Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti Technology writer Meghan Neal once asked: “As decreed by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human beings have the right to free expression, to culture, to equality, to life, liberty, and security. Do we need to add one more - the right to internet?” The United Nations believes that Internet access is a basic human right that should be guaranteed and protected by states and affirms that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression, which is applicable regardless of frontiers and through any media of one’s choice. The prevailing sentiment is that without access to the web it is increasingly hard to exercise these basic freedoms - making connectivity itself a right by extension. Considering that two-thirds of the world is not online, that would mean a big chunk of the population is being denied their basic rights, which is one of the reasons so many technology heavyweights,

Lazarus Sauti Despite Africa containing many of the world’s fastest growing economies and a burgeoning middle class, it still lags behind in educational standards. Chris Parr, a social media reporter, agrees: “Driven by falling costs and a lack of fixed phone line connections, mobile phone ownership in Africa is booming, and is transforming everything from banking and healthcare (with text messages used to transfer money and send health advice), to agriculture and politics (farmers can receive guidance, weather forecasts and market reports) – so why not education? Answers are simple. Although the mobile infrastructure has improved massively, Africa is a continent in which about two-thirds of the population still live without domestic access to electricity, the same reason why Gary Marsden, a professor in the department of computer science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, is worried when discussing the educational possibilities introduced by the seemingly unsto

Lazarus Sauti From scientific research to commerce, the possible applications of the cloud are almost limitless. Andy Burton, chairman of Cloud Industry Forum, says cloud computing, a synonym for distributed computing over a network, and means the ability to run a program or application on many connected computers at the same time, is to many a modern-day enigma. Everyone interested in information technology has heard of it. “Cloud computing alludes to great benefits for those that participate, and yet it often has an air of mystery and intangibility as people sift through the commentaries to determine how best to harness its capability,” said Burton. That said, added Burton, cloud computing has come of age and has a rightful place in the evolution of information technology. Arguably, it is really more a story about business enablement and transformation than one of technology. Business angel and futurologist Professor Peter Cochrane sees cloud as becoming universal.

Lazarus Sauti Collence Chisita, a Harare based knowledge management expert believes that strengthening biocultural innovation is good for the African continent. He said biocultural innovations are part of the African heritage and biocultural knowledge is critical in supporting food security in the face of climate change. “Biocultural innovations are part of heritage and they encompass to the knowledge and practices of indigenous people and their biological resources, from the genetic varieties of crops they develop, to the landscapes they create. “As indigenous peoples have adapted to harsh climates over many generations, bio-cultural knowledge or intellectual capital is critical in supporting food security in the face of climate change and impact of vagaries of nature like drought,” he said. Chisita therefore urged countries within and across the African continent to revitalise biocultural innovation systems of smallholder farmers to strengthen food security in the

Lazarus Sauti Africa can feed itself and can make the transition from hungry importer to self-sufficiency in a single generation. To achieve this, the great continent needs her agriculture as a real driver of economic growth and poverty reduction. Sadly, the story of agriculture in most – if not all – African countries today is largely one of massive but untapped potential. Because of this, David Bennett, a co-leader of the Biocience for Farming in Africa programme, believes that Africa needs trade not aid to be able to feed her populace. “Too often people think food security can be achieved by a combination of long term research and short term low-tech initiatives. These depend on donor funding, whether from foreign governments – either directly or via their support for research – or from charitable foundations or nongovernmental organisations. “But for any solution to food security to be truly sustainable, people have to move from depending on aid to depending on trad

Lazarus Sauti Agriculture contributes over 25 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and employs above 70 percent of the labour force in most African countries’ economies. This is according to the African Biosafety Network of Expertise, a science-based biosafety resource network for African regulators. The African Biosafety Network of Expertise adds that most people in Africa use agriculture as their avenue to escape harsh realities of life. Surprisingly, less is being done to embrace agricultural biotechnology – a science and technology technique used to improve plants, animals and microorganisms and to fight poverty. As a result, very few African countries have embraced agricultural biotechnology. In fact, only 10 countries are taking necessary steps. According to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, only South Africa grows genetically modified food crops while Burkina Faso and Sudan grow GM cotton. Seven other African countries - Ca

Lazarus Sauti According to a recent World Health Organisation report titled “A global brief on hypertension: Silent killer, global public health crisis 2013”, hypertension or raised blood pressure, a non-communicable disease, is a silent, invisible killer that rarely causes symptoms. The disease already affects one billion people worldwide and, according to researchers, it currently kills nine million people every year. Furthermore, raised blood pressure is responsible for at least 45 percent of deaths due to heart disease. Hypertension contributes to the burden of heart disease, stroke and kidney failure and premature mortality and disability. Because of this, it disproportionately affects populations in developing countries where health systems are weak. Sadly, the prevalence of hypertension is highest in the African region. Many African countries are seeing growing numbers of people who suffer from heart attacks and strokes due to undiagnosed and uncontrolled risk fa

Lazarus Sauti Older women dating or marrying younger men is no longer looked with awe in Zimbabwe. I have seen many happy marriages between older women and young men. These relationships gave birth to the name cougar dating.   Boy oh boy and girl oh girl (to be gender sensitive), even thought the society sees it fit to call these relationships with the name cougar dating, my gut feeling is that the name is very unkind and mean. The reason is simply because when old men can date girls who are young enough to be their daughters, why cannot women do the same? Another reason is the question, “Who said an older woman cannot fall in love with a younger man?” I believe love can happen to anyone at any time (prove me wrong). Even blogger Sarah Mellors agrees with yours truly and adds that love makes people do strange things. Because of love, older women can therefore date young men. Remember chikuru rudo. Another reason is that not every woman wants a father figure. Often a

Lazarus Sauti One of the most used words in religious circles these days is prosperity – Prosperity gospel; God want you to prosper; you are born to prosper; prosperity is for those who give abundantly; and if you give, God will give you daily and you will prosper. But what is prosperity? Tadisio Zvinowanda, a Harare based servant of God, says prosperity is defined in two categories – the modern (world) dispensation and the Biblical definition. “In the present (world) dispensation, the gospel of prosperity is shaped by material things, cars, houses, following, clothes, number of churches established and their locations, power exercised by preachers on their congregations,” explains Zvinowanda, adding that competition is fueling this modern day dispensation of the gospel of prosperity. In this worldly definition of prosperity, he adds, some initiators of churches and those around them are prospering because they are preaching about riches and in the process acquiring