Wanjiru and his carpenter father

OL KALAU, Kenya, May 27 – Just about two weeks after the death of Olympic  Marathon Champion Samuel Wanjiru, another man has emerged claiming to be his  biological father.

Fifty six year-old Lucas Kamotho Kameri claimed to  have sired the marathoner after they met with his mother Hannah Wanjiru at her  home in Matura village, Ol-Kalou division of Nyandarua North district.

The carpenter and a power saw operator said that he is the one who brought up  the marathoner throughout his primary education and even facilitated his travel  to Japan as a teenager and even produced family photos as proof of his  claims.

The latest development emerged even as Wanjiru’s mother publicly  denounced ex-military man Elijah Chebon as her son’s biological father.  Mr  Chebon, from Kabarnet, claimed that he met the athlete’s mother in Nanyuki in  1985.

Another man, Peter Kimani Kirihinya who hails from Kiambu County  had also claimed brought up the athlete but admitted he was not the biological  father.

Mr Kameri shocked Ol-Kalou Township on Thursday when he emerged  with family photographs of him, Wanjiru and the mother during their happy  moments. He said that he met her at a church function in 1985 after which love  bonded them.

“We became good friends and it developed into something  else. Our love culminated when we were blessed with a son out of the  relationship. Samuel Kamau was named after his grandfather,” he said.

The  carpenter said that they separated after their “son” joined full time athletics  and started moving out of the country for international meetings.

“I did  not have a job then and my parents could not afford to take care of him either.  She pulled out of the relationship since they were well up,” he observed.

Displaying the young Wanjiru’s photos while training at Nyahururu stadium,  Mr Kameri said that he used to take part of the earnings from his timber  business to the mother until the son grew up.

“I had been providing for  the family with the meagre earnings that I used to earn from the timber business  until the baby went to primary school. He knew me as his father and their only  breadwinner,” he said.

The ‘father’ said that they have lived as good  friends with Hannah Wanjiru until recently when Wanjiru started earning from  athletics.

When contacted over the matter, Ms Wanjiru said that she knew  Mr Kameri but declined to comment on his paternity claims.

Mr Kameri now  wants a DNA test to be done to prove that he is the real biological father. He  further claimed that all the property that Wanjiru owned should be left under  his care according to the Kikuyu custom.

He said that Wanjiru had  promised to even buy for him a lorry to do business when he visited him in  December.

Asked if he knew Wanjiru’s genuine wife, Kameri said that he  only recognised Triza Njeri as he is the one who went to her home to report that  they had been married.

Mr Kameri says he has since remarried and had been  blessed with five other children.

Read more:  http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Wanjiru%3A-Carpenter-claims-he-is-the-real-father-12966.html#ixzz1NYb5rN7M

Time was when getting a dose of decent entertainment in Nairobi entailed playing truant from school and pitching up at city clubs for the popular Saturday afternoon ‘boogies’.

Exhilarating and enlivened with strobe lights, the boogies offered fare that was served sizzling hot by the heart-throbs of the day, including such greats as Kelly Brown, Steele Beauttah and a burly guy named Kelly the Bushman.

Ah, but how the times have changed!

In today’s Nairobi, entertainment has become big business, with milliard entertainment spots spreading out in concentric circles from the city centre. Thanks to a probably exaggerated sense of insecurity, the latter is  given a wide berth by many paranoids.

No such exaggerated concerns for the revellers of yesteryear, whose preferred venues were such places as the Hallians Club on Moi Avenue, Arcadia on Koinange Street and lesser joints like Club Camey, nestled somewhere near Jeevanjee Gardens.

As for the then more discerning revellers, there was always hot action at Robbie Armstrong’s Starlight Club up Valley Road.

Fashioned from a converted church, it was ironically located where Integrity House, the headquarters of the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission stands.

As it happened, the good old Robbie’s club did have a decent amount of integrity, and was certainly the place to be if you thought you had a modicum of class.

Most entertainment joints of the day had an arguably well-earned reputation for sleaze, however, and were generally crowded, raucous and smoke-filled affairs, not particularly palatable for the virtuous.

Consequently, the young and restless who made a beeline there had to ensure that their mums did not know exactly where they were.

The clubs were affordable, though, and were the sort of places where teenage boys learnt how to hold down their drinks, even as their sisters let their hair hang down with total abandon, while picking up a trick or two about how to avoid having babies while still in school.

No such cares for today’s sophisticated and fastidious new middle class, with its huge leisure budgets. For this set, the prime fun spots are conveniently located in easily accessible bustling suburbs, such as Westlands, Langata, Hurlingham and so on.

Loaded with dispensable income or misplaced priorities, the young-at-heart and hot-blooded members of this class are naturally hedonistic. In their exclusive playgrounds, it is a sin to be seen anywhere where a beer costs less than say Sh200, almost more than double what it would cost in less shiny joints.

Prepared to pay about the same amount for a glass of wine, these privileged revellers are not hoi polloi, definitely. For a modest meal at their haunts, expect to fork out Sh1,500 sir, and considerably more if you’re into such culinary delights as sea food.

Clearly, the regulars in these up-market joints are a select, privileged lot, the progeny of wealthy golf-playing mums and dads, members of the elite political, economic and social sets. For their pampered heirs, then, revelling is a priority, an almost daily necessity in their easy lives.

Stylish and nonchalant in the extreme, they’re spoilt for choice, and are ostentatious to a fault. They sport the latest designer wear, while flaunting everything they’ve got, including the chic, adoring and eager female company they hang around with.

Not surprisingly, they will not be seen dead driving machines that cost less than, say, a million shillings, and fitted with psychedelic lights and pricey music systems.  You got to make heads turn, you know.

No such frills in the more marginal zones of the city. Still, on any given Friday evening – dubbed members’ day in these climes – throngs set out in search of respite from the nasty realities of city life.

Seized with a palpable frenzy to get to the nearest entertainment points, their numbers are probably greater than those of the worshippers who head for city churches on Sunday.

The pursuit of devil-may-care fun probably has something to do with the relentless demands of the tough economic times.

Ultimately, the entertainment industry provides the sorely needed refuge from the tedium, isolation and nagging solitude of city life. It also provides the opportunity for the individual to socialise and have a sense of belonging.

In Nairobi’s poorer neighbourhoods, momentary escape from claustrophobic homes is routine, as is serious boozing, regarded by many as the essential condition for survival in today’s world. Most revellers also go for the generous displays of raw flesh provided by succulent little things dressed to the bare minimum.

Forget pole dancing; today the enticing sisters tease male patrons out of their wits by vigorously and suggestively wriggling on their laps. While at it, the unabashed lasses come frightfully close to the real thing, which is surprisingly usually forthcoming at the well-publicised and seemingly innocuous rugby festivals along Ngong Road.

There, youthful female rugby fans are ten a penny, and are usually raring to shake what their mamas gave them. Any famished male is game, before, during and after the evening disco.

Naughty entertainment is also the stuff of the one-man band shows, where original lyrics are routinely twisted into extremely pornographic versions. For obvious reasons, not quite the sort of events you want to attend with your mother-in-law.

Ditto those ubiquitous karaoke events, where shrill-voiced girls relentlessly assault your eardrums, while imagining they’re the world’s next singing sensations.

No-go too are those dingy joints off Koinange Street where stomping wanna-be Bob Marleys turned out in dreadlocks and authentic Rasta colours to flaunt their stuff; where if you sniff the air hard enough you might just detect the ganja that fuels them.

For mum-in-law, theatre is still alive and kicking in Nairobi and probably the best option. Be careful though, lest you find yourself dragging her to watch The Vagina Monologues at some foreign cultural centre.

Instead, try the Carnivore Restaurant, where cultural evenings are staged practically on any weekend evening. Good, clean and rewarding cultural fare for her there. Only make sure you outfit her with appropriate ear plugs to douse the raucous din and shrill screams of ecstatic turned-on female revellers.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/DN2/Nairobi+nights++/-/957860/1169936/-/dd7a3e/-/index.html

A July 2009 report by the African Centre for Open Governance (Africog) warned Mr Devani enjoyed good political connections. In this file photo Mr Yagnesh Devani (second right) is with from left Prime Minister Raila Odinga, former Vice-President Moody Awori and Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta when Triton company launched its operations in Kenya in 2006. Photo/FILE

The proprietor of Triton Petroleum Ltd Yagnesh Devani was arrested in London on Thursday.

“I can confirm that he was arrested earlier today and he has been remanded in custody,” the British High Commission in Kenya spokesperson, Mr John Bradshaw, said in Nairobi.

However, Mr Bradshaw said it was not yet known when the suspect would be extradited to face fraud charges.

“The court is yet to set the date for extradition hearing before he is brought back,” he said.

It is during that hearing that the formal request for extradition and all the supporting documents shall be put forward.

On Monday, a British minister assured the government that his country would hunt down Devani — the man behind the Sh7.6 billion Triton oil scandal — and extradite him to face justice in Kenya.

Earlier, the British minister asked the government to extradite Nambale MP Chris Okemo and former Kenya Power and Lighting Company boss Samuel Gichuru to the UK to face money-laundering charges.

Attorney General Amos Wako has submitted arrest warrants against Mr Okemo and Mr Gichuru to Chief Public Prosecutor Keriako Tobiko to start the extradition process.

Criminal procedure code

Mr Devani fled the country in 2009 following the Triton Oil scandal. The government sought the help of Interpol to track him down.

He had been charged in absentia for stealing Sh955,334,094  from Kenya Commercial Bank, and 26,216.60 tonnes of oil at the Kipevu storage facility in Mombasa valued at Sh1,532,272,140.

The criminal case against him was later withdrawn under Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This means the same charges can be brought against him again.

The scandal can be traced to 2008 when Triton Oil Company was allowed by Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to collect oil valued at Sh7.6 billion and sell it without permission of the financiers.

In the wake of the fuel shortage witnessed in 2008 and following complaints by oil marketers and financiers, KPC ordered an internal audit of oil stocks in its systems.

The audit revealed that stocks amounting to 126.4 million litres were irregularly released to Triton Petroleum Limited between November 2007 and November 2008.

Triton was not entitled to the stocks, nor did financiers authorise the release as required under contractual arrangements.

A July 2009 report by the African Centre for Open Governance (Africog) warned Mr Devani enjoyed good political connections.

“Triton’s executive chairman and managing director, Mr Yagnesh Mohanlal Devani has been described as a shrewd 43 year-old businessman who lives large and hobnobs with the high and mighty. A 2006 ceremony to open Triton’s LPG depot was attended by political bigwigs, including then Vice-President Moody Awori, several cabinet ministers, Hon. Raila Odinga, Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, and several permanent secretaries,” Africog observed.

Mr Devani’s ties with the powers that be started during the Moi regime when Triton clinched the lucrative contract to supply petroleum products to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company several times.

Triton was also among the firms named in Parliament over allegations of money laundering. The firm is alleged to have received suspicious loans from Charterhouse Bank.

Mr Devani fled the country in 2009 and a warrant of his arrest issued.

Mr Devani was accused of stealing Sh2.7 billion from KCB.

The bank has also sued Triton for Sh2 billion for oil imports secured by the bank through debentures.

Several of his senior managers and workers including Mr Peter Kimathi, Mr William Mundia and Mr Sunil Somai were charged with criminal offences relating to the Sh7.6 billion oil scandal.

The directors, however, argued before court that they could not take plea on behalf of the company, and on Thursday a Nairobi court ruled that the three would not be facing criminal charges.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenyan+tycoon+in+Sh7+billion+Triton+fraud+arrested+/-/1056/1170212/-/ac3nd0z/-/index.html

A woman carries her belongings as she leaves her makeshift house which is made with clay, at Kibera slum in Nirobi September 16, 2009. REUTERS/Noor Khamis

NAIROBI, KENYA – In the narrow corridors of the  Majengo slums in eastern Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, a group of  light-skinned women sit outside a house in the morning. A man approaches  and together they disappear inside the house.

A  woman, Mama Njeri, who sells fruit across the road from the house, says  the women are prostitutes and that they have been running their  business there since she set up her fruit stand three years ago.

“[These]  women are not Kenyans,” she says. “They are Tanzanians from Bukoba.  When they leave their country, they tell their family that they are  coming in Kenya to do business. At the end of the year, they go back to  their country, but their families don’t know what kind of business they  do.”

But she says there aren’t just Tanzanian prostitutes in the area.

“We also have Kenyans who are also doing the same job,” she says.

Before  long, the man who entered the house re-emerges. Sweating, he runs away  from the house as if he were being chased. Mama Njeri says it’s because  most of the prostitutes’ clients are married men and the house is near a  popular market, so the men fear that someone will recognize them. She  says some of the women are married, too.

During  a three-hour span, about 20 men visit the house. Mama Njeri says that  the police are aware of what is happening at the house, but the  prostitutes pay them a monthly allowance to leave them alone.

Eric  Kiraithe, a spokesman for the police department, denied the claim  saying there have been no reports of police accepting bribes from  prostitutes.

Wambugu, who declined  to give his full name, says the women pay him and other men a monthly  fee of 3,000 shillings, $35 USD, to protect them from clients who  sometimes refuse to pay after they have slept with them.

”This  is a job like other job,” Wambugu says. “[These] women have families  who depend on them, and as you may have noticed, life is very hard in  Kenya.”

The rising cost of living in  Kenya is forcing some women to turn to prostitution to raise enough  money for their families to survive – and it’s no secret. Local and  national medical experts aim to curb the spread of HIV, as regional  authorities blame conflicting police divisions and political instability  for continued prostitution here. But labor experts say the bigger  problem is cost of living and that the government’s increase of the  minimum wage this month is not enough to combat it.

Statistics  are unavailable for the number of prostitutes in Nairobi. But the  number of Kenyans living with HIV has risen anywhere from 1.3 million to  2 million from 2001 to 2007, according to the World Health  Organization.

The annual rate of  inflation in Kenya is 10 percent, according to UNICEF statistics from  2001 to 2009. But inflation has soared since then, with prices  increasing more than 100 percent between 2010 and 2011, according to  Central Organization of Trade Unions, COTU, Kenya’s main trade union  that aims to protect workers’ rights.

One woman Wambugu protects is Sarah Njeri, 31, a mother of three children – one girl and two boys.

As  Njeri, who is not related to Mama Njeri, prepares rice and beans for  lunch, her youngest child waits outside the house. Finally, a woman  tells the girl her mother doesn’t have a client and that she is allowed  to go inside. Njeri says her daughter knows not to knock when the door  is closed because it means her mom has a client.

Her daughter eats lunch quietly then returns to school.

Njeri,  originally from central Kenya, says she came to Nairobi to look for  better life with her first two children after her parents died two years  ago. She says her brothers chased her from her parents’ house because,  according to the Kikuyu ethnic group’s customs, a woman may not inherit  anything from parents.

She had her  youngest daughter with her husband, Bernard Wesonga, whom she met in  Nairobi. Njeri says he knows that she works as a prostitute.

”My husband knows so long as I use protection we [are] safe,” she says.

She  says that for 30 minutes, the women charge men who wear condoms 100  shillings, $1.15 USD, and men who don’t wear condoms 500 shillings,  $5.80 USD.

“This job is not easy,”  she says. “I have been sick for some time due to back and chest problem,  and when you are sick it means loss of money. Sometime[s] I have to do  it even when [I] am sick.”

She says  she wakes up at 5 a.m. and starts the job immediately after her children  and husband leave for school and work. She says the earlier you start  the better because you can make a lot of money before the other women  begin.

Unlike many women in the  prostitution business, Njeri also has another part-time job at a coffee  plantation factory, where she earns 200 shillings, $2.30 USD, per day.  She says she must walk to the factory, which is almost 1,000 kilometers  away, because public transportation is too expensive. She says the  coffee factory employs her for two-week stints punctuated by two weeks  at home.

”My work does not give me  enough money to support my family,” says Njeri, who has been a sex  worker since June 2010. “That is why I opted to do prostitution to be  able to cater for my family.”

Her husband used to work at the coffee factory, where they met, but was laid off in August 2009.

“For three months, the whole family was depending on me,” she says.

He now works for a Chinese contractor, but his job isn’t full-time either.

“My  husband is also not employed permanently,” she says. “He earns almost  250 shilling[s], [$2.90 USD] per day. That is not enough given that food  is very expensive in Kenya and we also have to pay house rent.”

Njeri  says her children understand that she has to do the job so that they  can have food on the table and go to school. She says that as long as  her family has food, she doesn’t consider quitting sex work. In a month,  she earns 30,000 shillings, $350 USD.

Njeri  says she is concerned about her health. Every Wednesday, Njeri and the  other women take off from prostitution to visit the nearby Pumwani  dispensary for counseling and condoms. Njeri says she isn’t HIV-positive  but that those who are also receive antiretroviral drugs in the  hospital.

Dr. Joshua Karega, the  doctor in charge of the Pumwani dispensary, says Wednesday is normally  set aside for counseling and HIV testing. He says that the area has  recorded a steep rise in HIV, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted  diseases since 2001. He says the prostitutes have told him during  counseling sessions that their clients used to be from out of town but  now include young men who say that it’s cheaper to sleep with a  prostitute than date a girl, thanks to high unemployment.

He  says that the Ministry of Health is doing nothing about the rising  rates but that the dispensary is trying to work with the government to  conduct a public bazaar to elicit solutions from area residents.

Regina  Ombam, head of strategy for the National AIDS Control Council, the  government body tasked with developing policies, strategies and  guidelines to prevent and control AIDS, emphasizes the practical  measures being taken to reduce prostitution here.

“Practical  measures such as HIV testing and counseling[,] treatment of [STIs,]  campaigns to combat stigma and discrimination[,] and the efforts to  promote gender equality and equitable distribution of resource[s] are  also required if cases such as prostitution in the area is to reduce,”  Ombam wrote in an e-mail.

Kiraithe says the police are being educated on HIV.

The  prostitutes operate just 100 kilometers from the chief’s camp – the  area government offices – a mosque and a church. COTU headquarters is  also nearby.

Francis  Atwoli, COTU secretary-general, says the women have been there for many  years, and as others die, they bring in new women. He says that he has  tried to discuss the issue with the area member of Parliament, MP, but  nothing has been done.

The area MP,  Simon Mbugua, was removed from office earlier this year after the court  nullified his 2007 win because of election malpractice. The candidates  campaigning for his spot in the election at the end of this month are  running on platforms to improve housing and employment and to send the  Tanzanians back to their country.

Atwoli  says the government needs to install a mechanism to enforce Section 154  of the Kenyan Penal Code, which makes prostitution a felony.

Samuel  Karega, the area chief, who is not related to Joshua Karega, says that  Section 155 of the Kenyan Penal Code enables magistrates to issue police  a warrant to enter and search houses where they suspect prostitution is  taking place and to arrest any prostitutes they find.

But  Karega says that enforcing the laws on prostitution is difficult  because of conflicting police divisions. He says the Administrative  Police say they are being undermined because they arrest the women but  then the Kenyan Police release them on bail instead of bringing their  cases to court.

‘’Some in the police  is responsible for the action and activities that are being undertaken  here in Majengo because the women bribe the police,” he says. “It’s very  difficult for even me to gain the support of removing the women in this  area.”

Kiraithe of the Kenyan  Police says that the government has been introducing police reforms to  educate the officers on new laws and create a police union where they  can discuss salary raises to motivate them to do their jobs without  accepting bribes.

“The issue of high  cost of living is affecting everybody in the country at the moment, and  engaging in unlawfully practices will not be tolerated,” he says. “The  police have to do their job without fear or favor, and the law must be  enforced at all times.”

Atwoli also  says that the Kenyan government should attack the root of the problem –  the rising cost of living facing the general population. He has  proposed increasing the minimum wage by 60 percent and general wages by  at least 10 percent in order to cushion all workers against rising  costs.

According to the price survey  conducted by COTU for selected consumer products and services, prices  have increased, on average, by 107 percent between 2010 and 2011. Atwoli  says issues like prostitution and insecurity will continue to rise  because the Kenyan government uses a poor consumer’s price indices   method  and argues that the prices  of basic  commodities  purchased  by  low-income  workers are too high.

“[The]  majority of the youth in Kenya are jobless, and the government has  always promised to cater for the needs of the youth,” he says. “It’s  high time that the government considers putting the needs of the youth  in the top agenda if they want issues like insecurity, HIV/AIDS, poverty  to reduce in the country.”

Labor  Minister John Munyes announced on Kenya’s Labor Day, celebrated earlier  this month, a 12.5-percent raise in the minimum wage to combat the  rising inflation.

But labor unions, which had demanded a 60-percent increase, say they are not satisfied.

COTU  called for a strike on May 23 but froze this plan after the government  agreed to more talks. Atwoli also demands that the government reduce the  price of food.

According to the  government, many factors are out of its control. The political turmoil  in the Arab world, the fall of the Kenyan shilling against international  currencies, and the rising insurance and shipping costs because of  Somali piracy are the main factors that have driven up oil prices and  led to the high cost of living in the country, according to the  government.

Source: http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/high-cost-of-living-in-kenya-forces-women-into-prostitution

Nyeri town is on the fast lane of development as many institutions of higher learning set up satellite centres in the town, prompting development of hostels and other facilities. Above, an investor is putting up a hostel near Kimathi University College of Technology, which is outsourcing student accommodation. Joseph Kanyi

The government policy of delinking admission from bed capacity in universities and technical institutions is spurring rapid growth of property development in the country.

The policy aims at mobilising private sector resources in expanding the current bed capacity, freeing learning institutions to focus on their core business of education.

This is expected to help boost enrolment by an estimated 10 per cent in universities and 60 per cent in technical institutions.

With eight new constituent colleges set to receive full university status, and several technical institutions about to be upgraded to polytechnics, demand for student accommodation is set to skyrocket signalling great times for developers.

The constituent colleges are the main beneficiaries of the new policy since most do not have adequate capacity to accommodate their full student intakes.
Established universities are also expected to utilise the policy to cater for the increased intakes.

The optimistic outlook for developers is further boosted by the anticipated double intake which is expected to put a strain on institutional resources especially student accommodation which requires intensive capital injection to put up. Double intake will reduce the two year wait for secondary school leavers  joining university.

Bed capacity is expected to have expanded considerably by 2015 when the first group of beneficiaries of free primary education joins university.
Kimathi University College of Technology located in Nyeri, a constituent college of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology is one of the few institutions that is pioneering  the new policy.

According to the principal, Prof J N Kioni, the institution made a strategic decision to fully implement the policy and outsource student accommodation when it enrolled its first degree students in 2007.
The fledgling university college chose to focus all resources on education facilities and collaborate with investors and developers in the area to put up accommodation facilities.

“We couldn’t invest in accommodation. We focused on education facilities such as workshops, a library and lecture halls,” said Prof Kioni.

Initially, investors were sceptical about the project’s long term sustainability since no other university was doing this, noted Prof Kioni.

But with time, investors have risen to the challenge and have pumped hundreds of millions into developing hostel facilities.

“Some of them have invested heavily and have put up excellent facilities which are even better than what we have in other universities,” noted Prof Kioni.

To ensure developers construct quality facilities, the university college provides them with standard designs which guide them on the type of facilities required.

The hostels are required to provide adequate room space, beds and mattresses, wardrobes, clothes washing and hanging facilities, studying areas, adequate sanitation, entertainment areas and should meet required safety standards. The university college has set up an accreditation team which inspects new hostels and accredits them, allowing them to be recommended to parents and students.

“Facilities near the institution are always fully booked while others which are as far as 6 kilometres from the institution regularly receive students every semester,” noted Prof Kioni.

Students living in accredited hostels far from the university college receive subsidised transport from the institution’s fleet of buses.  Mr Robert Njau one of the developers who has put up hostel facilities for students notes that the system being used by the institution is helping to promote the whole area’s development.

“The university is making the whole town to grow because it is bringing so many people here. Everyone is benefiting— from the shoe shiner, the hotel owners to those who have accommodation,” noted Mr Njau.

According to Prof Kioni, there is still huge potential for investors since the current population of 3,000 students is expected to reach 5,000 by end of 2012.

Expanding workforce

An expanding workforce which currently stands at 400 also provides big potential for developers due to their housing needs.  The institution, along with other constituent colleges is also expected to receive full university status, heralding even better prospects for investors.   The value of land near the institution has as a result of the developments shot up by more than 500 per cent since the institution started.

Mr Joseph Kihara, a real estate agent notes that “a quarter of an acre is now going for more than Sh1 million up from Sh200,000 a few years earlier.” According to Mr Kihara, formerly idle land near the institution has now become attractive to investors, due to the new facilities.

“The hostels are improving development and making some of these rural places very attractive. One can now invest in these places,” said the estate agent.
Other institutions such as Nairobi University, Kenyatta University, and the Kenya Methodist University which are opening branches in town are also pushing up demand for hostel accommodation in the area.

The Kenya Institute of Management which is also increasing its student intake every year relies on hostels to host its students. Ms Eunice Mureithi the Nyeri branch executive noted that accommodation has been a big challenge for the institution.

“More than 50 per cent of our students are girls and need good accommodation so we have to shop around for hostels and then avail the information to students,” noted Ms Mureithi.   According to the branch executive, competition among hostel accommodation providers has served to lift standards. Some developers are providing free internet, good studying facilities, and several meal options in order to attract students.

Other businesses that are benefiting from the new institutions are hotels, transporters, computer service providers and general shops.

The high cost of some of the facilities is however posing a major challenge to the system, with prices ranging from Sh3,000 to Sh5,000 per student per month which includes meals.

Some of the students who are eager to save are consequently going for unaccredited hostels or are renting out general houses in the area and sharing out rent and other general expenses.

Challenges faced

Ms Mureithi, noted that some parents find the costs too high and cannot afford.   Providing meals for students is also a major challenge for the developers since for most it involves venturing into a line they do not have any experience in. Some are opting to outsource meal provision to hotels.

Another challenge is the pressure which is being exerted on already overstretched rental housing as some landlords convert their rental facilities to hostels.  “Some landlords are converting from rental houses into hostels which is exerting more pressure on housing facilities,” noted Mr Kihara.  The seasonality of students is also a major challenge to some investors who require predictable revenue flows.

“Every semester we used to begin looking for new students because the others had gone home and only a few had come back,” said Mr Duncan Kinyua who had to close down his 160 bed hostel facility due to inconsistent revenue flows.

“I have now reconverted back to tenant houses since I want to have predictable flows in income,” said Mr Kinyua.

Despite the initial teething problems the system is facing, it is still a major boost to the tertiary education system in Kenya and marks another success in the ongoing public private partnership being implemented by government.

Source: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539546/1168630/-/nepyie/-/index.html

Photo/PMPS Prime Minister Raila Odinga meets the Governor of Florida Rick Scott in Florida, US April 14, 2011

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Wednesday dazzled Parliament by acknowledging that he was accommodated in the Presidential Suite of a plush US hotel which an MP said cost the taxpayer Sh602,000 ($7,000) a night.

Mr Odinga said he was booked at the super-luxurious Waldorf Astoria in New York City during a recent business trip.

He was in the US for 10 days with a delegation of ministers, permanent secretaries, MPs and other officials.

Mr Odinga was responding to Mr Joshua Kutuny (Cherangany, ODM) who wanted him to confirm that he stayed at the hotel.

Mr Kutuny also tabled the hotel’s rates, which were not contested.

The PM told the House that most delegates to the United Nations stayed at the Waldorf Astoria during meetings at the UN headquarters and, as Kenya’s Prime Minister, MPs should not expect him to “stay at some backstreet hotel”.

Mr Kutuny said that the government forked out $7,000 for the Prime Minister while the rest of the delegation paid $4,500 (Sh387,000) per night.

It is not clear if Mr Odinga and his delegation had reservations for all the 10 days given that the trip took him to Florida, Washington DC and Massachusetts.

Like Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, the Prime Minister is entitled to a presidential suite on his foreign visits.

Mr Odinga said the responsibility of booking hotels lay with the ambassadors in the countries government officials visited.

“Each government department normally meets the travel and accommodation cost of its officers on official travel abroad,” the Prime Minister said in his 45-minute weekly address to Parliament.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/1169312/-/7s6auh/-/index.html

Photos/FILE From left: Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Cabinet ministers Charity Ngilu and George Saitoti (PNU chairman) and MP Martha Karua are among key politicians who will be required to quit their positions.

Key politicians, among them eight Cabinet ministers, will soon lose their hold on political parties because they are now required to resign top party positions.

The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution has advised the  Registrar of Political Parties to ensure that ministers, assistant ministers and  MPs do not hold positions in parties.

The commission argues that to do so is to break the new Constitution.

However, it emerged that the ministers occupying top party positions met  early this year and agreed that the provisions which require them to relinquish  their party positions will come into force after 2012.

In a letter dated May 19, 2011 to the Registrar of Political Parties, Ms Lucy Ndungu, the CIC boss Charles Nyachae states that ministers and MPs should not hold party positions since they were State officers.

“We opine that any appointed State officers who are holding offices in  political parties are acting in contravention of the Constitution and penalties  provided in the Constitution are applicable to them,” he said.

He argued in the letters obtained by the Nation that Article 77(2)  prohibits State officers from holding party positions.

It states: “Any appointed State officer shall not hold office in a political  party.”

The article, the CIC noted, came into force immediately the new Constitution  was promulgated on August 27, 2010.

This means that Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta (Kanu chairman), Cabinet  ministers George Saitoti (PNU chairman), Samuel Poghisio (ODM Kenya chairman),  Charity Ngilu (Narc chairperson), Kiraitu Murungi (PNU secretary-general),  Anyang’ Nyong’o (ODM secretary-general) and Mutula Kilonzo (ODM-K  secretary-general) will be required to quit their positions.

Also affected are MPs Martha Karua (Narc Kenya chairperson), Henry Kosgey  (ODM chairman), Moses Wetang’ula (Ford Kenya chairman), Asman Kamama (Narc-K  vice-chairman), Danson Mungatana (Narc-K secretary-general), Eseli Simiyu  (Ford-K secretary general), and Aden Duale (ODM vice-chairman).

“The significance of Article 77(2) is that persons appointed to hold state  offices are prohibited from holding official positions in political parties,”
the CIC boss said.

The letter spares President Kibaki (PNU party leader), Prime Minister Raila  Odinga (ODM party leader), Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka (ODM-K party leader)  and Housing Minister Soita Shitanda (New Ford- party leader) since the positions  they hold are not recognised in party hierarchy.

However, Mr Kilonzo, the Justice and Constitutional Affairs, countered that  current Cabinet ministers were serving under the provisions of the old  Constitution.

He argued that the chapters on the Executive in the old constitution were  still in force — as outlined in section 3 (2) of the Sixth Schedule — and it was  wrong to refer to them as “ State officers” in the sense of the new  Constitution.

“The present Cabinet is serving under the Executive chapters of the old  Constitution until 2012. There are also provisions of the National Accord as  provided for in the Sixth Schedule,” he said.

Mr Kilonzo said ministers who are lawyers met after the new Constitution was  promulgated to discuss the matter and it was unanimously agreed that the  provisions that Mr Nyachae was referring to come into force after 2012.

“I called a meeting of Cabinet ministers who are lawyers to deliberate over  the matter and the common position is that the provisions come into force after  2012. I can speak for them,” he said.

The Justice Minister, however, said he was ready to resign as ODM-K  secretary-general if his colleagues also resigned. “ I am ready to quit if
Saitoti, Kiraitu and Nyong’o also resign.”

The tough position by CIC was taken in response to a request from Ms Ndung’u,  who wanted the Nyachae team to interpret the provisions of the new Constitution  on ministers holding party positions.

A letter dated May 3, 2011 said: “Attached herein is a copy of a letter from  the party seeking guidance on the interpretation of Article 77 (2) of the
Constitution for your comments.”

ODM had written to Ms Ndungu on April 20, 2011, seeking guidance on Article  77, 260 and the Sixth Schedule regarding Cabinet ministers, MPs and other state  officials who want to hold party positions.

“The party is seeking a clarification from your office with regard to the  position of ministers and assistant ministers serving in the coalition
government, members of Parliament and public officers seeking to hold office in  the party organs,” the letter read in part.

Prof Nyong’o said ODM was planning to hold elections as from next week to  ensure that the party organs are in line with the new Constitution. The polls  were called off on Tuesday. (READ: ODM puts  off grassroots polls)

Mr Nyachae advised that ministers and MPs should not vie for party posts in  the pending elections.

He said “no appointed state officer should offer themselves for election  unless they intend to forfeit the State office,” he said.

The CIC lists the President, Deputy President, cabinet secretary, MPs,  secretary to the Cabinet, Attorney General, judges and magistrates, members of  commissions, holder of independent offices, governors and their deputies and  county assembly members as state officers.

Mr Nyachae said whereas politicians could use different interpretations of  the word “appoint” to continue holding party positions, the facts are well  explained in the Constitution.

Mr Nyachae warned that those who contravened the Constitution by holding  party positions risked being dismissed or removed from office.

“Further, a person who has been so dismissed or otherwise removed from office  under these provisions is disqualified from holding any other State office,” he  said.

“It is imperative to note that state officers come into office through  different procedures and terms of service are prescribed by the Constitution or
by legislation including nomination, election, appointment to service or office  on permanent or temporary or paid or unpaid terms among others,” he said.

Source: http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Top+ministers+to+be+stripped+of+party+posts+/-/1064/1168882/-/vsojv7z/-/index.html