Not withstanding the substance of the position, the reaction of the African group to such move by the PS was to be expected. First of all, I never met the PS until I saw and listen to him at the IGF in Baku. I also listened to other people talk about him, his track record working with civil society, etc. And I'm a fan of the more progressive way (compared to so many other African countries) Kenya has been handling its policy-making in this area and in others, as of late. As a result, I must say, I became a bit confused at the notion that there would be one common African position backed by Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, Togo, Sudan, etc. When you come to a treaty or any negotiating conference with a group's common position which you have declared or are reputed to support and you are pulled to a different (indeed opposing) position by another stakeholder outside your group, you don't take them by surprise by announcing your "new" position at the plenary. You first work your group, which enables you to enlist perhaps new allies and give a notice to those who still oppose your new position. The kind of reactions we are seeing here was to be expected from the way this has been handled (based on the current account). In a sense, the writing was on the wall... Cheers, Mawaki On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 6:58 AM, McTim <dogwallah@gmail.com> wrote:
Becky,
On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 4:20 AM, Rebecca Wanjiku <rebeccawanjiku@yahoo.com> wrote:
http://www.wanjiku.co.ke/2012/12/kenya-rattles-africa-group-at-wict/
Thanks for giving us a sense of the drama.
The African Common Position, was, IMHO, against African interests (against the interests of the mwananchi at least).
Bwana Ndemo was correct to stand up and do the right thing.
-- Cheers,
McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel
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