Category Archives: Land

KENYA: THE GOVERNMENT IS URGED TO ENHANCE THE SECURITY SITUATION ALONG THE NANDI-LUO BORDER

From: LEO ODERA

The recent reports emerging from Muhoroni Sub-County within Kisumu COUNTY are pointing out the alarmingly deteriorating security along the Nyanza-Rift Valley border. Several people have lost their lives within the last two months as the result o senseless and attacks by criminal elements.

Nyanza regional commissioner Franciis Mutie toured Cgehelil Location last weekend and addressed series of public Barazas and urged the two communities, namely the Luos and Nandis to maintain peace and also warned squatters to desist from the bad habit of invading other people’s lands, occupying them. Mutie did not mince his words and told the squatters that the government will kick them out of the land they were currently occupying illegally.

The first incident was the killing of a night guard at the palatial home of MR Arjit SINGH Singyh [Simba} and his family. They had travelled to Makinndu for religious pilgrimage when the attack took place, forcing the family to rush back home. The night guard was shot at close range with a powerful rifle and died instantly. The unknown assailants later ransacked Mr Singh house turning everything upside down.

So far no arrest has been made by police in connection with the killing of the night guard. Local observers believes that the killing was the result of business rivalry, which is suspected to be connected with the scramble for the Miwani Sugar Mills and its 900 nucleus estate farm. He company was run-down and went burst about 15 years ago.

Muhoroni MP James O nyango K’Oyoo has appealed to the Luos AND Nandis communities to live in harmony.

The MP also termed the action of one community invading the farms which belonging to their neighbors as an act of high provocation, saying that respecting one another property was the best component of maintaining peace and tranquility along the tribal common borders.

The MP’S complaint came in the wake of the killing two weeks ago of a prominent LUO businessman and a farmer who was shot with an arrow at Chepsweta area of Chemelili Location. The deceased, who was accompanied by his sibling, had gone to inspect his sugar cane farm when they were attacked by the Nandi youths. His brother sustained serious bodily injuries and was treated at the Chemelil sugar company dispensary and discharged. YOUTHS FROM THE luo side of the border had grouped to dtsgr rotation, but were restrained and dispersed by the police.

K’Oyoo has since raised the issue in parliament an urged the Nandi leaders to top inciting the youths.

END

IF I WERE TO MAKE MY SAINTS IN KENYA

From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2013

On Friday November 1, 2013 will be the Solemnity of all Saints Day, the day on which Catholics celebrate all the saints, known and unknown. The date of November 1 was instituted by Pope Gregory III (731-741), when he consecrated a chapel to all the martyrs in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and ordered an annual celebration. All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation.

The first reading is taken from Rv 7:2-4, 9-14, second reading from 1 Jn 3:1-3 and the Gospel from Mt 5:1-12a. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

If I were to make Saints in Kenya then Anglican Bishop Alexander Muge would be one of them. He was one of the most prominent reformers who lost his life at age forty two. He was among the champions who vigorously campaigned for multiparty democracy in Kenya.

He wanted the government where the president respected the rule of law. He believed that anyone who had been given authority, they should exercise that authority in a just and fair manner. He went on to tell President Daniel arap Moi to his face in public that he would be with him if he did right before men and God but he would not stand by him if he did wrong.

No matter how much he would pray to God to guide Moi in whatever decision he made, he always made a wrong one. He also challenged the church that they had nothing to lecture Kenyans about since it was filled with tribalism nepotism and all forms of isms.

Muge worked hard to alleviate the suffering of the poor and guided his followers to live in harmony as they endured suffering caused by government of Moi. Muge himself lived a humble life. Despite receiving millions from donors he took a loan to build his house and drove the Peugeot he died in.

Muge died on August 14, 1990 in a road accident at Kipkaren, Uasin Gishu County, on his way back from Busia. His death sparked controversy after it was alleged that he had been warned by a former Labour minister Peter Okondo not to set foot in Busia. Muge defied the threat and travelled to but crashed on his way back.

According to former member of Kenya’s Directorate of State Intelligence – the Special Branch, Inspector James Lando Khwatenge, Bishop Muge’s accident was planned by the government of Moi.

Khwatenge told Truth Justice & Reconciliation Commission in March last year that the urder was planned by the security services as “Operation Shika Msumari”.

Prior to his death bishop Muge had urged President Moi to dissolve parliament, convene a national constitutional conference and hold free and fair elections. Large-scale political demonstrations erupted in July 1990 when Moi began detaining most vocal critics, charging them with sedition.

My next Saint is a Mill Hill Missionary Fr John Anthony Kaiser. He had devoted 36 years of his life as a human rights worker and a catalyst for social ministry in Kenya. He advocated for social justice in a country that despite of gaining independence in 1963 poverty was still rampant-Corruption, abuse of power and economic crime.

Father Kaiser did not only live and worked in solidarity with the rural poor, when ethnic unrest in the Rift Valley threatened to fragment the nation during the early 1990s, Father Kaiser openly spoke out against the government for its role in stoking the tensions.

The night he died, Father Kaiser was en route to give sanctuary to another of his flock.

A young girl in his parish had been raped and impregnated by a government official, and he was on his way to get her out of a lodge where she was being forcibly held. Among his most dearly held roles as a pastor was to continually advocate for and work toward safety and respect for women.

Father Kaiser, driving alone through the Rift Valley, was found dead at the side of the road, his body found near his truck and his gun lying nearby. The FBI investigation into his death, released several days after Easter, concluded that Father Kaiser’s death was probably a suicide.

According to FBI report, Fr. Kaiser could have killed himself because of depression which intensified immediately the papal Nucio had summoned him. He met the Nuncio on August 22, 2000.

On August 23, 2000, he bade goodbye to almost all of his friends. When he arrived at the bishop’s residence later that evening, he was informed by Fr. Mwangi Francis that Sister Nuala had telephoned him. In return he told Fr. Mwangi to thank her for the good work she had done.

This looked strange to Fr. Mwangi because he used past tense expressions. Sister Brangan Nuala is a Loreto sister who working for peace and justice for the Association of Religious Women in Nairobi at that time.

He had informed his parishioners that he was going on a long journey and he was not sure he would come back. At this time he had already received the summon to appear before the Nuncio through his regional superior, Fr Cornelius Schilder who later became the Bishop of Ngong.

The report further revealed that he announced to colleagues that he had not slept in three days since he received the sermon to see the nuncio. He appeared solemn, worried and withdrawn. He was observed weeping at a group lunch.

On August 23, 2000, at 8.30 pm, Fr. Kaiser drove from bishop’s residence to Kiambu for unknown reason. Local residence observed him standing on a knoll, holding shotgun in both hands.

On August 23, 2000, at 11.30 pm Fr. Kaiser arrived at Naivasha gas station and did not fuel his car even though he had some money with him. The reported added that Fr. Kaiser was alone in Naivasha and that there was no other vehicle apart from his.

On August 24, 2000, between midnight and 2.00 am, a night watchman in the vicinity of where Fr. Kaiser’s body was found, repeatedly saw and heard a vehicle similar to Fr. Kaiser’s truck, driving on a near by access road.

At about 2.30 am, the same watchman heard a loud noise, similar to a shotgun blast coming from the direction where Fr. Kaiser’s body was later found.

Fr Cornelius Schilder had secretly advised him to leave Kenya. He had seen Fr Kaiser as going astray to his mission by involving himself into human rights, a movement Fr Schilder did not welcome. In 1994 they were working secretly to deport him when his work permit had expired, a move he objected vigorously.

The reason why Fr Kaiser refused to go home was because he so loved the people he worked for so much. For him it was rather to die than leaving his flock, especially the IDPs at at Maela camps.

He was a priest who did not shut his eyes to wrongdoing nor lose his voice in the face of injustice. Fr Kaiser had the “remarkable ability to recognise evil for what it was”. Father Kaiser gained prominence in Kenya as an advocate for thousands of people who had their land and property summarily taken.

In working directly with IDPs he gathered and publicly presented documentation that connected this land grabbing to highly placed government officials. Testifying before a special Kenya government commission, Father Kaiser accused two Cabinet ministers of promoting tribal clashes and seizing land vacated during the fighting.

Father Bill Vos, director of the St. Cloud Catholic Mission Office, was a close personal friend of Father Kaiser’s. “When I received word early Thursday morning of John Kaiser’s death, I was not surprised,” said Father Vos.

“I knew his life was in jeopardy and had shared with him on more than one occasion about the very real possibility that he would be killed. He knew that by implicating some of the most powerful people in Kenya in serious human rights abuses he was putting his life in danger.” Father Vos had served in east Africa for 19 years.

The next Saint in this category is Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15 August 1930 – 5 July 1969), a Kenyan politician during Jomo Kenyatta’s government. He was founder of the Nairobi People’s Congress Party, a key figure in the formation of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), and the Minister of Economic Planning and Development at the time of his death.

Mboya was assassinated on 5 July 1969 in Nairobi, Moi Avenue. At the time Mboya was killed he had been widely viewed as the most obvious successor to former President Jomo Kenyatta. He was gunned down by Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge.

Mboya was educated at various Catholic mission schools. In 1942, he joined a Catholic Secondary School in Yala, in Nyanza province, St Mary’s School Yala. In 1946, he went to the Holy Ghost College (later Mang’u High Scholl), where he passed well enough to proceed to do his Cambridge School Certificate.

In 1959 Mboya organized the Airlift Africa project, together with the African-American Students Foundation in the United States, through which 81 Kenyan students were flown to the U.S. to study at U.S. universities. Barrack Obama’s father, Barrack Obama, Sr was among students he airlifted.

The next is Josiah Mwangi Kariuki (March 21, 1929–March 2, 1975), a Kenyan socialist politician during the administration of the Jomo Kenyatta government. He was assassinated in March 2, 1975 by people close to the Kenyatta government.

From the onset of independence in 1963, JM constantly warned those that seemed to have acquired a new disease of ‘grabbing’ thousands of acres of land while the majority of Kenyans remained landless.

“This is greed,” he thundered in Parliament in March 1974, one year before he was assassinated. “It is this greed that will put this country into chaos. Let me state here that this greedy attitude among the leaders is going to ruin this country.”

JM specifically warned privileged elites from Central Province who were taking advantage of their positions to buy up land cheaply from other communities.

“They have even gone as far as Maasailand, saying that they are doing an experiment whereas the whole Masailand has been taken by those greedy people.”

His insight into the creeping inequality in the country acquired a prophetic tone when he warned that if we were not careful, the Kenya would become a country on “ten millionaires and ten million beggars”.

JM indeed was a friend of the poor with his call to the government to create
policies that empowered Kenyans. He used his wealth towards the empowerment of Kenyans.

My last Saint in this category is Prof Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), the founder of the Green Belt Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya (Africa), in 1940. She obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi, where she also taught veterinary anatomy.

The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.

Professor Maathai represented the Tetu constituency in Kenya’s parliament (2002–2007), and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya’s ninth parliament (2003–2007). In 2005, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador to the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem by the eleven Heads of State in the Congo region.

Some Kenyans viewed her move to campaign for Mwai Kibaki’s presidency as tribal. Professor Maathai died on 25 September 2011 at the age of 71 after a battle with ovarian cancer. Memorial ceremonies were held in Kenya, New York, San Francisco, and London.

Maathai and her husband, Mwangi Mathai, separated in 1977. After a lengthy separation, Mwangi filed for divorce in 1979. Mwangi was said to have believed Wangari was “too strong-minded for a woman” and that he was “unable to control her”.

In addition to naming her as “cruel” in court filings, he publicly accused her of adultery with another Member of Parliament, which in turn was thought to cause his high blood pressure and the judge ruled in Mwangi’s favour.

Shortly after the trial, in an interview with Viva magazine, Maathai referred to the judge as either incompetent or corrupt. The interview later led the judge to charge Maathai with contempt of court. She was found guilty and sentenced to six months in jail.

After three days in Lang’ata Women’s Prison in Nairobi, her lawyer formulated a statement which the court found sufficient for her release. Shortly after the divorce, her former husband sent a letter via his lawyer demanding that Maathai drop his surname.

In the latter half of the 1980s, the Kenyan government came down against Maathai and the Green Belt Movement. The single-party democracy opposed many of the positions the movement held regarding democratic rights.

In October 1989, Maathai learned of a plan to construct the 60-story Kenya Times Media Trust Complex in Uhuru Park. The complex was intended to house the headquarters of KANU, the Kenya Times newspaper, a trading centre, offices, an auditorium, galleries, shopping malls, and parking space for two thousand cars.

The plan also included a large statue of President arap Moi. Maathai wrote many letters in protest to, among others, the Kenya Times, the Office of the President, the Nairobi city commission, the provincial commissioner, the minister for environment and natural resources, the executive directors of UNEP and the Environment Liaison Centre International, the executive director of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the ministry of public works, and the permanent secretary in the department of international security and administration all received letters.

She wrote to Sir John Johnson, the British high commissioner in Nairobi, urging him to intervene with Robert Maxwell, a major shareholder in the project, equating the construction of a tower in Uhuru Park to such construction in Hyde Park or Central Park and maintaining that it could not be tolerated.

The government refused to respond to her inquiries and protests, instead responding through the media that Maathai was “a crazy woman”; that denying the project in Uhuru Park would take more than a small portion of public park land; and proclaiming the project as a “fine and magnificent work of architecture” opposed by only the “ignorant few.”

On 8 November 1989, Parliament expressed outrage at Maathai’s actions, complaining of her letters to foreign organizations and calling the Green Belt Movement a bogus organization and its members “a bunch of divorcees”. They suggested that if Maathai was so comfortable writing to Europeans, perhaps she should go live in Europe.

Despite Maathai’s protests, as well as popular protest growing throughout the city, ground was broken at Uhuru Park for construction of the complex on 15 November 1989. Maathai sought an injunction in the Kenya High Court to halt construction, but the case was thrown out on 11 December.

In his first public comments pertaining to the project, President Daniel arap Moi stated that those who opposed the project had “insects in their heads”. On 12 December, in Uhuru Park, during a speech celebrating independence from the British, President Moi suggested Maathai be a proper woman in the African tradition and respect men and be quiet.

She was forced by the government to vacate her office, and the Green Belt Movement was moved into her home. The government then audited the Green Belt Movement in an apparent attempt to shut it down. Despite all this, her protests, the government’s response – and the media coverage it garnered – led foreign investors to cancel the project in January 1990.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002

Kenya: Raila faults Uhuru for issuing title deeds

From: Judy Miriga

Good People !!!

Let the truth be told……..

Siri iko wapi………….sema la ukweli………..Toboa siri……..sio kusema sema.

Kenyans must ask and demand for the truth………..inaonekana kuna ngoma
hapa………

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson &
Executive Director for
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
email: jbatec@yahoo.com

– – – – – – – – – – –

Saturday, August 31, 2013
Raila faults Uhuru for issuing title deeds

Former Prime Minister and CORD leader Raila Odinga addresses a past rally. Photo/JACOB OWITI

In Summary

Among those being fronted for nomination include former PS Kerry Orege from Bondo and former Ambassador Elkana Odembo from Ugenya.

Cord co-principal Moses Wetang’ula and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale echoed the sentiments and asked the President to steer clear of land matters.

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has faulted President Uhuru Kenyatta for issuing title deeds to squatters at the Coast, saying the move is unconstitutional.

Mr Odinga said identification of genuine landless people and issuance of the title deeds was the mandate of the National Land Commission and not the President or the Cabinet Secretary.

“The work of issuing title deeds is for clerical officers and not for the Head of State,” Mr Odinga said.

“By usurping the commission’s powers, it will be difficult for the government to repossess grabbed land and revert it to the rightful owners,” the Cord leader stated.

Cord co-principal Moses Wetang’ula and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale echoed the sentiments and asked the President to steer clear of land matters.

President Kenyatta issued the first batch of 60,000 title deeds to Coast residents on Friday.

The former PM also asked Kenyans to press for a referendum, saying that Cord would soon embark on an exercise of collecting five million signatures from across the country to push for the referendum.

He was speaking during the homecoming party of Butere MP Andrew Toboso at Butere Girls School. Legislators from Western and Nyanza attended the ceremony.

Meanwhile, there is intense lobbying for the Siaya Governor seat ahead of the October 17 by-election. Yesterday, Ugenya MP David Ochieng’ said ODM party had not settled on any candidate.

“You will continue to get mixed signals until we get a candidate. It is too early to say that we have settled on anybody. The party structures are working on the issue and whoever is presented to us we will support,” said Mr Ochieng’.

The former Governor Cornel Rasanga on the other hand expressed optimism that ODM would endorse him for the seat. “I hope the party will make a very concrete decision and not a biased one. I vow to remain an ODM member even if the party picks another candidate.”

Although in public the MPs are showing a united front, there is intense behind-the-scenes lobbying.

Nominated MP Oburu Oginga let the cat out of the bag when he said the party should nominate a candidate from Bondo.

Dr Oginga said the Siaya governor’s seat was initially for Bondo and Rarieda constituencies before a candidate from Alego was nominated.

“The seat initially belonged to Bondo before (William) Oduol claimed that he was defeated unfairly during the nominations paving way for Mr Rasanga. I do not see the reason why Mr Oduol took Mr Rasanga to court yet they are all from Alego. If they cannot handle the seat they should return it to its initial owners.”

Among those being fronted for nomination include former PS Kerry Orege from Bondo and former Ambassador Elkana Odembo from Ugenya.

KENYA: ACID TEST FOR UHURU AS HE ISSUES TITLE DEEDS TO COAST LANDLESS

from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 31, 2013

Although it was a good beginning for President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday handing out some of the 60,000 title deeds to Coast residents who have been landless for years, a lot needs to be done to solve land problems once and for all in Kenya.

In Taita-Taveta County, President Uhuru is to address the massive invasion of private land by squatters following a land crisis allegedly caused by influential families who own large chunks of land, including the Kenyatta family, which owns 30,000 acres and former MP Basil Criticos, who has more than 3,000 acres.

The fact that the idle land held by the Kenyatta family in the counties of Taita Taveta, Kwale, Lamu and Kilifi are essentially speculation holdings underneath which lie multi-billion-worth of natural minerals, it will be indeed acid test for him to surrender some plots to landless in these areas.

The secret to this wealth which is believed to have been shared to Jomo Kenyatta by outgoing British colonialists in secret pre-independence deals –following prospective studies done by British Geologists in the 1950s indicates that Kenyatta’s relative Beth Mugo has been actively involved in privatization of these mining concerns.

The Kenyatta family specifically sits on 74,000 acres of Taveta and 30,000 acres of Taita land underneath which lie gemstones and minerals like Niobium, Tsavorite, Ruby, Sapphire, Tourmalines, Rhodolites, Kyanites and about 40 agro-minerals minerals like limestone and phosphates.

Since as per the 2009 census, a majority of Taita Taveta’s population of 300,000 live in dire poverty (66 percent) while remaining disenfranchised from ancestral land that they could be farming – by 2 families but occupied by the Kenyattas and the Criticos, unveiling this truth might be too painful for Uhuru to do.

The story of Kwale and Kilifi is similar – a sad case of gross expropriation of land from poor natives. This is the same tale recently witnessed at Narasha (Ol Karia), so it is the speculation that the Jubilee government of Uhuru Kenyatta is planning to completely privatize these mining concerns to rake in huge multi-billion payoffs and also to buy into stake-holdings of incoming mining companies.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the land problem issue in the Coast it is not only the Kenyatta family and the Criticos, but also Arabs. This is particularly the period leading up to the declaration of protectorate status over East Africa on August 15, 1895 when indigenous communities (mainly the Mijikenda) were driven out of their ancestral land by Arabs invaders. These were either seeking to establish permanent settlements as a way of consolidating trade with Asia and Middle East or looking for slaves.

Also in 1886 when British and German governments established the Mwambao and ceded control over it to the sultanate of Zanzibar, the 1895 declaration law made the indigenous communities within the Mwambao landless

Against the background that President Uhuru Kenyatta faces an acid test in resolving the squatter problem at the Coast, perceived to be one of the reasons for Jubilee Coalition’s poor performance in that region during the March 4 General Election.

Leave alone poverty and conflict in Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale, Taita Taveta, Tana River and Lamu counties blamed on the thorny matter of landlessness. Sixty thousand title deeds are not even enough to cater for all landless in the Coast.

Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi leaders have openly stated the region rejected Jubilee in the General Election because its leaders were perceived as reluctant to effectively address the land question.

In Mombasa County alone, thousands squatters on the 930-acre Waitiki farm and several other areas need to be settled.

While the owner, Mr. Evanson Kamau Waitiki, has threatened to kick out more than 100,000 people from the disputed land, National Land Commission (NLC) chairman Dr. Mohamed Swazuri says the commission was not involved in the negotiation for the Waitiki land as it was being handled at the ministry level.

Even though in June last year, the High Court gave the Mazrui family the right to own the over 3,000-acre land causing panic among the squatters occupying it, the Mazrui family was awarded full rights to reoccupy the land after a 21-year protracted legal battle that began in 1989 when the then government cancelled the Mazruis’ title issued more than 100 years ago.

This is not to mention up to 75 per cent of Kilifi residents who are living as squatters on their own land, leading to the crisis. Here more than 800 squatters living on a disputed 100-acre land at Mtwapa needs to be settled immediately.

Coast leaders however, see the directive of Uhuru and Ruto to issue title deeds as covering up land grabbing in the Coast because it will preempt the ongoing investigations of historical land injustices by the National Land Commission.

The leaders want the Jubilee Government first to carry out thorough audit of land ownership in Coast before issuing title deeds, saying the government should seek lasting solution to the land question in Coast.

They have also accused president Uhuru and Ruto of playing politics with the people’s problems in Coast by issuing title deeds to gain popularity but not to help locals. If this allegation is true then Uhuru and Ruto have a long way to solve land problems at the Coast.

Currently only three foreigners owning land on a 99-year lease at the Coast have come forward to seek regularisation from the National Land Commission.

In an ongoing audit of foreign land ownership, 20 non-citizens across the country have heeded NLC’s orders and presented themselves to the commission.

There has been minimal response from foreigners to seek regularisation of land leases with the commission as they only have 23 days remaining to be registered afresh and ensure their leases do not exceed 99 years.

NLC chairman Mohammad Swazuri has already said categorically that foreigners were required to have their land leases of more than 99 years cut back with effect from 2010 when the current Constitution took effect. Most of the targeted leases are in Coast, Rift Valley and Nairobi regions.

Swazuri has already ordered land registrars in the country to compile lists foreigners with land of more than 99 years lease to be forwarded to the commission, saying that it was a constitutional requirement for all non-citizens owning land of more than 99-year leases to be regularized.

Some foreigners are known to own exclusive and prime islands at the Kenyan coast. The commission has also announced that non-citizens who have not utilised the land within the 99-year lease would not have them renewed. Instead, the commission would convert such land into public property. This is likely to spark a lot of objections from land owners.

According to Swazuri, renewal of the lease will be based on how a non-citizen has been utilising the land for the said period. Most of these lands are idle and it means that they will not be renewed. In such a case is the land Uhuru and Ruto are targeting to resettle the landless.

Governors Amason Kingi (Kilifi), Ali Hassan Joho (Mombasa), John Mruttu (Taita-Taveta), Hussein Dado (Tana River), Issa Timamy (Lamu) and senators Omar Hassan (Mombasa), Boy Juma Boy (Kwale), Mvita Mshenga (nominated senator Kilifi), Emma Mbura (nominated senator Mombasa) and Salim Mvurya of Kwale have supported the President’s action to issue the title deeds to landless people in the region.

President Kenyatta has promised that his government will issue 3 million title deeds to Kenyans in the next five years. He says the title deeds which have remained in the government lands registry since 1964 have been given to the concerned squatters free of charge.

President Kenyatta said during his campaigns with his deputy, they promised coastal people that they will issue them with title deeds for the lands they own and said the exercise had started.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.comFacebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

WHERE IS KENYA HEADED?

From: Frank William’s Mwendani N

Contrary to the assertions made by the author in this article, Kenya is fast progressing. The ‘independent’ tribes as Yogo asserts are wholly dependent of each other within a National social budget, economic infrastructure and certainly a unifying Constitution which protects the interest and rights of each citizen.

It is extremely misleading to always amplify the errors of the past as the bench marks for the future.

The Kenyatta family, ‘said to own’ large tracts of land, has been used severally to demonise a certain community setting it up against other tribes.

Yogo has taken up this tribal hate and ran off a notch higher by indicating that what jubilee government represents is a KANU metamorphosed into jubilee, he writes

…” Today, the Kanu brigade is back at the helm of leadership as an extension of Moi’s bad governance and is promising to take us back to the struggle for freedom. Kenya is fast retrogressing.”…

I want to refute this statement, lest we forget, we are now a multi-party democracy, de-jure and de-facto, a ressusfare absent in the era so imputed above.

Kenyatta and Ruto, may it be as it may, chose their political paths modelled NOT ON KANU AND KAMU MANIFESTO but on a futuristic promise to achieve vision 2030. This. This i say, is a constitutional right.

The essence of a general and national election is to raise a political leadership that epitomizes the aspirations of the suffrage…that my friends is not questionable.

What therefore ought to be our focus is to excellently play our roles individually and nationally to better our counties rather than emit negative energy bent on entrenching tribal hatred and putting down the gains and successes already been made by the Jubilee government.

Mwendani Frank
____________
ALLIANCE PARTY OF KENYA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.
A lawyer,researcher,political strategist,peer trainer and community mobiliser.

mobile: +254 721 708 911
email: jungafrank@yahoo.com

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From: George Yogo
Sent: 2013/08/21 17:54
Subject: WHERE IS KENYA HEADED?

KENYA: A NATION OR A COUNTRY OF 42 INDIFFERENT TRIBAL GROUPINGS?

The word nation means a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory. That territory within which they are confined is their country. It is undeniable that the country cannot forge ahead except her nationhood is cultivated.

The term nationhood defines a country or a people in terms of commonness of culture, language, history, ethnicity, religion and spirit. In Kenya today, Kenyans seem to be extremely dived along ethnic and political leanings. In fact, our political inclinations are absolutely tribal. 99% of Kenyan populace does not join a party because of its ideologies; rather because of its tribal formation.

The incoherence witnessed among Kenyans is largely informed by the way the founding president ruled (Not led) the country from its birth water. My only worry is that 50 years down the line, Kenya is more dived than when it was first founded. What then is the future of this country? Should we go the Rwandan way before we earn tribal respect and therewith coherently move forward as one nation?

Allow me to point out a few things:

One of the very essences of Mau Mau rebellion was the restoration of land to the Kenyan people. However, when Kenyatta took over the leadership of the newly born Kenya, he used the opportunity to amass wealth for himself – quickly gathering large chunks of land for his family. The Kenyatta’s are reputed to own land larger than Nyanza region of the country. Opposition to his dictatorial style of leadership saw the opponents suffer humiliation and segregation.

Instead of healing the Nation, Moi did more damage by not only consolidating the evil done by Kenyatta, but also by turning to an absolute totalitarian. Kenya fast drifted to the dark days. There was a shy of relief when Narc took over but the joy was short lived. Today, the Kanu brigade is back at the helm of leadership as an extension of Moi’s bad governance and is promising to take us back to the struggle for freedom. Kenya is fast retrogressing.

(To be completed)


One is too small a number to achieve greatness!

Land and Power The growing scandal surrounding the new wave of investments in land

From: Yona Maro

The new wave of land deals is not the new investment in agriculture that millions had been waiting for. The poorest people are being hardest hit as competition for land intensifies. Oxfam’s research has revealed that residents regularly lose out to local elites and domestic or foreign investors because they lack the power to claim their rights effectively and to defend and advance their interests.

Companies and governments must take urgent steps to improve land rights outcomes for people living in poverty. Power relations between investors and local communities must also change if investment is to contribute to rather than undermine the food security and livelihoods of local communities.

Link:
http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp151-land-power-rights-acquisitions-220911-en.pdf

Kenya & USA: FBI agents, police pursue three theories in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport fire probe

From: Judy Miriga

Kenya is moving forward…….never backwards…… Land Grabbing and Decolonization must be fought in all fronts……

Cheers !!!

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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FBI agents, police pursue three theories in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport fire probe

Updated Thursday, August 8th 2013 at 22:07 GMT +3

Senior criminal investigation offi cials scour the scene of Wednesday’s fire Thursday. [PHOTOS: WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/STANDARD]

By CYRUS OMBATI
NAIROBI; KENYA: Detectives probing the Wednesday blaze that brought down the main terminal at Kenya’s biggest airport are not ruling out terrorism or arson, although they say it could have been an accident.

President Kenyatta chaired a meeting of the country’s top security organ to discuss the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport ( JKIA) fire tragedy as it emerged investigators were pursuing all three theories.

On Thursday the probe took on an international feel as three FBI agents sent by the US embassy in Nairobi joined the investigating team a day after President Obama called President Kenyatta to offer his government’s support following the fire.

Officially, authorities say it is not yet clear what caused the fire that prompted the closure of the busiest airport in East and Central Africa for most of Wednesday.

Over 200 people, among them 60 Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) workers, have recorded statements as the probe intensifies.

Huge losses

Yesterday, President Kenyatta called a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the tragedy that has occasioned huge economic losses following the disruption to cargo and passenger flights.

Deputy President William Ruto, all heads of the country’s security agencies, and Cabinet Secretaries in charge of Security and Infrastructure attended the meeting at State House, Nairobi. Details of the meeting were scanty, but officials said the crisis at JKIA was extensively discussed and the President briefed on progress in investigations.

At JKIA, head of the ATPU Boniface Mwaniki led the probe as detectives searched for clues in the fire-damaged section of the airport. The FBI agents arrived carrying special equipment to back up their Kenyan counterparts with their expertise, in a joined bid to unearth the cause of the inferno.

The agents took away samples from the scene for further analysis and tests.

Investigators were also reviewing images on the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to examine events before and after the fire broke out, as part of their investigations. It was not immediately clear if the entire sequence of events was captured on the surveillance cameras.

Apart from the ATPU, officers from the Bomb Disposal Unit, Kenya Airports Police Unit, Nairobi County and CID headquarters were helping with the probe.

Personnel from the National Intelligence Service, Kenya Power Company personnel, the City Council of Nairobi Fire Department and investigators from insurance companies were also at the scene.

The detectives have taken over a bar at the airport and turned it into an interrogation room where witnesses are recording statements.

Officials said some of the staff said in their statements that they heard two explosions after smoke started billowing out.

The explosions, according to those who have been questioned, were not very powerful or loud, with suggestions and they may have been caused by air conditioners.

Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau and CID Director Ndegwa Muhoro confirmed the arrival of the FBI agents to assist in the probe.

“We wish to express our appreciation and gratitude for the support we have received from other governments around the world and our development partners,” said Kamau.

On Thursday, controversy raged over where the fire started as witness accounts contradicted the official position that the fire broke out atin the immigration area.

There were suggestions that the huge inferno may have been occasioned by naked electric wires left in one of the 56 shops pulled down by the Government as it ejected duty free shop operators last week.

Insiders and firemen who spoke to The Standard claimed the fire could have been triggered by an electric fault from one of the duty free shops.

“There were some cables that were left naked. The power was cut off in some of the shops and was left on in others. This is exactly what I told the investigation team when they grilled me this morning,” said one of the employees.

But the Government has maintained that the shops were 50 metres away. “The fire came from the immigration section after the bridges, the second desk after immigration which is nearest to unit 1. The duty free shops are more than 50 metres apart and I do not see any relationship between the demolitions and the fire,” Kamau said on Wednesday.

On Thursday, minimal operations resumed at JKIA with the Government indicating they expected full operations by midnight.

The State also opened up the excusive Presidential Pavilion, usually reserved for visiting heads of states, for use by travellers to help ease the crisis. Kamau indicated that full operations would resume at the airport from midnight on Thursday.

“We want to assure all travellers within the country that even though the level of comfort is not what they would expect, we want to reassure them of their security and safety,” he said. Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) confirmed that other international airlines can use JKIA under advice, added Kamau.

National carrier Kenya Airways had already lined up 17 international flights throughout Thursday to various capitals across the globe.

Trans-Nzoia County governor told to stop land grabbing
Updated Thursday, August 8th 2013 at 23:01 GMT +3
BY OSINDE OBARE

Trans-Nzoia County: The business community in Trans-Nzoia County has pressed authorities to repossess 100 acres of grabbed land earmarked for the Kenya Industrial Estate ( KIE).

The Trans-Nzoia Kenya National Commerce and Industry branch said it would institute legal action on behalf of residents to sue people behind the illegal allocation of prime plots in Kitale.

The branch’s Executive Officer Martin Waliaula said the economic activities in the county have grounded because land meant for them has been grabbed.

Speaking in Kitale yesterday, Mr Waliula asked the county leadership led by Governor Patrick Khaemba to reclaim the grabbed land.

“The normal stories that the government is going to recover grabbed land should be made a reality. The rampant grabbing has hampered economic activities. We want all public assets taken by individuals repossessed,” he demanded.

Condemning the grabbing of the KIE land meant for industrialisation programmes, the officials said the Chamber will move to court to revert the land to its intended purpose.

“We cannot allow developers to benefit at the expense of many unemployed youths. We are ready to face these individuals and recover the land,” he said.

He said a survey done by the Chamber had indicated only 15 acres had been spared from the initial parcel reserved for industrialisation purposes.

Kenya: Balala revokes 31 mining licences PLUS …

From: Judy Miriga

Good People !

There are bright future for Kenya with a good number of job creation if only they follow and stick with the law as per the Constitutional Reform that respect and value public mandate, and honor Human Rights and through putting their leaders on checks.

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Balala: Mining Bill ready

Published on Aug 6, 2013
http://www.nation.co.ke

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Speaking at a press briefing in his office, Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala said the new Mining Bill, which was at the cabinet level would help streamline the mining industry saying all companies would get equal treatment by paying a flat rate in license fees and mining royalties, measures he said could earn the government over Sh10 billion immediately the measures were put in place. He also revoked 31 mining licences issued by the mining ministry between January and May this year saying they were issued in unclear circumstances. At the same time, the government has formed a taskforce to look into issuance of over 500 licences to mining companies since 2003, amidst reports that some were mere briefcase entities engaging in speculation and had no capacity to conduct commercial exploitation. Mr Balala said preliminary investigations indicated that only 20 out of the 500 companies were credible, with others out to make profits through speculation and hoarding of mineral resources, and making super profits by only paying a pittance to government by operating under the cover of export subsidies and other forms of preferential treatment.

Africa’s richest Aliko Dangote to visit Kenya over suspension of mining licenses

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Last Modified: 07 Aug 2013 23:39
Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote could be coming to Kenya to discuss with government on matters touching on the suspension of mining licenses. The businessman, one of the richest Africans was initially expected today but rescheduled due to the shut down of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport due to an inferno
Balala revokes mining licenses

Published on Aug 5, 2013
In a move set to streamline Kenya’s mining sector, Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has revoked all licenses issued from January to August 2013 to mining companies across the country. Balala says the decision was arrived at as a number of the licenses issued did not follow the ‘set parameters’ of the ministry. The Cabinet Secretary further announced the review in royalties to be charged on various minerals. The move to revoke the licenses is estimated to affect over 31 companies. NTV’s Aby Agina has the details.

Parliament recess

Published on Aug 6, 2013
No description available.

Balala revokes 31 mining licences

Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has revoked 31 mining licences issued between January and May 2013, saying they were issued under unclear circumstances.
Posted Monday, August 5 2013 at 13:28

Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has revoked 31 mining licences issued between January and May 2013, saying they were issued under unclear circumstances.

At the same time, the government has formed a taskforce to look into issuance of licences to mining companies, that will scrutinize among other things, the companies’ capacity to undertake mining activities and generate tax revenue.

Mr Balala said out of 500 mining licenses issued within that period, only 20 were held by credible companies, while others were held by “briefcase’ companies that are in the business of speculating and hoarding of the mineral resource.

MPs probe Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s deals with Chinese companies

Updated Wednesday, August 7th 2013 at 19:25 GMT +3
By GEOFFREY MOSOKU

KENYA: Members of Parliament put Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) on the spot after it emerged the facility signed a memorandum of Sh17 billion with two Chinese firms.

The hospital signed a deal to engage China Aerospace Construction Group to carry out upgrading and expansion of the facility on October 2012. However, this year on May 3, the country’s second biggest referral hospital entered into another deal with China Wu Yi for the same project, without cancelling the first one.

The hospital admitted that they engaged a South African firm, TECMED in May 2012, but stopped any further engagement with it after Chinese government offered to finance the multi-billion shilling project on condition that only Chinese firms are considered for the contract.

Although the tender has not been awarded, MPs have expressed concern that the project may be derailed as it emerged that the earlier memorandum was binding. The MoU with China Aerospace is said to be having a clause that says, “MTRH does not engage with any other firm”.

The legislators want to establish if the hospital sidestepped the first company and is now favouring China Wu Yi, and whether the MoU with China Aerospace won’t return to haunt the project.

Another concern is why seven senior officials accepted a seven-day trip to China facilitated by China Wu Yi, a month after signing the memorandum yet they had not engaged further China Aerospace eight months after signing an MoU.

Delay

“We want to know under what circumstances MTRH signed a memorandum with the two companies. This may end up pitting the firms against each other and may cause unnecessary delay,” Health committee chair Rachel Nyamai said.

The committee yesterday ordered the management of MTRH hospital to furnish MPs with details of the two memoranda.

The legislators put hospital CEO John Kibosia to task to explain the status of the project given the existence of the two memoranda.

The MPs wondered why the CEO led management team to China last month on an all-expense-paid trip.

“The committee may consider this trip as a bribe,” Dr Nyamai said before ordering Dr Kibosia to return to the committee on Tuesday next week.

Embakasi North MP John Gakuya also wanted the hospital boss to explain why they had technically knocked out some companies, especially those from Spain that had expressed interest in the project.

The delegation to China included Dr Kibosia, Deputy Director Finance and Administration Agunda Ochanda, Deputy Director Francis Ogaro, Radiology and Imaging Head Of Department Ezekiel Chemulwo, hospital engineer Joseph Atogo, HOD Laboratory Services Florence Tum and Project co-ordinator Silas Tum.

Dr Kibosia defended the July 1 to 9 trip, saying it was part of due diligence in determining capacities of the companies that responded to the proposal. “The visit to China was to help the hospital carry out due diligence and make evaluations of Chinese medical equipment manufacturers. The visit was also meant to enrich our conceptual requirements of a modern referral hospital,” he told the MPs.

KENYA: HOW KISUMU MWALIMU SACCO HAS CONNED MANY

By Our Reporter

Residents of Kisumu County and teachers risk loosing millions of shillings on pieces of land they are thinking that they have comfortably bought as it emerges that they were sold hot air by the Vice Chairman of Mwalimu Sacco Solomon Amute who operates a parallel society called Nyando Development Group which he claims is associated with Mwalimu Sacco.

Several unsuspecting members of the public who are not members of the society and who have bought parcels of land through the society are now coming to terms with the fact that they were indeed duped by companies which operate on a parallel basis with the body.

Kisumu Mwalimu SACCO chairman Mr Daniel Omoto who was shocked condemned the scam among some of his officials and says the police have been harassing him with arrests with aview of getting money from him yet he has all along said that Amute is the culprit.

“At a certain point Kisumu DCIO Henry Ndombi demanded half a million shillings from me to drop the fictitious charges they had wanted to trump on me, but I gave them all documents showing how my two officials Sande Ochieng and Amute are obtaining money from unsuspecting people through false pretence but they never did anything “Omoto lamented.

He says that Kisumu police knows what is happening as he says they have never taken any action against anyone including his officials whom he has personally lodged complaints about and recorded even a statement.. Omoto said that he is not aware of the existence Nyando Development Group (NDG) which purports to give out parcels of land on behalf of his organization and anyone who paid money to the said should either report to the police or count his money lost.

He was reacting to complaints from the public that some officials have duped members of the public under the guise of giving them parcels of lands at Kogony/kanyakwar which turned out to be non existent.

Omotto said he not aware of a subsidiary company within Mwalimu SACCO which gives out parcels of lands to members who are not teachers in Kisumu.

Amute while conducted blamed Omoto for witchunt saying Omotto is envious of his material achievements.

“He (Omoto)is not happy that I have build a house, bought car and I presently operate from town to my working station in Awasi” he said Omoto said the issue of the Nyando development group will be tabled in his next meting where action will be taken against the concerned officials.

A prospective buyer last used the services of private security to get back his money totaling to some 700,000/- after being duped by some Mwalimu SACCO officials where he could not trace a parcel of land bought at Kogony/Kanyakwar area.

The victim ended up a swampy area in Kogony while tracing the said parcel.

Outgoing Nyanza PCIO Mr Joseph Mugwanja last year launched a probe into such claims where some 32 parcels of lands were in dispute at Kogony,Dago and Kanyakwar.

Kisumu district lands registrar Mr George Gachihi has confirmed that there exists a cartel in his office where members of the public are duped.

Officials of the Kenya National Highway Construction Authority last week gave members of the public who have encroached into its road reserves to vacate those areas before structures there are pulled down.

The said Amute is regular patron at Victoria Hotel based near kwala Supermarket where he spends the whole day transacting his businesses at the expense of teaching as he is an employee of TSC.

Ends.

Tanzania, Come Now, Let Us Reason Together Over Lake Malawi Dispute!

From: shedrack maximilian

Thank you Pastor , Well written

From: Charles Banda
Sent: Monday, 29 July 2013, 19:15
Subject: Tanzania, Come Now, Let Us Reason Together Over Lake Malawi Dispute!

Since the Lake Malawi dispute egressed some 50 years ago, a lot has been said but less has been done to completely put it to rest. Malawi has for many times challenged that not even an inch of this lake will go to Tanzania citing 1890 treaty between German and Britain while on the other hand Tanzania challenges, “we will make sure that we own half of Lake Nyasa/Malawi, we have to correct mistakes made by our colonial masters”, citing international water body law.

When you look at these statements, you’ll note that each side has effectual argument. I see that neither Malawi nor Tanzania should underestimate the other’s argument.

What I would wish the two countries is to come and reason together just as God called Israelites to come to Him and reason together (Isaiah 1:18). We can’t fight now, please. I know that either national reading this is anxious as to what am I trying to say.

I see that Malawi is right that Lake Malawi belongs to it according to 1890 treaty and Tanzania is right to suggest rectifying colonial errors and follow international water body law. Colonial masters decided on how the borders should go, against the will of the locals since we had no authority to decide on our lands if we did maybe we could not face these wrangles today. This applies to all African countries since all were on one time under colonialism. These border demarcations are still the ones used in all African countries today. Through them, other countries are savouring enough space while others such as Malawi have no space to breathe, so rectifying colonial errors would be a good idea.

What is needed in this dispute is clear and conscience reasoning without competition, selfish ambition or thinking about war. In every dispute, it is unwise to talk about war because there can always be a civilized solution. Like I said in my other article, in real sense, no country wins war because even if it goes in one’s favour, both countries loose lives of their citizens, resources, peace, development is retarded, friends from the two countries get separated. During war, there is serious hunger, diseases, rape, loss of property, education and worship get interrupted and almost all government resources go to war etc., so please, consider these before you mention war. It is easy to merely talk about war but when it starts you wish it was never there. It is unfortunate that even ordinary citizens are mentioning about war forgetting that when it starts, politicians will be the very last ones to face a bullet if at all, any. Tell me, how many frontline politicians died in Rwanda, Congo, Libya, Iran, Iraqi, Mali and other war-tone countries? Tell me, how many ordinary citizens died? They died in millions. When politicians say, “we are ready to shed blood for our land”, they actually mean ordinary citizens’ blood, not theirs. Tell me, which politician died during July 20, 2011 anti-government demonstrations in Malawi? None of them, but they were the ones who instigated it.

There have been war threats from Tanzanian side for some time but of late, it has stopped and adopted civilized way of solving the dispute. When Tanzania kept on issuing war threats to Malawi, one time Joyce Banda said, “I am ready to die for my land” without mentioning Lake Malawi dispute, something that Tanzanian government trashed interpreting it directly to the Lake Malawi dispute. When Tanzania’s President mentioned about Tanzanian Defence Force being ready to defend their land, some Malawian citizens interpreted it as if he made reference to Lake Malawi dispute. In his speech, Kikwete did not mention Malawi for Tanzania is also exchanging words with Rwanda. Recently Paul Kagame publicly threatened to hit Jakaya Kikwete, perhaps he referred to him, who knows. This link will take you to what Kagame saidhttp://www.afroamerica.net/AfricaGL/2013/07/03/i-will-just-wait-for-you-at-the-right-place-and-i-will-hit-you-rwandan-general-paul-kagame-threatens-tanzanian-jakaya-kikwete/. All this shows that no country
wishes to loose part of its land or resources, but let’s be patient. It is good to get things with clear mind before provoking war. It is good that Malawi has not officially responded to it and I wish it doesn’t so that peace may prevail. Let the peaceful negotiations take course.

Right now we are enjoying cordial relationship with Tanzania apart from exaggerated dispute which some sectors want to magnify. As we are talking, Tanzanians are freely passing through Malawi and Malawians are freely passing through Tanzania going to other countries or even settle in either country.

Malawians are trading with Tanzanians getting cars and other goods through Tanzania’s port. Diplomatic ties are still intact. As I am writing, Tanzanians and Malawians are using Lake Malawi/Nyasa. Isn’t that good? So why talk about war?

My reasoning is as follows; since time in memorial, Malawi and Tanzania have both peacefully used Lake Malawi/Nyasa up until Malawi issued Sure-stream oil drilling license. Probably Tanzania is thinking about its citizens that they will suffer if oil drilling starts on Lake Malawi. That can be good reasoning, isn’t it? On the same note, an ordinary Malawian who benefits from fishing will also suffer. When oil drilling starts, it is only the political elites who may benefit. Tell me, what have we really benefited from Kayerekela millennium mine since it begun? Have we experienced any economic growth through it? Almost none and we are just like before or even worse! We only bank on farming. Apart from oil drilling, we can increase on manufacturing industry which for many years we have not put much effort. I suggest, Malawi government haut oil drilling for the sake of an ordinary citizen. I think Tanzania will also be happy, isn’t it Tanzanians?

Coming to Tanzania’s point of correcting border colonial errors, if they so wish, though not affecting other African countries, I suggest we do. One Malawian national called Pef, on his response to my earlier article on Lake Malawi dispute rebuked me saying, “Musanditukwanitse mwanva! Intelligent people are busy solving problems but only the wise avoids problems. Kodi iwe ukudzitcha pastor Masikmau iwe, ukati negotiations should end without war, ukuganiza zingatheke popanda wina kugonja?….” (Give me a break, you who call yourself pastor Masikamu, do you think the dispute can end without one country giving up?…”. He thinks I call myself a pastor while I am not one, so interesting. However, don’t you think what he said has some sense? Probably yes. He suggested that for the sake of peace, Malawi should give up. I believe he was a Malawian because he wrote in efficient Chichewa language. Pastor Salanje had a similar idea also. While agreeing with them, I believe we can do it in a better way by implementing a win-win game, or what do you think my fellow Malawian citizens? Malawi has a very small land size than our good neighbour, Tanzania. Since Nyasaland lost some land to Tanganyika under British-Germany treaty, we can reason together with our neighbours to give us part of their land while we hand over part of Lake Malawi. In this way, correcting colonial border errors will go in favour of both of us because the errors made by colonial masters did not only affect Tanganyika on Lake Nyasa but also Nyasaland on the land size. I think if any of the two countries deny this equal lion’s share, that country is provocative and aggressive.

In my conclusion I would like to say that, let both Malawi and Tanzania pray that no country looses on the resolution taking place through SADC former heads of states but that we will have a win-win type of conflict resolution. I suggest that we do not in any way mention war for such an idea is truly not from God but the evil one to disrupt our peace because the devil hates peace but delights in deaths. Thank God, Jesus brought life through his death on the cross so that we can live beyond death. We are brothers and sisters from way back before colonialism of which colonialism separated our families into these two countries. If either of the countries is not satisfied with the results of these negotiations, we can still seek help from International Court of Justice (ICJ), and if its resolution will go in favour of one of the two countries or both, we shall keep peace.

God bless Tanzania and Malawi!
Pastor Robert Masikamu (Public Advisor).

USA: what are ‘stand your ground’ laws?

from; octimotor

In the USA, there has been a divisive highly covered in the media, Zimmerman court case. Some political activist groups have reacted to the case by criticizing a certain body of law. In seeking to know what the jargon referred to, I looked up that term in a brief web search. See below first paragraph of its description, and link to the rest.

-om-

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Stand-your-ground law

A stand-your-ground law is a type of self-defense law that gives individuals the right to use reasonable force to defend themselves without any requirement to evade or retreat from a dangerous situation. It is law in certain jurisdictions within the United States. The basis may lie in either statutory law and or common law precedents. One key distinction is whether the concept only applies to defending a home or vehicle, or whether it applies to all lawfully occupied locations. Under these legal concepts, a person is justified in using deadly force in certain situations and the “stand your ground” law would be a defense or immunity to criminal charges and civil suit. The difference between immunity and a defense is that an immunity bars suit, charges, detention and arrest. A defense, such as an affirmative defense, permits a plaintiff or the state to seek civil damages or a criminal conviction but may offer mitigating circumstances that justify the accused’s conduct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law

Read rest of article

Securing Africa’s Land for Shared Prosperity

From: Yona Maro

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to nearly half of the world’s usable, uncultivated land but so far the continent has not been able to develop these unused tracts, estimated at more than 202 million hectares, to dramatically reduce poverty and boost growth, jobs, and shared prosperity.

http://allafrica.com/download/resource/main/main/idatcs/00070465:a47aeca2fdbddaa064c23fb0fec0d706.pdf

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Kagame Hits Back on Kikwete’s call to negotiate

From: Judy Miriga

Good People!

FDLR controls 50 percent of the South Kivu Province but they are a mixture of both Hutu, Tutsi and Congo Rebel groups. M23 is predominantly Tutsi of the Kagame tribal group which is why, Kagame gives its full financial support and protection for Kagame’s benefit looting from Congo. Kagame is the aggressor terrorizing and killing innocent Congolese and driving them our of their land for Tutsi to occupy Congolese land, for which he has created a government within another government inside the DRC Congo for his benefit.

Kagame made M23 to be a strong voice demanding what does not belong to them in Congo.

From intelligence observation, M23 is working with FDLR to benefit Kagame. He has made it a smart business to loot from DRC Congo. This is why Kikwete requested him to talk with FDLR and stop Congolese massacre. If they are able to talk when it is business, why should they not talk when Human Rights demands, after-all, both Ribel group were created by Kagame and Museveni. Kagame created this group was fighting the Habyarimana regime, in 1980s and this part cannot be ignored. Killing Congolese children and women is not justifiable matter. Kagame must be forced to eat a humble pie……..

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson &
Executive Director for
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
email: jbatec@yahoo.com

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Rwanda, Zambia agree on refugee repatriation

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Zambia agree on refugee repatriation

Rwandan refugees registering upon arrival

Rwanda and Zambia have agreed on a comprehensive strategy for former Rwandan refugees living in Zambia.

In a joint communiqué signed on Friday night following a bilateral meeting by the two governments held in Lusaka last week, the two countries reiterated the call for the two countries to establish diplomatic missions in their respective capitals for enhanced bilateral cooperation.

The Zambian delegation was led by Minister of Home Affairs Edgar Lungu while the Rwandan team was headed by that country’s Minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs Seraphine Mukantabana.

These deliberations come as a follow-up to the regional assessment meeting of the global strategy on the search for durable solutions for former refugees, that was held in April in South Africa.

They also come following the effect of the cessation clause for Rwandan refugees that took effect on June 30.

The two delegations agreed that voluntary repatriation will remain open and efforts to encourage it will continue.

It was also agreed that former Rwandan refugees who wish to stay in Zambia will be facilitated by the Rwandan government in collaboration with the Zambian government.

“This is in order to facilitate processing and issuance of immigration permits in Zambia. The criteria and procedures for the eligibility to local integration will be set and published by the Zambian government,” reads the joint communiqué in part.

The communiqué further states that passport application forms for former Rwandan refugees shall be made available in Zambia through the office of the Commissioner for Refugees (COR) as the focal point for the process in Zambia.

While the focal point in Rwanda will be the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration. Additionally, the two governments also agreed that the said forms shall be available online for downloading and submission to COR.

Since the coming into effect cessation clause, hundreds of Rwandan returnees from regional neighbours have been streaming into the country on a daily basis.

According to MIDIMAR, intense registration program is under way to provide passports for tens of thousands of Rwandans who lost refugee status on June 30 as a result of the UN cessation clause, but prefer to stay in the host countries.

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Stop Paul Kagame From Destroying Rwandan and Congolese Lives

Sign

The Petition

Paul Kagame visits Said Business School at Oxford University on 18/05/13.

We the undersigned hereby affirm that continued support to the Rwandan president Paul Kagame and his country by British institutions and government are irreversibly destroying the lives of millions of Rwandans and Congolese. This sounds contrary to the Western media coverage of the politics of region and for particular reasons.

Since July 4th, 1994, when Paul Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front took power in Kigali after the genocide, they invested heavily and continue to do so in lobbying influential personalities such as Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and American investor Howard B. Buffet to portray his regime as a model of development in Africa.

But it is not rightly weighted how undemocratically his regime operates. On August 9th, 2010 the Rwandan president scored 93.4% of the votes in staged presidential elections. And this happened after assassination of politicians and journalists and imprisoning others. His regime took its criminal activities in foreign countries: United Kingdom, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa.

The reality is that the Rwandan government has put in place policies of killing imprisoning, and oppressing its citizens at levels never experienced in the country’s history. The claimed and drummed about development concerns only Kigali the capital and benefits less than 10% of the population. Instead the Rwandan president criminal activities have not stopped within national boundaries of his country. Since 1996 he waged wars in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the United States Geographic Survey, Rwanda produced more than 25% of the world’s coltan in 2011 more than what their coltan deposits should be able to provide. Rwandan coltan mining relied on mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some of which are in conflict areas and others not.

More than 6 millions of Congolese lives have been lost and five hundreds thousands of women girls and even men raped by militia and military groups he has been funding to help him plunder the country’s enormous mineral resources. The last of these groups is the rebel movement M23 operating in Eastern Congo and whose the ICC indicted General Bosco Ntaganda was part of.

On May 18th, 2013 the Rwandan President Paul Kagame is invited as a guest speaker at the Said Business School – University of Oxford. This might not be his last visit in the United Kingdom if the British members of parliament continue to be blind at the crimes he has been accused of by many UN reports and renowned human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, both in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Being at the side of the victims of the Rwandan dictator is what the undersigned would normally expect from institutions that claim universally to advocate for democracy, human rights, justice and development.

For the UK government and institutions to persist in being blind at the never ending crimes that President Paul Kagame is committing in DRC and indescribable suffering he causes to millions of his citizens would confirm complicity, which would look as criminal too.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-paul-kagame-from-destroying-rwandan-and/

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Africa will not fold its arms amid terrorism: Kagame
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Africa will not fold its arms amid terrorism

There are numerous Rwandan troops keeping peace around the World

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame stated in a press conference last month that terrorism is spreading within African continent and it is not advisable to continue folding arms despite such a threat.

Many people across the globe wonder why Rwanda continues to be a model in terms of peace keeping missions in different parts of the planet.

The same question will always be asked as long as the world does not yet understand the way Rwandans treat the security issues, especially with the fact that Rwanda as a nation was hurt by genocide and experienced horrifying human rights violence.

What makes Rwanda an outstanding peace keeper?

Discipline and determination are key qualities that are keeping Rwanda’s image on a high scale, and that goes down in the troops’ minds from the high commanding system. Rwanda is now praised all over the world for the role it plays in securing post-conflict regions and making an impact on the populations welfare in delivering vital services to them.

That goes round with top Rwandan militaries nominations by international organizations to head those missions. The recent nomination was when Maj. Gen Jean Bosco Kazura was appointed by the UN Secretary General to lead MINUSMA (Mali) which is the third largest UN mission with 12,000 soldiers.

Nevertheless, the Rwandans nominations cannot serve if the inside authorities don’t believe in their men and/or if they are not determined to facilitate them. The appointment of Gen. Kazura comes while another Rwandan Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba had finished his term as head of United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

President of Rwanda Paul Kagame is committed to help Rwandan military to be professional and useful not only in the country but also all over the world, one of many remarkable and developmental issues he deals with for Rwandans and their country.

Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, says General Kazura was appointed Force Commander of MINUSMA, “first, because of his personal competence and experience” and secondly “because of the role Rwanda has played in peacekeeping operations for the last nine years, particularly in Darfur.”

If Rwanda would not have done what was done in Darfur, Haiti, and Liberia or if Kazura would have been well facilitated to acquire professionalism and military knowledge, we would have been writing another story.

Can Rwanda send troops in Mali?

The mission led by Gen Kazura will undoubtedly play a key role in Mali’s presidential polls scheduled for July 28. This means the security has to be priority and given the terrorist groups’ experience in the region, the battle might not be easy.

One of the challenge the new Commander would face is the fact Rwanda did not deploy soldiers in Mali and that would be difficult to command the troops you have never been with before. The question repeats: is Rwanda ready to deploy in Mali?

According to the President Kagame’s words it is possible that Rwandan peacekeepers may also be deployed in the near future. In a news conference last month, President Kagame acknowledged that “There is a possibility of sending troops to Mali.” And a request had already been made, he said.

“Africa cannot, and should not, fold its arms when terrorist and criminal groups are occupying over half the territory of a Member State, carrying out the most atrocious crimes against innocent civilians and destroying monuments that are of great significance to Africa’s heritage and civilization.” Kagame stressed

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Rwandan exiles warned of assassination threat by London police

Two dissidents living in London told that Rwandan government poses imminent risk to their lives

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Haroon Siddique
The Guardian, Friday 20 May 2011 06.38 EDT
Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame
Rwandan exiles warned about threats to their lives may have been targeted because of criticisms made of President Paul Kagame (above). Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
The Metropolitan police have warned two Rwandan exiles living in London that they face an “imminent threat” of assassination at the hands of the Rwandan government.

The dissidents received letters within hours of one another which advised them to take extra steps to increase their safety and raised the possibility of them leaving the country, the Times reported.

“Reliable intelligence states that the Rwandan government poses an imminent threat to your life,” the warning letters read. “The threat could come in any form. You should be aware of other high-profile cases where action such as this has been conducted in the past. Conventional and unconventional means have been used.”

One of the men, Rene Mugenzi, 35, stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate for Greenwich council, in south-east London, and now runs a social enterprise which aims to help disadvantaged communities. He may have been targeted because of comments he made about the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, in March when asked on a BBC programme about the prospect of the Arab spring uprisings spreading to his homeland. He replied that criticisms of Kagame suggested that he was “a despot who doesn’t tolerate any form of opposition; that under his leadership, Rwanda has become a dangerous place for those who publicly disagree with him or his ruling party”.

Mugenzi told the Independent: “How can it be that in Britain, a foreign government can be allowed to threaten the life of a person? Every time I go outside, I am looking over my shoulder, wondering if there is an assassin around the corner.”

The other recipient of the warning letter was Jonathan Musonera, a former officer in the army of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front. He is one of several exiled military officers behind the founding of the Rwanda National Congress, a new political party that earlier this month called on the Rwandan president to stand down “if he cannot stop killing, jailing and exiling innocent citizens”. The group recently held a meeting in London. Musonera told the Independent he was “terribly scared. We know what the Rwandan government can do.”

A Rwandan suspected of being part of the assassination threat was stopped at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, Kent, last week, according to the Times. It said the man, a naturalised Belgian aged 43, left after being questioned by police.

Western governments have praised Kagame for his efforts in transforming Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, with Britain committing £83m a year until 2015 to help rebuild the country. But political violence and suppression in Rwanda have shaken faith in Kagame.

Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, another founder member of the Rwanda National Congress and former head of Rwandan intelligence, was the subject of a failed assassination attempt in South Africa in June, last year.

The Independent reported last month that MI5 had warned the Rwandan high commissioner to London, who attended the royal wedding, to halt an alleged campaign of harassment against critics of Kagame living in the UK or face a cut in British aid.

A Rwandan government spokesman said the allegations contained within the warning letters were “without foundation. The government of Rwanda does not threaten the lives of its citizens, wherever they live,” he said. “The Metropolitan police have not approached us with evidence of these allegations but we are ready as always to work with them to ensure that nobody, be they Rwandan or not, is the victim of violence on British soil.”

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Kagame speaks out on Kikwete’s call for negotiations with FDLR rebels

Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Photo/File

Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Photo/File

By EMMANUEL RUTAYISIRE, Special Correspondent

Posted Monday, June 10 2013 at 18:32
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has described calls for the country to negotiate with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) as “utter nonsense.”
(Read: Unease in Kigali over Kikwete’s call for talks with FDLR)

Speaking on Monday at the Rwanda Military Academy (Nyakinama) in the northern part of the country where he was attending a graduation ceremony of 45 officers, President Kagame said:

“I kept quiet about this because of the contempt I have for it. I thought it was utter nonsense. Maybe it was due to ignorance but if this is an ideological problem for anyone to be thinking this way, then it better stay with those who have it.

“We will have another time to deal with this. As Rwandans, being who we are, achieving what we want to achieve for ourselves is not a myth, its real”.

The call to talk to FDLR was made by Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete at a meeting of Heads of State from the Great Lakes Region in Addis Ababa, on the sidelines of last month’s African Union Summit in Ethiopia.

Kikwete’s remarks have soured the already shaky relations between the two neighbouring countries with foreign affairs ministers from both countries issuing statements.

(Read: Dar-Kigali spat a serious matter)

Kikwete had suggested that Rwanda should consider direct talks with the FDLR rebels since the military option didn’t seem to be working.

President Kikwete also urged Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to talk to the Allied Democratic Forces and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, as well as asking DR Congo’s President Joseph Kabila to talk to the M23 rebels and other forces operating in eastern Congo.

This is the first time President Kagame is personally responding to President Kikwete’s remarks even though both presidents attended the Addis Ababa meeting.

(Read: Rwanda can’t talk to FDLR; they’re stone cold killers)

Tanzania has said it is not going to apologise to Kigali over the statements.

The remarks have triggered a diplomatic row between the two countries although observers say it is a pointer to the fact that despite the cordial relationships, Presidents Kagame and Kikwete have never been friends.

The FDLR is a sensitive issue in Kigali because of the former’s role in the 1994 genocide as well as its continued security threat to Rwanda. The militia draws most of its members from the genocidaires who participated in the 1994 mass killings.

Kagame publicly threatening to hit President Kikwete.

4 juillet 2013

Amakuru

Kagame publicly threatening to hit President Kikwete. jeannet-300×200
She has reason to be worried

It is remarkable that the Rwandan president’s own wife has already understood the dangers of criminalizing a whole population group. In her own speech in the same event, she emphasized that criminal responsibility was individual and “every knee will have to kneel for itself”.

It has almost become a tradition in his improvised speeches to hear Rwandan president Paul Kagame spit his anger and express his contempt for Western donors and other foreigner s who do not share his peculiar ideas about governance and political freedom. He does not miss any opportunity to slam what he calls their attempts to give him lessons, while he has no lesson to receive from anybody. We have heard many insults and derogatory words, but an outright threat to “hit” the president of a sovereign neighbouring nation, this is something even those who know him for a long period would not easily had predicted. On Sunday June 30, in a speech to the “youth connect” meeting convened by the Ministry of Youth together with his wife’s own Imbuto foundation, Paul Kagame threatened Tanzanian President Kikwete in unmistakable terms that he will wait for him at the right place and hit him, in response to the latter’s suggestion that Kagame initiate talks with the armed Hutu opposition FDLR.

“And those whom you recently heard speaking for the Interahamwe and FDLR, saying that we should negotiate with them. Negotiate with them? As for me, I do not even argue about this issue because I will wait for you at the right place and I will hit you!! I really did not… I didn’t even reply to him, I never arg… uh… it is known, there is a line you can’t cross. There is a line, there is a line that should never be crossed. Not once. It’s impossible!!…”

From these words pronounced partly in his hallmark unstructured Kinyarwanda mixed with English, Kagame made clear that he is still deeply angered by the mere suggestion to engage in talks with political opponents. That is why he vowed to wait for the right opportunity to strike back at Tanzanian President. It is unheard of in world diplomacy, to see a head of state threatening to hit another head of state of a sovereign nation in time of peace.

This threat should be taken seriously. Kagame has already proven in the past that he is able to strike his adversaries and silence them. Whether fellow presidents or his own (former) trusted collaborators, his prowess in murdering those he thinks are his enemies would not shy from a comparison with L. Sulla’s famous bragging. Melchior Ndadaye, Juvénal Habyarimana, Cyprien Ntaryamira, Laurent-Desiré Kabila are all heads of states in whose assassination he has allegedly had a hand. Théoneste Lizinde and Seth Sendashonga, are former collaborators eliminated in covert operations from afar. The last known feat in this series is the failed assassination of his former army chief of staff Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who survived a shooting in Johannesburg, South Africa. The lesser known cases of eliminated military officers who had knowledge of damaging secrets of his cruelty or could become rivals for power in the military, is no less impressive.

The grudge against Kikwete has other sources as well. Kagame’s big ego does not suffer being second to anybody. Being overshadowed by Kikwete as the most visible leader in the region is an additional source of personal resentment towards the charismatic Tanzanian President who, in less than a year, has been honoured by the official visits of the presidents of the two most powerful nations in the world. The recent attempt by Kagame, Museveni and Uhuru Kenyatta to bypass Kikwete and meet in Entebbe without him underscores a rampant feeling of discomfort at the growing strategic importance of Tanzania in the region.

Tanzania’s resolve to play its full role in restoring peace in the region has borne him many enemies among the neighbours who most benefit from the chaos they have helped perpetuate in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uganda and Rwanda will namely be the losers if peace returns in the region because violence has long been their cover and their opportunity to loot Congolese resources. But whether they like it or not, Kagame and Kaguta will have to understand that time for peace has now come.

Kagame doesn’t seem to notice the changing circumstances however. In his self-righteousness, he said in the same speech that he was the paramount example of tolerance because he accepts to live in the same country with an ethnical group of genocidaires. He said that allowing Hutus to stay alive is the biggest political space he could think of, anywhere in the world. He urged the Hutus, even those who were not born at the time of the mass slaughters of 1994 to repent and ask forgiveness on behalf of their ethnical group (Suddenly. There are ethnical groups in Rwanda again!). He made them understand that they owed their lives to him because his soldiers would have slaughtered the entire Hutu population that he characterizes as a genocidaire ethnical group, was it not for his magnanimity that forced him to stop the RPA soldiers. In return for RPF soldiers not slaughtering all Hutus, he urges them to bear the burden of perpetual guilt, because, according to him, crimes were committed on their behalf.

It is remarkable that the Rwandan president’s own wife has already understood the dangers of criminalizing a whole population group. In her own speech in the same event, she emphasized that criminal responsibility was individual and “every knee will have to kneel for itself”. She underlined the importance of liberating the youth from the burden of event in which they did not take part. When Kagame’s own wife starts signaling that she has understood the dangers of his principal political principle (criminalizing all Hutus), the peace in the region can’t continue to be held up by just one individual.

This is what Tanzania has understood much earlier. But Kikwete also knows that those who sow chaos in order to harvest in violence will not easily give up their booty. By accepting to step in, to make his voice for peace heard, Tanzanian President Kikwete knew there was a price. It is now up to the entire population of the region (Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and obviously Tanzania) to step in and stand with President Kikwete, ensure his protection and denounce any attempt to threaten his physical integrity.

Dr Alexis Habiyaremye
http://www.editions-sources-du-nil.com/article-kagame-publicly-threatening-to-hit-president-kikwete-118887725.html

Kenya: WHY RUTO WON’T RESIGN OVER LAND GRABBING

from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2013

Some of you have been asking my opinion on what I say about the call by Kakamega Senator, Dr. Bonny Khalwale that Deputy President William Ruto should resign for flouting Chapter Six of the constitution that talks about leadership and Integrity.

This is after the court found him guilty of grabbing 100-acre piece of land that belonged to Mr. Adrian Muteshi, an IDP at the height of 2008 post election violence in Uasin Gishu. Ruto was ordered to pay Sh5 million as compensation for unlawfully possessing the land.

Khalwale said that the same laws that applied to former Deputy Chief Justice Dr. Nancy Barasa should apply to Ruto, noting that Barasa was shown the door just for pinching a security guard’s nose, but with Ruto it is serious as the court itself found him guilty of land grabbing and therefore unfit to hold any public office let alone being the Deputy President as required by Chapter Six of the constitution.

My opinion why Ruto cannot be shown the door is to do with culture of impunity in Kenya. This is not even the first scandal labelled against Ruto. In October 20, 2010 the High Court ruled Ruto had a case to answer in connection with alleged payment of millions of shillings arising from land deals involving the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPL). He was suspended briefly but later on reinstated.

Ruto was charged with defrauding the KPL of large amounts of money through dubious land deals, notably through the sale of a piece of land in Ngong forest to the company. A key witness in the fraud case, Ms Mary Ng’ethe, was appointed to a government board, allegedly on the instigation of the ODM party, “to discourage her from testifying,” according to former Raila aide Miguna Miguna. This resulted in Ruto’s acquittal for lack of evidence.

This can explain why before the 2010 constitutional referendum, Ruto campaigned against the promulgation of the new Constitution, arguing that some of its clauses were untenable. The ‘No’ campaigners were, however, resoundingly defeated at the referendum. Probably he did not want the constitution to pass because of this Chapter Six on integrity.

Another reason why in my own opinion I don’t think Uhuru will allow this to happen since the two are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), all relating to the violence that broke out in the aftermath of the disputed 2007 presidential election.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

KENYA: KISUMU MAGISTRATE DISQUALIFIES HIMSELF FROM CASE

By Our Reporter

A Magistrate who has been hearing a case in which a prominent real estate agent in Kisumu is charged with fraud yesterday disqualified himself from the proceedings.

Principal Magistrate Harison Adika quite the case in which the real agent Gorge Adada Nyagowa is charged with obtaining 400,000/- and 50,000/- from a woman under the pretext that he would secure her a parcel of land at Kisumu/Konya.

Nyagowa is charged that he February 11 2010 at Re-insurance plaza in Kisumu East district received a bankers cheque of 400,000/- and 50,000/- all totaling 450,000/- from Morine Leah Aketch Auma under the pretext that he could sell her a parcel of land at Kisumu Konya / 6067. The accused who is the proprietor of Michigen Investments was ordered released on a bond of 100,000/-.

Nyagowa also faces another charge before the chief magistrate Mrs Lucy Gitari over a similar offence.

The first count in the other states he on diverse dates between September 2009 and December he obtained 770,000/- from Philemon Odeny at Reinsurance Plaza within Kisumu under the pretext that he would secure him a parcel of land .

Count two states that he secured 400,000/- at Re Insurance Plaza from Timothy Otieno under the pretext that that h would give him a parcel of land Dago within Kisumu.

The last count states that he obtained 710,000/- at Re Insurance plaza from Joshua Okore under the pretext that he would secure him a parcel of land at Dago.

Mrs Gitari ordered him released on a cash bail of 30,000/-

Ends.

USA: Gasland 2

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox is teaming up with MoveOn members to screen his new documentary Gasland Part II—a jaw-dropping exposé of the fracking industry. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn the truth about fracking and join the national movement that’s fighting back. You’ll need HBO—or a friend with HBO—to host. Can you host a Gasland Part II Movie Party in Dayton on Sunday, July 14?
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=291160&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=1

Dear MoveOn member,

Imagine being able to light your city tap water on fire.

That’s a reality right now in communities across the country as the fossil fuel industry pushes our country into an all-out—and dangerous—”fracking” boom.1

Want to learn more about fracking and how to stop it? We’ve teamed up with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox for a fun, informative, and sobering nationwide event to watch his new HBO documentary Gasland Part II on Sunday, July 14, and you can have a front row seat—in your own living room!

Fracking for gas and oil has been linked to water so contaminated that it catches fire, illness in residential neighborhoods, unusual earthquakes, dead livestock, and tanking property values. And the methane released by fracking is a far more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide.2

The hopeful news is that MoveOn members are fighting back—and Gasland Part II gives us a powerful new weapon to grow our grassroots movement. That’s why hundreds of MoveOn members are signing up to host a Gasland Part II Movie Party on Sunday, July 14.

Hosting a movie screening is easy and very rewarding. We’ll provide a host guide with special materials, we’ll help you recruit MoveOn members in your area to attend, and we’ll invite you to join director Josh Fox and thousands of other MoveOn members for a special briefing after we view the film together. Because the film is only available right now on HBO, you’ll need an HBO subscription—or a friend with HBO—to host a movie night. If you don’t have HBO, we may be able to match you up with a MoveOn member near you who does.

Will you sign up to host a Gasland Part II Movie Party in Dayton on Sunday, July 14?
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=291160&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=2

No, I don’t have HBO, and I’m not sure I have a friend who does.
http://www.moveon.org/gasland2/?id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=3

Like Josh’s first film, which made “fracking” a household word, Gasland Part II is catalyzing a movement—and if enough of our friends, families, and neighbors work together, we can build the large-scale movement we need to stop fracking. Since the original Gasland debuted in 2010, dozens of cities, towns, and counties—from Pittsburgh, PA to Mora County, NM—have passed local bans on fracking, and MoveOn members in 30 states have launched campaigns to stop this dangerous new form of fossil fuel extraction.3

Gasland Part II is only available on HBO right now, so if you’d like to host but don’t have a subscription, ask your friends or family members who might have HBO to team up with you. If you do have HBO, sign up to help MoveOn members near you have the opportunity to watch this amazing film

I had the opportunity to preview the film, and it gave me the chills. I grew up—and my mom still lives—just a few miles from the largest urban oil field in the country, in Los Angeles, where fracking is happening right now. Neighbors suspect that high rates of cancer are linked to toxic chemicals used in fracking—and they’re organizing to stop the fracking from continuing.4

Earlier this week, in his first speech on climate change, President Obama stuck his neck out to reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, and MoveOn members have applauded him for that. But he also doubled down on propping up the oil and gas industries, even though scientists have shown that extracting and burning gas and oil could be far worse for the climate than coal.5

Banning fracking is the next frontier in the movement to protect our communities and our kids from climate change—and MoveOn members, with Josh Fox, are leading the way.

When people find out the truth about fracking, they rise up to stop it. The MoveOn community of 8 million members has the power to spread the truth, and organize to win.

Visit here to host a Gasland Part II Movie Party on Sunday, July 14.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=291160&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=6

Thanks for all you do,

–Victoria, Manny, Bobby, Rosy, and the rest of the team

P.S. Check out the trailer for Gasland Part II here: http://vimeo.com/69061416

Sources:

1. “Fracking’s coming boom,” Salon, April 24, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=291186&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=7
2. “Drillers Silence Fracking Claims With Sealed Settlements,” Bloomberg Businessweek, June 6, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=290800&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=9

“Campaign to Ban Fracking Heats Up,” Culver City Patch, May 17, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=290822&id=&t=10&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=10

“More Evidence Shows Drilling Causes Earthquakes,” Bloomberg Businessweek, April 1, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=290821&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=11

“The Fracturing of Pennsylvania,” The New York Times, November 17, 2011http://www.moveon.org/r?r=291187&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=12

“Methane Losses Stir Debate on Natural Gas,” The New York Times, April 12, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=291188&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=13

3. “NY Local Fracking Bans Upheld By Appeals Court,” Huffington Post, May 2, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=291189&id=70552-21095459-WVWlpix&t=14

4. Ibid., Culver City Patch

5. Ibid., The New York Times

MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way.

Chip in.
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TANZANIA AND RUSSIA WILL SOON BE EMBROILED IN MAJOR LEGAL TUSSLES THROUGH COURT OVER DISPUTED URANIUM MINING IN MKUNJU RIVER MINING FIELDS.

Writes Leo Odera Omolo

Tanzania and Russia may soon face each other in court in ne of the toughest legal battle against a Russian firm in a multimillion dollar engaged in the business of mining uranium over tax evasion.

Information emerging from Dar Es Salaam says that state is demanding nearly USD 206 million, which is equivalent to Tshs 329 billion taxes from the Russian firm ,Rosatom disputes the taxes invoices.JSC Atomredmetzoloi {ARMTZ} OF Russia in relation to its Mkunju River Uranium mines that the state owned mining arm of Russia’s nuclear watchdog

As a result the ARMZ, Uranium Holdings through its lawyer FB Attornery has filed a case before the Tax Appeal Tribunal of Tanzania to challenge the tax claim.

Gandasiosus Ishengoma also a lawyer confirmed last week that the ARMZ has challenge the state over its claim and filed a case through theTax Apeal Tribunal.

The Energy and Mineral Minister Prof. Sospeter Muhongo was quote by a source in Dar Es Salaam as saying that the Tshs 329.01 billion {205.80 million tax had originated from MkunjuRiver uranium mining.

TAnzania law was enacted in 2011 in order to close loophole in a tax holiday incentive because that allowed foreign firms to operate tax-free for first five years.

He same law stipulates that any foreign firm operating in the country must pay capital gain tax, when it changes to a third party.

Mantra Tanzania Ltd the former owners of Mkunju River uranium mine in December 2010 cedeed the project operations to AMZ after the firm had acquired the percentage. Mantra Resources of Australia For Tshs .1.667.1 billion USD.O43.8 million..

And immediately after the transactions, the state through the Tanzania Revenue Authority [TRA] issued invoices demanding that ARMTZ settles Tshs 327.7 million out of the total USD 9.8 in stamp duty.The sum is quoted as being equavalent to 43 per cent of the current Tazania’s health and social welfare budget of Tshs 753.85 billion..

Observers and watchers of Tanzania-Rusia relations have maintained that the tax battle between the two countries could create bad blood between the two business partners.

In April last year Tanzania licensed ARMTZ RANIUM Holding to establish the first uranium mines in Mkunju River which is located in the south of the country.

This licence is the first to be issued by Tanzania and the newly enacted mining laws.

Ends

Kenya: estate agent

From: Our Reporter

A PROMINENT real Estate agent in Kisumu who has been charged before various courts with land fraud has now started transferring his fixed and movable assets to third parties. Mr George Adada Nyagowa who is a former watchman and also now the owner of the notorious Michigen Investments has taken the drastic move after realizing that he risks going to jail and subsequently being forced to pay his victims who he has fleeced of millions of shillings. He no longer drives a posh black Toyota Hilux which is believed to be part of the proceeds of his loot over the years

Most of his victims are those who bought parcels of lands at Konya and Dago areas in the outskirts of Kisumu town. He has pocketed over 15 million shillings in Konya alone where members of the public purchase non existent parcels of plots. Adada who enjoys unsolicited protection from both the police and the judiciary was recently again charged before the area Chief Magistrate’s court with obtaining money from members of the public under the pretext that he would secure them assorted parcels of land.

Nyagowa appeared before the chief Magistrate Mrs Lucy Gitari and denied a total of three counts. The first count states he on diverse dates between September 2009 and December he obtained 770,000/- from Philemon Odeny at Reinsurance Plaza within Kisumu under the pretext that he would secure him a parcel of land.

Count two states that he secured 400,000/- at Re Insurance Plaza from Timothy Otieno under the pretext that that h would give him a parcel of land Dago within Kisumu. The last count states that he obtained 710,000/- at Re Insurance plaza from Joshua Okore under the pretext that he would secure him a parcel of land at Dago.

Mrs Gitari ordered him released on a cash bail of 30,000/-Adada is also facing trial before another court after obtaining 400, 00/- from a woman under the pretext that he could secure her a parcel of land at Konya area. Principal magistrate Harrison Adika is hearing the case .Earlier this year prospective land buyers roughed up the leading real Estate Agent in Kisumu while accusing him of fleecing them of unspecified amounts of cash under the pretext that her would sell them assorted parcels. The irate mob pounced on Nyagowa leaving him half naked.

Adada who is the proprietor of Michigen Investments which is based in Kisumu pleaded with the irate public to leave him alone but his pleas fell on deaf ears as they roughed him up. Chaos erupted at Konya village in the outskirts of Kisumu town where land surveyors, police and lawyers had gone there in order to access the situation on the ground. But the mob stormed the area next to Ukweli pastoral centre sending everyone scampering in different directions.

Earlier hundreds of prospective land buyers in Kisumu who claim to have lost millions of shillings to fraudsters posing as agents threatened to stage a major demonstration against the police and land officials in the area whom they say collude with the conmen.The victims said that they will stage a major demonstration against the office of the criminal investigations department for not arresting the agents. Some of the victims claim to have spent over 7 million shillings in developing parcels of land at Konya in the outskirts of Kisumu which turned out to be a road reserves. Some of the victims blamed officers at the land’s office in Kisumu for colluding with the conmen in order to fleece unsuspecting members of the public of million of shillings.

Another complainant Oliver Agnes alias Nyanaya said she had fallen victim to the fraudsters at Riat area. She said huge tracts of her parcels of land had been sold out by some of the conmen posing as agents in Kisumu town Former Nyanza CID chief Joseph Mugwanja confirmed knowledge of some of the cases. Mr. Mugwanja said he is aware of some cases since they were forwarded from CID headquarters for immediate action. Mr. Mugwanja confirmed that there are some 32 cases of that nature which are being investigated by the Kisumu DCIO.A number of top civil servants and businessmen in Kisumu have also fallen victims of the super conmen.

Investigations have revealed that those who have been fleeced of millions of shillings have been promised parcels of land at Kibos Road, Dago, Konya, Dunga, parts of Kajulu, Riat and Kisian, Dago together with Otonglo areas.

Ends

Kenya: MY HOMILY OF ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013

The first reading of Eleventh Sunday in ordinary time is taken from 2 Sm 12:7-10, 13. While it shows us the weakness of human nature, at the same time it shows the infinite mercy of God. David acknowledges his sin and asks for God’s mercy and forgiveness. God’s forgives him and vows never to repeat that sin again.

The second reading is from St. Paul to the Galatians- Gal 2:16, 19-21. Paul is speaking here of justification and faith. In Christian theology justification is God’s act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin while at the same time declaring a sinner righteous through Christ’s atoning. In Protestantism, righteousness from God is viewed as being credited to the sinner’s account through faith alone, without works.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians distinguish between initial justification, which in their view occurs at baptism, and permanent justification, accomplished after a lifetime of striving to do God’s will.

Most Protestants believe that justification is a singular act in which God declares an unrighteous individual to be righteous, an act made possible because Christ was legally “made sin” while on the cross (2 Cor 5:21). This is contrary to James 2:24-26. “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. But faith without works is dead.”

In Romans, Paul develops justification by first speaking of God’s just wrath at sin (Rom. 1:18 – 3:20). Justification is then presented as the solution for God’s wrath. One is said to be ‘justified by faith apart from works of the Law.’

The Gospel is from Lk 7:36—8:3. It shows the mercy of God for sinners and the willingness and eagerness, with which God welcomes back the sinner. A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.

Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears.

Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”

Mary Magdalene was believed to be a reformed prostitute and is identified as the woman who ‘was a sinner at the house of Pharisees, who washed Christ’s feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair and anointed them. Christ then forgave her sins.

The lesson we learn here is forgiveness, a decision to let go your sins and never to repeat them again as we see in the first reading and the gospel. David and Mary Magdalene never repeated the action they were accused of. It was wrong for David to kill Uriah and take his wife.

For unfaithful partners in Kenya where marital infidelity is as intertwined as nyama choma, also known as mpango wa kando, it would mean that forgiveness must go with justice. It means doing justice to your partner and your entire family that you will never cheat on your partner anymore.

In Kenya men are the ones closely linked with big percentage of mpango wa kando than women. A 2008 study carried out by Spylink International, a private investigation outfit based in Kenya, revealed that marital infidelity was on the rise with men taking the lead with 75 per cent share of cheating, while women at 25 per cent in 2002. By 2008 this figure rose from 25 to 45 percent of women cheating on their men.

The study pegged this scenario on “changing lifestyles, and women’s empowerment through higher education and knowing “their rights.” Hard economic times implied that more women were exchanging their bodies for material favours. The survey, however, revealed that “as the data stands, women in Kenya will be “leading the infidelity game by 2010.”

Even worse was the fact that 99 per cent of married couples cheat on each other, with Nairobi, of Kenya’s eight provinces, leading with 60 per cent of unfaithful men, and women at 40 per cent.

Nyanza comes second with 55 per cent of men and women at 45 per cent. Western and Rift Valley take fourth and fifth slots respectively, with men taking 65 per cent, while Coast came fifth with men leading with 60 per cent.

In Eastern province, unfaithful men stood at 70 per cent and 85 per cent in case of men in North-Eastern, a region where women are socially, culturally and economically suppressed.

Central Province was the surprise package with women taking a 60 per cent stake a head of their men.

This trend has led to single women in Kenya. A survey released few years ago by consumer market research firm Ipsos-Synovate, shows that 44 per cent of women dislike infidelity among men.

In terms of the state where the government is to ensure that all the citizens have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all, the forgiveness would also mean doing justice.

You must do justice on social and economic inequalities, nepotism, negative ethnicity, human rights abuses, and assassinations, tortures among other ills as recommended by The Truth Reconciliation and Justice Commission (TRJC) in their report.

The report recommends that the head of the state and other departmental heads apologize to Kenyans and then for justice to be done it recommends that actions should be taken. IDPs must be reallocated, people who lost their dear ones be compensated.

TRJC was set up following deadly post-election clashes five years ago. After those elections some 1,500 people were killed and more than 600,000 forced to flee their homes. Some IDPs are still in the camps and people whose dear ones died have not been compensated.

TRJC mandate was to investigate and recommend appropriate action on human rights abuses committed between Kenyan independence in December 1963 and the end of February 2008 – including politically motivated violence, assassinations, corruption and land disputes.

It recommends that those with alleged involvement in the Wagalla massacre should no longer hold any public office. The killings occurred in 1984 during efforts to disarm ethnic Somali clans in the north-east of the country. Survivors say close to 5,000 people died.

When justice is done it is when the forgiveness will bring a kind of peace that helps the victims go on with life. Forgiveness here means that you are now at peace with yourself and the community. Click here to read Pope John Paul II Message for the World Day of Peace 2002.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

Securing Africa’s Land for Shared Prosperity: A Program to Scale up Reforms and Investments

From: Yona Maro

This covers land administration and reform in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is highly relevant to all developing countries around the world. It provides simple practical steps to turn the hugely controversial subject of “land grabs” into a development opportunity by improving land governance to reduce the risks of dispossessing poor landholders while ensuring mutually beneficial investors’ deals.

This book shows how Sub Saharan Africa can leverage its abundant and highly valuable natural resources to eradicate poverty by improving land governance through a ten point program to scale up policy reforms and investments at a cost of USD 4.5 billion. And it`s points out formidable challenges to implementation including high vulnerability to land grabbing and expropriation with poor compensation as about 90 percent of rural lands in Sub Saharan Africa are undocumented, but also timely opportunities since high commodity prices and investor interest in large scale agriculture have increased land values and returns to investing in land administration.

It argues that success in implementation will require participation of many players including Pan-African organizations, Sub Saharan Africa governments, the private sector, civil society and development partners; but that ultimate success will depend on the political will of Sub Saharan Africa governments to move forward with comprehensive policy reforms and on concerted support by the international development community.

Link:
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/13837/780850PUB0EPI00LIC00pubdate05024013.pdf

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