Editor’s note: Olusegun Obasanjo is a former president of Nigeria and a member of the  Africa Progress Panel , chaired by Kofi Annan.  The views expressed are the author’s own. By  Olusegun Obasanjo , Special to CNN Images of starving children, epitomised in news coverage from Ethiopia in the 1980s, have given Africa a reputation for famine that does an injustice to the continent’s potential. It’s true that a recent report by three U.N. agencies said  nearly 239 million in Africa are hungry , a figure some 20 million higher than four years ago. And recent crises in the Horn of Africa and Sahel certainly highlight the desperate uncertainties of food supply for millions – malnutrition still cuts deep scars into progress on health and education. But the Africa Progress Panel and  many others  believe that Africa has the potential not only to feed itself, but also to become a major food supplier for the rest of the world Consider, for examp...

Opens: November 21st Closes: December 6th (midnight) All application must be completed using the online form Applications received after December 6th or not from the online form will not be considered Eligibility: Kenyan citizen University Graduate Gradated university between December 2011 and December 2012 Completed with First Class or Upper Second Honours Graduates with a degree in any subject are eligible to apply, but students with degree course related to Information Technology, Computer Science, Finance, Accounting, Commerce, Logistics and Supply Chain Management are especially encouraged to apply Conditions and Terms Applicant must be: available for full time study from January - March 2013 available for internship and possible employment from March 2013 competent at problem solving and critical thinking passionate about the role of ICT in their community Criteria Have completed online application form by November 29 (midnight) Have submitted...

JUBA,  There had been a tense debate amid the fourth reading of the bill, some thing which is in violation of the business code of conduct which does not allow any debate at the fourth. “With all the observations I think we come to reading the title of the bill so that it is passed at its entirety. This bill is known as ‘The Laws of South Sudan Mining Bill 2012,’ and by this we have passed this bill,” ruled the speaker James Igga. “Congratulations Hon. Members and especially the committee concerned with this tedious bill. It is being an upheaval task although also it took a long time it did not deserve that time,” added Igga. The parliament is supposed to spend at least three months in passing a bill. But the Mining Bill has almost taken a year since it was first presented to the house. After two hours of presentation of the bill in its third reading by the Energy and Mining Committee Chairperson Henry Dilar Odwar, members passed the bill into its forth reading. There was a big de...

Trial suggesting a GM maize strain causes cancer has attracted a torrent of abuse, but it cannot be swept under the carpet n One of the rats fed GM maize NK603 for two years. The animal has developed an abdominal cancer tumour. Photograph: Tous des cobayes/J+B Sequences Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini, professor of molecular  biology  at Caen university in France, knows how to inflame the  GM  industry and its friends. For seven years he and his team have questioned the safety standards applied to varieties of GM maize and tried to re-analyse industry-funded studies presented to governments. The GM industry has traditionally reacted furiously and personally. Séralini has been widely insulted and smeared and last year, in some desperation, he sued Marc Fellous, president of the French Association of Plant Biotechnology, for defamation,  and won  (although he was only awarded a nominal €1 in damages). But last week, Seralini brou...

The Role of Anti-Establishment "Conspiracy Theories" Global Research. In recent years, populist explanations for world events have become common and often taken the form of anti-establishment conspiracy theories. The contradiction between how people believe the world should be, according to the mainstream propaganda pertaining to liberty and democracy, and how it is in this time of crisis leads people to search for easily digestible answers. It's easy for conspiracy theorists to play on people's fears and prejudices and to point fingers at certain groups. In the past, it has been 'the Jews', 'the Irish', 'the blacks', 'the Poles' or some other easily identifiable target that was blamed for society's ills. Resorting to selective interpretations of history or some simplistic Hollywood-esque inspired political or sci-fi narrative where giant reptiles are taking over the planet can be quite seductive, particularly for 'right-leani...

PUBLIC POWER:  ITS LINKAGES TO POLITICAL SCENARIOS, AND ITS PARTISAN NATURE http://www.kenyalaw.org/klr/index.php?id=808 The “Executive Stall” and its Ways For judicial independence, public power is problematic from two standpoints – the first of which has already been considered.  Where public power takes perceptible management and administrative form, its main ramifications, on the negative side, are:  (a) whether it involves a distortion of prescribed procedure, and seeks to benefit a subjective cause; and (b) whether it oppresses and deprives the individual, in one way or another.  Such injuries of public power are precisely the ones the Judiciary has endeavoured to set right.  It is because the lines of propriety have been prescribed, and so the Judiciary can readily hold the power-wielders to account. The second dimension of public power, however, is more intrinsic in the social institutions, and it has not lent itself readily to the cutting edges ...

The World Bank has rejected a call to suspend its involvement in large scale agricultural land acquisition following the release of a major report by the international aid agency Oxfam on the negative impact of international land speculation in developing countries.  “We share the concerns Oxfam raised in their report,” the bank stated in an unusually lengthy  public rebuttal  to the Oxfam Report. “However, we disagree with Oxfam’s call for a moratorium on World Bank Group…investments in land intensive large-scale agricultural enterprises, especially during a time of rapidly rising global food prices.”  http://www.africanagricultureblog.com/2012/10/world-bank-rejects-call-to-halt-land.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+africanagricultureblog%2FNaEx+%28African+Agriculture%29

LAMU:A fledgling project to build a huge new  port, oil refinery and transport hub on Kenya's northern coastline  promises to deliver thousands of jobs and is a pillar of the  government's long-term development agenda. But critics fear the  project will displace tens of thousands of people in Lamu District,  exacerbate decades of marginalization, degrade marine environments  essential to local livelihoods and increase the risk of conflict as  the country gears up for elections in March 2013.  "This project will displace many people from their homes. yet the  government is not very clear on what plans they have for those who  will be displaced," Abubakar-Al Amudi, chairperson of Save Lamu, a  coalition of organizations dedicated to saving the Lamu Archipelago  from environmental destruction, told IRIN.  The Ministry of Lands says some 60,000 people will be displaced by the  project. With just a few months remaining unt...