Iko Nini Bwana Seed?

WHAT UK NEWSPAPERS SAY - EXCHANGE RATE AGAINST THE POUND TODAY IS KSHS. 111.44

Success amid the odds

Nelly with her husband, Isaac, and daughter, Cassandra.

Some people will never know the meaning of ‘giving up’. Nothing, not even the greatest of life’s misfortunes are strong enough to make them contemplate quitting. On the contrary, they seem to thrive on the strength of their challenges. And they always win.  Meet Nelly Kennedy Wanjiru, a woman who is soaring up in the sky, despite the fact that one of her limbs is medically written off. Nelly’s life achievements will both inspire and shame. She will shame those who, though blessed with perfect health, have not made efforts to put purpose to their life; and she is an inspiration to the young, who are growing up under unfriendly circumstances and all those who aspire to reach the stars amid challenges — physical or otherwise. Her sharp business acumen has seen her set a business empire both in Kenya and in the UK. Today, Nelly recalls how she would dream about driving a Jaguar, which she has. Mercedes, BMW, name them, have all been at her beck and call. Hers is an example of what one can achieve when they set their minds to a task. But in all this succes, Nelly is disabled. Her restricted mobility meant that she had to use her imagination to succeed — and this she did in style.

"When one is denied certain things in life, it is like God compensates them with something else," she says. For someone who had been given a few months to live by medics, Nelly, 47, believes that her life is nothing short of a miracle. Born and raised in Othaya, Nyeri, she had a normal childhood and teenage before tragedy struck at 21. "I woke up one morning and my legs were numb, prompting my friends to rush me to a clinic in Pangani," she recalls. When her condition worsened, she was taken to MP Shah Hospital and later to Kenyatta National Hospital where she was told that her left leg was permanently disabled. The right leg’s use was, however, restored after much therapy. "It is the one I use to drive," she smiles. Losing the use of her leg in adulthood was a difficult thing. "I lost so many of my friends because they thought that I would be a burden." To make matters worse, she also lost control of her bladder and had to carry extra clothes to change into every now and then.

When this happened, Nelly was working at the Attorney General’s Chambers in the department of Public Trustees. It was at this time that she decided to engage in small businesses to supplement her meagre income. "I started supplying potato crisps and groundnuts to supermarkets," she recalls. This, however, failed and in 1981 she opened up a bureau for househelps known as Kennedy Home Care Services, before she again closed due to stiff competition. In 1990, using her savings, Nelly travelled to the UK for treatment, courtesy of a former client. That was 18 years ago. Fast-forward to this year. Nelly is a businesswoman of repute with investments in technology and real estate in the land she once visited as a needy woman.  First, she changed her name for business reasons. "I needed a name that was easy to pronounce for the UK clientele hence Kennedy became my business name. My husband did not mind, and so I adopted it." In the UK, Nelly used the money that remained after treatment to start a teaching agency. She worked hard at it and the business picked up fast. When profits came, she started a security firm known as Beeline Security Services. "To my delight, this too picked up pretty fast," she offers. And she did not stop there. Nelly thought it wise to give back to her motherland by investing here.

She envisioned a company that would help market Kenya as a tourist destination and the result was a company, Travel Advisory Agency. She also had a string of boutiques and learning institutions. These, however, were not successful. "I was forced to close shop on many of my businesses here because they were making loses as I concentrated on the ones in the UK," she says. To her companies in the UK, she added FairICT in 2007. "It is a network of professionals and we are four directors. Our aim is to share information between Kenyans back home and those in the Diaspora," she explains. The driving force behind this company she says was the need to do more for Kenya from wherever they were. FairICT has many branches, among them a website known as malikwamali.com. She explains: "On this site we market Kenyans and their products in the UK, from music to handicrafts among other things." The challenge, she believes is for Kenyans back home to come with extraordinary products and they will be marketed. Having lived in the UK for almost 18 years, Nelly has seen many children born and raised up without concrete knowledge of their Kenyan heritage. "There always seems to be a gap between those back home and those in the Diaspora and this is what we want to change," she says. She is one of the brains behind Kenya Book of Records, an amazing compilation of positive facts about Kenyans, by Kenyans, for Kenyans, and the world. The book is set to be launched in the UK in the next few weeks.

"It is meant to help those in the Diaspora and especially children to get acquainted with important personalities back home," she asserts. Nelly met her husband Isaac Mwangi in 1999 and together they have formed a formidable team in the last eight years. "He has been my foundation and the rock in our family," she speaks adoringly of the man besides her. She believes that it takes God for a man to see beyond a disability. "He first saw me seated and fell in love with my looks and his feelings never changed even after he learnt of my disability," she says. Nelly’s struggles have not been limited to business alone. As a wife, she has tried to have children without success. "Due to my physical condition and age (47 years) it was difficult and I had also lost two pregnancies before." This forced her to go for InVitro Fertilisation (IVF), which was successful. She had twins before misfortune struck again. "I lost one of the twins after 22 weeks of pregnancy, but it could not be removed," she recalls. So for about 10 more weeks, she lived with the dead child in her womb until she gave birth to her precious daughter, Cassandra. "She has made me feel complete as a woman," she says with eyes full of love for her daughter. It was a success that touched so many people, she recalls as many sent her messages of best wishes from all over. She became a beacon of hope to many other women who had no children. Her successful IVF made her believe that the same can happen to many other women. "The problem is that it is too expensive for poor women in Kenya to afford," she says.

She recalls a visit by some of the leading women personalities to the UK including Idah Odinga, Mrs Murungi (Kiraitu) and Dr Oburu’s wife whom she implored to help women access such facilities.  "I believe that no man is a hill to his wife, and they could influence their husbands one way or the other," she says, quoting Jomo Kenyatta. Given a chance, Nelly believes that disabled women, despite their disadvantage can make a difference in the society. "Disability is after all a small part of the body and should not come between a person and his or her goals in life." Disabled people need to believe in themselves and not depend on handouts. "They should get involved in pursuit of education, and be trained in modern technologies. Gone are the days when the only thing a disabled could do was become a telephone operator," she says. But for this to happen, employers and the Government should extend equal opportunities to the disabled. "They simply need equal opportunities. It is a shame to find a disabled person crawling on all fours. This should not happen in Kenya today. Almost all the building are unfriendly to the disabled, some of them do not even have lifts. How can a disabled person access such places?" she wonders. Nelly believes that her’s is a story that will inspire, and she is currently involved in writing her autobiography. "… and it will be titled And Why Not," she says. Looking at Nelly and what she has been able to do, one gets the feeling that a lot more is still on the way for this tough cookie. - The Standard Weekend Magazine

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior Republican senators warned on Sunday their party was unlikely to back President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill without changes to cut waste and to ensure the nearly $900 billion package promptly boosts the faltering U.S. economy. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doubted the economic stimulus bill can pass the Senate in its current form. He said the bill needs to "put lead on the target immediately" with a specific focus on the housing sector and tax relief.

London, Sunday 1st February, 2009. An army of snow ploughs and gritters are on standby tonight as the UK prepares to be engulfed by "significant and disruptive" snowfall. Forecasters are predicting up to 20 centimetres may fall in some areas as icy winds and heavy snow rolls in from the freezing wastes of Russia overnight. The south east of England and the Pennines are expected to bear the brunt of the weather but much of the UK will see heavy snow over the next 48 hours. The morning and evening rush hours are expected to be disrupted with snow causing problems on the transport network. The AA has warned motorists to keep warm clothes in the car after dealing with unprepared drivers "flirting with hypothermia" at breakdowns during the last cold snap. The Met Office have issued an extreme weather warning for London and the south east of England as the worst of the weather breaks on Monday. Gatwick and London city airports have temporarily closed their runways, airport operators said. Both airports are stopping planes from landing and taking off while they clear snow and ice from the tarmac. Temperatures have plummeted steadily as the freezing easterly winds that herald the snow increased. Snow flurries erupted with increasing regularity throughout the day and by 6pm this evening parts of Kent were blanketed with a light coating of snow. Even the Queen could not escape the wintry conditions and was forced to keep the snow at bay with an umbrella as she attended church this morning near the Sandringham estate in Norfolk. This winter has been the coldest for 13 years and temperatures will plummet once again as the cold front exerts its grip over the UK. By midnight tonight the flurries are expected to give way to heavy prolonged snowfall, resulting in much of the UK waking to a blanket of snow.

Queen on walkabout as snow falls

UK asylum system criticised

Britain's asylum system has been heavily criticised in a damning report. The number of cases which were not dealt with increased to 8,700 in the second quarter of 2008 compared with 4,200 a year earlier, the National Audit Office said. Even after their asylum claim is rejected, fewer than one in ten asylum seekers processed under a new system are removed from the country. Removing one family can cost the taxpayer up to £60,000, the report found. The auditors also said the Home Office was on course to miss its target to clear the 450,000 "legacy" cases discovered four years ago and which cost the taxpayer £600 million last year. And there were no measures to track those granted asylum so they could be returned home when their right to stay expired, they said. Tory MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said the UK Border Agency (UKBA) was "struggling to cope" with asylum cases. "There are more unfounded applications than failed applicants removed, so a backlog of failed applicants who have not been removed is building up," he said. "If things go on as they are, this backlog will become a lot bigger. When applicants are given refugee status, that status is supposed to be reviewed after five years, which would be fine if you had a way of finding the refugees. The agency has no process for tracking them."

Nairobi, Sunday 1st February, 2009. At least 111 people have died in Kenya after an overturned petrol tanker caught fire on a highway and exploded. Reports say the fire broke out after hundreds of people gathered to collect spilled fuel. About 200 people have also been injured in the blaze, in the town of Molo. Officials say the death toll may rise. The cause of the fire is not clear. Some reports said it was caused by a lit cigarette, but others said it had been started deliberately. One woman at the scene said her two sons were among the several hundred people who had run to collect petrol after the tanker crashed and she had not been able to find them. "I tried to stop them but they did not listen, they told me everyone is going there for the free fuel," she told Reuters. A survivor of the fire said he had rushed to the scene to collect fuel when he had heard of the accident. "I had taken the first jerrycan back to my home and when I came back for the second, I heard an explosion and it was like we all caught fire, I don't even know how I got here," Michael Kerich told AFP news agency at a hospital in Nakuru. Interior Minister George Saitoti said 111 people had died so far and 34 with serious injuries had been airlifted to Nairobi. He said four policemen were among those killed. Rift Valley police provincial commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan warned the toll could rise, and said he had ordered 150 body bags to be delivered to Molo.

It is not clear exactly how the fire broke out. Kenya Red Cross spokesman Titus Mung'ou told Reuters news agency it could have been started by someone dropping a cigarette. But Mr Hassan said the fire may have been lit by people whom the police were trying to keep away from the petrol. "We don't exactly know how the fire started because the allegation is that somebody got annoyed with the way they were being chased away from the place by security personnel and lit the fire, others are saying the fire started accidentally," he said. "But, however, in the process there was an explosion, there was fire everywhere and we have bodies littered all over this place." The Nation newspaper has criticised what it said was a slow official response to the fire, which was still reported to be burning several hours later. "The Nakuru Municipal Council's fire engine arrived at the scene more than an hour after the explosion," said the newspaper, adding that Molo itself has no fire engine. The BBC's Peter Greste, in Nairobi, says Kenya's emergency services have a poor record for public safety standards. The incident comes just days after a devastating fire at a supermarket in the Kenyan capital Nairobi killed at least 25 people. Kenyan media also criticised the emergency response to that disaster, calling it slow and inadequate. - MORE FOR VIDEO

A patient is lifted onto an ambulance at Nairobi's Wilson airport on Sunday after being flown from Molo where a tanker exploded and left more than 100 people dead and on right a Kenya Air Force plane at Lanet Air Strip ready to transfer victims of the tanker explosion to Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital on Sunday 1st February, 2009. - Sunday Nation.

Kenya government declares a week of national mourning

Written By:Daniel Waitere/Nicholas Kigondu   , Posted: Sun, Feb 01, 2009
 

As the country begun to come to terms with perhaps the worst fire tragedies at Nakumatt Supermarket and the Molo Tanker explosion the government Sunday afternoon declared a week of national mourning beginning Monday.  President Mwai Kibaki has ordered the national flag to fly at half-mast in honor of the departed victims. In perhaps the worst fire disasters to hit the country this year, 127 lives have been lost in the past one week. From the fierce fire that gutted the Nakumatt Downtown supermarket in the capital city on Wednesday, the country woke up to yet another disaster, this time a fuel tanker that overturned at Sachangwan area of Molo in Nakuru burst in to flames living a trail of death and destruction. According to Dr. Wanyoike a neuro surgeon at Kenyatta national hospital, 39 patients airlifted to Nairobi suffered 3rd degree burns and are in critical condition.The hospital is appealing for blood donations from well wishers to deal with the unprecedented scale of disaster.Head of civil service Ambassador Francis Muthaura said the government has responded to the disaster and is coordinating rescue operations. The military was also called in to assist in airlifting the victims. Early Sunday morning high ranking government officials toured the disaster site to condole the families. There were scenes of grief and anguish as relatives turned up to inquire of their kin's conditions at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital. Graphic images of burnt people characterized ward nine of the hospital where the injured were rushed for treatment. At the scene of the tragedy, shells of vehicles and jericans littered the scene telling of the intensity of the fire that spread over a hundred meters radius. A team of Scene of Crimes Experts headed by the area CID boss Mohammed Amin was Sunday in the area collecting evidence in a bid to piece together the fire tragedy puzzle. An inquiry to investigate the fire tragedy headed by the Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan with the assistance of the area provincial security intelligence committee, provincial medical officer of health and the Red Cross  has also been constituted. But the people of Molo, it was yet another dark January coming exactly one year after the post election violence, and for the rest of the country, a lesson that accident scenes should be out of bounds.

At least 111 people are killed in Kenya as they try to take spilled fuel from an overturned tanker which caught fire.

Boeing announces 10,000 job losses

Boeing announces 10,000 job lossesPlane maker Boeing has announced 10,000 job losses, hit by a fourth quarter loss and a hard-hitting strike.  The news came on top of waning demand for the company's commercial jets.  Airlines are cutting spending and air travel has declined amid the global economic slowdown.  Boeing recently said it would cut about 4,500 positions from its commercial aircraft business as a result of the worsening market conditions.  On Wednesday Boeing executives said an additional 5,500 jobs in other parts of the company, including its defence division, were to be eliminated through attrition and redundancies throughout the year.  The Chicago-based company reported a fourth-quarter loss of 56 million dollars compared with profit of 1.03 billion dollars a year earlier.  Boeing delivered just 50 planes in the last three months of 2008, compared with 112 planes during the same period a year earlier.  Boeing's 27,000 machinists went on strike on September 6 in a dispute over new contracts, causing delays in production and deliveries. The action ended on November 2 but cost the firm billions.  In November, Boeing further delayed the first test flight and delivery of its much-anticipated 787 jetliner, the world's first large commercial aeroplane made mostly from carbon-fibre composites, blaming the strike and lingering production problems.  It also delayed deliveries of 747-8 cargo and passenger jets, partly due to the strike, and deliveries of 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s as it replaces defective fasteners used to attach wiring and other components inside the planes' fuselages.

It is difficult not to notice the quote from Psalms 23 on the wall at the Nairobi city council fire department on Tom Mboya Street. “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” They are words that firefighters must have carried with them as they headed out to tackle the Nakumatt Downtown supermarket fire. Acting chief fire officer Brian Chunguli received the news of the blaze around 3 p.m. when a man came running to the station to report it. “We organised ourselves immediately and were at the scene within minutes,” he said on Saturday. But the fire proved too big for the council firefighters and those of private security firms, military units and Kenya Airports Authority had to come in. “We don’t usually respond to crises like this; we respond to our own customers,” said Giles Littlewood, the general manager of Knight Support. “We have a card system we use to call our control room, or they press a button. But we got the call and had to respond. We knew there were people inside who needed our help.” G4S duty officer Johnstone Muthiora was seated behind the steering wheel of his fire engine outside Serena Hotel when he received a call to rush to Nakumatt Downtown.

Over 100 people died after an overturned tanker exploded as they scooped fuel in Molo. Reports on the cause of the fire remain sketchy with some claiming an enraged man lit a match after differing with security officers

When he and his men arrived at the scene, orange flames were leaping into the sky, and dense, black smoke obscured the intersection of Kimathi Street and Kenyatta Avenue where Nakumatt’s oldest supermarket in Nairobi is located. Council firefighter Joseph Maina had decided to go to town early on Wednesday to prepare for his shift at the main station. He would not have known that he would spend the next 24 hours inhaling toxic fumes and watching a colleague get injured in the incident. “If the worst came to the worst, and we had a busy night, I knew we would be required to put out a fire somewhere outside town, maybe in a slum, the industrial area or some other congested part of the city. A fire at a supermarket in the central business district was not on my mind,” said Mr Maina, who went directly to the fire scene and remained there for 18 hours. “When I got there, the fire had engulfed the whole building,” he said. “But if you are a fireman, you go where your supervisor tells you to go. No matter how scared you might be as an individual, you trust that your boss makes the right decision. There’s no room for small talk, you get off the truck and into the fire.” For G4S firefighter Emmanuel Kera, the major challenge was dealing with exploding gas cylinders that were stored in the supermarket. “It was scary,” he said; “but knowing what is at stake, you have no option but to battle the flames and show the public that you are in control of the blaze.” Mr Chunguli, the acting fire chief, said he didn’t doubt his crew’s ability to handle the fire because he said they are well-trained. - Sunday Nation.

Govt to meet medical costs for victims of Molo tragedy

Written By:PMPS   , Posted: Sun, Feb 01, 2009
 

At least 46 victims of the oil tanker tragedy in Molo in which 111 lost their lives were Sunday flown to Nairobi for specialized treatment as the government pledged to foot their medical expenses. Prime Minister Raila Odinga told a press conference at Wilson airport on return from visiting the scene in Molo that the government would meet the medical cost for the more than 178 survivors of the fire tragedy. "There should be no acrimony at this stage but I assure you that the government will ensure that the injured get the best possible treatment notwithstanding the cost implications" he declared. Odinga  said the Kenya Army was called in to airlift the first batch of critically injured victims whose conditions required specialized treatment in various hospitals in Nairobi.  He urged Kenyans to respond to a distress call to donate blood following a revelation by Public Health Minister Beth Mugo that the hospitals required at least 1,000 litres of blood to save the lives of the victims majority of who suffered first and second degree burns.

Odinga also relayed a message of condolence from President Mwai Kibaki who left the country on Friday to attend African Heads of State Conference in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Odinga cautioned the public against the culture of crowding accident scenes and refrain from flocking to sites where inflammable substances were involved to avert such tragedies.  He said investigations into the incident wwere underway although preliminary reports indicated that one of the victims could have sparked the explosion after striking a match within the precincts of the leaking fuel. "A special team of investigators has been deployed to recover the charred remains of the victims but we have so far recovered more than 100 bodies from the scene" he said. The premier urged the country to remain calm in this trying moments which came just days after another fire tragedy at a shopping mall in Nairobi claimed more than 20 lives with several others still reported missing.  Odinga at the same time announced government plans to streamline road safety measures along major highways to ensure that trucks ferrying inflammable substances were appropriately parked to ensure the security of other road users. "We want to do away with the practice of parking tankers by the roadside and I have instructed the Transport ministry to act on the issues" he said. Other cabinet Minister at the press conference included Mugo and Internal Security Minister Prof gorge Saitoti

First ladies' conference opens in Ethiopia

Written By:PPS   , Posted: Sun, Feb 01, 2009
 

The Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) conference opened Sunday in Addis Ababa with a call for improved internal control of the resources of OAFLA and the adoption of broad strategies to fight HIV AIDS. Speaking during the technical advisors meeting, Professor Elizabeth Ngugi, who is representing the First Lady Mrs. Lucy Kibaki, said the OAFLA Kenya Chapter has had a positive impact in the fight against HIV/AIDS and the promotion of the welfare of the girl child and women in general.  Citing the ‘Treat Every Child as your Own' initiative that was speared headed by First Lady Lucy Kibaki, Professor Ngugi noted that OAFLA Kenya had contributed substantially to the improvement of the welfare of children in Kenya ranging from a reduction in child labour, girl child prostitution, female genital mutilation and the  mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Professor Ngugi further noted that OAFLA Kenya has been instrumental in the success of various legislative measures as well as affirmative actions that have been taken to promote the well being of women in the country.During the meeting, the revised OAFLA Finance Policies and Procedures manual was presented to the technical advisors committee by Ernst & Young consultants. According to Professor Ngugi, the manual is intended to provide guidance in the internal financial control of the resources of OAFLA and facilitate application of internationally accepted best practices in the formulation and implementation of OAFLA interventions in fighting HIV/AIDS. The technical advisors meeting also deliberated on the Strategic Plan for the period 2009 to 2013.  Commenting on the strategic plan, professor Ngugi noted that the objectives of OAFLA have been broadened to provide a more comprehensive agenda that links HIV/AIDS to the overall gender and poverty reduction issues facing the continent. Also in the agenda of the OAFLA technical advisors meeting were deliberations on the repot of the proceedings of the OAFLA Secretariat handover from the office of former First Lady of Zambia, Maureen Mwanawasa, to the First Lady of Ethiopia. The First Lady of Ethiopia, Woizero Azeb Mesfin, was elected President of the OAFLA Executive Secretariat during the Sixth Ordinary General Assembly in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama has been arrested for alleged marijuana possession. George Obama was arrested in Nairobi with one joint of marijuana, police chief Joshua Omokulongolo said. "He is not a drug peddler. But it is illegal, it is a banned substance," he said. Mr Obama has denied the allegations. The US president and George Obama share the same father, but are thought to have only met each other briefly. George Obama, who is in his 20s, is due in court on Monday. "They took me from my home," George Obama told reporters in Nairobi from his jail cell. " I don't know why they are charging me." Last year, George Obama told Vanity Fair magazine that he had only met his more famous half-brother twice, once when he was five and once when he visited East Africa in 2006. Of their second meeting, George reportedly said:"It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger." He has also said that he is studying to be a mechanic and works with a local youth group in Huruma, the area in Nairobi where he lives with his extended family. He is the youngest of his father's seven children and was born six months after his father died in a car crash in 1982. Several of the president's Kenyan relatives went to Washington for his inauguration on 20 January, though George Obama did not. The American president described his half brother as a " handsome, roundheaded boy with a wary gaze" in his book, Dreams From My Father.

At least 91 people were burnt to death on Saturday when a petrol tanker from which they were siphoning off petrol burst into flames near Molo town. Many more sustained life-threatening burns in the explosion near Jolly Farm on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway at about 7.30 p.m. By Saturday midnight Red Cross said they had counted 91 bodies at the scene. Among the injured were police officers who had rushed to the scene after the petrol tanker tipped over. Two hours after the fire started there had been no effort to put it out. The Nakuru Municipal Council’s fire engine arrived at the scene more than an hour after the explosion. Molo town has no fire engine. Rescuers who rushed to the scene had been unable to move in and rescue the victims due to the intense heat. An eye witness told the Sunday Nation that officers from a nearby GSU camp were the first to arrive at the scene after the tanker crashed. According to the witness, the officers began demanding a fee from those who wished to scoop petrol spilling from the tanker. “I heard someone saying that they were going to avenge the fee by starting a fire and left the scene fearing for my life,” the eyewitness said. “Moments later, I heard the explosion.” In the confusion the bus left the road and crashed. It is suspected that some of those who burnt were passengers on the bus. Sunday Nation

Kenya under the coalition arrangement between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga is corruption incorporated. Its character, its composition, its hierarchy, its very rationale for existence and continuity is postulated on a weird logic that defines how much each party can loot from the State coffers. The moment, and this is very unlikely, the President and PM decide to end corruption in Government, their coalition Government will crumble like a house of cards. This is because the substratum of the Government would have been removed and no alternative foundation has been in the contemplation of the principals. This is how central corruption has become in the continuity of the coalition. Despite all these, Kenyans are strangely optimistic that one day the vice of corruption will suddenly end. The Kenyan public is either too naive or very religious in so far as their attitude towards ending grand corruption in Government is concerned. Despite empirical evidence to the contrary showing corruption snowballing, spreading and encroaching every sector in Government, Kenyans continuously hope the cancer of corruption will, through some metaphysical event, simply end. - Sunday Standard

A retired Kenyan diplomat in London has gone to court challenging the cancellation of his diplomatic passport. Mr Abel Nyamichaba Kenyoru, the Kenyan deputy high commissioner in London until last year, was detained for two days at Heathrow Airport early this month when he tried to return there after the government cancelled his diplomatic passport. He was later deported. Mr Justice Joseph Nyamu declined to compel the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a fresh note verbale to the British High Commission to restore Mr Kenyorus diplomatic passport. Instead, he directed the case against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, the Ministry of Immigration and the attorney-general be heard on February 5, 2009. The judge said issues raised in the suit need to be argued when all the parties were represented in court. Mr Kenyoru's lawyer, Mr Lumumba Nyaberi, submitted that one was usually given a grace period of either three or nine months to hand over office and use the diplomatic passport to get his family and property back to Kenya. It was not so for my client. I urge this court to compel the Foreign ministry to issue another note verbal to the British High Commission to reinstate his diplomatic status and passport for nine months as per the law, submitted Mr Nyaberi. - Daily Nation.

Mr. Kinyuru whose family is still in the UK wonder how to take their goods back home afer their diplomatic passport was withdrawn by the government

London, Saturday 30th January, 2009. Honda has closed its UK plant in Swindon for four months. This affects just over 2,500 of its 3,700 employees, who will receive their full basic pay for the first two months, but around 60% thereafter. The shutdown is thought to be one of the longest in Britain's recent industrial history. The move is in response to the downturn in the UK car market. On Friday, the Japanese car company said global third quarter net profit had dropped 89%. Production staff, who install and upgrade machinery rather than make cars, will continue to work at Swindon during the shutdown. Honda has said there are no plans for redundancies and that it intends to "safeguard employment" for workers who want to stay at the company.  Dave Hodgetts, senior director at the South Marston plant, said the company was not giving any guarantees but was "giving [its] best intentions". "We will be trying to protect their jobs - that's our priority for the whole period," he said. After the four-month break, the plan is for all the staff to come back and their jobs will be secure," he added. Former Honda employee Andy McGurk on re-training and leaving the firm. Mr Hodgetts added the company would be ordering parts for next month, an indication of its commitment to start production in June. When staff return on 1 June, they will be making fewer vehicles as production, which was at around 240,000 vehicles a year, will resume at half that level. Among those vehicles will be the Honda Jazz, a small car costing between £10,000 and £12,000, which Honda says is proving popular with cash-strapped consumers. Honda, which employs 3,700 people in the UK and exports the Civic to 60 countries worldwide, has also cut 3,100 temporary jobs in Japan and reduced global production by 56,000 vehicles.

A sculpture of a shoe erected in Iraq to honour a journalist who threw his footwear at George W Bush has been dismantled, reports say. Foreign media say the bronze-coloured fibre-glass shoe was removed from its site in the city of Tikrit on the orders of the local authorities. It had been erected in the grounds of an orphanage. The monument was reportedly taken down just a day after being unveiled in the late Saddam Hussein's home town. The head of the Childhood organisation, which owns the orphanage, said she had been told to remove the monument immediately by the Salaheddin Provincial Joint Coordination Centre. "I did take the shoe down immediately and destroyed it, and I did not ask why," Shahah Daham told the German news agency DPA. Salaheddin's deputy governor, Abdullah Jabara, told DPA: "Children should be put away from any political-related issues. Since this is an orphanage, this monument can instil in children's heart things for which the time is not now." Mr Jabara was also quoted by CNN as saying: "We will not allow anyone to use the government facilities and buildings for political motives."

Welcome to MISTERSEEDTV

Soon Mr. Seed will be launching TV online with the name MISTERSEEDTV -  Currently we are testing. Have a look at it at the bottom of www.misterseed.com The world is soon becoming a village. Soon you will be viewing news as they happen in Kenya, UK and USA. Wedding will be coming here live, preachers will be coming here live or recorded. We will be screening news as they come from Kenya. Above all we will be interviewing you from your house through web cam. Signs of the times. Keep surfing and you at the right place in the 21st century. Do you know that the TV, Radio and Computer are turning out to be one equipment?

Banned motorist drove home from court. A motorist is behind bars after he was spotted driving away from court following a banning order.Peter Latham, 25, of Liverpool, was banned for 12 months at a hearing on Wednesday after admitting drink-driving and using a mobile phone behind the wheel. He was captured on CCTV as he walked from the court, got in his car and drove off in one of history's quickest legal breaches. Merseyside Police rearrested Latham and used the footage to prosecute him again in Liverpool's Community Justice Centre on Thursday. Latham, who claims to work as a protection officer in Iraq, admitted driving while disqualified and without insurance. Judge Ian Lomax jailed him for ten weeks, saying: "This is the most blatant breach I have seen in a long time." Victoria Marquis, defending, said Latham thought the ban kicked in only when he handed in his driving licence. - MORE FOR VIDEO

A Nyamira based journalist who went missing a fortnight ago has been found murdered in a forest in Rachuonyo district. Francis Kainda Nyaruris decomposing body was found at Kodere forest near Oyugis town. According to sources, Nyaruri was beheaded as his body lay beside his head. His hands were tied backwards and he had cuts on the head and other parts of the body.  He must have died a very painful death, a villager who saw the body said. The journalist who contributed to various radio stations and newspapers disappeared on January 16 at around 11am. According to his wife, Josephine Kainda, Nyaruri left their house in Nyamira town as usual and they last communicated on phone the same day while he was in Kisii town. He had gone to buy building materials in Kisii. We talked on phone at around 10am but soon after, his cellphone went off and we could not trace him, said the widow.

His father, Peter Nyaruri Mokua, said his son might have been killed because of exposing cases of corruption in the area. A lawyer, Andrew Mandi who visited the scene where the body was found described the killing as most foul and asked the government to ensure the killers were arrested. He must have been cheated and later held hostage by the assailants who dragged him to the forest and butchered him, said Mandi. The killing was condemned by a cross section of leaders who called on the Police Commissioner Hussein Ali to ensure the killers were brought to book. Nyamira branch KUPPET secretary George Nyangongo, Knut branch chairman Kennedy Nyamwanda and the District Commissioner Ali Muktar were among the leaders who condemned the killing. Speaking to the press on phone, North Mugirango MP Wilfred Ombui while condoling the family asked the police to ensure the killers were arrested. - Kenya Times

President Obama has called the contraction of the US economy in the final quarter of 2008 a "continuing disaster" for the US. Speaking at the White House, he also announced a new task force to help middle-class working families. US economic output fell 3.8%, the worst quarterly contraction in more than 26 years, official figures have shown. It is the first time the United States has seen consecutive quarterly declines since 1991. The rate is annualised, which means that if the economy were to shrink at the same rate for a whole year as it did in the final quarter, it would shrink by 3.8%. President Obama said the task force, to be headed by Vice President Joe Biden, would focus on creating well-paid jobs for middle-class working families. He also said he wanted to "level the playing field" for labour unions, saying that strong unions needed to work "side by side" with strong businesses. "I do not view the labour movement as part of the problem. To me, it's part of the solution," he added. The president said he had signed three executive orders to help workers, ensuring - among other things - that federal contractors offer jobs to existing workers when contracts change. Vice President Biden said: "America's middle class is hurting. Trillions of dollars in home equity and retirement savings and college savings are gone. "A strong middle class equals a strong America. We can't have one without the other." The announcement went down well with union leaders. General president of the Teamsters union said: "It is a new day for workers. Hope for the American Dream is being restored." - MORE FOR VIDEO

President Mwai Kibaki accompanied by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Police Commissioner Major Gen Hussein Ali tours the site of the burnt down Nakumatt Downtown shortly before consoling the relatives of the fire victims.

Snow will hit the UK over the weekend during the coldest winter for 13 years, forecasters are predicting. Freezing temperatures are set to take hold on Sunday, bringing heavy snow and bitterly cold winds from Russia on Monday and Tuesday. People will need to wrap up warm and expect disruption on the roads as the cold snap moves in from the east. Rachel Vince, of MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "It's looking like temperatures will fall away during Sunday night and Monday - and next week is looking distinctly colder than this week. "On Sunday we are looking at showers coming from the east and turning increasingly wintry as the day progresses."

Would-be ghost hunters should head to Derby town in UK in pursuit of the paranormal. The city was recently named the most haunted place in Britain, with more reports of ghosts, poltergeists, werewolves and other supernatural phenomena than anywhere else in the UK. And now the city is claiming yet another ghostly sighting. Bosses at the new Royal Derby Hospital are reportedly calling in an exorcist after complaints by staff of a creepy cloaked figure stalking the wards and corridors. The Supernatural Britain Report, conducted by Lionel Fanthorpe, an expert on the paranormal, examined ghostly goings-on in 40 cities across the UK and compiled a list of the ten most spooky places in the country. Mr Fanthorpe found there had been 315 reports of ghosts, poltergeists, werewolves and vampires in Derby since records began - an average of 14 sightings per 10,000 members of its population. In joint second were Chester and York, with a rate of 11 sightings per 10,000, followed by Exeter in fourth place, then St Albans, Edinburgh, Belfast, Oxford, Norwich and Gloucester.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said his party will join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe next month. The deal, proposed by Southern African leaders, would see Mr Tsvangirai sworn in as prime minister on 11 February. A power-sharing deal between his MDC party and Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF was signed last September, but got bogged down in increasingly bitter disputes. The new timetable was proposed by the Southern African Development Community. "We are unequivocal, we will go into this government," Mr Tsvangirai was quoted by French news agency AFP as saying. "The SADC (Southern African Development Community) has decided and we are bound by that decision." The MDC had earlier said that the outcome of the latest SADC summit fell "far short" of its expectations. But the decision to commit itself was the only realistic option short of abandoning plans for a unity government, he says. The wrangling over power-sharing has paralysed Zimbabwe's government for months. Zimbabwe is suffering from rampant inflation, an escalating food crisis and an outbreak of cholera. Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the MDC also agreed on Friday to set up a joint committee to monitor the power-sharing pact. The body is the first structure to be formed as a result of political agreement, according to South African mediator Sydney Mufamadi. The move appeared to be a further sign that the political rivals might be close to implementing their power-sharing agreement, which was signed in September. The committee would deal with any breaches in the power-sharing deal and could also address concerns the MDC may have about the arrest of party members and activists. South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, who chaired an emergency summit this week to get a deal, said the MDC was committed to a timeline agreed by the parties. This would see MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai sworn in as prime minister on February 11.

This would see MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai sworn in as prime minister on February 11.

Nairobi, Saturday 31, January 2009.The number of people who died in the Wednesday fire at a Nairobi supermarket has risen to 16. The operation to retrieve the remains of people that were trapped in the burnt down retail store has so far recovered 16 remains of people. Police spokesman has confirmed to a Nation journalist the number of the dead. The number is likely to go up as the recovery process goes on. Police have placed identification marks on the remains. Dozens are still missing from Wednesday's inferno with Red Cross putting the number at 47. The number includes those confirmed dead. President Kibaki arrived at the scene at 2.25pm and was taken round by Police Commissioner Hussein Ali. He was accompanied by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, Cooperatives minister Joe Nyagah and other government officials. The President made a short address to the crowd gathered. "The government will assist the bereaved families in every way we can." ''We also pray that God will help the families who have lost their loved ones. I also call on Kenyans who can assist to do so." Police at the scene are using sniffer dogs to as they go through the debris. The supermarket, on Nairobi’s Kenyatta Avenue, caught fire on Wednesday at 2.45pm. Firefighters battled the inferno, which was fuelled by explosions believed to be from gas cylinders, for hours. Thick smoke billowed from the buildings and quickly spread to most of Kimathi and Kenyatta Avenue Streets. On Friday, The Red Cross reported that 47 people, who were either staff of the supermarket or shoppers, were missing. The emergency relief organisation has erected a tent where distraught relatives reported missing their kin. It also serves as a counselling centre. Of the 47 missing, five were employees of the retail chain. “We have registered 40 cases of missing people. Their relatives have been to our tent and we are continuing to counsel them,” the secretary general of the Red Cross Abbas Gullet told the Nation Thursday. A team from the Red Cross, First Responder-a private firm- and the police are heading the recovery process.

Police Commissioner Hussein Ali takes President Kibaki and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka round when he visited the scene of the Nakumatt fire on Friday and on the right crime scene investigators go through the debris of the burnt down Nakumatt supermarket on Friday.

London, Thursday 28th January, 2009. Another cold snap is heading for the UK, as forecasters warn of the chilliest winter for 13 years. Icy winds from the continent will be felt in the south and east of the UK in the next few days, followed by a "blast of bitterly cold air" from Russia. Temperatures in some areas are forecast to plunge from between 4C (39F) and 7C (45F) on Saturday, to between -1C (30F) and -3C (27F) on Sunday night. BBC weather experts said snow was likely in some parts early next week. The last widespread cold snap to hit the UK was early this month, although some parts of the country have seen snowfall in more recent weeks, including Scotland and Northern Ireland. As the new year began, cold Arctic air was dragged across the country from the north, lingering for more than a week due to high pressure preventing it from moving away. That cold snap triggered extra cold weather payment for millions of pensioners and vulnerable people. The £25-a-week assistance comes into force when an area's average temperature falls or is forecast to fall to 0C or below for seven consecutive days. Meanwhile people in Iceland - a country currently in desperate economic trouble - have shipped jumpers and blankets to pensioners in England this week, to keep them warm in the winter. A container of woolies arrived in the north-east of England after an appeal on an Icelandic radio station. They were handed to local charities in Hull on Thursday. The campaign started after two Icelanders living in Manchester wrote to the programme, saying they were appalled by the numbers of elderly people dying from cold-related illnesses in England.

This toad from the Nectophrynoides genus is one of 15 amphibian species in Tanzania that have been described for the first time. They were found during research led by UK conservation charity Frontiers and on right this species of Nectophrynoides is still new to science and has not been given a common name yet. Researchers say it is the largest toad to have been found in the genus.

How can the Kenya government try to protect criminals? - if nothing is done, the same violence will come up in 2012 (see below)

Kenya Govt seeks options over trial of post-election suspects

Written By:Claire Wanja/Xinhua   , Posted: Fri, Jan 30, 2009
 

The Kenya  government is seeking options to avoid sending perpetrators of post-election violence to The Hague after it missed deadlines set by the Waki Report to create a Special Tribunal to try the suspects locally. This came after lawmakers shot down a motion seeking to limit the period of publication of the Bill before debate from 14 days to one day late Thursday. Parliament employed a technicality late Thursday to thwart the government's rush to beat Friday's deadline of enacting a Statute for the Special Tribunal for Kenya and its entrenchment in the Constitution. The lawmakers said the radical decision was prompted by the constitutional crisis between Parliament and the Executive following the decision by President Mwai Kibaki to reappoint former Finance Minister Amos Kimunya to the cabinet even though he had been censured by the House. Legislator, Gitobu Imanyara threw a spanner in the works after he stood on a Point of Order to oppose the bid by Justice Minister Martha Karua, who sought to have the Bill establishing the Special Tribunal proceed to the Second Reading, contrary to the Standing Orders. "In order for this House to proceed to the second reading leave of the House is required, to signify this I am supported by members behind me," he said.

 And faced with the risk of having ministers and suspects tried at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the government is now exploring options for extending the deadlines. The Special Statute Tribunal for Kenya Bill, 2009 seeks to establish the tribunal while the Statute Bill and Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2009 is to anchor it in the Constitution. To beat Friday's deadline, the government has no option than to speed the two Bills. The Thursday's development threw the commitment of President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to meet the deadlines of setting up the Special Tribunal for Kenya into disarray. Kibaki and Raila Odinga had committed to the Special Tribunal when they signed an agreement to establish it on Dec. 17 last year. They have since lobbied legislators to pass the Special Tribunal for Kenya Bill 2009 and the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2009 to beat Friday's deadline of enacting the Statute for the tribunal and entrenching it in the Constitution, respectively. Earlier, while delivering a ruling on Kimunya's reappointment, the speaker said the Motion of censure in which a no confidence vote was passed against Kimunya and which demands resignation of the minister, still stands. Karua said that debate on the Bills will resume next week and hoped that former UN chief Kofi Annan who mediated the talks that established the coalition government would not punish the government for a delay. Only Annan can now prevent ministers and lawmakers named in the Waki list from being dragged to The Hague to face charges related to post-election violence.

Obama inauguration party in London on Saturday 30th January, 2009 - CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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32ND INTERNATIONAL GERMAN PROTESTANT KIRCHENTAG 2009

The Kenyans in Diaspora Kirchentag Group wish to inform you about the 32nd International German Protestant Kirchentag Conference which will be held from 20th to 24th May 2009 in Bremen, Germany.

This is a Biannual International Christian Conference for all Protestant Christians World-wide. The Theme for the Conference is: ‘Mortal, where are you?”.....’ (Genesis 3:9).

Christians, Pastors, Evangelists, Church Elders, Youth, Christian Families including Children can attend regardless of their Denominational affiliations. The participants are expected to pay for their return air tickets and personal expenses while accommodation, Visa, conference tickets and local transport might be subsidized. Over 100,000 Christians are expected to attend.

All those, Kenyans in Diaspora, who would be interested, are requested to send their personal details to this e-mail; kenyansindiaspora4kirchentag@ymail.com,  in the following order:

Surname…, Other names…, Date of Birth…, Nationality…, Passport No…, Place of Birth…, Address…, E-mail…, Contacts/Tel/Mble No…, to reach the GPK-UK Co-ordinator/Secretary, by latest, 6th February 2009. For registration purposes, you are required to pay £40.00 on or before 6th February 2009.  

For more information about the 32nd German Protestant Kirchentag in Bremen 2009 you can go to http://www.beluga-group.com/Deutscher-Evangelischer-Kirchentag.808.0.html; www.kirchentag.de, or http://www.kirchentag.org.uk/welcome.html, or  contact 07903042253/07949459376 .

May the Almighty God bless you abundantly.

Yours in His Peace,

Venerable  Kenneth 

GPK - Kenyans in Diaspora Group Co-ordinator

C.C.  

GPK- UK Co-ordinator/Facilitator & Secretary 

GPK - Bishop Moses, Kenya Team Co-ordinator

"Keep your eyes on the Lord, He never takes His eyes off you"

A Group Photograph of some of the Kenyan Christians who attended German Christian Kirchentag 2007 in Cologne,

Germany. The Kirchentag VIP Lounge Manager, Edzard Albers is 7th and Bishop Moses Nthuka, (by then Reverend), and Mrs Nthuka are 9th and 11th, respectively, from left (standing). Bishop Nthuka is the Kenya Team Co-ordinator. MORE

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House rejects Kimunya's indictment report

Written By: Daniel Waitere/Nelly Moraa, Posted: Thu, Jan 29, 2009

Parliament Thursday rejected the departmental committee report on the controversial sale of the grand regency hotel now Laico Regency and in effect exonerated the former Finance minister now Trade Minister Amos Kimunya from any irregularities in his handling of the sale. So heated was the debate on the report that initially temporary speaker Margaret Kamar had to order a division to expunge the committee's recommendations that Amos Kimunya be severely reprimanded and that the executive be advised that Kimunya's conduct was not compatible with that of a minister. But in an intriguing twist of events members ganged to amend the motion winning the division by 63 votes out of 90 votes cats by members. Member's pushing for the adoption of the report however stormed out of the chambers living Kimunya's side with the numbers that unanimously trashed the entire report. The verdict appeared to deal a blow to the confidence motion passed against the former finance minister in July last year. Earlier in the day, speaker Kenneth Marende ruled that Kimunya's reappointed to the cabinet though constitutional, flew in the face of parliament's resounding verdict on Kimunya's conduct and that the house has mechanism to respond to such a challenge. He was issuing a ruling sought by Ikolomani legislator Bonny Khalwale on the constitutional legality of Kimunya's reappointment to the cabinet.

At the same time, the process to establish a special tribunal to try post election suspects failed to kick off on a technicality. Debate to allow the amendment of the constitution to anchor the statute that forms the tribunal was derailed after Imenti Central Member Gitobu Imanyara rose to oppose its commencement. Invoking the standing orders, speaker Kenneth Marende obliged allowing debate on the bill postponed. The bill that had already been fast tracked for debate was then deferred by the speaker to Tuesday next week. This puts a spanner into the works of a formation of a local tribunal whose deadline for its formation expires tomorrow. The government however does have the option of convincing chief mediator Kofi Annan and the international community for an extension to allow for the completion of the legislative process. And the draft bill to establish a special tribunal was also put on hold. Meanwhile, the special tribunal for Kenya bill seeks to enact the statute that will see the formation of a tribunal composed of nine judges, three foreigners and six locals.It provides for the process of hiring the judges, their operations and defines crimes that will be investigated by the tribunal. The government has held two informal meetings with MPs the past two days to gain consensus on the bill where it was amended to allow those mentioned hold office unless indicted. This a departure from Waki's recommendations that called for the resignation of anyone mentioned in the secret envelope handed to chief mediator Annan.

Zimbabweans will be allowed to conduct business in other currencies, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar, in an effort to stem the country's runaway inflation. The announcement was made by acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa. BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says the Zimbabwean dollar has become a laughing stock. A Z$100 trillion note was recently introduced.  Until now only licensed businesses could accept foreign currencies, although it was common practice.  The country is also facing an deepening humanitarian crisis as well.  A cholera outbreak has killed over 3,000 people according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  And the World Food Programme (WFP) has revised up the number of people it says need food aid.

Women beat man after drinking spree in Nairobi
 
Friday 30th January, 2009

Even in these hard times, men must always be just that, men. If you take a woman out for a treat, never demand money from her. City residents were treated to a morning battle of the sexes yesterday when a man, who was alleged to be a Nigerian, was beaten by two twilight girls after an all night drinking spree went sour.  The trio had been drinking the night away at a popular nightclub on Kenyatta Avenue. According to the clubs management, a dispute arose at dawn after the man demanded money from one of the girls.  The argument escalated into blows and when the clubs bouncers intervened, the three opted to settle their differences outside the premises. The man was soon overwhelmed and fell in a pool of stagnant water where he tried to ward off kicks to his body.  "Wacha tumfunze kuishi kikenya, anafikiria hapa ni Nigeria," (lets teach him the Kenyan way of life this is not Nigeria) one woman screamed at those who tried to intervene.  The battered man was eventually rescued by a friend amid yells from the women.

Jason Hawkes has specialised in aerial photography since 1991. These latest images of London at night, including this view looking west down the River Thames, were taken throughout 2008 left and on right looking west across the Square Mile showing 30 St Mary Axe and Tower 42 with Westminster in background. - MORE PHOTOS

Couple 'poisoned' at London restaurant

A man is dead and his fiancee is fighting for her life after a suspected poisoning. Lakhvinder Cheema, 39, was pronounced dead at London's West Middlesex Hospital after falling ill following a meal at a restaurant with his wife-to-be Gurjeeta Kaur. Miss Kaur, 21, is seriously ill and being treated at the same hospital with her family by her bedside. Mr Cheema's former lover, Lakhvir Kaur, is in custody after being arrested by detectives investigating the apparent poisoning. A second person, a 54-year-old man, is also being held in connection with the inquiry in Windsor, Berkshire, Scotland Yard said. Doctors suspect the couple consumed a cyanide-type poison but are divided over the exact substance, it is understood. Further toxicology tests are taking place following a post-mortem examination at Fulham mortuary. Officials from the Health Protection Agency were brought in by police after Mr Cheema died in the early hours of Wednesday. They searched his modern semi-detached house in Princes Road, Feltham, west London, for potentially dangerous substances.

34 PEOPLE MISSING AFTER NAIROBI FIRE

Top from left: Jacquline Atieno (shopper), Violet Adego (staff), Ezekiel Macharia (staff) and Rebecca Mukolwe (shopper). Bottom from left: Peter Serry (shopper), Nicholas Mwema (staff) and Terry Gacheri. Forty people were on Thursday reported missing by their families following the tragic fire at a supermarket in downtown Nairobi, according to rescue services. At Kenyatta National Hospital, an employee died of spinal injuries suffered when he jumped from the first floor of the burning shop. The Kenya Red Cross emergency team received reports of missing persons, including a two-year-old, and counselled distraught relatives at a trauma centre set up outside Nakumatt Downtown at the junction of Kimathi Street and Kenyatta Avenue that was gutted by a 3pm inferno on Wednesday. - Daily Nation.

Hundreds in protest of foreign workers

London, Thursday 29th January, 2009. Hundreds of workers have walked out at two oil refineries as a protest over the use of foreign labour escalated. Police said about 800 people from the Lindsey and Conoco Phillips refineries in North Lincolnshire were involved in the unofficial strike. Staff at Lindsey Oil Refinery walked out on Wednesday when a contractor took on 90 overseas workers. Total, which owns the plant, said there would be no direct redundancies as a result of the contract being awarded. The dispute began on Wednesday when 300 workers walked off a construction site at Lindsey Oil Refinery. The work was won by IREM, an Italian-based contractor, which brought in its own workforce. A Unite union shop steward, who did not wish to be named, said they were angry that foreigners were being employed by the contractor, Jacobs, at a time when British workers were being laid off. He said hundreds of workers at the neighbouring Conoco Phillips refinery had joined them outside the gates of Lindsey Oil Refinery on Thursday. He had also received reports of wildcat action at other sites, including the Dimlington and Easington gas terminals in East Yorkshire.

Lindsey Oil Refinery owner Total said its main refining operations on the 500-acre site remained unaffected by the action. "We recognise the concerns of contractors but it is important to note that there will be no direct redundancies as a result of this contract being awarded," a Total statement said.  "We have been a major local employer for 40 years and have always enjoyed a good relationship with our staff and contractors.  "We are disappointed they have taken this action and we hope the situation will be resolved as soon as possible and the contractors return to work." The site on Eastfield Road is the third largest refinery in the country, processing more than 200,000 barrels a day.  It opened 40 years ago to process oil from North Sea wells.  Nobody was available for comment from Conoco Phillips.  Humberside Police said: "At this moment in time there are approximately 800 peaceful protesters at the site.  "Police resources will be in attendance at the site as well as the surrounding area throughout the day.  "I would reassure our local communities that our main aim is to ensure the safety of both local businesses and public as well as those taking part in the protest in order to minimise disruption and to keep traffic flowing."  This demonstration had already affected local traffic with road closures in place at Eastfield Road.

HARARE TEACHER: "I CAN'T AFFORD TO WORK" 0.71P A DAY

A 40-year-old Zimbabwean primary school teacher in a high-density area of the capital, she is not reporting for duty at the start of the new academic year - which has already been delayed by two weeks. "It's not possible for us to go back to work. A week ago we got paid and the amount we found in our accounts was 30 trillion Zimbabwe dollars for the month. On that day it was equivalent to US$3 (£2.15), but three days later, because of inflation, it was worth only US$1 (71p) - and you can't really do anything with a dollar. My colleagues who travel to work need US$2 a day, as a one-way journey costs the equivalent of US$1. Actually, none of the teachers left at my school have reported to work since 2 September, when we resolved we had to be paid an amount that was reasonable. We are on strike, although it's more that we don't have the capacity to go to work without money for transport and proper food. Sadly, the more than 1,000 children at the school stopped turning up at the beginning of October after they realised the teachers were not coming back. I survive like the rest of the Zimbabweans survive - vending. We sell anything we can lay our hands on. "

A winter storm in America's northeast has left millions of people without electricity and has been blamed for at least 20 deaths. Flights into New York's three airports have been delayed and many businesses have also had to close. The storms have brought freezing rain and more than a foot of snow in Indianapolis. Dallas police have reported almost 700 storm related traffic accidents during the morning rush alone. In Arkansas, freezing rain clung to trees and power lines, knocking out electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes. Kentucky experienced the second largest power outage in state history, affecting some 385,000 customers. President Barack Obama has joked that Washington cannot handle it as well as his old town of Chicago. He said: "My children's school was cancelled today because of what? Some ice? As my children pointed out, in Chicago school is never cancelled. "In fact my seven-year-old pointed out that you go outside for recess in weather like this - you wouldn't even stay indoors. So we're going to have to try and apply some Chicago toughness in this town."

PHILADELPHIA  - Thursday 29th January, 2009. A winter storm that has left more than 600,000 customers without electricity is barreling into the Northeast. The storm is delaying flights and turning the morning rush into the morning slush as communities brace for the worst. On Tuesday, the storm was blamed for at least 19 deaths, and a glaze of ice and snow caused widespread power outages from the southern Plains to the East Coast. Authorities say it could a week before some communities have electricity again.

Rail and air services in France have been disrupted as public and private sector workers stage a one-day strike linked to the economic crisis.  Hundreds of thousands of workers were expected to take part in rallies across the country to demand government action to protect jobs and wages. Many trains were cancelled, and a third of flights out of one Paris airport. But despite public support, the strike appeared to be falling short of the paralysis promised by unions. Regional trains and those in and around Paris were being affected, officials said. Forty per cent of regional services were running, operator SNCF said, and 60% of high-speed TGV services. Three-quarters of Metro trains were running in Paris.

My life with a gangster

Wambui first met  Matheri in 1999  at Wangige township where he was working as a mechanic and she as a house girl.  

By BILLY MUIRURIPosted Friday, January 23 2009 at 16:19

Like her husband’s three accomplices who were gunned down separately on the same day with him, Josephine Wambui was ignored when Kenya’s most wanted gangster Simon Matheri Ikere was gunned down in Athi River, two years ago.

She lost all the limelight to a woman who was cohabiting with Matheri in his Athi River house, where he was killed on the morning of February 20, 2007.

As Matheri’s family marks the second anniversary since the death of their “most unwanted son” (according to his father, Peter Ikere)  Wambui’s life has been turned upside down leaving her looking like a pale shell of her 24 years.

Interviews with relatives and villagers at Gachie and Muchatha villages in Kiambu district reveal that Wambui was the woman recognized by Matheri’s family as they had never met the other woman, Felister Wanjiru who was the woman Matheri was with in Athi River on the night he was gunned down.

She told police that she had been living with the slain gangster for one year and that she was actually expecting his child.

This week, Matheri’s father and mother, Martha Wanjiru told Saturday Magazine at their Gachie home, “We know Wambui as our daughter- in- law. We have lived and suffered with her in this compound as villagers and police bayed for Matheri’s blood.”

“The other woman (Felister) came here after the burial and asked to see her co-wife but Wambui was not here at that time. We were not amused as a family and we ignored her,” Matheri’s mother added.

2nd wife of Lakwena Njeri Matheri who was in the limelight who was cohabiting with Matheri in his Athi River house - she was also jailed - she got saved in jail after being caught with a debe of bullets, 2-AK-42 rifles and two pistols - Photo by Mr. Seed in December, 2008

But today, we piece together the intrigues that surrounded Matheri’s love for a standard eight drop out, his three children and the mystery of the second woman, who the family believed was the one who enjoyed Matheri’s last dirty money.

We also unravel the pain, the trauma and the fate that befell the young wife, who says she was trapped in an intricate web of a gangster’s love, her tribulations after his demise and her future aspirations as a young mother.

Wambui first met  Matheri in 1999  at Wangige township where he was working as a mechanic and she as a house girl. He was then 30 and Wambui only 15 and had just finished primary school and, young and innocent as she was, they fell for each other.

Within one year, they were married and had a daughter. She recollects her first moments with a man who would later top the police’s list of wanted criminals.

“He was polite. He confessed that he had fallen in love with me. I would sneak from my employer’s house and he would buy me gifts, just the small things that would impress a young girl.”

Wambui says she accepted Matheri’s proposal for marriage, more so, after she conceived. But Matheri disowned her even before the baby was born. She says, “Like many young men do, he withdrew his promise to marry me. I named our daughter after my mother.”

But Wambui says Matheri was fond of the child and the two reconnected after two years when he apologised and  took her in as wife. “I gave him the benefit of doubt especially after he took me to his parent’ home in Gachie,” she recounts.

Wambui was given a house in the village which would later be torched by irate villagers who accused Matheri of being a criminal. In 2002 Wambui conceived again and gave birth to twins.

“He became more loving. He provided for the family well like any responsible husband would,” says Wambui, whose assertion that Matheri wasn’t yet a criminal at that time, is supported by his cousin, Sarah Wairimu.

But for Wambui, things started to change in 2005 when Matheri abandoned his mechanic job and started working in construction sites. He could not explain why he had left a stable job at his cousin’s garage to work on a construction site.

“It didn’t make sense to me but I kept quiet when he asked why I was complaining yet he was providing for me and the children,” she says and adds that this is the time he started coming home late at night.

According Wambui and other close relatives, who asked not to be named, Matheri’s criminal escapades started in Kihara, Kikuyu, Kinoo,  Gachie, and surrounding villages in 2005 and  attained the magnitude of a runaway hit man in just one year.

It is in 2006, that Wambui and her children started being subjected to humiliating police searches. They soon became outcasts among the local villagers. “One day, we were ordered out of our house by angry villagers and it was razed to ashes,” she says of the beginning of the end for her husband.

Soon after the incident, Matheri relocated her and the children to Kimende, along the Nairobi-Naivasha highway. Thereafter, Wambui says she never had peace. “I felt so insecure that I would remain awake at night especially when he was away.”

She admits that she came to know about Matheri’s risky lifestyle in 2006 and when the police intensified their hunt for him in early 2007, she knew his days were numbered.

On February 12, 2007, the police commissioner declared Matheri Public Enemy Number One in a media statement. His pictures were posted on the police website and splashed on TV and as Wambui says, this was the most trying moment in her life.

“It suddenly became very scary to have him around. I came to learn that he had killed several villagers and I suddenly feared that he could also shoot me,” she says.

By this time he would occasionally bring home an AK 47 rifle. Wambui reveals that she asked him to surrender to the police but he was adamant. “He always said that it was better to live for one week with money than spend 10 years in poverty,” Wambui remembers.

So when Matheri was felled, it was a painful relief, not only for Wambui, but also for the rest of his family members. “Everyone felt unsafe with him around. It had reached a point where I was torn between whether I wanted to have my husband alive or out of our lives. For the sake of the children, I felt we would be better off without him,” she says.

After the death of her husband, Wambui went back to Matheri’s home in Gachie but she would never have peace.  Locals were suspicious of her and the in-laws had their eyes on the “household things” Matheri left behind.

During her earlier stay at the homestead, she had witnessed eight family houses burnt down and the thought of the same people coming for her never left her mind.

She says, “You see, people thought I had been left with a lot of money. This perception only eased up when people learnt of Matheri’s other woman in Athi River. They believed she is the one who inherited Matheri’s fortune.”

While Matheri’s parents recognised her as their daughter-in-law, and actually built her a house, she was astonished when one morning in December 2007, her brothers-in law stormed her house and ordered her out. Apparently they were after Matheri’s property.

“They took all the furniture, cutlery and everything in the house and shared these among them,” she says. Not even the wails of her terrified children who clung to her lesso could move them. They also took the children away from her.

“I was left with an empty house. I had to move out.” She went to her aunt’s home near Kiambu but was shocked when she, too, turned her away saying she did not have space.

The eldest in her own family, Wambui says she does not know where her widowed mother and siblings are. “ I contemplated suicide, especially after my twins were taken away by one of my sisters-in-law. They said I was not able to take care of them,” she narrates.

After several days in the cold, her church in Ndenderu came to her rescue and rented for her a single room a few kilometres from Gachie, from where we traced her last week. Two months ago, her eldest child, who wasn’t attending school, was taken in by Heritage of Faith and Hope Children Rehabilitation Centre and sponsored.

Today, Wanjiru cannot afford the Sh800 monthly rent after the church withdrew payment. “They said I should look for my rent since they were taking care of my child. I have not made it in the last three months.”

When the Saturday Magazine team visited her, she told us she had not eating the previous night. A single bed occupied almost half of the room and a  worn out blanket was testimony that the area’s cold breeze must be feasting on her at night.

Across the room, a jiko gave the impression that her kitchen isn’t a busy one. The few utensils scattered around are clean but each has its own colour. She explains, “These are donations from some locals..”

As each day passes, Wambui’s typical day entails moving from one homestead to another hoping  to wash people’s clothes at a fee or a visit zero grazing farmers to look for animal feed.

All I want is to have my children back. It pains me when someone takes away my children simply because I cannot give them two meals in a day,” she says.

“I’m only 24 and I believe that at my age, I  can overcome all these hurdles and educate my children if only I can get support from good Samaritans.”  - Daily Nation.

The US House of Representatives has passed President Barack Obama's $825bn (£576bn) economic stimulus package. Passed by 244 votes to 188, no Republicans backed the plan, saying it was too expensive and would not work. It must now be approved by the Senate, where it could face stiff opposition as the Democrats have a slimmer majority. After the vote, Mr Obama urged members of Congress not to "drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way". The president has said his package, which he hopes to sign into law next month, would help create a favourable climate for American business to thrive. The bill would cut taxes for people and businesses by $275bn, while pumping more than $540bn into a range of initiatives including road and bridge repair, increased unemployment benefits, investment in new technology and renovations to 10,000 schools. Mr Obama has pledged to try to end partisan division in Washington, but the debate on how best to kick start the US economy has devolved into a bitter squabble along party lines, says the BBC's Richard Lister in Washington. In a heated debate, a succession of Republicans in Congress have condemned the stimulus package as a wasteful government spending exercise that will do little to create jobs. They promoted their own bill, focussing more on tax cuts, which they said would create more jobs for half the investment. But this was a battle they could not win in Congress, where Democrats have a large majority. It is slimmer in the Senate where Republicans could slow the bill's progress, but Democrats are confident they can get the measure through there, and they have set a target for mid-February to have the bill on Mr Obama's desk to be signed into law. Failing to attract significant Republican support for the bill, our correspondent says, is a blow to Mr Obama's hopes of forging a new consensus in Washington, at this time of economic crisis.

LEFT: It just gets worse and worse, says the Independent, as the IMF predicts the UK will be hit hardest by the global downturn. CENTRE: The Telegraph also leads on the IMF announcement, warning UK economy may shrink up to 2.8%. RIGHT: More gloom dons the front of the Metro, which emphasises 'recession will hit UK hardest'.

Nairobi, Thursday 29th January, 2009. Four members of Nakumatt Downtown staff were still missing after a head count was done at the Jevanjee Gardens at around 5.30pm on Wednesday. There was an announcement at the scene of the fire that all staff should meet at the gardens. However, there are staff from Books First, EasyCoach and FoneXpress who have been leased space inside to conduct their businesses. A senior manager had a list of the staff on duty and read out the names as they confirmed that they were safe. One worker was admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital after he jumped from the roof. At Jevanjee, staff were in shock and busy trying to reach each other by phone. Other members could not hold back their tears. A kitchen attendant said: “The kitchen is on the third floor and I was busy working when I heard a loud sound.  “I thought it was a tyre burst, but later there was smoke all over. I ran down the stairs and found some stranded customers and fellow employees and tried to help them out.” He said there was too much smoke and he had to run to save his life. Employees could not hide their joy at seeing their friends safe and alive and hugged each other. During the first headcount seven people were missing but the number later reduced to four. When three of the names were called out, their colleagues confirmed that they had been seen outside the store. However, the other four were nowhere to be seen and could not be reached by phone. The store is said to have 160 employees. A senior manager later asked them to proceed to the nearby Nakumatt Lifestyle store while five were chosen to monitor the burning store. Narrating his experience, a supervisor said: “I had just come from lunch and heard a thundering sound from the first floor. I saw smoke coming down and I immediately asked the customers to leave the building.” He distributed fire extinguishers, but they could not do much to help as there was smoke all over. Ms Bilian Wanja said she was working on the first floor when she touched one of the fridges and realised it was “unusually warm”. “I approached a duty supervisor and expressed my feelings before taking a short break to have lunch. “Barely 10 minutes later, I heard a loud bang followed by screams from employees and customers,” a distraught Ms Wanja recalled. - Daily Nation.

Smoke engulfed Nairobi's city centre on Wednesday after after a fire engulfed Nakumatt Downtown supermarket and on right Fire destroyed Nakumatt supermarket located on Nairobi's Kenyatta Avenue on Wednesday

London, Thursday 29th January, 2009. Coffeeshop giant Starbucks has announced it will cut around 6,700 jobs and shut 300 stores as it reported a 69% plunge in quarterly profit. Starbucks has struggled as hard-up consumers are forgoing expensive lattes and frappucinos as the recession bites. It said it made a net profit of of $64.3m in the 13 weeks to December 28, down from $208.1m a year ago. Two-thirds of the store closures will be in the US and they come on top of the 661 closures announced in 2008. Starbucks is the latest multinational company to announce massive layoffs. Earlier on Wednesday, Boeing said it would cut 10,000 jobs. In a letter to employees, chairman and chief executive Howard Schultz said that the company was working hard to "navigate the deteriorating global economy". "These decisions have been made to ensure the company is leaner and prepared to endure a worsening economic climate," he told staff. "The financial crisis is affecting almost almost every company in the world." Starbucks' revenue fell 6% to $2.6bn driven by 9% fall in sales in established coffee shops. But Starbucks' problems are not just down to the economic downturn. Mr Schultz has admitted that the firm over expanded, devaluing its upmarket image. Starbucks has further been hit by the likes of McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts greatly improving the quality of their own coffee, which is generally also cheaper.

The Ugandan Government has announced its intention to close 32 radio and television stations countrywide, within a fortnight, for allegedly offending minimum broadcasting standards and defaulting on the mandatory annual licence renewal fee. Uganda Broadcasting Council, the statutory body regulating the broadcasting industry, placed a media advert yesterday in The New Vision newspaper, giving proprietors of the affected stations up to February 9 to “show cause as to why their respective permission to broadcast should not be withdrawn by the Council”. “The Council will, after the lapse of the 14 days, take action including, but not limited to, the revocation of the broadcast licences,” said the notice signed by Mr Kagole Kivumbi, the Council secretary.

Kenya has missed KShs. 1 billion grant because of corruption

Corruption has caused Kenya to lose out on a Sh1 billion development grant disbursed by the US government. Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula gave the grim news on Wednesday and explained that the country had failed to meet the 53 point threshold set for countries by the US Government to qualify for the Millennium Challenge Account grant. “We currently have only amassed 48 points, which is way below the requirement by the US administration to qualify for the allocations. This is basically due to corruption,” said the minister while issuing a ministerial statement on his recent trip to the US and Cuba. He added: “Neighbouring countries like Tanzania are benefiting from the money because their anti corruption record is impressive. Why can’t we follow their example.” The grand coalition government has been rocked by at least four major corruption scandals during its one year in office, with the latest being the oil and maize scandals. This is despite President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s assurances to Kenyans that corruption would be a thing of the past. Financiers risk losing up to Sh7.6 billion in the oil scandal following irregular transactions between the Kenya Pipeline Company and Triton Ltd. At the Kenya Tourism Board, Sh43 million was irregularly paid to two firms. There’s also the controversial secret sale of the Grand Regency Hotel (now Laico Regency), to the Libyan Arab Investment Company, which saw the then Finance minister Amos Kimunya censured in Parliament. He resigned to pave way for investigations.- Daily Nation.

Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetangula.

World economic growth is set to fall to just 0.5% this year, its lowest rate since World War II, warns the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In October, the IMF had predicted world output would increase by 2.2% in 2009. It now projects the UK, which recently entered recession, will see its economy shrink by 2.8% next year, the worst contraction among advanced nations. The IMF says financial markets remain under stress and the global economy has taken a "sharp turn for the worse". In another gloomy view of the UK economy, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Britain would be saddled with government debt for more than 20 years. IFS director Robert Chote warned that spending would have to be cut or taxes raised by more than planned to allow public finances to recover. The predictions came as Pascal Lamy, the director general of the World Trade Organization, urged countries not to react to the global economic crisis by resorting to protectionism. Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Lamy said such a move would be "a big mistake".

The UK government has won a vote over plans for Heathrow's third runway - but saw its majority cut to just 19. After the vote Labour MP Virendra Sharma quit an unpaid government post to fight the plans. Ealing MP Andrew Slaughter also quit his post earlier. The Tory-led motion urging ministers to "rethink" plans was beaten by 19 votes - Labour has a working majority of 63. The Lib Dems supported the move but the ministers argue scrapping the plans would seriously damage the economy. More than 50 Labour MPs had previously expressed concerns about the plans in other Commons motions but only 28 of them voted for the Conservative motion on Wednesday. Some are thought to have been won over by restrictions the government has promised on air quality and noise pollution, new carbon emission targets and a pledge to initially cap flights on the new runway. But others like Labour MP, Alan Keen, whose Feltham and Heston constituency neighbours Heathrow, said that despite opposing expansion he would vote against the motion because it was "party political".

A Kenyan lady passed away in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK on Tuesday 27th January, 2009. The late Helina Mugo (Helen) was living with Mr. Maina Gatangi & Mrs Lucy Maina of Milton Keynes. She has no relatives in UK. Daughter to Joseph Mugo and Joyce Mugo, sister to Muchira Mugo and others all of Kerugoya-Kenya. Mother to Catherine Nyaguthia Nairobi, Rose Njeri Nairobi and Shiru Mugo Mwea. Helen was Grandmother to Lucy Nyakio and Kiragu. Prayers are being held daily at 130 Pettingrew Close, Walnut Tree. Milton Keynes, MK7 7LW commencing from 6pm.  Memorial service on Sunday 01/02/2009 at Church of Christ Kents Hill. Milton Keynes. The body will be taken to Kenya for burial. A fundraising will be held on Saturday January 31st 2009 in Milton Keynes at 4.00pm-6pm. Further details will be forthcoming.   The family needs your thoughts, prayers; and financial contributions to overcome the heavy financial expenses. Contributions to: Bank Name: Barclays Bank, Acc. Name:   Mrs. L.J. Maina, Account No: 20957216, Sort Code: 20-80-14 or Send a Cheque to L.J. Maina 130 Pettingrew Close, Walnut Tree. Milton Keynes, MK7 7LW. For more information please contact: Mr. Maina Gatangi: Tel: 07896668543, Mrs. Lucy Maina: Tel: 07878439309 Or 01908 691875, Mr. Joseph Wamithi: Tel: 07940461266 or Mrs. Mercy Chege: Tel: 07828333361.

The late Helina Mugo (Helen) who passed away in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK on Tuesday 27th January, 2009

Kenya government withdraws arrest warrant against Triton boss Devani, behind KShs. 7.6 billion oil scandal and charges facing him

Kenya has now become the world's number one in exporting presidents - SEE THE VIDEO

A 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy have been charged with the murder of a father-of-five who was allegedly attacked when he refused to hand over a bottle of wine. Michael Eccles, 43, died in hospital on Monday after the incident which occurred just yards from his home in Lichfield, Staffordshire, on Sunday as he made his way home from shops in the Dimbles area of the city. The bottle of wine was found smashed on the street nearby. The pair are to appear at Tamworth Magistrates' Court later over Mr Eccles' death, police said. A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said both the charged man and the youth were from Mr Eccles' home town of Lichfield. A post-mortem examination established that Mr Eccles died of "multiple injuries consistent with a serious assault", the spokesman said.

NEW POLICE BOSS IN UK

Sir Paul Stephenson has been named as the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner. The 55-year-old's new post has been confirmed by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. On Monday, Ms Smith and London Mayor Boris Johnson agreed on Sir Paul following a final interview. Their decision was approved by the Prime Minister before the Queen confirmed the appointment. The news will have come as a bitter disappointment to his rival Sir Hugh Orde, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The cross-party interview panel agreed on Sir Paul to serve London and Britain for the next five years in the £254,000 post.

Mombasa hit by maize flour shortage

Written By:Jane Kariuki   , Posted: Tue, Jan 27, 2009
 

Farmers in the North Rift region are holding on to their maize stocks in anticipation of better prices as most supermarkets in Mombasa run out of maize flour stocks. A spot check by KBC in Mombasa reveals that for the last one week most shops have not received any supplies from the millers. It is claimed that some millers are hoarding their stocks in anticipation of a price increase. Where it is available a 2kg packet of maize flour is being sold at 112 shillings and limited to two packets per shopper at a time This is despite the government's efforts to subsidize maize flour where a 2kg packet is supposed to cost 72 shillings in urban areas and 52 shillings in rural areas. And in the North Rift farmers are holding on to their stocks with the hope that the government through the National Cereals and Produce Board will review their prices upwards from the current 1,950 shillings. They say the price being offered by the government is too low compared to the price paid for importing a 90 kilogram bag of maize. The farmers said their deliveries are currently limited to wheat. However they said they are frustrated by the long queues they have to undergo before the wheat is received. The farmers also welcomed the sacking of the top management of the NCPB saying it was long overdue. Agriculture minister William Ruto sent top managers at NCPB packing following scandals that have hit the maize buying body. Ruto dissolved the board even as police grilled three permanent secretaries and other senior government officials over the scandals. More than 100 000 bags of maize cannot be accounted for fuelling suspicions that the grain may have been pilfered from the NCPB stores and sold. NCPB is also suspected of having allocated maize to briefcase millers who do not have the capacity to mill the amount indicated in their applications for allocations.

Cows with names like Daisy, Gertrude or Buttercup produce more milk than their sisters with no names, according to a study released Wednesday. Cattle who are given "the personal touch" can produce up to 500 pints of milk a year, said experts at Newcastle University. "Just as people respond better to the personal touch, cows also feel happier and more relaxed if they are given a bit more one-to-one attention," said Catherine Douglas, who conducted the research. "By placing more importance on the individual, such as calling a cow by her name or interacting with the animal more as it grows up, we not only improve the animal's welfare and her perception of humans, but also increase milk production," she added. Almost half of those surveyed -- 46 percent -- said the cows on their farms had individual names. Dairy farmer Dennis Gibb from the Eachwick Red House Farm outside Newcastle said it was "vitally important" to treat cows individually. "They aren't just our livelihood -- they're part of the family. "We love our cows here at Eachwick and every one of them has a name. Collectively we refer to them as 'our ladies' but we know every one of them and each one has her own personality." The study was compiled by Newcastle University's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, based on interviews with 516 dairy farmers, and published in the online journal Anthrozoos.

Cows with names like Daisy, Gertrude or Buttercup produce more milk than their sisters with no names

KNUT meets House Team as strike enters second week

Written By:Jane Nyambune  , Nairobi, Kenya Posted: Wed, Jan 28, 2009

The Kenya National Union of Teachers - KNUT- is currently meeting the parliamentary Committe on Education to discuss the standoff between the striking teachers and the government. KNUT Secretary General Lawrence majali said the union would present their case to the committee to see if they could help end the stalemate that led to the strike. "We will just explain our position and why we have decided to stick by it to see if they can help come to a solution. We have to give them the history of the discussions we have had with the Government and then say what we have agreed on," said Mr Majali. The meeting came as the teachers' strike entered its eighth day with the instructors defying a court order issued by the industrial court last week rendering their strike illegal.  The strike is also in defiance of a decision by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to withdraw salries for primary school teachers pending verification and the eviction of those living within the staff quarters.  Majali said the union was monitoring the situation countrywide to see where its members would be thrown out of the houses.  The union maintained that TSC cannot evict the teachers from staff houses since they are owned by the school management committees and the boards of governors.  Meanwhile, teachers in Nairobi and Kiambu Wednesday sought divine intervention over their salary dispute.  Parents in parts of the country also sought alternative ways to compensate for the time their children have lost in the wake of the teachers' strike.  In Meru, parents have resorted to private tuition for their children.  A spot check by Kenya News Agency-KNA- revealed that hundreds of parents in the area were now pooling resources together to hire teachers majority of who are on strike to offer private tuition to their children.  Elsewhere in Kajiado, the District Edication Officer Kariuki Manyuira has instructed all bording primary schools in the district to keep pupils in school inspite of the ongoing strike.  Manyuira told KNA that the authority to allow parents to take their children home can only be obtained from the Ministry of Education and no one else.

Bishop J.B. Masinde arrived in London on Tuesday morning 27th January, 2009 for a five-day crusade in Slough, Berks, UK. Several preachers will be preaching at the crusade including Evangelist Theresa Wairimu of Faith Evangelistic Ministry, UK and Kenya who is arriving on Thursday morning.  The crusade which has been hosted by Pastor Peter and Pauline Kamau of Emmanuel Celebration Centres, Slough will run from Wednesday 28th January with one session for Wednesday and Thursday but two sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Ladies meeting with Evangelist Theresa Wairimu on Saturday morning as from 11.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. and Men's meeting with Bishop J.B. Masinde running at the same time in a different room. Evangelist Wairimu will be having his crusade in London the following weekend as from 5th to 8th February at Emmanuel Centre, in London where Pastor Henry Hinn brother of Pastor Benn Hinn will be one of the guest speakers. You can contact Bishop J.B. Masinde in UK on 07888741613 or peterkamau@hotmail.co.uk - MORE FOR ECC and MORE FOR FEM

Bishop J.B. Masinde (left) and Evangelist Theresa Wairimu (centre) are having a crusade in Slough and London this weekend and the host will be Pastor Peter and Pauline Kamau (right)

Universities and colleges warned to sign up now to the

new points system if they want to teach international students

UK Border Agency, 27 January 2009

The deadline is fast approaching for universities, colleges and schools who want to sponsor international students when the student tier of Britain's tough new points system goes live, the UK Border Agency warned today. The points-based system was created to manage the number of people coming here to work and study in the best interests of the United Kingdom. The introduction of the student tier, Tier 4 will complete the rollout of the points-based system. If education institutions want to bring in international students when Tier 4 starts at the end of March they must apply by 2 February. So far more than 800 universities, colleges and schools have signed up. Institutions who do not apply before the deadline will not be able to sponsor students from the go-live date in March. Under the new rules schools, colleges and universities must pledge to take responsibility for any students they bring here from outside Europe and have a licence to do so.

The new system will be rolled out over the next 12 months. This strict new approach will weed out bogus colleges who abuse the system and ensure that international students wanting to take advantage of Britain's world-class universities, colleges and schools play by the rules, preventing bogus students from failing to show up or overstaying. International students who want to come here under Tier 4 will have to be sponsored by a UK Border Agency-licensed education institution, prove that they have the means to support themselves and their families and supply their fingerprints. The tough new student route means Britain can continue to recruit good students from outside Europe while cracking down on those who seek to abuse the system. Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: "Everyone who comes here must play by the rules and that includes foreign students wanting to take advantage of our world-class universities and colleges. The new student tier of the points system will ensure we will know exactly who is coming here to study and crack down on bogus colleges. That is why I am delighted that more than 800 colleges and universities have registered so far. I now urge other educational institutions to sign up so they are ready when the system goes live at the end of March." The Agency has worked closely with the education sector to ensure legitimate schools, colleges and universities do not fall foul of the new regime and are ready for the introduction of the new rules. The new points system is just one part of the biggest shake up to immigration and border security in a generation, along with fingerprint visas for anyone wanting to come to the United Kingdom and compulsory ID cards for foreign nationals.

Nangole: I haven’t eaten in days...

By Standard Team

The frail woman can neither sit nor stand, apparently drained of all energy due hunger. Ms Ethuuko Nangole, whom our team met on the Lodwar-Kalokol highway, with all the energy she can muster repeatedly whispers: "I haven’t eaten for the past three days". Emaciated and sand-bathed, she is supported by some two women near the Katotum manyatta in Turkana North Constituency. Breathing faintly, she adds, "I took some porridge three days ago," revealing the sheer magnitude of her situation to the world. Hers is only one of the many shocking pictures of hunger-stricken Kenyans in various regions that speak volumes of the current food crisis. A Standard survey of various regions recorded first-hand accounts of the scary face of the famine. Later our team meets another woman, Ms Annah Nachok, a mother of 10 who is struggling to keep her family alive in Turkana South. "Death is staring us and our children in the face, the famine is very severe, we have had no rain for long time," she says. She is boiling water at her manyatta to serve to Adung Piarae 80, Akut Koriban, 70 and Alice Eruwan, 50.

It is 6.30pm and three-year-old Loboche Ewalan sitting by her side won’t stop crying because of hunger. We witness the family sharing about three litres of boiled water, perhaps to cheat hunger until the following day when a World Vision field officer is expected to deliver food. Starting today and for the next one week, The Standard brings you a special report on the food crisis and how Kenyans are struggling to stave off the famine. Some have gone for days without a meal as they desperately wait for relief food that has not been forthcoming. Hunger-stricken residents of North Rift, Coast and parts of Eastern Province have been reduced to eating wild berries and roots. Reports by the Kenya Red Cross which have not been independently verified, indicate three people have died of famine-related causes. About 84 per cent of the 232,000 residents in the district are starving according to data released by the Ministry of Planning. In Samburu East District, mothers have resorted to giving children wild berries dipped in cooked goat blood. In the Coast, in parts of Taita, Taveta, Kaloleni, Ganze, Kilifi and Malindi districts, many residents have resorted to wild roots and fruits. The scenario is the same in parts of Makueni, Kajiado and Narok.  Other badly hit areas are in Tana River, North Eastern, Eastern and Central provinces. Hunger pangs have forced many parents in Mandera West to send their children to school Enrolment in primary schools in North-Eastern Province has risen. Parents, who during rainy seasons send children to herd animals, now have a different reason for renewed interest in education. Ironically, the fact that teachers are on strike has not deterred pupils from going to school. Children are joining schools to benefit from the World Food Programme school-feeding programme. —By Adow Jubat

Kenya Cabinet ministers and government officials accused of crimes against humanity by the Waki commission will stay in office, after all. They will only be required to step aside after investigations have confirmed that they have a case to answer, according to a deal struck by Members of Parliament on Tuesday. Under normal circumstances, those suspected of wrongdoing are required to leave office so as not to interfere with investigations. The Waki envelope contains names of six ministers and five MPs, among others. The MPs agreed to a clause in the draft Bill, which imposes strict secrecy on the names of suspects during the investigative period. The Bill states in Article 26 (6): “The names of persons under investigations shall not be made public or otherwise disclosed to persons other than those directly involved in the investigations before the indictment has been made.” The meeting, dubbed the Speaker’s Kamukunji, was called to arrive at a consensus before the Bill establishing the Special Tribunal for Kenya is taken to the House.

Kenyans in Bedford joined the rest of the world in celebrating President Barack Obama’s victory at Harpur Suite in Bedford on Saturday 24th January 2009. The colourful celebration was attended by local councillors and the Chairman of Bedford Race Equality Council who gave the key note speech on what Obama’s victory meant to the Black people and the world. Mr Sam Ochieng, Director of Sacoma in London, was the Master of Ceremonies. The Kenyan Community Bedford used the occasion to market Kenya with Sandra Hullette a tutor at Westbourne College winning a holiday to Kenya. Sandra scored the highest marks in an environmental quiz. She was delighted to win the two return air tickets and two nights at the Mara Sarova Lodge situated in the world famous Maasai mara courtesy of Kenya Airways and Sarova group of hotels who supported the inauguration dinner dance. - MORE

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has suspended one of his aides over the maize scandal and promised to sack any ODM minister implicated in corruption. Mr Odinga also disclosed that several trucks of maize were smuggled to Southern Sudan despite an export ban on the commodity. The Government, he added, was investigating two individuals involved in the smuggling of maize to Sudan with a view of prosecuting them. They are said to have colluded with some government officials. The PM told the Nation that he had asked that his aide be investigated after he received word that he could have been involved. “There is one officer whom I asked he be suspended and investigated,” he said.  And Mr Odinga put all members allied to his party on notice – anyone involved in any scandal will face the law. “Any minister or assistant minister found to be involved in this digression will definitely lose his position in the government and the law will take its course.” The PM said although action had been taken on officers in government over scandals, investigations were going on and anyone involved would be dealt with. “The political leadership will also take responsibility if they are implicated in the ongoing investigations,” he added. The PM spoke a day after top managers of the National Cereals and Produce Board were sacked over the maize scandal. Mr Odinga dismissed claims that he had wavered on his pledge to fight corruption, saying he had initiated sackings and suspensions in several parastatals. - Daily Nation.

Motorists drive through a pool of water after it rained in Nairobi on Tuesday morning. Lack of proper drainage systems on Kenyan roads have contributed to dilapidation of roads on left and on right motorists drive through a pool of water along Nairobi's State House road after it rained on Tuesday morning. Lack of proper drainage systems on Kenyan roads have contributed to dilapidation of roads. Photo/JOSEPH KANYI 

Zeituni Onyango, U.S. President Barack Obama's Kenyan aunt has been allowed to stay in the United States for now, pending a legal hearing on her immigration status in April, her lawyer said on Monday 26th January, 2009. "While she is in proceedings she can stay in the country," Margaret Wong, the attorney for Onyango, was quoted as saying in U.S. TV news reports. Just days before the November election last year, it was reported that Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father, was living in Boston, Mass., despite a deportation order issued four years earlier when her asylum request was denied.  Wong said a motion to reopen Onyango's case was granted on Dec.17, 2008, and on Dec. 30, 2008, a stay was placed on the order to remove her. She is scheduled to have a new hearing before a Boston immigration court on April 1. Wong said her client had not received any special treatment in the immigration system. But being the president's aunt, Onyango had tickets to attend her nephew's swearing in last week, and attended at least one inaugural ball in Washington. 

"Hi, you are from Kenya, I have never been to Kenya although you are our neighbours. I hear Kenyan politicians are very corrupt. I hope they are going to change this time because of Obama." - Ethiopian Taxi Driver in Washington DC

Liberia's president has declared a state of emergency in response to a plague of crop-destroying army worms. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said all possible resources would be used to fight the insects, that have spread to next-door Guinea and are nearing Sierra Leone. Liberia has already appealed for international help to carry out aerial spraying against the insects. The "worms" - which are actually caterpillars - are among the world's most destructive agricultural pests. A delegation from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is in Liberia taking samples of the caterpillars to determine the best ways of controlling them. Guinea has started spraying, and Sierra Leone has announced it will mobilise chemicals and personnel to its border. Creeks and rivers - which some villages rely on for drinking water - are being polluted by the massive amount of faeces being produced by the swarm.

A freight train hauling tankers of petrol has derailed and caught fire in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is understood the train hit a pylon while crossing a bridge, which has now collapsed. Power lines have come down and the nearby A735 has been closed. At least six wagons came off the rails but no-one is reported to have been injured. - CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FIRE

Octuplets Born in California Are Second Set in U.S. History

Woman gives birth to eight babies in five minutes. Proud and surprised: doctor Karen Maples today with colleagues Mandhir Gupta and Harold Henry at the hospital near Los Angeles where they had been expecting just seven babies

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- A woman gave birth to six boys and two girls at a hospital in California, only the second birth of octuplets in the U.S., doctors said. The babies, who weighed from 1 pound 8 ounces (680 grams) to 3 pounds 4 ounces, were delivered by cesarean section early yesterday, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower, California, said in a statement on its Web Site. They were born nine weeks prematurely to a woman whose name hasn’t been released by the hospital. Medical staff, who thought there were seven babies, were surprised to find an eighth baby who hadn’t appeared on ultrasound scans, they said at a televised news conference. “It’s incredibly easy to miss one baby when you are anticipating seven babies,” Dr. Harold Henry, who helped lead the team, told reporters. “Ultrasound doesn’t show you everything.” Henry said the birth, which involved a team of 46 people, had gone “flawlessly.” The team had carried out a series of “dry runs” in preparation for the delivery, with the last one just minutes before the multiple birth. Each of the babies cried spontaneously after birth, a good sign, the doctors said. The first 72 hours are the most critical for the newborns, who were doing well, the hospital said. Two were on ventilators, a third on oxygen and the rest were breathing on their own, the Associated Press reported. The hospital didn’t say whether the octuplets’ mother had used fertility drugs. She plans to breastfeed all the babies, AP cited doctors as saying.  “She’s a very strong woman, so she probably will be able to handle all eight babies,” Dr. Mandhir Gupta, a neonatologist involved in the birth, told the AP. Preliminary research shows it is only the second time octuplets have been born in the U.S., the hospital said. The first U.S. set was born in Houston in 1998. One died after a week and the other seven have just celebrated their 10th birthday, the AP said.

Previous record of Octuplets was in USA in October, 1998 born to Nigerian natives Nkem Chukwu and Iyke Louis Udobi. Chukwu (27) in Houston. Their new names were chosen in the Ibo tribal tradition, a major ethnic group in Nigeria. The children all share the surname Louis. Their given names are listed, followed by the English translation and the child' s nickname.

 
 Previous record holder Nkem Chukwu and her mother left and on right with her children

• Baby girl A: Chukwuebuka Nkemjika ('God is Great"); nickname - Ebuka
• Baby girl B: Chidinma Anulika ("God is Beautiful"); Chidi
• Baby girl C: Chinecherem Nwabugwu ("God Thinks of Me"); Echerem
• Baby girl D: Chimaijem Otito ("God Knows My Way"); Chima
• Baby girl E: Chijindu Chidera ("God Has My Life"); Odera
• Baby boy F: Chukwubuikem Maduabuchi ("God is My Strength"); Ikem
• Baby boy G: Chijoke Chinedum ("God is My Leader"); Jioke
• Baby girl H: Chinagorom Chidiebere ("God is Merciful"); Gorom

MULTIPLE BIRTHS

US first live-born octuplets delivered in Texas, 1998; seven survive

Octuplets born in Italy, 2000; two die shortly after delivery

Octuplets born in Mexico City, 1967, but all died within 14 hours, according to Encyclopedia Britannica

World's first surviving set of septuplets born in Iowa, US, 1997

First all-female surviving sextuplets born in the UK, 1983, to the Walton family

Absent parents in UK may lose passports

London, Tuesday 27th January, 2009. Absent parents who do not pay child support could have their passports and driving licences seized without having to be taken to court. The Department for Work and Pensions said the proposals contained in the Welfare Reform Bill would be a "last resort" if other sanctions failed. Latest estimates suggest absent parents owe nearly £4bn in unpaid maintenance. But opponents say the government's plans could lead to breaches of parents' civil rights. The Child Support Agency can confiscate the driving licences of parents who refused to pay for their children, but it had to apply for a court order to do so. Last year, Parliament passed an act giving the body which oversees the CSA and is developing its successor - the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) - the same power in relation to passports. The new legislation would allow the CMEC to bypass the courts and confiscate absent parents' passports and driving licences until the money is paid in full. The government argues that this is "faster, simpler and easier for the taxpayer". Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said: "We are supporting parents in these tough times, but for those who choose not to support their own kids, we will not stand by and do nothing. "If a parent refuses to pay up then we will stop them travelling abroad or even using their car. "We want fair rules for everybody and that means giving people the support they need, but in return expecting them to live up to their responsibilities."

Janet Allbeson, from the one-parent family advisory group Gingerbread, told the BBC she supported the idea as a last resort. "Over half of all children in single-parent households are poor. And we know, because Parliament has told us, that if all non-resident parents who are required to pay money each week by the Child Support Agency did so it would lift an extra 100,000 children out of poverty."  The government says the new plan will be tested in certain areas of the country. Similar schemes in the US and Australia have been successful in increasing payments. Other powers open to the CMEC include taking money from a bank account without going through the courts; applying for a curfew, or recovering money from a dead person's estate. Opponents are worried that civil liberties may be undermined if bureaucrats have the power to take away passports and driving licences. The Liberal Democrats have also criticised the plans. Work and pensions spokesman Steve Webb said: "This latest bill will have more talking tough, but we've heard it all before. "What we really need is an efficient, effective system and this bill isn't going to bring it in." The Welfare Reform Bill also includes measures to require many single parents and people on incapacity benefit to seek work. But Labour MP and former welfare reform minister Frank Field said: "The government is debating welfare reform whilst standing on the burning ship." He is calling for a time limit on benefits for under-25s who have never worked. In a report for the Reform think-tank he also advocates the National Insurance system being reformed so that employees with a longer record of work receive more contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance if made redundant.

Following the death of the  late Lorna Wanjiru (Suzy) in Royal Free Hospital, London on18th January, 2009 family and friends are inviting well wishers for a fundraising event to be held on Saturday 31st January, 2009 at Live and Let Live Club, 264-266 Romford Road, E7 9HZ near Barclays Bank, Forest Gate as from 4.00 p.m. They have run short of funds to transport the body back to Kenya. For more information please contact Effy on 07949427201 or Charles 07939152923.

Islamist insurgents have captured most of Somalia's central city of Baidoa - one of the last strongholds of the fragile transitional government. Officials and witnesses say Islamists have seized the parliament building in the city, some 250km (155 miles) north-west of the capital Mogadishu.  Some reports say the presidential palace is also under their control.  The MPs are currently meeting in neighbouring Djibouti, where they are due to elect a new president this week. They have voted to expand parliament to bring some 200 moderate Islamists into parliament. They are also expected to vote on whether to delay the presidential election, which is currently due before Wednesday.

Cabinet ministers suspected of involvement in post-election violence may not be forced to leave office after all. The clause in the Waki Report that recommended such action was struck out after intense lobbying at the Serena Committee and at the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs levels. A copy of one of the final drafts of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2009 and the Statute for the Special Tribunal for Kenya obtained by The Standard revealed the clause had been deleted. Central Imenti MP Gitobu Imanyara, who is a lawyer, said: "The Bill is totally unacceptable. It cannot pass in its present form and will fall short of the 148 MPs required for a constitutional amendment." "The aim is obvious… to create delays and plot how to block Kenya from going to The Hague by claiming the process is on track. I can assure you we will battle those seeking to entrench impunity," he added. Mr Imanyara warned the Government to ensure important clauses raised by Human Rights Watch, legal experts and the international community were followed or risk having the implicated leaders carted to The Hague. - The Standard.

Pamela Mboya, widow of MP Tom Mboya, died on Monday 27th January, 2009 in a South African hospital where she had been undergoing treatment, family members said. Pamela, 70, died 40 years after her husband, then Economic Planning Minister, was assassinated in one of independent Kenya’s most enduring murder mysteries. After Mboya’s assassination, Pamela led a low profile life, keeping off politics. Professionally, she served as Kenya’s envoy to the UN-Habitat and Chairperson of Helpage Kenya. Pamela was also a member of Kenya Women’s Political Caucus. Mboya and Pamela, who wed in 1962, were among independent Kenya’s glitterati couples, owing to her husband’s high-profile political style. - The Standard.

Envoys are pushing President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to act on corruption allegations. British High Commissioner Rob Macaire, US ambassador Michael Ranneberger and his German counterpart, Mr Walter Lindner, warned that gains so far made by the Grand Coalition could be eroded by corruption scandals. "Everyone must recognise that corruption is a serious issue and an impediment to the ordinary Kenyan. It is pertinent that whenever there are allegations they should be acted upon with the seriousness it deserves," said Macaire at a clean development mechanism workshop in Nairobi. The UK envoy on Monday said Britain would only assist Kenya’s famine relief effort through agencies like World Food Program and the Red Cross Society. "If the situation deteriorated further, we will of course give our help, but through transparent bodies," said Macaire. - The Standard.

The Kenya shilling was unchanged against the dollar as banks assessed the market after highly erratic trade in the previous session, following the appointment of a new finance minister. Banks traded the shilling at Sh79.75/85 per dollar, unchanged from Friday’s close. The unit traded in a Sh79.65 to Sh80 band in earlier trade. Last Friday, the shilling saw volatile trade as some traders panicked after the naming of Uhuru Kenyatta as new finance minister. "There’s activity on both sides but small. The shilling is directionless at the moment," said Mr Jeremiah Kendagor, head of foreign exchange at Kenya Commercial Bank.

The pound ended its seven-day slump against the euro today and rose against the dollar, to above $1.40, despite horrific news from the High Street. Sterling was up 0.74 cents against the European single currency, to 1.0684 euro, making one euro worth 93.6p. It was also up 1.42 cents to $1.4082 against the greenback, having fallen to $1.35 on Friday — its weakest since September 1985. The rally came despite the bleakest forecast from the High Street in 25 years after nearly two-thirds of retailers saw business decline on a year ago in the New Year sales.

Agriculture Minister William Ruto has dissolved the National Cereals and Produce Board even as police grilled three Permanent Secretaries and other senior civil servants over the maize scandal. New NCPB Chairman Jimnah Mbaru, as well as Managing Director Gideon Misoi, will, however, remain in office, according to Agriculture Assistant Minister Kareke Mbiuki. In a related development, ODM called for a parliamentary group meeting this morning to address wrangles over corruption claims implicating its members. Elsewhere, Prime Minister Raila Odinga met US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger where the latter announced an $85 million (Sh7.9 billion) loan to buy food for Kenyans. They said those implicated in the maize scam should face the full force of the law. Permanent Secretaries Joseph Kinyua (Finance), Romano Kiome (Agriculture) and Mohamed Ali (Special Programmes) were questioned for hours by CID detectives as they sought to establish those behind the irregular sale of maize from NCPB.  - The Standard.

Hackers have stolen the personal details of millions of job seekers in the biggest case of data theft in British history. The recruitment giant Monster said hackers now held confidential information contained on its database, including user names, passwords, telephone numbers, email addresses and "some basic demographic data". The company said the stolen information did not include CVs, national insurance numbers or personal financial data.

A Kenyan lady has passed away in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The late Susan W. Muiru has passed away in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Daughter to Grace Muiru and the late Brian Muiru, sister to Hellen Muiru, Dennis Muiru both of Baltimore, Maryland, Edward Muiru of Columbus, Ohio; Julius, Pauline, Jane, Irene, Nancy all of Nairobi-Kenya. Prayers are being held daily at 1411 Winter Park Circle, Apt. L, Baltimore MD 21221 commencing from 7pm. The body will be shipped to Kenya for burial. A fundraising will be held on Saturday January 31st 2009 in Baltimore at 4.00pm. Further details will be forthcoming.  The family needs your thoughts, prayers; and financial contributions to overcome the heavy financial expenses. Contributions may be sent to Bank Name: Bank of America Acc. Name:   Hellen Muthoni, Account No: 446013750752, Routing No: 052001633. Or sent to the  address:1411 Winter Park Circle, Apt. L, Baltimore MD 21221.  For further information contact Mwihaki Muita: 443-739-3348, Hellen Muiru:  410-574-9448, Dennis Muiru:  443-470-0465 and Edward Muiru: 614-753-2359.

The late Susan W. Muiru

Nairobi, Monday 26th January, 2009. The murder trial against Judge G.B Kariuki began Monday with the victim alleging that the judge was drunk at the time of the incident.  The first murder trial against a sitting judge in the country's history, saw the defense hire eight lawyers to represent him.  Robert Karori, a driver for the International Organization for Migration testified in the criminal case against judge GBM Kariuki charged with attempted murder late last year.  A visibly shaken and nervous Karori told the court that it was his first time to be in court.  He narrated how he was stabbed with a Simi well known as Somali sword. Karori told the court that he was only provoked to slap the Judge after the judge initially slapped him and also declined to give him his car key.  8 lawyers are representing the judge in the matter.  Meanwhile, a case seeking to block the implementation of the constitution of Kenya has been filed in the high court.   Represented by lawyer Kibe Mungai the applicants comprising a section of religious leaders argue that the review act is unconstitutional for providing the making of a new constitution through the amendment of the Bomas and Wako drafts.  They now want orders to stop the implementation of the constitution of Kenya Act 2008 pending the hearing of the suit.  They argue that the review process envisaged in the act is not capable of resolving all contentious issues in which the applicants and other Kenyans have a different view from that of the political class.  Among some of the contentious issues are the separation of the state and religion and true place of doctrinal issues such as abortion, unnatural unions and religious courts.  They also took issue with the universal and equal taxation which is connected with the proper powers and composition of the parliamentary Service Commission. "The applicants are convinced that the review organs dominated and controlled by politicians cannot legitimately settle these issues with finality that will create a just and stabel constitutional order"  they stated in their petition.

Men who are more sexually active in their 20s and 30s may run a higher risk of prostate cancer, research suggests. The Nottingham University study quizzed 800 men on how often they had sex or masturbated. Those who were most active while younger had more chance of developing cancer later in life. The researchers said higher levels of sex hormones could lead to a bigger sex drive and the cancer, the journal BJU International reported. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with well over 30,000 new cases diagnosed each year. It affects the prostate gland, which is found close to the bladder and makes a component of semen.

January 20th 2009 was no ordinary day for Americans and more so for Kenyans, It was a momentous day, the day that history was changed forever.  He did it, the “Yes we can man”, Barack Obama became the president of the United States of America. In Washington DC where action was concentrated, there were many inauguration Balls many of which were attended by celebrities. One of the inauguration party was held in Rockville Maryland just few miles from Washington DC and it is here that all Kenyans gathered and celebrated in style. It was an international gathering as there were many nations represented. They came from Ghana, Togo, Cameroon, South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria and USA among many other countries. This party was organized by the Kenya cultural and Heritage organization in conjunction with a few local Christian pastors. The most important aspect was giving thanks to God Almighty who made this historic day possible. With God all things are possible was the resounding message that was preached by the pastors .The main message was delivered by pastor Katharima of Christ worship center who preached about King David and his brothers and how David though insignificant was chosen as the King of the children of Isreal.Apart from the preaching there was praise and worship by different groups from all over the continent of Africa. After the praise and worship session there was a dancing celebration session led by Haki Haki band, the Boys choir and Friends of Sironka maasai Dance Troupe group, all from Kenya. - By Diasporamessenger

Kenya community in action at the celebrations

London, Monday 26th January, 2009. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are set to postpone the Budget until April as they consider whether to try a new economic stimulus package. Sources have told the Standard that the tax and spending package usually unveiled in March is likely to be held back until after the start of the next financial year. A poll today shows a slump in confidence in the Prime Minister's handling of the economy. But CBI boss Richard Lambert urged Britons to cheer up because the country was not in danger of going bust. A delay in the Budget would give more time to see the shape of Barack Obama's plans to create up to four million jobs with a fiscal boost worth about £600 billion. Another reason being cited by insiders is to give Mr Brown more time to focus on two major summits. The G20 meeting is set for 14 March and the Leaders Summit hosted in Britain is to be held on 2 April. In a keynote speech today, the Prime Minister called for a “new world order” of better regulation for the global economies in future. Pre-empting this week's world economic forum at Davos, he called for improved regulation of hedge fund activities, securitised loans, and credit default swaps.

Iceland's coalition government has collapsed as a result of an escalating economic crisis.  Prime Minister Geir Haarde announced the resignation of his cabinet, after talks with coalition partners failed. Iceland's financial system collapsed in October under the weight of debt built up during years of rapid growth. The currency has since plummeted and unemployment soared. The cabinet had faced daily protests with demonstrators accusing it of ruining the country. The economy is forecast to shrink by 9.6% this year. Mr Haarde told reporters on Monday: "I really regret that we could not continue with this coalition. I believe that that would have been the best result."

London, Monday 26th January, 2009. Steelmaker Corus has confirmed that it is cutting 3,500 jobs worldwide, including about 2,500 in the UK. The announcement comes after Corus, like all steel firms, has seen a substantial fall in demand. Corus, a subsidiary of India's Tata Steel, currently employs 24,000 people in the UK and 42,000 worldwide. It said it would be "mothballing" a facility at Llanwern near Newport, south Wales, and was trying to sell a majority stake in its Teesside site. Corus said that 600 jobs would go at Llanwern, as part of a total 1,100 cuts across the firm's Welsh operations. A further 1,400 jobs will go at other UK sites, including 713 in Rotherham, 108 at Wednesbury in the West Midlands, 93 in Scunthorpe, and 61 at Wolverhampton. The other affected Welsh plants include Shotton, Ammanford, and Pontardulais.

High Street shoe shop chains Barratts and PriceLess have gone into administration, it has been announced. The two chains consist of 400 stores nationwide, employing a total workforce of 5,450 people. Administrators from Deloitte said the shops had not been closed and were continuing to trade as normal. Barratts and PriceLess are owned by a Bradford-based firm, Stylo. The parent company is not in administration, but its shares have been suspended.

Barclays shares rose more than 25% after an open letter from the bank's under-pressure bosses helped settle investor nerves. Chairman Marcus Agius and chief executive John Varley wrote the letter to "address the principal causes of concern which we are hearing". Barclays shares have tumbled for the past fortnight and the bank lost almost half of its value last week amid fears that it will have to turn to the Government for funding help. But Mr Agius and Mr Varley said Barclays would not need to ask the Government for any financial assistance. Barclays shunned a taxpayer bail-out last year, but has raised more than £7 billion through a fundraising which leaves almost a third of the bank in the hands of Middle East investors. The letter, released through the stock market, said the capital raising gave Barclays more than the required funds to provide a buffer against future losses. Barclays had "confidence that our capital resources are sufficient to manage Barclays safely and prudently even in these difficult markets", it added.

The man killed in Nairobi  on Saturday 24th January, 2009 had recently completed his PhD in international law at the Sheffield University in the United Kingdom. The son of a former Member of Parliament has been shot dead in Westlands near Sarit centre, Nairobi. Former Gatundu North MP, in Central Kenya, Patrick Muiruri lost his son the early morning incident. According to an eye witness an argument ensued before the victim was shot twice in the head. “I noticed a car swerve in front of another and since there was not much traffic I thought they knew each other. However, two men sprung from both vehicles and started arguing only to see one of them remove a gun and shot the other guy twice in the head.” The Nation team found Mr Muiruri at the Parklands Police Station where the vehicle of the deceased was towed waiting to get a report from the police. “I was called this morning at around 8 am in the morning by my last born son who was accompanying the deceased and told me to rush to MP Shah Hospital. I arrived there and was told that my son is at the casualty only to find his body sprayed with bullets,” he said. The deceased had recently completed his PhD in international law at the Sheffield University in the United Kingdom. Mr Muiruri added: “How cruel can life be just to have him die before he can start enjoying the fruits of his labour. We were to attend his graduation next month.” The incident happened at 7 am after the deceased and his friends were leaving an entertainment spot in the area. “They were from one of the pubs in Westlands shopping centre and were heading home,” added the distraught former Assistant minister for agriculture. The brother of the deceased and their lady colleague, who survived the incident were in shock. Relatives and friends gathered at the police station to console the family. - Daily Nation.

Former Gatundu North MP Patrick Muiruri and his wife at the Parklands police station after their 29 year old son was shot dead on Saturday.

The man who shot dead a son of a former Gatundu North MP will be charged with murder on Monday, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe has said.  The police inspector, who joined the Force recently, had an argument with 29-year-old James Ng’ang’a as the two were drinking beer in Westlands on Saturday morning. Mr Ng’ang’s was the son of Mr Patrick Muiruri. According to Mr Kiraithe, the argument between the two degenerated into a quarrel until they were kicked out of the bar. It was then that the police inspector Mr Kiraithe declined to name, followed Mr Ng’ang’a. The police spokesman declined to say at what point Mr Ng’ang’a was shot, but a witness had previously said Mr Ng’ang’a was driven away by a friend in his car, but the inspector followed them then overtook and blocked the road.  Mr Ng’ang’a got out of his car before the two started to argue again. It was at this point that the policeman pulled the trigger. Mr Kiraithe said the inspector shot Mr Ng’ang’a once, but his father Mr Muiruri, who served in the Police Force before becoming an MP, said that his son was shot five times. “He was shot twice in the shoulder, then the third bullet tore through his chest into the heart,” said the former assistant minister for Agriculture, who went to see his son at the MP Shah Hospital immediately after the shooting.  He said the assailant shot his son twice in the mouth after he fell down. Mr Kiraithe could not confirm the former MP’s claims saying the truth will be known after a post-mortem test.

 “This is a High Court case and I don’t want to be prejudicial. Let’s wait for the post-mortem,” the police spokesman who spoke by telephone, said.  Nevertheless, he faulted the inspector saying: “He joined the force recently and was just excited about having a gun.” He added that he used the gun unlawfully. Incidents of police officers turning against their opponents and shooting them dead are not new. Such cases usually end in court. And in some incidents, the policemen commit suicide after committing murder using their official guns. If the inspector had reason for using the gun, Mr Kiraithe said, the matter would have been settled internally. “But we must take him to court because he could not justify why he used the weapon,” he said.  Sources told the Nation that the young inspector went to report the incident at Buru Buru Police Station instead of Parklands Police Station, which is nearer to the scene of shooting. And he reportedly said he had shot a bank robber. But police at Buru Buru, the source said, later locked up the inspector after their colleagues at Parklands explained the circumstances under which the incident happened. Mr Kiraithe declined to say where the inspector was being held. Mr Ng’ang’a, his father said, had just finished a PhD course in International Law at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. On Sunday, Mr Muiruri was devastated by the death of his second-born son. The former MP said: “He was my life and my everything.” He claimed there were other people who had accompanied the University inspector and wondered why they had not been arrested. Mr Muiruri was among the first people at the MP Shah Hospital after the incident. His last born son is the one who called him on Saturday morning to break the sad news to him. - Daily Nation.

WHO IS MY WIFE AMONG THE TWO?

You would think they are twins. The husband of one of them was caught by surprise when the other entered a ceremonial venue. "Oh, my, how come my wife is here without telling me" the husband asked. He had to call his wife to come and see her photocopy.  Mrs. Jane Somba (right) and Caroline Kungu (left) looks alike. The husband of Jane (centre) Mr. Steve Somba had this to say jokingly: "Who is my wife now, I think I am a man of two wives, let us go home." The ladies met again on Sunday 25th January, 2009 at CCBC Swahili Church in Barking, London. They sat next to each other and everyone was convinced that they are twins. They don't know each other before nor are they relatives.  Jane's email - fabychris123@yahoo.co.uk and Caroline email is shikookungu@yahoo.co.uk.

Obama mania goes off limits in Abuja

Being proud of one’s ancestry is one thing but harassing others because one of your own has become a US President, is another.  Rafsanjan A. Tatya narrates how some people take the patriotic thing a bit too far.
 

Where do you come from?” The answer to this question, at least for most Kenyans these days, must involve the name Barack Obama. I thought Obama was more of an American than an African or Kenyan for that matter but on my trip to the MTV Africa Music Awards (Mamas) event, I found out different. I mean, it’s clear to all of us that Obama is the President-elect of the United States of America and the President of Kenya is called Mwai Kibaki – but most Kenyans are yet to tell the difference.
 

Americans are proud of their new President and the whole world knows so they don’t need to add his name on their IDs like most of our Kenyan colleagues have done. They have caught a syndrome called “No Kenyan without Obama” or should it be “No Obama, No Kenya!”
 

Do I hate Kenyans? No! Am I jealous that Obama has Kenyan roots? No, and I even believe that: “East Africa together tunawakilisha, indeed.” But it makes me uneasy when someone starts making others uncomfortable because he/she comes from the land of Obama’s father. One Kenyan female journalist smoked on the plane simply because she “comes from Kenya, the land of Obama.”
 

Julie Masiga of the Drum magazine was bound for a seven-year jail term in Nigeria after she was caught smoking on KQ 432 flying from Nairobi to Lagos on November 20. She was part of the press crew going to Abuja to cover the inaugural Mamas. It is as though she stopped understanding English the moment the urge to smoke a cigarette took over. What explains her lighting a smoke when time and again the flight crew announced that smoking on the aircraft was not allowed?
 

Her luggage was confiscated and she was told to stay at the airport. I expected her to be apologetic and stop her mouth running but wapi! She went on to throw tantrums and even attacked the MTV manager who was trying to help her out. She shouted: “Damn it! I’m Kenyan, and I give no hell of interest in what you say about me, I’ve got to enjoy my life, Obama!” She made sure she ended every statement of hers with that name.
 

And that was just the curtain-raiser. It was also then that I really respected whoever invented the saying, “Birds of the same feather flock together...” because Masiga flew with a fellow Kenyan journalist Anthony Mochama of The Standard. What Masiga does, Mochama supports and also does. They shared thoughts and so much more!

As we waited to board the plane flying from Lagos to Abuja, the pair irritated the rest of passengers with their chanting, “Obama, Obama, Obama…” You may think that was wrong but they didn’t realise as they were drunk. In fact, they were almost always drunk. Wherever we went they made sure they told everybody that they come from “the land of Obama.”
 

When we went to the restaurant at Nicon Luxury Hotel, Mochama almost exchanged blows with a Ugandan journalist (names withheld) after he told the Ugandan chap to remove his Obama T-shirt because it was too old. “You don’t know anything about Obama, remove the T-shirt you’re just a Ugandan,” Mochama said. I had to intervene to stop the emerging conflict.
 

Then Mochoma had a face-off with a Ghanaian when he said that if Nigeria was a house, Ghana would be its toilet. I must say, I enjoyed Mochama’s slapstick jokes, but only when he left Obama out of it. I remembered what my mother told me as a little boy, that when you invest effort in trying to convince the world and his dog that you’re related to some famous figures, you forget that you have your own life to lead and it makes you discontent with your own. So I wanted to see an independent Mochama who doesn’t need to claim somebody else’s fame. He and Masiga even infuriated the Nigerians we met at Velodrome, the venue for the awards ceremony. A disgusted crowd waiting outside the stadium gates almost lynched us because of these two people.

As we pleaded with the security guys to open for us, Masiga said, “Open for us the foreign press, we’re from Kenya Obama.” Her statement angered the citizens who had waited for longer than us. The crowd threatened to break and forcefully get through “if the Kenyans are allowed in.” One of them shouted: “Dare no, what do you “mean-o”, are Kenyans better than Nigerians, dare “open-o”!” On realising that it was mission impossible we moved to the next gate.
 

Inside the auditorium Masiga became nuts after taking one too many. She was drunk and shouted “Kenya, Obama” every time the emcee Trevor Nelson came on stage. It was like the Kenyan woman was out to outdo Nelson in a talking competition despite the fact that he was using a microphone. She then loudly said that Kenyan women are better than Nigerian women. The girls around us got angry and I told her it was not right to attack people you don’t know and then she turned her guns on me.

For whatever she said, I simply smiled and nodded so I would make her think she was right. That calmed the Nigerians and at the end of the day everybody was happy. But that was not over yet, Mochama had also a face-off with Tanzanian singer Professor Jay. But the Kenyan chap saved the best for the last and on our return, he climaxed the drama with a super scandal on the plane. It started when he told a South African passenger to respect him because he comes from Obama’s land. Even with the South African keeping quiet the arrogant fellow wouldn’t lay off. Then the South Africa hit back and was going to slap him when a flight attendant intervened. Mochama was made to switch seats with some lady but he left the airport still quarrelling. So much for Obama mania. - Daily Monitor.

"I trust in the Lord with all my heart, and I lean not unto my own understanding." (Proverbs 3:5.

UK cities outside the south-east England are likely to be hit hardest by recession, a new report warns. The Centre for Cities charity put on "red" alert Belfast, Liverpool and Hull, owing to high numbers of unemployed and unqualified residents. Least vulnerable - on "green" - were places including Oxford, Cambridge and Reading, with what the report called their "highly qualified workforces". But the charity warned that "in 2009 all cities will feel recession bite". Cities like Bristol, London and Edinburgh were placed on a medium "amber" alert as "they specialise in vulnerable financial services". "But these cities have highly skilled residents - which means a more flexible and mobile workforce," the report added. Cities on "green alert" are mainly in the South East. "The stronger city economies of the Greater South East, with highly qualified workforces and their profusion of 'knowledge' industries are not immune to job losses but are likely to be less exposed and better placed to recover more quickly," the report suggests.

According to the Centre for Cities, Cambridge saw the lowest increase in people on Jobseeker's Allowance in 2008, while Hull saw the highest increase. The charity found that more than two thirds of the cities with the largest increases in people on Jobseeker's Allowance were in northern England, "suggesting early job losses amongst more vulnerable workers". "UK cities will be hit harder than they think by this recession. Nearly all say they are well-placed to weather the storm - but they can't all be right, " said charity director Dermot Finch. The organisation believes that cities will be "leading the upturn as the economy recovers". "But they can't just rely on action from Whitehall. Each city needs its own front-line action plan, to keep jobs and retrain workers - and more powers over economic development," said Mr Finch. Sir Jeremy Beecham, vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, said: "It is clear that a national, 'one size fits all' approach to dealing with the recession simply isn't going to work. "The fastest way to get out of recession is for more decisions about the economy to be taken at the local level, which means councils and other local bodies continuing to work together with local people and businesses."

PM accuses media of tarnishing his character

Written By:PMPS   , Posted: Sun, Jan 25, 2009
 

Prime Minister Raila Odinga Sunday censored a section of the media for propagating smear campaign aimed at tarnishing his character before the public. He dismissed recent press reports insinuating that he had changed his ways and abandoned the war on corruption since the premier jointly with President Mwai Kibaki ratified the inception of a coalition government in the country. Odinga reiterated that his resolve to champion for good governance and uphold transparency and accountability in public affairs was unwavering contrary the misplaced perception a local media house was trying to depict. "Now a section of the press are saying that have stopped fighting graft in the country yet I have neither declared nor made a statement to that effect  but I urge them to exercise professionalism  and ethical standards in the work" he said. The Premier however maintained his support for the freedom of the press in the country but was quick to point that such freedoms must be enjoyed responsibly. He urged journalists to avoid trivial issues and sensational reporting. He also denied reports on a section of the press that implicated him in the recent maize scandal. The Premier attributed the current shortage maize in the country to poor harvest in the last two seasons after most farmers were affected by the aftermath of the last general polls which disrupted farming activities for the better part of the planting period. He announced that the government had finalized plans to avail maize flour at subsidized prices as promised and explained that exercise delayed while the National cereals and produce Board (NCPB) was sourcing private distributors to channel goods to designated points. Odinga said the government was compelled to intervene into the maize distribution network to protect the interest of the consumers after unscrupulous middlemen took advantage of the shortage of the staple produce to exploit the masses. "The government had to intervene to control the price of maize after brokers invaded the industry and charged millers exorbitantly pushing the retail price higher than  expected but we are now offering @kg packages of maize flour at Ksh 72 " he said. The Premier assured Kibera residents during a tour of development projects that the government was determined to meet her pre election pledges.

People around the world are preparing to celebrate Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year, and welcome the Year of the Ox and on right the ox, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, symbolises calm, hard work, resolve and tenacity. The Year of the Rat was in 2008.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has worked for nine months without pay following a dispute in top government administrative circles over his salary scale, the Nation can reveal. The embarrassing situation is also being blamed on failure by MPs to give direction on the trappings of the Prime Minister’s office, which was created at the formation of the grand coalition government last year. According to correspondence seen by the Nation, the controversy over Mr Odinga’s salary revolves around two schools of thought in government — one which recommends that his pay should be equal to that of Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, and another which proposes that the PM’s pay be pegged on the President’s.

In the meantime, Mr Odinga has for close to a year been paid as Lang’ata Member of Parliament and drawn allowances of a Cabinet minister.  A letter dated September 29, 2008 from the Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr Francis Muthaura, to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Patrick Gichohi, says that the Government had decided to pay higher salaries to the Prime Minister, Vice-President and the two deputy prime ministers. Mr Muthaura says that this was to ensure that the overall salaries for the VP, PM and deputy PMs are within the range of packages paid to some chief executives of government agencies while maintaining relativity to that of the President. President Kibaki earns a Sh2 million basic salary a month and also draws Sh1.2 million monthly in extraneous and entertainment allowances, according to Mr Muthaura. “It is, however, to be noted that the President does not draw any remuneration from Parliament since he is a constitutional office holder while the vice-president, prime minister and the deputy prime ministers draw various allowances from Parliament,” Mr Muthaura says. The President’s pay is drawn from the Consolidated Fund. The VP, PM and his deputies receive salaries and allowances from Parliament totalling about Sh800, 000. In addition, as ministers, they receive Sh200,000 ministerial allowance, Sh100, 000 house allowance and Sh23,400 domestic allowance.  

It is in the same letter that Mr Muthaura directs that Mr Odinga’s salary be equal to that of Mr Musyoka. Mr Muthaura proposes that the PM’s and VP’s salary be Sh1.3 million — Sh800, 000 salary, Sh300,000 ministerial allowance and Sh200, 000 as house allowance. He proposes that deputy prime ministers Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta get Sh950, 000 which is broken down into Sh500, 000 salary, Sh250, 000 ministerial allowance, Sh150, 000 house allowance and Sh50,000 domestic staff allowance. Earlier, the permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s office, Dr Mohamed Isahakia, had written to the Clerk of the National Assembly complaining that it was unfair for Mr Odinga to perform his official duties without pay. Sources said Dr Isahakia asked that the issue of the PM’s pay be discussed, determined and that his salary be paid to him urgently. Last week, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) met to deliberate on the issue and it was then that Mr Muthaura’s letter was produced. Some of Mr Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MPs in the PSC were incensed by Mr Muthaura’s proposal to equate the Prime Minister office with that of the Vice-President.

Sources said the MPs want the Prime Minister’s salary to be above that of the VP considering that he was an equal partner with President Kibaki as far as the National Accord and Reconciliation Act that created the PM’s office was concerned. The same sentiments were expressed in Dr Isahakia’s letter to the Clerk. However, an MP who did not wish to be quoted discussing PSC matters outside the committee asked why ODM members in the PSC had not brought the matter before Parliament in order to resolve it through the ballot rather than through administrative channels. The National Accord and Reconciliation Act, which was signed on February 28, 2008 states that the PM and his deputies shall be entitled to salaries and allowances, benefits, privileges and emoluments as may be approved by Parliament from time to time. - Daily Nation.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Monday 26th January, 2009. The Obama administration will have to persuade the world that the U.S. strong dollar policy is for real this time as it prepares to borrow $2 trillion to revive the U.S. economy from its worst crisis in decades. Less than 48 hours after Barack Obama became president, his choice for U.S. Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, said a strong dollar is in the United States' interest. That phrasing -- first used by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin more than 14 years ago -- lost its weight and credibility when it was over-used by the Bush administration. The greenback lost about 40 percent of its value versus the euro and more than 15 percent versus the yen between 2000 and 2008. A weaker currency was an important step for the Bush White House in rebalancing a global economy plagued by a U.S. trade deficit and huge Chinese surplus. "This time around the administration probably means it when it says it backs a strong dollar. They have to be dead serious about it," said Samarjit Shankar, a director for global strategy at the Bank of New York Mellon, in Boston. "Trillions worth of U.S. debt is coming soon to the markets. Which foreign central bank or institution will buy this debt if they are not fully convinced the dollar will remain strong?" he added.

The challenge for Obama's team, analysts said, will be to support the dollar's value without direct manipulation in the markets, with the economy in recession, interest rates near zero, and a ballooning current account deficit. Moreover, Washington will have to achieve all that without antagonizing China, the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury debt, the analysts said. "It will be a real test. One thing is to finance a $450 billion deficit and another is to finance $2 trillion," said Chris Rupkey, a senior financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York. "We are always worried foreigners could ditch the dollar. But they have no incentive to do that," he added. "The amount they own is so large that they can't get out of it without impacting their own currencies and economies in the process. And that includes China." Geithner, in written response to questions from the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, said a strong dollar "is in America's national interest." For details, see [ID:nN22364222] But while stressing the need for a stronger dollar Geithner also said the administration would be vigilant against currency manipulation, in particular that stemming from China. President Obama "believes that China is manipulating its currency" and that he has pledged to use "all the diplomatic avenues open to him to see change in China's currency practices," he said in his response.

"Learn how you can release the ability of God by the words of your mouth." - Harrsison House, USA.

London, Sunday 25th January, 2009. The prospect of the three-day week returned to haunt Britain on Saturday as it emerged that ministers are considering paying firms to cut hours in order to survive the recession. Tens of thousands of businesses are already planning to scale back working hours this year in an effort to stay afloat. But as the country comes to terms with the reality of a recession, it emerged that the Government is looking at compensating employees, through their firms – thereby drawing comparisons with the shutdowns of the 1970s. While the move would safeguard jobs, it would mean that the financial crisis is on a much larger scale, further undermining confidence in the economy with the suggestion of Britain grinding to a halt. Major firms such as JCB have already downed tools for one day a week and are considering moving to a three-day week, with state help, if the recession gets worse. The firm's chief executive, Matthew Taylor, said that he is pressing Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, to introduce compensation for workers if their hours are reduced. Some of the jobs earmarked for redundancy, he said, could be saved if the move is introduced by April. Ministerial sources insisted last night that a scheme to help compensate workers was "not imminent" but said it was an option being discussed. It would match measures introduced by the German government. The Thatcher government brought in a short-time working directive in the 1980s to cover earnings lost through shorter hours. Such a move would cost the Government millions of pounds, but would be cheaper than the huge rise in unemployment benefit claims as a result of job losses. Yet the move would stir bad memories of the three-day week of the early 1970s, when the Heath government imposed a cut in hours to save electricity as a result of industrial action.

Advice on how to ride the downturn published on the Department for Business website tells firms that cutting hours is one way to reduce overheads and ride the economic storm. The guide, Real Help for Businesses Now, suggests firms could cut staff costs by reducing hours, rather than by making redundancies. "Cutting overheads such as property costs... will take much longer to have an effect on the balance sheet," it said. "You can also cut staff costs by restricting overtime or cutting staff hours. You could also consider reducing your number of employees – though redundancy payments will increase costs in the short term. However, the consequences of redundancies can be devastating, particularly for small businesses, and morale could suffer." Experts fear that the recession could be the worst for 60 years. Figures released on Friday showed that the economy is contracting faster than at any time since 1980. Kenneth Clarke, the new shadow Secretary of State for Business, last night accused Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling of "panicking" over the recession. Ministers were treating voters "like fools" by claiming they could see the "green shoots" of recovery, Mr Clarke wrote in the News of the World. Figures from the British Chambers of Commerce, which represent 100,000 firms, show that 39 per cent of businesses are planning to cut hours. Many firms in the car industry have introduced or are considering a three-day week, such as Bentley Motors in Crewe and Nissan in Sunderland. But the practice is spreading to the rest of the manufacturing sector, and business leaders fear it is only a matter of time before other industries resort to the measure.  Mr Taylor, of JCB, said: "We would rather go to a shorter working week than lay people off." Three-day weeks have been backed by the unions, whose members are happier to take pay cuts than lose their entire salary and pension benefits. Government sources said there were issues about whether to restrict compensation to the car industry or apply it to all firms. The CBI refused to comment last night, but a source said some firms would be able to reduce output to three days more easily than others.

When the three-day week crippled Britain

The three-day week carries a particular resonance for anyone who remembers the 1970s, as it recalls a time when firms were forced into short-time working, redundancies, and lay-offs. As now, the crisis erupted amid an economic emergency. But the cause of a problem that crippled the nation's infrastructure was not a financial calamity but a breakdown in industrial relations. Britain's miners walked out on 9 January 1972 – their first strike in 50 years – over the failure to meet their demand for £9 on top of an average weekly wage of £25. The impact of closing all 289 pits in England and Wales – and pickets at power stations – was dramatic. A month later, the Prime Minister, Edward Heath, declared a state of emergency and, with dwindling electricity supplies forcing factories to close, he imposed a three-day week. A week into the state of emergency, it was announced that electricity would be switched off on a rota basis between 7am and midnight every day. By the middle of February, it was estimated 1.2 million people had been laid off. Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) gave a week's notice to its 60,000 weekly paid staff as a precautionary measure. Although the crisis ended with a pay deal on 19 February, the miners repeated their industrial action less than two years later, provoking another three-day week and, ultimately, the removal of the Heath government in February 1974. - The Independent, London.

"Many people have been defeated in life because they believe and spoke the wrong things. They have allowed the words of their own mouths to hold them in bondage." - Harrison House, USA

NO EMAILS MR. PRESIDENT

President-elect Barack Obama will have to give up the BlackBerry that he's had literally by his side (clipped to his belt, a surprising fashion faux pas by the normally quite fashionable candidate). Because of security concerns, the chief executive is not allowed to send emails. President George W. Bush has gone without email for eight years, and was reported to be looking forward to sending them again a few months ago. Obama does plan to bring a laptop to the Oval Office, and there's some talk of setting up a read-only email account. How would you cope with living without email?

15 members of an airline cabin crew were arrested were on Tuesday 20th January, 2009 at Heathrow airport after officers from the UK Border Agency seized approximately 50 kilos of cannabis worth about £150,000. The cabin crew were arrested after UK Border Agency officers discovered the drugs in three pieces of baggage that had arrived on a South African airways flight from Johannesburg. Following the detection, the case was passed to HM Revenue & Customs and enquiries are continuing. Bob Gaiger, HM Revenue & Customs Heathrow spokesman said: "Those arrested are now being held in custody and will be interviewed by HMRC investigation officers. HMRC together with UK Border Agency play a vital role in the fight to prevent illegal drugs from entering the UK and in protecting our communities from the violence and corruption that always accompany this hideous trade. Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to drugs smuggling should call our 24 hour customs hotline - 0800 59 5000."

LEFT: The Independent on Sunday warns that Britain could see a return to the three-day week on the scale of the 1970s, as the recession - likely to be the worst for 60 years - takes its toll. CENTRE: The Sunday Express reports how estate agents are warning that "greedy bankers" are in danger of crushing the first "green shoots" of a housing recovery by failing to loosen their grip on Britain's purse strings. RIGHT: The Mail on Sunday says Whitehall mandarins in charge of saving Britain from the economic slump drank whisky and danced the night away at the Treasury on the day the recession was officially confirmed.

"I am married to a black American, you know they like arguments, my wife was arguing with me the other day that President Obama is not an Africa. I told her - you have eyes and you do see, can't you see that head is a head of a Kikuyu from Kenya." - A Nigerian Taxi Driver in Washington DC, USA, little did he know that I was a Kikuyu.

Private servants in diplomatic households – changes to the handling of applications

23 January 2009

The UK Border Agency has announced changes to the treatment of applications for private servants in diplomatic households. This follows a commitment by Ministers that settlement provisions will be retained for those entering the United Kingdom (UK) under tier 5 of the points-based system. The following arrangements will apply:

Private servants in diplomatic households working in the UK on or before 26 November 2008

We previously introduced transitional arrangements for private servants in this category. Applications approved were eligible for a one-off grant of leave to remain of up to five years, which is the current threshold for settlement. To ensure that all those who were eligible to apply under the transitional arrangements have an opportunity to do so, we will exceptionally continue to accept applications under these arrangements for a further 18 months, until 26 May 2010.

New entrants to the UK

Under changes which came into force on 27 November 2008, new private servants in diplomatic households applying to enter the UK need to apply under the tier 5 temporary worker - international agreement sub-category of the new points-based system. Under this category they will be eligible to extend their stay in the UK, as outlined in the immigration rules and guidance for both migrants and sponsors. These private servants may be granted further extensions to their leave for periods of up to 12 months at a time, up to a total of six years. They will now be eligible to apply for settlement once they have reached the required threshold, which is currently five years. This will be reflected in the immigration rules at the next formal change in March 2009.

Mrs. Nelly Wanjiru Mwangi and family has lost her sister-in-law the late Rosemary Wanjiku Gichimu on Monday 19th January, 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya after a long illness. She is the wife of GG Maina formerly of Galexy Security, London. For more information please contact 07930213059 or Mr. GG Maina in Kenya on 0722881432.

Kibaki threatens to sack his ministers

President Kibaki on Thursday read the riot act to four Cabinet ministers over disunity in government and the maize and oil scandals which have rocked the Grand Coalition Government.  He threatened to sack Cabinet ministers who quarrel in public and those who were unable to handle critical issues in their dockets. Forestry and Wildlife minister Noah Wekesa came under sharp criticism for his Wednesday attack on Prime Minister Raila Odinga over the saga involving a second grain handling facility at the Mombasa port, oil and maize scandals.  Dr Wekesa later sent a note of apology to Mr Odinga expressing regret that he had discussed the issues in the media “without first examining the implications”. “In view of collective responsibility that my office requires of me, I should not have associated myself with this party sentiments and I once again apologise and promise to work closely with you to uplift the image of Government,” the minister said in a letter addressed to Mr Odinga.

Dr Wekesa, one of the vice-chairmen of the Party of National Unity, had criticised Mr Odinga over the current maize shortage asking him to tell Kenyans what he has done to prevent the crisis as chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee on food security. “The Rt honourable Prime Minister chairs the sub-committee on food security. Can he explain to Kenyans what action he has taken on the crisis or else we hold him culpable for neglecting duty and therefore failed the country,” Dr Wekesa said in a statement issued at a Nairobi hotel. Lands minister James Orengo got a dressing down for statements he made in public regarding some Cabinet colleagues, which were interpreted as a breach of the government’s collective responsibility. On the other hand Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi and his Agriculture counterpart, Mr William Ruto, were put on the spot for their handling of the recent oil shortage, the Triton scandal and mismanagement of the sale of maize from the National Cereals Board to millers.  The tough stand was uncharacteristic of President Kibaki as the Cabinet held its first meeting this year. Sources familiar with the proceedings described some of the session as “hot”. Later in the afternoon, Mr Murungi and Mr Ruto faced a barrage of questions in Parliament as they tried to explain to MPs goings on in the oil industry and the maize sub-sector. Triton Petroleum Company is accused of selling fuel worth Sh7.6 billion without the knowledge of international and local financiers who had invested in oil stocks held in their trust by the Kenya Pipeline Company.

The stocks, amounting to 126 million litres, were released to Triton, which is owned by Mr Yagnesh Devani, between November 2007 and November 2008 without the financiers’ consent. The maize scandal revolves around the allocation of government stocks to brokers who posed as millers at a price of Sh1,750. They later sold the same maize to millers at Sh2,600. This has been said to be the reason behind the sudden increase in the price of a two kilogramme packet of maize flour from Sh55 to Sh130 in December. The matter is being investigated by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). Sources said that Mr Ruto was told to take charge of matters in his ministry and give the true picture of the maize situation so that the Government could tackle current famine from an informed position. The meeting, whose main agenda was implementation of the Waki report on post-election violence, also addressed the ongoing teachers’ strike that has paralysed learning in public primary schools. The Cabinet resolved that the government pays the raised teachers salary in two years. The President is said to have demanded that any troubling issues in the Cabinet should be raised within the correct channels.  - Daily Nation.

"Words are the most powerful things in the universe today. They are containers of power." - Harrison House, USA

Barack Obama has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America, at a historic ceremony in Washington DC and on right One-day-old Michelle Obama yawns contentedly in Kisumu, Kenya, a day after her namesake became the first African-American First Lady of the United States.

Hundreds of illegal immigrants have broken out of a detention centre on the Italian island of Lampedusa and are staging a protest, officials have said. Lampedusa mayor Bernardino De Rubeis told the AFP news agency the centre's security fence had been toppled and that about 700 immigrants had escaped. They are said to be complaining about conditions at the camp, which was built for 850 but is currently holding 1,800. On Friday, the UN urged Rome to address the "difficult humanitarian situation". The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed mounting concern about overcrowding. Hundreds have been forced to sleep outdoors in the cold. The UNHCR also criticised a government decision to hold those who survive the perilous sea-crossing on the Mediterranean island until their cases are decided. Previously, they were sent to other centres.

There are days when life for Adwai Malual looks like an endless wheel. Already she has lived through much: growing up in Sudan as war tore apart her homeland, discovering in the midst of it that she was pregnant, coming to this strange land of America. Now, in a small, crowded apartment in Laurel nearly two months after the babies' delivery, Malual's life is dominated by another kind of chaos. It begins every day at 3 a.m., as she wakes up to take over feeding duties from her mother, visiting from Sudan. One by one, she tends to her five babies in 40-minute shifts. By the time she has changed the last one's diaper, the first is crying for food again. And so it goes for 12 hours straight, until she hands them off to her mother so she can sleep for a little while before waking do it all again. Life is now confined to this second-floor apartment and to the most basic of human needs: eating, peeing, pooping, burping and sleeping. "I am grateful for the blessings in my life," the 28-year-old said recently during a rare break from her babies. "And I am tired." All day long, her mind alternates between those two states. She thanks God for the people -- many of them complete strangers -- who donated diapers, time and money to help her through her grueling first few weeks out of the hospital. Then she prays for some way to survive the weeks ahead.

Then, weeks later, she gave birth to quintuplets. - MORE PHOTOS

When Malual, who had been working as a branch inspector of a bank in southern Sudan, first learned that she was pregnant with multiple children -- three or four, her doctors in Sudan guessed -- she thought it would be easy. "It was my first time as mother," she laughed. She traveled to Minnesota when she was 16 weeks pregnant to seek the blessing of her mother-in-law, a family figure who plays a large role in a Sudanese woman's pregnancy. When they met, her mother-in-law placed a hand upon Malual's head and then on her belly, anointing both with water. Later, after she left to visit her sister in Prince George's County, she was rushed to the emergency room with complications. Over the next 11 weeks, a team including more than 30 doctors and nurses was put together to handle her case.  And last month, as her successful delivery of four girls and one boy was announced, television crews and newspaper reporters rushed to Anne Arundel Medical Center to cover the first quintuplets in the hospital's 106-year history and the first in Maryland in more than three years. Calls poured in to the hospital from people asking how they could help the children, Deng, the boy, and his sisters, Nyantweny, Nyandeng, Abyei and Athei.  In the days that followed, however, many of the offers faded away. The hospital has said it will work with the uninsured family to pay for the costs, but no avalanche of outside support has materialized, nor have companies like diaper manufacturers stepped in to help as sometimes happens in such births.  "I think part of it is the economy," said the Rev. Barbara Sands, a hospital chaplain who has been trying to coordinate help for the family. "It's just the times we're in right now."

Three people have died following their rescue in blizzard conditions from an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands. A major rescue operation involving helicopters was launched when nine people in at least two separate parties were on Buachaille Etive Mhor, near Glencoe, south of Fort William, when it occurred. Northern Constabulary said they were alerted to the incident, on the Coire Na Tulaich area of the mountain, at about noon on Saturday. Rescue helicopters from RAF Lossiemouth and a Royal Navy helicopter from Prestwick were scrambled while members of Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team were also sent to the scene. One of the helicopters was later grounded because of the weather.

Prince Harry and his girlfriend Chelsy Davy have ended their relationship. The split, expected to be reported in Sunday's newspapers, is said to have been "amicable" and follows discussions between the two of them in recent days. The pair have known each other for five years and have parted on at least one previous occasion. Clarence House has not made any official comment other than to say this is a private matter. Prince Harry, 24, has sought to keep his relationship private.

A sign reading Official Obama Office hangs outside a school in Kogelo, the Kenyan birth-place of Barack Obama's father. Kenyans are hugely proud of their links to the new US president.

A Kenyan has passed away in the UK. The late Jane Wambui passed away at London Royal Hospital on Tuesday 20th January, 2009 after long illness (brain infection). She is the daughter of Mr. Michael Ndungu Kariuki and Mrs. Ann Wairimu of Burnt Forest, Uasin Gishu District, Rift Valley, Kenya. Sister to Sabina (London), Peter Gitonga of Burnt Forest, Teressiah Wanjiru, Faith Wanjiku and Njambi all of Burnt Forest. Sister in law to Mr. Samuel, Milka  and Evans Mwangi (all of London). Family and friends are meeting for prayers and funeral arrangements at 117A Burges Road, East Ham, E6 2BL. You can make your contributions through Barclays Bank, Account no. 30436437, Sort Code 206790, Account name: S. Ndungu. For more information please contact 07950663778 or 02084729975.

The late Jane Wambui

The pounds dropped to its lowest on Friday 23rd January exchanging at 106.84 against the Kenya Shillings in London

Greetings from Washington District of Columbia (DC). We arrived in Washington just after midnight on Sunday 18th January, 2009. With a group of other Kenyans from the UK, we had one mission in mind - to be a part in making history at the inauguration of President Obama of America. We did it and we are back to the UK arriving in UK on Friday 23rd January, 2009. The whole journey was a life time story with everything big and in style - big American people, Big American MacDonald, Big security ever displayed in the American history (about $150 million), Big occasion with over 2 million people within a 2-square mile, Big American technology in display and the biggest event ever held on an American soil. The weather was so bad with temperatures going as far as -13 degrees centigrade. The big water pond outside Capitol Hill was frozen. We made use of our time by visiting the inauguration venue on Monday 19th January, 2009 before coming back for the event on Tuesday.  Many people slept at the venue on Monday night waiting for the ceremony even with such freezing temperatures. We visited Capitol Hill which is like the house of parliament in the UK, the famous Pennsylvania Road where President Obama convey marched on Tuesday, the popular Lincoln Memorial and finally the White House now being called Black House by black Americans. Notably was the large number of black American crying all over the area as they shouted "it is our time, it is our moment, we have live to see it happen". Full story and photos coming soon. - More on Capitol Hill

On our way to the ceremony we posed with a statue of President Obama near Lincoln Memorial and on right a photo Mr. Peter Waweru from Northampton joined for a pose a day before the inauguration ceremony outside Capitol Hill. Thanks to the Kenyan team in Washington who hosted us. We shall revenge.

"I am married to a black American lady. We always argue in the house. You know black Americans don't like us, they keep on complaining that we sold them during slave trade. I have always been telling her - the white man was catching everyone in sight, it only happened that your grandfather was lazy, my grandfather run away fast but your grandfather was caught. What are you complaining about.!" - A Nigerian Taxi Driver in Washington while taking us for a evening dinner

Police have beefed up security at Kogelo.  Accessing the home where Barack Obama Senior was buried will no longer be easy following the new move to ensure the safety of President Obama’s family. Obama’s relatives from Kenya were given a VIP treatment during his inauguration in Washington DC. His grandmother, Mama Sarah Obama, his step-mother Kezia Obama, uncle Saidi Obama and half-siblings, Auma and Malik, sat metres from him during the ceremony. The Standard on Saturday also learnt that plans are underway to provide Mama Sarah with tighter security when she arrives from the US. Siaya OCPD Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Johnston Ipara yesterday confirmed that security in the village has been tightened. Ipara said police officers trained in VIP protection will be in-charge of Mama Sarah’s security. "We have officers trained in other police operations and capable of handling all situations," said Ipara. - The Standard.

Kimunya back in the cabinet

Written By:PPS   , Posted: Fri, Jan 23, 2009
 

Former Finance minister Amos Kimunya has returned to Cabinet as the minister for Ttrade. The President, in consultations with Prime Minister Raila Odinga, has also named Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta as Finance minister. In the cabinet appointments released from State house on Friday, Hon. Franklin Bett, MP becomes Minister for Roads while Hon. Beatrice Pauline Kones, MP becomes Assistant Minister for Home Affairs. A statement from the Presidential Press Service said the changes take place with immediate effect. Mr. John Michuki, who has been acting at Treasury returned to his Environment and Mineral Resources Ministry, while Chris Obure who has been handling the Roads portfolio retains his Public Works docket.  Mr Kimunya stepped aside as Finance minister after the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel (now Laico Regency) to a Libyan company. A Commission of Inquiry to probe the sale was established by President Kibaki and was headed by retired judge Majid Cockar. The Cockar Commission presented its findings to President Kibaki at the end of its term, but the report is yet to be made public.

Kimunya stepped aside as Finance minister after the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel to a Libyan company.

Meanwhile, both the President and the Prime Minister have agreed to increase the Membership of the Permanent Committee on Management of Grand Coalition Affairs to include Hon. Martha Karua, Minister for Justice & Constitutional Affairs, and Hon. Charity Ngilu, Minister for Water & Irrigation, from both parties to the Coalition. The other members of the Committee are president, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya, Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya, Hon. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs; Others are Hon. Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government, Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Hon. George Saitoti, Minister of State for Provincial Administration & Internal Security, Office of the President, Hon. William Samoei arap Ruto, Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Moses Wetangula, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Amason Kingo Jeffah, Minister for East African Community, Hon. Ibrahim Elmi Mohamed, Minister of State for Development of Northern Kenya And other Arid Lands, Office of the Prime Minister,Hon. Chirau Ali Mwakwere, Minister for Transport and Hon. James Orengo, Minister for Lands.

An 11-month-old baby has shopped his marijuana-growing dad to police by accidentally dialling 911. Mounties in Canada have revealed how they took a 911 call but, on hearing no voice, traced the address and turned up to see if they could help. When no one answered, they forced their way into the home in White Rock, British Columbia - and found a 500-plant marijuana growing operation. The 29-year-old father was arrested and the child taken into care, though later restored to his mother. White Rock police constable Janelle Canning said: "The gentleman was quite surprised." When the father denied making the call, officers spotted the baby boy - phone in hand. "We saw him playing with the cordless phone and just pressing all the buttons, so evidently he had called 911," Canning said.

Police in Nigeria are holding a goat on suspicion of the attempted armed robbery of a Mazda 323. Vigilantes took the animal to the police, claiming it was a criminal who had used black magic to transform himself into a goat to escape arrest after trying to steal the car. Police have detained the goat in custody while they ponder what to do next. Kwara state police spokesman Tunde Mohammed said: "The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat"They pursued them. However, one of them escaped while the other turned into a goat. "We cannot confirm the story, but the goat is in our custody. We cannot base our information on something mystical. "It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat." Belief in witchcraft is widespread in parts of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. Curious locals have rushed to the police station to see the goat, photographed in one national newspaper on its knees next to a pile of straw.

The Cockar Commission of Inquiry into the controversial sale of Grand Regency Hotel has recommended that the CBK Governor Prof Njuguna Ndung’u be held responsible for the sale of the five star hotel to the Libyan Government. According to findings in our possession, the CBK chief was not truthful to other public institutions including the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), the Commissioner for Lands, the Public Procurement Oversight Authority and the Prime Minister about the sale of the hotel. "Even the valuers who were instructed to value the hotel were not told the purpose for which the valuation was being undertaken," says report. The report says the Governor’s conduct was contrary to Section 18 of the Public Officer Ethics Act, which provides that a public officer shall not knowingly give false or misleading information to members of the public or to any other public officer. The commission also recommended an overhaul of the current Public Procurement and Disposal Act to remove gaps and contradictions, which remains ambiguous on how real property procured by a public entity, is to be disposed. "These provisions lead to an undesirable position where a public entity is obliged to follow the Act in procuring real property, but it is free to ignore the Act when disposing of that really property, since real property is clearly not "unserviceable, obsolete or surplus stores and equipment," says report. The report notes that even if the Grand Regency Hotel was ultimately transferred and registered in the name of the Central Bank of Kenya, the Bank could have easily circumvented the Public Procurement and Disposal Act in the disposal of the Hotel on ground that the Hotel is not unserviceable, obsolete or surplus stores and equipment. The commission took issue with the CBK Act saying the Act failed to clearly define the relationship between the Governor and the Board of CBK. "From the evidence, the Board of CBK was given very sketchy information about the disposal of the Hotel. We have noted that at the level of management the sale of the hotel was handled exclusively by the Governor and Mr Abuga. The role of the Board was reduced to that of ratifying decisions of these two officers," says report. "With the current set up and practice, it is very doubtful whether the Board can effectively discharge its statutory responsibilities to review and check any excesses of the Governor, who happens to be its chairman." The Commission says it found the entire transaction tainted with misrepresentation and deception to such an extent as to warrant specialised investigation by the Attorney General and other relevant institutions into the bona fides of the purchaser and other aspects of the transaction. - The Standard.

Every recession tells its own story - in the '90s, it all began with a housing bust; in the '70s, it was the rocketing price of oil. In the 1930s you had a global stock market crash and a lot of runs on banks. This one has shades of all three - you could call it a Recession Greatest Hits. As in the past, the sheer pace of the decline has taken everyone by surprise. In fact, as this chart from Fathom Financial Consulting shows, the decline in the first six months is actually very similar to the average of past recessions. Now that it's hit, there aren't many predicting a speedy end. Growth in the new year is about as optimistic as it gets. It could be two or three years before the economy gets back to where it was - and the 2012 economy could look rather different from the one we had before.

A pill that could mean the end of insulin injections for diabetics is about to be tested in human trials. It will be taken twice a day and releases insulin into the body over several hours.  The pill, developed by Indian government scientists at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology in Kerala, has been successfully tested on animals and is awaiting approval for human trials in India.  The research could lead to an alternative to painful daily injections for millions of people affected by the disease. There are more than 2.5 million diabetics in the UK and more than half a million people who are unaware they have the condition. Previous attempts to develop insulin pills have suffered from the hormone being released into the body too early, such as in the stomach.

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - JANUARY 2009 - ONE

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - JANUARY 2009  - TWO

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - DECEMBER, 2008 ONE

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - DECEMBER TWO, 2008

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - NOVEMBER ONE, 2008

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - OCTOBER, 2008

IKO NINI BWANA SEED? - SEPTEMBER 2008