Kenya: Battle Over Local Budget Goes to Court
from Judy Miriga
Folks,
These are good signs representing good tiding......It is about time for Kenyans to know through their elected Parliamentary Representatives, what it is all about in the Finance Ministerial Department......How Their Taxpayer money is collected and distributed for public service.......How it is spent.........who gets what and why....... to be read to them.......How and Why it got consumed or overspent.........
That in going through the Referendum in a landslide, Kenya begun to walk the walks and talk the talks of Public Mandate........
The People Public have a right to know what is contained in the money-box....if it is a snake, they must be told, so they get prepared about what type, the wight and size, whether it is poisonous or not ....people through their representatives have a right to know how to receive the snake......whether they will choose to save it or kill it........
In Retrospect, the budget must speak for itself before it is tabled......so it is the right thing the Civil Society have begun to move towards the right direction as is required by Article 221 of the Constitution.
It will be as hard as a rock to force a bottle down the throat of people in forcing them to eat a humble pie.....
The Budget will not be read unless it goes through Parliamentary process.....It is the Law People........in a new begining ...... !
Cheers everybody.....!
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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Battle Over Local Budget Goes to Court
Maureen Ngesa
30 May 2011
Nairobi — Kenya's Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta has been sued for failing to submit estimates to Parliament ahead of the reading of the national budget next week.
A civil society group, the International Centre for Policy and Conflict, on Monday moved to the High Court in Nairobi arguing that the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Kenyatta is acting in breach of the Constitution.
The organisation says that it would be illegal to allow Mr Kenyatta to read the budget speech without having submitted estimates to parliament two months before end of the current financial year as required by Article 221 of the Constitution.
Mr Kenyatta last week announced he will read the speech on June 8. The current financial year ends on June 30.
Justice Geanne Gacheche ordered that the case comes up for hearing on Tuesday.
world: Global Fight Against Corruption and Impunity Is Bearing Fruits….!
from Judy Miriga
Folks,
The Global Fight Against Corruption and Impunity is bearing fruits....!
God promised Humanity Unity, Peace and Love....That is our goal-post....
2011 has set the stage for the realistic sustainable Global Justice that which will usher Peace with "Thou Must Love Thy Neighbour As Thou Lovest Thyself" in order to enjoy God's Blessings upon which He God Created the Universe......(The World)......Where there will be no more man-made inflicted pain, sufferings or poverty, that God did not create poverty to the poor, and there will be no escape without consequences.
No one is too big, too small or too smart for justice..... ICC Hague is true and real, and the Law Shall set us all free and free indeed.....
Pay attention and listen to the voice calling from the wilderness.....!
In all our doings.....God has the last say.....!
God Bless Us All and help us see His beaming majestic light and power........
Cheers everybody.......... !
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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From: UNNews
Subject: CHARGES AGAINST RECENTLY ARRESTED FUGITIVES MUST EXPOSE SEXUAL CRIMES -- UN ENVOY
New York, May 29 2011 5:05PM
Welcoming the recent arrests of two men long sought for their roles in the Balkans conflicts and the Rwandan genocide, a top United Nations official today stressed the need to ensure that the crimes of sexual violence they both stand accused of are exposed in the legal process under way.
Ratko Mladiæ was apprehended last week in Serbia after evading capture for almost 16 years, while Bernard Munyagishari was arrested in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, said that the indictments of the two men show that the fight against impunity for crimes of conflict-related sexual violence continues to yield results.
"In most media reports on their respective apprehension, however, sexual violence used as a tactic or weapon of war is repeatedly neglected from being mention
ed," she said in a statement.
Mr. Mladiæ, the war-time leader of the Bosnian Serb forces, is awaiting transfer to The Hague, where he will stand trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
He is charged with 15 counts that include the murder of close to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995. In the indictment, sexual abuse or sexual violence is mentioned five times.
Mr. Munyagishari, the former head of the Interahamwe Hutu militia for the city of Gisenyi in western Rwanda, is charged with five counts that include genocide, and rape as a crime against humanity, during the slaughter of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus that took place in little more than three months beginning in April 1994.
He is awaiting transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which is based in Arusha, Tanzania.
"It is crucial that the terrible acts of sexual violence they both stand accused of are exposed in
the legal process currently under way," stated Ms. Wallström.
"Only by explicitly bringing these horrible deeds into the open can we help to break history's greatest silence."
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Ratko Mladic: career officer infamous for the Srebrenica massacre
Military mastermind of Bosnia's destruction repeatedly claimed he was on a mission of vengeance
The capture of Ratko Mladic, the military mastermind of the destruction of Bosnia, closes more than a decade of deceit for many parties in the Balkans and beyond.
Serbia's post-Slobodan Milosevic democracy remained stigmatised and isolated for as long as its military, security structures and gangsters sheltered the general.
The United Nations, the Nato alliance, the Dutch state, the French Republic, and the world's mightiest spy services were all tainted by their appeasement of Mladic and by the long failure or reluctance to apprehend the man said to be the most infamous mass murderer in Europe.
For the prosecutors and investigators in The Hague, finally getting Mladic in the dock will represent the climax to 16 years of often thankless toil among the mass graves, government filing cabinets, video archives, and questioning of witnesses in the Balkans.
Mladic and his partner-in-crime, Radovan Karadzic, were the military and political leaders, dubbed the psychopath and the psychiatrist, of the Bosnian Serbs in the 1992-95 war. The men, both of whom are now in custody – Karadzic was seized by Serbian intelligence in 2008 – were, at least initially, the creatures of the Milosevic regime in Belgrade.
Mladic is most infamous for the biggest single massacre of the Bosnian war at Srebrenica towards the war's end in 1995.
But for the previous four years he was the most ruthless and determined instrument of Milosevic's disastrous strategy to hijack Yugoslavia and carve a Greater Serbia out of the ruins of Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo.
It was a project that failed spectacularly. Kosovo is now an independent state carved out of Serbia while Croatia and Slovenia next month will be celebrating 20 years since they declared their independence from Yugoslavia.
In June 1991, weeks before the Yugoslav wars opened with the skirmishing in Slovenia, Mladic – a career Yugoslav army officer and graduate of Belgrade military academies – was made military commander of the Yugoslav army garrison in Knin, a dusty provincial centre in south-west Croatia that was the seat of the Serb insurgency in Croatia.
Within six months he had helped Milosevic partition Croatia, seizing control of a quarter of the country and in the process pulverising the Danube town of Vukovar, which became the scariest symbol of that campaign. Those gains were then consolidated behind a UN peace plan in January 1992, devised by Cyrus Vance, the former US secretary of state who became UN special envoy to the region.
Two months after that plan came into effect, Milosevic, aware of Mladic's unruly and Bonapartist displays, pulled his henchman out of Croatia into his native Bosnia, where he rallied his devotees. According to his army file obtained by investigators in The Hague, he was made commander of the Bosnian Serb military in May 1992 when Milosevic purged the high command in Belgrade and formally separated the Bosnian from the Yugoslav military.
What followed the Mladic appointment was a whirlwind of murder, pogrom, siege, and destruction giving birth to the term "ethnic cleansing".
A senior UN official, who spent hours haggling with Mladic from the early days in Knin, characterised him as "a psychopath – highly intelligent and profoundly violent".
Mladic liked nothing better than to parade as a proud Serbian military officer, mixing with and confronting French brigadiers, British generals and US commanders on equal terms.
His war in Bosnia, however, was that of both the bully and the coward – a war against defenceless civilians. Within a few months of the start of the Bosnian war, by the end of 1992, Mladic's blitzkrieg had left tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims dead, put two million to flight, their homes looted and torched, their cemeteries and mosques bulldozed into oblivion.
His forces already controlled 70% of Bosnia and instituted a Nazi-style racist reign of terror aimed at the expulsion of almost all non-Serbs.
The 15 counts of genocide, murder, extermination, hostage-taking, and persecution he now faces in The Hague were the means, according to the chargesheet, to "the elimination or permanent removal, by force or other means of Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat or other non-Serb inhabitants from large areas of Bosnia".
The Srebrenica massacre – he entered the enclave in July 1995 with the sinister assurance, "Don't worry, no one will be harmed" – was the terrible climax of the Serbian project in Bosnia.
By the end of the same year he had been indicted for genocide at Srebrenica, while already facing a host of other charges over ethnic cleansing and the three-year siege of Sarajevo imposed by his forces.
If that was the cost of the professional, military, and career victories Mladic believes he chalked up in Bosnia, the three-and-a-half-year war there also inflicted crushing personal losses on a man who clearly relished the macho male culture of the Balkan military caste but who grew up in the company of women – his mother, sister, wife, and daughter.
Mladic was born into another bloodbath – the Serb-Croat war and Serbian civil war that ran in tandem with the second world war in Yugoslavia. Mladic was born in the village of Bozinovici, near the town of Kalinovik in eastern Herzegovina in March 1942. It is stark mountain territory on the western fringes of Serbdom, home to the kind of frontier folk that make the most fanatical breed of nationalists. Several Serbian nationalist leaders of the 1990s in Belgrade are from the same region.
When Mladic was three years old at the end of the war, his father, a partisan fighting with Tito's forces, was killed during an assault on the Bosnian village of Bradina, home to Ante Pavelic, the fascist leader of the wartime Croatian Ustasha state.
In the 90s Mladic repeatedly claimed to have been traumatised by his father's death and to always have been on a mission of vengeance, although the greater family tragedy came in 1994 when Mladic's adored daughter, Ana, a 23-year-old Belgrade medical student, killed herself at the height of the Bosnian war.
Mladic and his sister were reared by his mother. A colleague who spent hours with Mladic on Mount Igman overlooking Sarajevo in the mid-90s recounted how the general dwelt obsessively and at length on his mother, daughter and sister.
When Ana killed herself, a distraught Mladic went to the mortuary in Belgrade where a senior Yugoslav Muslim doctor was on duty. According to Mirko Klarin, an authority on Yugoslav war crimes, Mladic bellowed at the doctor, ordering him out on ethnic grounds. He then proceeded to apply make-up to his daughter's face.
Whatever the impact of family tragedy and tension on the general, amateur psychologists speculated that the suicide unhinged Mladic, contributing to eruptions of rage and violence in Gorazde in 1994 when he faced down and bested Britain's General Sir Michael Rose, at Bihac in 1995 when he responded to Nato air strikes by taking 200 UN troops hostage, and finally at Srebrenica.
Since then, in the early days of life as a fugitive he lived reasonably openly, clearly feeling he had nothing to fear. He was frequently sighted in the better suburbs of Belgrade, in city restaurants, at football games, going to weddings. Only after 2002 did Mladic perform a disappearing trick, fearing that his impunity was eroding.
Over the past few years, after a long period of doing nothing to address the toxic issue of war crimes and atrocities, the Serbian government started coaxing senior police and military figures into surrendering to The Hague tribunal.
Karadzic, Mladic's peer, partner and sometime rival, was seized by Serbian intelligence in July 2008 while riding on a Belgrade bus. He had been living under a false name in the Serbian capital, working as a spiritual healer.
Given the volume of evidence against Mladic and the sentences already handed down to many of his subordinates, it now appears inevitable that Mladic will spend all of his old age behind bars.
Cameron Charles Russell 9:59 pm on May 27, 2011 Reply
Tags: crimes against humanity, ICTY, justice ( 2 ), Mladic, peace, war crimes
On the Arrest of Ratko Mladic: hopes for justice, and for peace
In early May, there were scenes of jubilation throughout America at the killing of Osama bin Laden. Yesterday, however, there were no such scenes when the news that Ratko Mladic had been arrested, and would be extradited to the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague to face trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Arguably, however, Mladic was guilty of far worse crimes than bin Laden, having personally commanded or overseen the rape, torture, and murder of many thousands of Muslim Bosnians in the mid-1990s. He was the head of the army during the incredibly bloody and shameful episode of “ethnic cleansing” following the break-up of Yugoslavia. Why, then, the lack of celebrations? Should not the arrest of such a divisive mass murderer, after more than a decade-and-a-half on the run, be cause for joy?
Unfortunately for many Bosnians, joy is one emotion it is hard to connect to the atrocities committed during the war. Bin Laden, for all his evil, united America with a common purpose, and Americans supported an active foreign policy to satiate their desire for (re)action and, ultimately, vengeance. Mladic, however, made his reputation not by killing alone, but by ripping a country apart. The scale of the devastation and slaughter was such that almost no family was left unaffected.
Bosnia and Serbia both have been trying to move on from the past, and the arrest of Mladic has brought back many painful memories. Moreover, many in Serbia are still loyal to Mladic, or at least do not welcome yet more humiliation in front of an international audience. Rather than stirring up past animosities and memories of horrors in two countries that are trying to look ahead and not back to the past, would it have been better to put aside the interests of justice for those of peace? Mladic is an old man, protected by a group of nationalist loyalists, but no longer a threat. Does his arrest bring back painful memories and risk enflaming nationalistic backlash? If justice is served, at what price will it come?
The argument that justice mechanisms like domestic trials and international tribunals serve to heighten division rather than produce reconciliation, and thus should be forgone in favour of truth commissions or even amnesties, is an old one. But it is also an easy argument that is increasingly at odds with the facts, and with contemporary opinions. In a paper released last December [see: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/18/seductions-sequencing Human Rights Watch gathered the views of many individuals and organizations, from Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon, to the EU, to argue that no meaningful peace can be obtained without justice also being served. As recently as 2007, scholars Katherine Sikkink and Carrie Booth Walling argued, in the Journal of Peace Research, that the experience of Latin America with trials of suspected human rights violators has promoted democracy, lessened political tensions, all without producing violent backlash.
We can hope, then, that along with the relatively somber reaction to it, the news of Mladic’s arrest will bring some small measure of peace to many who were affected by his brutality. Moreover, by extraditing Mladic, Serbia moves one step closer to EU accession, and through it, towards reconciliation with its neighbours and the international community as a whole. The trial should also serve as yet another forum to bring out the truth of the atrocities committed in the name of nationalism; the more Serbians come to terms with the horrors perpetrated in its name, the more they, and others, can move on. And, with the trial of Mladic, all of the top war criminals due for prosecution at the ICTY will have been captured, thus fulfilling a promise almost two decades old – one that few ever thought likely.
Many have seen the arrest of Mladic as a great achievement, and consider it a warning to Qadhafi and al-Bashir; but we should be wary of inflating our expectations. It took years of diplomacy to convince Belgrade that the war criminals Karadic and Mladic should be handed over. And it took the incentive of accession to the EU for the Serbian government to overcome the sentiments of its population, half of whom do not support Mladic’s extradition [link: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/05/26/bosnia-mladic-arrest-ends-reign-impunity. International law is neither as weak as “realists” believe, nor as strong (yet) as idealists would like. But it is, nevertheless, increasingly carrying stronger normative weight in states’ foreign policy making decisions.
We should celebrate Mladic’s arrest, and be mindful that the the memories of the horrors that it brings up are precisely those that we hope international law can deter in the future.
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Bosnia: Mladic Arrest Ends Reign of Impunity
(New York) - The arrest of notorious fugitive Ratko Mladic almost 16 years after his indictment for genocide shows that no one is beyond the reach of the law, Human Rights Watch said today. Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb army commander, is charged with 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including the massacre of up to 8,000 Bosnian men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, the worst atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.
"Only hours before his forces slaughtered thousands of civilians in Srebrenica, Ratko Mladic was handing out candy to Muslim children and promising their parents safe passage," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program. "After more than a decade and a half on the run, justice has finally caught up with the man who personified the brutality of the war in Bosnia."
In a press conference, President Boris Tadic of Serbia confirmed that Mladic had been arrested in the early hours of May 26, 2011, on "Serbian soil." Mladic is being transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY).
Mladic's capture comes almost three years after Serbia's arrest of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb civilian leader. Both men have been twice indicted on genocide charges for the Srebrenica massacre and for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo. They have also been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. In July 2008, Serb authorities arrested Karadzic and transferred him to The Hague to stand trial before the ICTY.
The arrest of Mladic comes as EU countries are considering the opening of formal membership negotiations with Serbia. The EU has stressed that Belgrade must cooperate fully with the ICTY before talks can start. The fact that Mladic and Karadzic are now in custody shows what principled EU engagement can deliver, Human Rights Watch said. The ICTY Prosecutor is due to present his report on Serbia's cooperation with the tribunal, among other issues, to the UN Security Council on June 6.
The authorities in Serbia had previously claimed to have no information about Mladic's presence in Serbia. The ICTY prosecutor and independent Serbian media have alleged that Mladic was in Serbia under the protection of elements of the army outside effective control of the civilian authorities. Authorities in Belgrade acknowledged that Mladic received a Yugoslav army pension until 2002, and they have detained several people accused of helping hide him. An opinion poll conducted in Serbia released earlier this month indicated that 51% of respondents did not support Mladic's transfer to The Hague.
"The Serbian government has shown considerable courage in arresting Mladic in the face of fierce opposition by hardliners," said Dicker. "Belgrade's commitment to justice should be commended."
Human Rights Watch urged the Serbian government to continue cooperating with the Yugoslav tribunal, including by surrendering Goran Hadzic, the only remaining ICTY fugitive, who is believed to be within Serbia's reach. Hadzic, a Croatian Serb, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the persecution of Croat and other non-Serb civilians in 1991 and 1992 in parts of Croatia controlled by rebel Serbs. Such cooperation also includes surrendering key documents and archives for ongoing and upcoming trials. Human Rights Watch said that it is crucial that the EU maintain pressure on Serbia to cooperate.
The long-awaited arrests and surrender of Mladic and Karadzic come as the ICTY is in the process of implementing its completion strategy, as mandated by the UN Security Council.
As of the end of 2009, the UN Security Council indicated that the tribunal should complete all of its work, including appeals, by the end of 2014. Although the ICTY prosecutor has amended the indictment against Mladic to speed up proceedings, it is unlikely that Mladic's trial will be completed by that date. Human Rights Watch urged the UN Security Council to adopt a flexible approach in deciding the tribunal's completion dates.
"It is essential that governments give the Yugoslav tribunal the support that it needs to guarantee fair and effective trials for the indicted architects of the Srebrenica massacre," said Dicker.
Background
Mladic and Karadzic were first indicted by the ICTY in July 1995 on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes alleged to have occurred in several cities across Bosnia and Herzegovina. In a separate indictment in November 1995, the ICTY charged both Mladic and Karadzic with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes based on the mass execution of civilians after the fall of Srebrenica.
The ICTY delivered its first genocide conviction against General Radislav Krstic in August 2001, sentencing him to 46 years in prison. Krstic was second in command to Mladic of the Bosnian Serb troops at Srebrenica. In April 2004, the ICTY Appeals Chamber, while reducing Krstic's sentence to 35 years, confirmed that genocide had occurred in Srebrenica. On June 10, 2010 the ICTY also convicted Vujadin Popovic (Chief of Security in the Drina Corps) and Ljubisa Beara (Chief of Security of the Bosnian Serb Army Main Staff) on several accounts including genocide, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Topics: War crimes, Crimes against humanity, Impunity,
Kenya: VETS Taking livestock industry for a ride.
From: pius abori
Kenyon's livestock industry were it not for Livestock production department and veterinary technicians would be a dead sector.The vets are actually happy when its not functional as this gives them space to import and manufacture substandard drugs and salt licks.They are notorious for employing technicians at low very low salaries and arrogating themselves on how they know about diseases.Others don,t know even how to write a simple technical report.there must be something wrong with there training or what gives
Tanzania: Using Mobile Phones to Tackle Fistula in Tanzania
from Yona Maro
Across Africa, cell phones are rapidly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. From an isolated rural village, a business owner can make a bank deposit through her phone; a farmer can access current crop prices; and an expectant mother can learn about antenatal care. And now, in Tanzania, cell phones offer a chance of treatment for women living with obstetric fistula – a painful and often ostracizing condition that follows prolonged and obstructed childbirths and causes chronic incontinence and even paralysis.
At their hospital in Dar es Salaam, CCBRT provides fistula surgery free of charge, but the high cost of transportation and accommodation still prevented fistula survivors in remote villages from seeking treatment. So CCBRT came up with a solution. Using Vodafone’s mobile banking systemM-PESA (M for “mobile” and PESA for “money” in Swahili), the institution sends money to fistula survivors to cover travel costs to the hospital in Dar es Salaam for their repair surgery.
The money is sent via SMS to fistula volunteer ambassadors, who may be former patients, health workers, or staff of nongovernmental organizations, to identify and refer women suffering from fistula for treatment. The ambassadors retrieve the money at the local Vodafone M-PESA agent and buy bus tickets for the patients. When the patient arrives at the hospital, the ambassador receives a small incentive, again via M-PESA.
http://www.unfpa.org/public/cache/offonce/home/news/pid/7697;jsessionid=BE305C507EFB272B5B02DD469078EF5C.jahia01?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ungen+%28UN+gender+equality+news+feed%29&utm_content=FeedBurner
Nigeria: Letter to President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria By The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities Of Nigeria in the Diaspora
from Yona Maro
His Excellency President Goodluck Jonathan
President of Federal Republic of Nigeria
Office of the Presidency
Asu-Rock, Abuja, Nigeria
CARE OF:
Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
United Nations
Two United Nations Plaza, DC2-1372
New York, NY 10017
United States of America Secretary Hilary Rodham Clinton
U.S. Department of State
2201 C. Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Senator David Mark
President of the Nigerian Senate
Hon. Oladimeji. Bankole (CFR)
Speaker, Nigerian House of Representative
Hon. Mrs. Iyom Josephine Anenih
Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs
Chineme Ume-Ezeoke
SSA on Nigeria’s Civil Society
Hon. Abike Dabiri
Nigerian National Assembly
Office of the Diaspora
His Excellency,
RE: OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT
On behalf of the more than 22 million Nigerians with disabilities, DPOs, friends and allies both from the civil society government, The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria in the Diaspora, Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc (ERPDI), Walk the Talk America, Inc, New Nigerian Initiative of Nigeria in the Diaspora, and FESTAC-USA, we thank and congratulate you and your administration for ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), on September 24, 2010. As the CRPD is the first comprehensive human rights treaty of the 21st century, ratification demonstrates Nigeria’s commitment to full and equal human rights for all of its citizens, as well as its willingness to uphold the international principles embodied in the treaty.
As Nigeria seeks to honor its obligations under the treaty, including its duty to report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, implementation through national reform is essential. Article 4 of The UN Convention identifies general and specific obligations on States parties in relation to the rights of persons with disabilities. One of the fundamental obligations contained in the Convention is that national law should guarantee the enjoyment of the rights enumerated in the Convention. In order to assist in meeting this obligation, we humbly and respectfully seek to support and encourage the signing of the Disability Bill before you.
This Bill marks a turning point in the lives of millions of Nigerians, and offers a chance to enhance Nigeria’s economy through the inclusion of people with disabilities, while also upholding Nigeria’s obligation under international law. One tangible benefit of the Bill will be greater economic contributions of 22 million Nigerian’s with a disability,, who are also now , a very formidable political constituency of consequences. Many multinational companies have discovered the potential of people with disabilities to make significant contributions to the workplace, and therefore the economic growth of a nation. For example, the DuPont Corporation (a US based chemical company) undertook a 30 year measure of the performance of its employees and found that disabled employees performed on par or better than nondisabled staff with regard to attendance, safety and overall job performance. Supporting this idea further, the International Labor Organization conducted a study, including countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and found that economic losses related to the exclusion of persons with disabilities from the labor force are large and measurable, ranging from between 3 and 7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Bill before you will ensure that Nigeria benefits from the untapped potential of people with disabilities, through the inclusion in skills training and employment opportunities, allowing for greater contributions to society and the economy.
Another key component of the Bill is a right to education. Education is the key for any country to compete globally and see economic gains. It is a means out of poverty, helps prevent disease, generates a skilled employment pool and has been cited by the UN as a major factor in ensuring national peace and stability. Without access to education millions of Nigerian’s with a disability will not only be kept out of the job market, but will remain trapped in a cycle of poverty, dependency and poor health, all factors that lead to national economic and social instability.
Other objectives of the bill, such as the mandate that new buildings be constructed with accessibility requirements, will not only ensure compliance with the UN treaty but will save the Government money over time. It is more cost efficient to construct an accessible building then to build one that is not accessible, and have to modify the structure again in the future. Accessibility in both buildings and transpiration ensures that the 22 million Nigerians who have some form of disability can get to work; access health services, thereby reducing the spread of disease, access banks; courthouses; schools and other essential facilities which will enable them to become self sufficient and productive. A person who is self sufficient and productive can not only better contribute to society, but will ultimately cost the Government less because they will be able to take care of themselves and their families.
In addition, it is critical to keep in mind that it is not just Nigerian’s with a disability that will benefit from this Bill but society as a whole. Since almost every Nigerian will develop a disability as they age, the Disability Bill will be of use to every Nigerian at some point in their life. Therefore, by signing into law the Disability Bill you will not only provide equal right and treatment for 22 million Nigerian’s with a disability, you will also do so for the entire Nigerian society.
Mainstreaming disability is not a radical idea for Nigeria, but falls in line with the previously undertaken movement to mainstream gender. The Commission of Women’s Affairs is a vital part of the Nigerian Government, and has increased not only the rights of women but their participation in and contribution to society. A Commission on Disability would produce the same results and could be created by undertaking the same process that was done for Women’s Affairs. In addition a Commission on Disability would work with all ministries, Department and Agencies in the country and in the Diaspora, as issues of disability is a crosscutting one, affecting all areas of development. The idea of this kind of multisectorial approach is further explored below.
The Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria in the Diaspora, USA Chapter, Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities International, Inc (ERPDI), Walk the Talk America, Inc., New Nigeria Initiative in the Diaspora (NNID), FESTAC-USA and many other unnamed organizations, Diaspora collaborators, are all willing and able to work with the Federal Government and the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria, to assist in implementing the Disability Bill and in establishing the Commission. We are prepared to assist by providing expertise, guidance, and examples of how other countries have implemented the Convention. For instance Uganda adopted a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) as a service strategy for reaching more persons with disabilities in 1990. Currently the country runs a CBR model with activities that include identification of persons with disabilities; assessment, referral, rehabilitation and home programs. Families of persons with disabilities are also encouraged to participate in income generating activities. This project involves multisectorial committees at National, District and Sub-country levels. All these committees are geared to mainstreaming disability in general community development and work with the Commissions on Disability. This multisectorial committee approach works for two reasons:
It ensures full inclusion and implementation within society.
The benefits and financial burdens are spread throughout different programs thereby easing budget strains.
We are also interested in helping deflect the cost of establishing a Commission and enacting a Bill. As an NGO with ties to international organizations, the UN and other institutions, we can seek and apply for funds that have already been designated for use in such efforts. As we are part of Rehabilitation International (RI), a global network of more than 1000 organizations of person with disabilities, service providers, agencies, professionals and experts in a broad range of disability-related issues with consultative status to the United Nations, we can attest to the fact that other RI members such as those in Tanzania and India have already received similar support. We have identified United Nations Voluntary Funds on Disabilities, Open Society Institute, Ratify Now and many other unnamed agencies, as potential donor matches and hope that this will further alleviate any cost related hesitancy to signing the Bill.
Signing this Bill will help Nigeria to serve as a leader among human rights, and will change the bleak reality in which Nigerian’s with disability currently live. Without this Bill millions of disabled people will continue to live below the poverty line. They will go without access to education, employment opportunities and critical health care. They will continue to be trapped in a cycle where wide spread discriminations and segregation cause them to remain highly vulnerable to poverty and disease. Without this Bill social stigmas associated with disability will remain so prevalent that even families will continue to reject their own members with disabilities. This Bill will help to change the role of people with disabilities in Nigerian society, moving them from objects of pity or charity, where society is more comfortable giving disabled persons money on the streets then giving them paying jobs and shelter, to one in which persons with disabilities can enjoy equal rights as all other Nigeria’s and contribute to society on a level yet unrealized under current law.
Therefore it is not only on behalf of 22 million Nigeria’s with disabilities that we humbly and respectfully ask you sign the Disability Bill into law. Your Excellency, we want to sincerely state here that appointing any of us into the office of the Special Senior Assistant to the President on Disability Matter, Nigeria would not in any way, honor its obligations under the UN treaty, including its duty to report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, essential and mandatory implementation through national reforms, which Article 4 of The Convention identifies general and specific obligations on States parties in relation to the rights of persons with disabilities; .Please Your Excellency, note that one of the fundamental obligations contained in the UN Convention is that national law should guarantee the enjoyment of the rights enumerated in the Convention; would not in anyway meet the needs and aspirations of people with disabilities and their households, it would not in anyway promote and protect their rights, and would not in anyway restore their dignity.
Your Excellency Sir, please, all we are asking for, is the signing of the Bill into law, for in it lays our hopes and aspirations, and it is only when this happens that we can have a breath of FRESH AIR. This Bill is a chance for the nation to demonstrate that indeed, she truly cares for her vulnerable and less privileged members. A chance for Nigeria to fulfill its obligations under the UN Convention while getting back the maximum potential and benefit of all its citizens and for these reasons we reverentially, humbly and respectfully ask the Bill be signed into law.
Please note that valid and verifiable, statistical data has proved that Nigerians in the Diaspora, sends more than ten Billion dollars in cash annually, to their loved ones living in Nigeria. Also, we render billions of dollars on, undocumented healthcares, in form of medical mission, charity work, and other services. Therefore Mr. President, we Nigerians in the Diaspora, as second highest sources of Nigeria’s foreign revenue, to crude oil and gas, deserves to have the right, for our voices to be heard and valid requests to be honored.
Thanks so much for hearing our voices and granting our request.
Respectfully Submitted,
________________________
Chief Eric N. Ufom, President
Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities
Of Nigeria in the Diaspora, USA Chapter
P.O. Box 710251
Seeking A Luo Lady For A Serious Relationship
From: proud2bkenyan
I know this is unorthodox but I believe that sometimes thinking outside the box is OK... I'm a 35 yrs old 5'8" single Kenyan professional male. I permanently live and work in the US. I'm seeking a 29-35 yrs old professional (including graduate student) Luo lady with slim or athletic body type for a serious relationship. If you'd like to get to know me better, please email me at proud2bkenyan@gmail.com . Thanks!
Protect, take a bullet: a letter to my fellow men
From: Christopher Mutinda
Logo, Cover Illo.
LSR Magizine
Protect, Take a bullot: A letter to my fellow men.
- - -
This week, the US Leader is in the UK for His first ever official state visit there. The threats to the leader of the greatest nation on earth are real. The possibilities of a security breach many..... the secret service+CIA+FBI+NSA (read all security resources) have gone out of their way to cover every angle, visualize every outcome and countered it. The victory in battle belongs to the most informed, most agile, most malleable.....
Maybe we can apply this approach to our marriages and relationships.
read more
http://www.lsrmagazine.com/2011/05/25/protect-take-a-bullet-a-letter-to-my-fellow-men/
--
Best regards,
Christopher Mutungi
Editorial Director
LSR magazine
www.lsrmagazine.com
Love, Sex, Relationships...God's way!
Kenya: Court Freezes Nyando CDF Accounts.
From: fred wagah
Court Freezes Nyando CDF Accounts, all Nyando Constituents in Diaspora, we appeal for your help to save our CDF kitty from being embezzled. The MP is trying very hard to have the account uplifted for his personal gains. The case is with the court and the inter-parties hearing is slated for may 31st, 2011 and he is pouring a lot of money to mobilize the youths to demonstrate and also to bribe his ways, therefore whatever you've , please just send it to save our constituency from being mismanaged!
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Court Freezes Nyando CDF accounts
by Nicholas Anyuor
dated Fri 21 May 2011 pg 10
A kisumu court has granted interim orders restricting Nyando Constituency Development Fund (CDF) officials and area MP Fred Outa from withdrawing funds from the kitty over alleged misuse of the Sh26 million.
. . .
Samarirans 001.tif
5k AIDS Cancer Run Walk, $40 in gift certs. to first 300 registrants
from Richard Brodsky
June 12, 2011, the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation will be sponsoring its 4th annual 5K AIDS Cancer Run Walk. REGISTER NOW
Greetings!
- For the 1st 300 registrants, Simply Fondue of Great Neck will be giving $10 gift certificates; Runyon's of Seaford; Las Esquinos Diner of Lynbrook 516-812-9735; Olive Oils of Point Lookout; Lido Kosher Deli; A Whales Tale and The Cabana (all from Long Beach) will be giving $5 gift certificates.
- Wraps from Pantanos of Seaford, platters from Chilis of Bethpage, heroes form Tamburinos of Cedarhurst, munchkins from Dunkin Donuts of Lawrence, hot and ice coffee from Starbucks of Oceanside and Merrick, gelato from International Delight of Rockville Centre, bagels from Seaford bagels, fruit from Arciere Market Company of Inwood, bagels and apples from Trader Joes of Merrick and other goodies from Costco of Lawrence, Stop & Shop and Whole Foods of Manhasset will be served.
- $1,200 in gift certificates will be given to the winning runners as follows: $50 gift certificates for running shoes for m/f overall, masters, under 12, 13 -18, and 19-24; $25 gift certificates to all five year age groups to 80+ and winning wheelchair athletes. Trophies will be given to the above groups as well, 3 deep.
- The fist 25 people living with HIV or cancer who sign up, the $24 - $25 registration fee will be waived.
- All participants will receive a personalized Event t-shirt. For anyone registering after May 30th, the t-shirt will be mailed after the race.
- $5,000 in FREE raffles will be given out.
- 500+ FREE bowling games will be given out to various bowling alleys in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens and Brooklyn.
- McDonalds will be providing 500 gift certificates for apple dippers. (sorry, could have had fries or burgers).
- Terry Bisogno, the Voice of Long Island Racing will be announcing.
- FREE pre and post massage stretching by Eugene Wood and Dr. Barbara R. Rosinsky, both from Wantagh.
- Long Island Minority AIDS Coalition will be providing FREE AIDS testing and counseling.
- You are the Foundation's future. In the past three years the Foundation donated $35,000 in toiletry / gift items and cash to Center of AIDS Research and Treatment at North Shore University Hospital, The Don Monti Cancer Center, Thursday's Child, Nassau University Medical Center, Hewlett House, JCC Food Pantry of the Greater Five Towns, Congregation Sons of Israel, Long Island Minority AIDS Coalition, Circulo de la Hispanidad, Five Towns Community Center AIDS Service Programs, Living Hope Fellowship, Wyandanch High School and random people I met living with HIV or cancer.
- In addition, the Brodsky Foundation donated $6,000 in toys to Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.
- The Brodsky Foundation was also able to sponsor four FREE 5K Run / Walks for HIVers, Cancer Survivors & Friends over the past three years. I know firsthand that the following five items have kept me alive and healthy even though I am HIV-positive and a brain cancer survivor:
- having access to medicine and follow up medical care
- living a healthy lifestyle
- the camaraderie of running in local 5K Events & running marathons
- the love and support from my wife Jodi
- having the opportunity to help children and people living with HIV and cancer
- live each day to the fullest
- pray
Similarly, if you are living with with so-called fatal illnesses, I would recommend a similar routine and to help people less fortunate than you.
WE ARE ATHLETES ,pictured above, brought a group of six or more to the 5K Event so they were featured on the post-Event news release which reaches 6,000 people, more than half live on Long Island. We would be proud to take your photo and post it on the post-Event news release this year.
BRING A NEW TOY in its original packaging so we may donate more than the $2,500 in toys we donated last year to Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.
HOW TO DONATE
If you are interested in being a sponsor for the upcoming June 12, 2011 5K AIDS / Cancer Run Walk you should know that a google or yahoo search for 5K AIDS, generally lists this Event 1, 2 and 3 on both search engines.
- a $100 donation will entitle you to have your name on the back of the Event t-shirt and you will receive an Event t-shirt. (donation needs to be received by May 30. otherwise a post Event t-shirt of a minimum run of 300 will be printed.
- a $200 donation will entitle your company name to be placed on the 5K homepage
- a $250 donation will entitle you to have your logo and phone number or website on the back of the Event t-shirt and you will receive two Event t-shirts plus your name will be placed on the 5K homepage.
- a $20 donation will entitle you to a Certificate of Appreciation.
To make a donation you can
- mail a check to the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation, 1247 Mara Court, Atlantic Beach, NY 11509
- donate online via active
- click here and then donate via 5K PAY PAL link
Please consider making your annual contribution to the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation as the Foundation's work has become my life's work. Ask yourself, "What would you do if you were in my shoes?" Wouldn't you run marathons to help raise awareness that thousands of lives could be saved each year if access to the AIDS medicine is free for people who cannot afford the AIDS medicine? This was the certificate from the Foundation's FREE run / walk in October, 2010. Similarly, your name or logo will appear for the 2011 Certificate of Appreciation which all finishers will receive.
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SPONSORS, VOLUNTEERS & PARTICIPANTS
We are always looking for volunteers so if you've managed to read this entire newsletter, we could really use your help. Please contact me, Richard, at the contact information below.
Richard M. Brodsky Foundation
1247 Mara Court
Atlantic Beach,NY 11509
Contact: Richard Brodsky
Phone: (516) 770-7724 (516) 432-1254
E-Mail: RichardM.Brodsky@gmail.com
Very Truly Yours,
Richard Brodsky,
Richard M. Brodsky, President of Richard M. Brodsky Foundation
Kenya: Page 26- The Standard Newspaper
from odhiambo okecth
Friends,
We want to take this opportunity to thank The Standard Newspaper -page 26 Tuesday 24th May 2011- for placing a photo of some participants at Huruma Estate in Eldoret during the 5th Edition of the Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign.
It is not well explained but we are happy that The Standard Newspaper did place that photo for photos speak more than a thousand words.
This is the beginning of our partnership with the Media in Kenya and from around the World in driving the Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign to the next level.
We are in discussions on Partnership with the Media to help drive this campaign. This is something that we must all take at personal levels and so far, we are happy with the responses we are receiving.
What we know is that Kisii and Kisumu are organizing to launch their Monthly Clean-up Campaigns in a fashion that will beat what we had in Eldoret. But as it were, Eldoret remains the biggest, the best and the most lively campaign we have had under the banner of the Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign series.
It is also important to note that we are using the Clean-up Campaigns to address issues that are central to Kenyans, issues that unite us as a people, issues of governance and our role in such.
The campaign is becoming very popular and we are inviting your support, partnership and participation on a monthly basis.
Kenya is Marwa and we will make her Clean, very Clean.
Lastly, we remain indebted to the following Instititions for their support in the just concluded 5th Edition of the Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign;
Eldoret Green Town Initiative
Middle Sosiani Water Resource Users Association
Centre for Community Dialogue and Development
Municipal Council of Eldoret
County Council of Wareng
The Provincial Administration in Eldoret
Kenya Commercial Bank
Kenya Power & Lighting Company Ltd
Rift Valley Bottlers Ltd
Nakumatt Eldoret
Mugumo Communications Ltd
Restaurant Equip Systems & Interiors
Asis Hotel and
KCDN Nairobi- the Prime Movers of the clean-up campaign in Kenya.
We are also indebted to the many teams that joined us on the D-Day in Eldoret. We have chronicled your names in our website and in our blogspot. You remain an integral part of the Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign.
If it is to be, it is up to me. A Clean Kenya Starts With me. A Peaceful Kenya is my Responsibility.
Peace and blessings,
Odhiambo T Oketch
CEO KCDN Nairobi
Nationwide Coordinator - Monthly Nationwide Clean-up Campaign
PO Box 47890-00100,
Nairobi Kenya .
Tel; 0724 365 557 0735 529 126
Email; oto@kcdnkenya.org, komarockswatch@yahoo.com
www.kcdnkenya.org
http://kcdnkomarockswatch.blogspot.com
friendsofkcdn@yahoogroups.com
Facebook; Odhiambo T Oketch
Odhiambo T Oketch is the current Chairman to the City Council of Nairobi Stakeholders Evaluation Team on Performance Contracting and Rapid Results Management. He is also Chair to the Nyamonye Catholic Church Development Fund.He was also the Co-Chair and Coordinator of The Great Nairobi Walk against Corruption that was held in Nairobi on the 22nd October 2010
Kenya: Nuclear Energy.
from job Amutabi
A single nuclear plant will be enough power supply for this country as well as export. this will reduce the cost of energy by just about 70% hence reducing the starndard cost of producing goods. i will not mention the obviouse about prices going down but it will encourage sprouting of cottage industries which have been hindered by high cost of establishing and maintaining a manufacturing unit. Otieno will produce cheaper metal doors which Amutabi the chemist will afford from his small shampoo manufacturing unit while we all can afford bread from Mutua who runs a bakery. Nuclear plants are constructed together with radioactive waste management units which are easier to run. The raw materials have a half life of over 50 years which means we will start dealing with nuclear waste after 100 years. while we have an existing system to handle it. I would like to hear more contributions from Nuclear, chemical, industrial experts like myself. Gentlemen Malaria kills far more people than Nuclear accidents!
Grenade Amutebi.
God Will Surely Judge my Enemies....But i will Arrange the Meeting.
USA & Africa: AFRICA NATIONS SOCCER TOURNAMENTS IN THE BRONX
from African Views Newsletter
AFRICAN VIEWSInformation| Communication| Collaboration
The Bronx Africa Nations Soccer Tournament ended with sparkles. Just as expected, the final match between Guinea and Gambia was such a spectacular show of athleticism. May 21, started as a bright sunshine day, and there couldn’t have been a more perfect weather for a soccer match. Gambia was the underdog. The Guinean team has demolished everything along their path to qualify for the finals. Gambia, on the other hand has struggled throughout their matches.
The first half ended with guinea leading 3 goals to nothing against the Gambia. All the spectators were entertained by the Gambian demise, except the Gambian coach who continued to encourage the team. Suddenly the sky opened and it poured and poured as if he had called to send down the rain. The spectators ran for cover while the game continued. By the time it finished raining, Gambia had scored 2 goals. They finally equalized the in about 3 minutes to the end of game. This type of incident is called injury time African in soccer.
The audience was animated and we all couldn’t have asked for a better match to close the game. At the end, Guinea was the better team, as they outscored the Gambians in penalty kicks.
Once again we learned that soccer is a team sport and only the most disciplined team will triumph. Guinea is our champion this year. The team will be collecting their trophy and gold medals on May 25 at the Africa Day celebration which begins at 5pm in 2006 Westchester Avenue in the Bronx.
We are inviting everyone with great enthusiasm to please join us as we present medals to these fantastic young men who have made your countries proud. We are honoring them with Gold Medals, Silver Medals, Bronze medals and certificate of participation from the Borough President as a symbolic gesture of their performance at the event.
Please see additional pictures on the AV’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/african-views
Here is the detail of events
First Rounds
NIGER - GHANA (4-1)
D.R. CONGO - GUINEA (1-3)
SENEGAL - CAMEROON (2-1)
TOGO - NIGERIA (2-3)
LIBERIA - ETHIOPIA (1-2)
IVORY COAST - MALI- (0-1)
GAMBIA - TOGO 0-0
2nd rounds
NIGER - GUINEA (0-1)
NIGERIA - ETHIOPIA (2-4) + PENALTY KICKS
SENEGAL - IVORY COAST (3-4) + PENALTY KICKS
GAMBIA - TOGO (3-1)
3rd Round
GUINEA - ETHIOPIA (4-1)
GAMBIA - IVORY COAST (4-3) + PENALTY KICKS
Final Round
GUINEA - GAMBIA (7-5) + PENALTY KICKS
RUNNERS UPS
GOLD MEDAL & TROPHY: GUINEA
SILVER MEDAL: GAMBIA
BRONZE MEDAL: IVORY COAST
Here is a quick background of the event. Traditionally, May of each year the Borough President along with the Bronx Borough community celebrates the Bronx Week festival. African immigrant communities have not been a part of the Bronx Week Event, yet we are considered the second largest immigrant community in the borough. On January 13, 2010, the Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. announced the creation of an African Advisory Council. The mission of the council is make recommendations on strategies that will improve the quality of life for the African community in the Bronx. According to the most recent census estimates 61,487 residents are immigrants of Sub-Saharan African. Considering the inclusion of the North African population, and direct generations, we believe that the total population is well over 100000.
On Wednesday May 25th, at the Al Iman Community Center, 2006 Westchester Ave, Bronx, New York 100462, at a special conference to Celebrate Africa Day, the Borough President’s office will be presenting the winning teams (Guinea, Gambia, and Cote d’ Ivoire) with a trophy medals, and recognition certificate to the participants.
AFRICAN VIEWS ORGANIZATIONWWW.AFRICANVIEWS.ORG