Rob Macaire

UK and Kenya: blogging

One of the participants at the Geneva conference this week was Ory Okelloh, who I gather was invited specifically because of her Kenyan Pundit blog, showing that the importance of online discussions and commentaries was recognised by the organisers.  I'm sure we'll see more of this sort of interaction, which can only be a good thing.   Ory's suggestion to me when we met at the conference was 'the more interaction the better'.  So I've looked back and tried to answer some more of the questions and comments in response to my first few blog entries.  As I said at the start, I'm not going to be able to respond to each and every comment, but where there are common themes I will try to do so.

• Why didn't Britain encourage a repeat election in Jan 2008?

This is quite an easy one to answer.  We judged that at that time, with killings and violence taking place, a re-run of the election would have been certain to lead to much more bloodshed.  I think that many people agreed with us - certainly that was the view of Kofi Annan as key mediator, as he made very clear at this week's conference. 

• Denying visas should be a last resort, because it will be unpopular

That is something I agree with.  We only do it as a last resort.  And there are very few countries where we do it.  But given that no senior figures have ever (repeat ever) been successfully prosecuted for corruption in this country, we feel we have to take this step simply to challenge impunity.  I agree entirely that it is a difficult and sensitive policy to implement, and we need to be very careful that we are fair and impartial in our actions.  If you think we are not being, post a comment.

• What efforts is Britain taking to ensure that the war on terrorism doesn't hurt innocent Muslims?

We don't use the term 'war on terror'.  Our counter-terrorism efforts are best described in the 'CONTEST' strategy document, a new version of which was launched last week.  If you have a look at that, you will see that our work in this area goes to great lengths to avoid associating terrorism with any one religion.  We seek to prevent terrorism and to pursue terrorists - and one of the biggest supports in that work is of course the hostility that communities feel towards those individuals who seek to commit murder and mayhem.   But any action that is perceived as targeting Muslims, rather than terrorists, is extremely counter-productive and something that we go to great lengths to avoid.

• What is Britain's engagement in the health sector?

I am going to duck that by passing on the link for DFID in Kenya, as that will be more effective than me trying to summarise it (from a very non-expert point of view)

• Foreign aid has good intentions but fails?

See answer above.  But I've seen that there is a lively debate on this subject in other Kenyan blogs, and it is something I would like to return to when space and time permits - watch this space.  And keep the questions and comments coming.

Posted at 15:43 01 April 2009 by Rob Macaire  |  Comments[3]

UK and Kenya -Geneva Conference on Kenya

Today I am writing from Geneva, where Kofi Annan is hosting a conference to learn lessons from the Kenya crisis a year ago, and the National Accord that brought it to an end.   It’s a serious occasion, with a lot of the people who were involved in the negotiations, including from the ‘Serena team’, and representatives from civil society, media and the international community who all played a role a year ago.   Many speakers today have highlighted the concern of Kenyans about the stalling of crucial reforms, and people’s anger about the lack of action to deal with corruption.  Kofi Annan summed up a lot of people’s feelings when he said that ‘the time to act is now – signing an agreement is the easy part’.  Hopefully tomorrow’s sessions will get into more detail about implementation, including on the fundamental issues of constitutional reform, and a tribunal to seek justice for crimes committed in the post-election violence.   No-one here is under any illusion about the scale of the challenges facing Kenya.   I hope this conference will play a part in uniting all players (government, civil society, the international community) in a sense of direction and urgency.

Rob

Posted at 08:48 31 March 2009 by Rob Macaire  |  Comments[2]