supplies of CERs and no binding mitigation target under the Kyoto Protocol have little incentive to hold onto their CERs and may wind up squandering ownership over natural capital now and forever. There may even come a time when they will have to buy back those same CERs at a higher price at a later date.

No study exists to show whether countries lose or gain as late entrants in the market. But it can be predicted that they will forfeit an early mover's advantage despite their high potential. In the longer run this is going to be an issue of ownership of natural capital and global commons. Under the circumstances it makes good sense for non-Annex I countries to take up binding emission targets both from an efficiency and equity point of view.

 

Ethical Issues

But deeper issues must also be discussed. One is the ethical question of managing a global common property through inappropriately defined private ownership. Who will own the rights to a global common good? Should it be individual investors, banks, financial institutions, governments, or all future generations of humans on Earth? Ownership by one group, by definition, excludes that by others for the same resource. So under current CDM arrangements, the sellers of CERs are by implication selling off their rights to use a global common property without any institutional arrangement with symmetric information on defined ownership.

High transaction costs, limited market size due to the absence of a cap for non-Annex I countries, large-scale uncertainty on ownership type, lifetime of the market, and what happens beyond Kyoto are all inviting attention to reassess the CDM and CER market. The current state of affairs can be considered a period of learning and experimentation. Asymmetry in information and the ethical issue of providing a "global good" for private trading is bound to generate global conflict sooner or later unless the CDM is crafted properly. The learning process combined with new knowledge can pave the way toward global target setting and a binding target for all whereby each player can choose its role on a level paying ground. This will ensure efficiency as well as equity, but ethical questions will still remain unresolved. Neither does it solve the problem of free riding in the Kyoto regime. There is thus still a long way to go in finding a nondistorting solution.

 

Concluding Remarks

It is time to understand that GHG emissions reduction is an economic activity. It makes good business sense to invest in the low-carbon development pathway. However, without a limit to emissions generation, the CDM will limit participation and distort the situation. A new regime is needed to replace the emphasis on voluntary action. Binding targets needs to be taken up by each emitter, however small or large, from the viewpoints of efficiency and equity.

Targets may be decided by nation-states and negotiated within the global goal of stabilizing emission levels. Under any circumstances, there is a need to coordinate national priorities and goals with those of the international community. Although nation-states are free to decide their own national policies, it can be predicted that those who benefit will be those who can best coordinate national and global goals.

The views presented in this article are of the author and in no way represent those of her country of origin, India, or the IPCC.

References

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007). "Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change." Working Group III contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Cambridge University Press.

Sathaye, J., Scott Murtishaw, Lynn Price, Maurice Lefranc, Joyashree Roy, Herald Winkler, and Randall Spalding-Fecher (2003). "Multiproject Baselines for Evaluation of Electric Power Projects," Energy Policy, Vol. 32/11 pp 1303-17.

Stern N. (2007). "The Economics of Climate Change." The Stern Review. London: Cambridge University Press.

 

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Can Aid Change Burma?

July 14, 2008
By 21164

Susan Banki received a Sylff fellowship between 1999 and 2002 while attending the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She has written numerous articles on Burma. This article, written in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, was originally featured in the May 2008 issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review (Vol. 171, No. 4) and has been posted here by courtesy of FEER.

Activists who promote political reform in Burma have, for years, debated the advisability of allowing international aid into the country. Many groups have argued that Burma's military junta selectively distributes all aid through government channels and hence only strengthens the authoritarian regime. But in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which has killed as many as 140,000 and displaced as many as 2.5 million, there is a general consensus among even the most strident supporters of aid sanctions that Burma urgently needs international assistance.

It's a bitter irony, then, that when the country needs it the most, Burma's generals have been slow to allow humanitarian aid to enter. While intense pressure from the international community has improved the flow of aid somewhat, only a fraction of international assistance has yet entered the country, and Burma continues to block visas for humanitarian workers.

There is no question that Burma needs more aid. That is the first priority. But some ways of giving aid will be more effective than others, and some even have the potential to induce political transformation in Burma, as the 2004 tsunami served as a catalyst for reconciliation in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

While Aceh and Burma are dissimilar in many ways (foremost among them that the secessionist movement in Aceh was in the process of discussing a peace agreement when the tsunami hit, while the recent referendum in Burma excluded much of the opposition), if the international community can draw on some of the lessons learned in Aceh, it will increase the likelihood of political reform in Burma. Thus, here are some strategies for maximizing the effectiveness of aid immediately and encouraging the possibility of reconciliation in the intermediate term.

First, the international community must continue to push for more aid to enter the country. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Burma this week is an encouraging sign, and the fact that 10 U.N. helicopters were allowed to fly aid into the country, is hopefully a sign that the junta is loosening its grip. While reliable reports indicate that some aid is being sold on the black market in the capital, Rangoon, the need continues to be so great that whatever aid makes it into the country will improve the lives of some of Burma's terribly impoverished citizens.

Second, aid agencies should get their foot in the door as soon as possible, even if it means compromising the humanitarian principle of independence in the short term. Burma's military-security apparatus is only so large, and the hope is that as aid enters in mass quantities, it literally overwhelms the control of Burma's generals. Thus far, the junta has proved quite resistant to influence, but now that ASEAN has agreed to handle the influx of foreign aid, more agencies may find ways to enter Burma.

Third, and related, agencies should continue to push to place more humanitarian workers on the ground. Any attempt to airdrop aid without obtaining the regime's permission is a poor substitute for the entrance of humanitarian workers. Burma needs more foreign workers not because there aren't enough logisticians and disaster experts in-country at present, as some have claimed, but rather, because foreign workers represent the best possibility of opening up Burma to the outside world. This is precisely what the regime fears, and why it continues to insist that few foreign workers be permitted to enter. Humanitarian workers from India and China, both of which have recently been permitted, is a start, but agencies should continue to lobby for access for as many foreign workers as possible.

Fourth, journalists should continue their attempts to enter Burma so they can deliver firsthand reports and keep Burma in the news. Aceh only gained attention in the international media about 10 days after the 2004 tsunami, when between 300 to 500 journalists finally were able to file onsite reports. If Burma's generals believe that media reports will make the rest of the world more sympathetic to the tragedy, and more willing to help, then they may permit some journalists to enter.

Fifth, agencies should, whenever possible, find unofficial means to work with civil society groups and Buddhist monks to distribute aid. This suggestion will prove difficult since the regime has banned monks from assisting others, has instructed citizens not to seek shelter in monasteries, and insists that all aid go through government channels. But opportunities to bypass official channels will present themselves, particularly in light of the fact some Burmese officials ignored orders to remain in the capital and instead went AWOL in search of family members. Other Burmese officials are rumored to be greatly frustrated by commands from the top that they cease helping villagers in need. These examples represent a breakdown in the military's strict hierarchy and could be a lever for incremental change.

Sixth, agencies should make attempts to build pathways for future longer-term development aid. For example, the timely prevention of cholera would be best accomplished by effective water-sanitation systems, which aid workers should try to introduce as part of their relief provisions. A caveat, however: the Burmese generals are insisting that the disaster relief phase is over and that all aid should now be focused on rehabilitation and reconstruction. Its request for 11 billion dollars must not be separated from the current relief effort, but must instead be linked to it. Linking emergency relief with development aid has two possible positive consequences: first, it sets the stage for a more robust post-emergency phase in which recipients of aid are better off, and second, it will lengthen the "window of opportunity"—the post-disaster phase when the regime is at its most vulnerable and political transformation is most possible.

Finally, all parties to the ongoing conflict in Burma should encourage dialogue and communication among opposing parties in the name of rebuilding Burma. It has been argued that one of the key catalysts for peace in Aceh was the commitment to a ceasefire by the insurgent forces, a move that made the Indonesian military more willing to permit aid into the country. In Burma, a parallel concession by opposition parties would be to refrain from pointing fingers of blame at the junta.

Responses to natural disasters in the context of conflict can initiate phases of cooperation and reconciliation, as occurred in Aceh. Alternatively, and more commonly, disaster responses can entrench current power structures and foster further conflict. This latest tragedy in Burma, must, somehow, be turned into a possibility for political transformation, by using aid carefully and effectively. Through it, the international community can create the opening that the people of Burma deserve.

Ms. Banki is a research fellow at the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law at Griffith University in Australia. She has written numerous articles on Burmese refugees and migrants, political mobilization directed toward Burma, and aid to Burma.

This article was originally featured in the May 2008 issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review (Vol. 171, No. 4) and has been posted here by courtesy of FEER.

 

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A War-Torn Land Finds a Road to Peace

July 14, 2008
By 20889

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has endured two wars in the last ten years. A peace treaty has been signed, however, and the first free election in more than 40 years has given the country hope.

 

Africa’s First World War

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen two wars in the last 10 years, dubbed “the first African world war.” The wars, which were essentially foreign yet fought on Congolese soil, saw military leaders choose violent solutions for seeking control, letting poverty and democratic governance fall by the wayside.

The wars also saw an emergence of international organized crime cells seeking to traffic arms and strategic minerals such as Colombo-tantalite ore, diamond, copper, cobalt, and gold. The cost of human life, as a direct or indirect result of the world war, has been scandalously high.

However, conflicts in central Africa still exist often as the result of poor governance, a characteristic of the condition of postcolonial African states. From the independence period, these states were supported by northern regimes that underestimated the consequences of corruption, human rights abuses, lack of the rule of law, and state and electoral fraud.

A quick look at the current state of Africa shows that the continent is in turmoil:

  • In the east: The conflict in the horn of Africa between Ethiopia and Eritrea has hardly come to an end. It is still going on through a third party in Somalia today.
  • In the north-east: The conflict in Darfur reminds us that Sudan has not yet put an end to its long-standing wars despite some remarkable progress made by the government of Khartoum and the rebel movement in southern Sudan. The extension of this conflict to Chad and the insecurity it brings about in the Central African Republic is a threat to the whole regional peace process.
  • In the south: The question of land ownership in Zimbabwe makes stability precarious in South Africa, which has similar issues. In Angola, the wounds of a long-lasting civil war will still require more time to be healed.
  • In the north-west: The conflict in Western Sahara, which has been forgotten by many countries, and the extremism in Algeria require a rapid solution, or peace will be threatened in this region.
  • In the west: The slow and painful peace building process in the Ivory Coast reminds us that the conflicts in Sierra Leone and Liberia were not isolated cases.
  • Sporadic fighting between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria and the conflict in the Niger Delta region are a constant cause for concern.

Studies suggest that the main causes of conflicts in Africa are related to the following main points: poor governance, tension around natural resources, ethnic differences, and nationalism.

With regard to governance, studies suggest that the colonial heritage in Africa is one of the primary reasons for the endemic instability on the continent, while the partitioning of Africa at the end of the nineteenth century proved to have had some of the most damaging outcomes.

Post colonial adjustments followed by the Cold War caused flimsy governance structures, with the superpowers worrying more about their own interests rather than those of the African states themselves. Today, the former colonists have become “the international community.” This international community provided means and political support to its allies but considered such issues as corruption, human rights abuses, lack of a rule of law, and state and electoral fraud as trivial matters.

For example, in 1972, genocide against Hutu intellectuals in Burundi was intentionally ignored by the international community. Rwanda saw the Tutsi victims massacred in the name of the so-called social revolution (1959), which was also ignored. In the DRC, Mobutu was never prosecuted for being a dictator, kleptomaniac, or human rights abuser until the 1990s. It was only when Rwanda and Uganda fought in 2001 in Kisangani for control of the diamond trade that the United Nations Security Council took action on the issue.

In the 1990s this situation led to the explosion or breakdown of existing political alliances. The holders of dictatorial power found they could not control the opposition,, the revolts, or the internal rebel forces because the international community had stopped protecting and financially supporting them.

The DRC has been through two successive wars since 1996. The first one started in September 1996 and ended on May 17, 1998. The second broke out on August 2, 1998, and is still going on today, particularly in the eastern part of the country. It is one of the worst conflicts seen in the world since World War II. The 1996 war killed 200,000 people, and the 1998 war saw 3.5 million dead and 2.5 million displaced, among them more than 400,000 children. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that the percentage of malnourished people has increased from 35 percent in 1990-1992 to 64 percent in 1997-1999. This situation has made DRC one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2001, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 16 million Congolese people were under the minimum level of nourishment for survival.

The first war in the DRC involved foreign armies from more than nine countries, including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, and South Africa. The stated objective of this coalition was to overthrow the dictator Mobutu, but apart from this common goal, each country involved had its own agenda, such as changing the borders of the DRC as inherited from the colonial period.

As a meeting of different wars on Congolese soil, some political observers consider the conflicts in the DRC to have been the first African world war.

 

Roadmap to Peace

We contributed to this fragile peace-building process by investing in protecting human rights, civic education, and popular participation. We also helped realize the first free election in the DRC in more than 40 years. However, elections do not always mean democracy, and the way forward still remains a challenge. After 32 years of dictatorship and 10 years of war, my country is yet to be rebuilt.

In January 2008, a peace conference was held in Kivu in northern DRC. The conference had the objective of initiating peace, stability, and development and putting an end to the war in North and South Kivu province.

The conference requested that the Rwandan and Burundian refugees return to their respective countries, as well as calling for disarmament and the repatriation of foreign arms groups still on DRC territory. After three weeks of work, the armed groups and the government signed, in the presence of the international community, an act of engagement for peace, known as the Amani Program or Peace Program.

The DRC is now run by an elected government under a prime minister, Antoine Gizenga, elected and appointed by the presidential majority party. We have a parliament with 2 chambers, 11 provincial parliaments, and 11 provincial governments. All these institutions are under the constitutional control of an elected president.

Although there had been a rebel group after the elections, the Amani peace conference convinced this last rebellion to recognize the authority of the state founded on the elections.

Today, we should put much emphasis on the reconstruction. This means organizing a system of good governance where all significant social bodies are represented at the political, economic, and military levels, promoting capacity building in administration, and judicial services, and achieving a regime without political army that is devoted to the people and not to the leaders. We will also promote a regional approach to conflict resolutions, understanding the major causes of wars at both the national and sub-regional levels, combat poverty through common programs of development, transform war economies to integrated trade, and implement common measures of conflict prevention similar to the methods of the AU (African Union) and UN.

 

Outstanding Leadership

The Second Sylff (The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund) Prize was recently awarded to Rigobert Minani-Bihuzo, 47, a leader in promoting human rights and civic education in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. Rigobert is the founder and representative of Groupe Jérémie, an nongovernmental organization actively engaged in these fields in the DRC and the African Great Lake region.

Overseeing the coordination of the first free election in the DRC in more than 40 years, he helped organize the Cadre de Concertation de la Société Civile pour l'Observation des Élections (CDCE), an association of 22 NGOs for election observation. Rigobert directed the activities of some 50,000 national observers and 125 international observers sent from the European Network for Central Africa (EurAc), a network of European NGOs. He has also been involved in various governmental efforts for cease-fires and reconciliation in war-stricken DRC.

Rigobert was invited to Japan for two weeks in January 2007 to receive the Sylff Prize and to establish contact with individuals and organizations—both governmental and non-governmental—for future collaboration.

 

About Sylff

Sylff (The Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund) is a fellowship program established in 1987 to support promising graduate students in the fields of the social sciences and humanities. This program tries to nurture leaders of tomorrow who are willing to address issues of global concern and effect changes by proactively tackling them. The Sylff program is a collaborative program by The Nippon Foundation and The Tokyo Foundation with the former donating the endowment of US$1 million each to each selected institution, and the latter being responsible for administering and promoting the network within and beyond the Sylff community. As of now, endowments have been established at 68 institutions in 44 countries, and over 10,000 graduate students have received the Sylff fellowship.

Rigobert received a Sylff fellowship in 1995–1997 for his DEA (diploma of advanced studies) in political science at the Institute of Political Education “Pedro Arrupe” in Italy.

 

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Kenya’s Post-Election Violence

July 14, 2008
By 19741

Have colonial ghosts come back to haunt Kenya? Taking a look at the recent violence that spread across what was one of the most politically stable countries in Africa, and asking why such a steady country faced such sudden tremulous times, a Kenyan anthropologist, engaged in human rights issues, gives us his perspective.

Kenya, one of the most politically stable countries in Africa, is found on the east horn of the African continent. The country gained its independence from the British in 1963 after years of armed struggle and diplomatic negotiations led by a generation of leaders who are still in active politics today. Diverse interests that have accumulated over time, especially in businesses, have continued to control the country’s politics, and when a motley crew of younger opposition politicians upstaged them in elections last year, the old leaders just dug in and refused to leave. Widespread violence followed. The government, for a time, continued to play truant and refused to enter into any meaningful form of power sharing agreement with the opposition, even amidst talks chaired by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan and backed by the international community, in particular the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This essay attempts to put this story into perspective.

 

Kenya’s Post-Election Violence

For the better part of the first two months of the year, Kenya’s political situation remained fluid, tense and unpredictable. The country was not holding, and a bloodbath loomed after weeks of ethnic violence precipitated by a suspected electoral fraud that returned President Mwai Kibaki of the Party of National Unity to power. As wide sections of the population tottered from the consequences of internal strife, a nebulous search for peace began in Nairobi: the National Dialogue and Mediation forum, chaired by Kofi Annan, with the assistance of a panel of preeminent African leaders.

At the talks the opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), first decamped from its earlier radical position to press for the resignation of President Kibaki to allow for fresh presidential elections, opening the way for the negotiations. The ODM had refused to recognize Kibaki as the president, and during the first few statements from him at the start of the talks, the ODM threw tantrums and almost boycotted the parley after Kibaki referred to himself as the duly elected president of Kenya. The ruling party dodged the reconciliation spirit of the talks and failed to read the intensity of local and international pressure to work on a solution to the impasse. It required the intervention of African Union Chairman and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who warned the parties of dire consequences if the peace processes were to be derailed. The big stick wielded by the two seemed to have worked, as a new peace accord has now been reached between the warring parties and Kenya will soon have a premier and a president, with both sharing executive powers. The grand coalition agreement will be constitutionalized.

A host of local and international observers in the polls, including the European Union observation team and the Commonwealth, agreed in their reports that the December 2007 elections, particularly the presidential vote tallying, was marred with incompetence and spurious tallying. In a multiethnic society of about 40 distinct ethnic groups, Kenya was firmly jolted by the disputes. At the Annan talks it was also agreed to form a review committee to establish the facts behind the election fiasco, as well as to create a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission to help in reconciling Kenyans and addressing historical grievances that were partly the reasons for the conflicts.

The electoral differences have been very costly for the country: About 1,500 Kenyans died in the post-electoral skirmishes, 350,000 people were displaced from their homes, and many continue to live as internally displaced refugees in temporary camps across the country. Businesses have been stalled, moreover, and by local estimates over US$2 billion losses to businesses have been counted. Any more dithering on the peace talks, and the impatience and war-mongering culture that was beginning to take root in the country would have led Kenya to an eventual paralysis and even collapse. But how did Kenya get to that point in the first place?

Sworn in on a wheelchair after a near-tragic road crash at the height of the 2002 general election campaigns, President Kibaki owed much to his coalition partners for the National Rainbow Coalition euphoria and sense of unity that won him the victory. His last weeks of campaigning found him confined to a wheelchair, but an amalgamated league of campaigners from the coalition’s leading party stalwarts—then known as the Summit—crisscrossed the country on a platform of change.

With the Kenya African National Union’s trouble-free concession of defeat, Kenya’s had been an exemplary political transition in Africa. But that was then. Kibaki faced his reelection against a strong opposition coalition headed by the man who ironically is credited for his presidency, Raila Odinga, and an array of his former ministers.

At his inauguration in 2002, Kibaki and his government promised a new constitution and an end to official corruption, political patronage, and nepotism. It would be these pledges, on the political front, rather than promises of economic revitalization that would dog the Kibaki administration over the coming years. In effect, the Kibaki regime would defend its reelection plan on account of a healthy economy, with a growth rate of 8 percent up from the tottering levels of 2002. However, it had not fulfilled most of the political pledges, particularly those to draw up a new constitution and end high-level corruption. Worse still, the Kibaki administration seemed to have come to revolve around a cabal of ethnic state operators who apparently convinced him to rubbish the preelection Memorandum of Understanding on a power-sharing agreement with his former colleagues.

 

A Tight Race?

Although a tight election was developing and many pollsters pointed to a close finish, in the minds of many Kenyans it was never to be as contentious and as bloody as it became. Both the Party of National Unity and the ODM attracted huge support across the country. In the end, the Electoral Commission of Kenya released the results of only 209 constituencies (following nullification of the results in 3 constituencies), indicating that the president had won with about 200,000 votes ahead of the ODM presidential candidate, Raila Odinga, and inviting instant dispute. By this time, live broadcasting of the vote tallying process by the media had been banned, and Nairobi was reduced to a police state with heightened security patrols and closures of certain roads. What, then, led to the vicious post-electoral violence in the country?

According to the prediction of former president Moi, multipartyism was bound to bring about tribal tensions and deepen regional divisions in the country. The former president was himself an expert in divide-and-rule tactics of administration. At the height of fervent campaigns for political reforms in Kenya in the 1980s, he opposed political pluralism on the claim that the country was not cohesive enough. Multiparty democracy was finally reintroduced in Kenya in 1991, but early elections in 1992 and 1997 saw poll violence, especially in the Rift Valley parts of western Kenya and the coast of Kenya.

In Kenya’s politics, the capture of safe votes is often strengthened by filial connections between the contestants and electorate. Politicians of the above communities found it expedient to throw out voters from the immigrant settler population so that their declarations of “party zones” would be realized. The Rift Valley was declared a Kenya African National Union zone, and other parties were warned against venturing into the area. Accordingly, this occurrence also fulfilled Moi’s prophecy on political pluralism. In 1997 these conditions were repeated with varying tactics and consequences. Official coverups and impunity often followed state involvement in the clashes. In 1993, though a parliamentary select committee to investigate and make recommendations on the clashes was set up in Kenya, nothing followed. Another Judicial Commission on Tribal Clashes finished its work in 1999, but neither the Moi administration nor the Kibaki administration implemented its recommendations.

 

Colonial hangover or ethnic complexity?

The divide-and-rule administration tactics, although a legacy of the British colonial administration in Kenya, were polished under the Kenya African National Union regime. State appointments, budgetary allocations, and a distribution of public goodies appear to strictly follow the beacons of ethnic loyalty and closeness to state power. This manner of distributing the national cake is a major cause of the ethnic discontentment and, with the imperial powers of Kenya’s presidency, can be a harbinger for chaos. Figuratively speaking, communities that find themselves at the periphery of power mobilize against the status quo on the basis that it wants the plate to go around. “It is our turn to eat” is an oft-quoted maxim in Kenya’s campaigns.

The communities feeling displaced and marginalized from the center of power by the Kibaki administration bandied together in the ODM against the government. When it lost the opportunity to stage a takeover, therefore, this was going to be painful and frustrating. If it had been through an illegitimate loss in the polls as has been alleged, the violence could only have been expected as a logical consequence of anger and frustration. Deep-seated anger against the Kikuyus, seen to have dominated power and the consumption of the national cake since Kenya’s independence in 1963, can no doubt be blamed for this eventuality. Although the Mau Mau war of independence was related to the Kikuyu uprising against the colonialists for their loss of land, the departing crown bequeathed a shamelessly exploitative and divisive state machinery to the new power elite under Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu. With a relatively more educated working class and a better physical infrastructure inherited from the white administrators, Kenyatta capitalized on these advantages to make the Kikuyu a powerful and envied community in the country’s post-independence economic takeoff.

After the declaration of the state of emergency in Kenya in 1952, the British government followed with a land rationalization plan known as the Swynnerton Plan. Under the plan, the British would encourage the newly independent Kenya money to buy back the “White highlands” formerly settled by the colonialists. When the colonial farmers departed, an expansive swathe of land was left uninhabited in a region previously owned by the Kalenjin and Maasai. However, the pastoralist Maasai had in any case lost their claim to a large part of the Rift Valley land through the 1904 and 1911 agreements with the British colonial administration. On the part of the Kalenjins, they witnessed their supposed ancestral land annexed by the independent government and dished out to mainly Kikuyu settlers after independence. This Kikuyu resettlement plan was backed only by a section of the Kalenjin politicians. By 1971, over half of all arable land in the Northern Rift Valley, settled by Kalenjins, were in the hands of new Kikuyu buyers. Without any solution to this historical grievance, Kalenjin-Kikuyu clashes in these areas are bound to recur.

Like the celebrated Mau Mau episode in Kikuyu nationalism, the Kalenjins treasure their brave history too. The community of the Kalenjins was at the forefront in opposing colonialism. When the East African Railway line reached the region, it sparked off the Nandi resistance led by the legendary Orkoiyot Koitalel Arap Samoei from 1905 to 1911. This nationalism has stayed alive in the whole Kalenjin community and political tradition.

But the media culture cannot escape censure. Although the country has a fairly credible independent and free press, Kenya’s media took sides, perceivably to serve ethnic interests in the campaigns. Camouflages of such ethnic interests abet serious frustrations and can spread hate propaganda and falsehoods or become a war-mongering tool. Kenya’s ethnic media stations remained culpable for stroking negative ethnic emotions throughout this period.

It is now important that durable solutions are found to avert a repetition of similar scenes in Kenya’s future. The suggestion to deal with matters of transitional justice, encapsulated in the need for a justice, truth, and reconciliation organ, is still necessary and urgent. This will help to understand and prescribe solutions to Kenya’s enduring pains and grievances. In the near future, emphasis on the return to lasting peace is important, but to seriously address it, constitutional and legislative agreements for power sharing and other solutions to mass poverty are imperative. Finally, for justice to prevail, Kenya’s legislative institutions must attend to the inadequacies in the law instruments and the judicial institutions that adjudicate them. What makes public leaders hesitate to use legal channels to address grievances will only set the stage for bigger chaos.


Message from the Tokyo Foundation:Why don't you write an article too?

“Voices from the Sylff Community” is a space showcasing the activities and opinions of Sylff fellows and faculty members. We have received contributions from fellows and faculty members all over the world.　We are looking forward to sharing YOUR voices with people around the world, including global issues with local perspective, grassroots issues requiring global attention, and your first-hand experience.
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