Newsletter2

Bolivarian Government of Venezuela

Ministry of People’s Power for Foreign Affairs Office of The Deputy Minister for Africa

Weekly

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Kenya Concurrent to Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Somalia

Newsletter Putin supports Venezuela’s

Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the United Nations Environment programme (UNEP)and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme ( UN Habitat).

VOL. 2: ISSUE. 2, 1st February 2016

economic measures

During the conversation the heads of state addressed the fall of oil prices and the main causes that influence the situation, the chancellor wrote.

She also added that both presidents “have a similar view about how both the short term and long term strategies on the relationship between oil producing countries.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed his support to the economic measures taken by the Venezuelan Government led by Nicolás Maduro.

The news was made public by Venezuela’s foreign affairs minister Delcy Rodriguez who made the announcement of a telephone conversation held by the two heads of state.

Through her Twitter account Rodriguez described how the exchanged happened between the two leaders. Most of the conversation was around the economic cooperation.

Inside this Issue!

Pg 1.

Putin supports Venezuela’s economic measures

Pg 2.

It is about time to recover oil prices - Venezuela rejects Spanish minister’s meddling on internal affairs

Rodriguez also commented on how Maduro and Putin talked about Venezuela’s role at the monthly presidency of the Security Council of the United Nations during next February a seat that is currently occupied by Uruguay.

Pg 3.

Venezuela’s right rejects Economic Emergency Decree

www.hoyvenezuela.info

Pg 4.

Promoting the Unknown Africa: Student-built solar motorbikes hit the road in Kenya

It is about time to recover oil prices Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro was outspoken about the necessity that OPEC and non-OPEC members to regain control of the oil market with the goal of recovering the prices of crude oil.

In a meeting of the Bolivarian Economic Agenda celebrated in Teresa Carreño’s Rios Reyna.

“The time has come. It is possible” the President said.

Maduro added that he had already had conversations with the President of Iran Hasan Roani who Maduro congratulated for the lifting of economic measures by the US and the European Union.

www.hoyvenezuela.info

Venezuela rejects Spanish minister’s meddling on internal affairs Minister of Foreign Affair, Delcy Rodríguez announced through her Twitter account her rejection of Spanish Chancellor into the internal affairs of Venezuela.

“Spanish chancellor meddles in Venezuela’s affairs displaying historical ignorance and performing imperial tutelage over former colonies” “Take care of your governability crisis in your country and the social disaster Spain is in before giving an opinion on issues you don’t know about.” Venezuelan Chancellor wrote on Twiter.

Rodriguez’ reaction came after Spanish Foreign Affairs minister Garcia-Margallo announced he would take Rajoy’s government’s concern over the situation in Venezuela.

Rodríguez adviced her counterpart to “adjust his actions to International Law before even thinking about giving orders here.” www.hoyvenezuela.info

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Venezuela’s right rejects Economic Emergency Decree Right-wing legislator Jose Guerra said a special commission formed within the National Assembly to assess Maduro’s proposal was ready to hand down a decision. Guerra is heading the commission, which is dominated by experts appointed by legislators from the right-wing political coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, or MUD. The MUD holds a majority in the National Assembly.

Guerra has indicated to press that the commission has handed a report to the National Assembly executive that largely rejects Maduro’s proposals, especially in terms of the Venezuelan cabinet having any control over budgeting.

The announcement from Guerra came a day after President Nicolas Maduro called on the National Assembly to back his economic emergency decree.

Maduro’s vice president, Aristolbulo Isturiz, said direct dialogue with the National Assembly is needed.

“We want a serious discussion, with all the information required by the legislators from the government to be given to them first hand,” Isturiz said.

The economic emergency involves making resources from the 2015 financial year available, assigning extra funds to health, education, food, and housing; designing and implementing measures to prevent tax evasion; and giving the executive the “authorization to address the causes of the current situation.”

The measure also allows the administration special temporary powers to boost production and ensure access to key goods, including taking over private companies’ resources, imposing currency controls and “other social, economic or political measures deemed fitting.” www.hoyvenezuela.info

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Promoting the Unknown Africa

Student-built solar motorbikes hit the road in Kenya

The new motorcycles are imported from China, he said.

The students will lease the bikes to 40 riders who they have trained in road safety. Most motorcyclists in Kenya, like Omondi, have no bikes of their own but ride leased machines.

Omondi, who used to ride a petrol motorcycle, said he used to make Sh1,000 shillings on a good day, but would spend about Sh350 on fuel and another Sh300 to lease the bike from its owner.

Motorcycle taxi operators waiting for passengers in this village in western Kenya's Kisumu County lounge on their various machines - but Alfred Omondi's plug-in electric scooter stands out from the crowd.

Surrounded by motorbikes running on polluting fossil fuels, Omondi sits astride his solar-powered rechargeable motorcycle, which uses technology developed by students from the University of Nairobi.

Charles Ogingo, Robert Achoge and James Ogola - all final year students - have built a system they call Ecotran, which captures the sun's energy, stores it in batteries, and uses it to charge a motorcycle's electric motor.

Much of western Kenya has no grid electricity, and the places that do face frequent power disruptions, so solar energy is a promising alternative, they say.

The three students have set up a "fuelling" station with 40 solar photovoltaic units, each generating 250 watts of electricity. The energy is stored in batteries before being transformed by powerful inverters into the alternating current needed by the motorcycle.

Now it costs him Sh100 to recharge the electric motorbike, saving him money even as he helps the environment by curbing pollution and climatechanging emissions.

"The only challenge is that this electric bike has low acceleration and cannot work in hilly terrain," he pointed out.

Ogingo, a mechanical engineering student, agreed that the technology promises lower operating costs as well as environmental benefits.

Taxi motorbikes are a big industry in Kenya, employing thousands of young people. The World Health Organisation estimates that between 2005 and 2011, motorcycle registrations in Kenya increased almost 40-fold, and that by 2011 motorcycles made up 70 per cent of all newly registered vehicles in the country.

In the capital Nairobi the number of registered motor vehicles stood at 2.25 million in 2013, many of them older vehicles emitting relatively high levels of pollution.

The motorbike uses a small portable battery which, fully charged, can run for 70 kilometres, after which it must return to the station to be recharged while another charged battery is fitted to the bike.

Shem Wandiga, a researcher at the University of Nairobi, said air pollution can damage residents' health in highly polluted areas such as Kisumu, Kenya's third biggest city, and Nairobi.

The students, who have set up a company called Pfoofy Solar Ltd, put together their system in 2014 at a climate change innovation center at Strathmore Business School in Nairobi, where they had been sent to give practical form to their ideas.

Illness and deaths linked to air pollution cause economic losses of $15 million (Sh1.55 billion) a year, according to a 2014 study in Nairobi by the University of Nairobi. In Kenya, 39 per cent of air pollution is caused by motor traffic, the study said.

After successfully trying out the Ecotran technology on three locally bought motorcycles in Kisumu County's Nyakach area early this year, the young innovators are now expanding the project, and powering 40 more bikes.

"We were awarded $100,000 (Sh10.3 million) by the United States African Development Fund and Power Africa for the ingenious innovation. It is this money that we are now using to upscale the solar project," said Pfoofy Solar manager Achoge.

The motor industry is the main source of air pollution in Africa, and air pollution causes an estimated 176,000 premature deaths a year on the continent, according to a World Health Organization survey of 2012. www.the-star.co.ke

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