Time to abolish the United Nations. I just do not understand their decision on Syria while hundreds are dying. The US should cut off funding 13 hours ago
As you may already be aware, Moses Muniu Gatere passed away following a road accident on Monday 3, August 2009 in Frisco Colorado USA.
We have been supporting the family that he left behind comprising of Freshier Nduta Muniu and her four children Kairu, Gatere, Waitete and Njambi.
Freshier is still in school and needs your support to sustain her until she graduates later this year and is able to fend for the family.
Please let us join together for prayers and a fund raising at the family residence from 5 p.m. on Sunday 14th March 2010. Your prayers and support will be greatly treasured and May God bless you.
Amnesty International has called for the promised investigation into the alleged killing by Kenyan police of seven men to be impartial, independent and for the results to be made public.
On Wednesday night, eyewitnesses reported that seven men were shot dead by a group of administration police during a police operation in Kawangare, an informal settlement in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Police officers claimed the men were part of a criminal gang, but witnesses say they were taxi drivers.
In a press conference yesterday, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe promised investigations into the shootings adding that any police officer found to have breached the law would be punished.
“The promise of a police investigation is a step in the right direction,” said Godfrey Odongo, Amnesty International’s East Africa researcher. “But unlike many previous investigations, this one must be impartial and independent and its findings must be made public and acted upon.”
In March 2009, two human rights activists were shot dead in their car while stopped in traffic in central Nairobi. The two had been campaigning against illegal killings by the police. An investigation into the murders has failed to bring anyone to trial.
Similarly, a taskforce set up to investigate alleged rapes by police during the post-election violence in late 2007 has failed to yield any results.
Under international law, Kenya is obliged to respect and protect the right to life of all its citizens. This includes taking effective measures to protect people against acts of violence and to bring perpetrators to justice.
“Police should be the enforcers of law and must not be allowed to rise above it,” said Godfrey Odongo. “Anyone identified by the inquiry as having been responsible for extra-judicial killings should be brought to justice in a trial and the families of those killed should be compensated.”
An artist's impression of the junction where the Eastern bypass meets Mombasa road at City Cabanas restaurant, Nairobi.
By John Ngarachu
Roadworks across the city will soon create a motorist’s paradise in Nairobi. Already, Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway, Enterprise Road, among others, have been re-carpeted and traffic flow is smoother.
Other major roads and intersections, such as the Globe Cinema Roundabout and University Way, are under construction. But it is a new Thika Road and the bypasses — the Eastern and the Western — that will have the most impact on Nairobi’s jams.
The bypasses will feed inter-city traffic away from the Central Business District while a rebuilt Thika Road will shorten journey times and cut the endless hours spent in jams. But the modernisation of the city’s road network comes at a terrible cost for those who were so unwise as to build their dream homes and business premises on bypass land and road reserves.
Large scale demolition has started of buildings which are on the Northern bypass, the provision for which was made more than 30 years ago. Flats, churches, bungalows and part of a school bearing the Roads ministry’s white or yellow cross are to be pulled down.
In Kahawa West, the Nation on Thursday witnessed construction workers pulling down the same buildings they helped put up a few years ago. The demolition notices have long expired, but the sight of earthmovers on the opposite ridge prompted the owners to hire workers to pull down the buildings.
Kongo area in Kahawa West is now strewn with the remains of buildings and the workers hack away at what is left with pick axes, giant hammers and shovels. “We agree with some owners to sell what we can salvage to pay ourselves. Others pay us a daily rate. A lot of money has been lost here,” said a worker at one of the sites.
The degree of “luck” varies — those putting up buildings in other areas simply move the materials while their more unfortunate counterparts lose everything. There is hardly any resistance to the demolition order. The Northern bypass connects Limuru Road to Thika Road, starting at Ruiru through Kahawa West, Thome Estate, Runda, Closeburn Farm and to Ruaka shopping centre.
The road is linked to the Eastern bypass, which starts at Wellington Hospital and runs through Mwiki, joining Mombasa Road next to City Cabanas Restaurant. The Northern bypass is 39 km long while the Eastern bypass is 31 km. The total 70 km stretch is designed to ease congestion in the city centre.
Inmates at the Naivasha Maximum Security Prison at a training session. Photo/ FILE
By ERIC MUTAI
Posted Thursday, March 11 2010 at 22:30
Can you imagine being treated like a valued guest at a Kenyan prison? For a long time, Kenyans have equated going to prison with a death sentence.
But this is slowly changing as the Embu Prison has taken the first step to making their guests feel valued. This follows a three-week training on customer care and public relations. The training is going on now.
Penal institution
Kenyan prisons, ranked among the worst penal institutions in the world, have been accused of failing to deal with cholera and how to handle its “customers”. Rooms that were built to accommodate 20 inmates hold up to 70 prisoners or more.
The food, sanitary conditions and sleeping conditions are no better. Two prisoners share a 3 by 6 mattress. From Naivasha to Nyeri and Kamiti, the conditions are the same. On cleanliness, Prisons authorities have been accused of responding in a mere fire-fighting gesture instead of seeking long-term solutions.
Cholera, health experts say, is a consequence of poor hygiene and sanitation. That is why, medics add, it hits prisons and slums where living conditions are appalling. Over the last two years, the Kenya Prisons Service has captured negative headlines.
A few years ago, warders staged a countrywide strike paralysing the entire justice system for two days. They were demanding better pay and working conditions. The government responded by sacking nine senior prison officers it accused of plotting a mutiny although they moved to court to challenge the move.
In November last year, some 18 inmates died after contracting cholera at Kamiti jail. Before that, warders from the same penal institution were captured on camera bludgeoning inmates. The offenders were being punished after being found with various contraband items during a search. Following the incident in which nude inmates were captured crying while being clobbered senseless, the boss of the facility was transferred.
The Embu prison boss, Mr Aggrey Onyango, said that the training will impart skills on wardens to enable them uphold professionalism in their duties while respecting the public and the prisoners. The officer said they were aiming at creating a positive image to the outside world, adding that warders had dropped their ruthless reputation.
“Our officers must be able to relate well with the prisoners so that we rehabilitate them as per our mandate. We are undertaking reforms to change our image,” he said. The course has been organised by the Prisons and the Government Training Institute. Warders undergoing the course complained that their welfare had been neglected at a time when that of prisoners was being prioritised.
Worse conditions
They particularly want their pay improved. The warders have since independence lived under worse conditions than the prisoners. In some staff quarters, for example, the warders live in mud-wall huts labelled prison officers’ quarters. They complained that they do not have a union to express their grievances to the employer. Mr Onyango said that public officers should be made to improve their interpersonal skills, adding, the Embu prison now welcomes outsiders.
In a phone interview with the Nation, Mr Onyango said the training was triggered by the prison reforms that were introduced by former Vice-President Moody Awori. He said that he wants people to be proud to be associated with prison, adding that prisons were now open to scrutiny by interested groups.
Kenya's Ann Njogu receives the International Women of Courage Award at the State Department in Washington as she is flanked by US First Lady Michelle Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Ambassador Melanne Verveer,
Fellow recipients of the IWOC Awards 2010,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen;
All protocols observed.
It is a great honor and humbling experience to be here to receive this award tonight. Great because this is a distinguished award that is dedicated to honoring women who have made a contribution globally and humbling because I am only aware that without the many women with whom I have had the privilege to work with at the grassroots in Kenya, it would not have been possible to celebrate anything much less for me to be here with you tonight. It is for this reason that I want to dedicate the award to all those women in Kenya who have simply refused to give up the hope for a better Kenya.
I am talking about the woman from the urban shanties who has to wake up at 4.00am every morning to walk 20 miles to and 20 miles back from the market to fetch groceries to come back and sell the whole day to make a dollar; the woman who has to take care of her 7 children all alone or the one who has to fend for her 10 kids with her jobless and abusive husband all living in a one room shanty house;
To the rural poor who has to till tired ground to eke out a living to sustain a clan; to take her little daughter to school and avoid early marriage in the hope of breaking the vicious cycle of poverty and abuse;
To the young girl who has to brave taunts from classmates to attend schools even when her dress is messed up by her menses because she cannot afford the benefit of modern hygiene such as sanitary pads which are no novelty in the developed world;
I am talking about the woman in the Kenyan urban shanties and rural poor who has to endure the terror of local chiefs and the extortion and abuse of local police every single waking day just to get along with their lives; women who pay tax to maintain these government officials but have no voice to control them or hold them to account because their MPs are too busy stealing from them or plotting on the next electoral violence to care. These are the women I work with every single day.
But I am also talking about the middle class woman who is starting to ask hard questions about our social and economic inequalities; the young executive who has started discarding the notion that the public space is male space; or that it is only bad girls that venture into politics; for we know that unless a new breed of leaders committed to a new kind of ethics and values that celebrate merit, excellence, service and accountability take over leadership, or unless by divine intervention those currently in power are transformed, my generation’s sad story will be the story of my daughter’s generation. And the generations after.
It is a combination of this fear and the inspiration I see in the eyes of mama mboga as she works through the day in the dusty shanty towns in Nairobi or as she toils away in the sun baked earth of Machakos that gives me the drive to keep going inspite of the unrelenting repression of government and police brutality. One of the great paradoxes of my country is that we have a government elected “democratically” but which is habitually undemocratic; a creature of movements such as ours but which has shown bad manners in dealing with those who seek to hold it against its promises.
Kenya’s story is part of the sad African story. But in that story a new story is evolving, the story of a people who are determined to make a clean break from the terrible legacy of unaccountable leadership and predatory governments; a story of people who are increasingly rejecting ethnic and political patronage in favor of democratic and accountable government; a story of people who are seeking transformation and not sedation through welfare; and it is a story of people who know that in Africa, we’ve got all the wealth we need to raise the continent from grinding poverty, disease and a sense of pervasive hopelessness into a prosperous land. A land from which no young woman or man will want to escape from to be an economic refugee in Europe, the US or anywhere else because it will be a land of opportunity.
It is with this breed of Kenyans and Africans that I identify myself and my work with. It may be the Pioneers for Change, the Women and Youth Alliance, Bunge la Mwananchi, G10, KPTJ, among other progressive movements , but they are all united by one thing; to make sure that the transition in Kenya is substantive and not a vacuous formality. I have dedicated my time and energy at the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness(CREAW) and the Africa Community Development Media (ACDM) to make my contribution towards this great goal. I and my generation feel greatly privileged to be a point in our history where we can make a historic contribution. In this we are greatly motivated by the achievements of the US, the South East Asian Tigers and the economies of Latin America.
This last Friday, 5th march- 2010, I celebrated my 45th birthday away from home . However in the midst of celebrating this personal landmark, two grim realities hit me right in the middle of my eyes. First, back home, my colleagues held a memorial service in remembrance of two of our fallen human rights defenders ; GPO Oulu and Oscar Kingara both executed in cold blood on the same day last year ( – 5th march 2009- ) by state police in broad daylight right outside the University of Nairobi because of their dedication to bring to an end state sponsored terror. Student protests were met with a further execution of one of the students. To date state “investigations” have revealed nothing. It has joined the long list of unresolved politically motivated murders in Kenya. Such is the perilous reality of human rights defenders and the Kenyan public in my country today. The second reality was that my country’s life expectancy has fallen to 44 years. I am therefore lucky to be alive today!
Our Country Kenya
Kenya is indeed a beautiful, great and profound country situated in East Africa with a population of approximately 40 m Kenyans . Ever since we produced and exported the incumbent President of the biggest super power in the world- President Barack Obama, our claim to greatness was vindicated! Yes, We have a track record not just for producing and exporting Presidents , but it is in our country that you find such great names like Wangari Maathai- the environmentalist, our amazing athletes, the very hard working people, the vibrant civil society, rolling mountains and scenery, singing birds, great weather, wonderful natural resources and indeed some of the best tourists destinations in the world! Kenya has the potential to not only feed her people but be the bread basket of the whole continent of Africa- While it can have enough for everyone, poor leadership and governance, corruption, impunity and lack of accountability have determined that there is not enough for a few greedy men and women.
The high levels of inequality have determined that over 70% of the country’s resources are in the hands of a less than 10% of the population while the last 10 % of the population own less than 1% of the country’s resources. It is a country where women provide over 70% of the total labor in the agricultural sector and yet, own less than 5 % of the country’s land. It is a country where over 47 % of the country’s population live below the poverty line earning less than a dollar a day, with 70% of those extremely poor being women. It is a country where the women and youth make the majority of populace and yet remain at the peripherals of decision making- a country that has 89% of its population below 45 years and yet this majority remain marginalized and excluded in governance, decision making et al. It is a country that has been seeking reforms of its key institutions of governance including the constitution but where the said reforms have remained a mirage due to state capture of the said instruments of reform. This enduring legacy has created and fertilized a culture of impunity, abuse and disregard to state institutions of governance, lack of accountability and a culture that disregards international norms and standards of governance and human rights protection. The political system of first by the post , winner takes it all makes elections a life and death matter always in favor of a small very powerful clique of the political class. Many other institutions like the cabinet, parliament, judiciary, police force, military including media and religious institutions have come under total and stifling elite capture. The outcome of this elite capture is a fractured political and social system , absence of transparency and accountability, mismanagement of state institutions and impunity that have eroded the national fabric resulting in serious tensions- Not surprising therefore that between Dec 2007 and March 2008, Kenya faced its worst political and governance crisis yet and almost degenerated to a state of total breakdown of law and order.
The question of police brutality and complicity in perpetrating crime in general and violence against human rights defenders in particular is one of the biggest challenge within the existing Coalition government. The atrocities of the police are well documented; by the state human rights agency KNCHR, UN Rapporteur on Extra judicial killings; the government appointed Commission into Post Election Violence (CIPEV) which recommended a complete overhaul of the police force. earlier on at the conclusion of the Investigations into the Post election Violence by the popularly as the Waki Commission ( CIPEV) – sadly, and instead of implementing the recommendations, the President responded by rewarding the then Commissioner of Police with a new appointment and a promotion for officers implicated in sexual assault and violence against peaceful Kenyan protestors.
The story of GPO Oulo and Oscar Kingara is the story of so many other human rights defenders in Kenya and in countries where there is no respect for human life, rule of law, democracy and accountability. It is the story of so many other human rights defenders who have paid and continue to pay heavy prices for exercising their fundamental and constitutional rights. When human rights activists in Kenya like in other countries like Zimbabwe, have sought accountability from the powers that be, the response of the authorities has been an escalating intransigence and violence, the violence of police dogs, tear gas, “disappearing”, exile, and even death. Like Bishop Desmond Tutu said at the height of apartheid, “ We who advocate peace are becoming an irrelevance when we speak peace. The government speaks rubber bullets, live bullets, tear gas, police dogs, detention, and death”.
It is for this reason that while I humbly accept this award, I dedicate it to all the human rights defenders in Kenya. They are the true champions and heroes of our struggle for change. They continue to put their lives in harm’s way because they are convinced that a different and better Kenya is possible. A different and better Africa is possible and a different and better world is possible. Many of them like Oulu and Oscar have paid the ultimate price. We are tired of being divided, tired of running into ideological vacuums and partisan roadblocks, tired of appeals to our worst instincts and greatest fears.
It is too late to stop this movement. Change must come!
We hear the voice of the people of the United States of America urging us on, we hear the voices of the people of Europe urging us on, we hear the voices of the peoples of the world urging us on; we see the changes taking place all over the world; we see nations rising from poverty and underdevelopment and creating economic miracles and we ask why not in Kenya? Why not in Africa?
We see undemocratic Nations being replaced by democracies and we ask why not in Africa? We see millions being hauled out of early death with benefit of modern medicine and we ask why not in Africa? We read about the immense wealth in the belly of the continent and the endless miseries of the people living above the grounds and again we ask why in Africa? Like Kennedy, I belong to those who believe in the power of a dream. Like him we dream of things that are yet to be and we ask why not?
I understand that it is my duty and that of my generation to replace the present despair with a new hope in the continent of Africa; it is my duty to resist oppression and plant the flag of freedom in every homestead; it is my duty to challenge the massive inequalities that exist in my society and those of all other African states; it is my duty to stand up to grand corruption; to challenge police brutality and complicity in crime; it is my duty to prevent the recurrence of the post election violence in Kenya in the next general election; it is my solemn duty to prevent more and more children from the violence and violations that continue to be visited upon our people; it is my duty because where leaders cease being role models and sources of inspiration, we must turn inwards and look for that inspiration from within ourselves. And we must stand firm in our place in the queue and never drop the ball; it is our duty to pick up the challenge that has rung from DC and across the World, that time is now for a new generation of leaders to emerge and to take the onerous task of completing the change begun 20 years ago to democratize, bring prosperity to our nations and to protect the rights and freedoms of every person in my country and in my continent. It is a call I am willing to accept even if I were alone. For didn’t Rosa Parks shows us right here in the USA the amazing power of a solitary soul committed to end injustice?
A great Kenya for all is possible – for the dignity of (Wo)man and the destiny of democracy.
We want our Country Back!
Thank you all!
Speech given in Washington DC
Ann Njogu
10th March, 2010
Ruth Ayinde-Azeez (formerly Ruth Wambui Mungai) drove a Bentley, took luxury holidays and had £1.6million in her bank accounts
A care home assistant who led a life of luxury by helping her crooked husband launder the profits of a £6 million mortgage con was facing jail today.
Ruth Ayinde-Azeez, 26, lived in a six-bedroom house with 12 plasma televisions and drove a Bentley and Land Rover.
She took holidays in Dubai and the south of France, kept £1.6 million in her bank accounts and blew huge sums at expensive bars and restaurants. But her life was funded by crime, Southwark crown court heard.
Her husband Victor led a mortgage fraud gang which plundered nearly £6 million from high street banks in six weeks.
He “bought” 22 houses around the South-East and, with his accomplices, applied for mortgages from high street lenders including Bradford and Bingley and Abbey National. The paperwork was signed off by crooked solicitors.
When Ayinde-Azeez was arrested, she was about to leave the country after her husband texted her a warning that the police were on their way. He is believed to be abroad.
The Kenyan national was told by Judge Martin Beddoe: “It seems to me that I’m going to have to pass on you a significant sentence, without credit for a guilty plea.”
Kenya faces an acute shortage of kidney specialists with one nephrologist catering for one million people.
This according to Medical Services minister Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o calls for an urgent need to train more kidney specialists to cater for the increasing number of patients in the country.
Prof Nyong’o said that the present ratio of one specialist to one million people was inadequate to sustain the current medical needs of people with kidney ailments.
Speaking during the commemoration of the World Kidney Day at Kenyatta National Hospital, the minister said the number of people suffering from kidney ailments in the country has reached over one million and counting due to improvement in screening and diagnosis of the disease.
“The total number of patients receiving dialysis treatment has increased tremendously,” said the minister, adding that the country needed more nephrologists, paramedics and other health staff to respond to the increasing number of patients.
Prof Nyongo said the country requires at least 10 or 20 nephrologists for every one million people in order to realize Vision 2030 adding that the government recognises the crucial role played by human resources in delivery of health services and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The minister observed that KNH alone has about 150 patients suffering from kidney failure who need dialysis services.
“The government has trained staff and equipped Nakuru, Coast General and the Moi Teaching and Referral hospitals with dialysis machines to ease the burden of dialysis services at KNH,” he added.
He said that government was committed to working in partnership with other development agencies to reduce kidney ailments in the country.
Dr. Jotham Micheni, the KNH director said that the youth account for 60 percent of those suffering from renal ailments in the country and in need of dialysis at the facility.
Dr. Micheni said there was need to prioritize preventive rather than curative measures and urged Kenyans to go for regular screening, adopt healthy lifestyles and take other measures that will keep their kidneys healthier.
He said that the hospital has procured modern dialysis machines and enhanced training capacity by continuously training nephrologists and renal nurses in order to meet the demand for dialysis services.
Nairobi — Provision of free formula milk in public health centres for HIV positive mothers has been halted drawing protests from the women.
The government says the move is aimed at promoting exclusive use of breast milk for the first six months. However, the mothers say the directive is impractical because they cannot afford enough food for themselves to generate milk.
The government says it took the decision after studies showed that survival rates of breast-fed babies born of HIV positive mothers is higher than those on formula milk.
“Several studies have established that there is no difference in HIV transmission between babies on exclusive breastfeeding and those on formula milk,” says Dr Martin Sirengo of the National Aids/STD Control Programme (Nascop).
However, other sources within the health ministries say the government abandoned the free formula milk programme as it could not sustain it financially.
“Some experts argue that since survival of babies on formula and those on exclusive breastfeeding was not significantly different, the most affordable and sustainable option is breastfeeding,” says a source.
To beat the government directive, HIV positive women are now delivering in public hospitals and then enrolling with NGOs to get free formula milk. Donor-funded NGOs are the only ones providing such milk especially to poor women.
“Because I cannot generate enough breast milk, I wean my babies at two months. Six months is unworkable,” said Ms Everlyne Atieno from Mathare North.
Ms Rose Kimanze, who was diagnosed with HIV during her ante-natal visit in 2008, also says the new directive is too harsh. “All along I was convinced that I would pass the virus to my baby if I breastfeed, now the new advice is not making any sense to me,” she says.
The government on the other hand insists it will only promote exclusive breastfeeding under its Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme.
Breastfeeding is culturally acceptable, affordable, and is feasible, especially in cases where the mother has not disclosed her HIV status to the husband and other family members, government officials argue.
“Any decision we take is evidence-based, and we have found children born to HIV positive mothers and who are exclusively breastfed for six months have better chance of survival than those on formula milk,” says Dr John Ong’ech, a reproductive health consultant at Kenyatta National Hospital.
While the government argues that this decision is in the best interest of the woman and the baby, the women think otherwise. “We had been told that those who breastfeed have a 20 per cent chance of passing the virus to the baby. Now why are they telling us to breastfeed?” asks Ms Atieno.
NAIROBI, Kenya, 11 March 2010 – Kenyan young people have been given a say in the future of their country, following the divisive and violent riots that took place in the aftermath of the disputed 2008 elections.
Youth representatives recently had chance to speak out at the launch of Kenya’s National Youth Situation Analysis Report, subtitled ‘We Matter’.
The situation analysis was carried out in 2009 to address the diverse needs of the country’s large youth population, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention states that children and adolescents should participate – “according to their evolving capacities” – in decision-making on issues that affect their lives.
More than 1,000 young people came to the capital from all over Kenya for the launch event. Their songs, drama, poetry and dance filled the room; and their messages were loud and clear, as they eloquently defined their place in the country’s future.
Agents of social change
The post-election crisis of early 2008 – and the role young people played during the violence that engulfed Kenya – underlined the need for an analysis of the role they can play going forward. About half of all Kenyans are under 18 years of age. They are both a tremendous resource for national development and effective agents of sustainable social change.
“My Ministry will use the situation analysis report as a basis for youth development planners and partners to come up with new and far-reaching interventions in Kenya,” said Assistant Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Wavinya Ndeti.
UNICEF Representative in Kenya Dr. Olivia Yambi congratulated the 1,000 young people who contributed to the analysis. “UNICEF thanks you for targeting your efforts and energies into coming up with a report that outlines priorities and recommendations that best serve your interests,” she said.
‘Gateways to our future’
Young people were unified in identifying the key issues that affect them: education, employment, quality health care, security, governance, gender equality and recreation.
Their joint statement outlined an optimistic, united view of the future:
“Nothing is predestined; the obstacles of our past can become gateways to our future. The views in this report are proof that we can break the ground; we have the will power, we are fired up and committed individuals, out only to make a difference in our country. Let it forever be known that our strength shall never again be used to destroy, but rather to build our nation.”
