East Africa

Details: East Africa; 14 April 2022; 932

It usually begins with a chilling call, “Babe, we need to talk”. This is a clear signal that things are thick. After a period of careless fun with a ‘sponsor’, she misses her periods, then reality sets in.

Barely out of her teens and in the first or second year of college, she finds herself in an awkward situation: Should she procure an abortion or live with the stigma? Young, jobless and desperate, many university students prefer terminating the pregnancy.

At only 23, *Morine has already had two abortions. A second-year university student in the Rift Valley, she had a strict religious upbringing whose emphasis was good character and morals.

But somewhere along the way, she deviated from the holy scriptures after joining college. Like many other ‘freshers’, she had to adjust to the freedom of adult life in the university.

When she first realised she would be a mother, she had to either tell her parents the truth and face societal shame or secretly terminate the pregnancy and proceed with her studies.

As a young girl with lofty dreams and aspirations, she chose the latter.

“My parents are very strict and I was not ready to have a child, I am still new in school trying to understand myself, so I did not want to risk my future,” says Morine.

A friend who knew what she was going through introduced her to a clinic. A doctor gave her two tablets; one was placed under her tongue, while the other was inserted in her private parts. For this, she paid Shs 4,000.

*Stacy, another university student in Nairobi, shares a similar experience.

She’s an adventurous girl who lives her life to the fullest but one evening, the fun came to a screeching halt when she realised she was pregnant.

“When I missed my periods I knew something was not right. I texted the man I was dating and told him that we needed to talk. Interestingly, he sent me Shs 6,000, as if he knew what I was going to say. The money was another way of him telling me to get rid of it,” says Stacy.

“One of my friends hooked me up with a certain doctor who sorts out students. In some cases, medical students sell abortion drugs for as low as Shs2,000, but I just opted to see a doctor and paid Shs 5,000. If you’ve not had an abortion while in the university then you do deserve a trophy because it’s not easy.

“I was dating older men while in university. This is tricky because they don’t like using condoms; they are financing your lifestyle so it’s upon you to take care of yourself. I have conceived twice but immediately they know you’ve done it they move away; they don’t want to interact with you,” she adds.

Other female students we spoke to attributed the prevalence in abortions to societal pressures to live a certain lifestyle, which forces a majority of them to look for “financially stable” men to finance their lifestyles.

The catch, though, is that these men are unwilling to use protection, and insist on sex on demand, leaving the female students with few options.

Abortion continues to remain a difficult topic in Kenya.

According to Article 26 (IV) of the Constitution, abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is a need for emergency treatment or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law.

Healthcare services do not provide abortion services in colleges. Students have to go off-campus to procure unsafe abortions. Sometimes they are forced to travel long distances to find backdoor abortion clinics.

According to the findings of a thesis by Dr Lugaliki A. Doreen, which was submitted to the University of Nairobi, about 13 per cent of pregnancy-related deaths have been attributed to complications of unsafe abortion.

Unsafe abortion contributes significantly to maternal mortality in resource-poor countries. Between seven and 10 patients who have procured abortions are treated daily at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

“I receive calls from students asking me if I could help prescribe drugs. They come to us bleeding and most of them lie that they did not know that they were pregnant. They mostly come from backstreet clinics after things go wrong,” says Dr Gideon Kiprono from Olenguruone Sub-County Hospital.

“I don’t participate in such practices. They usually go to chemists, where they are given drugs over-the-counter,” he adds.

Dr Kiprono says unsafe abortions come with consequences, including infertility as some medics use crude tools in the process.

A report by the African Population and Health Research Center and the Ministry of Health revealed that nearly 120,000 women received care for complications resulting from unsafe abortions in health facilities in 2012.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. By Mercy Simiyu, Daily Nation

Details: East Africa; 13 April 2022; 993

A mini-MBA programme for high-school students led to significant gains in profits, business capital investments, new businesses, and job creation

Read “Making entrepreneurs: Returns to training youth in hard versus soft business skills” by Laura Chioda, David Contreras-Loya, Paul Gertler and Dana Carney here.

Entrepreneurship is thought of as the engine of economic growth, and has a critical role to play in generating employment. The role of small entrepreneurs is particularly notable in Africa, where opportunities in the formal economy are limited and many young people start up their own businesses as a matter of economic necessity.

In this VoxDevTalk, Paul Gertler discusses the Skills for Effective Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) intervention, a three-week residential entrepreneurship skills training programme implemented in Uganda by the World Bank and the NGO Educate! starting in 2012.

In a hard skill-intensive variant of the programme, 75% of the curriculum focused on business-relevant skills such as accounting and finance and 25% on soft skills such as emotional self-regulation, negotiation, and motivating teams; in the soft skill-intensive variant, these proportions were reversed. Students in both variants also received daily training and feedback in business plan development.

Follow-up studies in 2016 showed significant effects from the programme, with the 2,400 students from the two programme variants going on to set up 500 more new businesses than a control group and creating 985 additional new jobs.

They also reported higher earnings, higher profits, and larger business capital investments, with no significant difference between the hard-skills and soft-skills groups. An eight-year post-training follow-up is ongoing, and the researchers plan to study intergenerational transmission of skills in a longer-term follow-up. Source: VoxDev

Details: East Africa; 13 April 2022; 861

Photo Courtesy © WFP/Hebatallah Munassar A woman sits with her son at the family's makeshift home in Lahj, Yemen.

The fallout from the war in Ukraine could dramatically worsen the economic outlook for developing countries already grappling with debt financing related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN said in a report published on Tuesday.

While rich nations were able to support their pandemic recovery with record sums borrowed at ultra-low interest rates, the poorest countries spent billions servicing debt, thus preventing them from investing in sustainable development.

COVID-19 pushed 77 million more people into extreme poverty in 2021, while many economies remained below pre-2019 levels, according to the Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Bridging the Finance Divide.

‘No excuse for inaction’

Furthermore, it is estimated that one in five developing countries will not see their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) return to 2019 levels by the end of next year, even before absorbing the impacts of the Ukraine conflict, which is already affecting food, energy, and finance across the globe.

The report was produced by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) together with more than 60 international agencies, including within the UN system, and international financial institutions.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed described the findings as “alarming”, given that the world is at the halfway mark for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“There is no excuse for inaction at this defining moment of collective responsibility, to ensure hundreds of millions of people are lifted out of hunger and poverty. We must invest in access for decent and green jobs, social protection, healthcare and education leaving no one behind,” she said.

New challenges on the horizon

The report reveals that on average, the poorest developing countries pay around 14 per cent of revenue for interest on their debt, while the figure is 3.5 per cent for richer nations.

The pandemic forced governments to cut budgets for education, infrastructure and other capital spending.  Fallouts from the war in Ukraine - such as higher energy and commodity prices, as well as renewed supply chain disruptions - will only exacerbate these challenges and spark new ones.

The war is also likely to result in further increases to debt distress and increased hunger, further widening “pandemic recovery gaps” that existed before the conflict.

Build on progress

Liu Zhenmin, the DESA chief, pointed to a potential silver lining for the way forward.

“The developed world proved in the last two years that millions can be lifted out of poverty by the right kind of investment – in resilient and clean infrastructure, social protection or public services,” he said.

“The international community must build on that progress, and ensure developing countries can invest at similar levels, while reducing inequality and securing a sustainable energy transition.”

The past year was also marked by some advances on poverty reduction, social protection and investment in sustainable development, driven by actions in develop countries and some large developing nations, including some $17 trillion in COVID-19 emergency spending.

Additionally, Official Development Assistance (ODA) reached $161.2 billion in 2020, the highest level ever.  

However, 13 governments also cut this support to developing countries, and the record sum is still insufficient to meet the vast needs.

The UN fears that increased spending on refugees in Europe, another fallout of the war in Ukraine, could lead to cuts in aid to the world’s poorest countries.

Bridging the finance divide

To bridge the “great finance divide”, the report calls for countries to urgently address financing gaps and rising debt risks.

This can occur through several measures, such as speeding up debt relief and expanding eligibility to highly indebted middle-income countries.

“It would be a tragedy if donors increased their military expenditure at the expense of Official Development Assistance and climate action. And it would be a tragedy if developing countries continue to default, at the expense of investments in social services and climate resilience,” said Ms. Mohammed.

Financing flows must also be aligned with sustainable development and climate action. with the international tax system allowing for fair tax governance, trade and investment policy actions that counter vaccine inequality and improve access to medical products.

Enhanced transparency will strengthen countries’ ability to manage risks and use resources well. Measures here could include tackling illicit financial flows through improved sharing and use of tax information, as well as boosting transparency of debt data. UN News

Details: East Africa; 13 April 2022; 830

An aspirant for the Bungoma governor’s seat has demanded back Sh500,000 he paid as nomination fees to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), after learning that the party prefers Ford Kenya’s Ken Lusaka for the position. Photo Courtesy NMG

Zachariah Baraza wanted to unseat Governor Wycliffe Wangamati in the August General Election on a UDA ticket but was shocked to learn that UDA had other plans and he didn’t feature in them.

UDA had opted to back Mr Lusaka under a Kenya Kwanza arrangement.

It appears his fate was sealed at a meeting on Monday with UDA top officials, who asked him to shelve his ambitions to pave the way for Mr Lusaka.

Consequently, Mr Baraza has given UDA seven days to refund the cash, saying he wants to use it to develop dilapidated schools across Bungoma’s nine constituencies.

The disgruntled politician announced he would run for governor as an independent candidate.

The politician’s protests came as five MPs allied to UDA in Bungoma vowed to support Mr Lusaka.

Politicians under Kenya Kwanza, led by Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, said they had also agreed in Kakamega to have former senator Boni Khalwale, who was seeking a UDA ticket to run for governor, to step down for ANC’s Cleophas Malala.

But Mr Baraza reminded Deputy President William Ruto about his promise that UDA, which he heads, would not dish out direct tickets and would allow ‘hustlers’ to choose their candidates.

Predominantly pro-Ruto

“But right now leadership is being arranged from Ruto's Karen home,” he protested.

The politician said areas presumed to be predominantly pro-Ruto had attracted tens of candidates for various seats but no one was pushing them to the negotiating table. He wondered why the DP wanted to impose a governor on Bungoma voters.

He said Dr Ruto had promised that no preferred leaders would be imposed on voters “in boardrooms and yet that is exactly what he is doing by imposing Mr Lusaka to Bungoma residents".

“If the DP knew that he was going to back Mr Lusaka and ask me to shelve my bid, he should not have asked me to pay the Shs 500,000 for nomination fees," he lamented.

He accused the DP of preaching water and drinking wine as demonstrated through his political actions.

Mr Baraza said UDA was busy dismissing Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga as a State project but the party was imposing many projects in Bungoma including Mr Lusaka.

He said the Shs 500,000 would find better use in purchasing cement for schools.

The aspirant delivered 50 bags of cement to Khelela Primary School in Tongaren constituency on Tuesday, and a further Shs10,000 to improve the school’s toilets.

He decried the poor state of schools in Tongaren, saying he had seen about 18 of them that need urgent help.

“Education being a key factor in the development of any society, I will remain committed to improving the learning conditions in this county (by upgrading) infrastructure," he said.

On health, Mr Baraza assured Tongaren constituents that he would upgrade their health centre into a well-equipped facility with equipment like CT scan and X-ray machines and surgical theatres.

Poor roads

He also promised that needy and vulnerable residents would get NHIF cards to help them access treatment if he is elected governor in August.

He also promised to tarmac the Sikhendu-Naitiri-Nzoia road so that farmers can take their farm produce to markets more easily. He said the area had been neglected by the Wangamati administration and had poor roads.

"Kanduyi constituency only has a road being constructed to the tune of Shs 1.5 billion, a stadium at Shs 3 billion, a hospital maternity wing at Sh300 million while other regions have nothing to be proud of," he said.

He urged the public to ignore Ford Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula, who is pushing for Mr Lusaka to be elected governor, saying unlike the Senate Speaker, he is not anyone’s project.

"In 2013, Lusaka was Mr Wetang’ula’s project that bought wheelbarrows at an exaggerated Shs 109,000 each,” he said.

“They procured musician Kanda Bongoman at Sh20 million just to entertain themselves while wananchi were sleeping hungry. They also used Shs 100 million to construct a wall around a hospital instead of buying the much-needed drugs."

In 2017, he said, little-known Mr Wangamati was again Mr Wetang’ula’s project and bought Shs 100 jerricans at Shs 10,000 each and hired goons to physically attack people in the county. By Brian Ojamaa, Daily Nation

Details: East Africa; 11 April 2022; 1026

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko joins the Azimio coalition and he is received by Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka as a WDM-K life member on Friday, March 25, 2022. CITIZEN DIGITAL COURTESY/Kenyans.co.ke

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko has joined the race for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat.

The Wiper Democratic Movement submitted Sonko's name to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as among those cleared to participate in the party primaries.

The former Nairobi County boss will battle it out with Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo, who is also seeking the Wiper ticket.

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko on Friday, September 10

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The winner will face off with former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, who has been given the direct ticket for UDA.The ODM ticket is a battle between Mvita MP Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir and Mombasa billionaire Suleiman Shabal.

Sonko was officially welcomed to Wiper by party leader Kalonzo Musyoka on March 25, with his team hinting that he was considering plans to reclaim his seat as Nairobi County boss.

His eligibility to run for an elective seat remains contentious given that the constitution advocates for the disqualification of aspirants found, in accordance with any law, to have misused or abused a State office or public office.

However, speaking to a Kenyans.co.ke journalist, constitutional lawyer Bobby Mkangi noted that Sonko still was still open to vie for governor. Mkangi explained that the ex-governor can still contest if he is yet to exhaust all forms of appeal on his case.

"Yes, the constitution says that if a public officer has been previously been removed from office because of misconduct, then he or she is disqualified. However that removal should decision needs to have been optimally challenged, he noted.

While Sonko's bid to challenge his removal from office was thrown out by the Court of Appeal, he filed a petition to have the matter be determined by the Supreme Court of Kenya.

With his appeal yet to be decided, the Constitution allows him to vie to succeed Ali Hassan Joho as the next governor of Mombasa County.

"A person is not disqualified under clause (2) unless all possibility of appeal or review of the relevant sentence or decision has been exhausted," reads

A side by side photo of former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and current governor Ann Kananu

(COURTESY)