$206m boost for Kenya, Uganda Railways

A $206m investment plan has been injected into the joint concession railways of Kenya and Uganda to revamp the sector that has been dented with administrative wrangles. This follows recent changes in Rift Valley Railways& management due to threats from both governments to withdraw from the deal.Brown Ondego, RVR’s new Executive Chairman said the turnaround plan involves investment in new equipment and infrastructure, which will see purchase of new fleet of wagons and locomotives, and rehabilitation of the track and the existing ones.“This system needs a shock treatment of massive capital. I envisage capital investment in the first five years will be about $206 million. I also hope to have six new locomotives,” Ondego said. He said the funding will come from RVR’s shareholders. “I expect the funding from the $10 million plus from the shareholders as additional equity. I am expecting funding from debts (borrowing) of $60 million very quickly perhaps more. Then I am expecting that I should get $54 million from IFC and KFW. So at least we have enough to take me before we start generating my own revenue,” Ondego further stated.“I would like to see availability of locomotives going up from 45 per cent to 60 and 65 per cent. Equally I would like to see the wagon fleet going up to 900 flat bed wagons for containers in two to three years. In the first year I would want us to get about new 250 flat bed wagons,” Ondego said.He said cargo movement would be stepped up from 15 percent in the first year to 30 percent in the third year and to improve on the transit time. The executive chairman said he wants to see in the short-term the speed going up in the next six months to 50 km per hour, in one year to 65 km per hour, and to 80 km per hour in the third year.“If I can do all those things then I can retire and say I have given back to East Africans their railway line,” he said. Ondego, the former managing director of Kenya Ports Authority, is credited for transforming the once moribund state parasitical into a profit making entity.“Immediately I would like to see one engine coming from Nalukolongo and one from Nairobi for rehabilitation. Depending on which workshop is going to give us the required efficiency and quick performance then that is the workshop we shall be looking at as using much more in terms of locomotive rehabilitation,” Ondego said.Uganda is the main user of the northern corridor route of Mombasa port contributing about 25 percent of the cargo at Mombasa. He said “I would like to see URC providing at least 30 per cent of the business for RVR because without any fear of contradiction that 30 percent significantly contributes a better return than the cargo that is going to Kenya. Kenya will contribute the rest.” Since it won the controversial concession deal, RVR, has been accused by the Kenya and Uganda governments for failing to meet its contractual targets. Twice as many trains are supposed to be running on Kenya and Uganda’s railway network, but it is now over two years and customers are still waiting to see a major improvement in services.RVR’s shareholders include, Sheltam (35 per cent), Trans-Century Ltd (20 percent), Primefuels Kenya Ltd (15 per cent), Mirambo Holdings Ltd of Tanzania (10 per cent), Centum Investment Company (10 per cent) and Babcok and Brown Investments Holdings Ltd (10 per cent).

School of witches exposed in Malawi

1000 children in the central Malawi district of Salima, graduate into witchcraft yearly, research shows. The African Network for the Protection and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect has revealed there is a school in the lakeshore district teaching children how to become masters of the night.The Country Director of (ANPPCAN), Kenwilliams Mhango, said “It is sad, let us save these children because they stop concentrating in class because of tiredness. Some who refuse to learn about witchcraft are denied food: it is abuse of children’s rights.” There have been increased cases of people teaching children witchcraft, but efforts to deal with the issue are hampered by the constitution of Malawi, which does not recognise witchcraft and regards self-confessed individuals as “pretenders”.

Nigerians fill up foreign jails

The growing number of Nigerians being sentenced to death abroad for various offences is worrying to the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria. It has asked the government to adopt measures to check it. 10 Nigerians are on death roll in Indonesia for alleged drug-related offences.11 others have been sentenced to flogging and various jail terms in connection with a murder case in Saudi Arabia. The NHRC’s Chief Public Affairs Officer, Lambert Oparah, said the trend was a disgrace.“This situation should be a source of worry to the government and people of Nigeria whose image in the international community is further tarnished by these criminal activities, the situation is more worrisome as the victims of these unfortunate circumstances are Nigerians in their prime,” it further said The federal government and other relevant authorities were urged to explore provisions in existing legal and international instruments to ensure the death sentences passed on Nigerians were converted to life imprisonment and the victims repatriated.To prevent the re-occurrence of the ugly trend, NHRC advised that the government should look at the circumstances which encouraged young Nigerians to abandon their fatherland to indulge in unwholesome activities.“The issue of the economic and social rights of Nigerians deserved to be given attention with a view to making provisions for all Nigerians to explore,” the Commission stated.