In a the latest act of limelight ‘steal’, ‘Ruby, the heart stealer’, who is involved in a sex scandal implicating Italian ‘embattled’ Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, appeared at the Vienna Opera Ball alongside Viennese entrepreneur, Alfred Lugner.

Lugner is 78, and hmm!, it seems this Moroccan nymph has a thing for old geezers. The only problem is that the women activists in Italy stand to lose and Silvio of course has successfully diverted his perceived unpopularity with people in the past couple of years with a bogus court case and will certainly get his vanity filled political career back on track.

Deduction; people especially young women seem to be obsessed with old styled playboy men, and old Silvio, knows this in his latest bid to keep his grip on power.

Cameroon has distinct regional cultural, religious, and political traditions as well as ethnic variety. The division of the country into British- and French-ruled League of Nations mandates after World War I created Anglophone and Francophone regions.

Polygyny and fertility rank high in the nations culture design. Power and the ‘big man syndrome’ are also deeply imprinted in this nation’s fabric, what, with the country’s leader, President Paul Biya being at the helm since 1982.

Not so much has been heard about this footballing powerhouse and yet the alarming figures about rape victims (1 out of 20 girls is a rape victim) are a cause for concern as they vie to outfox the nation’s footballing exploits.

In Cameroon 1 out of 20 girls and women have been raped! That is an astounding number and means that there are over 430,000 rape victims right now in Cameroon. Of those raped, 18% or 78,000 were raped by a family member. The average age of a rape victim in Cameroon is 15 years old. Of the 430,000 rape victims, 27% of them have been raped 2 times or more, and 9.4% of them were victims of collective rape.

Rape can be pursued criminally in Cameroon however the evidence presented showed that this was rarely the case. In fact, of the 430,000 rape victims only:

- 32% sought medical attention

- 23% obtained a medical certificate

- 16% launched a complaint

- 7% went to court

- 5% resulted in imprisonment for the perpetrator

Girls and women who are victims of rape are vulnerable to being infected with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and to getting pregnant. In addition, they face social stigma and in certain cases family abandonment.

Rape has been so confused with stereo types in Africa, which has left it to flourish. Most rapes are incestuous, and normally by elder members of the societies who take the loop holes provided by an a very trusting, gullible, ignorant and dependent society.

Aren’t girls who dress sexily asking to be raped? Don’t girls really mean yes when they say no? And don’t husbands have the right to have sex with their wives even if the wives don’t want to? These are some of the questions asked by sometimes well meaning people in Africa. Little do they know that they are opening up a huge problem of a wasted motherhood and society as a whole.

It should further be noticed that so many men of God are being arrested on charges of rape or defilement. So many people think that pastors or priest are righteous men and can never commit such atrocities.

This shows how ignorant people are about rape in Africa, with special emphasis on Cameroon. Actually it could be an abomination in some communities to accuse the men of God. On a rather sad note I was perplexed when watching a documentary about rape in Cameroon that some of the victims who went to report to Police, where in return raped by the despicable officers.

In some parts of Cameroon, men and guests have to first eat before the women and children have to have their cold share and some parts of meaty meals, generally the good ones are for men only. With so much spiritualism in this amazing and somewhat strange country, one does not need to know why rape is almost becoming its middle name.

The women are disarmed too and especially when they are influenced by men, Worried that her daughters’ budding breasts would expose them to the risk of sexual harassment and even rape, their mother Philomene Moungang started ‘ironing’ the girls’ bosoms with a heated stone.

“I did it to my two girls when they were eight years old. I would take the grinding stone, heat it in the fire and press it hard on the breasts,” Moungang said.

“They cried and said it was painful. But I explained that it was for their own good.” Now that one is the winner, dubbed breast ironing. More about it! Hmm!

‘Mpenkoni, mpenkoni’, I am sure so many of you must have listened to this rendition from yours truly, the incumbent candidate for Presidential elections in Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni which apparently was to woo youthful voters.

What has surprised me more is how this Rwakituura man has completely changed his game plan as he seeks to manoeuver through the tangled web of Ugandan politics tinged with tribal sentiments.

With a day to the Ugandan Presidential elections, Museveni, has this time round concentrated on hooking on the youth to his bandwagon, riding on his triumph on Kony’s LRA to convince Northern Uganda that they are returning to their glory days and some slice of luck that his competitors will drown themselves out by splitting votes that would have proved a headache had he gone head on with close opponent, Kizza Besigye.

Many analysts though have talked about Buganda being his Achilles heels, but a closer look will show that by trying to appeal to his Buganda voters on diverse grounds apart from tribal and royalty, he seems to be winning the Buganda youth, a large group considering that they dominate the Ugandan population. Ditto, the vote splitting by the likes of Bidandi Ssali, Beti Kamya and Lubega, though I doubt about the latter managing more than 50 votes.

So it seems, Museveni has mastered the game this time, by putting in position a strategy based on research about his opponents DNA and then going on to use every tactic in the book to outwit them. This would mean a not so direct rigging process and thus not so much violence.

The question remains will the incumbent not rig, like it has been alleged in the past. To an extent it could be true, even if you put out the crappy opinion polls that were published in the national Newspaper, the New Vision.

Word though has been going around that Museveni with his Movement cohorts have gone around the country dishing out brown envelopes bulging with wads of cash to voters. This may not be that subtle too but what about missing names in the registers or the alleged groups of people that are ferried into the country during the election period to vote for Museveni, like in the past.

Certainly if Museveni is to cheat in this year’s election it will not be direct as he knows how the political turf has evolved in Uganda and also putting Kenya, Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Egypt in mind.

Among his closest challengers, is Kiiza Besigye, his opponent for the last two elections and who has held his own for a very long time with the promise to always stand until he defeats Museveni.

Unlike the past when the seating government arrested him over trumped and half baked cases plus series of other arm twisting tactics, he has been given the mantle to go through his campaigns without any chaos.

It is pertinent to note that even though he promises a lot in reforms, his campaign strategies have always been his main undoing and this time most of his involuntary followers have moved on to other interesting opposition candidates like Beti Kamya, Nobert Mao and Olara Otunnu.

A rather very disturbing element that has seen opposition groups self destruct and always hand the driving seat back to the incumbent.

With Museveni, being the front runner, one would wonder what the electorate will gain from his longer by every ‘one more limit free term’ rule. Pertinent is to note that putting away the debilitating corruption, unemployment, poor infrastructure and the failure to get any meaningful project to help in the development of the rural population there has been relative peace and a platform for entrepreneurship development.

This is bound to develop serious inequalities though as the unemployed youth and rural peasants are being suffocated by the corrupt and privileged few.

Thus there is need to reform education and most importantly the curriculum has to be revamped away from the useless rote learning to vocational and more practical stuff. Teachers in this case need to be given a living wage and the current free education model has to be revised for purposes of efficiency.

On the medical side, doctors too need a living wage of their own and a comprehensive health policy that will root out drug theft, train more medical workers, stop the brain drain will somehow reduce the rot that has seen overall, a Ugandans’ standard of living deteriorate.

Corruption should be fought at a civic level and the fight should be started in parliament with the media being given some say in it.

Research has to be done in every project that comes up concerning rural development especially in agriculture. NAADS program has exposed the government on how they come up with poorly prepared projects which end up benefiting corrupt individuals.

In that case micro finance institutions would rather be made commercial banks and the cooperative associations would be whiff of fresh air if returned in a situation were the bewildered peasants have been left to the dogs.

Nevertheless, Museveni will be starting a very difficult term considering that the presence of UPDF in Somalia, oil discovery, unemployment and angry youth, his never ending grip to power will dominate this probable last run, or is it?

West Brom have appointed Roy Hodgson as their new manager following last week’s sacking of Roberto di Matteo.

A week that has been both momentous and historic in Egypt is almost coming to an end with long serving President, Hosni Mubarak still at the helm and promising to transfer powers to his Vice President. As Birango blog returns we leave you with some disturbing scenes from Egypt in our Photosphere column.

In this photo, government supporters on camels and horses attack protesters with batons and rocks in the liberation square, Cairo on Wednesday, February 2. The violence followed a scene of jubilation the day before, when a quarter million people filled the square in a mostly peaceful rally, anticipating that their days of rallies had pushed President Mubarak, to the end of his reign.

Hmm! reforms, I do not think they are on the way. There is a disturbing trend about leaders in Africa and quick fire mass demonstrations are far from finding a democratic solution, as Tunisia can show. What is your take on this?

One of the biggest problems that face African cities is the messy congestion. Well this is a problem worldwide, but the African cities had no plan A, when most of the cities were growing. And after growing, it’s now that they are going back to the drawing board. Now that can be the biggest problem when you did not have any practical system in the first place that could be played with to ease congestion.

Having been in the beautiful city of Vienna, for the early part of this year, my return to the Ugandan capital that accommodated me to have an education of mine, disappointment was written on my face. The population is growing by the day and the city planners look on bemused as everything goes to the dogs.

Granted government politics have been at the fore of the city’s development but the people having chosen the drab Al Haji Nasser Sebagala as mayor, never helped matters. You wonder why someone as innovative and industrious Peter Sematimba would have to be voted in this era of globalisation. As i have always said in Africa, the rudimentary African chief still wields so much power and influence that we may lag behind for sometime before things change gradually.

Scenes of massive air pollution, not helped by the second hand cars that litter the city, an ever growing population, slums and mind boggling traffic jams to mention but a few are products o

Kampala City Council yesterday edged out South Africa’s SuperSport united in South Africa, in the second leg of the CAF Champions league after a 1-1 draw that saw the Ugandan champions go through on 3-2 aggregate. Anthony Bongole cancelled out Mulondo Sikhwivhilu’s 57th minute opener after an unusual crowd that had more Ugandan fans than the South Africans. The win had Ugandan fans celebrating like the trophy was in their bag, a sign that Ugandan football fans are still interested in the game, only if results are more convincing than the comical administrations that run the game in the country.

After spending a few months in Vienna, I have come to realise the importance the Austrians attach on how waste products should be stored and discarded. Compared to the careless Ugandans who litter there beautiful land with various tribes of waste materials, the Viennese even have separate rubbish bins for different types of rubbish in their houses and and out on the streets. One important aspect of sorting out rubbish in the so called industrialised world is for recycling purposes. In Germany where 24 million mobile phones are put away every year along with millions of discarded computers, a half ton of gold can be melted out. So if you are phone repairer in Kampala start collecting, you never know a gruffy looking, heavy accented German may approach you.

In this century you find it difficult to take in the fact that some people and more so leaders are so bent on differences between each other that they get all reason to be in conflict. Cool heads that consider rationality seem to be rare in Africa. One person that has shocked the world is Omar El-Bashir, that very infamous bald headed leader of Sudan.

This man has been in age old political bickering in the region that his brutality sometimes defies any civilisation imagined, the funding of Joseph Kony’s LRA rebels that for a decade and more commited atrocities in Northern Uganda that shocked the world and the Darfur genocide that still exposes the animalistic side of human beings. After Rwanda 1994, such happenings should never have happened again in Africa but it has all been in vain with that feeble and headless chicken AU.

A one Kabir, a field commander of the Darfur rebels looked away in disgust as he found out that the government soldiers his men had felled where all dark skinned Africans. Thus the whole crisis is Bashir ‘EL-murder’s’ quest to wipe out the dark skinned Sudanese or he enjoys seeing them tortured since he would never wipe them out completely.

200,000 people have died since early 2003, many of hunger and disease, as a result of a campaign of violence that the heavy headed El-murder sanctions with impunity. A decision by the ICC to indict him thus is one way to go. One piece of advice in the hunt for justice in this region is that not much time should be wasted on seeking for help from other African governments. They are too busy with other bigger problems or is it. So many groups should be rallied to come together in the aid of Darfur.

Let the ICC step up their hunt and the priority should be to pick up the infamous man without putting into consideration any other factors. So many people in Africa are being brain covered by the propaganda from this terrible man’s government. Thus with so much sensitisation on the tidbits in Darfur, the opinion about having El-murder or is it El-animal picked up as being imperialist should not cross anyone’s mind. This should be the age when the citizens are not deceived by the blood thirsty tyrants. To get enlightened more about the Darfur crisis and why a killer president is being protected by Africans whose people are on the receiving end, click here

Africans in Vienna party

I was part of it and I revelled in it till the morning light though yours truly was so exhausted the following day. Africans in Vienna on Saturday 21st united to celebrate the beauty and talent of the African woman. The theme was geared towards changing the tide of the abuse African women have faced since time immemorial.

At around 20:00 hrs, Viennese time, guests strolled in the plush hall of Park Hotel in Schönbrunn. Great performances and voices where on show with the various mixed couples being the attraction of the night. The event was organised by Radio Afrika, Vienna and apart from not being like a typical Viennese ball, it was very exciting for both the African guests and the locals.

Medicinal plants are on the verge of extinction thanks to the exploitation that is reaching alarming levels according to Sara Oldfield, secretary general of the NGO Botanic Gardens Conservation International. With this applying to the plants that are used to manufacture malarial and cancer drugs, it promises a lot of trouble.

There is though a question still hanging on whether Oldfield has researched the capacity of medicinal plants in Africa. The continent boasts of massive tracts of medicinal plants that have not yet been tapped, though the huge population explosion is threatening to interfere with the natural plant cover.

Medicinal trees at risk include the Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana), a source of the anti-cancer drug, paclitaxel; the pepper-bark tree (Warburgia), which yields an antimalarial; and the African cherry (Prunus africana), an extract from which is used to treat a prostate condition

Alan Hamilton, the author of the report about the impending problems says that the best way around is to provide incentives to the local communities. Ten grass-roots projects studied by Plantlife in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Uganda and Kenya showed this approach can succeed. In Uganda, the project has ensured the sustainable supply of low-cost malaria treatments, and in China a community-run medicinal plant reserve has been created for the first time.

“Improving health, earning an income and maintaining cultural traditions are important in motivating people to conserve medicinal plants, and thus the habitats,” says Hamilton. “In conservation you’ve got to go with what people are interested in.”

Hopefully that this works out in a world where the battle against most of the diseases cure rests on herbal medicine.

The pain of ignorance…

Just how many times should people be warned against misuse of drugs in Uganda. It’s a common thing for one to swallow anti-malarial tablets in Uganda as soon as he or she feels feverish. You wonder why the self prescription culture is deeply embedded in Ugandans but one thing is that some people who can not afford or would like to save money prefer not to pay the consultancy fee at health centres not knowing that fever could be as a result of an infection.

As a result of this, drug resistance is becoming the norm, especially with people who take the drugs and ditch them after feeling fine.