Ministry of Agriculture Performance Contract Celebrations

The Ministry of Agriculture scored position two out of the 45 government ministries during the performance contracting* of 2008/2009 financial year. Therefore, it was only logical that celebrations had to be in the works.

The performance contracting celebrations were held at Bomas of Kenya grounds, Nairobi on August 18th 2010. The chief guest for these celebrations was Minister of State for Public Service, Mr. Dalmas Otieno with the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Sally J. Kosgey playing the host of the celebrations.

Key Highlights

• Dr. Kosgei disclosed that out of the ministry’s budget of close to ksh18billion, most of it came from the 16 donor community (I believe most of this comes from the EU block).
• The Ministry of Agriculture will continue to provide relief seeds and fertilizer to vulnerable farmers across the country so as to achieve food security and market the surplus for their income.
• The Ministry of Agriculture contributed over ksh222billion to the GDP from the horticulture sector, 68billion from tea and a further 10billion from coffee earnings.

The Permanent Secretary, Dr. Romano Kiome, who is the unsung hero of this transformation taking place in the Agriculture sector assured the staff that the ministry that he was addressing technical staff shortage (one of the main problems of this Ministry) and those who had stagnated on one job group for long (another big problem).
He directed extension staff to ensure they armed themselves with business plan every time they visited farmers, so that they were sensitized the need to take ‘farming as business’.

He further added; “The ministry has developed seven fundamentals of management for use both by the staff and State Corporations to achieve the desired results’’. The ministry of agriculture has developed and signed the contract since 2005. Despite the challenges, it has managed to cascade the contract to all departments including field stations, state corporations and projects/programmes.

*Performance contracting is part of the wider public Sector Reform and Development programme implemented by the government across all ministries and other agencies that was supported by EU in a bid to transform the public sector.

Links

i) Ministry to source for funds from outside for funding its programmes

ii) Programmes and Projects

iii) Bomas of  Kenya

Photos:

Welcome to Bomas

Car Park

Camp Bomas

Bomas

Ministry of Agriculture Performance Contracting Celebrations

The Ministry of Agriculture scored position two out of the 45 government ministries during the performance contracting* of 2008/2009 financial year. Therefore, it was only logical that celebrations had to be in the works.

The performance contracting celebrations were held at Bomas of Kenya grounds, Nairobi on August 18th 2010. The chief guest for these celebrations was Minister of State for Public Service, Mr. Dalmas Otieno with the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Sally J. Kosgey playing the host of the celebrations.

Key Highlights

• Dr. Kosgei disclosed that out of the ministry’s budget of close to ksh18billion, most of it came from the 16 donor community (I believe most of this comes from the EU block).
• The Ministry of Agriculture will continue to provide relief seeds and fertilizer to vulnerable farmers across the country so as to achieve food security and market the surplus for their income.
• The Ministry of Agriculture contributed over ksh222billion to the GDP from the horticulture sector, 68billion from tea and a further 10billion from coffee earnings.

The Permanent Secretary, Dr. Romano Kiome, who is the unsung hero of this transformation taking place in the Agriculture sector assured the staff that the ministry that he was addressing technical staff shortage (one of the main problems of this Ministry) and those who had stagnated on one job group for long (another big problem).
He directed extension staff to ensure they armed themselves with business plan every time they visited farmers, so that they were sensitized the need to take ‘farming as business’.

He further added; “The ministry has developed seven fundamentals of management for use both by the staff and State Corporations to achieve the desired results’’. The ministry of agriculture has developed and signed the contract since 2005. Despite the challenges, it has managed to cascade the contract to all departments including field stations, state corporations and projects/programmes.

*Performance contracting is part of the wider public Sector Reform and Development programme implemented by the government across all ministries and other agencies that was supported by EU in a bid to transform the public sector.

Links

i) Ministry to source for funds from outside for funding its programmes

ii) Programmes and Projects

iii) Bomas of  Kenya

Photos:

Welcome to Bomas

Car Park

Camp Bomas

Bomas

Track Throwback: Billionaire

Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars - "Billionaire"

China Africa Agricultural Forum

China next frontier in Africa after successively transforming the infrastructure of most African countries including Kenya now lies in Agriculture.

This frontier is now marked and defined with the recently held China-Africa Agricultural Forum which was held on August 11-12 2010 in Beijing, with the theme of opportunities and challenges for China-Africa agricultural cooperation in the new situation. Heads of parties and governments, agricultural ministers and entrepreneurs from nearly 20 African countries attended the forum with Kenya being represented by the Vice President Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka. The Chinese partners pointed out that the convening of the forum demonstrated the sincerity of China to help Africa achieve their independent development.

Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) which spell out the outcomes of contacts between China and Africa mostly from Chinese perspective gives a good indication on what Beinjing is up to i.e. China unveils proposals for agricultural cooperation with Africa 

At the closing ceremony, China and the African countries issued the Beijing Declaration of China-Africa Agricultural Forum, highlighting the problem of food security.

Recognizing that food security is a serious challenge for the world, the declaration said the international community in general, and developed countries in particular, should pay more attention to food security in Africa and honor their aid and debt-relief commitments.

"We call upon developed countries to make more effort to help African countries realize the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations," said the declaration.

Jointly organized by the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the forum focused on opportunities and challenges in China-Africa agricultural cooperation and to show case the seriousness of this the China Daily had a story on China, Africa forge farming ties.

The vice President has of late has gone viral show casing his endeavors on facebook  and  mykalonzomusyoka website has kept everyone who cares updated on what he is up to.

So one has to wait to if the Chinese will carry on this as opposed to the Americans that have feed the future

Map of Africa

African Leaders

VP addressing the Forum

Portraits 101!

Came across some pretty interesting article on Newsweek on art from the good old USA. Check it out!



Artist Jonathan Yeo discusses why former Alaska governor and ex-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a great subject for a portrait made out of cut-up pieces of pornography. The porno-fied portrait of Palin was listed for $50,000 and sold in early August. Yeo's other subjects include George W. Bush and Sigmund Freud.

Mombasa Old Town

Images from my visit to Mombasa early July. This pictures are mainly pictures the old town and its environs. 

Directions in case you get lost

Chini ya mnazi

Building close to the sea

Old Swahili architecture

Outside Fort Jesus

Indian Ocean

Fort Jesus

Fort Jesus

Outside Fort Jesus

Old Town narrow streets

Old Town narrow streets

Old town buildings

Narrow streets

Old Swahili door

narrow streets streets

Cats

Staircase to heaven?

Refreshments

Snacks galore!

Fort Jesus

New German made ferry

Tiles with a messsage

Spotlight on Young African Leaders Forum 3-5/08/2010

Here are nice quotes coming from the president on the eve of his forum with Young African Leaders that shows his administration is clearing having a its eyes on Africa and thinking outside the box. 

"This is a new moment of great promise. Only this time, we’ve learned that it will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future… It will be the young people brimming with talent and energy and hope who can claim the future that so many in previous generations never realized.” – President Barack Obama

Obama Hosts Young African Leaders August 3–5

The US president will host African young leaders forum as from August 3-5 2010 and as fate should have it. He will also be celebrating his 49th birthday on August 4th 2010. Perhaps, this is the presidents gift to Africa as he celebrates his 49th birthday.
This conference brings together 100 young African leaders who will examine how they see Africa's future in the next 50 years and also come up with innovative solutions to the problems we face as they network and build working relationships.
This conference comes after he gave the 'Accra speech' in Ghana on his first visit to Africa as the president of USA where he put it bluntly that the future of Africa is with Africans themselves. This conference comes head over heals after an African team, the Ghanaians, sent the USA packing from the world cup!
The president has continued with the policies of previous presidents such as President Bill Clinton who came up with African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and his administration has come up with $ 3.5 billion food security initiative called feed the future which will help 12 African focus countries in modernizing their farm sectors.
So what does the president have in mind when he convened this forum?

“These steps are about more than growth numbers on a balance sheet. They’re about whether a young person with an education can get a job that supports a family; a farmer can transfer their goods to market; an entrepreneur with a good idea can start a business,” Obama said. “It’s about the dignity of work; it’s about the opportunity that must exist for Africans in the 21st century.”


So if he succeeds in his en devours we shall look in year 2060 and say the seeds of Africa's transformation started in 2010.

Below is the town hall meeting the president spared time for.

Town hall meeting at the white house

Important links:

• Feed the future website
• White house blog
• Obama's full speech at Town Hall meeting with Young African Leaders