Category Archives: Dickens Wasonga

KENYA: MIGUNA GETS HOSTILE RECEPTION IN HIS HOME CITY

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From: Dickens Wasonga

Miguna Miguna of the controversial book” PEELING BACK THE MASK” got a rude reception in Kisumu city when a charged audience shouted him down forcing the former aid to Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga to cut short his speech.

Miguna had to be escorted back to his hotel room by heavily armed security personnel after the audience began heckling him while others bayed for his blood over what they claimed was a scheme hatched by Raila’s political rivals to undermine him in his quest for the country’s presidency.

Miguna had successfully addressed the gathering of an estimated 500 people for about half an hour when all hell broke loose in the lake side city, a few kilometers from his native home at Ahero in Nyando district of Kisumu county.

It was Miguna’s first visit to the city to popularize his controversial book which has stirred political sentiments from across the divide in the East African nation since it was launched in July this year in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

During his speech, Miguna who advised Raila on coalition matters for close to four years castigated his former boss claiming he was surrounded by corrupt individuals with whom he worked closely while serving in the PM’s office before he was unceremoniously kicked out in August last year.

” I made Raila what he is today. I wrote every speech he read and developed strategies which he continues to use to date” he asserted.

It appeared his audience who sat patiently while listening to his remarks did not like the persistent attacks aimed at the PM and Orange Democratic Movement Party (ODM) which enjoys huge following in country currently going by various opinion polls.

Tempers flared when Miguna claimed that people of Luo Nyanza his native tribe where Raila hails from have failed to vet those they elect into political offices every five years regardless of their under-performance.

” You have been reduced to mere voting machines similar to robots without evaluating capabilities of such people ,” he remarked.

It was at this point when things turned chaotic leaving the security personnel in the hall with no options but to hurriedly whisk him away to safety.

All the while crowds kept building up outside the hotel as word spread fast about Miguna’s presence.

It took quick intervention by the hawk eyed security officers led by the local district commissioner, Willy Cheboi to save the situation from degenerating into an all out confrontation.

As the crowd grew larger outside, the police had to use the back door of the posh hotel in a dramatic escape bid similar to those seen only in Hollywood movies.

As the police car sped off with Miguna sandwiched between two heavily armed and mean looking police officers, the crowds refused to disperse even after the local police boss pleaded with them to do so.

A chase car full of anti riot contingent was in hot pursuit with their guns cocked as Miguna’s police escape car vanished.

However it was not immediately clear whether Miguna’s planned promotion of the book would continue in the region going by the hostile reception he met in Kisumu on Thursday.

The incident comes barely a month after his effigy was burnt by furious demonstrators at Ahero, his home town. This was to demonstrate their anger against the book which largely projected Raila and officers in his office as corrupt and not worthy of leadership.

Miguna on his part has since dared those who feels offended by his book to meet him in court where he will battle it ouit with them.

ENDS.

KENYA: MAN COMMIT SUICIDE OVER WIFE’S ALLEGED INFIDELITY

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BY DICKENS WASONGA.

RESIDENTS of Wath Orego Village of Kisumu’s Winam division woke up to a rude shock on Monday last week after they stumbled upon the body of a man dangling on a tree outside the gates of one of the homesteads in the area.

According to the residents who spoke to this writer, the deceased identified as Ronald Omondi 27 reportedly committed suicide to protest his wife’s alleged unfaithfulness.

The deceased who hails from Kamrongo Village of Miwani division is said to have trekked to Wath Orego, his in-laws place where he allegedly took away his life by hanging himself with a rope a to a tree right at the gates leading to his wife’s rural home.

Sources who claimed to have known him told reporters that before his death, the deceased had on several occasions visited his in laws and sought help from them over the alleged infidelity practiced by his wife.

They claimed he was not helped by the in laws whom they alleged defended their daughter over the accusations.

Those close to the family claimed the two disagreed repeatedly and the woman was always going back to her parents whenever they fell out.

Through a suicide note left behind and recovered by villagers at the scene where he ended his life, the deceased gave a detailed account on why he committed suicide.

He wrote in the suicide note that he chose to hang himself than continue to face frustrations visited upon him by his wife.

The police from Kondele later took away the body of the deceased person for postmortem.

ENDS.

KENYA: SHOCK AS AMOUROUS STUDENTS FROM TWO NYANZA SCHOOLS TURNS INSTUTIONS INTO A BROTHEL OF SOUGHTS.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

An ugly sex incident reportedly took place in two Nyanza schools that has left education stakeholders within the area deeply concerned over the waning discipline amongst students in the region which was once known for academic excellence.

On two separate incidents a group of form four students from Onjiko High school in Kisumu county reportedly sneaked their way in to two neighboring girls schools, namely Rae and Ahero Girls secondary schools allegedly on a sex quest mission.

According to the principal of Onjiko Boys High school Mr. Alfred Ochiel , five form four boys from his school sneaked out of their school at 8.pm on the night of 21 July last month and went to Rae Girls which is almost 10 kilometers away where he alleged the students were received by a group of waiting form four Girls from the girls school who then went on to engage in sex.

” Upon arrival the boys from my school were warmly welcomed by five girls from the school who ushered them to an a abandoned building which once served as a classroom within the school compound where they reportedly engaged in sex ” said the principal Onjiko Boys High school.

The principal who spoke to journalists at his office who visited the school on Thursday last week to seek his comment over the unbelievable incident gave the scribes a detailed account of how sex encounter between some form four students from his school and that of the Girls school went on as though it was allowed to happen.

He shocked the scribes with his openness while describing it all and vowing he could not keep quite or shy away from speaking about an incident he too agreed had damaged the reputation of the two schools which should be shining and setting pace as centers of academic excellence and not reduce themselves to what is a kin to brothels.

While at it, the principal narrated to the dumbfounded journalists how the daring students, while allegedly enjoying moments of passion even had the audacity to have some of the girls watch over them .

” Three form four girls from Rae stood guard and two others guided the ”guests” within the compound just to make sure nothing went amiss. Said Ochiel

” While others were having sex in the abandoned building , three girls from Rae were guarding the entrance while the other two made sure the visiting boys were safely guided in and out of the school compound ” he added.

The principal who told journalists in his office that he was at his rural home attending to his sick father when the incident occurred also revealed that while investigating the incident they manged to recover a Sim card that the students were reportedly using to coordinate the whole thing weeks before they executed it.

This, he said showed that the whole thing was preplanned.

But the high school principal who claimed his boys were hired to commit crime of passion in the girls school is a bitter man. He is bitter that his deputy who was informed about the incident by one of his teaching staff allegedly chose to sit on the information for reasons which he still can not comprehend.

” When it happened for the first time at Rae my deputy was promptly told about the incident through a colleague who once taught at the girls school. The teacher had been told of the incident by another teacher from the girls school through a text message.When I asked her why she concealed the information about the incident, she told me she had informed my deputy.She even showed me the text message” said Ochiel.

According to him, his deputy was fully aware about the incidents and in the second one where four form four boys stormed Ahero over a similar mission, he claimed it was actually his deputy and the senior master who were called in by the administration at Ahero girls to piclk up their student who had been arrested there.

But still the principal was kept in the the dark, so he alleged.

Mr. Ochiel told reporters at his office on Thursday last week that he only got wind of what took place after another group of boys from his school again stormed the neighboring Ahero Girls High school on a similar mission but this time they were unlucky. He received a phone call from the principal Ahero girls informing him about the unfortunate incident.

According to him, one of students, a form four boy had been arrested by the security guards at Ahero girls high school .

” I do not want to speculate who is actually behind the twin incidents but I can tell you for sure that I have been fought ever since I came to this place. Several interested groups appears to have ganged up and want me out of here. I have never settled and this is why I must talk frankly to you about this incident which we can not hide anymore to help the school and other students who are here to learn. It happened and that is the truth”. He said.

Ochiel added that he suspects that even the incident at Rea was planned by those who want the principal in that school to be transferred.

” My students were hired to commit crime in those two girls schools.Does it not surprise you that students who should be preparing for their KCSE examinations have all the time to waste on side shows?Our students were already taking their end term tests at the time of the incident while those at Rae were also just about to start.” he added.

The principal revealed that so far nine of the form four students who were involved in the two incidents, four at Ahero and five at Rae have all been suspended.

He told the journalists that ten girls from Rea were reportedly involved in the alleged sex scandal. However , he said investigations which himself and the administration carried out after they became aware of the incident narrowed down to only three students who were suspected to have been deeply involved as the key planners of the ugly episode.

We could not verify the correct number of students from Rae who were involved in the incident as stated by the principal Onjiko high school who insisted they jointly tried to unravel the meastry behind the episode together as CEO of the two learning institutions.

Our efforts to seek comments from the principal Rea, Mrs Pamela Mola remained futile. When this reporter together with other journalists visited the school on Thursday last week to investigate the matter, the principal was not around.

Her deputy Mr. Ida Ojino flanked by the school’s senior master Mr. John Okelo remained would not dare speak to the press over the matter.

The duo told the journalists that only the principal could comment on the issue given its sensitivity but efforts to get her to speak over the alleged scandal were fruitless as she was repoeedly sick and was said to have been admitted at a Kisumu hospital.

When reached for comment, the Kisumu county education director Mrs. Beatrice Adu confirmed she had been informed about the alleged incident in the three schools adding that she had dispatched a team of investigators from her office last week to visit to the affected schools and probe the matter.

” I am ware about the matter and we have launched our investigations. On Thursday we visited Rea girls and we interviewed the girls, the boarding master and the deputy principal. We did not talk to the principal who we were told was sick” said Adu.

The director said although the girls interviewed by her team denied claims that they engaged in sex with the Onjiko boys, she said they confirmed to them that the boys visited the school at 10 pm that night while in civilian’.

” They they even revealed that they had communicated with them prior to the visit.However they claimed that they shouted when they entered the school’s compound to alert the security guard at the gates before the boys took off ” Adu added.

She promised to give a comprehensive statement today after receiving a complete report from the team who visited the schools to investigate the matter.

Security guards at Rae who talked to this writer on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization by the school administration claimed that the school has only one watchman at night and pleas to have more employed have always been rebuffed on grounds that there was no money to pay additional security personnel.

” Can you imagine one security guard manning this whole compound at night with a population of about 800 girls. It is impossible” said the watchman.

ENDS

KENYA: THEFT AT GOVERNMENT OFFICES IN KISUMU.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

Detectives in Kisumu East district have launched investigations into a strange incident where thieves mysteriously got access into two government offices at the district headquarters and stole computers and some sensitive files.

By last Friday police officers drawn from the CID in the district had grilled more than eight officers working from the affected departments which included that of the civil registration and youth development who also reportedly recorded their statements with the police over the matter.

Speaking to the press in his office on Friday morning, the Kisumu East district acting DC Mr. Willis Cheboi said they suspect the theft of the government files and the computers was an inside job.

The DC said preliminary reports indicated that an officer attached to one of the departments was seen at his place of work at around 7.30 pm on the night the incident took place.

” Administration police officers manning the sentry heard a bang at the door leading to the offices and upon inquiring one of the officers established the officer who had also packed his personal car outside the offices was actually the one in there” said the DC.

He was amongst the people the CID picked for questioning on the morning the theft was reported.

But even more curious is the fact that none of the said offices was broken into. The acting DC and the district civil registrar Mr. Hesbon Odhiambo both confirmed to the press that none of the offices had their main doors broken into a fact which indicate the thieves must have had a spare key to gain entry.

The civil registrar said six computers were carted away during the incident together with several birth and death certificates. Three computers belonging to the department of youth affairs was also stolen.

The thugs also made away with the government seal which is used to process the vital documents. The registrar disclosed that people wishing to apply for the documents will have to wait for unknown period of time before work could resume.

He also said there were fears the thieves could use the stolen seal to process fake certificates to unsuspecting applicants.

While the Administration police who man the sentry where the two offices are located appeared to point accusing fingers on the officers at the department over the theft, those at the departments, including the registrar wondered how thieves could access the offices and steal while the place is under tight security day and night.

” These offices are located just about ten meters way to the sentry where the officers guard.The whole place is usually manned by officers and it is a puzzle to us” He said.

But the acting DC felt something fishy happened.

”Normally before these officers leave, they must deposit their office door keys at tyh sentry and must sign. On this particular day, the officers from the two departments claims they left their respective keys but never signed. We are wondering why they failed to do so” he said.

It was not immediately clear whether those who recorded their statements with the police on Friday included officers who were at the sentry on the night of the incident.

ENDS.

KENYA: VOLUNTARY MEDICAL MALE CIRCUMCISION LAUNCHES 2011 RAPID RESULTS INITIATIVE

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By Dickens Ochieng’

Ministry of public health is intensifying efforts to meet the anticipated high demand for voluntary medical male circumcision services within Nyanza region.

By increasing access to the services and promoting their use, the government’s Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision program aims to reach about 70,000 men and boys with VMMC and related HIV prevention services by end of this year.

“The impementers of the program and its partners will work together using the available resources to make VMMC widely accessible in 17 districts in Nyanza,”

Nyanza Provincial Commissioner Francis Mutie, said this in a speech read on his behalf by the Kisumu County regional commissioner Mr. Arthur Osiya, who launched the 2011 Rapid Results Initiative.

Also at the launch which took place in Kisumu’s Kondele area included a team of public health officials led by Dr. Charles Okal, the provincial Aids and STD coordinator, who represented the provincial director of public health and sanitation.

The RRI will also be conducted in parts of Nairobi, Rift Valley and Western provinces.

But the campaign will be most extensive in Nyanza, where the government and its partners are mobilizing all health care providers trained in VMMC services so that they can reach 52,000 new clients.

This is the third Rapid Results Initiative campaign mounted by the government to expand access to VMMC services.

During the first RRI in 2009, more than 37,000 men and boys in Nyanza Province were circumcised over 30 working days.

Last year’s campaign reached more than 50,000 men and boys in Nyanza and almost 5,000 in Nairobi Province.

This year’s RRI builds on the lessons learned from last year’s initiative, including the progress made in reaching clients 15 years and older.

During the past year, the VMMC programs has made special efforts to reach men in this age group, and particularly those older than 25 who can benefit immediately from male circumcision because they tend to be sexually active and are therefore most at risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV.

More than 84 percent of clients during the 2010 RRI were 15 years and older—up from about 61 percent in 2009.

Mr. Mutie urged men to take advantage of the free VMMC services offered at convenient locations during the RRI.

The PC also noted the important role that women play in supporting men to become circumcised and practice safe sex after the procedure.

“I encourage men to discuss the procedure with their partners and to make their decisions about VMMC together,” he said.

Women benefit from male circumcision because circumcised male partners are less likely to acquire and transmit HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

In fact, if the VMMC programme in Nyanza can achieve its goal of reaching 80 percent of uncircumcised men ages 15 to 49 by 2013; an estimated 900,000 HIV infections could be averted in men, women and children over 20 years.

Mr. Mutie reported that Nyanza is about halfway toward achieving its goal.

The first two RRIs were instrumental in the progress made so far, accounting for about 39 percent of all VMMC clients served since 2008.

The partners collaborating with the ministries of health to implement the 2011 RRI in Nyanza are the National Aids Control Council ( NACC), Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS), IMPACT Research and Development Organization, APHIAplus Western, Family AIDS Care and Education Services and the Male Circumcision Consortium ( which consists of Family Health International (FHI 360), EngenderHealth, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, working with the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society).

Also in attendance was Kisumu East District Commissioner, Mr. Mabeya Mogaka and the National Aids Control Council Nyanza field officer Mr. Hannington Onyango.

ENDS.

KENYA: KEMRI / CDC LAUNCHES A MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION ON BILHARZIA AS STUDY SHOWS HIGH DISEASE PREVALENCE IN KISUMU SLUMS

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By Dickens Wasonga.

A survey carried out by KEMRI/CDC shows that 10% of the people living within Kisumu’s slum areas are suffering from Bilharzia.

The three months survey showing the unexpected high prevalence of the disease in the informal settlements of the lake side city has now seen KEMRI/CDC’s neglected tropical branch kick off a spirited campaign to rid the area of Bilharzia through mass drug administration.

Speaking in Kisumu’s Nyalenda B estate on Thursday last week , the KEMRI/CDC neglected and tropical disease principal investigator Dr. Pauline Mwinzi said this is the highest rate to be recorded within a town settlement such as Kisumu.

Dr. MwiNzi said the survey conducted between January and March this year in all the slum areas of Kisumu showed a surprisingly high levels of transmission of the water borne disease that cause fever,malnutrition,anemia and learning disabilitie.

The disease whose high prevalence rates has traditionally been noticed along the shores of lake Victoria also causes general fatigue ,abdominal distention,bloody diarrhoea/urine and anemia.

The study was done in Nyalenda, Bandani, Obunga, Nyamasaria and manyatta areas of Kisumu where Nyalenda B area recorded a massive 35% prevalence rate with Nyamsaria closely behind with 22% while Bandani recorded 20%.

” These rates are considered high for such residential areas and represent the most alarming figures and hence the need for mass deworming” Said Dr. Mwinzi.

Given the study findings , the neglected tropical disease branch of KEMRI/CDC has launched a mass drug administration campaign in the affected areas of Kisumu city.

This is the first time the research institution is carrying out a mass deworming activity in the city or any town settlement set up for Bilharzia.

The KEMRI/CDC researchers said the high prevalence rates in the town was a pointer to inadequate sanitation and poor water safety.

” It is also due to the presence of vector snails that transmit the disease especially in the pool waters found in the estates due to poor drainage” said Mwinzi.

The mass deworming program which began early this month saw 77 teachers from four schools trained on drug administration targetting to reach about 5000 children in selected primary schools in the slum areas of Kisumu.

19 community health workers and 9 village/units elderrs were also trained to reach out an estimated 10,000 children who will not have been covered in schools as well as close to 80,0000 households in Nyalenda B where the first phase was launched.

The community wide treatment kicked off this month with school based treatment at Joel Omino,Nanga,Dunga and Pandpieri primary schools while door to door treatment carried out by the CHWs is also under way.

” The school based program will work very closely with the schools while the community wide treatment is closely working with the community health workers and the village/unit elders to ensure that everybody is covered in the targetted areas.”said Dr.Mwinzi.

KEMRI/CDC two years ago launched a similar campaign against the disease in Rarida district where several fishermen and schools were targetted.

The campaings in Kisumu is supported by the European Foundations Initiative on neglected tropical diseases in collaboration with the municipal council of Kisumu , the ministry of public health and sanitation and KEMRI/CDC.

KENYA: 1200 KPLC STAFF TO DOWN TOOLS COUNTRY WIDE AS FROM NEXT WEEK.

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By Dickens Wasonga

It is official. The country must now prepare for yet another round of total darkness as the over 12000 KPLC staff begins a nationwide strike as from next week.

Speaking to reporters in Kisumu the national vice chairman of Kenya Electrical Trades and Allied Workers Union Mr. Vincent Okulo said although a meeting is scheduled between the union and KPLC top management for the October 17th , this will no avert the looming strike.

Okulo said the meeting will only discuss the delayed Collective Bargaining Agreement for the period 2011/2012 which was to come into effect from January this year.

The union official said the strike which is likely to spur massive industrial unrest and job cuts as more employers will likely do while seeking to survives its aftermath is the last option for staff in their efforts to battle it out with the newly branded KPLC whose vision of ” powering people for better lives” the union now appear bent to discredit.

The union is demanding immediate conclusion and full implementation of the delayed CBA. In the agreement negotiated last year, the union wants the lowest employee to earn sh.17500 up from13,000. They also want a 13% increment for all the cadres.

Apart from the CBA, the union is also demanding that KPLC absorbs as permanent a all the current staff working on temporary terms.

According to Okulo who is also the union’s secretary general for western Kenya region, only 3000 out of 12000 are KPLC permanent staff.

These are artisans such as the meter readers, disconnection clerks etc many of whom are not even covered medically by the company and whom he claimed die while working due to the risk surrounding their duties.

They also want KPLC to stop giving jobs to contractors arguing that contractors were engaging in shoddy jobs and were also to blame for the persistent power outages experienced in most parts of the country.

Okulo claimed that top managers were allegedly colluding with some of the unscrupulous contractors and that explains the many cases of theft of equipment and vandalism that is common at the firm.

”I have worked here for twenty years now. before the management introduced out sourcing of services and hiring of contractors to do jobs for KPLC, issues such us loss of transformers were not there . power back outs were minimal. Today, these people vandalize equipment, siphon transformer oils and do business with the company supplying materials the same materials they have stolen from us” he said.

Okulo who represents 600 casuals from the western Kenya region said the no amount of intimidation will cow them this time round into abandoning the strike and asked consumers countrywide to prepare by stocking candles.

He said the strike action was within the law and asked the police to keep off and resist attempts by the management to use them to intimidate and harass those who will take part in the industrial action.

In the last such strike, some union officials in the region were arrested by police in Kisumu who locked them up.

The country was plunged into total darkness in 1998 when there was severe drought that saw KPLC introduce power rationing that lasted several months resulting into loss of jobs and impacting negatively in the economy.

ENDS.

KENYA: FIDA WORRIED OVER RISING WIDOW EVICTION CASES IN WESTERN KENYA.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The Federation of women lawyers , FIDA is alarmed by the ever increasing cases of widows evictions by in-laws especially in Nyanza and Western Kenya regions.

Speaking during a one day media forum at a Kisumu hotel , Mary Frances Lukera, a senior program officer, FIDA Kenya said over 150 such cases have been filed by the organization in the local courts in just a period of two months.

The FIDA official said they were worried that despite the successful completion of widow eviction cases in the courts, most of whose judgements favored the widows, the trend was not going down in these two regions.

She said the worst hit areas includes Kisii, Siaya, Vihiga and Kakamega where she alleged Chiefs and their assistants were allegedly colluding with some of the in-laws to deny widows and orphans the right to inherit properties left behind when a husband dies.

FIDA Kisumu office has established that most of the cases were as a result of attempts by the relatives of the deceased persons to have widows forcefully inherited.

Lukera noted that most women who refuse to be inherited as demanded by their in-laws remains with no option but to leave.

” Majority of them move to urban centers with their children and without a job to help them raise their families many turn to prostitution which makes them more vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS” she said.

From the past such incidents, the official stated that amongst those who are often likely to be chased away by their in laws are childless widows or those who are from a different ethnic community other than that of their spouses.

Those who have girls only or are jobless at the time of death of their husbands are also prone to widow eviction, a form of violation which they described as the worst nightmare for the widows.

The organization is however conducting awareness creation against the practice and so far several workshops and seminars have been held through- out the two regions.

” We are involving the council of elders in these workshops and during our civic education campaigns targeting to reduce incidences of widow evictions and other forms of violation of women rights in Nyanza and Western Kenya.” said Lukera.

She clarified that apart from using the courts to settle family disputes , FIDA has also been instrumental in mediation processes where there is a problem adding the organization is not only about seeking divorce as perceived by most men in the country.

The one day seminar which brought together several Kisumu based journalists from both the electronic and print media was meant to discuss how to report gender based violence objectively and was organized by FIDA Kenya.

ENDS.

KENYA: MINISTRY TRANSFERS OVER 80 CHIEF OFFICERS IN A MAJOR SHAKE UP TO ENSURE SERVICE DELIVERY BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The ministry of local government has effected a major reshuffle that saw close to 80 town clerks and other chief officers transferred.

The transfers effected by the newly created ministerial posting committee largely affected Nyanza, Western and Rift Valley regions.

In Nyanza, the changes saw Kisumu municipal Town clerk Daniel Ole Nkere moved to Bomet county council in the same capacity.

Ole Nkere who has been in Kisumu for three years was replaced by Christopher Rosana who until last week was the Kehancha Town Clerk.

The new Kehancha town clerk is Peter Keitany who was the Nakuru county council clerk. He was replaced by Barnabas Kosgei who was moved from Nyando county council.

Zablon Chana who was the Lwanda town council clerk now goes to head Bondo town council in the same capacity after he swapped with Mr. Chrispine Jamba.

The changes also saw engineer John Kibet Tasia who was the highway engineer in Nakuru Municipal council moved to Eldoret municipal council in that capacity while Geofrey Sukantet, a welfare officer at the Narok municipal council was transfered to Kisii municipal council.

Also moved was Charles Obute an administrative officer Molo town council. The Migori legal clerk, Mr Collince Roche was moved to Kisumu municipal council through a letter dated 23 of last month and signed by the PS local government Karega Mutahi.

In Gucha county council, Antony Nyongesa a works officer was taken to Voi in the same position while Collins Owino an accountant at Rongo town council was moved to Keroka.

Also affected by the transfers was Christopher Olikor who was moved to Suba from Keroka as a senior accountant.

Jason Ndubi is now the Oyugis town clerk having been moved from Nyamarambe town council where he was the internal auditor while Felix Sanigo goes to Migori municipal council in the same position.

Kipsigis county council also has a new internal auditor in the person of Jemin Abugu who was transfered from Nyamira.

Speaking after a special full council meeting which he chaired Kisumu mayor cllr Sam Okelo said the changes were carried out throughout the country and should be treated as normal.

ENDS.

KENYA: DC , MP ASSES FLOOD DAMAGE CAUSED IN KISUMU AND NYANDO AREAS

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dateWed, Aug 24, 2011 at 5:01 AM
By Dickens Wasonga

The heavy rains that has been pounding most parts of Kisumu and Nyando of Nyanza for the last one week continue to wreck havoc in the area.

Several families within the flood prone Nyando plains are now considering moving to higher grounds as the raging floods sweeps across the area known for rice growing.

There is now fresh fears amongst affected residents of a possible cholera out brake and reemergence of malaria attacks.

However the government said it has put its health personnel in the region on high alert giving an assurance at the same time to the locals that there was enough drugs to handle any disease out-brake should the rains continue like has been predicted by the meteorological department.

On Monday last week Kisumu East district Commissioner Mabeya Mogaka and the MP for Kisumu town East Shakill Shabir toured the affected areas to assess the extent of the destruction which resulted from the floods.

Speaking to the Truth in his office last week , the DC confirmed that the worst hit areas included Kolwa East and Nanga where 8 houses were destroyed and over a 100 homesteads remained submerged in the waters.

Mogaka said the government lost money running into millions of shillings after 60 fish ponds were swept away by the raging floods.

The fish ponds were for the fish farming projects being implemented by various groups and individual fish farmers under the economic stimulus package within the Kisumu east constituency.

” All that money has now gone to waste.This area had the highest concentration of the ponds with each of them having 1000 fingerlings which has gone with the water in to the lake.”said the DC.

He spoke as red cross teams from Kisumu regional office gave out non food items such as canvas and blankets to 50 families in the affected areas.

Mogaka said the district disaster committee in its rapid assessment established that the area requires 10,000 gunny bags to protect the rivers that flooded.

” We have asked Kisumu town east emergency fund to give us Sh.2M to help drain river Awuji and Nyamsaria which are silted so that water can begin to flow easily again to the lake.” he said.

The DC said the situation was still manageable but it could reach crisis levels if the rains persists.

He however assured the residents that members of the district disaster committee were ready for any eventuality adding that the food situation was not yet out of hand.

In areas such as Korowe, Ayweyo RC, and Dunga, families were desperately making efforts to move to safer grounds.

In the past, flood victims usually turn to higher grounds in places such as schools and churches in a bid to escape the raging floods which has become a yearly calamity event during any rainy season.

Most of the affected families in the County of Kisumu and Nyando also had their properties worth millions of shillings destroyed in the wake of the heavy downpour which is pounding also most parts of the country.

In these areas, crops and animals were not spared either as Rivers Nyando, Nyamasaria and Awuji burst their banks.

In Kisumu’s Nyamasaria area ,heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorm led to flooding at Orongo and the famous Nyamasaria shopping center making the areas a no go zone for several hours on Saturday last week..

It was apathetic site at the ultra modern Nakumatt Mega City shopping complex which was flooded after the rains thereby disrupting business for several hours the same week.

It was a hectic time for motorists plying the Kisumu – Nairobi highway as their negotiated their way through the flooded section of the road in and out of the lake side city.

Several passengers remained stranded in Kisumu town while others could be spotted wading through the flood waters.

There was a traffic snarl-up,the first of its kind witnessed in the area where traffic jam is not common from Ahero to Kisumu and from Kisumu to Ahero delaying operations in the busy highway.

Most vehicles could not pass the Nyamasaria bridge that was overflowing with water and other debris picked upstream.

The havoc saw the Nyanza Golf club’s wall collapsing among other numerous structures in slum areas of Kisumu.

Two cyclists were also reportedly swept away by the raging floods near Awuji- Nyamasaria area.

According to eye witnesses, the cyclists did not have passengers at the time of the accident.

Search for the bodies was reportedly still underway according to our sources.

A farmer in Nyando said he lost several goats, Sheep and chicken as a result.

His entire horticulture garden was washed away by the raging floods that caught the resident’s unaware thus creating panic in the area.

ENDS.

KENYA: JIRONO. WETANGULA, WAKOLI, AND WAMALWA NOT SERIOUS – OPARANY ON PRESIDENTIAL RACE

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By Dickens Wasonga.

Five presidential hopefuls from the Western Kenya region who have since declared they will contest the seat in the 2012 general elections are not serious candidates, minister Wycliffe Oparanya has claimed.

Speaking in Rarieda constituency on Friday last week, Oparanya who is the planning minister dismissed as ”passing cloud” the candidacy of MPs Eugine Wamalwa [Saboti], Cyrus Jirongo [Lugari], Moses Wetangula [Sirisia] and Wakoli Bufwoli [Bumula] which should not worry other serious contestants.

The minister said the declaration by the five to seek the presidency was not genuine but a plot hatched by those opposed to Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s presidential bid, hoping they will split the western Kenya votes come the polling day.

The Butere MP claimed the same politicians were behind the sustained calls to have deputy prime minister Musalia Mudavadi declare his interest in the presidential race.

He said it was clear that Mudavadi would be Raila’s running mate adding that the schemes to divide the Luhyia leadership will this time round flop.

” These are moles.Most of them are too broke to mount any significant presidential campaign machinery.What they want is to pretend to be in the race so that they are bought off by strong and serious candidates or play the role of moles but we already know that.We must tell our people to be on the look out so that they are not duped.” said Oparanya.

He however challenged those who have ID cards from Nyanza and western regions to ensure they register in large numbers when the electoral body begins voter registration in the next two months.

Oparanya observed that in the past elections in the areas have been marred by low voter turnout which usually act against the candidates running for various seats from the two provinces and urged them to ensure they cast their ballot.

” In the past elections, only about 70 per cent of registered voters from Nyanza turn up to vote while in Western just about 65 per cent do so. During campaigns , you attend rallies in huge numbers and give the impression that you have a solid support but in the polling day, its a different story.You really let us down” He said.

Oparanya who was accompanied in a tour of CDF projects in Rarieda constituency by the Arabela MP Nicholas Gumbo and Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo also asked his colleagues to ensure the fund is not scrapped.

While supporting the minister on the continued existence of the fund Midiwo said the infrastructural development that government has managed to put in place since the introduction of CDF in 2003 can not have been possible.

Midiwo claimed a section of ministers and MPs who were opposed to devolution were out to see the fund done away with so that other regions that relied on the fund to develop remains behind.

” Kenyans wanted the government to devolve resources and CDF has archived a lot and we must support it further existence because that is the way to ensure resources are equitably distributed.” said Midiwo.

Oparanya at the same time asked his colleagues to ensure all CDF projects are fully completed by June next year.

” We want to start on a new chapter. We do not want the incoming MPs who will be elected in the forth coming polls to inherit incomplete projects like was the case in the last elections.” said the minister.

ENDS

KENYA: YOU HAVE UNTIL JUNE TO COMPLETE YOUR CDF PROJECTS – OPARANY TO MPs.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The Government has directed Members of Parliament to ensure all the projects funded under the Constituency Development Funds and the economic stimulus program are fully implemented by June next year.

Wycliffe Oparanya who is the minister for Planning and National Development and Vision 2030 said all government development initiated projects should be delivered within the project periods if the needs of the people who stand to benefit from them are to be met.

Speaking in Rarieda constituency when he toured the CDF funded projects in the area on Friday last week, the Minister said early completion of such projects also helps the government to get value for money and guard against possible attempt by some MPs to divert the funds especially during the campaign periods ahead of next year’s General Elections.

“Whether the next General Election is going to be held next year or not, my Ministry will ensure that all the projects funded under the CDF and Economic Stimulus Program {ESP} country wide are completed by June next year,” he said.

The Minister therefore urged constituency Development Fund committee officials to ensure the funds are prudently utilized before the next general elections.

Oparanya said the government lost substantial amount of money during the transition period in the last general elections where most projects stalled due to poor implementation practices.

The mister directed that funds which will not have been utilized by that deadline be returned to treasury and be channeled back to the CDF accounts after 2012 general elections.

He said all CDF accounts should be cleaned after successful completion of the projects before the next polls, adding his ministry has set aside funds that will be used to evaluate the CDF projects across the country.

The Butere MP also called upon the district commissioners to monitor the usage of the CDF projects in their jurisdiction because the kitty is just like any other government fund.

The planning minister was accompanied by MPs Dr.Oburu Oginga {Bondo} Eng. Nicholas Gumbo {Rarieda} and Jakoyo Midiwo of Gem.

Constituency Development Funds Board Chief Executive Officer Agnes Odhiambo hailed the quality of projects she visited in Rarieda constituency.

She urged ordinary citizens to monitor the CDF projects in their areas and forward any complaint regarding the misuse of the CDF Kitty to her office for action.

ENDS.

KENYA: KISUMU NGO DONATES FOOD AND DRUGS WORTH 5 MILLION TO HUNGER VICTIMS

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The Kenyans for Kenya initiative over the weekend got a boost when a Kisumu based non-governmental organization donated food and medicine worth Sh.5 million to help those currently faced with starvation in the northern parts of the country.

OGRA foundation, a Kenyan local NGO in partnership with Direct Relief International responded to the Kenya Red Cross Emergency appeal by making a donation worth Sh.4.5 M which included drugs, medicines and food to hunger stricken families in areas such as Turkana North and Central and Lokolir which are the worst hit by the food crisis.

Part of the food donated and presented to the Red Cross Kisumu regional office by the foundation’s C.O.E Dr.Hezron Makobewa included 150 bags of maize.

Mr. Ken Wafula, the national chairman of the NGO council who received the donation before handing it over to the Red Cross Society in Kisumu appealed to all active NGO countrywide to support the food initiative.

Wafula noted that it was a pity Kenya which is blessed with fertile farming lands was in dire need of food attributing the current food scarcity to poor and bad governance.

” It is shameful that our people should go hungry in a country that can grow enough food to feed everybody and even export the surplus. We fail to plan well.In times of plenty, our farmers get stuck with their produce in the farms.Most of the yields even rot and poor markets is the order of the day’ he said.

The NGO boss called on the government to allocate more money into agriculture and give subsidies to farmers to boost food security.

The Red Cross Society’s deputy secretary general Dr.James Kisia said the situation was still dire in north Turkana where malnutrition rates were at between 37-38 per cent with emergency rates being at 15 per cent in most of the hardest hit areas.

” In the worst hit areas , 9 year old children weigh as a low as 3kgs.” In areas of Wajir, Isiolo, Marsabit and Mwingi malnutrition rates is over 20 per cent.These are not just figures.They have profound effect on the development of this nation.” said Dr.Kisia.

The appeal which was launched after reports indicated millions of people across the country were facing starvation due to prolonged drought sought to raise over 600 million shillings and has seen an overwhelming support from many Kenyans.

” We feel greatly humbled by the response. We have seen pouring of assistance even from regions where hunger is hardly an issue, people who are very compassionate.” said Kisia.

OGRA Foundation also responded to the humanitarian crisis three years ago which resulted from the disputed results of the2007 general election by donating both food and medicine through its partnership with the Kenya Red Cross Society.

The intervention saw the restoration of the health care to hundreds of both vulnerable and general population in western parts of Kenya.

ENDS.

KENYA & ICC: VICTIMS GRANTED STATUS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONFIRMATION OF CHARGES AT THE HAGUE

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By Dickens Wasonga.

Only 327 people have been picked as victims by the International Criminal Court which is seeking to punish those who are suspected to have been behind the post poll chaos that rocked the country in 2008.

According to Maria Kamara, the ICC’s field outreach coordinator , those were the people who got the approval of the pre -trial chamber judges as victims authorized to participate in the confirmation of charges proceedings at the Hague.

Speaking at a Kisumu hotel on Tuesday during a workshop for journalists covering ICC issues Kamara disclosed that the selected victims were amongst several Kenyans who had indicated interest of participation in the process and did so voluntarily.

She stated that although they have been picked by the judges , they will be represented by a legal team that will be put together and who will travel to represent them at the Hague.

Kamara pointed out that those victims will not have to be present during the confirmation hearings slated for next month and in October where the six suspects will get the opportunity to make a statement on the charges facing them

The first team to appear for the confirmation schedule for September 1st will be the suspects from ODM side of the coalition and includes the suspended higher education minister William Ruto, Kass FM journalist Joshua San’g and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgei.

The other group who includes ambassador Francis Muthaura[ Secretary to the Cabinet] , Hussien Ali [ postmaster Genral] and Uhuru Kenyatta [deputy prime minister] will appear in October.

The coordinator said the victims were picked after a visit to all the hot spot areas and IDP camps by a team of officers from the court’s victim’s participation and reparation division who also held consultations with victims from affected communities.

” Many people indicated interest in taking part in the process, they completed forms provided by the ICC teams and the same was handed over to the judges who picked the 327.”

She disclosed that civil society groups from the regions affected most by the poll chaos were involved into mobilizing the people who showed willingness to participate in the process.

Kamara clarified that the confirmation of the charges was not meant to determine whether the suspects were guilty or not but would offer them an opportunity to make a statement.

It would also give the ICC chief prosecutor Moreno Ocampo the chance to give full evidence he has gathered to build hid case.

And she confirmed that there were no provisions within the operations of the ICC that bar accused persons before it from seeking any political office.

” That is a constitutional matter that each country can address and the court has nothing to do with the political ambitions of those under trial should the charges be confirmed”.said Kamara.

She was reacting to concerns raised by journalists who wanted to know if the confirmation of the charges could stop the suspects from running in the 2012 elections.

This is considering that two of the suspects, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto are presidential hopefuls.

The two have been on a campaign trail and appear not bothered about the impending trails at the Hague.

However according to analysts the duo may not be out of the woods yet especially if the charges were to be confirmed.

They opined that any Kenyan would go to court and seek its interpretation of the constitution.Besides, ICC does not have a time frame of cases before it as long as there is no indication of a deliberate move to delay the proceedings.

That means if the charges are confirmed, the cases could go beyond the set dates for the general elections in Kenya thus complicating matters for Ruto and Uhuru both of whom are viewed as strong candidates in the G7alliance.

ENDS.

KENYA: COMMUNITY LIFE IMPROVEMENT CENTER LAUNCHED TO AID CHILD HEALTH IN NYANZA

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By Dickens Wasonga.

Procter and Gamble through its leading Pampers Baby and Family Care Brand has established a pilot program aimed at promoting healthy development of babies and children in the greater Nyanza and Western regions.

The program, embodied in a Community Life Center, was set up by Procter and Gamble in partnership with Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP) a local implementing NGO.

Statistics from the Kenya Health Demographic Survey (KHDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) show that out of every 1000 at babies, 149 died from preventable diseases, a figure that is higher than Africa’s average of 38 in every 1000.

Research conducted by the implementing agent in the Nyando region of Nyanza province over the last five years showed that diarrhea and malaria are preventable yet major causes of infant and child mortality.

The new Community Life Improvement Center, dubbed the ‘Pampers Baby and Family Center’ has four components; a clean water pump station for dispensing to the general public, a model traditional kitchen, an information resource center for the community and a baby and family care center.

Speaking at the official launch of the facility, Procter and Gamble East Africa Managing Director Adema Sangale explained that the Community Life Improvement Center was essentially a micro-franchise model with a market-based approach that had a social agenda of improving the community’s life thereby addressing social health and entrepreneurship issues in a sustainable manner.

There is a wide range of products sold at the Pampers Baby and Family Care Center that address the preventable diseases and promote healthy baby development.

“One of the products is safe water. The community plant here uses a mechanical pumping process to draw raw water from the local river Nyando to a 1,000 liter header tank located three meters high from where the water is fed by gravity through a special filter into a second tank of equal capacity,” she explained noting that it had been designed to pump a similar amount in a day.

This clean water is then distributed through piping to taps from where it is dispensed to the general public at a nominal cost. The water supply system, she said, was ideal for providing clean water for multiple uses in several households in the region.

PuR water purifier sachets are available for home treatment of the river water for individuals unable to fetch water from the center.

SWAP works with 900 groups of entrepreneurial women across the region to build capacity and link them to micro finance institutions to grow their small scale businesses. A case in point is the Baby and Family Center, a self-sustaining community based small business run by local entrepreneurs.

SWAP Program Director Alie Elevald said that the success of the pilot program was encouraging and would form the basis to consider the expansion of the concept of life improvement centers comprising Pampers Baby and Family Care Centers and community water purification and supply systems.

As a baby and family care brand, we believe that this initiative is in line with Pampers brand values.

The new baby and family care center is run by 4 people; one manager, an assistant manager and a staff of two.

Ends

CHINA & KENYA: CHINA OVERSEAS ENGINEERING GROUP COMPANY LIMITED (COVEC) SUCCESSFULLY DELIVER YET ANOTHER AIRPORT PROJECT

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Dickens Wasonga.

The lake side city of Kisumu finally has good news.

In most occasions what is churned out of the city home to over a half a million people has just been negative stuff.

Usually it is the violence related stories or bad politics that we associate our beautiful town with.

Things however are set to change and so is the image of Kisumu which is the headquarters of Kisumu county.Now it is celebrating a successful completion of an international airport which is set to transform the region into a travel hub, south and east of Africa.

Three years ago, the Kenya government in collaboration with the World Bank set out on a journey to upgrade the facility at a cost of sh.3b.

After a competitive bidding and rigorous search for a contractor , the airport project was awarded to the multinational Chinese Overseas Construction Engineering company COVEC whose proven competence in delivering timely , cost effective and magnificent projects earned itself international recognition.

With its newly acquired status, Kisumu International Airport which is the third busiest airport facility after Moi International Airport in Mombasa will now be able to handle direct flights within Africa, Europe and even Asia.

The upgraded project whose implementation was done by COVEC under the able leadership of Mr. Yang Liuyin ,the Project Manager will boost economic en devours between Kenya and countries within the great lakes region including the southern Sudan.

The Chinese experts used their professional acumen to give their clients KAA a product worth the amount the government invested into the project and residents of Nyanza are already preparing to make good use of the modern facility by transforming it into an income generating venture.

At the greater Nyakach and the fertile farmlands of Nyando, horticultural farmers have already put under cultivation several acres of land in the wake of the good news about the completion of the airport.

Business in the town has been boosted with many private and public entities such the Kenya Wild Life Service, Kenya tourist board, Kisumu city council and numerous hotels operating in the region embarking on aggressive marketing campaigns to popularize the Western Kenya tourist circuit where the new airport is located.

The good work carried out by the COVEC team and a group of experienced engineers from KAA and the NACO consultants which ultimately saw Kisumu realize the ambition of both the government and the people of Western Kenya in having an international airport can not be underestimated.

The Chinese work ethics where skills is combined with serious dedication to handwork and good behavior truly demonstrated that the country was getting a brake from a past which was synonymous with shoddy and uncompleted jobs.

Such projects which remained white elephants after gobbling up hard earned public funds gave the government’s poorly implemented and supervised works a blot. This is what COVEC and its team worked tirelessly to disapprove.

When the project began , there was a lot of resistance especially from a section of the community who felt they would lose their land to the airport project but those fears were soon addressed by a competent KAA management and the project implementing teams.

Constant consultation and continuous dialogue gave a boost to the project and found favor with the locals with all the affected families receiving money as land compensation from the government.

The same spirit of working in harmony was soon to be adopted by the Chinese workers who gave themselves total commitment to deliver the project timely and at the same time ensuring quality of work was never compromised.

COVEC which floored giant and equally reputable organizations both locally and internationally in the the road and airport construction circles however did not disappoint.

Before it was awarded the Kisumu airport project, the company which is an affiliate of China Railways Cooperation had been implementing a number of successfully delivered projects within the African continent such as in Angola, Morocco,Botswana, Mauritias, Zambia,Mali amongst others .

In Botswana, for example, COVEC implemented a housing project for over 424 affordable housing units which was financed through a concessional loan provided by the Chinese government.

In 2006 in Angola, the reputable company completed a US dollar 8 million hospital project in a record 15 months.

The Luanda General Hospital project built a facility which could hospitalize 100 patients and handle 800 daily.

While implementing the Kisumu airport project and several others mentioned above , COVEC had already curved out for itself a prominent place in the sector once dominated by the South African and European firms.

During the project period, the Chinese reconstructed the dilapidated 2 kilometers by 30 meters runway to an ultra modern 3.3 kilometers by 45 meters runway which now can bigger aircraft than was being handled before.

They also constructed a state of the art two floors terminal building and other associated works like air field ground lighting, sewerage systems, air side access roads, a unique and high security fence amongst others.

Other services includes a dedicated 4 inch pipe water from Kisumu water and sewerage company (KIWASCO) and dedicated power services from Kenya Power Lighting Company .

An access road from the Kisat junction to Kisian has also been constructed.

The implementation of the project was a boost to the locals many of whom were and still are employed at the project either as skilled or non skilled staff by COVEC and their sub contractors.

The locals some of whom were non skilled benefited immensely .They worked hand in hand with the Chinese technicians who in turn were able to impart knowledge in them.

Many were able to acquire expertise in areas such as usage of modern equipment, tools and techniques especially in building construction.

ENDS.

KENYA: OVER 10 SUSPECTS ESCAPE FROM POLICE CELLS IN BONDO AND SIAYA

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From: Dickens Wasonga

Police in Siaya county woke up to a rude shock when over 10 remand prisoners made a dramatic escape from Bondo and Ukwala police stations in the wee hours of Friday morning.

According to Bondo district police boss Patrick Mangoli, at least five suspects who were remanded at the police station and were due to appear before the local law courts to answer various charges that morning scaled a perimeter wall after braking the doors to the holding area in an incident that threw the police into confusion.

The OCPD said the five suspects reportedly broke lose after they allegedly cut the padlock used in locking the cells by a hark-saw before they made the daring escape at 4.00 am.

It is not clear how many police officers were at the sentry or at the report desk at the time of the incident.

It is also a puzzle just how the tool they used to brake the doors leading to the cells found its way into the holding area which is usually under guard throughout by the police.

Amongst those who escaped includes four hardcore criminals who were being held by the authorities to answer robbery with violence charges.The fifth was a suspected burglar.

We were not able to confirm how many suspects were being remanded at the cells by the time the incident took place. The police said they have launched a man hunt for the escapees but none had been rearrested by the time we went to press.

In Ukwala there was conflicting reports about the actual number of the suspects who fled from the police cells.

Independent sources claimed all remand prisoners who were being held at the station had escaped but according to the Ugenya DC Carolyne Onchoka, 11 suspected criminals went missing.

The DC however asked for more time to get the fine details of the police station escape incident that sent the local provincial security team into panic.

The daring escape at Ukwala police station reportedly took place in the morning at around 6.00 am and it is not clear how 11 suspects could successfully flee with the high number of police officers normally at work at any police station.

Efforts to have the Nyanza PPO Njue Njagi to comment on the matter was futile. His cell phone went on ringing unanswered. He was said to have rushed to Ukwala as unconfirmed reports indicated his deputy Larry Kieng was dispatched to Bondo where a similar escape was reported.

KENYA: QUACKS TO FACE GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN SOON – NYONGO

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The government has put on notice all those who operate sub standard or illegal medical laboratories countrywide.

The minister for medical services Prof. Anyang Nyongo said the medical laboratory technologists and technicians board will conduct inspections throughout the country and will shut down laboratories which are not licensed to operate by the board and prosecute the owners.

He said quacks have put up all manner of shanties operating as medical labs where they con unsuspecting members of the public huge sums of money and the crackdown will catch up with them

Speaking at the KEMRI Campus in Kisumu the minister who led a high powered team of medical doctors from his ministry including the Director of Medical services Dr. Francis Kimani to inspect the recently accredited labs at the Kisian center said that even public hospitals and health centers whose labs are found to be wanting will not be spared during the crackdown that will begin next month.

The minister said quality of health care provision can not be obtained unless health facilities operate laboratories which conform to set standard that will ensure diseases are fast and accurately diagnosed before treatment is delivered.

Nyongo said many patients lose their lives because of wrong diagnosis of their medical conditions because the labs were either substandard or due to fake reagents used to carry out investigations and warned that the trend must be reversed urgently.

” Quacks who stock ink and pose as though they are selling genuine lab reagents or other lab equipments through out the country have their days numbered. We must do a thorough clean up exercise to weed them out because of the danger they pose to the health of our citizens.” said prof. Nyongo.

He also asked research institutions like KEMRI/CDC to adopt laboratories operated by public health facilities situated in remote areas to help improve their capacities in terms of infrastructure development.

Nyongo called upon the board to make sure the laboratory technicians and technologists together with pathologists work under one unit to for ease of coordination and supervision.

He also asked them to continuously further their education to be up to date with the modern trend in medicine.

The Director of medical services said there was great need to ensure accuracy of lab results adding that malaria which continue to kill millions of people especially amongst children below five years in sub Saharan Africa was the most misdiagnosed in most hospitals whether in private or public facilities.

He disclosed that 75 lab inspectors will be trained from May to in monitoring and supervise the activities of the medical labs countrywide.

The DMS said a total of 21 medical labs will also be accredited after they met the set standards of the World Health Organization.

” Good laboratory systems and services are critical and we must strive to attain this goal” said the DMS

The trainings which will be done by the government in partnership with the University of Maryland will contribute to strengthening laboratory services across the country and to better health care systems.

Those who graced the occasion included,the KEMRI Kisian director Dr. John Vulule, CDC division of Global HIV/AIDS director Dr. Nancy Knight,Provincial director of medical services Nyanza Dr. Ojwang Lusi and others.

ENDS.

KENYA: POLICE RECRUITMENT TO BE CONDUCTED IN A DIFFERENT METHOD.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The 7000 young Kenyans hoping to be enlisted into the yet to be established Kenya Police Service will for the first time ever appear before a recruitment panel instituted to ensure the exercise is free and fair.

And unlike in the past , the exercise will be carried out in the presence of several observer groups and eligible candidates will be given the opportunity to chose either to serve as the regular or administration police officers.

But they will also have to apply for the job by filling in an application form to show they have an interest to be hired.

Another noticeable departure from the past is the fact that the recruitment for APs and the regular police officers will be held jointly and in a single day countrywide unlike in the past where such exercises were carried out in different dates.

As part of the police reforms which were launched in the year 2003 the police officers seeking to be absorbed will now be hired by a district recruitment committee which will be chaired by the district commissioners and assisted by relevant technical officers drawn from various government ministries.

The officers will include the Officer commanding police divisions, the district officers of health, the district education officers, district registrar of persons and the district intelligence officers and their criminal investigations counterpart.

Even a religious groups will be represented together with the business community. Reporters will also be allowed unlimited access to cover the exercise and no team should bar the press from the recruitment venues.

According to the deputy police spokes person Mr Charles Owino, the changes are intended to ensure the process of hiring recruits is not only free and fair but also responsive and representative to the needs of the citizenry.

Owino said the rot that has bedeviled the force in the past was partly due to the poor recruitment exercises which were riddled by nepotism and claims of corruption.

” If you get the process of hiring wrong then the whole intention of having a professional system can not be met” he said

The senior officer who spoke to journalists at Kisumu’s Tom Mboya Labor college during a briefing of the new guidelines to officers who will oversea the coming exercise from Nyanza and Western provinces. He said constables picked will during the exercise will undergo 15 months training either at the Administration police training college in Embakasi, Kenya Police Training College in Kiganjo or the G.S.U training school in Nairobi.

The commissioned cadet officers will undergo 21 months training under a new curriculum for the two services .

Part of the members of the district recruitment committee follow proceedings of the meeting at Tom Mboya Labor College .

Out of the number targeted for the exercise, 10 per cent should be graduates while 30 per cent will be women in line with the government’s affirmative action.

The Nyanza Central regional commissioner warned the recruiting teams to avoid the temptation to favor any applicant who fails to meet the set requirements and pledged that the government will disciple those found engaging in corruption during the exercise.

Height of candidates which in the past barred many hopefuls from joining the force will not be an issue to look at this time and any candidate eliminated must be told by the recruiting teams the reason why they have to be dropped at every level.

The teams were also directed to ignore directives from any senior officer either from the force or the government departments who try to influence the out come of the recruitment exercise.

In the past senior police officers from police headquarters and senior government officials, MPs and ministers have been accused of demanding to be given slots to have their friends or relatives hired in the respective districts.

ENDS.

KENYA: HIV DRUG TRIAL FAILS IN KENYA AND THREE OTHER AFRICAN NATIONS

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By Dickens Wasonga.

A large HIV prevention study involving over 3000 women in Kenya and three other African other has suffered a huge set back after it was ordered stopped by an independent body which review trial data to ensure that participants are not being adversely affected by a daily dose of the study pill.

The revelation that has surprised the scientists involved in the trials was taken by the Independent Data Monitoring Committee which directed the researchers to bring to an early closure, the clinical trials of Truvada, an ARV which was under investigation to see whether it could be given to prevent HIV infections on HIV negative women who are at higher risk of getting virus.

scientists showing journalists around the clinical trial site offices in Bondo

According to the scientists, the trials had to end prematurely after preliminary review indicated the study pill was unlikely to prevent HIV infections amongst women as earlier expected even though huge amounts of money could have gone to waste.

The Female pre-exposure prophylaxis study whose preparation began in 2007 in Bondo district, the only study site in Kenya was scheduled to end in June next year and was designed to study whether HIV negative women of between the ages of 18 to 35 and at the higher risk of infection by the virus could safely use a daily dose of the pill called Truvada to prevent infection.

The study was underway in two other African countries namely Tanzania and South Africa. In Harare Zimbabwe, a site was to be established in collaboration with the University of Zimbabwe and it was scheduled to begin FEM-PrEP trials in mid 2011 but the site could not be initiated due to the premature closure and no participant was enrolled.

But the trials were on going in Bondo and Rarieda of Nyanza province where screening for the would be eligible participants started in 2009. A total of 1495 women in the targeted group were screened and 739 of them were enrolled into the clinical trial that had initially given hope to the researchers involved.

Out of the number that was screened 992 failed the tests and were excluded from the study. By the end of last month, 331 women enrolled had been in the study taking the trial pills for one year.

The study whose fate now appears to hang in the balance at least until the committee that monitors similar trials all over the world gives its verdict was being implemented by the Family Health Internationla in partnership with the Impact Research and Development Organization and other research centers in Africa and had intended to enroll 3900 women in all the study sites in the four African nations when completed..

It was being funded by the United States Agency for International Development [USAID], with early funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and if it proceeded to its logical conclusion , the Kenyan site alone would have gobbled an estimated 4 million US dollars.

So what went wrong?

Dr. Kawango Agot, the director of Impact-RDO and FEM-PrEP site investigator for the Bondo study area said this preliminary result from the study does not eliminate Truvada as a potential HIV prevention method for women.” what we can say is that, at this time, it cannot be determined whether this drug works to prevent HIV infection in women in the FEM-PrEP trial.Other ongoing HIV prevention studies may be able to shed further light on the effectiveness of Truvada among women” she said.

HIV scientists in Kenya and other countries were surprised and disappointed by the interim results, especially because another recent study called iPrEx, found that the same drug, Truvada, could prevent HIV infections among men who have sex men at risk of the virus.

According to the Kenyan team, the reason for the surprising findings among women in the FEM-PrEP study is not clear at this time. They believe it could be the women who were on the study were not taking the study pill consistently very day and that the drug works differently in men and women.

The scientists have not yet finished analyzing all the FEM-PrEP data and they are currently investigating a number of possibilities. But Dr. Agot said the study will now be closed over the next few months as study participants complete their final study visits to the Bondo clinic. She said the preliminary results have already been shared with most of the participants ,the local communities are also being informed at this i moment . ”Once the final results are known, they will be shared with everyone” She added.

Is it possible then that the participants may have failed to adhere to the drug?

According to the researchers, socio behavioral information plays an important complementary role in HIV prevention clinical trials. The behavior of the participants , such as their regular attendance at the scheduled clinic visits and their adherence to the study pill is fundamental to success of clinical trials.

As part of FEM-PrEP, the study team said they developed and monitored procedures for reaching women who were at higher risk , implemented strategies to promote adherence to the study pill, examined aspects of clinical trial that were difficult for participants to understand and promoted community engagement in research. Data were also gathered on adherence to the study pill and on participants sexual behaviors while taking the study pill.

So who did not do what and why ?

Documents relating to the study confirms that during trial implementation , the study teams monitored and provided on going feedback about recruitment strategies, comprehension of the informed consent process, and counseling to improve adherence to the study pill, risk reduction and contraceptive counseling , as well as community education and outreach.

Data was also gathered to understand general issues of adherence and sexual behavior in the context of the clinical trial and they systematically engaged community stakeholders in the research process.

The claim therefore that participants failure to adhere to the drug stand very slim chances of raising a debate amongst observers. This is because in their own findings, 90 per cent of the participants in all the study sites in the participating countries made a come back for the follow up visits every month and were retained in the trials.

As at the 18th of February this year, preliminary findings indicated that 95 per cent of the study participants had adhere to the study product. 5 per cent of new HIV infections were noticed on participants although the scientists at the Bondo site had expected 4 per cent and 56 new infections occurred in all the sites.

The primary goal of the study in addition to assessing the effectiveness of Truvada in preventing HIV infection in women is to evaluate its safety when used daily by women who are not infected with the virus.

It is licensed as an HIV treatment by the drug regulatory agencies in a number of countries , including Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the United States. It has shown to be safe if taken by HIV positive people for the treatment of HIV.

Because the drug had not been assessed as a drug to prevent HIV, a primary goal of PrEP clinical trial is to evaluate its safety amongst its HIV negative people. The iPrEx clinical trial, which released its results in November 2010, found no substantial safety concerns when Truvada was taken by men who have sex with men to prevent HIV.

But following a scheduled interim review of the FEM-PrEP study data, the Independent Data monitoring Committee advised that the study will be highly unlikely to be able to demonstrate the drug’s effectiveness in preventing the HIV in the study population even if it continued to its originally planned conclusion.

And with that verdict of the committee the entire team in the trials were thrown into abrupt halt of the project that has gobbled millions of shillings from the sponsoring organizations.

ENDS.