Regional news

Kenya: MS inciting people MS remains in Kenya, but the country director and two development workers are procedurally deported

By Dorthe Skovgaard Mortensen, Information Officer, MS Kenya

While the MS general assembly embarked on a new and more politicised strategy in the fight against poverty, MS Kenya got to feel the impact of such a programme when empowerment, advocacy and capacity building was interpreted as incitement, subversion and political activism by the Government of Kenya.

Since October 2004, MS Kenya has been in a serious row with the Kenyan government. The immediate issue at stake is the extension of work permits for three Danish staff. However, the substance of the issue goes much deeper, and is about principles of human rights, democracy, and the relationship between state and civil society.

The background to the case is accusations levelled against MS Kenya by the Ministry for Internal Security of having engaged in “political activism” and in “inciting”, “subversive” and “illegal” activities through support to four Kenyan civil society organisations engaged in the Kenyan land rights issue.

The issue of unequal land distribution and ownership figures prominently in the analysis of poverty. Even the current government acknowledges land as one of the prime root causes of poverty and inequality in Kenya. As of 2005 land distribution remains a core contributor to poverty and inequality in Kenya. The challenges to civil society remain as big as during the last years of the Moi-regime.

Tanzania: New MS Director

New MS Tanzania Director is an experienced Dane, Flemming Winther Olsen, who has been contracted from October 1st 2005.

Wither Olsen has a long experience in rural development in African countries. He has worked in Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, as well as in Bolivia. He is leaving a position as Chief Technical Adviser in Danida’s Agricultural Sector Programme Support in Tanzania to take up the position with MS. Jan Kjær from the Communication Unit in Copenhagen will act as director in Tanzania until Flemming Winther Olsen takes over. (mr)