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Zvamaida Murwira in NAIROBI Kenya
Africa should address the land question and assert its authority over its natural resources, academics here have said. This was said by university lecturers from the continent in an address to African journalists attending a media training workshop on sustainable land management in Nairobi.

Director of East African Institute at Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Dr Alex Awiti said Africa must jealously guard its natural resources as they have the potential to transform it into a global powerhouse.

Senior lecturer at University of Nairobi Dr Collins Odote said communities where minerals were being exploited by multinational companies must be empowered in a manner that significantly changes their lives.

The call by the academics dovetails with Zimbabwe’s land reform programme which has empowered thousands of indigenous people and the Community Share Ownership Trusts whose launch by President Mugabe in 2012 changed the face of rural communities.

In his address, Dr Awiti said global discourses hosted by Western and powerful nations have seen Africa playing second fiddle on important issues.

“We have not been respected partners in global conversation and never will we be respected as long as we do not reclaim our dignity. I do not agree with the notion that Africa is poor. It has resources”, said Dr Awiti.

He noted that several global solutions like Millennium Development Goals were mooted, driven and funded by powerful nations while Africa failed to leverage on its strength.

“I worry about African voices in these international fora. Where is the African process of defining a uniquely African solution for an African problem?” he said.

Dr Odete said African question could not be addressed without dealing with the land issue.
“I agree if you do not address the land issue, it is a time bomb waiting to explode. Land and youth employment are two critical components,” he said.

Dr Odete urged Africans to draw lessons from Zimbabwe’s empowerment programmes.
University of Cape Town senior lecturer Dr Wallace Chuma said the media should take a deliberate effort to report on issues like sustainable land management.

The workshop was organised by Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and the United Nations Development Programme.