Kefa M. Otiso

State, voluntary and private sector partnerships for slum upgrading and basic service delivery in Nairobi City, Kenya

Abstract Chronic shortages of low-income housing and basic services have bedeviled Third World cities for decades. Effective models for meeting these needs continue to be scarce. This paper argues that tri-sector partnerships involving the state (or public), voluntary, and private sectors, are a promising way of addressing the issues. While difficult to initiate and maintain, such partnerships have unique and mutually reinforcing strengths that could enable participants to increase effectiveness in meeting poor people’s urban housing and service needs. The paper uses a case study of an ongoing slum upgrading and service provision project in the Mathare 4A area of Nairobi, Kenya, to demonstrate the strengths, weaknesses, and potential of tri-sector partnerships. Primary data from 1996–1997 field study in Nairobi City and more recent secondary data are used.

FORCED EVICTIONS IN KENYAN CITIES

Forced evictions are widespread in Kenyan cities and are, on the surface, caused by conflicts in land rights, non–payment of excessive land and house rents, and urban redevelopment. But, more fundamentally, evictions are due to factors embedded in the country’s political economy, in particular, the grossly inequitable land ownership structure which makes it difficult for the poor to access land and decent shelter. Evictions cause significant socioeconomic hardship to individuals, affecting cities and whole nations. To avoid evictions, I argue that Kenya must make its political economy more inclusive, implement land reform, domesticate its municipal planning and related by–laws, and create a proactive slum settlements policy. This paper is based on secondary data, largely drawn from the extensive coverage of urban evictions in recent decades in Kenya’s leading newspapers.

Mining, conflicts and livelihood struggles in a dysfunctional policy environment: the case of Wassa West District, Ghana

This paper explores the impact of mining on the everyday lives of people in the Wassa West District, Western Region, Ghana. It is based on an interpretative methodology involving focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, complemented with an analysis of policy documents. The results reveal an extensive geographic transformation of livelihoods at various scales as a result of the local people being displaced from their lands that have become contested economic spaces. Monetary compensation for farmers who have lost their lands to mining companies remains a contentious issue, with farmers reporting that they are always at the losing end of any contestation for land and compensation. Furthermore, the local public perception is that there is hardly any trickle down of mining benefits to the local communities to improve their lives. After more than two decades of operation of various minerals and mining laws, our findings point to a conflicting and confused mining sector policy environment that disadvantages local communities. There is therefore a need to revise the country’s mining laws to reflect international best practices, to help make Ghana a sustainable mining investment destination in Africa, and to facilitate sustainable economic development in the country.

African gateways: measuring airline connectivity change for Africa's global urban networks in the 2003–2009 period

This paper studies the globalization of major African cities through their changing insertion in global airline networks. As such, the paper adds to a growing body of literature that analyzes the role of infrastructure in the formation of world-city networks. We draw on a rich data source that provides longitudinal airline booking data, which can be directly linked up to the evolution of inter-urban networks at the African and global scale. Our results indicate that Johannesburg remains the major gateway to Africa, but other regional centers and in particular Cairo, Lagos, Casablanca and Nairobi are rapidly complementing Johannesburg in this role. The globalization of African cities is related to rapid network growth on the African continent, but is outrun by fast growth in terms of non-African connections. Among the latter, connections to Asia and the Middle East are rapidly gaining importance. In the end, the paper argues that South–South connections are crucial for an understanding of the contemporary globalization of African cities.

Chinese economic expansionism in Africa: a theoretical analysis of the environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in the Forest Sector in Cameroon

This paper, which is conceptually located at the intersection of trade–economics, resource politics, and environmental assessment, is a narrative-analytic review of Chinese economic expansionism in Africa especially its quest for the continent’s natural resources in the past 10 years. We seek to examine the environmental, ecological, and sociopolitical impacts of the current China–Africa engagement within the context of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. The EKC hypothesis posits that an inverted U-shape relationship exists between economic growth and environmental quality. This implies that the quality of a country’s environment will initially decrease due to its economic growth, but will soon start to improve when the country attains a certain threshold level of economic development/income per capita. We argue that by virtue of its ‘omission’ and/or ‘commission’ factors, the EKC hypothesis can be misleading if not dangerous. Using the case study of China’s engagement with Cameroon in the forest sector, the paper illustrates the high threshold level of economic development/income per capita that is required before the quality of the country’s environment can begin to improve. The paper ends with the environmental, ecological, and sociopolitical impacts of Chinese involvement in the Cameroonian forest sector and concludes that this engagement and the larger Chinese economic expansionism in Africa under current trading conditions is fairly detrimental to the welfare of African peoples and their environment.

Assessing Sub-Saharan Africa's University-Level Geography Resources: A Preliminary Investigation

INTRODUCTION Past studies have sought to quantify levels of Africa or Global South focused geographic training in the North American academy (Robinson and Long 2005; Moseley and Otiso 2008). These studies are important to assess whether or not adequate numbers of African experts are being trained to serve students and government institutions in the Global North. Remarkably few studies have been undertaken to assess the level of university geography resources within Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. While reviews of the state of geography have been done in some African countries, such as South Africa (Mather 2007) or Nigeria (Okpala 1990; Udo 2004), none have been attempted at the continental scale to our knowledge. Such assessments are a starting point for beginning to understand whether or not African students and governments have adequate access to sufficient amounts of geographic knowledge, perspectives and techniques. These skills are critical as they are increasingly crucial for surviving in a world dominated by rapid change (NAS 2010). This study presents and analyzes a simple inventory of geography programs in SSA. The spatial distribution of geography programs across the continent is assessed, as well as the rank of countries in terms of their university-level geography programs. We further seek to explain the observed distribution of geography programs and comment on some broader historical trends within academic geography on the continent.

Examining Claims for Information and Communication Technology - Led Development in Africa

Abstract Information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly seen as the key to rapid development in lower-income regions, especially Africa. This reflection reviews the ICT-based development thesis, summarizes the major obstacles to widespread ICT use in Africa, and outlines the regions most popular ICTs and their potential contributions to development. More specifically, this reflection examines claims that ICT is contributing to development in Africa by: improving communication, opening new investment opportunities, incorporating the African Diaspora in development, and integrating the continent into the global economy. This analysis also problematizes ICT use in Africa (including its tendency to reinforce existing power relations) and explores obstacles to wider use of these technologies, such as lack of reliable electric power and relevant content, as well as gross social inequalities in access to ICT. Because of their enormous practical value, cell phones and the internet have emerged as Africas most popular ICTs.

The State of African Geography in the North American Academy

INTRODUCTION1 This is the flrst of two articles we intend to publish during our editorial tenure on the state of African geography within the academy. More specifically, this article seeks to examine the production of new geographers in the United States (U.S.) and Canada who have regional expertise in Africa, whereas the second essay will analyze the size, number and productivity of geography departments at universities in SubSaharan Africa. While area studies is a long standing tradition in geography (Pattison 1990), the organization of geographical expertise along regional lines died over 50 years ago as a result of critiques of geographys then chorological focus (e.g., Sauer 1956; Berry and Marble 1968). As a consequence, most contemporary geographers distinguish themselves via thematic specializations such as, for example, economic geography, urban geography, or biogeography. Nonetheless, many geographers continue to have a secondary specialization in a region of the world. As such, we have medical geographers with regional interests in Latin America or development geographers with interests in Africa. Given the continuing popularity of regional courses in geography departments at most U.S. and Canadian universities, now taught from the perspective of regions in a global context (Gilbert 1988; Pudup 1988; Terlouw 2001), it is geographers with secondary expertise in a particular region who often teach such courses. Despite the ongoing popularity of regional courses (and the need to staff them), some commentators are concerned that the North American academy is producing fewer and fewer scholars with regional expertise, including geographers with an area studies background (e.g., Robinson 2003; Robinson and Long 2005). Moreover, rising geographic illiteracy in the U.S. led to the development of the National Geography Standards (NGS) in 1994 in order to increase public awareness on the role of geography in everyday life

Thirtieth Anniversary of African Geographical Review: History, Adoption, Institutionalization, and the Future of the Journal

Abstract This paper reflects on the 30th anniversary of the African Geographical Review (AGR) by looking at the history and future of the journal. It originated in a panel discussion organized by the current editors of the AGR at the 2010 annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) in Seattle. It synthesizes presentations made by participants of the panel including William Moseley, Florence Margai, Isaac Luginaah, Maano Ramutsindela, Padraig Carmody, Kefa Otiso, Bakama BakamaNume, and Ian Yeboah among others. The paper demonstrates how the East African Geographical Review (EAGR), a regional journal serving the East African region from 1963 to 1996, has grown into the mouthpiece of the Africa Specialty Group (ASG) of the AAG. The role of individual agency and the tenacity of the editors of the journal since its arrival in the United States have been central in growing it into the ASGs mouth piece. We anticipate that when the next stocktaking of the AGR occurs, the AGR will be a leading global geography journal on Africa.