on Sunday - Source - The Standard

Imams plead for protectionafter killings

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on SundayNo. 457November 9, 2014www.standardmedia.co.ke

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Slayings raise tension at the Coast as moderate clerics fear for their lives and claim that they are being targetted by jihadists days after youths tried to storm military barracks

Gor Mahia captain Jerry Onyango holds aloft a replica of the Kenyan Premier Leage trophy after the club beat Ushuru 3-0 at Moi Stadium, Kisumu yester-day to clinch the league title for the second year running. CORD leader Raila Odinga presented the trophy to the captain. STORY AND MORE PICTURES ON PAGE 51 [PHOTO: COLLINS ODUOR/STANDARD]

Gor crowned league champs

The recent killing of imams at the Coast and at-tempted attacks on a military barracks in Mombasa have heightened tensions in the coastal region even as clerics appeal to the State for protection.

Yesterday, Mombasa County Police Commander Robert Kitur confirmed that they had received com-plaints from clerics that they were being targeted by

jihadists but said many of these reports had been ex-aggerated.

“There are imams who have complained about threats to their lives but not in the manner that is being reported,” Kitur said yesterday.

Talks in Ethiopia failed to ham-mer out a power-sharing deal be-tween South Sudan President Sal-va Kiir and his former deputy Dr Riek Machar but came up with resolutions to suspend hostilities in a country that has been ravaged

by civil war since last year. The extraordinary summit steered by President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the chairman of the East African Community, and Ethiopia’s Haile-mariam Desalegn, who chairs the Inter-governmental Authority on

Development (IGAAD), resolved that sanctions would be imposed on violators of the agreement..Sanctions will include asset freez-es, travel bans and arms embargo.

Igad talks fail to hammer out power-sharing deal in S. Sudan

STORY ON PAGE 42

STORY ON PAGE 30

Is Raila’s towering presence a factor in ODM woes? Page 23

Leaders snub Ruto function: Ongoing military operation in Kapedo sours DP’s peace meeting, Page 2

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/ NATIONAL NEWS Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

Kenyans at a crossroads

Kenyans at a crossroadSTATE OF INSECURITY STATE OF INSECURITY

Adan Maalim

The fAllen heroes

lukas lorengoJoseph Muhoya hussein Chakaekeno edukan edward ekenosaid omar Muchina Wakabaezekiel Chege Kennedy Amanjaedwin njoroge Daniel nandwaPius Kaloi Kelvin MuniuJustus Musyoki Isaac MarakaDaniel Mutuku Bonventure ekwom

Kelvin Kawinzi

Pokot leaders snub Ruto’s function to protestPokot leaders snubbed a peace

meeting attended by Deputy Presi-dent William Ruto in West Pokot County yesterday, in protest over the ongoing military operation in Kape-do.

The political leaders boycotted the peace race organised by Tegla Lorupe’s Peace Foundation (TLPF) at Makutano Stadium in Kapenguria yesterday.

Emotions were high and there was a heave police presence as some residents waved placards protesting the Government’s move to deploy the military to flush out criminals in the conflict-prone pastoral counties.

Earlier in the day, security per-sonnel rounded up some of the plac-ard-waving protestors after they loudly protested and accused the Government of abusing human rights.

The group had entered the stadi-um and advanced towards the dais when the police, led by OCPD Ruku Macharia, intervened, seized the placards and arrested five of the pro-testors.

Some of the placards read, “Why is the Government terrorising and killing innocent people? We want the security operation stopped”.

Those arrested were bundled into a police vehicle and driven to Kapen-

Elusive peace: Police arrest five protestors who were part of a group that termed sending of security officers to Tiaty area a gross violation of human rights Raid ended career of selfless officers

Kapedo pounded with bombs as hunt for cop killers continues

A young Administration Police officer who had only worked for six months was among the 19 killed by bandits at Kapedo on the Turkana-Baringo county border last week.

Ezekiel Chege, 26, spoke to his mother, Lucy Wanjiku, for the last time on Thursday, after he was de-ployed to the troubled area.

On Saturday morning, when the news broke that a platoon of offi-cers had been killed in Kapedo, Wanjiku frantically tried to contact her son, but calls to his mobile phone did not go through.

“The fact that his phone was off worried me, but I prayed that he was alive and safe,” she recalls.

Her prayers turned to tears when she learned that Chege was no more.

On Thursday, a sombre mood engulfed Karuga Village in Nyahur-

uru as residents laid the brave young man to rest.

In Mombasa, another family buried yet another victim of the brazen attack.

“We blame no one for the death of our son as we Muslims believe in qadar (predestination),” said Yahya Omar Qoyan, uncle of Said Hassan Omar, popularly known as Chidi.

Said’s father, Hassan Omar, was in Saudi Arabia, where he works, when tragedy struck.

During this interview, the slain officer’s mother, Fatuma Said Mo-hamed, and siblings were too dis-traught to speak.

Volatile areas“Why are they sending their of-

ficers to volatile areas without the necessary backup?” Yahya said.

“Our apprehension started on the day he spoke about the mis-sion. We did not have peace even

before we were informed, a few days later, that Hassan Said had been killed.”

And on Friday, grief engulfed Turkana as the remains of four slain APs were flown home for buri-al. As the planes touched down at Lodwar Airstrip, tears flowed freely.

“The sergeant will be the first to be lowered as he is still a com-mander, even in death,” said Su-perintendent of Police Francis Kooli.

“Up! Attention! ...Forward march!” the orders rang as officers moved the body of Sergeant Lucas Lorengo.

The bodies of constables Ekeno Edukan, Bonventure Ekwom and Edward Ekeno were lowered from the planes in the same pattern and carried to the waiting police vehi-cles. The body of Constable Isaac Maraka was to arrive for burial yes-terday.

would not relent its fight on banditry.“Those who killed the officers

and took away guns have no place in Kenya and there is no way we will keep quiet when innocent lives are lost to criminals,” the Deputy Presi-dent said.

The DP asked the Pokot commu-nity to help the Government arrest the police killers. “We are deter-mined to ensure there is peace in the region. There is no room for vio-lence, conflict and death because we will stand firm on the security of the country,” Ruto said.

He said he was not bothered by the absence of local leaders, and re-iterated that the Government would not relent its efforts to stop practices that destabilise the country: “Some people were telling me not to attend

the event because the community is not happy with me. Our position is that this senseless killing of people must stop.”

He challenged leaders from the warring communities to commit themselves to promoting peace and enhancing development in the af-fected counties.

Ruto said the Government had lined up various projects that would help curb perennial conflicts in the North Rift, including irrigation and opening up of road networks.

Commission of inquiryLonyangapuo said Pokot leaders

who skipped the function were ag-grieved by the military operation that has led to the loss of innocent lives. The Senator said the absent

KDF operation

Kenya Defence Forces yesterday continued to pound parts of Tiaty Constituency with bombs, sending panic among residents who are flee-ing the area in their hundreds.

For the better part of the day, ex-plosives rocked Kapau, Chemartas, Napur and Chepelow villages in Akoret Division in a bid to flush out

suspected bandits who massacred a platoon of Administration Police of-ficers a week ago.

Fleeing residents told The Stan-dard on Sunday of rocks rolling down the hills.

“It is serious though there are no casualties so far. Rocks are rolling down the hills where the bombs have exploded, spreading panic all over the area,” said a village elder. “It seems the officers have gone full out

and are targeting hills and forests.”The Standard on Sunday has also

learnt that among the KDF officers are a team of Special Forces and Rangers. These are elite units who have state-of-the-art technology, in-cluding night vision and hi-tech communication detection devices and aircraft and weapons systems.

A military source said the tank battalion from Gilgil and ground forces from Eldoret and Kenya Ar-

my’s 50-Air Cavalry Division based in Embakasi are on the ground, hunt-ing down the police killers.

“It is a combination of a special-ised team. They are the same team that was deployed to the Coast to neutralise the Al Shabaab. This tells you how serious this operation is,” said the source.

Yesterday’s ground offensive fol-lowed Thursday’s night operation, where dozens of people were arrest-

ed as the officers moved to trading centres in the vast region, question-ing and arresting suspects.

More than 15 people were alleg-edly arrested in Chemolingot and another nine at Tangulbei. Their whereabouts, however, remain a mystery as government officials re-fused to comment on the arrests.

Several schools have been closed ahead of schedule because of the op-eration.

There is no room for violence, conflict and death. We will stand firm on the security of the country

—Deputy President William Ruto

ByB Osinde OBare and WilBerfOrce netya

ByB alex KiprOtich and Vincent MaBatuK

DP William ruto (centre) joins dancers from West Pokot during the Tegla lo-rupe peace race held at Makutano stadium in Pokot County, yesterday. With him are Pokot senator John lonyangapuo (right) and peace ambassador Tegla lorupe (third left). RIGHT: Police officers confiscate placards from protestors. [PHOTOS: PETER OCHIENG AND OSINDE OBARE]

guria Police Station, sparking more protests from a section of residents.

Ruto landed at Kapenguria’s Ben-dera Estate in a military chopper be-fore proceeding to Makutano Stadi-um, where he was welcomed by Senator John Lonyangapuo, the only Pokot leader present.

A tense mood filled the air as res-idents waited in eagerness to hear the Government’s stand over the on-going military operations at the bor-der with Turkana and Baringo.

Leaders from the county have ex-pressed displeasure with the Gov-ernment’s decision to deploy mili-tary officers along the border following the killing of 19 police of-ficers last weekend.

Perennial challengesThe leaders have lamented that

innocent residents have been bru-talised, saying the Government has alternative mechanisms to foster peace and bring a lasting solution to the perennial challenges afflicting the North Rift Region.

West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin, MPs Samuel Moroto (Kapenguria), David Pkossing (Pokot South), Philip Rotino (Sigor) and Mark Lomunokol (Kacheliba), Wom-en’s Representative Reginah Nyeris and nearly all members of the coun-ty assembly did not attend this year’s edition of the annual peace race.

However, this did not deter the DP from delivering a stern warning to criminals, saying the Government

• 22 Administration Police officers and three civil-ians were aboard a police lorry headed to Kasarani in Kapedo area.

• Attack happened on Friday, October 31.

• Three police officers survived the attack.

• Bodies were collected from attack scene last Sunday.

• The party was headed to Kasarani, where a car was torched by bandits two weeks ago.

Kapedo massacre

ByB JaMes MunyeKi

leaders were not happy with the Gov-ernment’s decision to deploy security officers in Tiaty Constituency.

Lonyangapuo called for thorough investigations into the police killings, saying that since independence, members of the Pokot community had never attacked police officers. He lamented that innocent citizens were also bearing the brunt of the military operation. The Senator asked the Government to constitute a commis-sion to probe the challenges that have afflicted the region for a long time. National Cohesion and Integra-tion Commission Chairman Francis ole Kaparo, who also attended the event, asked leaders to stop blame games and instead foster peace among their communities.

Administration Police officers carry the casket bearing the re-mains of their slain colleague, Joseph Kimani, during his burial in Molo on fri-day. Kimani was among the offi-cers killed by bandits in Kape-do last week.[PHOTO:BONIFACE THUKU/STANADRD]

Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

Kenyans at a crossroads

Kenyans at a crossroadSTATE OF INSECURITY STATE OF INSECURITY

Adan Maalim

The fAllen heroes

lukas lorengoJoseph Muhoya hussein Chakaekeno edukan edward ekenosaid omar Muchina Wakabaezekiel Chege Kennedy Amanjaedwin njoroge Daniel nandwaPius Kaloi Kelvin MuniuJustus Musyoki Isaac MarakaDaniel Mutuku Bonventure ekwom

Kelvin Kawinzi

Pokot leaders snub Ruto’s function to protestPokot leaders snubbed a peace

meeting attended by Deputy Presi-dent William Ruto in West Pokot County yesterday, in protest over the ongoing military operation in Kape-do.

The political leaders boycotted the peace race organised by Tegla Lorupe’s Peace Foundation (TLPF) at Makutano Stadium in Kapenguria yesterday.

Emotions were high and there was a heave police presence as some residents waved placards protesting the Government’s move to deploy the military to flush out criminals in the conflict-prone pastoral counties.

Earlier in the day, security per-sonnel rounded up some of the plac-ard-waving protestors after they loudly protested and accused the Government of abusing human rights.

The group had entered the stadi-um and advanced towards the dais when the police, led by OCPD Ruku Macharia, intervened, seized the placards and arrested five of the pro-testors.

Some of the placards read, “Why is the Government terrorising and killing innocent people? We want the security operation stopped”.

Those arrested were bundled into a police vehicle and driven to Kapen-

Elusive peace: Police arrest five protestors who were part of a group that termed sending of security officers to Tiaty area a gross violation of human rights Raid ended career of selfless officers

Kapedo pounded with bombs as hunt for cop killers continues

A young Administration Police officer who had only worked for six months was among the 19 killed by bandits at Kapedo on the Turkana-Baringo county border last week.

Ezekiel Chege, 26, spoke to his mother, Lucy Wanjiku, for the last time on Thursday, after he was de-ployed to the troubled area.

On Saturday morning, when the news broke that a platoon of offi-cers had been killed in Kapedo, Wanjiku frantically tried to contact her son, but calls to his mobile phone did not go through.

“The fact that his phone was off worried me, but I prayed that he was alive and safe,” she recalls.

Her prayers turned to tears when she learned that Chege was no more.

On Thursday, a sombre mood engulfed Karuga Village in Nyahur-

uru as residents laid the brave young man to rest.

In Mombasa, another family buried yet another victim of the brazen attack.

“We blame no one for the death of our son as we Muslims believe in qadar (predestination),” said Yahya Omar Qoyan, uncle of Said Hassan Omar, popularly known as Chidi.

Said’s father, Hassan Omar, was in Saudi Arabia, where he works, when tragedy struck.

During this interview, the slain officer’s mother, Fatuma Said Mo-hamed, and siblings were too dis-traught to speak.

Volatile areas“Why are they sending their of-

ficers to volatile areas without the necessary backup?” Yahya said.

“Our apprehension started on the day he spoke about the mis-sion. We did not have peace even

before we were informed, a few days later, that Hassan Said had been killed.”

And on Friday, grief engulfed Turkana as the remains of four slain APs were flown home for buri-al. As the planes touched down at Lodwar Airstrip, tears flowed freely.

“The sergeant will be the first to be lowered as he is still a com-mander, even in death,” said Su-perintendent of Police Francis Kooli.

“Up! Attention! ...Forward march!” the orders rang as officers moved the body of Sergeant Lucas Lorengo.

The bodies of constables Ekeno Edukan, Bonventure Ekwom and Edward Ekeno were lowered from the planes in the same pattern and carried to the waiting police vehi-cles. The body of Constable Isaac Maraka was to arrive for burial yes-terday.

would not relent its fight on banditry.“Those who killed the officers

and took away guns have no place in Kenya and there is no way we will keep quiet when innocent lives are lost to criminals,” the Deputy Presi-dent said.

The DP asked the Pokot commu-nity to help the Government arrest the police killers. “We are deter-mined to ensure there is peace in the region. There is no room for vio-lence, conflict and death because we will stand firm on the security of the country,” Ruto said.

He said he was not bothered by the absence of local leaders, and re-iterated that the Government would not relent its efforts to stop practices that destabilise the country: “Some people were telling me not to attend

the event because the community is not happy with me. Our position is that this senseless killing of people must stop.”

He challenged leaders from the warring communities to commit themselves to promoting peace and enhancing development in the af-fected counties.

Ruto said the Government had lined up various projects that would help curb perennial conflicts in the North Rift, including irrigation and opening up of road networks.

Commission of inquiryLonyangapuo said Pokot leaders

who skipped the function were ag-grieved by the military operation that has led to the loss of innocent lives. The Senator said the absent

KDF operation

Kenya Defence Forces yesterday continued to pound parts of Tiaty Constituency with bombs, sending panic among residents who are flee-ing the area in their hundreds.

For the better part of the day, ex-plosives rocked Kapau, Chemartas, Napur and Chepelow villages in Akoret Division in a bid to flush out

suspected bandits who massacred a platoon of Administration Police of-ficers a week ago.

Fleeing residents told The Stan-dard on Sunday of rocks rolling down the hills.

“It is serious though there are no casualties so far. Rocks are rolling down the hills where the bombs have exploded, spreading panic all over the area,” said a village elder. “It seems the officers have gone full out

and are targeting hills and forests.”The Standard on Sunday has also

learnt that among the KDF officers are a team of Special Forces and Rangers. These are elite units who have state-of-the-art technology, in-cluding night vision and hi-tech communication detection devices and aircraft and weapons systems.

A military source said the tank battalion from Gilgil and ground forces from Eldoret and Kenya Ar-

my’s 50-Air Cavalry Division based in Embakasi are on the ground, hunt-ing down the police killers.

“It is a combination of a special-ised team. They are the same team that was deployed to the Coast to neutralise the Al Shabaab. This tells you how serious this operation is,” said the source.

Yesterday’s ground offensive fol-lowed Thursday’s night operation, where dozens of people were arrest-

ed as the officers moved to trading centres in the vast region, question-ing and arresting suspects.

More than 15 people were alleg-edly arrested in Chemolingot and another nine at Tangulbei. Their whereabouts, however, remain a mystery as government officials re-fused to comment on the arrests.

Several schools have been closed ahead of schedule because of the op-eration.

There is no room for violence, conflict and death. We will stand firm on the security of the country

—Deputy President William Ruto

ByB Osinde OBare and WilBerfOrce netya

ByB alex KiprOtich and Vincent MaBatuK

DP William ruto (centre) joins dancers from West Pokot during the Tegla lo-rupe peace race held at Makutano stadium in Pokot County, yesterday. With him are Pokot senator John lonyangapuo (right) and peace ambassador Tegla lorupe (third left). RIGHT: Police officers confiscate placards from protestors. [PHOTOS: PETER OCHIENG AND OSINDE OBARE]

guria Police Station, sparking more protests from a section of residents.

Ruto landed at Kapenguria’s Ben-dera Estate in a military chopper be-fore proceeding to Makutano Stadi-um, where he was welcomed by Senator John Lonyangapuo, the only Pokot leader present.

A tense mood filled the air as res-idents waited in eagerness to hear the Government’s stand over the on-going military operations at the bor-der with Turkana and Baringo.

Leaders from the county have ex-pressed displeasure with the Gov-ernment’s decision to deploy mili-tary officers along the border following the killing of 19 police of-ficers last weekend.

Perennial challengesThe leaders have lamented that

innocent residents have been bru-talised, saying the Government has alternative mechanisms to foster peace and bring a lasting solution to the perennial challenges afflicting the North Rift Region.

West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin, MPs Samuel Moroto (Kapenguria), David Pkossing (Pokot South), Philip Rotino (Sigor) and Mark Lomunokol (Kacheliba), Wom-en’s Representative Reginah Nyeris and nearly all members of the coun-ty assembly did not attend this year’s edition of the annual peace race.

However, this did not deter the DP from delivering a stern warning to criminals, saying the Government

• 22 Administration Police officers and three civil-ians were aboard a police lorry headed to Kasarani in Kapedo area.

• Attack happened on Friday, October 31.

• Three police officers survived the attack.

• Bodies were collected from attack scene last Sunday.

• The party was headed to Kasarani, where a car was torched by bandits two weeks ago.

Kapedo massacre

ByB JaMes MunyeKi

leaders were not happy with the Gov-ernment’s decision to deploy security officers in Tiaty Constituency.

Lonyangapuo called for thorough investigations into the police killings, saying that since independence, members of the Pokot community had never attacked police officers. He lamented that innocent citizens were also bearing the brunt of the military operation. The Senator asked the Government to constitute a commis-sion to probe the challenges that have afflicted the region for a long time. National Cohesion and Integra-tion Commission Chairman Francis ole Kaparo, who also attended the event, asked leaders to stop blame games and instead foster peace among their communities.

Administration Police officers carry the casket bearing the re-mains of their slain colleague, Joseph Kimani, during his burial in Molo on fri-day. Kimani was among the offi-cers killed by bandits in Kape-do last week.[PHOTO:BONIFACE THUKU/STANADRD]


Devolution and minerals behind escalating community conflicts

National Cohesion and Integra-tion Commission chairman Francis ole Kaparo has cautioned the Gov-ernment against caving in to pres-sure to recruit and arm community police reservists.

“Reservists are civilians and the Government should not arm civil-ians to defend themselves against fellow citizens. This could escalate the carnage caused by illegal fire arms in civilian hands,” Kaparo said.

Leaders in areas affected by ban-ditry and cattle rustling have been demanding the arming of reservists where there are none, and an in-crease in numbers where the re-

serve force has been in place.Political leaders in Laikipia

County have been lobbying to have members of the Kikuyu community recruited and armed as police re-servists, a practice traditionally as-sociated with pastoralist communi-ties in the North Rift.

Kaparo said the full weight of the law should be applied in volatile ar-eas.

In an interview, former Ndarag-wa MP Jeremiah Kioni said drafters of the Constitution resisted pres-sure to devolve security functions to avoid situations where governors would have standing security units to fight perceived rivals.

“Establishment of security in-stallations and police stations in problem areas promises more sus-tainable results than arming civil-ians in the name of reservists. It has worked to restore order in Mt Elgon since a military facility was set up there,” Kioni said.

Kioni, who was a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate proliferation of militia gangs and militarisation of the youth in 2010, called on the Gov-ernment to implement the recom-mendations of the committee for massive labour intensive pro-grammes to keep young people gainfully engaged, and unavailable for hire as militia gangs.

“The young men fighting secu-rity forces did not buy those guns themselves. They were not even risking their lives for a personal course. There is a political dimen-sion to these conflicts,” he said.

Kaparo warns against guns for reservists

Scramble for resources: Counties clash as they struggle to lay a claim to sources of income

Devolution has reignited sim-mering disputes over resources, where several counties are caught up in rows over boundaries, taxation and natural wealth.

In Central Kenya, Nyandarua and Laikipia are feuding over taxation in the commercial hub of Nyahururu town.

In Nyanza, the taxation battle be-tween Kisii and Nyamira counties in Mwabundusi Scheme and Keroka has been temporarily silenced by a revenue sharing agreement pending a formal resolution.

At the Coast, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commis-sion (IEBC) has been called to arbi-trate between Taita-Taveta and Kwale counties over control of Mak-inon Road township along the Nai-robi-Mombasa highway.

Experts say discovery of natural resources has contributed to these claims and counterclaims. Newly discovered oil, coal and other miner-al resources promise drastic trans-formations of economic fortunes, hence the race to stake a claim.

“New narratives about historical and ancestral claims are being in-vented to lay claim to these lucrative sources of capital. Some are using vi-olence to enforce their narratives and elbow potential rivals out of the way in anticipation of the coming windfall,” says natural resources management scholar Mwenda Makathimo.

Makathimo is a former Interim Independent Boundaries Commis-sion (IIBC) commissioner and direc-tor of the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI).

LDGI has released a report urging the Government to expedite enact-ment of the Community Land Bill, which provides for community land boards that will ensure community

economic interests are not side-stepped for commercial and politi-cal interests.

Former Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni has petitioned the Senate to begin relocating Nyahururu town in Laikipia County to Nyandarua County. Kioni argues the bulk of Nyahururu town residents are from Nyandarua County, and their prop-erties and other investments gener-ate more than Sh100 million a year in taxes for Laikipia County.

The petition seen by The Stan-dard on Sunday also cites the fact that the bulk of key public amenities and facilities meant for Nyandarua County are located in Nyahururu town. These include county security headquarters, health, education and administrative facilities.

The petition that is likely to trig-ger a political firestorm says Nya-hururu - formerly known as Thom-son Falls - was the headquarters of Nyandarua District in the defunct Central Province since indepen-dence.

When boundaries were altered in 1992, it was placed in Laikipia Dis-trict of former Rift Valley Province.

Reverting to pre-1992 boundar-

ies, and putting Nyahururu back in Nyandarua County, would result in drastic social-economic shifts, with political and demographic implica-tions on both sides of the disputed boundary, but which Kioni says are necessary and inevitable.

Voting blocsPoliticians likely to be affected by

shifting voting blocs on either side of the are likely to support or oppose the petition depending on how it im-pacts their fortunes.

“The petitioner prays that Parlia-ment expeditiously forms an inde-pendent commission to investigate the boundary dispute between Laikipia and Nyandarua counties aimed at considering altering the said boundary and placing Nya-hururu Town in Nyandarua County...in any case establishing the bound-aries in their pre-1992 positions...” says the petition received at the Sen-ate Clerk’s office on October17.

The second request in the peti-tion reads in part: “That the Senate develops a timely mechanism for in-volvement of relevant stakeholders in arriving at the decision including residents of Nyahururu Town, Nyan-

darua and Laikipia counties, the IEBC, the Commission for Revenue Allocation and the Controller of Budget.”

Article 188 of the Constitution provides for alteration of county boundaries with the approval by Parliament and based on popula-tion trends, cultural and geograph-ical factors, among others.

Kioni says resolution of clan, community county boundaries is key to resolving divisive and disrup-tive conflicts that have hit several regions of Kenya. Unresolved boundaries have historically been exploited by competing political in-terests keen on passing themselves off as champions of unresolved grievances, he adds. “Communities have always disputed over pasture and water, but devolution has changed many variables. The prob-lem is compounded by the discov-ery of mineral deposits, and the re-sources allocated to devolved units. Boundary disputes can longer be taken for granted; they are key in conflicts resolution,” he says.

Political competition“The Government should iden-

tify potentially volatile situations and resolve the disputes before the next electioneering season, when political competition may escalate matters. Politicians have in the past exploited such rows to alter voting in their favour.”

Mwenda Njoka, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior and Coordi-nation of National Government, says the Government has asked the Directorate of Surveys, IEBC and lo-cal leadership to resolve conflicts rooted in resource sharing and boundaries.

“Conflicts rooted in resource sharing have become more pro-nounced with the advent of county governments, as each scrambles to have as many resources within their jurisdictions as possible. This has created a great challenge for the National Government, which is mandated to ensure peace, security and stability across the country. Belligerence among the county leadership in some areas has also contributed to this sad state of af-fairs,” Njoka said in an interview.

“The government is holding meetings with governors, senators, MPs and grassroots leadership in the counties while the Directorate of Surveys, IEBC and other bodies have been roped in to ensure that border issues are resolved once and for all.”

Security installations and police stations in problem areas promises more sustainable results than arming civilians.

Youths armed with bows and arrows stand on guard at Kamulok Village on the Kericho-Sondu border after burying their villagemate. Clashes over resources have escalated county boundary conflicts. [PHOTO: TITUS MUNALA/STANDARD]

yB Thiong’o MaThenge

yB Thiong’o MaThenge

I call upon our security forces to employ all measures necessary within the rule of law to maintain sustainable security.— President Uhuru Kenyatta

The Government will use all the resources at its disposal to recover all stolen arms, including those owned illegally. — Interior CS Joseph ole Lenku

The inter-county disputes should be resolved before the next electioneering season, when political competition may escalate matters. — Former MP Jeremiah Kioni

Some people are using violence to enforce their claims to county resources and elbow potential rivals out of the way. — Former IIBC commissio-ner Mwenda Makathimo

The directorate of Surveys, IEBC and other bodies have been roped in to ensure that border issues are resolved once and for all. — Mwenda Njoka, spokes-man for Interior Ministry

Kenyans at a crossroadSTATE OF INSECURITY

New narratives about historical

and ancestral claims are being invented to lay claim to these lucrative sources of capital.”-Mwenda Makathimo, former IIBC commissioner

NATIONAL NEWS / Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

Mpeketoni residents say curfew meant

to save lives, should not be lifted soon

Bloodshed and slaughter: Suspicion runs deep in town where residents believe attackers are still rooted within them

immersed in conversation with their phones. A tone alert draws a smile. A vi-bration alert draws an even broader one. It is 2pm. Local auditions of the Miss La-mu County pageant are going on.

A few patrons sit around the makeshift runway where aspiring models strut and are measured. The process is not rigorous. “Hatujamuona vizuri! Wacha arudie te-na,” shouts a patron. The urge to see his favourite participant do another walk-through is too strong to resist so he shouts the organisers into submission. She makes another run. Intense heat and warm beer form an uncanny partnership. Add a curfew to this mix and the pressure from all three can make a grown man do strange things.

Many of the women do not meet the 36-24-36 criteria but make it through to the next stage nevertheless.

“We would have liked it to have hap-pened at night, but our choices right now are limited,” says Mercy Muthoni, one of the aspiring beauty queens. In exactly four hours, she ought to have shown what she has to offer and returned home through a path tucked between Mama Shiro’s Shop and Kibe’s Kinyozi. They too feel the curfew. Business too is slow for them but the message remains the same:

“Security above all. Everything else can wait,” says Njuguna.

Here, the farmers disappear behind thick fences and onto fertile farmlands to

tend to the melons, tomatoes, vegetables and prepare seed beds for the next plant-ing season. Later, some visit the town cen-tre for any pending business. But at 6:30pm they hurriedly lock themselves behind doors. Adjustments have been made to accommodate this minor incon-venience.

Most of the endless bush Chege first encountered is now replaced by concre-ate and iron sheets. What used to be a mere speck on the map has now become a town known by many. The baboon nui-sance has been replaced by something more dangerous that creeps out from the shadows, to wound and kill.

The last time the residents tried to put up a defence, it did not work. For now, the last line remains the State. If this is line taken away from them, hell, the say, will once again pitch tent in their homes. “Have you ever smelt human blood,” Chege says. “The scent never leaves you.”

Patrolling police in Lamu have been accused of unnecessary brutality, petty theft and thuggery by a section of resi-dents in Mpeketoni and Lamu.

The official line from the police on the ground claim this is far from the truth since their mandate is to protect and keep the peace. However, an officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said not all who go on patrol abide by the law. Ele-ments of rougue patrol units extort and break into shops.

In the early 70s, Francis Njeru Chege and his family sighed in relief as a Kenya Army truck sputtered to a stop in the middle of nowhere. The journey had been treacherous, and as the party jumped off and beat the brown dust off themselves, he looked around and won-dered how they could even call the bush next to him home.

“But somehow we managed. We dug deep. Very deep and made this area hos-pitable,” Chege says, smiling at the re-membrance of a stubborn distant mem-ory of conquest.

Among the earliest and most consis-tent of their problems in the early days of the Mpeketoni settlement scheme were baboons.

“It is like they had sensed we were here to drive them away. So they made life very difficult for us. They ate our crops, chased our women and children away from farms... they were just a nui-sance.”

So together with other young men, Chege decided to lodge a formal com-plaint with the then District Commis-sioner John Makosewe. The community needed state assistance to deal with the primate nuisance.

Fresh wounds“The DC basically gave us two op-

tions: abandon the land or chase the ba-boons,” Chege says.

One day at the crack of dawn, the young men hatched a scheme. They knew where the bulk of the baboons were. So, armed with sharpened pangas they formed one straight line standing shoulder to shoulder. Then walked to-wards the baboon colony. Swift forward panga movements with each step. When they ran out of breath, tens lay dead. A few people were scratched. The village was never bothered again. Until now.

“With the things I have seen in my life, a curfew is the least of my worries,” he says. For him, the Lamu County cur-few should go on until the Government sees fit. “They must know something we don’t... let it go on,” he says, adjusting himself on the chair. He clears his

throat. Then pauses for almost a minute.“You need to understand that we

have seen bloodshed and the slaughter of human beings. You know... like they are chicken. So if it means that I lose a few more shillings from my business but be assured of waking up in the morning, so be it.”

Official records put the death toll in Mpeketoni and parts of Tana River in the July killings that Chege is talking of at more than 80. Witness accounts said a majority of the victims were dragged from their houses in full view of their families and led to their deaths, leaving behind nervous, scared and resigned in-dividuals to pick up the pieces.

The wounds from that attack remain fresh. For the survivors, lifting the cur-few means the possibility of reliving these horrors all over again. “The curfew is the only thing that will keep us safe for now. It might be hard for our brothers on the island to understand where we are coming from but that is that,” says Chege. “And remember, no one has been arrested over this. What if they are still among us waiting for the Government to pull out and strike?”

His opinion matters. He may well be Kenya’s longest serving councilor having represented Mpeketoni Ward, later Hon-gwe for 33 uninterrupted years —1979 to 2013. He says he has never seen his homeland as tense as it currently is.

Seven road blocks punctuate the earth road between Garsen and Mpeke-toni town. Each manned with no less than five armed policemen. At dusk when the curfew moves into place, the regular and administration police are replaced with an even heavier armed force.

The Kenya Defence Forces are at all hours in full combat gear. Here, the en-emy can strike at any time and at any place. It has done it before. Not once. Not twice. Repeatedly. Each attack as brutal as the previous one. “For us, the curfew is not about saving livelihoods... it is about saving lives,” Paul Kimani Njuguna, the Leader of Minority in the Lamu County Assembly, says.

Uneasy calmHe too believes the Government

when it says danger still remains out there, so the 12-hour curfew remains and continues to feed the uneasy calm for residents. Everyday conversations lift the lid on pent up fears. Suspicion runs deep and in Mpeketoni, like with many small towns, strangers can be eas-ily picked out from the thickest of crowds.

“This is why we believe the attackers may still be amongst us. They attacked at night because they knew we would recognise them had they come during the day...,” Njuguna says. On a hot Sat-urday afternoon in Havanna Club, three ladies sit around a table. Each deeply

ByB Daniel Wesangula

ABOVE: A setion of the market in Mpeketoni town, in Lamu County, last Friday. LEFT: A deserted street in Lamu Island in the early evening. [PHOTOS: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

The curfew is the only thing that will keep us safe for now. It might be hard for our brothers on the island to understand where we are coming from but that is that. And remember, no one has been arrested over this,"– Francis Njeru Chege, Lamu resident

Kenyans ata crossroad STATE OF INSECURITY


Us versus them mentality: Some island inhabitants believe there is a well planned conspiracy to force all of them to sell the little land they own and move away altogether through frustrating their efforts to earn a living

Curfew chokes life out of Lamu, destroys

TOP: A section of the Lamu seafront. ABOVE: Soldiers on patrol during the two-day strike by business owners over the extension of the curfew. [PHOTOS: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

Abubakar Mohamed Hatib

kar asks, breathing hard enough to make his grey nose hairs sway under his breath. When he talks, he stares you straight in the face, perhaps a habit from his old days in the navy.

“For decades, we have welcomed people from all over the country. We were the first people to host dis-placed persons after the Shifta war. Now, our opinions no longer mat-ter,“ the old man says.

Sheikh Abdurahman makes it clearer.

“Sisi tunahisi twanyanyaswa. Ma-oni yetu hayaskizwi. Watu wa Mpe-ketoni wakiongea wanasikizwa. Ni kwa nini? Sio kwa ubaya lakini tu-naona ni sababu rais mkikuyu, coun-ty commander mkikuyu, intelligence pia mkikuyu. Inabaki sisi tukisema hatutaki curfew hatuskizwi (We feel like we are being mistreated. Our opinions are not taken but when those from Mpeketoni speak they are

By Daniel Wesangula

local youth had homes and means of supporting themselves),” Aboud says.

You see, the Amu (Lamu Island residents) think of themselves as children of the water. The economy depends on items coming in or going out via boat. The biggest earner is tourism, supporting whole house-holds for generations past, present and future.

After 215 kilometres from Malindi town via Mpeketoni, one finds him-self in a dusty, flat patch of land called Mokowe. As soon as you park your car, young men, some with glazed eyes, approach, all smiles, hoping to port your luggage to a waiting speed boat.

“Tutatumia dakika ngapi kufika upande ule mwengine?” I ask.

“Mola atakavyopenda (That’s up to God),” the captain says. Here, it is pronounced ‘kep-ten’.

When his motor roars to life and the anchor is lifted, all is left in God‘s hands. Mashallah.

Kepten is in charge of Lady Ga-ga — no relation — a blue and white speedboat. He makes his trips bare-chested. Tufts of curly hair run along his torso.

He hides a large part of his face under a tattered baseball cap, and a bushy goatee completes his round face. Today is the first day of business after a strike in opposition to the three-month curfew.

Business has slowed to a trickle.When the clock strikes 1pm, it is

time for dhuhr (prayer after midday) on the mainly Muslim resort island.

Abdkadir Rahman aka Festo

It does not require much imagi-nation to picture Lamu Island’s gold-en sunrise. From the cabro-paved main Sea Front Street, the glorious ball of orange unapologetically an-nounces its arrival from the other side of the world. And all through its 12-hour journey across clear blue skies, the heat licks over every visible patch of skin, leaving sweat droplets struggling to find a path down a visi-tor’s brow.

A blue ocean, a caressing breeze and the pleasantly intrusive smell of sea fish add to the marvels of this world heritage site. But a series of unfortunate events have painfully brought this corner of heaven to its knees.

No one knows what it will take to bring it back to its feet, or who will hold Lamu’s hand and help this grand old sheikh rediscover the plea-sure of tapping his feet to the seduc-tive tune of the sea slapping against his harbour.

“Sisi ni kama vatoto. Serikali ni baba yethu. Amethuchapa ya kutho-sha. Sisi hathuna silaha ya kupigana na mzazi vethu, ila tu tuna sauti am-bazo twaweza tumia kulia. Akiskia kilio chetu basi pengine atathuhuru-mia aache kuthuadhibu (We are like children, and the Government is our father. He has punished us enough. We have no weapons to fight him with, but we can cry out. Perhaps, he will hear our cry and stop punishing us), Abubakar Mohamed says.

Mzee Abubakar has seen it all. He cuts the image of an old man at peace with his soul and his sur-roundings. When talking about the weather or the sweetness of fresh fish, his demeanour is calm. But a single world changes all this: Curfew.

Since July 20, Lamu County has been under what was initially an-nounced as a month-long curfew. Three months later, residents say the curfew is doing more harm than good.

And, they say, it is time Kenya’s security chiefs rethink their strategy or else the island might find itself dealing with more than dwindling tourist numbers.

“Sio hati havajakuja huku kutafta vijana vetu. Vamejaribu... lakini ha-thukuvapa hio nafasi maanake vi-jana vetu valikua na makazi...vatalii valikuvepo...vageni vamejaa... sasa hawangekosa senti za kuendeleza boma zao,” Sheikh Abdurahman says.

Local sheikhs say they have fought off influence from radical preachers for many years.

“They have tried to recruit our young people, but failed because the

leaves Swafaa Mosque where he of-ten goes for prayers. Festo is a tour guide. Despite dropping out of school in Class Three, he speaks French, Spanish and German.

Since he was 14, Abdikadir has earned a living by taking tourists around the major sites on the sever-al islands that form Lamu East Con-stituency.

“Since 2012, things have been bad, particularly after the kidnap-pings. Things had begun to recover... but now, it is like someone wants us dead. They are killing us,” Festo says. “We don’t know what to do.”

A singular line of thought cuts across almost all residents of the is-land. For them, a conspiracy has been hatched to disenfranchise them more. Someone is after their way of life, and by extension, their lives and those of their children and grandchildren.

“If you were in our shoes, what would you say of this?” Mzee Abuba-

Young people will look for the respect they say they deserve elsewhere. And they might find this from the enemy.

-Sheikh Abdulrahman Aboud

listened to.Why don’t they listen to when we say we do not want a cur-few?”) he poses.

Their argument is simple. Ever since the abduction of the French tourist, the island has not had any major incident of insecurity. The re-cent killings in Lamu County were at Mpeketoni on the mainland. Yet, the islanders complain, they were also put under curfew.

“As far as we are concerned, the island is safe. We need to be allowed to carry on with our business. What gain is there if our sons and fathers cannot fish? If our businesses, which open from mid-morning until late at night, are closed? If our wives cannot sell food along the road at night? If tourists fear coming to this area? Are they thinking of us?” the sheikh asks.

yeaR THaT sluMP sTaRTeD

2012DaTe THaT CuRFeW sTaRTeD

JULY 20Daily TRaDe aT laMu MaRKeT

Sh1m

Treat us fairly, islanders demandSince July 20, Lamu County has been under what was initially announced as a month-long curfew.However, island residents complain that this is unfair because the recent killings that oc-curred in Lamu County took place in Mpeketoni on the mainland. They insist that Lamu Is-land is safe.In addition, they point out that residents of Mpeketoni are mostly farmers, who work in their farms during the day. However, many island dwellers are fishermen who work at night.

He says the residents of Mpeketoni are farmers who work on their farms during the day and go home at night. However, the island depends on tourism, fishing and night time small-scale trade.

“Perhaps all this is part of a plan to take away our land. If the curfew persists, we will be unable to meet even our basic needs. Many will have no choice but to sell the lit-tle land they inherited and move elsewhere in search of work so that they can provide for their families.”

The ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality persists.Abdul Wahid Mohammed Bilal blends into the white

walls of the Lamu Post Office in his ankle-length white kanzu, a matching kofia and brown open shoes. He be-lieves he has a long-term solution for the problems in the area if the Government will not only lift the curfew but also treat the islanders with more respect.

“The people from the mainland cannot do without us. If this continues, we shall start boycotting their shops and establishments,” Wahid says.

For him slow economic sabotage will be the only way for the islanders to gain some respect. But at what cost?

For the two days the islanders docked their boats in protest over the curfew, no food came in from the main-land. Up to 90 per cent of the food, except fish, spices and some fruit, is brought in from the mainland. Fuel, and other non-food items are almost singularly sourced the same way. Leaders say that a million shillings worth of trade is conducted daily at the Lamu produce market.

“It is a high stakes game. Unfortunately, none of the players has a flush in hand; they are just playing poker with our lives and those of our em-ployees. There are no win-ners; just losers,“ says Ma-ma Baraka, the owner of Whispers Coffee House and Restaurant.

Recently, the slump in tourism forced her to sack an employee who had worked for her for 27 years.

“I could see it in her face; it was worse than death. Employees are losing their jobs in all hotels, big or small. This will make our people opt for crazy alternatives,” she says.

Opposite the entrance to the coffee shop is a halua shop and a DVD vendor.

Mama Baraka swears that one evening, looking out over her first floor balcony, she could see men crowding around a TV set playing Islamic state videos of behead-ings and expansion.

“Can we blame them, really?” she asks. “The island needs attention from the Government; not to be con-demned but to be hugged and told everything will be alright. We need our Lamu back.”

Sheikh Abdurahman says the Government is partisan in dealing with matters Lamu. And he has a word of cau-tion:

“Siku zote sisi waswahili husema ukicheza na shilingi chonyi, mwishoe itaingia kwa lindi,” he says. “Lazima wazingatie maoni yetu. Sisi pia tuna sauti la sivyo siku zijazo patakua na mpasuko mkubwa sana. Mji umejaa mafta. Ni kiberiti tu kimekosa. (The Swahili say that if you keep flipping a coin up and down, it will finally end up in a crack next to the road and you will lose it), Abdu-rahman says.

From the sheikh’s office, one can see the sun disap-pear behind the massive, smooth coral walls of the adja-cent Lamu Fort. And as it sinks lower, making its way to other lands beyond the horizon everyone shifts into sec-ond gear.

Once the muezzin calls out for the Ishaaha (evening) prayers, a tangible rush engulfs the narrow streets. Wom-en in buibuis walk along the cool, shadowed passageways of Old Town faster. There is less talk. Boat stewards drop anchors. When darkness finally descends, only nature gets away with noise.

For yet another night, Lamu refuses to tap his feet to the sounds all around him.

For another night he remains bound for his own se-curity. But still, through his children - wa Amu - he some-times sings: “Hili ndilo Lamu ataka onaye. (This is Lamu. Let he who wants come see it for himself).”

It is a high stakes game. They are playing poker with our lives and those of our employees. There are no winners, just losers

-Mama Baraka, restaurant owner

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

the livelihoods of thousands of residents

Kenyans at a crossroad

Kenyans at a crossroad STATE OF INSECURITY STATE OF INSECURITY


Simmering tension: Historical injustices, land and recent killings have led to distrust between ‘mainlanders’ and ‘islanders’

Blurred lines: Hardline politics and fragile relations between Lamu communities

“It is very unfortunate that at this point, we are still being referred to as outsiders. We have been born here. We have gone to school together. What makes us different now yet we share the same history? If this doesn’t make us indigenous people then what will,” asks Peter Kimani Njugu-na, the leader of minority in the La-mu County Assembly.

In context, Lamu District is not different from many other post-co-lonial societies on the continent. There will always be simmering struggles between the oppressive past and aspiration for a future of fulfilment.

Uncertain futureYet it is this thin line between the

painful past for all residents and an uncertain future that politics — divi-sive and intolerant — seeks to ex-pand.

After the Mpeketoni killings, an executive announcement of com-pensation was made.

From 1967 through to 1969 during the most intense years of the Shifta War, hundreds of local residents were maimed, displaced, raped and even killed. In 2012, violence be-tween the Pokomo and Orma left thousands displaced and hundreds dead.

“Yet there has been no mention of compensation or even reconciliatory

By Daniel Wesangula

Amaana and other politicians who contested and lost various seats in the 2013 elections have been ac-cused of fanning separatist senti-ments within the region.

“Far from it. If there is anyone who has promoted this line of thought, it is the President himself,” Amaana says. His biggest bone of contention is the manner in which President Uhuru Kenyatta dealt with the July Mpeketoni killings.

“In front of the whole world he stood up and said the killings were as a result of local politics and not a ter-ror organisation. If this was true, how come we haven’t seen any arrests or prosecutions,” he says.

Favouritism and seclusionAmaana says such sentiments

seem to apportion blame to one side of the residents — the indigenous populations — since they are the ones, from the very onset, who were and still are in opposition to the cur-few.

“For us, this Government is sim-ply continuing from where others left. Dehumanising us. Driving us to our knees,” Ali says.

Indigenous populations — Swa-hili, Bajuni, Arabs — say history has never been on their side. Each ad-ministration since independence has seen them stand on the wrong side of the divide. Where there has been favouritism, they have received none. Where there has been brutali-ty, they have received all.

“We bore the brunt of the Shifta War, of seclusion on matters devel-opment and education... That is the simple truth and now we are fed up with this. Are we not Kenyans? Are we not humans,” asks Amaana.

From where he sits, Ndegwa sees none of this.

Few places in the country can be as polarised as Lamu County.

Hardline political stance among the two dominant communities —Kikuyus and Swahilis also known as foreigners and indigenous popula-tions — continue to split an already fractured relationship further.

At the centre of this are allega-tions of arrogance, entitlement and disenfranchisement that have been simmering for generations and now seem to be bubbling ever closer to the surface. Historical injustices, land and a recent bloody wave of vi-olence have all contributed to the ex-isting distrust between the Islanders and the mainlanders. A recent cur-few driving the wedge further.

The mainlanders, predominantly thought of as the Kikuyu in Mpeke-toni town, support the curfew, draw-ing harsh criticism from the Island dwellers for “siding” with an ‘un-friendly’ government.

“They know very well the curfew is no guarantee for proper security. Are they assured that if it even goes on for the next year we shall be safe? It is the Government’s duty to give all of us security but not through stifling us,” Lamu East MP Shariff Ali told The Standard on Sunday.

He says Lamu Island is being un-fairly targeted and punished for something its residents did not do.

“It is a political manoeuvre to make sure we suffer,” he says.

Politics has played a major role in splitting hairs within the county. Nearly two years after the General Election, some elected leaders are still viewed as outsiders. Some as traitors.

Julius Ndegwa, a first-time MP, represents Lamu West Constituency, under which Lamu Island falls. Al-though he believes that the curfew should be lifted around the island, he still finds himself shunned by the islanders. “To date, there are people who still maintain that their MP is Rishaad Amaana. To them, I am not their leader,” says Ndegwa.

“And these leaders are taking ad-vantage of the current fragile situa-tion to further their cause.”

“We have not been favoured in any way. We have gone through all they have gone through. If it is poor education we have received it. There are no roads or hospitals constructed for a particular community. Many people forget that we too were born here and went through the same problems their children went through,” he says. “We, just like they, have worked our way through life.”

For the indigenous populations, a few unresolved issues have con-tributed to their crying victim. For instance, the lack of title deeds after generations of occupying ancestral land and the availability of the same title deeds for “newcomers”. They say this has contributed to some arro-gance among the ‘newcomers’ be-cause with titles comes some level of economic empowerment.

For the newcomers, a sense of en-titlement runs through the indige-nous populations. And when this en-titlement becomes inaccessible, they play victims of alleged ills.

To date, there are people who still maintain that their MP is Rishaad Amaana. To them, I am not their leader— Julius ndegwa, Lamu West MP

meetings between these two com-munities. Are we second class citi-zens? Was there a checklist of some sort that we didn’t complete?” Abdul-la Bhocha Guracha, an Orma elder asks The Standard on Sunday.

The majority of those killed and displaced in the 2012 wave of blood-shed were Orma. From Kileleng-wani, Chamwanamuma, Shirikisho and other surrounding villages.

“At times, leadership is all about perception. And right now, we per-ceive to be left out on all matters re-lating to the central government. It is not our government.”

Again, perceptions. The percep-tion this time is that Mpeketoni vic-tims were long compensated and are moving on with their lives.

“We have not received a single cent. All we are holding onto are promises past and hope for the fu-ture,” Charles Musungu, the chair-man of Mavuno-Poromoko IDP camp. “If there are people who have been compensated, it is not us.”

As multiple fault lines continue to develop, the fly in the reconciliation ointment within the county is land; and by extension what it is used for and who the major beneficiaries will be in the long run.

And this unfinished business re-garding land remains the most im-portant cause of the citizenry’s dis-trust of the government.

year eleCTiOns Were COnDuCTeD

2013year ViOlenCe rOCKeD Tana riVer

2012

no one spared in enforcing curfew • Those who fail to adopt meet the brunt of the law. A rumour around town is that on the Sunday of October 26, when English football giants Chelsea and Manchester United were tackling each other on the pitch, football fans in Mpeketoni thought that for once, the rules to the curfew would be bent• So when the clock struck 6:30pm fans continued with their normal banter. Kickoff was just 30 minutes away. But minutes into the second half, a contingent of KDF personnel de-scended on the bar at which they were watching the match. Whips and blows were direct-ed towards the law breakers. Among them was a District Officer. His pleas for recognition fell on deaf ears and on that day, he too spent the night behind bars with fellow criminals. Now, everyone wants to be home by curfew time.

Police officers patrol Lamu Island last Tuesday. [PHOTO: COURTESY]

Julius Ndegwa Shariff Ali

Kenyans ata crossroadSTATE OF INSECURITY

NATIONAL NEWS / Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

The recent killing of 21 police officers by bandits in Kapedo, Turkana County, was the second highest loss of police officers in history in a span of two years.

The officers’ slaughter came nearly two years after mas-sacre of 40 officers in Suguta Valley, near Baragoi in Sam-buru County by armed cattle rustlers.

On October 31, the officers went in pursuit of armed raiders who three days before had killed three of their col-leagues from the General Service Unit (GSU).

The raiders had attacked cars ferrying Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination materials and burned them.

However, the officers did not know that they would run in to a well-planned ambush by Pokot raiders that would leave 21 of them dead and a nation in shock at the barbarity of the crime.

The murder of the offi-cers is made even more tragic by the fact that most of the slain officers were young, and perhaps look-ing forward to long careers in the police.

But the killing of police officers was not an isolat-ed event. The incident is part of growing number of police officers killed in the line of duty by cruel criminals.

Kenya Police Service spokeswoman Zipporah Mboroki said it will take a while to compile names and other details of the police officers who have paid the ultimate price in the line of duty. But by our count, more than 120 officers have been killed in the line of duty over the last three years. On Wednesday, a police officer who was shot last Sunday by unknown people while on patrol duties in Kasarani died of his injuries in a hospital in Nairobi.

He and many more make up the growing sad statistics of security officers whose lives have been snuffed out by criminals who seem to be getting bolder by the day.

In 2012, nine police officers were killed in Kilelengwani, Tana River County in ethnic clashes between the Pokomos. The officers were also stripped of their uniforms and their firearms taken away.

In the same year, two officers guarding the Garissa AIC Church were shot at close range and their firearms stolen. In March last year suspected members MRC attacked an Italian-owned casino and shot two police officers dead.

In September last year, unknown gunmen attacked a police station in Mandera County, killing at least two po-lice officers and injuring three others.

Security analyst Richard Tuta said Kenya ranks as one of the countries with the highest number of police officers killed. “Look at the numbers cumulatively,” he said.

Besides attacks that leave mass casualties like the Kape-do and the Baragoi killings, many more police officers die in attacks that do not attract national attention.

Stolen gunsFor example, in February this year, a traffic policeman

was shot dead and his gun stolen by gunmen on a motor-bike in Kombani, Kwale.

“The issue of police officers being killed is a sad affair. It shows clearly the lack of respect by the citizens to our security officers. It also shows a lack of appreciation for the roles they play in society,” said Mr Tuta.

The Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) has been critical of the way the police top command at Vigi-lance House has been handling the issue

“The police leadership has been reduced to fire fight-ing. They live in denial and continue to play victim by look-ing for excuses rather than owning up to the mess we find ourselves in. In our view the police command is unable to correctly analyse the problem at hand, prescribe and im-plement solutions. Our security gaps today are capable of being firmly dealt with if those responsible had a clarity of mind and purpose which is lacking,” said the statement by Ipoa. Ipoa’s chairman Macharia Njeru has criticised the police for not adequately preparing and arming the offi-cers for critical missions such as recovering stolen cattle.

In other countries the price for killing a police officer is steep. In the US it is the death penalty or a lifetime sen-tence. Mr Tuta said there is need to adopt similar measures in Kenya.

“Those who kill those we pay to ensure our security should be made to pay the ultimate price too,” he said.

These killings are a reflection of the general state of in-

Killings were second highest loss to police security in the country, said Abdullahi Maa-lim, a former police officer who is now a pri-vate security consultant.

“People are increasingly taking the law in to their own hands to resolve personal issues. Security officers are increasingly being caught up in these situations,” he said.

ByB KipchumBa Some

Kenyans at a crossroad STATE OF INSECURITY

The issue of police officers being killed is a sad affair. It shows clearly lack of respect by citizens to our security officers,” -Richard Tuta, analyst

NEWS FEATURE / Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

Terrain provides perfect cover for raidersDeath trap: Many people have died in the little-known Kasarani area of Turkana as communities battle over pasture

tree branches. But with the massive mil-itary operation to recover 21 guns, uni-forms and thousands of rounds of am-munition stolen from the slain officers underway, the perpetrators are now be-lieved to be hiding and evading missiles fired from heavy military tanks in Kapedo town inside calderas at Silale hills.

Military helicopters have been bomb-ing the rocky and beautiful scenery in ef-forts to flush out the bandits.

The area has a huge grass coverage where close to 500 heavily armed militia responsible for deadly raids targeting other pastoral communities in Samburu,

Turkana, Marigat and Baringo North the criminals’ hide.

“This place can be a death trap to strangers, including even the most pow-erful military because of its harsh terrain and poor road network. The majority of residents are herders of politicians and powerful business people,” said a local chief.

Following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive to pursue and subdue the kill-ers, a powerful politician allegedly in-structed his herders to relocate his 2,000 head of cattle 30 kilometres away towards Baragoi area for safety, said the chief.

When Kenyans woke up to the mas-sacre of 21 police officers at Kasarani, many could have wondered why the iconic stadium had been turned into a bloodletting battleground.

No, it was not Nairobi’s Kasarani, it was another field with a similar name, known for war games and not athletics and soccer.

Located 22 kilometres from Kapedo town is another Kasarani, not well known to the majority of Kenyans, but rather a household name among war-ring Pokot and Turkana pastoralist com-munities. Many lives have been lost here as these communities fight over pasture.

During the colonial era, African Roy-al Rifles had to be dispatched to Akoret division, Tiaty, to protect Pokot herders from Turkana aggressors. Pokot elders say.

But it was until last week when about 300 bandits laid the most deadly attack on innocent administration police offi-cers, assigned to rescue a General Ser-vice Unit Land Cruiser which was torched by the same gang as it was fer-rying Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education examination papers a fort-night ago.

Seasonal and permanent streams cut across the expansive grassland savan-nah, with palm trees along the edges, ironically displaying a beautiful and sce-nic view.

The grass, which provides perfect cover for the criminals, is also sufficient to feed thousands of animals for years.

Carlos Kapkoikat, a Kapedo resident, reveals that the animals that graze here are owned by the rich and mighty across Pokot land, “after their armed herders successfully waged an expensive and well executed war against their Turkana

counterparts before driving them away”.The expansive fertile land, if proper-

ly managed, can yield surplus food for the counties of Pokot and Turkana.

The piece of land, that also stretches more than 30 kilometres towards Sam-buru, is currently a no-go-zone to secu-rity forces following a fall-out between local bandits and police officers over the beheading of a Pokot boy a month ago by suspected Turkana bandits.

Peter Lorupe, another resident, re-veals that several attacks directed at Tur-kana people making their way to mar-kets either in Baringo or Nakuru counties, are planned and executed at the fields. Unlucky victims are likely to face inhumane acts for several days without being detected.

“These are people who left their homes years back and turned into ban-dits. They do not have any identification documents, making it difficult for local administrators to trace them. They kill and maim with the fully knowledge of the Government,” says Lorupe.

To execute their criminal acts, a source familiar with their activities re-veals that the attackers strategically po-sition themselves above river banks, fig trees and the Tiaty hills with powerful binoculars which they use to spot their targets as far as five kilometres away be-fore descending on them.

Illegal barriers“From a distance, they identify

strangers, giving them ample time to spread themselves along the feeder road ready to ambush,” explained the source who sought anonymity.

During the one-hour drive to the bat-tlefield, we encountered illegal barriers of all kinds— huge rocks, tree logs and

ByB Vincent MaBatuk

A GSU vehicle set on fire by bandits as it was transporting exam papers at Kasarani area in Kapedo. [PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH/STANDARD]

-A source familiar with their activities reveals that the attackers strategically position themselves above river banks, fig trees and the Tiaty hills with powerful binoculars which they use to spot their predators as far as five kilometres away. “From a distance, they already know who the strang-ers are and to what direction they are going, giving them ample time to spread themselves along the feeder road ready for the attack,” the source.

They kill and maim with the fully knowledge of the Government, which seems to have run out of security ideas-Peter Lorupe, resident

Bandits tactfullBy hit target

The latest killings of security per-sonnel in Kapedo — a town border-ing Baringo and Turkana counties — revives the horrific images of the ‘Baragoi massacre’ where 42 police officers were ambushed by bandits in similar fashion.

It is also a coincidence that the killings happened exactly on similar dates two years ago in Baragoi.

In October 31, 2012, suspected Turkana bandits attacked a Samburu manyatta in Baragoi, stealing 501 livestock which had been stolen ten days earlier. Security personnel, on

the fateful day, while accompanied by area Kenya Police Reservists, de-cided to trace the stolen livestock in an attempt to recover them.

The mission was a disaster after more than 40 police officers and KPR were ambushed by bandits in Suguta Valley. As they did in Baringo recently, the bandits had adequate time to steal guns and ammunition from the slain officers.

Coincidentally, the slain officers in Baringo made the same error in judgment made by those who were killed in Baragoi. They went to the region with little knowledge of the terrain.

Politicians may also have contrib-uted to the tensions.

At the height of operation in Bara-goi in 2012, Turkana MPs felt their region was being unfairly targeted by the government.

They were angered that the Kenya Defence Forces enlisted Samburu Kenya Police Reservists to disarm the Turkana.

Similarly in the Kapedo opera-tion, leaders from the Pokot commu-nity accused the officers undertaking operation of enlisting the support of Turkana KPRs whom they view as their enemies given the clashes be-tween the two communities.

A probe report in the Baragoi in-cident released later would indicate that there were major blunders in the operation, especially on planning.

According to the report, there was no provision for a back up team which is a requirement for such operations.

Other factors which led to the botched mission is that the opera-tion commanders over relied on the information from individuals who are believed to have given informa-tion to the bandits.

Joshua Waiganjo, who was later found to be a police imposter, was among the commanders in the botched operation.

And in what appears to be a repli-ca to recent happenings in Kapedo, there was no immediate rescue mis-sion.

For over 30 hours after the attack, two survivors lay on the scene with-

out any help coming through until the Kenya Red Cross personnel came to the rescue.

Eric Mugendi, who is recuperat-ing at Kabarnet hospital, said he feigned death after being hit on both his hands.

“There was nothing I could do but just lie there for all those hours hop-ing that rescuers would come by,” said Mugendi soon after Kenya Red Cross personnel rescued him togeth-er with an officer only identified as Maathai who is still unconscious. In the Suguta Valley ambush, it is be-lieved that a rescue helicopter may have saved some officers had the air-craft landed at the scene rather than being diverted to Baragoi town.

Latest slaying of officers evokes memories of Baragoi ambushByB alex kiprotich

and Boaz kipngeno

Kenyans at a crossroad STATE OF INSECURITY

/ NEWS FEATURE Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

Why Kapedo is thorn in fl esh of State, residents

Red Cross faces setbacks in locating the sick Baringo’s rough and challenging

terrain has complicated the Kenya Red Cross society operations at Silale hills of Tiaty constituency, with casu-alties relying on herbal medicine ad-ministered by traditional doctors.

Herders who have been allegedly targeted by several explosives direct-ed at the rocky hill by the military to flush out Pokot bandits who brutally murdered 21 police officers continue descending deep down calderas in-stead of seeking medical help from Red Cross fearing to be arrested.

Speaking in Chemolingot, Kioko Kiilu said many terrified victims ven-ture far away from residential areas complicating their volunteer work for last one week.

Killer border: Whoever lays claims to the volatile region risks facing the wrath of merciless bandits

For close to a century now, the controversy surrounding Kapedo, the border town between the Baringo and Turkana counties, has remained a thorn in the flesh of both the locals and the Government.

Those who openly lay claim on the volatile border become victims of merciless bandits who have turned the deadly stretch into a killer border, often pitting the Pokot community against the Turkana.

The recent slaying of 21 Adminis-tration Police officers in Kapedo by bandits, one of the most atrocious at-tacks in recent history after the Bara-goi massacre, apparently laid bare the focus of the war waged by Pokots as one that seeks to protect Kapedo.

In 2002, 35 people were killed in the area following an attack by Pokot bandits. In 2003, another 100 people of Turkana decent were brutally mur-dered by Pokot bandits after a deadly clash near Akoret. And in 2004, an-other 30 Turkanas also died.

In 2005, three people were gunned down while herding their livestock along the volatile border. What fol-lowed is a ring of violence, which saw thousands of families lose their kin.

Those who have been killed in Kapedo are not only the indigenous Turkanas and Pokots, but Kenyans from various parts of the country. With the pain of the escalating war compounded by the seeming inabil-ity of the Government to resolve the dispute, Parliament has often unsuc-cessfully attempted to resolve the Kapedo issue.

In 2008, during a heated debate in Parliament as legislators discussed the boundary issues, the then Turka-na Central Member of Parliament, Ekwee Ethuro (now Senate Speaker),

y B ALEX KIPROTICH AND LEONARD KULEI

y B VINCENT MABATUK Kiilu said most of the population especially those at the edge of the es-carpment have moved towards the interior part of the mountainous re-gion to avoid advancing military of-ficers who have now surrounded the target areas from all corners.His staff, who have been distributing kits to households, have attended to 121 cases of minor ailments at Nako-ret area but after scaling up the mountains in the expansive sub-count. “Fear and anxiety has gripped this region, families are fleeing from areas they feel are unsafe, away from shopping centres and health facili-ties putting their lives at risk,” he confirmed.

A spot check has established that those with thousands of livestock had started moving them away to-wards Samburu and Laikipia with

sought a ministerial statement from the Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and National Securi-ty, seeking to know exactly which tribe owns Kapedo.

“Is the Ministry aware that there exists a boundary dispute between Pokot and Turkana communities liv-ing on the boundaries of Loroghon and Kapedo?” he posed.

In what appears to be a blatant lack of concrete answers, the then Security Assistant minister, Simon Lesirma, in his answers, reported to the House that the Government was planning to deploy surveyors to fix the boundary wrangles to bring the controversy to a rest.

“The Provincial Intelligence and Security Committee, the District In-

t e l l i g e n c e Committee, the Provincial Surveyor, the local leaders and elders from the two districts held a joint meeting on April 26 and 27, 2007 in Nakuru to resolve the dispute. It was recommended that surveyors form the Ministry of Lands headquarters be sent to the ground to determine the accurate boundary and put bea-cons on the ground.

The dispute will be settled once the surveyors complete their work,”

Lesirma ex-plained.

To date, no sur-veyor has been deployed to

the volatile border as residents con-tinue to massacre one another, set-ting the stage for unending political wars, often hitting high during cam-paign periods.

Lesirma further outlined mea-sures taken by the Government, among them; “carrying out capacity building and conflict resolution seminars through community-based

and international Non-Governmen-tal Organisations and deploying more security officers.” Ehturo then dismissed Lesirma’s approach and accused the Government of having a “short memory” on critical issues.

Peaceful environment“We are now in 2008, a year lat-

er and the Assistant Minister is tell-ing this House that the dispute will be settled once the surveyors com-plete their work. How long does

surveyors take to survey a place? They were supposed to go back to the maps and demarcate the bound-ary ,” he said.

But in defending the Govern-ment, Lesirma said: “This issues is not very easy to resolve at the speed promised by previous governments as indicated by Hon Ethuro. You will also recall that in the latest meeting held in Nakuru, new issues emerged. Several maps were being produced by different groups to justify the boundaries of the two districts (Bar-ingo and Turkana). That is why we have to prepare the stage by creating peaceful environment between the two groups before going to the ground,” reported Lesirma.

With none of these attempts of-fering a lasting solution, one ques-tion remains: Where is the exact po-sition of Kapedo and whether the point lies in Baringo or Turkana?

Our investigations revealed that the disputed town is in Baringo County. Maps obtained by The Stan-dard on Sunday from the Govern-ment, Department of Survey showed Kapedo is originally in Nginyang’ Division in Baringo East sub-county, Baringo County. From the colonial maps of 1910 and 1962, the colonial boundary demarcation, which be-came the basis of another revision in 1992 by the Government, the town is in Baringo.

The 1992 map supplement ad-opted by the Districts and Provinces Act 105A-5 (1992), fundamentally became the current county bound-aries. The Kenya counties map puts Kapedo at the border point of Barin-go and Turkana.

All the three locations in Kapedo; Kapedo North, East and West all re-port to Baringo County Commis-sioner Peter Okwanyo.

Kapedo Sub-District Hospital is also under Baringo County govern-ment. Government records indicate that Kapedo Primary School and Kapedo Centre polling stations, ga-zetted in 1995, vote under Tiaty Con-stituency, Baringo County.

others heading towards Suguta Val-ley to escape security personnel as they pursue armed bandits.

Shopping centres, including Chesitet, have been closed as resi-dents flee for safety after several shops and residential homes were set ablaze by suspected security offi-cers two days after Inspector Gener-al of Police David Kimaiyo issued a shoot-to-kill order on armed crimi-nals in the area.

For the last one week, Red Cross deployed 45 medical doctors and volunteers who have also assisted residents at Kapau, Chesawach, Kon-gor, Kulal and Lomelo near Baringo Turkana border.

“The situation here is tough for us, sometimes we were are forced to move around with pangas to clear bushy roads to access deserted areas

due to insecurity,” Kiilu said. The Kenya Redcross were the first people to encounter the rotting bodies of po-lice officers and three civilians under the scorching sun of Kasarani two days after they were ambushed as-cending a seasonal river along the Kapedo-Lokori road.

Since the operation begun, trad-ers at Chemolingot, the headquarters of Tiaty, said there has not been free movement of goods as traders relo-cate or completely stop restocking as they wait for the operation’s out-come. David Lomelo, a shopkeeper at Chemolingot, pleaded with the Gov-ernment to consider reviewing its di-rective for a massive security opera-tion insisting that innocent and law abiding citizens will suffer as he maintained that those behind the killings might not be apprehended.

ELDER SPEAKS According to Bishop Daniel Chemon, a Baringo elder and the long-serving chair-man of Kapedo Mission Hospital built in 1965 by the Finish Free Foreign Mission, (now the Full Gospel Churches of Kenya), Kapedo was established in 1955 by Tugen people from Pemwai, Baringo.“We built the Kapedo mission hospital and primary school. I was the chairman of all the projects until when I handed it to the Government through Baringo District in the 80s. There were no Turkanas in Kape-do then,” says Chemon. But Turkana South MP James Lomene dis-putes these facts saying that Kapedo be-longs to the Turkanas. He says Pokots in-vaded it using its expansionist wars it has advanced in all its neighbours. He notes that Pokots living in the town do not have ancestral rights which according to him, confers a particular community e� ective rights to land ownership. “Pokots in Kape-do migrated there recently. We are the original inhabitants,” he says.

How long does surveyors take to survey a place? They were supposed to go back to the maps and demarcate the boundary— Ekwee Ethuro, Senate Speaker

Kenyans at a crossroadSTATE OF INSECURITY

t e l l i g e n c e Committee, the Provincial Surveyor,

Lesirma ex-plained.

To date, no sur-

and international Non-Governmen-tal Organisations and deploying more security officers.” Ehturo then dismissed Lesirma’s approach and accused the Government of having a “short memory” on critical issues.

surveyors take to survey a place? They were supposed to go back to the maps and demarcate the bound-ary ,” he said.

ment, Lesirma said: “This issues is not very easy to resolve at the speed promised by previous governments as indicated by Hon Ethuro. You will also recall that in the latest meeting held in Nakuru, new issues emerged. Several maps were being produced by different groups to justify the boundaries of the two districts (Bar-

/ EDITORIAL Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

These are dangerous times for Kenyans. Not on-ly are they under relentless attacks from terror-ists; local militia, bandits and cattle rustlers are having their way and are ruthlessly killing inno-cent people. These indiscriminate killings have demonstrated that no one is safe—not even the police officers entrusted to keep the country

secure. That is why the recent killing of 21 police officers in Kapedo, Turkana County, sparked off a national outrage. This senseless killing of officers deployed to secure the area trig-gered an uncomfortable sense of helplessness among local people.

A growing number of Kenyans are asking; why are our security agencies unable to deal with rampant lawlessness and violence? In Mpeketoni, Lamu County in June, terror-ists attacked villages days after the government had de-ployed security officers in the aftermath of a terror attack on a police station. The confidence with which these raiders carried out their brazen attacks shocked residents and left Kenyans deeply worried. These raids followed a series of terror attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa . . . in one case in Nairobi, suicide bombers who had been arrested by police officers detonated an explosive device in their car as it navigated its way to a police station. In the process, the two police officers in the car were killed. This seems to be the pattern — the latest Kapedo killings came a few days after three officers from the para-military General Service Unit were killed in an ambush as they pa-trolled a region that has been rocked by cattle rustling-relat-ed killings.

Kenyans are growing impatient with the apparent in-ability by security agencies to contain these spate of attacks. The repeated empty edicts to perpetrators of this violence from leaders and the police are not working. Even though tackling insecurity is complex, it is the duty of government to provide its citizens with a secure environment to conduct their affairs.

In the past few weeks, there have been all manners of counter-measures proffered. Most experts are agreed on the fact without seeming to offer a sim-plistic prescriptive solutions, that we must begin to look at the causes of insecurity rather than the symptoms.

Insecurity in Kenya revolves around systemic societal weaknesses compounded by fragile institutions es-tablished to ensure that we live in a safe environment. Some of the societal problems include incitement by the local leadership who have contributed to persistent ethnic clash-es under the guise of championing community rights.

In areas bordering Baringo and Turkana counties, one of the approaches to addressing the boundaries issues has been through negotiation. Political leaders have been in-volved in negotiating disputes but where goodwill has been lacking, some leaders have incited their local communities to take up arms against neighbours. The resultant surge in militia activities has been exacerbated by little deterrent ac-tion against leaders who incite their communities.

Tackling insecurity will also involve dealing with the in-stitutional problems that exist – from the poor recruitment and training of security officers, to lack of personnel and equipment.

Frank discussions on these issues will begin to explore ways of findings more lasting remedies to this perennial problem. Knee-jerk responses such as the ill-thought out edicts and ultimatums to bandits, the arbitrary increase of the security budgets and haphazard redeployment of police officers will on their own not secure Kenya.

Citizens also have a role to play in this endeavour even though it is the principle role of the government to provide security. The public must help identify lawless deviants in our midst who take up arms against fellow citizens. This collegial effort will in some ways contribute to minimising the risk that we face from criminals. Even as we exhort the authorities to play their role in providing a secure environ-ment, let us make it our duty as citizen to keep our land safe.

Once again, the state of insecurity is on the headlines, and the pro-fessional competence and operational strategy of our security forces is in focus. Not that it has

been any better; not in recent years. You can hardly watch news without having to be bombarded with endless, depressing stories of crime, many preventable. Quite often though, it is the lethargic response of our security forces, or the lack of any response at all that shocks Kenyans.

From Lamu to Turkana, Kisumu to Mombasa, it is sad tales of killings, maiming and violation of Kenyans that chokes you. Clan conflicts, cat-tle rustling, banditry, Al Shabaab at-tacks, criminal gangs in city estates, targeted executions, Mungiki-type murders, muggings, etc. It creates an impression of a violent nation where the sanctity of life is seldom valued. It also gives a sorry picture of the inves-tigative and intelligence capacity of our security forces.

But the recent slaughter of our security forces in Kapedo, the execu-tions of clerics in Mombasa, the in-cessant attacks in Lamu and the nu-merous explosions in Mandera town raise serious concerns about the pre-paredness, and effectiveness, of our internal security forces. In each of these cases, there have been repeat-ed, daring and in fact defiant attacks that have caused fear and despon-dency among residents.

What, for instance, is going on in Mandera? IEDs are exploded in the county headquarter nearly every oth-er day, targeting senior public offi-cials. The attacks have also targeted government installations. The town

Set up better strategies to tackle rising insecurity

has one of the highest terrorist at-tacks in the country; yet, there has been no one charged. The security team appears clueless.

In Lamu, the Deputy Inspec-tor General has literary camped there, with hundreds of security forces and equipment. The air-force jets have pounded suspect-ed hideouts of the terrorists. Still, the threat is real; a few days ago, they kidnapped several people and two vehicles. The government has slapped a punitive curfew on the county, hoping it will deter the criminals. It is a hopeless, unwitty decision that only hurts the resi-dents.

The execution of Muslim cler-ics in Mombasa has the hallmark of our anti-terror security forces but whether or not they are responsi-ble is besides the point. After three years of these executions, the po-lice are yet to conclusively convict anybody for these heinous crimes. It is always a pledge to investigate, to get to the bottom of it; clearly an elusive search if at all. If it is the police that is involved in extra-ju-dicial killings, it will radicalise the youth and create resentment of law and order. Ignoring these killings and the many concerns raised by Kenyans is a recipe for more chaos.

Equally appalling is the execu-tion of 21 police officers in Kape-do. The sheer scale of the causal-ities, the loss of weapons to the criminals, the failure to respond promptly to distress calls by the po-lice headquarters, the glaring lack of intelligence on the impending attack and the deployment of fresh recruits to the most dangerous conflict location in the country, all reflect a glaring shortage of oper-ational skills and leadership. Nor is the knee-jerk deployment of air-power to respond to the situation likely to eliminate the actual crim-inals behind the attack, much less protect the innocent residents.

When you look at our police of-ficers, you get the sense that they are demotivated and dysfunction-al, nearly lethargic in responding to situations. We seem to have fo-cused on quantity as opposed to the quality of the force. Every year, we recruit hundreds of police of-ficers and spend billions buying weapons. The outcome has invari-ably remained the same.

There is an urgent need to re-engineer our police force to make them relevant to the dynamic and violent situations in the coun-try. It is about time that we see a paradigm shift in the management of our security forces. There are challenges in their work environ-ment that need to be addressed quickly; furthermore, the inordi-nate delay in reforming the police force will surely exacerbate the in-security situation.

Re-engineer security forces to stop this spiralling circle of violence

Newsdesk: 3222111 | Fax: 213108Email: [email protected]

The Standard is printed and published by the proprietors, The STandard group

Managing Editor: Enoch Wambuaregistered at the the g.p.o as a newspaper.

You get a sense that po-lice of-ficers are demoti-vated

STANDARDTHE

Billow Kerrow

The writer is a political econo-mist and Mandera County Senator

[email protected]


The truth is that fake preachers, prophets and miracle workers are as old as religion. When Moses appeared before Pharaoh and performed mira-cles to convince Pharaoh to release the people of God, the Egyptian magicians were at hand with their own miracles to turn Pharaoh’s heart away. Elijah had to confront the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel after they turned ma-ny people from true worship by their false miracles and teachings. Jesus had uncountable run-ins with religious leaders of His time. Paul was severally opposed by false prophets and teach-ers in the course of his missionary journeys.

In contemporary times, there have been extremes such as that of Jim Jones who led the mass suicide of 909 of his sect members, including US Congress-man Leo Ryan, in 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana. On the lighter side, between early 2011 and mid 2012 the Tanza-nian Mzee Ambilikile Masapila, pop-ularly known as ‘Babu wa Loliondo,’ announced a magic elixir capable of curing ‘all ailments’. Men, women and children flocked his humble abode for the miracle cup. It is reported that nearly seven million people from all over the world flocked into Samunge to drink the wonder formula that sold for as little as KSh30 but which rose up to

KSh500 a cup. You do the math and see how much Babu must have made.

Of course the question that has been on the lips of many is why such evil practices are allowed to persist, and especially by the church. The fact is that over the years the church has tried to deal with false teachers but with little effect, and at times with dire consequences. When Elijah killed the over 400 prophets of Baal, he soon had to flee for his dear life as their patron, Queen Jezebel, pursued him with mur-derous rage. Jesus found Himself at the cross for challenging the religious practices of His time. Paul and Silas were guests at a Philippian jail for heal-ing a slave girl whose fortune telling

was a fortune for her owners. Martin Luther found himself bundled out of church when he strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God’s punish-ment for sin could be purchased with money through the Sacrament of In-dulgence.

Thus whereas Pastors, Bishops and various church leaders have often dif-fered on what is true orthodoxy and orthopraxy, the challenge has been in finding a neutral arbiter. The situation has more recently been further com-plicated by the new world order of un-fettered freedoms of belief, expression, and association. In the current demo-cratic regime found in many nations of the world, everyone has the freedom to worship whatsoever they please, in whichever way suits them, and with whomsoever they pleasure. Thus spir-itual regulatory structures that cut across the board have been hard to constitute. Hence these liberties are turning into the freedom to be conned, robbed, or exploited! Why else would men and women of sound mind aban-don the basic truths and practices of the gospel and persistently capitulate to obvious tricks of conmen?

When Jesus was confronted with the challenge of false teachers, His an-swer to His disciples was simple – lest you uproot the wheat with the tares,

let them grow together until the day of harvest when they will be separat-ed. What Jesus did not tell us though was what to do when the tares threat-en to choke the wheat. What is clear however is that whereas the theologi-cal and purely spiritual practices and beliefs are difficult to regulate, the church must come up with a formula for self-regulation. On the other hand, there are practices in the religious sec-tor that are obviously criminal and thus fall squarely within the purview of government law enforcers. It is most unfortunate when police officers have to raid mosques to flush out false Is-lamic preachers radicalising young minds. But the same must be done to those whose only purpose for being at the pulpit is to steal, rob, con or sexu-ally exploit innocent members of the public.

Worshipers must also be wary of preachers who demand payment or so-licit gifts for offering spiritual services. There is absolutely no such teaching in the Holy Scriptures. Elisha, Jesus, and Paul out rightly rejected such pay-ments. Instead Jesus exhorted: Freely you have received, freely give.

bare flesh. Perhaps no one really knows what Kenyans are doing — or thinking — except Google. But the shocking news from Google wasn’t just about Kenya. Except for South Africa — which has legal-ised homosexuality — seven of the top ten countries obsessed with gay sex are in the so-called Third World. It’s even more perplexing that three of the top seven (Paki-stan, Nigeria, and India) have large Muslim populations. Only three Western states — Ireland, United States, and New Zealand — made the top ten. But these three sat at the bottom of the top ten. If that isn’t turning facts on their head, then what is? This deflates the popular narrative that homopho-bia is most poisonous in the Third World and among Muslims.

Let me dig deeper and tell you what Google’s discovery could — may — be saying about Ken-yans. First, Google could be saying Kenyans aren’t as homophobic as we’ve been led to believe. Perhaps the loud opposition to homo-sexuality in Kenya is propagated by a tiny, but well organised and powerful minority. The silent ma-jority could be cowed and afraid to speak up because of the stig-ma of being branded “ungodly”or “un-African.” Kenya’s mainstream press, the Mosque and the Church,

Kenyans less conservative than previously thought, survey shows

Views expressed in study could indicate that Kenyans are not as rigid on controversial unions

The cat is out of the bag. That’s because last week Google dropped a bombshell — a re-al doozy — on Kenya. Kenyans, Google re-vealed, are addicted

to gay pornography. Get this — on a scale of 1 to 100, Kenyans scored a perfect 100. No other country, or people, are more intrigued than Kenyans by homosexuality. Which begs the question — why do Ken-yans love gay porn if, as we’ve been led to believe, the country is crawl-ing with virulent homophobes? Why do so many Kenyans spend countless hours trawling the Inter-net for gay sex? I am flabbergasted and flummoxed. Clearly something doesn’t add up — either Google is lying, or Kenyans are hypocrites. Let’s peel this banana to expose the

The writer is Dean and SUNY Distin-guished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School

OPINION

The silent majority could be cowed and afraid to speak up because of the stigma of being branded “ungodly”or “un-African.” Kenya’s mainstream press, give vent and legitimacy to homophobia.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

Twitter@makaumutua

and the political establishment give vent and legitimacy to ho-mophobia. But Google has shown that contrary to this script, Ken-yans may have a love affair with same-sex relationships in the pri-vacy of their own web browsers. Gay may be hip.

Second, Google may be tell-ing us there are more gay Kenyans than we think. It’s generally ac-cepted that in any society, at least up to ten per cent of the popula-tion is either gay or bisexual. Ho-mophobes dispute these numbers as too high, and argue that homo-sexuality amounts to unnatural social deviance. They say homo-sexuality is a choice, not a product of nature. The difference is imma-terial and would be meaningless even if it were true. That’s because

in a free society individuals should be free to choose who they love, or engage in intercourse with, as long as they are consenting adults. That’s what the Google data re-veals to us — free people will exer-cise their conscience.

Third, Google may be telling us Kenyans are more curious and ex-perimental about sex than we think. Curios-ity and experimenta-tion may be driven by

boredom. Perhaps folks are unhap-py with dull and boring traditional sex lives. They may want to put a little spice into their lives, or expe-rience the unknown. This could be a quiet rebellion against tradition and the popularly accepted teach-ings of clerics. Perhaps Kenyans are unconvinced by the attacks on homosexuality. They may find ho-mophobia irrational and outdated. They could be going to the web to see for themselves whether gay sex is the evil they’re told it is. I would be worried about the Google data if I was a homophobe.

Fourth, the Google data could be saying Kenyans are hypocrites — they say one thing, then do an-other behind closed doors. They may publicly condemn homo-sexuality and either privately en-gage in it, or enjoy watching it on

the web. Either way, the data says ugly things about Kenya. That’s because things aren’t what they appear to be. Many Kenyans are either repressed homosexuals who live in the closet, or heterosexuals in public, but more complicated in private. A free and democratic so-ciety shouldn’t drive sexual prefer-ences — and sexual orientation — underground. Heterosexuals don’t hide and live in fear. They flaunt and strut their stuff. Why should gay and bisexual people be dis-criminated against, or subjected to social calumny?

Finally, I’ve noticed a public denial and silence of the Google data in the Kenyan media. As far as I am concerned, this is the big-gest discovery to-date on Kenyan sexuality.

It shatters many myths about Kenyans and gay sex. It creates a wide open canal for public interro-gation of the sexual mores and ta-boos of Kenyans. It says that Kenya should revisit its anti-gay laws. It invites the courts — especially the Supreme Court — to consider the issue of same-sex relationships and marriages. It’s — in a word — earth-shattering.

Dr Oginde holds a PhD in Organisational Leadership and is the Presiding Bishop of Christ is the Answer Ministries (CITAM)

Be wary of shepherds who are fleecing the flock

Last weekend’s expose on the ways of a Nairobi preacher with his flock has expectedly been the talk of the week. The Jicho Pevu investigative report by the KTN crew

uncovered the dark side of what of-ten passes for gospel preaching. It is unfortunate but many strange things are being done in the name of God. Religion is being abused by greedy conmen, deranged psychopaths, fa-natical radicals, and power hungry false prophets for selfish gain. All these men and women prey on un-suspecting innocent worshipers, ma-ny of who are desperate for divine intervention in their lives. A sad state indeed.

David [email protected]

Makau Mutua

All these men and women prey on unsuspecting innocent worshipers, many of who are desperate for divine intervention in their lives.


OPINION

tribunals on disputes of similar na-ture, several considerations will be brought to bear on the matter. One primary consideration will be the “equidistance/special circumstanc-es rule”. Article 15 of the 1982 Con-vention on the Law of the Sea that stipulates, where the coasts of two states are opposite or adjacent to each other, neither of two states is entitled, failing agreement between them to the contrary, to extend its territorial sea beyond the median line every point of which is equidis-tant from the nearest point on the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial seas of each of the two states is to be measured. The above provision does not apply, however, where it is necessary by reason of historical title or other special cir-cumstances to delimit the territorial seas of the two states in a way which is at variance therewith.

Going by what the Somalia offi-cials have been fulminating in their media about the issue, Somalia wants the “equidistance/special cir-cumstances rule” applied because it would definitely support its claim. However, such an approach would be mistaken because the ICJ has previously used other methods to resolve such disputes. Indeed, the court has argued that the rule may be applicable if it leads to an equi-table solution; if not, other methods should be employed. In other words, the rule is not a mandatory legal principle or is it better than other

methods. What other relevant con-siderations may the ICJ take into ac-count to resolve the Kenya-Somalia dispute? Firstly, there may be a re-course to equity and equitable prin-ciples. Articles 74 and 83 of the Law of the Sea Convention provide for the delimitation by agreement, in ac-cordance with the international law, in order to achieve an equitable re-sult. Nonetheless, the Articles do not prescribe the manner of achieving an equitable result. So each party in a dispute is free to argue out its case on what would constitute an equita-ble outcome.

Secondly, the drawing of a line perpendicular to the coastline has also been employed to determine the border between two adjacent states, where the coast of the states is

more or less straight. Such a line is a simplified form of the median line mentioned above. Thirdly, the proportionality in terms of ratios of the water and continental shelf areas attributed to each state and the length of the their coastlines have been considered in the delimi-tation of some maritime boundaries. This is designed to ensure equitable access to maritime resources for such states. It is also a good method to test whether the delimited border is eq-uitable.

Finally, there are other relevant circumstances that the ICJ may con-sider such as the configuration of

the coasts, islands, coastal length, geology and geomorphology, so-cio-economic circumstances, secu-rity/political considerations and the interest of third states. Given that a number of considerations could de-termine the outcome, it may be dif-ficult to predict the kind of decision the court will make in the Kenya-So-malia case, and surprises should be anticipated as each delimitation of a maritime border by the court is unique.

What options do the parties have if the decision by the ICJ turns out to be unfavourable?

Firstly, a recourse to the court would only be a solution to the Ken-ya-Somalia dispute if both parties agree with the court’s decision.

If either party disagrees, the dis-pute would remain unresolved since there are no mechanisms to enforce such a decision.

Secondly, given the weakness of the Somalia government and its in-ability to exercise sovereignty over the mainland, let alone the maritime belt, Kenya can acquire the disput-ed territorial waters by manifesting power and authority over the con-tested territorial waters on a contin-uous basis.

Thirdly, Kenya and Somalia may go to war in the long run to militari-ly resolve their irreconcilable claims over the territorial waters.

considered opinion, the cause of the current insecurity is multi-faceted. One, there is a growing sense of leth-argy among Kenyans at their levels, their stations, occupation and ways. This feeds into what one senior po-litical figure termed as “acquiescing philosophy” where Kenyans have agreed to settle for anything because the perception is that anything goes. The danger with this mentality, al-so demonstrated by our casual ap-proach to issues, is that Kenyans will adopt this insecurity as a norm and effectively grow over it. This should be addressed systematically. Two, is our training of security forces adequately responsive to the emerg-ing challenges of technology, social media, terrorism and the like? I do not have the answer. But I believe our security training curriculum should be put to periodic reviews to enhance effectiveness of the security forces to handle insecurity in a dynamic world. Three, are our security forces proper-ly equipped to respond to the secu-rity challenges? Again, I do not have the answer. I cannot even pretend to know the right equipment to enable our officers, respond effectively and efficiently to insecurity. However, they obviously need efficient mobil-ity, efficient weapons and efficient protective gear to face bandits, ter-rorists and murderers in our midst.

Four, could our new law be facilitat-ing insecurity? There is a growing feeling that after the 2010 Constitu-tion, which Kenyans endorsed over-whelmingly, the immense individual freedoms and rights afforded by the supreme law may have significantly compromised the security and great-er good of the majority of Kenyans. Agents of insecurity appear to be relishing at favourable bail terms, including for grave crimes such as murder, an expanded Bill of rights and overzealous and “activist” judges out to build a name. At some point, Kenyans may have to revisit these matters. Five, is our command structure of the security forces effective? The mas-sacre of police officers in Kapedo points to a weak command structure according to numerous accounts ap-pearing in the media. Related to this, is the question of preparedness, re-sponsiveness and early warning sys-tems. Six, is the question of new ethos. Kenyans voted to uphold patriotism, national unity, sharing and devolu-

tion of power, rule of law, democra-cy, human dignity, equity, social jus-tice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, good governance, integrity, sustainable development among oth-er values. Why are Kenyans killing their own, including those mandated to protect them? What is patriotism if Kenyans cannot share information on crimi-nals or bandits in their midst? What national unity are we talking about if Turkanas, Samburus, Pokots and other traditionally marginalised groups are condemned to banditry 50 years after independence? Seven and last, is the issue of leader-ship. Insecurity calls for leadership right from family level to the state level. The people committing these crimes are sons and daughters of someone. They live in a village with leadership. Why can’t leaders, at all levels, rise to the challenge of insecu-rity knowing that our collective des-tiny as a nation will only be secured when we all act consciously and pos-itively to defeat enemies of our aspi-rations? All politicians, myself includ-ed, must now rise to the occasion and confront insecurity in whatever form to secure our nation’s future. The challenge is upon all of us.

There’s no silver bullet to stem insecurity

The raging debate on insecurity has taken a slippery fallacious path, with many com-mentators tripping on their tongues, trying to explain the causes and

possible solutions. Now, one of the gravest crimes in logic, more or less akin to crimes against humanity, is to commit a fallacy. Fallacies are er-rors in reasoning. In a world depen-dent on logic to resolve its problems, some errors can be quite grave. The impression created by many analysts this week that the current wave of insecurity emanates from al-leged incompetence of top security leaders, is an over-simplification of an otherwise complex that demands an integrated approach to solve. The country’s top security leadership can go in one fell swoop today, but I can bet my bottom dollar that this won’t be a panacea to the insecurity challenges facing us presently. In my

What does a melting glacier in the Antarctic have to do with Kenya, a nation thousands of miles away? The same thing a jigger in the small toe has to do with the head. The head may be far away but if

the squirming jigger is not removed, the head-aches will be unbearable and entire body will be severely affected.

Last Sunday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its fifth assessment report. Speaking at the release, IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri gave a blunt warning, “the scientific community has now spoken, but we are passing on the ba-ton to the politicians, to the decision making community.” The baton can be found in the report’s infor-mation. IPCC was established 25 years ago to provide comprehensive, objective and bal-anced information to decision makers. Africa’s parliaments owe it to their constit-uents and to posterity to carefully peruse the report and legislate accordingly. African leaders need to meticulously prepare for the upcoming Climate Change Conference of Parties in Lima, Peru. They need to ensure in-dustrialised nations will finally invest billions towards climate change mitigation and ad-aptation. The Lima meeting should open the floodgates of resources that will help Africa to drastically scale up its renewable energy both on grid and off grid. According to the IPCC report, “rural areas are expected to experience major impacts on water availability and supply, food security, infrastructure, and agricultural incomes, in-cluding shifts in the production areas of food and non-food crops around the world.” With this in mind, our Parliament must pri-oritise legislation that will protect our rural areas and assist them to adapt accordingly. Since rural areas are Kenya’s bread basket, what would happen if their ability to produce and distribute food is severely compromised? Importing food at that point of need would be both economically and literally suicidal. The IPCC report further warns that, “climate change can indirectly increase risks of violent conflicts by amplifying well-documented drivers of these conflicts such as poverty and economic shocks.” Sadly, this warning has al-ready caught up with Kenya! I agree fully with the Ban Ki Moon, the Secre-tary General of the United Nations, that the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action. Parliament must debate climate ac-tion even more devotedly than they are doing for all matters referendum. They must ampli-fy the climate message in public rallies and church services. But above all, they must pass climate legislation that will enhance Kenya’s ability to navigate the waters of a changing climate effectively and productively. I also challenge our African governments to symbolically pass sanctions against industri-alised nations that continue to emit unbal-anced amounts of greenhouse gases.

Think Green, Act green!Yours in Green,

The writer is the founder and chairperson, Green Africa Foundation and runs a blog on conserva-tion—www.isaackalua.comThe writer is Dagoretti South Member of

Parliament

The writer teaches Political Science at the University of Dodoma, Tanzania

Kenya and Somalia could go to war on territorial row

Enact laws that protect environment

On August 28, this year, Somalia took Kenya to the International Court of Justice to re-solve a long-standing dispute over the mar-itime boundary in the

Indian Ocean. Kenya’s view has been the maritime boundary should run east from the point where it touches the Indian Ocean, whereas, Somalia differs and argues that if its border with Kenya runs continuously from land into the ocean, it would take a south-east direction.

If Somalia had its way, Kenya would be worse off and would lose over 100,000 square kilometres of territorial waters, leaving a small triangle of a marine belt in Indian Ocean without free access to the high seas. Thus, the case is not a small matter for Kenya, and, thus, it deserves serious legal defence by drawing on multi-disciplinary in-sights.

Based on the previous decisions by the ICJ and other international

MARITIME DISPUTE

Isaac Kalua

Dennis Waweru

Amukowa Anangwe

Kenya could lose out if Somalia wins the case in the International Court of Justice

Those committing these crimes are sons and daughters of someone.

[email protected]

[email protected]

OPINION / Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

advances in cancer treatment three things are vital: public and individual awareness, research and treatment.

It is only through individu-al and public awareness that we can enhance prevention, and prevention—as you very well know—is better than cure. Chang-ing lifestyle in order to avoid can-cer-seeking behavior is only pos-sible if one is aware of the kind of behaviour that predisposes one to cancer. This awareness, very often, comes from the public domain through education, the media and socialisation. Having a clean and safe environment, including avoiding eating food harvested from unsafe environments—like polluted river banks—needs the awareness of public health offi-cials and environment agencies which should safeguard the public from such hazards. These are but a few examples.

It is mainly through research (fact finding, information gather-ing, getting to know causes of phe-nomena) that we can know how many cases of cancer we have, what types of cancer prevail in our society, who are likely to get what type of cancer and how to discover treatment. Fortunately there are numerous centres the world over where cancer research has been going on for ages and hence where we can learn what to do. One thing we cannot do, however, is to de-pend entirely on such places for gaining knowledge on our local cancer problems. We must carry on our research here at home and seek home grown solutions.

I was impressed when I visited Cuba as Minister for Planning and

Yes, build local cancer centre and contribute to global research efforts

Public safety, education and health are priority areas in the US and take the lion’s share of the budget. Capi-tation in homeland security stands at a startling nearly 40 billion dol-lars for the federal government per centum. This is notwithstanding, independent budgets of state gov-ernments whose function is polic-ing while army is a federal respon-sibility. The chief responsibility of any gov-ernment is to monitor and control public behaviour to maintain law and order. Good budgetary appro-priations capture the sensitivity of governance to public safety. Insti-tutions have the requisite capaci-ty with clear structures to function optimally. The National Academy of Public Administration, an inde-pendent and non-partisan body cre-ated by a Congress Charter brings together distinguished fellows from the academia, retired servants and legislators acting as the think-tank for government institutions. One significant outcome is creation of the Department of Homeland Se-curity that brought together related actors for better coordination and synchronised action following laps-

Lessons from the US on securing our country

STRAIGHT TALK

Kenyans learnt with deep sorrow the passing on of young Emily Chepng’etich, the daughter of Isaac Ruto, the Gov-

ernor of Bomet County. I take this opportunity, on behalf of myself and my family, to express our very sincere sympathies to Isaac and his family. It has not been, and perhaps it will never be easy for Isaac and his family to accept this loss. We hope and pray that God gives them the strength for their anchor to hold as they weather this storm.

Let me, in the same spirit, con-gratulate Isaac for proposing to build a cancer centre in memo-ry of his loving daughter. The fact that Deputy President William Ru-to and CORD leaders Raila Odinga supported this initiative is highly commendable. Being a cancer victor myself, and knowing other Kenyans who have successfully been treated here and abroad for different type of cancers, our focus must be to prevent future genera-tions from losing their lives unnec-essarily due to lack of treatment for this awful disease.

The tragedy, however, is that previous Kenyan governments since independence have not tak-en this matter seriously. Yet the issue of cancer cannot be left en-tirely to the private sector. To make

Last month, I joined fellow members of the Administration and National Secu-rity Committee on a benchmarking trip to

the United States of America. We were amazed at how the US has used every disaster to learn and prepare for the future. Americans have embedded the military, the intelligence, the police, the citi-zens and all security stakeholders. They all understand that terrorists and those who wish them harm will get lucky some times, BUT ci-vilians should be lucky all the time. What does this mean? Human life is the priority of everyone.

Anyang‘ Nyong‘o

Ibrahim Saney Abdi

[email protected]

[email protected]

The writer is Kisumu County Senator

The Kenya government has not taken this matter seriously

The writer is Wajir North MP and member of the Adminis-tration and National Security Committee

National Development and found out how the Cuba government has done a lot in carrying out research on sugar to discover so many ways of making pharmaceuticals, detergents, vaccines, perfumes, alcohol and fu-el from sugar. I then discovered that the agency that sells these products, Labiofam, depends very much on the Cuban Institute of Genetic Engi-neering and Biotechnology where all the basic research is done before the knowledge is generated for making the various products.

When I was appointed the Minis-ter for Medical Services in 2008, I dis-covered that one of the major health hazards Kenyans face was cancer. At least 22,000 Kenyans were dying annually due to cancer or cancer-re-lated ailments. Cancer specialists were few, knowledge was scanty, re-search on cancer was almost non-ex-istent and facilities for treatment were nothing to write home about. I then discovered that the Ministry, to-gether with its parastatal NHIF, had proposed to establish an advanced Medical Centre with some money that NHIF had accumulated over time. As usual in Kenya, this propos-al was fraught with controversy and disagreements between the Ministry and service providers. Though a good idea it was likely to fail if left without proper direction and good gover-nance.

I therefore decided, from my ear-lier Cuban experience, to propose starting with a centre of excellence on

Oncology (cancer diagnosis, treat-ment and care) and Genetic Engi-neering and Biotechnology. I pre-sented this proposal to the Cabinet in a Cabinet Memorandum. Except for the President, I was surprised that the Cabinet did not show much enthusiasm. One Cabinet Member who is a medical doctor actually told us that “in Kenya we need more health centres and dispensaries and not exotic centres of excellence that the minister is talking about”. In my humble opinion I thought we could do both: chew gum and walk at the same time. My proposal was thrown out. Little did I know that hardly two years later I would be desper-ately looking for a prostate cancer oncologist to save my life. At great expense and far away from Nairobi I found such a centre of excellence in California USA. Very few Kenyans can get there.

But why biotechnology and ge-netic engineering? How are these two sciences related to medicine and cancer treatment?

The Kenyan scientist and Harvard Profes-sor Calestous Juma has done a lot of research in this area with spe-cial reference to agri-

culture and crop science. His book, The Gene Hunters, is valuable in this regard. Genetic engineering is the human altering of the genetic material of living cells to make them capable of producing new substanc-es or performing new functions. In each and every cell there is some-thing called the DNA, i.e. that which makes us who we are. The structure of the DNA determines how our cells function and behave, how they will develop and what their tasks will be.

Genetic engineering allows scien-tists to identify specific genes, re-move them and clone them so that they can behave and function in “intended or specifically designed ways”.

When this is done successfully scientists are able to use our genes to treat diseases that attack us. In cancer this is very important be-cause cancer cells are simply cells “which have gone rogue” and be-come cannibals by attacking their fellow cells and neighbours. If you tame them through genetic engi-neering they will perhaps go back to normal and stop scavenging around. Or they can be frustrat-ed through genetic engineering so that they don’t go anywhere and just stay still. Cells which lack oxygen also tend to go rogue. If through genetic engineering and biotechnology we can produce organic substances which can in-crease oxygen supply to the cells when introduced into the body then we could easily go a long way to prevent or even treat cancer.

I am speculating; and research begins with speculation. The Cen-tre of Excellence I had proposed to our Cabinet was meant to attract scientists from all over the world to come to Kenya to join us in speculating about cancer diagno-sis, treatment and care. But I was turned down because in Kenya, without seeing brick and mortar we think we have no “develop-ment”. Developing the mind and our love for fellow human beings is our greatest contribution to de-velopment.

es and discordance in responding to the September 9/11 attacks. Service delivery isn’t pegged on un-implemented service charters on ministry notices like in Kenya but good civic education like informa-tive statements on billboards. For instance, “The pedestrian can’t be fixed in a body shop.” These slogans offer effective communication and have sown deepening patriotism, public discipline and national con-sciousness to threats. Interestingly, policing is a civilian responsibility established for multi-ple jurisdictions notably University Police and Buildings Police among others. Police are well paid and numbers sufficient. In US, a police officer is most respected and feared for being incorruptible. They are treated well than many other profes-sions and they too are checked not to abuse these privileges. The states have their own police to enforce different state laws but whose low-est denominator is the federal law. There is no standard training for po-lice and each jurisdiction has its own curriculum with specialised training offered by the federal government for police regions. A cop trained in

Kiganjo shouldn’t therefore be ex-pected to deliver in Nairobi, Kape-do, Suguta Valley and Mandera in the same way. Information on security threats are made public in some lay way for public level response which is perceived as more effective than that which any mighty govern-ment can do. The public are also given extensive training through simulations for better individ-ual response and mitigate mass deaths when attacks occur. This was also informed by the 9/11 in-cident that led to litigations after learning that the FBI had intel-ligence reports, which were not disclosed. This is why travel ad-visories are issued to Americans in areas of imminent perceived threats. In a bid to understand or answer the “What Ifs”, the federal gov-ernment has contingency plans for all possible disasters. They will not wait to realise existence of an underground escape tun-nel like in Westagate Shopping Mall, but forearmed with plans for any eventuality, say the route of a bloom just in case a nuclear

accident occurs. In US, disasters offer an opportunity to learn, pre-pare and change forward so that they don’t happen again. Disaster scenes are memorial centres to reflect in this pursuit. In contrast, the Kenyan culture is to cry first, sing in memory of the fallen and then forget it all together without informing our future responses. With immense police and security setups in the US, there are no laps-es thanks to constant and imme-diate sharing of communication. Border security is tighter involving use of sensors, infrared for heat detection, computer signals, vehi-cle barricades, aerial surveillance, manpower and many more. All said and done, security is a hu-man need basic to all and can be guaranteed only by a happy force whose morale is sensitively han-dled. Let policing be a civilian role and devolved to counties in Kenya. The Nyumba Kumi initiative is one move in that direction.

OPINION

Proposal to build research centre commendable


Today in History

Recent times have witnessed mushrooming of churches or break-away churches led by young ambi-tious leaders who do not want to work under older bishops.

The end result has been misuse of scripture for personal financial gain, just like the biblical sons of Eli who abused church resources and privileges.

One of the reasons why main-stream churches have remained sta-ble and experience minimal scan-dals and infighting is because they follow church corporate structures laid down in the bible.

Jesus Christ, whom the mod-ern day churches are founded, was humble and preached the gospel of simplicity.

Nowhere in the holy book did he handle money.

But today, pastors insist on col-lecting money even funds meant for widows and orphans. Those who attend places of worship that do not have an independent board and where everything and anything re-volves around one man - the found-er of the church - have every reason to be apprehensive about the finan-cial affairs of the church.

God knows our weaknesses as human beings and insists on ac-countability structures for church leaders to restrain them from going astray or abusing their powers.

{Joe Musyoki, Kitengela}

Government must not make money from the needyNot long ago, the Public Finance

Appeals Bill of 2014 was conceived to regulate fund drives otherwise known as harambees.

The Bill seeks to put in place a “structured process” for conducting fundraising appeals and making con-tributions in relation to that appeal. This objective will be achieved more effectively through licensing and control.

Seeking to replace the Public Col-lections Act (Cap 106), the sponsors of the new law believe it will address corruption tendencies associated with voluntary contributions. Among the perceived defects in the Public Collections Act was that it excludes

from its scope charitable and reli-gious purposes, yet it forms a large component of harambees.

In addition, the existing public fundraising law is deemed by the Senate committees on Labour and Social Welfare as well as Legal Affairs as not in alignment with the devolved system of Government.

The crux of the matter is the pro-posed Act will ensure those who do-nate part of their income to charity “earn” a tax relief.

What will the new law have rati-fied or licensed for that matter, in the context of fundraising? Another con-cern is how the said tax relief will be distributed.

It is fine if it is going to be ac-cording to the income of the person intending to conduct a fundraising appeal.

But how will the Government ex-pect its citizens to take this move? Definitely, the State will be seen from many quarters as having found a ‘business opportunity’ from its citi-zens who deserve to be helped by the State itself.

On the flip side, the Government will be making money from the needy. It is also hard to see why the State should tax a section of its citi-zens for their philanthropy.

{Moses Omusolo, Nairobi}

Address border disputes to avert

fatal clashes

Churches lacking in structure

It is a disgrace to note that, de-spite the country facing monumen-tal land crises that threaten her very survival and stability, the Govern-ment has not provided much-need-ed solutions.

Today, most disputes happen-ing are related to the never-ending border disputes, enhanced by the recently found and untapped large deposits of mineral in some coun-ties.

The ‘cold war’ and endless su-premacy battles witnessed between the Ministry of Lands and the Na-tional Land Commission are a dis-grace to Kenyans.

It appears important State inter-ests have been relegated to the pe-riphery as personal and political in-terests take over. I consider this state of affairs a national disaster in the making and a ticking time bomb.

Our motherland is gradually sinking into an abyss of lawlessness.

Constitutionally mandated offic-es like the National Land Commis-sion should be allowed to perform their role without unnecessary in-terference.

The Ministry of Lands should be working on how to perform radical surgery on land matters.

{Enock Onsando, Mombasa}

Kudos on cashless fare

systemThat the public transport sector

has upgraded into a cashless system is a great milestone. That means com-muters will not have to wait for their cash balance or worse still, the con-ductor won’t ‘forget’ to give change. Also, customers are never sure how much they will be charged when it rains.

Meanwhile, the one area that public transport has to work on is customer service. Matatus have com-pletely lost value for their customers, and getting into some matatus is akin to being kidnapped. The crew tend to drop you at a stop of their choice and are constantly rude to commuters.

{David Githaiga, Nairobi}

Kericho tea estates.

Letters should be addressed to: The Editor, P.O. Box 30080 - 00100, Nairobi or e-mail [email protected]. The views expressed on this page are not necessarily those of The Standard. The Editor reserves the right to edit the letters. Correspondents should give their names and address as a sign of good faith.

Quotes on DepressionIf you don’t think your anxiety, depression, sadness and stress impact your

physical health, think again. All of these emotions trigger chemical reactions in your body, which can lead to inflammation and a weakened immune system. Kris Carr

The deepest fear we have, ‘the fear beneath all fears,’ is the fear of not measuring up, the fear of judgment. It’s this fear that creates the stress and depression of everyday life. Tullian Tchividjian

Depression begins with disappointment. When disappointment festers in our soul, it leads to discouragement. Joyce Meyer

Our Generation has had no Great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives. Chuck Palahniuk

2013: The USS Gerald R Ford is christened by the US Navy; the aircraft carrier cost $15.5 billion and technically the most advanced ship ever built2012: Under intense media scrutiny for an extramarital affair, US CIA Director David Petraeus submits his resignation to President Barack Obama2012: After a series of self-immolation by Tibetan monks, hundreds of Tibetan monks and students protest against education policies in China’s western Qinghai Province2011: Wales conducts a survey of businesspeople and consumers showing support for the country to have its own top-level domain name2011: In London, a rise in university tuition fees leads thousands of students to march in protest2010: David Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain, embarks on an official visit aimed at building closer economic ties to the People’s Republic of China2010: Qantas, British Airways, Japan Airlines, Air France and seven other carriers were fined millions of euros for fixing the price of air cargo between 1999 and 20062009: President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, urges his armed forces to prepare for a possible war with Columbia1980: Iraq President Saddam Hussein declares holy war against Iran1955: UN disapproves of South Africa’s apartheid politics

READERS’ DIALOGUE

Historical injustices remain a key challenge in Kenya and we must con-front them. The imperial British rule committed a wide range of wrongful deeds against Kenyans. It is sad that several decades after independence, the wounds inflicted by colonialists are yet to heal.

It is even sadder that no robust action has been taken to compensate victims. Just the other day, Mau Mau war veterans went to court to seek redress for the crimes committed against them by the imperialists.

The British Government rushed to offer these heroes and heroines some form of compensation.

However, given the wide scope of wrongs committed by the imperi-alists under the crown of the British Empire, we are certainly yet to hear the last of groups of people seeking justice for ills visited upon them.

In Kericho and Nandi, for instance, the emotive land question has come to haunt the British Government with the millions of acres under tea plan-tations in the two counties being the bone of contention.

The colonial administration ille-gally evicted thousands of residents to pave way for the plantations. Many of the people brutally uprooted from their land are neck-deep in poverty.

Therefore, the demand by Nan-di and Kericho county leaders led by governors Prof Paul Chepkwony and Cleophas Langat that the renewal of the leases for the multinationals own-ing the vast tea estates should be the domain of the county government

Why historical land injustices can’t be simply wished away

has struck the right chord among the evictees.

The issue of land, particularly in Kericho, brings to the fore the unfin-ished business of serving justice to people who suffered massively during the colonial rule.

For how long will residents suffer as multinationals reap billions from the illegally acquired lands?

The advent of the County Govern-ment was godsend because an ave-nue has been opened through which the grievances concerning the vast tea estates are channeled. Governor Chepkwony’s initiative to right the wrongs committed against his people must be lauded.

And indeed residents are under the illusion that addressing the land question in Kericho comprehensively will be a walk in the park.

However it takes the audacity of a few leaders to stand to be counted

during such a critical moment. It is against this backdrop that the quest by leaders to have the county gov-ernment run the tea estates once the leases expire is certain to get wide-spread support from the residents.

Those against the county’s de-mands aver that failing to renew the leases would send a wrong signal to investors at a time when the country is on a charm offensive to attract for-eign investment.

This sounds plausible: the Kericho tea estates reflect numerous injus-tices and deprivation.

Yes, attracting foreign invest-ment makes a lot of econom-ic sense, but the rights of Kericho residents must not be ignored. The issues raised by Kericho and Nan-di county leaders are serious and de-mand urgent attention.

{Ambrose Bongomek, Kericho}

As a country, we still grapple with a myriad challenges in regard to constant land conflicts and vio-lence in various parts of the country.

A few days ago, 19 Administra-tion Police officers alongside three civilians in Kapedo were killed at a lawless border area between Turka-na and Baringo counties. What we have been seeing at any time we witness such violent conflicts, is a reactionary measure by the security forces, who ought to craft preventive conflict management techniques that are proactive.

It is at this juncture when the contribution of media in resolving conflict is recommended. Though I am not a trained journalist, I know that a good reporter should be ob-jective and honest when reporting in conflict zones. In other words, a responsible reporter must not take sides, and he or she must also avoid distortion of facts.

The media is a powerful tool that almost always shapes the opinion of the masses. For this reason, its re-porting should be fairly executed to help promote peace and abate any tension that may be in existence.

{Peter Maina, Mt Kenya University}

Media has a role in conflict

resolution


OPINIONOPINION

Police o� cers attend to their injured colleague during a match at the Nyayo National Stadium in November last year. INSET: Police o� cers at a past Mashujaa Day celebration. [PHOTOS: FILE/BONIFACE OKENDO]

Months ago, while com-menting on chaos in Ken-yan football, I concluded that Kenya is sitting on a time bomb because the citizenry never shy away from violent acts.

For that, I was rebuked by some readers who felt football hooliganism was a small matter to use as an allegory that Kenyan society is belligerent and can take up arms at the shortest notice.For a moment, I almost felt guilty, and I have been wondering whether I was too quick to judge, but the recent killings of ju-nior police officers, and deaths of others at the hands of criminals in previous months, have buttressed the fact that Kenya is sit-ting on a time bomb.It is not a case of I-told-you-so because there is nothing to rejoice about, but such incidents keep happening because Ken-yans love measuring themselves up against the worst examples and fear asking them-selves the hard questions.Following the brutal deaths of those of-ficers, the question yet to be answered is why are Kenyans — citizens of a country where insecurity is rife, where the police to public ratio is low and which on paper is not engaged in a civil war — killing police officers and increasing the number of wid-ows and orphans?That question has not been asked. And probably there will be no answer when it is asked because Kenyans are busy treating every issue as a fad that is when they are not busy comparing themselves with the worst examples.When one points out how bad things are, or how they are degenerating, Kenyans al-ways say that the situation is worse in other countries.As I have always written, Kenyans fear be-ing the best, but ironically, they think they are the best, and if they are ignored by oth-er countries, then Planet Earth will stop ro-tating and that will be the end of the world as we do not know it.Question: So, why are Kenyans killing po-lice officers yet Kenya is the most peaceful country in the region; a place where hu-mility reigns, a country full of hardworking people and gallant soldiers who only want to ensure that the countries bordering Ken-ya are as peaceful?Answer: In Iraq or Mexico, more police offi-

Granted, many of our police are not gentle, but why are Kenyans murdering them?

isms, do not know how to deal with civil-ians and always resort to using unneces-sary force in situations where dialogue could suffice.But how many civilians opt for dialogue instead of name-calling or hurling of in-vectives when the situation does not de-mand?Granted, they are ill-trained, but how ma-ny Kenyans want their children to spend years in a police academy yet they paid bribes and want their sons and daughters to get out as soon as possible and start re-ceiving bribes to pay off the “debt” used in the bribery during recruitment?

There is no denying that the police force is not full of saints, or that police officers always let Kenyans down by not solving cases due to poor or lack of inves-tigative skills, but what have their bosses — politicians, the politically-correct tribal lords, venal satraps, drug barons, wheeler dealers that Kenyans worship — done to help the situation?The junior police officers, the lot Ken-yans so love to insult and then murder, are not the ones who misappropriated funds meant to construct a forensic laboratory. They are not the ones who interfered with the deal for procuring better communica-tion equipment for them. They are not the ones who are fighting police reforms...They are but helpless pawns reduced to frustrated beggars with no self-respect and with low self-esteem that they cannot even be smart in their faded uniforms and look ghoulish, intimidated, fearful and

afraid of the people they are supposed to protect.Then there are the over-paid politicians who think police officers are their person-al servants.

Personal employeesThey think police officers are second

class citizens, serfs, slaves who have to fol-low them around as they go about their philandering ways, as they steal from the public, plunder State coffers and award their cronies unnecessary Government tenders to supply air to the public.

Yeah, their personal employees who are supposed to accompany their mis-tresses, cougars, toy boys, boyfriends and sugar daddies and sugar mummies to shopping malls or drive the fruits of their loins and wild oats to over-priced acade-mies.

They think (junior) police officers are poverty-stricken and low-class Kenyans who do not deserve decent or better ba-sic necessities like shelter, food, clothing and healthcare and are people whose chil-dren do not deserve to attend school; peo-ple who are not needed by their parents, spouses and other relations.

At the end of the funerals, it is easy to blame the police officers for their predic-ament, which includes poor living and working conditions, but civilians have to know that no matter how badly trained these officers are, if they go on the ram-page, they will leave more destruction in their wake than civilians can ever do.

They are but helpless pawns reduced to frustrated beggars with no self-respect and with low self-esteem that they cannot even be smart in their faded uniforms.

CLAYCOURT In Kenya, it is increasingly becoming easier to kill a police o� cer than a convicted criminal, even one who has been sentenced to death

In Kenya, it is increasingly becoming easier to kill a police o� cer than a convicted criminal, even one who has been sentenced to death

In Kenya, it is increasingly becoming easier to kill a police o� cer than a convicted criminal, even one who has been

with Clay Muganda

cers are killed by criminals.Ideally, that is not an answer, but an excuse — and such excuses are given to everyone who questions why things are not going the right way.Such excuses, couched as explanations, or answers have numbed Kenyans. Or rather, Kenyans have numbed themselves with such lies and they have refused to realise they are not living in a failed State, but a failing one, and the latter is worse.Kenyans are not just intransigent, but ob-stinate and in many cases, asinine so much so that they cannot realise that killing po-lice officers does not solve any problems, but only creates them, or exacerbates the current situation.

Bad for businessIn many countries that Kenyans think

have a higher police death rate, officers are hardly killed by criminals, and if a miscre-ant kills an officer, then he/she is eliminat-ed by other thugs because he/she is bad for “business.”In Kenya though, it is increasingly becom-ing easier to kill a police officer than a con-victed criminal, even one who has been sentenced to death.Many theories will, or can be advanced why Kenyan citizens and police officers are virtually in a permanent state of war, but none will explain why the number of police officers who have been killed in Kenya in the past three years are more than all who have been murdered in all the East African Cooperation countries combined.Yes, police officers are corrupt and never waste time in asking for bribes. But how many Kenyans are ever ready to bribe, or in many instances offer to bribe even before they are asked?Okay, Kenyan police officers lack manner-

/ NEWS FEATURE Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

Women, children worst hit as State, agencies scale up war against Aids

HIV/Aids first hit the country in 1984. Today, it has left in its wake un-told suffering, with women and chil-dren heavily bearing the brunt.

The virus has caused suffering and death – wiping out families, leaving many children orphaned and consumed billions of shillings in ef-forts to stamp out.

Latest government statistics show that 1.6 million people still live with the virus since the first case was re-ported 30 years ago.

The reports also indicate an esti-mated 1.7 million Kenyans have died of Aids-related complications since it was first reported. However, the re-port noted that Aids-related deaths had dropped by two thirds — from 130,000 annually in 2002-2004 to 49,126 in 2011.

The report recommends that Na-tional Aids Control Council (NACC) be financially strengthened to pro-vide “strong coordination mecha-nisms” under the devolved system.

The report, however, established hiccups in funds allocation to differ-ent areas of the HIV response.

It states; “There were parallel fi-nancing systems with little coordi-nation among donors”.

“The domestic financing mecha-nisms remain highly inadequate while high costs of HIV/Aids com-modities, and declining internation-al commitment and resources for HIV and Aids have become threats to the national response,” the report says.

And despite Government’s con-certed efforts to stem its spread, there were 88,620 new infections among adults in 2013, according to the Kenya HIV Estimates Report 2014.

Of these, the majority – 50,530 – were women and 12,940 children.

The report says since 2004, new HIV infections stabilised at about 90,000 per year.

Women and children are the worst hit, with the report showing that HIV prevalence among young females aged between 15 and 24 was higher than that of males in the same age group.

“Teenage girls in this age group,” the report says, “account for 21 per cent of all new HIV”.

Nationally, whereas prevalence among women stands at 7.6, the men’s is at 5.6 per cent.

Speaking on the 30-year HIV/Aids milestone, NACC Head of Com-munications, Jennifer Wambua, said they are proud of their achievement in controlling the deadly virus.

“NACC has coordinated various

agencies involved in dealing with various aspects to contain HIV/Aids and we feel proud about it,” she said.

Over the last 10 years, the report says, annual Aids-related deaths have declined.

Approximately 58,465 people died of Aids related causes last year compared to 167,000 in 2003, the re-port says.

“The decline is attributed to the wider access to anti-retroviral treat-ment, availed with the roll out of free provision of drugs in 2003,” the re-port says.

The report document’s the epi-

Aids Health-care Founda-tion in a ‘No retreat on Aids treatment’ campaign. INSET: Placards and caps used in the cam-paigns against HIV/Aids. [PHOTOS: FILE/ STANDARD]

Report: Virus attributed to agony families endure despite consuming billions of shillings to stamp out

demic’s geographical diverseness, ranging from a prevalence of 25.7 in Homa bay County to 0.2 per cent in Wajir.

Counties with the highest adult HIV prevalence in 2013 include Ho-ma Bay, Siaya, Kisumu, Migori, Kisii, Nairobi, and Turkana.

“Despite progress in advancing towards national targets, much re-mains to be done to halt and reverse the spread of HIV in Kenya,” the re-port says.

Impressive progressBut a review of Government’s ef-

forts by independent consultants, picked by the NACC, revealed that the country conducted an impressive war against the virus.

The report, made early in the year noted that enrolling HIV-infected people in treatment, encouraging more people to get tested and the

vigorous campaign for voluntary male circumcision, had boosted the country’s efforts in fighting HIV/Aids.

The review also noted that Kenya had achieved an estimated anti-ret-roviral treatment coverage of 81 per cent.

The proportion of people tested for HIV, the report said, had in-creased from 34 in 2007 to 72 per cent in 2012.

According to the report, the Amer-ican government, under the Total War against Aids, spent Sh4.4 billion on 10,712 small projects with local organisations during the five years under review.

Other major development part-ners included (US) President’s Emer-gency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), World Bank, UNAids, Global Fund and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

– INB Africa News

• AIDSisachronic,potentiallylife-threateningconditioncausedbythehumanimmunodeficiencyvi-rus(HIV)

• Theillnessalterstheimmunesys-tem,makingpeoplemuchmorevul-nerabletoinfectionsanddiseases.Thissusceptibilityworsensasthediseaseprogresses.

• Thevirusispassedfromonepersontoanotherthroughblood-to-bloodandsexualcontact.Inaddition,in-fectedpregnantwomencanpassHIVtotheirbabiesduringpregnan-cy,deliveringthebabyduringchild-birth,andthroughbreastfeeding

• ThereisnocureforHIV/AIDS.Treat-mentscanslowthecourseofthedisease-someinfectedpeoplecanlivealongandrelativelyhealthy

Facts about HIV

AIDS WARHope alive as Kenya fights disease

Despite progress in advancing

towards national targets, much remains to be done to halt and reverse the spread of HIV in Kenya– Report

WEEK IN REVIEW / Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

I’ve lived a full life despite being HIV positiveBeyond expectation: He was given three months to live, but 30 years later, he is still alive

in two hospitals at the time. Mbagathi Hospital and Nairobi Hospital.

Confused, Muriuki broke the devas-tating news to his wife. “Mysteriously, she urged we pray to God because AIDs then was like Ebola today,” says Muriuki.

They took their blood samples to Mbagathi Hospital which had to send them to South Africa for actual testing and confirmation of their status.

Half a year later, Muriuki was con-firmed to be HIV positive but his wife was negative.

His in-laws, on learning about the family’s situation, called for the break-up of the marriage in order to “save” their daughter. “It was the most logical thing for them to do at the time but my wife stuck to me. She refused to leave and said she would be with me till I die,” says Muriuki. Meanwhile, doctors were urging them to terminate the pregnancy.

At the same time, the doctors said that the wife was also HIV positive and she was only going through a window period during which medical tests would not reveal her HIV status.

On September 20, 1987, Joe Muriuki was told he had only three months to live. He was, according to his doctors, going to die in or before January the fol-lowing year.

Mr Muriuki, the first Kenyan to go public on his HIV status, was also ad-vised to kill his son who was only three weeks old in his mother’s womb.

Today, 30 years later, as the country marks Aids@30, Muriuki is still going strong; he is in fact pursuing a PhD at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

He is a part-time lecturer at Kenya Methodist University, Masinde Muliro University and Mount Kenya University.

And the son – who would have been aborted – is now headed to Malaysia for a master’s degree in technology. He is HIV negative.

One of his other sons is also an engi-neering consultant based in Geneva, Switzerland.

However, Muriuki feels top state of-ficials humiliated him when they al-legedly denied him a job on account of his HIV status. In May 2006, Muriuki came face to face with first hand stigma-tisation at the US Embassy.

“I had travelled to the US when they stamped my Visa as HIV positive, warned me against having sex while on US soil, not take any medication from the US and warned me against extend-ing my stay there even for a day,” says Muriuki. The US has since reviewed its laws on HIV-positive visitors.

Back home, Muriuki was to later be rejected in his home in Nyeri County when he was allegedly denied a job de-spite his academic qualifications. “I had the relevant professional and academic qualifications, beating my competitors in the race for the job but was ejected because I have Aids,” he says bitterly.

As if that was not enough, he applied and was called for a job interview in Em-bu County as a permanent secretary in the county but he was knocked out.

“The cases are before the Equity Tri-bunal and I will pursue them to their logical conclusion to ensure that people

living with HIV-Aids are not segregated because of their status,” says Muriuki.

Slight illnessBack to 1987. Muriuki was an accoun-

tant at the then Nairobi City Council (NCC). A slight illness put him down and after examination, his personal doctor expressed misgivings about his health condition. “I remember the doctor in his clinic standing up, walking to the win-dow where he stared out for a couple of minutes before he looked like he was sweating,” recalls Muriuki. “For a mo-ment I thought he was mad. I asked him what the matter was and he again stared at me looking confused.”

Then he dropped the bombshell: “Muriuki, you could be HIV positive, and you are the first victim I have come across with the virus.”

His wife was only three weeks preg-nant with their third child — which a co-terie of doctors advised to abort owing to the fact that the foetus was feared to be infected with the HIV virus. Muriu-ki would only confirm the doctor’s fears

Joe Muriuki during interview.

Worse off, Muriuki was told that he had only three months to live. Husband and wife got stuck in a miasma of des-peration. “We decided not kill our child, and my wife assured me of her compan-ionship, up to and beyond the three months I was told I had to live,” says Muriuki. He abandoned his duties at the NCC, packed his bags and together with the family, relocated back to their rural home in Nyeri.

“Everybody was looking at me like an alien when they learnt of my status and even at work, my chair had to be thrown away,” he says, adding that “I, therefore, decided to travel home to Nyeri to go and die there.” At one time, he faced re-jection a a local bank.

Muriuki had gone to open a bank ac-count but when the attendant learnt of his status, he even refused to take his de-tails and referred him to the branch manager. Ultimately, the bank declined to open a bank account for him because he was “going to die anyway”.

According to Muriuki, it was very traumatising because at the time, HIV was only associated with homosexuals and people of loose morals.

“However, I was not a homosexual and it stunned me a lot that I had the virus. It was a serious misfortune on my part as I waited for my death,” remem-bers Muriuki. But three months down the line, Muriuki never died. In fact, his health condition was stable and after an extra three months, he started doubting the doctors’ contentions.

“I decided to give myself two extra years within which I sure knew I would die,” says Muriuki.

Their son was then born and he was HIV negative. “It is then that I realised the very many misconceptions around the condition,” he says.

Muriuki moved to form “Know Aids Society” to educate the whole country about the condition. Today, Muriuki is almost 60 years and he hopes to gradu-ate with a PhD in May 2015.

— INB Africa news

When Asunta Wagura was di-agnosed with HIV in 1988, she was told she would live for only six months. She is now 49 and joyful-ly watches her one-year-old twins grow healthy and strong.

Asunta discovered her status when the college in which she was studying to become a nurse con-ducted a routine medical test.

Days after the test, she was summoned to the principal’s of-fice. It was then that she was told she was HIV positive. She was then expelled from college.

“You are a sure death case and the last thing we need is seeing you in this school,” a tutor told her.

As she was packing her clothes to leave, her mother yelled at her.

“Before you die, you must pay me back all the fees I have wasted on you,” Asunta recalls.

In the ensuing days, waiting for death was torturous . . . she was devastated that her mother

rejected her. “I could not imagine the thought of my mother’s rejec-tion,” she says.

This happened in the presence of her teachers and fellow stu-dents. Aids then, she says, “was like a death sentence and my life came to a standstill.”

Rejected by her family, com-munity and college, she counted down the hours to her own death. Asunta says she can’t describe how lonely she felt.

African curse

In much of Africa, HIV was re-garded as a curse that afflicted commercial sex workers and ho-mosexuals.

“I was neither of these. It was total shock and everything unfold-ed like a movie,” she says.

Despite these dire predictions about her life span, Asunta says she had a strange feeling that she would live longer than six months.

“I knew for sure I would live, but not for this long,” she says.

“I was told I would die 27 years ago, but here I am, a mother and a hero”.

As her family prepared for her death, Asunta attempted to com-mit suicide two times.

But then, six months passed. “I was alive and there were no symp-toms that I had a terminal illness,” she contends.

And this marked her defining moment. “It was a rude awaken-ing for me, and a strange sense of hope engulfed me,” she says.

Energised by the turn of events, Asunta sought to dispel myths about HIV/Aids.

She decided to go public and share her story to reverse the mes-sage that HIV/Aids is a death sen-tence.

She joined hands with Joe Mu-riuki to enlighten people about HIV/Aids under the “Know Aids Society”.

Later, she founded the Kenya Network of Women (KENWA), a support group to educate women on HIV and to give platform where victims share their experiences and offer financial and emotion-al support to each other.

She says women living with HIV endure mental torture be-cause the society thinks they can-not conceive.

Mantra

“The world thought I was mad when I said I wanted to have a child in 1999,” she says.

However, she has three chil-dren who are HIV-negative. “I live a normal life. I am a woman of my dreams. And that is my mantra in all my endeavours,” she says.

She is currently in London rais-ing funds to help promote HIV/Aids awareness.

— INB Africa news

Asunta: The story of one woman who lives after her own dreams

AIDS WARHope alive as Kenya fights disease

Asunta Wagura


Ngilu, Swazuri talks start in earnest

Ministers make changes in parastatal boards

Farmers want NCPB to get more funds

Three Cabinet Secretaries have made key changes and appointed new people on various boards in their respective min-istries.

According to the Kenya Gazette notice dated November 7, 2014, CSs Kazungu Kambi (Labour, Social Security and Ser-vices), Raychelle Omamo (Defence) and Charity Ngilu (Lands) have made some significant changes in their dockets.

Mr Kambi has revoked the appoint-ment of eight members of the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA).

Among those appointed as NITA board members include Vice-chairman Ernest Nadome, a key member of the Central Or-ganisation of Trade Unions umbrella body under Francis Atwoli.

While Kambi had earlier dissolved the entire NITA board, Atwoli on Friday

moved to court and secured restraining orders over the dissolution. On the other hand, Omamo has revoked the appoint-ment of Grace K Nyarango as Secretary of the Defence Forces Pension Appeals Tri-bunal.

She instead appointed Elly Ongei as the new Secretary and Mary K Osoro as a member for a three-year period, with ef-fect from August 8, 2014 to August 7, 2017.

Lands CS Ngilu on her part appointed Sarah Wanyande as the chairman of the Valuers Registration Board for a period of three years, after revoking the appoint-ment of Anthony Matenge Itui.

Ngilu also appointed Catherine Kariu-ki as a member of the same board, to re-place Lawrence Muchiri whose term ex-pired on October 29, 2014. Other members appointed by Ngilu to the board include Humphrey Kaburu, Samuel Odiembo and Thomas Mukhwana.

Lands Cabinet Secretary Char-ity Ngilu, National Lands Commis-sion chairperson Mohammed Swazuri and other senior officials were yesterday holed up in a day long reconciliation meeting at the Office of the President, Nairobi.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua chaired the meeting – a first in what is expected to be a series of meetings to settle the administra-tive differences between the min-istry and the commission on the management of land issues.

The dispute over legal man-dates had paralysed operations at Ardhi House, the headquarters of the land managers in the country. The dispute saw Ngilu and Swazuri spar in public for jurisdiction – a matter that ended up at the Su-preme Court.

The duo are on a judicial dead-line because the Supreme Court gave them three months to settle dispute and work as a team.

“The court allows a 90-day in-terlude during which the parties may undertake a constructive en-gagement towards reconciliation and a harmonious division of re-sponsibility,” the judges said in their ruling, which warned that if

Maize farmers from the North Rift are calling for a supplementary budget to facil-itate increased funding to the National Ce-reals and Produce Board (NCPB).

The farmers say the supplementary budget would enable NCPB purchase enough stock from them during this har-vest season.

Their representatives yesterday said the Sh2.7 million set aside by the Government is inadequate to mob substantial stocks

from the projected maize harvests. Kenya Farmers Association Director Kipkorir Menjo, representatives Willy Grey Maina, Moira Chepkok and Tom Murgor among others, expressed concern that most farm-ers have harvested the crop but cannot sell to NCPB because the depots have not been opened.

Speaking during a meeting in Eldoret, Menjo said the funds would only buy less than a million bags of maize of a projected 3.8 million bags from Uasin Gishu County alone.

the negotiations fail, then, they will be forced to make a ruling.

Last evening, the chairman of the National Lands Commission Mo-hammed Swazuri told The Standard on Sunday that he was headed to the Office of the President at Harambee

President Uhuru Kenyatta in Kibera, Nairobi, yesterday during a visit to in-spect works by the National Youth Service at the city slum.

ByB ABigAel Sum

ByB TiTuS Too

ByB STephen mAkABilA

Despite a significant drop in piracy off the coast of Somalia in the past year occasioned by the deployment of mul-tinational naval forces, the cost of shipping is yet to come down, experts have disclosed. Industry experts say that because of this, importers contin-ue to pay heavily.The cost of shipping through Momba-sa shot up in 2007 at the peak of sea piracy but players along the shipping logistic chain had hoped it would drop the successful naval and military oper-ations in Somalia.But recent estimates from the Shippers Council of Eastern Africa reveal that commodities imported through Mom-basa are 10 per cent more expensive than they were in 2007 due to the pira-cy surcharge and increased premiums. This additional overheads incurred by shipping lines are passed on to the end consumer, pushing up prices of com-modities in the local market. Kenya Maritime Authority Director General Nancy Karigithu told The Standard on Sunday that majority of the shipping lines imposed an arbitrary Piracy Risk Surcharge range between US$210-300 and US$420-600 for 20ft and 40ft containers respectively at the peak of piracy incidents. “Although piracy in-cidents off the Somali Coast have de-clined, the charge still features in sea freight but it is not collected locally,” says Ms Karigithu.

Shipping costs still high despite drop in piracBy

Briefly

House for a meeting. “I am headed to a meeting at OP. I don’t know how long it will take,” said Swazuri in on phone.

The Supreme Court held back its opinion to allow the two warring state institutions to resolve the dis-

NEWS

putes that have been a source of con-flict regarding their mandates on land matters.

The directive was issued by the seven judges of the court led by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.

Went to courtThe commission took the matter

to the Supreme Court in April this year, seeking an advisory opinion on their mandate on land issues as an independent body under the new constitutional dispensation.

Through Senior Counsel Tom Ojienda, the commission asked the court to determine among other is-sues, who should appoint the Regis-trar of Title Deeds.

It also asked the court to address the questions emerging over land leases and renewals, including man-agement of private land in the coun-try. These are some of the issues that their lawyers will be addressing during the discussing directed by the court. The ministry is represented by Senior Counsel Paul Muite.

The NLC filed the case as differ-ences between its chairman and the Cabinet Secretary escalated, leading to confusion between the commis-sion and the ministry. The commis-sion accused Ngilu of publishing land registration regulations without consultations with its officials.

Order: They are on a judicial deadline because court gave them three months to reconcile

President tours Kibera

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EXCLUSIVETODAY

Raila’s towering presence factor in ODM woesInfighting: Party bigwigs say inability to act on a series of ugly incidents may have tarnished the CORD leader’s image

has been spying on us and those around the boss (Raila) should have necessitated his smooth exit, but be-cause that did not happen, a Burkina Faso had to happen,” says Buke in reference to the recent violent civil-ian ouster of President Blaise Com-paore by the Burkinabe.

In the meantime, Buke confesses his recent move to declare himself executive director was not sanc-tioned by the party’s top leadership. The former university student leader and political detainee said he was simply acting on own volition to safeguard interests and property of the party. “Owing to the fact that Magerer was a man under siege, fol-lowing investigations over his con-duct, he was a potential saboteur and we could not allow him back to office. That is why I moved in – as a brave patriot who keeps risking his job – to fill in the gap,” he says.

Even after reprimanding Buke for the attempted internal coup, The Standard On Sunday has inde-pendently established that ODM has finally followed the right procedure of suspending Magerer and appoint-ing Director of Finance, Joshua Kaw-ino, as acting executive director. Buke had initially protested at the apparent flaw in the decision to in-vestigate Magerer while he remained in office.

Meanwhile, Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo partly attributes the troubles in ODM to the fact that it is the main Opposition party. “It is not easy to ef-fectively run a giant political outfit as ODM from outside Government. Temptations to succumb to goodies from the Government are high and it requires a lot of sacrifice and princi-ples to stick by the Opposition.”

With Raila unable to offer any goodies himself, a host of MPs allied to his party have since shifted alle-giance to Jubilee. Similarly, the CORD leader has been roundly ac-cused of inability to rein in errant party members, including the ten-dency of sweeping serious cases un-der the carpet, like the botched par-ty polls.

Achilles heel“Of all the accusations against

Raila, the propaganda about him be-ing too old to be President is the most dishonest and unfair. Lest we forget, we elected Kibaki when he was 77 and in fact on a wheelchair,” reacts Gumbo. On the sorry state of affairs in ODM, Namwamba gives the analogy of a beautiful and well painted house that had attracted many tenants, but which is now in a state of disrepair owing to poor man-agement by the landlord.

“This house is no longer attrac-tive as it now poses great risk to ten-ants. The house needs a new proper-ty manager to seal the holes that have been drilled in the rooftop, among other repairs,” says the Bu-dalang’i MP. The problem with ODM, says Namwamba, is the fact that members have not invested in

As political fortunes of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) tum-ble, it is emerging that the strong character of party leader Raila Odin-ga may ironically be the Orange par-ty’s point of weakness.

“Love or hate him, Raila is a polit-ical colossus. He is the air that ODM breaths and he did not just wake up one morning to become leader of the party. He has worked hard to earn his place in the history of this country and it is only natural that a lot of things will be associated with him,” says Budalang’i MP Ababu Nam-wamba.

But Namwamba says the focus on Raila may have partly led to institu-tional failure within the party. Owing to this, issues of the party are ordi-narily personalised, and according to Namwamba, the former Prime Min-ister too is a victim of the said sys-temic failure.

Because of his towering presence and historical credentials that have rightly earned him the undisputed title of Opposition leader, Raila has become the constant point of refer-ence responsible – rightly or wrongly – for virtually all activities or maneu-vers within the party. However, ODM’s Political Affairs Director Waf-ula Buke argues that it is an advan-tage, not a disadvantage, that the party has a strong political leader. Buke says the only challenge is that Raila has large political constituen-cies, globally and nationally, and is accordingly too busy to take care of smaller issues like internal rivalries.

Competing interests“You do not expect him, for in-

stance, to handle party nominations or petitions, say in corners of Bungo-ma, Kwale or Wajir counties. Yet ev-eryone in the party seeks Raila’s ears,” he says.

But noting that competing inter-ests are a common feature in politi-cal parties, Funyula MP Paul Otuo-ma, who vied for the position of National Chairman in ODM’s botched February polls, instead slams party employees for promot-ing factionalism. He claims Secretary General Anyang’ Nyong’o and em-battled Executive Director Magerer Lang’at have been presiding over partisan leadership.

“It is sad that we have become more enemies of our own than of our rivals. It cannot be right to blame Raila for everything that happens in

yB Oscar OBONyO BraND raILaFormer Premier is also confronted with another internal, and perhaps more po-tent challenge – political dependents. These are allies, who are in the habit of hanging onto his coat, with a view to stay-ing politically relevantRaila has over the years built a political brand name, which many want to exploit for their personal good. It is a trend that greatly ruined the party’s chances of win-ning all the parliamentary, senatorial and gubernatorial seats in its major strong-holds in last year’s electionsSome of those who had publicly associ-ated with Raila insisted on getting direct nomination tickets on account of proxim-ity to the party boss. In the process, the party lost out on a host of seats for en-dorsing relatively weaker candidates.Ugenya MP David Ochieng’ particularly faults the trend of politicians “hanging on Raila’s coat”, terming it a major impedi-ment of internal democracy within ODM. Politicians, he opines, should let the Brand Raila flourish instead of pulling it down.

strengthening the institution of the party: “We have instead focused more on personalities. We cannot di-minish the value of institutions by promoting the prominence of per-sonalities.”

The vocal MP, who vied for the post of secretary general in the party’s botched polls, emphasis-es the need for making institu-tions immutable so as to live be-yond current generations. Such a move, he opines, helps the party to regenerate and it gives poli-ticians the hope of climbing career lad-ders. “In our case we have not invested in institutional charac-ter. Instead we have invested in war and hooliganism, and party nominations are particularly our Achilles heel,” says Namwamba. The MP regards name-calling and blame game as manifestation of a collapse of insti-tutional order: “This is how low we have sunk that when you offer a dissent-ing voice you are called a mole. Our co-alition is in-stitutionally dysfunction-al – there is a c o m p l e t e state of para-noia because of lack of trust”.

And Otuoma laments that mem-bers have been trying to give each other ample time to address this mat-ter, but it seems the party is now in a mode of ex-pending permanent neg-ative energy. “We are tired of this and something must be done fast,” he pro-tests.

The former minister says members expected the party secretariat to put its house in order after the Kasarani fiasco but nothing had been done. Otu-oma is particularly irked by “these same people”, who are quick to brand others as either moles or loy-alists.

“Time has come where we must be brutally honest with each other. We cannot put the political future of millions of our supporters in the hands of a selfish and quarreling leadership,” says Otuoma. Nam-wamba maintains he has absolutely no intention of quitting the Orange party. He says the only leader he has followed in Kenya is Raila Odinga and all he is asking for is ODM’s in-ternal weaknesses to be fixed.

the party, simply because of his domineering character. The secre-tariat must also perform,” Dr Otuo-ma says. While some ODM members might have had genuine complaints against their executive director, the violent manner in which Magerer was brutalised and ejected from the party’s special meeting at Orange House in Nairobi last week has terri-bly tarnished the image of Raila and the Coalition for Reforms and De-mocracy (CORD).

Shambolic pollsThe drama is just one among ma-

ny in a series of ugly episodes, in-cluding the violent disruption of na-tional elections at Kasarani Gymnasium in February, which have left the Orange party in shambles.

As a result, ODM, alongside for-mer Vice President Kalonzo Musyo-ka’s Wiper Party and Senate Minority Leader Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford-Ken-ya, is gradually losing the moral au-thority to critique the Jubilee Gov-ernment on a host of issues, including skyrocketing insecurity.

In fact, as Gatundu South MP Mo-ses Kuria has aptly put it, ODM and CORD at the moment are better can-didates for their own “Okoa” (refer-endum initiative) drive than the rest of Kenya.

With regard to Magerer, though, Buke insists ODM had to “okoa (res-cue)” itself from possible harm: “He

We have instead focused more on personalities. We cannot diminish the value of institutions by promoting the prominence of personalities,”-– ababu namwamba, Budalangi MP


Controversy stalks Kanyingi as burial wishes unveiled

No thank you: Former MP among other demands, instructed his family not to accept donations to cater for his funeral

disgrace. Kanyingi was a KANU stalwart and Moi’s close ally. The diminutive Kiambu politician is said to have wormed his way into the heart of power through wit. He pledged his loyalty and sang praises for KANU fearlessly.

Powerful postHe is quoted to have said at one time:

“Hata ukinikata, damu yangu ni Kanu” (Even if you cut my skin, it is just Kanu blood you will see”).

Due to his loyalty, Kanyingi was elected Kanu chairman in the then Kiambu district — a powerful post then. It is believed Moi relied upon on the likes of Kanyingi to fight his political battles in central Kenya, which was largely an opposition zone.

Kanyingi tried his hand in elective politics in 1992 and 1997 when he vied for the Limuru parliamentary seat but lost to his arch rival, George Nyanja, who was perceived as pro-Moi.

Kanyingi, however, finally made it to the august House in 2002 after capturing the seat on a Kanu ticket, thanks to the Uhuru Kenyatta wave that had hit the region.

He, however, failed to recapture the seat in the 2007 General Election despite a spirited campaign losing to a new comer, Peter Mwathi.

The death of former Limuru MP Kuria Kanyingi brought an end to the reign of a controversial, but generous Kiambu County politician.

According to family sources, Kanyin-gi, 71, succumbed to colon cancer at a hospital in India last Tuesday.

The curtains came down on a politi-cian, fondly remembered for his gener-ous contributions during harambees.

Relatives describe him as a kind-hearted man, who never looked down upon people irrespective of their status.

“His death is a big blow to the family and people of Limuru,” said Peter Njoroge, a relative. Controversy, howev-er, seems to have followed him even in death.

Kanyingi’s family recently revealed that the former legislator gave orders that the media should not take photos at his burial. The family also disclosed the former legislator gave instructions that the media can only take photos of the coffin carrying his body while leav-ing the mortuary or at the airport, in case he died abroad.

He also forbade announcements of his death and funeral on radio and newspapers. He also instructed the fam-ily not to accept donations to cater for his funeral expenses.

Kanyingi also banned politicians from making political speeches during his funeral service, he is said to have preferred a private burial and is said to have prepared his own grave.

“My late brother, before his death, said he needed nobody’s support when he dies. He forbid the family from ac-cepting cash from anyone as condo-lence, he, however, added that any mon-ey received without the knowledge of his wish should be taken to any church as his donation,” one of his sisters told journalists at his Tigoni home.

The controversial politician is de-scribed as a social person, who despite his wealth and class, mingled with all in equal measure. Residents describe him as a ‘man of the people’ conscious of de-velopment projects in Limuru.

“He initiated projects in education, water and health for the benefit of the people,” said Susan Njeri, a resident.

Viscount Kimathi, former Lari MP and Kanyingi’s long-time friend, de-scribes him as a humorous, caring and confident leader, who would stop at nothing to pursue his goals. Kimathi said: “Kanyingi was ‘a wise and sharp

He then went silent and word had it that he intended to vied for Kiambu sen-atorial in the last election but dropped out of the race before presenting his nomination papers.

He, in 2012, announced his retire-ment from active politics following fam-ily pressure.

Despite his generosity, the self-made billionaire rubbished the role of money in his high profile public standing when he declared that he had spent huge sums in 1992 and 1997 but failed to make it to the National Assembly.

“I came to realise that leadership cannot be bought. You have to wait until the people decide to elect you,” Kanyin-gi once said.

Though he was not highly educated, many describe him as a wise and a sharp politician, who would always outwit the more educated colleagues.

While responding to queries raised on his academic background, Kanyingi told off critics that he had floored seven graduates in the polls. He said his pre-decessor had nothing to show after ten years of representation, his degree not-withstanding.

He promptly dismissed calls to elect educated people as “mere propaganda” aimed to deny good, however, not edu-cated leaders a chance.

politician, thanks to his smart strategies. He was also a disciplinarian, loved and hated in equal measure”.

“Kanyingi was a rare breed of politi-cian who was fabulously wealthy and generous,” said Kimathi.

In early 1990s, Kanyingi shocked a congregation when he contributed Sh1 million in aid of a church during a fund-raiser.

A fortnight later, Kanyingi left tongues wagging when he donated a similar amount in yet another fund-rais-er in aid of a patient scheduled to travel abroad for treatment.

0n June 5, 2006, he contributed Sh2 million at a fund raiser at a Catholic Church.

Just six months earlier, he had donat-ed Sh4 million to yet another church project. Kanyingi always preferred to give out his money in cash. Cheques and pledges were not his preference.

He was a controversial politician. To-gether with former Embakasi MP, the late David Mwenje, they were accused of being behind campaigns to oust for-mer Vice-President, Josephat Karanja.

In fact, it was alleged that the then little known Kanyingi was fished from his job at the Motor Vehicle Inspection Unit to engineer an ouster campaign against Karanja.

The ouster campaign came after for-mer President Daniel Moi, became un-comfortable Karanja, whom he had named a year earlier to replace Mwai Ki-baki, who had held the vice-presidency seat for a decade.

By that time, Karanja, the former University of Nairobi Vice-Chancellor was the MP for Mathare Constituency, Nairobi, having won the seat in the con-troversial 1988 elections.

This is after he changed his political base from Kiambu to Nairobi following his two failed bids to wrest the former finance minister and MP for Githunguri Constituency Arthur Magugu.

After Kanyingi’s persistent cam-paigns, Mwenje and others in Parlia-ment, the embattled vice president fi-nally threw in the towel and resigned in

ByB BY KAMAU MAICHUHIE

Former MP Kuria Kanyingi (right) at a past fundraiser in Limuru.

• In early 1990s, he contributed Sh1 million in aid of a church during a fund-raiser

• He donated a similar amount in yet anoth-er fund-raiser in aid of a patient scheduled to travel abroad for treatment

• In 2006, he contributed Sh2 million at a fund raiser at a Catholic Church

• He had donated Sh4 million to yet another local church project

• He reportedly preferred to give out mon-ey in cash. Cheques and pledges were not his preference

• Despite his generosity, the self-made billion-aire rubbished the role of money in his high profile public standing

Kanyingi was a wise and sharp politician, thanks to his smart strategies. He was also a disciplinarian, loved and hated in equal measure”- Viscount Kimathi, Kanyingi’s ally

KanByingi’s generositBy

WEEK IN REVIEW


Rebellion: Wiper party leader dares rebels to quit, says he will not relent in his bid to instill discipline in his party

Kalonzo, Mwingi North MP clash over loyaltyBy PhiliP Muasya

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Mwingi North MP John Munuve seem to have rolled up their sleeves for a political duel following reports that the MP has shown contempt for the party and its leadership.

Of key concern to the party leader is failure by the MP, who inherited Kalonzo’s parliamentary seat, to initiate the Okoa Kenya referendum drive in his constituency. This has irked Kalonzo who has vowed to summon the MP to get an explanation.

Kalonzo says he will not relent in restoring order and party discipline, even if it means ‘rebel’ elected leaders quit the party and occasion by-elections.

Mr Munuve on the other hand says he is privy to re-ports about ousting him from the party, saying that does not worry him because “my immediate concern is to serve my constituents but not to appear sycophantic to party lines.”

Kalonzo, while speaking at Ngomeni trading centre in Kitui County during a thanks giving for ODM national women league leader Beth Syengo, who was recently elected as national assistant treasurer of Maendeleo ya Wanawake organisation dared rebel leaders in his party to ship out if they were unsatisfied.

The Wiper leader who was accompanied by ODM leader Raila Odinga, National Assembly Minority Leader Francis Nyenze, Kisumu Senator Anyang Nyongo and Su-na East MP Junet Mohamed, said he was disappointed that Munuve had shown no commitment in the Okoa Kenya referendum drive even after collecting signature books from the party secretariat in Nairobi.

Referendum pushHe said Wiper party members opposed to the referen-

dum drive which is spearheaded by the opposition coa-lition will be dealt with in accordance to the law.

“The MP collected our books and kept them in his office. We need those books,” said Kalonzo. “Political par-ties are governed by law. If any elected member opposes party position, the party has a right to withdraw his mem-bership and occasion a by-election,” he added.

He said all elected leaders on Wiper party should be in the forefront in championing party ideologies and manifesto.

Speaking earlier at a burial in Kyuso district, Kalonzo said it was morally wrong for any leader to ascend to leadership then turn around to violate position and ide-ology of the party that sponsored their election.

“If we withdraw your party membership, you will be left hanging and the result is a thunderous fall. You can’t use Wiper as a stepping stone to power then abandon it,” he said while advising those unsatisfied with the party to relinquish their positions and seek fresh mandate.

However Munuve who spoke to The Standard on Sun-day on the sidelines of Chief Justice Willy Mutunga’s tour of Mwingi Law Courts on Tuesday said reports of his oust-er from the party are the least of his concerns. He said his constituents were more important than any party.

Mr Munuve said the drive to collect signatures for Okoa Kenya referendum was beneath his standing as an MP, adding that he had delegated that duty to ward rep-resentatives in his constituency.

“It is true I got five books from the Wiper secretariat but I passed them on to the MCAs. They don’t expect me to go around collecting signatures, that’s beneath me. They should respect me,” Munuve said. The MP said he had a mandate from his voters to serve in parliament un-til the end his term saying no party position will dictate otherwise.

“I will stay in Parliament up to 2017 and possibly beyond be-cause I am only accountable to the people of Mwingi North. I have no time for party dance,” said Munuve. The MP has in the recent past been in bad books with Wiper party leadership for his perceived dalliance with the Jubilee administration.

He has openly said in his constituency that the ongoing Cord referendum drive was an exercise in futility since it was doomed to fail. Kalonzo said the party leadership will summon the MP to seek an explanation for his ‘rebellious’ conduct before any further action is taken against him.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Kalonzo Musyoka John Munuve


Party primaries could get State fundingPolitical party primaries may soon

start receiving a share of the national revenue to conduct their primaries.

This would be realised should an amendment to Political Parties Act, being prepared by nominated Mem-ber of Parliament Isaac Mwaura sails through.

The amendment proposes to allo-cate 0.1 per cent of the sharable reve-nues to political parties to conduct primaries.

According to Mwaura, the propos-al aims at promoting democracy with-in political parties and providing a level playing field among competing candidates.

Traditionally, party primaries in Kenya are hotly contested. They are usually accompanied by severe bouts of violence, confusion, corruption and favouritism.

The moneyed wrestle the popular but poor candidates; the well-con-nected fight “strangers” in the party and the politically naïve candidates usually realise that it takes more than votes to clinch party tickets.

The battle lines drawn at the pri-maries stage usually feed into the main election as candidates fire on all cylinders to win the election.

Aborted polls“The proposal has also been in-

spired by the experience I went through during our aborted party polls in February. I spent over Sh2 mil-lion in campaigns and I was assured of clinching the deputy Secretary General post, until the men in black goons came calling. It was unfair,” said Mwaura.

There are 59 registered political parties in Kenya. Currently, the par-ties are receiving 0.3 percent of the to-tal revenue collected by the national government to run their affairs.

The money is distributed propor-tionately by reference to the total number of votes secured by each po-litical party in the preceding General Election.

Mwaura, however, says his pro-posal does not touch on this fund.

“The 0.3 per cent fund is different. This is for the running of the party in between election periods. The 0.1 per-cent I am proposing is specifically for catering for party nominations. It is a very important and special stage of the electoral process,” he explained.

Last year’s political party nomina-tions were not any different from the previous election years.

Confusion, violence and patron-age characterised the exercise in the major party formations.

In the “Democratic Paradox: A Re-port on Kenya’s 2013 General Elec-tions” Kenya Human Rights Commis-sion complained of “poor coordination, mismanagement and occasional corruption” that marked

Chaotic scenes during the Orange Democratic Movement elections held at Kasarani in February. [PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI/STANDARD]

says this would ‘continue to gnaw sys-tems, policies, laws and institutions however refined they are’.

“The mentality that government exists to be eaten, that parties are merely tools to achieve tribal hopes, that ‘big men’ breath life or death to parties, that patronage is the deeply entrenched magic in the Kenyan psy-che,” Masime notes.

He says there is no “magic bullet” to kill this culture. He is, however, cat-egorical that it has to be changed if Kenyans want to enjoy the democrat-ic values and principles they passed in the Constitution. He says “political engineering” to shift the patronage mentality will take time.

Masime says the proposal will on-ly make sense if it is “nuanced prop-erly” to ensure individual expendi-ture is limited.

He also says the proposal would need a “careful balancing” with the current political fund, which provides money for such activities, but for par-ties which qualify.

Yatta MP Francis Mwangangi, says the amendment proposals should be expanded to cover the conduct of the nomination exercise.

He believes any State-funded en-

two of the main party processes; re-cruitment of members and nomina-tions.

“It illustrated the indifference of most political parties to the popular will, where this went against the vest-ed interests within the party leader-ship.

Significantly, it also demonstrated the incapacity of the relevant duty bearers to effectively address the en-trenched distortive cultures and mal-practices within political parties,” the report said.

The report stated that political parties approached the public as mere tools for the achievement of po-litical power.

Apart from violence which marred the exercise, logistical failures charac-terised the exercise.

Party lists were generally defective, ‘ballot buckets’ were not sealed, aspi-rants names and photos missed in the ballot papers, some winners were an-nounced prematurely and ballots were fewer than the voters.

Magic bulletKennedy Masime, chair of the

Elections Observer Group, which ob-served last year’s polls, however, doubts that the fund, if created, would be the panacea for stunted political party culture in Kenya.

“The proposal could be fruitful if it helps to facilitate the hitherto margin-alised groups like women and youth, and eliminate undue advantages,” Masime says.

According to Masime, the main problem remains lack of a sound po-litical culture among Kenyans. He

• Party primaries in Kenya are usually accompanied by severe bouts of violence, confusion, corruption and favoritism • An observer blames Kenyans lack of a sound political culture, say-ing, it would ‘continue to gnaw systems, policies, laws and institu-tions however refined they are’

BY Nzau Musau

stunted political culture

IEBC should be empowered to ensure fairness, accountability and transparency prevails in party primaries,” — Yatta MP, Francis Mwangangi

Careful balancing: Legislator proposes amendment to Parties Political Act aimed at allocating 0.1 per cent of the sharable revenues to promote democracy within political parties and facilitate order

WEEK IN REVIEW

tity should allow the Government to oversee conduct of affairs. “The Inde-pendent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) should be em-powered to ensure fairness, account-ability and transparency prevails in party primaries. We should also take deliberate steps to grow our political party as institutions as opposed to the individuals,” Mwangangi says.

ContradictionsHe says he “resoundingly” won the

Wiper Democratic Movement nomi-nations, but the party declared the person he trounced the winner.

He says he was vindicated when voters followed him to Chama Cha Uzalendo and elected him despite a strong Wiper wave in his region.

“Such unnecessary democratic contradictions and embarrassments will not occur if parties are properly empowered to conduct meaningful primaries, which adhere to principles of fairness. We need to seriously re-think on how we can grow our party culture,” he said.

IEBC Vice chair, Lilian Mahiri-Za-ja, said that IEBC is yet to finalise its proposals on election and political party laws and that they would be bet-ter placed to “comprehensively” re-spond, once they are done with theirs.

IEBC’s proposals on the elections law is already out. Among others, the commission is proposing changes on education requirements for various candidates, registration of voters, eli-gibility of recalled MPs and nomina-tion of candidates.

On the nomination of candidates, the commission wants the exercise concluded 45 days to election date and not 21 days as it happened last year.

Isaac Mwaura

Francis Mwangangi


• URP is the third largest political party in the country after the Orange Democrat-ic Movement (ODM) and the National Alli-ance (TNA)• It has 65 MPs in the National Assembly.

• Party seeking to repalce its former chair Francis Kaparo, eho has been appoint-ed the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chair

• Also to be replaced is immediate former National Treasurer Mahmud Mohamed, who is now Kenya’s ambassador to Sau-di Arabia

• Apart from the Deputy President, some of its key leaders are National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, Senate As-sembly Speaker Ekwe Ethuro and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso

Key political party

Restracturing: Deputy President William Ruto party also to launch national youth league to strength presence across the country

URP top organ to elect Kaparo successor

(EISA), three months ago. It is then that the women league leadership was elected into office.

Nairobi County URP chairperson Linet Mirehni was elected interim chair of the party’s National Women Congress, with former Eldoret South MP Peris Simam as her deputy.

The secretary general’s position went to Rehema Galgalo from Isiolo County, who is deputised by Charity Chepkwony from Nakuru. Teso South MP Mary Emase was elected treasurer, while nominated MP Sar-ah Gorere won the organising secre-tary’s position.

Recruitment drive “We are not only concentrating

on launching the women and youth leagues, but we have so far opened offices in 32 counties while our friends have opened another five, bringing the number of counties that are active with URP offices to 37,” he said.

The Executive Director said plans

Stephen MaKabila

Asked about party rebels, Koech said although there are efforts to maintain unity, the issue has not been lined up for discussion in the NEC meeting.

There have been echoes of dis-unity in URP, especially those occa-sioned by different stands taken by some leaders on the proposed ‘Pesa Mashinani ‘and ‘Okoa Kenya’ refer-endum politics. Koech also revealed that failure by Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u to release state funds in good time had crippled par-ty operations.

Cash strapped“We expect about Sh30 million

from the State. But the cash has not been released yet, and that in some way affects our operations. We hope for quicker release of this year’s allo-cations to enable our programmes

The United Republican Party (URP) plans to make radical chang-es in its top leadership.

Immediate former National Chairman Francis Ole Kaparo, who now chairs the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), and immediate former Na-tional Treasurer Mahmud Mo-hamed, now Kenya’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, are to be replaced.

URP, Deputy President William Ruto’s party, will also launch its na-tional youth league, nearly three months after formation of its wom-en league as part of the restructur-ing process.

“The URP National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet this coming week on a day to be an-nounced later, to make the two re-placements among other agendas that include receiving reports on on-going party activities and initia-tives,” David Koech, the party’s Ex-ecutive Director, told The Standard on Sunday.

In an interview, Koech, the im-mediate former Mosop MP, down-played speculations on who is like-ly to replace Kaparo as the party chairman.

“It will be a decision of NEC members. As a secretariat, ours is simply to facilitate the meeting,” he said. Currently, Fafi MP Elias Bare Shill, who was Kaparo’s deputy, serves as chairman in acting capac-ity.

run as planned,” he said.URP is the third largest political

party in the country after the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and The National Alliance (TNA). It has 65 MPs in the National Assembly. Apart from the Deputy President, some of its key leaders are National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, Senate Assembly Speaker Ekwe Ethuro and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso.

Koech said formation of the par-ty’s youth league, with structures from the national stage to the grass-roots, will come after the NEC meet-ing.

“NEC will approve the launch of the youth league. Our party consti-tution calls for the women and youth leagues and we are now moving for-ward to actualise that,” he said.

Koech and party secretary gener-al Fred Muteti attended the women’s congress in Naivasha under the sponsorship of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa

are underway to open offices in the remaining 10 counties to ensure URP’s presence in all corners of the country.

“We are also carrying on with re-cruitment activities and in some counties, we are registering as much as 100 people per day. There is also an increasing number of defectors from other political parties joining URP,” he said.

On Wednesday, the party received about 12 defectors from Embu County at its Ngong Road offices. “The 12 are key grassroots leaders and we will soon move to Embu to receive more defectors courtesy of their networking,” Koech said.

Among those angling to be elect-ed URP National Youth League chair-man are Gideon Keter, the current chair of the Youth Senate in the country.

“I am willing to offer my candida-ture as the national chairman of the URP youth league and I hope my fel-low youth will support me,” Keter said.

nUMbeR OF URp MpS

65COUntieS wheRe URp haS OFFiCeS

32aMOUnt dUe tO URp FROM State

Sh30m

WEEK IN REVIEW

We are also carrying on with recruitment activities and in some counties, we are registering as much as 100 people per day. There is also an increasing number of defectors from other political parties joining URP,” — David Koech, URP Executive Director

Francis Kaparo David Koech Mary Emase Gideon Keter

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto at Maua town in Meru County during the 2013 elections campaigns. [PHOTOS: FILE/STANDARD]

Aden Duale


Southern dream: A human smuggling syndicate allegedly involving human traffickers and government officials from Ethiopia and Kenya has snared thousands of youth whose wish is to settle in South Africa in search of a better life

charged for the crime in Kenyan courts. They bribe their way out after being ar-rested. Among those charged recently in Garissa and Marsabit courts include James Njuguna, Kassim Hussein and Mo-hamed Abdullahi, who were charged with hosting three aliens of Ethiopian nation-ality in May this year.

The cartels prefer the Namanga and Loitokitok exit points. While in Nairobi, victims are driven in a tainted taxi to es-tates such as Pangani, Kariobangi North, Huruma, Komarock and Kitengela, where they are squeezed like sardine in dark rooms to await further traveling. Those who have fully paid will be transported

by night to the Kenya-Tanzania border. Ethiopian immigrants who enter Kenya through normal border points using their normal travelling documents have their passports confiscated by their agents or brokers on arrival in Nairobi. The pass-ports are subsequently destroyed in order to disguise their identities to authorities and security agents. Working for some months or years in South Africa is seen as the necessary first step towards getting out of Africa entirely and migrating to Eu-rope or America. After initial employ-ment Ethiopian immigrants turn into business, and open small retail shops stocking products from China.

Human traffickers smuggle people from Hossana in Ethiopia into Kenya, through Moyale, Isiolo, Wajir, and Nai-robi and to Namanga on the Kenya-Tan-zania border using “panya” routes to avoid detection by authorities. The jour-ney may cover a distance of about 1,500 kilometres. The methods used to bring in the aliens into Kenya according to our investigations are three: first using the official entry point at Moyale; secondly through private vehicles that use unof-ficial routes usually called “panya” routes and thirdly through lorries and trucks that transport passengers, cargo and livestock.

Other illegal immigrants enter Kenya by sneaking through 14 porous entries along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. They pay Sh50,000 to customs and immigra-tion officials and the police manning road blocks to be allowed to cross the

border. Illegal immigrants are usually sandwiched between livestock and ex-port goods being carried in trucks. Pri-vate vehicles, most of them four-wheel drive SUV’s like Land Cruisers and Land Rovers ferry illegal immigrants and eas-ily pass through routes usually not manned by security personnel.

A major illegal route used by the smugglers is Badan Arero in Moyale through Arbjan (Wajir), Merti (Isiolo), Archers Post (Samburu) and Isiolo town. After paying facilitation charges, the il-legal immigrants are then smuggled at nightfall from Moyale and Isiolo.

If they are arrested, the smugglers pay bribes with the money paid by their clients. Most smuggled Ethiopians testi-fied seeing public officials including im-migration, security officers at road blocks and border health officials re-ceiving huge bribes. The level of collu-sion between the smugglers and these officials was evident during our investi-gations. Human traffickers are rarely

ByB Adow juBAt

Police in Eastleigh, Nairobi, during a swoop against illegal immigrants in April.

Red flag over Sh90m human smuggling racket through Kenya-Ethiopia border

Ethiopians arrested in Ruiru recently for being in the country illegally. [PHOTO: KAMAU MAICHUHIE/STANDARD]

struggling to move out in search of better prospects. To them, South Af-rica is the ideal place to move to be-cause of the successful stories of Ethiopians who have settled there. Siyu Sulitu, a 20-year-old Ethiopian national from Hossana is now serv-ing a six-month jail term in a Moyale prison after his journey to South Af-rican was aborted. He was arrested by the Kenya police with 68 others in August, while hiding in an aban-doned house in Moyale’s Sessi Vil-lage.

The police had got a tip off from members of the public who were concerned that unknown people

were staying in the house, which was empty following clashes between Borana and Gabra communities in Marsabit County. They were on tran-sit to South Africa where he and his colleagues were told of great oppor-tunities.

Notorious brokers‘’I did menial jobs over a period

of five years to raise Sh50,000 in or-der to be smuggled to South Africa through Kenya,’’ he told this writer in an interview at Moyale GK Prison. Twenty five-year-old Galaga Kabaya, another Ethiopian in a Kenyan pris-on says in mitigation in a Moyale court before he was sentenced to six months that those seeking to be smuggled do so in order to join their well-off relatives and friends in South Africa.

Despite the arrests and hardship on the way, they keep on making at-tempts to migrate to South Africa.

There are many Ethiopians doing well in South Africa. This group con-tributes money to pay for their rela-tives to join them. Through a transla-tor, Amiru claims majority of her relatives who went to South Africa have prospered, which is evidence that “the southern dream” is worth the risk. Moyale Sub-county OCPD Thomas Atuti, says on average, more

By Adow juBAt

the system has revolutionised rural transfer and banking habits, to deal with the limitation on quantity, some unscrupulous people have different SIM cards for their mobile phone. The would-be immigrants raise money through sale of property, live-stock, and farmland, while some im-migrants are financially supported by compatriots who have prospered in South Africa.

The human smuggling syndicate allegedly involves a group of notori-ous human traffickers, consisting of Government officials from both Ethi-opia and Kenya. The victims and their relatives pay considerable amounts of money to the racketeers so that they can be shipped to South Africa where they expect a better life.

One of the latest incidents took place on October 19 this year, when 57 Ethiopians were arrested from a house in Kahawa Wendani, Nairobi, days after they had arrived. The vic-tims were said to be in the country illegally and did not have traveling documents. They told police they had been brought there by an agent and were headed for South Africa. They were all taken to Kasarani Po-lice Station where they were ques-tioned and taken to court. A day ear-lier, 15 other illegal aliens were arrested in Muranga area after a sa-lon car they were traveling in was in-volved in an accident. One of them died while the rest were arrested.

And on August 23 this year police officers nabbed a group of 71 Ethio-pians on board a lorry along the Banane-Garissa Road, ten kilometres from Balambala Sub-county in Ga-rissa County. They were charged at a Garissa court and slapped with a fine of Sh20,000 each or six month jail term in default. In the same court the truck driver and the smuggler were charged for aiding in the smuggling of foreigners into the country. Two weeks earlier, 73 other Ethiopians were arrested in Balambala after the lorry they were traveling in was in-volved in an accident. They were also charged at Garissa Court, however, the driver and the trafficker man-aged to escape after the accident.

Men and women between 16-29 years of age, from the southern parts of Ethiopia are regularly smuggled through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique before they finally find their way into South Africa. In-vestigations by The Standard on Sun-day - supported by the Africa Centre for Open Governance Investigative Journalism Fellowship Programme – reveal the victims of human smug-gling are largely from the communi-ties of Kembata and Adiya from

More than Sh90 million is illegal-ly earned by human traffickers monthly by smuggling Ethiopian na-tionals across the Kenya–Ethiopia border with the prospect of sending them by road to South Africa. On av-erage, 30 Ethiopians illegally cross the border daily in a racket that has been going on for the last 15 years. But in many cases the victims end up being arrested, jailed and deported back to Ethiopia while in worse situ-ations they end up in the jungles of East and Central Africa where they are abandoned after authorities dis-cover the human trafficking racket and the smugglers escape.

According to a report by the Inter-national Organisation for Migration (IOM) titled, “In pursuit of the South-ern Dreams: Victims of Necessity:” the Ethiopian Embassy in South Af-rica estimates that approximately 45,000 to 50,000 of their countrymen have made South Africa their home. The report says the numbers are in-creasing every week due to the influx of new arrivals, primarily from large-scale, successful smuggling opera-tions from Ethiopia.

Ninety five per cent or more of these Ethiopian arrivals enter South Africa through irregular means and regularise their situations rapidly through its asylum policies. This fig-ure provides some indication of the size of the business of smuggling Ethiopians alone (and in one geo-graphical direction) in the last two decades. The IOM report reads in part: “Every trick is happening. Ev-eryone is taking advantage of the in-nocence and desperation of the Ethi-opians. No one is arrested because no one wants to kill the golden goose. Sixty per cent to 70 per cent of all wealth in Moyale comes from this business. The anti-corruption office should pay a visit to Moyale. ... Even an angel would become corrupt in Moyale, Marsabit County,” says the report.

No guaranteeBrokers and/or agents charge the

prospective immigrants between Sh70,000 to Sh300,000 before leaving Ethiopia. But what they are not told is the money is not a guarantee to safe arrival to their destination (South Africa). The money is usually paid through bank accounts owned by the brokers, after which it is with-drawn and wired to different brokers in other countries to facilitate the movement of the migrants. In Kenya, it is said people have started using money transfer.

The report claims that although

Hossana and Debu regions of Ethio-pia. Although the data on the true ex-tent of trafficking is contested by ac-ademics and human rights practitioners, in terms of global traf-ficking, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime stated in 2008 that, “some 2.5 million people throughout the world are at any given time recruited, en-trapped, transported and exploited”.

The International Labour Organ-isation’s 2008 report on the regional distribution of trafficked forced la-bour estimates that 130,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa are coerced in a form of modern day slavery, and that 44 per cent of the global eco-nomic exploitation of trafficked peo-ple is male.

Ethiopia is made up of more than 80 tribes, but majority of those who desperately clamour to be smuggled to South Africa (and are willing to pay heavily to be smuggled) are those from the Kembata and Gurage communities, from the southern part of the country.

Hossana is one of the smallest re-gions in Ethiopia. It is about 15,000 square kilometres with a population of about 10 million people. Due to land pressure, relatively high unem-ployment among the younger popu-lation and widespread poverty the region is the prime source of people

They are not refugees running away

from either war or political persecution but young men out to be smuggled to distant foreign lands — Moyale OCPD Thomas Atuti

than 30 young Ethiopians are smug-gled daily through Moyale. Many are apprehended while attempting to pass through the county. Mr Atuti says he was aware cartels of human smugglers make great effort to con-vince Ethiopian youth of the for-tunes to be made in South Africa. Ac-cording to him, the youth are hardly aware of the dangers they are likely to confront.

They make the youth believe that life is rosy once they get out of their country. In September this year alone, the OCPD notes that, more than 130 Ethiopians who were being smuggled to South Africa through the country were intercepted at dif-ferent areas of Moyale Sub-county.

“They are not refugees running away from either war or political per-secution but young men out to be smuggled to distant foreign lands to seek better living standards,’’ said the official.

A senior Resident Magistrate in Moyale, Vincent Atek said those be-ing smuggled to South Africa are mainly victims of sweet-talking bro-kers “who were milking the unsus-pecting unemployed youth by brain-washing with promises of quick riches in South Africa.”

“Many of the cases I handle here talk of paying huge amounts of mon-ey,” he said. The charges for being taken to South Africa may range be-tween Sh50,000 to Sh150,000 to bro-kers who usually transact their busi-nesses through mobile phones to avoid being identified by their vic-tims or security agents. Ayano Duba, the Ethiopian Immigration officer in Moyale (Ethiopia) says those falling victims to smuggling are mainly coming from Debu and Kambata.

He said the Ethiopian Govern-ment was tracking some notorious brokers who operate inside Ethiopia. “We are zeroing in on some big bro-kers operating across the borders,” he added.

trAffickerS eArningS

Sh90 MimmigrAntS chArged

300,000when SwooP wAS conducted

April

SPECIAL REPORT SPECIAL REPORT

Approximately 45,000 to 50,000 of their countrymen have made South Africa their homeThe numbers increase weekly due to in-flux of new arrivals, primarily from large-scale, successful smuggling operations from EthiopiaNinety five per cent or more of these Ethi-opian arrivals enter South Africa through irregular means and regularise their situ-ations rapidly through its asylum policies. Brokers and/or agents charge the pro-spective immigrants between Sh70,000 to Sh300,000 before leaving Ethiopia.

ASyluM POliCieS Using ‘panya‘ routes to outwit security networks

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SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Moi University wishes to inform all School-Based Continuing Students in the following Campuses: Eldoret West (KPA), Nairobi, Coast, Kitale, Odera Akangó (Yala), Kericho, Mogotio and Alupe-Busia that opening and term dates have been scheduled as follows:

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No student will be allowed to attend classes before paying requisite fees in full and/or clearing any arrears.

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Imams in Coast now live in endless fear of assassination

Nyali Barracks attack: Unanswered questions Was it an act of suicide by de-

ranged militants or a brilliant op-eration that failed?

This is the most vital question that investigators from the mili-tary, National Intelligence Services and the Criminal Investigations Department are grappling with in the course of unraveling the mys-tery of the November 2, attack on Nyali Barracks, Mombasa in which six raiders were killed.

A serviceman at the barracks

was also killed. Since then, Nelson Marwa, the Mombasa County Commissioner, and top military of-ficials have declined to disclose the whereabouts of an attacker al-legedly captured in the raid and who has not been charged in any court in Mombasa.

Meanwhile, the identities of the raiders remain a mystery amid claims by Robert Kitur, Mombasa Police Commander, that authori-ties are yet to complete the process of lifting fingerprints from the corpses for verification of identity

with the national register of per-sons. Sources within the military told The Standard on Sunday that depicting the raiders as primitive people “who dared attack a bar-racks with machetes” could be a gross oversimplification of a dead-ly and more complex matter as a theory emerges that military ana-lysts are concerned at the bravery and cunning of what appears to be a new enemy.

The official believes the attack-ers most likely wanted to sneak in-to the barracks, slaughter soldiers,

snatch their guns and start a gun-fight that could lead into a blood-bath.

Sources within the National In-telligence Services and Military In-telligence told The Standard on Sunday that detectives recovered a cellphone and partial ID from the body of a slain attacker identified as Godana, which they will use to decipher clues.

Now reports indicate that the alleged Godana is suspected to have been the raiding squad’s com-mander.

Dozens of Imams and Muslim clerics are now living in fear of as-sassination following recent kill-ings especially in Mombasa and Kwale counties.

Although police confirm they have received reports of such threats, they say such reports have been exagerated.

“There are imams who have complained about threats to their lives but not in the manner that is being reported,” Mombasa Coun-ty Police Commander Robert Kitur said last week.

The spectre of impending mur-der reared its head recently after unknown attackers killed Sheikh Salim Bakari Mwarangi in Likoni, Mombasa, the same neighbour-hood where former Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, Sheikh Mohamed Idriss was shot and killed in June. He was the imam of Bilaal bin Rabaah mosque.

The circumstances of Sheikh Mwarangi’s murder remain scanty, and police are yet to shed light on the matter. However, police have been accused of doing little to protect Imams, whose lives are in danger.

Coincidentally, Sheikh Mwa-rangi’s murder came within days of new disturbances at Swafaa mosque that began on October, 24. The Imam of Swafaa mosque, Sheikh Hassan Juma Rashid, was allegedly ousted by radicals and forced to resign. Inspector Gener-al of Police David Kimaiyo ordered police to storm the mosque, and apparently residents declined to heed this order, however, the standoff was initiated peacefully.

Meanwhile, unknown men tried to infiltrate Nyali Barracks. A preliminary probe suggest the slain attackers belonged to a group more extreme than the Al Shabaab, which some analysts claim could be responsible for the renewed militancy in parts of Mombasa.

The irony of the current state of fear in Muslim religious circles is

that, radicals and moderates are equally affected. Moderates, howev-er, report their fears to police before they are killed while the radicals live underground since the assassina-tions started in 2012.

Following the murder of radical Islamist Sheikh Abubakar Shariff alias Makaburi in April, State officials have acknowledged difficulties in monitoring radical trends.

The dogma within muslim circles is that, moderates are being attacked or killed by underground radical squads, while the radicals are being liquidated by police death squads, claims that are uncorroborated.

Radical circlesSome analysts also believe rivalry

within moderate and radical circles are responsible for the assassina-tions. Why was Sheikh Mwarangi killed? Police claim they do not know and appear to treat the murder as routine or in their parlance “normal crime.” Kitur says he could not as-certain how many Imams have been threatened or forced into hiding.

Early this week, Likoni location chief, Mohamed Kimbwila, told The Standard on Sunday that said Sheikh Mwarangu, had, in many occasions, said “he was a target for assassina-tion by radical youths due to his stand against radicalisation”.

According to Kimbwila, Sheikh

Salim Bakari Mwarangi Aboud Rogo Mohammed Sheikh Sharif Abubakar

ByB Benard Sanga

ByB STandard rePOrTer

ByB STandard Team

Claim: Police have been accused of doing little to arrest perpetrators of these attacks

Mwarangi had resisted extremist Is-lamic ideologies and urged his col-leagues to do the same. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing yet.

The late Idriss Mwarangu ap-pears to be the latest to fall in the hands of the radicals operating inde-pendently or under the Al Hjira, a cell linked to Al Shabaab.

Ideologically, the radicals and moderates clash over contemporary events, including the applicability of the concept of jihad in Somalia, whether Muslims should recognise the Kenyan state and how faiths should co-exists. Moderates are con-sidered close to the “infidel”state that is oppressing Muslims, hence are considered apostate and fair game for murder.

According to Mombasa-based human rights group HAKI Africa, 33 Muslims have either been killed or kidnapped in Coast in the last one year. Out of these, 26 are Imams and madrassa teachers. “No one seem to be safe. Other than the clerics, even police officers are being killed. Imams are scared and so are the res-idents,” said Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid.

He said the Government, which is supposed to act as an arbitrator is not helping to provide security. Several Muslim clerics that had been profiled by the State as being behind

WEEK IN REVIEW

the recruitment of youths to fight in Somali have been killed, kidnapped or disappeared.

For instance, in April 10, 2012, the body of Sheikh Mohammed Kas-sim, who was linked to the Macha-kos Country bus blast, in which six people died was found in a mortu-ary in Kilifi. On April 13, 2012, Sheikh Samir Khan’s body was found dumped in Tsavo forest, Taita Taveta along the Mombasa-Nairobi High-way. Sheikh Samir, who had been an Imam at the controversial Musa Mosque in Mombasa, was accused for recruiting youths for Al Shabaab. On August 27, 2012, Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohamed, who was cited in the UN reports as the main ideolog-ical leader of Al-Hijira, was gunned down near Bamburi Police Station along the Mombasa-Malindi High-way. Khalid says the Government failed to act as an arbiter, leading to the widening of ideological differ-ences among the youths and mod-erate clerics.

Other moderate clerics have said they are living in fear with others opting to go into hiding.

In Kwale, Sheikh Aman Hamis exhibited frustration and a sense of hopelessness recently said moder-ate clerics in the region are planning to hold an Islamic special prayer, called Dua Al Badr, against their at-tackers.

The killing of Ahmed Abdal-la Bakhshwein in January, 28 2014, in Malindi town sent shock waves across counter-terrorism circles. As security authorities squirmed in fear without clues, Islamist blogs and Internet activists with links to radicalism Islamic groups hailed the assassination deriding Bakhshwein as “a traitor”who met a just fate.

Although the bloggers did not mention or suggest who had killed Abdalla, they claimed the kill-er was acting in defence of Islam.

Abdalla’s death was a turning point in Kenya’s counter-terrorism strategy at the Coast, and specifical-ly Malindi, where he lived and is considered the spiritual and histor-ical capital of Al Qaida in East Africa.

Security authorities feared that Al Shabaab had introduced a new tactic of assassinating critics and police informers. This year, more than six alleged informers have been killed in Kwale, Mombasa and Malindi. Abdalla was a prominent force in counter-terrorism activity at the Coast, not only uncovering major plots, but eventually aiding Fazul’s killing in Mogadishu a cou-ple of years ago.

Although no imam has been killed in Kilifi County, the murder of state security agents and civilian counter-terrorism operatives has been equally galling to the residents and security authorities and raised fears that a third force or squad is on the prowl killing and exterminating on behalf of Al Qaida’s affiliates.

In the wake of Abdalla’s murder, a third counter-terrorism agent was killed on May, 4. Alyaan Mohamed, a police informer and counter-ter-rorism expert was shot dead at his house in Shella, Malindi, raising fear that Al Shabaab cell members had ordered the killing, which was hailed as justified in Islamist blogs and Facebook posting.

Anti-terror agents

targeted

Man shot dead Tension was high yesterday in

the volatile Majengo area in Mom-basa following the killing of a man by unknown gunmen.

Mombasa has been on edge for days following the resumption of what rights group consider ex-tra-judicial killings of imams and murders in the streets by armed men on motorcycle.

Security officers were deployed after youths snatched the corpse from the Coast General Hospital where the late Hassan Guti appar-ently died after a private hospital reportedly declined to admit him.

Police have declined to discuss this matter or respond to claims that anti-terrorism police execut-ed Guti at around 2.30pm after branding him a terrorist. Momba-sa OCPD Geofrey Mayek arrived on the scene within minutes of the murder but declined to speak.

ByB STanley mwahanga


TUESDAYS10.05 PM

THE GLITZ,THE GLAMOUR,THE SWAG!Tune in to e-curve for whats hot and whats not.


Senators plot comeback in fight with MPsTurf wars: Members of the Senate feel that they have been reduced to inadvertent beggars by their National Assembly counterparts

deal with the National Assembly.“The attitude and the precedence be-

ing created by the Cabinet Secretaries and Government officers of delivering Bills via the National Assembly is errone-ous. That is why we must address it polit-ically through the office of the Senate Ma-jority Leader,” Murkomen said.

It is not just Murkomen who thinks Kindiki is the problem. Veteran politician GG Kariuki (Laikipia) told Kindiki, to his face that he is “the headache”. Kariuki does not see why the Senate should be “begging” for matters that are provided in law. Attorney General Githu Muigai has also taken some flak for failing to advise the President whenever the National As-sembly takes shortcuts.

Kindiki is ever quiet whenever his Na-tional Assembly counterpart Aden Duale tables Bills from ministries with the dec-laration that the “Bill does not concern county governments”.

The popular notion on the Senate – that is a House of old people, an idle House — and the bullying by MPs is a

pointer as to why the Senate has been turned into inadvertent beggars. Mutahi Kagwe (Nyeri) thinks the Senate’s dependence on the “soft power” in creat-ing rapport with the Presidency and the National Assembly was likely to make it suffer. His advice to his colleagues is that they should embrace “hard power” –a strict adherence to the rule of law.

“There’s a point that reaches where caution ends and cowardice begins to op-erate. I think we are slowly creeping into that point where cowardice has set in,” said Kagwe on the fresh controversy on the Mining Bill.

Wilfred Machage (Migori) thinks the time has come to review the Standing Or-ders so that both Houses are obligated to talk to each other.

For now, the Senate has two options, go to court and get a binding ruling; or sanction Muturi for flouting the law and kick him out of office. These are options Kindiki finds mouth-watering. In the National Assembly, the Senate has no friends.

The Senate has renewed its fight for political survival and legislative rele-vance as it embarks on last-ditch efforts to convince President Uhuru Kenyatta to reject a Bill that is awaiting his signature.

The country’s 67 senators, led by their Speaker Ekwee Ethuro, have re-treated to Mombasa to take stock of their 18-month tenure. “We aim to strengthen the Senate’s specific and larger role by nurturing a new, progressive, collegiate and democratic culture,” Ehuro said.

The retreat comes at a time their Leader of Majority Kithure Kindiki is in a charm offensive to persuade the Pres-ident to reject the Mining Bill, 2014, sub-mitted to State House after the unequiv-ocal approval by the National Assembly.

Coming a week after a quiet first an-niversary of the Supreme Court advisory opinion which gave the Senate a lifeline in the jurisdictional battle with the Na-tional Assembly, the Senate appears to be gearing up for a second round.

It is a judicial and legislative battle that will expose the Jubilee administra-tion’s commitment to devolution; un-mask the myth that the Opposition sup-ports devolution of power and resources to the counties; and chart the way for-ward on the icy relations between the two Houses of Parliament.

Ask Prof Kindiki what he thinks of the push and pull between the two Houses, and he will readily point an accusing fin-ger at Ethuro and National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi. He says the duo have to “grow up” and deal with issues.

“These are senior public servants and we do not expect petty rivalry at that lev-el,” Kindiki said when he notified the House that he had written to the Presi-dent asking him to reject the Bill. He wants it sent back to the National As-sembly and Speaker Muturi forced to have the Bill sent to the Senate.

The Mining Bill is a crucial piece of legislation that deals with minerals, how they will be managed and how revenues will be shared out among the national government, counties and local com-munities.

In the 79 laws published in the life of the Eleventh Parliament, the Senate was ignored in 67. Muturi did not believe the Senate had a role to play in the rest. But National Assembly Deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso says it is wrong for the Senate to accuse Muturi of subverting the law. “We use the same Constitution,” Laboso told The Standard on Sunday.

Muturi, who was in Naivasha during the writing of the current Constitution four years ago, does not believe that Kenya’s Senate has the same stature as say, the US’s or India’s. In many conver-sations with The Standard on Sunday, he has consistently said the Senate should never intrude in the hallowed lawmak-ing grounds of the National Assembly, unless the laws are in line with the Fourth Schedule, or those prescribed as “concerning county governments”.

Idle houseBut to the Senators, the Constitution

has to be read together with the Su-preme Court’s advisory opinion on the way the two Speakers have to consult before they deal with Bills.

Hassan Omar (Mombasa) banks on the advisory opinion – which the Mem-bers of the National Assembly and their Speaker have dismissed unanimously as “just an opinion”—as the panacea to the unprocedural assent of Bills.

Kipchumba Murkomen, the chair-man of the Senate’s Committee on De-volved Governments, thinks his boss in the House, Kindiki, is the problem, be-cause he lets Cabinet Secretaries to only

ByB Alphonce Shiundu

Senators during a special sitting to discuss the report on Kericho Governor Paul Chepk‑wony’s impeachment in the Governor in June. [PHOTO:FILE/ STANDARD]

• In the 79 laws published in the life of the Eleventh Parliament, the Senate was ignored in 67

• Members of the National Assembly and their Speak-er have dismissed unanimously as “just an opinion”

• The popular notion on the Senate – that is a House of old people, an idle House — and the bullying by MPs is a pointer as to why the Senate has been turned into inadvertent beggars

The precedence being created by the Cabinet Secretaries and State officials of delivering Bills via the National Assembly is erroneous –‑Kipchumba Murkomen, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator

SupremacBy battles

The government has appointed and gazetted a taskforce on the pro-posed amendments to the Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) Act 2013.

The taskforce is mandated to seek views and review comments from stakeholders, including the general public on the proposed amendments, monitoring the pro-cess of legislation of the same and advising the Devolution and Plan-ning Cabinet Secretary on the im-plementation of the amended PBO Act.

The Devolution ministry is to provide a secretariat to offer sup-port services, while the taskforce is supposed to report back to the CS in

three months from the date of the notice. The Standard on Sunday has established that the Government may soften its stand over putting the ceiling on foreign funding to Non-Governmental organisations at 15 per cent of their annual budget, however, it would outline other strong regulation measures to make the civil society more accountable.

In a Kenya Gazette notice dated November 7, 2014, Devolution and Planning CS Anne Waiguru, ap-pointed former nominated Member of Parliament, Sophia Abdi as the chairperson.

Other members of the Taskforce include Jennifer Shamalla, Fazul Mohamed Yusuf and Sarah Muhoya.

Fazul is a well versed operative in the NGOs management, having re-

cently developed guidelines under the Devolution ministry that sought to create a database of all funding and projects.

Mohamed said the Govern-ment is not re-inventing the wheel, given accountability was recognised the world-over.

The appointment of Abdi, who was the mentor of the PBO Act when she served in the Tenth Parliament, and the inclusion of representatives from the NGOs Council, NGOs Co-ordination Board, Inter-religious council, civil society and the New Partnership for Africa development/Africa Peer Review Mechanism-Ken-ya, the amendment is meant to en-sure any amendment is acceptable across board.

NGOs -Council Chief Executive

officer Ms Kevinnah Loyatum, said they have no problem with the task-force, so long as concerns of the stakeholders within the NGOs fra-ternity are taken care of.

“The council was of course hav-ing pressure from our membership and this will be a good chance for them to air their concerns through the taskforce,” said Loyatum.

Strongly opposedBut the civil society has stood

firm to demand for the implementa-tion of the PBO Act without amend-ments.

The civil society is strongly op-posed to limiting foreign funding to 15 per cent of their annual budgets, which is the main agenda of the pro-posed amendments. Former Ethics

and Governance Permanent Secre-tary John Githongo, says amending the PBO Act ‘is unnecessary and there is even no need for a taskforce over the same’.

Constitutional lawyer Harun Ndubi, says it is unconstitutional to make changes to a law that was passed and has never been imple-mented.

“It would be better to first imple-ment the PBO Act in its current form, rather than amend a law that is yet to be implemented,” noted Ndubi. Former NGOs Council na-tional chairman Mr Ken Wafula, says NGOs want the current PBO Act im-plemented as it is without any amends. “We support the PBO Act in its current form because we already had our input in it,” said Wafula.

Team formed to seek views on proposed amendments to PBO ActByB Stephen MAkABilA

WEEK IN REVIEW


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ODM smarting from Magerer’s ejection as Rift support wanes

The recent incident in which ODM Executive Director Magerer Langat was roughed up and ejected from a party meeting at Orange House in Nairobi has further shaken the party’s political support in the Rift Valley.

Mr Magerer was one of the last men standing in ODM form the Rift, which voted overwhelmingly for the Jubilee coalition in last year’s General Election.

He has since indicated he could quit ODM after being humiliated by Nairobi MCAs, who have accused him of being a Jubilee mole. Magerer says it has become evident the party is not keen on assuring him of his security even if he decides to stay.

“After what happened no one has come out to assure me of my security. I now intend to pursue the matter in court. I have no intentions of remain-ing in ODM,” Magerer declared in an interview last week.

His decision to quit come at a time when ODM’s National Executive Council has formed a committee to look into the allegations leveled against him and the circumstances that led to his forcible ejection.

Magerer says he does not care about results of deliberations of the committee headed by Lawyer Fred Achock, former Deputy speaker Farah Malim, former Senator Harold Kip-chumba and Mombasa Women’s Rep Mishi Mboko and Halima Daro from Marsabit.

“I do not care about what will come out of the committee. I am do-ne with ODM,” he said.

In the last election, Magerer may have retained his Kipkeleon parlia-mentary seat had he chosen to defect to URP. But when most of the entire region ditched the Orange party, he remained steadfast.

The incident at Orange House seems to have given Magerer political advantage and sympathy from lead-ers and residents of Rift Valley region. Last weekend when he made an ap-pearance at the burial of Bomet Gov-ernor Isaac Ruto’s daughter Emily Chep’ngetich, in the company of Bu-dalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba, the crowd cheered him, as he made his way to the VIP section where Raila and other dignitaries were seated.

ODM Executive Director Magerer Langat is attacked by MCAs and rowdy youth during the CORD Parliamentary Group meeting at Orange House last week. INSET: He addresses a press conference on the attack. [PHOTO: GOVEDI ASUTSA & DAVID NJAAGA/STANDARD]

benefit from the Magerer saga. He says URP is a party with a strong base in the Rift Valley and will not be wait-ing to benefit from a fall out in any party.

“What happened in ODM is of no consequence to our party. We have al-ways championed internal democra-cy and freedom of speech. We do not compare ourselves with perennial losers,” says Mr Kiloku.

While saying Magerer should have heeded calls to quit long ago, Kiloku said even if he were to quit he would be doing it at an individual level. ODM youth in the region dismiss Magerer’s departure as inconsequen-tial, saying the party still has some young people who support it. Nakuru County ODM youth leader Hilton Abiola says Magerer’s position

His departure also caused some com-motion, as villagers scrambled to hold his hand and shouted: “(sorry hon-ourable)!”

Leaders from the region are of the opinion that the treatment Magerer got from the party was the last nail in the coffin and that Raila, the CORD leader will find it difficult to win the support of voters in the region in case he vies in the 2017 General Election.

Although Magerer has not shown interest in joining URP, his fate in ODM has generated heated debate in the region. National Assembly Depu-ty Speaker Joyce Laboso who is also the Sotik Member of Parliament says the actions by the Nairobi Ward rep-resentatives have further isolated Rai-la from the people of Rift Valley.

She argues that forcefully ejecting Magerer from the parliamentary meeting was a testimony of the intol-erance and lack of democracy within the party.

“Magerer should have left this par-ty long ago. By referring to him as a mole not only portrayed the party as serving certain regions but was also undemocratic and muzzling freedom of speech,” Dr Laboso says.

Okoa Kenya pushShe reasons that there is not much

gain the region will get as URP is the most popular. However, she adds that this will make it even harder for pro-ponents of Okoa Kenya to sell their campaign in the region.

“People are angry because Mager-er has stood by the party at the ex-pense of his parliamentary seat. The people of the South Rift left ODM long ago and Magerer should also do the same,” says Laboso.

URP Secretary General Fred Mute-ti has already welcomed Magerer to the party, saying he did not deserve the treatment he got from ward reps. “What happened at Orange house was a display of political intolerance of the highest order.

The party is supposed to be an in-stitution that natures democracy and good leadership,” says Mr Muteti, adding that URP party is ready to wel-come Magerer should he decide to join it.

He described URP as the only via-ble option for Magerer, saying he lost the Kipkeleon seat after he refused to join URP. “URP enjoys 90 per cent support in the region where Magerer comes from and if he decides to join us then we be even much stronger in the Rift Valley because he is a young leader who still has a lot of potential, which ODM refused to acknowledge,” he adds.

Narok East MP Ken Kiloku dis-misses the thought that URP may

• ODM Executive Director Magerer Langat has indicated he will quit ODM after being humiliated by Nairobi MCAs, who have accused him of being a Jubilee mole • Magerer says it is evident that ODM party was not concerned about his security, even after a fine of Sh10,000 was slapped on each of the 10 ward reps alleged to have roughed him up

By Steve Mkawale

Plans to quit Orange

After what happened no one has come out to assure me of my security. I now intend to pursue the matter in court. — Magerer Langat

Ironical turn of event: The violent attack by Nairobi MCAs last week seems to have given the former Kipkeleon MP political advantage and sympathy from leaders and residents of the vote-rich region

WEEK IN REVIEW

can be taken up by other active lead-ers like Wafula Buke or John Kiama.

“The two can easily fill the gap left by Magerer as executive directors of ODM,” says Mr Abiola, who adds that ODM lost its political support in Rift Valley a long time ago and it was only a matter of time before Magerer ditched the Orange party.

He dismisses the idea that URP may stand to benefit from this saga. He said every party has its own in-house issues and ways of resolving differences.

“Let URP solve their problems be-fore talking about ODM. The Magerer saga will be handled by the party and those who wanted to benefit political-ly from it will be disappointed,” said Mr Ngeny.

Although Magerer has not said he will be joining URP, he reveals that af-ter the attacks at Orange House he has received numerous invitations from friends and people in his Kipkeleon home town to join URP.

“I know people want me to make that announcement but I will not do that at the moment,” he said. The for-mer Kipkeleon MP noted that after last Tuesday’s meeting that slapped a fine of Sh10,000 on each of the 10 ward reps alleged to have roughed him up, it was evident that the party was not concerned about his security.


TNA, URP wrangles over public sector jobs jolt Jubilee in Coast

Wrangles between The National Alliance (TNA) and United Republi-can Party (URP) over plum public appointments have jolted Jubilee leadership at he the Coast.

Differences typified by discontent among candidates who lost in the March 4 race last year and the per-ception that URP got the lion’s share of key parastatal board appoint-ments continue to derail the unity of the coalition in the region.

On Thursday, during a training and unity-building meeting at Voy-ager Hotel in Mombasa, Matano Chengo, the Mombasa County TNA branch chairman, seemed to differ with TNA Executive Director Joseph Mathai over appointments to para-statal boards.

Mr Mathai maintained there was no discontent in the party over board appointments, and downplayed claims that TNA members in the re-gion got a raw deal. He said the ap-pointments were approved by Presi-dent Uhuru Kenyatta (of TNA) and Deputy President William Ruto (from URP).

In a move viewed as an attempt to quell the disquiet among party members in the region, he said those who had been loyal to the party would be rewarded.

Internal challenges“Let those from this region who

laboured for TNA in the last elections know that their efforts were noted and will be rewarded in due time,” said Mathai.

He, however, admitted that the party was grappling with internal challenges in some local branches, including parallel leadership that he said had derailed TNA’s prospects in the region.

He asked agents who worked for the party during past elections but had not been paid to forward their appointment letters for payment.

But speaking to The Standard on Sunday after the press conference, Mr Chengo maintained that TNA members from the region were not satisfied with the appointments.

“This is an officials’ meeting. We’ll soon call a meeting with all aspirants in the region, where they are likely to state their concerns on this matter,” said Chengo.

The training meeting attended by, among others, the party’s national organising secretary, Birya Chande,

is one of the strategies aimed at unit-ing TNA leaders and coordinators at the Coast. It is hoped that this will translate into support at the grass-roots level ahead of the 2017 polls.

In a separate meeting held on Wednesday, TNA losers in last year’s election met to chart the way for-ward and forge unity in the party that did not clinch any seat in Mombasa County.

Those who attended Wednesday’s meeting included those who vied for ward, gubernatorial and parliamen-tary seats.

“Kenya Ports Authority chairman Danson Mungatana, Abdalla Mwaru-wa and about 30 candidates who contested on a TNA ticket in the 2013 elections attended the meeting,” Chengo said after the meeting.

Chengo said the Mombasa meet-ing agreed on, among other things, the formation of a shadow cabinet. Members of the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc), Republican Con-gress Party of Kenya and URP will be included in the shadow cabinet meant to check the administration of Governor Ali Hassan Joho, who was voted in on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket.

The meeting also focused on the way forward for the party, notably how to prepare a campaign war-chest ahead of the 2017 elections.

He further downplayed claims the coalition was dormant at the Coast, saying Jubilee did not want to create an election mood with vigor-ous posturing.

Chengo’s meeting came at a time when a section of contestants and agents in the last general election were accusing Jubilee officials of ne-glecting them.

Some said they had used their re-sources to campaign for the party but have not been refunded, almost two years later.

Janet Mirobi, who contested the Ganjoni Ward seat on a URP ticket, says Jubilee will have a hard time

Joseph Mathai Ali Mwatsahu

Danson Mungatana

Matano Chengo

Chirau Ali Mwakwere

ByB Mwangi Muraguri

Rallying support: Leaders have held meetings and made promises as they prepare for 2017 campaigns

winning seats in 2017 in the region if leaders do not sit with members to iron out the problems that ensued before and after the last elections.

There are also concerns that URP members and some ODM supporters have had easier access to the Presi-dent and DP, compared to TNA mem-bers.

A number of Jubilee agents from TNA and URP who spoke to The Standard on Sunday said they had not been paid their dues for the elec-tions held on March 4, last year.

“We gave our best during the elec-tions but it seems nobody valued our work. All I can remember is the pack-et of milk and water that was offered on the day of the polls. Who would want to be associated with a party that doesn’t pay its agents?” said Si-mon Kiplang’at Kibet, who was a URP agent at Chief’s Camp, Shiman-zi, in Mombasa.

Chengo confirmed that indeed, TNA agents had not been paid.

In a telephone interview, Jubilee Candidates 2013 Mombasa County chairman Peterson Mittau admitted that all was not well with the ruling coalition in Mombasa.

“The truth is that TNA candidates in the last General Election have not been rewarded. But it is not good to start bickering as that will embarrass the President, who is our party lead-er. The best way is to solve problems is in a manner that will not hurt the coalition’s unity,” Mittau said last week.

However, he downplayed allega-tions that the President and his dep-uty were shunning meetings with the former contestants.

“The President has a diary which he sticks to. He is president of Kenya, and not TNA,” said Mittau.

Former Malindi MP Lucas Maitha has been appointed head of the Ken-ya Bureau of Standards. Sophie Kadzo Kombe from Kilifi County was appointed ambassador to Zambia,

while Mwalimu Digore from Kwale was appointed the Kenya Maritime Authority chairman. Former Kisauni MP Mwaboza Mwasambu is the le-gal advisor in the office of the Dep-uty President. Marsden Madoka from Taita Taveta heads the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) board.

Former Likoni MP, Suleiman Shakombo from Mombasa heads the Kenya Petroleum Refineries lim-ited (KPRL) board, and Mrabu Cha-ka from Kwale heads the Kenya Fer-ry Services board. Chirau Ali Mwakwere from Kwale is Kenya’s ambassador to Tanzania. Except for KPA chairman Danson Mungatana, the rest are allied to URP.

Herculean taskJubilee coordinating chairman

Ali Mwatsahu, who is from URP, has called for unity in Jubilee ahead of the 2017 elections. “This is not a time for bickering, but to join hands and work together as a coalition. We have a herculean task in the next polls, and we need to be united,” says Mwatsahu.

Mombasa-based political ana-lyst, Maimuna Mwidau says it is too early for TNA to conclude it has been shortchanged, given that there are pending appointments in para-statals and commissions.

Jubilee lacks a vibrant and vocal politician to push the coalition’s popularity in the region. Kwale, Tai-ta Taveta and Kilifi counties are dominated by Cord affiliate, ODM.

In Kwale, Gonzi Rai, the Kinango MP is the only Jubilee MP among Cord senators, MPs and ward repre-sentatives. Jubilee’s only leader in Taita Taveta is Naomi Shaaban of TNA while Tana River has TNA’s Ali Wario in Bura.

TNA candidates from Coast region who lost in the March 4 race last year claim URP got the lion’s share of key para-statal board appointments.The party is also grappling with in-ternal challenges in some of the local branches.A section of contestants and agents in the last election have also accused Ju-bilee officials of neglecting them.Some say they used their resources to campaign for the party but have not been refunded, almost two years later.Agents also claim not to have been paid their dues for their work in last year’s elections.

Falling out

tna poll losers who attended MoMBasa Meeting

30year oF next general election

2017

All I can remember is the packet of milk and water

that was offered on the day of the polls. Who would want to be associated with a party that doesn’t pay its agents?”

-Simon Kiplang’at Kibet, URP agent

WEEK IN REVIEW


ByB ANTONY GITONGA

Hope alive as new concept transforms

cattle rustlers into warriors

TOP: A cattle rustler takes an aim in Lokiriama in Turkana County. Several of his colleagues have abandoned the illegal vice. ABOVE: Sarah Loboin, a beneficiary of PFS attends to her high breed goats. [Photos: Antony GitonGA/stAndArd]

PFS has helped the community come up with grazing plans as well as conserve watering areas for their livestock.

“In Lokiriama, PFS has enabled communities to experiment with al-oe vera and also encouraged cross border trade between the Turkana and Matheniko of Uganda,” he adds.

‘Seeing the light’The reformed warriors hail from

Lochor-Alomala Village in Lokiriama Sub-county in Turkana on the border of Kenya and Uganda, which for years has not known peace. The area incidentally hosts the statue of the Lokiriama Peace Accord signed in 1973 between the Turkana and Kar-amajongs.

One of the reformed warriors, Echom Lodoyo, narrates harrowing stories of when he was a cattle rustler before ‘seeing the light’.

Without eliciting any emotion, the father of seven openly confesses to killing ‘several’ cattle rustlers who had raided his village and driving away their livestock. “As a family, we have lost over 300 goats and cattle to rustlers who our neighbours and we have also revenged and received our

The excited shouts and screams of joy from a group of children rock the air as they play football a few metres from a group of old men resting under a tree to wade off the scorching heat.

As if soothed by the shouts, some women clean up their livestock pen, next to some youth chewing tobacco and laughing heartily as they exchange jokes. Without warning, gunshots rent the air, leaving residents scampering for safety in the grass-thatched houses as the joyous shouts are replaced with screams and pain of dying victims.

This is another case of a cattle rus-tling attack in Turkana County from their neighbours. Needless to say, the attack leaves a trail of blood, anger, widows, widowers and orphans.

The smell of blood, littered bodies including those of women and children now cover the once happy play-ing-ground while their livestock are long gone. The victims take a week to bury their dead relatives and with the same intensity, they revenge against their Pokot neighbours, killing and maiming in what has been the ‘norm’ for years.

However, there is hope for the two communities that do not seen eye-to-eye under a programme dubbed Pasto-ral Field Schools (PFS). Better known as ‘schools without walls’, the pro-gramme has seen some of the most dreaded rustlers become traders, farm-ers and health workers, far from their traditional lives as pastoralists.

New waysIn the ‘schools’ located under trees,

the young and the elderly intermingle as they learn new ways of life away from rustling and reliance on dona-tions. Already, tens of youth popularly known as ‘ngorokos’ and who openly admit to killing tens and stealing hun-dreds of livestock have been turned in-to reformed warriors.

Though still armed with guns, some have opened up small shops while oth-ers are involved in cross-border live-stock trade with neighbouring com-munities from Uganda.

An equally high number of women have turned into rearing high grade goats; they are observing high levels of cleanliness and are growing pasture grass for sale.

A visit to Lokiriama Village in Turka-na County and on the Kenya-Uganda border proves the community’s life-style has literally changed. Though cas-es of insecurity due to the porous bor-der are still there, the community is

slowly embracing the modern way of life and business thanks to PFS.

The project funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the European Union and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-op-eration was first piloted in Turkana in 2006 but has spread to other coun-ties. So popular is the programme that Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia have adopted it.

According to Dr Paul Mutunga, FAO pastoral fields officer, the schools are community managed hands on learning, experimentation, extension and adaptation platforms.

Under the platforms, groups of pastoralists systematically discuss their social, economic and ecological issues on a regular basis with the aim of identifying their challenges and solving them.

He says PFS’s main concept is about food security and enhancing the community resistance mainly in livestock production. Dr Mutunga says the concept has gained wide ac-ceptance and has been implemented in Pokot, Samburu, Marsabit, Garis-sa, Mandera and Tana River counties. “The concept is also addressing tech-nical livestock issues, nutrition, HIV Aids, conflict, peace initiatives, water and sanitation, maternal and child health issues,” he says.

The seasoned officer terms the re-formed warriors as one of the biggest win for the concept, adding that this is one way of addressing the perenni-al cases of cattle rustling. “We have seen guns falling silent, cases of cattle rustling coming down, an increase in cross-border trade and families changing their ways of life positively under PFS,” he says.

Dr Mutunga says in Turkana West,

share back,” he says without flinch-ing. Lodoyo, who has two wives says his attitude changed two years ago when he was approached by church leaders and teachers to join PFS.

At first he was apprehensive but with every lesson he changed and now among the leading traders in Lokiriama supplying sugar and to-bacco which are very popular there. He says he has managed to open a shop and is constructing a bigger one with some of his friends in the bushes now joining him.

The father of seven says he has managed to take his children to school and he can easily feed them without turning to his gun to seek ways of survival.

Speaking through an interpreter, the reformed warrior is challenging the County Government and donors to spread the concept to the whole region and cases of cattle rustling will come down.

According to Lochor-Alomala as-sistant chief Sammy Losuban, tens of people have lost their lives in cases of cattle rustlings in the sub-loca-tion.

Mr Losuban however notes that since the introduction of PFS, the at-titude of many youths engaged in cattle rustling has changed. “We have over 50 reformed warriors who are now engaged in business and farming and this is a big plus for us,” says Losuban.

The chief calls for the programme to be spread to other areas including that of their rivals as it has the poten-tial of changing many rustlers. For one Sarah Loboin who is a beneficia-ry of PFS, they are now getting more support from their husbands who have shunned cattle rustling.

She has seen the introduction of high breed goats in her home, add-ing that this has transformed their lives positively.

“Milk production from our high breed goats has risen sharply, we can now feed our families and we have peace since our husbands reformed,” she says.

The Turkana County Government is full of praise for the project, with the County Director of Livestock Christopher Ajele saying they have allocated Sh21 million towards ex-tension, which includes PFS.

Mr Ajele says the County Govern-ment supports FAO in the project that seeks to address food security, noting it has already succeeded in the Turkwel area. “This is a self-prop-agating concept that has seen pasto-ralists change into farming and we plan to spread it further as we have seen its benefits,” he sa

Ajele says under the programme the relationship between the Turka-na and Karamajong has improved, with inter-border trade rising.

We have seen guns falling

silent, cases of cattle rustling coming down, an increase in cross-border trade and families changing their ways of life positively under PFS.— Dr Paul Mutunga

WEEK IN REVIEW

• PastoralFieldSchools(PSF)hasseensomeofthemostdreadedrustlersbe-cometraders,farmersandhealthwork-ers

• PFS’smainconceptisaboutfoodsecurityandenhancingthecommunityresistancemainlyinlivestockproduction

• Pastoralistssystematicallydiscusstheirsocial,economicandecologicalissuesonaregularbasiswiththeaimofidentify-ingtheirchallengesandsolvingthem

• Theinitiativehashelpedthecommuni-tycomeupwithgrazingplansaswellasconservewateringareasfortheirlive-stock

Food securitBy and livestock production

Changed lives: Guns have fallen silent, cattle rustling has come down, and there is an increase in cross-border trade in Turkana


Safari

MALINDI...106.3 WEBUYE...95.9 GARISSA...88.7 TAITA/ VOI...107.4 NAROK...102.3 NAIROBI...102.7 NYERI...105.7 MERU...105.1 NAKURU...104.5 KISII...91.3 KISUMU...105.3 MOMBASA...105.1 KERICHO...90.5 ELDORET...91.1 KITUI...93.8

MALINDI...106.3 WEBUYE...95.9 GARISSA...88.7 TAITA/ VOI...107.4 NAROK...102.3 NAIROBI...102.7 NYERI...105.7 MERU...105.1 NAKURU...104.5 KISII...91.3 KISUMU...105.3 MOMBASA...105.1 KERICHO...90.5 ELDORET...91.1 KITUI...93.8

Dadaab, Bura, Modicar, Algabur, Moibura, BilBil

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staarabikaAnn Njogu

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asubuhiAlex & Jalas

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Assuming you were a ratio-nal person who happened upon a man atop a build-ing screaming

“Fire! Fire!” you would first employ all possible means to secure his life by physical-ly extracting him from the building. Only then would you turn your full attention to the supposed fire.

When the Executive Di-rector of a political party publicly declares that as far as he is concerned, his party is dead, he displays the worst form of disloyalty. He essen-tially is the man screaming fire! fire! from atop the build-ing. That his actions should lead others to act with extraor-dinary expediency should not come as a surprise.

What does come as a surprise is that in the aftermath of the ejection of ODM Executive Director Magerer Langat from a party meeting, the Party Leader has been on the re-ceiving end of accusations of intolerance and violence.

There are those that would like to sell the narrative that ODM is an exclusively Luo affair and what we are seeing is a purge against non-Luos but the facts defy them. Mager-er was appointed immediately after the 2013 elections in which ODM received few votes from Rift Valley, yet this did not prevent his appointment. Did the party only notice re-cently that he is not Luo?

His fate is entirely his own doing. Being a senior mem-ber of the party, he was expected to be part of the team whose job it is to craft solutions and forge the way forward. Instead, he has declared the party lifeless. Such are not ac-tions of a man who has been toiling to grow the party.

In the aftermath, there has been a most relentless and concerted effort to draw a direct association between the name of Raila Odinga and intolerance and violence. The man is apparently responsible for the actions of free willed autonomous human beings acting on their own instance, more so when those individuals happen to come from his community. This is absurd.

What is so special about Raila that he is held to a differ-ent standard? When majority leader Adan Duale came off the leash and insulted Governor Ruto by making unflatter-ing references to the governor’s parents, in public and in the Deputy President’s presence, no one blamed the Dep-uty President for Duale’s actions.

But on the other end, Raila is personally answerable for all actions of his party members. By the mere fact of his presence he was supposed to prevent the unruly MCAs from ejecting Magerer. Many have conveniently forgotten that Raila was himself the victim of a violent assault barely a month ago!

According to the spin masters, all actions by the ODM party leader can only fall into two groups, those that scheme to achieve violence and those carried out at the behest of the so called foreign masters. This twisted logic is only applied to him.

What is even more callous is the fact that while some labour in their vain machinations to link Raila with may-hem, there are those in this very country who have formal-ly been arraigned before international tribunals charged with gravest kinds of violence that can be meted out on fellow humans. Yet those ones are depicted as peace loving citizens who continue to exhort others to embrace peace-ful coexistence and harmony. The truth of the matter is that the problem of intolerance and political violence is not a preserve or speciality of one party. It is something that transcends the political divide and has to be tackled from that standpoint.

I heard TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo call for decisive action to ensure that “ODMs disease” does not spread to other parties but I’m sure he knows intolerance is a pre-existing condition in his own party. On the day he even dreams that TNA is dead and utters the words, what will happen to him will make what happened to Magerer seem like a wedding procession.

OPINIONJUSTICE

ble presence of oil under the soil in the area. But what will the massacre of police officers escorting examination papers do to further any single community’s claim to any natural resource? None whatsoever! That the Kenya Defence Forces have been unleashed on the bloodthirsty marauders is not without precedent, legally and politically. Under exceptional circumstances, the armed forces can be deployed to eliminate or bring to heel an insurgency that has proved versatile and moves freely between international bor-ders.

And this is, perhaps, the time for President Kenyatta to make that crucial phone call to his Ugandan and Ethiopian counterparts to seal their sides of the common border so that the killers do not slink into their territories.

Retired President Moi issued a hot-pursuit order deep into Somalia to recover guns that had been stolen from a Kenyan police station; Presidents George Bush determined that the drugs trade and criminal gangs in South and Central America had become a clear and pres-ent danger to the American way of life and is-sued a presidential fiat to rein-in the criminals.

His son and now former president G.W. Bush considered Iraq part of an Axis of Evil and ordered the start of a long war to protect the US interests. Bush and his successor Barack Obama pursued Osama Bin Laden across the world, bombed out every nook and cranny un-til they put him out of commission.

Daily, Israel dispatches planes and tanks in-to the restive Gaza to avenge any Israeli death,

much like the way former President Mwai Ki-baki dispatched the KDF to seek out and de-stroy Al Shabaab bases inside Somalia.

The President’s Kapedo edict is no differ-ent. Regardless of the outcome of KDF’s en-gagement, hard questions abound: Why do we still have swathes of the country where chil-dren can only go to school under the watch-ful eye of armed police reservists? Who are the leaders inciting their people into evicting neighbours in anticipation of rich pickings from perceived future oil extraction revenues?

Who are the main backers of the secession-ist movement at the coast, wielding so much power that they can “assure” attackers that al-though the tactic failed Prophet Kinjekitile Ng-wale’s warriors in 1905 against the German oc-cupiers, their modern-day maji-maji-sprayed bare chests can repel bullets? What balderdash!

What are the county and national govern-ments doing to stem the all-too-familiar raids and counter raids between rival communities? Was there cohesion between the regular and Administration Police commands in Kapedo? Obviously, this was lacking in Westgate, Lamu and Baragoi.

While we are all looking to government to handle reforms in the police force, it is the du-ty of every citizen to ensure that their work is made comfortable. Working with the police is not only a duty but also a great sign of patrio-tism.

Go after Kapedo bandits and contain runaway insecurity

Is the Kenya Police Service be-coming one of the riskiest jobs in Kenya today? Hardly have we ex-orcised ghosts of the Baragoi mas-sacre than 21 others die under a hail of cowardly bullets in the law-less expanse between the Baringo

and Turkana counties.Understandably, the President is furi-

ous with the loss of lives, not just because he is Commander-in-Chief, but firstly, be-cause it backpedals the vision he has ex-pressed for the country’s development.

Secondly, it has come too soon after other police officers lost their lives from a lightning raid in Lamu, terrorists made a mockery of the efficiency and effective-ness of the rapid response units and that secessionists down at the coast seem un-moved by any efforts at re-integration.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was cate-gorical last Sunday that bandits of Kapedo will be brought to book and his adminis-tration will not sit idle as excuses are ban-died about inadequate water supplies and pasture fuelling generations-old conflicts between communities in a region large-ly inhabited by impoverished nomadic herders.

There are also murmurs on the possi-

of a monkey being the judge in the affairs of the forest. The pro-visions that the Judges were un-happy with included a require-ment that upon the passage of the new Constitution, all judges would be vetted afresh to deter-mine their suitability to contin-ue holding office. This provision was informed by two realities. In Kenya’s dark history, the courts had played a major role in emas-culating Kenyans’ clamour for democratisation and had al-lowed the Executive to liberally clamp down on citizen’s human rights. Many Kenyans remem-bered how in the 90s the courts had turned a blind eye to the tor-ture and degrading of Kenyans human rights and pro-democra-cy activists sometimes holding court sessions in the night where accused persons were brought to court in stretchers.

There were also credible al-legations of widespread cor-ruption in the courts. For this reason, everyone felt that Ken-yan’s faith in the judicial pro-cess would only be restored by a fresh Judiciary. Kenyans also knew that though the Executive and Parliament were equally culpable in the abuse of Ken-yans’ rights, these two institu-tions would be renewed through an electoral process, an option that was not available in the case of the Judiciary. It was in view of these realities that the new Constitution contained sever-

al clauses that were intended to ensure that the Judiciary was re-newed and that the process was not compromised through the courts.

On the one hand the Consti-tution required the Chief Justice to vacate office upon passage of the Constitution; he was to be the symbolic sacrificial lamb to atone the sins of the Judiciary. For the remainder of the judg-es, the Constitution mandated the setting up of a mechanism for vetting of all judicial officers through the Vetting Board. To insulate the process, Section 23 of the 6th Schedule of the Con-stitution provided clearly that “the removal or process leading to the removal of a Judge from office by virtue of the.. vetting process... would not be subject to question in or review by any court”. The Constitution ap-peared naively unaware that this country is full of smart lawyers who would find a way to circum-vent these provisions. That un-fortunately is what transpired. Numerous judicial officers up-on being removed went to court

and obtained orders vacating the decisions of the Vetting Board in clear contravention of the provisions of the Consti-tution. Of course because our constitutional architecture af-firms all decisions of the courts even where they are manifestly wrong, the Judicial Service Com-mission has had to abide with the Court Orders and continue paying these removed officers their emoluments.

The Supreme Court’s deci-sion to confirm what the people of Kenya had intimated; that this process would not be open to re-view by the courts, is an import-ant closure to this unfortunate chapter in the story of the Ken-yan Judiciary. It however has im-portant lessons for institutions which are already violating peo-ple’s rights whilst exercising re-sponsibilities granted to them by the new Constitution. The pub-lic may appear impotent in the face of abuse of these respon-sibilities by these institutions. But this “impotence” is not for-ever; there will come a time to account. That time came for the Judiciary in 2010. No amount of huffing and puffing will protect it from the consequences of its dark season.

Judges should respect vetting board’s rulings

Hypocrisy over Magerer incident

self-servingDistrust for the Judiciary was a result from previous unfair actions

The Supreme Court’s judgment declaring the decision of the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board final and that the High Court and Court of Appeal had no juris-

diction on the process of vetting of Judges is one of the most significant steps the court has taken to ensure the Judiciary accords with the spirit of the new Constitution.

For those who may not remem-ber, in 2003 when current Defence Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Oma-mo was Chair of the Law Society of Kenya, the entire law society mem-bership, for the first time in the life of the society, went on a boycott of the courts and carried out nation-wide demonstrations against the Judiciary for a day. The reason for the boycott was that the then dis-credited Judiciary had filed a case in the High Court to block any pro-visions prejudicial to the Judicia-ry from being inserted in the draft constitution. It was the classic case

Kamotho [email protected]

Twitter @MachelWaikenda

Edwin Sifuna

No amount of protests will protect it from the consequences of its dark season.

POLITICS

The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya

Machel Waikenda

The writer is a political and communications consultant

The writer is an advocate in the High Court of Kenya

[email protected]

November 9, 2014Standard on SUndaY

Days numbered for serial loan defaulters

Thousands of loan defaulters could from next month fail to secure loans from any financial institution.

This is after Savings and Credit Co-operatives (Saccos) joined banks to blacklist loan defaulters who face the risk of being blacklisted by other

lenders in future. Last week alone, tens of Saccos put notices in the local dailies warning their members and mainly those with outstanding loans to clear or enter into acceptable re-payment plans failure to which their names will be submitted to Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs).

Once loan defaulters are listed with CRBs they will remain barred from accessing loans for five years even after clearing the outstanding amounts.

Sound financial servicesThe initiative is expected to rein in

on serial defaulters who have left Sac-cos grappling with Sh7 billion in non-performing loans. Saccos wel-come the plan saying it will enable credit unions to price risks which have been a problem before.

Stima Sacco CEO Paul Wambua said the new approach will reduce in-formation asymmetry which has been contributing to high defaults in the past. “This is positive development

Dar grows 7.1pc in first half of 2014

Briefly

BB Nicholas Waitathu and demonstrates the maturity of our financial system. Further, it will be possible for Saccos to determine the credit worthiness of their customers,” said Mr Wambua.

According to the Credit Reference Bureau Regulations 2013, non-per-forming loans (underpaid for 90 days) will be listed with CRB. Financial in-stitutions are supposed to share cred-it information of their customers with CRB to guarantee sound financial ser-vices delivery.

Sacco Society’s Authority (SASRA), the sector regulator signed a memo-randum of understanding (MoU) with other financial regulators to be shar-ing credit information. The other fi-nancial regulators include Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), Retire-ment Benefits Authority (RBA), Capi-tal Market Authority (CMA) and Cen-tral Bank of Kenya (CBK).

SASRA CEO Carilus Ademba told Weekend Business that the percent-age of non-performing loans com-pared to total cumulative loans given

Unilever named most sought after firmUnilever have been named the most-sought-after fast moving consumer goods (FCMG) employer in the world by LinkedIn, which also puts it among the top three employers globally. Overall, Unilever retained the Number three po-sition behind Google in first place and Apple in second, and ahead of businesses including, Microsoft, Facebook, General Electric, Nestle, Amazon and PepsiCo and P&G, which are in the top 10. The Linke-dIn Most in Demand Employers 2014 survey was based on activity from more than 300 million LinkedIn users and 10 billion interactions.“This underscores the fact that we are creating the right culture and shared commitments to world class business acumen, and to meeting consumer needs around the world,” said Marc Engel, Uni-lever CEO for East Africa and emerging markets. He said the company’s ambition is to double the size of its business while re-ducing the impact on the environment, and increasing positive social impact. “We can only do this by continuing to at-tract the very best talent,” he said.

Tanzania’s economy grew 7.1 per cent in the first half of 2014 from a year earli-er, slightly slower than its expansion in the same period of 2013, the government said. Africa’s fourth-biggest gold produc-er, and a major tourist destination, fore-casts economic growth of 7.2 per cent this year and maintained its forecasts for the next two years on Thursday. “The econ-omy is expected to expand further to 7.4 per cent in 2015 and 7.8 percent in 2016,” Stephen Wasira, minister of state in the president’s office, said in a presentation to parliament. The government also plans to spend $3.39 billion on development projects in fiscal 2015/16, the minister said in a sep-arate report he submitted to parliament on Thursday. Tanzania, a nation of 45 million people, is aiming to become a middle-income econ-omy and Wasira said per capita income had risen to $706 last year, from $600 in 2012. —Reuters

Cadbury rewards customers with trips Beverages firm Cadbury has launched a consumer campaign to reward con-sumers with the opportunity to tour five star lodges in the country and Dubai. The campaign will see three winners an all expenses paid trip with their families to Amboseli, Maasai Mara and Mt Kenya with the overall winner touring one of the best tourist attraction in Dubai.Last week, office messenger, Mr Pe-ter Njeru, 39, was the lucky winner of a family trip to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. He took part in the competi-tion after purchasing Cadbury drinking chocolate at one of the supermarkets in Nairobi. Dominic Kimani, regional manager for Cadbury East Africa said, “Our aim is to reward our consumers who have made Cadbury the number one Cocoa Bever-age brand in Kenya.”Winner Njeru said, “This chance is an opportunity for me to embrace and promote domestic tourism. I would like to encourage members of the public to participate in the promotion and be lucky winners of the remaining prizes.” One has to buy Cadbury Cocoa and Cad-bury Drinking Chocolate to be entered in the draw.

This is positive de-velopment and demon-strates the maturity of our financial system. Fur-ther, it will be possible for Saccos to determine the credit worthiness of their customers,” -Stima Sacco CEO Paul Wambua

Tanzanian airline eyes Moi Airport MombasaFlightlink Air Charters, a Tanza-

nia-based airline has announced plans to start flights between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa’s Moi Interna-tional Airport (MIA) early next year.

In an interview with Weekend Business during the just concluded World Travel Market (WTM) in Lon-don, FlightLink CEO, Capt. Munawer Dhirani said they are keen to acquire the green light before starting the flights that will connect the two key Port cities.

“We are already in touch with the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) for BASA rights before we roll

BB PhiliP MWakio iN loNdoN

out by all the deposit taking Saccos has been declining over the years. According to the Sacco Supervision Annual Report 2013, the overall non-performing loans for licensed Deposit Taking Saccos dropped to 4.7 per cent of the gross loans compared to 7.3 per cent reported in 2012 com-pared to the industry standard of 5 per cent.

“The ratio of non-performing loans reduced from 7.3 per cent re-corded in 2012 to 4.7 per cent in 2013 accounting to Sh8.9 billion,” said Mr Ademba. “For serial defaulters, their time is up as they have been a big bur-den to Saccos development. With adoption of the CRB mechanism, Sac-cos among other financial institu-tions will boost their liquidity and be able to develop more products to meet the financial demand of mem-bers,” said Mr Ademba. “The listing of the non-performing loans with the CRB will enhance financial discipline and enable customers to develop sound credit worthiness history.”

More competitiveKenya Union of Savings and Cred-

it Co-operative (KUSCCO) hails the initiative saying it will ease liquidity problems the financial cooperative have been grappling with.

KUSCCO Managing Director George Ototo said non-performing loans have been a big bother to ma-jority of Saccos. He said Saccos cur-rently receiving deposits from their members stand a better chance of of-fering financial services based on the fact that they are now guaranteed of protection against serial defaulters.

Loans in the performing category increased from Sh138.2 billion in De-cember 2012 to Sh170.4 billion in De-cember 2013 representing an increase of 23.3 percent. As at June 17, 2014, SASRA had licensed 184 Saccos to un-dertake deposit taking activities in the country.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) notes that credit history not only provide necessary input for credit underwrit-ing, but also allow borrowers to take their credit information from one fi-nancial institution to another, there-by making lending markets more competitive and, in the end, more af-fordable.

Credit bureaus assist in making credit accessible to more people, and enabling lenders and businesses re-duce risk and fraud. Sharing of infor-mation between financial institutions in respect of customer credit behav-ior, therefore, has a positive econom-ic impact.

out the Mombasa flights from our commercial operating hub of Dar Es Salaam,’’ Capt Dhirani who was flanked by the Airline’s Commercial Director, Mr Ibrahim Bukenya, said. He said when launched, the airline will operate at least three times a week direct flights from Dar Es Salaam to Mombasa especially on Fridays, Sun-days and Wednesdays.

Tourist hub “We shall deploy our Embraer 120,

30 seater series for the Mombasa route,” he said. FlightLink is Tanzania’s first airline to operate an air ambu-lance with Jet Citation. It has an Air

Operating Certificate (AOC) and Air Service Licence (ASL) and is annually audited for continued certification by the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA).

In 2011 and 2012, the airline was voted top mid sized company by KP-MG, top audit firm. Its fleet includes Cessna Citation 560 ( 1), Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia (1), Cessna Grand Caravan 208 B (4) and Cessna T20 C (2).

Plans to acquire a second Embraer from its Brazilian supplier are in the pipeline with the anticipated delivery time either in January or February 2015. He said that they have concrete plans to help the Dar- Mombasa route

grow and are also keen at helping to open up Mombasa tourist hub to the tourist attractions of the Serengeti through a faster and reliable air con-nectivity service. FlightLink which Capt Dhirani founded in 2003 initially as an air charter firm become an air-line in 2010. He is himself an accom-plished airline pilot having trained in both South Africa and the USA.

“Our ambition for growth is hinged on the fact that we have a larger East African Community (EAC) market to serve. We are keen to becoming the third airline in Tanzania after Preci-sion Air and Air Tanzania respective-ly,’’ he said.


An insurance lobby wants the State to review the Procurement Act and lower taxes. This, it says will help embrace relationship management in respect to quasi-government en-terprises, noting that insurance bro-kerage is a profession and cannot be treated in the same way as purchase of merchandise.

The Association of Insurance Bro-kers of Kenya (AIBK) Chairman Muchemi Ndung’u (pictured) said though, insurance penetration has improved to 3.5 per cent in 2013, from 3.1 per cent in 2012, further tax-ation has increased the cost of insur-ance - negating the achievements made.

He called on the Treasury to ex-empt premiums and related com-missions from excise duty imposed as it amounted to double taxation. “It will create administration night-mare, not to mention the risk of some brokerage firms closing as the business will no longer be viable. As brokers, there are issues we need ad-dressed at a regulatory level, one of which is the newly introduced taxa-

tion being levied on brokers,” he said during the insurers’ 9th annual sem-inar in Mombasa on Thursday.

“We are calling on the Treasury to exempt premiums and related com-missions from excise duty imposed as this in our view is double taxation and will mean most brokerage firms will have to fold due to increased op-erational expenses.”

The two-day seminar brought to-gether industry players from the East African region and South Sudan. “We are lobbying for the legal recognition of AIBK and other industry bodies to enable us implement self-regulation guidelines to foster ethical practic-

es.” The brokers said lack of a central data mining point has been the sec-tor greatest undoing.

“As we speak, there is no data bank on successes or challenges ex-perienced on covering of risks. I would like to challenge the regulator to work out the modalities on how the insurance industry can join the credit reference bureau to enable us share information on errant clients who do not pay premiums or lodge fraudulent claims as well as brokers who do not remit premiums to the insurance companies,” said Nd-ung’u.

“While we welcome competition brought about by Bancassurance, only two intermediaries should be allowed to operate; either agents or brokers. Banks should register bro-kerages so they operate under the laws that govern brokers or remain as agents and only operate under the framework of agents”

The association wants the word-ings on bid and performance bonds be changed to allow insurance play-ers participation. “Currently the bonds are only available from banks,” noted Muchemi.

ByB Winsley Masese

ByB aBigael suM

Indian investor sets up Sh1.3b hotel in WestlandsThe hospitality industry received

a major boost following the opening of a Sh1.3 billion hotel in Westlands Nairobi, further cementing Kenya’s growing stature as a key investment destination.

Hotel Royal Orchid Azure, Nairo-bi, which opened its doors last week is owned by Royal Orchid Hotel Ltd, the leading hospitality chain in In-dia. This is Royal Orchid’s second ho-tel in Africa and adds to Royal Orchid Malaika Beach Resort in Mwanza, Tanzania, which opened in 2013.

The new hotel with 165 well-ap-pointed spacious rooms, is part of the ongoing strategy to expand the Royal Orchid Hotels’ footprints be-yond Indian sub-continent. Royal Orchid Hotels Founder and Chair-man Chander Baljee said the group planned to invest Sh1.3 billion over the next three years, to strengthen its presence in East Africa.

“We are looking at opportunities to extend our brand to Uganda and Rwanda. We are also in the process of constructing a hotel in Dar es Sa-laam on a 30-acre land that we ac-quired a few years ago,” he said.

“Given Kenya’s status as a strong economic hub within East Africa re-gion, and against the back drop of rising middle class, we have every confidence that Royal Hotel Azure, Nairobi will be a worthwhile adven-ture,” he said. Baljee noted that they are identifying strategic and high value markets that present unique outfit for their time-tested services and ambitious growth plans. “We are in consolidated mode and we are

WEEKEND IN BUSINESS

Founder and Chairman of the Royal Orchid Hotels of India Chander Baljee (left) joins Parbat Pindoria in celebrating the grand opening of the Royal Or-chid Azure in Westlands, Nairobi. The hotel was constructed by Mr Pindoria, through Canon Aluminium Fabricators. [PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI]

Investment company Kurwitu Ventures will be the first Sharia compliant firm to list on the Growth and Enterprises Market Segment (GEMS) at the Nairobi Securities Ex-change (NSE).

The listing and commencement of trading in Kurwitu shares at the NSE will begin on November 13, 2014, after it received regulatory ap-proval. “We are listing on the NSE as an industry pioneer in the provision of tailor made financial products and services that adhere to Islamic Sharia Law,” said Kurwitu Ventures Executive Director Abdirahman Ab-dillahi.

Freehold landIt becomes the third company to

list on the GEMS at the NSE this month after Home Afrika and Flame Tree Group. The firm is to list 102,272 of its ordinary issued shares.

The current assets of the compa-ny are valued at Sh105 million with Sh102 million of them being free-hold land. “The reason we are listing is that most of these products need a listed vehicle to attract investors. We can also use our listed identity to come up with products on the back of our name,” he added.

The company has opted to list its shares by way of introduction on the NSE. This is expected to set the foundation for a broader sharehold-er base in the future.

“We will have to raise extra mon-ey to fund our core operations through a rights issue and increase the number of shareholders,” he said, adding the firm will not only focus on attracting Islamic investors but others as well regardless of their religion.

First Sharia compliant firm gets nod to list

on bourse

looking at expanding through the management contract route,” said Chander. He explained that terror will not affect investing in East Africa since it is not a new thing to them. “Terrorism will not deter us and the way the Government is taking secu-rity measures seriously gives inves-tors including us confidence that things will be fine,” said Chander.

Low supplyHe observed that Royal Group of

companies is taking advantage of the low supply of hotels in Westlands coupled with serenity environment far from the city, expatriate popula-tion and easy accessibility to invest

there as well as promote business between Kenya and India. They have already employed 200 Kenyans who will also be trained on short-course hospitality skills.

The group’s entry into the Kenyan market follows the signing of a man-agement contract with Canon Alu-minium Fabricators, the property owner and developer. “With their vast experience in hospitality indus-try,we are sure that our hotel will benefit hugely in terms of revenue,” said Managing Director and Chair-man of the Canon Aluminium Fabri-cators Parbat Laljee.

The newest investment joins oth-er high ranking international brands setting shop in Nairobi such as Villa Rosa Kempinski, Sankara, and Nan-chang Hotel - a four-star facility was opened August this year by Chinese investors in an attempt to capture the growing number of Sino expatri-ates, tourists and travellers.

Insurance lobby wants regulators to even playing field, lower taxes

ByB JaMes Wanzala and Winsley Masese

East Africa Glassware Mart Regional Marketing Manager Evans Mwangi (right), hands a gift to a shopper who won a raffle in the on going kula raha na luminarc campaign that seeks to reward loyal customers across the country. [PHOTO: COURTESY]

Rewarding customer loyalty

Uganda will sign oil production licences with France’s Total and Brit-ain’s Tullow Oil by the end of the year as it seeks to start commercial pro-duction by 2018, the energy minister has said. Uganda found commercial deposits of oil in 2006 but production has been delayed in part because of wrangling over the government’s plan to build a refinery.

Alongside Tullow and Total, Chi-na’s CNOOC has a stake and won a licence in 2012. “One oil company al-ready has a licence. The other two oil companies, by the end of this year, we should have provided the produc-tion licences,” Energy Minister Irene Muloni told Reuters.

Tullow had no comment on the minister’s remarks. Uganda also planned to hold a new exploration li-censing round in the first quarter of next year with only 40 percent of its Albertine oil basin having been ex-plored, Muloni said.

The country was planning to build an oil refinery and a pipeline in the next three years to use crude pro-duction available in 2018, she said. Ugandan output could reach 200,000 barrels per day (bpd).

A consortium led by Russia’s RT-Global Resources and another by South Korea’s SK Energy are compet-ing as final bidders to develop the re-finery, which will have an initial ca-pacity of 30,000 bpd, Muloni said. She said a winner will be announced by the end of the year. -Reuters

Uganda to sign licences with

Total, Tullow Oil by year-endJohannesBurg, s africa


Manufacturers and marketers in the disposable baby diapers market are calling for zero-rating of the products. They say heavy taxation is making personal care products ex-pensive for many parents. Dispos-able baby diapers currently attract 16 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) apart from the other government taxes like Import Declaration Fee (IDF) and railway development levy.

“Considering that products like sanitary pads are zero-rated, it would only be fair to zero-rate baby diapers since they are bought by many par-ents who may not necessarily be well off,” Mega Importers Limited direc-tor Boniface Muiru says. Muiru, whose company imports Mamy Poko diapers and is eyeing a 10 per cent market share by 2016, says the sector needs more incentives.

With at least 20 brands compet-ing for space in supermarket shelves in Kenya, the battle to win hearts of Kenyan mothers and their babies can only get tougher as more new players join the fray to claim a slice of the lucrative disposable diapers

market. Since its launch last year, Muiru says despite market challeng-es, Mamy Poko pant-style diapers hope to ride on its unique features to further grow its market share.

He says they launched Mamy Poko pull-up diapers in an attempt to give consumers a break from the common tape-style diapers. While admitting there is no level playing field in the disposable baby diaper market in Kenya, Muiru is optimistic of the future. “Some prayers use un-ethical business practices to block the entry of new prayers into the market. Some dictate the shelf space that should be reserved for them in leading retail outlets hence blocking all other competitors,” Muiru says.

Fewer changes in a day As competition in the sector stiff-

ens, value addition is defining as continued innovation becomes the new battlefront in the wake of price wars and aggressive marketing. Pam-pers is the market leader in Kenya but fierce competitors such as Hug-gies, Bouncy, Bebedou and others are also angling for a piece of the business. Muiru says customers

were excited by the product during a recent baby banda at Sarit centre, Nairobi due to its features. The prod-uct is easy to wear unlike the com-mon open tape style diapers and is available in singles and packs of 5, 10s and even 20s. The price range is from Sh30 per piece.

Mamy poko product is among the three most popular diaper brands in Japan, Singapore, Malysia, India and China. It is manufactured by Unich-arm, a company in Japan that deals in personal care products.

“They are easy to wear, even for men and greenhorn house girls. They absorb up to 6 glasses of urine so the baby can stay with the diaper for up to 12 hours. This means you need fewer changes in a day,” Muiru explains. “We want to make consum-ers happy by supplying diapers for all babies in all sizes.”

According to available data, out the 700,000 babies born in Kenya ev-ery year, only four per cent use dia-pers but by last year, the market for disposable diapers hit the $30 billion (Sh2.58 trillion) mark and dealers would not let the promisingly rising demand go unnoticed.

y B THIONG’O MATHENGE

y B WINSLEY MASESE

y B STANDARD REPORTER

Chinese-backed group to set up fl ying school for East Africa

A Chinese government-backed investment firm has announced plans to set up an aviation training centre in Nairobi.

Frontiers Services Group (FSG) East Africa says Kenyan private and commercial pilot licence holders have to go abroad for professional training, which is expensive and wasteful.

Frontiers Services Group has an-nounced it is in negotiations with Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to set up a modern flying and aeronautics engineering training facility at the Moi International Airport in Mom-basa.

“Presently, professional Private Pilot Licence (PPL) and Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) holders have to go oversees for training which is ex-pensive. Frontiers Services Group plans to set up a world class flying school for East Africa based in Ken-ya,” CEO, Mr Peter Philips, said in an interview.

Mr Smith said FSG is in discus-sions with KAA for leasing of space at the Moi International Airport, Mom-basa, suitable for construction of a hangar for aircraft maintenance. “We are also exploring potential and cost of acquiring land from KAA suitable for commercial development of five additional hangars, potential for de-velopment of a free-zone port (an EPZ) immediately adjacent to the Southern Border of KAA Mombasa

WEEKEND IN BUSINESS

Frontiers Services Group acquired two Kenyan aviation fi rms – Kijipwa Aviation Ltd and Phoenix Aviation in its entry to the region

Aircraft owned by Kijipwa Aviation, which was recently bought by Frontiers Services Group. [PHOTO: COURTESY]

Cloud-based security solutions provider Panda Security has ap-pointed Kenya’s BA Internet Solu-tions as its regional partner.

The two firms said the partner-ship provides an opportunity to grow adoption of cloud technology in the region. “BA Internet has shown true dedication by ensuring that several candidates complete our eCampus (technical and sales) courses and fo-cus on providing knowledgeable feedback to customers,” explained Jeremy Matthews, country manager for Panda Security.

BA Internet Solutions has set out to change misconceptions regarding cloud technology and assist compa-nies in avoiding cybercrime/hacking through provision of network secu-rity software.

“Imagine having an antivirus that interlinks your remote branches cost effectively and with ease. This is top notch technology,” said Derrick Wanjawa, Director of BA Internet Solutions.

“It’s important for businesses in Kenya to protect themselves from cybercrime and to understand the risks involved,’’ Wanjawa said.

BA Internet offer Panda’s cloud-based end-user protection products such as Panda Cloud Office Protec-tion and Panda Cloud Office Protec-tion Advanced. The latter includes Exchange Server protection and web filtering. Administrators are able to block access to websites containing unproductive or dangerous content through an easy to use console.

“I want Kenyans to use this amaz-ing security solution and experience what they have been missing,” as-serts Wanjawa.

Cloud-based IT firm, Panda enters Kenya

International Airport,” Mr Philips said. The firm plans to invest an ini-tial $150 million (Sh13 billion) in air logistics business targeting oil and mining companies in the East Africa region and the Horn of Africa, the UN agencies and VIP transport among others.

Blackwater“FSG’s vision is to invest and grow

with the increasing number of mul-tinational businesses moving into East Africa. Future expansion plans include to become Pan-Africa Air ambulance provider, VIP transport, corporate jets, air drops for equip-ment and materials for governments, extractive mining companies, UN humanitarian services among oth-ers,” he said.

The firm has set up shop in Nai-robi, by acquiring two Kenyan avia-tion firms – Kijipwa Aviation Ltd and

Phoenix Aviation.“FSG learnt from Kenya Private

Sector Alliance (KEPSA) that it was difficult to attract and retain Kenya certified aeronautical engineers. For this reason Kijipwa and Phoenix be-came attractive due to their already established commercial and techni-cal capabilities,” Mr Philips says.

“Kijipwa was attractive due to the reputation of the founder, Mr Alan Herd, who is a leader in Kenya’s air-craft maintenance for decades, while Phoenix is recognised by UN as a leader in Air Ambulance business on the continent,” Mr Philips added.

FSG has been keen to emphasis its focus is freight and logistics, an under developed segment of air

transport in the region, not passen-ger transport.

Although the firm would contrib-ute to manpower development by setting up flying and aeronautical engineering facilities for the region in Nairobi, its association with for-mer American private war contrac-tor in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Eric Prince (chairman), has generated considerable attention.

Mr Prince was founder and the most famous face of Blackwater, a private security services contractor for US government, whose activities in Iraq and Afghanistan were heavily criticised over human rights excess-es. He has since left Blackwater in 2010.

Traders now push for zero-rating of baby diaper products

Presently profes-sional Private Pilot

License (PPL) and Com-mercial Pilot License (CPL) holders have to go oversees for training which is expensive,” -CEO, Mr Peter Philips

Mothers get tips on how to use Mamy Poko diapers during the Baby Banda event held at Sarit centre recently. [PHOTO: COURTESY].

IN THE NEWSUS to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq. P.43WorldNEWS OF THE

November 9, 2014 Standard on SUndaY

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IGAD leaders fail to strike power-sharing deal but succeed to suspend S Sudan hostilities

mit to the immediate cessation of the recruitment and mobilisation of civilians,” the regional heads said in a joint communique issued Friday night at Addis Ababa. The regional heads, who met together with key emissaries from the United Nations, China, Denmark, Japan, the Europe-an Union, the UK, the US and Nor-way, also warned Kiir and Machar that the regional countries will step in at any time to quell the fighting.

“The IGAD region shall, without further reference to the warring Par-ties, take the necessary measures to directly intervene in South Sudan to protect life and restore peace and stability,” the communique noted.

Possible assistance The IGAD bosses added: “Should

it be necessary to implement these measures, the IGAD region calls on the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, the Security Council of the United Nations, and the entire international community, to render all possible assistance in the imple-mentation of these measures.”

IGAD’s executive secretary Mah-boubd Maalim, and special envoys Seyoum Mesfin (Ethiopia), Lazarus Sumbeiywo (Kenya) and Gen Mo-hammed Ahmed MustafaEl Dabi (Sudan).

The extraordinary summit of five African Heads of State in Ethiopia has failed yet again to hammer out a power-sharing deal between South Sudan President Salva Mayrdit Kiir and his former deputy, Dr Riek Machar.

This is even after President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is Chairman of East African Community (EAC) and Ethi-opia’s Hailemariam Desalegn, who chairs the Intergovernmental Au-thority on Development (IGAD), steered two day intensive talks.

The talks, which kicked off on Thursday (November 6) reportedly stretched into the night on Friday and into the wee hours of yesterday (Saturday), with Presidents Kenyatta and Desalegn determined to resolve a power-sharing deal between Kiir and Machar.

At some point the efforts of the Kenyan and Ethiopian leaders seemed to pay off, with Kenya’s For-eign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohamed, even tweeting summarily on Friday night – “there is a deal on South Sudan. Parties agree on imme-diate cessation and on all other is-sues except one”.

After the resolutions were re-leased, she again tweeted: “ The final communique contains sanctions against violators of the cessation of hostilities, asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargo.”

Freeze of assetsBefore entering into a second

straight night of talks to try to bridge the differences between the Kiir and Machar parties, the regional leaders led by Kenyatta and Desalegn af-firmed they would not rest until a comprehensive peace deal was reached.

Manoah Esipisu, spokesperson for the Kenyan presidency, was equally optimistic: “My understand-ing is that the leaders are determined to make progress as they see this as a pivotal stage in the negotiations.” But it is, as expected, “a difficult pro-cess,” he told the press in Addis Aba-ba.

Nonetheless, Presidents Kenyatta and Desalegn succeeded in getting the South Sudan’s political leaders to commit to an unconditional and complete end to hostilities. IGAD, al-so accepted the request by both par-ties for a further 15 days to consult and iron out the remaining out-standing issues.

The Government of South Sudan led by President Kiir and the SPLM/A (in opposition) under former Vice President Machar also agreed to im-mediately stop recruitment and mo-bilisation of civilians.

In a communique issued at the

Breaking the deadlock: Kiir and Machar given 15 days to go and explain to people why war should not end

President Uhuru Kenyatta meets the africa Union Commission Chairperson dr dlamini nkosazana Zuma after resolu-tions to end the South Sudan conflict were passed at the 28th IGad extraordinary summit in addis ababa, Ethiopia on Friday. [PHOTO: PSCU]

Union Commission, Mahboub Maa-lim, Executive Secretary of IGAD, and the IGAD Special Envoys for South Sudan, Seyoum Mesfin of Ethiopia, Gen Lazaro Sumbeiywo of Kenya and Gen Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa El Dabi of Sudan. There were also representatives of the United Nations, the People’s Repub-lic of China, Denmark, Japan, the Eu-ropean Union, the Troika (the Gov-ernments of Norway, US and United Kingdom) and the IGAD Partners Fo-rum (IPF).

Speaking after the resolutions were read out by Ethiopia’s special envoy for South Sudan, Mesfin, Kiir and Machar thanked IGAD and af-firmed their commitment to an end to the suffering of the people of Afri-ca’s youngest nation.

Hostilities between the two hith-erto comrades in SPLA/M and South Sudan Government were ignited by the sacking of Machar as VP by Kiir in April last year. However, the civil war in the country kicked off on the evening of December 15, 2013 fol-lowing a disarmament exercise of presidential guards gone awry.

The exercise degenerated into a battle between soldiers from Kiir’s Dinka community and those of Machar’s Nuer community. The fighting spread to civilians with Din-

ka soldiers targeting Nuer civilians in the capital city of Juba and vice versa. “This conflict has to come to an end. We need to focus our attention and resources on development and not on endless conflicts,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been the pointman in getting Machar and Kiir off the battlefields.

Immediate cessation The IGAD leaders granted Kiir

and Machar 15 more days to go back and explain to their supporters why they needed to end the hostilities.

“The Parties commit to an uncon-ditional, complete and immediate end to all hostilities, and to bring the war to an end, as of the date of this Resolution. The Parties further com-

OScar ObONyO aNd alPHONcE SHIuNdu

end of the 28th Extra-ordinary Sum-mit of IGAD Heads of State and Gov-ernment, also attended by President Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Omar Bashir (Sudan), Ismail Guelleh (Dji-bouti) and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (Somalia), the leaders warned the warring parties that any violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement would invite stern interventions to protect life and restore peace and stability. These will include freeze of assets owned by the violators, travel bans and blocking supply of materi-als that could be used in war.

The Summit was also attended by Dr Dlamini Nkosazana Dlamini Zu-ma, Chairperson of the African

The leaders are determined to make progress as they see this as a pivotal stage in the negotiations. — Manoah Esipisu, spokesperson to Kenyan presidency

• Regional leaders have affirmed they will not rest until a comprehensive peace deal is reached• Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Haile-mariam Desalegn succeeded in getting the South Sudan’s political leaders to commit to an unconditional and com-plete end to hostilities• IGAD leaders granted Kiir and Machar 15 more days to go back and explain to their supporters why they needed to end the hostilities in South Sudan

Quest to end hostilities

President Salva Kiir

dr riek Machar


US to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq to counter Islamic State crisis

WAHINGTON, SATURDAY

The US is to send 1,500 more non-combat troops to Iraq to boost Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants, the White House says.The Pentagon said the troops would train and assist Iraqi forces.

President Barack Obama autho-rised the deployment following a re-quest from Iraq’s Government, the Pentagon added.

IS militants control large areas of Iraq and Syria but have been target-ed by hundreds of air strikes by a US-led coalition since August.The 1,500 additional US troops will join several hundred military advis-ers that are already in Iraq to assist the country’s army.

A statement from the Pentagon said the troops would be establish-ing several sites to train nine Iraqi army and three Kurdish Peshmerga brigades.

The US military would also be setting up two “advise and assist op-erations centres” outside Baghdad and the northern city of Irbil, the statement added.

“US troops will not be in combat, but they will be better positioned to support Iraqi security forces as they take the fight” to IS, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told report-ers.

He said President Obama would also be asking Congress for $5.6bn (£3.5bn) to support the ongoing op-erations against IS fighters in both Iraq and Syria.

The announcement came hours after Obama met congressional leaders in Washington for the first time after the Republicans won con-trol of the Senate in Tuesday’s elec-tions.

Degrade: President Obama authorised deployment following a request from Iraq’s government

MONROVIA, SATURDAY

Liberia has seen a significant re-duction in the number of new Ebola cases, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has confirmed. It said one of its treatment centres in Liberia has no cases at all at the mo-ment - but warned Ebola was still on the rise in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

MSF, which employs thousands of staff across West Africa, is seen as the best-informed authority on Ebola. Nearly 5,000 people out of about 14,000 cases have been killed by the virus. Chris Stokes, the head of MSF’s Ebola response, told the BBC that the decrease in the number of cases in Li-beria presented an opportunity for health workers to step up their work.

But he said the disease could “flare up” again, pointing to Guinea, where the number of cases is rising again despite two significant lulls.For the disease to be contained, Stokes added, it needed to be tackled in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone

BANJUL, SATURDAY The United Nations says that two

of its experts have been blocked from investigating torture in The Gambia. The Government had agreed to allow the UN to look into allegations of extrajudicial execu-tions and abuse of Government op-ponents, journalists and activists.

But during their visit the experts were denied full access to prisons, the UN said.

The Gambia has been widely crit-icised for its poor record on human rights.

The UN investigators were pre-vented from visiting the high securi-ty wing of the Banjul prison where inmates condemned to death are held.

Special investigator, Christof Heyns, said in a statement that “an inference must be drawn that there is something important to hide”.Both investigators said that, during their three day visit in November,

Torture investigators denied access in Gambia, says UN

Ebola: MSF now confi rms case decline in Liberia

World News

IGUALA: Suspected gang members have confessed to killing more than 40 students missing for six weeks, Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo has said.He said three alleged gang members claimed the students were handed over to them by police. They said some were already asphyxiated and they shot the others dead, before setting fi re to all the bodies. A total of 43 students went missing after clashing with police on 26 September in the town of Iguala. The suspects from the Guerreros Unidos drug gang were recently arrested in connection with the disappearances.

Asia-Pacifi c ministers endorse trade, graft pactsBEIJING: Ministers from Pacifi c Rim countries have endorsed a call to formally start work on a free-trade initiative seen as an e� ort by China to raise its infl uence in trade policy.Chinese o� cials say ministers meeting ahead of next week’s gathering of leaders from the United States, China, Japan and other countries at the Asia-Pacifi c Economic Cooperation summit also endorsed a proposal to cooperate on fi ghting o� cial corruption.The trade initiative — the Free-Trade Area of the Asia Pacifi c — comes out of earlier promises by APEC governments to liberalize trade. It is being promoted by Beijing in what analysts see as a Chinese e� ort to gain infl uence in U.S.-dominated global trade and fi nancial regulation.

US Teen wounded in school shooting diesSEATTLE: Another of the teenagers wounded in a Washington State high school shooting has died, raising to fi ve the number of fatalities after a student opened fi re in the cafeteria two weeks ago. Andrew Fryberg, 15, died Friday evening at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a hospital spokeswoman said. Zoe Galasso, 14, was killed during the shooting Oct. 24 by a popular freshman at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. Gia Soriano, also 14, died Oct. 26 at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett and 14-year-old Shaylee Chuckulnaskit died Oct. 31 at the Everett hospital. The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, died of a self-infl icted wound.

Immigrant who hid in church temporarily released PORTLAND: An immigrant activist who took refuge at an Oregon church to avoid deportation and was arrested this week on a federal charge of illegal re-entry has been temporarily released on a federal judge’s order. Judge Janice Stewart on Friday ordered Francisco Aguirre to be released while he’s awaiting the start of his trial on Jan. 13. Aguirre pleaded not guilty to the charge in court. Aguirre’s supporters confi rmed Friday night that he had been released and was returning to Portland’s Augustana Lutheran Church, his refuge since September. — AP, BBC

UK says will pay o� part of World War One-era debt

The US troops will have a non-combat role and will focus on training and advising the Iraqi army. [PHOTO: AFP]

The Obama administration has said its aim was to “degrade and ul-timately destroy” Islamic State mili-tants, who control large parts of the country after launching an offensive in the north in June.

A US-led coalition has launched

NEWS OF THE WORLD

they had “received many reports that there are paramilitary hit squads in the country”. They also heard allega-tions of the widespread use of tor-ture by The Gambia’s National Intel-ligence Agency.

The investigators’ final reports on their visit will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in early 2015. — BBC

at once. Of the West African countries hit by the 11-month outbreak, Liberia has seen the most deaths. But last weekend its health ministry said two-thirds of the 696 beds in the country’s treatment centres were empty.

The BBC’s Mark Doyle in the Gha-naian capital Accra, where the UN’s Ebola response is being run from, says the reason behind the decline of cases in Liberia is unclear.

Liberia’s government has been running an awareness campaign, ad-vertising the best health practices and installing hand washing stations at buildings across the country.

A new 25-bed Ebola centre in Monrovia, which was built by the US army, was also opened by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Wednesday.

‘UN needs more help’Despite significant contributions from the US, the UK, China and oth-ers, the head of the UN mission charged with fighting Ebola says more help is urgently needed. — BBC

establish a caliphate. Last week, of-ficials in Iraq’s western Anbar prov-ince said IS militants had killed at least 322 members of a Sunni tribe who had tried to resist the jihadists.

— BBC

Mexico gang members ‘admit killing students’

more than 400 air strikes on the group in Iraq since August, and more than 300 across the border in Syria.

The strikes have destroyed hun-dreds of the group’s armed vehicles and several of its bases, but Islamic State has continued its campaign to


Easing of Saudi women driving

ban possible

The ban is part of the general re-strictions imposed on women based on the strict interpretation of Islamic Shariah law known as Wahhabism. Genders are strictly segregated, and women are required to wear a head-scarf and loose, black robes in public.

Guardianship laws require wom-en to get permission from a male rel-ative to travel, get married, enroll in higher education or undergo certain surgical procedures.

Female activists launched their latest campaign to defy the driving ban on Octtover 26, when dozens of women drove around their neigh-borhoods and posted video clips of themselves driving on social net-working sites.

The campaign prompted author-ities to issue a statement warning vi-

olators would be dealt with firmly. Saudi Arabia has no written law bar-ring women from driving - only fat-was, or religious edicts, by senior clerics.

Campaigns to overturn the driv-ing ban have been going on for de-cades.

During the first major protest, in 1990, around 50 women drove. They were jailed for a day, had their pass-ports confiscated and lost their jobs.

Their male relatives were also barred from traveling for six months. In June 2011, about 40 women got behind the wheel in a protest sparked when a woman was arrested after posting a video of herself driving. One woman was later arrested and sentenced to 10 lashes, a penalty the king overturned. — AP

RIYADH, SATURDAY

It is only for women over 30, who must be off the road by 8pm and can-not wear makeup behind the wheel. But it is still a startling shift.

The Saudi king’s advisory council has recommended that the govern-ment lift its ban on female drivers, a member of the council told The Asso-ciated Press Friday.

The Shura Council’s recommen-dations are not obligatory on the gov-ernment, but simply making the rec-ommendation was a major step after years of the kingdom staunchly re-jecting any review of the ban. There have been small but increas-ingly bold protests by women who took to their cars over the past year. The driving ban, which is unique in the world, is imposed because the kingdom’s ultraconservative Muslim clerics say “licentiousness” will spread if women drive.

The council member said the Shura Council made the recommen-dations in a secret, closed session held in the past month. The member spoke on condition of anonymity be-cause the recommendations had not been made public.

Under the recommendations, on-ly women over 30 would be allowed to drive and they would need permis-sion from a male relative - usually a husband or father, but lacking those, a brother or son. They would be al-lowed to drive from 7am to 8pm on Saturday through Wednesday and noon to 8pm on Thursday and Friday. It was not immediately clear why the

Proposed recommendations: Under the suggestions, only women over 30 would be allowed to drive and they would need permission from a male relative. They would be allowed to drive from 7am to 8pm

Saudi Arabia’s driving ban is imposed because the kingdom’s ultraconservative Muslim clerics say “licentiousness” will spread if women drive.

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

restrictions would be different Thurs-day and Friday, as the Saudi weekend was changed by royal decree in 2013 to Friday and Saturday.

The conditions also require that a woman driver wear conservative dress and no make-up, the official said. Within cities, they can drive without a male relative in the car, but outside of cities, a male is required to be present.

The council said a “female traffic department” would have to be creat-ed to deal with female drivers if their cars broke down or they encountered other problems, and to issue fines. It recommended the female traffic offi-cers be under the supervision of the “religious agencies.” The council placed heavy restrictions on interactions between female driv-ers and male traffic officers or other male drivers, and stiff penalties for those who broke them. Merely speak-ing to a female driver, it said, was punishable by a one-month prison sentence and a fine.

The 150-member Shura Council is appointed by the king, drawing on various sectors of society to act as the closest thing to a parliament in the kingdom, though it has no legislative powers. King Abdullah appointed women to it for the first time, and now there are 30 female members.

The driving ban has long forced families to hire live-in drivers for women. Women who can’t afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor.

TAclobAn, SATURDAY Thousands of people in the Phil-

ippines have taken part in a memori-al walk to mark the anniversary of Ty-phoon Haiyan which devastated central parts of the country a year ago. Crowds of people marched through the city of Tacloban where si-rens sounded and church bells rang at the exact time the storm hit. President Benigno Aquino has denied that his Government is moving too slowly to rebuild devastated areas. More than 7,000 people were killed.

Haiyan, known as Yolanda in the Philippines, hit on 8 November last year sending huge storm swells into inland areas and destroying wide swathes of central Philippines.

Ceremonies were held on Satur-day at mass graves in Tacloban where several thousand victims of the storm are buried. More than four million people were displaced, many of whom are still living in temporary

cAlIfoRnIA, SATURDAY Robin Williams was not under the

influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his suicide, authorities in Cal-ifornia have revealed.

The actor, 63, was found dead in his California home on 11 August in what authorities soon ruled a suicide.

A Marin County coroner’s report released on Friday found Williams died from asphyxia due to hanging. Williams, famed for roles in such films as Mrs Doubtfire and Good Will Hunting, had been treated for depres-sion.

The entertainer was last seen alive by his wife on 10 August, and was found dead the following day. On the morning he was found, the ac-tor’s personal assistant became con-cerned when he did not respond to knocks on the door, authorities say.

The assistant entered the room and found Williams dead. Williams won an Academy Award for his role in Good Will Hunting and starred in films including Good Morning Vietnam and Jumanji.

Philippines marks a year since Typhoon Haiyan

Report: No drugs were in Robin Williams suicide

shelters. President Aquino says his Government has a plan to rehouse these people away from the coast, but it will take time. “I would hope we can move even faster and I will push ev-erybody to move even faster, but the sad reality is the scope of work you need to do can really not be done overnight,” said the president.

There is little faith in such prom-ises reports the BBC’s Rupert Wing-field-Hayes in Tacloban.

“We have felt a year’s worth of the Government’s vicious abandonment, corruption, deceit, and repression,” Efleda Bautista, a leader of People Surge, a group of typhoon survivors, told the Reuters news agency. On Saturday protesters burned an ef-figy of the president in the middle of the city. It is notable that he has decided not to come here to mark the anniversa-ry, our correspondent adds.

— BBC

In the past Williams had talked, and even joked, about his struggles with alcohol and drugs. After his death, his representative said he had also been “battling severe depres-sion”.

He had earlier returned to a reha-bilitation centre to “fine-tune” his so-briety, the Los Angeles Times report-ed in July.

In a statement following his death, Williams’ wife Susan Schneider said she was “utterly heartbroken” and asked for privacy for the family.

“As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to mil-lions,” she said.

US President Barack Obama paid tribute to Williams, saying he “made us laugh. He made us cry.” “He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most - from our troops sta-tioned abroad to the marginalised on our own streets.” — BBC

NEWS OF THE WORLD


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Defending champions Nakuru RFC began their campaign with an impressive 112-6 victory over newly promoted Catholic Monks at the Na-kuru Athletics Club.

In Nairobi, Homeboyz RFC coach Paul Murunga has claimed they have learnt from last season and are try-ing to get off to a smooth start in their Kenya Cup campaign.

The victory gives them an early lead in the table as they seek their third consecutive Kenya Cup title. Speaking to FeverPitch after their emphatic 71-3 victory over Mean Machine at the RFUEA grounds yes-terday, Murunga said, “last season we lost out a place in the play-offs by a single point and we now know the importance of getting as many bo-nus points as possible.

“It is important to score as many

points as we can, so that not only do we get the bonuses but we also get a good aggregate for with qualification for the semis in mind.”

On his part, Nakuru coach Dom-inique Habimana welcomed the vic-tory but said it has given them the impetus to tackle the forthcoming matches with vigour.

“This is just a start but it has giv-en us courage and determination to contend in future matches confi-dently and retain the title for the third consecutive time,” he said.

In the other fixtures of the day Mwamba beat Impala 40-29 at the Railways club, Nondies lost 17-19 to Western Bulls at Jamhuri Park, while Kenya Harlequins beat Kenyatta

University’s Blak Blad 32-14.Murunga was in full praise of the

squad, claiming it was the good start they are eyeing and it is equally im-portant to see that their systems is working.

“It is not easy to score seventy points, but to do so in your first game in the league sets a good pre-cedence.”

Even though the former Kenya International was elated by the per-formance, he was cautious not to get carried away by the result. “Yes it is seventy points, but we also need to look at the opposition that was play-ing against us.”

Murunga said Mean Machine was not a strong opponent and they

had to keep their feet on the ground. Homeboyz were able to score eleven tries through Leonard Mugaisi, Maxwell Kangeri, Felix Ojow (3), Ha-run Libisa (2), Bush Mwale (2), Humphrey Mulama and Andrew Chogo.

Murunga praised their top scorer who he said deserved the plaudits. “Ojow is our fittest forward and I am glad he has reaped the fruits of his labour. If he continues in the same manner, he is likely to have a very good season.”

Homeboyz will now brace for their next fixture of the league, which will be against Impala at the Impala grounds. “Our next fixture will be a very tough and we will im-prove the structures that worked for us today as we seek our second suc-cessive victory in the league,” he said.

FasttrackFeverPitchBlogs, archives, reader

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7 Pages of Sizzling Sports Coverage!

LONDON: Murray says he will win over home fans

SAO PAULO: Rosberg tops Brazil final practice

Andy Murray hopes to “win back” a few fans when he opens the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday against Kei Nishikori. The 27-year-old former Wimbledon champion received a barrage of abuse on Twitter when he publicly supported the pro-independence “Yes” campaign in the recent Scottish referendum on whether to stay within the United Kingdom. He later said he regretted giving his opinions in public, saying his “Let’s Do This” tweet had resulted from getting caught up in an emotional day for Scotland. It was not the first time the proud Scot had attracted criticism -- he once angered soccer fans by saying he would support whoever England were playing in the World Cup -- but he hopes the crowds in London’s O2 will be cheering for him.

Nico Rosberg edged Mercedes team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton in final practice at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The German was 0.114 seconds ahead of Hamilton and has been quickest in all three sessions so far this weekend. Rosberg is keen to close Hamilton’s 24-point championship lead, built up by the Briton’s five consecutive victories ahead of Brazil. His apparent edge at Interlagos was helped by Hamilton’s spin at Turn One in the first part of the session. Hamilton looked less comfortable in the car throughout the hour on track, locking wheels a couple of times and making a mistake in the middle sector on his quickest lap. is slower ‘medium’ tyres.

The leaden-footed Australians found themselves bamboozled by Pakistan’s wily spinners and their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand can expect similar treatment from Misbah-ul-Haq and his men in a three-test series starting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.Left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar (14) and leggie Yasir Shah (12) shared 26 of the 40 Australian wickets between them to help Pakistan secure a comprehensive 2-0 win on the slow, turning wickets in the United Arab Emirates last week. By retaining the same 16 who gave them their first test series victory over Australia in 20 years, Pakistan have suggested they would employ the same tried-and-tested formula against the Brendon McCullum-led Black Caps.

CRICKET: Pakistan roll out spin trap for New Zealand

Title holders thrash debutants as Murunga’s troops sink students in Cup opener

yB BS MULAVI AND BEN AhENDA

Homeboyz, NAKURU stARt WItH bANg

Shaban Ahmed of Mwamba takes a kick during their Kenya Cup match against Impala at Railways Club yesterday. [PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO/ STANDARD]

FEVER PITCH / Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

LOCALROUNDUP

Orange Queens put nine gOals On Ku

Defending champs finish their pool ties with big scores against students

Kenyatta University’s Brudie Mwanga (behind) and Orange’s Lillian Aura fight for the ball during their league tie at City park. [PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE]

Kenya hockey Union (KHU) wom-en’s defending champions Orange Telkom finished their pool A matches on a high with a 9-0 trouncing of Ken-yatta University (KU).

The African queens were not at their best as they were struggling against the students’ side that seemed to have improved from their last en-counter.

However, for the 16-time champi-ons Orange their performance was wanting as they prepare for the conti-nental title defence later in the month.

Coach Jos Openda told FeverPitch that his players were not at their best and much needed to be done to get them ready for the daunting task ahead.

“They are not playing well I have observed some mistakes that we will; be working on in our subsequent training sessions,” he said. “I noticed my defenders are getting excited and forgetting their major role on pitch.”

Jane Ofula opened the score for the champions two minutes into the

match, Barbara Simiyu scored a brace in the 8th minute, she converted a penalty corner in the 17th minute.

Veteran Jacqueline Jow was on tar-get in the 19th minute while Lilian Au-ra made it six for the African queens in the 27th minute.

Audrey Omaido broke the KU de-fence in the in the 58th minute while Jow added her second of the day in the 60th minute. Tracy Nungari sealed the victory in the 62 minute.

Multimedia University (MMU) men ruthlessly clobbered Thika Rov-ers 6-1 in the men’s national league tie to increase their chances of securing a playoffs slot. Gilbert Kosgei convert-ed a penalty corner in the fourth min-ute making known the students inten-tion to seal maximum points.

Thika Rovers scored in 17th min-ute through Martin Mwangi as he beat the entire MMU defence slotting in past goalkeeper Jaur Junior. Eustace Korir put MMU in lead in the 35th minute. Dennis Burudi scored a brace in the 43rd and 70th minutes. Charles Ochanda scored a double also in the 56th and 57th minutes.

1:00 p.m. first race: the drap d’or trophy: distance 1,800m. a handicap for three year olds and over rated 27 and below closing. 1 (4-3-1) Flying Whisky (sAF) (P. MungAi) 60.0 4 2 (1-2-7) hunting CAll (sAF) (C. MWAngi) 59.0 3 3 ( 1- 6- 5) kijito (D. Miri (1.5) 57.0 h 1 4 (6-10-1) king google (sAF) (P. kiArie) 52.0 2 5 (2-4-5) CAPelvAle (C. kiMAni (5.0) 50.0 h 5 FORM GUIDE: hunting CAll (sAF) (2/1) king google (sAF) (3/1) Flying Whisky (sAF) (3/1) kijito (4/1) CAPelvAle (6/1)

1.30 p.m. second race: the brighton bowl: distance 1600m. an o p e n h a n d i c a p r a c e f o r t h r e e y e a r o l d s a n d o v e r . 1 (6-1-1) MozArt (sAF) (j. lokoriAn) 59.0 4 2 (1-1-1) tiger in the WooDs (sAF) (r. kibet) 58.0 2 3 (4-5-5) the nutCrACker (le. serCoMbe) 56.0 1 4 ( 5- 4- 4) bolt ( M. kAriuki (1.5) 55.0 6 5 (2-2-3) MPoWereD MPire (sAF) (P. MungA 55.0 5 6 (3-3-1) noziPho (sAF) (j. MuhinDi) 50.0 3 FORM GUIDE: MPoWereD MPire (sAF) (2/1) tiger in the WooDs (sAF) (3/1) the nutCrACker (4/1) bolt (5/1) MozArt (sAF) (8/1) noziPho (sAF) (10/1)

2.05 p.m. third race: the kehancha handicap: distance 1,000m. a handicap for three year olds and over rated 25 and below at closing. 1 (2-2-2) teMPestA (D. Miri (1.5) 60.0 6 2 (7-3-6) joie D’vivre (le. serCoMbe) 59.0 2 3 (6-4-4) shAkArA MAn (sAF) (j. kultiAng (3.5) 59.0 5 4 (7-9-1) MilitAry song (sAF) (P. lesengei (5.0) 57.0 7 5 (1-1-3) go PubliC (sAF) (P. MungAi) 56.0 h 4 6 (6-2-6) MonAsh (z. Munoru (5.0) 55.0 1 F O R M G U I D E : t e M P e s tA ( 1 /1 ) g o P u b l i C ( s A F ) ( 5 /1 ) M o n A s h ( 6 /1 ) M i l i tA r y s o n g ( s A F ) ( 8 / 1 ) s h A k A r A M A n s A F ) ( 1 0 / 1 ) j o i e D ’ v i v r e ( 1 2 / 1 ) t W i l i g h t h o u r ( 1 4 / 1 )

2.40 p.m. fourth race: the ijara handicap: distance 1,400m. a handicap for three year olds and over rated 22 and below at closing.unrated maidens to be handicapped 3kg less than the top weight.

1 (7-1-2) DruMlArgAn (P. lesengei (5.0) 59.0 7 2 (2-1-3) DreAMliner (j. MuhinDi) 57.0 6 3 (2-10-4) royAl silk (sAF) (P. kiArie) 57.0 3 4 (2-3-2) Doubloon (le. serCoMbe) 56.0 h 1 5 (4-4-6) MAnzhouli (D. Miri (1.5) 56.0 h 4 6 (2-1-5) siMPly rAvishing (P. MungAi) 54.0 5 7 (1-4-3) MeAn Mistress (sAF) (r. kibet) 53.0 8 8 (4-4-2) CArlA (j. lokoriAn) 51.0 2 FORM GUIDE: CArlA (3/1) DreAMliner (4/1) royAl silk (sAF) (6/1) Doubloon (6/1) MAnzhouli (8/1) siMPly rAvishing (8/1) MeAn Mistress (sAF) (8/1) DruMlArgAn (10/1)

3.15 p.m. fifth race: the paul & maggie walker kwaheri handicap: distance 2060m. a handicap for three year olds and over rated 12 and below at closing. unrated maidens to be handicapped 3kg less than the top weight. 1 (2-1-6) ArMeD n DAngerous (P. lesengei (5.0) 60.0 1 0 2 ( 5- 7- 11) DAnny boy (j. kultiAng(3.5) 60.0 h1 3 ( 3- 2- 1) DryAnDrA (P. MungAi) 59.0 2 4 ( 5- 3- 2) WAr horse (j. lokoriAn) 58.0 6 5 (—) burnt ivory (P. kiArie) 57.0 4 6 (10-2) MAntA reeF (sAF) (D. tAnui) 57.0 7 7 (14-6-4) kijAnA (j. MuhinDi) 55.0 h 9 8 (6-3-5) neeDsuMluCk (le. serCoMbe) 55.0 8 9 (10-8-8) joshuA (D. Miri (1.5) 54.0 h 3 10 (8-2-3) hooD (C. kiMAni (5.0) 52.0 h 5 FORM GUIDE: MeAn Mistress (sAF) (4/1) vAl D’isere (5/1) Derek boy (7/1) MAAsAi king (8/1) WilliAM tell (8/1) CArlA (8/1) MurrAyFielD (10/1) glitzern (12/1) PeliCAn street (14/1) DAnny boy (20/1) jAbAl AsWAD (25/1)

3.50 p.m. sixth race: the kalokol maiden: distance 1,400m. a maiden race for three year olds and over at starting. to carry 58.5kg. mares and fillies 57kg. first time starters and three year olds allowed 2kg. 1 (7-4-7) bArbADos (sAF) (C. njengA (5.0) 58.5 h 9 2 (W-7-6) CAPe WiDgeon (P. kiArie) 56.5 h 2 3 (4-3-6) MotoWn (C. MWAngi) 56.5 1 4 (3-2-5) PenMArriC (P. MungAi) 56.5 6

5 (4) Derrylin (h. MuyA) 55.0 4 6 (3-5-2) tAke PriDe (le. serCoMbe) 55.0 8 7 (5-5) tAlk tiMe (sAF) (j. lokoriAn) 55.0 5 8 (—) go exeCutive (D. Miri (1.5) 54.5 7 9 (—) Peter’s lArk (j. MuhinDi) 54.5 3 FORM GUIDE: tAke PriDe (4/1) MotoWn (9/2) PenMArriC (5/1) tAlk tiMe (sAF) (6/1) Derrylin (6/1) CAPe WiDgeon (10/1) bArbADos (sAF) (12/1) Peter’s lArk (14/1) go exeCutive (14/1)

4.20 p.m. fifth race: the el wak handicap: distance 1,800m. a handicap for three year olds and over rated 17 and below at closing.unrated maidens to be handicapped 3kg less than the top weight. hands and heels 1 ( 3- 3- 4) FulFielD (P. lesengei (5.0) 63.0 8 2 ( 11- 2- 1) out oF AFriCA (le. serCoMbe) 62.0 9 3 ( 6- 1- 5) Foretu (D. giChAngi (5.0) 61.0 4 4 ( 5- 3- 1) zAWADi (M. kAriuki (1.5) 61.0 5 5 ( 4-W- 4) MurrAyFielD (j. MuhinDi) 60.0 h 1 6 ( 2- 1- 7) AkAlAt (j. MAinA (5.0) 57.0 3 7 ( 5- 6- 3) sCArAMouChe (r. kibet) 56.0 2 8 ( 12- 7- 5) bestoW (C. MWAngi) 54.0 7 9 ( 7- 2- 3) CeDAr Ash (P. kiArie) 50.0 6 FORM GUIDE: out oF AFriCA (4/1) MurrAyFielD (9/2) CeDAr Ash (5/1) zAWADi (6/1) sCArAMouChe (6/1) FulFielD (10/1) AkAlAt (12/1) bestoW (14/1) Foretu (14/1)

4.55 p.m. eighth race: the timboroa handicap: distance 1,000m. a handicap for three year olds and over rated 13 and below at closing. unrated maidens to be handicapped 3kg less than the top weight. 1 (5- 5- 5) WilliAM tell (le. serCoMbe) 59.0 2 2 (2-8-1) roCk n roll (sAF) (r. kibet) 57.0 1 3 (3-10-10) PeliCAn street (D. Miri (1.5) 56.0 h 5 4 (9-6-W) treAsury (j. MuhinDi)55.0 3 5 (2-4-2) bAbA MustAFA (P. lesengei (5.0) 54.0 h 6 6 (2-5-8) CAliForniA (P. MungAi) 54.0 4 FORM GUIDE: roCk n roll (sAF) (2/1) bAbA MustAFA (3/1) WilliAM tell (5/1) PeliCAn street (6/1) CAliForniA (8/1) treAsury (12/1)

race card ++ race card ++ race card++ race card ++ race card ++ race card ++ race card ++ race card ++ race card ++

Kagongo, Yator triumph in Tegla Loroupe peace runJustus Kagongo (pictured)

clocked a time of 29:13 to win the male category of the 13th edition of Tegla Loroupe peace run that took place yesterday in Kapenguria, West Pokot county.

Kagongo was followed by Julius Kalekem who finished second and in a time of 29.57 and with John Loitang coming third in 30.03.

The female winner in the race was Gladys Yator who crossed the

finish line in a time of 35.09, fol-lowed by Gladys Kibwott and Jen-nifer Titika in clocking 35.18 and 35.50 respectively.

The race was flagged off by Ma-jor (retired) Michael Rotich, the chair of Athletics Kenya North Rift at 9am at Makutano Stadium, Kapenguria. It attracted over 2700 participants from the region.

“Kenya is known as an athletics powerhouse all over the world and we are happy to have this race that helps us identify and nurture talent

each year,” said Major (rtd) Rotich. Safaricom Sponsorship Coordina-tor Angeline Sonje said: “We be-lieve that sports, particularly ath-letics, has consistently been a source of national pride and Safar-icom is proud to be part of this wid-er move to entrench athletics in Kapenguria as well as other parts of the country.”

The Safaricom Athletics Series moves to Eldoret for the Kass Inter-national. Marathon on the 15th No-vember 2014.

1.00 pm FLYING WHISKY, King Google1.30 pm THE NUTCRACKER, Tiger In The

Woods2.05 pm MILITARY SONG, Tempesta2.40 pm DREAMLINER, Royal Silk3.15 pm WAR HORSE, Manta Reef3.50 pm TAKE PRIDE, Penmarric4.20 pm OUT OF AFRICA, Zawadi4.55 pm BABA MUSTAFA, Rock N Roll

SELECTIONS

ByB ELIzaBETh MBURUGU

ByB FEvERPITch REPORTER

Dennis Kimetto and Florence Kiplagat have been named as the AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Distance Races) Best Marathon Runners of the Year for 2014. The two athletes were fete at the second AIMS Best Marathon Runner Award Gala in Athens, Greece, on Friday evening.

The Awards were voted for by the AIMS Members, made up of over 370 of world’s leading and prestigious distance races from over 100 countries and territories.

“It is very special for me to have won the AIMS Best Marathon Run-ner Award. I have had a great year and this award reflects that. I am honoured to receive a truly global award voted for by the AIMS mem-bers, over 370 races around the world,” said Kimetto.

Kimetto, Kiplagat named AIMS Best Marathoners 2014

ByB IaaF

Ngong’s warriors, Paul and Mag-gie Walker, have donated their ‘kwa-heri’ race to Jockey Club as a big thank you for several happy years.

Paul has been instrumental with paddocks-side interviews, in his own incomparable fashion, not to men-tion a beneficent House Martin romping home with winners over many seasons.

War Lord (Jacob Lokorian), and, Manta Reef, are the most alluring in this ten runner Handicap, although Dryandra has her flashy moments. Surat Noor and brother, Nur Nuno, are a compelling duo as trainers. They should stitch up the Drap D’or Trophy with FlyingWhisky or King Google.

Patsy Sercombe holds sway for Brighton Bowl, unless Nozipho with James Muhindi rattles the cage at 50 kgs.

Nozipho is a filly more accus-tomed to longer trips, but racing specialises in altering conjectures. If not, then let us hand The Nutcrack-er another boot. Even though he has not garnished his post since April, Lesley opts against a bundle of en-dowment from Tiger in the Woods, Mozart, Mpowered Mpire, and, Bolt.

War horse can yield Paul and Walker

Kwaheri handicap

ByB ThE SQUIRREL

Past proceeding. [PHOTO: COURTESY]

/ FEVER PITCH Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

AFC Leopards finished among the top eight after they beat Ban-dari 3-2 in a tough Premier League match at the Mombasa County Stadium.

Bandari started the match strongly and had an upper hand in the opening 15 minutes with Shaban Kenga and Victor Majid missing several scoring opportuni-ties.

However, poor defending by Duncan Otewa and Mohammed Shariff saw Charles Okwemba sneak between them to beat cus-todian Wilson Oburu in the 32nd minute to surge Leopards ahead and enjoy a 1-0 lead advantage at half time.

The Ingwe side came back strongly and three minutes into the second half, Shariff scored an own goal as he tried to clear a pow-erful shot from Noah Wafula.

Coached by Twahir Muhiddin who has been under pressure to ensure his side remained in the league following the team’s poor

show this season, Bandari mount-ed pressure and were awarded a penalty in the 65th minute by Nai-robi-based referee Andrew Juma.

Jimmy Bagaye made no mistake with the spot kick to narrow the gap. Leopards were 3-1 in the 68th minute courtesy of Humphrey Mieno.

Two minutes later, the whistler awarded Bandari their second penalty after Joseph Shikokoti handled the ball in the box, and Bagaye slotted it in.

Goalkeeper Patrick Matasi and defender Edwin Wafula both of AFC Leopards and Bandari’s Ote-wa were booked.

Bandari benched Victor Majid and Bruno Sserenkuma for Ma-soud Juma and Omar Afya while AFC Leopards brought in Michael Khamadi and Joseph Wanyonyi for Austin Ikenna and Jacob Keli.

Ingwe now have picked four from Bandari this season after they settled for a barren draw in the first leg staged at Nairobi’s Nyayo Sta-dium. ––[email protected]

ByB ERNEST NDUNDA

KPLEPLROUNDUP

Ingwe wrap up in style with Bandari victory

Chelsea came from be-hind to beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield yesterday as they maintained their unbeaten start to the season and stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points.

Goals from Gary Cahill after 14 minutes — award-ed after the Goal Decision System proved the ball had crossed the line — and Di-ego Costa’s 10th of the sea-son after 67 minutes gave Chelsea the points after Emre Can scored his first goal for Liverpool to put them ahead after nine min-utes.

Can’s shot was deflected off Cahill’s shoulder past Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois, but five minutes later the Chelsea defender reacted quickly to score af-ter John Terry’s header was parried by Liverpool keep-er Simon Mignolet.

Cahill’s shot from the rebound was caught by Mi-gnolet but the goal-line technology system ruled the ball had crossed the line.

Costa settled the points after Mignolet parried a cross from Cesar Azpilicue-ta only for the Spain striker to slam in the rebound with an unstoppable low shot

with two Liverpool de-fenders on the line.

With five more matches to be played on Saturday afternoon including sec-ond-placed Southampton’s home match with strug-gling Leicester City, Chel-sea lead the table with 29 points from 11 matches. Liverpool stayed seventh on 14.

Meanwhile, whether it be injury or for reasons of balance, Manchester Unit-ed manager Louis van Gaal has warned striker Ra-damel Falcao could face a lengthy absence from his top-heavy side as they struggle to find a winning formula.

Colombia striker Fal-cao, who is earning 285,000 pounds ($452,400) per week, according to media reports, has made five ap-pearances, scoring once, since his season-long loan move to Old Trafford from Monaco on transfer dead-line day.

The 28-year-old, who missed this year’s World Cup with a serious knee lig-ament injury, will be ab-sent from the United side for the third game in a row, as they host Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday, because of a calf problem .

—Reuters

ByB MikE CollETT

Chelsea’s Diego Costa touches his torn shirt during their EPL football match against Liverpool at Anfield in Liverpool, yesterday. [PHOTO: REUTERS]

Costa struck a second-half winner over Liverpool to maintain unbeaten start

Ingwe Divas celebrate their victory against Bandari from a fence at the Mom-basa County Stadium yesterday. [PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

Nairobi City Stars have been rel-egated from the Kenyan Premier League following their barren draw with Mathare United at the Hope Centre as Nakuru All Stars waved a farewell to the topflight football after suffering a 3-2 defeat to KCB at the City Stadium, yesterday.

City Stars have been in the KPL for over a decade and were declared the relegation survival kings after es-caping the axe on the final day of the last three seasons.

But yesterday, in front of their home fans, it was a different story al-together as the prayers of the Kawangware-based side could not provide answers.

With that result, City Stars said goodbye to the KPL and are expect-ed to compete in the National Super League next season.

At the City Stadium, goals from Benjamin Chaka, Ronald Musana and Raymond Murugi ensured KCB retain their KPL status in a five goal thriller against a resilient AllStars.

The victory left KCB coach Rish-adi Shedu a happy man, praising his charges for their determination and fighting spirit.

In Awendo, Ulinzi Stars stunned Sony Sugar 2-1 at their home ground in Awendo in a KPL encounter.

The soldiers got their lone winner after Eric Apul pulled in to convert a pass from Mark Makwata who curved it from the right wing before Apul springed up high enough to head it home.

The 48th minute goal sent the hosts wild, and they tried register an equaliser but military men ensured their defence was tightly packed.

Sony had an earlier opportunity after captain Marwa Chamberi nar-rowly missed a clear chance after he failed to convert a corner kick taken by Eugene Ochieng with his attempt going over the bar.

The millers suffered a blow earli-er in the game after Ochieng got an injury on the head, prompting a quick substitution with Wycliffe Nyangech coming in for his place. A disappointed Sony coach Zedekiah Otieno however said he was not happy with the way his boys played and blamed the numerous wasted chances for the loss.

“The boys tried their best even if they did not display the game we ex-pected as they missed numerous chances to get goals. But still we shall be building our future from the weaknesses we have learnt on our side and all our opponents for us to launch a fresh start,” said Zico.

In Mumias, Muhoroni Youth completed their KPL campaign by beating Western Stima 2 - 0 at the Mumias Sports Complex.

The win saw Muhoroni register their best finish and it was delivered by first half goals from Enos Ochieng and Abbas Akinyemi, which came in quick succession.

Ochieng, in the 40th minute, tapped home the opener after Dan-iel Waweru’s shot bounced off the post.

Two minutes later Joash Onyan-go fouled Ezekiel Otuoma in the box and Akinyemi netted the spot kick.

ByB STANlEy oNgwAE and RoDgERS ESHiTEMi

AllStars, City Stars, relegated as Ulinzi, Muho

end on good note

Blues frustrate reds in anfield triumph


KENYANPREMIER LEAGUE

CLOCKWISE: Gor Mahia team por-trait before their match against Ushuru in Kisumu, yes-terday; AFC Leopards fans at the Mombasa County Stadium, yesterday; Fans break down pe-rimeter fence at the Moi Stadi-um, Kisumu, yesterday; Erick Ochieng’ of Gor celebrates after scoring the first goal with Israel Emuge and Si-mon Pierre; For-mer Vice Presi-dent Kalonzo Musyoka with Sofapaka offi-cials after their match against Tusker in Ruara-ka, yesterday; Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga with Gor Mahia officials in Kisumu. [PHO-TOS: COLLINS ODUOR, TITUS MU-NALA, BONIFACE OKENDO, MAARUFU MOHAMED]

KPL’S FINAL DAY AT A GLANCE

/ FEVER PITCH Sunday, November 9, 2014 / The Standard

Gor Mahia fans at Moi Stadium Kisumu, yesterday. [PHOTO: COLLINS ODUOR]

KENYANPREMIER LEAGUE

By winning the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) title, Gor Mahia have become one of the four local teams to have won it back to back.

K’Ogalo now join Ulinzi Stars (2003-2004) and Tusker (2011-2012) in the list of teams who have won the title back to back.

It all started last season when Gor Mahia won the title for the first time in 18 years af-ter coming so close in 2012 when they failed on the last day of the season by drawing 1-1 against Thika United at City Stadium.

In 2012, like this year, Gor Mahia just needed to win their last match of the season and hope that Tusker lose to Nairobi City Stars, but this never happened. While the brewers won 3-0, Gor were held, leading to a major heart-break for their legion of fans.

Gor captain Jerim Onyan-go, however, believes that the failure in 2012 inspired their success one year later.

“It was because of our in-ability to win in 2012 that in-spired our success last year. The pain of losing to both ourselves and fans was too much and so it kept motivat-ing us to want to do it.

“After that we wanted to win it back to back and join the clubs who have done it. This motivated us throughout the 2014 season,” he said.

Gor won the title despite lack of a shirt sponsor after Tuzo pulled out at the begin-ning of the season.

Despite the team’s good run of results, no other corpo-rate sponsor has come on board to take over as a shirt sponsor, meaning that more often than not, club officials have to give money to pay players and other expenses.

When ‘Green Army’ invaded Kisumu

Gor won the title without shirt sponsors, and now join the few elite clubs

The club enjoy massive sup-port from their fans which has, on most occasions, cush-ioned them against the high expenses.

Gor fans turn up in large numbers to their matches with the club assured of rais-ing at least Sh1million at the gates in every home game.

The same fans have, how-ever, been accused of intimi-dating referees to unfairly award Gor an advantage against their opponents and

also been the cause of untold hooliganism which has kept off sponsors.

It means that some of Gor Mahia’s victories, as they marched towards the 2014 ti-tle, were controversial.

Having won the 2014 title, concern has been raised over the team’s ability to do well in the CAF Champions League and regional club champion-ships next year.

Last year, the team per-formed poorly in both com-

petitions. It also is doubtful whether the club will be able to retain a number of experi-enced players most of whose contracts are expiring at the end of this season.

They include Dan Sserun-kuma and David Owino. With no sponsors on board, it will be difficult to convince some of these players to sign a new contract especially if they get a lucrative offer else-where.

Gor Mahia fans arrived in Kisumu in pomp and style as a convoy of hired buses fer-ried the loyal K’ogallo follow-ers from Nairobi and other parts of the country to the lake side city.

The ‘Green Army’ follow-ers, who never shy away from showing their total support and loyalty to the club, missed no chance to exude confi-dence that they were going to retain the Kenya Premier League (KPL) title.

Business in the city was temporarily halted as the fans painted the town green, caus-ing a huge traffic snarl-up as they marched from the Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground to the Moi Stadium singing and chanting.

A section of the fans went to Lake Victoria and paralysed activities at the lake shores.

They walked naked to the hotels which are at the shores of the lake and demanded that they be given soap to bath. They even harassed the women who do business there, warning that if they are not given soap, they would drown some of the women in the lake.

After bathing, they took some of the women fans, dipped their heads in the wa-ter and started shaving them using razor blades. They said this is in preparation for a new dawn, an era when they would have won the premier league.

At the Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground, where they

had all converged, some of them walked naked after tak-ing a shower at the facility’s bathrooms.

Speaking to FeverPitch, one of them who was basking in the sun naked said he did not carry his towel from Nai-robi so he was waiting to dry up before he could wear his clothes.

“This is a ritual we are do-ing for our club. It demands that we be naked. We want to strip Kenya Revenue Authori-ty (KRA) naked the way I am,” said the fan.

Titus Omondi, a fan who travelled from Huruma in Nairobi, confessed of having attended all K’ogallo fixtures this season therefore he could not miss this final match.

“We will follow Gor Mahia

THE ARISTOCRATS

ByB Lenin LumumBa

ByB GiLBert Wandera

to every part of this country. Even if the venue is to be changed to Kapedo, we will still go,” said Omondi.

Some of them walked in groups in different city streets singing vulgar songs, hurling insults to the public and blow-ing their vuvuzelas in front of shops.


ByB RodgeRs eshitemi

ByB By gilBeRt WandeRa

Sofapaka Maurice Odipo (left) and Clif-ford Alwanga of Tusker fight for the ball during their KPL match at Ruaraka ground yesterday. They draw 2-2. [PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO]

Gor Mahia’s Dan Sseruknuma in action against Ushuru’s Davies Ikocheli during the KPL match at the Moi Stadi-um, Kisumu, y e s t e r d a y . [PHOTO: TITUS MU-NALA]

Sofapaka held 2-2 by Tusker to finish KPL race behind K’Ogalo

Sofapaka were held 2-2 by 10-man Tusker in a thrilling clash on the final day of the 2014 Kenyan Pre-mier League (KPL) season at the Ruaraka ground. Af-ter the match, both tacticians Francis Kimanzi (Tusk-er) and Sam Timbe (Sofapaka) conceded title defeat and congratulated Gor Mahia for retaining the title.

“It was a good season and we are not disappointed because we’ve learnt a lot. Sometimes, you can be overambitious, but we appreciate what we’ve achieved. We congratulate Gor for winning the title,” said Kimanzi.

“I am proud of my players’ efforts and commit-ment this season. Finishing number two is not bad. Focus now shifts to Gotv Shield. It’s been a tough race and I congratulate the title winners,” said Timbe.

Tusker started the match brightly, but it is Sofapa-ka who threatened first with Burundian international Fiston Abdul forcing a fine save from the brewers cus-todian Boniface Oluoch in the 15th minute.

The hosts could have taken the lead before half

hour mark, but in-form Jesse Were was denied by the post twice.

In the 25th minute, Were received a brilliant cross from Kevin Kimani, but his overhead kick hit the bar before he was denied again by the post from a close range.

‘Batoto Ba Mungu’ were forced to make an early substitution with Clifford Miheso replacing off-colour Patrick Kagogo in the 35th minute.

And with three minutes to the break, Brian Osum-ba capitalised on Sofapaka’s defensive lapse and un-leashed a powerful shot past keeper David Okello.

Sofapaka came out more energised in the second half, piling pressure on Tusker’s backline with Enoch Agwanda’s header going wide in the 48th minute. Their efforts were rewarded in the 53rd minute by Ab-dul’s header just after Were had had been flagged off-side.

In the 65th minute, substitute Elly Asieche had a chance to put Sofapaka in the driving seat, but fluffed his shot with only the goalkeeper to beat.

CHAMPIONS AGAIN

Gor Mahia were, for the second time in a row, crowned the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions af-ter beating Ushuru 3-0 in a packed Kisumu Stadium yesterday. There was hardly any room to stand inside the stadium as thousands of fans thronged the venue to witness Gor Mahia being crowned champi-ons.

Former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, accompanied by former Sports Minister, Paul Otuoma, and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) of-ficials, were among the dignitaries who turned up to witness K’Ogalo’s crowning moment.

Goals from Eric Ochieng’, Dan Sserunkuma and an own goal by Richard Mmboyi were enough to give Gor Mahia their second KPL title on the trot and a chance to represent Kenya in next year’s CAF Champions League.

It was a historical moment for Gor as they broke a long standing jinx of not winning their last match of the season for the last five years.

Gor, who enjoyed the support of the thousands of fans, took time to settle as Ushuru defied the crowd.

The first chance for Gor came in the fifth minute when Dan Sserun-kuma failed to tap home a Godfrey Walusimbi well-taken free kick. Then Evans Kiwanuka threatened for the taxmen after 10 minutes, but he could not score.

Gor then had another good op-portunity to get ahead in the 43rd minute, but Sserunkuma could not finish off a 1-2 move with George Odhiambo.

However, the miss was laying the ground work for the opener and it

Gor rout Ushuru 3-0 to retain KPL title before mammoth crowd in Kisumu

Fasttrack

Chemelil Sugar were held to a barren draw by Thika United as the sugar millers squandered valuable scoring opportunities to wrap the 2014 league season in the fifth posi-tion.

Playing before a fairly large crowd of supporters at Thika stadium, hosts Thika United tormented Chemelil Sugar midway through the first half as the visitors ferociously count-er-attacked through Meshack Karani (top), who failed to connect spade-work by Stephen Wakanya and Smith Ouko.

After the break, Chemelil Sugar changed tact, dominating most of the half with a dozen missed chanc-es through Karani in the 55th min-ute, Robert Indimuli in 61st and Daniel Mutsi missed a rare scoring opportunity in the 80th minute with only Thika United custodian Hamu-za Muwonga to beat.

Thika briefly counter-attacked through second-half substitute Mo-ses Odhiambo, but the Chemelil Sug-ar defence revolving around James Omino, Charles Odero and Welling-ton Murwayi ably shielded the sugar millers’ goalkeeper Fredrick Onyan-go as Willice Ouma missed an 89th minute scoring opportunity after fastening on a superb cross by Inno-cent Wafula.

Chemelil hold Thika United 0-0 at home

ByB BosCo magaRe

KENYANPREMIERLEAGUE

did come 10 minutes into injury time with Ochieng’ opening the scores with a wonderful finish.

Gor continued to press in the sec-ond half and were rewarded five minutes on resumption when Sse-runkuma latched onto an Odhiambo pass to place it beyond Kennedy Otieno in the Ushuru goal.

Despite conceding the second goal, KRA did not give up. Carlson Mweresa gave way to Godfrey Kataka with the clock hitting the one hour

mark and the latter’s first move end-ed up in the Gor box, but it was cleared by Israel Emuge.

In the 61st minute, Jerim Onyan-go had to be at his best to deny Kiwa-nuka with a well-taken free kick as the taxmen earned their first corner of the second half.

Israel Emuge, returning to the Gor backline after a long lay-off due to injury, should have put his name on the score sheet, but was denied by Otieno in the KRA goal.

Jubilant fans break fence

ByB gilBeRt WandeRa

Excited Gor fans broke the fence and poured inside pitch of the Moi Stadium to celebrate the team’s 3-0 win over Ushuru yesterday.

The fans could not hold back their joy after the final whistle and brought down the fence on the ‘Rus-sian’ side and mobbed players, giv-ing organisers a logistical nightmare.

The fence could have come down earlier when Erick Ochieng’ ran to the fans after scoring the opener just before the half-time break. Fans who joined him pushed and showed and the perimeter wall nearly came down. He was booked for the inci-dent.

Sunday, November 8, 2014


Nakuru Homeboyz start the Kenyan Cup campaign with a bang, P.46

Chelsea march on after 2-1 win at Liverpool, P.48

STANDARDTHE FEVERPITCHSTANDARDTHE

on Sunday 7 Pages of Sizzling Sports Coverage!

Published and printed at The Standard Group Centre, Mombasa Road Nairobi - Kenya, by The Standard Ltd., P.O. Box 30080, Nairobi 00100, Kenya. Switch Board Tel. 3222111. Fax: 2214467, 2229218, 2218965. News Desk Tel: 3222200, Fax: 0719012027. [email protected] MOMBASA: Tel: 2230884, 2230897, 2228204, 2228098. Fax: 2230814. NAKURU: Tel: 2214289, 2212914. Fax: 2217348. KISUMU: Tel: 2022820, 2021866. Fax: 2023451. ELDORET: 2030482,

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Trophy remains in Gor’s cabinetK’Ogalo slap taxmen with a 3-0 defeat to retain trophy as Sofapaka draw with Tusker and AFC beat Bandari, P.49-51

Gor Mahia coach Frank Nuttall cele-brates with his play-ers after beating Ushuru 3-0 at Moi Stadium to win the KPL title yesterday. [TITUS MUNALA]

TEAMS P W D L F A GD PT1 Gor Mahia 30 17 9 4 43 21 +22 602 Sofapaka 30 16 9 5 49 27 +22 573 Tusker FC 30 14 11 5 42 25 +17 534 Ulinzi Stars 30 12 15 3 33 20 +13 515 Chemelil Sugar 30 12 12 6 24 16 +8 486 AFC Leopards 29 10 11 8 30 23 +7 417 Muhoroni Youth 30 10 10 10 23 28 -5 408 Thika United 30 9 12 9 31 31 0 399 Sony Sugar 29 8 14 7 25 21 +4 3810 Mathare United 30 10 8 12 19 25 -6 3811 Western Stima 30 9 9 12 26 33 -7 3612 Ushuru FC 30 10 3 17 22 40 -18 3313 Bandari 30 5 15 10 23 29 -6 3014 KCB 30 7 8 15 30 39 -9 2915 Nairobi City Stars 30 4 12 14 18 35 -17 2416 Top Fry AllStars 30 3 8 19 13 38 -25 17

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