Kenya National Highways Authority( KeNHA) has closed sections of Saba Saba to Makande road to facilitate ongoing road works. The road forms part of the A8 trunk road and is being repaired in a bid to further de congest the tourist town of Mombasa.
KeNHA Director General Engineer Peter Mundinia says the road works will go on for 6 months. He urged road users to cooperate with traffic police and county officials during the period.
“We urge the road users to bear with the inconvenience as we undertake these works”, he said.
The Government will soon roll out a Shs 33 billion social inclusion programme that will boost ongoing efforts to transform the socioeconomic wellbeing of Kenyans and restore the dignity of the most vulnerable in society, President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.
President Kenyatta pointed out that the funds for the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Programme are already been budgeted for and that the programme will be rolled out in coming months.
“The target of the programme is to streamline our delivery systems so that every Kenyan who needs help can get it. Importantly, the Ministry of Labour, the National Drought Management Authority, the Ministry of Health, and the Council of Governors will all be involved in its administration,” President Kenyatta said.
The Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Programme builds on the success of the Government’s cash transfer programme dubbed “Inua Jamii” which has, in the last six years since 2013, grown from slightly over 200,000 beneficiaries to 1.3 million currently and a jump in funding from Shs 6.5 billion to Shs 26 billion in the same period.
President Kenyatta said that in the same period, an additional 100,000 households have been supported under the Hunger Safety Net Programme in Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, and Turkana at a total cost of over Shs 25.2 billion.
“Dignity has been restored; livelihoods have been saved; and we have shown that this family called Kenya takes care of its own,” the President said.
The Head of State was speaking today at State House, Nairobi, when he flagged off fleet of new vehicles and motorcycles to be used by government officers to improve service delivery to the beneficiaries of the “Inua Jamii” programme.
The 42 vehicles and 48 motorcycles were procured with the help of the World Bank from Toyota Kenya, Isuzu East Africa and Simba Corp.
“The fleet of vehicles we launch today will support programmes implemented under the National Safety Net Programme (NSNP) which comprises four cash transfer Programmes: the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Cash Transfer; the Older Persons over 70 Cash Transfer; the Persons With Severe Disabilities Cash Transfer Programme; and the Hunger Safety Net Programme,” the Head of State said.
President Kenyatta said the success of the Inua Jamii programmes has proved wrong those who doubted Kenya’s ability to implement a robust and transformative social inclusion intervention.
“Well, I can only say that we have proved the critics wrong — and quite dramatically. The programme, run by the State Department for Social Protection under the Ministry of Labour, makes sure that cash transfers do get to hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, right across the country,” the President said.
He commended the Ministry of Labour, the Kenya Commercial Bank, Equity Bank, the Cooperative Bank of Kenya and Post Bank and Kenya’s development partners for working together in ensuring that the life changing cash transfer initiatives are a success.
President Kenyatta said the Inua Jamii programme, whose deeper anchor is a family’s love, ensures that the country’s senior citizens have some level of financial empowerment in their sunset years while the younger beneficiaries have the very best start in life.
“Kenya, ladies and gentlemen, is a family, and we take care of each other,” the President said.
Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said the success of Kenya’s Inua Jamii programme is demonstrated by the growing number of countries among them Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi and Tanzania which have visited the country in on benchmarking visits.
World Bank Programme Leader for Africa Paolo Belli assured President Kenyatta that Kenya’s development partners will continue to support the government’s social and economic transformation agenda.
“The recent approval of the Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion project, with US $ 250 million IDA credit and $ 70 million DFID grant support, from all development partners is a testimony of this strong commitment” Mr Belli said.
Mr Belli thanked President Kenyatta for his leadership and commitment to furthering social protection for vulnerable Kenyans, saying development partners highly value their collaboration with the Kenya Government, especially in welfare and human capital development.
THE political rift pitting Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and the three Ukambani Governors took a new twist yesterday with Kamba clergy announcing a major meeting in Machakos.
The Bishops; under the auspices of United Clergy Alliance(UCA) will convene at the Machakos Showground.
The Bishops will include all the clergy from mainstream Evangelical and Pentecostals.
The meeting is convened by the Chairman Bishop Francis Mulinge and the Secretary General Bishop Dr. Joel Nzomo.
Speaking to the media at an Upper Hill Hotel, Dr. Nzomo said the time had come to unite the Kamba community.
After the prayer meeting, the Church will summon all political leaders at Malili on 12th April 2019 to give further directions on the Unity.
Among those expected to attend are elected leaders, party leaders and specifically the three Governors from the Kamba community.
“We will send invites to Governor Mutua, Governor Kibwana and Governor Charity Kaluki Ngilu” he said.
Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka will be invited as an elder of the community.
“This time round, we are dead serious on uniting this community” he said.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has ordered that no new licenses can be issued for established sports betting, gaming, and gambling companies. In addition, permits issued to existing firms will not be renewed when they expire.
The country’s sports betting industry has burgeoned in recent years. This has created concerns that it’s leading to severe addiction problems, especially among young people.
Museveni, his minister of finance, and other government officials assert that online sports gambling is
diverting the attention of young people from hard work.
The latest move isn’t the first time the country has taken steps to curb gambling. Two years ago Uganda’s National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board introduced a 35% revenue tax on gambling activities.
Uganda is in good company. A host of countries around the world have banned gambling. In sub-Saharan Africa several countries have been grappling with similar regulatory challenges. For example, Kenya, which is the third largest gambling market in Africa after Nigeria and South Africa, introduced a 35% profit tax on gambling operators in early 2018. The tax was subsequently reduced to 15% following a strong lobbying effort by the gambling industry.
But can a case really be made for a gambling-free society?
Assessing the impact of gambling in countries on the continent is hard because the industry remains under-researched and heavily polarised. And it’s also difficult for countries to come up with policies that aren’t backed up by evidence. On top of this there’s a strong lobby defending the industry. And gambling policy affects employment, business, tourism, entertainment, social service delivery, regulation, cultural heritage, and religion.
Nevertheless, I would argue that, based on recent research there’s a strong case to be made to ban gambling because it’s rapidly evolving as a public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa, especially among young people. In my view Uganda is right to have taken action because of the industry’s negative social impact to this developing country.
A global problem
Almost all Muslim majority countries ban gambling on religious grounds. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Brunei, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Indonesia, Qatar, and Lebanon all have an official ban except in casinos.
In addition to religious reasons, gambling prohibitions are driven by concerns about money laundering, gambling addiction, and in the case of sports betting, issues around the integrity of sports. Sports betting has been the focus of quite a number of illegal activities such as match fixing, point shaving and bad calls at key moments.
Online gambling is banned in Singapore and Cambodia. Under Singapore’s Remote Gambling Act, all forms of online betting are illegal unless exemptions are granted but these are rarely issued and come with high minimum requirements aimed at limiting the amount people can spend on betting.
Albania passed a similar law to Uganda in October 2018.
Given that gambling poses a social risk, Museveni’s ban should have received unqualified support. But it hasn’t. Major online gambling proponents such as the American Gaming Association, the Professional Golfers Association, and the National Basketball Association argue that banning sports betting, gaming, and gambling cuts off much-needed revenue. They say that gambling revenue stimulates economic growth, lowers taxes, pays down national debt, funds social programmes and provides entertainment options.
A second argument advanced against the ban is that it will simply push gambling underground. This, in turn, will contribute to an overall rise in crime, incidents of match-fixing, and significant loss of government revenue as has been documented in India and Singapore.
There’s some evidence to support this argument. In some countries people have been swindled in underground gambling markets. This has prompted Brazil, Cambodia, Russia, China, Slovakia, Sweden, Denmark, Romania and Greece, among others, to rethink their gambling bans. These countries have made efforts to re-regulate the gambling market after initially restricting or completely banning the industry.
Determining the benefits
Two approaches are most commonly adopted to measure the effect of gambling. The first is a cost-benefit analysis, the second an economic-impact analysis.
Both approaches seek to determine the net benefits of gambling activity but they do it in different ways. A cost-benefit analysis considers the economic efficiency of gambling activity by seeking to determine all the individual costs and monetary benefits of various aspects of the activity. This type of analysis compares the costs and benefits that result from gambling.
On the other hand, an economic-impact analysis uses “multiplier effects” to determine the compound impact of gambling on economic activity including on jobs, income, operating costs, productivity and competitiveness. This type of analysis attempts to measure the net positive economic effects of gambling including any ripple effect that gambling may have on the economy.
Unfortunately, both approaches are flawed.
A cost-benefit analysis is flawed because it attempts to consider economic efficiency by quantifying aspects like stress, mental anguish, and entertainment, which are immensely difficult to value.
And economic-impact analyses fail because they pay scant attention to the real private and social costs of gambling.
This leads to conclusions that often amplify the benefits of gambling while downplaying the costs.
Perhaps the best way to determine the benefits of a gambling-free society is through the public health approach. A public health perspective allows researchers to consider the economic and social consequences of the industry.
From this perspective it’s clear that there’s a need for action. Laws prohibiting underage gambling should be rigorously enforced. But laws aren’t enough. Strategies to increase education and public awareness about problem gambling are vital.
Collaboration is needed so that social policies and effective public health intervention options can be developed.
Newspaper headlines following the decision by Nigeria’s National Electoral Commission to delay the country’s poll.
EPA-EFE/Jayden JoshuaOlayinka Ajala, University of York
Nigeria abruptly postponed its presidential election hours before polling was due to begin. The presidential and parliamentary votes have been rescheduled for 23 February while the governorship, state assembly and federal area council elections have been rescheduled to 9 March. The electoral commission cited logistical challenges for the decision. Olayinka Ajala examines the shock announcement and its implications on the final outcome.
What is your reaction to the pushing back of Nigeria’s presidential vote?
The postponement isn’t a new phenomenon in Nigeria. The 2015 elections were also postponed for six weeks to allow the government to intensify the fight against Boko Haram and for the general security of the electoral commission’s staff in volatile areas. The postponement however, was eventually in favour of the opposition party which eventually won the 2015 polls.
But this postponement is different for three main reasons. First, just a day earlier the Independent National Electoral Commission had insisted it was ready to conduct free and fair elections. So the fact that it changed its mind so abruptly has raised questions about the real reason for the delay.
Second, even the two leading parties were not privy to the shock announcement before hand. Agents of both parties as well as local and foreign observers were all invited to a briefing on the eve of the elections where all the options available were discussed. Postponement wasn’t mentioned.
Lastly, the elections were postponed less than six hours before they were due to commence. In the 2015 elections the postponement was announced about a week to the commencement of the polls.
One of the strongest rumours doing the rounds in the hours following the announcement was that the electoral commission had identified serious security threats in the last 24 hours. This might be connected to the killing of 66 people in Kaduna on Friday and the four people caught with AK47s in Zamafara.
Not surprisingly, the announcement fuelled suspicions in a tight contest. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party kicked off protests against the decision labelling it a “deliberate pre-determined agenda” by the ruling party to thwart the will of the people. President Muhammadu Buhari also expressed disappointment. He added that his administration remained committed to conducting free and fair elections.
To what extent is the postponement justified?
The electoral commission has cited a number of logistical challenges. Apart from issues related to the distribution of electoral materials, it also cited poor weather and the destruction of materials in fires. In the last two weeks, arson attacks have been reported at the electoral commission’s offices in three states (Anambra, Abia and Plateau) which led to the destruction of thousands of card readers, voters cards and other vital electoral materials.
On top of this, the Central Bank of Nigeria, which stores sensitive electoral equipment and material, is said to have been overwhelmed. In the run up to the poll, ballot papers and electoral registers are normally kept in the vaults of the central bank and distributed within days of the elections. With 15 million new voters since the 2015 elections it would seem that the electoral commission and the central bank underestimated the scale of the task. On the eve of the elections, vital materials hadn’t been delivered in some states.
All these issues could have affected the results. The electoral commission was therefore justified in postponing the elections. The question is why they delayed the postponement until the last minute.
What do you make of the allegations of rigging?
There have been allegations of rigging by both main parties since the campaign started. Any postponement was bound to lead to more speculation. Although the electoral commission maintained that the postponement was done in good faith, political parties could see the move as an effort to disenfranchise them. This is because every presidential election result in Nigeria since 1999 have been questioned by the losing side regardless of the approach of the electoral commission.
deliberate, pre-determined agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari to cling on to power even when it’s obvious to him that Nigerians want him out.
Tensions were running high in the run up to the poll after the governing All Progressive’s Congress showed signs of gaining momentum following mass defections from the main opposition party to the governing party.
But the All Progressive’s Congress party also feels aggrieved, questioning whether the electoral commission is colluding with the opposition People’s Democratic Party which they claim was not ready for the election.
What are the implications?
Regardless of how the elections are conducted on the new dates announced, the losing parties will blame the postponement for their defeat. This has happened on previous occasions when elections have been postponed.
A serious challenge facing the electoral commission is how it can safeguard election materials that have already been distributed from getting into the wrong hands. Since some of the sensitive materials have arrived in most states, all eyes will be on the electoral commission and security operatives until the new election dates.
Finally, it is not exactly clear how, within a week, the electoral commission will overcome the logistical challenges it cited. How, for example, will it be able to replace equipment and material destroyed in the fires. In addition, how will it guarantee that the decision was entirely based on logistics and not coercion? The postponement of the elections will definitely generate further criticisms which the electoral commission must manage in an unbiased way.
Leading Corporate Commercial lawyer now wants advocates who prosecute graft allegations outside the court room be barred from practice.
William Maema, a senior partner at Iseme Kamau and Maema (IKM) law firm, says a 5 year suspension of certificate should be imposed on such advocates.He says accusing Judges of graft without providing proof was akin to lynching the officers and said those driving this agenda against the Judicial Service Commission officers must be brought to book.”My fellow advocates, this unacceptable idea of punching a referee after losing a match must come to a halt”, he said in various tweets seen by Uzalendo News.
Earlier on, Leading Counsellor AhmedNasir Adbudallahi had sensationally tweeted that some Supreme Court Judges had been bribed to make a favorable ruling in a matter before the Supreme Court. He also said that he would write to the CJ David Maraga and provide evidence.
William Maema said that such grave allegations needed to be channeled through the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) ,Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
IKM is one of top 5 leading law firms in Kenya and recently it successfully defended the Government against a multi billion claim from a mining Company.
THE Kengeles chain of restaurants were a popular meeting
place in the late 1990’s upto 2013.
It was in this franchise that top politicians and business leaders met during the last part of President Moi’s era and the entire President Kibaki leadership. So popular was the franchise, that it opened branches at Nyayo Stadium, Lavington, Koinange and Kisumu.
And although it not an exclusive members club, the chain had
its own unwritten rules that had to be followed to the letter.
Kengele is Kiswahili for bell. Therefore, whenever a “member”
walked in, the bill had to be rung to announce the arrival of the guest.
So who patronized which Kengeles?
There were preserved seats for members, mainly at the
expansive bar counter where members imbibed as they watched the Premier league
Kengeles Nyayo Stadium
This is where opposition politicians met well into the wee
hours of the morning to plot how to end the KANU grip on power and the
Presidency.
The former Kengeles is now known as Nexigen entertainment.
The likes of the late Wamalwa Kijana, Raila Odinga, Mukhisa
Kituyi, Musikari Kombo, Charles Nyamai and the bull fighter, Boni Khalwale.
It is said that the famous NARC deal between Mwai Kibaki,
late Kijana Wamalwa and Charity Kaluki Ngilu was mooted at one of the tables at
Kengeles. While the party leaders occupied strategic tables in the restaurant,
the Mps Kituyi, Wafula Wamunyinyi,
Kombo, David Were, Nyamai, Moses Wetangula, among others sat at the counter.
Todate, Khalwale has a reserved table at the facility, but
he rarely uses it.
Matungulu Mps and a host of other first term Kamba Mps still
pass by at odd days of the week, a waiter well versed with operations of the
place says.
The Counter seats are still exclusively used by former
members ‘or middle class people with swag’, a waiter intimated.
Kengeles Koinange
This was patronized by young, first term Mps.
It was popularized by former Taveta Mp Jackson Mwalulu, a
Journalist and political activist.
Later it became the breeding ground for youthful leaders and
power brokers from Ukambani and Western Kenya.
It is said the seed
for the political marriage between Kalonzo Musyoka and Raila Odinga were
planted here during the Presidency.
As Kalonzo and Raila sorted themselves out during the “Nusu
mkate” government, professionals from Ukambani and Western were busy bonding
with a view to forming the alliance.
This franchise has since been purchased by the Nairobi
Safari Club.
Kengeles Lavington
This was for the buccaneers and financiers of the political
heavy weights.
Here the likes of Trans-century big boys met routinely with
important contacts they would rather not invite to Muthaiga Country Club of the
Golf Club itself.
It was also patronized by serious technocrats out for an
exotic drink. To-date, it has retained the Kengeles brand. But the bells never
toll these days.
The free secondary school text book project could be the next mega scandal in Kenya.
The Daily Nation edition of February 2014, elucidates how over supply of text books by more than 100 per cent in a well orchestrated cartel by thieving merchants has left schools with no where to store the excess text books.
Worse still, some of the books are completely irrelevant since some of the subjects are not even taught in the schools they have been supplied to.
This new books supply method was supposed to replace the even corruptly abused system through which schools purchased books from suppliers based on the recommendations of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
When the idea was mooted, the Government hoped to save more than Sh.15billion in book procurement and management.
But it now appears that the savings were only but hot air, perpetrated by well oiled sector players, driven by the ever growing appetite to steal from the public.
And its not just the Kenyan taxpayers money alone. The donors have pumped in close to 13.8billion for the Tusome Project that seeks to improve learning outcomes and the Global Partnership for Education(GPE).
The Daily Nation expose further says the matter is under investigation by the EACC to establish culpability.
A semi permanent building complex constructed on a road and railway reserve has been flattened by the Government. The famous Sany descended on the premises, located opposite Kenol Petrol station and flattened it early this morning.
Car Bazaar and other structures demolished along Lang’ata Road – Photo Credits – Abednego Mbua
This is part of the Nairobi regeneration operations being undertaken by the Government to reclaim encroached. The premises, which contains a a car wash and carpet-cleaning area allegedly owned by Senator Paul Wamatangi, is a few metres from Aerodrome Road and the railway line.
Previously, Wamatangi used to park more than 50 branded Jubillee Nissans at the premises. The building, which houses many businesses was put up in 2018. It also houses a car wash and various other businesses.
Did a Kisumu Senior Resident Magistrate play to the gallery in the indictment of Police Commanders in Kisumu over the senseless and brutal murder of Baby Samantha Pendo?
In her ruling delivered yesterday, Resident Magistrate Beryl Odhiambo directed the prosecution of five police commanders based in Kisumu, for overseeing police brutality that killed baby Pendo.
However, the indictment of Thomas Yoma, Christopher Mutune, Benard Kipkosgey, Nina Kosgey, and John Thiringi raises grave concerns over where the buck stops in botched operations.
When the murder was first reported, it triggered a full blown war of words between Jubillee and NASA leaders, with wild suggestions that the police brutality that occasioned the death was pre-mediated.
Violence against anyone is unacceptable. Violence against a defenseless infant is punishable by death through the hangman’s noose. But only after the facts have been laid bare in a competent court, interrogated, examined, corroborated and the author of the crime isolated.
On Baby Pendo’s case, commanders deployed Police officers to deal with riots. The chaos was not started by the commanders. It was threatening to spill out of control. Were they expected to be passive and not act to prevent destruction of life and property?
After the death, pressure mounted on police to take responsibility over the infant’s demise. But nobody asked the politicians to take responsibility for calming the crowds.
Of course Pendo’s death must awaken our national fabric on the sanctity of life and protection of infants. But we must ask ourselves about who bares the highest responsibility to the circumstances under which Samantha died.
In one stroke of a pen, the magistrate has opened floodgates for prosecution of senior officers over the actions of their juniors.
In a nutshell, the traumatic death of Samantha Pendo, a helpless infant over election disputes she knew nothing about will now condemn police bosses to the dock…over crimes they never actually committed.
The jury is still out there as to what happened. And we will wait for the DPP to establish culpability.
Make no mistake here. The judgment as read by the learned magistrate must and should be respected. But it must be put in perspective that all other operations that have yielded brutality in the past must be investigated afresh. And the Police commanders at those jurisdictions probed for culpability.
Add this to the hangman noose tightly placed on the neck of the former Ruaraka OCS Nahashon Muchiri Mutua, for murder, and you will understand why police bosses in Kenya are did not enjoy their Valentine Day.
For starters…the primary duty of police commanders is to deploy trained and appropriate officers to various duties as per the police standing orders and other related law. Based on competence of individual officers, their professional balance and temperament. Snipers are deployed in volatile areas, while sharp shooters belong to the flying squad and other elite formations.
Do they taken responsibility wherever stray fire neutralizes the wrong person?
The common practice in police modus operedi is that intelligence is availed on the nature of assignment, expected scenarios that may play out, and the officer encouraged using his initiative to execute.
With one command: use reasonable force, without compromising your personal security.
In the Baby Pendo case, officers were deployed to deal with violence occasioned by a tense election result. There is reason to believe that the procedure enumerated above was used.
In the Kisumu scenario, the officers on the ground had to deal with an hostile, blood thirsty mob, thereby threatening the life of the law enforcers and exposing the infant to mortal danger.
In the past, Police have killed civilians and officers killed or maimed by trained militia. This is information well within the knowledge domain of the three arms of Government namely: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.
Kisumu has been a hot bed of political tensions since 2007, when the PEV chaos led the near destruction of the town.
This means that the entire Government machinery is ceased of the nature and trajectory of the Baby Pendo case, giving it a bird’s high view to adjudicate.
Courts of law are moved by evidence. But an inquest is not a court of law and lacks jurisdiction to decide the guilt or innocence of the parties.
As a nation we must however take cognizance of the fact that a crime cannot be authored commanders. It is an individual, with a force number, identity and a pay slip.
If Police commanders are to bear blame for the actions of omission and commission from their officers, then the threshold of this responsibility must be determined.
For example, will the commanders of the police squad that raided Jimmi Wanjigi’s home bear responsibility for the destruction of Wanjigi’s property now that the handshake has negated his crime?
Two: will the police officers who manhandled, harassed and tore into Miguna Miguna’s jacket at JKIA face prosecution?
The ruling is a major wake up call for police who arbitrary sent out their juniors to tricky assignments and fail to supervise them.
Two things are however clear. That whoever clobbered Angel Pendo bears the biggest responsibility over the crime. He or she must face the law.
The police bosses can only be charged with negligence to duty. Unless of course evidence is adduced that the commanders gave a shoot or clobber to kill order.
Which then brings us to the million-dollar question: On whose behalf were those orders issued and why? On the protests that triggered the police operation, who created the enabling climate for the protests bacteria to blossom? Who was supposed to benefit from the sustained tensions over election?
Give the Police a break. Their work is to keep law and order. Detect and prevent crime. And arrest you when you finance your side kick to maim your wife because her face is wrinkled and you want to move on.
