Kenya’s Maasai warriors are known for being fearless lion killers but times have changed and the country’s lion’s population is in danger of being wiped out. Now the Maasai in southern Kenya are taking part in an initiative to preserve the big cats.

For thousands of years the Maasai co-existed with huge herds of wildlife. Their lion-killing rituals kept down the number of lions preying on the game while their fearsome reputation as warriors kept the herds safe from other humans. The result, Kenya’s wildlife heritage is a wonder of the modern world.

But Kenya’s lions, a huge tourist attraction, are being decimated. From tens of thousands, only around 2,000 survive.

Lion researcher Amy Howard told Reuters Africa Journal that Maasai are now being recruited as Lion Guardians: “The problems are that these lions are coming into bomas, they’re attacking livestock, goats and cows and the communities are getting angry about this. In the past they used to go out on hunting parties and try and kill the lions in revenge and also as a rite of passage for the warriors.

“So what we are doing is we are employing warriors here to conserve the lions. They go out and track them and tell their communities where they are so they know not to herd there. So we’re tying to reduce the amount of conflict that we’re getting between the livestock and lions.”

Lion Guardians use an electronic device that will help them track a dozen or so lions that they and the researchers have been able to collar.

The Guardians often walk huge distances to pinpoint the exact location of the collared lions. But while the tracking device helps them locate collared lions, uncollared lions still require traditional tracking skills.

The Lion Guardians work alongside other conservation efforts in the area. The Maasailand Preservation Trust oversees a programme that compensates herders when they lose livestock to lions, hyenas and other predators.

But not everyone is happy, as cattle owner Solomon Lotobulua explains: “We are told to simply watch when lions attack our animals, that we would be compensated. The agreement we reached was that for one cow attacked we would be paid $200. But now we’re only paid $160. So we are saying that unless things change, by the end of the year, we will chase away the lion projects.”

The Maasai are in a difficult position, caught between the need to conserve Kenya’s wildlife and a historical animosity towards anything that might kill their cattle. But as Lion Guardians they are helping their community reclaim a place at the centre of Kenya’s conservation efforts.

Successive failed rain seasons in Kenya have led to a drought that experts say is the worst in the country since 1996.

And it is not just a problem for Kenya. Aid agencies estimate more than 23 million people will need food aid in the Horn of Africa region.

Kenyan Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai says it shows how ill-prepared much of Africa is to deal with the effects of climate change.

Herders who depend on cattle for their food and income are having to drive their livestock hundreds of kilometres to seek pasture and water - but find little relief.

“The grass was green when I got here, but it is finished now and a lot of our animals are dying,” Grewan Lesakut, from the pastoralist Samburu community in the Rift Valley, told Reuters Africa Journal.

“The way I see it, all our cows are going to die,” fellow herder John Lenyarui said. “I know some people who had 50 cows but have nothing now, some with 200 and now have only 40 and myself I had 500 and now I have 100.”

Kenya’s Meat Commission is doing what it can. It has offered to buy thousands of cattle from their owners to be slaughtered for meat. But the government facility has been stretched to the limit and thousands of have died outside the slaughterhouse.

“This is a very ugly scene, a very disturbing scene that the country is facing,” Livestock Minister Mohamed Kuti said.

Most nomadic groups hold on to their animals even in times of severe drought, seeing them as their most valuable investment.  In desperation, Turkana villagers, from northwest Kenya, are selling their goats well below market prices to the European Union’s humanitarian wing which then distributes the meat to the hungry.

Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, says the drought is evidence of the long term effect of climate change.

“This is an excellent time for Kenya maybe to realise, and for the rest of Africa to learn, what we are talking about when we say that climate change is going to hit Africa very seriously, and it’s partly because Africa is completely unprepared for what is coming with climate change,” she told Africa Journal.

“For more than three decades we have been saying it is important to protect our forests, to protect our rivers, to protect our lands so that we stop soil erosion and to protect our wetlands.

“Somehow, all of them have come and have converged during this last two, now going to three, years and everybody and everything that is living in this country is feeling it.”

(Pictures: Turkana men slaughter goats at a livestock de-stocking centre in the Loyoro village of Turkana district in northwestern Kenya. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya. Kenya’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maathai delivers a speech in Japan. Reuters/Kim Kyung Hoon.)

Sudath Perera has every reason to be content. He started up his textiles factory outside the Kenyan capital Nairobi nine years ago; today, he employs 1500 workers and turns over between 18 and 20 million U.S. dollars a year.

“We are contributing to the local economy by creating employment,” he says. “And indirectly there are a lot of local suppliers also relying on us.”

Perera’s factory is one of thousands of businesses on the continent that are taking advantage of a U.S. trade programme under which certain goods from around 40 sub-Saharan African countries can be imported to the States duty-free.

It’s known as AGOA – the African Growth and Opportunity Act – and was one of the main reasons for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the continent.

“The ingredients are all here for an extraordinary explosion of growth, prosperity and progress,” said Clinton at the AGOA forum in Nairobi last week. “I know how important it is to translate legislation like AGOA into daily changes that people can look to.”

Many on the continent say they’re already feeling those changes. Textiles factory worker Christine Mwende didn’t have a job before Perera employed her; and though the 120 dollar-a-month salary she makes is low by Western standards, she says it’s made all the difference.

“This job has really helped me,” she told Reuters Africa Journal correspondent Vivianne Mukakizima. “When I started working here, my child had not started school – but he is now in class 4.”

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A presidential visit followed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s African tour cannot conceal a stark reality: China has overtaken the United States as Africa’s top trading partner.

That is one of the main problems facing Clinton on a seven-nation jaunt meant variously to spread Washington’s good governance message and shore up relationships with its key oil suppliers on the continent.         

U.S. officials are keen to trumpet a 28 percent jump in 2008 in trade with sub-Saharan Africa to $104 billion, even if the increase is attributable mainly to the high price of oil, which accounts for more than 80 percent of U.S. imports from Africa.

However, there is another statistic that says more about the direction of development on the poorest continent: this decade’s tenfold increase in trade with China to $107 billion last year, narrowly eclipsing the United States.

The financial and then economic crisis that has pushed U.S. and European economies into recession and forced their companies to crimp overseas expansion is only likely to accelerate the trend despite the regional goodwill towards U.S. President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan.

Nor is China the only emerging economy seeking a slice of a continent estimated to hold a third of the world’s mineral resources, and nearly a billion people slowly finding they want — and can afford — things like life insurance and iPhones.

The $23 billion bid by mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel to tie up with South Africa’s MTN Group, Africa’s biggest operator by subscribers, is the latest and biggest example of an Indian company on the prowl in the region.

Brazil is also making its presence felt, with offers of technology and know-how to boost food and biofuels production in Africa, where only a fraction of potential arable land is under cultivation.

In June, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev flew in to Egypt, Namibia, Angola and Nigeria — the last two being Africa’s biggest oil producers — to underscore Moscow’s intentions not to be left out in the cold.

For sure, the increased competition does not mean the world’s biggest economy is throwing in the African towel, especially given that Angola, for instance, accounts for 7 percent of its oil imports.

But maybe it might make visiting Washington bigwigs bite their tongues before embarking on yet another morality lecture the moment they set foot on African soil.

Direct and indirect foreign investors fled from Africa as the credit crisis sparked a flight to safety, or at least familiarity, but Ayo Salami, manager of the Duet Victoire Africa Index fund believes domestic demand can step in to underpin growth.

President Barack Obama’s choice of Ghana for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office has stirred debate in his father’s homeland Kenya.

Some Kenyans believe Obama ought to have come “home” first. Others, especially among critics of President Mwai Kibaki’s government, say he has deliberately shunned the country to show U.S. disapproval of rampant corruption and nepotism in political circles here.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who comes from the Luo ethnic group like Obama’s father, said it was wrong to read too much into Obama’s itinerary, given that neither was he visiting other influential nations in the region like South Africa and Nigeria.

“Ghana is symbolic. It was the first African country to gain independence from Britain in 1957. Ghana is very advanced in its transition to democratic form of governance. So it is perfectly logical,” he told Reuters.

“If Obama were to come to Kenya as the first country in Africa, it would send some very wrong signals that he is coming here merely because of some organic relationship that he has with this country. So in fact it is good.”

Obama has been to Kenya several times, most recently as a senator in mid-2006. In a speech then, he took a strong line against corruption, which has plagued East Africa’s largest economy for decades. “If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and promote their common welfare - then all else is lost. That is why the struggle of corruption is one of the great struggles of our time,” he said.

That speech drew a sharp response from the government. Spokesman Alfred Mutua called Obama a young man who was “very poorly informed” and chided him for “lecturing” Kenyans. When Obama took power, however, the Kibaki government was so happy it announced a national holiday in his honour. The U.S. leader is wildly popular among all sectors of Kenyan society.

So should Obama have included Kenya on his Africa tour? Is he snubbing his ancestral homeland?

“When you see a Sudanese walking on the street there is a story,” child soldier turned hip-hop star Emmanuel Jal says.

That’s certainly true for Jal. He was sent to fight for Sudan People’s Liberation Army when he was just six years old.

The exact dates are sketchy, but in about 1987, his village in southern Sudan was attacked by soldiers loyal to the Khartoum government, during more than two decades of north-south civil war.

His mother was killed and he was taken into the SPLA and taught to fire a rifle he was barely strong enough to hold. With the help of a British aid worker, he managed to escape to neighbouring Kenya and today is known for his music and messages of peace.

More than 20,000 child soldiers have been demobilised since the war that killed 2 million people ended in 2005.

His experience was turned into a documentary, “War Child”, which he went back to Kenya from his base in London to promote.

“Kenya is my home, this is where I became known as a rapper … so I’m bringing the movie home to see what had happened into the neighbouring country, for them to know why we are refugees here,” he told Reuters Africa Journal in Kenya.

His songs draw heavily on his history and that of Africa.

One, he told Africa Journal, is a letter to the oil, diamond and gold miners: “You take the riches and you leave the people poor.”

“I talk about when it comes to Africa the world don’t care,” he said.

Nairobi resident Moses Mbaja said: “Jal gave up his anger, he gave up his hatred and now he is creating peace; he is making peace. We should all embrace it.”

(Reuters Photo: Sudanese child soldiers guard rebel military headquarters in February 2000)

“Would you please pass this bottle of water to Tom?” Lady Delamere asked me while we were waiting in court to hear the sentencing of her son, Tom Cholmondeley, who had been convicted of manslaughter for shooting a black poacher in Kenya.

After three years in prison, one of Kenya’s best-known white aristocrats was told he would have to serve a further eight months in jail in a case that has highlighted land, race, wealth and tribal tensions in the country.

I squeezed through the crowded courtroom to give Cholmondeley the water from his mother and returned to my spot where the Delamere family was awaiting the judge’s decision.
It was the second time I had seen Cholmondeley in person and in court. A very tall man in a pressed suit with always the same impassive expression on his clean-shaven face.

It was an awkward experience for me and probably for most people in the court room where rich and poor, black and white have all, unusually for Kenya, been huddled together in one space.

Looking at Cholmondeley through his mother’s eyes humanised this seemingly unemotional man and made me wonder if he held onto that expression to hide any turmoil he was experiencing. He did after all try and help Robert Njoya, the victim, with first aid and transport to hospital, which suggests a compassionate side to his character.

This was the second such case against Cholmondeley, who was accused of killing a wildlife ranger, Samson Ole Sisina, in 2005. That case was dropped for lack of evidence.

When the judge gave his decision, the courtroom erupted with Masai tribesmen shouting, waving banners and demanding justice for the two victims’ families. Cholmondeley and his family were whisked away for fear they would be in danger if they stayed.

His defence lawyer told me he was happy with the result and thought the judge had made a fair decision but the prosecution said they would appeal the decision.

However, the word on the Nairobi streets is that Cholmondeley may get a pardon on Madaraka day (June 1), commemorating the day Kenya attained internal self-rule in 1963, a time when the president often releases convicts serving sentences of less than one year.

It’s been almost three years since the son of the 5th Lord Delamere, Thomas Cholmondeley, first hopped down from a police  truck and entered into Kenya’s High Court to face murder charges  over the death of a local poacher on his estate.

Cholmondeley sat as impassively this week as he did that  first day in court as the judge convicted him of a lesser charge  of manslaughter.

Although the death  penalty is off the table, he still could face life in prison.

Cholmondeley admitted shooting dogs belonging to five armed poachers whom he confronted on his 55,000 acre ranch but denied killing local stonemason Robert Njoya.

The media frenzy surrounding the case has had as much to do with the gin-soaked antics of his British colonial ancestors as  with simmering resentment against settlers who snatched large  tracts of land during British rule .

The aristocrat’s family is one of Kenya’s largest landowners and is famed for its association with the wealthy white settlers  of colonial east Africa’s “Happy Valley” set whose passions for  big game hunting, adultery and lavish parties inspired the book and film “White Mischief.” Many Kenyans say there are two laws  in the east African nation - one for whites and one for blacks.

Another murder case against Cholmondeley — this one  involving a game warden in 2005 — was dropped for lack of  evidence.

Lawyers will be back in court on Tuesday to begin the  sentencing process. Defence attorneys have already said they  would appeal. Was the verdict fair? What sentence do you think he’ll get?

Manoah Esipisu is deputy spokesperson at the Commonwealth Secretariat. He is co-author of “Eyes of Democracy: Media in Elections”. He writes in his personal capacity.

Next week South Africa will hold its fourth elections since the extinction of apartheid and the rise to power of freedom icon Nelson Mandela. The election will come four months after the cliff-hanger 2008 election in Ghana, and ahead of potentially critical elections in Angola, Malawi and Mozambique.

Elections do not have a very good reputation in Africa, and, in my view, there are seven reasons why.

Lack of political will

So profound and fundamental is this problem that if it is not addressed it can render all the others irrelevant. A botched election is as a result of a deliberate political decision by somebody to subvert the electoral process in their interest. For example, the (now defunct) Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) did not wake up one day and say “We think that we are going to change the results of this election. We think we are going to mess with the paperwork so no one will know what the result of this election was.” It is clear that there was a deliberate decision by a Mr X or a Mr Y to tell the Commission what to do or what not to do. And because of structural or other reasons beyond my immediate understanding, the Commission (as an institution and its leadership) was vulnerable to that kind of pressure.

The lack of political will partly stems from the winner-takes-all model associated with most democratic processes in Africa. There is so much at stake that no one wants to risk losing. No one wants to be on the outside.  There are really no profound ideological differences in the political parties. It is simply that people who are on the inside want to stay on and people who are on the outside want to get on the inside. Being on the inside means that you are in control. Ultimately it is all about money and power.

Abuse of incumbency

An incumbent will use all the resources at their disposal while in office to try and rig the electoral process or manipulate it to their benefit. This is a significant issue of perennial concern to Africans. It takes various shapes and forms. It could range from an incumbent using vehicles and staff from a government department to subverting money (as was the case in Zambia in 2001). It could also be as nasty as the manipulation of state media, the judiciary and the electoral commission. It is a serious problem.

Weak institutions

Many electoral commissions in Africa are weak and vulnerable. They are not properly independent .The way they are nominated and composed – usually by the executive and without a proper vetting process by parliament, leaves them open to abuse and manipulation. They often do not control their budgets and yet the way that budget is released or not released could impact their performance. Whether they are given adequate staff and whether resources are made available on time are critical to whether they can truly play their role as institutions responsible for democratic transition. The problems cited above could lead to a lack of confidence and a credibility crisis for an electoral commission. That’s why electoral commissions can falter and fail. Sometimes it is no fault of their own. They are designed to fail.

Two other institutions are worth mention. The lack of an independent and credible judiciary could be a death sentence to an election. Where does an aggrieved party or individual turn to if they are unhappy with the process? Conversely, when the judiciary stands up to be counted, it can have a very positive effect. If there is one significant positive that came out of the Nigerian election (April 2007), it was the role of the judiciary. In electoral-related cases filed in Nigerian courts, the judiciary came up with a number of decisions that went against the political will of the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo and is seen as a great positive to emerge from the process that was roundly criticised by domestic and international observers.

State media can also be designed to fail. In Malawi for example, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) was created as a government agency. The broadcaster’s leaders rightly say that unless parliament changes its mandate, they must serve the government in power. Ahead of elections next month, the MBC on average gives the ruling party more than 90 percent of coverage and the one percent to the opposition is all negative.

Weak political systems

Parties are often vehicles for individuals (which could be fine), but personality politics often provoke conflicts. Personal rivalries and fallings out are sometimes allowed to creep onto the national stage. Sadly, it is not about the name of the party or what it stands for, it all comes down to the name of the individual.

Poor voter registration processes

I often come across poor voter registration processes. On the one level it is a very technical issue. It can be down to a lack of civic education, it can be due to a lack of planning and money and resources. But even where there is cash in abundance, it can still go wrong. Ghana acknowledged that it had an inflated roll in some regions in last December’s election while Bangladesh, which had tens of millions of voters, had a perfect register with a digital photo for voter identification.

If people are not registered to vote, they are denied that right and nothing can be more profound. It gives people who want to be aggrieved after the election a good reason for rejecting the result. A good voter register is also your greatest insurance policy for the integrity of the ballot.

Lack of transparency in results process

Transparency is a key issue. This is a very simple thing but ultimately it can create a lack of confidence, suspicion, tension and then violence. And when someone or a party loses, they can claim to have been cheated. If electoral officials fail to provide adequate transparent proofs that a claim of cheating is erroneous, people will assume that it happened. They will say there is no smoke without fire and they will start using it to whip up tensions.

Lack of inclusivity

At the end of the day, elections are run for voters and political parties – who are the customers. And yet the attitude often in Africa is not to keep the customer happy. The attitude is often to keep the customer outside the shop. The parties and voters are seen as the enemy by the electoral commissions rather than stakeholders. One of the greatest strengths of the Ghanaian election was the existence of an inter-parties advisory committee which sought to fix emerging problems through adequate consultation with all those involved. It is a great thing to undermine rumour and conjecture; it is a great thing to enhance confidence. South Africa has a similar arrangement although the model is different from Ghana’s.

South Africa’s case

The extent to which South Africa tackles these challenges – in next week’s elections and beyond - will provide lessons for the growth of democracy in Africa which, although boosted by the smooth transition in Ghana, is still scarred by the 2007 and 2008 elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe.