By Geoffrey Mosoku| Raila Odinga |
August 26, 2014
Deputy President, William Ruto chats with Governor Isaac Ruto during a
Sunday service in Bomet County. Mr Ruto cautioned governors against
“being misused”, arguing that the referendum was purely a project by
Cord still suffering from the last General Election loss. PHOTO | DPPS |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
The Italian coast guard confirmed on Sunday that eighteen people were found dead on an inflatable dinghy that was floating south of the island Lampedusa. 73 Survivors were rescued.
The navy ship Sirio was part of the rescue operation that took place on Sunday. It approached the dinghy and found there were 18 people who had died on board, and 73 survivors.
This incident is one of many this year that underline the growing problem of migrants trying to reach Europe and dying as a result of the perils of the journey, RFI reports.
Operation Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”), a large-scale naval operation that aims to detect these illegal crossings and assist the people on board, has rescued more than 3,500 people since Friday in the stretch between Sicily and the Libyan and Tunisian coasts.
Most of the people that make these crossings come from Eritrea, Somalia and Syria, but also from Libya that has recently descended into instability.
By mid-August this year, the number of migrants arriving in Italy surpassed 100,000, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
In 2011, the year of the Arab uprisings, slightly more than 60,000 migrants arrived by sea in Italy.
Italy is struggling to shoulder the cost of this sea rescue operation alone and has called on the rest of Europe to help. Mare Nostrum costs 12 million euro per month.
According to Capt. Enrico Esposto, who heads of the naval operations division of Mare Nostrum, the smuggling of these migrants to Europe is now worse than slavery. He says slave traders cared that the slaves arrive safely at their destination, but to modern-day smugglers, that does not matter.
Migrants are stuffed into over-crowded and unsafe sea vessels, with little regard for their personal safety.
It can cost about $2,500 for a migrant to get a place on deck, and those who can only afford to pay $1,000 or less are forced into the hold of the vessel. Here they could die from a lack of oxygen, as was the case a month ago when 30 to 40 people who had died in this manner were discovered deep inside a boat.
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Mercedes-AMG's
drivers Lewis Hamilton and
Nico Rosberg
collide at the Spa-Francorchamps
ciruit in
Spa on August 24, 2014 during the Belgium
Formula One
Grand Prix.
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Yarl’s Wood, the notoriously infamous immigration detention center is in the news again. The building located in Bedfordshire, is an Immigration Removal Centre here illegal immigrants are held until they can be deported. Now, it has come into the limelight due to the recent death of a forty year old woman, who was awaiting deportation. The woman, Christine Case, was an illegal immigrant from Jamaica. She succumbed to a heart attack after the detention center provided her with only paracetamol to help treat it! The Immigration Minister, James Brokenshire had to swiftly albeit reluctantly start an urgent investigation to help clarify the matter. Yarl’s Wood has been dogged by controversy ever since it opened. Unlike a detention center which should hold individuals only for a maximum of three days, nearly all the detainees have been detained for weeks, with more than half of them being detained for more than three months. Yarl’s Wood is more like a prison than a detention center. The detention center run by Serco has had a lot of problems. The quality of food provided is extremely poor and there are extreme gaps in the health care provisions. These are not new facts they have been common knowledge since as early as 2003. The detention center primarily holds women and their underage children, if any.
The kind of treatment meted out to the women is inhumane. The horrors inside the detention prison seem right out of a third world country. There is rampant racism. Extreme abuse of power and use of excessive force by the guards is an everyday thing. The really sad fact is that there have been a large number of hunger strikes to protest the terrible conditions at Yarl’s Wood, all to no avail. Christine Case’s story is a case in point. The biggest shocker is that according to a 2006 report by Legal Action for Women group, seventy percent of the women detained at Yarl’s Wood had reported rape! This horrible crime is perpetrated by the guards against whom the women are completely powerless. Legal Action for Women publishes and distributes self – help guides for the women of Yarl’s Wood to educate them about their rights. However, the guards always confiscate these guides to completely cripple the women. Many women are afraid to approach authorities to report the abuse they face to authorities for fear of it affecting their cases.
Among the prominent people who have stayed at Yarl’s Wood is the celebrated playwright Lydia Besong. She spoke about her experience at Yarl’s Wood, likening it to political imprisonment she had to undergo in her own country, Cameroon in West Africa. To be able to draw a parallel between an African prison and an immigrant removal center speaks volumes about Yarl’s Wood. The fact remains that detention centers like Yarl’s Wood are extremely unnecessary. A person’s immigration case can easily be processed while he or she lives at home, amongst friends and family. Yashika Bageerathi was also held here. She is to be deported tonight.
Once you have discovered your Birth Number. Put your number in as a comment below for us to know who we are.
Have fun! Your birthdate describes who we are, what we are good at and what our inborn abilities are. It also points to what we have to learn and the challenges we are facing.
To figure out your Birth Number, add all the numbers in the Birth Date together, like in the example, until there is only one digit. A Birth Number does not prevent you from being anything you want to be, it will just color your choice differently and give you a little insight.
Keep going until you end up with a single digit number. 2 is the Birth Number to read for the birth date in the example.
1 ‘s are originals. Coming up with new ideas and executing them is natural. Having things! their own way is another trait that gets them as being stubborn and arrogant. 1′s are extremely honest and do well to learn some diplomacy skills. They like to take the initiative and are often leaders or bosses! , as they like to be the best. Being self-employed is definitely helpful for them. Lesson to learn: Others’ ideas might be just as good or better and to stay open minded.
Famous 1′s: Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Hulk Hogan, Carol Burnett, Wynona Judd, Nancy Reagan, Raquel Welch.
2′s are the born diplomats. They are aware of others’ needs and moods and often think of others before themselves. Naturally analytical and very intuitive they don’t like to be alone. Friendship and companionship is very important and can lead them to be successful in life, but on the other hand they’d rather be alone than in an uncomfortable relationship. Being naturally shy they should learn to boost their self-esteem and express themselves freely and seize the moment and not put things off.
Famous 2′s: President Bill Clinton, Madonna, Whoopee Goldberg, Thomas Edison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
3′s are idealists. They are very creative, social, charming, romantic, and easygoing. They start many things, but don’t always see them through. They like others to be happy and go to great lengths to achieve it. They are very popular and idealistic. They should learn to see the world from a more realistic point of view.
Famous 3′s: Alan Alder, Ann Landers, Bill Cosby, Melanie Griffith, Karen Roundbutt, Salv! ador Dali, Jodi Foster
4′s are sensible and traditional. They like order and routine. They only act when they fully understand what they are expected to do. They like getting their hands dirty and working hard. They are attracted to the outdoors and feel an affinity with nature. They are prepared to wait and can be stubborn and persistent. They should learn to be more flexible and to be nice to themselves.
Famous 4′s: Neil Diamond, Margaret Thatcher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tina Turner, Paul Hogan, Oprah Winfrey
5′s are the explorers. Their natural curiosity, risk taking, and enthusiasm often land t! hem in hot water. They need diversity, and don’t like to be stuck in a rut. The whole world is their school and they see a learning possibility in every situation. The questions never stop. They are well advised to look before they take action and make sure they have all the facts before jumping to conclusions.
Famous 5′s: Abraham Lincoln, Charlotte Bronte, Jessica Walter, Vincent VanGogh, Bette Midler, Helen Keller and Mark Hail.
6′s are idealistic and need to feel useful to be happy. A strong family connection is important to them. Their actions influence their decisions. They have a strong urge to take care of others and to help.They are very loyal and make great teachers! They like art or music. They make loyal friends who take the friendship seriously. 6′s should learn to differentiate between what they can change and what they cannot.
Famous 6′s: Albert Einstein, Jane Seymour, John Denver, Merlyn Steep, Christopher Columbus, Goldie Hawn
7′s are the searchers. Always probing for hidden information, they find it difficult to accept things at face value. Emotions don’t sway their decisions. Questioning everything in life, they don’t like to be questioned themselves. They’re never off to a fast start, and their motto is slow and steady wins the race. They come across as philosophers and being very knowledgeable, and sometimes as loners. They are technically inclined and make great researchers uncovering information. They like secrets. They live in their own world and should learn what is acceptable and what’s not in the world at large.
Famous 7′s: William Shakespeare, Lucille Ball, Michael Jackson, Joan Baez, Princess Diana
8′s are the problem solvers. They are professional, blunt and to the point, have good judgment and are decisive. They have grand plans and like to live the good life. They take charge of people. They view people objectively. They let you know in no uncertain terms that they are the boss. They should learn to exude their decisions on their own needs rather than on what others want.
Famous 8′s: Edgar Cayce, Barbara Streisand, George Harrison, Jane Fonda, Pablo Picasso, Aretha Franklin, Nostrodamus
The 350km road, which also passes through Mutomo and Kitui, is part of the northern corridor extending to Meru and Isiolo.
It takes a grueling four hours to travel from Kitui to Mutomo town, a journey characterised by thick clouds of choking dust as vehicles meander through gulleys and potholes.
Things get worse during the rainy season, especially between November and December when the road becomes muddy and impassable.
A month ago, Kitui leaders, led by Senator David Musila, threatened to barricade the road at Kibwezi on Mombasa Road if the Government failed to allocate funds for its development this financial year. “It is clear there is no commitment and political will to tarmack the road. We will use every means to pile pressure, even if it means sub-dividing the land for people to plant crops,” Mr Musila said then.
But when it emerged President Uhuru Kenyatta would be visiting Kitui, the leaders and residents held their horses, hoping he would bring bagfuls of goodies.
And the day of the President’s visit came last Saturday. He landed at Kitui High School grounds accompanied by Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu to attended 50 years jubilee celebrations for Kitui Catholic Diocese graced by the head of the Church in Kenya, John Cardinal Njue.
Among those who received the President were Musila, Governors Julius Malombe (Kitui), Alfred Mutua (Machakos) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni). Kitui Women Representative Nyiva Mwendwa and the eight MPs from Kitui County also attended. A huge crowd gathered at the venue and was expectant after word went round that the President would make a big announcement on the road.
Economic key
Two Members of Kitui County Assembly donning T-shirts emblazoned with words “Kibwezi-Mutomo-Kitui-Meru Road, our priority” were arrested by police officers and stripped of the ‘offending’ attire as they tried to gain entry to the venue.
Peter Kilonzo (Athi) and James Munuve (Kanziku) were forced to strip under the watch of Kitui head of CID Adan Guyo.
At the venue, the leaders said the neglected road holds the key to unlocking the economic potential of Kitui County and pleaded with Kenyatta to construct the road before the end of his first term in office.
Musila, who presented the people’s request, was apt. “Your Excellency, we have many problems in our region but our priority number one is this road. Our priority number two is this road...and our priority number three is this road. If you give us this road, people from this region will never forget you,” he said as the crowd clapped.
Other leaders took the cue from him and pleaded with the President on the same. Some went straight for the jugular. “It is the feeling of Kitui people that we have been marginalised by design. It is your duty as the President to correct past injustices meted on us by your predecessors,” Kitui East MP Mutua Muluvi said.
Mrs Nyiva Mwendwa, a seasoned politician and the first woman Cabinet minister in Kenya got personal. “I had the privilege of asking for this road from all the past three presidents, and I will ask the same of you. Give us the road my son, we will be grateful, and also shorten the time of tarmacking it, so that I can also use it before I am incapacitated by old age”.
The President smiled and nodded. The crowd was now expectant; sure that he would grant the wish.
But when he stood up, President Kenyatta, in a few words, dashed the evident hopes of many. “We will not be coerced to initiate development in certain regions because you have asked for it, but because that is our responsibility as a government.”
He then went on as the crowd looked at him in disbelief: “I was invited here by Bishop Muheria (of Kitui Catholic Diocese) for a church function. There will be another day to talk about the things you are raising; not today.” He then wound up his speech in barely 10 minutes.
His failure to commit publicly left a sour taste in the leaders’ mouths who went on a warpath almost immediately, terming his visit a cruel joke.
Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu said he was disappointed. “The President has taken us for a ride. Peoples’ expectations on this road have been shattered and we feel frustrated,” Mr Mulu said.
The MP told The Standard on Sunday that in the leaders’ meeting, the President pledged that the road would be done in three phases; Kibwezi-Ikanga, Ikanga-Kabati and Kabati-Mwingi in three financial years.
“His failure to announce the same in public shows there is no commitment at all,” Mr Mulu noted, terming the failure by successive governments to tarmack the road as an economic sabotage for “fear of losing business in other main roads in politically correct regions.”
“The President cannot promise us things in a boardroom and fail to declare the same in public. We feel cheated,” Mr Muluvi said.
Mr Kilonzo, the Athi ward representative, said only a major demonstration along the busy Nairobi-Mombasa highway will force the Government to prioritise the road. “We will do it loudly through a serious demonstration that will paralyse business along Mombasa Road,” he said.
Jubilee venom
Supporting the planned Mombasa Road blockade, Kitui Central Ward representative Ngoima Kimanzi said the President had shown “total ignorance and disinterest” for the road.
“It is a calculated scheme so that people from this region can eternally depend on relief food,” he lamented.
The leaders plan to meet the President in three weeks’ time to get a firm commitment on the matter, failure to which they will carry out their threat.
Curiously missing from the President’s entourage was a band of his fiery defenders who are wont to take on real and perceived enemies and critics of the Jubilee government.
The Standard on Sunday reliably learnt that the President had been strongly advised against coming to Kitui, a Wiper party zone, with his fiery Jubilee brigade.
MPs who were in the planning committee of the president’s visit and who talked to us anonymously, said Mr Kenyatta was under firm advice not to visit with perceived hardliners in his Jubilee Coalition.
“We were categorical to the President that Aden Duale and Kithure Kindiki should not accompany him because we could predict their usual venom against CORD,” said one Wiper MP.
“After listening carefully, the President saw sense in this, he however wanted to know if it was okay for him to come with Mrs Ngilu,” added another MP. “We told him Ngilu is our daughter and we had no problem with her,” he said.
Supporters of the 'Yes' campaign supporting the new Constitution
attending a rally at Uhuru Park on August 1, 2010. FILE PHOTO | SULEIMAN
MBATIAH |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Nyeri residents with copies of the proposed Constitution on May 27, 2010. FILE PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Integrity Centre along Valley road in Nairobi on January 18, 2013. The
anti-corruption commission can detain suspects at the Integrity Centre
since it is gazetted as a police station. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Statue of Jomo Kenyatta outside the Kenyatta International Conference
Centre, Nairobi. Being a fast learner, he would immediately dial retired
president Daniel Arap Moi’s number, hoping that the man to whom he
entrusted Kenya’s leadership would fill him in on the political
goings-on in the country. PHOTO | FILE
By Joe Kiarie, Friday, August 22nd 2014
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| Police man handle a person they arrested in Mombasa during a Matatutu strike |
The Kenyan US embassy. Former Finance Minister Njeru Githae has been
nominated to take over as the new Kenyan ambassador to the US. PHOTO |
BMJ MURIITHI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
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| Lovebirds Sarika Patel (right) with his Bukusu boyfriend Timotthy Khamala pose while at the Standard offices when they came for KTN live link on 1st/Aug/14. BY CHRISPEN SECHERE. |
Wealthy businessman Chabbadia Patel has filed an injunction at the Bungoma East District Commissioner’s office to stop the wedding of his daughter Sarika to Timothy Khamala.
The move now halts plans for the two lovebirds to tie the knot in a civil marriage that had been slated for Tuesday 26 after the much publicised rare love affair in Nang’ina village of Webuye.
The government had opened a 21-day window for anyone with objection to the union to file a petition before Monday.
Authorities kept contents of the objection from the media but insiders told The Nairobian that among other things, the father, in his petition, claimed Timothy had kidnapped Sarika and that his family is unaware of her whereabouts.
But when this writer spoke to her on phone, she confirmed that she was in Webuye and has been residing in Nang’ina village all along.
Not surprisingly, the new twist has left Sarika, 24, crestfallen.
“It has irked me. This is the day I have been waiting for all my life. I already made a choice and everyone knows about it. I will not change my mind,” Sarika told The Nairobian during an interview.
Bungoma East DC Adan Gedow, who is on assignment in Nairobi, said he had not seen the marriage objection and would explore the matter once back in his office.
Sarika first met Timothy when he came to work at their family’s business enterprise in Webuye as a casual labourer. His employment was, however, terminated when their love affair was discovered and he remains jobless. But he vows he is not about to turn his back on Sarika.
“There have been numerous efforts to separate me from Sarika, but by now, the writing should be on the wall. I can’t live without her. Her father had actually given consent for us to go on with the wedding. How things changed is a mystery to me,” said Timothy.
The two lovers have faced opposition from several quarters, especially from Sarika’s family.
“We have known each other for four years, and it has been dramatic. My parents do not support the relationship. They have on more than one occasion tried to convince my fiancé to leave me in vain because we love each other,” notes Sarika.
Sarika was born in Mukumu, started schooling at Webuye Kindergarten and proceeded to Booker Academy for her O-levels. Later on, she schooled in Nairobi before returning home to run her father’s businesses.
Meanwhile, some villagers, mystified by the ‘odd couple,’ are now bandying theories about, with some even claiming Timothy may have used black magic to win the Asian beauty.
Interestingly though, Timothy reveals that it was Sarika who in fact first approached him and not the other way round.
The two hope the injunction is only a temporary setback.
