Corporate Foreign Policy

Two of the world’s biggest operators – Vodafone and China Mobile – announced their financial separation on Wednesday, marking the start of Vodafone’s abandonment of its minority investments.

UK-based Vodafone announced the sale of its entire 3.2 per cent interest in China Mobile, for a cash consideration of around £4.3bn before tax and other costs. Approximately 70 per cent of the net proceeds will be returned to shareholders by way of a share buyback with the remainder used to reduce the group’s net debt. Vodafone had owned a stake in the leading Chinese carrier since 2000, following a cooperation agreement between the two companies.

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Many question the legitimacy of German trepidation regarding the building of an energy terminal in northwest Poland as further proof positive of heavy Russian influence in both Berlin and throughout the European Union. Although at face value, Germany’s concerns centre on the environmental impact, CEC Government Relations Founder Marek Matraszek believes, (as excerpted from Business New Europe), that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is covertly spearheading this initiative.

Germany is causing a bit of a stink in Central Europe with its decision at the end of August to vote against an €80m EU subsidy toward building a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) gas at the port of Swinoujscie near the German border in northwest Poland.

Ostensibly, Germany argues that exhaust fumes from the terminal could pollute the environment on the other side of the border as well, something that would contradict the environmental impact analysis performed by Poland’s state-owned gas transmission system operator, Gaz-System, which owns the terminal operator Polskie LNG. “Our analysis shows that the investment will not have a cross-border impact,” Malgorzata Polkowska, a spokeswoman for Gaz-System, told Polish dailyDziennik Gazeta Prawna.

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Farmer Franklin Britos, 49, died last night at approximately 9 pm, at the Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital of Caracas as a result of a hunger strike which began several months ago to protest against “expropriation policy and nationalizations carried out by the Hugo Chávez government.”

According to his wife, Elena Brito, “he died around 9 pm due to a heart attack.” His weight was 35 kilos, his body mass index was below 10 percent and he showed clinical signs of hypothermia critical.

Britos made several hunger strikes since July 2, 2009, protesting against the expropriation of his lands, in Bolivar state (south). About 24 hectares of land were taken from him by the authorities in 2003, and in which he grew yucca and watermelons. The latest hunger strike he had begun was on March 1.

The Government had accused Britos of being mentally unstable and the opposition of trying to take advantage of his protest for political gain in the general elections on September 26th. Despite claims of such strategic capitalization, one cannot argue that the authoritarian regime of Hugo Chavez has wielded nationalization as a political weapon to aggregate power and in his efforts to wildly push an ALBA doctrine slowly decreasing in support, leaves casualties, like Mr. Britos, in his wake.

Uganda is a bountiful, diverse nation on the socio-economic rise. They are a people of peace and tolerance, spurring international recognition for our established and newfound bevy of resources, their majestic scenery which has long supported thriving tourism and our democratic government, each day opening its doors to showcase greater transparency. Uganda has long been a cultural melting pot, with over 30 distinct indigenous languages belonging to five linguistic groups. Indeed all the tools are in place for Uganda to be a shining star in the continent and a symbol of potential for their neighbors.

In recent months however, their thought leadership with regard to pragmatic cultural progression has been severely weakened by prejudice, fear and frankly, illegal interventionism both from targeted sects here at home and by larger organizations abroad. I am speaking of course of the Anti-Homosexuality legislation.

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In response to international clamors for justice, Zimbabwe’s president today ruled out prosecuting those behind the 2008 violence and killings which engulfed the country and accounted for about 200 deaths.

“We have embarked in earnest on the process on a national healing and integration, for the sake of our children and prosperity,” President Robert Mugabe said in a national address in the capital, Harare, marking National Heroes Day.

“I want to urge all of you to note that the process reconciliation is national. It does not seek to ferret out supposed criminals for punishment but calls all of us to avoid the deadly snare of political conflict,” Mugabe said.

After a first round of elections in which Mugabe lost to current Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), violence mainly targeting the MDC erupted, prompting Tsvangirai to pull out of the race.

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During our last trip to Kenya on the Georges Tadonki trial, I had the opportunity to develop an association with the lawyer Evans Monari of Daly & Figgis Advocates (photo - center), who is one of the best known business and human rights lawyers in East Africa.  Below is an article Evans has contributed for the RobertAmsterdam.com blog, and it is a great pleasure and honor to re-post here at CFP and feature these perspectives from such a unique and valuable voice from this region.

TEN REASONS WHY KENYA SHOULD VOTE “YES”

By Evans Monari

All indications point to the proposed constitution being approved by majority of the voters. And here are just ten reasons, why we in Kenya should approve the document and maybe convince the persons still opposing the document.

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During one of his interminable appearances on national television, perhaps even on his own broadcast Alo Presidente on Telesur, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez demanded to know last month why Guillermo Zuloaga, the majority owner of Venezuela’s last remaining opposition television station, was not in jail. “How is it possible that he can accuse me of such things and walk free?” the strongman demanded.

Terse words, made all the more intimidating by the idea that this is a clear and tangible promise more than a threat.

The answer is fairly simple, according to the Washington Post’s Jackson Diehl: Zuloaga’s statements about Chávez were hardly criminal, and years of government investigations had turned up nothing else prosecutors could plausibly use against him. But that, of course, was not the response of Chavez’s henchmen. Within days of the broadcast, an investigation against the businessman that had been abandoned was reopened; charges were filed. On June 11, a judge ordered Zuloaga arrested and confined to one of the country’s high-security prisons.

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In an insightful new analysis, two Harvard professors have revealed why the corporate sector plugging ‘institutional‘ gaps in societies can lead to economic prosperity for both the companies and the nations in which they invest.

The value of social investments in emerging markets and why western companies looking to expand should consider making it a core instrument of their business plans is tackled in the latest book by Harvard Business School professors Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu, “Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution“.

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The Christian Science Monitor reports that the first of Zimbabwe’s new independent newspapers could be on the streets as early as this Sunday after media groups were finally granted licenses last week.

Sixteen months after the launch of the power-sharing government, the Zimbabwe Media Commission gave five groups permission to operate. Its action came after months of lobbying by journalists, publishing companies, and from within Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Until last week, the MDC’s partner in government, ZANU-PF, (the party of President Robert Mugabe), had been reluctant to allow potentially hostile new publications to appear on the streets, challenging the state-supported Herald’s dominance. Pressure for the move came from South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma, who is the official mediator between the two parties.

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The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart has written an intriguingarticle on the proposed law in Uganda that would criminalize homosexuality, an issue this blogger has discussed here on the blog and in conversations with one of the leading international opposers to the bill, British MP Peter Tatchell. A commission created by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has recommended that the legislation be withdrawn. According to Mr. Capehart, “all the international outrage that the horrific bill whipped up is having an effect.”

Ugandan lawmaker Adolf Mwesige led the commission and, according to the New York Times, “said that virtually all clauses in the legislation were either unconstitutional or redundant, and that any other clauses should be placed in another bill dealing generally with sexual offenses.” Mwesige told the paper, “If we proceeded, it would definitely provoke criticism, and rightly so.”

Indeed, international outrage and criticism from human rights groups and objections from major donors like Sweden, prompted the Kampala government to be wary of the bill. In mid-January Museveni issued a statement distancing himself from the bill. He appointed a cabinet committee to review the bill. On May 7, the committeerecommended that the bill be withdrawn.

The committee’s report found that the bill has “technical defects in form and content” and that many of the clauses are either unconstitutional or redundant of existing laws. Furthermore, the committee recommends deflecting negative attention away from the bill by changing its title or combining it with Uganda’s existing law, the Sexual Offenses Act.

Only Clause 13 of the anti-gay bill — which addresses the promotion of homosexuality — “was worthy of consideration,” according to the report.

The bill won’t be dead until it is officially dropped or voted down by the Ugandan parliament. This is expected to happen within weeks, Mwesige told the Times.

We certainly agree with Mr. Capehart that “it’s sad and enraging that a bill so hateful, so backward, so wrong came so close to becoming law.”