BULAWAYO- The Zimbabwe government's website does not tell the world of the existence of a new political dispensation in the mould of a government of national unity.
The homepage of site that was last updated on 18 November 2008 has Executive President Robert Mugabe's potrait sandwiched by those of his two deputies Joseph Musika and Joyce Mujuru.
An updated site would have Mugabe flanked by two Prime Ministers; Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara. Below each of them would be their deputies. The revised site would have restructured cabinet posts.
The site is very slow in opening while pictures that were fortunate to be loaded take ages to load. Below the banner Deputy Minister of Education, Sports and Culture is a picture of a female teacher and her students.
Through the country's site, the world still identifies Aeneas Chigwedere with the ministry of Education, Sport and Culture. Chigwedere is remembered for attracting controversy and criticism as minister for suggesting that all students should wear one uniform; for attempting to rename schools that still bear colonial names, and for pushing an act that empowers him to regulate the fees charged by government and private schools. He claimed some of his suggestions were attempts to dampen the effects of hyperinflation on the education system.
Chigwedere upheld a primary school headmaster's decision to expel a 7-year old Rastafarian boy because he felt that the boy's dreadlocks did not conform to the school dress code. The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
GOVERNMENTS WARNED AGAINST LAND GRABS
BULAWAYO - A recent study by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) at the request of UN Food and Agriculture Organization and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) warns that land acquisitions are on the increase in Africa and other continents, raising the risk, if not made properly, that poor people will be evicted or lose access to land, water, and other resources. Writes Simba Nembaware
The study, "Land Grab or Development Opportunity? Agricultural Investments and International Land Deals in Africa", includes new research from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. It acknowledges that land acquisitions bring many opportunities such as guaranteed outlets, employment, and investment in infrastructures, increases in agricultural productivity but also states that this causes great harm if local people are excluded from decisions about allocating land and if their land rights are not protected.
Food and energy security concerns and "other factors such as business opportunities demand for agricultural commodities for industry and recipient country agency" were noted as drivers for these acquisitions.
Foreign investors have therefore been noted as dominating land-based investment over the past five years with domestic investors also playing a "big role in land acquisitions." The report reveals that private sector deals are more common than government-to-government ones, though governments are using a range of tools to indirectly support private deals.
The report found that many countries do not have sufficient mechanisms to protect local rights and take account of local interests, livelihoods and welfare. It said: "A lack of transparency and of checks and balances in contract negotiations can promote deals that do not maximize the public interest. Insecure local land rights, inaccessible registration procedures, vaguely defined productive use requirements, legislative gaps and other factors too often undermine the position of local people."
It calls for carefully assessing local contexts, including existing land uses and claims; securing land rights for rural communities; involving local people in negotiations, and proceeding with land acquisition only after their free, prior and informed consent.
The study, "Land Grab or Development Opportunity? Agricultural Investments and International Land Deals in Africa", includes new research from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia. It acknowledges that land acquisitions bring many opportunities such as guaranteed outlets, employment, and investment in infrastructures, increases in agricultural productivity but also states that this causes great harm if local people are excluded from decisions about allocating land and if their land rights are not protected.
Food and energy security concerns and "other factors such as business opportunities demand for agricultural commodities for industry and recipient country agency" were noted as drivers for these acquisitions.
Foreign investors have therefore been noted as dominating land-based investment over the past five years with domestic investors also playing a "big role in land acquisitions." The report reveals that private sector deals are more common than government-to-government ones, though governments are using a range of tools to indirectly support private deals.
The report found that many countries do not have sufficient mechanisms to protect local rights and take account of local interests, livelihoods and welfare. It said: "A lack of transparency and of checks and balances in contract negotiations can promote deals that do not maximize the public interest. Insecure local land rights, inaccessible registration procedures, vaguely defined productive use requirements, legislative gaps and other factors too often undermine the position of local people."
It calls for carefully assessing local contexts, including existing land uses and claims; securing land rights for rural communities; involving local people in negotiations, and proceeding with land acquisition only after their free, prior and informed consent.
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