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ALL AFRICA NEWS AGENCY
P. O Box, 66878, 00800 Westlands, NAIROBI, Kenya.  Tel: 254-2-4442215,
4440224
Fax: 254-2-4445847, 4443241; Email: aanaapta@nbnet.co.ke  ; 
aanaapta@insightkenya.com

AANA BULLETIN No. 34/03 - September 1, 2003 (b)

AANA Bulletin				Bulletin APTA
Editor -Elly Wamari		     Editor - Silvie Alemba

SPECIAL  REPORT

Kenyan Government Rocked By 'High Profile' Deaths

NAIROBI (AANA) September 1 - Since assuming the reins of Government last 
December, Kenya's National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) has been stalked by 
death, constantly deflecting it from the difficult task of reconstructing 
the country.

The latest tragedy involves the death of Vice-President, Michael Kijana 
Wamalwa, which occurred on August 23.  His death in a London hospital 
brings to five, the number of NARC legislators who have passed on in  eight 
months. This translates to the ruling party losing a legislator every 45
days.

Coming at a time when internal rifts and infighting hound the coalition, 
the VP's death is probably the most painful and ill timed of all.

The cruel hand of death has been punching holes into the coalition, denying 
it breathing space to celebrate its resounding victory over the former 
ruling party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU).

Former Labour Minister, Ahmed Khalif, was the first to die.  He got killed 
in a plane crash barely two weeks after being sworn into office. Several 
others in his company suffered injuries, but survived.	They were returning 
from a poll victory celebration in Busia town on the Kenya-Uganda border.

Two other Narc parliamentarians died soon after.  Paul Kihara met his death 
in a South African hospital while undergoing treatment.  The other, James 
Mutiso, died in March after a car he was ridding in was swept away by a 
flooded river.

Only a few days before the Vice-President's death, another Government 
Minister, Geoffrey Parpai, who had been undergoing cancer management, died 
at a Nairobi hospital.

As for the Vice-President, his doctors say he suffered a heart attack while 
in the intensive care unit of the Royal Free Hospital, where he had been 
admitted with kidney complications and pancreatitis.

The deaths, coupled with an earlier road accident that confined President 
Mwai Kibaki on a wheelchair for three months, have previously triggered 
speculations that the misfortunes were the work of evil spirits out to 
cripple the NARC leadership.

Wamalwa's demise is largely painful because in him, lay the hopes of 
holding together the falling cracks within the ruling coalition.  The 
ever-smiling Vice-President, known for his mastery of the Queen's English, 
was a natural moderator and peacemaker.

Born 59 years ago in Bungoma District in western Kenya, Wamalwa graduated 
from the Kings College, London (UK) before proceeding to the London School 
of Economics and Cambridge University for Masters and PhD in law 
respectively.  He served as a law lecturer at the University of Nairobi, 
before venturing into politics. In 1997, he vied for the presidency, and 
came out fourth.

Death has claimed the brilliant politician during the jinxed month of 
August, known to harvest prominent Kenyans (see related feature story, back 
page).

Meanwhile, the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has sent a message 
of condolence to President Mwai Kibaki and the people of Kenya, following 
the Vice-President's death.

Describing Wamalwa as "a leader tenacious of friendship", the new AACC 
General Secretary, Bishop Mvume Dandalla said the departed Vice-President 
"had only one enemy, which was bad governance".

Wamalwa, he said, spent much of his political life struggling for democracy 
and good governance.  "It is sad that he did not live long to enjoy the 
fruits of his sacrifices," Bishop Dandala added.

Wamalwa's burial is scheduled for September 6.

Reported by Oscar Obonyo

  BOOK	REVIEW

Why Does Violence Feature In Multi-party Politics?

Year of publication: 2003
Volume: 318 pp
Copyright: Eastern and Southern Africa	Universities  Research	Programme 
(ESAURP) 2003
Publisher:  TEMA Publisher Company Limited, Tanzania
P.O. Box 63115 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Tel. 255 22 2110472 or 0741 771005; 
Fax: 255 22 2110472
	E-mail: temapubs@hotmail.com

BLANTYRE (AANA) September 1 - In the past nine years of multi-party 
democracy in Malawi, there has been a lot of politically motivated violence.

This has been happening despite multi-partyism being universally acclaimed 
as the most democratic system of governance.

Not only Malawi has fallen prey to state-sponsored violence, Zambia too and 
Zimbabwe have trodden the same path, where intra-party and inter-party 
divisions have led to political upheavals. Nor has Tanzania or Kenya been 
spared.

The worst has been in West Africa, where civil wars are the order of the 
day, causing great loss of innocent lives.

In view of these developments, the book under review analyses conflicts 
within and between political parties.

It is co-edited by Edge Kanyongolo, a doctor in Law at Chancellor College 
of the University of Malawi, and Ted Maliyamkono, a professor at Dar es 
Salaam University, in Tanzania.

The  318 page book  is divided into 10 chapters and mainly contrasts the 
supremacy of parliament over politics of patronage.

Other chapters deal with political conflicts in Africa, singling out 
different countries, but laying emphasis on Tanzania and Malawi.

When Political Parties Clash has been recommended as a timely book, which 
digs into the origins of political parties world over, and reveals that 
conflicts are virtually an integral part of political parties as they 
compete for the high office.

The book also reports the findings of Eastern and Southern 
Africa	Universities  Research	Programme (ESAURP) survey into inter and 
intra-party clashes in Malawi and Tanzania, which reveal some disturbing 
trends in the public perception of political life.

In its forward, Professor Thomas Fleiner, the Director of Institute of 
Federalism at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, poses such 
questions as, "What does the transition of single party systems to 
multi-party systems look like in Tanzania and Malawi?"

Why is violence a problem in multi-party system despite liberty and the 
right to create political parties that represent different interests?

The  book, say the authors, is a result of ten years of research by ESAURP 
in member countries, under the title, Education for Democracy to Political 
Party Leaders.

The programme, was designed to assist leaders of political parties to 
acquire leadership skills in running and sustaining their organisations.

The book was launched in Malawi at a special ceremony presided over by the 
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malawi, Professor David Rubadiri, at 
the Centre for Social Research in Zomba, in July.

Reviewed by Hamilton Vokhiwa

FEATURES  SECTION

Lady Behind Great Strides In Uganda's AIDS War

Noerine Kaleeba, a respected anti-aids heroine in Uganda, walks with a 
determined stride, preaching to those lucky enough to be HIV-free to follow 
her alphabetical formula.  Her achievements in the anti-HIV/AIDS crusade in 
Uganda has attained international recognition, becoming a motivating factor 
in the war against the scourge.  AANA Correspondent, Crespo Sebunya, reports.

W
idowed nearly 20 years ago when her husband succumbed to AIDS, Noerine 
Kaleeba wants HIV negative individuals to "abstain, be faithful and use 
condoms" - the ABC formula.

To those infected, she recommends use of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs 
alongside moral and community support, to give them a new lease of life.

Kaleeba is possessed with boundless energy and stamina. She refused to be 
kept down by an AIDS misfortune that struck her family.

The scourge overwhelmed her husband, Christopher Kaleeba, while pursuing a 
Masters degree programme at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom 
(UK). Hospital staff at Castle Hill treated him nicely and waited until he 
was well enough to return to Uganda.

Hell broke loose. Doors of some of their friends and relatives were slammed 
shut. At the time of her husband's death, the family was isolated and
despised.

Charged by the loss of her husband and the adrenaline of anger for being 
treated like dirt, Kaleeba picked up the pieces and formed The AIDS Support 
Organisation (TASO), to fight ignorance and rally together the burdened and 
the disconcerted victims.

"My husband's death was the initial motivation to fight AIDS, and energy to 
fuel my actions was provided by anger and frustration at the stigma," she
says.

TASO offered spiritual and physical support. The sense of togetherness 
allowed HIV/AIDS sufferers to share experience. There was also something to 
eat.

"Initially in Uganda, families would be told of diagnosis. But without 
counselling and support, such families would abandon the beloved ones, for 
the fear of catching the disease," Kaleeba says.

While government dithered on the best way forward, some Ugandans saw 
Kaleeba's idea as a good one and carried it wherever they went.

Fred Mayombwe replicated it in London, where it was enthusiastically 
embraced by some local authorities.

In fact, when he died in 2001, he was honoured. The local authority where 
he resided took care of the #8,000 funeral bill that included transporting 
him back to Uganda.

TASO is proving to be a mustard seed that has ripened and rolled back the 
HIV infection rate from 30 percent in 1990 to 6 percent in 2002, according 
to government statistics.

This has put Uganda on the world list of HIV/AIDS success stories, and has 
restored Kaleeba's dignity.

Kaleeba now rubs shoulders with the high and mighty. United States 
President, George Bush, who spent four hours in Uganda in July, 
acknowledged her contribution with a "flying kiss". She is now a staff 
member at the UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

TASO has availed opportunity for Uganda to redeem herself from negative 
image of the bloody past, when the country was synonymous with evil.

Now there is something good out of Uganda. The United States has adopted 
the Ugandan model to use for the rest of Africa.

Kaleeba's size, her well-rounded body, and her poise, exude confidence. 
Coupled with enormous reserves of energy, she leaves no doubt that she has 
given HIV/AIDS a face.

She gathered the voiceless AIDS sufferers in Uganda to meet President Bush, 
the aim being to drive a message home that their lives hinged on how speedy 
decisions were made to avail the promised US$ 15 billion to fight the
scourge.

The strategy was effective in relaying the message that perhaps within a 
year, many of those presented would not be alive, unless they were saved by 
ARVs. It was this that drew Laura Bush to tears, as she held a child victim 
of HIV/AIDS on her lap.

Kaleeba's positive poise and self-confidence is in sharp contrast with the 
agonising past she endured when her husband was diagnosed with HIV.  "Our 
family was exposed to the most painful stigma and isolation from some of 
our friends," she recalls.

Medical personnel and lay people had the same attitude, to her surprise. "I 
felt betrayed by the negative attitude of health workers who were the very 
persons supposed to restore people's health in Uganda," she says.

Ignorance was first to be tackled and this was done in style. The word AIDS 
became centrepiece in the TASO name as one measure to fight ignorance.

Kaleeba explains: "We wanted the word AIDS in there to try and break the 
silence and stigma [associated with] the disease."

The anti-AIDS crusader views TASO's success with mixed feelings. "On one 
hand, TASO has offered a unique opportunity for me to influence global 
plans and policies, yet it is also a constant source of frustration for me, 
as the gap between policies, plans and people's lives never seems to 
narrow," she notes.

Kaleeba is yet to express concern about the consequences of the 17-year-old 
northern insurgency, which has increasingly exposed the residents to 
HIV/AIDS. This region is now experiencing the fastest HIV infection rate in 
the country.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Government officials say that 
the rebel group, Lords Resistance Army (LRA) fighting the Government, has 
abducted a total of 14,000 children since the war began in the late 
1990s.	About 9,000 have been rescued, says UNICEF.  Sadly, 90 percent of 
them carry HIV.

Media Reproached For Being Apathetic To Scourge

Botswana's media have been accused of failure to help eliminate the 
prevalent stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS.  Authorities 
and AIDS organisations say they (the media) are not disseminating correct 
information on HIV and AIDS programmes being initiated to bring the effects 
of the scourge under control, reports AANA Correspondent, Rodrick Mukumbira.

O
rganisations combating HIV/AIDS in Botswana are unhappy.  Their wrath stems 
from the fact that while they are doing much to spread awareness on the 
pandemic, its prevalence rate is on the increase when expectations are for 
a downward trend.

They now accuse the media of not making people understand that HIV/AIDS is 
here, and that they must learn to live with it or die of it.

According to Botswana's Ministry of Health, the country has the world's 
highest HIV infection rate.  Four out of every 10 people aged 15 to 49 
years are infected.  Alarmingly, HIV prevalence among young people in the 
15-24 age group is now rising, after a brief drop in the late 1990s.

Even President Festus Mogae, the chairperson of the National AIDS 
Co-ordination Agency (NACA), has lashed out at the media.  In July, he 
accused the press of trivialising AIDS and concentrating on stories of 
"passion killings", a wave of murders associated with broken intimate 
relationships, that is haunting the country.

NACA offers a multi-sectoral approach to monitoring and preventing the 
spread of HIV. The agency is made up of government agencies, private 
sector, churches, and civic and non-governmental organisations.

Mogae said the American government, which is funding most of the country's 
HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives, was threatening to withdraw if people were 
not responding.

AIDS organisations say the fear of discrimination is preventing people from 
visiting the free voluntary HIV testing and counselling centres called 
Tebelepelo.

According to the health ministry, only 69,000 people out of a population of 
1.6 million have been tested since 1999, when the centres were introduced 
in the country.

Discrimination also prevents many from seeking free anti-retroviral (ARV) 
treatment provided by the government. Only 1,600 people have signed up 
since last year, when Botswana introduced the therapy to the public health 
system.

In June this year, an HIV trial vaccine testing programme initiated through 
American funding nearly aborted when only seven names of volunteers were 
received instead of 20. The vaccine is also being tested in the United
States.

The Government offers orphaned children a generous monthly food basket, but 
many do not claim it because their relatives fear being stigmatised.

Even though the media has made great strides in spreading awareness on the 
virus, AIDS organisations accuse journalists of irresponsible reporting, 
and not addressing such constraints as stigma and denial.

But the media points at the rate of denial prevalent in the country as the 
discouraging factor. Norman Chandler, the publisher of The Ngami Times, a 
local weekly, says he has tried on many occasions to give front page status 
to HIV/AIDS stories, but his newspaper has suffered in terms of sales as a 
result.

"People have taught me that HIV is not a story worth reading, but we have 
continued to have columns dedicated to the youths, which we also know are 
being ignored," he says.

Botswana's HIV/AIDS programmes are nevertheless scoring some successes, but 
in secrecy.  Take the case of Boitumile (not her real name), a 22-year-old 
lady, who has just completed a degree in accountancy.

Two years ago, she fell ill and her doctor suggested an HIV test.  She 
refused. After all, she had had "only" two boyfriends.	"I never believed 
in AIDS. It was for older people, not young ones," she recalls.

Boitumile's condition worsened, but she still refused to be tested. 
Eventually, her mother persuaded her.  She has since been on 
anti-retrovirals, but keeps it a secret.  "People are afraid of being 
rejected by family and society if their status is made public," she says.

"The media tend to also persecute those that come out, and this trend goes 
down to its audience. What the media should do is to look at the bright 
side and tell the people that there is life after testing HIV positive," 
She adds.

Her sentiments are shared by Patrick Bantsi, a co-ordinator of the Coping 
Centre for People with AIDS (COCEPWA), an organisation providing monitoring 
mechanisms and post-test counselling for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Bantsi argues that media reports are often open ended, and do not tell 
people the benefits of knowing one's status. According to him, the media is 
just watching, while people are dying of AIDS because of lack of knowledge.

"The media should tell its audience that HIV/AIDS is a manageable chronic 
disease," he asserts, adding: "In many African countries, many people want 
to know their [HIV] status, but the facilities are not readily available. 
In Botswana, it is the opposite.  There is a lot of stigma and 
discrimination in the community, and this is one of issues the media should 
be focusing on."

Bantsi accuses the media of not coping with the presence of HIV/AIDS, 
alleging that they have also failed to put their own houses in 
order.	This, he notes, is demonstrated by the various reports that their 
own people are dying of "long or short illnesses".

"The media should learn to call a spade a spade because if they also accept 
that there is HIV/AIDS and that it is manageable, then we will win the war. 
When we make something secret, we are promoting discrimination," he charges.

Calvin Morwaeng, a programme officer at the Botswana Christian AIDS 
Intervention Programme, an organisation that provides supportive 
counselling, says Botswana's media lacks training on HIV and AIDS issues.

In his opinion, the media should network with AIDS organisations in order 
to become effective in fighting stigma and discrimination. "Reporting that 
'AIDS kills', as seen in most newspapers, does not work, and scare tactics 
do not make people change their behaviour," he contends.

But there have been interference by the Government over how the media 
should cover HIV/AIDS issues. In July, the Ministry of Communication, 
Science and Technology forced the national broadcaster, Botswana 
Television, to stop a programme called Re Mmogo (Setswana for "We are 
together").

The permanent secretary in the ministry, Marian Nganunu, said the 
programme, which featured personal testimonies of people living with 
HIV/AIDS, was not educative enough.

Mystery That Is The Month Of August In Kenya

Kenya's August diary of events suggests a doomsday record.  Beginning 1978 
with the death of the nation's first President, the month carries with it 
the saddest national catastrophes experienced in the country.  Religious 
scholars say things "do not just happen", while astrologers link the events 
with cosmic forces. AANA Correspondent, Muuna Wamuli reports.

K
enyans now believe that the month of August is cursed.	On Saturday, August 
23, the August mystery snatched the country's Vice-President, Michael 
Kijana Wamalwa, who had been undergoing treatment for months at Royal Free 
Hospital in London.

This happened just days after a Government minister, Geoffrey Parpai, and a 
veteran politician and prominent figure in Kenya's history, Dr Julius 
Kiano, died in the same month (August).

Though some people have dismissed "the curse of August" as mere 
superstition, there are a number who are convinced that it is not sheer 
coincidence that sad national incidents occur in August.

"Some of us have come to realise that August has come to be a fateful 
month.	 Several sad occurrences have happened.  But all the same, let us 
say it has been a coincidence," says Fr. Emmanuel Ngugi, Priest in Charge 
at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.

Believers in the August curse say the forces writing the "Kenyan August 
doomsday diary," began on August 22, 1978, when Jomo Kenyatta, the 
country's founding president, died in his sleep.

Four years after Kenyatta's death, another tragedy struck the country in 
the same month. At the stroke of midnight of Saturday, August 1, 1982, a 
detachment of renegade military personnel from the Kenya Air Force staged a 
coup attempt.

The following morning, with armed soldiers streaming into the city streets 
of Nairobi, and looters invading business premises, hundreds of people died 
in crossfire during a brief clash between the renegade Air Force soldiers 
and the pro-government Kenya Army personnel.

This wrote the second doomsday item on the August calendar, and marked the 
first darkest day associated with large-scale civilian death, in Kenya's 
independent history.

There was then an eight-year "rest" period before another national tragedy 
hit the country in the same month.  That was on August 14, 1990, when a 
notable Anglican bishop, Alexander Kipsang Muge, died in a horrific accident.

Critics of the then Government maintained that the accident had been 
stage-managed to kill the outspoken clergyman.	A strong advocate of 
democracy during Kenya's era of single party rule, Muge often found himself 
on collision with the Government.

Two years down the line, exactly the same date (August 14), prominent 
opposition politician, Masinde Muliro, suddenly collapsed and died soon 
after arrival from a trip abroad.

He had played an instrumental role in the re-introduction of multi-party 
politics in the country, and the first multi-party elections were around 
the corner.

On August 13, 1997, a clash broke out in Kenya's coastal region.  On this 
day, 13 people, six of them policemen, died following a raid at a police 
station by an unknown group.  The event sparked off a series of clashes 
that caused the death of more than 100 villagers.  Likoni Clashes, as they 
came to be known, were reported to have been politically motivated.  Again, 
elections were just around the corner.

The August of the following year (1998) experienced the first major 
terrorist attack in the country.  On the seventh day of this month, a bomb 
explosion aimed at the American Embassy rocked	Nairobi.

On this day, an innocent-looking truck inched to the back side of the 
American embassy and stopped.  Seconds later, a powerful bomb went off, 
bringing down an entire building, destroying many others, and killing 
approximately 250 people.  Close to 5,000 more were injured.

The death of a famous Catholic priest, Fr John Anthony Kaiser followed two 
years later. He was found dead by the roadside on August 24, 2000, near 
Naivasha town, about 100 km from Nairobi.

Fr Kaiser was an outspoken critic of the Government and a crusader for the 
rights of the common man. American and Kenyan investigators passed a 
suicide verdict on his death, but the Catholic fraternity protested, 
maintaining that the priest had been murdered.

These are just but some of the most conspicuous catastrophes in Kenya's 
August history. There is now a sense of fear over the month of August in 
the country.  A religious don is equally concerned that this pattern may 
not just be a coincidence.  According to him, there is reason to worry.

"Just like the rest of the Kenyan's, I am worried about the month of 
August," says Professor Gilbert Ogutu of the Religious Studies Department 
at the University of Nairobi.  "So many things have happened in this 
month," he notes.

The professor explains that Africans do not believe things just happen. "In 
certain communities, people do not just die.  They believe that somebody or 
something must be responsible," he points out.

"Therefore, when Kenyans look at things that have happened in the month of 
August, they wonder why so many calamities happen in this month.  And so, 
people have concluded... that August must be cursed," he says.

"In religious terms, some Christians do not believe in mere coincidences. 
Why this has happened repeatedly, there must be something the matter.  It 
may be that God wants to teach us something or the devil is at work," he 
observes

Prof Ogutu also believes that astrologers are well placed to understand why 
August does not resonate with Kenya.  Says he: "They (astrologers) have 
been able to predict these things in the month of August and they happen, 
because human life is controlled by cosmic forces.  It appears that the 
cosmic forces are operating in a certain way for Kenya in the month of 
August."

Professor Ganesh Pokahariyal, an Astro-physics expert, explains that the 
world has always experienced agitation periods in 10 to 11-year cycles, 
caused by the surface of the sun with maximum black spots facing earth, 
thereby causing agitation tendencies in living organisms.

He notes in one of his statements that the month of August is particularly 
a significant period in cosmic developments. Countries in the northern 
hemisphere, for example, tend to experience more natural disasters such as 
landslides and typhoons during the month.

In six days after August, the body of Mr. Wamalwa will be laid to rest, as 
people wait dreadfully for 12 months for another August.