A rag tag troop that makes a shame of armed forces - African ...

A bimonthly newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service

October 1 - 15, 2011

ISSUE 048

Read more Reject stories online at www.mediadiversityafrica.org

The elusive cattle rustlersA rag tag troop that makes a shame of armed forces

By Paul Mwaniki

The young men are running, with the cattle ahead of them and police in hot pursuit. They are agile, tall and dark. One of them senses that the police will catch up with him. In the hot sun, he removes his clothes, hides the gun in the bush, and leans back against a dark hot rock.

The paramilitary police chasing after him just pass by where he is leaning. Their eyes hazy from the heat of high temperatures and dust from the sand arid soil. The policemen try run-ning towards the men ahead of them, they have not noticed the men leaning against the rocks. In what seems like a futile effort, they only manage to get cattle that are too tired from be-ing pushed hard. The young men ahead of them disappear, while those leaning against the rock take a different route.

Whenever they have staged a raid, they have left in their wake death and loss in magnitudes that are never accurately measured. They do not care who or what stands on their way because for them the end justifies the means. Their ul-timate aim is to gather as many heads of cattle as possible whenever they set out on a mission.

LivelihoodsThese are the dreaded cattle rustlers who

have proved difficult to tame and a thorn in the flesh despite the Government having set up a para-military department within the police force — anti-stock theft unit — to deal specifi-cally with them.

In the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya, es-pecially in Laikipia, Samburu and Isiolo coun-ties, communities rely on cattle as a source of livelihood. The counties are known to be home to nomads who migrate with families in the search for pasture and water.

The other areas that are also affected by cat-tle rustling include Kuria in Nyanza Province, as the raids are carried out between the border of Kenya and Tanzania. Pokot on the western side of the Rift Valley and Turkana in the north also suffer the consequences of cattle rustling not only among themselves but with commu-nities such as the Merille of Ethiopia and Kar-amoja of Uganda.

The presence of the anti-stock theft police unit in these areas has not stopped communi-ties from carrying out this age old tradition.

While cattle rustling may appear to be spon-taneous the raids do not just happen. They are well thought out and planned many days in ad-vance.

When the raids take place, they not only take away the cattle, but will kill the young men

from the community being attacked who might try to repulse the police who have attempted to follow them. The police despite being armed have also fallen victim to the raiders’ attacks.

Almost every year a considerable number of people are killed and animals stolen by cattle rustlers.

While cultural practices are tagged to cattle rustling, in most areas where it occurs, poverty and very low education levels are common fea-tures.

Why has cattle rustling proved to be a hard nut to crack for security officers?

One of the most common features in areas where cattle rustling is common is the difficult terrain. The areas are characterised with very high temperatures and rough terrains that are hard and rocky making it difficult to navigate.

Rough terrainThe areas expansive and the rough terrain

make it almost impossible for security officers in pursuit of stolen animals to recover them. The soldiers who are dressed in heavy combat gear are slowed down by their way of dress be-cause these are heavy and leaves them hot and tired. The guns they are carrying are also heavy.

However, the cattle rustlers are people who have been born and brought up in the region. They have mastered and adapted to the diffi-cult terrain and just slip past security personnel who normally follow them many hours or days after an attack. The heat and dust therein is part of their life.

Raids are also organised after a prolonged drought and are always well planned and ex-ecuted.

Cattle rustling raids are carried out by the young men in the communities. These are young men who normally serve as the commu-nities’ security detail. While they carry out the raids, they are also charged with defending or protecting the villages.

Gun trainingYoung men who have undergone the rite of

passage are trained to be warriors or morans and for one to graduate they must show what they have brought to the community in terms of cattle that is used to measure wealth.

Moses Lemeruni, a community elder from Sosian in Laikipia says the young men get first hand training on how to use of guns from the moment they reach the age of 12.

Most of these young men do not go to school and immediately they reach 12 years they are deemed to be ready to look after their

Continued on page 2

From top: a cattle herder tends to his flock. Pastoralists celebrate the recovery of their stolen cattle in Transmara. administration Police watch over recovered cattle.

Pictures: Reject Correspondent

2 U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t h ISSUE 048, October 1 - 15, 2011

By nZinGa MuaSYa

Giving birth is usually good news to most moth-ers but at times the expected joy can turn to un-expected tragedy.

And tragedy is what befell Jane Felistus Mutinda early this year when she walked into Kitui District Hospital to deliver her first born child.

What was supposed to be a simple and perhaps incident free operation to deliver the baby, turned out to be prolonged agony that finally claimed the life of the first time mother.

The operation went on well but the operat-ing doctor made a terrible mistake while stitch-ing up the mother. He ‘forgot’ a small towel re-ferred to in medical terms as gauze inside the womb, as the mother and baby were wheeled back to their recovery bed.

Mutinda’s cousin Catherine Mulei who took care of her says that she stayed at the hos-pital for a week but the wound could not heal. After sometime, Mutinda, 35, was advised to go home but given instructions to be visiting the hospital occasionally to have the wound dressed.

Poverty“Her family is very poor and she could not

afford regular visits to the hospital. She re-signed to her fate and returned to the hospital in May when her condition deteriorated,” ex-plains Mulei.

For the two months Mutinda was at home, her life was miserable as she could not move and vomited frequently.

“She was in a lot of pain such that she could not breastfeed. We used to dress the wound with cotton wool and it produced blood like fluid with bad smell,” explains Mulei.

All this time, Mutinda and her family didn’t know that it was the foreign material inside her womb that was causing all the havoc.

Back at the hospital, she was subjected to ab-dominal X-rays which did not reveal the cause

of the pain. She spent agonising time in hospital taking only pain killers as her condition dete-riorated.

Through good Samaritans, the family raised some money and took their daughter to Mach-akos for an ultrasound scan.

The scan was done at Machakos Imaging Centre in June showed a mass with a linear edges lying below the left anterior abdominal muscles.

Foreign materialAccording to Dr Wambugu of the Imaging

Centre, the foreign material was most likely a piece of gauze that had caused inflammation of the intestines.

The doctor noted that a large part of her womb had started to rot due to the foreign ma-terial.

Mutinda then returned to Kitui District Hospital where she was wheeled back to theatre to remove the material. She died moments later after the doctors opened her stomach while frantically trying to remove the gauze.

“When she complained of severe pains, the nurses hurled insults at her as she writhed in bed. The medical personnel completely neglect-ed her. She died a very painful and slow death and somebody must account for her death,” says Mulei.

What irks the family is that the doctors decided to remove the material and discarded it without informing the family members in a desperate bid to cover up. The family is now agonising over the death of their daughter who died in an operation gone awry.

Peter Mutinda, an elder brother of the de-ceased laments that they have been kept in the

dark over the matter. “When we went to the hospi-

tal, we were curtly told that Mu-tinda died during an operation and that was all. The doctors did not offer any more information and they have been playing hide and seek games with us, even refusing to give us the medical notes during her last moments,” he says adding: “We want to be told the truth for this blatant professional misconduct that has claimed our sister’s life.”

The family hired a private pa-thologist who did a post-mortem and attributed the death of the woman to the ‘towel’.

The pathologist noted the victim died as a result of failure of internal organs that had com-pletely shut down. The medic said that the autopsy showed a certain patch of fabric that had been removed, adding that there were features to suggest a gauze that had stayed in the womb for long and which had contributed immensely to her death.

InquestKitui police have opened an

inquest file to look into the death. However, they are facing frustrations from the hospital administration which has refused to release the medical notes and the file of the victim to them.

The doctor who carried out the initial op-

eration and hospital’s Medical Superintended Dr David Kihiko have since been summoned by the Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board to explain circumstances that led to Mutinda’s death.

Now the orphaned, six month old Pauline Kathini has been left under the care of her 70 year old grandmother and will never enjoy the joy of a mother holding her.

“This baby has been deprived of a mother’s love just because somebody was not careful in his work,” says Pauline Mukai, the mother to the deceased with a distant look in her eyes.

families’ animals.“Cattle rustling is carried out for a number

of reasons including need to restock and pride over the other community’s wealth,” explains Lemeruni.

His sentiments are echoed by Josephine Ku-lea a human rights advocate in Samburu and Laikipia who notes that at the age of 15, morans are already being involved in cattle rustling.

“According to Samburu culture, a Moran is allowed to carry out a raid. It is prestigious when one goes and comes back with animals especially from a rival community,” observes Kulea.

Cattle stolen by the morans are used for marriage ceremonies and in the expensive cul-tural exercise of beading where a young man has to buy beads for courting a girl he intends to marry.

However the major reason why the Govern-ment will not win the battle is the root cause of the problem - the origin of firearms.

Porous borders remain the entry point of the illegal arms. Despite the Government’s ef-forts to mop up arms from herders, they con-tinue to acquire others even more sophisticated than ones used by security forces. This is also a disadvantage to those pursuing stolen animals.

Firearms used in cattle rustling are ordered from the Somalia, a country that has suffered instability for about 30 years and parts of West-ern Uganda.

Although the morans have not gone to any military training school, they know how to handle different types of guns.

According to Kulea, it is not easy for a com-mon man to know how to handle the gun. She says the young men are trained by officers from different forces who have retired and others who have been suspended from duty for vari-ous reasons and who happen to be from the community. Some of them even participate in the raid, acting as team leaders. This then ex-plains the military precision with which the raids take place.

“Since they are desperate after losing their jobs they come back home and are very in-strumental in organising and executing the at-tacks. They hold prolonged training in the bush though very secretive and in collaboration with elders. They may even hold a prayer to ask God to guide them and be their protector during the raid,” she observes.

Disarmament Government efforts to curb cattle rustling

through disarmament have hardly borne fruit. Though hundreds of guns are always being retrieved from the communities, the practice continues unabated.

Kulea notes that the police are sometimes overwhelmed by the state of firearms the raid-ers use during raids.

A police officer attached to patrol Kanampiu area and who sought anonymity notes that they morans are well versed with the region and the routes that they use in attacks.

“The raider are born and bred in the area and have adapted to the harsh climatic condi-tions. It is extremely hot and officers have to be

in their full uniform, combat gear, water cans, a firearm and rounds of ammunition,” says the policeman.

Few months ago, dozens of people were killed in Isiolo and Samburu East districts in cattle rustling incidences.

The practice of cattle rustling has always been a community thing in the region and po-lice forces have always participated as a third party.

During a raid that occurred at Ratia in Lai-kipia West district a few years ago, the Samburu community attacked the Pokot in a piece of land where both communities clashed while in search of pasture. Police efforts to recover sto-len animals were fruitless.

When a raid occurs in a village, instead of calling the police, the morans are quickly or-ganised to pursue the animals. The police come later to join forces with the community in an attempt to apprehend the raiders.

Often, when this is not successful, the af-fected community retracts and opts to organise a counter raid at a later date to avenge on deaths and loss of livestock.

Peter Lemoire, a resident of Archers Post in Samburu East District says men who have taken part in a raid are treated with honour on arrival from a successive attack. With this he wonders whether the practice will ever end.

He says that the young men sell the stolen livestock and are the talk of shopping centres in the remote areas.

Lemoire blames the leaders in the region for not involving the youth in development activi-

ties. “Leaders only come here when the region has been hit by other raiders and start threaten-ing the Government to act but when their own men go on raids, they keep quiet in manner likely to be seen as conspiracy,” observes Tom Lolosoli, coordinator of Samburu East Devel-opment Forum.

SensitisationLolosoli says there is need to start a grass-

roots sensitisation campaign to educate the young men to abandon retrogressive cultural practices that bring agony to many people.

“We have lost strong men, women and children during such raids. We still do not see how we can get out of this,” notes Lolosoli. He adds: “We need to involve our elders in talking to these young men as well as leaders to build schools where our children can go and be won-derful people in future.”

Other than the Government placing tempo-rary camps in the worst hit areas like Archers Post, Kom, Kanampiu, Tingamara and Naibor, more needs to be done in sensitising the com-munities involved through peace initiatives.

Laikipia Peace Caravan has been at the forefront in preaching peace among different warring communities in the county and neigh-bouring Samburu and East Pokot.

The initiative by local leaders and non-governmental organisations has borne fruits as currently Samburu and Pokot communities are adapting to co-existence and are even sharing grazing fields in Laikipia West.

Read more cattle rustling stories online.

Could doctor’s negligence have led to botched surgery?

Continued from page 1

A rag tag troop that engages in cattle rustling

“This baby has been deprived of a mother’s love just because somebody was not careful in his work.”

— Pauline Mukai

Felistus’ mother Pauline Mukai holding the

orphaned baby girl Pauline kathini at her

home in kasokolo Village in kitui. Below:

Felistus Mutinda who died as a result

of alleged surgical negligence. Pictures:

Nzinga Muasya

3U n f i l t e r e d , u n i n h i b i t e d … j u s t t h e g r u e s o m e t r u t hISSUE 048, October 1 - 15, 2011

Dwindling fortunes of a former envoy

Migori elderly demand equal share of funds

By FRED OkOTH

The Government is looking into possibili-ties of increasing the number of those ben-efiting from the benevolent fund meant for the elderly to ensure that more people are included in the programme.

Speaking in Migori, Gender Secretary at the Ministry of Gender, Social Services and Children Affairs Professor Colette Suda said that a large number of deserving Kenyan were currently not on the list of the benefi-ciaries of the fund and the issue would be looked into.

“We could not start by giving everybody the money,” she explained adding that once the kitty improves, other new beneficiaries will be added to the list.

Suda was speaking after presiding over the launch of the programme in Migori where 750 people were given KSh3, 000 each to help them meet their domestic needs.

“The money which should be KSh1, 500 per month will be given out after every two months to avoid elderly people having to walk long distances every month,” Suda ex-plained.

Migori is the fourth district officially launching the funds after Nyando, Thika and Busia.

Suda who urged the beneficiaries to put the money into good use, defended the se-lection of the initial recipients saying it had been done by experts to ensure that only those who are really deserving were on the list.

“The selection considered both age and economic status of the beneficiaries and more people will be added to the pro-gramme once more funds become avail-able,” explained Suda.

ExpansionSpeaking at the same function, area MP

John Pesa thanked the Government for choosing Migori as a pilot district where the programme will be running. He said there was need to ensure that more deserving Ke-nyans were included in the project.

“Parliament is looking into possibilities of expanding the project and soon a bill will be presented before the House to discuss the issue,” observed Pesa.

The programme started last month and will be carried out in 44 districts drawn across the country. The beneficiaries will be expected to collect their funds at the local districts headquarters.

Meanwhile, resident of Rongo district have urged the Government to rescind its decision to omit the district from those where the funds should be given, terming the decision as ‘discriminatory’

Led by the former area legislator Ochillo Ayacko, the residents said classifying the entire district as rich was unfair since poor people were spread all over the country.

“There is no collective wealth so no one can say a district is rich,” Ayacko observed adding that the Government ought to have looked for poor people from all districts in the country and put them in the list of the beneficiaries.

Rongo was classified as one of the ‘rich’ districts in the country and, therefore, omit-ted from the initial list but the residents feel that the decision was wrong.

According to Timothy Owuor, a peasant farmer from the district, the Government had used the income earned at Sony Sugar Company to calculate the wealth.

“This is not right since the company’s wealth goes to the Government and not the locals,” explained Owuor.

By nZinGa MuaSYa

Once he lived the life of the jet set and was known among the who-is-who of this country. Today his life has taken a downward spiral and he spends his time roaming the streets and beg-ging for handouts and cigarettes from anybody who cares to listen.

Mr Simon Mulei Muthoka is a common figure in Kitui town. Many confuse him for a grown up street boy in his sunset years. How-ever, the 74-year-old dishevelled man is a for-mer Kenyan ambassador in Beijing, China, whose life has taken a painful lonely turn for the worse.

Fluent in English, Muthoka walks slowly with a little stoop. He recalls how he rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty during his heyday.

“I used to fly three times a week from the mainland China to Shanghai and other rural towns on diplomatic missions,” Muthoka re-calls the best of times during his tour of duty in China.

The chain smoking former envoy admits to have had a wonderful time in China. He re-counts an incident when he was almost lynched by a mob after a road accident in a Chinese street. He was drunk while driving himself in the embassy vehicle.

Mass protest“I was driving myself within Beijing city

when I suddenly noticed a group of Chinese girls walking excitedly by the road,” he remem-bers. “I struggled with the car since they were very close but I lost control knocking down two of them.”

The incident almost cost him his life. He says that the other students became rowdy but he pleaded with them in Chinese.

“I finally got the girls in my car and drove them to a hospital,” he recalls.

While he thought the matter ended there, Muthoka was not prepared for what would fol-low later. The following morning there was a mass protest by Chinese youths at the embassy demanding his removal.

He was forced to flee for his safety and went into hiding for several days to cool off the tem-pers. However, his wife and son were flown back to Kenya for their own safety, leaving only himself and the accountant. He managed to survive the tribulation.

The former ambassador boasts of high aca-demic excellence and a wide experience in civil service. He holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from Oxford University and diplomas in Education and Accounting as well as Commerce and Trade.

Muthoka joined the public service as a clerical officer with the Ministry of Works in Mombasa after his secondary school education

in Mulango Intermediate School in Kitui. He worked for nine years and says that it was while under one Engineer Kuypper in Nairobi while manning ‘Top Secrets’ registry that he came across an opportunity for Commonwealth scholarships and applied.

PrincipalHe got the scholarship and proceeded to

Oxford University where he stayed from 1964-1966. “We were only six students from Kenya under the Commonwealth scholarship and we were to come and teach other Kenyans to take over from the colonialists,” he says.

When he came back in 1977, Muthoka was appointed the principal of Mombasa Govern-ment Training Institute until the director of Directorate of Personnel Management John Davies Malinda summoned him to Nairobi to disclose his posting to China the same year.

A single and outgoing 28 year old young man then, Muthoka was ordered to get married and produce a certificate of marriage in 14 days in preparation for the foreign job. He fulfilled this directive and flew out to China to under-take his duties. He says he was the youngest am-bassador and second one to take up the posting after Henry Nzioka Muli.

An incident that has remained etched in his mind is when the Kenyan embassy in Beijing was temporarily closed after a seasoned poli-tician Martin Shikuku made a statement that triggered resentment in China during the Cold War era.

When serving as a personal assistant to Am-bassador Theophillus Koske in Beijing in late 1960s, Muthoka recalls how a Kenyan delega-tion went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to attend a forum for developing countries.

“While at the forum, Shikuku made a state-ment on the US Peace Corps and Tom Mboya followed it up cautioning the Government to tread carefully when dealing with French and Chinese Peace Corps,” he remembers.

“This did not go down well with the Chinese government and the first to suffer was the Ke-nyan mission in Beijing, Stephen Mativo Mai-tha whom we had left behind in charge of the Embassy was declared a persona non grata,” he narrates.

Diplomatic rowHe says that they stayed at the Malaysian

capital to avoid the diplomatic row as well as avoid journalists.

“When we bumped into a battery of report-ers, we deflected all their stinging questions with a ‘no comment’ plea,” he chuckles.

When Muthoka returned to the country in 1980,after serving three years as an ambassador in China, he was again appointed ambassador to a non-English speaking country but he de-clined the appointment because of his young

family.“My children were very young then and I

could not afford to take them to a country that does not speak English, so I declined the offer because I wanted the best for them,” the former envoy says.

After declining the ambassadorial appoint-ment, Muthoka was deployed at the Director-ate of Personnel Management as a management analyst until he retired in 1985. Unfortunately for the former envoy, he did not amass wealth while he was working and his only source of in-come in retirement was his pension amounting to KSh50, 000 per month.

But due to his old age and failing health, his daughters went to court and obtained an injunction barring his bank from releasing the money to the old man since he would squander the whole amount in Kitui town, most of it get-ting stolen.

Muthoka has since sought the services of a local lawyer to overturn the decision but so far the matter has not been resolved. Every time he is in town, he claims to be coming to see his lawyer to follow up on his pension money.

Though many describe him as a nuisance due to his begging habits, the former ambas-sador who is guarded about his family insists that he is comfortable living his life. His only son who was born in China lives in Maryland, USA while his two daughters are married in Kitui.

Muthoka who is a widower lives the life of squalor in his Kisasi village home and is always seen scouring the streets of Kitui town even during odd hours.

Fish farming in danger due to lack of storage By ERiC MuTai

Farmers who begun rearing fish under the Eco-nomic Stimulus Programme (ESP) in Embu are asking the government to establish a stor-age facility to reduce losses. The farmers said that they are incurring losses as their harvested stock does not find a ready market.

“The market is poor. We sell to individuals and some hotels in Embu town but they only buy a small fraction of the harvest,” said Morris Njeru from Embu East district.

Fish farming is new in the region and farm-ers only started engaging in it in April last year. This was after the government introduced 200 fish ponds per constituency through the Eco-nomic Stimulus Programme

John Kiminda a fish farmer in Embu North district said that a small number of farmers

who had harvested had sold them for KSh80 to KSh120 per piece and called for organised marketing. Manyatta MP Emilio Kathuri asked the government to introduce cold storage fa-cilities for the highly perishable products.

“The residents begun stocking fish with great enthusiasm and the ministries of coop-erative development and fisheries should move in to see that the farmer does not lack market,” said Kathuri adding that there are currently no fish storage facilities.

Embu West DC Maalim Mohamed said that lack of the facility is bedeviling the trade saying that the government is looking into the issue to encourage large scale fish farming.

He said that the government will first estab-lish a fish feed manufacturing facility saying that with the current erratic rains in the area adding that the facilities will encourage fish

farming.“Fish farming is a new area of agriculture in

the region and is offering a protein supplement especially at this period when we have erratic rains. There is need to have a cooler in place fast enough soon to encourage the farmers,” said Maalim.

Early this year the government had as-sured them of a cooler saying that it was sourcing for land at Ena to put up the facility which would serve Runyenjes and Manyatta constituencies.

The DC said that the government has not gone back on its promise noting that lack of a cooler in the County is discouraging large scale fish farming.

He said that lack of storage facilities had slowed the gains anticipated by the govern-ment when it initiated the programme.

Muthoka standing

outside the kna offices in

kitui. Below: The old man

puffing a cigarette.

Pictures: Nzinga Muasya


Situation remains dire for squatters of KibweziBy JiROnGO luYali

Immediately you enter Boma Five of Ilatu village in Makindu, Kibwezi constituency, you might easily con-fuse it for an IDP camp. Located midway between Nairobi and Mombasa, the area has a poor road network with no electricity and oth-er social amenities.

The camp has makeshift struc-tures almost similar to Manyattas only that these ones are made of sticks and dry grass, some covered with polythene papers.

“The situation here is much worse than that in a refugee camp. At least refugees get donations from many NGOs. Nobody is there to come to our rescue,” said Diana Nzioka, 57, who is a mother of eight children with ten grandchildren.

Nzioka adds that her last born who is 15, is now in Class Six at Kaunguru Primary School which is situated ten kilometres away from the camp.

“Due to financial constraints, I have been unable to educate any of my children beyond Standard Eight. Only three of them have a KCPE certificate, two dropped out of school while in Class Seven. Now my last born is in Class Six,” Nzio-ka added.

SurvivalAccording to her, life is now

more difficult since no NGOs visit them. The Government is also do-ing little about the plight of the many squatters living there.

The German Agro Action Or-ganisation stopped donating food and other items to them since the beginning of the year. With no farms to cultivate, parents here are sending their children to cities to eke a living.

Three of Nzioka’s sons are in Malindi where they ride boda bo-das (motorcyle taxis) whereas two are in Nairobi where they work as casual employees in Industrial area. Her husband who is 77 years old, lives and works in Malindi as a night guard.

It is 4.30 pm when I enter the structure in which Nzioka lives together with her son, daughter in-law and four of her grandchil-dren. Here, I find them enjoying a meal made of pumpkin mixed with beans. She tells me that it is the only meal for the day since they usually eat once a day. The only food that can grow here is the pumpkin.

Apart from lack of food, people here have no proper housing. As you get into either of the makeshift structures, you must be careful not to pull it down due to nature of materials (dry grass and sticks tied together with a rope) used to construct them.

Nzioka’s structure has one bed made of pieces of wood dug into the ground, with sticks tied around. The door is made of an old mabati and is locked with a piece of barbed wire. The floor is no different from outside as nothing has been put on it.

Looking around the house, there are 20-li-tre plastic containers and paper bags tied around the walls of the structure. Three large stones have been placed in the centre of the structure. They are used as a cooking area, making the whole room stained with smoke.

The walls have large spaces in them thus the people inside suffer from cold especially dur-ing the night. It becomes unbearable especially when it rains. The only valuable item here is an old bicycle which the family uses while going to Makindu Shopping Centre, 15 kilometres away. Visitors sit on a log, while she and her family sit on the bed. The space inside cannot

accommodate many people and while inside it is difficult to stand or move around. You have to bend while going through the door as the structures are low.

Lack of education“I have been unable to secure a job in Nai-

robi since I have no secondary or tertiary cer-tificate. I have resorted to coming back as it is difficult for me in the city. There, the situation is even harder for those with families and no job. You see I have a wife with four children. How can I survive in the city?” laments Julius, 36, Mwasia, who lives with his mother and wife in the same structure.

Both Julius and his wife Dorcas were born here. They did not manage to get to high school due to economic hardships.

Nzioka says that they migrated from Kyulu hills and settled in Kibwezi in 1992. She ap-peals to the Government and any well wishers to come to their rescue as they live in deplor-able conditions. It is said that the land they are staying on belonged to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

What irks Nzioka most is the fact that the Government keeps promising to find a lasting solution to their plight. More than 2,000 fami-lies are still squatters in Kibwezi and each day that passes turns their hope to despair as more than 45 years after Independence a solution to their predicament appears to be fading.

Former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile has over the years remained one of the most vo-cal crusaders for the plight of squatters in Makueni.

The history of Squatters of Kibwezi

From top: a view of Boma Five

squatter camp in kibwezi. Julius Mwasia during

the interview. Diana nzioka with her five

month old grandson.

Pictures: Jirongo Luyali

According to Lindblom and Hobley in their book Akamba of British East Africa, the Ngulia people are said to have been the indigenous Akamba of

Kikumbulyu.They lived in Kibwezi before 1836. They

were forced to migrate during the great fam-ine of 1836. Some went south to Rabai where the missionary Dr Krapf came across them in 1850, having lived there for over 15 years.

Others spread southwest and took up per-manent residence in villages between Taveta and Lake Jipe in the Pare Mountains and then crossed to Tanzania to Usambara up to Musi valley and the depression of Maramba.

However, a large number remained in Ki-kumbulyu, stretching from the Kiboko river in the north to Tsavo in the south and westwards to Kyulu ranges known in other quarters as Ngulia ranges.

According to a 2002-2006 policy research project by the Masongaleni Community Organ-isation for Sustainable Development (Maco-sud), when the East African Scottish missionar-ies led by Dr James Steward arrived in Kibwezi in 1891, the Ngulia Akamba were there. This is proved by documented agreements between the missionaries and the Ngulia under the rule

of Kilundo in 1891.The report further says that the Ngulia, who

form part of the biggest population of Kibwezi squatters, had their settlements centred around water points, water courses, hills, near raised rock masses and areas with tall trees like baobabs.

Trouble for the Ngulia came in the late 1890s and early 1900s when missionaries are believed to have influenced white settlement in Kibwezi.

This included the need to create space for the white settlers’ estates, wildlife conservation and hunting grounds in Kikumbulyu. This was preceded by tactical evictions of the Ngulia.

Records indicate that the establishment of the Tsavo West national park led to the eviction of the Ngulia from Tsavo river through Mzima Springs up to Mtito Andei river.

Following the Crown Lands Ordinance of 1902, the Akamba Ngulia were restricted within Kikumbulyu native reserve where they were occupying three blocks - Kyale near Kiboko river; Mbui Nzau around the Mbui Nzau hills near Kibwezi; and Kyulu block along the Kyulu ranges up to Mtito Andei river.

Kyulu block was reportedly the biggest with a population of more than 5,000 people.


Food insecurity forces children out

of school By JOY MOnDaY

Ravaging drought in Turkana County has fuelled food insecurity and subjected residents to pangs of hunger with school children forced to join their parents to eke a living in a hard way.

The local pastoralists are selling their surviving livestock to secure the ever-increasing expensive food. As the drought wors-ens in the region, local schools are unable to retain most of the children in school with some engaging in cheap labour to support their families.

Irene Longole, 10 is among the many children who have skipped school to sell brooms to enable her buy food for her fam-ily. "I am going to the market to sell these brooms to enable me buy food so that we can eat,” she told the Reject.

”For two days we haven’t eaten anything and we just drink water and sleep. If somebody can buy these brooms, I will buy maize flour to prepare a meal,” the fatigued Standard Six girl said in Lodwar.

It is not Longole alone, burdened with the struggle to survive. Her classmate Jacob Ekiru is out of school. Unlike Longole, Ekiru is selling homemade mats to raise money to buy food for his fam-ily. “I left home 15km away at dawn so that I can a get a buyer mostly those coming from Lokichoggio to Kitale.

Ravaging droughtI have managed to sell one mat and hope to sell more to get

enough money to but food,” says Ekiru. The UN estimates that at least 3.5 million Kenyans are food insecure after a prolonged drought that has ravaged parts of the country. Pastoralists are sell-ing their treasured livestock to buy food and evade starvation.

“Drought has killed all my goats and only this one survived. I have to sell it to get money to buy food since I don’t have anything at home to feed my family,” laments Peter Elimlim. Elimlim says he had a herd of over 300 animals before all succumbed to drought leaving the family without anything to depend on for food.

The Government has declared the current drought a national disaster and relief agencies are stepping in with emergency food aid, but this has done little to alleviate the suffering of families in the larger Turkana area.

"We have food aid programmes that target extremely vulnerable families but we can't cover everybody and many more still need the food aid but they aren't receiving it. Many will still die of hunger un-less more food aid comes in,” said an aid worker.

Turkana has experienced malnutrition rates of up to 37.4 per cent; the highest recorded in 20 years and more than double the UN World Health Organization (WHO) emergency threshold of 15 per cent. Governmental officials and aid workers say there has been an increase in admissions of severely malnourished people to stabilisation centres, with children younger than five being the most affected.

“We have seen higher cases of severely wasted children aged fewer than five,” Lucas Ariong, co-coordinator of Riam Riam, a Lodwar based humanitarian organisation. The International Res-cue Committee IRC and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) are running a food-for-work programme in Turkana in a bid to create a long-term solution to recurrent food and water shortages.

Food aidLocals engage in activities such as construction of water points

that can be used for irrigation; in turn they receive food. WFP currently has 265,000 food aid and food-for-work beneficiaries in Turkana.

The school-feeding programme is reaching up to 179,000 pupils. "We are engaging residents in activities that create some sustainability and give them food in the process. We want to dis-courage them, from relying on food handouts instead participate in sustainable activities,” WFP official who declined to be named said.

Agricultural experts argue that, the Turkana and other com-munities in Kenya's north cannot always rely on food aid. “It is unsustainable and the Government must create irrigation schemes to produce food to feed the residents there," Turkana Agricultural officer Patrick Anjele said.

Insecurity has been identified as one of the major causes of food insecurity with experts fronting peace building as sustain-able solution in the County. Turkana has been subjected to pe-rennial conflicts emanating from scarce resources and donors have put more funds to restore peace at the expense of economic development.

“The Government should provide security and ensure there is peace. This would enable people to settle and work and produce food for themselves," said James Lomenen, a youth involved in peace building activities between Turkana and Pokot communi-ties. Lomenen argues that it is useless for the Government and other organisations to initiate development project when peace has not been restored. ”We have seen development projects such as irrigation schemes ruined by insecurity. There is need to bring peace among the communities,” says Lomenen.

By auDi ZilPER

They live in deplorable conditions in makeshift tents. They have no shelter and sleep on twigs placed on bare hard ground. Their tiny man-yattas made of twigs and polythene paper offer no form of privacy. The dwellings are frequently swept off whenever it rains.

This is the plight of 3,000 Sam-burus in Laikipia. This forgotten Samburu Community popularly referred to as the “Pois Robo” are internally displaced persons after they were forcefully evicted from the Kabarak Farm they formerly occupied. They now have no option but to live in the makeshift camp, in dilapidated tents and squalid con-ditions that are a recipe for health disasters.

The farm was initially owned by retired President Daniel Moi. It is now owned by the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). Most of these people have lived on this land in question since 1980’s and know no other home. Through their lawyer Dr Korir Singoei, the Community has gone to court seeking an ad-verse possession claim against the AWF and former President Moi. The eviction is the subject of a case at the Nyeri High Court.

Kituo cha Sheria together with Singo’ei went to Laikipia on a fact-finding mission in a bid to understand the plight of these evictees. The visit unearthed shocking revelations of the conditions in which the Samburu of Pois Robo live.

Kituo and the community lawyer went to Kisargei, also known as The Kabarak Farm about 60 Kilometres outside Nanyuki Town, where the Samburu evictees have built makeshift houses of twigs and polythene papers, having been evicted from the suit property. Women and children domi-nate the makeshift camp after the men left to seek jobs elsewhere.

“We go for days without food. We share our watering hole with wild ani-

mals. The government has neglected us. We wonder if we are part of Kenya. When an animal dies or is killed, the government comes here in a big way, yet we have not seen anyone coming to our rescue. If there is anything like problems, then we have faced it all. Only God has kept us going.” These are the words of Nakuro Lemeruni, 30, a mother of five children who looks twice her age and is resigned to her fate.

There are no health facilities around, the nearest is almost 60km away in Nanyuki town. They don’t im-munise their children and depend en-tirely on traditional medicine which in some cases is ineffective.

The women claim that they are consistently raped whenever they go to fetch water from the Kisargei River. This is the only watering point thus they have to choose the necessary evil.

The nearest water source is about three kilometres away and they share the water with domestic and wild ani-mals from various conservancies in the area. Thus they are vulnerable to water borne diseases.

There is no single school in the re-gion, and the children hardly ever go to school.

With no land to bury thier dead, they cover them in stones. At times, the remains are eaten by scavenging animals.

The squatters accuse the Govern-ment and specifically the Special Pro-grammes ministry and Provincial ad-ministration of neglecting them. They take further exception to the silence by political leaders in the area.

Who will come to the rescue of this vulnerable and marginalised commu-nity?

Who will help these forgotten squatters?

From left: a woman from the squatter community in laikipia explains their problems during the fact finding mission by human rights

lawyers recently. another woman sits forlornly in her makeshift house at the camp. Pictures: Audi Zilper


By luCY lanGaT

Kennedy Kitur, an Administration Police Offi-cer, considers himself lucky. He is not sure if his eight-year-old son Emmanuel Kemboi would be alive today after being diagnosed with leu-kaemia three years ago.

“I will never forget September 18, 2008 when my son’s teacher informed me that he was unwell and I was urgently needed at Elim Nurs-ery School where he was a pupil,” recalls Kitur. He says: “When I got there, I found my son weak and his skin pale. I immediately rushed him to a paediatrician in Nakuru town, who recommended a blood test.”

After 48 hours, he received the results, in-dicating that Kemboi was suffering from Leu-kaemia.

“Though I had heard about Leukaemia, I had never bothered to find out much about it. Somehow I had always assumed it was meant for others and not me,” says Kitur.

Salary advanceWhen he was informed about his son’s con-

dition, he took a salary advance of KSh50, 000, which he thought would be enough to have the boy treated at a private children’s hospital.

“But within the three months I stayed there, the bill had shot to KSh750,000 and the hospital asked me for a logbook, title deed or surety to enable them continue keeping my son in hospital,” he says.

“I paid some money and still have an out-

standing balance then left for Kenyatta National Hospital which is public, hoping for cheaper treatment.”

It was at Kenyatta that he witnessed up to 32 children who had been abandoned by their next of kin after being diagnosed with cancer.

“I was only lucky that a local newspaper highlighted my plight. An old friend, Father Fernado Aguirre, whom I had met while on duty in Turkana called me,” says Kitur.

FacilitiesAguirre connected him with Messengers

of Peace, a Spanish organisation that assists treatment of children hailing from poor back-grounds. The organisation arranged for Kitur and his son to travel to Spain where he started treatment in May 2009.

“It is a different world there, patients are well taken care of, treatment is much available and the facility is better equipped,” he observes.

Though Kemboi’s treatment is scheduled to end in 2020, Kitur is ready to take the long path, to see his son free from blood cancer.

“Every time I come to Kenya, I try to find out the plight of 32 other children who had been admitted at Kenyatta Hospital with cancer while Kemboi was there,” Kitur says. He notes: “Sadly, only three are alive. I highly doubt if my son would be alive if he was still being treated in Kenya. I am so lucky Aguirre came to my res-cue. He was a God sent angel.”

Despite the fact that cancer among young children is on the rise in the country, little is

being done by the government and non-governmental organisations to push for low cost of treatment.

Parliament is yet to pass a pending Can-cer Bill that would make treatment of all cancerous diseases free and decentralise equipment for treatment to provincial lev-els. Many children end up dying of cancer as their parents cannot afford for treatment.

Other children end up being abandoned in hospitals when their families are informed that the disease is terminal or after parents fail to raise money to foot the hospital bill.

Recently a woman who works as a house help recently narrated to Kitur her experi-ence with leukaemia. When her son was diagnosed with the condition, her family, neighbours and husband said it was a curse.

Leukaemia“She went seeking treatment at a local

government hospital in Kakamega but was referred to Kenyatta National Hospital for which she could not even raise transport let alone cater for treatment,” he says.

She tried to seek help from traditional medi-cine men, ‘modern’ herbalists and even prayers from local pastors but none worked.

“She lost her son at the age of five, after a one-year fight with leukaemia,” he narrates, adding that her in-laws rejected her and the husband divorced her. She has now to work as a househelp as her elderly mother takes care of her other two children.

“My heart bleeds, every time I see parents suffer with their cancerous children but there is little I can do. One parent asked if she could register her child as mine so that I would get treatment for him too just as I got for my son,” says Kitur.

He wonders why there is so much attention on breast and prostate cancer, yet no one seems to raise awareness on children with cancer.

“I hope the government will consider mak-ing cancer treatment accessible and affordable for all Kenyans,” says Kitur.

Are children with cancer neglected?

By JOHn kinYua

Joseph Muriuki, 28, sat on the wet grass clenching the hem of his younger sister’s skirt. There was an unusual gathering at their home in the morning of Friday August 12, 2010 when well wishers vis-ited their home to see their ailing mother.

The frown on his face was telling it all. Though he had never uttered a word all his life, he could tell that all was not well.

In a room not far from where they were sitting lay his 45-year-old mother wasting away from the ravages of breast cancer. The pain was she was go-ing through was intense and she had been crying every day and night for nearly a month.

Muriuki’s younger sister Susan Wanjiku sought help from her former high school teachers when the matter got out of hand.

As frantic efforts were made to save Gladys Wairimu’s life, the fact that she was suffering from a terminal illness kept lingering in the minds of many. Doctors at Kikuyu Mission Hospital where she was taken made it clear that the illness had gone too far.

DetectionThey told Wanjiku via telephone as her expec-

tations were dimmed as she tried to come to real-ity with her mother’s illness.

Eventually, the woman who had been bed-ridden at her home in Manyatta village, Olka-lou Constituency died in her sleep as a result of breast cancer at the Kikuyu Mission Hospital on September 3, 2011, just a month before the breast cancer awareness month.

Like Wairimu, many women are losing their lives to cancer due to lack of proper information and early detection, even as poverty among other factors come to play.

According to Margaret Mbogo, manager of the cancer care programme at Kikuyu Mission Hospital, a lot needed to be done for people to understand about breast cancer.

In spite of poverty that is ravaging many parts of the country, both men and women have ne-glected the role of being tested for the condition to enable doctors manage it in good time before it is too late. “Wairimu hardly lived a year since

she was diagnosed with cancer because of lack of proper therapy and treatment,” Mbogo observes

She says the thought among adult cancer survivors that they cannot undress in front of their sons and daughters to get tested needs to be discarded. “When the disease is finally diag-nosed, it is usually too late to reverse the situa-tion,” she says.

Good SamaritanMbogo urges all women to take advantage

of forums which call for testing to help curb the spread of the disease.

Wairimu was rushed to hospital after the me-dia highlighted her plight and a wellwisher came to help her. The good Samaritan who sought anonymity had volunteered to support the fam-ily in footing her hospital bills and other expenses amounting to over KSh100,000.

“I don’t need any publicity in this matter. I just came to help quietly. I believe that whoever helps a poor person in need lends God a debt and He will surely come to pay in his hour of need,” said the philanthropist.

Wairimu was first picked from her bed by an ambulance to Olkalou Sub-District Hos-pital. Since the hospital did not have adequate facilities for managing cancer, she was taken to Kikuyu Mission Hospital on referral where she successfully underwent an operation to remove her left breast.

ComplicationMargaret Mbogo, manager of the cancer care

programme at the hospital said the disease was at an advanced stage and had spread to other parts of the body. Owing to the numerous problems she faced at her home, Wairimu was traumatised and underwent counselling sessions.

According to Mbogo, Wairimu responded well to treatment after the operation in spite of the many complications arising upon investiga-tions and tests. She spoke more coherently and even made phone calls, but went down in the last week of her life.

Wairimu had been rotting in bed with pain-ful sores since July this year after she failed to get treatment at Nakuru Provincial General Hospital.

According to Wanjiku, her mother was diag-nosed with breast cancer in November, last year at the General Hospital and was scheduled to un-dergo an operation to remove the entire breast in May, this year.

However doctors at the hospital are alleged to have said there was no sufficient blood in their bank and Wairimu was instructed to buy some drugs which she had to take for two weeks to help replenish blood. “The drugs cost KSh18,000 which mum did not have. This was the beginning of her tribulations,” explains Wanjiku.

Wanjiku who is a secretarial and computer studies student in Nakuru went public and called her former teachers at Upper Hill Mixed Second-ary School to inform them that she would not be going back to college as a result of the problems at home. The teachers, Sister Christina Nthambi, Fanice Wangila and Nancy Maina took the initia-tive of informing journalists and Wairimu’s plight was highlighted in the press.

Wanjiku was expected to seek treatment for her mother besides feeding her 28-year-old brother Joseph Muriuki who is disabled. He has never walked or spoken a word since he was born as a result of what is believed to be cerebral palsy. Muriuki who depended on his mother for everything has never been to any rehabilitation institution.

Late detection marks the ravages of breast cancer

Emmanuel kemboi, who was diagnosed with

leukemia at a hospital in Spain where he is

undergoing treatment. inset: Emmanuel’s father

kennedy kitur. Pictures: Lucy Langat

The late Gladys wairimu with her daughter Susan wanjiku at the Olkalou sub-district hospital. wairimu succumbed to breast cancer which was not diagnosed in

time. Picture: John Kinyua

Breast Cancer FactsheetBreast cancer symptoms range from lumps to swelling to skin changes — mostly have no obvious symptoms at all. Symptoms that are similar to those of breast cancer may be the result of non-cancerous conditions like infection or a cyst.

Breast self-exam should be part of your monthly health care routine. You should visit your doctor if you expe-rience breast changes.

If you’re over 40 or at a high risk of the disease (you have a family history of breast cancer), you should also have an annual mammogram and physical exam by a doctor. The earlier breast cancer is found and diagnosed, the better your chances of beating it.

Screening and Testing The tests used for screening, diagnosis, and monitor-

ing, including mammograms, ultrasound, MRI, CAT scans, PET scans, and more.

Types of Breast Cancer The different types of breast cancer, including ductal

carcinoma in situ (DCIS), invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), inflammatory breast cancer, male breast cancer, recurrent breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer.

Source: Breastcancer.org


All about Haemophilia

By waikwa Maina

Haemophilia is a hereditary genetic disorder that impair the body’s ability to control blood clotting which stops bleeding when a blood vessel is broken.

According to Dr Ephantus Maree, there are two types of Haemophilia — A and B.

Haemophilia A, also known as clot-ting Factor V111 deficiency is the most common form of the disorder, occur-ring in about one in 5,000–10,000 male births.

Haemophilia B, also known as Fac-tor 1X deficiency occurs in about one in 20,000–34,000 male births.

Like most recessive sex-linked, X chromosome disorders, Haemophilia is more likely to occur in males than fe-males. This is because females have two X chromosomes while males have only one, so the defective gene is guaranteed to manifest in any male who carries it.

According to Paul Kamau, adminis-trative officer at Haemophilia Society of Kenya, female carriers can inherit the defective gene from either their mother or father, or it may be a new mutation. Only under rare circumstances do fe-males actually have Haemophilia.

The condition lowers blood plasma clotting factor levels of the coagulation factors needed for a normal clotting process. When a blood vessel is in-jured, a temporary scab does form, but the missing coagulation factors prevent fibrin formation, which is necessary to maintain the blood clot.

Symptoms“A haemophiliac does not bleed

more intensely than a person without it, but can bleed for a much longer time. In severe haemophiliac cases, even a minor injury can result in blood loss lasting days or weeks, or even nev-er healing completely. In areas such as the brain or inside joints, this can be fatal or permanently debilitating,” ex-plains Maree.

Its characteristic symptoms vary with severity, but in general symptoms are internal or external bleeding epi-sodes.

Patients with more severe haemo-philia suffer more severe and more frequent bleeds, while patients with mild haemophilia typically suffer more minor symptoms except after surgery or serious trauma. Moderate haemo-philiacs have variable symptoms which manifest along a spectrum between se-vere and mild forms.

Generally, prolonged bleeding and re-bleeding are the diagnostic symp-toms of haemophilia.

The most characteristic type of internal bleed is a joint bleed where blood enters into the joint spaces.

According to Maree children with mild to moderate haemophilia may not have any signs or symptoms at birth especially if they do not undergo cir-cumcision.

“Their first symptoms are often frequent and large bruises. They have haematomas from frequent bumps and falls as they learn to walk. Swelling and bruising from bleeding in the joints, soft tissue and muscles may also occur,” observes Maree.

Children with mild haemophilia may not have noticeable symptoms for many years, and that is why Ms Virgin-ia Muthoni, whose three year old son Derrick Chege is Haemophilic advises parents to be more vigilant.

A bleeding disorder that could be unique to Central Province

By waikwa Maina

At three years Derrick Chege is too young to un-derstand the reason behind the special attention he gets from his mother. He is in his mother’s arms all the time or under a caretaker.

At his age, Chege does not understand why he is not allowed to mix freely and play with his age mates.

His face tells it all, he is unhappy and aware of the fact that the motherly love he enjoys is only a restriction that comes from her being fiercely protective of him.

And it may take long for him to understand exactly why she does that as it happened with 21-year-old Peter Muchoki, who has lived in iso-lation for years.

Muchoki is now in Form Four at Maragi Sec-ondary School in Murang’a although his age mates are either in college or are already working.

But unlike thousands of others suffering from a similar medical condition, Chege and Muchoki are lucky that their condition was detected early enough.

HaemophilicsThey are both suffering from Haemophilia,

a condition that has gone unnoticed by many families leading to early painful deaths, shattered dreams and denied opportunities. For some young ones living with the condition, discrimi-nation and stigma characterises their lives.

A research study done by the Haemophilic Society of Kenya indicates that out of every 10,000 births one is Haemophilic.

“The situation is aggravated by the fact that health facilities in the rural areas have no equip-ment to test the condition. Equipment to test the disease is only available at Kenyatta National Hospital and major private hospitals like MP Shah and Nairobi Hospital.

“Medical tests and medication are not only inaccessible but also very expensive for many families,” says Paul Kamau, an administrator with Haemophilic Society of Kenya.

Kenyatta National Hospital charges KSh1, 000 for a test while private hospitals charge between KSh6, 000 and KSh15, 000, not inclusive of drugs and other medication.

Costly drugsSingle dozes of drugs go for KSh144, 000 and

are rarely available in local hospitals since they must be imported.

Chege’s mother Virginia Mu-thoni says that her son spent bet-ter part of his early life in hospital.

“I noticed a swelling on the back of Chege’s head when he was about two years old. The lump was as a result of falling down when playing but I became suspicious when it took longer to heal despite the fact that he had just fallen with minimal force. Then, he injured his tongue and the bleeding was excessive com-

pared to the injury,” explains Muthoni. This minor injury that most mothers would

have ignored led to the young boy staying in hospital bed for ten weeks and the mother being left with a bill of KSh10, 000.

At the hospital, the medics suspected the boy could be Haemophilic and he tested positive.

Since then, the Chege has been in and out of hospital and most of the family earnings go towards his hospital bills.

“I no longer get casual jobs, most employers turn me away since I must give special attention to my son even when I’m working. Any slight injury or falling is a problem to him and the en-tire family,” explains Muthoni.

Muchoki underwent similar experience be-fore he was diagnosed with the same condition.

Isolation“The better part of my life has either been in

the hospital or locked inside the house. No one wanted to associate with me, some claimed that I was bewitched while others thought I was an outcast, I kept asking myself, why me, why in my family,” recalls Muchoki.

He lived in isolation for so long and hence the reason why he went to school late.

Muchoki suffers from internal injuries that have affected his joints which are stiff. Internal bleeding causes lumps in his joints but both in-ternal and external bleeding can cause death if not treated in time.

However, Muchoki’s life changed for the bet-ter after he joined the Haemophilic Society of Kenya and is now able to access drugs and other medication.

The society, in partnership with International Haemophilic Community offers support to pa-tients for free.

The society continues to get many patients who cannot afford the expensive treatment for the condition.

“It is a hereditary condition but is more preva-lent Central Province. We intend to conduct a comprehensive research to establish the magni-tude of the condition and number of patients so that we can advocate for policy formulation at gov-ernment level,” says Kamau.

He expressed concern that most medical in-surance companies refuse to include haemophilic patients in their medical cover schemes due to the high costs of managing the condition.

According to Kamau, who is also haemo-philic, more than 4,000 patients under the care

of the Society are from Central Kenya.The organisation is involved in creating aware-

ness among sufferers and their families as well as soliciting for medical care and policy advocacy.

“Medics should also be educated on this con-dition as survivors are advised not to queue when they seek treatment in hospitals. However, med-ics are unaware of this and end up mishandling patients which often leads to death or results in hospitalisation,” explains Kamau. Chege’s mother advises parents to be on the look out when their children bleed excessively from minor injuries or develop lumps from slight falls.

“Treatment should be availed in all hospitals for free of charge. Some hospitals detain patients who cannot afford to pay on time and as a result the bills keep accumulating,” observes Kamau, adding that the condition is a major challenge to early childhood development.

“Most talents are identified and modelled when the child is still young. Most of the best

sportsmen start playing football and running when they are still young. However, this is not the case with Haemophilic children who need special attention and cannot be left to play freely with other children,” Kamau notes.

Muchoki advises the survivors to accept their situation saying this is a medical condition like any other and expresses concerns that most of them end up living in isolation and being stigmatised due to ignorance.

“The better part of my life has either been in the

hospital or locked inside the house. No one wanted to

associate with me."— Peter Muchoki

Make mortgage loans affordable for all By HEnRY OwinO

President Mwai Kibaki has asked the Shelter Af-rique and other partners to consider reducing rates of housing loans to affordable cost so that many people can benefit from the scheme.

The President spoke when he officially opened Shelter Afrique’s 30th Annual General Meeting in Nairobi. Kibaki said the housing problem is mainly attributed to the fact that Af-rica is currently experiencing the fastest urban growth rate in the world, estimated at about five per cent annually. He feared this has resulted in

environmental degradation, constrained trans-portation, unemployment and emergence of informal settlements.

He urged those spearheading housing and human settlements sector in the socio-econom-ic development of the continent to consider these challenges during their deliberations on the four-day symposium and focus on the op-portunities presented by urbanisation.

President Kibaki reiterated that many people come to live in towns and so plans to invest more resources especially in the area of housing is cru-cial. He added that people consider the option

of mortgage financing as expensive, risky and a preserve of the rich which should not be the case.

“The African continent must develop mech-anisms that will make property financing af-fordable to majority of middle and low income populations,” President Kibaki suggested.

Governor of Central Bank, Prof Njuguna Ndungu said the average mortgage loan size increased from KSh2.5 million in 2006 to KSh-4million in May 2010 partly attributed to the increase in property prices. Most slum dwellers live in deplorable situations as they cannot af-ford decent housing.

Young Derrick Chege with his mother Virginia Muthoni at Maragi Village in

Murang’a County. Pictures: Waikwa Maina


By CaROlYnE OYuGi

It is early afternoon and everyone is busy trying to make money in Gatwekera, a part of Kibera slums except for Rose Omollo who is busy nursing her wounds.

According to Rose, she was taking a nap in the house when she felt some unusual heat around her and then heard people shouting out-side. She dashed out to check what was wrong and to her surprise, her immediate neighbours’ houses were on fire.

“I got confused and didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, I remembered that I had KSh10, 000 in the house which was meant for my sons fees,” she said while wiping tears from her cheeks.

“I rushed back to the house despite the many shouts from people. “While I was inside, the door caught fire and I had no way out. The room was full of smoke and I could hardly breathe. That is when I decided to kick the door and got out. I thank God that I got out alive though my leg was burnt.”

We were later informed that the fire was caused by electric fault. Rose who is a fish-monger, cannot sell fish any more. “My cus-tomers are not comfortable buying fish from me with the wound on my leg. I am also not comfortable selling food because I have to keep chasing away flies from my leg neither can I cover it because of the ointment I am ap-plying,” she says. As a result of her challenges, Rose is totally dependent on her husband.

Electric doorSoon the children come calling at the door

and they have to wait for their mum to open the door although it is not locked. This report-er tried to help but was quickly warned not to touch the gate because ‘it has a formula’.

“We just moved in here three days ago and the children do not know the safe parts of the gate. The metal gate has some electric current flowing in it because of the illegal electric con-nections that is so rampant in the slum.

The Omollo house is not the only one with this problem. There are several houses that have illegal and careless electric connections that have become a health hazard.

A few metres from her house we meet Fred Momanyi throwing his wet shoes to the roof. According to Fred who is visiting his cousin, he cannot be in contact with the wet shoes as he places them on the roof because he will be electrocuted. Lazima nirushe na mbali ndio nisichapwe na stima. (I have to throw them from far to avoid electrocution).

Momanyi further complains that it is very hard to move around the one-roomed house because the iron sheet walls have electric cur-rent running on them.

An ariel view of Kibera slum is dominated by rusting iron sheets and television aerials boldly displayed on all the roofs. A clear in-dication that all houses have electricity and a very high percentage of the residents own tele-vision sets.

However, the way the connection is done is worrying and if no action is taken then it might as well be referred to as a time bomb. The con-nections are done right from the electric pole to the bulb in the house or to the adapter.

The wires that are used are also question-able; they are very thin if not tiny with no protective coats. Most houses have no earth wires and hence the frequent electrocution. Some wires pass in between houses and even inside the rooms while others pass in wet plac-es where waste water passes. Some even pass through garbage areas where even children walk through.

Business as usualJohn Wariri, who owns a video shop in

Kibera, is very happy that there is electricity around because he would not have been able to operate his business which is his only source of income.

“I don’t care whether the connection is legal or illegal as long as I am earning and I can provide for my family,” he said adding that there are no jobs in Kenya and people have to create their own jobs and employ others.

At night, walking through the slum has be-come a bit secure because of the many bulbs and security lights. According to the reports from the area police station, the crime rate has reduced significantly since the construction of flood lights at various parts of the slum.

According to Mama Mkubwa (as she is commonly referred to here) Kibera has be-come a city in a city and they are soon oper-ating 24 hours. “I usually sell my chapatis till midnight and I am not afraid of being attacked by robbers or rapists who were so many back then,” she said.

According to Jacob Waweru who is a land-lord, one can not get tenants if the house has no electricity. “The availability of electricity increases the rent hence more money,” he said adding that all his houses in Kibera have elec-tric connection and it does not matter whether it is legal or illegal.

He also adds that the legal connection fee is very expensive compared to what they are paid as rent. The structures also have to be ap-proved and yet most of their buildings do not

qualify. Other landlords who have not connected

electricity to their houses usually arrange with the neighbouring houses such that the tenants tap electricity from their houses at a monthly fee.

Illegal tappingOne such tenant is Hellen Mboya, a nineteen

year old single mother. Hellen pays KSh400 for her rent then pays KSh100 to the other landlord for her electric bill.

She is however not comfortable with this arrangement because her light is always on for twenty four hours. She has no switch so she cannot control the bulb. However, she usually removes the bulb when she is planning to be away for long.

Kenya Power is aware of this. Late last year they tried to disconnect the wires but they were stoned, not even the police could help them.

The illegal power connections are a hazard that could result in unnecessary loss of lives and property in the event of a fire.

Illegal power connections in slums ticking time bomb

Establish youth empowerment centres leaders toldBy niCHOlaS MaSiGa

Members of Parliament from North Rift region are required to establish youth empowerment centres in their constituencies. This is to pro-vide a one-stop shop for the youth to access information on reproductive health and HIV/Aids services.

Speaking in Kitale, North Rift Regional Commissioner Wilson Wanyanga said that by establishing such centres, youth would access information that would contribute to reducing HIV infection rates.

He said according to Kenya Aids Indicators Survey of 2007, the national HIV prevalence rate was 7.1 per cent. However in North Rift it is above the national rate and urged HIV/AIDs practitioners to design varied programmes for various target groups to address the challenge.

He regretted that only eight per cent of HIV testing facilities offer youth friendly HIV services in Rift valley. He urged all stake-holders to be committed in addressing this scourge.

The administrator also pointed out that there is need to increase integration in provi-sion of HIV/AIDs and reproductive health ser-vices in order to effectively utilise the limited resources available for the programmes.

Wanyanga also added that the government has established the youth Enterprise Develop-ment Fund which will help in addressing un-employment which is one of the major chal-lenges facing young people in the region.

"I urge young people to invest prudently in order to reap benefits from the Youth Enter-prise Development Fund and be able to repay,” said Wanyanga.

a section of kibera slum in nairobi. Below: a boy who cannot come out of the compound because he fears touching the

gate as he might be electrocuted. Pictures: Reject Correspondent and Stephane

Perrier


Woman who rescued abandoned infant

honoured By HEnRY OwinO

A woman has been recognised for her compas-sion and selfless act of rescuing an infant who was abandoned in her neighbourhood four years ago.

The mother of six, 62-year-old Josephine Mwakazi, from Mwakingali Estate Voi town, Taita Taveta County, Coast Province disregarded her age, overwhelming family size and humble lifestyle to burden herself with another child.

Unlike other mothers who would have pre-tended not to have seen the child, Mwakazi never hesitated upon seeing an infant boy abandoned in her neighbourhood, she decided to give him a chance to life.

Today, that infant is a healthy four-year-old boy who is not only a jewel to Mwakingali resi-dents but the surrounding community as well. Baptised Moses Kofi Annan, he is a happy child whose story inspires many.

Jubilee Insurance Company recognised Mwakazi’s caring heart and selfless character of giving the child a new lease of life and changing the perception of adoption in the society by re-warding her with a Jubilee Insurance Samaritan Award (JISA).

AdoptionMwakazi, among other neighbours, wit-

nessed the abandoned infant a few metres from her homestead. Not even the umbilical cord had been cut. She was touched by a sense of compassion and together with neighbours as-sisted in cutting the child’s umbilical cord be-fore rushing him to hospital.

Swinging into action at the Moi Hospital in Voi, Mwakazi immediately made enquiries on how to go about adopting the child — a long procedure with the Children Department, in-cluding getting consent from her husband Roy Mwakazi.

Mwakazi was so determined that she con-vinced him and he welcomed the idea of adop-

tion. The family named the boy Moses Annan, in honour of the former United Nations Sec-retary General, Kofi Annan owing to his van-guard role in brokering peace in the country following the post election violence of 2007/08.

The infant’s rescue coincided with the sign-ing of the Peace Accord to end the violence. The boy was later baptised Moses since he was left by his blood mother just like the biblical Moses. The two names, therefore, reminding the family of two important things in the child’s life and everybody else treats him as part of the blood family.

“Moses is part of my family and everybody loves him. In fact if you are a visitor in my house, you cannot tell that he is adopted but because of the neighbourhood, one realises it after some time since you can’t stop them from gossiping. It is true we adopted him and he is ours and nobody can take him away from us except God alone,” says Mwakazi.

The four years have not been easy as neigh-bours have rebuked her, with some calling her all sorts of names. Other have mad e claims that she just wanted to make money out of well-wishers some of whom had become her great-

est admirers. With all the discouragement she got from

even some of her own relatives, Mwakazi never lost hope of raising the little Annan and today her story is well known in the community and is talked of positively with high regard.

Even high ranking government officials have come to respect her as a true leader, a mother to be emulated by many women if they really need to lead by example.

Not many women relish the hustle of bring-ing up a young one, let alone struggling to do so with limited resources in a tough economy, so what really pushed Mwakazi to consider the adoption?

She explains: “When I first saw the child, I was tempted to give him all the motherly love that every child deserves. I had a bubble in my stomach and felt the pain of a mother then never thought twice but straight away picked him up.” She adds: “I did what was necessary and sought help from the hospital and that is how the child could become mine permanently. Today, he is four years old and I thanked God for him.”

Her family, the husband and especially the

children — a boy and five girls — have wel-comed little Annan wholeheartedly.

She has brought him up personally having no house-help and is thankful he has had a nor-mal childhood. She only had to seek the supply of special milk from the Children’s Department for a few months.

Children’s homeShe is now contemplating opening a chil-

dren’s home in the future, to care for aban-doned children. Her husband, a former area councillor, says that the family will ensure that Annan is educated to the level he would want to.

“God salvaged my Annan from the jaws of the cruel hyenas, lions and other wild animals roaming our neighbourhood from the adjacent Tsavo National Park into the house. I am going to take care of him,” observes Mwakazi.

Annan celebrated his fourth birthday on May 3, 2011, and will begin school next year. The family intends to break the adoption news to him only after he attains 18 years.

“When I first saw the child, I was tempted to give him all the motherly love that every

child deserves. I had a bubble in my stomach and felt the

pain of a mother then never thought twice but straight

away picked him up.”— Josephine Mwakazi

Woman entrepreneur earns best achiever awardBy waikwa Maina

About four years ago, Rebecca Mwangi from Maturubari village in Kangocho area in Mathira division was like any other woman in her pov-erty stricken village.

She was not earning anything meaningful from her small shamba where she has built an empire for her family.

Last year, the mother of four was voted the best woman in the utilization of Women Enter-prise Fund nationally and was awarded a trophy by President Kibaki.

Her innovation and hard work has propelled her family to greater heights, this despite taking care of her ailing husband and their children.

Today her story is different. With an initial loan of KSh35,000 from Taifa Sacco Society Lim-ited, Mwangi has created an empire, which is a showcase locally and nationally. Her handwork has seen her navigate African countries as a role model and trainer in agri-business.

LoanShe has been to Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana

and finally South Africa where she gave her ex-perience to women entrepreneurs from various countries.

“Were it not for Taifa Sacco and the govern-ment’s Women Enterprise Fund, I would not be where I am today. My husband was a mechanic before he was diagnosed with cancer. Then he was the family’s sole bread winner. He has been ailing for several years but my projects earn enough to cater for his treatment and family,”

explains Mwangi. With the KSh35,000 loan from the Women

Enterprise Fund through Taifa Sacco, Mwangi constructed three fish dams. Earnings from the fish sales enabled her to construct four more dams in her shamba which is less than an acre.

The innovative and hardworking mother ap-proached Taifa Sacco for the loan in 2008 under the Women Enterprise Fund.

“I got the loan which helped me expand my fish farming project. I had two fishponds but the loan enabled me construct three more,” she says.

Success storyTwo years later, having completed paying the

loan, Mwangi went back to the same financial in-stitution for more money. This time she secured a loan of KSh80,000 which she used to connect electricity to her home and improve on her cof-fee bushes.

Her Agri-business empire involves bee keep-ing, rabbit farming, brick making, dairy goats and sheep farming and general small scale farm-ing. “I intend to start a hatchery project before the end of this year. I am confident Taifa Sacco will continue supporting me,” she adds.

Mwangi attributes her success not only to finances advanced to her by the sacco, but also to various training sessions organised by the sav-ings organisation which has also aggressively as-sisted in marketing her products.

Mwangi’s efforts have enabled her meet Pres-ident Kibaki. The President presented her with the award for being the Best Woman in utiliza-tion of the Woman Fund in the country.

Her home is always flooded with visitors from all parts of the country and outside Kenya who want to learn from her success story. Her farm has turned out to be a resource centre. Her brick making industry em-ploys more than ten people every day.

“I also join them in all the activities including moulding the bricks. Every moment of my time is spent attending to the projects,” she says.

Each farming activity in her farm supplements the other. Manure from the rab-bits, goats and cattle are used in her coffee plantation while weed from the farm is fed to the livestock.

This reduces the cost of production in the farm. She also harvests enough food crops from her fertile farm to feed her family. The family also enjoys rab-bit meat since they are in plenty. Waste from the chicken project will be used to feed the fish. Fingerlets which are grown in her fish ponds are on high demand. The Ministry of Fisheries has done its best to market them on her behalf.

She appeals to all those who wish to make a difference in their life to approach friendly finan-cial institutions appointed by the Government as

intermediaries of the Women Enterprise Fund for both financial and technical support to expe-rience the difference.

“There are hundreds of types of business that women can successfully engage in but capital has always been a major challenge. However, with the poverty eradication funds and others intro-duced by the Government, women in the rural areas have no reason not to change and improve on their lives,” says Mwangi.

Josephine Mwakazi, little Moses annan and nizar Juma, the Jubilee Group Chairman. Jubilee recognised her compassion in saving the abandoned children.

Picture: Henry Owino

Rebecca Mwangi standing next to her fish pond in Mathira. She was awarded her exemplary utilization

of the women’s Enterprise Fund. Picture: Waikwa Maina


Embu farmers now embracing fish farmingBy kaRiuki MwanGi

Farmers in Embu have for a long time been capitalising on the production of coffee and tea as their major cash crops. However, the trend is now changing with the sensitisation on the importance of fish farming.

Embu district Fisheries officer Jackson Kamau says since the intro-duction of the Economic Stimulus Programme, over 600 fish ponds have been put up in Manyatta and Runy-enjes constituencies within two years.

Kamau says that the residents have embraced production of fish for their home consumption and are now em-barking on production for local and international markets.

The Fisheries officer notes that each of the ponds has been well stocked with 1,000 fingerlings. The Government has already paid for more fingerlings and fish feeds which will be delivered to the farmers in due time.

The fish farmers were urged to not only rely on big markets as they can harvest the fish and put up kiosks in their areas where they can provide their own markets and make money.

Cluster groups“There is no way that you can sell

a product that has not been tried. So we should embrace consumption of fish so that we can provide a good lo-cal market for the product,” observes Kamau.

The officer was speaking during a fish farmer’s field day at Ena in Runy-enjes. He advised fish farmers to form cluster groups of 15 and register at the Department of Social Services so they can have a bargaining power in selling fish produce and avoid being exploit-ed by middlemen.

Kamau notes that eventually a common cooperative society for fish farmers will be constituted so that issues affecting fish farmers can be addressed amicably to promote pro-duction.

The fisheries officer also advised farmers to invest in trout fish farming which is well paying as one kilogram of the breed goes at KSh750.

Fish farmers from Embu will also

stand to benefit from a cooling plant pilot project that is set to be built in Nkubu, Meru County. The fish will be collected and taken to the cooling plant while awaiting the various mar-kets without losses being incurred.

In satisfying the zeal of fish farmers in Embu, the Government is set to put up a fish feeds manufacturing plant in Embu, where the farmers who have already been trained in feeds manu-facturing will manage the plant.

Kamau said that the presence of a fish feeds plant in Embu and a fish cooling plant in Meru will boost pro-duction of fish in the region as they will have a reliable source of feeds and a plant to prevent losses. This will enhance food security and improve economy of the area.

The farmers have also been pro-vided with four fish harvesting nets, two of which will be used by farm-ers in Runyenjes Constituency and

the other towns to benefit farmers in Manyatta Constituency. The farmers will be expected to pay a small main-tenance fee and eventually buy a net for every fish farmers’ group.

The Government has also de-ployed two fish farmers’ trainers per constituency in Embu to ensure that quantity and quality are maintained.

Production“Farmers should look into the

future and embrace water conserva-tion. Most of the irrigation projects upstream might eventually drain all the waters and leave the area dry,” he observed.

Embu East District Commissioner Tom Macheneri pointed out that the production of fish has helped in the improvement of the economy and elimination of poverty in the district.

“The Government has embarked on building the capacity of fish farm-

ers, improvement of fish markets, and also working on ways of adding value and quality of fish products,” said Ma-cheneri.

He noted that the Economic Stimulus Programme has immensely benefited the residents saying that

the KSh15 million which was used in building the ponds benefited the youths who built them.

He said that so far more than 6,000 youths have been employed through fish farming and the construction of water harvesting reservoirs.

Cultural practices deny the Kuria opportunitiesBy MBOYa RaCHuOnYO

Outdated cultural practices have for a long time denied the Kuria people opportunity to compete favourably with the rest of Kenyans.

The serious challenge that needs to be tack-led urgently is early marriages that the area Dis-trict Children’s Officer John Lang’at singled out as “a shame” on the community.

Lang’at said the children’s department is bat-tling with the task of rescuing 19 young girls who have been married off by their parents in the recent past.

Langat said his officer with the help of the teachers and local provincial administration are currently combing the entire Kuria region to lo-cate homes where the young girls are hidden by their husbands.

However, the DCO lamented that it had been a difficult task battling to win the war on early marriages in Kuria as more cases were emerging everyday.

“I am worried about dropout rates among young girls to engage in early marriages,” said Lang’at. He lamented that there were 19 new cases reported recently of girls dropping out of

school and being married off. The marriages which occurred in May this

year, saw four girls; two in Standard Eight and one each in Class Seven and Class Six dropping out at Kirigoti Primary in Masabe division.

Addressing the Press at his Kehancha-Kuria District Headquarters, Langat explained that four other girls, aged between 12 and 16 years reportedly got married after dropping out at Rongabi Primary School in the same division.

Children’s rightsThe officer complained some marriages are

negotiated and consented by chiefs and their as-sistants at a fee.

Elites in Kuria have raised complaints over the manner in which authorities were handling children issues, accusing them of failure to im-plement the Children’s Act, which guarded the rights of the child.

The area District Commissioner James Mugwe recently ordered a probe and subse-quent arrest of parents’ consented marriages of their young daughters. He said that violation of children rights is a serious offence and anybody found doing so will not be spared.

The DC said investigations to identify the culprits were in progress adding that parents who strike deals at the expense of their daugh-ters would face the law.

At the same time, forces fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Kuria West and East districts were also being accused of turning the struggle into a lucrative business.

Some members of the Area Advisory Com-mittee (AAC) claimed that Non-Governmental Organisations were receiving millions of shil-lings from donors to fight the vice but waste most of it holding workshops, seminars and trainings in expensive hotels.

The allegations were raised during a meet-ing in Kehancha town that the NGOs would not like to see FGM ending in the region because it would automatically cut off the flow of money from donors.

The NGOs have been organising rescue mis-sions but with little change of attitude on the part of the community.

The meeting resolved that the organisations in partnership with the Government should establish permanent rescue centres at strategic places that will accommodate girls escaping

from forced circumcision in their homes instead of spending funds in big hotels.

The hefty allowances paid to participants in hotels had made the local council of elders to also shift goals in their agreements to help eradi-cate the practice among the Kuria community.

SolutionThe elders bit a hasty retreat on an MoU they

wrote with children’s ministry last year by de-manding an extension to the banning of FGM.

Jecinta Murgor who represented the min-istry of Gender, Social and Children affairs at the meeting suggested that it would be better if a lasting solution to the problem was found to protect young girls against all forms of violence, adding that there was urgent need to bring all stakeholders on board to prioritise the available approaches in fighting the practice.

The director who was accompanied by the Nyanza provincial children boss Joseph Kodon-go asked the area advisory committee to ensure that the most notorious violence meted against children like child labour, early marriages and child neglect among others were addressed. Par-liament has already passed the Anti-FGM Bill.

From top: a farmer tries out a fishing net introduced in the area by the officials Fisheries officials explain various conservation

methods to the farmers in Embu. Pictures: Kariuki Mwangi


New lease of life as Prisons implement new laws

By JOY MOnDaY

It is Wednesday evening, hundreds of inmates scale the flickering light of a television screen in their dim lit Kitale GK Prison.

The news is on and everyone is struggling to have a glimpse of the day’s main events. Some sit on the concrete floor, some stand as others lean against each other not to miss the latest news. It’s a familiar scene in another cell where a TV screen has been mounted.

In this prison, each cell hosts 60 men. The mattresses, some on the floor, oth-ers propped up on bunks lying just a few inches apart. Clothes lines hang from the ceiling and black-and-white striped tops and bottoms hang like sad holiday decorations. The institution hosts 1,100 inmates against the recommended figure of 400.

Kenya’s prisons have been known for being over-crowded. Inmates bru-tally punished and served with un-cooked food. However, times have changed and these kind of scenes are an improvement from just a few years ago as the Kenya Prison’s department commits to clean up its act.

Prisoner’s rightsWith the prisoners’ rights guaranteed in

the new Constitution, decongestion is a no-brainer, according to the Kenya Prisons Ser-vices. However, the Kenya Prisons Paralegal Project (KPPP) says that the goal will not be achieved if the authorities fail to exhibit the leadership required to make such dreams come true.

In 2008, the Kenya Prisons Service launched the Integration Correctional Services Improve-ment Programme after prison officers launched a widespread strike to protest against poor pay and inadequate living conditions.

A task force appointed to probe the crisis concluded Kenyan prisons were a ‘wild jungle’ where ‘disease, squalor and modern-day slavery thrived’.

The committee traced overcrowding back to decades of neglect. A report indicated that over the last two decades, Kenya invested heavily in the creation of new districts, police stations and court buildings but made little or no effort to expand or rehabilitate prisons.

Dr Ludeki Chweya, Permanent Secretary in the office of the Vice President and Min-istrty of Home Affairs, admits the situation at the jail facilities is dire. Inmates have been sleeping on the concrete floor without blan-kets and some have even walked around naked with no uniforms to wear.

Comfort“For many years, Prison was essentially just

a warehouse for offenders,” says Chweya add-ing that things have changed and every pris-oner has a mattress now.

“You get two blankets; three pairs of clothing as well as soap and tissue paper. From this year I am distributing shoes and sweaters, which never existed before,” says Chweya.

Never mind TV sets, which have started popping up in prison cells. While the service is making an effort to make the prisons more live-able, the real goal is to have fewer prisoners in their care.

“We asked ourselves ‘do we have inmates who do not have to be in prison? Are we trying to rehabilitate people who need not be in jail?’, posed Chweya. He answers: “The answer is yes.”

“That is where a new provision in the Con-stitution came in handy. Article 49 states that people suspected of crimes punishable by a fine or a sentence of less than six-months can-not be held in remand,” he said.

“In a country where petty criminals make up the vast majority of inmates, this clause has a big impact,” ob-serves Chweya.

Other pluses for prison-ers in the new Constitution include maintaining all the human rights in the Bill of Rights, the right to petition for habeas corpus and the right to humane treatment while in custody.

Boniface Wanyoike, a paralegal officer with KPPP says he is optimistic the new Constitution will aid in the ongoing change in Kenyan prisons.

“There have been re-forms. No one can doubt that,” he said during an inter-view with the Reject in Kitale.

“The challenge is whether we have the kind of leadership in prisons to bring about change. The Constitution is just a set of laws. It has given life to people who believe in something,” he notes.

The Prisons Service has a track record of using public money for private gain, gross

negligence and irresponsible leadership. In the past, the service blamed many of its challenges on lack of funding. In its report, the 2008 pris-ons review committee established the problem with the Kenya Prisons Service was not lack of funding, but a failure in leadership.

“Improving the living conditions of prison-ers, respecting their human dignity and rights should be mandatory,” says a senior prisons of-ficial on anonymity.

Officer in charge at Kitale GK Prison, Ahmed Rashid, says a taskforce of players in the criminal justice system has started planning how best to implement the new Constitution.

“We require time to decongest prisons more than just releasing petty remand criminals. The prisons service is exploring expanding commu-nity service orders so prisoners can serve their time outside the prison walls,” says Rashid.

He adds: “We are also thinking in terms of expansion and modernisation to be able to ac-commodate the increasing numbers.”

Decongestion Rashid was speaking during the celebra-

tions to mark the 100 years existence of the Kenyan prison.

The Prisons Service and stakeholders met in Mombasa recently to discuss plans of imple-menting the new Constitution. They have been given KSh207 million for its implementation between now and June 2012.

However, as much as the prison authori-ties try to decongest jail facilities, they need to work with the Judiciary to expedite the 713,381 backlog of cases from their end in the magistrates’ courts alone.

Women visit hospitals to curb maternal deaths

By SHaBan MakOkHa

The Government has banned traditional birth at-tendants (TBAs) from conducting home deliver-ies in Matungu Division in Western Province.

The District Medical Officer of Health (DMOH) William Malaguen said there are increased cases of mortality in pregnant mothers who go for delivery services at the TBAs homes.

Speaking at Shiembekho Cultural Centre in Matungu, the DMOH asked the provincial ad-ministration to ensure no delivery is done at the village level. “The TBAs lack delivery pads, tech-niques and can enhance the spread of HIV/Aids from one mother to another and even to the new born babies. They use the same gloves to handle several mothers oblivious of the danger,” said Dr Malaguen.

He asked the expectant mothers to shun the misconception that health facilities are expensive saying the government has subsidised maternity services. “The TBAs lack modern techniques in antenatal care. They massage the womb which can kill the unborn baby because massaging separates the baby from the placenta,” noted the district medical officer.

Malaguen pointed out that the district has a population of 154,077 people with 3.9 per cent annual production rate and 1, 155 mortality rate which is equivalent to 0.75 per cent of the district population.

“The district has 11 health facilities with Ma-tungu Health Centre which is the largest facility in the district projected at level three in terms of health service delivery,” he added.

He underscored the need for an ambulance in the district to enhance referral cases which he said is rampant. Malaguen further added: “We are unable to ferry our patients to referral centres be-cause we lack an ambulance in the district.”

However, some of the expectant mothers said they prefer TBAs because they offer friendly ser-vices. They said they are harassed, molested and bullied by hospital nurses when they go for deliv-ery services in health facilities.

Jane Munyendo, the project manager of Umoja Women Group which hosted the forum, appealed on the importance of sensitising pregnant moth-ers on skilled delivery services.

“We require time to decongest prisons more than just releasing petty

remand criminals. The prisons service is exploring

expanding community service orders so prisoners

can serve their time outside the prison walls.”

— Ahmed Rashid

Maternal deaths caused by Malaria

reducingBy FRED OkOTH

There has been a marked reduction in the num-ber of deaths of pregnant mothers reported in Kuria West and East districts following the ef-forts made in controlling Malaria in the region.

According to the area Medical officer of Health Solomon Bongo, maternal mortality in the region had declined tremendously over the past two years.

Speaking in Kehancha town of Kuria West district, Bongo said death in children under five years had declined from seven to three per cent. “This has been due to the malaria control pro-gramme that was started in 2005 - 2010 and the eradication programme of Malaria which was starting in 2011 and expected to last till 2017,” said Bongo.

He further added that transmission of Ma-laria has been low after families received treated mosquito nets. This has contributed to reduced maternal and child mortality in the area.

“A new drug known as AL has been made available in all government and mission hospi-tals and Malaria patients are responding posi-tively to this treatment,” added Bongo.

The MOH said public education will con-tinue in the area and subsidised nets will also be distributed at all times to all residents as a move to fight the killer disease.

Some prisoners at a library at kitale Main Gk Prison where they can now access reading materials. inmates

watching television donated at the prison. Pictures: Joy Monday


Seek local doctors to save your child from cleft palate

By OCHiEnG JuMa

Born 11 years ago, Irene Musyawa has never been a happy girl. This is because she was born with a deformity in the mouth. According to her sister Caroline Wambua, the deformity made her shy away from normal life leading to few friends and loneliness.

Caroline and her aunt Damiana Kimeu had taken Irene to Makueni district hospital for her condition to be corrected after getting information that a team of medical personnel were in the area to correct such conditions.

”Even her grades had gone down due to the speech problem. But now we are happy that she will face every day with a smile,” Caroline said as she sat by her younger sister who had undergone a successful surgery.

Irene had a cleft palate which took a toll on her as she grew up. She had lost her self-esteem as her peers teased her.

A cleft or lip palate is a separation or split in either the upper lip or the roof of the mouth (palate) or sometimes both. It occurs when separate areas of the face do not join prop-erly when a baby is developing in the womb. The development of the face and the upper lip takes place during the fifth to ninth week of pregnancy.

GratitudeComing from a less fortunate family in Ki-

kuu village, Kalawa division in Mbooni Con-stituency, Irene was unable to get surgery to correct the condition. However, when they got the news of the team of medical personnel coming to offer free surgery they took Irene to Makueni district hospital in Wote town, Makueni County where the team were based at the time.

“We are so happy for her; she will now be able to enjoy her childhood. We thank the team of doctors who managed to carry out the surgery. When we heard about the visiting doctors in one of the vernacular stations. We thought it was a joke, but now it has dawned on us that it is true. Irene will be happy to ex-press herself with confidence now,” Caroline said.

Help a Child Face Tomorrow (HCFT) is an indigenous Kenyan non-profit medical relief organisation dedicated to providing quality health care to disadvantaged children with fa-cial defects, deformities or injuries.

According to the organisation’s CEO Dr Meshack Ong’uti who is a reconstructive and maxillofacial surgeon, the main goal is to re-store self-esteem in the children by providing

facial surgery free of charge.“One of the things you realise is there are

people who lived with these abnormalities for the last 70 years and even at 70 years they want treatment to be given to them. It shows that there is need for this kind of work to be done.

Our aim is not to go to a place once. We are covering the whole country. We have been moving from one district to one province to another in hope that we can be able to assist these patients.” said Dr Ong’uti.

InvolvementThe former director of Kenyatta National

Hospital is calling upon Kenyans to appreci-ate local specialists and make use of them through getting involved actively in changing children’s lives for a better future.

”Help a Child Face Tomorrow will vigi-lantly seek new local and international links and partnerships with corporations, medical groups, and community organisations spe-cifically for resource mobilisation, advocacy, education and research.

These collaborations will allow us to reach our initial target of surgically assisting 300 children per annum, at an average of five to six children per week. Any child aged 18 years or younger will be eligible for treatment if, in the opinion of the medical team there is a reason-able possibility that the treatment will benefit the child by breaking the social isolation and emotional starvation due to disfigurement,” he said.

The organisation brings together profession-als such as counsellors, cardiologists, speech language pathologists and other professionals in the medical work and out of it to further enhance the quality of life of the children after their operations.

After undergoing a successful surgery at the hospital 70-year-old Paul Maundu who has lived with the deformity and his family ex-perienced great happiness.

”My grandmother is the one who told me about my dad’s earlier years with the defor-mity. She said my dad could not breastfeed well. He grew like that and went up to class four before my grandmother enrolled him in a tailoring school,” said second born daughter,

Rosemary Kimuyu.She added: “He man-

aged to bring us up through his tailoring skills. He has educated all the nine of us. We thank God for him and for this gesture that has come at the last years of his life, we are grateful. We wish it could be there earlier because he could have been able to talk and do much more.

Approximately 140,000 babies born in Ke-nya each year, there would be 280 children born each year with a correctable facial de-formity. This does not include the number of children with disfigurement acquired after birth; that is tumours, burns or other injuries.

“There is a profound need for specialised medical care particularly in resource poor coun-tries such as Kenya. Using the above numbers, a reasonable approximation would show that there are more than 10,000 children in Kenya with fa-cial deformities that would be eligible for this programme. Majority of these needy children are in poor rural areas where there is no access to medical facilities or the financial resources for treatment are lacking,” Dr Ong’uti stated.

The surgeon highlights some of the major causes of cleft and lip palates as lack of proper nutrients, use of drugs, smoking and alcohol by pregnant women.

“Malnutrition, lack of certain food elements one week after a mother conceives, smoking and alcohol and chemicals usage are some of the causes of cleft and lip palates,” said the sur-geon. “Only a small percentage is hereditary,” the surgeon remarked.

Free surgeryHe adds that at least five out of ten children

die of treatable facial tumours due to lack of accessible heath care saying that the national budget which is the main tool for mobilisation and allocation of public resources was insensi-tive to these needs and their roles in the pro-ductive economy. Makueni district hospital resident surgeon Dr John Ndung’u lauded the organisation and said that it was working as stipulated by government policy.

The organisation which has so far provided free facial and reconstructive surgery in Kisii, Kapsabet, Baraton, Isiolo, Longisa, Bangla-desh, Makueni and Siaya.

”We call upon patients with these cases to come forward for free treatment,” Dr Ong’uti urged.

Church on a social transformation mission to fight poverty By wanGaRi MwanGi

The Anglican Church has embarked on a so-cial transformation project aimed at elevating people out of poverty.

Under the Mount Kenya Christian Commu-nity Service (MKCCS), the church has been con-ducting several projects to achieve its mandate of improving the lives of people in Mt. Kenya region.

Speaking during the MKCCS annual gen-eral meeting in Murang’a, the chairman Joseph Kagunda said they have prepared a strategic plan (2011-2015) which will act as a guideline towards achieving the set objectives.

He said the plan seeks to address three the-matic issues which include; food security, health,

HIV/AIDs and youth empowerment, which he noted to be the major challenges facing the people in the area adding that if something is not done the situation might worsen.

“We shall spare no efforts to free our fellow men, women and children from abject and de-humanizing conditions of extreme poverty,” said the chairman.

In collaboration with other development stakeholders, the organisation has been able to reach 2,500 households where they train them on integrated dry land and organic farming as well as rearing graded rabbits and chicken. Their major focus is on agriculture because it can spur economic growth and boost food security.

“Our target is those people who have been forced to rely on relief food from government

or well wishers due to unreliable rainfall but we would like them to be growing their own food,” said Kagunda. He also revealed that in an effort to ease the burden of raising the children left to the elderly caregivers after the death of their parents, the organisation is rolling out a pro-gramme to empower them financially.

He said the number of orphans in the region is increasing when their parents die of HIV/AIDs and the burden is being imposed on the aging grandparents most of whom don’t have the capacity to provide for them.

“In partnership with Help Age Kenya, we are offering loans to these people to engage in small businesses and enable them take care of the or-phans under their care,” said Kagunda.

He said they have given loans amounting to

KSh5 million as well as enrolling some of the orphans in vocational training to gain skills and earn a livelihood.

Kagunda pointed out that they have launched an intensive campaign to steer the fight against stigma and discrimination against the HIV survivors, which he noted to be a ma-jor setback in fighting the spread of the disease.

Among other projects in line include the youth empowerment, where they are offering entrepreneurship targeting the young and po-tential entrepreneurs to unlock their potential in engaging in business.

They are also reaching out to the jigger infest-ed people who have become marginalised and rejected in the society by providing basic health care and nutritional advice.

“Malnutrition, lack of certain food elements one week after a mother conceives, smoking and alcohol and chemicals

usage are some of the causes of cleft and lip palates.”— Dr Meshack Ong’uti

From top: Surgeons operating on a

patient at Makueni District Hospital.

irene Musyama rests in the ward

after undergoing a successful cleft palate surgery at no cost. Pictures:

Ochieng Juma


Male cut picks up in TurkanaBy niCHOlaS MaSiGa

“When I learnt that medical male circumcision reduces risk of being infected with HIV by at least 60 per cent and that the procedure is of-fered free at Lodwar District Hospital, I con-sidered undergoing it but I feared it would be painful,” said Lenox Isinyan.

Lenox, 25, is among a growing number of Turkana men who have benefited from the Government’s free VMMC programme which started in the area in April.

The first year student at Kenya Institute of Management has always wanted to be circum-cised because his friends who are circumcised discriminated against him.

“My circumcised schoolmates would laugh at me because I was uncircumcised. My col-lege mates did the same. But now that I am circumcised I will interact with them freely,” says Isinyan.

Traditional rightsWhen he was in primary school his friends

urged him to be circumcised but his parents re-fused since the Turkana do not practice the rite.

His parents only allowed him to go through Asapan, a Turkana ceremony where youth get initiated into adulthood. It does not involve any cut. Usually, the clans perform these rites on specific youth who have reached adulthood and are ready to marry or would want to take on leadership roles in the community.

“I always wanted to go for the cut but my parents refused and I did not have money to pay for it,” says Isinyan.

During the April holidays, Isinyan went home to Lodwar and found that government

in collaboration with other partners had organ-ised a free voluntary medical male circumci-sion (VMMC) programme.

This time he convinced his parents to allow him to undergo the procedure because it would reduce his risk of contracting HIV.

He arrived at Lodwar District Hospital in the morning where he was counselled before undergoing the procedure.

Counselling session“First, together with several men we were

taken through a counselling session where the counsellor explained the importance of VMMC,” he says.

During the session they were asked general questions concerning their health and signifi-cance of having to be tested their HIV status.

Isinyan was then moved to an individual counselling session where he was tested for HIV before he was circumcised.

The importance of knowing one’s status dur-ing the individual counselling, doctors say, is to know the CD4 count of the client before pro-ceeding to the next level. If the CD4 count is low, the medical experts will advise on what to do before undergoing circumcision.

Isinyan was circumcised in a procedure that only took half an hour. “I removed the bandage from the wound after only three days. I was ad-vised not to use any drug apart from pain killers that I was given at the Hospital,” says Isinyan.

“I was free to engage in my usual duties,” he says adding that he was asked to abstain from sex for six weeks.

“I am now happy that I am circumcised. It is not painful. I encourage more men to undergo the cut during the ongoing free VMMC at Lod-

war District Hospital,” says Isinyan.“Even though I am circumcised, I know that

I am not fully protected from being infected by HIV. I will require other protective measures such as use of condoms every time I have sex to completely protect myself from being infected with HIV,” says Isinyan.

According to the research done in three countries, it has been established that the HIV prevalence rate in countries where men are not circumcised is higher.

It is for this reason that the government through Nyanza Reproductive Society intro-duced free VMMC at Lodwar District Hospital, Kainuk Dispensary and at Kakuma Travellers Building after succeeding in Nyanza where

Turkana are benefiting through the procedure.“According to Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey

(KAIS) of 2007, the national HIV prevalence rate is about seven per cent but in Turkana, the rate is about nine per cent,” explains Dr Joseph Epem, Turkana Medical officer of Health.

Peter Lemu, a clinical officer with Nyanza Reproductive Society encourages men in Tur-kana County to take advantage of free VMMC.

“We are happy that the number of men seek-ing the service in three stations in the country is encouraging. We have circumcised more than 4,000 men aged between 15 and 49 since we started the programme. We want more to come to help in reducing HIV infection in the area,” says Lemu.

HIV/AIDS situation in

MatunguBy SHaBan MakOkHa

Eight per cent of the residents of Ma-tungu district are HIV positive. The District’s Aids and STI Coordinator (DASCO) Christopher Kach has said.

Kach said out of the district’s 154,077 people, 15,729 were tested in the past year. Out of this number, 453 people tested HIV positive.

Kach further said out of the 453 who are HIV positive, 30 per cent are on ARVs and doing well. The DASCO officer said the district has a sufficient supply of HIV drugs.

He called upon any HIV positive person from any district to visit Matun-gu for the drugs saying they are meant to serve everybody and not the people of Matungu alone.

Speaking in a stakeholder’s forum held in Matungu, Kach said, “We have enough drugs for malaria and other op-portunistic diseases with enough test kits. We therefore call upon our people to come for voluntary testing to know their status and be guided on how to live positively.”

He pointed out that all counselling centres in the district need severe super-vision to determine the quality of coun-selling services they offer. He warned that inefficient counselling can result to death of the victim or their lovers.

“The quality of counselling main-tains one’s stability. If it is poor, one may end up killing self or his/her lover,” he noted.

Kach appealed to all pregnant moth-ers to go for clinical services to enable them know their HIV status to avoid infection to the unborn babies.

By HEnRY OwinO

The National Aids Control Council (NACC) has formed a legal Tribunal that will manage HIV/Aids in the country. The Tribunal is part and parcel of the institutional framework established under the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act, 2006.

Speaking at the official inauguration of HIV/Aids Tribunal at NACC headquarters in Nairobi, Minister of State for Special Programmes, Esther Murugi said one of the highlights of the tribunal is that it is conferred with enforcement powers by the Act. She added that the tribunal will fill the vacuum that has existed in the protection of the persons infected or affected by HIV/Aids.

According to the Act, it is an offence to con-duct an HIV test on a person with disability or a minor without the written consent of a guardian. Some of the cases lined up for the tribunal include discrimination against people living with HIV at the work place, schools, colleges, foreign embassies and even at home.

Murugi said, “There are instances when the fundamental rights and freedoms of both the in-fected and the affected persons have been contra-vened without any recourse for remedy.”

She emphasised that the tribunal has the mandate to summon witnesses, take evi-dence, and recommend action to be taken on anyone who is found guilty of discriminating against people on the basis of their status.

“You will all agree with me that making this tribunal to operate is long overdue,” said Murugi. “Stakeholders and our people who have been waiting and anticipating for the Tri-bunal to commence its legal responsibility and operations, we highly regret the delays,” she added.

The minister reiterated that

the Constitution has established a strong frame-work for the observation and enforcement of fun-damental human rights and freedoms. She said this first HIV/Aids tribunal in Kenya has the role of enforcing human rights as mandated in the Act to operate in broad objective of fundamental hu-man rights and freedom under the Constitution.

Professor Alloys Orago the NACC Director said Aids Stigma is more deadly than HIV itself. He said stigma has led to seclusion of many per-sons living with the virus contributing to high-est killer from infection with the virus than the scourge itself.

Orago said Kenya now is celebrating 26 years since the first case of HIV infection was detected yet despite the major milestones achieved so far, the main hindrance to the progress remains stig-ma. He added that HIV prevalence is likely to re-duce further if people living with HIV/Aids are supported and accepted in all environments.

The Chairperson of NACC, Professor Mary Getui said gender based violence in particular has had an upper hand in promoting stigma, as the other party who is ‘always’ the man tends to initi-ate blame game on the woman, who may have been

tested while attending antenatal clinic.

Getui said stigma has also been associated with gender based violence in marriages and other relationships, unfair dis-missal by employers who grapple with the idea of having to spend more money on the care and sup-port of the affected employees and discrimination by insurance companies who over time fear spending money on HIV infect-ed patients.

She said despite all the chal-lenges, the organisation’s success remains scaling-up prevention and treatment interventions to reach as many people as possible who require the services on a daily basis.

Tribunal to protect persons with HIV/Aids in place

“There are instances when the fundamental rights

and freedoms of both the infected and the affected

persons have been contravened without

any recourse for remedy.”

— Esther Murugi

Hindu Council donates foodstuff

By aYOki OnYanGO

The Hindu Council of Kenya, through its affiliated institutions, has donated relief food to the people of Mwala constituency – in the larger Machakos District.

The foodstuff, which included maize flour and loaves of bread, was distrib-uted to the needy in Wamuyu Village in Mwala.

“We have a serious food deficit and people are facing starvation. They are in dire need of food”, lamented Mwala MP Daniel Muoki.

A few months back, the Hindu Coun-cil donated 100 tones of maize flour to the Kenya Red Cross to be taken to Turkana to feed the people.

One of the Hindu affiliates Dagamber Jain Mumukhu Mandir organised the food distribution in Mwala, which in-cluded 10 tonnes of maize flour packed in a 10 kilogramme bag and bread.

“We have put aside 300 tonnes of maize flour and other essential food items to be distributed in the most af-fected regions,” said Shantibhai Shah, the drought relief project co-coordinator.

The Hindu Council through its affili-ated bodies has in the past been involved in a number of projects in Kenya. These include organising free medical camps in various parts of the country, donating Jaipur feet to amputees, planting of trees, donating books and paying school fees for needy children.

Mwala MP Muoki asked the Gov-ernment to seek a lasting solution to the drought menace in Kenya. He suggested the sinking dams in all dry areas and ini-tiating irrigation in areas situated near rivers.

“Countries like Israel are drier than Kenya but because of irrigation and other modern farming systems, they have bet-ter food security than Kenya,” added Muoki.

Clinical officers circumcising a man at kainuk dispensary in Turkana County.Picture: Nicholas Masiga


By kaRiuki MwanGi

For a long time patients with terminal illnesses all over the country have been queuing at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) for months to get the much needed dialysis services and other terminal illness medication.

The cancer patients in Embu County and the rest of Eastern Province have also been suffering from the shortage of the dialysis ma-chines in the country bearing in mind that the province is usually affected by aflatoxin which is the major cause of cancer.

It is for this reason that like-minded mem-bers of the community united and came up with the Embu-Mbeere hospice. It will be geared towards helping the members of the so-ciety with terminal illnesses to ensure they live a positive life.

Embu-Mbeere hospice nurse in charge Stel-la Warui says that since opening its doors to ter-minally ill patients. The hospice has been giving palliative care to cancer and HIV patients to ensure they attain quality life.

ServicesWarui says that currently they enrolled

more than 120 patients who get assistance at the hospice. They also offer services to 150 pa-tients in conjunction with the Embu Provincial General Hospital. “We are usually happy that they die a painless death with their symptoms relieved,” says Warui.

The hospice offers palliative services to the terminally ill to help relieve the pain and symp-toms. They also offer home -based care for the patients who cannot make it to the hospice.

The hospice also offers family counseling for the family members to know how to treat them, training for the professionals on handling can-cer patients and community sensitisation on the disease.

Warui also calls on residents of Embu, Kir-inyaga, Meru, Mwingi and other surrounding areas to stop hiding terminally ill patients and make use of the facility to provide them with better quality life.

Mary Wambui, a nurse is one of the benefi-ciaries of the initiative. She has breast cancer. She says that she has been able to live a good life despite being diagnosed with the disease. “I don’t know whether I would be alive were it not for this hospice,” she says.

Wambui says that getting palliative services at other hospitals is expensive and out of the reach for many who cannot afford it. However, she calls on the Government and other well wishers to support the community based initia-tive so as to help give the patients a good life.

Queueing“Most of these patients are dying queueing

at the KNH awaiting services,” she says adding that the community initiative to give them ser-vices should be supported.

According to the hospice vice chairman Johnstone Nyaga, it is the responsibility of each member of the community to support the ini-tiative saying that it is the only way to help the terminally ill.

Nyaga says that the Hospice will soon be fitted with a dialysis machine that will give the patients the relief from travelling to Nairobi for

the services. “We expect to be giving full services to the

patients to ensure we increase their life span and that they live a pain free life,” he adds.

However, Nyaga says that they are faced with the challenge of funds to complete all the buildings for service delivery and understaffing.

Relief for patients as Hospice is set to receive dialysis machine

By CaROlinE wanGECHi

Residents of Kianyaga are complaining over the management of Kianyaga Sub-district hospital.

According to John Maina, a farmer who al-leges he was turned a way at the hospital, there are no staff to attend to patients at night at the facility.

“We are sent away to take our dying patients to Kerugoya District Hospital which is about 15 kilometres from the sub-district hospital,” added Maina.

Selling drugsAnn Wanja had been diagnosed with ma-

laria at the facility and when she went to the pharmacy to get the free malaria drug, she was told that the drugs were not available. Wanja alleges that she was asked to pay KSh300 and the drugs would be availed.

“I tried to get to know why the malaria drugs were being sold and yet we know that the drug is free,” says Wanja who claims that her efforts to reach the hospital administration were unsuccessful.

Refuting the claims, Dr Peter Kimani said

that there is a shortage of staff in the hospital making it difficult to operate at night. Kimani says that they are only four staff to attend to over 6,000 patients.

He said that the facility has two nurs-es and two clinicians who work during the day making it hard to assign them duties at night having spent their day at work.

However, Dr Kimani said that with students from the Kenya Medical Train-ing College (KMTC) interning at the hospital thus it would enable them to work at night with a member of the hos-pital staff.

He also said that they sent several let-ters to the Ministry of Health to request that more staff be sent to the health facil-ity so that the patients can be attended to at night.

According to the Embu Medical offi-cer of Health Dr Jorum Muraya, they are trying their best to see that the facility can serve patients at night. Dr Muraya also said the allegations being made by members of the public will be investi-gated.

Residents complain about hospital management

Stella warui, the nurse in charge at the hospice checks a patient’s blood pressure. Below: Stella displays the medicine that is

available at the hospice. Pictures: Kariuki Mwangi

Sex education will reduce maternal

deathsBy HEnRY kaHaRa

Kenya is still far from achieving the mil-lennium development goal five, improv-ing maternal health. Speaking at the Ke-nya Medical Association Conference at Kenyatta International Conference Cen-tre (KICC), Lord David Steel, former UK Member of parliament Lord of Aikwood urged the Government of Kenya to imple-ment the Constitution if it wants to achieve this goal.

“If the Government can approach this problem with sex education for the young and better family planning provisions for all women, it will win the battle,” said Lord Steel.

Professor Joseph Karanja, who is an associate professor of Gynaecology at the University of Nairobi said that sex educa-tion has not been introduced in the school curriculum. Some religious leaders per-ceive it as teaching young boys and girls how to engage in sex.

“We can only improve this through edu-cating even our children about sex educa-tion. This will help them to be responsible,” says Prof Karanja.

TabooKaranja says that sex education has for

long been seen as a taboo but he urges the Government to introduce it if they want to achieve this goal.

Referring to the Constitution Karanja says: “Every child has the right to parental care and protection, which includes equal responsibility of the mother and father to provide for the child, whether they are married to each other or not.” He argues that sex education is necessary to get Kenya back on track with regards to family plan-ning.

Monicah Oguttu, Executive director, Kisumu Medical Education Trust (KMET) said that women die while giving birth be-cause of delays in receiving quality health care and making decisions.

She urged the Government to edu-cate women and society at large. “We need all people to be informed about maternal health care to be in a position to prevent deaths which occur due to pregnancy related causes,” said Oguttu.

The front section of kianyaga Sub-district Hospital. area residents are dissatisfied with the services offered at the facility. Picture: Caroline Wangeci


Killings leave Trans Nzoia residents worriedBy niCHOlaS MaSiGa

Whenever Trans Nzoia is mentioned what comes into mind is a food basket since it is a major maize producing region.

Despite its good climatic condition, limited seeds and high cost of fertilizer at the begin-ning of the year may have hampered maize production in the county.

However, seed shortage aside, continued incidences of insecurity that have made an im-pact in the county.

The recent killing of immediate former and long serving Kenya National Union of Teach-ers Executive Secretary John Wekesa has gen-erated fear among the area residents.

Although the police in Kitale say that they have launched investigations following Weke-sa’s death fear prevails among the residents of Waitaluk Village.

InformationAccording to Kitale Officer Commanding

Police Division, Patrick Mwakio two suspects have been arrested and are helping police to get more information on who may be con-nected with the death.

Wekesa, who served as KNUT executive secretary in Trans Nzoia between 2001 to 2006 was killed as he was having dinner with his family. His wife and daughter were injured in the attack and were admitted to the Mount Elgon Hospital.

Teachers from Trans Nzoia County led by the current Trans Nzoia Executive Secretary Reuben Makheno condemned the killing and want the

Government to apprehend the killers immediately.

They point out that secu-rity in the area had deteriorat-ed in the last six months and blamed the Government for not doing anything.

“We want the police to in-tensify security in this county as we are tired of brutal kill-ings of our people,” demand-ed Makheno.

Just a few months before Wekesa’s death, former mayor John Wanjala was killed and his body dumped outside his house in Tuwan Estate. So far no one has been arrested in connection with his death.

Among others killed are three watchmen were who were guarding the World Vi-sion office. Another watch-man manning Ingo Club in Kitale town was also killed. Residents and family mem-bers have not found any jus-tice over the loss of their loved ones.

There have also been other murders outside Kitale town within the same period whereby a young man was killed at Namanjalala in Kwanza and another one from Liyavo in the same constituency was murdered on his way home from work.

In Cherangany several deaths have been reported. Residents of the constituency were

recently forced to demonstrate as they de-manded that the Government to intensifies security in the area.

Trans Nzoia East District Commissioner Abed Mwalwa says insecurity intensifies dur-ing the planting season where the farms act as hiding ground for the attackers.

“I would like residents of this area to help us by reporting anyone they suspect to be a thug, some of these people are your own chil-

dren,” observes Mwalwa.Trans Nzoia residents had accused the

police of collaborating with criminals. This forced Mwalwa to transfer all officers at Sibanga Police Post after complaints that there seemed to be collaboration between Kenya Police Reservists and criminals.

Police arrested three suspects and recov-ered an AK-47 rifle with 25 rounds of am-munition.

Insecurity may hamper development

By HuSSEin DiDO

Cattle rustling, highway robbery and blame game are some of the issues pastoral communi-ties in Kenya might inherit from the previous Constitution in new devolved system of Gov-ernment.

Experts have already warned that some of these counties might drag behind because of in-security as others take off after the next general election. The buck stops with the Government, which failed to address insecurity in this region while billions of shillings were channelled to the ministry of internal security and provincial administration with no impact to address inse-curity.

MeetingA high-powered security meeting was or-

ganised by the ministry of internal security and chaired by National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chairman Mzalendo Ki-bunjia after Isiolo delegates protested against the organisers for paying them lip service.

The delegates demanded for a neutral party to chair the meeting claiming that the provin-cial administration was taking sides and had failed to provide security.

In attendance were MPs, members from the Provincial Security Intelligence Committee, commissioners from the Kenya National Hu-man Rights Commission (KNHRC) and NCIC.

A representative of the PS internal security, Mutea Iringo lamented that the public keep on blaming the Government for not providing suf-ficient security when on their part they are not doing enough to create a conducive environ-ment to promote peace.

He informed the participants that the re-sponsibility of enhancing security rests with the Government, security organs and the com-munities. “We want you to cooperate with the security arm of the Government in order to ad-

dress this challenge,” said the PS representative.At a point, some delegates stormed out of

the meeting arguing that internal ministry of-ficials were taking sides. It took two hours of negotiations to persuade them to return to the meeting. The delegates later accepted after Ki-bunjia was appointed interim chairman for se-curity meeting.

The chairman stressed the need to seek an amicable solution to the conflict pointing out that individuals from communities on both sides of the committed crimes.

Kibunjia further observed that when people are living together they interact on daily basis and under such circumstances conflicts are inevitable. “We must co-exist and embrace dia-logue among ourselves,” said Kibunjia.

He reiterated that the leaders’ aim of con-vening the regional meeting was to bring to a halt any further incidences of conflict. He also called upon all stakeholders to work together to ensure peaceful co-existence.

Iringo argued that the main source of con-flict in the area revolved around access to scarce resources and could have been resolved agree-ably through negotiation. He directed that the stolen animals, which are said to have crossed towards Laikipia District, be traced and re-turned to their rightful owners. He also called for the arrest and prosecution of criminals in-volved.

DisarmamentOn disarmament, Iringo admitted that the

process was not successfully completed in the last phase. He indicated that the Government is in the process of planning another disarma-ment exercise in the country where community cooperation is critical. “There has been conflict between the communities for years. We must appreciate what the Government is doing,” said Iringo.

On behalf of the Borana elders, the chair-

man Isiolo county council Adan Giro com-plained that the conflict has affected the area and yet little had been done to contain the sit-uation. Giro said that the Borana are aggrieved by the security lapse and unfulfilled promises to change the state of affairs.

The Isiolo community representatives and leaders in a separate meeting raised a number of issues in the presence of NCIC commis-sioners Mzalendo Kibunja and Halakhe Dida, KNHRC Fatuma Dullo, Provincial and District commissioners.

An opinion leader from laisamis David Timado accused the government of laxity in handling security matters. “This Government has failed to protect us and our property,” said Timado.

“How can the Government fail to address minor issues like insecurity and drought?” posed Timado.

This region is faced with a myriad of chal-lenges including drought, insecurity and negli-gence from the previous regimes. We are ap-pealing to our leaders to unite.

Moyale MP Mohamud Ali demanded for an immediate audit of the recent disarmament op-eration to mop up illegal firearms.

He said the government had selectively con-ducted the exercise and left other communities in a dilemma.

“The Ministry of internal security and pro-vincial administration had selectively conduct-ed the exercise. We must have an audit to es-tablish how many firearms were recovered from every District,” said Ali.

IntelligenceIsiolo South MP Bahari asked: “Where is

the Government intelligence and the provin-cial administration when hundreds of bandits assemble to plan attacks?” However Iringo said disarmament was called off in some areas like Samburu East following the referendum cam-paigns and due to lack of funds.

The NCIC chair, who was there as an inde-pendent peace stakeholder assured participants that their deliberations would be shared with relevant Government authorities at all levels.

livestock Development Minister Dr Mohamed kuti addressing pastoralists during a security meeting. Picture: Hussein Dido

Some of the animals recovered from rustlers in isiolo recently. Cattle rustling has led to loss of lives in pastoralist regions. Picture: Hassan Farooq


Finally, price control law in place in Kenya By MuSa RaDOli

For more than two years the country has been experiencing escalating prices of essential commodities, which clocked unprecedented high levels in April. This exploded into public protests and the emergence of the price con-trol law.

The escalation has continued to worsen de-spite the Government’s efforts to try and con-trol the galloping state of affairs by introducing subsidies and tax waivers particularly on some food and petroleum products without achiev-ing results.

According to the Kenya Bureau of Statistics, at the end of last month, the prices of food and petroleum products since last year have in-creased by over 50 per cent.

This state of affairs has led to worse degen-eration by the continued weakening of the Ke-nya Shilling against international currencies, the unstable prices of petroleum products and spiraling inflation. This has adversely affected food production and resulted in deliberate hoarding of essential commodities by traders and middlemen cartels.

The ActThe Price Control (Essential Commodities)

2011 Act assented by President Mwai Kibaki last month provides for the regulation of prices of essential commodities in order to secure their availability at reasonable prices.

A statement from the Presidential Press Ser-vices declared: “Under this Act, the concerned Minister may from time to time, by order in the gazette, declare any goods to be essential com-modities and determine the maximum prices of the commodities in consultation with industry players.”

The passing of the law has predictably pro-voked angry reactions and protests from manu-facturers and the trading community against the move which was initiated by Parliament.

This has set the stage for questions on whether the law is going to be effectively imple-mented already with speculation that the busi-

ness cartels are plotting to hoard essential com-modities to push their prices up to defeat the purpose of the new law.

This eventually saw the Bill passed last year despite the fact that the new law unlike the pre-vious Bill provides a huge window of consulta-tion with stakeholders by the finance minister before effecting any controls.

Rising pricesWhen Parliament passed the Price Controls

(Essential Commodities) 2010 Bill, the Presi-dent declined to assent to it citing a good num-ber of reasons. The situation eventually saw Parliament amend contentious areas that the head of state had pointed out that saw the birth of the new law.

At that time the president argued: “That fixing the maximum prices of good consid-ered essential in the country’s economy, Ke-nya would be going against agreements it had signed under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation adding that the move would be impossible to implement and explode the eruption of unscrupulous traders to profiteer on the situation.”

President Kibaki further argued at that time that the concerns raised would impose on Ke-nyans the same problems the same Bill was try-ing to neutralise.

“Aside from going against the general liber-alisation policies, it violated the basic principles of World Trade Organisation agreements on national treatment that Kenya is a contracting party to,” said the President.

Since the beginning of the year, the prices of essential commodities started escalating to an all time high of more than KSh100 per kg of sugar and KSh150 per 2kg of maize flour.

The situation has not improved to date. The Government blamed speculative traders for hoarding the commodities with the latest reports that they were making as much as 300 per cent in profits on the targeted essential commodities.

In the emerging scenario with the new law, the stage is set for the Government to control the prices of essential goods such as maize flour,

wheat, rice, sugar, paraffin, diesel, cooking oil and petrol.

The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and the Kenya Association for Manufacturers (KAM) argue that the President’s move to es-tablish this legislation is in contravention of the provisions of the free market economy.

However, the architect of the Law Mathira MP Ephraim Maina argues: “It is the govern-ment’s principal responsibility to ensure that the basic essential commodities are readily available to the citizenry at affordable consumer prices and not dictated by the whims of unscru-pulous profiteers.”

Chairman of the manufacturers association, Jaswinder Bedi says that KAM has always advo-cated for free market enterprise that could give consumers competitive prices. He argues that price control is not the solution to the high cost

of living bedeviling the country.Singh says that the association will always

pressurise for a free competitive market econo-my. It is the only way consumers can be assured of getting the best prices since controlled prices will not be the best for consumers because of the same controls.

New lawUnder the new law, the finance minister will

be expected to consult with the business indus-try in fixing prices as well as ensure such a move considers the relevant treaty or convention rati-fied by Kenya.

He is authorised from time to time, by the Kenya Gazette order, to declare any goods to be essential commodities and determine the maxi-mum prices of the commodities in consultation with industry players.

CCK move to tame courier servicesBy DaViD nJaGi

If acquiring a new cell phone was a joyous oc-casion for Dominic Micheni, then having it fer-ried through the G4S Courier Services to his work place at Chuka High School was an even more exciting feat.

The school nurse says not only did the ser-vice save him transportation costs to Nairobi; it spared him the time and risks involved in high-way travel, for only KSh320.

Through his brother who works in Nairobi and Nancy Mutuota, the G4S sales officer on duty at the courier service station off Standard Street, Micheni has since pledged his loyalty to courier services to handle long distance transac-tions.

Not far away from where Mutuota works, a lanky gentleman strides into the DHL offices along Mama Ngina Street on a bright Monday afternoon.

ConvenienceAfter exchanging pleasantries with the DHL

customer attendant, the middle aged man hands over a parcel at the counter, that he needs mailed to his sister, Josephine Musoi, in the UK.

It will cost him at least KSh3, 000 to have the parcel, which has Josephine’s certificates en-closed, delivered in Europe by Thursday, accord-ing to the attendant on call.

Both Micheni and Musoi are among a grow-ing number of consumers who are reaching out to the new world order of courier service trans-actions.

In Kenya alone, the Communication Com-

mission of Kenya (CCK) estimates the sector is worth KSh15 billion, one reason that is making its officials nervous.

Market intelligence indicates that private par-cel delivery has eaten into the Postal Corpora-tion of Kenya (PCK) market share, a trend that could render the government agency obsolete if not outdated.

According to CCK, The number of post of-fices under PCK now stands at 697 down from 721 in 2007 while sub offices stand at 196, down from 223 in 2007.

Illegal operatorsAt the same time, the number of licensed

courier operators stands as 150, says CCK, but lately there have been concerns about illegal en-try of unlicensed operators in the sector.

Apart from loss of goods on transit, secu-rity officials say private courier services are being used by criminals to smuggle drugs and illegal firearms in the country, due to the pri-vacy and protection of goods that the service ensures.

But most consumers agree it is an efficient means of parcel delivery compared to the ser-vices offered by PCK.

“In cases of lost deliveries you will find that it is the consigner who has not given the courier service accurate details hence the losses,” says Michael Owora, of Corporate Reflection public relations firm in Nairobi.

Other consumers however say the transact-ing firm should shoulder the full responsibility whether the client is right or wrong.

“Once the delivery firm has entered into a

contract with the client it means that it has as-sumed full responsibility of the cargo,” says Theuri Mwangi, a project manager with Shell Oil Products, Africa.

On a global front, delivery through courier is still the preferred means of transaction. How-ever, high costs and the length of time it takes to deliver the load home are considered a hin-drance by Kenyans living abroad.

According to Irene Wangechi Thuo, a pro-gramme officer with the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases based in the US, transaction through courier has its risks because it compromises privacy.

“The goods on transit usually go through a thorough security check hence the delay in de-livery,” says Wangechi. “I usually send a friend travelling to Kenya to deliver a present to my mother.”

Such concerns will inform a CCK led con-sumer awareness campaign that seeks to educate consumers of postal and courier services about their rights and obligations.

Launched last month, the two-month Kaa Macho campaign is expected to educate con-sumers on safe handling of postal articles, buyer awareness, security of postal articles and mail fraud.

The G4S Courier Services Station sales center off Standard Street in nairobi.Picture: David Njagi

a supermarket shelf with essential goods. kenyans hope that the price control law will put a stop to the sky rocketing commodity prices. inset: Mathira MP Ephraim

Maina who first moved the Price Control Bill. Pictures: Reject Correspondent


By EuTYCaS MuCHiRi

For a 69-year-old granny from Nyeri County, it has not been easy to convince fellow county mates to diversify from keeping traditional ani-mals to other domesticated ones that are unfa-miliar to them.

Rose Wanja from Kahuru Village, Mathira District started the campaign two and a half years ago to help farmers achieve food secu-rity. To serve as a good example, Wanja bought herself the little known guinea pigs, which have multiplied to over 50.

She has traversed the area for over a year now, taking advantage of forums such as farmers’ field days and agricultural shows to showcase her techniques, hoping farmers will emulate her.

Her efforts are slowly bearing fruit after oth-er farmers from her district and the neighbour-ing Nyeri South District joined her in rearing guinea pigs. One of those who have since joined her is a farmer cum politician Samuel Kibaba from Othaya.

Various breederKibaba, who is the Thuti Ward Councillor

who bought the guinea pigs from Wanja early this year currently owns 20. He says it is time Kenyans emulated other countries that have been able to achieve food security.

“In a country like Peru, an estimation of 65 million guinea pigs are consumed every year and I don’t see why we should not imitate them and subsist what we harvest from our farms and fight hunger in our country,” says Kibaba.

Another breeder is Kelvin Wambugu from Mweiga Division in Kieni District has over 100 guinea pigs which he has kept for more than a year. “The animals’ supple-ment harvests from my farm,” he said.

Other continents where guinea pigs have been reared for centuries include Europe, United States and South Ameri-can countries like Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia. In Africa, guinea pigs are widely kept in Cameroon, Iringa Region

of Southwestern Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Wanja was introduced to guinea pig keeping by a farmer from Kirinyaga County. She had gone there to buy rabbits when she learnt of the rodents and she opted for them. This was after a short talk on their rearing by her host. She took home a female and a male.

“Many were surprised in the village when I came back with the strange mammals. This earned me a nickname mutumia wa tubia (The rats’ woman) in the village, which is the name they call me to date,” she says.

Though the name sounds offensive to some, she is proud of it and turns quickly when re-ferred by it than her real name, that is according to her neighbours.

Wanja says many could not understand why she could not go for a cow, goat or even the rab-bits, given that they have better returns these days. Though people trickle to her home to see the creatures, her efforts to convince them to keep them had been futile at first.

Guinea pigs are larger rodents and weigh between 700 and 1,200 grammes. They mea-sure between 20-25 centimetres in length and typically live an average of four to five years but may live as long as eight.

They were widely used for research purpos-es since the 17th Century but have since been largely replaced by other rodents such as mice and rats.

A guinea pig is able to breed year-round. As many as five litters can be produced per year. Gestation period lasts from 59–72 days, with an average of 63–68 days. They are as such more

profitable source of food and income than many traditional stock animals, such as pigs, goats and cows.

PetsTheir meat is high in protein and low in fat

and cholesterol and is described as being similar to rabbits’. The farmers say that an adult guinea pig goes for KSh500 while a young one is sold at KSh350. They are herbivores and feed on fresh grass hay and green leaves among other weeds.

Kibaba who rears them as pets says: “Keeping them is not costly as they feed on weeds obtained from the garden. Other than selling them for

cash and using them as a source of food, they are also a good source of manure and can be kept as pets due to their beauty.”

But the project is not without down-sides. Wanja says diseases are the major problems that she has been experienc-ing. Some die at a very early stage from mysterious diseases.

“Since this kind of project is not well embraced in this side of the coun-

try, I lack medical specialists conversant with their health issues. I would be having hun-dreds of them by now were it not for the dis-eases leading to high death rates,” she laments. Lack of improved breeding stock is also another major problem they experience. They have no-where to buy bucks for cross breeding as others who keep them, basically bought them from the same person.

The Deputy Director, Livestock Develop-ment Officer Vincent Githinji urges other farmers to diversify and emulate developed countries like China by keeping various species of animals. He was speaking at one of the farm-ers’ field days in Othaya.

“You should emulate her and try to spread your farming wings. Let us not just stick to rearing animals that we have been keeping for years. We can now expand and keep other ani-mals like in countries such as China and many others in the world,” observed Githinji.

Campaign for guinea pigs in fight against

food insecurity

Guard children against child labourBy BOniFaCE Mulu

The capacity of the Kitui Development Centre (KDC) to implement, monitor and report on child issues has been en-hanced.

The non governmental organisa-tion’s Child Labour Project programme officer, Dominic Mbindyo said that the NGO contributes towards the elimina-tion of child labour in Kitui District. He said that they had withdrawn 1,880 children from work in the area and pro-tected them.

The 1,880 include 860 children aged five and 17 years who they have re-moved from the worst child labour and taken the to schools and youth poly-technics. They have prevented 1,020 children in the same age bracket from dropping out of school and joining the worst forms child labour.

Mbindyo said that they succeed in the work by working through the Support in Child Rights in Education through Art and Media (SCREAM). He was address-ing participants at a one day workshop organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for the Kitui Devel-opment Centre (KDC) partners on child protection systems and ILO conventions

on child labour. He said that they had economically

empowered 220 vulnerable parents and guardians to protect their children from exploitation. Mbindyo said the worst forms of child labour are exploitive, hazardous and likely to interfere with the child’s education, health and devel-opment.

He cited the use, procuring or offer-ing a child for illicit activities such as the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties.

“This means that a child for, instance, accompanying his or her parent at work is deemed to be employed even if the actual payment goes to the parent,” he asserted. “If a family is employed in a family busi-ness, the child is in a labour engagement even if the child is not paid,” the chil-dren’s welfare official told the workshop. He said that any situation where there is in existence a contract for services where the party providing the services is child labour whether the person using the ser-vice does so directly or through an agent.

“For statistical purposes, the ILO de-fines this as work which does not exceed fourteen hours per week,” the NGO of-ficial said.

Drought to blame for increased raids By JOHn OROni

Northern Kenya has like most parts of the country experienced extreme weather conditions of peren-nial drought and floods in the recent past. When drought occurs there is loss of life of human beings, livestock, wild animals and plants.

In communities where livestock forms the basis of livelihood the loss is not taken kindly. The need to restock forces extreme action such as cattle rus-tling. The prolonged drought has contributed to increased cases of cattle rustling in Turkana and West Pokot Counties. Over 3,000 heads of cattle and 10,000 goats have been stolen with ten people feared to have been killed by bandits and security personnel.

However, over 100 heads of cattle have been re-covered in the recent past by the provincial admin-istration as they were about to cross over to a neigh-bouring country Uganda.

The animals were stolen from Turkana South and Pokot Central Districts where three people were killed during the shootout between the rustlers and a combined force of security personnel.

The recovery follows peace and reconciliation efforts launched by local leaders and the provincial administration as drought continues to drive the two communities out of their manyattas (homes) to seek pasture and water in Uganda and neighbouring counties like Trans-Nzoia, Marakwet and Baringo.

However, the communities have received hostile reception due to their activities that includes cattle

rustling and the hosts’ fears that they may be at-tacked by the two communities.

Trans-Nzoia County for example has been victim to cattle rustling in the past 15 years where locals have lost thousands of cattle to the Pokot cattle rus-tlers apart from the community grazing their maize fields.

Drought in the two regions has greatly contrib-uted to insecurity and cattle rustling activities in the North Rift Region as currently the two counties have been ravaged by lack of water and pasture.

In Turkana South, Local District Commissioner Joseph Munyiri with the help of a combined secu-rity officers recovered 50 heads of cattle that had been stolen from herders in the area. Pokot Cen-tral District Commissioner Daniel Kirui said 12 heads of cattle stolen from the Pokot pastoralists in Salmach area had been recovered and returned to the owners.

However, the recent disarmament exercise seems to have flopped and local cattle rustlers are still armed to the teeth. This is despite the provincial ad-ministration claiming that the process was success-ful with the locals surrendering all illegal guns to the Government.

The two district Commissioners said that district security teams and peace committees in the two counties had stepped up reconciliation programmes to bring peace between the communities in two counties. The two were addressing security meetings at Lochakula in Lokori during a peace meeting at-tended by members of the two communities.

“The animals’ supplement harvests

from my farm.”— Kelvin Wambugu

From top: Rose wanja holds one of her guinea pigs during a field day at

wambugu agricultural Training Centre. She is teaching farmers how to rear the

animal. Guinea pigs in a cage at wanja’s farm in Mathira District, nyeri County.

Pictures: Eutycas Muchiri


By HEnRY OwinO

The rights of deaf and blind people are hardly recognised by many in society. Few public plac-es such as hospitals, schools, supermarkets are friendly for their trouble-free navigation. Even fewer work places are customised taking into consideration the needs of this group.

Deaf blindness is a unique disability with its own methods of assessment and education. The disabling condition brings enormous chal-lenges to the individual and those who support them.

Take for instance, a school going child. Al-though the severity might vary, it could lead to additional learning disabilities causing serious developmental delays in a child. Parents of such a child need to understand the condition to be able to deal with it effectively.

Many living with this disability have poor cognitive, social development, orientation mo-bility and acquisition of communication and language. Many parents have suffered in si-lence with their impaired children not knowing where to seek help.

Government owned Kilimani Primary School in Nairobi has set up a unit for the per-sons with these disabilities. The unit has six specialised teachers and a teacher’s aide. The school unit has become popular for the services it offers to the disabled pupils.

SpecialistTeacher Mary Kwamboka is a commit-

ted and dedicated specialist in the unit for the persons with hearing and seeing disabilities. She has been in the unit about ten years. She understands every child and they identify her through touch.

“Due to stigma or lack of proper informa-tion, some parents have locked up such chil-dren denying them their rights,” she lamented. “Let such parents know that we can assist their children,” Kwamboka explains.

At Kilimani school special unit, there are 14 pupils who cannot see and cannot hear aged be-tween 22 months and 17 years. This unit has of-fered the pupils growth in terms of development.

“Age is not a limitation here especially when it comes to persons of such nature. What mat-ters is the attitude and commitment the learner has,” says the teacher.

To assist the children even more, the school’s unit has its own calendar of events. The pupils identify with the daily and occasional seasonal programmes run at the facility.

Kwamboka says that it is only the new pupils who get assistance with everything but with the support of the older children.

They get acquainted very fast and become part of the family. The teacher assures that all children are always given full attention by teachers to avoid any possible incidences.

Like any other school, they follow a curricu-

lum. The unit has three major programmes for the pupils in the special unit. The first is the pre-academic programme where the child is taught various sign languages including textural.

Much of this coaching is done in two dif-ferent rooms, the sensory and language rooms respectively where there are flickering lights, a radio and objects with different textures and colour to enable them identify materials having smooth, rough, hard, hairy among other sen-sations. All these processes are done by hand communication.

TrainingIn the language room, there are braille al-

phabetical notes, objects with different sound pitch, a mirror and signs indicating numeral numbers to help in counting and reading.

The second programme is known as the pre-vocational. The children are trained in vari-ous art works like mat making, bead making, sewing, knitting, weaving, food preparation, gardening, making saw dust charcoal, ironing, washing clothes, brushing shoes and adapted physical education among other activities.

The third programme is orientation and mobility that helps the children move freely in the compound to know their environment. This is achieved through swimming, picnics, ball games, bicycle riding, rope skipping, guided athletics, gymnastics and many more.

This category of activities helps the children develop strong muscles, socialise with others, discover and nurture their talents enabling the to feel a part of the school community.

Jane Ouko is mother to 16 year-old Lou-ise Ouko, a deaf-blindness pupil at Kilimani School, Nairobi. She is also a teacher at a nearby school. Ouko is the national treasurer of Par-ents of deaf-blindness Persons Organization (PADBPO) at Sense International East Africa, a charity organisation that provides expert advice and specialist services for children and adults who are both deaf and blind.

Louise has gone through many turbulent waters in her life but credit goes to her mother who has stood by her for the last 16 years de-spite many challenges.

Ouko said finding a school where Lou-ise could be admitted for her education was a big challenge. “I tried almost all schools that I thought could admit Louise but in vain. I even had to move after my daughter Louise was ad-mitted in Kilimani School Unit for deaf and blind to be closer to her and oversee her prog-ress and other special needs that would come by,” Ouko said.

Mrs. Ouko is very pleased with the admin-istrative staff at the school who have continued offering support to Louise and other vulnerable children at the unit. “Louise nowadays reads, writes, cycles, shops, knits, makes necklace beads and even visits washrooms alone. My daughter’s general life and health have improved tremen-

dously,” Ouko admits.She urges parents with children with

such special needs to take them to school and without shame. “It is only at school that they will be motivated and educated,” she reiterates adding that this is a basic need for the children.

The Kilimani School administration is calling upon Government, donors and well wishers to come to the unit’s aid with financial support, food and more learn-ing accessories that the children with dual sensory disability need.

The other challenge in the school unit is lack of enough teachers. The ideal ratio should be one teacher to one child but cur-rently the ratio is one teacher to two children.

Deaf and blind pupils given hope

Light shines for visually impaired in Northern Kenya as ICT centre is set upBy EkuwaM aDOu

The visually impaired in Upper Eastern region have every reason to smile. They will soon be able connect with their loved ones through the computer.

Thanks to the ultra-modern information communication centre specifically designed to overcome their visual deficiency - they will soon be interacting more through social net-works and getting information from the Inter-net.

The Isiolo Welfare Group for Disabled (IWGD), with support from the national fund for disabled is set to launch state of the art ICT centre for use by the visually impaired persons in the region.

According to IGWD programme director Elly Owuoti, the computers at the centre will

be fit with ‘jaws software’ which will enable the visually challenged to connect with what they are typing on the keyboard through the sound generated identifying the letters keyed in.

Job Access with speech (JAWS) software makes it possible for the blind to use computers that use Microsoft windows. The programme allows users to access information displayed on the screen via text to speech or by means of Braille display and allows for comprehensive Keyboard interaction with the computer.

A visually challenged person using the computer is guided by commands relayed through the earphones which transmit sounds of letters that correspond with every key typed.

Owuoti said the facility valued at KSh250 million will be set in Isiolo town and will serve Marsabit, Moyale and neighbouring Samburu East area with visual disabilities.

He said the project’s idea was born out of the realisation to integrate the physically chal-lenged members of the community to infor-mation communication technology in line with the Government’s Vision 2030 economic blue print.

“Disability is not inability. We need to reintegrate the visually impaired to modern technological advancement for them to posi-tively contribute to the country’s develop-ment,” Elly said.

The beneficiaries of the project are gearing up for the opening of the facility, the first in the marginalised region. Retired teacher, Reuben Oyan said the Internet facility will enable him open up to the rest of the world. “I will be able to interact with my donors, friends and well wishers whom I will be in constant communi-cation with,” said Oyan who is the chaplain in

Salvation Army run Olympic Primary School.Oyan who has been teaching for the last

35 years said the computer programmes will aid his career. “I am told through the Micro-soft Excel programme, I will be able to record data on students performance which can au-tomatically be produced in order of merit, unlike the current manual system,” observed the retired teacher who is still teaching on a part-time basis.

The selected first batch of 30 visually im-paired members will undergo three week basic computer training to induct them with skills to enable them use the facility.

“We will undergo basic training on com-puter skills to enable us use the facility, oth-erwise the centre will be irrelevant if we do not acquire skills that will help us use it,” ob-served Oyan.

Jane Ouko with her daughter louise who is

both deaf and blind. Some of the bead work

that louise makes in her free time.

Mary kwamboka explains how

she teaches using numbers

and signs at the special unit at

kilimani School. Pictures: Henry

Owino


By niCHOlaS ROBi

In an open yard sandwiched between a storey building and St Patrick ACK Church Nairobi Kayole Estate, a small iron sheet (mabati) structure stands where various artistic work is conducted.

Little did we know before approached via Kioi Street that this small house is called “Kijiji Art Studio” upon making our way inside after we were welcomed by the founder of Kijiji Art Studio; Michael Wafula, we found several art works that are attractive and few youths and two children putting their skills on the draw-ing papers and on poetry books.

Even though an ordinary studio should have power (electricity) and computers, Kijiji Art Studio does not have a computer; meaning every array of activities ranging from painting, sculpting, etching, poetry, music, among oth-ers is done by hand.

Michael Wafula, 37, the Founder of Kijiji Art Studio tells us that the Studio started in 2009; even though the idea was conceived ear-ly. Wafula, an artist by professional, stated the studio as a Centre of Information where vari-ous artists from the neighboring estates such as Umoja, Donholm and Komarocks could come and meet and share their skills. Little did he know that the Studio could one day attract youths in the area who were eager and curious in discovering their talents.

Hidden talentUpon seeing high level hidden talents in

the area, Wafula an artist of 18 years experi-ence decided that it was time to give back to the society by registering youth who were will-ing to join Kijiji Art Studio at KSh10 per day.

“The fee that the students pay is used to pay rent and purchase material for the art work,” explains Wafula. Just like any other institution, Kijiji Art Studio has its rules and regulations that govern its members. The rules instil dis-cipline and discourage youth from engaging in moral acts such as drug abuse, prostitution among others.

“For instant a member risks being deregis-tered if he/she fails to attend lessons for 3 con-secutive days without an apology and present member should arrive early and do the right thing in the Studio,” adds Wafula.

Currently the group has over 32 members who carry out various activities ranging from poetry, painting, sculpturing, music, graphic design; drawing with all these activities any youth who has the potential talent to develop it, Kijiji Art Studio is the right place to be.

Hope “We are always available to help any youth

who would like to develop his or her talent as long as he can prove and show us what he or she can do,” says Wafula. Due to its many ac-tivities many youths and children have found the facility to be useful owing to important skills that are required.

Several youths, who worked with Wafula before are now enjoying the fruits of their la-bour having opened up their business, thanks to what they learnt under their mentor Wafula.

Roselyn Njeri and Oketch are among for-mer students of Kijiji Arts Studio who have opened their businesses. Njeri who was a wait-ress before joining Kijiji Art Studio, is running a business of screen printing, tapestry, design-ing of mats in Mwiki Kasarani Estate. Oketch on the other hand is running a successful business of designing and printing T shirts in Umoja Estate.

There are other rising stars like Margret Wangare and Sheila Rono who wants to be gi-ants in poetry. Wangare 22, a form four leaver joined the studio in May 2011.

“I know that poetry will take me far one day,” says Wangare. She adds that she has no regrets being in Kijiji Art Studio because she knows she is on the right track even after she was unable to study Computer Science in Uni-

versity due to financial constrains. Sheila Rono, 19, is dancing the

same tune; she wants to roll the wheels of poetry far. She wanted to study Anaerotical Engineering but she could not, because Kenyan Universities are beyond reach of ordinary people like her, but she is smiling because she has found herself in Kijiji Art Studio.

One of the trainers, George Omulo, 26, believes that the Cen-tre has created a big change to most of the youths, something he did not expect would happen.

Passion“I thought of the youths who

come to the Centre with very little knowledge on arts and would not change even after sharing and training them with the little knowl-edge we had,” explains Omulo.

On his part, Wafula says that involvement of the youths at the centre in income generating activ-ities has enabled majority of them to create employment opportuni-ties.

The centre’s activities have also positively impacted on the slums environment with more people seeking their partnership and as-sistance. Often, they normally re-ceive calls from various learning institutions who always seek their services.

Wafula and Omolo and other members do visit schools within the slum to identify their talents and train them. Schools such as Galilee Primary School, By Grace and Bethlehem Children’s Home have benefit-ted from Kijiji Art Centre lessons especially for young kids. “Most of the children have tal-ents and skills but they don’t know how devel-op them. We have seen the need to help them in identifying their talents,” says Omulo. Brian Manyali, class Six pupils in Galilee Primary School love painting, drawing and to him the help they are getting from the centre, has sig-nificantly added value to their lives.

Felix Mwangi 16, from By Grace children’s home is also a beneficiary of the centre, he believes the little help he has acquired from the Centre has given him the opportunity to

realise and nur-ture his talent.

C h i l d r e n and youth who are interested in poetry and music have also gotten the op-portunity to interact with Wangare and Sheila who have also helped many school children nur-ture their talents.

With the rising demand of youth who thirst for knowledge, most of the members who hap-pened to be trainers have been forced to help where necessary.

For Omulo who is also a part time secondary school teacher is spending some of his time with the youth when he is free.

Even though the Centre is do-ing well in terms of helping other youths, they have received numer-ous challenges that once in a while have seen them not running their activities smoothly.

SupportDue to lack of support from relevant or-

ganisations, they are forced to source local material for use in dumping sites. They lack modern facilities for training such as comput-ers, electricity, trained tutors, secured and ad-equate space among other challenges.

However, the centre has managed to hold a few exhibitions especially at the village market in Westlands, at the Godown Art Centre in in-dustrial area and others.

However there is an illusion created by the public which has dented their reputation and this has seen them differ with many people who are always opposed to the activities of the Centre.

Wafula cites an incident in which some se-curity officials came to the Centre demanding to know what business is conducted in the stu-

dio before leaving the place. “Many people are not aware of what takes

place at Kijiji Art Centre, but once they visit they get surprised with what most of us are in-volved in,” explains Wafula.

Despite all these challenges, the Centre has come up with various items which have attracted outsiders who have bought most of their artworks.

The youths are optimistic that in five years to come the centre will be a big institution as they progress.

Their message is simple; the government should initiate more projects that will help the youth thus keep them away from drugs, crime and other vices.

More talent academies should be estab-lished in each county to absorb most youth who have missed the opportunity to further their education but have talent.

Helping youth nurture their talent

From top: The section of kijiji art Studio. a display of art at the studio. Poetry

students Sheila Rono and Margaret wangare

practising their art near kijiji art Studio.

Pictures: Stephen Akuno

“We are always available to help any youth who

would like to develop his or her talent as long as

he can prove and show us what he or she can do.”

— Michael Wafula,


Takawiri Beach girl swims her way to the University

By OMwa OMBaRa

As one walks around Takawiri Island on the shores of Lake Victoria, the most common sight is that of young girls each carrying a baby on her back. The girls, young primary school dropouts aged be-tween 11 and 15 years are in their hun-dreds. The young mothers are idle and hang around the beach as they desperate-ly wait for willing fishermen to buy them bar soap, tea and mandazis.

The fishermen know that the girls have no source of income and no future so they take advantage of them. The loaded fish-ermen, who sometimes earn KSh20, 000 daily not only give the young girls money but infect them with HIV/Aids. They do not allow the girls to use condoms. In-deed the girls look rather sickly, pale and elderly for their age.

Fish islandEverywhere on the island is fish, baked

fish cakes, fish mandazis, fish chapatis, fish samosas, deep fried fish boiled fish - it is indeed fish land. But getting to date the fishermen is not always an easy affair. Sometimes, in often nasty incidents, the girls fight over the men with their moth-ers some of whom are boyfriends to the fishermen. It is a world of survival at Takawiri Beach and only the tough wom-en get going.

Takawiri Island is about 800 km from Nairobi and is accessible through a 45-minute ferry ride from Luanda Ko-tieno Beach in Kisumu to Mbita and a 20-minute motor boat ride to Sienga.

This is the island where Sheila On-yango grew up. She is the first girl in the Island of about 1000 people to make it to University. Sheila, a second year Public Broadcasting student at the Uni-versity of Nairobi, is the second born in a polygamous family of 11 children and four mothers. Born to a semi-literate fisherman Naftali Onyango Orao, Sheila watched in dismay as her classmates and relatives dropped out of primary school due to pregnancy. But she was deter-mined to move on.

When her elder sister got pregnant in Class Eight, she felt devastated. Her father was no longer willing to pay school fees for his daughters but after convincing him that she would keep the promise and complete her education, he finally agreed. From that day, Sheila decided she would be a role model, not just to her family but to all the girls in Takawiri Island. Soon she became the School’s Headgirl and supervised her younger siblings’ home-work.

AchievementSheila passed her Class Eight exams at

Takawiri with 353 out of 500 points and joined Koru Girls High School in Kisumu. Going to boarding school for the first time was a great eye-opener. Whereas in Takawiri they learnt most lessons in their

mother tongue and were introduced to English in upper Primary, Sheila was im-pressed to hear her classmates in Form I “speaking English as if it was their moth-er tongue”. She says, “I had come from a rural environment. Whenever I spoke English the girls would giggle and some would laugh hysterically and mock me. But I fought them by asking the teachers questions and disrupting the class until I understood the subject. I stayed focused as I remembered my late mother’s wise coun-sel, ‘laughter and abuse has never stuck on anybody’s forehead or body. It will pass’.”

Kiswahili was a challenge too. But un-like Takawiri Academy where there were no teachers, Koru Girls had a teacher for every subject and together with Mrs Kon-je and Mrs Imelda Oyombe, she explored her favourite subjects History, CRE, Agri-culture and English.

Sheila shares a room with her two classmates at a hostel in South B. She walks to the Kenya Institute of Higher Education for her lectures. She says some of her col-leagues at the University may consider her backward because she does not wear tights and mini skirts to class. “Discipline is an important part of one’s life. One cannot succeed without discipline. I have never been to a nightclub. I avoid bad places. That is where girls risk pregnancy, drug addicts, alcohol which interfere with one’s education.”

She says the University is a sea of free-dom and nobody bothers whether you at-

tend class or not. Sheila a member of the Seventh Day Adventist likes to read her Bible whenever she is free. “My mother wore long clothes. When I see some of the skimpy clothes my colleagues wear to class, I wonder if they have a family background at all. Decency and self re-spect is truly lacking!” She says.

Sheila goes home to Takawiri every holiday but she says she feels alienated and at times discouraged. She wishes there were more college or University students she could associate with. Ru-mours are rife in the village that girls at the university are promiscuous and thin because most of them abort children regularly. “At home, some people fear me naturally because I am in University. Most of the girls see themselves as fail-ures. For some it is too late because they squandered their chances when they had the opportunity to learn. Some even dated their primary school classmates,” she says.

ExposureThe exposure level at Takawiri Island

is low. Most of the population has never been out of the island and most radio stations only pick signals from Uganda and Somalia.

“I don’t believe in starting life at the top but at the bottom. I don’t want to budget with a boyfriend’s money be-cause I know that I will one day have to pay for it dearly and the price might cost my life and my future. I would rath-er struggle and one day enjoy my hard earned sweat,” she says.

Takawiri Island has only one nurs-ery school, one primary school and one mixed secondary school. Sheila, who lost her mother Syprose Akinyi four months ago, says her siblings are now under her care. Her siblings Helen, Thomas and Brian are in Form Four, Form Three and Form One at Mfangano Island. They look up to her as a role model as she pursues her four-year programme as a parallel student. She hopes to be a televi-sion or radio broadcaster in future.

Executive Director: Rosemary Okello

Editor: Jane Godia

Sub-Editors: Florence Sipalla, Omwa Ombara and Mercy Mumo

Designer: noel lumbama

Contributors: Paul Mwaniki, nzinga Muasya, Fred Okoth, Eric Mutai, John kinyua, lucy langat, waikwa Maina, Carolyne Oyugi, Jirongo luyali, Henry Owino, audi Zilper, nicholas Masiga, kariuki Mwangi, Mboya Rachuonyo, Ochieng Juma, wangari Mwangi, Henry kahara, Caroline wangechi, Hussein Dido, David njagi, Musa Radoli, Eutycas Muchiri, ayoki Onyango, Boniface Mulu, John Oroni, Ekuwam adou, Shaban Makokha, Stephen akuno, Stephane Perrier, Hassan Farooq Fred Okoth and Joy Monday.

Write to:

[email protected]

The paper is produced with funds from

www.mediadiversityafrica.org

“I had come from a rural environment. Whenever I spoke English the girls would giggle and some

would laugh hysterically and mock me. But I fought

them by asking the teachers questions and disrupting

the class until I understood the subject.”

— Sheila Onyango

Women urged to explore funding initiatives to develop By Fred Okoth

Women all over the country have been urged to take advantage of the funds available to them through several government initiatives and start projects which can improve their lives.

Gender Secretary at the Ministry of Gender and Special Services Professor Collette Suda said it was only when the women were finan-cially empowered that they will be able to ac-tively participate in the nation building.

“We have to take advantage of the several av-enues to financial stability offered by the Gov-ernment,” she said adding that this had now been made easier after the Government rolled

out several programmes.However, Suda regretted that not very many

women had come out to take loans and start their businesses. She cited that it is a missed op-portunity for women as initiatives such as the Women’s Enterprise Fund are available for this purpose.

This, she said had led to fewer women ben-efiting from the fund despite the fact that the Government had been allocating millions to the fund each year.

Suda was speaking after distributing cheques worth over KSh2 million to 46 women groups drawn from Rongo and Awendo districts in Migori County.

Sheila Onyango at the at Takawiri

beach. inset: Sheila’s late

mother Syprose Onyango.

Pictures: Reject correspondent and

courtesy

A rag tag troop that makes a shame of armed forces - African ...

Documents

Transcript of A rag tag troop that makes a shame of armed forces - African ...