NAIROBI, Kenya, May 25 - Nineteen nominees were on Friday shortlisted to vie for the nine East Africa Legislative Assembly EALA) member slots allocated to Kenya.

The National Assembly has reduced the number from the initial 117 ahead of an election to be held in Parliament on Thursday.

The Clerk of the National Assembly Patrick Gichohi said they rejected an application by KANU's Duncan Masai and Chomba Munyi after they failed to submit sworn affidavits showing their proficiency in Kiswahili and English.

"The candidates have until tomorrow (Saturday)at 4 O'clock  in the event that they change their minds and wish to withdraw they can give the letters to that effect. After that we shall go ahead and prepare the ballot papers," said Gichohi, who is the Returning Officer in the process.

On the PNU coalition side, the nominees are Sarah Godana (KANU), Charles Loioto (Ford Kenya), Saoli Ole Nkanae (PNU) and Mohamed Sheikh (Democratic Party).

The Wiper Democratic Movement has selected Peter Mutuku, Abubakar Ahmed Talib and Jennifer Masis.

Narc-Kenya nominees are Twahida Juma, Abubakar Abdi Ogle and Catherine Ngima Kimura.

ODM has nominated former MPs Peter Odoyo, Joseph Kiangoi and Immanuel Imana, a former commissioner with the defunct Constitution of Kenya Review Commission Abubakar Zein and former civic leaders Mumbi Ng'aru, Junet Nuh Mohamed and Ronald Ngeny.

Judith Ramaita and Nancy Kabeyeka are the ODM nominees.

Imana was the MP for Turkana Central between 1993 and 1997 while Odoyo and Kiangoi represented Nyakach and North Mugirango Constituencies respectively between 2002 and 2007.

Mohamed and Ngeny were forced to resign from their seats in the Migori and Bomet County Councils before they could qualify to be nominated as members of the regional parliament.

The nomination rules bar interested applicants from being public officers in their home country since the will be mainly based in Arusha.

The same plight fell on Zein Abubakar who sat on two parastatals boards namely Kenya Cultural Centre and New Africa Partnership.

Kanu's Masai was declared time barred after was late to provide a certified letter confirming he was no longer a lecturer at the Kenyatta University.

The party whips had until 4pm on Friday to ensure that all their nominees' applications are validated.

Gichohi said the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations and Defence will vet the nominees on Wednesday before the House votes on Thursday.

"We do expect the House to conduct the election for the candidates on Thursday May 31, being the last day available to us and as soon as the House concludes that process we shall expect to take the names to Arusha where they will be expected to join the candidates from the other partner states,"he added.

"The nominees to the third EALA are set to be inaugurated on June 5, a day after the five-year term expiry of the current members," added Gichohi.

Joint Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo says he and Co-Whip Johnson Muthama have ensured the nominees represent the face of Kenya.

The positions attracted a record 117 candidates with ODM having 65 while 47 applicants were from PNU.

The parties must submit a record of minutes of their nominations when they return their nominees to Parliament next Friday.

The public will be allowed to inspect the nominee's forms at Parliament's County Hall on May 28 and May 29.

Thereafter the names will be forwarded to the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations for vetting on May 30.

The whole House will approve the names on May 31 after the parliamentary committee completes the vetting process.

The National Assembly invited applications from interested persons for the positions of Member of EALA to replace MPs whose term will expire on June 4.

The new rules passed by the member states only last month, require political parties to take into account the need for fair representation of the various political parties in the National Assembly, regional balance, shades of opinion, gender and other special interest groups in Kenya and shall ensure that at least one third of its nominees are women.

In March, National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende asked MPs to adhere to the East African Community Treaty while nominating members to the Assembly.

The Speaker said it was necessary the rules were adhered to avoid court tussles that saw Kenyan nominees contested at the East African Court of Justice and which was ruled in their favour. The case cost the taxpayer Sh350 million.

The East African Legislative Assembly is an organ of the East African Community; established under Article 9 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community.

Under the Treaty, the Assembly has a membership comprising nine members elected by each Partner State; ex-officio members consisting of the Minister or Assistant Minister responsible for the East African Community Affairs from each Partner State; the Secretary General and the Counsel to the Community. Currently, the Assembly has 45 elected Members; and seven ex-officio Members totalling to a Membership of 52. Twenty of them are female.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has suspended cabinet secretaries named in a report by Ethics and Ant-Corruption Commission.
 

The recent story in the news about aChinese restaurant in Nairobi not allowing in African customers after 5pm has caused a sensation on social media and prompted many foreigners to ask how Kenyans can allow outsiders to discriminate against them on Kenyan soil.
 

Every year, banks publish hundreds of individual or group dormant accounts that remain inactive for at least two years.
 

Three decades after seizing power in a military coup, Muhammadu Buhari became the first Nigerian to oust a president through the ballot box, putting him in charge of Africa's biggest economy and one of its most turbulent democracies.

President Goodluck Jonathan called Buhari on Tuesday to concede defeat in the weekend election, Buhari's camp said, an unprecedented step that should help to defuse anger among disgruntled Jonathan supporters.

In the religiously mixed northern city of Kaduna, where 800 people were killed in violence after Nigeria's last elections in 2011, Buhari's supporters streamed onto the streets, waving flags, dancing and singing in celebration.

Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) has been in charge since the end of army rule in 1999 but had been losing popularity due to a string of corruption scandals and the rise of Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in the northeast.

"At about 5 minutes to 5, President Jonathan called General Muhammadu Buhari, the winner of the elections, to congratulate him," APC spokesman Lai Mohammed told reporters at the party's headquarters in Abuja.

"There had always been this fear that he might not want to concede but he will remain a hero for this move," he added. "The tension will go down dramatically."

A final tally of the results compiled by Reuters gave the sandal-wearing and ascetic Buhari 15.4 million votes against 13.3 million for Jonathan, a margin of victory that is likely to render any legal challenges irrelevant.

Al-Shabaab militants have claimed responsibility for the attack on Garissa University College that left 15 people dead.
 

Rampant corruption pervades Nigeria's massive oil industry — the nation's main source of income and 40% of its GDP. Buhari and others accused Jonathan of funneling billions to his cronies in the state bureaucracy while neglecting the 62% of Nigerians who live in extreme poverty.
 

Though the Nigerian military recently made gains against Boko Haram militants, Jonathan, 57, never dealt a decisive blow against the Islamic extremists, who declared a caliphate in the country's northern regions. The militants killed 10,000 people last year and forced about 1.5 million to flee for southern Nigeria and neighboring countries. They have kidnapped hundreds of people, including 219 schoolgirls who have yet to be found nearly a year after their abduction.

Wednesday, Buhari warned Boko Haram he was coming after it. "No doubt this nation has suffered greatly in the recent past, and its staying power has been challenged to its limits, chief among them the insurgency of Boko Haram," he said at Abuja's international conference center, according to the Associated Press. "Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our will and commitment to rid this nation of terror. … We shall spare no effort until we defeat terrorism."

Supporters say the president-elect — who takes office May 29 — will succeed against the extremists where Jonathan failed because of his background.

"Experience matters a lot in the fight against insurgency," said Stanley Ibe, 32, a teacher. "As a retired general, Buhari is better placed to tackle the menace head-on — far better than his predecessor who has no military background."

Buhari rose through the ranks to the title of military governor in the nation's northeast in the 1970s. He then served as the country's leader from 1983 to 1985 before being ousted in a military coup.

During those periods, Buhari took a zero-tolerance approach to crimes, including minor infractions such as littering and not standing properly in line to board buses. He instituted draconian media laws, cracked down on journalists and jailed opponents, giving officials near-unlimited arresting powers.

At the same time, he tackled bribery and graft, jailing 500 prominent public servants and members of the business community for the offenses. He was also known for not using state coffers for personal gain. In 1983, he forced Chadian soldiers to retreat after they tried to annex Nigerian islands. Buhari confronted insurgencies, including an Islamic religious sect stirring trouble in 1981.

Buhari served as a federal oil commissioner in the late 1970s. He reorganized the nation's petroleum organizations and expanded the country's industry, constructing more facilities and pipelines.

His ouster as the country's head of state in 1985 came amid tumbling oil prices and a sinking economy because of measures he implemented such as banning imports, which led to the closure of businesses and spiking unemployment. The downturn was used to justify the coup against him. Buhari responded by accusing elements of the elite of trying to evade corruption probes.

"Buhari has the willpower to confront corruption and insecurity," said Ochiaka Ugwu, political analyst and public affairs commentator based in Abuja. "But he must go about it democratically."

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday ordered 10,000 police recruits whose enrolment was stopped by the courts last year to immediately report to the Police Training College in Kiganjo, Nyeri County.

President Kenyatta blamed the insecurity in the country on a shortage of police officers and directed that the recruits start training immediately.

Al-Shabaab attackers taunted their victims and then shot them dead during the siege on Garissa University College on Thursday.

Details are coming to light of how the gunmen terrorised the students as survivors said they played dead for hours to stay alive.

Kenya: Opposition leader Raila Odinga has renewed calls for dialogue in the fight against terror and given the government a blank cheque to employ 'all strategies' to tame the Somalia-based Al Shabaab militants.
 

He said the government must do everything in its power to protect its people.

"We have spoken in the past about war against terror, we still repeat the message which we conveyed to the government the other time, that there is need for us to come together to dialogue and agree on a strategy on how to deal with this thing," he said yesterday.

He added: "We are in full support of the government in whatever actions being taken to deal with this emergency."

Addressing journalists at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) shortly after visiting 22 students nursing gunshot wounds, Raila steered clear of politics and said the time had come for Kenyans to unite and support the administration of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

"It is one of those times that we must come together as a nation... just like we did during the Westgate Mall terrorist attack, there is no government and there is no opposition. We are all Kenyans. We must stand together to deal with this tragedy," the opposition leader said.

He said he shared the pain of parents and students affected by the tragedy at the Garissa University College.

"We really feel for the parents, we condole with all of them, we say pole!" the former Prime Minister said at a news conference at the Accident and Emergency section of the country's largest referral hospital.

Raila, who has in the past faulted government's strategies and whose Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) went to court and successfully fought some oppressive clauses on security laws, said Kenyans must not give up.

"It has already happened, but we must not give up. This is a war against terrorism and it requires the concerted efforts of all our people and the international community. As CORD we stand with the people of Kenya and we urge the international community to give whatever support they can in dealing with this emergency," he said.

He was full of praise for the police and the military in their response against the militants.

"This is not a time for blame-game to say who did what and who did not do what, that is for another time. These are extraordinary times which also call for extraordinary measures," said Raila, who was flanked by Senators Johnstone Muthama (Machakos) and James Orengo (Siaya).

Asked what he thought about President Kenyatta's alleged flouting of the court order thus cancelling recruitment of 10,000 police officers and ordering the recruits to report to the police training college, Raila skirted around the issue.
 

"'There are ways and means of dealing with court issues, we don't want to deal with legal issues now. But they needed to have been recruited much earlier. Court suspending recruitment did not stop them from recruiting, but it is not time for blame game," he said.

He added: "That is their way of dealing with it and we don't want to appear to be undermining, we will therefore support any measures that they take to deal with this very serious situation."

Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, who was at the hospital, said the Ministry of Interior had set up a centre at Nyayo Stadium to help people trace their relatives, who might have died, rescued or hospitalised as a result of the attack.

"We are waiting for our colleagues to update us on the situation in Garissa," said Dr Macharia.

One hundred and forty seven students were killed and 79 injured after Al-Shabaab terrorists shot their way into Garissa University College at dawn on Thursday and opened fire on them.
 

The alarm at the Ruiru base of the Recce Company of the General Service Unit was sounded at 6 a.m. on Thursday last week.  

As they gathered, officers of the elite paramilitary unit were informed that a possible terrorist attack had been launched on Garissa University College by suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen.

Kenyan fighter jets on Monday bombed two camps of the Al-Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab insurgents in southern Somalia, the army said, days after the Islamists carried out their worst ever massacre in Kenya.

"We bombed two Al Shabaab camps in the Gedo region," Kenyan army spokesman David Obonyo told AFP. "The two targets were hit and taken out, the two camps are destroyed."

The airstrikes follow threats by President Uhuru Kenyatta that he would retaliate "in the severest way possible" against the Al Shabaab militants for their attack on Thursday on a university in Kenya's northeastern town of Garissa in which nearly 150 died. There was no information given as to casualties in the bases hit.

The Al Shabaab gunmen launched the pre-dawn attack in Garissa, storming dormitory buildings before lining up non-Muslim students for execution in what Kenyatta described as a "barbaric medieval slaughter".

Deadliest attack

The massacre, Kenya's deadliest attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, claimed the lives of 142 students, three police officers and three soldiers.

Kenyan airplanes have made repeated strikes in southern Somalia since their troops crossed into their war-torn neighbour in 2011 to attack Al Shabaab bases, with Nairobi later joining the African Union force fighting the Islamists.

“The bombings are part of the continued process and engagement against Al-Al Shabaab, which will go on,” Obonyo added.

The Al Shabaab fled their power base in Somalia's capital Mogadishu in 2011, and continue to battle the AU force, AMISOM, sent to drive them out that includes troops from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

The group has carried out a string of revenge attacks in neighbouring countries, notably Kenya and Uganda, in response to their participation in the AU force.

On Saturday, Al Shabaab warned of a "long, gruesome war" unless Kenya withdrew its troops from Somalia, and threatened "another bloodbath".

Al Shabaab fighters also carried out the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi in September 2013, a four-day siege which left at least 67 people dead.

Five men have also been arrested in connection with the university attack, including three alleged "coordinators" captured as they fled towards Somalia, and two others in the university.

The two arrested on campus included a security guard and a Tanzanian found "hiding in the ceiling" and holding grenades, the interior ministry said.

A Sh20 million bounty has also been offered for alleged Al Shabaab commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher said to be the mastermind behind the attack.



 

The bodies of 112 victims of the Garissa University College terrorist attack have been identified by their relatives at Nairobi’s Chiromo Mortuary.
 

New accounts are emerging of the rescue mission from the Garissa University College terrorist attack that rekindles rivalry between police and the military.
 

The best education that Mohammed Abdirahim Abdullahi received in his formative years and the strict discipline at his former school did not stop him from leading the massacre of 148 people years later.
 

The government has frozen the accounts of 86 individuals and entities suspected to be financing terrorism in the country.
 

NAIROBI: Six men alleged to have participated in the Garissa University attack were Tuesday arraigned in court.
 

They appeared in court alongside 12 others also said to have been committed terrorism-related crimes.

The Garissa University College attack suspects were Mohamed Surow, Osman Dakane, Mohamed Abikar, Hassan Aden, Sahal Hussein and Tanzanian national Rashid Charles Mberesero alias Rehani Dida. Mberesero was later taken to Garissa by Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) detectives for interrogation.

The six were brought to Milimani Law Courts shortly after 12pm under heavy security and spent close to an hour in the basement before they were arraigned in court where the prosecution requested that police detain them for 30 days.

Milimani Resident Magistrate Benson Nzakyo remanded Surow, Dakane, Abikar, Aden and Hussein for 30 days in various police stations pending investigations into the attack in which 148 people were killed.

"After considering the application by the State and concerns raised by the prosecution it is clear the recent Garissa University attack is a matter of public interest and for this reason I allow the State to continue detaining the suspects until investigations are completed," the magistrate said in his brief ruling.

Kenya: The Garissa University College lecturers, who have been missing out in the institution’s massacre script, have finally spoken out.

They were flanked by the Universities Academic Staff Union ( UASU) officials at the Uniafric House, in what the Secretary General, Muga K’Olale, described as a crisis meeting.

A seemingly angry K’Olale had several demands towards the government, the first one being that they should come clean on the fate of the missing students. 

“We know 152 students to be dead and 166 are unaccounted for. We fear that they might have been kidnapped by Al-Shabaab, and the government should come clean about their whereabouts,” Muga K’Olale said.

This is not clear from the Government, though at the Chiromo Funeral Parlour, several families say they are yet to identify their children. Also, on the number of dead students, the government puts the official figure to be 142.

Muslim and political leaders from Mombasa, led by Governor Hassan Joho, on Wednesday welcomed the 10-day amnesty that the government has given radicalised youths to surrender and be re-integrated into their communities.

More details have emerged of President Uhuru Kenyatta's night flight to the United States last Thursday that was cancelled midair and ordered to return to avoid the dangers of wading through Yemeni airspace,which is literally a war zone.

The fresh details include the scramble by high-profiled personalities who had a few hours earlier seen the President off, to get back to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to receive him.

The strain of getting back, given that many of the VIPs had released their core escort staff, was discernible from the case of Deputy President William Ruto who is reported to have driven himself and one guard from his Karen home to the airport where he was later joined by his main team.

And in what could further add to the perception Uhuru’s was a jinxed trip, it also turned out that the billionaire who is hosting the 18th annual edition of a global gathering organised by the Milken Institute, Michael Milken, has a criminal record complete with spending time in a prison.

It also turned out that the officials key to the planning of the trip were at State House for a meeting and it is believed that some of them may lose their jobs, especially if it turns out that the flight was cancelled following entry into Eritrean airspace without clearance.

This would be an 'expensive' case of misjudgment by the flight route planners because the President according to protocol would be sending goodwill messages to the leaders whose airspace he was flying through.

But even if the Yemeni case holds true, still questions will be asked on why the President was routed through a war zone which is frequently closed, especially in the peak of bombardment of Yemeni rebels by some cross-nations Middle East allies.

Uhuru was headed to Dubai where he would have left his smaller craft and switch over to commercial airline for the trans-ocean trip to Los Angeles. Sources in government reveal that the cost of cancelling flight tickets and accommodation in hotels would also put a strain on an already bad situation over which it is said disappointed the President.

There is also a new twist to the abortive trip, with airport sources revealing that they were put on high alert because of what they were told, 'the plane is coming back and there is a problem with fuel'.If this was the case, then probably it was in reference to the number of hours the plane had been in air given that it doesn't have a long-range capacity like the bigger hauliers.

Inquiry within security circles revealed that top officials were alerted about the Head of State's troubled trip just half-hour before the landing of his Kenya Airforce aircraft, a Fokker 70. It touched down at 11.42pm over what State House said was 'increased military activity in Yemen'.

Among those at JKIA to receive the President were the outgoing Chief of Defence Forces General Julius Karangi and Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet.The incoming CDF General Samson Mwathethe, who was among those who had seen off Uhuru hours earlier, was among those who did not make it to the airport for the second time.

"The news of his coming back came about 30 minutes before the plane touched down. Many of those who were at the airport earlier on could not make it on time," said a source.

The Harambee One - Kenya Air Force Fokker 70- carrying the President had about 10 dignitaries and four bodyguards.

Reports suggested that Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) officials were alerted that the presidential jet had a problem with fuel and was on its way back."Emergency services were mobilised and put on standby. Some of the VIPs drove themselves to the airport while reacting to the incident because the news was that the jet was running out of fuel and had difficulties in landing," said an official aware of the incident.

However, it is standard procedure for emergency services to be on standby whenever a plane, including commercial airlines are landing.

A source claimed when he came out from the aircraft, President Kenyatta only shook hands with Ruto, held a brief chat with him before he got into his car and drove to State House.

"The President was very furious and was throwing words asking why all that happened. He also demanded answers," said a source familiar with the issue.

On Friday morning, National Intelligence Service Director General Maj-Gen Philip Kameru and Air Force Commander Maj-Gen Samuel Thuita were among those summoned to State House.

The President was not present at the meeting but demanded answers and action, officials said.There are reports that disciplinary action would be taken on individuals behind the apparent lapse.

Kenya's Ambassador to Ethiopia Catherine Mwangi was also summoned to Nairobi for discussion.

FLIGHT PATH

And sources say heads are set to roll following the blunders that saw the President's jet turned back from Eritrean air space for violating their aviation rules through failing to seek clearance.

The presidential jet had crossed the Kenyan-Ethiopia border almost 40 minutes later headed for Eritrea, which was the safe route given the Yemeni one had been closed over fighting there.

Sources said reaching the Eritrean airspace, the air controllers were taken aback and opened communication with the aircraft.

The air controllers reportedly told the pilots to either land or turn back to their place of origin or else they would be brought down.

This was because the Eritrean air controllers said they had not been notified of the flight, as should be the case.

It was then that the pilots decided to make a u-turn and informed those on board that they would not proceed or land as asked because presidential jet is a military aircraft and was carrying a President.

"The President's plane was forced to return, after it was detected in the Eritrean airspace without prior clearance. They were told to either land or return. The plane was flying over the Eritrean airspace without authorisation," said the source.

It has since emerged that officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not make prior plans to alert the foreign country officials of the planned flight path.

Multiple sources have revealed such clearance is done by the ministry and at times the President calls the Heads of State where he is supposed to pass to inform them of the planned trip.

The ministry has various personnel including intelligence, military and trade experts seconded to foreign embassies as attaches. Officials are now wondering what could have happened with the flight path given that just a few days ago, he had flown to Jordan, without any hitch.

The President used the same route from Ethiopia last week to Jordan.

Durban, South Africa -The recent xenophobic violence in South Africa against migrant workers has sparked a new diplomatic rift with Nigeria, with the South African government condemning Nigeria's decision to withdraw its envoys from Pretoria.

On Sunday, the South African government released a statement calling Nigeria's move "an unfortunate and regrettable step" and said the government and a wide range of civic organisations had been "decisive and unequivocal" in condemning the attacks on foreign nationals in the country.

The statement by South Africa's Department of International Cooperation, however, goes on to deride the Nigerian government over its inability to reign in the Boko Haram insurgency in the north of its country. It also points out that South Africa did not blame the Nigerian government for mishandling the aftermath of the collapse of a church building in 2014, which left 84 South Africans dead.

Nigeria's acting high commissioner in South Africa, Ambassador Martin Cobham, and the consul-general, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke were called home on Saturday to brief the Nigerian parliament about the welfare of Nigerian citizens in South Africa following the anti-immigrant violence in Durban and Johannesburg.

Tolu Ogunlesi,West Africa editor of the Africa Report magazine,criticised the tenor of the South African government's statement.

Ogunlesi said it was not logical to compare the Nigerian Church disaster in 2014 to the xenophobic attacks and referring to the church disaster was misplaced in a diplomatic context.The Nigerian government has been criticised for mishandling the response to the collapse, with bodies repatriated some nine months after the incident.

"The statement sounded like the thoughts of someone, rather than a diplomatic response," he said.

Many South Africans however, including prominent South African analyst, Eusebius McKaiser, have described South Africa's response as justified.

"This response from South Africa - via Clayson Monyela (deputy director-general of the Department of International Relations and Co-Operation)-is fully justified in my view," McKaiser wrote on Facebook on Sunday night.

"However it certainly helps neither South Africa nor Nigeria - and definitely not the continent, geopolitically - for diplomatic relations between us to deteriorate," he added.

Nigeria 'opportunistic'

While some have described Nigeria's decision to recall its envoy as "opportunistic", others say the action has only come after public pressure.

"The government did not say anything even in the face of protests almost on a daily basis especially in Abuja and Lagos," Deji Badmus, a freelance journalist based in Lagos, said.

Badmus told Al Jazeera that the government decided to act following the decision of the parliament and a meeting of the Nigerian senate.

"I don't think it would have been proper for the Nigerian government to say nothing, do nothing, when, foreigners, not just Nigerians are being attacked in South Africa," Badmus said.

Jackie Cilliers, executive director of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, however feels that Nigeria's diplomatic withdrawal is not indicative of a continent-wide indictment of the South African government's failure to stop anti-immigrant violence.

"I don't think Nigeria's action is a statement on behalf of the rest of the continent," he said, adding that the "reality is Africa is multi-polar and there is no singular country that can speak for the entire continent".

Rift between leaders

Few believe Nigeria's decision to recall its envoys speaks for anyone other than themselves.

Nigeria and South Africa haven't enjoyed close relations in the past decade, especially under the leadership of presidents Jacob Zuma and Goodluck Jonathan. Analysts see this rift as part of the larger story of worsening relations between the two countries.

"It has become an all-out contest for influence in Africa between South Africa and Nigeria," Cilliers said.

Leaders from Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have publicly condemned the attacks, with both Malawi and Zimbabwe sending buses to repatriate citizens following the violence.

Few doubt however, that the violence has been a blow to South Africa's image.

"I think African states have reacted quite strongly to the xenophobic violence in South Africa this time," Cilliers said.

Zuma's administration has come under much criticism for the violence.But not everyone agrees the South African government's response has been poor. Cilliers, for one, describes the government's response as "admirable".

Tolu Ogunlesi said the latest developments between the two countries was only a manifestation of the quality of leadership in both.

"President Goodluck Jonathan has been a dismal leader and Zuma has also not lived up to his responsibility," he said from Lagos.

"They both don't inspire confidence within their countries and outside."

At least seven people in South Africa have been killed in the attacks against migrants since March 20, when South Africa's Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini spoke out against foreign workers.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has put the Burundian leaders on notice as pre-election political violence threatens to spiral out of control ahead of the June 26 presidential elections.

MPIGI, Uganda--Allan Busagwa had on several occasions sneaked a peek into the girls' bathroom at Green Valley Model Primary School in Buwama Town in Mpigi District.

His sins, however, finally caught up with him when he peeked into a bathroom where Primary Six pupils were bathing. "They alerted one of the teachers who immediately ran after him," Ms Margaret Nabakka, the director of the school said.

A Senate staff accused of plotting to bomb Parliament has been linked to two attacks in Nairobi in which four police officers were killed.

NAIROBI, Kenya--A local tabloid (Weekly Citizen Newspaper)has kicked off a debate on social media after sensationally publishing several Kenyans in its purported list of gays and lesbians.

Among them are a top political columnist, a renowned radio presenter, a corruption whistle blower and the self-proclaimed "gay mom".

The list of names, which was published in the gutter press' latest issue, comes in the wake of heated debate about the High Court ruling forcing the State to register a gays and lesbians rights group.

The Kenyan tabloid, a weekly newspaper, attempts to follow in the footsteps of its contemporary in Uganda,Red Pepper, which ignited an almighty fuss after publishing pictures and names of gays and lesbians in the neighbouring country.

Although homosexuality is still considered a taboo by most Kenyans, the purported publishing of the names, however, failed in creating a similar frenzy as in Uganda perhaps owing to the fact that Kenyan society is more liberal compared to any other country in the region.

Kenyans have taken pictures of the tabloid's front page and shared it on social media with some slamming it as homophobic.

GAYS AND LESBIANS HUMAN RIGHTS

Gays and lesbians in Kenya had earlier been allowed to register an umbrella organisation to fight for and defend their human rights by the High Court.

The court ordered the Attorney-General and the National Council of NGOs to register a gays and lesbians' organisation, arguing that the Constitution protects the rights of minorities such as homosexuals.

However, the decision has been received with a lot of opposition from religious and a section of the political groups.

Self-confessed "gay mom" Binyavanga Wainaina last week criticized Deputy President William Ruto's remarks that Kenya would not allow homosexuality.

The DP had earlier said that the government would side with the religious leaders in their opposition to registration of gay and lesbian organisation in Kenya as was ordered by the High Court.

Early this morning, news started filtering in that an army general in the small east African country of Burundi haddeclared a coup.

"President [Pierre] Nkurunziza is dismissed, his government is dismissed too," major general Godefroid Niyombare, the leader of the coup, proclaimed.The question is whether Niyombare is acting alone or is he doing this with a little help from the region's leaders?

A bit of background. Last month Burundi's ruling party re-nominated Nkurunzizato run for the presidency for a third term in the upcoming elections in July. This is unconstitutional say his opponents. So protestors went out into the streets, opposing the decision, resulting in deadly clashes with security forces. Nkurunziza dug in, refusing to relent on his desire to seek the presidency again. The protests escalated, leaving 20 people dead with thousands fleeing their homes, becoming refugees in bordering East African countries of Rwanda and Tanzania.

For neighboring countries, this is an unwelcome distraction. As a region, East Africa is making significant progress. A mobiletech revolution in Kenya. Deepening democracy in Tanzania. Aneconomic boom in Rwanda. An emergingoil economy in Uganda.

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And now they have to deal with this? They didn't like it and they let Nkurunziza know it. "If your own citizens tell you we don't want you to lead us, how do you say I am staying whether you want me or not," Rwanda's PresidentPaul Kagame said.

So they calledan emergency summit in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam and invited Nkurunziza to explain himself. South Africa's deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, along with US assistant secretary for African affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield, were going to attend the meeting as well.

The surprising thing was that Nkurunziza accepted the invitation. There's an unwritten, but well-known rule of strong-man autocratic leadership that younever leave town when your people are out in the streets calling for you to step down.This is especially true after your own military pointedly saythey will remain neutral amid the protests.

Lo and behold, as soon as Nkurunziza landed in Dar es Salaam, Niyombare, his former intelligence chief, whomhe fired back in February, pounced. He dissed and dismissed his boss and announced that he will form a "national salvation committee" to run the country.

Meanwhile East Africa's leaders released a statementcondemning developments in Bujumbura.

But are they, really, that upset? No one wants to deal with another civil war in Burundi and the destabilization that would cause.The last time the country experienced an internal conflict, the crisis lasted over a decade andleft 1.2 million people displaced and 300,000 dead. So the manner in which they set-up this summit is a little, well, how shall we put it, suspicious.

Bujumbura, Burundi: Burundian forces arrested the leader of a failed coup on Friday, President Pierre Nkurunziza's spokesman said, but anti-Nkurunziza protesters said they would return to the streets, setting the stage for more clashes.

Major General Godefroid Niyombare was captured two days after announcing Nkurunziza had been overthrown, presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho said.

"He has been arrested. He didn't surrender," Abayeho told Reuters. Earlier, Abayeho had said three other generals had been arrested but Niyombare was still on the run.

Asked what would happen to the plotters, Abayeho said it was up to the justice system: "They will be held answerable."

Abayeho said the president was on his way to the capital Bujumbura from his rural home province. Officials had said he arrived back in Burundi on Thursday, returning from a summit in Tanzania.

Troops loyal to Nkurunziza appear to have succeeded in putting down the coup on Thursday, when there was fighting and gunfire in the streets of the capital.

The attempted overthrow of the president follows more than two weeks of violent demonstrations by opponents who say Nkurunziza has violated the constitution and a peace deal that ended civil war in 2005 by seeking a third five-year term.

"Protests to reject the third term bid for Nkurunziza will continue," said Gordien Niyungeko, deputy head of Focode, one of the 300 civil society groups that backed protests. "Our movement had nothing to do with the attempted coup."

A man with a gaping head wound lay dead in a street in Butarere, a Bujumbura district that has been a hotbed for protests. Residents said police had shot him and wounded two others. There was no immediate police comment.

A group of young men in Bujumbura's Cibitoke suburb said they had been warned by police that they would be treated as rebels and shot at if they demonstrated.

Police had come to the neighbourhood early in the morning, telling them: "Now we are no longer looking for protesters, we are looking for rebels," one of the group said.
Even before the coup attempt, officials had called protests an "insurrection".

Burundi is facing its worst political crisis since the end of a war a decade ago that pitted rebels groups from the majority Hutu population, including one led by Nkurunziza, against an army then led by minority Tutsis. The army is now ethnically mixed, having absorbed former rebel groups.

During the past weeks of protests, police were often seen firing live rounds at demonstrators. Activists say more than 20 people were killed. Officials deny the police shot or killed demonstrators.

So far, the battle in the capital has largely been driven by a struggle for power, rather than explicitly ethnic rivalry. But diplomats say the longer violence continues the more chance that old ethnic wounds could be reopened.

More than 100,000 Burundians have fled to neighbouring countries, a reminder of the massive refugee crises that accompanied violence between Tutsis and Hutus in both Burundi and neighbouring Rwanda in the 1990s and early 2000s.

After Thursday's heavy fighting for control of the state radio headquarters and frequent gunfire, the streets of Bujumbura had been quiet on Friday morning.

The constitution and a peace deal that ended the civil war both specify a two-term presidential limit. But Nkurunziza is seeking a third term anyway, relying on a court ruling that his first term does not count because he was appointed by parliament, not elected. His opponents and some donors have questioned the court's impartiality.

The heavy-handed response of the police to demonstrations in recent weeks has drawn stern rebukes from Western donors, who have urged the president not to run again. The United States, which provides training and equipment to the army, demanded a halt to "violent force" by police.

Several African leaders had criticised Nkurunziza's bid for re-election in the June 26 presidential vote. The African Union also condemned any attempt to seize "power through violence".

The European Union, Belgium and the Netherlands have all suspended some aid due to the unrest, particularly donations linked to the elections, which alongside the presidential polls also include a parliamentary race scheduled for May 26.

Opponents of the president and others had called for delay to the elections, although they said a vote should be held by Aug. 26, when Nkurunziza's current term runs out. 

NAIROBI, Kenya--Cord leader Raila Odinga has in the past two weeks launched interactive digital campaign platforms, marking the early stages of a game plan that includes getting his supporters out to register as voters and persuading his partners in the opposition coalition to support his presidential candidature one more time in 2017,the Sunday Nationhas learnt.

Brookside Dairy Limited, Kenya's largest milk processor, has acquired Sameer Agriculture and Livestock Limited (SALL), an Ugandan dairy company.

Brookside Dairy is majority-owned by the Kenyatta Family, of which President Uhuru Kenyatta is a key member, while SALL is a subsidiary of Sameer Group, a Kenyan conglomerate with interests in financial services, property, agriculture and offshoring.

Sameer Group is owned byNaushad Merali who is the 2nd richest Kenyan with a fortune FORBES estimates at $550 million.

According to a report by Kenya's Standard Newspaper, the deal will involve Brookside taking over the management of SALL's contracted farmers and assets, including production of its fresh dairy products, which enjoy significant market share in Uganda. Brookside will also upgrade all SALL's milk cooling and processing facilities in Uganda. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and executives from both Sameer and Brookside were not available to comment as at press time.

Brookside, which was founded in Kenya in 1993, produces and markets fresh milk, yoghurt and butter in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The company controls more than 45% of the Kenyan processed milk market (by intake).

Recently, the company has been deepening its Africa expansion with acquisitions in the East Africa region, and is currently working to establish a dairy plant in Nigeria.

Last year French food group Danone acquired a 40% stake in Brookside for several million dollars. The Kenyatta family still remains the dominant shareholder in Brookside with a 50% stake, while Abraaj Capital, a Dubai-based private equity firm, owns 10% of the company.

The Kenyatta family is one of the wealthiest families in Africa. Apart from their holdings in Brookside, they own extensive land holdings across Kenya, as well as controlling stakes in Heritage Hotels, media firm Mediamax and Commercial Bank of Africa. In 2011,President Uhuru Kenyatta featured in FORBES' inaugural ranking of Africa's richest people with a fortune we estimated at $500 million but was dropped off subsequent lists because of new information regarding the complex distribution of business assets among the Kenyatta family members.

Uganda Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda yesterday used the Mass for the beatification of the first president of Tanzania, the late Julius Kambarage Nyerere, to praise him as the greatest black man to have lived on the African continent.

NAIROBI, Kenya--Kenya has sent a protest note to Ethiopia after the aborted presidential trip to the United States last month.

It was revealed Sunday that the President's jet turned back after Ethiopian authorities advised the pilot to change the flight course in a bid to avoid the Yemen airspace.

It also emerged that President Uhuru Kenyatta's jet turned back to Nairobi in Somalia, after Ethiopian air controllers advised them to reroute.

Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the protest note was handed to Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya Dina Mufti, who was reportedly summoned to the ministry last Monday over the matter.

"We sent a strong protest note to Ethiopia for embarrassing us. What they did was wrong," said a highly placed source who requested anonymity.

Foreign Affairs PS Karanja Kibicho confirmed that Kenya had sent a note to Ethiopia but denied the envoy had been summoned.

The PS told The Standard that the issue had been resolved amicably and it was now time to "let the country move forward".

"It was an unfortunate incident and all the countries involved have held discussions and resolved it. We will ensure this does not happen again," he said.

Until Sunday, government officials have been unwilling to give information about what exactly led to the cancellation of the trip, fueling all manner of speculation among Kenyans. Ethiopia and Eritrea have previously been separately blamed over the aborted journey. Mechanical problem has also been cited as a possible reason why the aircraft jetted back.

Kenya airways plane

Kenya Airways plane lands at JKIA in Nairobi.

The presidential jet flew back to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport four hours after it had taken off headed for Dubai.

Although initial reports had indicated that it had crossed the Kenyan-Ethiopia border almost 40 minutes later headed for Eritrea, which was the safe route given the turmoil in Yemeni, the PS clarified that Uhuru's jet actually returned from Somalia.

"The plane returned from Somalia and not Ethiopia after it become untenable to reroute the presidential jet.There was a misdirection which has since been regretted," Kibicho added.

According to the PS, the President's pilot had two options; to return or land for refueling. The pilot chose to fly back since landing a presidential jet in a foreign country requires a lot of protocol arrangements.

"This is a decision you have to make within a short time given you are cruising at 800 kilometres per hour and you are 3,000 metres above sea level. You can't just land in any country with a head of state on board."

Dr Kibicho says the new route could have seen the President's plane entering Saudi Arabia airspace on its way to Dubai through Somalia and Djibouti.

A woman accused of stabbing her lover's genitals with a knife was charged with assault yesterday in a Nyeri court.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga disagreed over claims of corruption in the National Youth Service when they came face to face at a church function in Kisumu on Monday.

The expected visit of US President Barack Obama could turn out to be a blessing for long-suffering Nairobi residents.

The Nairobi county government is spending in excess of Sh50 million to spruce up the city ahead of Obama's first visit to the country since he came into office.

Hitherto choked drainage systems are suddenly flowing and long-neglected sidewalks and roads are being paved and beautified ahead of the visit.

A taxi driver near the Kenyatta International Convention Centre could not hide his cynicism at the sudden spur of activity. "It is just like when your mother suddenly pulls out the best cutlery when guests visit. The cutlery disappears the moment the visitor leaves," said Mburu Njuguna as he marveled at a newly-paved road.

From Taifa Road, areas near the KICC and along Mombasa Road, scores of young men and women are sweating it out in the sun planting an assorted variety of flowers and trees ahead of the visit.

"The US President must find us tidy," said Benter Kavochi, one of the women planting flowers along Haile Selassie Avenue.

A man driving by could not resist craning his neck through the window and wondering if the flowers will grow before Obama comes.

"Will they grow before Obama arrives?" He jokingly asks Kavochi before driving away.

She just laughs and tells us that the manure which is being brought to the site in full loads will do the trick.

But she is not happy that the county government is only paying them Sh400 per day for beautifying the sidewalks. "This is not just normal work like what we have been doing before. Even Obama would not be happy if he is told we are only being paid Sh400 for welcoming him. We want to beautify our country but they have to pay us well," she says.

Parliament road

And for MPs, the road is now smooth all the way to Parliament. They can now drive down Parliament Road without their fuel guzzlers coming into contact with potholes.

The road in front of the august House has been re-carpeted, with the contractor paying special attention to the road considering the amount of time he has been at the site. Obama is expected to visit Parliament.

But Nairobi County insists that the current beautification programme is not about Obama's coming. County Executive for Environment Evans Ondieki said the money used for the beautification is part of the county government's Sh184 million programme towards the development of infrastructure within the city.

"This is not about Obama, it is about making Nairobi the city of the future. We will be hosting a cancer conference next week. We will also have the Pope coming in November, the World Health Organisation will also have a meeting here in December...Everybody wants to come to Nairobi. So, this is not just about Obama. We want Nairobians to be happy. We don't want visitors to go away while saying that Kenyans are untidy," insisted Ondieki.

But despite the flurry west of Tom Mboya Street, it is business as usual at the other side of town. This is the side that Obama might not venture into

Chocking filth still litters the streets, with pedestrians, cars and hand-cart pushers competing for the little space between the sidewalk and the gaping potholes.

The only sign of activity east of Tom Mboya Street is at the Tom Mboya monument, which is undergoing reconstruction after reportedly being vandalised by a group of Gor Mahia soccer fans.

Although it is not clear if Obama will spare a minute to pass by the monument, a group of youths at the site are convinced the ongoing work is evidence that he will come to pay homage to the slain former freedom fighter.

"Why else would they be reconstructing the monument? He cannot fail to visit since it is Mboya who took his father to America," argued Michael MacOdingo, alluding to the famous Mboya airlifts in which hundreds of Kenyans students were taken to study in the United States in the 1960's. "We are only worried that Obama will come and find Mboya facing Ambassador Hotel, instead of the classy Hilton on his right," he added.

Obama is expected in the country on July 24 to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

NAIROBI: The long wait is over and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o is back home. The Hollywood star, who arrived Tuesday, is in the country for a noble cause.

"I am so honored to be speaking to you here today as a Global Ambassador for Wildaid on a topic so dear to my heart--the conservation and preservation of elephants," these were Lupita's opening remarks when she finally took to the podium during a press conference at Villa Rosa Kempinski Hotel in Nairobi.

Among the audience was Sports, Arts and Culture Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario, Tanzanian musician Ali Kiba and Lupita's mother Dorothy. Never one to miss his sister's fine moments, Lupita's brother Peter Nyong'o Junior also accompanied her.

"I spent the past weekend at Amboseli National Park learning about them (elephants). Over the course of three days, I was introduced to many elephant families and was immersed in their way of life," said the actress. 

She disclosed that the expedition was led by Katito Sayialel of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, who has been studying their population in the park for over 20 years.

"I learned so many things that I never knew about this incredible animal. It was a truly transformative time. I am proud of my Kenyan heritage and part of that heritage is the incredible wildlife haven that is in our care," she said.

She told the story of one family of elephants, whose matriarch was born with only one tusk.

"I met Leana's family who had a recent one-year-old addition that the Trust chose to name Lupita. She followed her mother closely and gave out a loud trumpet sound when she wouldn't stop to breastfeed her. Katito said Lupita was being stubborn--that made me proud--I like a girl who knows what she wants!" said Lupita, sending the hall into a deafening laughter.

The actress persuaded Kenyans to continue with the good efforts of conservation"because an elephant kept alive strengthens our economy and can be worth Sh1 million dollars of tourism revenue in its lifetime, whereas when it is poached, it only provides a handful of people with a few thousand shillings."

BUSY SCHEDULE

"I learned currently that an elephant is poached every 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes, another million dollars is lost. That's 96 million dollars a day," she added. 

The actress is truly passionate about conservation if the video of her reciting a poem on elephants at the age of six at Loreto Convent Msongari is anything to go by.

The video was shown by her mother.

However, the elephant in the room was why the People Magazine Most Beautiful Woman of the Year has been dodging the Kenyan public after her big win.

But Lupita defended herself, saying she has had a busy schedule since winning the Oscar. 

"I only go where there is something to be done. I am glad today I have had a good reason to be here. It is never too late to be home," she said.

The actress said there is a lot of talent in the country and asked Kenyans to make the first step in growing the creative economy by buying original products.

Lupita was however, cagey on the details of Star Wars, the project she is currently working on.

"If told you that, I would have to kill you," she joked.

Dr Wario announced that the newly refurbished Kenya National Theatre will be opened by President Uhuru Kenyatta soon.

"I want to thank Kenya Breweries for injecting Sh 110 million into the project with the Government adding another Sh4 million to give us a state-of-the art facility. And I welcome Lupita to come to the new facility because she acted there," he said. He also announced that filmmaker Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are coming to shoot a new movie in Kenya after his intervention in Los Angeles two months ago.

Lupita had a busy schedule and was to attend a meeting of young Kenyans for an intimate conversation about the arts and education in an event dubbed 'An Afternoon with Lupita.' 

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and four other lawmakers have cautioned US President Barrack Obama against asking Kenya to embrace same-sex marriages.

Nairobi (AFP) - Kenyan anti-gay protesters marched in Nairobi Monday warning US President Barack Obama not to speak about gay rights when he visits the country of his ancestors later this month.

"We do not want Obama and Obama, we do not want Michelle and Michelle," they chanted. "We want Obama and Michelle and we want a child!"

"It is important for us as Kenyans to know that the US is not God, and thus we cannot follow them blindly," said protest organiser and evangelical Christian pastor Bishop Mark Kariuki.

Kariuki said Obama was welcome to visit "his father's home" but should not "talk about the gay issue."

The demonstration drew around 100 people, wearing T-shirts and waving posters with the slogan "Protect The Family".

It came a day after Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto, who is on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague accused of crimes against humanity, told worshippers at a church service that homosexuality was "against the plan" of God.

"We have heard that in the US they have allowed gay relations and other dirty things," Ruto said, according to the Daily Nation newspaper.
 

"I want to say as a Christian leader that we will defend our country Kenya, we will stand for our faith and our country."

- Afraid Obama 'will preach equality' -

Ruto made similar comments in May when US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kenya.

Homophobia is prevalent in many African countries and gay sex remains illegal in several nations, including Kenya where it was outlawed under British colonial legislation.

The march Monday was organised by the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, a coalition of several churches.

Obama's visit later this month will be his fourth to Africa since becoming US president, but his first to Kenya since taking office in 2009. He will also travel to Ethiopia.

Pro-gay rights activists warned of rising intolerance in Kenya, including attacks on homosexuals and alleged cases of lesbians being raped to "cure" them.

"The anti gay movement is spreading to Kenya...cases of discrimination and violence are increasing because of the very homophobic speeches," said lawyer Erik Gitari, from the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

"Obama has been associated with equality and liberation, being the first black US president. They are afraid that he will preach equality here," said Gitari.

In conservative Christian and Muslim countries in Africa, homophobia is a vote-winner.

In Uganda, legislators sought the death penalty for homosexuality and although the anti-gay law was watered down and then overturned, ruling party MPs remain eager to see it passed.

Nigeria and Gambia have passed tough new anti-gay laws in recent years, with Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh, calling homosexuals "ungodly, Satanic...vermins [sic]" in a speech last year.

In Kenya, too, a cross-party parliamentary group is seeking stricter application of existing anti-gay legislation.

Gunmen killed seven people and seized weapons and ammunition in a raid on a police station in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, police said on Monday.

The attack took place on Sunday night near Tanzania's main airport. "A group of unknown people shot dead four police officers and three civilians at the police station," Ernest Mangu, Tanzania's police chief, told journalists.

He said the assailants had posed as civilians seeking assistance. Police were yet to establish who was behind the attack and to work out their motive.

Unknown attackers have been seizing weapons such as sub-machine guns in a series of raids on police stations across Tanzania over the past few years.

Tanzania has not seen any significant militant attacks lately, but security forces in east Africa are on alert following a spate of strikes by al Shabaab militants, especially in Kenya.

Five prisoners, including two Britons being held on suspicion of having links with terror groups, have escaped from the Bungoma Prison in the past week under unknown circumstances.

Eighteen students of University of Nairobi (UON) have threatened to commit suicide if US president Barack Obama fails to visit their university when he visits Kenya this month.

According to the Chairman of Students Organization of Nairobi University (SONU), Mr Babu Owino, at least 18 students have threatened to kill themselves if president Obama does not visit their university.

KOBOKO, Uganda---A sombre mood filled Ludaru village in Koboko District in Uganda Wednesday evening as fallen Miss Tourism Northern Uganda Norah Atim, 23, was laid to rest at her maternal home.

It was a historic moment immortalised by the click and roll of cameras under the glare of electronic flashes as United States President Barack Obama stepped on Kenyan soil shortly after 8pm last night.

Kenyans, their unity and indefatigable sense of nationhood resident in the buoyant spirit of their leader Uhuru Kenyatta, burst into excitement as the President stretched out his hands and warmly embraced Obama in the true spirit of brotherhood.

The backdrop was the sprawling savannah, dotted by Boeing jets dwarfed by the sheer size of Air Force One. The US President disembarked from his official carrier at 8:15pm, which had touched down at exactly 8.00pm. He would leave in the famous Beast at 8:22pm.

History, in those seven minutes was frozen in time. And when memory will fail the witnesses, the media archives will remind the coming generations of when Kenya's son came home with the instruments of office as the leader of the world's only superpower firmly in his hands.

On television, through hundreds of channels --both local and international--millions of Kenyans at home and abroad monitored every spring of the feet as the tall and inspiring leader flew down the stairs of his stately craft to the waiting hands of his protocol chiefs, but even more the creme-de-creme of the Kenyan political leadership.

President Obama's sister Auma Obama will perhaps be the only Kenyan to enjoy a ride in the Beast belonging to a sitting American President driving on Kenyan soil.

President Obama hugs his sister,Auma Obama as President Uhuru Kenyatta looks on.

Neither long hours of waiting, monitoring his journey from the moment it started in the US with Obama's energetic jog up the stairs leading into Air Force One, nor the disruptive closure of roads and Kenyan Airspace, could dampen the collective spirit of a people united in receiving a son of the soil.

On the tarmac, a handful of Secret Service men were putting reflective tape onto the runway. Distances had to be exact--up to the millimetre. Fire engines stood still to the right of Air Force One. Ahead of it was an unfurled flag of the presidential standard. Once POTUS (the President of the United States) touched down, it was released to run free in the Embakasi wind.

The arrival was the moment when Kenya would add another chapter to the history book, layered with several firsts; this time the outstanding tale being that Obama is not only a son of a Kenyan father to whose grave 27 years ago, he flew to pay tribute, but he is also the first black President of the United States.

Two other times he had come, one as a forlorn son tracing the roots of his father deep into the village of K'Ogelo in Siaya County. The second time he came he was a US Senator but even that almost passed unnoticed for some.

Matatu ride

In the first instance, he rode in matatus, had a sip of chang'aa in some impoverished neighbourhood in K'Ogelo, and the smoky car his step-sister used to pick him at the same airport where Air Force One landed him yesterday, stalled at Uhuru Highway, and the two of them --a light-skinned lanky youth and shiny black step-sister --pushed the ramshackle along Uhuru Highway.

Obama enjoys his first dinner as a sitting US president with family members in Kenya.

Later, he would write of how they were ignored by waiters at a popular city hotel who were obviously too eager to serve the white clientele strolling in. Last night as he strolled into Kenya through the same airport he once couldn't get his luggage on the conveyor belt since it had been misplaced, those memories must have played in his mind, reminding him again about the hilarious tidbits that spring out of his everlasting write-up, 'Dreams from My Father'.

Yesterday, the Kenyan airspace was closed for him and for the three days of his visit, he has a road to himself and his team wherever direction he is driven in the capital of Nairobi.

And as he speaks at his official engagements, no doubt every Kenyan eye will be riveted on him, focus on his lips and capture every word he utters about the "home of my father and grandfathers".

The Kenyan side of him will not only be discernible from the one or two Swahili or Dholuo words he may choose to roll off the tongue, but also the fact that in his diary have been slotted private sessions with his grandmother, Mama Sarah Obama, whom he hosted at his inauguration, and other members of the extended family.

The burden of office and the stringent security thrown around him may not have allowed him to travel to K'Ogelo whose paths he once walked to the market with a sack of potatoes on his back, but the emotional reunion will once again stir memories of his fatherland.

A comparison of the old Barrack Obama and the new. By courtesy/Facebook.

Ruto missing

Incidentally, Deputy President William Ruto was not at the airport when Kenyan delegation led by President Kenyatta defeated the biting cold to welcome President Obama.

He was hosting delegates of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) accompanied by CORD leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka. President Kenyatta had earlier been scheduled to host this delegation.

At the airport with President Uhuru to receive the US leader were House Speaker Justin Muturi, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, Cabinet Secretaries Amina Mohamed, Joseph Nkaiserry and Rachel Omamo, and Obama's half sister Auma Obama.

Gay rights is "a non-issue" and Kenya is not keen on embracing homosexuality, President Kenyatta has told US President Barack Obama and the United States.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was faced with an awkward moment when Uganda People's Defence Forces' (UPDF) band played him a song praising a party he quit more than three years ago.

Cable News Network (CNN) has apologized to Kenya over a recent terrorism slur.

In a televisedCNNreportpreceding President Obama's July trip to Kenya, the news network has referred to the East African country as a"hotbed of terror"while highlighting the possibility of an attack by Al-Shaabab militants during the President's visit.

Kenyans were not amused by CNN's labeling and immediately took to social media to hurl insults and sarcastic humor at CNN under the hashtag #SomeoneTellCNN, which ended up trending onTwitterfor a few days.

But the Kenyan government took a more serious approach towards reprimanding CNN. Two weeks ago, the Kenyan Tourism Board, a state agency whose mission is to drive and support the effective marketing of Kenya’s tourism products, said it was withdrawing advertising from the network in reaction to the "misrepresentation of the country's status."

But on Thursday, Tony Maddox, CNN' global Executive Vice President and Managing Director, who oversees CNN's global editorial policy, flew all the way from Atlanta to Nairobi to personally apologize to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenyans.

At a meeting in the State House in Nairobi, Maddox admitted that CNN's description of Kenya as a "hotbed of terror" was both undeserved and ill-conceived.

"We acknowledge there is a widespread feeling that the report annoyed many, which is why we pulled down the report as soon as we noticed. It wasn't a deliberate attempt to portray Kenya negatively, it is regrettable and we shouldn't have done it. There is a world at a war with extremists; we know what a hotbed of terror looks like, and Kenya isn't one," Maddox said.

President Kenyatta, while expressing his disappointment at the story, urged CNN to stick to factual reporting and to show more responsibility in its delivery of security-related news about Kenya. He reiterated that the war on terror was a global threat, not exclusive to Kenya, and that the country was making remarkable strides in defeating its enemies. The President said that the CNN report made a mockery of the great sacrifices that Kenya's armed forces and other security personnel continually make to keep the country safe.

"In one stroke, CNN's description of Kenya as a 'hotbed of terror' undermined the sacrifices made by our Kenyan troops, and the value of hundreds of lives lost, and relegated them to nothing. That's why Kenyans, as expressed by those on Twitter, were so angry. Kenya is nothing like the countries that have real war. There was no reason to portray Kenya in that way," the President said.

Follow me on Twitter@MfonobongNsehe

A British court on Monday freed Rwanda's intelligence chief Karenzi Karake, who is wanted in Spain over alleged war crimes in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, after being advised that an extradition offence could not be established in British law.

British police arrested General Karake, 54, at London's Heathrow Airport on June 22, acting on a European Arrest Warrant issued by Spain. Karake was a commander in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the rebel force that swept through Rwanda in 1994 to halt the slaughter of 800,000 minority Tutsis orchestrated by the Hutu government. The RPF now runs the country.

The Spanish arrest warrant is in connection with allegations of reprisal killings in Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in the years following the genocide. The RPF denies that Karake or others committed war crimes. Karake's arrest angered authorities in Kigali, who described it as an "outrage", and prompted protests outside the British embassy in the Rwandan capital as well as outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London, where Karake appeared on June 25.

Rwanda's Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in a tweet she was delighted Karake would be coming home.  "This was an unnecessary and abusive process," she said.

The court had granted Karake bail on June 25 pending full extradition proceedings. Among the lawyers who appeared in court to defend him was Cherie Blair, wife of Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which under extradition procedures was acting on behalf of the Spanish judicial authority, said Senior District Judge Howard Riddle had discharged the arrest warrant after hearing CPS legal advice.

"After careful consideration we do not believe that an extradition offence can be established under UK law. The main reason is that the relevant laws on the conduct alleged in this case do not cover the acts of non UK nationals or residents abroad," a CPS spokesman said.

The Spanish warrant stemmed from a lengthy indictment issued by a judge in 2008 against 40 senior Rwandans including Karake, who was also accused of ordering the killing of three Spanish volunteers from a medical charity in 1997.

Conflicting accounts have emerged over the years of exactly what happened in parts of Rwanda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where many suspected Hutu "genocidaires" fled the RPF advance in 1994 and which Rwandan forces later invaded.

Kigali and Nairobi are two sides of the same coin.

The central banks of four East African countries are conducting a study that will set the baseline for money transfer fees across the region.

Nairobi--President Uhuru Kenyatta today held a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament of Burundi and his deputy who briefed him on the political situation in the East African nation.

The Speaker, Mr Pascal Nyabenda, doubles as the chairman of the ruling party CNDD-FDD, while the Deputy Speaker, Mr Agathon Rwasa, heads the opposition, Amizero y'Abarundi coalition.

The two leaders told President Kenyatta that the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza and the opposition had agreed to work together for the interest of their country and sought Kenya’s support for further reconciliation in Burundi.

President Kenyatta told the two leaders, who were accompanied by MPs from the two sides, that they can count on Kenya's support for all efforts aimed at fostering peace in Burundi.

"The region's interest is to have a peaceful Burundi because we cannot let you go back to the violence which you have gone through before," said the President.

President Kenyatta said the process of reconciliation and dialogue in Burundi should be inclusive so that the internal differences can be resolved once and for all.

"I am happy to see that your team is composed of all the sides of the political spectrum sending a strong signal to the world that you want peace," said the President. President Kenyatta said regional leaders are willing to continue supporting Burundi to remain peaceful but the biggest responsibility rests with Burundians themselves.

"The internal challenges facing your country can be resolved by the people of Burundi without exclusion," said the President. Mr Nyabenda thanked President Kenyatta for his strong message to all the sides in Burundi to respect their constitution and to avoid fuelling violence.

"We respected our constitution and today the Burundi government represents all ethnic groups and all political parties as provided for in the constitution," he said.

The Speaker said Burundians want to continue with the process of dialogue and requested the East African Community to host a special summit to kick off another round of reconciliation.

Mr Rwasa said the opposition chose to cooperate with the government to save the country from collapsing.

"Burundi has gone through hard times but it is not in a desperate position today. We have to transform the challenges that face us into opportunities and if we commit to true dialogue we can achieve more," he said.

The meeting was also attended by Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Prof Karanja Kibicho and Burundi Ambassador to Kenya, Ms Beatrice Kankindi.

Kampala--The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the National Information Technology Authority (NITA) have launched a joint online reporting platform to crack down on sexual and pornographic material posted on internet sites.

Armed robbers shot dead a man who attempted to block them from stealing his sister's Shs16m at a mobile money shop in Kevina Zone in Nsambya, a Kampala suburb on Thursday night.

Kenya's Opposition leader Raila Odinga has asked Rwanda President Paul Kagame and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni not to extend their terms in office.

In a span of five months, two doctors have been fingered in Kenya for alleged professional misconduct revolving around sexual abuse of female patients in their care.

It is widely believed that many female patients are raped in hospital beds in traumatising ordeals that they would rather not speak about due to the stigma involved. Many times, victims choose to suffer in silence rather than risk attracting public ridicule when the truth is disclosed.

Dr Frank Njenga, a psychiatrist, revealed that some doctors were necrophiles (men who have a fetish for having sex with corpses). He states that any person who takes sexual advantage of a human being is a criminal and should face the full force of the law as stipulated in the Penal Code. "There is something fundamentally wrong with the person's personality. Any doctor will tell you that man is a psychopath," said Njenga in reference to Mugo wa Wairimu, the 'doctor' accused of raping a patient at his city clinic.

Silence by victims has encouraged some wayward medical practitioners to continue sexually abusing female patients. This is abetted by lack of protection by relevant bodies, blatant cover-ups and deliberate bungling of investigations.

"This is a social issue in many communities who are sensitive about sexual matters. Many men will believe that the woman (victim) provoked the situation. Therefore, you become a victim of another situation to an extent of being ostracised. That is why women shy away from reporting," Dr Francis Kerre, a sociology lecturer at Kenyatta University told this writer.

Mugo's case comes after Mwangi Muchiri was arrested at his Fig Tree Medical Centre in Ngara after he allegedly forcibly conducted an HIV test on a woman who claimed to have been raped by Imenti Central MP Gideon Mwiti. Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board (KMPDB) boss Daniel Yumbya said Muchiri was arrested because his clinic was not licensed.

But that was nothing compared to the shocking of an expose on Citizen TV of disturbing rape incident at Mugo's Zimmerman clinic.

The clip titled Doctored Abuse showed a man claimed to be Mugo Wairimu, a controversial city 'gynaecologist' and political party 'youth winger', mounting a sedated patient. Mugo who runs Prestige Healthcare in Githurai 44 and Zimmerman estates in Nairobi has since disowned the footage. The Nursing Council of Kenya and KMPDB quickly disowned Mugo, saying he is not a registered member of the two professional bodies.

The Nairobi City County government also said the clinic was not licensed to operate and that it had been closed down by authorities in June. A national outcry ensued, with enraged members of the public demanding for Mugo's immediate arrest.

"Arresting Mugo is not any big deal, we can get him any time. What is important is the evidence, that is why it is necessary we get to victims who have been abused. We need evidence before we go for him bearing in mind that you are suppose to take a suspect to court within 24 hours of an arrest. So we risk destroying the case if we hurry up," explained John Kariuki, head of Serious Crimes Unit.

Mugo was later arrested in Tigonia on September 10 and handed over to the Serious Crimes Unit. Kariuki said they are likely to plead with the court to give them more time to complete their investigations.

Dr John Nyamu, a gynaecologist, said he doubted whether Mugo was qualified. He said most of the highly trained gynaecologists cannot stoop too low to abuse their patients, claiming those doing so are quacks or medical practitioners in the low cadre of the profession.

"Those are not professionals. As gynaecologists, we don't do such because we want to preserve our integrity. When you do that, you will lose the trust of your clients. Most of the cases involve nurses but doctors don't do that because of the kind of training they receive," he stated.

Kenya's Opposition leaders disputed President Uhuru Kenyatta's assertion that the economy is incapable of supporting the teachers' salary increment.

While addressing thousands of Kenyans who turned up at Uhuru Park grounds, Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leaders led by Raila Odinga accused the President of lying to Kenyans and pressed the Government to pay teachers the 50-60 per cent salary increment awarded by the court, which has sparked a nationwide strike that culminated in closure of public primary and secondary schools countrywide on Monday.

The leaders, some of them clad in school uniform, poked holes in the President's speech on Sunday night, in which he said that public officers' wages gobble up 52 per cent of national revenue and, therefore, it would be imprudent to budget for an additional Sh17 billion this year for the teachers' pay increase.

And to show solidarity with over 280,000 striking teachers, whose pay demands the Government has rejected and who risk missing their salary at the end of the month, the CORD principals opened an account and pleaded with Kenyans to help the teachers.

They asked Kenyans to contribute to Pay Bill number 672672. Raila gave figures in a bid to show that the public wage bill is at 32 per cent of revenue, below the global average of 35 per cent for middle-income countries, and accused the Government of lying to deny teachers a deserved pay rise.

He claimed the wage bill is Sh370 billion, against last year's revenue of Sh1.16 trillion and questioned where the President got the Sh568 billion figure that he announced in his address.

"The issue of wage bill sustainability or damaging the economy is a red herring, a plain lie," Raila said and challenged the Government to pay up or give up office.

"Our teachers have demanded a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. Our courts have agreed they deserve it, they must have it. President Uhuru Kenyatta says, Can't pay, Won't Pay. If you can't pay go home," Raila said drawing cheers from the crowd.

Grand Coalition

To buttress the argument that the President's figures do not add up, Raila said this year the Government will have Sh443 billion more revenue than that of the Grand Coalition Government, which he (Raila) was part of.

"The Government is telling us that out of a revenue increase of Sh443 billion (55 per cent), we cannot afford Sh17 billion for teachers?" Raila posed. "If the Government paid Sh568 billion wage bill last year and has budgeted Sh329 billion for salaries this year, is the Government wage bill falling?" Opposition supporters were asked to "occupy" Harambee Avenue every Tuesday as long as the teachers' strike continues.

Raila said during the last year of Grand Coalition Government, the tax revenue was Sh807 billion. The published budget for Government wage bill for the current year, he added, is Sh329 billion contrary to the figures read by the President during his address to the nation.

"Even if we add county governments and parastatals, the figures tell a different story from the one the Jubilee Government is peddling. We must stand with the teachers against a government thriving on lies and theft," he said.

The employment and public wage for calendar year 2014 as published by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that the national government was allocated Sh85 billion, teachers Sh145 billion, counties Sh62 billion and parastatals Sh77 billion, totalling to Sh370 billion which only accounts for 32 per cent of last year's revenue. Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka said if the Government is unable to pay teachers, it has put the country in the category of failed States.

"Failing to pay teachers is a symptom of a failed State. Education is a right of every Kenyan child and it's compulsory. Denying the children this right is worse than terrorism," said Kalonzo. Narc-Kenya leader Martha Karua said the Jubilee administration should ensure it reduces corruption and wastage.

Karua castigated the President for allegedly threatening the courts through his address to the nation and said this could have a direct bearing on the ongoing cases.

"We can pay the teachers if only the Government reduces corruption and wastage. We should ensure that Jubilee government goes home by 2017," said Karua.

The Opposition claimed teachers and most Kenyans have lost patience with "a small clique that says the economy is booming, times are great, salaries are good and the Government is doing a great job".

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MPs John Mbadi (Suba), Jared Kopiyo (Awendo), Ishrad Sumra (Embakasi South), Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba), Eseli Simiyu (Tongaren), Chris Wamalwa (Kimini), Ken Okoth (Kibra), Sylvance Osele (Kabondo/Kasipul), Fred Outa (Nyando), Gladys Wanga (Homa Bay Women Rep) and her counterparts Florence Mutua (Busia) and Rachael Ameso (Kakamega) among others demanded that teachers be paid and threatened to forge on with the impeachment motion if this isn't done. "I have today filed an impeachment motion against President Kenyatta at the National Assembly.We are prepared to kick out the Jubilee administration out of office either through the impeachment motion or in the next General Election," said Mbadi.

The leaders who arrived for the rally at 1.37pm dismissed assertions by the Government that it does not have money to the pay teachers, saying a lot of money was being wasted in corrupt deals.

Rich and poor

Senators Boni Khalwale said the Government belongs to both the rich and poor. "You have to be the President of the rich as well as the poor. Take our children back to school, said Khalwale. Hassan Omar (Mombasa) Omar said it is worrying that the Head of State does not uphold the rule of law.

"If he does not listen to teachers he will be the first President to leave office before completing his term," said Omar. Machakos Senator Johnston Muthama said it is shocking that the Jubilee Government,"a product of court", cannot not uphold the rule of law. See also: Jubilee lying to Kenyans on ability to effect salary hike "He accepted the Supreme Court's verdict on the Presidential election but when the same court rules that teachers should be paid he says 'can't pay, won't pay," he said.

He accused President Kenyatta of failing to protect the Constitution, saying he is at the forefront in violating the same even after swearing to protect it.

Nairobi (AFP) - Attackers in Kenya tried to hack off body parts from a man with albinism to sell for witchcraft, reports said Monday, rising fears of cross-border attacks from neighbouring Tanzania.

"Three people stormed my house and demanded money," 56-year old Enock Jamenya, from Kenya's western Vihiga district, told the Daily Nation newspaper. "When I told them I had no money, they asked for ear or hand to sell in Tanzania."

The attackers sliced his ear, arm, neck and fingers, the newspaper reported, but then were apparently disturbed and fled, leaving Jamenya wounded and unconscious.

"One of his sons came in the morning to check on him, he found him lying in a pool of blood," his brother Nixon Muhole told The Standard newspaper.

In neighbouring Tanzania, some politicians have been accused of buying albino body parts for witchcraft and lucky charms.

Rights groups have warned of the risk of a rise in attacks against albinos in Tanzania amid campaigning for general and presidential elections on October 25.

Kenyan lawmaker Isaac Mwaura, who has albinism, has repeatedly warned that gangs have carried attacks in Kenya for the trade in Tanzania.

At least 76 albinos in Tanzania have been murdered since 2000, with their dismembered body parts selling for around $600 (528 euros) and entire bodies fetching $75,000, according to United Nations experts. Dozens more have survived having parts of their bodies hacked off.

Albino rights groups said they feared attackers could target Kenya after Tanzania's government made strong public statements vowing to stem the practice.

"We want the government to take a decisive decision on this issue, because it is a threat to our lives," Martin Wanyonyi, from the Albinism Empowerment Network group, told The Standard.

Albinism is a hereditary genetic condition which causes a total absence of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes.

NAIROB--A Kenyan member of Parliament has filed a complaint against Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama over remarks including allegedly terming the Devolution CS the President's lover.

Dagoretti South MP Dennis Waweru said Muthama made the claims during a rally at Uhuru Park on Wednesday, "despite knowing the President is happily married and a committed family man".

In the list of Waweru's complaints to the NCIC is also the reference to Uhuru as a "careless President preoccupied with his alleged clandestine lover, CS Anne Waiguru".

"The Senator implied that Uhuru favours Waiguru more than other CSs and for reasons other than her professionalism and diligence," Waweru said in a statement on Thursday.

The MP added that Muthama threatened that teachers who return to school as advised by Uhuru would be stoned.

He also reported that the Senator said Uhuru will be "smoked out of State House soon" if he does not resign.

Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama of Kenya. PHOTO BY COURTESY/KBC

Waweru said the Senator "ridiculed key state officers" and "impeached the whole of section 13 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act".

He noted that section 13 (1) (a) prohibits the use of "threatening, abusive or insulting words", and similar behaviour.

Waweru added that Muthama "made a complete mockery" of moral and ethical standards governing leaders, and "scorned" the Public Officer Ethics Act.

"The list of laws Senator Muthama abused on live television through his utterances is endless," Muthama said and demanded immediate action by security agencies.

"If no legal action is not taken we will hold a rally of all Jubilee supporters over the weekend at Uhuru Park and then march to his home to initiate citizen arrest."

A Solidarity Account for donations towards teachers' pay was unveiled during the charged Cord rally in Nairobi, at which Muthama spoke.

Cord leader Raila Odinga asked the public to send contributions, but Jubilee MPs have accused him of trying to obtain funds for other uses.

They claimed the account is linked to the Opposition leader's private credit card, and that funds raised will be used by the coalition.

The leaders addressed a meeting at Parliament buildings on Thursday, attended by MPs Moses Kuria (Gatundu South) and Johnson Sakaja (Nominated).

Others were MPs Naomi Shabaan (Taveta) and Francis Waititu (Juja), and Kiambu woman representative Nyokabi Gatheca.

Embattled Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama has come under heavy criticism from a section of the clergy for what they termed as "shameful" utterances.

The leaders of Kenya's Evangelical Churches, led by Bishop Mark Kariuki, said those who made utterances against the Presidency during a political rally by opposition party Cord on Wednesday at Uhuru Park must not be allowed to get away with it "unless the law is being applied selectively."

Referring to remarks by Muthama, the leaders said the politician violated the Constitution because Freedom of Speech  does not include vilification of others.

They further said the Senator's utterances caused shame to the family of President Uhuru Kenyatta and that of Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.

During the Uhuru Park rally, which was organised by Cord as a show of solidarity with the striking teachers, Muthama made remarks about President Kenyatta and and Waiguru which have been termed as derogatory by a cross section of political leaders.

Meanwhile, Mr Muthama recorded a statement at the Nairobi County Police Headquarters on Saturday afternoon over his controversial utterances.

Mr Muthama arrived at the station a few minutes before noon in the company of Cord co-principal Raila Odinga, Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale among other opposition leaders.

The investigations are being handled by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

On Thursday, NCIC chairman Francis ole Kaparo said they had established sufficient grounds to press charges against Mr Muthama and Bunge la Mwananchi chairman, Mr Japheth Mworoko Thuranira, over their utterances at the said rally.

Just like the missionaries who carried Christianity to Africa's most populous nation a century ago, millions of Nigeria's diaspora are doing the exact same ---in reverse--- with a full-bodied pentecostal version of the faith.

The roads that wind north from Lagos, Nigeria, toward the headquarters of the Winners' Chapel mega-church are lined with unusual testaments to Nigerians' religious fervor.

There's the Amazing Grace Hair Salon and the No King But God Driving School, My God Is Able Furniture Makers and God's Grace Multipurpose Hall. And wedged between these omnipotently styled businesses are the churches themselves, hundreds of them, carrying on tenaciously in a sweltering tin shack or a room balanced atop a gas station, in the parking lot of a half-finished shopping mall or perched on stilts above Lagos's thick, viscous lagoon.

But even in a country so devout, Canaanland stands out. The headquarters of one of the most powerful churches in Africa rambles out across 10,500 acres and includes not only a massive church--the 50,000 seat Faith Tabernacle --but a fully stocked company town complete with schools and a university, a bottled water processing plant, restaurants, shops, and residential neighborhoods. Every weekend, hundreds of bus loads of Nigerians, regally coiffed in vividly patterned, tailor-made suits and dresses, pour through its gates for Sunday service.

"The next two months will be the greatest two months of your life to date," promises David Oyedepo, the church's leader, to the crowd at Faith Tabernacle on a recent Sunday morning. His voice booms through the packed chapel and out to an overflow area where thousands of additional worshipers sit fanning themselves on plastic chairs, attentively listening to his message of prosperity. "Your struggle has finally come to an end!"

Over the past century, no region on earth has witnessed so dramatic a transformation in its religious life as Africa. In 1910, just 9 percent of the continent's population was Christian -- today, nearly half of its 1.1 billion people are. Much of that growth can be attributed to European and American missionaries, who fanned out across the continent over the course of the 20th century with a promise to bring light to the "dark continent."

But today, the arc of that story is beginning to move in reverse, with Africa and other regions of the so-called global south not only receiving missionaries, but increasingly leading international evangelical efforts of their own. Today, nine of the top 20 missionary--sending countries in the world are in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.

Few countries illustrate those changing dynamics better than Nigeria. Forty years ago, the country had 26 million Christians. Today it counts nearly 100 million.

They are not only fervently faithful, but also intensely mobile, with some 1.2 million Nigerians currently living abroad, according to the United Nations (although some put the figure as high as 17 million). Over the past three decades, Nigerian Pentecostal mega-churches have sprung up from the shantytowns of Sierra Leone to the strip malls of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Britain's fastest growing church is the Nigerian Redeemed Christian Church of God, and four of that country's 10 largest churches were founded by Nigerians. In Kiev, Ukraine, a city awash in onion-domed Orthodox cathedrals, the largest Sunday service--with about 5,000 people attending--is conducted by Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian and founder of the Pentecostal Embassy of God church.

"Traditionally churches came from the Western world, but now we are returning the kingdom back to them," says Tope Olukole, a spokesman for Winners' Chapel, which is also known as the Living Faith Church Worldwide. "With science, with modernization, the West has lost its debt to Christ, but in Africa the faith is still strong."

Although Nigerians have left an imprint on most of the world's major Christian denominations --one-quarter of the globe's Anglicans live here, for instance--their most exported version of the faith is undoubtedly Pentecostal.

That's exactly the kind of Christianity that Winners' Chapel is steeped in. It's a full-body celebration of God that regularly includes weeping and whooping, speaking in tongues, and calling demons out from the bodies of the sick.

With no central authority and a sharp focus on personal, emotional, and spiritual connection, Pentecostalism indeed seems ideally suited to a country like Nigeria, a place steeped in an entrepreneurial attitude born of decades of unreliable government. Nigerian Pentecostalism has become a torchbearer for a popular message: Join the church, and you will prosper -- not just spiritually, but financially, too.

For the millions who flock to these churches worldwide--Nigerian or otherwise, and many of them looking for a fresh start--this is a welcome message.

"By the first of next year, you'll have double what you have now," Mr. Oyedepo tells his Canaanland audience. "Double your health, double your present impact, double your fortune."

***
Strong faith and hopes for prosperity no doubt account for much of Nigerians' compunction to spread the Gospel. But this is also a story that owes a great debt to the seismic social and economic changes that have seized this country -- and the African continent -- over the past half century.

Among the most important pieces of the puzzle is the growth of cities. On the eve of Nigeria gaining its independence from Britain in 1960, Lagos, the largest city, had a population of just over a quarter million people. Today, 20 million people live there, with 6,000 new migrants arriving every day. Nearly all of them come in search of one thing -- work -- and most have few social ties in the unforgiving jumble of a city.

That's where churches come in, says Maria Frahm-Arp, a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa who studies Pentecostal churches in Africa. Churches, she points out, provide more than spiritual fulfillment to new migrants. They are also sources of community, and in countries like Nigeria are often a far more reliable safety net than government-provided social services.

"Mega-churches often offer a great deal of social teachings --how to make it in the world--that are practically valuable to migrants," she says. "And beyond that people are often using church networks to access jobs and build social ties in new places."

Indeed, the numbers are telling. By 2020, sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be the world's most rapidly urbanizing region, according to the UN. It's also where Christianity has grown the fastest over the past 40 years. (The other most rapidly urbanizing region, Asia, ranks second.) Today, there are just six countries worldwide that have more Christians than Nigeria.

***
But if churches seem to spring up like dandelions in the cities of Lagos, Ibadan, and Abuja, the country's evangelists are also looking further afield. Winners' Chapel, for instance, claims membership on five continents, and the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) ---Nigeria's largest Pentecostal church ---has adherents in more than 100 countries and says its goal is to build a church within a five-minute walk or drive of every person on earth.

It may be a startlingly ambitious prospect, but there's a good reason the church can even entertain it: Nigerians move. A lot. Driven by decades of political turmoil and economic instability in their home country, nearly a quarter-million Nigerians now live in each of three countries -- Britain, the United States, and South Africa---and other, smaller Nigerian communities are scattered around the globe.

"One of the most unrealized aspects of church history, in my opinion, is the importance of immigration in transporting the faith from one place to another," says Warren Bird, a scholar of global mega-churches. "Many of the churches that now seem to be a mainstream part of life in America were brought here by migrants from around Europe ---and that's the same thing you're beginning to see with Nigerians as they emigrate around the world."

That migration of people is highly visible in cities like Johannesburg, where a stadium service led by RCCG's leader, Enoch Adeboye, can draw thousands of worshipers, including high-profile figures such as the country's chief justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, who recently danced on stage at one such event. (Mr. Adeboye once described RCCG pithily: "Made in heaven, assembled in Nigeria, exported to the world.")

Every weekend, Nigerian churches housed in industrial parks, storefronts, and primary schools draw flocks of worshipers---South Africans, Nigerians, and foreigners alike---in a seeming morning-long reprieve from South Africa's rampant xenophobia.

But the reach of Nigerian churches goes far wider, stretching into corners of the world where the West African presence is far less obvious. Look quickly, for instance, and you might miss RCCG's Living Faith Sanctuary (no relationship to Winners' Chapel), wedged between a bargain housewares shop and a marijuana dispensary in a bland Colorado Springs strip mall.

But inside on an icy Sunday last December, about 70 worshipers gathered for a sermon by Pastor Michael Lipede, whose trilling "R's" and singsong consonants betray a national origin shared by more than half of his congregants.

"You can't separate faith from culture, so in a way churches are always going to be cultural centers," says Charles, a Nigerian engineer who recently moved to Colorado. He was raised Roman Catholic, but converted to Pentecostalism in college. When he arrived in the US, one of the first things he did was find a Nigerian church---RCCG---in his new hometown of Raleigh, N.C.

"The church helps people stay close to Nigeria," says Mr. Olukole, the spokesman for Winners' Chapel in Lagos. "If you worshiped at Winners' in Nigeria then, of course, that is your first port of call when you go abroad."

But these churches are also making inroads into local communities as well. At Living Faith Sanctuary, about a quarter of the worshipers are locals, and Charles, who gave only his first name, says that "almost everyone" who visits the church's small food pantry for handouts is "a white person from here."

"The church has an obligation to be an open house of worship above all else," Charles says, noting that in a highly religious city like Colorado Springs, potential congregants are not difficult to find.

Still the biggest audience for Nigerian churches abroad remains Nigerian migrants, attracted to a gospel of prosperity and self-realization, and it is unlikely they'll stop coming anytime soon.

Within Nigeria, the faithful remain ever fervent. As cars pour out of Canaanland's gates, many of them bear a church bumper sticker that reads "I'm a winner!" Next to the words is a miniature rendition of the Winners' Chapel logo: a map of the world catching fire.

This story was reported from Lagos, Nigeria; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Colorado Springs, Colo., with support from the Ford Foundation.

NAIROBI, Kenya--A Kenyan freelance journalist has penned an open letter to US President Barack Obama criticizing his recent 3 day visit to Kenya. In the letter seen by Ajabu Africa News, Michael Mundia Kamau claims the visit was a failure, failed to address the most pressing needs of the country as they really are, was insensitive, and therefore, a bad distraction.READ FULL LETTER below.
 

Dear President Obama,

Your insensitive visit to Kenya of 24th to 26th July 2015, your insensitive remarks and your insensitive actions, shall rank darkly and disgracefully in Kenya's history, now and in years to come. You and your entourage shut down large parts of Kenya for the duration of your visit, bringing social and economic activities to a standstill, as you purported to have come into the country with a so called Global and Entrepreneurship Summit (GES).

President Obama, it appears to have escaped your attention that the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi, is a hub not just for Kenya, but a regional hub for the East and Central Africa region, a nerve centre that is, for Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Mombasa-Nairobi-Kisumu highway is still the main access route for goods from the port of Mombasa to neighbouring countries such as, as mentioned, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Your entourage President Obama, blockaded the city of Nairobi, and by extension, the Mombas-Nairobi-Kisumu highway, so traders with a stake on the Mombasa-Nairobi-Kisumu highway and beyond, and they are not small in number, had to timidly wait for your entourage to leave town, for things to return back to normal. In other words President Obama, your three day visit to Kenya of 24th to 26th July 2015, was a logistical and financial nightmare to the entire East and Central African region, including Tanzania, because quite a number of Tanzanians still travel to Nairobi for business.

President Obama this is not to mention the fact that you and your entourage greatly disrupted general commerce & agriculture across Kenya, because of key installations in the heart of Nairobi, such as Nairobi's Wakulima Market and Nairobi's City Market, where fresh agricultural produce, fresh livestock produce and fresh fish is merchandised on a daily basis from different corners of Kenya. Everyone in Kenya right now is operating on tight margins, and the disruption caused by you and your entourage, is an agonising set back for a vast intricate food chain.

Nairobi's Central Business District, Nairobi's Upper Hill Business District and Nairobi’s Westlands Business District are closely interlinked and are key nerve centres, in the vast metropolis that Nairobi has evolved into, where several ventures, enterprises and businesses operate, ventures, enterprises and businesses that quite literally shut down during the duration of your three day July 2015 visit. President Obama, it is ironic that you purported to come into town with a Global and Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), when what you and your entourage actually did, was deal a severe blow to Kenyan commerce and Kenyan entrepreneurship. The vast number of Kenyans who incurred losses and setbacks, courtesy of your three day visit, have nowhere and no one to turn, and will have to sort themselves out. What you and your entourage helped to entrench, foster and confirm President Obama, is that Kenyans still have nowhere to turn to in our continued oppression and mistreatment from our Government, from foreigners and from visiting dignitaries like yourself.

And herein lies another stark tragedy of your three day visit to Kenya of 24th to 26th July 2015. President Obama, you made no effort at all to take one step out of Kenya's capital city of Nairobi, reinforcing long held stereotypes that a Kenyan can only make it big in Nairobi or overseas, nowhere else. Even colonial Governors in colonial Kenya, used to travel the length and breadth of colonial Kenya, rubbing shoulders with the "natives", the likes of your father and the likes of myself, yet a purported son of this country, President Barack Obama, spent three days of his "iconic" and "historic" visit in not just the greater Nairobi, but uptown Nairobi, because President Obama, you made no effort whatsoever to visit, say for instance, areas in downtown Nairobi, such as, as mentioned, Wakulima Market, or the famed Kamukunji sheds.

President Obama, one would have expected you to spare a moment or two for the Kamukunji sheds, regarded by some quarters, as the cradle of Kenya's skilled and thriving informal sector, because President Obama, you and your sister Auma, mention how your first visit to Kenya as Citizen Obama in 1987, was characterised by frequent breakdowns of your sister's Volkswagen Beetle, and the equally frequent emergence "out of the blue" of skilled mechanics, who fixed the problem with your sister's motor vehicle. Those skilled mechanics were and continue to be nurtured in informal settings all over Kenya, informal settings such as Nairobi's downtown Kamukunji sheds , informal settings that are the real face of Kenya, and for you President Obama to have given Kenya's informal settings a cold shoulder, is to have turned your back on the entire populace of the Republic of Kenya, begging the question as to what really brought you here, begging the question as to whether you are truly a son of Kenya, and begging the question as to whether you are truly a son of Africa.

The biggest employer in Kenya President Obama is not the Kenyan civil service, the biggest employer in Kenya President Obama is not the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the biggest employer in Kenya is not telecommunications giant Safaricom, the biggest corporation in East and Central Africa, and the horn of Africa, the biggest employer in Kenya is the informal sector, what we refer to as "Jua Kali" here.  Remove "Jua Kali" President Obama, and Kenya is finished.

There is a construction boom in this country right now President Obama, and the skills driving and propping up the current boom in construction are the skills of Kenyan men and Kenyan women horned in the informal sector ("Jua Kali"). What you effectively succeeded in doing President Obama, was not to kill two birds with one stone, but to murder two birds with one stone. You and your entourage greatly disrupted and shutdown the Kenyan informal sector during your three day visit to Kenya of July 2015, and further went on to shut out Kenya's informal sector from the stately air conditioned banquets in uptown Nairobi held over your three day visit, effectively shutting out the heartbeat of Kenya.

President Obama, in the interview you granted to Jon Sopel and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), immediately prior to your visit to Kenya of July 2015, you had mentioned to Mr. Sopel how the US President could not be deterred from visiting areas that were regarded as being "unsafe", such as Kenya, yet what you effectively did President Obama, was not to visit Kenya, but to visit Nairobi.

President Obama, there is a stark irony and stark contradiction with remarks made to Mr. Sopel and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and how you lectured us during the duration of your three day visit to Kenya of July 2015. For instance President Obama, in your lecture to us of Sunday, 26th July 2015 at the very well air-conditioned Kasarani Stadium Auditorium, you mentioned how individuals in Kenya's Nyanza Province, the roots of your father, had less of a chance of succeeding in life than individuals from Kenya's Central Province, the roots of President Uhuru Kenyatta, his father President Jomo Kenyatta, and of Independent Kenya's third President, President Mwai Kibaki. President Obama, why didn't you therefore deem it necessary to visit Kenya's Nyanza Province, to show solidarity with the people of Nyanza Kenya, and to keep hope alive? In the same auditorium and in the same breath President Obama, you mentioned how a girl from Kenya's vast Rift Valley Province, the roots of President Daniel T. arap Moi, Independent Kenya's second President,  was less likely to succeed in life, than a girl from Nairobi. President Obama, why didn't you therefore find it within yourself, to leave the confines of the city of Nairobi, to visit Kenya's vast Rift Valley to show solidarity with it's locals, and to keep hope alive?

President Obama, the lingering question will remain as what exactly you came to do in Kenya during your three day visit of July 2015, because none of your actions reflected your utterances, nor the reality on the ground in our beloved Kenya.

On the same Sunday, 26th July 2015, you launched a tirade into Kenyan men, implying that we were archaic and chauvinistic in our treatment of Kenyan women, in a country where the first woman Assistant Minister, Dr. Julia Ojiambo, was appointed in 1974, in a country where the first woman Permanent Secretary (Chief Accounting Officers, in Kenya Government Ministries), Margaret Githinji, was appointed in 1991, in a country where the first woman full Cabinet Minister, Winifred Nyiva Mwendwa, was appointed in 1995, and in a country where the first woman Head of the Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Dr. Sally Kosgei, was appointed in 2002. President Obama, women are not allowed to drive cars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), yet here they drive rally cars, drive heavy duty trucks, and are pilots. President Obama, you may recall the gruelling East African Safari Rally/Kenyan Safari Rally/Marlboro Safari Rally, the toughest rally in the world when it reigned as the lead World Rally Championship event circa the years 1972 to 2000. Well President Obama whereas, women in the the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are not allowed to drive cars, the first female African crew of Orie Rogo-Manduli (then Mary Ondieki), and Sylvia Omino, famously competed in the 1974 East African Safari Rally. Incidentally President Obama, you Orie and Sylvia are from the same Kenyan tribe, and you clearly know much less about your native Kenya and your native Luo tribe than you think you do.

President Obama, when chastising we Kenyan men about our mistreatment of Kenyan women, you omitted mentioning indigenous Kenyan women who played a lead and illustrious role in the liberation struggle in this country and in fostering the Kenya of today, such as Prophetess Syokimau, after whom Syokimau in Kenya's Eastern Province is named, Giriama heroine Kitilili wa Menza, who led the illustrious Giriama uprising against the British, before her capture in 1919, and Mary Nyanjiru, who in 1922, famously lifted her skirt high into the sky outside Nairobi's Central Police Station, to spite her fellow Kikuyu men for their inaction, following the arrest of Kenyan liberation hero, Harry Thuku. Kenyan women are no pushovers, so it's difficult to see who you were holding brief for.

In any case President Obama, there is a giant women's organisation here known as "Maendeleo ya Wanawake" (Movement for the Progression of Kenyan women), which was registered in 1952, there are 47 Women's Representatives elected under the new Kenya Constitution of 2010, a new Kenya Constitution you praised for being "functional" & "productive", despite five Kenyan Cabinet Ministers being currently on suspension, there is what is known as the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA), and there is what is known as the Kenya Women's Finance Trust Bank (KWFT). There are multiple statutory bodies catering for the "welfare" of women, run by women, yet here you are chastising Kenyan men for mistreating Kenyan women, when your venom should actually have been directed at the multiplicity of statutory women organizations meant to cater for the welfare of Kenyan women, and which are run and managed by Kenyan women.

The sad thing President Obama, is that you chose not to visit downtown Nairobi, and the wider Kenya, where you would have witnessed for yourself, Kenyan women balancing 50 kilogram loads on their heads and the sad thing President Obama is that you chose not to visit a sample of construction sites across Kenya, where you would have witnessed women carrying 50 kilogram bags of cement on their backs. President Obama, were you championing the cause of the Kenyan ladies who cheered you on in the very well air-conditioned and comfy environment of the Kasarani Auditorium, when you had the audacity to use the phrase "bad traditions", or were you championing the cause of the Kenyan women who balance 50 kilogram loads on their heads and backs? President Obama, were you championing the cause of the elite Kenyan women, or were championing the cause of rural Kenyan women in less privileged and less endowed regions of Kenya? President Obama, I think you made more enemies than friends during your disastrous three day visit to Kenya of July 2015.

To top it all President Obama, no effort was made to invite as wide a cross section of Kenyans, past and present or their descendants, to your auditorium lecture to about 3,000 Kenyans of Sunday, 26th July 2015, despite you mentioning the legendary Prof. Wangari Maathai and the legendary Kipchoge Keino. Prof. Wangari Maathai and Kipchoge Keino are two great and illustrious Kenyans. There are numerous other illustrious Kenyans including Prophetess Syokimau, Kitilili wa Menza, Mary Nyanjiru, Wanje wa Mwadorikola, Otenyo Nyamaterere, Koitalel arap Samoei, Mwakenga wa Malowa, Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi and Field Marsall Muthoni wa Kirima. It's hard to see what of substance you came to do in Kenya, President Obama.

Will you be remembered as a great Kenyan President Obama. I doubt it, President Obama. I think you will be remembered as a prominent Kenyan, but not as a great Kenyan. Will you be remembered as a great American, President Obama. I doubt that too, because your second term approval ratings are even lower than those of George W. Bush, a George W. Bush who you intensely and clumsily chastised in the same manner that you intensely and clumsily chastised us here in Kenya from 24th to 26th July 2015. I think you will be remembered as a prominent American, but not as a great American. It appears that you will end up losing on two fronts, President Obama.

Michael Mundia Kamau,

www.michaelmundiakamau.webs.com

UGANDA--The public anger was flared on Saturday, after news and social media platforms showed a lady only identified as Zainabeing undressed by the police upon arrest.

Zaina and other opposition activists were accompanying Forum for Democratic Change's presidential.

A Nation Media Group Editor was arrested and locked up over a story as Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery demanded that he reveals his source.

Mr John Ngirachu was arrested in Nairobi by CID officers as Interior Ministry Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery ordered that he stays behind bars till he reveals his sources.

In a press statement, Nkaissery issued a stern warning about continued disrespect to the government.

"This campaign has several strands and most alive is clothed in arguments, purportedly against graft, which are increasingly taking shape of a larger plot of economic sabotage. In the last week we have also seen internationalization of this hysteria, with articles in international media outlets, aimed at harming the nation. We can only presume that these are authored in cohort with the people intent on executing this insidious agenda." 

Nicholas Nzioki, one of the dancers who entertained Pope Francis at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), broke down overcome by the significance of the moment.

Seeing the Pope at close range was beyond the wildest dreams of the 26-year-old devout Catholic from Divine Mercy Catholic Church, Kalimoni Parish in Thika. For Nzioki, a jua kali artisan in Thika town, life has been about modest ambitions. It was his first time at JKIA, and for it to be on a day the Pope was stepping on Kenyan soil, it will be immortalised in his memory.

"I have never been to any airport and all my life I have never seen a plane at close range yet, today I am here as part of the welcome party, to sing and dance for the Pope," said Nzioki as tears rolled down his cheeks. His was a story of seeing heaven close to him, a great opportunity, he said, of getting blessings at first hand from the Holy Father.

"I will never forget this till I die," said Nzioki. Coming after Nzioki's Kiswahili singing choir was the Agikuyu Dance Troupe from the Holy Family Basilica singing "Atemerwo bara bara" a Kikuyu song whose lyrics in translation means "make way".

"I am so happy and excited to welcome His Holiness Pope Francis because he is the best pope I have known," said Nancy Wambui from Asumption of Mary Catholic Church in Umoja, Nairobi.

The local Catholic Church had organised the dance troupes to represent ethnic tribes in the country. The other two were Luo and Maasai dancers. "I am very delighted to be here today and I know for sure that I shall remain blessed all my life," said Gabriel Leitato from Namunyakwa Narusura Parish representing the Maasai Dancers.

Veronica Atieno who was with the Luo Dance Troupe said so important was the moment that the group got "Owalo" (Luo traditional dancing skirts made of sisal) from Nyanza just to look the part. Away from the song and dance, the Presidential Pavilion was a beehive of activity all afternoon.

As the clock ticked, more dignitaries and senior members of the Catholic clergy walked in through the rigorous security arrangement. At the runway, the red carpet was rolled out; two different airplane access lifts were driven to the landing area alongside fire engines and ambulances on standby.

At around 4.15pm, the bishops started lining up close to the red carpet. All the Catholic bishops in Kenya were on location except the four archbishops plus the cardinal who remained at the VIP bay waiting for President Uhuru Kenyatta's arrival.

When the Pope's plane, Shepherd One, touched down, a slight confusion ensued. A push and pull on matters protocol got the Apostolic Nuncio and a team of Government officials moving up and down in search of vantage positions.

For about five minutes, Bishop Alfred Kipkoech arap Rotich, Big Ted Kwaka, Kenya Airports Authority Chief of Security Eric Kiraithe and Director of Digital Communication in the Office of the President Dennis Itumbi could be seen deliberating probably on the exact location to stand as Shepherd One slowed down. Just before Francis came out of the plane, President Kenyatta, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta accompanied by top Government officials took their positions next to the plane's access lift.

As expected, the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Daniel Balvo and a female chief protocol officer from the Foreign Affairs ministry went into the plane and less than two minutes later, the Pope came out waving to the crowd. Right behind the pontiff was Alberto Gasbarri, the administrative and technical director of Vatican Radio, the person in charge of organising the apostolic trips.

For a moment, it looked like one big reunion for Pope Francis and John Cardinal Njue as they embraced. After the greetings, Uhuru's motorcade left the venue followed by the papal party.

As the papal motorcade left the airport, large crowds gathered along Mombasa road to get a glimpse of the Pope.

Nairobi--President Uhuru Kenyatta's seven nominees for Cabinet secretary are collectively worth Sh2.7 billion as per their own disclosure.

This emerged as the National Assembly cleared them for the top jobs Wednesday, paving the way for their appointment to the Cabinet by the Head of State.

The wealthiest among them is Mwangi Kiunjuri, nominee for the Devolution and Planning docket, with riches totaling Sh798 million.

And Dan Kazungu, the first term Malindi MP who has been nominated for the Cabinet Secretary, Mining post, has the least wealth of the seven, with a portfolio of Sh100 million.

The other nominees are Cleopa Mailu (Sh615 million), Joe Mucheru (Sh500 million), Charles Keter (Sh352 million), Sicily Kariuki (Sh168 million) and Willy Bett (Sh127.5 million).

According to the 59-page report of the Committee on Appointments, which Majority Leader Aden Duale (Garissa Township) tabled in the House, all the nominees were declared as having a clean record on integrity because none of them had been adversely mentioned in any investigative report either in Parliament or within the Executive.

Kenyans transacted Sh2.3 trillion ($23 billion) on mobile money in the period leading to October, a rise of Sh408 billion ($4 billion) from a similar period last year, latest data from the Central Bank of Kenya shows.

The 10-month transactions, which are equal to what the nation's citizens transacted in the entire 2014, indicate the country is set to break a new record on use of mobile money this year. The country holds the global record on mobile money use, which has made the country to offer lessons to other nations on the use of technology.

Kenyan citizens use mobile money to pay bills, loans, save, transfer money from their bank accounts, pay school fees and public transport vehicles fare. Mobile money is, therefore, at the heart of every transactions Kenyans make, stifling the use of plastic money, though cash is still the king.

During the 10 months, according to the CBK data, the highest transaction was recorded in October, where Sh256 billion ($2.51 billion) was moved via the mobile phone. This was the first time in the history of the technology that such amount of money has been transacted on the phone in the East African nation.

On the other hand, the lowest transaction was recorded in February, where about Sh209 billion ($2.04 billion) was moved. 

A young man from Tana River County in Kenya on Wednesday brought a serious youth dialogue meeting with the Head of State to a hearty laughter when he sought President Uhuru Kenyatta's help in securing his daughter Ngina’s hand in marriage.

The curious request was made when various youth from different counties across the coastal region had congregated at State House Mombasa for a Coast Youth Dialogue Forum.

During the presentation, the youths appointed to represent various counties aired presented issues of concern to the President.

When the turn for the Tana River County Representative came, he made his developmental requests but at the end took the opportunity to convey his interest in the first daughter.

The young man from Tana River County who asked for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s help in securing his daughter Ngina’s hand in marriage.

LOUD LAUGHTER

The President then commented on the development issues and concluded by stating, "Hiyo ya mwisho jitetee," sending the participants into a loud laughter. "Na ukifanikiwa nitakula Christmas Tana River."

Among the issues presented during the dialogue forum by coastal youths was the issuance of identity cards to which the President said every Kenyan has the right to be issued with the document.

The disabled were also represented during the forum with the President stating the government’s commitment towards ensuring that 5per cent of government jobs are given to the disabled.

The President, who was accompanied by Cabinet Secretaries during the forum, also announced plans to have the first talent academy established in Mombasa County.

According to Kenya's chief justice, Willy Mutunga, the country's citizens are at war with mafia-style cartels run by political bosses and corrupt businesspeople. He says that Kenya harbours mafia-style criminals similar to Al Capone's mob in 1920s America, and that this "cartel collects millions every day".

In a recent interview with Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, the respected Mutunga claims that corruption stretches from the very bottom to the very top of society. He says, for instance, that a Kenyan policeman who extorts a bribe from a motorist must share the booty with the head of the local station, who in turn shares the money with superiors possibly all the way up to police chiefs in Nairobi. Larger cartels, he explains, make money through trafficking illegal migrants, counterfeit money, weapons, drugs and consumer goods.

Mutunga, 69, has been nicknamed 'the Robin Hood of the Kenyan judiciary'. The son of a tailor, he rose up the system through talent and sheer determination. Previously a left-wing academic, he stood up against the dictatorship of President Daniel arap Moi, leading to Mutunga's dismissal from the university and a prison sentence in 1982. After the end of Kenya's one-party state in 1991, Mutunga became president of the Law Society of Kenya and chair of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission. After the election violence of 2007/8, which claimed more than a thousand casualties, Kenyans demanded fundamental reforms. Mutunga was made Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court and was tasked with reorganising the judiciary. The heads of corrupt judges began to roll.

Nevertheless, Mutunga claims corruption in Kenya has never been worse than today.

"The influence of the cartels is overwhelming," he says. "They are doing illegal business with politicians. If we do not fight the cartels, we become their slaves. But leaders who do take on the cartels must be prepared to be killed or exiled."

Mutunga is averse to the pomp, wealth and self-regard that is the hallmark of many Kenyan politicians. His defence of gay rights and an ornamental stud in his earlobe meanwhile have caused some political turbulence. "We do not want a Chief Justice with a decorative button to communicate with unseen spirits," quipped Deputy President William Ruto some years back.

Despite now being a member of the establishment, however, Mutunga doesn't hesitate to criticise the government and parliament. "Yes, I am now at the top. I'm riding a tiger, hoping that the monster will not devour me," he says. "But as long as I fight the cartels and they are protected, you cannot achieve anything. You are taking these people into a corrupt investigating system, through a corrupt anti-corruption system, and a corrupt judiciary."

"If our constitution and the clause Chapter 6 about corruption were being implemented, I am sure 80% of [politicians] would not be suitable for political leadership," he adds.

Shadows versus the state

According to Mutunga, weak state structures in African countries create space for criminal networks to operate, especially when these groups operate along ethnic loyalties. Cartels collaborate with politicians and military leaders, gaining huge influence and sometimes overshadowing the government itself.

"Globally, according to the World Economic Forum, this illicit economy that includes counterfeit is worth $3.5 trillion," says Mutunga. "In Kenya, the counterfeit economy is worth $1.2 billion annually according to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. It has got involved in supporting politicians in a big way."

The Chief Justice brings up the example of the $3.8 billion railway construction contract the government signed with a Chinese state enterprise in which the bid was limited to that single company.

"We should have divided it up with different companies so that our interests would be paramount. Now we deal only with the Chinese," he says, before going on to explain why the bidding process might have kept so restricted.

"The deal we have is based on commission.Guys are saying: we just had expensive elections where we spent 10 billion Kenya Shillings ($100m).We have to get it from somewhere. Or we have to think about the election in 2017 and we need a war chest. So you have all that stealing. We have become a bandit economy. Africa after 50 years of independence, after looting of resources, has become stuck. Inequality is also stuck".

Are these powerful cartels going to challenge the state itself?

"What happens now in Kenya with corruption has become a very serious war between cartels. Whenever there is a change of government, some cartels benefit and others lose out. And those that lose out don't go out quietly. And that is where the judiciary comes in, because the losers come to court and say: 'under the constitution, this tender for the railroad did not have public participation, it was single sourcing, it was corrupt'."

Mutunga gives another example.The Kenyan army has been combating the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab in southern Somalia since 2011. And this fight is not without its individual winners. A smuggling ring controls the Somali port city of Kismayo according to a UN report, and a recentpublicationby Journalists for Justice reveals that under the protection of the Kenyan army, traders (some with links to al-Shabaab) smuggle all kinds of Asian electronics, sugar, food and drugs into Kenya. The scam reportedly yields between one and two million dollars every month. "When a racket as in Kismayo prevails, what is the role of the state?" asks Mutunga.

Have these shadow networks even taken over state power in some countries?

"That debate has been raging for some time in Africa. In Mali, the government lost its control. Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabaab in Somalia have taken over large portions of the state. There, the state lost its legitimacy. In Kenya, we almost got to it with Mungiki [a violent Kikuyu secret society]. They started policing slum areas and bus routes, taxing people in return for security. They were allowed that by the state, particularly the Kikuyu elite. When there was a fallout, the state went after them and literally killed them. They were hunted down like rats, because they were all known."

And now we fight it out

Mutunga hopes for a new generation of politicians which can take on and fight the cartels.

"The connection between cartels and politicians must be broken," he says. "The newly-elected Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari gives me hope. He must fight against many cartels, like the oil cartel. The status quo is deeply rooted. But there comes a time when the leaders have to say 'And now we fight it out'."

In Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta has recently been making noises that he is prepared to take up this struggle too, and Mutunga suggests that the 2017 elections "may well be fought on issues of corruption and jurisprudence".

However, with many in Kenya yet to be convinced by Kenyatta's speeches about tackling corruption, is the president sincere?

"I can tell you that whenever President Uhuru talks about cartels he is angry, maybe because the cartels are messing up his political programme or that he genuinely wants to dismantle them," says Mutunga. "I see he is serious".

Koert Lindijer is the Africa correspondent for the Dutch newspaperNRC Handelsblad.

NAKURU, Kenya--Mali estate on the outskirts of Nakuru town in Kenya, claiming they were exorcising demons from her.

The suspects were reportedly in a group of seven, all of whom are members of The Holy Spirit of Israel Church during the last Friday night incident.

County Police Commander Hassan Barua said four other suspects associated with the burning of the 13-year-old girl are still at large.

Mr. Barua said police officers are following leads to arrest the suspects, who are well known to the victim.

"Officers are following some leads to arrest the suspects, who have since gone into hiding. This is a criminal incident that cannot be accepted," he said.

According to Bishop George Okal, some church members claimed the girl was possessed by demons and they wanted to help her heal.

He added that they bought paraffin for Sh10 and a candle. During the prayer session, a candle was lit and one member gargled the paraffin and spat on the girl's face.

"One of the suspects gargled paraffin and during the prayer, she spat on the girl's face and the candle that was nearby set the girl's face on fire," he said.

The bishop condemned the act, saying it is a criminal case and that all suspects should be arrested and charged for spoiling the church's name.

After the incident, the members left the house silently, leaving the girl with severe burns to her face while the member who was holding the candle reportedly burnt her arm.

The bishop further dismissed allegations that Joseph Omondi, who is suspected to have impregnated the girl, is a pastor in the church.

The minor is undergoing treatment at the Rift Valley Provincial General hospital.

Kenya--A man attempted suicide after his wife refused to cook him fish in Kanduyi constituency, Bungoma county in Kenya, on Wednesday evening.

Ibrahim Makokha's wife declined to prepare the fish saying she was tired, recounted neighbour Esther Nekesa.

Nekesa said Makokha then picked up a quarrel which ended in a fight forcing the woman to run away.

She said neighbours advised the man to return to the house and rest, only to learn later that he had attempted to kill himself.

Makokha reportedly locked himself up in the house in Mayanja and set it ablaze, saying his wife had refused to prepare the fish he bought.

Neighbours who noticed the house burning broke into it and pulled him out before the roof collapsed.

"We heard a loud noise before noticing the house was on fire. We found him lying on a mattress which was burning," Nekesa said.

Makokha was taken to Bungoma County Referral Hospital with burns to 60 per cent of his body.

Nurses at the hospital said his buttocks and head were most affected and that it will be a while before he recovers.

Area OCPD David Kirui said Makokha has committed a crime and will be arraigned in court as soon as he is discharged from hospital.

He asked couples to resolve domestic matters amicably.

Two officers allegedly sacked on Thursday for blocking Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's motorcade caused traffic jam and were taking bribes, IG Joseph Boinnet has said.

Boinnet clarified that Corporal Barnaba Rutto and driver constable Joel Atuti have not been discharged but were given dismissal notification and will meet a commission, be interrogated and a report be made.

"CCTV footage showed the two cops taking a bribe. They had also parked badly causing huge traffic jam," he said on phone on Friday.

But the dismissal letter exclusively obtained by the Star indicated the two were discharged from the police force and had seven days to appeal.

A source within the President's escort unit told the Star the Head of State reportedly "saw what was happening and made several calls to the top cops".

He said Uhuru "has a humane heart" but the commanders were angered by the incident and made the decision in the heat of the moment.

However, Atuti insisted he and Rutto were arresting a matatu driver who had parked in the middle of the road, obstructing other motorists.

Presidential escort boss Edward Mbugua who was with the Head of State at the time had promised to give comment, but efforts to reach him by the time of going to press were unsuccessful as his phone remained engaged.

NAKURU, Kenya--Legendary Mugithi singer Salim Junior is dead, according to a Kenyan social website, Mpasho. Salim passed on while undergoing treatment at the Nakuru Memorial Hospital although details on his illness are still not clear.

The melow voiced singer will be remembered for his great hits such as Tiga Kumute and Hutia Ria Keri (remix).

Our condolences to the family during this difficult time.

Kenya has yet again been ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world.

A new report released yesterday by Transparency International (TI) Kenya shows the country was ranked 139 out of 168 in the 2015 Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Speaking yesterday during the release of the results, TI Executive Director Samuel Kimeu said despite concerted efforts by the State to fight the vice, Kenya scored 25 on a scale of zero to 100, the same score recorded in 2014.

"Zero is perceived to be highly corrupt and 100 very clean. Kenya's score is below the global average of 43 and sub-Saharan Africa's mean of 33. Kenya had a score of 27 in 2013 and was ranked number 145, demonstrating that efforts to tackle corruption have borne few results," said Mr Kimeu.

According to the report, Kenya tied with Uganda at position 139 globally, with Rwanda being the top performer in the East Africa region at number 44. Tanzania was at number 117 while Burundi came last in the region at number 150.

Botswana took the lead among the African countries involved in the survey after it emerged 28. Cape Verde and Seychelles, which both scored 55, were ranked at position 40, with Mauritius and Namibia tied at number 45, one position behind Rwanda.

"Kenya can draw key lessons from the top performing countries in the 2015 CPI. Generally, they have high levels of press freedom, stronger access to information systems and budget transparency," said Kimeu.

Uganda has imported armoured police cars, similar to those Kenya acquired at the end of January, ahead of its general election set for February 18.

Thevehicleshave features including water cannons, riot controls and wedged front plows.

The Star spotted them at G-section in the Port of Mombasa but Kenya Ports Authority officials declined to comment on the "sensitive" matter.

Uganda Consular General Tayebwa Katureebe said he has not received any information concerning the marked vehicles.

"I am not aware about police cars at the Port, but if they are there they are not meant for elections," Katureebe said.

He noted that Uganda has been part of the war against terror for a long time, including joining the fight against al Shabaab in Somalia in 2007.

This year's election pits Museveni, who is seeking to extend his 30-year rule, against longtime opposition leader Kizza Besigye and his ally-turned-rival, Amama Mbabazi.

Rights groups have accused the Uganda government of using state security to stifle criticism and intimidate Museveni's rivals, charges the state denies.

NAIROBI: A sister to the late Zambian gospel songstress Angela Chibalonza who died in a car crash in 2008 was on Saturday night found dead in her house.

Mammy Runiga was found dead in her apartment in Nairobi's Nyayo estate Embakasi. She had reportedly collapsed in her bathroom.

Her house girl Everlyne Atieno explained Mammy had been fine before, and had even cooked supper for the whole family.

Mammy had previously complained of having a cold, and on Friday when she came home, she asked Atieno to go to the local chemist and get her flu medication.

"I walked all over but I couldn't find the specific medication she wanted. When I came back, she told me her nose is congested and she needs to take the medicine without fail," said a tearful Atieno.

Atieno said she wandered around and beyond the estate before getting the specific cold medication.

When she returned with the drugs, Mammy instructed her to light a charcoal jiko to boil drinking water. She then asked her to give her a portion of the water to use for bathing.

"She said she was feeling cold and wanted to take a warm bath and use the steam from the boiling water to clear her blocked nose," said Atieno.

Mammy told her to take the jiko and the water to the bathroom. She was inside the bathroom for a while before one of her young daughters who needed to use the bathroom noticed that something was amiss.

She knocked on the door, imploring her mother to open and got alarmed by her lack of response.

She continued knocking, and when she realized her mother was not responding, she called Atieno.

Atieno says she knocked on the door with urgency, but Mammy did not open. She ran outside and called on neighbours to come and help.

With the help of friends and neighbours, they were able to open the door, and it is then that they realized Mammy had collapsed on the bathroom floor.

The jiko was still lightly burning in the bathroom.

When she was rushed to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Veteran musician Solomon Mkubwa who also stays in Embakasi was one of the people who rushed Mammy to hospital.

Embakasi OCPD Apollo Wanyonyi said they are investigating to establish what caused the death.

"We are yet to know how she died but the family says there was a jiko that was burning in the house. Experts are on the ground gathering more information," said Wanyonyi.

He added a post mortem report will also reveal what caused the death.

Mammy was Angela's younger sister and she also doubled up as her manager until she died in a fatal road accident in 2008.

She leaves behind a husband who was away on the time of her death, and three children.

Neighbours described her as a spitting image of her late sister Chibalonza whose music has continued to rock the airwaves long after she had died.

Kampala Woman MP Nabillah Naggayi Sempala was also arrested and locked away.

Nabillah was held at Kira Road Police station together with FDC presidential candidate, Kizza Besigye.

The presidential candidate who has been arrested several times before, has now been moved out of Kira road police station and driven to Kasangati.

Besigye was arrested along Jinja road in Kampala.

Police led by Kampala Central Police Station DPC Aaron Baguma, had blocked Dr Besigye from using Kampala Road to access the Central Business District.

Besigye campaigns in Kamwokya, a city suburb

Besigye was also expected to go to Nasser road, Nakasero and later hold rallies in Nansana, a few kilometres outside the city.

His supporters tried to battle police amid teargas and bullets but were overpowered.

Besigye who was in the company of his lawyer, Erias Lukwago, earlier campaigned in a city suburb, Kamwokya.

At the mini-rally, he said the absence of war was not an issue but that the welfare of the people was paramount.

He cited food, housing and poor hygiene experienced by the slums.

At the same rally, he declared Naggayi as FDC's flag bearer for Kampala Woman MP seat.

Military deploys as riots boil

Meanwhile, a protest is looming at Kisekka market, the most volatile spot in the city.

Traders closed their shops and hid inside their houses.

Residents were seen peeping through half-open doors and windows as security personnel patrol the area.

Police and military have deployed and taken over the market, surrounding premises and the entire city.

More military policemen were seen around City Square where tensions are mounting steadily.

They were also seen chasing and beating up civilians near Mapeera Building at the city centre.

Policemen threw a reasonable number of teargas canisters to scare away possible protesters.

Military police has now sealed off and is patrolling the entire stretch of Kampala road from the Constitutional Square to Watoto Church.

Kenya will send more students to learn dryland farming technologies and automated agriculture in Israel, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.

Uhuru said the experience of Israelis in harnessing harsh and dry lands to produce crops will be used to increase food production in Kenya.

He said since 70 per cent of Kenya's land was arid, it was prudent to send more students, in line with a decision he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reached during talks on Tuesday.

He spoke on Wednesday when he visited a Kibbutz where more than 70 Kenyan students are learning new farming technologies.

University students make up the bulk of those in Israel, with 25 students each from Egerton University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

The rest of the students on a 11-month training course are from the Kenya Water Institute (KEWI).

The Kenyan students are learning intensive agriculture production techniques, design and application of automated agriculture and irrigation systems.

Uhuru said the knowledge the students acquire will be used to revolutionise agriculture in Kenya, starting with the Galana-Kulalu Irrigation Scheme where the students will first apply their skills.

"A desert can truly be a paradise if we are committed.This place is drier than any part of Kenya but look at what they produce?," asked Uhuru who was taken on a tour of organic tomato farms and a section of the Kibbutz for dairy cows.

He urged the students to take their lessons seriously because Kenya awaits their expertise; he said the irrigation scheme will be ready for students who will return in a few months.

Uhuru said the scheme would have been productive by now had it not for the misplaced priorities of Kenyan politicians. He said the politicians have a habit of prioritising personal and tribal competitions instead of putting the interest of the country before everything else.

The Galana-Kulalu scheme was delayed for more than three years by obstacles created by politicians.

President was accompanied by the Israeli minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Uri Ariel, who said he wants the relationship between Kenya and his country deepened.

Cabinet Secretaries Amina Mohamed, Eugene Wamalwa and Cleopa Mailu accompanied the President on the tour.

The President is on a 3-day State visit to Israel aimed at deepening the ties between the two countries.

On Tuesday President Kenyatta and Prime Minister signed an agreement paving the way for stronger collaboration in water and irrigation.

The pilot caught on camera assaulting a police officer in Kenya will stay in custody till February 29 when the court will review his application for bond.

Alistair Patrick Llewelyn was arraigned before Engineer town Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Mutegi charged with two counts of assault and causing disturbance.

The shaken and exhausted British national was charged with assaulting police corporal Mercy Wandera at Ndunyu Njeru town in Kinangop on February 21, 2016.

He faced a second charge of creating disturbance on the same day by calling the police officer "stupid" corporal.

The prosecution led by George Mong'are objected to the release of the accused on bond saying that he was a flight risk.

Mong'are told the court that apart from the alien card that the pilot has, he did not have a passport adding that he could flee from the country.

The prosecutor further told the court that the accused could interfere with the State witnesses and the ongoing investigations.

"If the court grants him bond or cash bail, they should come with strict terms and conditions so that the accused doesn't flee the country," he said.

The accused's lawyer Stanley Kang'ahi however objected to this saying that the accused though a British national, was born and brought up in Kenya.

He told the court that being a foreigner was not a reason to deny a suspect bond adding that the accused was entitled to cash bail.

The lawyer said that the accused had a wife and a three month old child and challenged the prosecution to prove how the pilot could flee the country.

The magistrate remanded the pilot at the Engineer Police station until February 29 when he will make a ruling.

The pilot had flown Deputy President William Ruto for a function in Nyandarua when the incident happened.

President Robert Mugabe marked his 92nd birthday at a nearly $1 million party organized by supporters on Saturday, drawing criticism from opponents who said the celebrations in a drought-stricken area were an affront to ordinary Zimbabweans.

Africa's oldest leader, Mugabe turned 92 on Feb. 21 and shows no intention of stepping down, much to the frustration of feuding members of his ruling ZANU-PF party who have been long trying to position themselves for his succession.

Thousands of party supporters gathered next to the Great Zimbabwe ruins to pay tribute to Mugabe, the country's only leader since independence from Britain in 1980.

Mugabe, who was accompanied by his wife, Grace, and their children, released 92 balloons and sat listening to poetry readings, songs and chants by supporters hailing him as an African icon and a visionary.

In 2012, Uhuru Kenyatta revealed that he was bullied in school despite being the president's son.

Recently, TV host Jeff Koinange revealed that the president bullied him when they were kids.

In an interview with Kiss 100 presenter Jeff Mote, Jeff said Uhuru bullied him at St Mary's School.

Jeff recalled how Kenyatta hit him on the head during a game they referred to as ngoto.

"Boss, Uhunye alinihanda ndani ya minibus ya shule bwana (Uhuru used to bully me in the school minibus). Can you imagine that he is now the President," he revealed.

The two attended the prestigious school, though Kenyatta was a few classes ahead of Jeff at the time.

Johannesburg (AFP) - The Indian brothers who are accused of corrupting South African President Jacob Zuma lashed out Friday at "xenophobic and hate speech" against them, and denied benefiting from links to the government.

The Gupta family's power has allegedly extended to appointing ministers under Zuma, whose presidency has been engulfed in graft scandals and growing disillusion over the country's post-apartheid prospects.

"As the global economic slowdown began to bite, the family became the scapegoat for every calamity and misfortune that South Africa has faced," the Guptas, who moved to the country in the 1990s, said in a statement.

"We have been quiet until now but given the recent xenophobic and hate speech against us, now is the time to set the record straight."

The statement was printed across a double-page spread in The New Age-- the pro-government paper they own--under the headline "Gupta family: The Inconvenient Truth".

"It is absurd to suggest that we benefit from government business when only less than one percent of the (family's) business is with the South African government," it said.

The three Gupta brothers said they employ 5,000 staff in mining, engineering, technology, media and property businesses built up from a small marketing company based in a Johannesburg garage.

The statement came after deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas said that they offered him the top job in the treasury last year.

Jonas said he rejected the offer, but several other ministerial appointments have been widely reported as being due to the Guptas.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC), which led the struggle to end apartheid, began a three-day meeting of its national executive committee (NEC) on Friday near Pretoria.

"We will focus on two major areas--the economy, growth in particular, and local government elections," ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told reporters, adding the Gupta allegations were not on the official agenda.

Zuma retains a strong hold over the party, which easily won elections in 2014.

But opposition parties are hoping to make gains in the local polls this year as anger grows over lack of racial transformation in two decades since the end of white rule, soaring unemployment and high inflation.

Some ANC stalwarts have called for Zuma, 73, to retire before his term ends in 2019.

"If he stands down, we have a chance of recovering the situation. If he does not, we are going to take such a beating in the local elections," Denis Goldberg, who served 22 years in prison under apartheid, told AFP.

"When I see-- business people apparently taking over some of the state functions, I am appalled."

Kenya's First Lady Margaret Kenyatta received a standing ovation in the US on Friday when she explained why she chose to run marathons rather than enjoy the comfort and trappings of her status.

She told an attentive audience of corporates, investors and political leaders from Arizona that she had chosen the grueling marathons to mobilize resources for the sake of the Kenyan mothers and children who were suffering needless pain and unnecessary deaths.

And for the first time in the last three years, the First Lady said she could have easily chosen the comforts of just being the wife to the Head of State but chose to do something for the vulnerable mothers and children.

Her address which was amplified with a video clip showing her running a marathon with thousands of Kenyans struck strong emotions among the audience who shed tears. 

"I have literally been running marathons and I can understand if that doesn't immediately strike you as behaviour befitting the wife of a Head of State, but I assure you, it has all been for the greater good", said the First Lady.

The First Lady underlined the urgency to ensure all mothers and children access critical healthcare saying facts and statistics of the senseless deaths that continue to occur are staggering and sad.

"It is a race to save lives. It is a race against time", she said.

The First Lady spoke at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort where she attended a First Lady's fund-raising luncheon attended by over 1500 supporters and sponsors of Beyond Zero, mainly the business community from Arizona

The funds raised during the luncheon will enable Project C.U.R.E-an international medical supplies relief organization operating in 130 countries, to ship more supplies to Kenya. 

A grandpa's Easter wish for happy holidays turned into a family nightmare after he was stabbed to death by his wife following a quarrel over a plate of githeri.

In an incident that left residents of Ikuywa village in Khayega, Kakamega in shock, Morris Otunga, 79, ate githeri without his wife's permission and paid for it with his life. Rose Mmboga Mihanda did not take kindly to her husband's indulgence on Saturday evening.

Relatives said Mihanda, 68, had been given the meal by a neighbour, which she kept in her hut. She left to fetch water from a nearby river. However, when she came back, she was unhappy to find her husband had eaten the food, leaving just a small portion for her.

A Plate of Githeri, a Kenyan dish out of corn and beans.

An argument ensued and Mihanda in a fit of rage dashed to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, which she used to attack her husband.

The homestead had bloodstains splattered in several spots, with the plate and githeri strewn at the entrance of the house.

The two had lived together for 11 years after Otunga inherited Mihanda. Silvia Mwerema, a stepdaughter, said she was washing clothes when she heard loud screams coming from her parents' house and rushed in to find out what was happening.

She said her mother was so infuriated that she hurled the plate with the remaining githeri at the door before attacking her husband with a kitchen knife.

"My father told me he had bought Irish potatoes and cabbages and wanted them prepared but mum said there was no flour for preparing ugali and they started quarrelling. She threw the left-over githeri outside and stabbed my father twice on the chest," Mwerema said.

HOSPITAL PLEA

Mwerema recounted how she had tried to convince her mother that they take Otunga to hospital but she declined, saying she was going for a drink before coming back to finish him off. "If only my father was taken to hospital in time, he would have survived but my mother warned me if I took him for medication, I would be responsible for the bill. He bled to death," she narrated amid sobs.

A neighbour, Rose Miyengo, wondered why one would one seek to end the life of someone they love?

"This is a curse. How can a woman one had married for over 10 years kill you because you have eaten her meal? Something must be wrong somewhere and such challenges should be addressed," she said.

According to relatives and neighbours, Otunga inherited Mihanda after the death of her husband. He then moved to the suspect's house 11 years ago after marrying her. According to villagers, she had remarried twice before meeting Otunga.

Ambrose Iteveti, the last-born, had travelled when the incident occurred and learned about the death of his father through a call.

"I am still in shock. What prompted my mother to kill my father? They have been having wrangles every now and then but we never imagined it could lead to death," Iteveti said.

He added: "Last month, my father almost died after my mother poured paraffin on his clothes and tried to set him ablaze but neighbours saved him." Another resident, Michael Shamala, said the suspect and deceased were always quarrelling, especially after drinking binges and frequently exchanged harsh words.

Shinyalu OCPD Joseph Chebii said police are investigating the incident. "The suspect has been arrested and once investigations are complete, she will be arraigned in court. The deceased has been taken to Kakamega County mortuary," Chebii said.

He urged couples to try and solve their marital issues and seek counselling instead of killing one another.

Mohawk was one of the most iconic and dominant male lions at the Nairobi National Park. But he was gunned down on Wednesday in a manner many described as despicably careless.

He wandered from the park to Isinya plains where he was cornered by KWS officers and policemen, and agitated by crowds that gathered to the point of injuring a man.

The lion was felled by nine bullets, by officers from the Kenya Wildlife Service, who in an ideal situation should have used traquilizer guns and transported him back to the park.

The incident angered many Kenyans and led to local and international calls for the KWS to be held to account. More than 2,000 people signed a petition against the agency in less than eight hours while messages were posted on Twitter via hash tag #JusticeForMohawk.

The petition dubbed "Save our Wildlife --Hold KWS Accountable for Mohawk's Death--Save NNP," wants KWS taken to task over the killing of the lion on Wednesday.

"In Kenya our heritage is our wildlife. The protectors of our heritage are the government and KWS.But they shot this lion dead in cold blood, without reason other than their total incompetence," the petition reads in part.

The initiative by a petitioner only identified as Shalin S on the Avaaz online community platform will be forwarded to the government and other stakeholders.

The petitioners also want Mohawk's death used to highlight threats to conservation areas; the government has proposed and rolled out infrastructure projects within the parks.

"The park itself is under threat by government-sanctioned development projects that are sure to ruin it. Corruption, greed and selfishness are taking nature away," it is noted in the petition.

"We must stop.This must not be another scandal swept under the piles the Kenyan government has stashed under the carpet. We want things to change and we want Mohawk to be the symbol of that which must be protected."

To many game lovers Mohawk was the Lion King at the Nairobi national Park. They termed his death an emotional wake-up call for the renewal of conservation efforts.

"I am sad and heartbroken. I am determined to do more towards conservation. I am angry. How do the custodians of our wildlife and nature, the KWS, just gun down a famous dominant male lion in front of hundreds of people including children?" saidwildlife photographer Paras Chandaria.

"We need concrete answers on why it took about five hours for the KWS to respond, why they did not use tranquillizers, and how the lion that is normally within the park walked more than 40 km. It was only early this week that it was cited at number six, its favourite location."

Dennis Onyango said via Facebook: "You are a game ranger. You are going after a lion that has left the park. You carry no tranquilizer with you. Instead you have guns and bullets. You are clearly on a mission to either kill the animal or catch it with your hands."

"This incompetence is becoming too much. Kenya deserves better."

Two lions were spotted in Oleshie, Kitengela on Thursday, in one of many incidents of the escape of the animals from Nairobi National Park. 

Initial incidents saw members of the public and organisations write witty messages about Kenya's wildlife but this faded as more lions strayed out of the park, sparking fear.

Via Twitter on Thursday, KWS said it had dispatched a helicopter to Kitengela to monitor the movement of the lions.

The service said the team was deployed in support of one carrying out ground surveillance, adding efforts were being made to drive the lions back to the park.

Perez Olindo, founder of Born Free Foundation patron and a director of the Kenya Wildlife Conservation and Management Department, condemned the shooting saying authorities did not demonstrate that it was the last option.

"There are many biological means of subduing lions and translocating them, which is purely the mandate of the KWS. Killing them is not part of the agency's role and does not mean lions will not stray from the park," he said.

But the servicedefended its actionsaying the shooting was the best way to prevent the agitated lion from injuring more people - Mohawk attack a man when he was cornered.

The KWS further argued that the lion strayed that far in an attempt to create new territory, an assertion that has been dismissed by conservationists.

"Mohawk has been the most dominant male. There is no way he was attempting to create a new territory; he used to disappear for sometime. We read mischief in all these issues, including the lions' frequent exits from the park," a source said.

"We suspect it might be a play at whipping up public emotions against the park so that those who want infrastructure projects to run through it face less resistance when rolling out their plans."

Mohawk was born around 2005 and sired all Kenya Forest Service cabs; his death might affect breeding trends in the park.

He was christened by David Mascall because of his mane that resembled the mohawk hairstyle.

His death leaves the park with three mature male lions; Sam, Cheru, and Mpakasi.

Cheru wandered to Mombasa road early this month. Sam's sibling Sembeo died last year. Their father was called Ujanja.

Kampala: Uganda's Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking nullification of President Yoweri Museveni's disputed re-election last month, clearing the way for the 71-year-old veteran leader to extend his three-decade rule.

The ruling had been widely expected by political observers and the opposition in a country where the judiciary is frequently accused of bias toward the incumbent.

Museveni won another five-year term in the Feb. 18 presidential election with 60 percent of the vote, but all his main opponents rejected the results, alleging widespread rigging and intimidation by security forces.

Veteran opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who came second in the election with 35 percent, has been kept under virtual house arrest since polling day.

On March 1 Amama Mbabazi, who came a distant third with less than 2 percent of the vote, appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the result of the poll.

He cited delays in delivering ballot materials, improper supervision of voting, bribery and interference by security forces which he said had tainted the outcome.

In a judgement by nine justices, the head of the Supreme Court, Bart Katureebe, said they had found valid evidence of several malpractices including security interference with Mbabazi's campaigns and late delivery of polling materials, but declined to nullify the result.

"We find that there was non-compliance with the principles of free and fair elections," he said.

"But we are not satisfied that non-compliance affected the result in a substantial manner... This petition is dismissed."

Criticism

Under Uganda's electoral law someone who alleges malpractices and seeks nullification of the result of a presidential election must prove that the irregularities affected the result in a "substantial manner". 

Two similar petitions by Besigye in 2001 and 2006 seeking cancellation of Museveni's re-election were dismissed on the same grounds, sparking heavy criticism.

Some Western governments which have lauded Museveni in the past for helping in the fight against Islamist militants in Somalia have lately criticised him for clamping down on critics and harassing the opposition.

Ugandan political analyst Nicholas Ssengoba told Reuters Museveni's court victory reflected the difficulties the opposition had in gathering evidence.

Soon after the petition was filed, thieves broke into two offices of Mbabazi's lawyers and stole some of the evidence. Mbabazi said the theft was probably orchestrated by the police, an allegation the government denied.

"There were so many handicaps placed on Mbabazi, they couldn't do much," Ssengoba said.

The Hague---Seven years after they were committed to trial, Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua Sang are finally free.

Mr Ruto and Mr Sang walked free after the ICC trial chamber declared the case a 'mistrial' and ruled that the charges were to be vacated and the accused were to be discharged.

The court, in a majority decision by Judges Chile Eboe-Osuji and Robert Fremr, terminated the trial, saying the prosecutor failed to adduce enough evidence to prove the existence of a network or organisational policy, a key pillar of the prosecutor's case.

Judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia gave a dissenting opinion arguing that the prosecution's case had not 'broken down' and she concluded that there was sufficient evidence upon which, if accepted, a reasonable Trial Chamber could convict the accused.

But Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's case that Ruto and Sang were at the centre of an organisational policy that held meetings and directed violence in the Rift Valley in the aftermath of disputed 2007 General Election collapsed after the judges ruled that there was no evidence to support it.

"At the outset, it should be noted that the designation of the alleged organisation as the 'Network' appears to have been made by the prosecution, as there is no evidence on record that suggests that the alleged members of this 'Network' used this terminology to refer to themselves," the judgement read.

"For example, besides Ruto's position at the top of the hierarchy, it is not easily discernible from the prosecution's submissions and evidence how authority or tasks were allegedly distributed among senior 'Network' members," the judges said.

The trial chamber cited witness interference as among the reasons that had made the case to collapse. The court declined to declare 'an acquittal' instead arguing that the prosecutor had provided 'ample' evidence to prove that witnesses had been intimidated both directly and indirectly.

It, however, did not find any evidence that the accused had "instructed or encouraged anyone to engage in witness interference".

In light of this finding, the trial chamber opened a window of possibility for the prosecutor to pursue the cases afresh in future.

"A verdict of acquittal is particularly unjustifiable in the circumstances, not only because it will vindicate the illicit objectives of the unseen hands that had engaged in witness interference, the obvious aim of which is to frustrate the trial of the accused; but it may also encourage future unseen hands to interfere with a criminal trial," read the majority judgment.

Ruto vindicated

Ruto and Sang are the last of the 'Ocampo Six' to walk out of The Hague trial after cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and five others collapsed at different stages. The two had been committed to trial on charges of murder, rape and forcible transfer of populations, which the court said could not be proved.

Yesterday, the Deputy President spent the afternoon at his Karen residence with over 30 MPs. Also present was President Kenyatta's private secretary, Jomo Gecaga.

President Uhuru, in his congratulatory message, said that Ruto and Sang had been vindicated. "I am delighted that the Deputy President and Mr Joshua Sang's innocence has been vindicated by a decision of no-case-to-answer at the ICC. This moment is long overdue but no less joyful. I join my brothers in celebrating their moment of justice," said the President.

The president announced that a thanksgiving service will be held at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru on Saturday. Opposition leader Raila Odinga tweeted: "As ODM, we congratulate @WilliamsRuto following the ruling of the court. We now hope that the victims will receive long overdue justice in the form of reparations from Government."

The court could not find evidence that Ruto and Sang were part of preparatory meetings to plan the evidence in which more than 1,700 people were killed. In the absence of evidence by Witnesses 397, 604 and 495, who recanted their evidence, the court could not reach the conclusion that such meetings had taken place.

The decision now brings to an end a winding process that followed the bloody events of the disputed 2007 presidential election that saw the country plunge into unprecedented chaos. Former ICC prosecutor Moreno Ocampo had promised to make Kenya an example to the world.

It also means that the county moves to the next General Election without the ICC baggage hanging over the Deputy President's head, unless the prosecution appeals or brings back the case in future. In the last election, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his then running mate, Ruto, made the ICC matter a campaign issue. With the collapse of the case, observers will be closely watching to see what direction the country's political scene takes. But the ruling raised questions on the fate of victims of the post-election violence, some of whom are yet to recover from the trauma of the bloody events.

The victims' lawyer, Wilfred Nderitu, asked the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to launch a fresh investigation into the 2007-08 post-election violence.

"The Government should make good its pledge of assisting the victims. It is an idea whose time has come. The plight of victims should not be forgotten," said Nderitu.

Kenya's police IG Joseph Boinnet has ordered the immediate arrest of Chase Bank ex-bosses and several NBK officials, amid fears the banking sector is collapsing.

Those to be arrested over Chase Bank's woes are former chairman Zuffrullah Khan and ex-CEO Duncan Kabui, who resigned.

From National Bank are Chris Kisire (chief finance officer) and Munir Mohammed (managing mirector).

Others are Boniface Biko (executive director), George Jaba (chief credit officer), Mohammed Abdalla (ICT director) and Wycliffe Kivunira (acting CFO).

Boinnet said in a statement on Friday that the individuals have the option of presenting themselves to the DCI headquarters along Kiambu road before 3.30pm today.

Chase Bank was on Thursday put under the management of the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation for 12 months.

Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge said the bank was unable to meet its financial obligations.

Njoroge explained: "CBK appoints a receiver if, among others, an unsafe or unsound condition to transact, a bank has substantially insufficient capital or if there is a violation of any law or regulation."

Central Bank took over Imperial Bank in October 2015 and handed its management over to the KDIC over "unsafe or unsound business conditions".

Dubai Bank is under receivership following its take-over on August 14.

President Uhuru Kenyatta earlier praised Njoroge for cleaning up the sector, which he said is not about to collapse.

Businessman Chris Kirubi has coughed up more than Sh40 million, including taxes, for Kenya's first Mercedes-Maybach Benz.

Kirubi's luxury car is parked at the DT Dobie workshop in Industrial area, Nairobi. The vehicle ismostly used by heads of state in Europe.

DT Dobie through Bob Dewar PR firm told The Star the Maybach parked in their workshop has no owner.

"It is right that the first Maybach in Kenya is parked at DT Dobie workshop being spruced up but it does not have an owner yet. It is still owned by DT Dobie," Dewar said.

The 2016 Mercedes-Benz S Class Maybach comes with two types of engines: the V8 and V12 with 4 MATIC.

According toonline reviews,the V12 can produce a force of 830 NM in 1900 revolutions per minute, given a displacement of 5980cc. It has a power output of 530 KW.

Kirubi's new baby can sprint from 0 to 100km/h in five seconds only. It has a top speed of 250km/h.

This machine saves on fuel consumption, using as low as 8.9 litres for 100km covered.

The Maybach is 5,453 mm long with a wheel base of 3,365mm.

Kirubi is an entrepreneur with interests in several sectors including the media and air transport. He has shares at national carrier Kenya Airways.

He is also a farmer and a director at Centum Investments Company, which is putting up a mall in upmarket Nairobi.

The mall is being built on 10.2 acres of land. This is part of the expansive 102-acre mixed-use real estate project in the diplomatic blue zone, in the neighbourhood of upmarket Runda and Gigiri.

Centum values the upcoming shopping mall at its mega Two Rivers Development project at close to Sh13 billion, underscoring the growing interest in retail space.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, originally posted Mar 23, 2016 / 05:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News). --A Congolese Catholic priest who documented human rights abuses in his home country was killed by armed gunmen several weeks ago.

Father Vincent Machozi Karunzu was murdered March 21 by armed militants in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the procurator general of the Augustinians of the Assumption said in a message.

The 51-year-old priest was visiting his family in the village of Katolu and worked in peace-building activities.

The priest documented human rights abuses and atrocities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Boston University website BU Today said March 23. Shortly before armed gunmen killed him, he had posted an article online denouncing Congolese and Rwandan presidents’ alleged involvement in massacres of innocent civilians.

The human rights website Beni Lubero, which the priest had founded, said that 10 uniformed soldiers of the DRC's armed forces stormed a social center where Nande tribal chiefs were holding a meeting about peace efforts. The gunmen demanded to be taken to the priest and to Mwami Abdu Kalemire III, the leader of the Basho community.

They found the priest in a courtyard working on a laptop and opened fire. While their other target escaped unharmed, Father Machozi's last words were "Why are you killing?"

Boston University science professor Timothy Longman remembered his former colleague. "He was trying to show the world who was killed and who was responsible," Longman told BU Today. "He wasn't on any particular side."

Longman said Fr. Machozi had survived at least seven earlier attempts on his life.

Dana Robert, a professor of world Christianity, praised the priest's work. "Every time there has been a genocide, there has been a Catholic priest that has reported on it."

She said priests play a large role in "giving voice to the voiceless."

"That's why the loss of Vincent is so horrible," she said, comparing him to slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero or Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"When you do that, you become a target, and he did that knowing what the danger was," Robert said.

The Assumptionists' North American province published an interview with the priest on its website.

He was one of thirteen children, some of whom died at birth. Due to these deaths, her mother called him Machozi, "son of tears." He became a candidate for the Assumptionists at the age of 17. Before taking final vows, he taught religion, chemistry and mathematics.

During his time in Massachusetts, he worked with the Haitian community as a French-speaking priest.

He earned a master's degree in theology at the Institut Catholique in Lille, France. He moved to the U.S. in 2003 and later began doctoral studies at Boston University's Department of Theology in conflict management and peace processes in Africa.

Former First Lady Lucy Kibaki passed away Tuesday morning in the United Kingdom.

A statement by President Uhuru Kenyatta stated that Mrs Kibaki died while being treated at Bupa Cromwell Hospital in London.

"Her excellency has been unwell for the last one month and has been receiving treatment here in Kenya and subsequently in the United Kingdom," the statement signed by the President stated.

Mrs Kibaki was admitted to Nairobi Hospital last month and after seeking treatment at Gertrude's Hospital in Muthaiga.

A family source had confirmed to the Nation that she was flown out of the country for specialised treatment as "it was necessary".

She leaves behind four children namely Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai and Tony Githinji.

She was born in the 1940s in Mukurwe-ini to colonial era Presbyterian Church of East Africa pastor Rev John Kagai and Rose Nyachomba.

She was a teacher at Kamwenja Teachers College before she was transferred to Kambui College.

She quit her teaching job at Kambui College--now Kiambu Girls--after independence in 1963 to raise her family as her husband concentrated on politics.

In his message of condolence, President Kenyatta said Mrs Kibaki will be remembered for her immense contribution in the development of the country.

"Notable was Her Excellency's virtues of leadership and commitment to improving wellbeing of Kenyans, in particular her focus on tackling HIV/Aids, which will remain an inspiration to many," he said.

In September 2003, the former First Lady organised the First International Aids Run and was behind setting up of the Kenyan chapter of African First Ladies Against HIV/Aids (OAFLA) lobby group.

Deputy President William Ruto posted his message of condolence on Twitter saying he learnt of the death with deep sorrow and is praying for Mr Kibaki and family.

Cord leader and former Prime Minister in the grand coalition government Raila Odinga condoled with Mr Kibaki's family remembering the former First Lady for her honesty, frankness and principled stand on matters of national and public interest.

"I have only fond memories of Mama Lucy. As First Lady, Mama Lucy made our working relationship in your first administration and during the grand coalition government easy and manageable," said Mr Odinga's message seen by the Nation.

Mr Raila said Mama Lucy gave the position of First Lady a new and emphatic role, adding that she much misunderstood due to her principled stance on issues.

Diplomats also sent their condolences. Mr Mahboub Maalim, the executive secretary of regional bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), called her death as a "sad occasion."

"The people of Kenya and the rest of the IGAD region will surely miss her, especially the remarkable work she did in the promotion of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment," he said Monday evening.

Mr Maalim was nominated to lead the bloc by President Mwai Kibaki. The Kenyan diplomat recalled his working relationship in the Kibaki government before he took up the IGAD role.

"I worked for him in different capacities and came to know her as a hardworking, passionate person."

Other leaders who posted messages on Twitter include Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale.

The government has said it will announce three days of national mourning on Sunday upon the arrival of the body of former First Lady Lucy Kibaki from London.

Flags will also fly half-mast, while condolence books will be available across all counties from Friday.

Government spokesperson Erick Kiraithe said on Thursday that the plane carrying the remains of the former First Lady will touch down at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at around 5.30am on Sunday.

Mrs Kibaki passed away on Tuesday morning while receiving treatment at Bupa Cromwell Hospital in London.

"Condolence books will be available at the following venues: Harambee House, Parliament, KICC, Holy Family Basilica, Consolota Shrine Westlands and all 47 county headquarters," said Mr Kiraithe.

"A National working committee comprised of members of the Kibaki Family and government officials has been set up, and is responsible for ensuring that the former First Lady is given a befitting send off," he added.

Mrs Kibaki was admitted to Nairobi Hospital last month. Earlier, she had sought treatment at Gertrude's Hospital in Muthaiga.

She leaves behind four children: Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai and Tony Githinji.

Her husband, former President Mwai Kibaki, daughter Judy and son Anthony were at her bedside when she breathed her last at around 4am on April 26.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at Kinshasa Airport in DRC Congo on Thursday to receive the body of legendary singer Papa Wemba.

Papa Wemba - real name Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba--died after collapsing on stage in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Sunday.

Wemba died aged 66 while performing at a cultural event. Ivory Coast nationals in Abidjan held an overnight concert in his memory.

Papa Wemba's body will lie at a stadium in Kinshasa next Monday ahead of his burial the following day.

The singer has been described by many as humble, passionate about music and the king of his field.

He will be remembered for hits such as Show Me The Way, Mwasi and Rail On.

One of his six children shared photos from his memorial service eulogising him as the "best dad" and "the great maestro".

Papa Wemba was rebellious, prolific, a style icon, at times notorious and always innovative, who was well known as one of the pioneers of modern Congolese soukous music.

He entered the competitive world of Congolese music in December 1969, 10 years after his country's independence.

But he was very clear about how he wanted to be remembered, according to thesleeve notes from his 1995 albumEmotion.

"When people talk about Papa Wemba, I don't want them to say I am an African singer, or a world music singer," he said.

"I would like people to say just 'singer'. Because that's what I am. A singer. Full stop."

Many of Africa's top musicians have paid tribute to Papa Wemba , including Cameroon's Manu Dibango, who described him as the "voice of Africa".

Ivory Coast's Culture Minister Maurice Bandaman said at a memorial service before the body left that "an artist never dies... Papa Wemba is dead, and now [he is] even greater than before," reports the AFP news agency.

The BBC's Tamasin Ford in Abidjan says most of the audience at the all-night concert were dressed in white as a mark of respect.

Murang'a county Women Representative Sabina Chege has appealed to the Attorney General to consider de-registering the Atheists Society of Kenya on claims that it will further break down the moral fibre of the Kenyan society.

"Kenya is a religious Country and registering such an organization goes against the beliefs of Kenyans," she said.

"I wonder if the many calamities we are suffering in the country are as a result of the high levels of immorality in our society," Chege added.

She pointed out that the constitution indicates that Kenya is a religious country and there is therefore no room for people who do not believe in religion.

"We are asking the Attorney General to outlaw the atheists organization as soon as possible failure to which we will organize protests as leaders," Chege added.

The legislator said registering the group will open doors to other organizations like gay groups to seek legalization.

She called on parents to be cautious of the safety of their children as schools reopen.

"It seems these are people who have been in existence for a long time and have now decided to come out openly and publicize their activities and we as parents must ensure our children are safe," the legislator said.

"I would urge the President and his deputy to also comment about the matter because we cannot allow Satanism to take root in our country," Sabina added.

Sex abstinence campaigns in Kenya and Uganda have not reduced the spread of HIV/Aids, a study has shown.

Researchers sought to determine the impact of a $1.4 billion (Sh140 billion) US expenditure in sub-Sahara Africa on drives intended to discourage pre-marital sex and promote faithfulness in marriage.

The money was spent over a 12-year period in 14 countries, including Tanzania and Rwanda. The funding was part of a US scheme known as the "President's Emergency Programme for Aids Relief or Pepfar"

"The study failed to find evidence of a relationship between Pepfar abstinence and faithfulness funding and reduction in high-risk sexual behaviours," the report says.

The findings are based on observations of nearly 500,000 Africans under 30, among them 35,000 Kenyans.

The US provided Kenya with $5 million (Sh500 million) for HIV/Aids prevention and treatment.

Anti-retroviral drugs were given to 860,000 Kenyans last year through Pepfar, which also funded circumcision of 225,000 men.

In the Stanford University study published this week, researchers looked at the age of first sexual encounter, number of sex partners and frequency of teenage pregnancies.

Data from the countries that received Pepfar funding was compared with data from eight sub-Saharan countries not included in the plan.

"We detected no relative change over time in the number of sexual partners in the past 12 months, age at first intercourse or proportion of teenage pregnancy between people in countries with Pepfar-funded abstinence programmes and those in states without such funding," the study goes on.

"Results suggest that Pepfar funding likely did not reduce high-risk sexual behaviour."

REDUCTION OF INFECTION
The study makes specific reference to Uganda's ABC campaign (Abstain, Be Faithful, Use a Condom) drive.

It says ABC had been credited in some earlier studies with effectively discouraging high-risk behaviour.

However, the authors say they found no effect on HIV transmission rates in Uganda as a result of the abstinence and fidelity programmes.

"The funds focused on such efforts might have been better directed to interventions proved effective in limiting the spread of HIV," the study says.

The number of years women remain in school has been identified as the most important factor in promoting or discouraging risky sexual behaviour.

Treating HIV+ pregnant women has been shown to be an effective intervention as it helps prevent transmission of the virus to newborns.

Promoting circumcision has also proved an effective means of reducing transmission.

In response to the findings, Pepfar officials said their scheme “has continually evolved its approach to HIV prevention, based on the latest scientific evidence and past lessons”.

Police on Monday used teargas and water cannons to break up protests called by the Cord leaders to force out the leadership of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) before the next elections.

In Nairobi, Cord leaders Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang'ula claimed that the Government was protecting the nine commissioners so that they can help Jubilee to win the 2017 General Election.

They vowed to boycott the polls if the current team remains in office.

"We will not allow ourselves to participate in an election only for Jubilee to be handed victory," Mr Odinga told supporters outside the IEBC offices.

The protest was disrupted by police shortly after Mr Odinga finished speaking.

He was whisked to a waiting car as teargas engulfed him and his security team and his supporters fled in different directions.

Besides Nairobi, violent protests were witnessed in Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori and Nyamira counties.

In Kisumu, the demonstrations were led by Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga.

"(IEBC chairman Issack) Hassan and his team should know that their time is up and leave office. This time we will stop at nothing until we have a credible team to oversee the next elections," said Ms Odinga.

HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE

IEBC offices in various parts of the country were guarded by police to ward off any chaos.

In Nairobi, police used irritants from anti-riot water cannon trucks to disperse Cord supporters after Mr Odinga, Mr Musyoka and Senate Minority Leader Wetang'ula had addressed them outside IEBC headquarters.

The Cord leaders said they would not end the weekly protests unless the commissioners, led by Chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan, are removed from office.

They accused IEBC of stealing elections and the Jubilee Coalition of holding on to the electoral team with the aim of using the commission to rig the 2017 elections.

"They (Jubilee) are shaken, that is why they are trying to hold on to Hassan," Mr Odinga said.

He described the Government as "mercenaries" and blamed it for the killing of businessman Jacob Juma.

He also led the protesters in observing a moment of silence in honour of the controversial businessman, who was gunned down on Friday. Mr Odinga at the weekend accused police of killing him.

"Tumeamua kwa uchaguzi ujao hatutakubali tena kwenda kichinjioni(We have resolved that for the next election we will not allow ourselves to be led into a slaughterhouse again)," he said.

Mr Musyoka claimed that one commissioner, Mr Thomas Letangule, had been to South Korea to buy Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits that had been programmed to rig elections in favour of Jubilee.

"Election rigging does not start at the ballot box but is ongoing right now with the purchase of pre-programmed BVR kits from Korea," Mr Musyoka said.

He also sensationally claimed that young people below the age of 18 were being given identity cards and voters' cards to influence the election.

"Even if they issue voters cards of the dead, we will still remove them from office," he said.

The earlier part of the demonstration was characterised by harassment of wananchi as Cord supporters marched through various city streets as they made their way to the IEBC offices.

Business owners on Haile Selassie and Moi Avenues, University Way and nearby areas closed their shops for fear of looting.

However, some wananchi had their valuables, including mobile phones, snatched by some of the demonstrators in a group led by Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang.

The Nation team witnessed at least five such cases. However, some demonstrators turned against the thieving group and beat them up.

Mr Kajwang is one of the members of the'Firimbi Movement'who had earlier held a meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from 10 am to around noon before assembling at Uhuru Park with their supporters.

From Uhuru Park, the group marched towards Upper Hill Road and joined Haile Selassie Avenue and turning onto Moi Avenue holding anti-IEBC placards and shouting slogans.

The demonstrators then met another group, which had converged outside Lilian Towers, just a short distance from the IEBC headquarters.

The three Cord leaders later arrived and addressed the gathering at around 1:20pm.

They demanded that the commission be disbanded, charging that it was too compromised to supervise next year's General Election.

Once the speeches were over at about 2:30pm, police lobbed teargas at the demonstrators.

Mr Odinga and Mr Wetang'ula were ushered into the same car by their security team under a cloud of teargas.

Chaos ensued as the demonstrators scattered in various directions. A television camera man, a police officer and one woman were injured in the melee.

Within 15 minutes, however, University Way was all clear save for riot police officers and journalists.

Police also lobbed teargas inside the University of Nairobi after some students started throwing stones at them.

There were unconfirmed reports that some teargas canisters were thrown inside an examination room, forcing students to run out. Normal traffic flow resumed at around 3pm.

The body of murdered businessman Jacob Juma will be viewed at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, on Thursday ahead of his burial in Bungoma on Saturday.

Juma wasshot deadby unknown people while driving past Lenana School last Thursday night, in what Cord leaders have said was a politically motivated murder.

The 42-year-old had been vocal on political issues and often criticised the government. He openly supported Opposition leader Raila Odinga and criticised the Jubilee government whenever he felt it had wronged him.

He had also claimed Jubilee used more thanSh250 billion of Eurobondmoney to refund all campaign cash allegedly used in the 2013 general election.

Raila told a charged crowd of anti-IEBC protesters on Monday that Juma's murder was political.

"Juma's death was not in vain. We will avenge him by removing Jubilee from power," he said.

Juma was born in 1974 in Mugore Village in Bungoma County. He attended Mugore Primary School, Bungoma High School and later Kenya Polytechnic before plunging into business.

But he once wrote on Twitter that he attended the University of Nairobi.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari wants the U.K. to help return stolen assets from his country and does not need an apology from David Cameron for calling his country "fantastically corrupt."

Buhari delivered a keynote speech at an anti-corruption conference in London on Wednesday, ahead of an international summit on the same topic in the English capital on Thursday. His speech came a day after British Prime Minister Cameron described Nigeria and Afghanistan as"possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world." Buhari's spokesman Garba Shehu had said thatBuhari was embarrassed by the commentsand that Cameron "must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria."

The Nigerian president said that he was not demanding "any apology from anybody" after Cameron's unguarded remarks, which were made during a conversation with Queen Elizabeth II and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at a Buckingham Palace reception on Tuesday. Rather, Buhari implored the U.K. to assist in returning Nigerian public funds that he alleged had been stolen and hidden in British banks.

The Nigerian president referenced Britain's role in helping to impeach the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a former Nigerian state governor who skipped bail in the U.K. and fled back to Nigeria by wearing women's clothes. When asked on Wednesday if Nigeria was fantastically corrupt, Buhari replied: "Yes."

Buhari recently appealed to the international community and United Nations for"more cooperation"in assisting Nigeria with recovering its assets that have been secreted abroad. No conclusive figure has been put on the amount of Nigerian money laundered abroad, but Buhari has pointed to the oil and gas industry in particular as an area where"mind-boggling" sumshave been stolen by public officials

A 2013 reportby U.K. think tank Chatham House found that Nigerian crude oil "is being stolen in an industrial scale" and that the country was losing $3.6 billion annually as a conservative estimate, with proceeds from the oil being laundered in international financial centers including the U.K. and U.S. One former military ruler of Nigeria, the late Sani Abacha, is believed to have lootedup to $5 billionin public funds during his five years in power, withan estimated $2.2 billion thought to be storedin European bank accounts.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond defended Cameron for his comments. "The Prime Minister was merely stating a fact. These are both countries with serious corruption problems and the leaders of both those countries know they have those problems and are determined to deal with them," said Hammond on Wednesday during a visit to Gibraltar,the BBC reported.

Are you tired of the current crop of leaders and would like to see change come 2017? Well then, get off your twitter handle, register to vote or shut-up!!

This is the message the US Embassy is trying to pass across to Kenyan youth who want to see change in the country’s leadership, but all they do is complain about it on social media.

The embassy has organized a free concert on Sunday from 12-7pm at the University of Nairobi’s Graduation Square.

The concert, dubbed NIShow Power, targets over 5,000 youth. It has been organised to encourage young people to register as voters in order to make their voices heard through the ballot. The concert dubbed NIShow Power targets over 5,000 youth.

It will feature performances by Sauti Sol, Sarabi, Juliani, Octoppizzo, Dela, Khaligraph, and many more local artistes. Free tickets are available on the concert's website.

A local preacher in Benoni, South Africa, has come under criticism after he ordered his congregation to strip naked and engage in self-pleasure.

Pastor Edisai Mensah told church members that self-pleasure would earn them eternal life and free them from diseases.

According to news website thesountherndaily.co.za, congregants who participated in the act were told they "would be rewarded with eternal life free of sickness".

A five-minute video footage of the church service captures the moment that Pastor Mensah told the congregants that "God had sent his angels to oversee the act".

He also said the act would make the church's floor as sacred as heaven.

"Start now, the angels are watching here to see who is doing and who is not doing."

In the video, congregants can be heard in the background moaning.

Religious leaders in South Africa have asked authorities to take action against Pastor Mensah for misleading Christians in the town of Benoni.

His church members, however, came to his defence, saying that their Pastor does what he is instructed by God, and that people must not question God.

Opposition supporters on Monday clashed with police officers in Kenya as they heeded their leaders' call to storm IEBC offices countrywide to force the electoral body's commissioners out of office.

Cord leader Raila Odinga's car was attacked, putting his life in danger, in the chaos.

It is was not clear whether a smash on his vehicle's windscreen was caused by a bullet or a from a stone.

In Kisii town, police fired several times in the air and engaged the demonstrators in running battles.

The officers' action came barely minutes after Kisii County Governor James Ongwae and Senator Chris Obure had addressed the demonstrators at the county government headquarters.

"The commission cannot be trusted to oversee a free and fair election in the country. We therefore demand that it is disbanded and replaced by a new body," said senator Obure.

Governor Ongwae said the drive to disband the commission was not an opposition issue but a public one.

NO GOING BACK

"It is time for the government to listen to the voice of the people. We wish to live in peace, but at the same time we must have a commission that represents the wishes and aspirations of the majority of Kenyans," he said.

The demos, which started from Kisii Hotel, turned chaotic when the protesters attempted to force their way into the IEBC offices.

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) youth leader Eric Janganya, one of the demo's leaders, said the party would not relent until the commission is disbanded.

"We will be back next Monday and every other Monday until the commission us disbanded," he said.

Security officers, led by Administration Police County Commander Mohammed Kutsola and OCPD Francis Kithinji, fired several rounds in the air to disperse the protesters.

They engaged the Cord supporters in running battles that raged from the entrance to the IEBC offices to Gusii Stadium.

Another group that was dispersed also regrouped at the Daraja Moja bridge but was quickly dispersed by the police.

However, nor arrests were made.

ACTIVIST, MCAs INJURED

In Kisumu, two MCAs, an activist and an ODM official are nursing serious injuries after they were allegedly beaten by anti-riot police during the anti-IEBC demos.

Nereah Okombo (Manyatta B) and nominated member Pamela Odhiambo were rushed to hospital following injuries sustained during the protest.

An unknown number of people were also injured during the protest against the IEBC.

The riots, now in their third week, attracted a bigger crowd that split itself in three groups, a change of tact that creating a challenge to the authorities.

Ms Okombo suffered head injuries after she was hit by a tear-gas canister while Ms Odhiambo was roughed up by officers from the Quick Response Team wing of the Administration Police.

Just before Ms Odhiambo was attacked by the police officers, she was standing a few meters from the IEBC Nyanza regional office washing her face after she was overwhelmed by tear gas.

HAD SURRENDERED

Her attempt to raise her hands in the air to show she had surrendered and was ignored as one officer hit her several times with a baton amid shouts and screams from other rioters.

Ms Okombo was rushed to Kisumu's Aga Khan Hospital, where by noon, where her head wounds were stitched.

The activist, George Obala, was cornered with three others and also beaten before being chased away from the scene.

He was later rushed to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital while Kisumu Central ODM Treasurer Edward Ogolla was also taken to Aga Khan Hospital for treatment.

The demo was led by Kisumu Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga and Kisumu East MP Shakeel Shabbir, who stressed that they would continue with their push to have the IEBC commissioners ejected from office.

The demonstrators walked all the way from Kondele, where they had converged, and later held a procession along Oginga Odinga and Angawa streets before heading to the IEBC offices through Jomo Kenyatta Avenue.

"Use of this kind of force by police especially on women who have already surrendered is unacceptable. We have been very peaceful and no amount of intimidation will deter us from our course," said Ms Odinga.

She asked IEBC chairman Issack Hassan to read the public mood and vacate office instead of subjecting the country to unnecessary tension.

After dispersing the rioters, the joint forces of AP police, regular police, plain-clothes officers and the flying squad extended their operation to other parts of the town centre.

HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE

In Machakos County, Wiper Party leaders, including County Woman Representative Susan Musyoka, Deputy Governor Bernard Kiala and Machakos Central Ward MCA Cornelius Kitheka, led supporters in protests at Mulu Mutisya Gardens.

This was despite a heavy police presence.

Demonstrators in Nairobi marched along city streets blowing whistles and chanting anti-IEBC slogans as they demanded that commissioners leave office.

Initially, there had been a low turnout but the crowd grew as protesters marched to Anniversary Towers, where the IEBC's head offices are housed.

Police officers were forced to fire tear-gas canisters at the protesters trying to move closer to the entrance.

Elsewhere, there were reports of mugging and robbery as some demonstrators were said to have stolen property from motorists.

With traders fearing violence and looting, shops on some streets were closed.

WAITING FOR JOHO

Members of the Cord coalition in Mombasa County did not take part in the countrywide protests, explaining that they could not do so without a directive from their leaders.

The members, among them ODM Mombasa branch chairman Mohammed Hatimy, said they were waiting for their leaders in the county to lead them in the protest.

"We cannot do anything, because Governor Hassan Joho, the ODM deputy party leader, is not around. We have to wait for him so that he gives us a way forward. We met last week with other leaders to discuss about it and saw the need to wait for the governor," said Mr Hatimy.

Wiper Party Secretary-General and Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar Hassan, contacted for comment, said he could not discuss the issue of protests.

"You can ask other leaders, but for now I do not have any answer to give you. I will get back to you when I get a good answer to give you on that issue of demonstration,” said Mr Hassan when the Nation asked him about his stand on the protests.

Mvita MP, Abdulswamad Nassir, for his part, said a collective effort was needed from leaders, a majority of whom he said were away from the county.

"Our deputy party leader and about three MPs are not around; that is why we are waiting to strategise together. We need to ensure that it is a collective step because that is better for all of us," said Mr Nassir.

For the past one week, Governor Joho has been in Antalya, Turkey, for the First Annual Strong Cities Network Global Summit.

A spot check by the Nation at some IEBC offices in the county revealed that the electoral body's officials were working as usual.

IEBC West and South Coast acting regional coordinator Hussein Abdulwahid said they were operating with no fear as they have a "good relationship" with politicians in the region.

Reported by Rushdie Oudia Aggrey Omboki, Stephen Muthini, Stella Cherono, Owino K'Onyango, Mohamed Ahmed and Wachira Mwangi.

Kenya's Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed says European investors can help discourage brain-drain and alleviate the immigration crisis by setting up industries in Africa, rather than poaching workers from the continent.

Speaking in Rome during the inaugural Italy-Africa Conference, Ms Mohamed argued Africa's talent can be retained in their countries by creating opportunities in their homelands, which in turn helps to tame the immigration crisis being witnessed in Europe.

"We do not want to export jobs. We want investment partnerships that undertake value addition to Africa's products within Africa and that ensure the continent benefits optimally from her own resources," she told an audience during a panel discussion on Africa-Italy partnerships, according to a statement released on Thursday.

The conference, which opened on Wednesday, brings together 45 trade ministers from around the continent, leaders from the African Union, and representatives from the UN and the European Union.

Meant to address the challenges of economic sustainability in Africa, the Italian government is hosting the event to also discuss the challenges of trade and investment between Italian businesspeople and African countries.

But it comes at a time when the continent is fighting brain drain, and migration of its workers seeking better pay, improved working conditions and a better life.

Ms Mohamed said that establishing industries for value addition to Africa's products will discourage "exportation of millions of jobs" to the developed world and benefit the increasing number of unemployed youth.

In Kenya, official figures indicate about 30,000 Kenyans leave the country for studies and related travels abroad but only a third return on completing their studies.

Though Kenya receives about three per cent of tGDP from remissions by the three million Kenyans in the diaspora, certain sectors of the economy have suffered, the CS told the audience.

IMMENSE CONTRIBUTION

She told the audience that agriculture, energy and related areas can benefit the continent immensely if investors helped improve product quality.

Agriculture contributes about a third of Africa’s entire GDP, according to the World Bank and supports livelihoods of eight in every 10 people on the continent.

But most of it is subsistence agriculture meaning that farmers simply sell direct produce that cannot compete on the world stage.

"This creates business opportunities for the manufacture and marketing of products such as fertilizers, pesticides and seeds as well as a demand for food processing and agro-processing such as grain refining, value addition and packaging," she said.

For Kenya, Ms Mohamed said there are plenty of these opportunities in agriculture, especially in the textile industry and commodities such as tea and coffee, and in energy production.

"There are opportunities for private investors to partner with African public and private sectors in the development of under-performing infrastructure including investing in reliable power supply, water resources, roads and railway systems," said the Cabinet secretary.

She added: "Kenya is a major player in the development of sustainable energy sources, with the government and private sector pursuing opportunities in geothermal, solar and wind. Huge opportunities are available in the country and we welcome Italian investors to venture into the sector."

Addressing the conference, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said his country is keen on developing a long-term partnership with Africa by paying attention to innovation.

Dangote Tomato Processing Factory, a newly commissioned company owned by Africa's richest man,Aliko Dangote, has suspended its operations due to the unavailability of its most important raw material--fresh tomatoes.

The Managing Director of the factory, Abdulkadir Kaita, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday that several tomato farms in in Kano, Jigawa, Plateau, Katsina and Kaduna states (all located in Nigeria's northern region), were affected by Tuta Absoluta, a leaf mining moth and common tomato pest, which destroyed all the tomato farms --a situation that has resulted in scarcity and higher prices for the commodity.

Kaita however said that production would resume during the next irrigation season.

Dangote Group, the Nigerian conglomerate owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, launched the $20 million tomato processing facility in Kano state, northern Nigeria earlier this year.

he tomato processing plant has a daily production capacity of 1,200 metric tones per day, and will primarily buy tomatoes from farmers in the Kadawa Valley in Kano state and will pay them a guaranteed price of about $700 per ton of tomatoes.

NAIROBI--The Jubilee government in Kenya is weighing its options, in the face of Cord's demands that the IEBC be disbanded, after three people were yesterday shot dead and more injured.

A senator and MP were arrested.

Two people died in Siaya in the ongoing demonstrations while another succumbed to bullet wounds in Kisumu.

Several people were seriously injured in Homa Bay as police battled Cord supporters who wanted to storm the IEBC offices in those areas.

Two women were last night reported to be in critical condition after sustaining bullet wounds.

A number of people were injured in Kibera, where police engaged demonstrators in running battles.

Sources told the Star yesterday that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is considering forming a joint parliamentary committee from the government and opposition ranks.

However, for such a committee to be formed, the Senate and the National Assembly must pass two separate resolutions.

This is one of the routes proposed two weeks ago by Jubilee MPs and senators at a meeting with President Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi.

"The leaders told the President that this route offers dialogue outside Parliament, but will at the same time remain governed by Parliament," said a source privy to the discussions.

Parliament's Standing Order number 213 provides for the creation of joint committees with equal numbers of senators and MPs from both Houses.

The second option under consideration is to quickly amend the IEBC Act to either remove the requirement for a selection panel or change the people and institutions that are supposed to name members of the panel.

Currently, the IEBC Act provides that commissioners be appointed by a panel.

The President names two people to the panel, the Prime Minister (a now-defunct office) names two while the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board names one.

"The office of the Prime Minister and advisory board are now non-existent and so we need to change the law to either abolish the panel and propose a new route or change the nominating bodies," said one of the MPs involved in creating new amendments.

The Legal Affairs Committee, led by Samuel Chekpong'a, is driving this initiative and has already asked the commissioners to resign.

The Chepkong'a team is also working on a package for the commissioners who now face pressure from even government institutions.

This is the fourth week of protests over the electoral commission and arguably the worst so far.

Last week, there were complaints of police brutality as officers were photographed and filmed assaulting demonstrators in the capital's central business district in images flashed around the world.

The opposition Cord alliance wants the IEBC commissioners to resign ahead of next year's presidential election and yesterday its leaders Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Muysoka, Moses Wetang'ula and new ally Kanu secretary general Nick Salat vowed to dig in with their Monday protests.

Cord is complaining that the IEBC commissioners are biased in favour of the governing Jubilee coalition and want them replaced by a neutral body.

Yesterday, police blocked the path of Cord protests in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kakamega and Kisumu.

They arrested Suna East MP Junet Mohamed and Kakamega Senator Boni Khwalwale for leading the protests.

"This is unacceptable and we will not be cowed," said Raila at a media conference last evening.

In Kisumu, the police chased residents into the estates.

MPs Aduma Owuor (Nyakach) and Onyango Koyoo (Muhoroni) were teargassed alongside hundreds of protestors marching to the Central Nyanza IEBC offices in Milimani.

The officers, under the command of Kisumu police boss Christopher Mshimba, lobbed teargas canisters into a pickup carrying journalists, making them scamper for safety.

Several cartridges were recovered as gunfire rent the air.

Police and protestors engaged in running battles for close to five hours.

A man who was not among the protesters and was said to be headed to a bank located in the Tivoli Centre, was shot: He died later at Aga Khan Hospital.

Medical superintendent Sam Oula said the body had no bullet wounds but sources within the facility confirmed there was a bullet wound.

Another man was shot in the head on Kenyatta Avenue near the county headquarters.

He was rushed to Kisumu East District Hospital by the MPs, where three other men nursed gunshot wounds.

Two were shot in the head and one on the right foot.

A mechanic was shot and taken to Aga Khan Hospital.

"It is wrong for the police to kill innocent demonstrators who are exercising their constitutional rights," said Kalonzo.

"I am concerned about the heightened tension prior to elections. I personally think the President should act, take it more seriously, to prevent this from becoming an insecurity issue," said ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi yesterday.

Mombasa county assembly speaker Thaddeus Rajwayi and Junda MCA Paul Onje were among 26 people arrested during a demonstration.

Rajwayi and Onje had gone to protest in Uhuru Gardens on Moi Avenue, where the demonstrations were expected to start.

But as the group grew bigger, police used teargas and live bullets to disperse the crowd.

The officers engaged the demonstrators in running battles on Moi Avenue, forcing shops to close.

Newly posted Mombasa Urban police boss Lucas Ogara said the protesters will be charged with unlawful assembly.

He said the demonstrators did not have a police permit.

They were taken to the Central police station but later released.

Mombasa Sports executive Mohammed Abbas was injured on his right arm and leg after he fell on the road.

After about 20 minutes of running battles between police and demonstrators, Governor Hassan Joho arrived at Uhuru Gardens accompanied by five MPs.

"We are very surprised that these men in uniform can teargas their brothers and sisters," said Joho.

Cord supporters in Meru Town took to the streets to demand the removal of the IEBC commissioners and they faced stiff opposition from the members of the public who were against the demonstrations.

Trade between Kenya and Tanzania was affected for more than five hours after thousands of Cord supporters blocked the Kisii-Isebania highway as they protested against the IEBC.

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) in Kenya has called off its weekly protests to push for the removal of electoral commission officials, averting another round of deadly confrontations with the Police.

The Cord's co-convenors James Orengo and Johnstone Muthama announced at a press conference on Wednesday that the move was aimed at giving dialogue and peace "a chance."

However, they said, the move is only temporary to allow the Jubilee government to engage in dialogue.

The suspension, he said, will be lifted unless the government demonstrates a genuine desire to engage in talks aimed at ending the stalemate over the reconstitution of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

"If no word comes from Jubilee by June 5, we will prove to the world what really demonstrations mean," the Machakos Senator warned.

The two senators explained that the decision had been taken following mounting calls for dialogue from religious leaders and the international community.

On Tuesday, Kenya's twelve main donors condemned Monday's violent protests against the electoral commission and called for talks in a bid to avoid the possibility of the chaos spilling to the next elections.

In a statement, the twelve Western diplomats sounded an alarm at the growing trend of demonstrations.

"Violence will not resolve the issues regarding the future of the IEBC or ensure the 2017 elections are free and credible," the envoys said.

"We strongly urge all Kenyans to come together to de-escalate the situation and to resolve their differences, taking every opportunity for inclusive dialogue," they added.

The diplomats who signed the statement included US Ambassador Robert Godec, European Head of Delegation Stefano-Antonio Dejak and UK High Commissioner Nic Hailey.

Others were High Commissioners John Feakes (Australia), Roxane de Bilderling (Belgium), David Angell (Canada) and Ambassadors Mette Knudsen (Denmark), Remi Marechaux (France), Jutta Frasch (Germany), Victor Rønneberg (Norway), Frans Makken (the Netherlands) and Johan Borgstam (Sweden).

THREE KILLED

They were reacting to clashes between demonstrators and anti-riot police in which three people were killed as Cord leaders and supporters protested in eight counties seeking to eject IEBC commissioners from office.

Two people were reported dead in Siaya and another in Kisumu following the demos. There were similar protests in Mombasa, Kakamega, Migori, Nakuru, Meru and Homa Bay. Nine people were arrested and charged with taking part in an unlawful assembly.

"We remain ready for and committed to dialogue as the best path out of the crisis facing our nation. In this regard therefore, Cord has resolved to temporarily suspend demonstrations that were scheduled for next Monday, May 30, 2016 to give dialogue and peace a chance. Instead, we shall hold forums to condole with the bereaved and comfort the wounded," Mr Muthama stated.

He warned of more intense weekly protests starting June 7 if the government ignores the calls for dialogue, which both he and Mr Orengo stressed, must involve all stakeholders and not just the parliamentary committee for justice and legal affairs.

"We are not going to accept the parliamentary legal committee; those are the instructions we have," said Mr Orengo.

"There must be some agreement outside parliament because sovereignty is not vested in MPs alone. Sovereignty lies with the people of Kenya," he added.

They appeared to be responding to a statement by Deputy President William Ruto who on Tuesday condemned the protests and asked them to channel their grievances through Parliament instead.

President Uhuru Kenyatta too has repeatedly asked the Cord team to seek the removal of IEBC bosses through Parliament, insisting that he has no powers to remove them himself.

The two senators said that Cord had a team ready to engage the government and other stakeholders in talks to find a solution to the IEBC matter. The team which they said had representation from other interest groups outside Cord will be unveiled in the course of the week.

Mr Muthama announced that the Opposition coalition would dedicate next week to the search for peace, justice and dialogue and will hold prayers for peace at Uhuru Park. He did not however disclose when the Uhuru Park prayers will be held.

"Our supporters in the counties will hold similar prayers in churches, mosques, temples and sanctuaries with specific appeal for peace and justice to prevail," he stated.

Five men among them four Kenyans were jailed for life in Uganda on Friday for their role in two al Shabaab bombings that killed 76 people among crowds watching the World Cup soccer final in July 2010.

Idris Magondu, Hassan Hussein Agade, Habib Suleiman Njoroge and Mohamed Ali werefound guilty of murder on Thursday.

The attacks, at a popular restaurant and a sports field where fans had gathered to watch the Spain vs Netherlands final on large screens, showed the ability of the militant group to strike far beyond the borders of its native Somalia.

It said the blasts were to avenge killings of Somalis by Ugandan troops, who were deployed to the Horn of Africa nation in 2007 as part of an African Union peacekeeping force to help defeat al Shabaab.

High Court judge Alphonse Owiny Dollo said it was likely most of those killed and maimed were opposed to the deployment by the Uganda People's Defence Force.

"The hundreds of victims of these wanton acts had nothing to do with the decision to deploy the UPDF in Somalia," he said. "And yet because of these senseless and indiscriminate attacks, they are either dead or permanently living with the scars of these deeds."

The judge said while the crime was repugnant, he did not believe a death sentence would "give closure to the indelible pain that society has suffered."

Two other men found guilty of abetting the attacks were each given 50 years in jail. A third will do community service for a year because he had stayed in remand longer than the three years he would have served for being an accomplice, the court ruled.

Four of the convicted men were Kenyans, three were Ugandans and one was a Tanzanian. Except for the one sentenced to community service, the rest were convicted on multiple charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder.

Five others were acquitted when the verdicts were read on Thursday. Two other Ugandans were jailed in 2011 after pleading guilty to terrorism charges related to the attacks, and were handed sentences of 25 and five years respectively.

Ugandan security said the blasts were carried out by suicide bombers but al Shabaab denied that, saying the bombs were planted at the scene.

An African Union observer mission has called for urgent electoral and judicial reforms in Kenya to avert a crisis during 2017 General Election.

The strongly-worded draft report by two observers appointed by the AU will increase the pressure on top politicians, especially those from the government side, to engage in talks with various players to agree on a broadly acceptable roadmap to the elections.

The report, seen by the Sunday Nation, says lack of trust by the opposition in the electoral commission and the confusion over the fate of Supreme Court judges could potentially pave the way for chaos.

It calls for honest talks between the various parties and just stops short of prescribing an overhaul of the existing electoral commission. 

"The call by the opposition Cord for an urgent roadmap to create a level playing ground for the 2017 elections cannot be dismissed," reads the draft statement, prepared by Mr Jibrin Ibrahim from Nigeria and Ms Titi Pitso from South Africa.

There has been a prolonged stalemate over the fate of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) with Cord declaring that it has no faith in the current commissioners who it describes as partisan, while the Jubilee coalition has labelled the opposition sore losers and asked them to take their case to existing channels including Parliament.

Three weeks of demonstrations by Cord supporters in parts of the country resulted in several deaths and drew in diplomats and the clergy, all of who called for talks between the political parties.

Cord leaders have suspended the demos for 10 days but said they will resume the protests if no accord is reached.

In the AU observers' report, the authors flag a number of issues, including the danger posed by a Supreme Court that is not fully constituted and which might not enjoy the level of trust it commanded in the 2013 election.

"The state of the Judiciary is very shaky. The Supreme Court is in dire straits," the observers note.
The AU team calls on various stakeholders to move quickly to change the situation.

"The Supreme Court will have a big arbitral (role) to play in the 2017 elections and it is imperative that it has the credibility to act with authority. It is, therefore, urgent that these issues be sorted out before the elections."

The AU observer mission is part of a new approach by the African Union to "foster credible elections and promote Africa's democratisation and good governance" by not just focusing on the event of the election but by monitoring the situation leading up to voting day and after the poll.

The report describes it as a move to a "methodological approach to election observation from one based on pre-election assessments and election-day observation to long-term election observation based on the electoral-cycle approach, which include post-election assessment missions".

The observer team did not, however, meet with any government officials and primarily relied on representations by civil society.

"The team would have liked to have met more people particularly from both the opposition and ruling party and from government but due to circumstances beyond the mission's control, this was not possible," the draft states.

The draft does not also include the views of the IEBC, after the observers were caught up in the protests.

PROTESTERS BRUTALISED

"The writers of these reports were teargassed on May 9 for being near the vicinity of the IEBC during the protests. The world media carried distressing footage of Cord alliance protesters being brutalised by the police on May 16."

The report, nonetheless, strongly notes the reservations that players within civil society have on the impartiality of IEBC commissioners and especially zeroes in on the chairman Issack Hassan and questions his ability to command the respect of both sides in a heated election contest.

"The high stakes politics also affects the IEBC, which is seen by the opposition as an agent of the ruling party which, on its part, insists that the IEBC is a neutral arbiter. The chairman of IEBC making very uncomplimentary and aggressive comments has not helped things," it notes.

 The proceedings during the appeal at the Supreme Court relating to the 2013 elections are especially highlighted with civil society representatives raising concerns about "the contents of the affidavits by the chairman of the IEBC (during the hearings), which it was felt were very personal and disrespectful of the leader of the Opposition alliance.The contents of the affidavits by the chairman of the IEBC against one Raila Odinga were viewed as too personal and brought the integrity and impartiality of the Commission into question."

Perhaps because the report is a draft, it features numerous mistakes including referring to speaking to experts from the "University of Kenya," an institution that does not exist, and other factual errors and misspelt names. In one passage, it misattributes the province in which the Luhya community is primarily settled, stating that Cord’s support comes mainly from "the Luo and Kamba ethnic groups but also about half of the Luhya ethnic community from the Coast".

Nevertheless, the report will be seen as a significant morale booster for the opposition and civil society, especially considering that the AU rarely directly criticises member states.

Jubilee and Cord leaders on Tuesday agreed to start talks on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), in a move that could ease tension between the government and the opposition.

As the MPs from both sides of the political divide were hammering out a deal to reconstitute the electoral commission, at State House, Nairobi, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto were hosting Cord leaders Raila Odinga and Moses Wetang'ula to resolve a stand-off over today's Madaraka Day celebrations. The third Cord leader, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, did not attend the talks because he had travelled to China.

Mr Odinga, who had flown to a funeral in Narok, cut short his trip, excused himself and informed the mourners that he had to leave because the President had invited him to State House.

During their meeting, President Kenyatta invited the Cord leaders to join him for the national celebrations at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru on Wednesday. The leaders also agreed that Cord would hold a peaceful rally at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, after the Madaraka Day celebrations.

Sources privy to the talks said that President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga agreed to form a 10-member team --five from each side-- to start negotiations on Thursday on how to reconstitute the IEBC.

The leaders met after a luncheon hosted in honour of visiting South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.

"Each side will name five members, comprising members of the Senate and National Assembly to start the talks," said the source. The team will craft a framework, which will be used to resolve the issues which Cord has raised against the IEBC commissioners.

The agreement is likely to bring to an end the weekly protests organised by Cord against the IEBC that led to the deaths of three people in Kisumu and Homa Bay last week.

CRITICISED DEMONSTRATIONS

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto have in the past criticised the demonstrations and urged Cord leaders to use the process set out in the Constitution in their quest to remove the nine IEBC bosses. Cord has accused the commission of incompetence, partisanship and corruption. It has insisted that the nine commissioners, including Chairman Isaack Hassan must be removed before the next elections.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly's Justice and Legal Affairs Committee proposed changes to the manner in which electoral commissioners are recruited and provided for the majority and minority parties to have a role.

The committee proposed amendments to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act to allow the inclusion of the nominees of the parties in the panel that will recruit fresh commissioners.

In the proposed changes, the panel will have seven members, four of whom will be picked by the political parties and three by the Public Service Commission.

The committee chaired by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkong'a agreed to push for the amendments to stop the ongoing protests against the IEBC.

The proposed amendments, however, don't state how the current the commissioners will be sent home. Mr Chepkong'a later said this would be handled depending on what Kenyans tell the committee.

"We are ready and willing to receive any views from Kenyans, having concluded the drafting of the proposed law dealing with the selection panel. We are calling upon all interested parties to present to us memoranda and views on the proposed electoral reforms, including the reform of IEBC," the MP said.

At State House, a source said both the Jubilee and Cord alliances are expected to have named their teams of five each by Thursday, in readiness for the negotiations.

"The negotiations will be done outside Parliament and reported back to their coalitions. After both sides have been satisfied with the way forward about the IEBC, that is when it will be taken to Parliament," said the source.

INCONCLUSSIVE DISCUSSIONS

Speaking about the meeting on the floor of the Senate after the talks, Mr Wetang'ula said: "We have had good but inconclusive discussions with President Kenyatta and the Deputy President at State House on national issues, including the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission."

Later, a statement from State House said: "His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta today (Tuesday) hosted a State luncheon to honour visiting Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye. Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga attended the luncheon at President Kenyatta's invitation."

It was also understood that the meeting was meant to eliminate the possibility of violence in the capital because Kenya is hosting President Park of South Korea. The police had banned political and prayer rallies, an move which Cord had vowed to disobey.

Sources said President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto had asked the Cord leaders to call off the rally and join them in Nakuru, but Mr Odinga said arrangements were too advanced for the rally to be cancelled. It was then that Mr Odinga and his team agreed to attend the Madaraka Day celebrations and thereafter fly back to Nairobi for the rally.

"The President invited Mr Odinga and Mr Wetang'ula to the national Madaraka Day celebrations to be held in Nakuru County," State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu said in a statement.

On Tuesday evening, Siaya Senator James Orengo said the Uhuru Park rally would proceed on Wednesday as planned.

"The courts have ruled that the government has no reason whatsoever to block the opposition from proceeding with the planned rally. As such we urge our supporters to turn up in large numbers," Mr Orengo told the Nation by telephone.

Earlier, Mr Musyoka had castigated the State for attempts to block the rally, saying that the decision was based on false allegations regarding state security.

"Rather than hiding under the cover of state security, Jubilee should now clearly state that they are not interested in national dialogue to resolve the IEBC crisis," said Mr Musyoka, who sent a statement to newsrooms from Beijing.

Reported by Bernard Namunane, Isaac Ongiri and Jeremiah Kiplangat

Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta has been recognised for the role she played in the establishment of the first East African Community.

The East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) has honoured Mama Ngina alongside other first ladies at the time of East Africa's independence.

Mama Miriam Obote (Uganda) and Mama Maria Nyerere (Tanzania) were also feted for their contribution towards the formation of the first regional bloc.

Consequently, Mama Ngina and her two counterparts from Uganda and Tanzania will address a special Eala sitting in Arusha on Tuesday, May 31.

The special sitting is held under the umbrella of the 6th meeting of the Assembly's fourth session that began on May 23 and will end on June 3.

The meeting witnessed the presentation of the 2016/2017 EAC Budget amounting to $100 million (Ksh10 billion) on May 26.

The budget gives priority to the full implementation of the region's single customs territory and the EAC common market protocol.

The East African region's founding fathers, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), and Milton Obote (Uganda), steered the first East African regional bloc.

This was for the period running through its inception in 1967 until its collapse in 1977.

Mama Ngina has received many other distinguished awards.

Last year, the "Living Legends" award was conferred on the country's founding first lady by the African Women of Excellence Awards scheme.

This was sponsored and hosted by the Diaspora African Forum Foundation, a Washington DC-based non-profit organisation.

She was recognised as an African icon, alongside 15 other women, for her contribution to Kenya's freedom struggle.

Mama Ngina has also received an honorary doctorate degree in Entrepreneurship from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

There will be no elections in Kenya in 2017 if IEBC commissioners don't leave office, opposition leaders Raila Odinga and Moses Wetang'ula have said.

Addressing thousands of their supporters at Uhuru Park, the two leaders said they would name their representatives on Thursday, who are expected to join their counterparts from the government side to start talks on the IEBC stalemate.

Mr Wetang'ula, the Bungoma senator, led the crowd in a chorus calling for the commission to be disbanded, insisting the Opposition would not relent on its resolve to see the commissioners sent home.

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka addressed the crowd by phone from China, where he is touring, saying their resolve was unstoppable.

Mr Odinga said the fight for a lean IEBC was on course, explaining that he was involved in the creation of the current commission but they had not envisioned the commissioners would turn out to be corrupt.

He acknowledged that he was personally involved but added that times had changed and now he wants the commissioners shown the door.

Earlier, Cord supporters started streaming into Uhuru Park in their hundreds, carrying tags with pictures of opposition chief Raila Odinga, whistling their way into the venue.

A majority of them were dressed in Orange Democratic Movement colours, with ingenious businessmen selling the whistles and tags making a killing from as early as 8am.

The crowd was enthusiastic about the rally, held parallel to the State celebrations led by President Uhuru Kenyatta at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru.

The Opposition, which has been calling for the removal of the nine electoral agency commissioners, had said on Tuesday that the rally would go on.

The defiance continued even after a meeting at State House, where President Kenyatta invited opposition leaders to the celebrations at Afraha.

On Wednesday, scores of police officers were deployed at the park, with about three lanes of frisking for every supporter who wanted access to the planned event.

About 20 police officers were placed at the gate to frisk the supporters as they streamed in.

At least 10 police vehicles from Nairobi were parked at the grounds, as the supporters went on with the cheering and whistling.

The pitch of the cheering would rise each time a helicopter flew past the park as the wait for Mr Odinga and Mr Wetang'ula continued.

Earlier indications were that Mr Odinga and his team would join President Kenyatta at Afraha Stadium in the national celebrations, the first ever to be held outside Nairobi, before flying to Uhuru Park for their rally.

Additional reporting by Obed Simiyu.

Those hoping to rule Kenya must respect its leaders, the President has said on the absence of Cord leaders at a Madaraka Day fete in Nakuru.

"I do not understand why the Opposition did not attend the celebration. They were invited," Uhuru Kenyatta said at Afraha Stadium on Wednesday.

A source said Cord leaders accepted the invitation but insisted their rally at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, must go on.Seats had been reserved for them at the celebrations to mark the 53rd anniversary of Madaraka Day.

The Opposition has been holding weekly rallies for the removal of IEBC commissioners ahead of the August 2017 general election. They have insisted that the commission, as currently constituted, cannot fairly manage the poll.

Uhuru warned against selfish leaders who want to violate the constitution for their own gain. He had condemned Cord's protests and asked its leaders to follow the law and the constitution in pushing for their demands.

"It is particularly saddening that those who were at the front in supporting the enactment of the constitution are now turning against the same laws," the President said.

"We may disagree...That is democracy. But it is not right for a few individuals to dictate their opinion. Things do not have to go the way an individual or a few people want."

He said it is paramount that Kenyans and their leaders stick to the constitution while airing their grievances on any issue.

Uhuru said competition is inevitable but that Kenya must remain peaceful. He said Kenyans are passionate about politics but that "passion without control is a fire" that can destroy what has been built in 53 years.

"Passion is good. It shows our love for Kenya. We can now boast to the world that the shame of 2007 has made us better," he said.

"Like other nations, we have made mistakes, but we can break out of them. I have hope that we can still change, have a bright future for all."

The President said the Jubilee government's promise to Kenyans remains, adding it will quicken the process of ensuring the people get what they deserve.

"With the help of God, I will do all I can to lead the nation. I cannot do this on my own; I have to work with other leaders," he said.

Uhuru and Cord leader Raila Odinga met at State House in Nairobi on Tuesday and were expected to discuss issues concerning the electoral body.

Cord's protests, held across the country every Monday, have turned violent. Three people were killed in Kisumu and Siaya counties last Monday.

Mogadishu---A suicide car bomber crashed into a gate outside a hotel frequented by lawmakers in the centre of the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday and the attack was followed by gunfire, killing 15 people, police said.

Police said among the dead were two lawmakers. They had previously said at least 10 people were killed. Residents and a Reuters witness said gunfire could be heard in the area around the hotel late into the night.

"Lawmakers Mohamud Mohamed and Abdullahi Jamac died in the hotel. They lived in it," Major Ibrahim Hassan, a police officer, told Reuters. "Many other people including lawmakers were rescued. The operation is about to end now. So far the death toll we have is 15 dead and 20 others wounded."

Militants from al Shabaab, a group affiliated with al Qaeda, quickly claimed responsibility for the attack on the Hotel Ambassador and said it had killed 20 people in addition to the two lawmakers.

"We targeted the members of the apostate government...We killed many of them inside and we shall give details later. Our mujahideen are on the top floor of the hotel building," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military operation spokesman, told Reuters.

Authorities could not immediately verify al Shabaab's statement.

Hassan had said earlier police suspected al Shabaab fighters were still present in the hotel. State-run Radio Mogadishu had said government forces were still at the scene rescuing people from the hotel.

Al Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011. But it has remained a potent threat in Somalia, launching frequent attacks aimed at overthrowing the Western-backed government.

"I send condolences to the relatives of lawmakers Abdullahi Jamac and Mohamud Mohamed and likewise to the relatives of all those martyred in the barbaric attack," President Hassan sheikh Mohamud, said in a statement.

"These barbaric attacks are aimed to frighten citizens so that they do not support governance and peace and that will never happen."

In February, at least nine people were killed when al Shabaab fighters set off a car bomb at the gate of a park near a hotel in the capital. In January, an attack on a beach-front restaurant killed at least 17 people.

Al Shabaab has also been behind deadly attacks in Kenya and Uganda. Both contribute troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

Fighters Killed

Maka Al Mukaram, where Wednesday's attack took place, is a major street lined with hotels, restaurants and banks in the heart of the capital. It links another major artery, K4, to the presidential palace. 

Before the hotel attack, government officials on Wednesday announced two strikes against the militants - one in which the head of the al Shabaab intelligence unit was killed, and another which killed the suspected mastermind of an attack on a university in Kenya, in which 148 people died last year.

Mogadishu municipality spokesman Abdifatah Omar said security forces killed a man known only as Daud who headed al Shabaab's intelligence wing, known as Amniyat. Omar did not say when he was killed or give other details.

In the separate incident, Abdirashid Hassan Abdi, the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region's security minister, said its forces had killed 16 al Shabaab fighters in Bulagadud, some 30 km to the north of the Indian Ocean port of Kismayu.

Among the dead, he said, was Mohamud Ali Dulyadeyn, and suspected to have been the mastermind the April 2015 attack on Garissa University, the worst such assault in Kenya in almost 20 years.

The Pentagon also said on Wednesday a U.S. air strike targeted a senior leader of al Shabaab in Somalia, but it was still assessing the results of the May 27 drone operation.

Spokesman Peter Cook said the target, Abdullahi Haji Da'ud, was one of al Shabaab's senior military planners and served as a principal coordinator of attacks in Somalia, Kenya, and Uganda.

Al Shabaab, which aims to impose its own strict version of Islamic law across Somalia, had no immediate comment on the killings announced by Somali authorities.

The death of boxing icon Muhammad Ali on Friday saw Kenyans online flood social media platforms to relay their condolences to his family and friends.

However, a few millennials got confused and thought that it was KTN's investigative journalist Mohammed Ali of the Jicho Pevu series who had passed on.

They were concerned on who will fill Moha's boots, but quickly deleted their Tweets after realising the goof.

The truth is, apart from sharing names that sound alike, Muhammad Ali and Mohammed Ali have nothing in common.

Moha Jicho Pevu is alive and well. It is the boxing legend who died after a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.

Here is a sample of Tweets from the confused fans.

The confusion was not only local but also international.

View image on Twitter

 

 Follow

Football Trolls @Footballltrolls

WTF!?

3:51 AM - 4 Jun 2016

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   1,3771,377 Retweets
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   329329 likes

A British man, who was arrested after a woman died at his residence in Karen from gunshot wounds, has been charged in court with murder.

Richard Alden, 53, who appeared before High Court Judge Stella Mutuku, will be held in custody until June 16 when his application for bail will be heard.

He denied killing Grace Wangeci Kinyanjui, 42, at Windy Ridge Road, Karen on June 4.

Initially, Mr Alden had told the police that the woman accidentally shot herself with his Glock pistol but detectives have since ruled out this theory and are instead pressing murder charges against the accused.

In an affidavit served to the prosecution in court on Friday morning, the suspect applied for bond as he "is father of three children and has an ailing mother who depends on him."

BOND APPLICATION

"I am presently facing allegations of murder and however grave the allegations may be it cannot be a basis to deny me my basic fundamental rights and freedoms as enshrined in the constitution," Mr Alden said in a sworn affidavit.

"My family solely depends on me and they will suffer if I continue to be detained." Mr Alden further stated.

Defence lawyer Cliff Ombeta said Mr Alden has been in custody since June 4 when he was arrested and asked the court to urgently consider his client's bond application.

Mr Ombeta said his client is willing to abide by any conditions the court may peg on the bond terms.

The prosecution told the court that Mr Alden had earlier on been taken for psychiatric examination and declared fit to stand trial.

Police launched a murder inquiry after doctors reportedly established that the deceased's injuries suggested that she might have been assaulted.

There is one character trait that the Nairobi man hates in a woman-- nagging. But findings of an interesting new study however suggest that the Nairobi man may be backing up the wrong tree.

According to scientific research by sociologists from Michigan State University in the US, a nagging wife is good for a man's health.

This quashes that popular belief that marriage, because of the stresses that come with it, is detrimental to a man's health.

For the study, the researchers looked into the lives of 1218 married study subjects over a period of five years. All the study subjects were between the ages of 57 and 85 at the beginning of the study.

The aim of the study was to look into the effect of marital quality on the risk and management of diabetes.

Men in unhappy marriages were found to be less likely to develop diabetes than men in happy marriages. When the former group of men developed diabetes, they were found to be able to manage it better.

STRESS LEVELS

Unfortunately though, while nagging may make a man keener on taking his diabetes medication, the researchers found that it increases the strain of a marriage. This nagging environment was also found to increase a man's stress levels over time.

For women however, being in a happy marriage lowered their chances of developing diabetes. A nagging husband on the other had heightened their chances of developing diabetes.

The researchers argue that nagging wives are also likely to pester their husbands in regard to their health. She will nag you to eat better, to exercise and if you are unwell, to take your medication.

Women on the other hand were found to be more sensitive to the quality of a relationship and thus more likely to be affected healthwise when a relationship goes sideways.

If these findings, which have been published in the Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, are anything to go by, then it is safe to conclude that nagging is caring.

Grace Wangechi Kinyanjui, the woman who succumbed to bullet wounds on June 4 in Karen, Nairobi, was not an ordinary girl.

Born in a staunch Presbyterian family in Ndaiga, Laikipia County, Wangechi, 42, lived in Nairobi and rarely visited her rural home.

"She was dressed like a Muslim woman. I was surprised when I saw her smoking a pipe. I thought she was married to a Muslim," he said, adding that Wangechi had been seen with two white boyfriends before she met British national Richard David Alden, 52, who has been arrested and charged with her murder.A neighbour we spoke to and who did not wish to be identified, was cagey about Wangechi's exact occupation in Nairobi, but revealed that it was common knowledge that the deceased operated between Nairobi and Mombasa. Another neighbour who equally sought anonymity said he last saw Wangechi during her father's burial last year.

Although Alden initially told police that Wangechi shot herself, Nairobi police boss, Japheth Koome, said preliminary investigations have revealed it was a possible murder, hence the arrest.

A visit to her parents' home in Mwichuiri Two farm in Ndaiga almost turned tragic when angry relatives chased journalists out of the homestead.

A man we found at the homestead said, "We do not want anything to do with the media since you have been consistently misreporting this case. If you want any information, go to Nairobi and seek out the family members from there."

Alden was a licensed gun-holder, although police now claim the licence he had was fake. Police confiscated his Glock pistol, serial number WSF494, with 34 rounds of ammunition. Alden had held the 'licence' for four years since 2012, and allegedly bought the firearm from a gun's shop near Utalii House in Nairobi on July 2014. Police found a single cartridge case at in Alden's five--bedroom house in the upmarket neighbourhood of Karen. The cartridge has been taken for forensics.

Although it is known that Wangechi hailed from the village which neighbours Katheri and Mathagiro in Meru County, details about her life there are scanty, an indication that she left for town many years ago and did not socialise with villagemates on the rare occasions she visited.

According to our investigations, Wangechi went to the nearby Nyariginu Primary School and sat her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams in late 1980s. An elder said her father, Kinyanjui, was a strict disciplinarian, one who was engaged in myriad community projects. Wangechi was Kinyanjui's second born child.

"I did not know her well, but I spotted her about two times with her mzungu friend. I saw her during her father's burial and on two other occasions with a mzungu," said the elder.

LAGOS, Nigeria --Nigeria is firing dozens of senior officers accused of corruption and the theft of billions of dollars meant to buy arms to fight the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency, the army and an officer privy to the list said Saturday.

The officer said more than 50 officers have been sacked. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the matter is sensitive and he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Army spokesman Col. Sani Kukesheka Usman said only that "quite a number" were sacked Friday, mainly major generals, brigadier generals, colonels, lieutenant colonels and one major.

Some already have been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for allegedly diverting billions meant to buy weapons, Usman said in a statement.

Others were found to have played partisan roles in the 2015 elections in the south of the country that favored former President Goodluck Jonathan. He lost to former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, who made fighting endemic corruption and Boko Haram a cornerstone of his campaign.

Usman did not name those fired.

Among officers on trial for corruption are two former chiefs of defense staff. The more recent chief, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, is in court for allegedly stealing some $20 million to build a shopping mall and buy other property in Abuja, the capital

Also on trial is the former national security adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, who said he diverted $2.1 billion on Jonathan's orders to bribe officials to win Jonathan his party's presidential nomination. The entire annual military budget is about $6 billion.

Buhari blamed corruption for failures to curb Boko Haram and blamed those involved for the deaths of an unknown number of civilians and troops in the uprising that has killed more than 20,000 in six years.

___Associated Press writer Haruna Umar in Abuja contributed.

NEW YORK

The United States on Sunday reaffirmed its intention to help Uganda eliminate the Lord’s Resistance Army following reports that Uganda may soon stop taking part in the hunt for LRA leader Joseph Kony.

Kampala has notified the African Union that it plans to withdraw its 2,500 troops from a joint anti-LRA operation in the Central African Republic, Ugandan People’s Defence Force spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda told the Associated Press on Friday. "The LRA has been degraded. They no longer have the means to make war," Lt Col Ankunda said in comments to Agence France Presse.

"International support has not been enough," he added.

A State Department official told the Nation Media Group that the US is aware of these reports and is "working to confirm the facts on the ground."

The official, who spoke on the condition of remaining anonymous, added that the US is "working closely" with Uganda and other countries in the region "to ensure a successful completion of the mission."

Nearly five years ago, the Obama administration dispatched about 100 US Special Forces to assist Uganda’s efforts to wipe out the LRA. Mr Obama doubled down on that commitment in 2014, adding 150 more military advisors and several US aircraft to the pursuit of the elusive Kony and his remaining followers.

The LRA had once terrorised parts of Uganda, killing and abducting thousands of civilians.

COMMIT ATROCITIES

Evicted a decade ago from the country of its origin, the LRA went on to commit atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and South Sudan.

The regional African Union task force that the US is aiding includes troops from each of those countries as well as from Uganda.

The offensive has achieved some key aims, the State Department official said on Saturday.

The Ugandan military and its partners in the AU operation have “removed four of the LRA’s top five most senior and notorious commanders from the battlefield,” the official said.

"During that time there have been about 275 defections and releases from the LRA, and the number of people killed by the LRA has dropped by over 90 per cent."

Kony and several score of his loyalists are believed to be hiding in Kafia Kingi, an enclave on the border of the CAR and South Sudan that is controlled by the Sudan government in Khartoum.

Sudanese authorities do not permit African Union troops and US advisors to operate in Kafia Kingi.

The US official did not respond to Lt Col Ankunda’s reported complaint that Uganda has received insufficient support for its efforts to eliminate the LRA.

The UPDF spokesman had also warned last month that Uganda might withdraw its troops from the African Union mission in Somalia that is battling al-Shabaab.

Eight Kenyan legislators yesterday spent the night in police cells as the State moved in to crack down on hate speech.

The legislators had to endure forcible arrest, a three-hour detention in dark cells and a further detention of gopur days in remand after police asked for more time for investigations.

They are now are staring at a Sh1 million fine or a jail-term of up to three years if convicted. Their arrests and arraignment in court was the culmination of dramatic scenes as police sought them save for Jubilee coalition's Moses Kuria (Gatundu South) and Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete).

Mr Kuria and Mr Waititu survived dawn raids at their city homes after they appeared at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to write statements on Monday night. They left DCI offices at 9pm after being given free bond.  Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati) was also not arrested after he presented himself to the police.

But it was a bad day for the Opposition lawmakers after they refused to present themselves at the DCI offices. They woke up yesterday morning to find their homes surrounded by dozens of police officers, and one was even arrested as he left a live TV interview.

Johnstone Muthama (Machakos), Junet Mohamed (Suna East), Aisha Jumwa (Kilifi), Florence Mutua (Busia) and Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) were eventually arrested after recording statements at the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road.

Together with the Jubilee MPs, they were hauled to court at 2pm. They were locked up until 5pm when they were presented in court. They remained composed in the dock as their respective lawyers haggled for their freedom until 7.30pm when Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo said they should be locked up.

With the Opposition leader Raila Odinga and at least 40 CORD MPs listening in the packed court room at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Mr Ogembo ruled that the MPs suspected of hate speech and incitement should be locked up for four days.

"Owing to the ongoing incitement incidence, it is clear to the court that there are compelling reasons as to why the MPs should remain detained... Since investigations have not been completed and the Prosecution has said they require time, in the court's view the suspects should remain in custody," the chief magistrate said. As soon as the gavel fell, police officers herded the suspects together and whisked them to the cells next to the courtroom. Ogembo said the suspects should be remanded at Kilimani, Muthaiga, Muthangari, and Gigiri police stations, for the police to conclude investigations and present them to court to face the charges.

FOUR DAYS DETENTION
The Prosecution had insisted on the detention for four more days, arguing that the period was sufficient for a forensic analysis of their statements captured on video, in order to come up with foolproof charges to guarantee a conviction. Prosecutor Leonard Maingi said the MPs had to be locked up because, if set free, they would use their influence to interfere with investigations.

Mr Maingi said the country is in an electioneering mood and caution must be taken to avoid a repeat of 2007 post-election violence.

He said the trend taken by politicians was likely to plunge the country into chaos as some leaders had intensified incitement ahead of the 2017 elections. "We urge this court to take judicial notice that as the country gears up for the general elections, incidents of hate speech, intolerance and outright incitement to violence are taking a dangerous trend," Maingi said.

The packed courtroom was ringed with police officers from the General Service Unit in anticipation of a clash between Opposition and Jubilee supporters. Starehe MP Maina Kamanda was forcibly ejected from the courtroom before the proceedings began.

It took the intervention of police to have him escorted out of the Milimani Law Courts. Kuria also provoked the crowd when he held Waititu and Ngunjiri’s arms and raised them in a victory salute. They were booed by the Opposition supporters before Raila reprimanded them and asked them to be calm.

Lawyer James Orengo for CORD MPs urged the court to dismiss the application on grounds that there were no compelling reasons to continue holding them.

He said since police had obtained the said footage there was no likelihood of them interfering with the investigations. He said the nature of the application does not disclose any offences committed by the CORD legislators. He further said the CORD MPs voluntarily appeared before the police and were not arrested as alleged.

For Jubilee, Francis Munyororo said bail was a constitutional right that cannot be denied on basis of apprehensions.

He said the subjects were willing to report to respective police stations for interrogation. The Prosecution said Kuria on June 13 made remarks alluding to the physical injury and death of Raila Odinga at the Kasarani gymnasium. Waititu, the prosecutor said, also alluded that it was desirable to kill the CORD leader.

The Prosecution said Mr Mohammed, Mr Muthama, Mr Bosire, Ms Mutua and Ms Jumwa at a press conference on June 13 at Capitol Hill uttered words to the effect that they would create chaos and forcibly storm the IG’s office if "certain people" were not arrested. The prosecution wanted four days to hold the politicians for in-depth investigations into the alleged utterances.

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Demonstrations erupted in Kenya's largest slum Tuesday over footage appearing to show a pro-government legislator saying top opposition leader Raila Odinga can be assassinated, an opposition official and witnesses said.

Analysts say the remarks reflect long-simmering tribal tensions that are heating up again, eight years after they exploded into violence that left more than 1,000 people dead in the aftermath of a disputed presidential election. Kenya is holding general elections next year.

A coffin marked with the name of the legislator, Moses Kuria, was burned during Tuesday's protests, said the head of the Orange Democratic Party in Kibera slum, Sam Ochieng. Odinga is the party’s leader, and Kibera is an opposition stronghold.

An Associated Press reporter saw police fire tear gas at demonstrators, who responded with stones.

Kuria and seven other legislators have been questioned by police over remarks that police say may amount to hate speech. The legislators include four opposition members of parliament who threatened to storm the office of the police chief if he doesn’t take action against Kuria.

In a video shot at a party over the weekend, Kuria apparently refers to recent opposition demonstrations to remove Kenya’s electoral commission, which the protesters accuse of corruption and bias.

"He should be careful because he can as well bite a bullet," Kuria says. "We won't be disturbed by one person. He can bite a bullet, we bury him the next Monday, they (Odinga supporters) throw stones for one week and life continues, isn't it so?" He made the remarks in his mother tongue, Kikuyu.

Kuria is out on bond for two separate charges of incitement to violence and hate speech related to previous remarks.

A man was beaten to death in Nakuru after he was allegedly found having sex with his neighbour's wife.

The assailant found Justus Kipkemoi, a casual labourer, inside his bedroom on Friday and beat him senseless on Friday.

According to police and area residents, Kipkemoi was cornered by his neighbour in a compromising position with his wife.

The man and his wife are being held at Menengai Police Station.

It is alleged Kipkemoi sneaked into his neighbour's house at Kasarani in Kampi Ya Moto in the morning after the man had left for work.

A witness, Elijah Chemoywa, said the assailant pretended to have left for work and returned after an hour when he found the two in his bedroom.

He said the man was shocked to find his neighbour in bed with his wife and a fight ensued where Kipkemoi was seriously beaten. He was rushed to Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries.

But the woman told police that the deceased had requested for tea and took him inside, denying her husband's allegations.

Confirming the incident, Rongai OCPD Joseph Mwamburi said they were holding the 28-year-old suspect and he will be arraigned in court once they conclude investigations.

Their landlord James Maina said the deceased's wife informed them of the confrontation but the attacker had locked the room from inside, hence complicating efforts to save Kipkemoi.

He said Kipkemoi sustained serious injuries at the back of his head and blood was oozing from the mouth and was rushed to hospital.

"The fact that the assailant's wife fled and hid inside a maize plantation while nude clearly reveals what had transpired moments before the husband arrived unannounced," said Maina.

Rosemary Lopenyo said she was asleep in her adjacent house when she heard commotion but did not go out until police officers from Menengai arrived at the scene.

"When police arrived, they found Kipkemoi with severe head and neck injuries. I was shocked. He died a painful death," she said. 

NAIROBI--The High Court in Kenya has declared that one cannot divorce in a foreign country, but remain married in the native land.

Justice William Musyoka declined to lift a divorce order that was issued by a US court, noting that it is binding locally. The judge turned down a prayer to save a broken marriage between two Kenyans who were ordered to part ways by a court in Florida. He said that although they were married in Kenya and moved to the US where they divorced, the orders by the foreign court apply here. "I cannot proceed as if the order does not exist.

"It binds me in view of the very clear provisions of section 9 of the Civil Procedure Act, Cap 21, Laws of Kenya, on the effect of foreign judgments," the judge ruled. Magdaline and Phillip (not real names) were married here in Kenya under customary law. They moved to the US in 1992, but their marriage hit the rocks, which prompted the court in Florida to dissolve it after 10 years.

However,Magdaline was not satisfied with that decision and she filed a case before the magistrate's court in Kenya (dealing with family matters) seeking to quash orders by the US--based court on account that it could not dissolve customary marriages contracted in Kenya. The magistrate threw out Magdaline's case, prompting her to file an appeal before High Court. Judge Musyoka said he could not entertain the appeal.

"The appellant sought to persuade the court that the decree of the Florida court ought not to be recognised in Kenya. The provisions of the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act were cited in that regard. It was suggested that foreign judgments in matrimonial causes are not recognised in Kenya. That cannot be the correct position," said the judge. "I have not been persuaded that the Florida court had no jurisdiction to entertain the matter. Consequently, the order in question is an order of a court of competent jurisdiction. It is valid and binding, unless it is set aside, reversed or varied by the court which made it or by a higher court on appeal.

The court, which made the order, declined to vacate it or vary it. There is no evidence that a higher court in US has interfered with it," judge Musyoka ruled. Magdaline's argument was that Florida court, on the basis of consent, had dissolved the marriage, yet under Kenyan law marriage, by consent, is not recognised.

The judge noted that Magdaline had contracted two other marriages following the fallout with Phillip and she had filed another case here in Kenya to facilitate division of their matrimonial property. Her lawyer argued that if the Kenyan court lifted the orders made by the Florida one, it would mean that the couple would be divorced in the US but remain married Kenya."Such a scenario would suggest that the parties would be forced to file for divorce whenever they changed jurisdictions," judge Musyoka heard. The woman was ordered to pay the cost of the suit to her ex-husband.

Over the past few days, everyone and their mother have had a lot to say about 'sponsors' and homewreckers. While we may not agree with such kind of relationships, it is not our place to judge and slut-shame. We need to get off our high horses and stop bashing women for how they choose to live their lives.

Dating an older married man is not the worst thing in the world. Women have varied reasons why they get involved with older married men. The truth is, besides the obvious, there are some real perks that come with dating an older married man. Below are some of the benefits:

He is financially secure

Yes, I won't lie and say that those relationships are not financially motivated, but what is wrong with that? Let's face it; we all want the best the world has to offer. Life is too short to waste on a perpetual down and out 20--something who insists on splitting a Sh1,000 bill.

In this day and age, financial stability is of utmost importance and should take precedence over other qualities like age, looks and marital status of a potential partner. Younger, single men are still trying to figure their life out. Why wait when there is a better, more sophisticated gentleman who is available for a fling? An older man will change your lifestyle and give you the wealth most people admire.

He won't disappoint in bed

Sex, like wine, gets better with age. While most people want to make fun of young girls sleeping with men who are twenty--plus years their senior, these girls know the benefits they are reaping in the sack. You just keep tweeting about vitambis and wrinkly balls while the 'sugar babe' is getting off every time she has sex with her sponsor. It is a proven fact that older men make better lovers. While your virile, hot--blooded 20-something year old will only deliver five minutes of mediocre sex in ridiculous positions, an older man knows his business and will take his time and leave you feeling satisfied.

Great conversationalist

20--somethings are a bore. An older man has experienced the world more and will have a lot of interesting and exciting things to talk about compared to your college guy, who is only interested in talking about drinking sprees and sex escapades.

An older man is knowledgeable and one can learn a lot of from him. He is well travelled and has a been--there-done--that attitude that is quite alluring. He knows the best restaurants and the best vacation spots, so you are always guaranteed the best of everything. He can also give you good advice on finances and other aspects of life.

No pressure in the relationship

Dating an older married man means no pressure and headaches that come with a normal relationship. There will be no jealousy issues because you both know where you stand in each other's life. The relationship is all about fun and there is nothing wrong with wanting a little fun. You get to do your own thing and enjoy your life while enjoying being pampered, with amazing sex as a great bonus. Now that's a win--win! 

A quarrel turned tragic in Thika, Kenya, on Wednesday after a man murdered his wife by stabbing her 18 times.

It was not the first attempt for George Njenga, 35, to kill his wife Joyce Wangari, 32.

Last month he waylaid her on her way from the shop and tried to stab her with a knife.

"He was arrested and released just a week ago after his wife withdrew the charges," a neighbour, Veronica Njeri said.

The man tried to kill himself with the same knife and is admitted at the Thika level five hospital.

"He sustained severe injuries in his lower abdominal area and his intestines had been damaged," said a nurse at the hospital.

The woman had just come from taking lunch to their three--year-old girl who is in kindergarten when they picked a quarrel.

Efforts by neighbours to save the woman were futile as Njenga locked the door from the inside.

"We pleaded with him to open the door and solve the matter amicably but he declined. His wife was screaming that he was slaughtering her," Njeri said.

Another witness said when they broke the door, they found Wangari's lifeless body lying in a pool of blood while Njenga was holding the blood--stained kitchen knife.

"She had told us before that her husband warned her that he would one day slaughter her. We told her to leave but she insisted on staying because of her work," Njeri said.

The residents said the suspect was a quiet man and always stayed indoors.

"We are shocked because we know he is always quiet, chewing miraa, we never thought he was capable of committing such a heinous and heartless act," Martin Kinyua said.

Wangari's body was taken to General Kago funeral home.

Their daughter is in the custody of her aunt.

Joyce Njeri is a worried woman. She has not seen or heard from her husband, Hudson Mwangi who was a taxi driver based in Nyeri town, since February 13 this year.

According to Njeri, on that day, she and her husband woke up early and by 7.30am had prepared their two boys aged seven and two years for school.

Once Njeri saw her children off to the school bus, she and her husband got into the taxi and drove to town.

"He was employed as a taxi driver and while the car was not his, we would drive into work together when he had the vehicle. He would drop me off at work and then head to the Taxi Bay outside Naivas Supermarket," she said.

It was a normal day for Hudson and his colleagues until about 3pm when one of his regular clients came looking for him. When he found Hudson was not in, he agreed to take another taxi from the same station.

On their way to the client's destination, they saw a group of people and police at Gatitu Shopping Centre surrounding a vehicle which was off the side of the road with its doors wide open. Upon closer inspection, they realised it was Hudson's vehicle and the taxi driver called his colleagues, told them what he had seen and asked them to confirm Mwangi's whereabouts.

"I remained unaware that my husband was missing. I called him at 6pm but the phone went straight to voice mail. I did not think anything of it so I passed by the market picked up some groceries and went home to cook for the family," Njeri said.

After several attempts trying to reach Hudson, she called his friend back and it was then she learnt that her husband's taxi had been discovered abandoned. He offered to take me to the scene to confirm if it was his car.She continued: "At about 7.30pm, a friend of my husband called and asked me if I was with my husband. I said I had not seen him all day but I would try to call him."

"We arrived at the scene where the taxi was and I found his ID and driving license in the car. His jacket was in the back seat and there was no blood or any signs of a struggle but my husband was missing," she says.

Joyce Njeri Wachira, whose husband Hudson Mwangi Muthoni, a Nyeri--based taxi driver went missing on February 13,2016, nothing has been heard of him since.

Efforts to locate her husband since the incident have proven exhausting both emotionally and physically.

"We have lived together since 2010 and he has never taken an impromptu trip without letting me know. I am also certain he would not leave his taxi abandoned unless something or someone forced him to," she said.

Trying to keep hope alive for her children she continues to make weekly visits to the Nyeri Police Station and the County General Hospital looking for her husband.

"I do not know what happened to him or where he could be but this mystery is tormenting my family. Whether dead or alive I would prefer to know where he is than spend the rest of my life searching for my beloved husband," Njeri said.

The Law Society of Kenya wants action be taken to find missing lawyer Willie Kimani, his client and taxi driver.
LSK President Isaac Okero said the trend is alarming of people going missing and demanded that authorities take action to tame it.

"Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwendwa and their driver Joseph Muiruri must be found.Those responsible for their abduction must be brought to justice.This is a very serious threat to the profession and to the administration of justice," said Okero.
He said LSK will from Wednesday start a silent protest by wearing a purple ribbon demanding action to find Kimani.

"The Law Society of Kenya calls upon all its members to don purple ribbons beginning tomorrow to show solidarity with our missing brother Willie Kimani, and remembering our brother Albert Muriuki, to demonstrate that we pray for Willie's safe return and that of his two companions and to express outrage at this impunity that threatens the administration of justice."

Muriuki, an advocate, vanished on December 30, 2013 and has never been seen since.
Okero said Kimani was working as an investigator at the International Justice Mission when he went missing on June 23 with the other two.

He added Kimani's employer believes they may have been abducted after attending court in Mavoko for a case involving an officer of the Administration Police.
Okero said some lawyers are being threatened and intimidated daily, particularly when handling certain criminal cases.

"It is completely unacceptable for him or indeed any advocate to be subjected to threats, intimidation, fear of harm or the risk of deprivation of life while discharging one's duty as an advocate. It is an outrage that this is happening in our country."

He added if criminals know that "taking out" advocates and witnesses is the way to succeed in court then the justice system and the rule of law begin to crumble.
This climate of terror must end, he added.

"We demand to know what the IGP and IPOA are doing about this.We remind the IGP that over one year has passed since the LSK wrote to him asking to know where investigations into the disappearance of Advocate Albert Muriuki had reached."He said LSK has also been receiving reports from members of the public of the disappearance of Kenyans, last seen at the hands of police and cited the case of Erickson Aluda Mambo and Brian Nzenze who were last seen being escorted to the Kawangare Chief's Camp on June 1 2016.

Melinda Gates has pledged to support First Lady Margaret Kenyatta's Beyond Zero campaign in a bid to step up efforts towards eliminating maternal and child deaths in Kenya.

The wife of American business magnet and philanthropist Bill Gates made the commitment on Tuesday when she paid a courtesy call on the First Lady at State House, Nairobi.

Melinda said the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will partner with Beyond Zero to scale up access to quality health services for mothers and children.

She pointed out that her foundation, which has invested a lot in the mission to rid the world of maternal deaths, will fund some of the campaigns' activities.

Already, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supports several health initiatives in Kenya working in close collaboration with the government.

She said it is for this reason that they would like to work closely to ensure more women, children and adolescent girls are reached.

"We have been working in Kenya for quite some time and our focus has been on various sectors including agriculture, health, financial services and social justice," said Melinda.

She said the foundation is also collaborating with county governments to facilitate projects that would make positive impact to Kenyans living in the rural areas.

Melinda, who was briefed on the activities of the Beyond Zero Initiative and the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), said she will bring men on board so that the latter participate in health promotion activities.

The First Lady also updated Melinda on the positive impact her Beyond Zero campaign has had on Kenyan families.

"What made me initiate this campaign was the high statistics on maternal and child mortality," said the First Lady.

She also talked about the 9th "Stop Cervical Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa" conference which was held in Nairobi last year.

Margaret said it was encouraging to see more men present themselves for prostate cancer screening, saying this is an indication that more Kenyan men are now taking issues of family health seriously.

"When we held the 9th Stop Cervical Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa last year, the clinics were on the ground and most of the clients were men," the First Lady said.

NAIROBI, Kenya--The taxman has reported that 1.2 million Kenyans have filed their annual returns through the iTax system.

The Kenya Revenue Authority has a database of 8.1 million taxpayers but only 1.6 million filed returns in 2015.

In a statement on Tuesday, acting domestic taxes commissioner Benson Korongo said they have been receiving approximately 70,000 returns daily.

"The system gives taxpayers the luxury of filing returns from the comfort of their homes or offices at any hour of day or night," he noted.

Korongo said the number is expected to rise as taxpayers make efforts to meet the Thursday deadline.

He said the Kenya Revenue Authority has set up 21 iTax support centres and has presence in 37 Huduma Centres.

"Three more centres are set to be opened up this week in Central," he said.

The commissioner added that the authority has trained more than 40,000 Kenyans on how to file their tax returns online.

He urged taxpayers to seek assistance at the support centres across the country.

Korongo said more centres countrywide will be opened for longer hours ahead of the deadline.

In the 1930s, a bunch of poverty-stricken boys from Rwathia village in Kangema, Murang'a County, walked to Nairobi with nothing but tattered clothes and a burning dream to find that elusive thing called mbeca (money). Little did they know that they would make tonnes of it.

Eighty years on, the value of property owned by the Rwathia businessmen in Nairobi, Thika, Murang'a and other towns runs into billions of shillings, with their billionaire sons and proteges control substantial wealth at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

The tough--as--nails capitalists from Rwathia provide a story of unrivalled dedication, passion and inspiration that enabled young boys, most of whom are now deceased, to transform their lives through hawking vegetables, selling charcoal and wattle bark, setting an example in ambition, personal discipline, frugality and entrepreneurship for generations.

Gerald Gikonyo Kanyuira, over 100 years old and still counting, is the only remaining patriarch of the great capitalist boys from Rwathia village that produced the legendary Rwathia Group of entrepreneurs, who control a swath of properties and businesses in downtown Nairobi.

As an indication of the sheer determination of the boys from Rwathia, at 102 years, Gikonyo, who once employed Equity Chairman Peter Munga as a casual labourer in one of their hotels, still supervises several businesses owned by the various groups from Rwathia.

The journey to massive wealth for these exceptional entrepreneurs started in 1930, when a group of boys came to Nairobi and set up a vegetables hawking business.

"We would buy the vegetables from Marikiti (Wakulima) Market from traders from Limuru, and sell them to Asian families," says the father of 23 and husband to four wives who first worked as a farmhand in a Nyeri coffee plantation.

Since there were no banks for Africans then, the boys would send one of their friends back to the village to deliver some savings for safekeeping by the elders. When the boys in the city needed to increase their investment, they would go back to the village and get their savings. This cycle had a ripple effect. Seeing how their peers were able to save money, more boys from Rwathia were encouraged to go to the city and start similar or different businesses.

"There was a wave of boys from Rwathia coming to Nairobi. We encouraged it because we all wanted to do business together," recalls Mzee Gikonyo, whose first child was born in 1936 and his last born 36 years later.

It is then that the Rwathia boys decided to form several savings groups and one person would belong to several of them. After seven years of selling vegetables and doing other businesses in Nairobi, the savings groups started buying buildings from Asians in Pumwani to set up shops and small dukas. A group of five to 12 people would buy one shop and jointly start a business. The Asians were selling the shops to move closer to the city centre.

In 1952, the groups decided to start buying plots, on which they built residential and commercial buildings. But this new investment was disrupted the following year when the Mau Mau insurgency saw Kikuyus in Nairobi hounded and repatriated to restricted areas known as ichagi (villages). The period that followed was of sheer destruction by the British colonialists. They particularly targeted Kikuyu--owned businesses as they suspected they were part of the Mau Mau support base. All that the Rwathia boys had built was razed to ashes.

By 1957, the Mau Mau war had slowed down because it was taking a toll on both combatants. The colonialists called for amnesty and began allowing some Kikuyus who had businesses back to Nairobi. The boys from Rwathia, now seasoned businessmen, took the offer and decided to up their ambitions.

"When we returned, we decided that we would henceforth enter the city centre, where we were not allowed before. Our idea was to rent buildings and start businesses," says Mzee Gikonyo, who prefers boiro to roast meat. "But most of the buildings we wanted to rent were owned by Asians. They were fearful of the Mau Mau, so many of them were migrating from Kenya and selling those buildings. This is how we started buying some of the buildings that we still own to date.

"Again, we started buying in groups as we had done in Pumwani and Majengo. As many as 30 people would buy one building. All the small savings groups from Rwathia worked in harmony. So you would find one person owning shares in several groups. It was the best thing we did for ourselves," explains Mzee Gikonyo.

Today, the Rwathia groups control prime properties in Nairobi, especially within areas on the east side of lower Tom Mboya Street, Ronald Ngara Street, River Road, among others, besides the beer distribution outfit, Rwathia Distributors. Buildings and bar and restaurants like the famous Magomano, Kinangop, Njogu--ini, Eureka, Timboroa and Alfa Hotels, among others, are all owned by several savings groups from Rwathia.

The new generation of Rwathia boys include EquityBank Chairman Peter Munga,EquityBank CEO JamesMwangi,billionaire investment banker Jimnah Mbaru and insurance magnate Benson Wairegi.

Dr Bitange Ndemo,a senior lecturer at the University of Nairobi's Business School, noted that the most successful business people in Kenya or East Africa come from Rwathia, despite no scientific research being conducted towards that end.

"This village arguably controls almost 20 per cent of Kenya's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and almost 40 percent of the stock market in Kenya,"explains Dr Ndemo in a 2014 article titleThe Mystery of Success.

Dr Ndemo further argued that, "Their forebearers like Gerishon Kirima and Gerald Gikonyo, one of the co--founders of Rwathia Distributors,were successful in spite of the fact that they had limited education. Rwathia's third generation is succeeding, not just here in Kenya, but in far--flung areas like the United States."

Dr Ndemo added: "Equity's Corporate Social Responsibility in Wings to Fly,which is sponsoring students to attend some of the best universities in the world, is enough to shower blessings on its founders. So whichever way you look at this,Dr Mwangi and his teams have left an indelible mark that will never be matched by any organisation in the foreseeable future."

KILIMAMBOGO, Kenya--The bodies of the lawyer and driver who went missing after a court session were retrieved from a river in Kilimambogo, Kenya on Thursday.

Police sources told the Star by phone that the bodies are of lawyer Willie Kimani and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri. Bodaboda operator Josephat Mwenda is still missing.

Residents called police after spotting the two bodies floating in Oldonyo Sabuk River at about 5.30pm.

Mutungulu police boss Joseph Chesire said the bodies were taken to City Mortuary for identification.

Bodies from the area, which falls under Machakos police command, are usually taken to Machakos district mortuary. Police have extended their search upstream for more bodies.

The three went missing last Thursday while driving on Mombasa road from Mavoko law courts.

Kimani who was a lawyer with the International Justice Mission (IJM) had attended a court session in which his client, Mwenda, sued an AP officer for attempted murder.

Three IJM staff members who were in a second car reported back to their offices after court.

More on this:Lawyer, client missing for 72 hours after cop court case

Last Saturday, officials from IJM, family members and CID officers visited Naivasha district hospital mortuary where they viewed bodies.

The bodies recovered from Monkey corner area were not of their kin. The victims appeared to have been strangled with ropes and had injuries on to the necks and hands.

Investigators broadened their search to Bungoma, to where the signal of the mobile phone belonging to the driver was traced.

They took the statement of IJF staff and the lawyer's family members on Thursday but were yet to take hose of the driver's relatives.

It is believed the three were hijacked by armed gunmen at around 2 pm last Thursday.

The taxi they were travelling in was found abandoned at Kamirithu village in Tigoni on Saturday morning.

A mobile phone said to belong to the lawyer was traced to tea plantation in the area but is yet to be recovered. The third phone is yet to be recovered.

A man said to be a boda boda operator contacted Kimani's family by phone on Thursday claiming the lawyer had been locked up at Mlolongo AP camp.

He claimed he had picked a note thrown from the window of a metal container at Mlolongo AP camp where the men were allegedly being held.

The note contained the phone number of the lawyer's wife. IJM staff and Kimani's family visited the AP camp at around 5 pm but did not find the men.

Protesters roughed up police spokesman Charles Owino demanding he takes responsibility for the murder of a human rights lawyer and two others.

Owino was being driven in a police car from Vigilance House when the demonstrators spotted him at Freedom Corner on Monday.

They blocked the road, demanding that he alight and join their march to IG Joseph Boinnet's office.

On alighting, they poured red paint on the spokesman and forced him to carry a coffin written "stop extra judicial killings".

When they reached the Inspector General's office, the crowd refused to be addressed by Owino and demanded Boinnet's presence.

Protesters proceeded to dump coffins outside the IG's gate after they were informed that he was in another meeting.

More than 30 local and international human rights groups and lawyers took to the streets to protest the murders of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver, Joseph Muiruri.

Activists demanded that government agencies begin investigations into the "heinous" deaths.

The demonstrations also took place at Mombasa law courts, Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground in Kisumu and Railways Grounds in Nakuru.

Protesters carried placards demanding "accountability for victims of police executions", and calling to "prosecute those responsible for death of Willie, Joseph and Josephat".

They marched the area with red-stained t-shirts as they chanted.

Three officers linked to the deaths-Fredrick Leliman, Stephen Chebulet and Silvia Wanjiku-have been detained for 14 days to allow investigations.

Kimani, 32, and his client Mwenda, a boda boda operator, had filed a complaint alleging that Mwenda had been shot and injured by police in April 2015.

Mwenda was then charged with a range of offences, including possessing drugs, gambling in public and resisting arrest, the activists said.

The two and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri went missing after a court session at Mavoko law courts on June 23.

At about 5.30 pm last Thursday, their bodies were later found floating in Oldonyo Sabuk River.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu began an Africa tour on Monday by attending a memorial service at Entebbe airport in Uganda.

This was where his commando brother was killed rescuing hostages 40 years ago--an event which he has said shaped his future.

Lt Col Yonatan 'Yoni' Netanyahu led an assault team of 29 commandos who stormed the terminal in 1976 to rescue Israelis and others who had been on board an Air France flight diverted to Uganda by Palestinian and German hijackers.

"I am touched to stand in this place, this very place, where my brother Yoni fell," the Prime Minister said at Entebbe airport.

"Entebbe is always with me, in my thoughts, in my consciousness, deep in my heart."

The old building where the hostages were held still stands, but a new terminal now serves the airport at Entebbe, which lies a few miles (km) from the capital Kampala.

Some former Israeli commandos involved in the raid also attended the ceremony.

The PM's elder brother was the only Israeli soldier killed in the 1976 raid. The hijackers, three hostages and dozens of Ugandan soldiers died.

More than 100 mostly Israeli hostages were freed. Ugandan autocrat Idi Amin, in power at that time, broke ties with Israel after the raid.

"My brother's death changed my life and directed it to its present course," he said in an interview with Newsweek in 2012.

Speaking on Monday before talks with President Yoweri Museveni, Netanyahu said: "Exactly 40 years ago, Israel soldiers carried out a historic mission in Entebbe.

"Forty years ago they landed in the dead of the night in a country led by a brutal dictator. Today we landed in broad day light in a friendly country led by a president who fights terrorists."

Uganda has been targeted by Somalia-based terror group al Shabaab, which has said it wants to drive out Ugandan and other soldiers fighting with an African Union peace force in Somalia.

Netanyahu was accompanied by an 80-strong delegation of Israeli business executives from more than 50 companies.

After talks with Museveni he was to attend a summit with leaders from Rwanda, Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Zambia

"Africa is a continent on the rise. Israel looks forward to strengthening ties with all its countries," he said.

After Uganda, will travel to Kenya where Israel provides training for the security forces and has other investments.

"Israel is a critical partner to Kenya, with its development assistance in security and defence, agriculture and particularly irrigation are important investments here," Kenyan presidential spokesman Manoah said ahead of the visit.

The tour will also take Netanyahu to Rwanda and Ethiopia.

"Israel companies should come and invest in Africa," Museveni said in his speech, specifically pointing to technology firms.

A love triangle turned tragic when a woman in Eldoret, Kenya, allegedly stabbed her boyfriend to death, sparking protests by angry wananchi.

Ms Brenda Nyongesa, 20, is said to have stabbed 32-year-old Ibrahim Onyango in the ribs, killing him instantly. She had accused him of cheating on her.

Eldoret West Officer Commanding Police Division Samuel Mutunga confirmed the incident, which occurred at Kamukunji slums on the outskirts of Eldoret Town, noting that the couple had a fight and the man was overpowered before he was stabbed to death.

"I visited the scene with my officers and found the man already dead with the woman sitting next to the body, holding a knife," Mr Mutunga told the Nation.

The woman is being held at Eldoret Police Station while the body was taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary.

HANDLE ISSUES AMICABLY

“I urge couples to be handling their issues in an amicable manner instead of resorting to killing each other or committing crimes that could land them in trouble,” said Mr Mutunga.

Incidents of couples fatally stabbing each other have been on the rise in Eldoret. On March 22, a Fourth Year university student died after he was stabbed several times by a fellow student in a suspected love triangle.

Mr Steve Wairimu, a hotel and hospitality management student at the Moi University's Eldoret Town campus, and a friend had visited his girlfriend at her off-campus hostel but found her with her First Year male colleague. Steve was later killed in a confrontation.

Last July, a 21-year-old student at Moi University's West Campus was beaten to death by her boyfriend, a student at another university. The man was then lynched by a mob.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has urged his country's entrepreneurs to invest heavily in Kenya as the country is endowed, the people talented and the President ready.

Noting his government has strategic national and global interests in Kenya's prosperity, he said it would only be prudent to use opportunities in East Africa's largest economy.

"Come and invest in Kenya. The opportunities are great. There is an inflection point where the economy can take off. You can be part of the yeast in this cake," he said.

Netanyahu also asked county governments to partner with the Israeli investors willing to share their expertise and experience in economic development.

He said Kenya and Israel are ready to reduce any arising business risks.

He spoke at Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel in Nairobi where he and President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed a Kenya-Israel business forum.

More than 70 business leaders in the PM's entourage explored profitable partnerships with their Kenyan counterparts.

The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry said deals worth more than Sh2 billion were signed on Tuesday before the two leaders officially opened the forum.

The President said his government's main objective is to expand and improve the country's economy for the sake of future generations.

He told Israeli entrepreneurs seeking to invest in the country that they are not only guaranteed short term gains but long term profits.

Uhuru pointed out that the country has a wealth of natural resources including a young and dynamic population and a strategic geographical location which is an access point to a market of more than 600 million people.

"We are doing our best to harness that latent potential through the regional infrastructure projects we are pursuing---so that they are empowered to pursue their potential," he said.

Uhuru said the venture will be possible through the internal roads infrastructure , the Standard Gauge railway line, the unparalleled investments in energy, and steps Kenya is taking in social security, health and education.

The President said the government is reforming the education sector and reinvigorating the NYS to raise a generation of lateral thinkers, problem solvers and risk takers.

"We are working to ensure our education evolves to meet the needs of our local market and the global market of the 21st century. That's another area where I hope we will learn from Israel," Uhuru said.

He said the phenomenon of Israel’s economic success remains a global inspiration and speaks to many countries including Kenya.

"Through innovation, and sheer force of will you powered your way to be a premier economy in the world, a leader in technology and a country where enterprise is not just encouraged but emboldened and rewarded; where commerce is coded into your very culture; where entrepreneurship is not just something you do, but who you are," he said.

Uhuru said the two nations have not yet exploited their full extent of economic cooperation. He said Netanyahu's visit provides a platform to pursue the many business opportunities the two nations offer.

ENTEBBE

"He's the Ugandan Donald Trump," a colleague quipped after Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni finished delivering a rambling speech during an event on Monday to mark 40 years since the Entebbe raid.

Except for one huge difference.

Mr Trump wants to be president; Mr Museveni has been president of his country for more than 30 years.

That type of longevity, it seems, gives a man certain privileges. And this is where the similarities to Mr Trump kick in. Like Mr Trump, the Ugandan president seemed to be shooting from the hip.

The address got off on a rather different note when Mr Museveni said the sad events of the raid were being turned into another instrument of "bonding the Holy Land--Israel/Palestine--with the heartland of Uganda in particular, and Africa in general".

While the sentiment was noble, calling the land his guest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, represented as Israel/Palestine was a bit odd.

Lest one think that this was just a slip of the tongue, the Ugandan president said another sad bond between "Africa and Palestine" took place in the biblical story of Joseph.

Citing the Book of Matthew, Mr Museveni then said Jesus was hidden in Egypt from Herod, whom he termed a "bad gentleman", another event binding "Africa and Palestine".

His constant references to "Palestine" led some to wonder whether Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was in the crowd. But it became clear he meant Israel, even though he was saying Palestine, when he pointed out that the Entebbe rescue operation of 1976 is yet another bond between the two areas growing out of adversity.

Mr Museveni then made some comments that surely found favour in Mr Netanyahu's ears--that liberation movements do not use terrorism, that people cannot be freedom fighters and murder innocent people.

He also said Uganda cannot accept the "bigotry" that either the Jews or the Palestinians do not belong to the Holy Land.

Mr Museveni said this is the message he conveys "when I meet my friends, the Arabs or the Iranians".

"This is what I tell them. I want to tell them that you are all mentioned in the Bible," he said.

He regaled the crowd with a tale of a meeting he had with a former Iranian president, whose name he could not remember, and rejected the leader’s claims that the Jews came from Europe, not the Middle East.

"I showed him in the Bible. We cannot accept the bigotry that either of you do not belong to the Holy Land," he said, before discussing the so-called Uganda scheme of the early 20th century, when the British colonial secretary at the time, Joseph Chamberlain, agreed in principle to settling Jews in Uganda.

Mr Museveni attributed the plan not to Mr Chamberlain but Lord Balfour.

You may soon redeem your Kenyan Safaricom Bonga points for a cab ride in the newly launched taxi-hailing app company Little Cabs.

The service, launched to rival fast-growing international smart cab company Uber, will be operated by giant telecommunications firm Safaricom.

The Little Cabs app was developed by the telco in partnership with financial solutions software provider Craft Silicon.

"This is a completely local product which is well in position for competition," Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said on Tuesday.