Congratulations Chelsea,Well done Pompey.

Chelsea have done it again. They have won the premiership for the second time in a row after beating Manchester United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Winning two premiership titles back to back is a remarkable feat. Add the fact that they took the leadership of the table from very early on in the season and never looked uncomfortable at any stage, then you get a picture of a team that has potential to dominate the English premier league for a long time. No wonder they finished twelve points clear of their nearest rivals.

I begrudgingly congratulate Chelsea because as an Arsenal fan, my loyalties are in North London. I am quite elated that Arsenal continue setting new records, the most recent being that of becoming the first club from London to have qualified for a Champions League final. Chelsea and the Stamford Bridge fans cannot do much about that. We beat them to the finishing line. Don't forget that our unbeaten run two seasons ago is yet to be matched by any other team including Chelsea and its vast financial power.

And at the bottom of the Premiership, another team I have great respect for has survived the relegation battle. Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth has managed to string a decent set of results in the last ten or so matches and now they have all the reasons to smile. I too feel excited and remain proud that things have gone the right way for such a hardworking side.

NGOs performance dismal

Kenyans have been through hard times in the past one year.The ravaging drought that hit the country was unlike many others before. It hit hard and long. Several people died and thousands of livestock perished during what was described as Kenya's worst drought in decades. For months, the pangs of hunger bit the physique and morale of residents. Thankfully, rains have begun in the country and there is hope that the food situation will improve. It will take hardwork but the billowing clouds of dust that constantly hovered over clusters of hungry faces is now gone.

The world's media descended on Kenya albeit briefly during this period of drought. Their cameras clicked away and TV footage of the true extent of the drought was beamed via satellite to millions of homes across the world. As expected the story touched the hearts of many a Western viewer. Many of them contributed to NGOs which raised funds to help the affected in Kenya and Somalia.

However, the performance of these non-governmental organisations is wanting and raises quite a few eyebrows. During the worst phase of the drought, Oxfam was one of the organisations that highlighted the problems of the residents of Kenya's affected regions and especially the North Eastern Province. It is in this area that most of the deaths were reported and it is here that the NGOs had recorded some success in alleviating poverty.

This time Oxfam is in the dock. The organisation played a crucial role in raising awareness of the drought, even providing officials to speak to the press on the latest developments in the hard hit regions. It facilitated trips to areas where people had been most affected thus ensuring that the world did not forget these suffering people. But the organisation failed in the most important area... intervention. Oxfam literally watched as cattle collapsed and people died. They did not have the large scale operations that they have had in similar times such as the 1992 and 1995 droughts.

Only Oxfam knows why this happened. Yet just the other day they claimed that they were launching an appeal to help people in the affected regions. What were they doing when the drought was biting and hitting the region? This time they had no emergency relief programme and did not employ personnel to specifically handle this. Like many other NGOs, Oxfam will raise millions through this appeal and very little will be seen on the ground. Ask the residents of the most affected in the recent drought. Oxfam should make public their spending in the recent drought and clear all the doubts we currently have.