Nairobi
Slum dwellers need rights not projects
IPN Opinion article
India's slum population has doubled to 61.8 million in 20 years and more than half the world's population will live in cities by next year. UN Habitat has called for more plans to 'stabilise the unplanned and chaotic aspects of urban growth.' But grandiose schemes simply ignore the underlying problems รณ and will probably make them worse.
Country gears for WTO talks
IPN Opinion article
Meanwhile, the Inter Region Economic Network Executive Director, James Shikwati, attributes Africa\'s inability to negotiate at the WTO talks to its heavy reliance on donor aid to fund the various governments basic development programmes.
He said agricultural subsides in the developed countries have denied Africa an opportunity to prosper, while ensuring that it remains dependant on donors.
\"The developed countries have favoured sending donor money to poor countries as a way subsidising their markets,\" he said. He was speaking during the Media launch on freedom to trade campaign held at a Nairobi hotel.
He said African countries need to adopt both long and short-term policies to help boost their negotiating abilities.
He also urged Kenya and other African countries to enhance inter linkages by opening up trade within their respective borders.
Economic Freedom: The \"Haves\" and the \"Have Nots\"
IPN Opinion article
The Centre for Independent Studies had a recent visit from three leading liberals: Manuel Ayau, the President emeritus of the private Universidad Francisco Marroqu'n and an experienced business leader from Guatemala; Barun Mitra, the founding Director of the Liberty Institute, a free-market think tank in New Delhi; and James Shikwati, the founder and Director of Kenya\'s Inter-Region Economic Network in Nairobi. They spoke with Wolfgang Kasper, Senior Fellow at the Centre, about aid, poverty, the law and trade.
