UK MPs say No to miraa ban

November 30, 2013 -  BY NZAU MUSAU

Miraa displayed for sale. Photo/Elkana Jacob

BRITISH MPs have prepared a report saying ban on Miraa may do more harm than good in UK.
They said the decision to control miraa was not based on any evidence of medical or social harm.
The parliamenary Home Affairs committee chaired by Labour's Keith Vaz prpduced the report saying the ban may create “a highly profitable criminal black market.”
“The government must acknowledge that the ban itself has the potential to do harm to some of the most marginalized communities in the UK. A balance of the two scenarios is, therefore, the best alternative.,” the report says.
If the the ban continues, the committee says government should publish a strategy to address the marginalization of Somalis in the UK.

MIXED FORTUNES FOR KENYA AT ICC MEETING

President Uhuru and his Deputy Ruto

Saturday, November 30, 2013 BY NZAU MUSAU

PRESIDENT Uhuru Kenyatta is not yet out of the woods on ICC despite the impression created by the results of the just-concluded Assembly of State Parties in The Hague.
Although Foreign Secretary Amina Abdalla has declared the outcome of the ASP as “a major victory for Kenya” the reality is that Kenya won and lost in equal measure.
While Kenya got video-link, trial in absence of accused and partial recognition of heads of state (Rule 134), it lost out on additional instances for introduction of prior recorded testimony by witnesses to the prosecution (Rule 68).
Kenya's loss on Article 68 could not however be immediately picked up as the official spin was that Kenya had managed to “force concessions” or “secure agreement” that the rule would not work retroactively.

Nakumatt to demand Sh4.7bn from NSSF

By ANDREW TEYIE

 PHOTO | FILE Artist’s impression of the proposed Hazina Trade Centre.   NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Chinese firm won deal to construct Sh6.5bn building to replace the Lifestyle shopping mall
• According to Nakumatt’s consultants, the supermarket chain’s compensation would be calculated from lost business and related income from tenants who have leased space from the company.

Construction of additional floors to the controversial Hazina Trading Centre in Nairobi has taken a new turn with Nakumatt supermarkets threatening to slap the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) with a Sh4.7 billion bill if they terminate a 20-year lease.

According to Nakumatt’s consultants, the supermarket chain’s compensation would be calculated from lost business and related income from tenants who have leased space from the company.

“Sh4.7 billion is cumulative. There is also direct job losses for about 620 Nakumatt workers and other tenants at Hazina Trading Centre,” said a consultant who can’t be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter.

kitenda wili? ....tega......You’ve failed Kenya, same old song from same old composer!

In Summary

• The former prime minister said the Jubilee leaders had failed to contain insecurity in the country, allowing bandits a free rein in northern Kenya “while the promise to institute inquiry into Westgate attack remains just that; a promise”.
• In his statement, Mr Odinga said President Kenyatta’s alleged failure in leadership was manifested when the National Assembly adopted the report of the Legal Affairs Committee calling for a tribunal for the removal of the six JSC members.

By Walter Menya

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of being a “willing participant” in a scheme to destroy the Judiciary.

Passenger capacity at JKIA to hit 26m with Sh55bn terminal

By Griffins Omwenga

 PHOTO | FILE A Kenya Airways plane taxis on the runway at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport terminal. Construction of the new terminal is expected to increase passenger capacity threefold, with fleet expected to increase from the current 41 to at least 103 aircraft.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Airport expansion to run concurrently with construction of Mombasa-Kigali high-speed railway
• The work on the Sh55 billion terminal comes barely a week after President Kenyatta started work on the Sh1.2 trillion standard gauge railway that will run from Mombasa to Kigali.

After a two-year delay, the expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport takes off on Tuesday when President Uhuru Kenyatta breaks the ground for the new terminal.

How UK came to Uhuru’s rescue at The Hague

Updated Saturday, November 30th 2013, By Stephen Makabila and Jacob Ngetich 
 

Fresh details have emerged on how the United Kingdom (UK) government played a pivotal role in pushing the hybrid motions (excusal and use of video link) that saved Kenya at the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) meeting at The Hague. While the Kenyan government had originally banked its hope on the African Union’s failed motion for immunity of serving heads of States to shield President Uhuru Kenyatta from prosecution, the video link motion that was approved was sponsored by Britain. The second motion on trial of the accused in absentia and partial recognition of Heads of State (rule 134) was sponsored by Greece and Guatemala. Had the ASP meeting failed to pass any motion that was to the advantage of Kenya, the ICC had already pronounced that Uhuru attends court sessions in person.

Men, Look at Yourself and Now Look at Your Ring Finger – is It Longer than the Index?

According to a study that was published in Discovery Magazine, men whose ring finger is longer than their index fingers are much more attractive for females. The initial statement is that that the length of the finger depends on the amount of testosterone that has been slammed onto them while still in their mothers’ wombs.

However, the study showed that female felt attracted to these men’s facial features and not voice or smell, meaning that it is more likely that the testosterone that is currently in the male’s body and not the one that he’s been stuffed with in a prenatal state is the actual women-attractor.

Two Kenyan Men imprisoned for 14 Years Each in the UK

Samuel Kibe (left) and Julius Mukenge

By Mwakilishi | Fri, 11/29/2013 - Thames Valley Police

Two men have been imprisoned for 14 years each after being convicted of an incident of grievous bodily harm in Slough.

Samuel Kibe, aged 25, of High Street, Slough, and Julius Mukenge, aged 26, of Church Street, Chalvey, were sentenced on November 22nd at Reading Crown Court.

Mukenge pleaded guilty to one count of GBH on 7 October at the same court. Kibe pleaded guilty to one count of ABH on the same day against a second victim.

Kibe was found guilty by jury for one count of GBH on 18 October. Mukenge was acquitted of one count of ABH.

9 Black Liberation Movements Subverted by Racist Governments

The Universal Negro Improvement Association vs. United States

The Universal Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.) is a Black African Nationalist fraternal organization founded in Jamaica in 1914 by the Right Most Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey. After traveling and experiencing the injustices to Black people all over the world, Garvey started the U.N.I.A., which was the largest and most influential movement to advance Black people’s interests in the world to date.

In May 1917, Garvey started the New York Division of the U.N.I.A. with just 13 members. After only two years, the organization had grown to over 2 million members. By 1920, the association had over 1,900 divisions in more than 40 countries. According to international.ucla.edu:  ”By the early 1920′s, the U.N.I.A. could count branches in almost every Caribbean, [Latin American], and sub-Saharan African country with membership swelling to 8 million.”

Miguna Miguna: Why I hit Raila Odinga below the belt

Daily Nation Friday, November 29, 2013 · 

He is probably the most cantankerous Kenyan alive. And while his critics see the rough-edged Miguna Miguna as an arrogant bully with a bloated sense of self-importance, his supporters think he is a brilliant lawyer fighting for the national good.

His expansive house, which sits on a three-quarter-acre plot in Runda depicts the man’s fat appetite. He stays here alone. And he won’t entertain the Nyumba Kumi intrusion. With the large number of books there, you can easily convert it into a library for your local town.

Mr Miguna dramatically fell out with his boss Raila Odinga and wrote a sensational book, which the former PM claimed was sponsored by the National Intelligence Service to hurt him. Nonsense, says Miguna.

The abrasive Canada-trained lawyer is excited that Odinga lost the March election. But he has no kind words for President Kenyatta either, and thinks the Jubilee government is clueless on the International Criminal Court, security and foreign policy.

ICC opens way out for Uhuru, Ruto

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY MATHEWS NDANYI AT THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS

CS Foreign Affairs Amina Mohammedaddressing

the media at the ICC Assembly of State Parties

(ASP) meeting at The Hague, Netherlands yesterday

THE Assembly of State Parties has now approved three amendments to the ICC rules affecting the cases of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto.The ASP ended yesterday and allowed an amendment to Rule 68 that will accept prior recorded evidence. 

Kenya successfully lobbied the ASP delegates for an insertion to rule 134 that will allow Uhuru and Ruto to be represented by their lawyers and be away from their trials, if the trial court agrees. Rule 100 has also been replaced by a new rule to allow a change of venue for the trial.

The United States welcomed the amendments saying that they will protect the rights of both defendants and victims and ensure that the trials continue without delay.

"We have taken seriously Kenyan concerns about the ongoing trial proceedings. The situation the ICC is confronting in the Kenya cases is a new one. The ICC has never before tried a defendant who is also a sitting head-of-state and who has appeared voluntarily in Court," the US representative to the UN, Samantha Power, said.

KQ increase flights to 11 routes ahead of festive season

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY STAR REPORTER

Kenya Airways has increased frequency to eleven destinations ahead of the December holidays as the airline prepares for an anticipated surge in demand for these routes during the festive season. 

Domestically, the airline will increase flights to Malindi seven times a week up from the current six times while flights to Mombasa will increase 88 times up from the current 11 flights.  Regionally, the airline will increase flights to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania from the current five times to seven times weekly and to Juba in South Sudan from the current 12 every week, to 19 times. 

If liability for crimes against humanity is a Western value, what are African values?

In Summary

• The ICC could be wrong, but there is no other court in the world that could give indictees such space and freedom.
• Attorney General Githu Muigai conveniently “forgot” to tell his audience at The Hague that our Constitution does not allow the impunity and immunity (Article 143 (4)) for the President that he seeks for Kenyatta.
• The attacks against the ICC charges suggest that Africans are so stupid that they can’t think for themselves and others (read Westerners) have to do it for them.

By Maina Kiai
More by this Author

The spinning going on in the desperate fight to fend off the International Criminal Court charges of crimes against humanity against President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and his deputy William Samoei Ruto has taken tragic proportions that I fear will scar this country for a long time no matter what happens with the cases.

The spinning suggests that anyone who supports accountability, and is tired of the impunity that has haunted Kenya supports “Western values.” This argument necessarily implies that impunity, dictatorship, corruption, killings, rape and displacement are African values that should be exalted.

How city farmer mints over Sh350,000 every month on an acre plot

Urban farmer Margaret Karanja demonstrates how sukuma wiki (kale) is grown in a multi-storey bag. PHOTO | EMMA NZIOKA | NATION 

In Summary

• It is evident that Mrs Karanja wants to finish with us soonest possible to be able to dedicate herself to the visitors, who have come from distant Kajiado to learn from her initiative, hence there are no ceremonies as we move from one production unit to another.
• From three to 17 cattle in a short four years is astounding...but it becomes mind-boggling to a scribe when she says they would be 36—more than twice the number at the time of the interview, if she had not sold others.
• Thanks to the readily available organic fertiliser, which lends a lie to the deafening clamour for genetically modified organisms (GMO) technology as Kenya’s panacea for perennial food insecurity, the crops in the greenhouse are luscious.

By DOROTHY KWEYU dkweyu@ke.nationmedia.com
More by this Author

Mawe Mbili off Kangundo Road in Nairobi’s Ruai area suggests two stones— or rocks —in Kiswahili. While the actual rocks that gave this eastern suburb of Kenya’s capital its name may not be obvious to a visitor, the neighbourhood’s rocky terrain belies presence of a phenomenal agricultural enterprise, whose replication could transform Nairobi County into a net food exporter.

President Uhuru suspends six JSC commissioners among them Ahmed Nassir;Forms tribunal to probe their conduct

 

Friday,November 29th 2013 By Julian Kamau 

President Uhuru Kenyatta has suspended six Judicial Service Commission commissioners and formed a tribunal to probe their conduct. Those suspended include  Mr. Ahmednasir Abdullahi, Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, Prof. Christine Mango, Mr. Justice Mohamed Wasarme, Ms. Emily Ominde and  Ms. Florence Mwangangi. The five member tribunal will be chaired by Aaron Ringera and the members are Jennifer Shamallah, Ambrose Otieno Weda and Mutua Kilaka. The mandate of the tribunal is to investigate the alleged conduct of the said members of the Judicial service Commission and determine whether it discloses grounds for removal of any or all of them from office.  It will also report on the facts and make its recommendations. The president has assured the public that the investigation into the Commission will in no way interfere with the independent operations of the Judiciary

Lands ministry to digitise records, says Charity Ngilu

September By JAMES MBAKA 

Kenyans will soon access information on land matters from the comfort of their homes through a new mobile technology that will replace the current green card system The digitalisation plan is expected to replace files and long queues that characterise the Lands Registry. The current system has fuelled corruption and delays in land transactions. Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu said the ministry is in the process of computerising all information relating to land matters to ensure efficient, timely and effective access to information. “I must admit that all has not been well at the Lands ministry because of cartels, which engage in shady deals that have defrauded Kenyans of millions of shillings.

Support Black-Owned Businesses On Black Friday

It is definitely time to start exclusively

supporting Black-owned businesses

November 28, 2013 | By: Ashley Thomas

AFRICANGLOBE – According to a 2012 Nielsen study, Black spending power is at $931 billion annually and is projected to hit $1 trillion by 2015.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., flexed its economic muscle this summer when the organization left millions of dollars in Washington, D.C., during its centennial celebration and 51st national convention.
The Southern Region of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is continuing to show its economic impact in its communities through a new initiative – “Code R.E.D. (Revitalizing Economic Development): DST Spends2Win.’’
The region, which includes Florida, is encouraging sorority members and others to support Black-owned businesses on Nov. 29 (Black Friday), the largest shopping day of the year – and throughout the holiday season.

Africa Need More Leaders Like Robert Mugabes

Poster supporting Robert Mugabe outside the

EU-Africa summit in Lisbon Portuga

November 28, 2013 | By: Vincent Octoyi

AFRICANGLOBE – I am an African American who admires President Robert Mugabe hook, line and sinker. The world we live in has been made bad by people who do not take their time to understand, equality and fairness. Those who understand the principles of fairness, equality and justice, the world over, will stand by President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and try to promote his vision of a world where countries are not trampled on by others simply because they are small financially and militarily.
When President Mugabe speaks and I listen, I feel he is speaking from his heart and with his soul intact. When President Mugabe speaks, I feel he is speaking on behalf of all the downtrodden people of the world.
Zimbabwe is a tiny country in Southern Africa but God, through his unchallenged wisdom gave that country a President with big brains, which is directly the opposite of other countries where big economies are given to a president with a full stop of a brain.

Saudi Govt. Beats, Torture Africans As It Cracks Down On Immigrants

An Ethiopian man shot dead by

Saudi police for protesting the

abuse of Ethiopians

November 25, 2013 | By: Rozina Negusei

AFRICANGLOBE – In Saudi Arabia’s latest racist and anti-immigrant movement have launched an “all-out” crackdown on African migrants. It is a well documented fact that police and immigration authorities in Saudi Arabia routinely abuse people who are stopped or detained, especially workers from Third World Countries.
I have personally been receiving devastating and heartbreaking reports generating directly from the victims families. Vivid descriptions of the severe human-rights violations migrant domestic workers are being subjected to include robbery, torture, rape, lynching and murder. The reports and numbers of victims rise daily.

British Invasion Plot Against Zimbabwe Exposed

November 27, 2013 | By: Takunda Maodza  

The British has shown themselves to be an eternal enemy of African empowerment

AFRICANGLOBE – South Africa was under pressure from the Labour regime of British premier Tony Blair to co-operate in a British invasion of Zimbabwe to depose President Mugabe and Zanu-PF, but Tshwane refused, former South African president Cde Thabo Mbeki has revealed. Cde Mbeki made the revelations in an interview with Aljazeera on Saturday, saying the British wanted to replace President Mugabe with their cat’s paw, MDC-T leader Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, who is on record pledging to violently unseat President Mugabe.

African State Of Angola Bans Islam All Mosques To Be Destroyed

Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos

November 24, 2013 | http://www.africanglobe.net/

AFRICANGLOBE – By popular demand, Angolan authorities have taken pre-emptive action and decided to ban the Muslim religion, which they consider a cult, NOT a religion. They see what Muslims are doing to non-Muslims, especially in Africa, and are taking steps to prevent the same from happening in Angola.
In early October 2013, the Muslims living in Luanda in the municipality of Viana Zango were shocked to see the minaret of their mosque dismantled into pieces on the ground without permission. On Thursday 03 October in the morning, the Angolan authorities decided to destroy the mosque Zango located in the urban district of Viana 17 km. The governor of Luanda Bento announced in a radio spot that radical Muslims are not welcome in Angola and the Angolan government is not ready for the legalization of mosques in Angola.

Railway set to cut cost and time of travel

President Uhuru Kenyatta with Cabinet Secretary

for Transport and Infrastructure Engineer Michae

l Kamau (third right) among other leaders during

the launch of the standard gauge railway line at

 Changamwe Marshalling yard in Mombasa,

November 28, 2013. Photo|KEVIN ODIT

 

Thursday, November 28, 2013

By MWAKERA MWAJEFA and By PSCU

In Summary

• Mr Kenyatta said that Tanzania, an East African Community member, will be connected through a new line to be built from Voi through Taveta on the Kenyan side.
• It is estimated that the railway will take five years to build and be completed by December 2018 through three phases — Mombasa to Nairobi, Nairobi to Malaba/Kisumu and Malaba/Kisumu to Kampala.
• Kenya also plans to build the 1,400km Lamu-Lokichoggio rail and the Nairobi-Moyale 700km railway line, which will link the country to Juba in South Sudan as part of the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor.

The Mombasa-Nairobi railway will revolutionise long-distance travel and haulage in the region by reducing the cost and time of moving goods and people across East Africa.

During Thursday’s ground-breaking ceremony for the new line, President Kenyatta allayed fears that the project will isolate Tanzania.

Once the line is completed, transport costs in the East Africa region will reduce by more than 60 per cent.

Vetting targets corrupt police

A traffic police officer runs after a lorry after its

driver failed to stop at a roadblock at Marua-

Nanyuki junction on Monday. Up to 80,000 police

officers will be interviewed afresh by next year.

Thursday, November 28, 2013, In Summary

• The vetting document, most of which will be filled by the officers, seeks to establish if they had been involved in gross human rights violations, including indiscriminate or extrajudicial executions, torture, illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention. The tool asks them if they have ever been involved in negligence of duty.

By SAMUEL SIRINGI
More by this Author

Claims of corruption and violation of human rights against senior police officers could make or break their careers during vetting next month.

According to a tool to be used in vetting up to 80,000 police officers by next year, the National Police Service Commission seeks to establish if the officials have engaged in bribe-taking or any other economic crimes during their career.

Obama envoy backs deal on Uhuru case

US President Barack Obama

Thursday, November 28, 2013

By ISAAC ONGIRI and KEVIN J. KELLE

In Summary

• The amendment of Rule 134 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence now exempts Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto from being present at trial trials and allows use of video link as a substitute for attending court.
• Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary Amina Mohamed yesterday said that Kenya had given notice for a special Assembly of State Parties to discuss amending Article 27 of the Rome Statute.
• If the request is allowed, then another Assembly of State Parties conference may be convened in February next year to debate the proposal.

The US has welcomed a decision by ICC member states allowing Kenya’s leaders to skip part of their trial at The Hague.

End of long road as states change the Rome Statute

DPPS| NATION Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary

Amina Mohamed with other delegates at the

Assembly of State Parties in the Netherlands.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

 In Summary

• The assembly of state parties, whose meeting closes today after nine days of discussions, Wednesday agreed to change the rules potentially allowing the two leaders to be away during the proceedings in their cases.
• Human Rights Watch Wednesday criticised the state parties decision, saying it amounted to special treatment for Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s and Deputy President William Ruto’s anxious wait for a resolution of the Assembly of State Parties ended last evening when they were finally allowed to skip court sessions in their ongoing trials at The Hague.

The assembly of state parties, whose meeting closes today after nine days of discussions, Wednesday agreed to change the rules potentially allowing the two leaders to be away during the proceedings in their cases.

Spy software lets you track a partner's movements, listen in on calls and even lock their phone

By Victoria Woollaston, PUBLISHED: 28 November 2013

The bunny boiler app:

• MSpy can be installed to Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows devices
• It costs from £24.99 a month and the firm claims it is 100% undetectable
• Spies can use it to track movements, read messages and listen to calls
• It can be used to read Skype and Facebook chats and see browsing history
• Subscribers can track this data anywhere by signing into an online account
• Information from the device is synced with this account every 30 minutes

It’s bad enough checking your partner’s phone when they leave the room, or taking a peek at their Facebook page, yet a new app takes this level of snooping not just a step further, but a giant leap forward.
The mSpy app works on select smartphones including Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone and can be used to gain access to an unprecedented level of personal information.

Pope Francis calls on Kenyans to pray for Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto

By Paula Nakaya and Silah Koskei Eldoret, Kenya: 

Pope Francis through his representative has called on Kenyans to continue praying for their leaders faced with cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Pope through the President of the Pontificial Concilium from Rome said there is need for the country to continue fostering peace and harmony even as the cases at The Hague continue.

Why proposed amendments will destroy the media

A human rights activist urges the public to sign a petition

to stop Parliament from curtailing freedom of expression

and also gagging the media.

November 28th 2013

STANDARD, By DAVID OHITO

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s proposed version of the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill 2013 is far more offensive than the one passed by Parliament. The President’s memorandum detailing his objection to the KICA Bill passed by the National Assembly - and which sparked outrage - has even more dangerous clauses and punitive sections that sound a death knell to freedom of expression. The Kenya Editors’ Guild (KEG) expressed concern and alarm that the Kenya Information and Communications Bill returned to Parliament poses grave threats to the freedom and independence the media in Kenya has traditionally enjoyed. The Bill still undermines the freedom and independence of the media by seeking to confer on the state-controlled Communications Commission of Kenya (now renamed Communication Authority of Kenya) power to regulate and control media, thereby encroaching on the functions and responsibilities of an independent statutory organ, the Media Council of Kenya.

Row heightens over Sh1.2 trillion rail project

Wednesday, November 27th 2013

By Moses Michira Kenya:

President Uhuru Kenyatta will Thursday commission the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway line, as a row escalates over procurement issues that could derail the project. A parliamentary committee last week grilled Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau on the procurement procedure used to pick China Bridges and Roads Construction as the contractor for the Sh220 billion project. The committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing had expressed reservations about the way Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) issued the tender but its report is yet to be tabled in Parliament. While Kamau defended the deal saying that the Chinese government had seconded the contractor because it was funding most part of the project, Attorney General Githu Muigai had earlier trashed that argument.

Kenya secures excusal of Uhuru, Ruto from trial

Wednesday, November 27th 2013   By ALEX NDEGWA Kenya: 
After a week of intense lobbying and diplomatic standoffs, Kenya has secured a review of ICC rules to enable her leaders to be exempted from attending trials in The Hague. Last night, the Assembly of State Parties adopted by consensus an amendment whose effect is to allow President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to be represented during trial by their lawyers upon application to the court. It was a major victory coming a day after International Criminal Court judges had overturned an earlier ruling to excuse President Kenyatta and ordered he should be present at all sessions of his trial. Kenya also secured a concession on a proposal on recorded testimony for absent witnesses after dramatic talks that nearly scuttled the bid to exempt her leaders from attendance of ICC trials.

11 of The Most Racist Movies Ever Made

Song Of The South (1946)

Disney’s attempt to promote racial unity in the 1946 film “Song Of The South” was a complete failure. Based on post-Civil War plantation life, the story is difficult to watch, especially its portrayal of the ex-slave, Uncle Remus, who is so happy with his circumstances in the South.
Time magazine called the film “topnotch Disney.” In 2003, the Online Film Critics Society ranked the film as the 67th greatest animated film of all time. A special Academy Award was given “To James Baskett for his able and heart-warming characterization of
Uncle Remus.”

The So Called Brain Drain Proving A Net GAIN for Africa

Posted by Editor / November 25, 2013

More than Just Sending Money Home: Engaging the Diaspora as a Priority for Africa’s Development. In Foresight Africa: Top Priorities for the Continent in 2013. Anne W. Kamau and Mwangi S. Kimenyi. Africa Growth Initiative, Brookings Institution. January 2013.

Af­rica’s large diaspora has mainly been seen as an asset to African countries only in terms of remittances. However, the African diaspora population is untapped human capital, underutilized as a source of invest­ment, support and human capital, and a resource for advocacy and political pressure.Anne Kamau and Mwangi S. Kimenyi offer ways for African policymakers to better engage diaspora members in the year ahead. African governments should take the time and effort to know what their diaspora looks like so that they can target it more effectively. African banks should look to diaspora members as potential clients. Also, by building effective and targeted lobbying and advocacy groups, African governments can empower their diaspora in their host countries to influence foreign policies that impact Africa.

Switerzland Returns Looted $700 Million To Nigeria

November 27, 2013 | Posted by ABS Staff

The Swiss ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Hodel, said the United States’ $700 million stashed in Swiss banks by the late military head of state General Sani Abacha has been returned to Nigeria.
Hodel added that Swiss and Nigerian governments have agreed to request the World Bank to participate in the review of the use of the funds on welfare projects.
“Regarding Sani Abacha, Switzerland has restituted and returned $700 million of illicit assets to Nigeria,” he said.
The ambassador said in addition to the return of the funds, Switzerland also funded a project of an NGO network that monitored the use of the recovered monies in the various development projects.
On the case against the late Abacha’s son Abba, Hodel said proceedings over support of a criminal organization were still pending in Geneva.

Bullied 12-year-old girl is threatened with expulsion from school forrefusing to cut her natural afro hair

Hair apparent: Vanessa VanDyck's natural afro is

being called a violation of her school's dress code

 by administrators

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 26 November 2013 | 

A 12-year-old girl is being threatened with expulsion from school for refusing to cut her natural afro hair.

Vanessa VanDyke, who is a student at Orlando’s Faith Christian Academy in Florida, had been suffering taunts over her hairstyle from fellow students.

But her mother, Sabrina Kent, says that when she complained about the issue, school administrators took similar aim and told Vanessa that her hair violated school dress codes for being a ‘distraction.'

Vanessa says that she was given one week to decide if she wanted to cut her hair, and if not, she would have to leave the school.

She feels that her hair is part of her identity and for that reason, does not plan to change it.

‘First of all, it’s puffy and I like it that way. I know people will tease me about it because it’s not straight. I don’t want to fit in,’ she continued.

Whilst your governors are idle and planing how to steal public funds,look at

What Alfred Mutua Has Done in Machakos This Year..70 Ambulances, 140 Police Cars, Forensic Lab…

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has been labelled the best performing governor in Kenya. Some have even called him the only performing governor.
President Kenyatta recently launched the Machakos city project, and the Governor has been personally supervising construction works at the Kenyatta Stadium.
Wrong are you if you thought those were his only major projects.

Here is what Mutua has done in Machakos this year, or plans to do next year.

1. Kenyatta Stadium converted into a 10,000 seater, with new toilets, dressing rooms and a green pitch. Just one months ago, the place was just a patch of dry sand and dust. 

Diplomacy: Tough stance may keep Uhuru Kenyatta out of dock

Financial Times

When Kenya Airways celebrated the delivery of a $300m Boeing aircraft from the US this month, Uhuru Kenyatta, the Kenyan president, led the ceremony. So it was all the more remarkable that when Robert Godec, the US ambassador, arrived, there was no chair for him at the front.

Instead, he was seated at the back, while the chief executive of Kenya Airways berated the US for refusing it landing slots, even though the two countries are in talks about this. Mr Kenyatta followed with a speech showering praise on the Chinese ambassador, suggesting that flying the Boeing thrice-weekly to China offered a more fruitful partnership.

The crowning joke came from William Ruto, deputy president. He quipped that his shuttle to and from the International Criminal Court at The Hague – where he and Mr Kenyatta are facing trial for crimes against humanity for their alleged role in 2008’s post-election violence – was helping the Kenya Airways balance sheet. Mr Kenyatta said those trips might not continue much longer, perhaps a reference to impending case collapse or a refusal to co-operate.