Mr. Dancan Munala, the Secretary of ODM-Scandinavia, Mr. Gerry Changa Midenyo, the National treasurer, Mr. Charles Otieno, the Organizing secretary and Mr. Jared Odero, a prominent member of the Party, were among politicians who addressed the Swedish Parliament this week.
The ODM_Scandinavia politicians had been invited by the Green Party of Sweden, the Swedish Development Forum and the Nordic Africa Institute on deliberations that focused on work being done by the Africa Union to prevent, predict and mediate conflict within and between its member states.
Making his contribution on the issue of security in Africa, Mr. Munala said that insecurity in the world was mainly caused by the developed Nations who needed to change their approach. “It is a waste of time to discuss Africa’s security with the same people who are threatening world peace”, he said.
The ODM Secretary asked the EU delegates and the Swedish Politicians to stop using Africa as a cover for their dirty political games. He said that throughout history, freedom of African people has been threatened by the very Western nations that were posing as peace makers.
“Hypocritical and preconditioned strategies for development have not delivered even one African Nation out of catastrophes”, he said. The Kenyan warned that Africans, especially Kenyans, should watch out “because EU is a serious threat to the development of Africa as a whole”.
Mr. Jared Odero, provoked the panelists and audience by referring to the recent and controversial results of a research finding at the London School of Economics which claimed that Africans have the lowest intelligence quotient (IQ).
“If there is a connection between high IQ and good nutrition, then it is a shame for the European Union (EU) and Sweden in particular, to waste a lot of money in Conferences and seminars discussing Africa, yet Africans were lacking food to eat”, he said.
Mr. Odero, who is a PhD candidate at Stockholm University, further challenged the EU to have a clear policy on improving food security in Africa.
Mr. Odero also referred to the documentary film titled “Darwin’s Nightmare” which explicitly showed that poor Africans around Lake Victoria consumed filthy left-overs of bones of a species of fish called the Nile Patch while fat fillet stripped from the same fish landed on tables in the European Union after being air-lifted. He questioned how one eating fish bones left over as garbage could compete intellectually with one who ate fish fillets.
According to Mr. Odero, “fair trade between Africa and the EU is very important”. He concluded by urging the EU to open up its markets and offer reasonable prices for African products, otherwise Africans would turn to China and other countries that could accept the concept of fair trade.
Mr. Otieno questioned how a single Integrated Defense Force could work in a Continent torn down by ethnic war while Mr. Midenyo told the delegates that the EU should leave Africa alone to deal with crucial issues like poverty and disease.
Those who sat on the Pannel were: Gunilla Carlsson, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Geert Laporte, Head of Institutional relations and Programme coordinator of ECDPM´s Programme on ACP-EU trade relations; Cyril Obi, Programme coordinator at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI), Carin Norberg, Director of the Nordic Africa Institute, Lennart Wohlgemuth, Professor at the Centre for Africa Studies at Gothenburg University and Board member of Swedish Development Forum (FUF) together with a representative of the African Union.
Swedish Parliamentarians who were present were; Bodil Ceballos of the Green Party, Carina Hägg of the Social Democratic Party, Christian Holm of the Moderate Party, Kalle Larsson of the Left Party and Anita Brodén of the Liberal Party.
Members of ODM-Scandinavia later distributed the Party’s 12 point Program to the participants. There was enormous interest in ODM-Scandinavia as a Party and some of the Parliamentarians praised the Party members for their mature interventions.
In the meantime, ODM-Scandinavia is planning to send a delegation to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the conduct of the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm.
Key on the agenda are allegations of land grabbing at the residence of the Kenyan Ambassador to Scandinavia, mistreatment of Junior staff, violation of Swedish labour laws and reports of human trafficking using diplomatic cover.
The Party has evidence that land might have been grabbed at the residence of the Kenyan Ambassador while evidence of mistreatment of junior staff is also on the hands of the Party. The Party has already called on the Kenyan government to investigate the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm.
Okoth Osewe: makosewe@gmail.com
About the Author
