Republic of Kenya

Kenya appoints specialists to train judges before poll

Dcarella — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:22:46 +0000

May 10, 2012 – Kenya’s new and strengthened Judiciary continues to work towards instilling confidence in the courts and improving the credibility of the legal system before the election. A team of eight judges has been selected to train the courts in handling any possible election disputes.

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said that the newly appointed judges will lay out plans for an intensive and specific training program for judges expected to handle election offenses and disputes. It is expected for the Supreme Court to handle any petition arising within 14 days of the election, while the High Court will deal with all other petitions.

To read the full Reuters article, click here.

Kenyans run rings around world

Dcarella — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:00:12 +0000

The following op-ed was written by the Kenyan ambassador to the United States, Elkanah Odembo. It was published in the Boston Herald on Monday, April 16.

Last year, Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai ran 26.2 consecutive miles at 4:42 each to win the Boston Marathon in the fastest ever time of 2:03.02. His compatriot Caroline Kilel won the women’s race. They were hardly pioneers: A Kenyan has won the Boston Marathon for 20 straight years. Kenyans now hold seven of the 10 fastest marathon times run in history.

From Boston to Rotterdam, the results of most major marathons in recent years have been summed up by an image of a Kenyan crossing the finish line with arms raised. Why, in this era of unparalleled global competition, do Kenyans win so much at this most elemental of sports?

In some ways, it’s a trick question. Kenyan runners succeed largely for the same reason that all great athletes do: They turn hard work into a lifestyle. The Red Sox [team stats]’s David Ortiz [stats] works out regularly, even during the offseason. U.S. Olympian Michael Phelps swims five hours six days a week, supplementing his pool routines with weightlifting and a 12,000-calorie diet. Similarly, a Kenyan marathoner will run more than 1,000 miles to prepare for a race, often logging two workouts a day at a pace rivaling that of a Mass. Pike morning commute.

Nevertheless, there is something special about the land so many of the world’s best runners call home. From Lamu to Lake Turkana, Kenya features some of the world’s toughest and most beautiful running terrain. It is also the crucible where many boys and girls grow up with a simple dream: To cover ground faster than anyone else in the world.

Indeed, Kenya’s Rift Valley Province alone has produced more Olympic medalist distance runners than any other country over the last 50 years.

This so-called “valley” sits up to 9,000 feet above sea level (New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington peaks at 6,200 feet; Boston’s Back Bay is 10 feet above sea level). At those altitudes the air is literally thinner, meaning less oxygen is pulled into the lungs with each breath.

Living at these heights, as any resident of the Rocky Mountains can tell you, forces the lungs to work much harder to supply oxygen to the muscles. Over time, the body adapts, producing more red blood cells to cope with the shortage.

Train at such altitudes, however, and the body undergoes nothing short of a transformation. The lungs expand; excess fat melts away (most male distance runners have less than 5 percent body fat); networks of capillaries suffuse the leg muscles; the heart itself grows larger, propelling more blood with each pump.

And Kenyan runners do train — rigorously. Mutai logs more than 100 miles in a typical week. Former women’s world record holder Tegla Loroupe, who famously ran her hill workouts up the side of a volcano, considered an 18-mile run a light day.

It’s a recipe that Kenya is eager to share with other countries; indeed, the country is planning to soon launch a track and field exchange program whereby U.S. university students would be invited to Kenya to train in the high altitudes and learn from their Kenyan counterparts.

The roots of great distance runners are not just in the land but in the community. Many consider distance running to be an individual pursuit; in Kenya it is a team sport. In the towns of Eldoret or Iten, for instance, training is a group exercise. Scores of runners glide across the landscape, chatting amiably on easier runs and motivating one another during grueling hill workouts.

Just as American boys and girls are taught teamwork and cooperation in youth sports programs across this country, an ethic of camaraderie and mutual support is vital to good distance running. Both of our cultures cherish the values of friendship, loyalty and hard-earned success.

Great distance runners display these values in abundance. Mutai, one of the most successful professional runners on the planet, feared at age 21 that an Achilles injury had ended his career before it truly began. He spent two years working for a Kenyan electricity company, during which time Mutai continued to run.

“I missed running, so I ran every morning before going to work,” he recalled.

After losing his job at the age of 23, Mutai turned a setback into an opportunity, taking the chance to again train seriously. Now, nearly a decade later, Mutai’s is a distinctly inspiring story; the former tree-trimmer for a utility is the reigning champion of one of the world’s most famous footraces.

Elkanah Odembo is the Kenyan ambassador to the United States, a 1980 graduate of Bowdoin College and an avid runner.

Diplomat recalls his time with Joan Benoit

Dcarella — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:42:44 +0000

April 13, 2012 – Elkanah Odembo, Kenya’s ambassador to the United States accompanied 16 of his country’s elite runners to the 20th-annual Adopt-a-Marathoner program at Elmwood Elementary School. An aspiring distance runner himself, Odembo remembers one of Kenya’s first great runners, Joan Benoit, dearly. She would end up setting a course record and becoming a Boston Marathon winner and 1984 Olympic gold medalist.

That was only the beginning of Kenya’s distance running achievements. Odembo marvels at the progress each generation of Kenyan distance runners has made.“They are all from very humble beginnings, work hard and are extremely committed to their running. Many of them love to run, you couldn’t do what they do just for the prize money,” he states. “When you have hundreds of elite runners training together and laughing and cheering each other on, it is tremendous to watch.”

To read the full Boston Herald article, click here.

Kenyan Runners Get Rock Star Treatment At Hopkinton School

Dcarella — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:34:06 +0000

April 12, 2012 – Hundreds of Elmwood Elementary School students packed the gymnasium Thursday giving rock star treatment to Kenyan runners and celebrating the marathon tradition that began 20 years ago. Kenya’s ambassador to the United States, Elkanah Odembo joined the festivities and thanked the students and faculty for receiving and honoring the Kenyan athletes.

To read the full CBS Boston article, click here.

CNN Reports on the Secrets Behind the Success of Kenyan Runners

Dcarella — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:12:58 +0000

CNN’s David McKenzie explores why Kenya consistently produces some of the world’s best long distance runners.

Increasing Government Transparency and Accountability in Kenya

Dcarella — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:21:21 +0000

The following letter to the editor, written by Kenya’s Permanent Secretary of Information and Communications Bitange Ndembo, was published March 15 in The New York Times.

“Web Sites Shine Light on Petty Bribery Worldwide” (Business Day, March 7) highlights a critical challenge many countries, including Kenya, face. But your readers should also know how far Kenya has come.

Kenya’s new Constitution includes a host of transparency and accountability measures that are already making an impact. Transparency International recently reported that Kenya has improved governance and increased transparency for the second consecutive year. The organization found that many institutions — our judicial system in particular — have made notable improvements.

Just as Antony Ragui, who started a Web site to record bribery reports, is using technology to curb corruption, so is the Kenyan government. Kenya is an original participant in the Open Government Partnership, a global initiative to fight corruption through digital transparency. We were the first sub-Saharan nation to have an open government data portal, and we are also digitizing judicial records, land deeds and the government procurement process, improving governance and accountability.

Kenya acknowledges the problem of corruption, and we are meeting it head on. We applaud Mr. Ragui and others and share their goal of making Kenya more transparent.

BITANGE NDEMO
Permanent Secretary of Information and Communications
Nairobi, Kenya, March 7, 2012

Kenyan Troops Helping to Win the Fight Against Al Shabaab

Dcarella — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:11:40 +0000

February 27, 2012 – Kenyan troops are becoming a valuable asset in the fight against the Somalia-based militant group, Al Shabaab. Attitudes toward the Kenyan military troops began to shift once the troops in southern Somalia helped regain control of the town of Damasa along Kenya’s border from the Al Shabaab militants. Recently, Kenyan troops hit an Al Shabaab convoy in Dalayat killing an estimated 100 militants and taking control of Hosingo and Badade. The troops have also used helicopter gunships to target key revel settlements in Bulo Haji.

Though some feared that Kenya’s incursion would provoke retaliatory attacks, thus far those concerns have been unfounded. The Kenyan campaign, which has also been credited with disrupting recruitment links that Al Shabaab has inside Kenya, has received growing support from the international community. The most recent show of support came when the United Nations Security Council voted to absorb Kenyan troops into their mission under the African Union.

To read the full Washington Times article, click here.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

The Economist Reports that Kenya is Putting Al Shabaab on the Defensive

Dcarella — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:56:03 +0000

The Economist, in its January 7 edition, reports on the success of the Kenyan and Ethiopian military effort to defeat Al Shabaab militants in Somalia. The campaign has put Al Shabaab fighters on the defensive “for the first time in years,” and has helped give Somalia “its best chance of peace and security since 1991.”

Indeed, The Economist notes, as the Al Qaeda-backed extremists are pushed back, their tactics have become increasingly desperate. The Somali people, once intimidated by Al Shabaab, are less afraid of reprisals, and “have turned hostile” towards the terrorist group. Signs are hopeful that, thanks in large part to Kenya and Ethopia’s actions, Somalians will spend 2012 rebuilding their own livelihoods, rather than “fending off jihad.”

To read the full Economist article, please click here.

Kenya Embraces Mobile Health Apps

Dcarella — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:48:01 +0000

December 16, 2011 – Kenya is leading the way in mobile health services, with new health platforms quickly emerging. Start-up company, Shimba Technologies, has partnered with Safaricom to provide 18 million subscribers with crucial access to doctors. The new app, called MedAfrica supplies its users with first-aid recommendations from local hospitals, health alerts, and a list of doctors and dentists.

MedAfrica is free to users and supported by advertising revenue. The creators hope to expand the service to include a comment feature, which would allow users to share feedback about health providers. Safaricom also recently partnered with another start-up, Call-a-Doc, which allows subscribers to call doctors for expert advice for two cents a minute.

World Bank officials see significant promise from mobile health efforts, pointing to the fact that 50 percent of all Kenyan banking is already done on mobile phones. Elizabeth Ashbourne, director of global health information at the World Bank says, “In terms of providing basic services through mobile phones on the continent, Kenya is the lead in many ways, and showing the way.” Ashbourne adds that “Local applications in the health space are absolutely frontier activities.”

To read the full Technology Review article, click here.

Kenyan “E-government” Increases Transparency, Makes Government More Efficient

Dcarella — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:32:44 +0000

November 19, 2011 – Kenya’s rise as the economic engine of East Africa is being aided by its commitment to transparency and good governance. Indeed, Kenya is fighting corruption and empowering its people through the simple, but powerful tool of “e-government.”

Reforms computerizing the approval process for small business owners will “reduce the interaction between businessmen and state workers” — and, thus, reduce the opportunities for civil servants to enforce laws capriciously or be tempted by bribes — according to Jane Joram, senior deputy registrar general at the Company Registrar Office.

E-government will also make Kenya’s government leaner and more efficient. Already, reforms have cut the time it takes to register a new company’s name from up to 21 days to a mere five. Samuel Kimeu, executive director for Transparency International in Kenya, describes the promise of Kenya’s new reforms:

“Part of the reason people pay bribes is because it took forever to register a company or do any of the other bureaucratic processes…But when we make government processes automated, such as [getting] birth certificates, licenses, company registrations, IDs, I’m sure the impact will be immense in reducing corruption.”

To read the full Christian Science Monitor Article, click here.