Monthly Archives: August 2008

RE: Be the First to Know

Hello: —

People keep asking me if we’re really going to announce Barack’s VP directly to our supporters.

The answer is yes.

Let me be very clear.  You are the ones who built this campaign, and Barack wants you to be the first to know who will join him in leading our movement for change.

So, if you haven’t signed up to receive an email or a text message, sign up now:

http://my.barackobama.com/vp

Or you can text VP to 62262 from your mobile phone.

Make sure to forward this message to your friends and let them know about this special opportunity.

Thanks,

David

Donate: https://donate.barackobama.com/wecan
—— Original Message ——
From: David Plouffe
Subject: Barack’s VP: Be the First to Know

Hello: —

Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign — choosing a running mate.

You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.

Sign up today to be the first to know:

http://my.barackobama.com/vp

You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.

Once you’ve signed up, please forward this email to your friends, family, and coworkers to let them know about this special opportunity.

No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment.

Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate:

http://my.barackobama.com/vp

Thanks,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Donate: https://donate.barackobama.com/wecan

– – –
Date:  Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:52:31 -0400
From:  “David Plouffe, BarackObama.com” <info@barackobama.com>
Subject:  RE: Be the First to Know

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– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:51:02 +0200
From: Clement Gitonga
Subject: New Items at Rwanda-Classified.com

Fw: What are Kenyan Legislatures upto when hunger bites the poor?

Folks,

Without a Tale Tale or going by riddles, the majority poor in Kenya are languishing in serious poverty from lack of food, housing, clothing a result of joblessness situation.
Even the educated have scrambled. There is undercover reports of many dying from
lack of food. Food prices have gone high while the urban poor have no means let alone
access to food. The Government of Kenya does not have Welfare Program to cutter
for such critical urgent needs. Many have resorted to Molasses local brew and other
uncultured form in order to survive.

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=Y_WlP2Dk4zE

We are dumbfounded to see that Legislatures closed Parliament for recess in a hurry, turned their faces the other way to avoid public demands, and went for break to go away to enjoy themselves with big fat earnings from public taxes which makes them comfortable with enough to eat and live comfortably without care to address serious hunger situation faced by many Kenyans. This was the most urgent concern followed by the Constitution Policy Agenda. They would have considered staying a little longer taking into consideration the many lives going to be lost because of lack of food, and work-out means to tackle the situation. This is the kind of Leadership Kenyans have, a sorry state of affair one can tell how considerate these Legislatures are to the people they represent and as policy makers.

Added

Parliament is taking yet another break
02:30 From: NTVKenya
Views: 3,730

Evaluation Contract for Ministries should have relevance to Poverty Eradication and rated according to needs met and employment creation to the jobless members of public. This being the recommendation for funds requests and the Millenium Development Goals Strategic Plan. Any development realized should be seen to trickle down to ordinary Mwanainchi. The School leavers should have some form of employment in the Ministries after completion of Internships etc., Nothing of the sort was noted, except employment and Government Contracts has previously been done according to who know who, and how one is related to the ruling government.

Added

Performance contracts: Document in its current not fair
01:44 From: NTVKenya
Views: 206

It is pathetic and not logical to see President Kibaki busy spending public money and energy in financing Campaign Rally’s for his succession candidate for 2012, while the Prime Minister is busy making schedules for overseas business trips companied by groups of unscrupulous corrupt people who have corrupted the country in the past government leadership and whose activities are not for the good of Kenyans, spend huge somes of money in the financing of such trips instead of pulling these resource funds to subsidize for the poor situation in Country and also to provide incentive programs for the same. What we are seing is a dilly dallying hide and seek, avoiding to tackle situations as they stand.

Overseas Trip
Aug. 4th – Travels To Thailand On A State Visit
Aug. 6th.- Travels To Singapore On An Official Visit
Aug. 8th.- Leads Kenyan Delagation To The Olympics
Aug. 10th. Will Attend A Business Forum In Malaysia
Aug. 13th. State Visit To South Korea
He Returns To Kenya On August 15th.

August 28 Attends The Democratic Party Convention In Denver
Aug. 31 Will Lead A High Powered Trade Delagation To Washington Dc.
Sept 3 Jets Out On An Official Visit To Germany
Sept. 6 Will Open A Busines Forum In Switzerland
Sept. 9 Will Have A State Visit To Austria
September 11 Will Be In Norway For Two Days.

He Heads Back To Kenya On September 13.

All donor funds Kenya and other thirds world receive are tax payers money from the International Community for Foreign program undertaking which is part of their policy and the Citizenry have the right to DEMAND to know if their money is utilized in a responsible manner.

If physical killings of innocent Citizens by gun bullets and other forms of thuggery is regarded as treason, what about denying same Citizens basic fundamental needs like food to survive? Can we not equate this as an act of Economic Crime to the innocent Kenyans when funds are seen to be diverted for other none urgent and luxury use to the few. Is it right to treat Human Beings like animals without due regards of how and what they will eat? Leaders are therefore accountable and charged to be answerable for being Cruel and inhuman to their electorate.

Money is already trickling down to Kenya from Donor Agencies and other European Countries as well as from America while the purpose of these funds are not expressly addressed. Would it be not proper for the International Community to start calling for a halt of funds directed to Kenyan Government until things are put into perspectives and lives are saved? Government Ministries have money for other things but they dont care if lives are lost for having no food or accommodation or employment.

Is it a debatable subject that which is shelved for months and years, to be revisited when tides are good, or else to be forgotten wholesome when days and months and years have passed just to be visited at election time with a boost of handouts?

Many people now suspect and believe the Prime Minister Raila is helping the Gema Mafia and other corrupt Business Tycoons to swindle the country by design, so they can hole up the money they stole from Kenya and supervise their businesses while in company of the Prime Minister as their goodwill when in overseas trips together.

If this poverty case is anything to go by, Parliament must resume immediately to find solution for this pathetic miserable situation.

Thanks,

Judy Miriga
USA

Check this one!!!!!!!

The sorry state of the Kenyan worker

Published on May 25, 2008, 12:00 am

By Lillian Aluanga
Despite being touted as one of the country¢s worst years, 2008 has brought unexpected glad tidings for Francis Ojwang. While many Kenyans would want to forget the unprecedented wave of violence that hit the country after a disputed election, Ojwang will remember this as the year he earned the highest amount of money as a construction worker.
For the past two weeks, Ojwang, has earned Sh500 per day as a mason at a construction site near Wilson airport in Nairobi.

Loaders at work at the Mombasa port. Picture by Maarufu MohamedHe says he still cannot believe his luck.
But things have not always been this way. Ojwang¢s first job at Nyayo Highrise in 1996 earned him Sh80 per day as a handyman.
“Working in the construction industry is not easy because you are always exposed to risks. I love what I do but our working conditions are not good,” he says.
Ojwang leaves his single-roomed house in Kibera at about 6.30am and takes one hour to reach the construction site.
Depending on his financial situation, Ojwang may take a cup of tea and mandazi for breakfast. But when there is no money, he simply leaves for work on an empty stomach.
“I have two orphans to take care of and siblings to help back at home. Sometimes when my budget is spread thin, I skip breakfast and eat a plate of githeri for lunch. Sometimes, I can only afford one meal in a day,” he says.
Ojwang¢s story is replicated among thousands of Kenyan workers in lower income brackets, struggling under poor working conditions with little pay to show for their labour.
The story is the same in several parts of the country, stretching from Naivasha¢s flower farms to the vast sisal estates in Taita and Taveta districts, tea plantations in Nandi, coffee estates in central Kenya, the port of Mombasa and sugarcane farms in Western Province.
Struggle for survival
With families to feed and few alternatives in the job market, this cadre of workers continues to suffer in silence. They can only hope for a better day, when their wages and conditions will improve.
Generations of families have been born on these large farms, all getting into a cycle of poverty whose grip appears to be doing anything but loosening its hold on their future.
“What can we do? We must survive and so we take on any job that is available,” Ojwang says.
Over the years, Ojwang has worked on various construction sites in Kileleshwa, Runda, and Upperhill, earning between Sh150 and Sh350 per day.
As he speaks, Ojwangs adjusts the nylon bags tied to his feet before squeezing them into a pair of worn-out sneakers.
“We don¢t get any boots so we have to improvise to protect our feet from cement,” he says.
Then there are the rickety ladders on site.
“I saw a man fall once from the second storey of a building on Argwings Khodek road, breaking a rib and a leg,” he adds.
These are just some of the challenges Ojwang says construction workers have to contend with. Those who paint for many years, he says, also get complications in later stages.
“These paints have chemicals and no face masks are provided for the painters. It is recommended that painters drink at least a packet of milk everyday but that never happens,” he says.
Workers unions
An acting Deputy Labour Commissioner at the ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development, Mr Stephen Mbae, says the lucrative flower industry accounts for some of the largest number of workers in the agriculture sector. This in in comparison to the sugar, sisal, coffee, pyrethrum and tea sectors.
Mbae, who is in charge of Field Services, says the definition of the term ¡Kenyan worker¢ is vast. It ranges from the CEOs of major organisations, middle income earners to the lower income earners, down to the househelps, gardeners and guards, he says.
“When we talk of the Kenyan worker we sometimes forget that even that gardener, maid and herdsman in our homes is a Kenyan worker. The term does not only refer to those hired by companies,” he says.
Mbae says employers have no right to bar workers from joining a union. But he also decries the lack of awareness among workers on the unions that exist to represent them. “Section 80 of our Constitution provides for freedom of association, and therefore no employer should restrict his workers from joining a union of their choice,” he says.
To prevent the practice of too many unions representing every kind of craft, Mbae says it is common for companies to merge and form associations, through which to negotiate with workers¢ unions.
“There are cases where workers are afraid to join unions because of victimisation by their employers, but there are others where workers simply don¢t know that a union exists to represent their interests,” says the official.On this score, Mbae squarely lays blame on unions, which he says, have not been up to scratch in educating workers on their rights.
With regards to better terms of service, Mbae says unions are expected, after every two years, to negotiate for better terms for workers. Mbae cites the Sectoral Order, General Order and Collective Bargaining Agreements as tools used to determine what workers should earn, adding that the ministry always opts for what is most favourable for the employees.
A Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) refers to an agreement on terms and conditions of employment made between a trade union and an employer, group of employers or an employers¢ organisation. The Sectoral Oder refers to terms and conditions set by wages councils which are to applied to some sectors.
A General Order usually applies to all sectors even when there is no Sectoral Order or CBA. Previously, the Government would come up with a General Order revising basic minimum wages every May 1.
“If say, for instance, a General Order provides that workers be paid Sh3,000, a Sectoral Order Sh2,900 and a CBA Sh3,200, then it is the CBA which will be enforced,” Mbae says.
“But if say for example after May I the General Order revises the basic minimum wage to Sh3,300, then this supercedes the CBA and is what the workers should earn,” he says.
Although employers¢ associations entering into a Collective Bargaining Agreement with the trade unions are bound by its regulations, there has been concern over exemptions made for some companies.
Mbae says there are factors that should be considered when settling on basic minimum wage rates, such as areas where workers live and the cost of living in different places.
“It may not be fair to pay a flower worker say in Karen, Nairobi the same amount as one working on a rural farm or in Naivasha town,” he says.
According to the Regulations of Wages and Conditions of Employment Act, 2006, general labourers including cleaners, sweepers,gardeners, childrens ¡ayahs¢, house servants, day watchmen and messengers working in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu should earn a basic minimum monthly wage(exclusive of house allowance) of Sh5,195. Those in the same cadre working in all other municipalities and Mavoko, Ruiru and Limuru town councils should get Sh4,792. Workers in this cadre working in all other areas of the country should, by law, earn a basic minimum monthly wage of Sh2,771.

Labour laws
Mbae however says the categories currently stipulated by law are too few and leave out many workers. But what of inspections and measures taken by the ministry to rein in errant employers?
Mbae says the Labour ministry carries out its inspections on a routine basis and whenever it receives complaints. It is during these inspections that labour officers also take time to educate both the workers and employers on labour laws. While conceding that the ministry has not conducted any studies to compare the state of the Kenyan workers to their counterparts in Africa and the world, Mbae says it would not be fair to do so since there are different parameters by which such comparisons could be made.
Although the newly crafted Employment Act, Labour Institutions Act, Labour Relations Act, Work Injury Benefits Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act are deemed to be ¡employee friendly¢ workers may just have to wait a little longer to see things change.
Already, the High Court has temporarily halted the operation of the new laws, after an application by the Law Society of Kenya which took issue with a section of the Work Injury Benefits Act, which deprives employers the freedom to insure employers with a licensed insurer of their choice.
Also causing murmurs of discontent among employers is the proposal to have new fathers granted paternity leave and mothers given up to three months maternity leave with full pay.

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:03:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Judy Miriga
Subject: Fw: What are Kenyan Legislatures upto when hunger bites the poor?

The KARA Weekly Newsletter Issue No. 181, August 2008

Issue No. 181: Editor’s highlights and snapshot for this week:

Welcome to your favourite, authoritative and consistent The KARA Weekly Newsletter. As always, we appreciate your valued feedback. After a successful launch of Nakuru Citywide Residents Association, KARA will this Friday be at the lakeside city of Kisumu with Lands Minister Mr. James A.B Orengo at our Ford Foundation supported BTS-10 session on “National Cohesion, Reconciliation and the Land Question”. Mr. Patrick Ochieng, Chief Executive of the Mombasa-based advocacy organization, Ujamaa Center will give a civil society perspective. More details will be relayed to you separately. We appreciate your continued feedback on the August edition of Neighbourhood Kenya, KARA’s debut hard copy bi-monthly newsletter. We are glad you are reading.

Editor

Inside This Issue of The KARA Weekly Newsletter – at a Glance:

  a.. PS Prof. Kiyiapi: We are making major strides on environment
  b.. Nakuru Citywide Residents Association takes off ground!
  c.. Our viewpoint: on disasters, govt must do more than anniversaries
     … and much more

On a lighter note …It takes two deputy prime ministers for two wrongs!

Deputy prime minister and minister for local government Mr. Musalia Mudavadi finally released a “new” list of nominated councilors last week. In righting the supposed wrongs of his predecessor, Mr. Mudavadi kept the public guessing for far too long. When it came out, very late as it did, undoubtedly justice was denied as it had been over-delayed. Two, if you thought it was new and radical, think again. That the law was compromised, for some councilors who were spared the sack, in the name of averting a purported risk of destabilizing affected local authorities – is at best a case of impunity and at worst indecisiveness on the part of Mr. Mudavadi. It is now the same man who says his 135 (out of 175) local authorities are broke. Mr. Mudavadi knows that the law (Cap. 265 Local Government Act) prohibits him from declaring local authorities – as they surely need to then be wound up before they compromise the greater public interest. It seems that at Jogoo House, it takes two good deputy prime ministers to make more wrongs by each attempting to make a single right….Have a light week!

Your feedback counts: Government on “Neighbourhood Kenya”:

“This is to acknowledge receipt of KARA’s “Neighbourhood Kenya” newsletter. It is a good piece of work and a key tool to achieving sustainable, affordable and high quality public service delivery”, Bitange Ndemo, PhD, CBS and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communications. Editor’s note: we are humbled by your kind commendation. You are one-in-a-million in terms of the turnaround speed of your response. We are proud to be associated with you.
PS Prof. Kiyiapi: We are making major strides on environment

“We will soon be launching a National Environmental Education and Awareness Campaign. On this campaign, we will work with the media, resident associations, political leadership and schools to ensure increased participation of residents on environmental issues…” full_story
Nakuru Citywide Residents Association takes off ground!

[PC_-_RIFT_VALLEY.JPG image/jpeg 72.50 KB ]
[PC_-_RIFT_VALLEY.JPG image/jpeg 72.50 KB ]

At long last, Nakuru Citywide Residents Association (NCRA) was formally established at a meeting held at Nakuru’s Merica Hotel. Various stakeholders led by Rift Valley provincial commissioner Mr. Hassan Noor, Town Clerk Mr. Felix Olwero among others fully endorsed NCRA. Mr. Richard Muir, chairman of Friends of Mau Watershed Association (FOMAWA) was elected interim NCRA chairperson while the secretary’s slot went to Nakuru Business Association’s Mr. Devarest Ambale. Mr. Joseph Towett of the Ogiek Welfare Council was elected vice chairman. Other members include Mr. Kennedy Masibo of the Nakuru Press Club. Hawkers, religions and faiths among other stakeholders constitute a 10-man governing council with public relations officer at Municipal Council of Nakuru being an ex-officio member. (In the picture, Rift Valley PC Mr. Hassan Noor delivers his keynote speech. He was flanked by Mr. Ambale (right) of Nakuru Business Association and KARA CEO Mr. Stephen Mutoro

Our viewpoint: On disasters Govt must do more than anniversaries:

Last week we mourned. We reminisced that fateful day that was 1998 August 7th Nairobi bombing. The media generously offered its pages and airtime on the terrorist blast, ten years on. Wreaths of flowers were laid. But what exactly were we marking? Have we achieved anything on disaster preparedness since? … full_story

A new beginning…Taxpayers Citywide Residents Associations:

KARA, with support of The Ford Foundation, is set to form 8 inclusive and results-oriented citywide (taxpayers, service delivery and consumers) Residents Associations at all provincial headquartersand adjacent areas…Read_more

Key events calendar highlights for August 2008

12 Aug – Nakuru Citywide Residents Association Committee meeting

12 Aug – CCK Industry Code of Practice Subcommittee Meeting

12 Aug – Launch of TrojanUV Water Shop

13 Aug – International conference on e-commerce and internet security

13 Aug – KARA Environment Committee Meeting

15 Aug – KARA 10th Bi-monthly Talk Series with Hon. James A.B Orengo

22 Aug – Ministry of Information & Communication Meeting with
Telecommunication Service Providers

DISCLAIMER: Clickhere TO JOIN OR SUPPORT KARA -  Clickhere

The KARA Newsletter is proudly supported by AccessKenya – Your Corporate ISP.

– – –
Date:  Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:15:06 +0300
From:  “The Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations \\(KARA\\newsletter@kara.or.ke
Subject:  The KARA Weekly Newsletter Issue No. 181, August 2008

Fw: RE: East African Community e-Newsletter 2008/10 Attached

Fowarded by Leo Odera Omolo Kisumu 11th August 20087

— On Sat, 8/9/08, Dr. Nyamajeje Weggoro wrote:

From: Dr. Nyamajeje Weggoro
Subject: RE: East African Community e-Newsletter 2008/10 Attached
Date: Saturday, August 9, 2008, 5:41 AM

Thank you. The news content is very interesting. Is the Newsletter supposed to trace EAC wide activities and report on them? It is just a honest question.

From: Steve M. Machage
Sent: 08 August 2008 19:55
Subject: East African Community e-Newsletter 2008/10 Attached

East African Community e-Newsletter 2008/10 Attached
In this Issue
· EAC to take defence co-operation to higher level

· Secretary General Holds Talks with British Peer, Lord Lea of Crondall

· Steady stream of stakeholders on study tour

· Finland contributes 1.6m Euros to EAC

· US Envoy visits EAC Secretariat

· Appointments

Editor¢s Note

The contents of the e-EAC newsletter can be freely reproduced, broadcast, published in whole or in part free of charge provided the source is acknowledged.

The views expressed in the newsletter do not necessarily represent those of the EAC Secretariat.

Feedbacks and comments are encouraged to

eac-updates@eachq.org

EAC Update e-newsletter is published fortnightly on Fridays by the
Directorate of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
East African Community (EAC)

You can also download the e-newsletter at www.eac.int

Steve Machage
Information/ICT Assistant
Corporate Communications and Public Relations
East African Community Secretariat
P.O. Box 1096 Arusha, TANZANIA
(: +254 724544494
): +255 724921093
8: machage@eachq.org
:: http://www.eac.int

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:46:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: Fw: RE: East African Community e-Newsletter 2008/10 Attached

KENYA EXPORTED FISH WORTH KSHS. 4 BILLION OUT OF LAKE VICTORIA

By Leo Odera Omolo

Fish worth Kshs. 4 billion was caught in Lake Victoria last year, according to statistics from the fisheries department

Suba district produced the bulk of fish, accounting for 43 per cent of the 117,232 tones caught from the lake.

Neighbouring Homa-Bay had the lowest catch producing only 446 tons. Karachuonyo and Migori districts in South Nyanza contributed 10 and 12 per cent respectively, while Kisumu and Busia jointly produced only 83 tons, Nyando produced 1,981 tons.

According to the statistics, Dagaa {omena} was the most caught species, accounting for 42.2 percent of the catch

Nile perch , the largest fish export, was second at 39 per cent, according to the report 46, 558 tons of the fish were landed last year, Synodontic and Carias were the last counted species, both contributing only one per cent of the total catch

Other species were protopterus and Haplochromines as 2.5 and 4.9 per cent

Last year’s catch represented a decline from 2006 when fish worth about 6 billion was caught

The Minister for fisheries Dr. Paul Otuoma said that his ministry was in the process of changing of approach by encouraging fish farming for twice fishing pressure pm the lake.

He noted that while the global ratio of captured fisheries to fish produced in forms was 50-50. In Kenya farms produced less than one per cent of total harvest annually.

The Minister who was speaking in the lakeside lily of Kisumu said Ministry is set to launch a new policy next month as part of efforts to boost the fishing industry.

In parliament MPs this week urged the government to revamp fish landing beaches across Lake Victoria.

Franklin Bett the chairman of the Parliamentary seat committee on Agriculture bands and natural resources said the State should fins the installation of cols rooms in the 306 beaches at a cost of Kshs. 2 million each to turn around the sub-sector.

“ The country is losing billion of shillings annually over lack of refrigeration facilities in beaches to preserve fish in lake Victoria Mr. Bett said.

He said roads leading to the beaches were in deplorable state that affected the market of the Nile perch scheduled for the export.

“The government has to invest in the fishing such sector to realize more return” Mr. Bett Said
The country earned Kshs. 8 billion from the fish sub-sector with Ksh. 2.7 billion from Suba district last year.

Seventy percent of fish landed from Lake Victoria is from Suba district, most of which is the Nile Perch scheduled for export as fillets for the west and for east

Bett who is also the Buret MP was speaking in Kisumu when he led the committee members to the tour of Ogal Beach in Kisumu Rural Constituency in the newly created Kisumu West district.

Meanwhile the Kisumu branch chairman of the Kenya National Fisheries Association Mr. Jared Ochanda said it was regrettable that the local fisheries did derive much benefit from the resources.

“ This is a classic example of capital flight, “ He said a kilo of fish goes for 260 in the export market whereas it sold for only Ksh. 100 as the beach.

Mr. Ochanda disclosed that his association is soon establishing structure in the district surrounding the lakes to increase the fishermen awareness and bargaining power.

It was reported that the lowest has nested Ksh. 1.6 billion from export of Nile perch since the beginning of this year, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of fisheries indicate.

The money was made from the sale of Six million metrics tones of this prized fish species from Lake Victoria. The fish product was exported mainly to the European Union countries, Israel and Japan.

The exported products included frozen and fresh fish fillets, scanned and skinless fish fillets, and headless and gutted fish.

The highest sales were made in April, with fish worth Kshs. 223o million exported.

January had the lowest export standing at Kshs. 174, million which is attributed to post election violence.

There are six processing factories and 316 landing sites on the Kenya site of Lake Victoria , Kisumu had three out of these factories, while Homa-Bay, Migori and Nairobi have one each.

Mr. Ochanda blamed the fish processors against whom the accounted of giving fisheries a raw deal because they to not speak with one voice. But an official at the western Kenya regional fisheries office said the fishermen also are substantial money how the fish sales.

At the same time the government of Kenya has anointed that it will soon establish a special fund to promote fish farming.

Fisheries Minister Dr. Paul Otuoma said the government also plans to push for new legislation to regulate the fisheries sector.

Speaker in Kisumu, the Minister advised farmers to venture into agriculture to meet increasing fish demands in the face of dwindling stockist

The funds, said the minister, would be used in develop hatcheries and provide extension to farmers will to refer fish.

The more, he said, had been prompted by the fact that the Lake Victoria when contributed in excess of 90 per cent of the fish to the Kenyan market was over exploited

The Minister said the proposed legislation walled restrict the amount of fish that could be remarked from the water body at any given time to make the fishing sustainable over the year.

Dr. Otuoma said that the improvement of the infrastructure around Lake Victoria was key to boosting fishermen’s living standard by eliminating middlemen from the supply chain,

The Minister said the installation of cooling facilities along the major beaches and value addition mechanism for the catches would gave way for an auction market where the foodstuff would be key commodities.

The more, he explained, would promote the packaging and branding of the fish from the lake in an hygienically and nutritionally acceptable standards.

Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang district that plans were underway by East African countries to create a single fishing regime that would allow fishermen from the region to fish across boundaries.

The two ministers were speaking at the just ended Nyanza Economic Forum Kajwang’ said the more is expected to be a welcome relief especially to the fishermen in border area who constantly run in the wrong side of the law with Tanzania and Uganda a Authorities

The Nyanza Economy Forum intent to come up with a new development agenda for the region

Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:25:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: KENYA EXPORTED FISH WORTH KSHS. 4 BILLION OUT OF LAKE VICTORIA

Fw: [talkback-forum] Cancer

— On Mon, 8/11/08, Fif wrote:

From: Fif
Subject: [talkback-forum] Cancer
Date: Monday, August 11, 2008, 7:07 AM

For reasons you will read below, you will see why I am so thrilled with RWMC¢s decision to effect a NO SMOKING stand! I can¢t wait for it to kick in and get my fair share of fresh air. I have to quit eating fries! It¢s awful that from time to time I partake of fries, especially the sweet potato fries! I cannot imagine why in the world anyone would eat swine.

1. HOT DOGS
Because they are high in nitrates, the Cancer Prevention Coalition advises that children should eat no more than 12 hot dogs a month. If you can’t live without hot dogs, buy those made without sodium nitrate.

2. PROCESSED MEATS AND BACON
Also high in the same sodium nitrates found in hot dogs, bacon, and other processed meats raise the risk of heart disease. The saturated fat in bacon contributes to cancer.

3. DOUGHNUTS
Doughnuts are cancer-causing double trouble. First, they are made with white flour, sugar, and hydrogenated oils, then fried at high temperatures. Doughnuts, says Adams , may be the worst food you can possibly eat to raise your risk of cancer.

4. FRENCH FRIES
Like doughnuts, French fries are made with hydrogenated oils and then fried at high temperatures. They also contain cancer- causing acryl amides which occur during the frying process. They should be called cancer fries, not French fries, said Adams

5. CHIPS, CRACKERS, AND COOKIES
All are usually made with white flour and sugar. Even the ones whose labels claim to be free of trans-fats generally contain small amounts of trans-fats.

BRAIN DAMAGING HABITS

1. NO BREAKFAST

People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level. This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Overeating
It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking
It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High Sugar consumption

Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development. The top five cancer-causing foods are: The top five cancer-causing foods are:

5. Air Pollution
The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation
Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping
Sleeping with the head covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness
Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts
Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely
Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——-

The main causes of liver damage are:

1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are main cause.
2. Not urinating in the morning.
3. Too much eating.
4. Skipping breakfast.
5. Consuming too much medication.
6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener.
7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best cooking oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired, except if the body is very fit.
8. Consuming raw (overly done) foods also add to the burden of liver.
Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store. We should prevent this without necessarily spending more. We just have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits and time condition are very important for our bodies to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals according to ‘schedule.’

DO TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH… PASS THIS TO ALL WHOM YOU LOVE & CARE FOR.

SHADELS and SYLVY COOPER

I believe that, “segregation is the adultery of an illicit itnercourse between injustice and immorality.”

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:16:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Absalom Birai
Subject: Fw: [talkback-forum] Cancer

SISAL FIBRE ELECTRIC POWER; ADB’s DAIRY INDUSTRY & SANITATION TECHNICAL SUPPORT

TANZANIA HAS PIONEER AND INVENTED THE WORLD’S FIRST SISAL FIBRE BASED ELECTRICITY POWER PLANT.

By Leo Odera Omolo

The world’s first sisal fibre electricity plant has started operation in Tanzania two years after the completion of a feasibility study on the use of sisal waste.

Katani Limited, the company that has pioneered and explored this exciting, but the latest new era of technology of electrical generation using the sisal Waste, is reported to be in the process of negotiating with the state energy provider firm, TANESCO to have the power it produces connected to the national grid.

KataniLtd manager Frank Maro said his firm intend to produce 600 kilowatts of power a day.

He said the sisal fired electricity plant would go commercial as soon as more equipment is procured and installed in all its five sisal farms.

“We are still negotiating with Tanesco to take up the electricity from the plant,” he added.

The USD.1.5 million project is being financed by the Common Fund for Commodities {CFC},United Nations Industrial Development Organizations {UNIDO} and the Tanzanian government.

Katani Ltd initial strategy is to process 100 tones of sisal biomas per day and be able to produce 10 Megawatts of electricity within the next ten years.

Nine other plants will be established at the other nine sisal factories owned by the company at Hale, Magunga,Mwelya and Ngombezi estates – all based in the Tanga region.

The company’s Managing Director Salum Shamte was last week quoted by the EASTAFRICA WEEKLY, as saying that the milling plant for chopped fibre production has been fabricated by TANZANIA Automotive Technology Centre.

The hale project is part of the efforts to find alternative application of suisal to counter the present slump in sisal fibre sales after the introduction of synthetic fibres in the international markets”

He said a fibre extraction plant has been established at Hale and there are plans to establish another one at the nearby Magunga estate.

Tanzania, according to a source in Dar, has registered considerable success in testing the use of sisal waste in generating electricity. The ongoing pilot project managed by UNID and called “Cleaner Waste for Biogas and Biofertilisers,” shows that sisa resdue is efficient in biogas production.

ENDS
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

ADB TO OFFER TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO COMESA TO ENHANCE DAIRY INDUSTRY AND SANITATION.

By Leo Odera Omolo

The African Development Bank will offer technical support to the Common Market for East and Southern Africa {Comesa} member countries to harmonise sanitary measures, as well as product quality standards.

“This is with the a view to introducing a Comesa Green Pass for movement of agricultural produce across the region,”said the Comesa’s new Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya.

The Comesa chief said this when he addressed the press at the fourth African Dairy Conference held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

“A well functioning regional market requires that the region develops harmonized sanitary measures and standards if we are to compete globally, ”the Comesa chief said.

With the assistance of the European Union and USAID|, Mr. Ngwenya said Comesa is working on developing, product quality standards and grades across the region.

For now, nearly 300 regional harmonized standards have been develop, about 100 are for agricultural products..

Industrial associations like ESA-DA have been identified to play the role of monitoring to ensure compliance.

The conference also announced that the African Union and NEPAD. Working with regional economic communities such as Comesa and East African Community{EAC} have already adopted the comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme as a continent framework for accelerating the development of agriculture.

The programme is expected to address issues of food and nutrition and the distribution of dairy products in school feeding programme, which oversee free distribution of milk products.

At the same time, it was reliably learnt that the Comesa plans to introduce an intra-Comesa market, a strategy that will capture a wider market for the expanding dairy industry,

Ngwenya said to achieve this goal, stakeholders have to work hard towards harmonization of dairy standards.

“Last year, the contribution of dairy to the region’s agriculture GDP stood at Kshs.5.2 billion. The sector’s contribution to people livelihood in terms of nutrition and income generation cannot be over looked, ”said the Comesa boss.

ENDS
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:15:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: SISAL FIBRE ELECTRIC POWER; ADB’s DAIRY INDUSTRY & SANITATION TECHNICAL SUPPORT

2 million people like you

Obama for America

Hello:

John McCain and the Republican National Committee are trying to convince you that you’ve been swept up and tricked into wanting change.

They want you to believe that everything is just fine — that we need to stay the course and elect someone who’s voted with George Bush 95% of the time.

To sell this ridiculous idea, McCain and the RNC are using huge checks from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs to run negative ads attacking Barack Obama and the millions of volunteers and donors who have joined this campaign for change.

While supporters like you are out knocking on doors, registering new voters, and organizing in your local communities, our opponents are not even trying to match your efforts. Instead, they’re spending millions to spread the smear that Barack is just a “celebrity” and that our grassroots movement is just a bunch of mindless fans.

So who is John McCain really attacking? Real people like Brandon, a carpenter from McCall, ID. Stephanie, a registered nurse from Phoenix, AZ. And Pamela, a retired teacher from Franklin, WV.

These are actual people who have made donations to our campaign this week.

Join supporters like Brandon, Stephanie, and Pamela in fighting back against McCain’s negative attacks. Make a donation of $5 or more today.

Help us reach 2 million donors

Your donation will help this movement reach a goal that few believed was possible — 2,000,000 individual supporters owning a piece of this campaign.

And if you make a donation right now, a previous donor — a real person like Brandon, Stephanie, or Pamela — is standing by to match your gift. They are prepared to give again if you take the next step and make your first donation today.

You can even choose to exchange a personal note with them about why you’re supporting this movement.

Double your impact by making a matched donation of $5 or more now.

Two million donors is an incredible number — a number that was previously unimaginable for presidential campaigns. And it’s a number this campaign never dreamed we could reach before the convention.

But because so many supporters have stepped up to own a piece of this movement in the face of McCain’s attacks, we are just days away from making history.

And with only 85 days until the election, we can’t afford to do any less.

Make a matching donation of $5 or more today and help reach this historic goal.

McCain is trying to undermine your hope, and we can expect even more misleading attack ads in the weeks ahead. His friends in Big Oil and other special interests are more than happy to keep fueling his efforts with huge checks. They want to keep Washington just the way it is.

Today, you can show John McCain that his attacks won’t slow us down. In fact, his attacks will make us even more determined to build and strengthen this movement.

Help reach this historic milestone of 2 million donors by matching another supporter’s donation of $5 or more today.

Thank you for building this movement for change,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

Donate

This email was sent
from “Obama for America”

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:50:21 -0400
From: “David Plouffe, BarackObama.com” info@barackobama.com
Subject: 2 million people like you

Meet Kenyans at Whive.com

Welcome to Whive.com
the social network that Kenyans can own today

Search 4 ur Honey(Female) or Bumble(Male) Bee today
Find the location of your friends with Social Map
Hive Money: Earn BeeBucks everday and own the hive
Videos, Mp3s and entertainment at the hive
Blog: Bees can buzz all over the Blogger Hive

Events: Where Bees buzzz about their Beezness
Chat: Talk about any topic under the Hive
Buddies: Invite more Bees into the Web Hive
Networks: Create Hives(groups) all over the world

Forward to your friends.
[Click Here ]

Tell everyone on FaceBook
[Click Here ]

www.whive.com ® The Bees Network 2008


Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com —

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:51:50 -0500
From: kenyans@whive.com
Subject: Meet Kenyans at Whive.com

Saturday All-niters Bash

This Saturday(August 16th)! All-niters Bash@Waterfall View,2022 ferry street north,anoka,mn,55303

Sponsored by:
accents telecom- Your smart alternative in long distance and international
calling

www.accentstelecom.com

This message was sent by: longcoinproductions, 5530 Zealand Ave. N.E, New Hope, Minnesota 55428

Powered by iContact: http://freetrial.icontact.com

– – –
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:54:03 -0400
From: Josiah Rasugu
Subject: Saturday All-niters Bash

Re: These Two, I truly appreciate!

Since coming to this great Nation, I have had an opportunity to live in three States-Michigan, Texas, and now, Minnesota! Michigan and Minnesota gets very cold during the Fall/Autumn and winter months- September- April. Texas is bad news in the summer months-June-August!

Those who have lived in States with cold winters and hot summers and have owned cars, will appreciate two provisions in a car-a good working air condition and heating system!

Driving a car without a good working air condition in summer or a good working heating system in winter can be bad news indeed!

And so while others appreciate other features/provisions in a car, I am ever thankful with a good heating and cooling systems! Any time I enter into my car driving even a short distance with or without the family, friends, and church members, I feel like sending a thank you note to the maker of my car.     

Its things like these that daily remind me of the goodness of our heavenly father! No wonder the Psalmist’s moving words, “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me!” (Psalms 116:12,) have become my daily song! 

Yes, on this day, Monday, August 11, 2008, 4:00 Am, I can not but truly thank my heavenly father for among other things,

1.A free gift of life!
2.Plan of salvation!
3.My dear wife, children, parents, siblings, relatives, church members, friends and yes, even my enemies!
4.His sure word that ever speaks to my heart

Yes! Daily appreciation is the song of my heart! When I finally get to the kingdom, before I settle down to enjoy life for eternity, I will bow down and thank the good Lord in the presence of all the saved ones for all His goodness and faithfulness to me while on earth!

How about you my friend!

Just a thought!

Pr Birai
612-386-4608
www.themaranathasdachurch.org

– – –
Date:  Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:07:21 -0700 (PDT)
From:  Absalom Birai
Subject:  Re: These Two, I truly appreciate!

Barack’s VP: Be the First to Know

Obama for America

Hello:

Be the First to Know

Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign — choosing a running mate.

You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.

Sign up today to be the first to know:

http://my.barackobama.com/vp

You will receive an email the moment Barack makes his decision, or you can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.

Once you’ve signed up, please forward this email to your friends, family, and coworkers to let them know about this special opportunity.

No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment.

Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate.

Thanks,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

This email was sent
from “Obama for America”

– – –
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:00:59 -0400
From: David Plouffe info@barackobama.com
Subject: Barack’s VP: Be the First to Know

Re: Taking a break/Going on vacation!

Every once in a while, each person needs a break from that which occupies most of their time! Consider the following:

1.Students need a break from school.
2.Employees need to go on vacation.
3.Politicians on a campaign trail need to take a break.
4.Mothers/wives need a vacation.
5.Both religious and political leaders need to take a break.

Why such a break/vacation?

1.From the very beginning, God knew that a break was needed and so He gave us one day during the week to rest- Genesis 2:1
2.In Mark 6:31, Jesus told His disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
3.There comes a time when the community is tired of seeing or hearing the same person over and over again.
4.In this way, some people will get to appreciate others. Many a time people don’t realize the usefulness of others until they are gone for some time, if not for ever.
5.Gives someone a chance or opportunity to look at things from a different perspective.
6.It gives others a chance to be seen or heard. This is so much as relates to those who don’t like you for reasons best known to them.

Are you stressed up, overworked, whining/complaining all the time, burned out or need to re-examine your life! Why not take a break and go on vacation!

Just a thought!

Pr Birai
612-386-4608
www.themaranathasdachurch.org

– – –
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:49:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Absalom Birai
Subject: Re: Taking a break/Going on vacation!

Re:Things excessive!

Even though there are those who may assign the word “Excessive,” to the world of relatives, there comes a time when there is compelling evidence that some things are just excessive! Reflect with me on the following:

1.There are people out there who have too much clothes and/or shoes! But how can one tell! I have heard stories of people who have too much such that it becomes a real headache to choose what to wear to church, school,or other functions. Just think of 300 pairs of shoes!

2.There are people out there who have too much money in the bank. The problem of such people is not money but how to spend it!

So what’s the problem?

1.There are people out there who are in dire need of basic needs-food, shelter,clothes, etc.

2.There are many children who are in need of school fees!

3.The work of God on earth is in need of funds! There are many congregations like ours-Maranatha SDA Church-that are in need of funds to buy our God a house of worship!

And so my challenge to you and I is this!

1.Have we been faithful stewards-returning to our God a faithful tithe!
2.For those of us who go to church, how do we respond to the many financial needs of our church! Ever thought of sacrificing more clothes and shoes so as to help the church of God!
3.Ever thought about the needy out there!

Just a thought

Pr Birai
612-386-4608

– – –
Date:  Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:59:56 -0700 (PDT)
From:  Absalom Birai
Subject:  Re:Things excessive!

Fw: PRESS RELEASE EAC DEFENCE CO-OPERATION

THIS STORY IS FORWARDED BY LEO ODERA OMOLO

— On Fri, 8/8/08, Magaga Alot wrote:

From: Magaga Alot
Subject: PRESS RELEASE EAC DEFENCE CO-OPERATION
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 7:29 AM

PRESS RELEASE

EAC TO TAKE DEFENCE CO-OPERATION TO HIGHER LEVEL

EAC Headquarters, Arusha, 8 August 2008: The Secretary General of the East African Community, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu has said the EAC Partner States – Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania , Burundi and Rwanda – are set to take their defence co-operation to a higher level. The Secretary General said that among the steps being taken is upgrading the existing 1998 Memorandum of Understanding for Co-operation in Defence Matters into a Protocol that would be more elaborate and binding on the EAC Partner States.

The Secretary General said this on 4 August 2008, when he paid a courtesy call on the Kenya Minister of State for Defence, Mr Yusuf Haji at the Defence Headquarters in Nairobi at the beginning of his four-day (4-7 August) familiarization tour of defence institutions and establishments in Kenya that are involved in the EAC co-operation agreement on defence matters.

Deepening defence co-operation

During the familiarization tour, the Secretary General visited the Moi Air Force Base in Nairobi , the Kenya Armed Forces Technical College (KAFTEC) at Embakasi , Nairobi as well as military installations in Eldoret and Mombasa ; and concluded with a keynote lecture to course participants at the National Defence College at Karen, Nairobi on 7 August 2008.

The Secretary General’s visit to the defence institutions in Kenya follows similar visits he made in 2007 to the defence institutions in Tanzania and Uganda . The Kenyan tour that had been planned for September 2007 was postponed due to the elections campaigns that were taking place in the country at the time.

During the courtesy call on the Defence Headquarters, on 4 August, the Secretary General and the Kenyan Minister of State for Defence, who was accompanied by the Chief of General Staff, General Jeremiah Kianga, held discussions on a wide range of issues in the ongoing process of deepening and widening EAC defence co-operation.

The discussions centred on the deliberations of upgrading the MOU on defence co-operation into a Protocol; a project on co-operation in defence policy research and development; joint EAC military exercises planned to be undertaken during 2009/2010; and the establishment of the EAC Directorate of Peace and Security whose preparations are at an advanced stage.

The Secretary General who was accompanied by Members of the EAC Defence Liaison Unit from the five EAC Partner States on 4 August, toured the Moi Air Force Base where he was received by the Commander of the Kenya Air Force, Major General Harold Mwakio Tangoi; and also visited the Kenya Armed Forces Technical College (KAFTEC) at Embakasi where he was briefed on the operations of the college by the Commandant of KAFTEC, Col. H.O. Malweyi.

Development dimension of defence establishment

The Secretary General toured the munitions production plant at the Kenya Ordnance Factories Corporation (KOFC) in Eldoret on 5 August 2008. The Secretary General was taken round the production lines of the Kenya Ordnance Factories Corporation by the Management of the Corporation led by the Managing Director, Brigadier S.G. Mohammed. The Management of KOFC briefed the Secretary General on the agricultural projects, environment and water management as well as community development projects, in health and educational development, which the local and wider civil society and business community are participating in and benefiting from.

The Secretary General said that he was impressed by the application of modern advanced technology in the KOFC munitions plant, noting also that the KOFC was engaged in the production and provision of quality products for civilian uses as well as input to the commercial demand. He advanced a new ethos of the armed forces in the EAC region which, he said, should combine their core values of high military preparedness with corporate social responsibility; and increasingly put military resources to civilian advantage

The Secretary General said the EAC is making plans to bring similar defence institutions in the EAC Partner States together to harmonize their technological capabilities to exchange views and experiences towards rationalizing their utilization of resources and investments and benefiting from the economies of scale to avoid wasteful duplication as well as addressing, in concert, other implications and ramifications of the armaments industry.

East African maritime defence

During the visit to the Kenya Navy Headquarters in Mombasa on 6 August 2008 the Secretary General and his entourage were taken round the Kenya Navy dockyard and briefed on the operations of the Kenya Navy and held discussions with the Deputy Commander of the Kenya Navy, Brigadier Ngewa Mukala.

Brigadier Mukala briefed the Secretary General on the strategic significance of the East African Indian Ocean coastline and the important initiatives Kenya is undertaking within the EAC, AU and global frameworks to safeguard the regional security and maritime interests. Brigadier Mukala said that anti-piracy and counter-terrorism operations had assumed a high profile in the East African and Horn of Africa coastline. Maritime security services had come to the fore with the realization that disturbances and interference with the sea routes gravely impacted the world trade.

He said that with the current global food and fuel prices crisis, the resources of the sea had become critical. He said the resources of the East African maritime zones remained largely untapped by the East African countries in terms of the fisheries, oil and gas resources potential of the East African maritime area under the provisions of the UN Law of the Sea. Brigadier Mukala said the best tuna fish resources were found in the Indian Ocean with Kenya having a potential of 150,000 tonnes per year, translating into 30 billion Kenya Shillings per year, but which were currently being exploited virtually exclusively by foreign interests.

Lake Victoria basin development

The Secretary General said that the EAC is considering the re-establishment of a strong East African marine and fisheries organization, such as which existed under the former EAC (1967-1977) that would involve research and development to tap the maritime and fisheries resources of the East African water bodies – both offshore and inland – for the benefit of the East African people.

The Secretary General also addressed the Lake Victoria development prospects. He said the EAC has plans to launch a major Lake Victoria Basin development master plan that would transform the area into a special economic development and growth zone and impact the acceleration of the East African region into a middle income economy. Lake Victoria , the second largest fresh water body in the world has a gross economic potential in the order of USD 5 billion.

The Secretary General said a study on the proposed EAC Lake Victoria basin development master plan would be undertaken adding that the master plan would involve the implementation of regional projects and programmes under the Lake Victoria Basin Commission in, among others, the roads, lake transport, tourism, fisheries and agricultural sectors.

The Secretary General said the centre-piece of the Lake Victoria development master plan would be the implementation of the ongoing ring road around the Lake, which is part of the East African Road Network Project, with feeders leading to the shores of the Lake to link with tourist facilities, hotels, lodges, cruise ships as well as strategic industries that would involve investments with private public sector participation.

Directorate of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
EAC
Arusha

– – –
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 02:11:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: Fw: PRESS RELEASE EAC DEFENCE CO-OPERATION

International Community should halt their support for Kenyan Grand Coalition government until they enact the new Majimbo Constitutions.

By Rev Okoth Otura
Christian Democratic Movement of Kenya (CDMK).
www.cdmk.org

The Kenya Grand Coalition government was to create a platform for a general framework in which PNU/ODM can engage in a healthy constructive political process, to strengthen democratic institutions, and revive the stalled reform process and address the complex of deep-rooted ethnicity crisis plunged the country since Independence 1963.

Instead the Kenya politicians have converted the course as a scheme for the succession and power game, wasting tax payers’ money in grumbling, witch hunting, lucrative vocation and endless foreign trips.

While the PM Raila Odinga is genuinely marketing Kenya abroad, the President Kibaki and his Kikuyu tribe are busy strategizing how to derail a long awaited essential majimbo Constitution, electoral, human right and land reforms, which was the very root cause which triggered the post-election violence of the disputed presidential election in 2007.

To these political “hyenas” it is still business as usual, make or break survival political tactics through the shedding of the blood of innocent Kenyans come 2012. Whether over 1,600 people to be killed and another 350,000 others to be left homeless in the violence again, this grief concern is inconsequential, what matter’s to them is that the power base has shifted to their advantage.

It is worthless for the Kenyan PM Raila Odinga to make foreign trips with dented and severely immune corrupt ministers, who have rapped the Kenyan economy for decades; the PM must note that in essence these political gangsters are out to wreck his reputation in the process. Hopefully ODM should be watchful to be used as laundry and dry cleaning of the humanity and economical criminal Kenyan Politicians.

CDMK therefore urge the international community to restrict visas for the known corrupt dented Kenyan politicians seeking to travel abroad and ask them to first make their house in order before seeking monetary backing to be looted.

The International Community and Kenya relations should be affective after the Grand Coalition government’s enacted the federal constitution and their positive response to arrest all the proprietors of the past ills.

CDMK wish to urge the International Criminal Court-ICC to speed up their investigation and bring to book all proprietors of injustice as per our pending case against the Kenya government file on July 11 2007 Ref: OTP.CR-206/07 http://www.cdmk.org/lbgallery/HagueDocument.jpg

http://majimbokenya.com/home/2008/08/08/international-community-should-halt-their-support-for-kenyan-grand-coalition-govt-until-they-enact-they-constitution-reforms-urges-kenyan-dissident-in-canada/

– – –
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 23:33:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: ndebele okoth
Subject: International Community should halt their support for Kenyan Grand Coalition government until they enact the new Majimbo Constitutions.

Article – 234_People.doc

234
People


 


By
Geoffrey Okelo, USA


 


Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.


 


Have you ever wondered why, if both the ODM and the PNU are against deficits, we have deficits?


 


Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?


 


You and I don’t propose a state budget. The president does.


 


You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. Parliament does.


 


You and I don’t write the tax code, Parliament does.


 


You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Parliament does.


 


You and I don’t control monetary policy, The Central Bank does.


 


Two hundred and ten elected parliamentarians, 12 nominated parliamentarians and eleven Supreme Court justices and 1 chief justice – 234 human beings out of 34+ million – are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.


 


I excluded the chief executive officers of state corporations and the Governor and board of the central bank because that problem was created by the parliament. In 1963, the black dominated parliament delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a state chartered but private central bank.


 


I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.


 


They have no ability to coerce MP’s or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.


 


I don’t care if they offer a politician Ksh.1 million in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.


 


Those 234 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.


 


What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.


No normal human being would have the gall of a MP, who stood up and criticized the President for creating dysfunctional or rather bogus election results.


 


The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the parliament to accept it.


 


The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of legislative council for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.


 


Who is the speaker of the House? He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.


 


It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 34+ million cannot replace 234 people who stand convicted — by present facts – of incompetence and irresponsibility.


 


I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 234 people.


 


When you fully grasp the plain truth that 234 people exercise the power of the government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.


 


If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.


 


If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.


 


If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.


 


There are no insoluble government problems.


 


Do not let these 234 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.


 


Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like ‘the economy,’ ‘inflation’ or ‘politics’ that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.


 


Those 234 people and they alone, are responsible. They and they alone have the power.


 


They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses – provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.



– – –
Date:  Fri, 8 Aug 2008 12:39:14 -0700 (PDT)
From:  geoffrey okelo
Subject:  Article – 234_People.doc

PARLIAMENT IN NAIROBI IS ADJOURNED FOR TWO MONTHS AFTERN HEATED EXCHANGE

PARLIAMENT IS ADJOURNED TO AVOID DAMMNING PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE REPORT ON ERRATIC FINANCE MINISTER AMOS KIMUNYA OVER THE SALE OF GRAND REGENCY HOTEL
By Leo Odera Omolo

PARLIAMENT adjourned its sitting in Nairobi last night in a two months long recess in a controversial manner suspected to be connected with the damning report prepared by Parliamentary Finance Committee that probed the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel.

Furious MPs protested as the Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim who was in the chair blocked and flatly refused to allow the report, into the sale of the Grand Regency Hotel, to be tabled in the House for debate Many MPs read malice in the deputy speakers attitude and felt dhis action amounted to sabotage

Several sources close to MPs who are privy to the report of the committee headed by the Nambale MP Chris Okemo had recommended that the Amos Kimunya the suspended Finance Minister should not hold a cabinet office as his conduct does not befit that of a minister.

Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim last night blocked the tabling of finance committee report by the Chairman Chris Okemo, claiming that a copy of the some had not been submitted for the clerk’s office.

Maalim also said no copies had been calculated to MPs prior to its tabling contrary to the standing orders.

Despite of concerted efforts by members of the committee and other backbenches to have the report tabled Farah Maalum stood his ground and said he would not bent the House’s ruler and regulations for anyone including the president, Prime Minister, Vice President, Ministers and MPs.

A committee member Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo was expelled from the House for the rest of the afternoon session when he insisted that the report should be tabled.

Sources privy to be report says if demanded that Amos Kimunya should be sacked over the controversial sale of the Grand Regency Hotel. It further demanded that President Mwai Kibaki, who is the appointing authority, should be told that Mr. Kimunya is unfit to return to the cabinet and that he should be several reprimanded

It further says Kimunya’s conduct over he fate should be referred to the House powers and privileges committee for action, says the Okemo committee set up to look into he sale, according to an MP who had seen be report.

Kimunya was forced to step aside last month to allow investigation into the Grand Regency Hotel Sale after Parliament passed a vote of no confidence in him.

Another investigation into the controversial sole is being conducted by former chief Justice Abdul Majid Cocker.

After his expulsion from the House for the Reason of Thursday afternoon session.
Gen Mp Jakoyo Midiwo called in press condolence and alleged that several attempts had been made in and outside parliament to frustrate the committee walk

He claimed that Key people in and outside Parliament had made several attempts to compromise some of the committee members.

Jakoyo Midiwo Challenged the deputy speaker to quote the specific sections of the House standing order, which he used to make his ruling

He alleged that the deputy speaker Farah Maalim had secretly assigned Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabir to try to convince backbench MPs not to oppose the sale of the hotel to the Libyan government because the buyers are Muslim Hon Shabbir himself is a Muslim, a clear indication that the controversy has already sucked in religious conflicts of interests..

MPs who have accessed be Okemo Committed report told this writer that the committee also recommended that be Central Bank of Kenya. Governor Prof Njuguna Ndungu he reprimanded CBK was also asked to move suddenly to take control of all the money that was in the Grand Regency accounts as stipulated in the High Court comments order issues a April 9, 2008.

Maalim expelled Midiwo from the House citing his disorderly attempt to dissuade him {Speaker} to have the report tabled.

The committee also recommended that the Attorney general and see government agencies work together in such a transaction. And further that the AG’s office should in future pro-activity get involved when legal matters of pulblic interest are brought to his attention” Said an MP who has seen the report,

A visibly angry Midiwo had also threatened to expose the full contents and details of the report should parliament go on recess before discussing its contents.

In the voting division that was called over the motion of adjournment, the government benches scored 55 votes against the backbenchers 45. parliament will reconvene on October 7th, 2008.

While stopping Okemo from presenting his report the deputy speaker said the report had not been received by the office of the clerk to parliament

The Ag Mr. Amos Wako was asked to review and proceed and prosecute all Goldenberg related cases he was also asked to investigate the transaction and take further action

Businessman Kamlesh Patni who was at the truck of the controversy was reportedly granted amnesty for the Goldenberg related area in exchange of the Grand Regency Hotel.

Okemo committee recommendations, according to sources are but land government the purchase and sale, of pulling assess be reviewed. It also recommended be acquisition of public assets by foreign investors be fate in accordance with the law and should apply to both private and government to government.

The Okemo committee members are Okemo Jakoyo Midiwo, Prof. Philip Kaloki, Muskari Kombo, Licas Chepkitony, Alis Bahati, Lenny Kivuti, Nelson Gaichuhie, Ntoitha Mithiara, Shakir Shabbir and Nko.idisa Ole Lankal

Ends

Leo Odera Omolo

– – –
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 07:07:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: PARLIAMENT IN NAIROBI IS ADJOURNED FOR TWO MONTHS AFTERN HEATED EXCHANGE

Breakdown of law and order

Various theories have been raised as the main causes of the spate of student unrest in our schools in th recent past.

The most bizarre reasoning was given by the minister in charge in the floor of parliament. At a time when the world is moving forward, Kenya is moving backwards at full speed, aided by the minister who in normal circumstances, should be at the fore front in championing growth and positive change.

I have looked at the issues raised and I find that we are all refusing to come to terms with reality. There is a general breakdown of law and order in the society, and the sooner we face up to it the better.

As a community of people, we come together every 5 years to put in place a set of new rulers. We then give the President the instruments of power, to uphold and safe guard, to obey and cherish our constitution. In so doing, like in the last elections, the voice of the people ought to be heard.

But when we circumvent the voice of the people with such impunity, then we marshal all the state organs to also circumvent the voice of the people, we court trouble. We set in place the culture of impunity where all and sundry will do as they please because the law and the law enforcers have been compromised.

Our problems become bigger when the President does not obey the law, the law for which he had sworn to obey, uphold and cherish. Things become thicker when the law enforcers, the police, become entangled in politics. They mis the point therein and all they see is the person that they serve, not the law.

We must build a culture where the President must act in accordance with the law, and he must at all times obey the law. We must build a culture where the police must respect the law that they enforce. In our situation, the police do not look at the law, they look at what the appointing authority wants. That creates impunity, and all citizens are alive to such things.

We also have the Judiciary which is supposed to interpret the law whenever there conflict. But when we have a political Judiciary like the one that we do have, one that does not understand the laws that they are meant to interpret, we are creating a bad situation. And all and sundry are alive to the happenings at the Judiciary.

We all know that cases are not won on the merits of law. Cases are won on the expediency of the litigants. The one with the right connections will easily win even the most bizarre of cases that merited outright dismissal. When the Judiciary messes with the people, the people are faithfully watching, and a time will come when the people will rebel against the Judiciary, and that will be a sad time indeed for Kenya.

The consequences of such impunity from the presidency, the police force and the Judiciary are recipes for chaos. If this goes on, we are living on a time bomb. The rebellion that could come from the people is far much more dangerous than what we have seen with school children. Such impunity from the state must end. We must strive to obey law and create some order.

Last year, Kenyans saw their votes stolen with active participation of these institutions. The results was the kind of conflict that we saw that pitted Kenyans against Kenyans. The result was the massive loss of life and property. If it were not for the rapid return to sanity by the two protagonist, Kenya would have exploded a lot more badly.

To safeguard any more of this, we must all respect the will of the people, respect the law, and obey just orders. Without this, we are creating a ripe situation for chaos any other time. I must emphasize, the presidency, the police force and the Judiciary are institutions that are by law established for the good of the country. But if these are the institutions that are used to oppress the people who fund their operations, then a repeat job as the one that we witnessed in January, will tear this country apart.

Such a situation will not win the confidence of all and sundry that these institutions are working for our good. The people might resort to the common law as best as they can. We shall have realized that the written law is fraught with mischief, hence not worth obeying.

The example set by the three afore mentioned institutions has given courage to other state organs and the general public. Impunity manifests itself in how ministers handle their dockets, how teachers ran institutions of learning, how matatus terrorize other motorists by breaking all the known traffic rules, how the Traffic Police stand rudderless every day in our roads, collecting money from matatu drivers instead of directing traffic, how TV editors feed our children pornography everyday on TV, how the radio talk presenters talk nothing but sex everyday on radio, and how parents behave indeferently to the bad habits being developed by their children.

These are the symptoms that drive our society to the precipice. In this kind of a scenario where all behave with impunity, would you expect anything better from our children. They are part of the society, and they see in us what they would want to be. We must all obey th law and set good examples for our children.

What do these children see in us? They see people who have stolen big time running for public office then getting appointed as Ministers. This informs them that despite being a thief, you can be rewarded. They hence grow up wanting to be thieves so that one day they can be Ministers.

They see people who have run down institutions getting better political postings. They see as their role models people who operate corruption cartels that skim the country of Billions of shilling getting state commendations.

They see as their role models pimps and charlatans who seem to be laws unto themselves getting appointed to all important state positions. They see the police break the law, they see the Judiciary return questionable verdict, and then they form an opinion; impunity pays.

If we respect our laws and enforce the same, we will not see thieves in our government. If we respect our laws and enforce the same, we will see no nude show on TV, nor will we hear Maina Kageni talk about nothing but sex everyday.

If we respect our laws and enforce the same, we will not see anymore matatu madness in our roads and the traffic police watch.

If we care for our children, we will not subject a class one pupil to reading History, Geography, Physics and Chemistry as we currently have. If we respect our children, we will not grab all the land that they should use for play fields. If we respect our children, we will not subject them to be taught by people who had failed their preliminary exams. We will not accept failures into Teacher Training Institutions. We will take the best.

If we respect our children, we will not accept journey men who had no interest in the teaching profession to teach our kids. We will take those who have that calling and pay them well to mould the future of our children.

But when we clamp down on mobile phones, on buses and such like non-issues, it enforces our lack of understanding on this serious issue. It brings to mind how pedestrian the government has been handling all issues national.

This is the kind of pedestrian approach to governance that keeps confining Kenya at the lower ends of development.

Odhiambo T Oketch
Komarock Nairobi

– – –
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 01:25:05 -0700 (PDT)
From: odhiambo okecth
Subject: Breakdown of law and order