Chinese condoms too small for South Africans

JOHANNESBURG, Sep 16 – A South African court has blocked the government from buying 11 million Chinese condoms, saying they are too small, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The finance ministry had awarded a contract to a firm called Siqamba Medical, which planned to buy the Phoenurse condoms from China, the Beeld newspaper said.

A rival firm, Sekunjalo Investments Corporation, turned to the High Court in Pretoria after losing the bid, arguing that their condoms were 20 percent larger than the Chinese ones.

Judge Sulet Potterill blocked the deal with Siqamba, ruling that the condoms were too small, made from the wrong material, and were not approved by the World Health Organisation, the paper said.

South Africa has more HIV infections than any country in the world, with 5.38 million of its 50 million people carrying the virus.

Read More here

Statement of the Prosecutor on the Situation in Kenya

Luis Moreno‐Ocampo
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

On Monday (31st May, 2011) a team from the Office of the Prosecutor will be in Kenya to discuss protection of witnesses with Kenyan authorities.

We will asses not just the specific protection program, but will also want to
understand the current position of the Government in relation with the Post Electoral
Violence.

On 5 November 2009, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga stated their commitment to cooperate with the Court. We received strong cooperation, but
since we announced the names of the 6 suspects we have seen a shift in position:
high ranking members of the government are misrepresenting ICC efforts to do
justice for the victims as an attack against Kenyan sovereignty.

They are pursuing regional and political campaigns to stop the case. Not only is
this sending the wrong signal, but it is also promoting a growing climate of fear
that is intimidating potential witnesses and ultimately undermining national and
international investigations.

Our Office is doing what we promised to do: Justice for the victims. It was in the
point 4 of the Agenda. Everyone agreed on the need to clarify the problem before the
next election.

My question to the Kenyan government is this: does the government of Kenya
want justice for the victims? We need an unequivocal answer, an answer that
Kenyans and the world could understand. Is the government of Kenya
protecting witnesses or protecting the suspects from investigation?
That is the question.

Harold Camping reschedules "rapture" for October

California preacher says his apocalyptic prophecy was misunderstood, not wrong, and the end is coming in 5 months.

As crestfallen followers of a California preacher who foresaw the world's end strained to find meaning in their lives, Harold Camping revised his apocalyptic prophecy, saying he was off by five months and the Earth actually will be obliterated on Oct. 21.

Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before global cataclysm struck the planet, said Monday that he felt so terrible when his doomsday message did not come true that he left home and took refuge in a motel with his wife. His independent ministry, Family Radio International, spent millions — some of it from donations made by followers — on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 recreational vehicles plastered with the Judgment Day message.

Follower Jeff Hopkins also spent a good deal of his own retirement savings on gas money to power his car so people would see its ominous lighted sign showcasing Camping's May 21 warning. As the appointed day drew nearer, Hopkins started making the 100-mile round trip from Long Island to New York City twice a day, spending at least $15 on gas each trip.

"I've been mocked and scoffed and cursed at and I've been through a lot with this lighted sign on top of my car," said Hopkins, 52, a former television producer who lives in Great River, New York. "I was doing what I've been instructed to do through the Bible, but now I've been stymied. It's like getting slapped in the face."

Camping, who made a special appearance before the press at the Oakland headquarters of the media empire Monday evening, apologized for not having the dates "worked out as accurately as I could have." Through chatting with a friend over what he acknowledged was a very difficult weekend, the light dawned on him that instead of the biblical Rapture in which the faithful would be swept up to the heavens, May 21 had instead been a "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ's judgment, he said.

The globe will be completely destroyed in five months, he said, when the apocalypse comes. But because God's judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday, there's no point in continuing to warn people about it, so his network will now just play Christian music and programs until the final end on Oct. 21.

"We've always said May 21 was the day, but we didn't understand altogether the spiritual meaning," he said. "The fact is there is only one kind of people who will ascend into heaven ... if God has saved them they're going to be caught up."

It's not the first time the 89-year-old retired civil engineer has been dismissed by the Christian mainstream and has been forced to explain when his prediction didn't come to pass. Camping also prophesized the Apocalypse would come in 1994, but said later that didn't happen then because of a mathematical error.

Monday, rather than give his normal daily broadcast, Camping took questions as a part of his show, "Open Forum," which transmits his biblical interpretations via the group's radio stations, TV channels, satellite broadcasts and website.

Camping's hands shook slightly as he pinned his microphone to his lapel, and as he clutched a worn Bible he spoke in a quivery monotone about some listeners' earthly concerns after giving away possessions in expectation of the Rapture.

Family Radio would never tell anyone what they should do with their belongings, and those who had fewer would cope, Camping said.

"We're not in the business of financial advice," he said. "We're in the business of telling people there's someone who you can maybe talk to, maybe pray to, and that's God."

But he also said that he wouldn't give away all his possessions ahead of Oct 21.

"I still have to live in a house, I still have to drive a car," he said. "What would be the value of that? If it is Judgment Day why would I give it away?"

Apocalyptic thinking has always been part of American religious life and popular culture. Teachings about the end of the world vary dramatically — even within faith traditions — about how they will occur.

Still, the overwhelming majority of Christians reject the idea that the exact date or time of Jesus' return can be predicted.

Tim LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling "Left Behind" novels about the end times, recently called Camping's prediction "not only bizarre but 100 percent wrong!" He cited the Bible verse Matthew 24:36, "but about that day or hour no one knows" except God.

"While it may be in the near future, many signs of our times certainly indicate so, but anyone who thinks they `know' the day and the hour is flat out wrong," LaHaye wrote on his website, leftbehind.com.

Signs of disappointment also were evident online, where groups that had confidently predicted the Rapture — and, in some cases, had spent money to help spread the word through advertisements — took tentative steps to re-establish Internet presences in the face of widespread mockery.

The Pennsylvania-based group eBible Fellowship still has a website with images of May 21 billboards all over the world, but its Twitter feed has changed over from the increasingly confident predictions before the date to circumspect Bible verses that seem to speak to the confusion and hurt many members likely feel.

Camping offered no clues about Family Radio's finances Monday, saying he could not estimate how much had been spent on getting out his prediction nor how much money the nonprofit had taken in as a result. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.

Josh Ocasion, who works the teleprompter during Camping's live broadcasts in the group's threadbare studio sandwiched between an auto shop and a palm reader's business, said he enjoyed the production work but he had never fully believed the May 21 prophecy would come true.

"I thought he would show some more human decency in admitting he made a mistake," he said. "We didn't really see that."

Source: CBS

One in three Africans is now middle class, report finds

Findings challenge view of continent as a place of famine and poverty

One in three Africans is middle class, a rising group of consumers to rival those of China and India, researchers have found (pdf).

Record numbers of people in Africa own houses and cars, use mobile phones and the internet and send their children to private schools and foreign universities, according to the African Development Bank.

Mthuli Ncube, the bank's chief economist, said the findings should challenge long-held perceptions of Africa as a continent of famine, poverty and hopelessness.

"Hey you know what, the world please wake up, this is a phenomenon in Africa that we've not spent a lot of time thinking about," Ncube said. "There is a middle class that is driven by specific factors such as education and we should change our view and work with this group to create a new Africa and make sure Africa realises its full potential."

Ncube said the study used an absolute definition of middle class, meaning people who spend between $2 and $20 a day, which he believed was appropriate given the cost of living for Africa's nearly 1 billion people.

The study found that, by last year, Africa's middle class had risen to about 34% of the continent's population, or about 313m people – up from around 111m (26%) in 1980 and 196m (27%) in 2000.

The growth rate of the middle class over the past 30 years was about 3.1%, slightly faster than that of the total population. Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt had proportionately the biggest middle classes in Africa, while Liberia, Burundi and Rwanda had the smallest.

The Africa middle classes are more likely to have salaried jobs or own small businesses. They tend not to rely entirely on public health services, seeking more expensive medical care. The middle classes tend to have fewer children and spend more on their nutrition and schooling.

Sales of fridges, TVs and mobile phones have surged in virtually every African country in recent years, the report said. Possession of cars and motorcycles in Ghana, for example, has gone up by 81% in the past five years.

"They own houses and they account for the bulk of housing ownership," Ncube said. "They own cars – people are driving cars in Lagos, in Kampala, in Harare, in Ouagadougou – it's the same middle class. You can even see it in the consumption of petrol. The bulk of them are consuming ICT services and mobile telephony, although the poor are also consumers of mobile telephone services.. They would also send their children to school, preferably private schools, but also schools outside the continent. The same class is sending their children to universities outside their home country, in South Africa, in Australia, in Canada, naturally Europe – France is a bigger absorber from the French-speaking countries – and the US."

The middle class was responsible for at least half of Africa's GDP of $1.6tn, he added. The trend reflected years of sustained economic growth, with sub-Saharan Africa projected at 5.5% this year.

"This has implications," Ncube said. "How should the rest of the world engage with Africa, given this middle class? I think it means that those who want to invest should take the opportunity and look for partners within Africa to invest jointly with."

The focus of aid and development assistance would also have to change in the next 10 to 15 years, he argued. "It will have to concentrate less on the bottom of the pyramid and move to the middle, which means it has to be supportive of private sector initiatives, which then are the way middle class people conduct their lives."

Africa has a relatively young population and has seen millions migrate from rural areas to cities, where shopping malls with designer labels and smart coffee shops are springing up across the continent. Ncube acknowledged that a widening, internet-literate middle class could pose a threat to autocratic leaders, as seen in Egypt and Tunisia.

"The middle class is a source of democracy in Africa in a sense that they are custodians of democracy. They are the people who are educated, they know how to vote, they know what they want, they've got interests to protect. Supporting this class in a way also helps institution building in Africa.

But the research found that poverty remains deeply entrenched, with 61% of Africa's population living on less than $2 a day. An estimated 21% earn only enough to spend $2 to $4 a day, leaving about 180 million people vulnerable to economic shocks that could knock them out of the new middle class.

At the top of the pyramid, an elite of about 100,000 Africans had a collective net worth of 60% of the continent's gross domestic product in 2008, the report said.

Source: The Guardian

Polio: The plight of 40 year old who has lived in confinement as an outcast

Mr. Wawire who has been living in confinement for 30 years now.

KAKAMEGA COUNTY: FOR the last 30 years Reuben Wawire has never enjoyed sunrays.

His crime?

He has been incapacitated by a paralysis he suffered in 1980 that has rendered him immobile.

Under the guise of culture, his family members shunned him and locked him in a tiny dungeon like room in an abandoned house away from the rest.

Born in 1974, a healthy baby boy in Makhukhuni village of Matete district, Wawire suffered from polio that left him in the current state.

Efforts by family members to have him fully recover failed and was taken back home and confined for all this period.

A look at Wawire would easily force rivulets of tears roll down his cheeks. At 37 he looks a 2 or 3 year old suffering from debilitating effects of malnutrition.

A good samaritan Mrs. Beatrice Nafula helps to hold Mr. Wawire for a photo.

His abode sends a chill along the spine. Resembling a chicken house and unclean, nobody would imagine that a human being and not an animal has been able to survive in such environment for all this period.

A Good Samaritan and church official Beatrice Nafula who has been occasionally taking care of Wawire revealed that he has been confined in an abandoned house formerly inhabited by the late grandmother.

“As church members we have to visit him, change his clothing and carry him out to enjoy a little sun light”, she said adding that if that is not done he will remain indoors.

Ms. Nafula trys to cover Wawire with a mosquito net, under the rack where it has been his home .

She added that Wawire is fed by well-wishers who in turn donate food and other needs.

Efforts to convince other members of the family to take him in have failed adding that they have branded a bad omen to their community.

“Only the late grandmother Sarah Siekunja used to take care but since she passed on last year his condition was deteriorating for the worse,” Nafula observed pointing out that it was now important for the government to step in and bail him out.

She said it was important for the community to be sensitized on the rights of the physically handicapped so that they are not discriminated.

Source: WestFM

PNU Vs ODM - Prof. Kagwanja Vs. Miguna Migua

The two advisors to the two principals in Kenya, namely Kibaki and ODM, debate on Ocampo 6 and the ICC process.

Watch for yourself and decide who the winner is.

Miracle Cure - Rush to Loliondo by bus and aircraft

Weeks after the Loliondo “miracle cure” burst into the limelight, Kenyans are trooping to his clinic in earnest, using both land and air.
Kenyan air charter firms are reaping from the increasing demand on the Loliondo route where Rev Ambilikile Mwasapile is dispensing his cure.

Airlines are flying patients to Loliondo from various cities and towns in East Africa. While small aircraft are landing at the Waso Airstrip near Loliondo, helicopters are flying directly to the clinic in Samunge Village.

Most planes fly from Arusha, Mwanza, Kilimanjaro and Julius Nyerere airports; others are from neighbouring countries.

Kenyans who cannot afford air travel opt for the Loliondo Hospital Express, a matatu service being offered daily from Ronald Ngala bus terminus in Nairobi.
The bus leaves at 9am daily charging Sh6,000 for a two-way ticket. According to one of the matatu operators on the new route “the more passengers there are, the more matatus we will allocate to the route in any given day”.
Mr Forget Ngowi, 48, travelled to Loliondo at the weekend to sample the drink he believes has mystical healing powers.
He was accompanied by his 36- year-old wife Rehema in search of the wonder drink that has awed East Africans.
“I stood in the three kilometres queue to have my drink,” he told the Nation yesterday after arriving from Loliondo.
Mr Ngowi says he went to Loliondo to partake of the drink as a preventive measure contrary to popular belief that sick people are the only persons travelling to Tanzania. Mr Ngowi plans to take his two daughters to Loliondo when they during the current April school holidays.

Ten aeroplanes

“At least ten planes landed while I was on the queue,” said Mr Ngowi . He also met some Kenyan friends in Loliondo.

However, he says, the exhaustion that comes with queuing is almost unbearable for the ill. He was one of the passengers who boarded the matatu from the Ronald Ngala terminus last Sunday at 11am and arrived in Loliondo at 2pm.

“Unfortunately, Mzee only serves the drink during daytime so we had to wait until morning,” he pointed out.

With the scorching sun sky-high, Mr Ngowi and his wife finally received a serving of the drink at 3pm at a cost of TSh500 (about Sh25) each.

His journey proved painstaking after the matatu they had hired developed mechanical problems, leaving them stranded in Tanzania. “We called the matatu welfare office in Nairobi and were instructed to wait for a spare tyre to arrive with the next matatu.

The driver abandoned them forcing them to make alternative arrangements of their return. “My wife squeezed in one of the other vehicles and paid Sh3,000 to Nairobi.” Mr Ngowi arrived yesterday after he secured a lift from a driver until Kiserian where he boarded another matatu to Nairobi.

Passengers can also take a matatu to Namanga then take another to Loliondo for Sh3,500.

Public Health and Sanitation minister Beth Mugo has warned that the unproven cure could undermine the gains so far made in treating infectious diseases.

The main ingredient of the Loliondo cure was last month identified by Tanzanian authorities as a common plant in the region known as Carissa spinarum. It is also known as Carissa edulis according to the East African Harbarium of the National Museums of Kenya.
It is estimated that those opting for air travel could be spending upwards of Sh40,000.

“The demand on the Loliondo route is quite high,” said Mr Paul Denge, a pilot based in Nairobi.

Denge, who flies Heliservices helicopters, said that on Saturday one of their helicopters was operating from Arusha Airport.

Heliservices is a subsidiary of ALS Limited, a Kenya registered aviation firm, which operates a fleet of small aircraft.

“We have been there countless times and demand is growing,” he said. Several aviation firms in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda have been airlifting people to Loliondo, he said.

“Some of the sick taken there are sponsored by family friends or private businesses. In other cases, people raise money to charter the aircraft,” he said. Some patients are flown there paralysed or in a critical condition, sometimes requiring them to be accompanied by doctors or nurses.

The low cost of the herbal concoction has been cited as the reason for the growing demand for the medicine despite the fact there is so far no scientific evidence on its efficacy.

Source: Daily Nation

Uhuru, Muthaura, and Ali: Initial ICC appearance, 8 April 2011

Situation: Republic of Kenya
Case: The Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali

Today, 8 April 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) set the date of the beginning of the confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali for 21 September 2011.

This date was announced at the initial appearance of Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali before the ICC. During this hearing, in the presence of the Prosecutor and the suspects, assisted by their Defence teams, Pre-Trial Chamber II verified the identity of the suspects and ensured that they were clearly informed of the crimes which they are alleged to have committed and of their rights under the Rome Statute of the ICC.

A confirmation of charges hearing is held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that each suspect committed each of the crimes charged. If the charges are confirmed, the Pre-Trial Chamber commits the person for trial before a Trial Chamber, which will conduct the subsequent phase of the proceedings: the trial.

During the hearing, the Presiding Judge also stressed that: “It came to the knowledge of the Chamber through following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are movements towards retriggering the violence in Kenya, by way of delivering dangerous speeches. I would like to remind the suspects - and note that I am not referring to anyone in particular. This is a general point to be made to all the suspects - such action could be perceived as a breach of one of the conditions clearly set out in the summonses to appear namely, to continue committing crimes within the jurisdiction of this Court. Accordingly, this might prompt the Chamber to replace the summonses to appear with warrants of arrest. However, the Judges would not prefer to resort to such a drastic measure and would rather (and we assume the suspects endorse this view) continue carrying out the proceedings smoothly and respecting the liberty of the three suspects”

The Cost of an Orgy - Threesome

On Friday, March, 8, 2011, there was drama along Koinange street in Nairobi, Kenya, when a tourist was caught up in a payment dispute with suspected commercial sex workers, locally referred to as 'Malaya' (prostitute). Two ladies accosted the man, demanding payment for sexual services delivered, thereby attracting a crowd of people who were at the time going to work. The tourist had to part with 30,000 Kenyan shillings (approximately US$ 375). In Kenya, this is a lot of money to part with for a sexual service, even for a threesome. However, all the money was snatched from the women by members of the public who beat up the ladies for embarrassing visitors (tourists). Watch it in this video below.

Ruto, Kosgey & Sang case: Initial ICC appearance, 7 April 2011

On 7 April 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) set the date of the beginning of the confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang for 1 September 2011.

This decision was announced at the initial appearance of William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang before the ICC. During this hearing, in the presence of the Prosecutor and the suspects, assisted by their Defence teams, Pre-Trial Chamber II verified the identity of the suspects and ensured that they were clearly informed of the crimes which they are alleged to have committed and of their rights under the Rome Statute of the ICC.

A confirmation of charges hearing is held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that each suspect committed each of the crimes being charged. If the charges are confirmed, the Pre-Trial Chamber commits the person to trial before a Trial Chamber, which will conduct the subsequent phase of the proceedings: the trial.

During the hearing, the Presiding Judge also stressed that:

"It came to the knowledge of the Chamber by way of following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are some movements towards retriggering the violence in the country by way of using some dangerous speeches. I would like to remind the suspects - and I'm not referring to anyone in particular but this is a general point to be made to all the suspects - that such type of action could be perceived as a sort of inducement which may constitute the breach of one of the conditions set out in the summonses to appear, namely, to continue committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, this might prompt the Chamber to replace the summonses to appear with warrants of arrest (…).

For further information and updates on this case, click here.

Neo-Colonization of Kenya: the return of Imperialists as ICC Tribunal charges the Ocampo 6

Counsels, Sir Geoffrey Nice Q.C. and Rodney Dixon, Barrister-at-Law, on behalf of the Government of Kenya, filed an application pursuant to Article 19 of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), respectfully requesting the Pre-Trial Chamber to determine that the two cases currently before the ICC are inadmissible before the ICC,"
ARE COUNSELS NICE AND DIXON KENYAN?

On 12th February, 2009, Most members of parliament, especially allies to Ruto and Uhuru voted for the Hague and not the formation of a local tribunal. They were very categorical in wanting the Hague process to deal with the post election violence.
ARE PRO-RUTO AND PRO-UHURU ALLIES CONDONING NEO-COLONIZATION?

The Armenian brothers Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargsayan, who hail from Armenia, former USSR, claim that President Kibaki and other top Government officials knew about 'The Standard Media' raid. One of the two infamous Armenian Artur brothers who commandeered The Standard Group raid in 2006 has for the first time directly implicated President Kibaki. Read More
SO, WHO IS ENGAGING OR HIRING FOREIGN MERCENARIES?


Kenya secretly sent four terrorism suspects to Uganda after the World Cup bomb blasts in violation of Kenyan law, and FBI agents interrogated three of them in a manner that broke human rights. The four Kenyans — Hussein Hassan Agade, Idris Magondu, Mohamed Adan Abdow, and Mohamed Hamid Suleiman — were arrested from different locations in Kenya following the July 11 attack that killed 76 people as large crowds watched the World Cup final on TV. Kenya circumvented its own extradition laws to send the four suspects to Uganda.
WHY DID THE KENYAN GOVERNMENT EXTRADITE THEIR OWN CITIZENS TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

Even as the government fights to have the Kenya case at The Hague deferred, calling it neo-colonization, some of the Ocampo 6, namely Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali and Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura have actually enlisted the services of international lawyers. Mr Muthaura had sought the services of British lawyer Karim Ahmad Khan who in 1996, led Mr Taylor's defence. Maj-Gen (rtd) Ali had enlisted the services of Canadian John Philpot on his team. And DPM Uhuru Kenyatta has sort the legal expertise of British lawyers Steven Kay and Gilian Kay Higgins who defended Mr Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president. Interestingly, it was Mr Steven Kay who successfully advised the Liberian government on how to secure an arrest warrant against Mr Taylor. Read More
WHY HIRE LAWYERS FROM OUR COLONIAL MASTERS? AREN'T THE KENYAN LAWYERS ON THE LEGAL TEAMS COMPETENT ENOUGH?

Four ODM ministers targeted in new investigations into the 2007/8 Post Election Violence

SEVEN politicians including four ODM ministers are among over 3,000 individuals being pursued by investigators after Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere in August last year ordered the reopening of the 2007-08 post election violence files.

Investigations by The Star reveal one of those being pursued is a prominent member of the ODM elections think tank popularly known as the Pentagon.

There are two cabinet ministers from the Rift Valley, two ministers from Nyanza, an MP from Busia County and a Naivasha politician. It has also emerged that one of the Ocampo Six suspects is preparing to implicate Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the violence by adducing video evidence showing the ODM Leader urging the tenants not to vacate houses they seized from the rightful owners at Kiang'ombe in Kibera.

The suspect’s lawyers have armed themselves with edited video materials to be presented as exonerating evidence before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber next week.

Police Spokesman Erick Kiraithe confirmed fresh investigations into the post-election violence are going on but could not say exactly when they will be concluded. “It is true the Police Commissioner ordered the reopening of those cases in August last year. As to whether the people involved are prominent or not, it doesn’t matter to the police as crime is crime,” Kiraithe said.

He said those cases where investigations are concluded with water-tight evidence will be prosecuted immediately. “We are pursuing water-tight evidence on all the over 3,000 cases and we hope to take people to court,” he said.

The ICC has summoned Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, suspended Cabinet ministers William Ruto and Henry Kosgey, Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, Postmaster General and former Commissioner of Police Hussein Ali, and Kass FM presenter Joshua arap Sang who were named by the Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

A technical committee appointed by Attorney General Amos Wako in 2008 to evaluate the post-election violence cases dismissed most of them. The only two cases presented to court were dismissed for lack of evidence.

The cases involved a police officer, who was allegedly caught on camera shooting a protester, and those who torched Kiambaa Church in Eldoret, killing 13 women and children.

Yesterday Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni said that PNU will demand the official release of the raw Kenya National Commission on Human Rights investigations draft report. “We want to pursue this matter to the furthest limit. And therefore we are demanding the release of the undoctored KNCHR report,” Kioni said.

He said PNU will pursue legal means to compel Justice Philip Waki to hand over to the police the list of names secretly given to Moreno Ocampo inside the famous brown envelope.“The list had 10 names. Now that we are preparing for local investigations and trials of these cases, what Waki hid in the list should be made public,” Kioni said. Kioni said there is a need to investigate the ODM Pentagon to ascertain their role in the post-election violence.

Raila, Deputy PM Musalia Mudavadi and ministers Charity Ngilu, Najib Balala, Joseph Nyaga and suspended minister William Ruto were members of the Pentagon.

The organ that drove Raila’s presidential campaign machinery in 2007 is said to have been responsible for ordering mass action in which hundreds of youths took to the streets in the affected regions.

One ODM Cabinet minister says that two of the Pentagon members put pressure on Raila to declare himself President and be sworn in as happened in the Ivory Cost recently.The members of the Pentagon pursued the idea at an ODM PG meeting at Orange House on December 30, 2007.

The move to reopen the post-election violence investigations is part of the government’s plan to signal to the world that something is being done to prosecute the perpetrators and deliver justice to the victims. According to the police source, the Ocampo Six will also be probed afresh.

Over 1,300 people were killed and 350,000 displaced as violence rocked the country’s six out of eight provinces. Kiraithe added that police can confirm that crimes were indeed committed and that action must be taken.“People were killed, raped, maimed some were shown on camera slashing and killing or burning houses. The police cannot pretend that nothing happened,” Kiraithe said. But neither the Police Commissioner nor the police service will be drawn into ongoing politics over the matter, Kiraithe said.

Police commanders in the affected regions have been ordered to reopen the cases and pursue those who may have fled after being notified of the investigations against them.

Cherangany MP Joshua Kuttuny yesterday said that it will be difficult for ODM to escape blame given the naming of the party chairman Henry Kosgey among the suspects.“We know that the party is just realising they have a lot to answer. In fact, how can they not when its chairman and deputy party leader are said to have been involved,” Kuttuny said.

The vocal legislator described as an attempt to carry out acts of espionage against the suspects the ODM decision to hire lawyers for Ruto, Kosgey and Sang.

This week Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba is expected to table a fresh bill seeking to initiate a local tribunal in Kenya.“This bill will be ready next week (this week). It will be a bill that passes the international threshold,” Namwamba said last week. He reiterated that ODM will not accept police investigations and said only outsourced credible prosecutors will be accepted.

Isaac Ongiri
The Star

KENYA TWICTIONARY

A Twictionary for Kenya Tweeters

Blogotweet - Boggers who Tweet
Twictivism - Twitter activism
Kenyatwity - about Kenya
Kenyapolitweet - about Kenya Politics
Twicampo6 - about the Ocampo six
TwICC - about ICC and Hague Politics
Twibaks - about Emilio Mwai Kibaki
Twigwambo - about Raila Agwambo Amollow Odinga
Wipeet (wipe-it) - about Wiper Kalonzo Musyoka

STATEMENT BY HER EXCELLENCY MRS. LUCY KIBAKI, E.G.H., THE FIRST LADY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA.

I (Mrs. Lucy Kibaki) reside at State House.

As Kenyans will recall, various claims attributed to Kalonzo Musyoka have been reported in the Wikileaks cables (read it here) and published in the local media in the recent past.

In some of these cables Kalonzo Musyoka is reported to have discussed residential matters of the First Family and made innuendos regarding the composition of the same family.

In the said leaks, Kalonzo Musyoka is said to have alleged that I do not reside at State House adding that I moved to State House when I learnt there were night meetings taking place there.

I wish to inform Kenyans that this is barefaced falsehood. As all Kenyans are aware, I have been resident at State House where I have conducted my duties and responsibilities as the spouse of the President.

It is also from State House that I have continued to undertake my charitable activities within the framework of the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS.

I also wish to inform Kenyans that no night meetings were taking place in State House. The allegation by Kalonzo Musyoka that I moved to State House to check on night meetings was false and conceived in bad faith.

Further, I wish to clarify that the composition of the First Family is in the public domain and its integrity and moral authority is beyond reproach.

Any insinuations to the contrary are unfounded and false. As Kenyans are aware, however, it is a well known fact that there are people who go around masquerading to belong to the families of prominent people in public life.

Members of the public should distinguish between genuine family members and imposters.

I also wish to clarify that while State House is the official residence of members of the First Family, family members reserve the right of choice whether or not to reside in State House as they have private homes.

I further take great exception to Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka’s reported allegations that President Kibaki slept on his job due to drugs administered on him. As Kenyans are fully aware, at no time has President Kibaki slept on his job. Indeed, claims to this effect were never substantiated in the Wikileaks.

Kenyans will remember that it is at this time that the economy begun to record unprecedented levels of growth. Indeed, the economy grew by 5.8 per cent in 2006 when the cables were being wired and rose to 7 per cent compared to 1 per cent in 2002,when the President took office. Obviously, this is an indicator of a country under sound management in every respect and does not suggest a chief executive asleep on his job.

In any case, it is clearly unkind and contrary to African, indeed human, values to discuss other people’s health and to appear to derive fiendish delight from their poor health.

Like other Kenyans, I was particularly dismayed to read further revelations that Hon. Kalonzo appealed to the US to prevail on President Kibaki not to run for another term in order to pave way for Kalonzo to ascend to leadership.

As Kenyans are aware, ours is a competitive political system and there is no short cut to power. Those who seek external influences to better their leadership prospects should know that Kenyans are an enlightened people capable of voting the leaders who will best represent and pursue their interests and the wellbeing of the country.

I urge Kenyans to engage in constructive dialogue that will take our country to the next level rather than smear other people’s reputation for their selfish interests.

25th March, 2011

The Video below ascertains some of the facts raised in the above statement by Lucy Kibaki. Watch it!

A confused and wavering ODM

New twist as ODM Secretary General Anyang' Nyong'o now says reports of legal aides for three members of Ocampo Six not the official party position.

ODM Window-dressing. They will hire lawyers for Ruto, Kosgey over ICC cases

The Orange Democratic Movement has indicated that it will hire lawyers to represent its members named as post election violence suspects by the International Criminal Court.

ODM also announced that it will sponsor a Bill to provide for the establishment of a credible judicial mechanism to try the cases facing the Ocampo Six.

The lawyers will represent Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Henry Kosgey (Tinderet) and radio presenter Joshua Sang.

Orange MPs led by parliamentary secretary Ababu Namwamba and deputy secretary-general Joseph Nkaissery said the lawyers will be asked to accompany the three suspects for their initial appearance at The Hague on April 7.

“Whether it is at a court in Kibera or at The Hague every suspect has a right to a fair trial and justice,” said Mr Namwamba.

The legislators said the decision was arrived at the National Executive Committee and Parliamentary Group meeting on Tuesday.

They declined to name the lawyers, saying only that they would accompany the three and support them.

“The party will hire legal experts to hold brief, accompany the members and support them,” said Gen Nkaissery.

Mr Ruto, the Eldoret North MP and deputy leader, is a rebel within the party and does not see eye-to-eye with Mr Odinga.

Relations between Mr Kosgey and the Odinga faction have been frosty since the announcement that he was one of the six people the ICC claims bear the greatest responsibility over the violence that claimed at least 1,133 people and displaced an estimated 650,000 from their homes.

While Mr Sang is not principally an ODM member, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo listed him as a suspect under the party's banner when released his list. The others, Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and Postmaster General Hussein Ali were lumped under the PNU.

The party also took a swipe at the efforts by coalition partner PNU to shield the Ocampo Six from prosecution by attempting to have the ICC defer the case for a year.

“The shuttle diplomacy where the Vice President has been lobbying characters, some of who are candidates of international investigations has the brought the country ridicule and odium,” said Mr Namwamba.

They said that by taking the position to have the cases referred to Kenya, the intention was to protect the dignity and sovereignty of the country.

Mr Namwamba maintained that the party has consistently been for the creation of a local tribunal despite previous failed attempts.

The bill for the establishment of a local tribunal will be brought to Parliament next week and will cover all details as provided for by the Rome Statute, Gen Nkaissery said.

MPs at the press conference included ministers Franklin Bett, Mohamed Elmi and assistant ministers Margaret Kamar, Maalim Mohamed, Dhadho Godana and MPs Rachel Shebesh, Omar Zonga and Dr Joyce Laboso.

The latest move marks a major climb down from the party position on the trials.

In a hard hitting statement in Parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the Ocampo Six should be ready to prove their innocence at the ICC.

“We cannot all the time be talking about the innocence of the six. More than 1,300 Kenyans were killed, some were burnt in a church and in Naivasha others were shot. Justice for them must also be done.

That innocence of the six must be proved through a fair judicial process. If you are mentioned, go through the process,’’ Mr Odinga while responding to a question by Mutito MP Kiema Kilonzo during the Prime Minister’s time in Parliament Wednesday.

“If you are a suspect do not tell us you are innocent. Go and clear your name there (at the Hague)."

Mr Odinga, who is the ODM party leader, also called for an independent prosecutor and the involvement of foreign investigators such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the UK's Scotland Yard if the trials are to be handled locally.

Source: Daily Nation

Loliondo: The Miracle cure for all chronic diseases known to mankind

The sleepy village of Samunge in Arusha, Northern Tanzania, is teaming with thousands of ailing people from all walks of life who have heard that 76-year-old Ambikile Mwasapile, has discovered a miracle cure for all types of diseases.

Over 10,000 patients are spending up to four and five nights to access the old man.

Award winning NTV reporter John-Allan Namu examines ‘The Loliondo Wonder’ in this exclusive feature on a phenomenal happening in the remote interior of northern Tanzania, where a former Christian preacher, Ambilikile Mwasapile, has turned into a miracle healer.

Thousands of people are flocking into the dusty hamlet in Samunge, and the pilgrimage involves people of all walks of life; the rich flying in by helicopter, thousands others driving in and even more trekking the distance. Does this man heal, or is his a medical scandal in the making?

Read More Here

PART I

PART II

ODM disowns efforts to challenge ICC cases

The Orange Democratic Movement has disowned the government’s efforts to challenge the cases facing the Ocampo Six at the International Criminal Court, jeopardising efforts to save the suspects.

Lands minister James Orengo was categorical Wednesday that the Orange party would not support the move to file an application at the ICC challenging the admissibility of the cases on grounds that neither Prime Minister Raila Odinga nor its representatives in the cabinet sub committee on ICC were consulted.

“All the people who attended the meeting that arrived at that decision were from PNU. Not a single person from ODM was invited so this decision is self serving, it is not a decision of the coalition government,” Mr Orengo said.

The position was re-affirmed by the ODM Parliamentary Group, which termed Attorney General Amos Wako’s move giving London based lawyer Sir Geoffrey Nice the go-ahead to challenge the cases at ICC as “dead, a waste of public resources and doomed to fail".

“Why is the government wasting precious taxpayers’ money to initiate a process that’s dead from the beginning?” the group’s secretary Ababu Namwamba posed at a press conference at Parliament Buildings last evening.

“As one half of the government, we certainly don’t feel that this letter represents 50 per cent share in government. This move is dead, a waste of public resources and is setting Kenya on the path of more ridicule,” said the Budalang’i MP.

Kenya is seeking to challenge the admissibility of the cases by the ICC and its jurisdiction over the crimes committed on grounds that it is in the process of setting up a local mechanism to try the cases.

ODM’s argument is based on an opinion on the Kenyan situation by Sir Nice and Rodney Dixon, the other lawyer engaged by Kenya, outlining the scenarios applicable.

The lawyers conclude in the letter that “statistical assessment of prospects (of the success of filing the case) will be difficult in the extreme".

Mr Namwamba said Kenya could only succeed in challenging the case if it had established proper mechanisms to investigate the crimes committed during the post-election chaos.

He charged that the police are suspects in the crimes committed and would not investigate themselves, and there would therefore need to have assistance from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations and Britain’s Scotland Yard.

Mr Orengo on his part maintained that the ODM wing of the coalition was not involved in deliberations leading to the decision.

“I wish to point out to you that it is important that legal advice should be sought and given in the appropriate manner. There is a coalition government in Kenya established under the National Accord and Reconciliation Act and the Constitution of Kenya,” he protested.

“It would be inappropriate for any section of Government to make unilateral decisions on this weighty matter,” he added and demanded that the sub committee be convened to review the decision.

He, however, maintained that ODM would not “bother” to challenge the government’s move at the ICC because it stood no chance of success.

“We don’t even need to block it because it is incompetent, vexatious and frivolous,” he stated.

Mr Orengo maintained that the application to challenge the cases on grounds of admissibility was doomed to fail because it only addressed the plight of the six suspects and not the 1,133 Kenyans who lost their lives in the violence.

The government’s failure to start investigations into the violence or prosecutions of those suspected to have perpetrated the violence also gave the application little chance of success at the ICC, he noted.

By JOHN NGIRACHU and PETER LEFTIE
Daily Nation

Political parties promised fire as ODM youth oppose Khalwale’s re-election : :

Political parties promised fire as ODM youth oppose Khalwale’s re-election : :

KKK or KKL? Uhuru - Ruto - Eugene new political alliance

Musikari Kombo handed the spear to all presidential candidates, namely, Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto and Eugene Wamalwa. Interestingly, he gave the spear to Eugene last. Very symbolic in Luhya culture; it denotes leadership.

Can Eugene be the next president of Kenya?
He is young (41), intelligent (a lawyer), untainted and has a vision for the youth.

Soita Shitanda, a key luhya politician at the rally claimed that because the Kikuyu have had the presidency for a combined 26yrs, the Kalenjins 24yrs, Raila 3 yrs, he suggests that time has come for a Luhya to take the Mantle.

HOWEVER, s a KKL alliance workable? Can the KK sacrifice their thirst for power to Eugene Wamalwa?
Can the Kikuyu electorate vote for another person outside their community?
Can the Kikuyu bury the 2007/8 PEV and stand or rather work together with a Kalenjin?
And will a Kalenjin bring back a Kikuyu into presidency? Will they disremember their claims on land distribution and inequalities in the rift valley and seek a unified KK political front?

Oops, and I havent factored in the ICC and Hague politics. That is for another day? After April 8, 2011.

We all wish that a Kenyan Political game can be played in disregard of ethnicity and politics of belonging, unfortunately this is something we must live with. hence how can we live with it peacefully?

Kibaki trashes leaked cables, claims they are childish worthless material

Hahahaha!

Kibaki Bites the Bullet: He has lost executive power at a time when he needs it most.

President Kibaki is staring at a stormy final term in office, with some of his hitherto unchallenged powers clipped by the National Accord and the new Constitution.

For close to 40 years Kenyans were led by all-powerful presidents whose words were law, but that appears to have changed. Kibaki’s two presidential terms have been unlike those of Kenyatta and Moi whose words were taken as final. As the transition leader between the old and new constitutions, Kibaki faces a rapidly changing landscape with the diminishing powers of the presidency now vested in the people of Kenya by the new laws.

The National Accord that established the Grand Coalition Government, and the enactment of a new Constitution that distributes powers previously exclusive to the president have checked his hitherto unrivalled powers.

It is now difficult for Kibaki to make unilateral decisions, and it is his failure to acknowledge this fact that has put him in some embarrassing positions, exposing chinks in his armour.

His bungled appointments to key constitutional offices, and the failed diplomatic offensive to postpone the two International Criminal Court (ICC) cases facing six personalities, including Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, seen as his preferred choice as successor, and his trusted aide, Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura are recent examples.

New laws

However, senior counsel and former Kabete MP, Paul Muite says Kibaki’s predicament stems from his decision to behave as though there is no new Constitution.

"All these happenings show that President Kibaki’s leadership has been inept when you look at it from the political front. Future presidents must learn to govern in accordance with the Constitution and the law," said Muite.

While Kibaki and his allies have been pushing for a deferral of the cases, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement Party have opposed their postponement at The Hague.

During his first term in office Kibaki assumed total control of the running of the State, even though he was widely seen as allowing his ministers to run their dockets without interference. The frustrations within Kibaki’s ranks have been evident from public comments his allies have made recently.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka was the latest to express his dissatisfaction with Raila.

When asked to comment on why an informal meeting with the UN Security Council was delayed last week, the VP retorted, "go and ask Tinga (Raila) about it".

When House Speaker Kenneth Marende ruled that the nominations by Kibaki to the four key constitutional offices would not be debated by Parliament, Uhuru openly displayed his anger against Raila.

Uhuru fury

"Why is it that unless Raila agrees, there is always a standoff. Who is he? Will nothing happen in this country unless Raila says so?" asked an incensed Uhuru at a press conference in Parliament Buildings.

Under another dispensation, it would not be the president’s men grumbling in public.

According to some perspectives, however, Kibaki’s final term may be a blessing in disguise for Kenyans, because it is argued that a future president will not have the audacity to force his unilateral ways on the country.

Some legislators loyal to Kibaki in a Government torn down the middle accept this argument, but others argue Kibaki has "refused to exercise his powers".

Agriculture Assistant Minister Kareke Mbiuki says that Kibaki has indeed been rendered powerless by a number of factors.

He says the new Constitution denies Kibaki unfettered powers and that future presidents will have to contend with a strong Parliament.

"No other President shall rule by decree. All workings of future presidents shall be vetoed by Parliament," said the assistant Agriculture Minister.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo says founding president Jomo Kenyatta and Moi were technically "above the Constitution" but that the trend has now changed.

"President Kibaki having championed the new Constitution is in a class of his own, unlike his predecessor. Future Presidents will be subject to the new Constitution, but not above it as were Presidents Kenyatta and Moi," said Mutula.

Imperial powers

Unlike his predecessors who enjoyed what many termed as imperial powers, Kibaki has watched helplessly as his Executive decisions are trashed both in Parliament and in public.

Under Kenyatta and Moi, decisions made at Harambee House were final, but under the new dispensation, the presidency appears to have lost that clout.

A vote in Parliament is enough to alter any appointments made by Kibaki, and cases abound where the president has been forced to retreat. Besides the political maturity of Kenyans who have developed the courage to challenge presidential decisions, a major check on Kibaki is the National Accord that makes Raila his equal in Government.

The Accord dictates that the President must at all times consult the PM when making appointments.

In Parliament, legislators have also exercising their enhanced powers and this has also worked against Kibaki.

The first sign that Kibaki would not have an easy ride came in 2008, when Parliament rejected his attempt to renew Justice Aaron Ringera’s tenure at the helm of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC).

The President had no choice but to comply and allow the KACC board to advertise the position, carry out interviews and recommend to him a suitable successor.

From that day the writing was on the wall and MPs kept on pushing the presidency.

The next onslaught came when MPs pushed for no-confidence votes against Cabinet Ministers close to him.

Moses Wetang’ula, Amos Kimunya were among key Kibaki allies who were tossed out of office thanks in part to Parliament’s assertiveness.

Last month, the President was forced to eat humble pie when the PM, constitutional commissions and civil society ganged up against nominations he made to key offices including that of Chief Justice.

When the heat became too much to take, he withdrew the names and referred the issues to relevant organs in compliance with laid-down procedures.

But some of Kibaki’s die-hard supporters, like PNU Deputy Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni, argue Kibaki has powers but has chosen to exercise restraint.

"The President has simply refused to exercise his powers. This is not going to be expected of future presidents and Kenyans want a president who can exercise the authority given to him, but not in a dictatorial manner," said the Ndaragwa MP.

Lame duck

Kipkelion MP Magerer Langat says that the Constitution has ended the imperial presidency.

"The President is not a lame duck, but his powers have been checked by the new Constitution and there is nothing he can do. There is no more dictatorship as Kenyans are now more aware than before of their rights," said Magerer who is an Assistant Minister for Energy.

Under the new Constitution, the President lost power to determine the number of ministries, the date of General Election and the right to summon and dissolve parliament.

Parliament, which resumes sitting on Tuesday, does it on its own without the involvement of the presidency, which has traditionally enjoyed the power of recalling MPs to transact business.

By BEAUTTAH OMANGA - Kibaki grapples with changing times
Read More

ODM may have sunk ICC Cases deferral bid

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14, 2011
A letter sent by the Orange Democratic Movement to block the Security Council from a likely deferral of Kenya's ICC case is likely to dent the country's request and even complicate the bid, an international law expert said on Monday.

Lawyer Godfrey Musila told Capital News that Kenya required unity of purpose to strengthen and sustain its argument.

Dr Musila observed that even though the country got backing from the African Union, the letter by ODM's Secretary General Anyang' Nyong'o provides a viable excuse for a section of the permanent council members, who have been against it, to veto the application.

"One of the things the Security Council will be looking at, perhaps even before they look at whether we meet the request for a deferral or not, is whether the government is united behind this position. And that development is likely to sway an already difficult case firmly in the direction of a no deferral," he said.

Dr Musila further discounted arguments, made by some individuals, that the ICC would resolve the wanton impunity in the country saying such positions did not hold any water. He instead argued that Kenyans should focus on implementing the Constitution in order to see reforms.

"It is a weak argument; the way we look at the ICC has been misconceived. The ICC will not solve our impunity problems because it is only prosecuting a handful of people so what do we do with the rest of the offenders who we need to be prosecuting?" he posed.

The law expert also said that the government bore the sole responsibility of ensuring justice and reprieve for the victims of the post poll chaos. He argued that it was up to the government to put in place adequate measures to prevent a repeat of the violence.

He however noted that the split in the coalition government made it difficult to make certain decisions.

"The government should create such policies. We cannot wait for someone from outside to do it for us. Unfortunately for us we have a coalition government and the justice question has become a political football," he said.

He added that some of the reasons given by the government as it sought for a deferral were blanket arguments. He argued that the Constitution would not be derailed if the ICC cases went as planned and that there was no threat to national security.

"Linking the slow implementation of the Constitution to the ICC cases is artificial. You need to ask yourselves which bodies are charged with implementation of the new Constitution and I believe that these institutions can function irrespective of what the ICC is doing," he observed.

Dr Musila also observed that some permanent members of the Security Council held their positions for the deferral because they had self interests in Kenya. He however asked the top leadership to look beyond the 2012 elections and not to forget the country's national interests.

He also noted that the geographical location of the country and its position in the region attracted interests from western countries.

"Someone once said that there are no permanent friends in international relations what you have are permanent interests so you'd be shocked that China can actually vote to refer Libya to the ICC when they have been unhappy with the manner in which the Court has been operating in Sudan," he asserted.

A section of ODM lawmakers allied to Eldoret North MP William Ruto have in the meantime asked the party chairman Henry Kosgey to write a counter letter challenging the stand taken by the party secretary general.

They argue that there was no meeting that was held to sanction the objection to the deferral bid.

Read More Here

AU Plans Mass Walkout From ICC

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14
The African Union (AU) is contemplating withdrawing from the Rome Statute in July this year should a deferral of the cases against Kenya’s Ocampo Six at the International Criminal Court (ICC) fail.

Kenyatta University don Dr Godfrey Musila - who’s an expert in international law - told Capital FM’s Talk 360 show on Sunday evening that the AU was in the process of developing a document which, if approved, will enable the formation of a parallel African court on criminal justice.

“The Kenyan situation is a trap for the ICC. (African countries) will be saying we are withdrawing from the ICC, not because we support impunity, but because we want to form our own institution,” he explained.

Speaking on the show, Ugandan international conflict resolution expert Dr David Matsanga pointed out that veto-wielding states in the UN Security Council would be condemning the ICC should they block Kenya's bid.

“(Kenya) is trying to save the International Criminal Court from collapse. Come July this year, if the Kenyan deferral is not given, the 32 countries of the AU in the ICC will remove their membership,” he stated.

“The (AU) leaders have now vowed; we sent the Sudan deferral case to the Security Council and America played, so now let us send the second deferral from Kenya and see what it will do.”

The two experts made the revelation barely a day after Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka jetted back into the country exuding confidence that his mission to lobby members of the Security Council to support Kenya’s prayers would bear fruit.

On Saturday, the UN decision making organ invited Kenya and an AU representative to an informal meeting where members would hear the country’s argument for a 12-month postponement of the on-going ICC proceedings.

Kenya's permanent representative to the United Nations Macharia Kamau will lead the delegation to meet the UN Security Council for the informal talks.

Britain and America who are part of the five permanent members have expressed their reservation to the deferral bid, but Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said he made efforts to "deal with the two so that they can abstain from a possible vote."

Dr Matsanga explained that an abstention would be the most logical route for the two countries to take, arguing that Kenya’s support from the African Union was weighing heavily in its favour.

“The best America can do is to abstain, because it has no moral authority to discuss human rights when it is not even a signatory to the Rome Statute,” he said.

The Security Council can issue a one-year suspension if there is a threat to international peace and security. The ICC pre-trial chamber last Tuesday ordered the six Kenyans to appear before the court on April 7 on charges that they masterminded the post-election violence.

Those required to appear at The Hague include Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto and Tinderet Member of Parliament Henry Kosgey.

Others are former Police Commissioner Mohammed Hussein Ali and Radio presenter Joshua arap Sang.

All six have indicated their intention to honour the ICC summonses.

Source: CapitalFm

The Letter by ODM to the UN Security Council

ORANGE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

ORANGE HOUSE
MENELIK ROAD
KILIMANI AREA
NAIROBI
P.O.BOX 2478-00202
NAIROBI
Tel: 020-20253481
Fax: 020 217 7703

11 March 2011

Your Excellency,

RE: PETITION TO THE MEMBERS OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL REGARDING THE KENYAN CASES AT THE ICC

It is my pleasure and privilege to refer to the ongoing International Criminal Court proceedings relating to Kenya and the deferral request made bby a section of the Government of Kenya to the United Nations Security Council.

Background:
The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kenya presented to the United Nations and to all the Permanent and Observer Missions to the United Nations an Aide Memoire titled “Kenya’s Reform Agenda and Engagement with International Criminal Court (ICC)”.

Kenya’s Vice-President, H.E. Kalonzo Musyoka has led a delegation to the UN Secretary General to discuss the Aide Memoire, alongside the Communiqué of the 17th Extra-Ordinary Session of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government on Sudan, Somalia and Kenya, and the African Union Decision on the Implementation of the Decisions on the International Criminal Court on the deferral/referral of the Kenyan Cases at the ICC.

It is important for the UN Members, the Security Council and Secretary-General to have a complete picture and understanding of the situation in Kenya before making any determination on the Aide Memoire from President
Kibaki.

This petition presents a set of incontrovertible facts which will assist The Security Council and other interested parties to understand why the Kenyan Cases at the ICC should neither be deferred nor referred. These facts justify why the ongoing ICC process is the best and only means of securing justice to the innocent victims of Kenya’s post election violence of 2007/8. It is imperative to underline the fact that the institutions, groups and individuals that were allegedly involved in the planning and execution of the crimes against humanity during the 2007/8 post-election violence in Kenya continue to operate unfettered and occupy important positions of power within and outside government.

Sixteen Reasons Why the Kenyan Cases at the ICC must neither be
Deferred nor Referred to Kenya:

The prosecution of the Kenyan Cases at the ICC does not pose any threat to international peace and security. To the contrary, failure to bring to justice the perpetrators of post-election violence poses grave danger to Kenya’s internal peace and security.

The ICC process was unanimously approved by the two parties under the Annan-brokered National Accord, and the instruments that paved the way for the process were signed by both the President and the Prime Minister for and on behalf of their respective political parties, which form a coalition.

The great majority of Kenyans (more than eighty per cent) support the ICC process as the most credible method to fighting the culture of impunity in Kenya. Surveys by leading institutions in the country have repeatedly confirmed this position.

Local (Kenyan) trials will be exposed to:
o political manipulation by leaders pleading the ethnic card;
o threats to witnesses, their families and friends. Indeed, many witnesses have been hunted down and killed by State security agents; and
o undue delays engineered by frivolous and vexatious applications.

Local trials are not possible at the moment as there is no national judicial mechanism in place to handle the cases. There have been no investigations and prosecutions since the crimes were committed more than three years ago. Moreover, the criminal justice system has not been reformed to enable it to handle the cases. Although Kenya has enacted the International Crimes Act, it is in doubt as to whether Kenyan courts have jurisdiction over the international crimes committed before January 2009 when the Act became operational.

The judicial reforms contemplated under the new Constitution have not been implemented. The judges and magistrates have not been vetted. There is no independent prosecutorial authority.

The involvement of the ICC was necessitated by Kenya’s rejection to establish a national judicial mechanism to deal with the crimes committed. In fact, the Government of Kenya repeatedly made verbal and written commitments to cooperate with the ICC and indicated that if it was unable to prosecute the perpetrators of the 2007/08 post election violence by September 2009, the ICC should do so. Those written and public commitments were made by the Government to the ICC Prosecutor both at The Hague and during his official visits to Nairobi.

Local trials will be used to shield the suspects from justice. This was recently demonstrated by the nominations of Mr. Githu Muigai and Mr. Kioko KKilukumi to the positions of Attorney-General and Director of Public Prosecutions, respectively, while they are on record as lawyers for two of tthe ICC suspects. In addition, an ICC suspect chaired the Panel that identified and nominated Justice Visram to the position of new Chief Justice. Although President Kibaki was forced to withdraw his nominations through public outcry, a court order and stinging resolutions of the National Assembly Speaker, the Judicial Service Commission, the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution, the Law Society of Kenya, the Federation of Women Lawyers and nearly all Kenyan civil society groups; it demonstrated the extent to which President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity and the six individuals summoned by the ICC would go to defeat the cause of justice.

The request for a deferral of the Kenyan cases pending before the ICC
has been made by one side of the Kenyan coalition government, namely the Party of National Unity headed by President Mwai Kibaki. The Orange Democratic Movement headed by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, does not support that request.

Because of the significant positions held in and influence the suspects wield within Government, they are the ones spearheading the deferral request as a means of defeating the cause of justice. Ultimately, the six suspects the ICC has summoned intend to use the deferral, if granted, as the basis of perpetuating the culture of impunity in Kenya.

The deferral request should therefore be seen as evidence that the Party of National Unity and President Mwai Kibaki are both unwilling and unable to prosecute the six suspects for the crimes alleged by the ICC.

Since 1992, each general election has been characterized by state sponsored violence and ethnic cleansings leading to mass deaths,evictions, rapes and arson. While there have been official judicial inquiries on these crimes, no prosecutions have ever been conducted, and no culprits have been punished.

Extra-judicial killings have increased significantly since 2003. The
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Prof. Philip Alst on has investigated and made far-reaching findings and recommendations. However, the Government has not taken any action.

Both the Cabinet and Kenyan Parliament have on more than two occasions rejected Bills for the establishment of a local tribunal for the cases and instead declared that the trials should be held at The Hague.

The ICC process is the only opportunity that Kenyans have to break the culture of impunity and the circle of elections-related violence.

In view of the foregoing the request for deferral does not qualify or merit consideration by the UN Security Council within the provisions of
Article 16 of the Rome Statute, or through any other provisions. This is
particularly the case because the Kenyan Situation at the ICC was not originated by a referral by the UN Security Council. Consequently, the
request for a deferral is an unwarranted interference with the Court’s
mandate, its independence and impartiality.

We therefore submit that the request for a deferral by a section of the Kenyan Government be rejected as being incompetent and frivolous.

On behalf of the Orange Democratic Movement and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya, The Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, EGH, MP, I would like to request you to bring this letter to the attention of all Council Members of the Security Council and to have it issued as a document of the Council, as a matter of great urgency.

Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Hon. Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyongo
SECRETARY GENERAL


H.E. Mr. Li Baodong
President of the UN Security Council
For the Month of March 2011
c/o The Permanent Mission of the
People’s Republic of China to the United Nations
350, East 35th Street
New York, N.Y. 10016

Cc: THE PERMANENT MISSIONS OF:
Austria
Bosnia
Brazil
China
Gabon
France
Japan
Lebanon
Mexico
Nigeria
Russian Federation
Turkey
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States

Cc:
The African Union
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Chungwa Moja, Maisha Bora

Media Bias and Misinformation ; The Daily Nation a pro-Kibaki and Partisan newspaper

The daily Nation is once again being pro-establishment, at the cost of 'correctly informing its audience.' It's a typical case of misinformation and misrepresentation.

On 11 March, 2011, PETER LEFTIE and DAVE OPIYO of the Daily Nation wrote that 'Kenya (Kibaki and half of the governemnt - PNU) wants the cases facing the Ocampo Six postponed because the trials may lock out Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto from the 2012 presidential race, triggering fresh violence.'

They further write that, 'Kenya seems to have Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto in mind when it talks of the front-runners in the 2012 presidential elections and Public Service Head Francis Muthaura, whose position puts him at the helm of the National Security Council.'

Surely, on what grounds do they generalise that Kenya is pushing for the postponement of Ocampo6 cases at ICC? It is very clear the Kenyan populace, as statistics from polls indicate, are saying YES to the ICC cases of Ocampo6. Moreover, the other half of government, ODM, has categorically stated that it was not involved in making the decision and described as "futile" the attempts to challenge the lCC decision on the grounds of admissibility and jurisdiction.

As Miguna Miguna wrote in the Star, 'Quite clearly Luis Moreno-Ocampo is not seeking to try the country Kenya. The country is innocent of the heinous crimes committed between 2005 and 2009. The ICC summonses are not issued against the Government of Kenya. They are issued against six individuals who are alleged to be the masterminds of the crimes against humanity that were committed against innocent civilians. The government had a duty to protect those civilians. The fact that senior government officials are facing ICC indictments proves that the government did not just fail; it was part of the conspiracy to commit crimes against its own people. No wonder a section of the same government is now more worried about the six suspects than about the victims who haven’t received justice'.

A warning to Daily Nation...having the highest readership has made you too complacent. And this is the reason most of us are turning to other sources of news and information. Style Up!

How Facebook is changing the face of Kenya Politics

The new marketer has to master a new art –speaking in public. There are close to a million Kenyans in Facebook today and facebook really is about friends and what they are up to,it really is our new baraza. A recently elected MP has 34,000 people on his facebook page, his constituency has 125,000 registered voters and he won by polling 19000 votes in a by election . Is the picture clearer? Well let’s try again . By the next general election it is very likely that more than 10% of all registered voters will be on facebook. In some constituencies that percentage will be higher than others. Thus Facebook and what is said on it will determine the future of the land. This will come with its own complexity too .

For starters establishing facts about what is discussed on facebook will be a lot easier than researching what you see on TV or hear on radio. The typical consumers post a question on their profiles and get a flurry of answers from around their list of pals. These answers carry opinion and fact and provide additional basis for debate. The internet as a platform also ensures that any information on a subject is readily available. That means that voters will verify what they are told by googling articles or statements to fact check.

Even worse, unlike the Good old days of Kenyan politics where a statement on radio could be a misquote, the new age will come with new challenges . Once posted a statement will remain available for generations, it will also be easy to verify what is said by politicians and so the medium that could create them will also be useful in keeping them honest.

I follow the facebook pages of one of Kenyas senior ministers and the engagement with his followers on that page does get bare knuckled. He is often put on the floor to explain decisions and statements and the people he accounts to often rough him up and use very colorful language to express their displeasure with this or that . He also updates them on his activities, functions and events. A great deal of accountability does happen on this page. And this is how Facebook has transformed Kenyan Politics, people hard to reach are an email away and conversations are literally held at the town square as Plato himself intended it .

Nigeria`s President ,Good luck Jonathan has 340,000 people on his fan page , some of his posts receive up to seven thousand comments ,that’s Nigerians talking at the same time to their president . On this page the president makes statements and clarifies positions and gets challenged on those positions.

Brands around the world have learnt how to use the channel. Starbucks the most successful, has 18m people on its page. In a presentation on digital media the company`s digital media director says its about relationships and not marketing. Tell that to people used to delivering ad campaigns in a few days and you will be asking for a lot. Building relationships takes time and effort. Companies with great social media skills spend lots of time listening and that is a bit different from the typical advertising funnel where we do all the talking.

The other admission she makes is one most companies may not quite understand .She says it rather clearly “Don’t outsource your voice!” . A brands facebook fan page is its voice to its consumers and that means that it has to speak in its own tone, manner and voice. That is how consumers differentiate it from others. Outsourcing this creates a spokes person removed from the brand, it’s advisable that the tone set by the brand is established and its value clearly spelt out. So give it a couple of months and we might be able to cross check election fraud by counting facebook fans. That easy? Of course , how likely is it for a guy with 5000 fans to beat one with 200,000/= ?

Frank Maina
The STAR

KENYA: The ' YES to ICC Now, No Deferral' Campaign Update

Progress Summary:

Ken Wafula (NGO Council Chair) confirms that Rift Valley is leading in signature collections with nearly 300,000 collected so far. Overall we are looking at close to 800,000 as we send this out. The extension of the campaign to 31st March 2011 means that we will certainly get beyond the 1,000,000 by end of the campaign period. This does not include the 12,100 signatures online (www.petitiononline.com) and 9,100 on SMS (you can check SMS signatures online on http://smsvoices.com/change).

We are now concentrating on building the SMS platform signatures, where one can sign up by sending

ICC YES Firstname Surname IDNo County to 0716 666333

Key Needs:
The biggest challenge we are now trying to unravel is the logistics of bringing all the physical signatures together. An ideal system is to scan the signed forms & send them to signonemillion@gmail.com.
However, not everyone can do this, so we need volunteers being individuals/organizations with the capacity to receive and/or collect signed forms in certain areas. Please let us know who you are, send us your contacts, and where you have this capacity. Please let us have this information as soon as possible, so that we can map out all the people who can receive/collect signed forms, and start spreading the word out. We will also need assistance to ensure word gets out on the respective drop-off points, as well as on how to then get all these signatures to Nairobi for authentication, copying/scanning, before we send them on to the President's Office, Prime Minister's Office, Parliament, all Embassies, as well as shipping them out to the African Union (AU), the members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

One of the organizations we are discussing a regional collection network with is Green Belt Movement. GBM have a presence in 174 constituencies, but we also need to help them along as they mobilize this networks. (They have used their own resources to print signatures books, pay for permits for tents, and allocate vehicles to travel into estates. They have also sustained a team of volunteers who have been transversing across the city collecting signatures ...)

Lessons Learnt So Far:
We have all learnt several lessons ...

1. 'We Can Do It!' Obama used this phrase as his campaign but I personally did not understand how powerful those 4 words are ... until now! As I have watched a small idea grow into a powerful campaign against impunity, and saw the reaction to the campaign being copying of our our campaign (!) ... I felt it ... we can do it! ... beyond how flattering it feels, we are setting the agenda for a change, & it feels good!

2. 'It does not take much to get it done' ... this campaign started as a discussion between me and a certain lady who also really loves this country. She asked whether it was possible to collect 1 Million signatures in support of the ICC process ... I sent the message out, & voila! ... & all that most of us have had to do is sign up on an online site, or send an sms, or update a status on FB, or send a tweet, or circulate an email, or share out a form ... as we did other things .... & look at what we have achieved! ... less than 60 days later we have close to 1 Million .... & we have had some amazing moments.

3. 'The power of an Idea' ... we know there are a lot of people there who believe Kenyans cannot unite across tribes, religions, political parties, etc ... well, you only need to look at the sms platform, or the online signatures. There has also been an issue of who will unite Kenyans .... the lesson learnt from this is that we do not need a person, we just need the right idea ... and we can lick anything/anyone ... so politicians be warned, we can unite against you, without you!

4. 'The power of Radio/Media' ... a special mention for Kiss FM ... Caroline Mutoko, Larry Asego & Jalango owned the online petition campaign, & without getting a single penny for it talked it up so much that we are sure over 60% of the signatures on that site are because of their deep conviction ... Radio Africa, Nation Media, Royal Media, the Standard Group, etc have all stuck to an editorial policy that complimented our campaign, as have a lot of the community radio stations ... this has proven that media is Kenyan, and reflect the voice of the people .... they can step up when they encounter the right idea, and they can speak out as Kenyans, for Kenyans ... reminds me of the day of the universal headline ... kudos guys

5. 'Kenya has changed, positively' ... without a doubt we have moved on ... who ever thought to see the day when a campaign against a government (1/2) would succeed without politicians being involved ... now we are living under our own homegrown constitution for real ... sovereignty belongs to Kenyans, and we are exercising it directly when our elected representatives fail us (before we change them!)

Ngunjiri Wambugu, Executive Director,
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Change Associates Trust, P O Box 55589-00200
Nairobi, Kenya

ICC launch Kenyan-wide TV Channel "Ask the Court"

ICC-CPI-20110310-PR638

Today, 10 March 2011, the Outreach Unit of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is launching the Kenyan TV series Ask the Court.

Ask the Court answers the most frequently asked questions raised by the Kenyan population on the Court’s mandate and its work. The TV series has been designed to foster interaction between the Court and the national population, in particular with those most affected by the post-election violence. It explains judicial developments as they unfold, clarifies the next steps in the Court’s procedures, and enhances transparency and understanding of ICC proceedings.

Today’s episode is the first in a series of programmes that will follow the developments of the Court’s judicial procedures in the Kenya situation. It explains Pre-Trial Chamber II’s recent decision to issue summonses to appear for six suspects and provides further explanations on the judicial steps following this decision.

The programme will be broadcasted today on Kenyan television stations including KTN, Citizen TV, KBC, NTV, K24 and Sayare.

The programme will be further translated into four local languages and broadcast on 13 local radio stations. Each episode will also be available on the ICC’s YouTube channel.

Other TV and local radio stations are also encouraged to broadcast the programmes; no further permission is required.

ICC explain's Ocampo Six summons

Is There a Media Divide Between Mideast Tremors and Sub-Saharan Africa?

The mass protests across North Africa in the past few weeks have highlighted a major difference between North and Sub-Saharan Africa - access to media and communication technology. This may be critical in determining whether long-serving leaders south of the Sahara face the same challenges Qadhafi is now battling.

This week, as mass protests continued to sweep across North Africa and the Middle East, observers keep asking, “Where will be next?” Colonel Muammar Qadhafi, currently under siege, has campaigned throughout his long tenure for African unity, arguing that the similarities tying the continent together outweigh the differences. The events of the past few weeks have highlighted differences between North and Sub-Saharan Africa, however, including one which may be critical in determining whether long-serving leaders south of the Sahara face the same challenges Qadhafi is now battling: access to media and communication technology.

This issue of basic access to media and communication technology was strikingly evident in Zimbabwe on Saturday, when police arrested nearly 50 people who had gathered to watch videos of international media coverage of the events unfolding in Tunisia and Egypt. As reported in the New York Times, the gathering “allowed activists who had no Internet access or cable television to see images from the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt” and was intended to start a discussion on the implications of these events for Zimbabwe.

The fact that access to international news is harder to come by in Zimbabwe and many other Sub-Saharan African countries is related to the myriad other differences (particularly economic ones) that may prevent popular opposition to long-serving leaders from coalescing. The average Zimbabwean has far fewer options for getting news than the average Egyptian. Local media are tightly controlled by the state, and international news is fairly effectively blocked as well. Granted, Zimbabweans still find many ways to get uncensored news from around the world, including short-wave radio, low-cost satellite dishes and decoders that receive free-to-air programming from South Africa, and DVD (or VCD) recordings such as that shown at the gathering last Saturday. But the costs (time, money, effort, risk) are high, and beyond the means of many citizens.

In addition to limited or difficult access to news, many in Sub-Saharan Africa have fewer communication tools in general than their neighbors to the North. Leaders need not worry about shutting down internet access to prevent the mobilization of opposition forces in places where fewer than 10 percent of the population uses the internet anyway, such as Ethiopia, Togo, or Angola, according to the most recent estimates from the International Telecommunications Union. While low-cost mobile phones are fairly widely available, governments’ hands are in several countries deep enough into the entire telecommunications sector to cast doubts on the privacy of communication over mobile phone networks. Outside of organized political parties, there may be limited communication infrastructure to support mobilization of public calls for change.

These differences in the media and communications environments will not necessarily keep long-serving leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa in power any longer than their North African or Middle Eastern counterparts. The barriers to gathering and sharing the types of information that fuel popular movements are by no means insurmountable, but they do help to explain why the current wave of protests has been slow to cross the Sahara.

One of the things I found most interesting during a visit to Kenya this month was the active debate in Kenyan media about whether the “domino effect” would travel to neighboring Uganda. The answer? Not yet, and probably not anytime soon, for a variety of political, conomic, historical, and social reasons. Voters in Uganda went to the polls February 18, and (according to the electoral commission) reelected long-time incumbent President Yoweri Museveni with nearly 70 percent of the vote. Few experts outside his government would argue that President Museveni, after 25 years in power, genuinely enjoys the deep approval of 70 percent of the population. Local media are already questioning the results, and opposition parties are calling for peaceful protests, but there is little hope that any real change will come about.

Another dynamics that is different in this case, compared to Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, etc. is the lack of attention and support from outside of the region. While prominent international media outlets (including Al Jazeera, CNN, and others) have closely documented - and helped to build solidarity for - the public movements in the Middle East, there has so far been only bare-bones coverage of the Ugandan election – certainly not enough to focus global attention on Ugandans’ choices (or lack of choices) in the presidential polls.

When we think of the catalytic role of media, it can include this aspect – the sense that the world is watching, and will be forced to react in one way or another. For Ugandans, that feeling seems to be missing. Other long-serving leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa may also be calculating whether global media (or their own citizens via social media platforms) will draw external attention or support for calls for change. For now, the coverage of political events in Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, and elsewhere suggests that global media will not be tipping any dominoes in Sub-Saharan Africa anytime soon.

Hannah Bowen, InterMedia Project Manager