KENYA: THE NEWLY REALIGNED RANGWE CONSTITUENCY IS MINERAL RICH AND COULD TURN THE GREATER SOUTHERN NYANZA REGION AROUND
Reports Leo Odera Omolo In RongoTown
The creation of a separate parliamentary constituency mainly for Homa-Bay town and its environs will now easy pressure of development activities for the older larger Rangwe electoral area.
Previously all the development activities were concentrating in areas along the Lake Victoria, especially areas around Homa-Bay town and its environs.
The reason being so is the fact that nearly all he previous MPS, with exception of Dr. Shem Ochuodho brief stint in the August House between 1992 and 1997, came from around the lake shorelines. They include Prof Ouma Muga (1988-190), Ray Oloo Ndong,’ {1990 -1992}, Prof Ouma Muga {1992-1997}, Dr Shem Ochuodho {1997-2002}, Eng Phillip Okundi {2002=2007} and the incumbent Martin Otieno Ogindo 2007.
The separation of Homa-Bay town and its environs still has left Rangwe as one of the largest rural constituencies in the greater Southern Nyanza region covering half a dozen of Administration Locations, stretches from Oluch –Nyangweso at the northern tip in an area bordering Rangwe and Karachuonyo constituencies.
Rangwe is now covering locations such as Gongo, Kagan East and Kagan West, Kochia East and Kochia West, Gem East, Gem Central and Gem West. Most of these farming administrative rural locations are lying in areas previously neglected, but highly potential for agricultural development, and massive production.
The upper part of the constituency, particular from the boundary of Bonchari on the Kisii side, along he Riana Valley is said to be holding massive deposits but untapped wealth in the precious stones {Gold}. These areas which are close to River Riana which wounding up and flow its water into River Kuja {Gold}.
The gold deposits which is said to be of commercial value runs underneath of both some parts of Rangwe and neighboring Rongo constituencies. It starts from Go Nyinyo in Kamwango sub-Location in North Kamagambo run down to Oboke Market in Rangwe down to opapo in Ndhiwa.
This particular area covering River Riana valley winding up at Marindi Trading Center has also potential for sugar cane growing apart from the cash crops such as maize, vegetable, sorghum, coffee and other domestic crops. Several investors both local and international companies have been reported to have shown interests in establishing a new medium size white sugar manufacturing plant around Opapo. The areas mentioned has the best annual rainfall, which is conducive for massive production.
However, a young Nairobi based entrepreneur has come forward with a far reaching plans and strategy to develop the agro-based small cottage manufacturing industries, which is sounding viable.
Eng Joseph Mboya Nyamuthe, who hails from Gem West location within Rangwe constituency, has already established one agro-based industry, which is manufacturing sweet potatoes.The plant is at Ndiru in Kagan Central.
Photo of Eng Joseph Mboya who is trying hard to creaet jobs for the youths by launching agro-based manufacturing plants in Rangwe
Mboya Nyamuthe who announced last week that he would be vying for the Rangwe parliamentary seat hitherto was unknown character and personality in Rangwe, though he has been carrying out feasibility studies on various cash crops and their economic values to the community.
He said h was happy that the residents of Central an parts of Kochia West have resolved to go full blast in pineapple crops, and although already one plan is in the process of being put in place, there will be the need in the near future to have a much bigger pineapple squeezing plant. Pineapple grown in Kochia area has proved to b popular with the hotels an family tables all over Kenya.
He said the greatest impediment is the access and feeder roads across the constituency. Nobody has pressurized he government to construct the highly potential Oyugis Rangwe road. This road is vital because farmer could easily access market places outside the constituency.
The Rangwe -Rodi-Kopany also need to be tarmacked so as to have it linked to the main Homa-Bay-Rongo road. Also needed to be upgraded is Rangwe- Asumbi-Sunika road, and Rangwe Oboke-Rongo road. But priority should be given to Oyugis-Rangwe and Rangwe-Rodi Kopany road.
Rasidents of Rangwe, said Eng ,Mboya Nyamuthe are wondering about where the millions of shillings located for the district road maintenance goes, and yet Oyugis Rangwe road has remained impassable at time even pathetic for close to five years. On the side of Kasipul Kabondo then this road is perfect, but once a motorist crosses into Rangwe constituency then it became nightmarish.
Cotton is another economically important crop, though it has been neglected in he past efforts should be made to have this money minting crops back in production.
Ends
USA, Ohio: Caring Citizens, Occupy Dayton, music;
from Octomotor
My Sunday experience today included the weekly gathering of Caring Citizens after the church service.
This group envisions that the communication and use of progressive values & visions which were held by founders of USA can aid the solution of many contemporary ills. Empathy for others is a major ingredient. See website, www.enpathysurplus.com, and publications authored by George Lakoff, including the one titled, _Thinking Points_
Also, one of the participants in the Dayton Ohio portion of the "Occupy Wall Street" protest action attended our Caring Citizens gathering today. Afterward, the path from church to my afternoon activities led past their Courthouse Square site. Their counter marked 22nd day of this public oriented protest effort. Their signs indicate web site,
www.occupydaytonohio.org
Today during early Sunday afternoon, some music was being performed. Some individuals were playing guitars, drum, and singing songs such as the one which states, "This land is your land, ... is my land ... it belongs to you and me".
Hence I was reminded that likely this was the same weekend as the yearly Fri. - Sun. musical event in Columbus Ohio called Ohio Valley Filk Fest (OHVFF). It features music on themes of science fiction, fantasy, political satire. It has traditional European & USA folk music as well.
At OHVFF, often addressing the topics reflective of dissident mass political movements, are likely to be the composers / singers Kathy Mar and Lesley Fish. Both are veterans 1960's hippy era songsters.
on web page, http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/fall2011/innovation-starvation
Neal Stephenson wrote that there are . . .
'those who have no sympathy that an affluent, middle-aged white American has [lived to not see] his boyhood fantasies fulfilled'.
Ones lacking that sympathy could be from the viewpoint of either those persons in the first world's economic top most layer, or some of those among the very vocal spokespersons for the social justice and green politics causes. (The affluent middleclass oriented open society idea now has significant critics, though I dissagree with them.)
I will mention a song by F&SF themed song writer / singer Berry Child Helton a few years ago. It expressed a similar idea. The title is "Monorail from Atomland". It told of his regret for the situation in which the optimistic science fiction tales, published during the 1950 - 1960's, depicting the historical era we now inhabit as a time and place for the kind of technical, social, and economic progress, which could lead to widening benefits of liberty and economic prosperity for most people, did not come to pass. Rather, we now do not have inexpensive energy, opening access for many people into settling interplanetary space, excellent terrestrial transportation, and perhaps even anticipatory democracy. He, along with his wife Salley, who is also talented musically, likewise have been usual attendees of OHVFF.
KENYA: ENG. MBOYA NYAMUTHE JOINS THE RACE FOR THE ELECTION BATTLE FOR RANGWE PARLIAMENTARY SEAT IN 2012.
Writes Leo Odera Omolo.
The Rangwe Parliamentary seat has attracted yet another high profile aspirant with the vision to turn around the otherwise sleeping rural electoral constituency.
Rangwe constituency is located with the Homa-Bay district in Homa-Bay county and the new entrant into the race Eng.Joseph Mboya Nyamuthe, a youthful business tycoon with the highest profile is expected to give the other aspirants the run for their money.
PHOTO OF ENG. JOSEPH MBOYA NYAMUTHE.
Already the 41 year Uganda and Cameroun educated civil engineer has already established a plant that is processing sweet potatoes at Ndiru in Kagan Location, and he is the process of establishing a cassava processing factory in Gem Location within Rangwe constituency. All these plants meant automatic creation of jobs for the youths.
Nyamuthe is the son of a prominent former journalist the late Peter Nyamuthe who worked with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in different capacities for many years. He hail from Central Gem .
Born in 1970, Nyamuthe took his early education in Nairobi before moving o the neighboring Uganda where h completed his “A” level studies and move on to Younde Cameroun where studied civil engineering course.
He has since established his own engineering firm called Global RTE Kenya Ltd and another business flagship called JB Construction Ltd, all located in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
The incumbent Rangwe MP is Martin Otieno Ogindo who has since switched himself from defending his seat in Parliament and declared that he would contest for the position of the Homa-Bay County governor,
Nyamuthe said his vision is to turn the agriculturally rich constituency into a bastion of food grains as part of the concerted effort to support the government food security program.”We are going to explore every part of the constituency sample the soil and find out which crops if suitable for which place.
“Cotton is one of the greatest assets in the area, though it production has been dwindling for some years now.” Said Nyamuthe.
Other food crops which could be turned into money minting crops include sweet potatoes, pineapples, groundnut, cassava, maize and sorghum which is said to be popular with breweries companies as well as those firm which are distilling ethanol for fuel.
The constituency has the shortest shoreline in Lake Victoria, but fishing and fish trade is thriving and he would encourage those trade as well as promoting tourism to the pre-historic sites, and also to the nearby Ruma National Game Park, which is, though, administratively in Mbita district, and is located only 23 kilometers from Homa-Bay Town.
Ends
KENYA: ONYONKA’S STATEMENT ON ALSHABAB WORRYING
from Judy Miriga
Folks,
This is truely sad. The Government is blundering and totally confused. Al-Shabaab's head is in Kenya, and the tail in Somali, which means, the power of Al-Shabaab is in Kenya in Eastleigh, then, why not deal with those in Kenya and do a thorough clean up first. I now believe this is a conspiracy since the Government officials has indicted the Government to prove they are aware the Head of Al-Shabaab is in Kenya:
1) It is a way to solicit for money to support the war
2) Pre-empt for war to escape New Constitution implementation of Devolution of Counties so Kibaki and Raila can have an execuse for war to avoid election in August 2012
3) Instigate an offense to create mass killings against Kenyans by Al-Shabaab as a retaliation since the Government have been in to and forth consultations with Al-shabaab....
What can we say but to ask the Coalition Government that it has no more moral to provide security to Kenyans and protect Kenya from external terrorism invasion.
Kenyans stakeholders of Migingo have a right to sue Kenya Government from putting their lives in danger by allowing Uganda to invade Migingo, terrorize, manipulate, itimidate, steal and kill many Luo fishermen of Migingo. Uganda must be made to pay the County of South Nyanza/Nyatike in compensation.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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Government demand on Somalia president
Uploaded by standardgroupkenya on Oct 26, 2011
The Kenya government wants Somalia's government to clarify their official position on the Kenyan military offensive in that country. The government says the military offensive against al shabaab was endorsed by the Somalia government and has been baffled by the announcement by Somalia's president opposing the presence of kenyan troops in somalia. But, as ktn's shem oluchiri reports, the government says the operation will not be halted.
'Al Shabaab must down weapons for talks'
By Steve Mkawale and Cyrus Ombati
The Government has demanded that Al Shabaab militant group renounces violence as a condition for any negotiations to bring peace in Somalia.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Minister Richard Onyonka said on Thursday the Government was aware of the presence of Al Shabaab members in Kenya.
"The truth is Al Shabaab is frequently and constantly in touch with the Kenyan Government. The Government position has always been we are frequently engaged with all the stakeholders of crisis in Somalia. Our position has always been we must use both military, if need be and consistently diplomatic channels to try and negotiate and discuss," Onyonka told journalists at a news conference at Parliament Buildings on Monday.
However, earlier Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua had denied Government plans to negotiate with the militant group, saying he was not aware of any such plans and that Kenya does not negotiate with criminals.
"There have been no indications whatsoever, and Kenya does not negotiate with criminal organisations like Al Shabaab," said Dr Mutua.
Onyonka said discussions taking place were not based on whether Kenya military will be staying in Kismayu or Somalia but on achieving peace and security in that country.
President’s blessings
He said the military operation has the blessings of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed of Somalia.
"We have supported him and his Government. Amison troops are being killed in Mogadishu, he asked us to send the troops there. We delivered them. We have been defending and protecting him hoping he meant what he said," said Onyonka.
Reports indicated the militia leaders were reaching out for possible negotiations two weeks after Kenyan troops stormed into Somalia to hunt for Al Shabaab, which Kenya blames for recent kidnappings of foreign aid workers in Dadaab refugee camp.
The militia is also accused of having kidnapped two British tourists from Kenyan coast in the past month.
Mutua said Al Shabaab has not contacted Kenya and that they would not talk to the gang even if they wanted.
Kenya declared self-defence justifies crossing the border with Somalia, saying a recent spate of kidnappings threatened its security and constituted an attack.
President Ahmed thanked Kenya on Wednesday for helping battle the extremist group two days after he accused the nation of overstepping its boundaries.
Mutua was speaking in Nairobi where he said Al Shabaab presents a clear and present danger to the security of the world and the East Africa region in particular.
He said African Union and Inter-governmental Authority on Development have sanctioned an intervention to rout out the terror organisation to provide peace in the region and to help the Somalia Government establish its authority.
Dismissed remarks
"The Government’s objective is to pursue and curtail the operations of Al Shabaab, which has become a threat to our security and economy," said Mutua.
But Onyonka dismissed Mutua’s remarks, saying it was the policy of the AU and Igad to engage all sides involved in the conflict.
He said the military would withdraw if Al Shabaab renounced violence.
The Kenyan troops, he added, are fighting alongside those of the Transitional Federal Government of Somali and the strategy is to destroy Al Shabaab’s network within the shortest time possible.
"We have looked at the statements made by Ahmed. He does not want our troops to occupy a part of Somalia, and that is not our intentions at all. It has never been," said Mutua.
--- On Thu, 10/27/11, Joseph Lister wrote:
The economy is in tatters; the people’s purchasing power is on low ebb. Inflation has hit on the rooftops. The latest incidents of the Al-shabab militia have added insult to injury on the lives of Kenyan people. Its fear and fear everywhere.
On the streets, cafes, bus tops, and shopping malls, on matatu terminals, and inside churches; Kenyans are in perpetual fear when the next explosion will hit. Whenever one hears ambulance sirens in town or in the estates, the stomachs churns with butterflies; evoking memories of an explosion.
The Somalia militiamen have created havoc to our people; robbed us of our peace and made us prisoners in our own land. In fact, the life of Kenyans especially in the urban centres is similar to what the Israelis go through daily in city of Tel Aviv. Those of us living abroad are not in peace either, when we get a phone call by a relative, our hearts race due to the phobia of the Al-Shaban militias.
We applaud the government’s commitment to send our defense forces to Somalia to flush out the Militiamen. However, it’s shocking that the statement released today by the assistant Minister for foreign affairs Mr. Momoima Onyonka, left many Kenyans in suspense and anxiety. To opine that the government is aware of Al-Shabab’s underground deals in the Country is purely an act of omission on the part of the government.
We have already lost Kenyan lives, while others have been physically maimed. In North Eastern Kenya, O’ level students were inconvenienced from sitting for their exam paper because of the Al-Shabab.
Secondly, the same government now accepting the knowledge of the illegal militia’s operations in the Country including their financial dealings is extremely worrisome. Many of us are thinking bigger and deeper on Mr. Onyonka statement stipulated in the link below.
Truly, what will prevent some of our corrupt politicians from giving a safety haven to the Alshabab in exchange for campaign funds for next year’s elections? This is a solid fact. We saw many of our current leaders in the comfort zone when Kenya was smouldering in 2007/ 2008. They don’t care so long as their families are safe. http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Renounce+violence+and+we+will+negotiate++Kenya+tells+Shabaab/-/1056/1262828/-/txh96s/-/index.html
What the government should do if what Onyonka his saying is true:
1) Investigate how people running from a war torn nation will come to a foreign land and purchase property worth millions without questioning the source of their huge funds.
2) Fighting terrorism is similar to fighting drug cartels. Unless the flow of their money is nipped through garnishing their bank accounts, it will be elusive to break their cells. Without money, which they are using to entice jobless Kenyans like the suspect who appeared in court yesterday, this group will be toothless. You cut their money flow, you break their backbone.
3) Take stock of all properties which have been purchased with suspicious names or companies i.e. most buildings in Eastlands and lower Nairobi which are on the hands of Somalis.
4) Investigate the militia’s links with the business community, government bodies and individual politicians in the country.
5) Track down the militia’s funding through working with local banks and garnish all suspicious accounts related to this terrorist group. We can’t mortgage the lives of our people through blood money.
6) Use Kenyan Somalis to help with intelligence.
7) Sending an olive branch for negotiation with an amorphous illegal group is a sign of cowardice and must not be done if the government is confident to completely destroy the Al-Shabab.
8) There is a lot of spade work that need to be done in the home front even more than what our troops are doing in Somalia. Recent Al-Shabab attacks in Nairobi and Mandera attests to this point.
Taking drastic steps to protect Kenyans is a moral and political responsibility by the government.
--- On Thu, 10/27/11, sang kip wrote:
Subject: AL SHABAAB IN KENYA:SUE THE GOVERNMENT!
By admitting that they have all along known where al Shabaab's head is, the government has indicted itself.Anyone maimed or harmed by the terrorists can now sue the government for failing its constitutional mandate to protect it citizens.
Kenya: Why Somali President Wants Kenya Army Out
from Judy Miriga
Folks,
Kenya Calition Government saw this coming, they were cautioned, they were aware, the reason they brought Wetangula to take charge, now they cannot explain why Wetangula was brought back to take charge in the Office of Foreighn Affairs, and Kibaki and Raila are now dodging reality.........Raila was in Kaya Bombo the the Kaya elders in Mombasa, is he not back so he can clarify matters........???........Only the Truth shall set us free people........Both were not in Parliament to address this urgent and critical matter, they are both wishing it away...........The whole world are waiting for an answer and they are giving
none...........This is totally unacceptable.........The both have run away from their responsibilities...........
We appeal to the United Nations and the World leaders to intervene mmediately and help Kenya to remove Al-Shabaab from Nairobi City in Eastleigh as well as those holed up in Mandera/Isiolo, some in Nandi Hills, in Lake Victoria, at Migingo, HomaBay and in Siaya..
The Al-Shabaab must be cleaned from Uganda and Tanzania as well. These are areas Al-Shabaab are hiding and are leaving under the comfort and protection of Government Provincial and District Heads of the Rural Villages and in the shoping centres in those areas........ The Urgent problem is getting rid of Al-shabaab first Museveni and Konyi can be dealt with later....
Thank you all,
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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Kenya: Why Somali President Wants Kenya Army Out
27 October 2011
Somali President Shariff Sheikh Ahmed is opposed to the deployment of Kenyan troops in his country because he believes it is an attempt by Kenya to create an autonomous Jubaland. Communication from as far back as March 2011 between President Shariff and President Kibaki shows that the Somali leader asked Kenya not to deploy to Juba region an estimated 2,500 young Somali soldiers who had been trained and equipped in Kenya.
Internal Security minister George Saitoti yesterday wrote to the Somali government demanding an explanation on President Shariff's remarks as well as conflicting media media reports about the Somali government's position on the ongoing military co-operation. "In the light of this the Kenya Government is seeking clarification of the Somali government's position as it is essential to have a unified approach in dealing with the destabilization of Somalia by Al Shabaab and its threats to peace and security to Kenya and the region," Saitoti's letter read. "In the meantime Kenya with collaboration with IGAD and AU, is continuing with the operation against Al Shabaab."
While Kenya wanted the soldiers it had trained to form a buffer between Kenya and the Al Shabaab-controlled regions around Mogadishu, the Somalia Transitional Government wanted them sent to Mogadishu to fight Islamist militia. Ethiopia too has objected to the creation of Jubaland mainly inhabited by the Ogaden and Merehan clans. Addis Ababa feels that would encourage separatist passion in the Ogaden Region of Ethiopia.
The decision by the Kenya government to recruit mainly from the Ogaden resulted in complaints from other clans. The Ogaden clan primarily lives in the Central Ogaden plateau of Ethiopia, the North-Eastern Province of Kenya, and the Jubaland region of Southern Somalia. They also inhabit Somalia's major cities such as Mogadishu and Kismayo. The Marehan mostly live in Jubaland, Gedo and Lower Juba regions in Southwest Somalia and in Northeast Kenya. They are considered the most fierce nationalists among the Somali people and have always played key roles in both the Somali uprisings.
In a letter dated March 21 and addressed to President Kibaki, the Somali President acknowledges the role Kenya has played in training and equipping the army of youths. "Excellency we are particularly indebted for the training and equipping our forces in Kenya. We pray that a peaceful Somali and region will enjoy Strengthened friendship and prosperity," states President Shariff. The letter was handed to President Kibaki in Nairobi by Somali Prime Minister Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.
Due to suspicions against his former Defence minister Ghandi, President Shariff in the letter to President Kibaki transferred the responsibility of the coordination of the youth recruits from Ghandi to then Defense Minister Abdullah Boss. "I write to you this letter to inform you that the bilateral security responsibilities including the coordination and follow up of Somali force training in Kenya that we previously assigned to our former Minister of Defense and current Minister for Air and Land Transportation HE Mohamed Abdi Gandi is hereby transferred to our current Ministry of Defense," the letter says.
The Somali President further transferred the responsibility of regional administrators trained in Kenya to the current Interior minister of Somalia, Abdirashid Mohamed Hidig. "There are people who are unhappy of the training that you have provided for our forces and the regional administration and wish to deny this region and Somalia any peace and stability. We wish to correct this situation administratively by bringing the military force under the department of Defense and the regional administration under the ministry of interior," stated the Somali President.
In late March 2011, Gandi hosted elders from the Marehaan and Ogaden - who are the main clans in Gedo and Juba regions of Somalia - at Chester House in Nairobi to discuss the stalemate in the deployment process. In the meeting Gandi discussed with the clan elders a possible withdrawal of support to the government.
Meanwhile, thousands of Somalis at the Dadaab,Ifo and Hagadera refugee camps yesterday held a peaceful demonstration against President Shariff and to voice their support for the military operation. Hagadera camp Chairman Kussow Abdi Nuni said they supported the intervention as frequent incursions into Kenya by Somali militiamen had negatively affected their peaceful stay in the country.
He said Shariff's sentiments were out of touch with the reality on the ground as al-Shabaab had carried out frequent raids forcing humanitarian organisations working in the camps to scaled down or stop their operations altogether putting the lives of thousands of Somali refugees in jeopardy. "As the refugee community we have to be grateful to Kenya for giving us a safe haven for more than two decades. We condemn insecurity and that is why we support the Kenyan opearion in Somalia", said Kussow.
Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
Somalia: Al Shabaab Claims Victory Over Southern Region Battle With Kenya
28 October 2011
Mogadishu — The Al shabaab fighters, which US alleges to be Al Qaeda's surrogate in the horn of Africa, have claimed victory over fighting with Kenyan military in southern Somalia.
Sheikh Abdi-aziz Abu Mus'ab, a spokesperson for Al shabaab told the local press that they have battled with Kenyan forces just outside of Dhobley in Lower Jubba region.
The fighting started after Al shabaab fighters ambushed Kenyan military in Lower Jubba region, according to Al shabaab spokesman.
He said they killed a number of Kenyans and burnt down five of the military wagons during the combat. Three of the burnt down wagons were dragged back by Kenyan forces, the official added.
The Al shabaab movement has vowed they will keep on their struggle against what they called Kenyan incursion in Somalia.
For his part, Abdinasir Sayrar, a spokesperson for Rasmkaboni group, speaking to Shabelle has denied the claims made by Al shabaab.
Kenya has not released any comments about the fighting on Thursday so far.
Al-Shabab Leader in Somalia Calls for Attacks Against Kenya
Posted Thursday, October 27th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
An al-Shabab militant leader in Somalia is calling on his followers to carry out huge explosions inside Kenya, in retaliation for Kenyan troops going into Somalia to try and stop the Islamic militants.
Sheikh Muktar Robow says tossing grenades is not enough. He is urging the militants to strike what he calls big painful blows.
Kenya sent forces into Somalia this month in pursuit of al-Shabab, which Kenyan officials blame for the cross-border kidnapping of several foreigners.
Kenya says its troops had their first direct clash with al-Shabab Thursday.
The army says about 45 al-Shabab fighters attacked the soldiers near the southern Somali town of Qoqani. It says Kenyan forces killed nine militants while two Kenyan soldiers were wounded.
The army also says it carried out an airstrike on an al-Shabab training camp and has captured the town of Busar.
A Kenyan government spokesman says Kenya's goal is to destroy al-Shabab in the shortest time possible. He said the militants present a clear and present danger to the region.
At least four Kenyan government workers were killed Thursday when their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in northeastern Kenya, near the Somali border. Wednesday, a Kenyan man who admitted to being a member of al-Shabab, pleaded guilty to one of two grenade attacks that took place in Nairobi earlier this week. One person was killed and more than 20 wounded.
Tags: Kenya, Militants, Somalia, Th, Upd
Posted in Africa
USA, MN: 10/29/2011 MUSIC CONCERT!!
from DAVID ADAWO
The group, Psalms 150, which is made up of a team of Christian singers from different denominations and cultures drawn from both SDA churches as well as Pentecostal churches, and based right here in Minneapolis or otherwise known as Twin cities, are happy to invite you and your friends to attend there first ever Twin Cities Music concert to be held on Saturday 10/29th/2011 as from 4:00pm to 8:00pm at the Park Senior High School Auditorium Addres 7300 Brooklyn Blvd, Brooklyn Park, MN, 55443.
Come enjoy dynamic praise, drama and skits, dances, various choirs as well as solo artists around. If you are also interested in participating in any way or presenting an item feel free to contact David @ 612-298-5763
God bless you all.
Psalms 150 group.
"I shall pass through this life but once, If there is any good I can do let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again...."
USA, NJ: DEATH AND FUNERAL ANNOUNCEMENT
from Doc Odotte
It is with sadness and grief that we announce the death of The late Jakwath Fares Awuonda originally of Nyabondo, Nyakach and a long time resident of Kakrao, Suna, Migori County. The Late Awuonda passed away on Tuesday, October 17, 2011 at Kisii Level 5 Hospital from complications after head surgery. His remains are lying in Kisii Level 5 Hospital Mortuary awaiting hospital bills payment and funeral arrangements. Thereafter, the body will be transported to Kakrao, Migori County where he will be laid to rest Sunday, 6th of November 2011.
The Late Awuonda leaves behind a widow, Dina Awino from Kokwanyo, Wang’neno near Mawego Technical School, sons, Shadrack Awuonda of Lodi, New Jersey, Robinson Ochola Awuonda, Zadock Otieno Awuonda of Migori and four daughters among others. He was the Father- in- Law to Christine Opiyo Awuonda, (from Karachuonyo) of Lodi New Jersey and uncle to Peter Menya Midigo of Mount Vernon, New York.
We are therefore inviting all Friends, Relatives and Well-Wishers for a Fundraising to enable us meet Hospital Bills payment, transportation his remains and for burial expenses which will take place on Saturday, the 29th October 2011 at our residence as follows:
Shadrack Awuonda and Chritina Opiyo- Awuonda
189 Norwood Avenue, Lodi New Jersey 07644
From 6PM
Incase your schedule may not allow you to be able to make it for the fundraising, a bank account details has been provided hereby below for your personal contribution user friendly deposit:
Shadrack Awuonda
189 Norwood Avenue,
Lodi New Jersey 07644
Bank of America
Routing Number: 021200339
Checking Account Number: 381015397809
You may call to console with them at the provided family telephone numbers and please have the Awuondas in your prayers at this difficult point in time.
For more information, please, contact the following:
1. Shadrack Awuonda (201) 458-2562
2. Chritina Opiyo-Awuonda (201) 566-8709
3. Peter Menya (914) 755-1507
4. Tom Odul (201) 841-2403
5. Charles O. Gunde (973) 495-7209
6. Moses Ouma ( 845) -242-6446
7. Ben Okeyo ( 845 ) 527-1273
8. Claudius Oyoo ( 862) 239-3231
9. Elder Maurice Ojwang’ (646 ) 739-0370
10. Elder Elly R. Ndire (914 ) -648-1232
11. Benbow O. Oguche (631) 398-7133
12. Francis Simmy Ogada (862) 235-9456
13. Enosh Odera (201) 960-6740
14. Duncan Ojera (908) 875-3620
15. Pastor George Okumu-Camerra (973) 668-6186
16. Tom Ogindo (914) 554-9613
17. Dr. George Omburo (201) 774-4351
18. Vitalis Tambo (484) 951-1791
19. Engineer Charles Kodi (203) 982-3834
20. Zachary Ramuya Njoga (845)7218135)
Kenya: The Mt Kenya mafia imported arms still at large
from Judy Miriga
Folks,
Mt. Kenya Mafia is the beginning of problems in Kenya with Mungiki and Al-shabaab. Uhuru was Moi's project, the reason for political Civil Conflicts in Kenya......the are the wheeler dealers, the reason Uhuru cannot leave Foreign Department and is the reason now we have problems with Muthaura and Attorney General Githu Muigai,
How will ISOCARP, the global association of professional planners, start their work without proper Devolution with other New Constitution mandate not concluded....??? Whose interest are the coalition government of Kibaki and Raila putting first.....???
We cannot solve 2007/2008 problem while these people still are in control holding the Government public offices.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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Narok Arms Cache Investigations
Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Feb 4, 2010
The number of those being held for interrogation in connection with seizure of illegal arms in Narok has risen to 30, with most of them being security officers. A senior detective in the team constituted to investigate the source and end user of the more than 136 thousand bullets, said they had extracted crucial information from those in custody. Hussein Mohamed with the details.
Who Is Munir Ishmael
Uploaded by kenyacitizentv on Feb 2, 2010
Twice, a large arsenal of military weapons has been unearthed in his Narok properties. Even the countrys police force admits that the cache of arms seized from Munir Ishmaels garage is the largest consignment of weapons ever to be found in civilian hands in Kenyas history. But just who is this Munir Ishmael, who even residents of Narok town speak about in low tones? What is it about him that not even the countrys security agents have been able to crack his involvement in arms dealings? Francis Gachuri reports.
Arms case puts AP in a spot as insecurity soars
Published on 13/12/2009
By Juma Kwayera
Hardly a week after the Cabinet approved police reforms the Administration Police is in the eye of a new storm over an illegal arms haul.
The force, which has been adversely mentioned in various reports that accuse it of gross human rights violations that include murder and rape during and after the 2007 General Election is fending off allegations that its top brass is involved in clandestine movement of arms.
The centre of the new storm is force commandant Kinuthia Mbugua, who last week some MPs wanted grilled.
Focus shifted to Mbugua following a cache of arms allegedly found in Narok. It is believed the incident may be linked to succession battles in the AP hierarchy.
The battle is becoming even more intense as AP Commandant Kinuthia Mbugua’s tenure end on March 30, next year. The circumstances also reflect the lapses and connivance that are a threat to national security. Security experts and sources familiar with force’s register of arms claim the incident was deliberate.
"There was some deal-making between some officers. The seizure of the arms and ammunitions, it appears, was pre-arranged," the security expert familiar with on-going criminal investigations said.
It is claimed senior officers in the force are on high alert over information that could implicate them because they would most likely take responsibility if the arms originated there.
A member of a Parliamentary Committee on Security told The Standard on Sunday the House team would want to question some of the force’s top command. The member said information his colleagues had gathered over the cache, pointed to a deal gone awry. The claim is corroborated by Internal Security Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode who told The Standard on Sunday the seizure of the weapons was exposed following "a deal gone sour" among the merchants of death, said to include civilians and security officers.
Some senior officers at the Embakasi-based Administration Police Training College (APTC) interviewed point to unresolved political intrigues that relate to the retention of Mbugua who should have retired last year.
Fear of reprisals
An inspector, who cannot be named for fear of reprisals, claims it was unusual for items to leave the armoury without the knowledge of senior officers. Even more intriguing are revelations that the force’s firearms and ammunitions records are updated daily.
"Requisitions from districts and units — APTC, Security of Government Buildings, Rapid Deployment Unit and Rural Border Patrol Unit — are approved by the Force Commandant. He should be the one answering the questions about how arms ended in civilian custody as claimed," the source said.
Arms acquisition, it also emerged, is steeped in corruption. What raises more questions is that the armoury is under CCTV surveillance and armed guard round the clock.
Asked about how this is feasible, Ojode said, "This is a sensitive matter. I am not privy to information about how the force keeps its records or secures the armoury. From the look of things this is just a deal gone sour."
Our investigations show that the movement of firearms and ammunition from AP armoury — if indeed that is the origin of the weapons — was done with the knowledge of senior staff at the Embakasi-based training college.
A security expert conversant with operations at the armoury took The Standard on Sunday through the administrative procedures that must be followed before the firearms and ammunitions are released to officers.
"The system is foolproof and what happened is a result of negligence or was deliberate to frustrate transfers or discredit colleagues," one source said.
Section heads initiate the process of purchase of equipment, especially firearms and ammunition, and the commandant must approve requisitions.
"The consignment from the Eldoret Ordinance Factory is countersigned by the commandant and the force armourer who each keep copies of requisitions and deliveries. An audit of the records can provide foolproof information on how weapons and equipment are handled," says the source.
Force commandant, chief armourer, and chief of operations undertake the task of procuring arms. These are the officers Parliamentary Committee might investigate if the ongoing inquiries would not resolve the riddle.
It also came to light that two weeks before the discovery of the illegal arsenal, 1,600 AP officers had been training in Ngong, about 60km from Narok, in preparation for security operations in northern Kenya. If that were the case, they said, close to 100 guns are yet to be accounted for.
Our sources did not rule out the possibility of more arms being in the wrong hands or they have been smuggled back to the armoury.
The officers who took part in endurance are currently involved in security operations in Isiolo to quell banditry that has over the past three months claimed more than 120 lives.
"It is not possible such a huge consignment of ammunition and firearms left the armoury without the knowledge of the commandant. In any case, our records are updated daily," he adds.
In an explosive debate in Parliament on Thursday, MPs questioned the arbitrary arrests of senior officers, with Public Accounts Committee chairman Bonny Khalwale, calling for indictment of the top brass. This became apparent following allegations of attempts to oil the hands of police investigators with Sh3 million, which they rejected.
The Mt Kenya mafia imported arms still at large
Posted in July 19th, 2008
by Editor in Central, Kenya
Poll Violence: Who took illegally imported guns?
By Saturday Standard Team
Security chiefs are tight-lipped over where two containers of firearms smuggled into the country at the height of post-election violence could be.
Not even before the Justice Philip Waki judicial commission on post-election violence is any of them willing to spill the beans. They would also not talk about why there has been no mop-up of the weapons by the security forces given the deadly nature of the cargo.
When contacted about the matter by The Standard On Saturday, Police Spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the police took the investigation seriously and formed a team to investigate. He, however, ruled out the possibility of investigation being made public.
But what is, however, not secret is the militia group behind the smuggling of the arms from war-ravaged and lawless Somalia.
Not very secret, too, are the possible targets of the arms as the country spiralled into an orgy of bloodletting before the Kofi Annan talks bore fruit.
And a report by a United Nations agency on the movement of arms at the time confirms the frightening reports.
Beneath the veneer of the sad tale lies the story of Kenya headed to the dogs as thousands were killed, displaced and dispossessed. It points at how close the country was to civil war, even as the security forces were divided, with orders coming from a select class of politicians and top civil servants.
Top police officers familiar with the consignment concede — on the promise of confidential cover — that their efforts to track down the bearers of the illegal cache of arms have been slowed by powerful personalities in government.
The big question is not how the group managed to order the container-loads of firearms from Somalia, but why the security chiefs — who have taken the witness box before the Waki team — have not spoken of what could undermine national security.
Those who have appeared before the team include the Chief of General Staff, Gen Jeremiah Kianga, Police Commissioner Maj-Gen Hussein Ali, and the Director General of the National Security Intelligence Service Michael Gichangi, Administration Police Commandant Kinuthia Mbugua, and Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia.
The two packed containers were ferried through Isiolo to Nairobi. Police spokesman Kiraithe confirmed investigations were still on, but did not explain why six months later, those who imported the arms have not been arrested, the arms seized, and the veracity of the claims that powerful personalities had frustrated the tracking down of the illegal cache.
Secrecy
Kiraithe would only say the police chief took the investigation seriously and formed a team to investigate.
“The claims were taken very seriously by the force. This is a big thing and investigation is ongoing,” he said.
A member of the investigating team revealed to The Standard on Saturday the hurdles on the path of investigation.
“People who were behind this thing do not want it to be exposed. They are not willing to meet us or to make it public in any manner.”
The official said preliminary investigations had established that there was a shipment of such cargo during post-election period, but they were yet to know the current whereabouts.
The UN Monitoring Group, in a report submitted recently to the Security Council, said it detected a strange movement of firearms from Somalia into Kenya in the middle of the election violence early this year.
The UN reported as systematic the buying of arms from Somalia with some measure of impunity. The period the UN report refers to appear to coincide with the time the US Embassy in Nairobi revoked the visas of 10 MPs, among other prominent people.
The Embassy accused those it blacklisted in early February this year as either having been behind the violence — in which over 1,200 were killed and about 350,000 displaced — or standing in the way of a peace agreement at the time.
US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger said his country “decided to apply our travel restrictions on individuals who we believed to have participated in the instigation of violence, violation of human rights and breaking of democratic practices.”
According to the UN group that monitors activities in Somalia, a consignment of guns was imported between February and mid-March, as the country stood on the brink of war.
A buyer the UN group identifies specifically as “a militia group in Kenya” was among the several underworld groups that ordered firearms into the country in the middle of the violence.
The militia group brought 12 AK-47s and six boxes of ammunition, eight pistols, four boxes of ammunition and six magazines.
The clients also needed four Belgium FAL guns, six boxes of ammunition and eight magazines.
But no explanation has come forward even from security chiefs who have taken the witness box at the Justice Waki Commission.
The UN report aside, interviews with illegal gun traders in the north of the country also confirmed a flurry of arms buying at the height of the violence, with most orders coming from Nairobi.
One dealer said ordinarily, he would have orders for “ordinary crimes” with criminals asking for one or two guns. Things changed in the middle of violence, with orders from Nairobi outstripping usual demand. A dealer who admitted getting orders, however, said his were cancelled after the violence stopped with the signing of the peace deal.
Courtesy of:http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1143990522&cid=4&
KENYA: JOY AS FIREBRAND ACADEMICIAN IS BACK AFTER TWELVE YEARS OF POLITICAL ASYLUM
from People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News
BY JOSEPH ADERO NGALA
NAIROBI-KENYA
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011
After being away for slightly over a decade as a political refugee, Prof. Korwa Gombe Adar is back in Kenya and currently teaching at the United States International University- Africa (USIU) in Nairobi where he has taken up a professorship position in International Relations.
Talking about Prof. Adar, many students who encounter him do not forget him. His appearance generates electricity unmatched by few on earth. That explains for instance why in rural Luo Nyanza villages in Kenya where he hails from, many children and academicians alike have named and copied after Korwa Adar’s charisma. It may also be the only conceivable reason why some Luo musicians have featured him saying-Japuonj a Luo word meaning teacher against this background.
Korwa is one man who believes that rule of law, democracy and respect for human rights is a must in Africa and cannot be taken for granted. Years back when he took President Daniel Arap Moi while negotiating University lectures salaries- he famously said that “leaders in the other parts of the world, particularly in Africa, who have also displayed the tendency to think themselves indispensable, and the desire to hold on to power, must learn a singular lesson: The people must ultimately prevail.”
Prof Korwa Adar is a middle- aged man who walks very majestic and has combative nature which he belies his slight frame. He keeps himself very clean with his hair is always trimmed short and well combed. He mostly wears African short-sleeve shirts that make him very distinct from other lectures. He certainly looks like an academic militant. He is a gifted man with unconventional writing style and a humble personality that has established him as one of Africa’s political scientist icons.
Prof Korwa is unapologetic about what President Moi did to him by harassing his families and locked him in for some time until he was helped by the Minister for land Hon. James Orengo and his wife Betty Murungi to escape to South Africa through Jomo Kenyatta international Airport.
In a recent interview he was quoted as saying that he will always be very grateful to among others, Paul Muite, Gibson Kuria Kamau, and Gitobu Imanyara for sticking their heads to be his lawyers during those hard times under dictator President Daniel Arap Moi.
Prof. Adar must be a moral force. He was by unfazed by the widespread opprobrium that stemmed from his popular writings on International Relations and his clean-cut statements as he explained to me in an interview a month ago. “One sheer philosophical core is that it always goes back to the sanctity of the human being.”
In a year when so many people lamented on the decline in moral values or made excuses for bad behaviour, Adar forcefully set forth his vision of the good life and urged the world to follow such rectitude- or recklessness as his detractors would have it.
He is one of the best Academicians Kenya has produced in recent times. That is why Dr Musambayi Katumanga, one of his past students describes him as a Kenya giant of political science knowledge. His philosophy is here to stay for many years to come and he will be cherished by many political science students from this generation henceforth.
At the moment Prof. Adar is widely quoted by scholars who say this with a lot of pride after reading a lot of his work and also from being their teacher. They all have no second thoughts towards defending his academic excellence. Phoebeans Oriaro a graduate student in International Relations in USIU and an agricultural expert hails Prof. Adar as a strong Kenyan academician.
Prof. Adar is sometime dubbed the Kenya spring shocked President Moi when he called first Lectures strike of five public Universities in Kenya, an unbelievable feat that a small man like Korwa and a mere lecture at the University of Nairobi could call a strike. It was like a revolution, a feat that nobody could think off under President Daniel Arap Moi. He ought to be remembered on one “mashuja day” if Kenya is to live so many years.
His sentiments on the plight of lecturers during the Moi regime are captured in Korwa G. Adar - Human Rights and Academic Freedom in Kenya's Public Universities: The Case of the Universities’ Academic Staff Union, Human Rights Quarterly 21.1 (1999) 179-206.
Prof. Adar is a man who believes that the wind of change that has been sweeping the African Continent since the end of the Cold War has rekindled and catalyzed demands for respect for human rights and the establishment of viable and durable democratic institutions. Talking in his small office at USIU where he heads the department of international Relations, a job he really enjoys, as well as him being a great researcher.
He says that these demands are, of course, not new or alien to the millions of oppressed people of Africa. The main difference however, are that the lone voices that have consistently challenged the autocratic, oppressive, and one-party regimes in Africa since independence are now being joined by a large number of groups advocating for human rights, democracy, and multiparty state systems.
During the Cold War, more than 90 percent of the independent sovereign states in Africa were ruled by autocratic civilian and military regimes. However, even with the absence of the Cold War, most of the African countries have still not laid the foundation for democratic rule.
A second reason that makes the current demands for change different is that the Western donor countries, which originally supported the oppressive and dictatorial one-party regimes in Africa during the Cold War now favour democracy and the rule of law.
As argued in one of his works, “the resurgence of the democratization movement in Africa in the post-Cold War era is gradually replacing authoritarianism with forms of democratic systems. These changes have put into question the traditional ‘big man’ image of African states’ foreign policy and foreign policy making.”
On his writing, Adar says, “yes l have done a lot of academic writing but surely one cannot live off writing whether fiction or academic in Africa. But that is not an excuse. Those of us who have salaries employment owe it to our society to write works of art and publishers too owe it to society to publish them.”
When he talks about President Moi he simply says it was common to identify the African state and its foreign policy with the belief, psychological or personal whims of the Africa president in power as best captured by an amusing play of words of a famous French phrase to describe the nature of Kenyan politics under President Daniel Arap Moi “L’Etat C’est Moi”
One of his prominent works is Globalization and Emerging Trends in African States Foreign Policy-Making Process: A Comparative Perspective of Southern Africa (Making of Modern Africa) co-edited with Rok Ajulu. The book was edited when he was down in South Africa where he was an Associate Professor of International Studies and Dr Rok Ajulu, Senior Lecturer of International Political Economy, both at International Studies Unit, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa.
The text book is hailed as one of the first books of its kind to focus on the foreign policy-making process of Southern African countries in the era of globalization with instructive and rewarding case studies contextualize the increasing involvement of other internal actors in African states foreign policy-making process. Foreign policy actors such as the Presidency, Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Trade, Finance and the Intelligence Community, among others, are examined in a comparative perspective.
Prof. Korwa Adar was born in Sori south Nyanza in what is today called Migori country among the Luo community of Kenya. He started his studies in a simple school near his home village. That is to say that he was a more of a village boy brought up in a strict Seventh Day Adventist Church.
His mother is still alive, born of seven children. As a child he tendered the cattle and he knew them by their names and he played with his age mates. He was this is man from a humble beginning that rose to hit the headline during the dictator President Daniel Arap Moi era.
Prof. Korwa Gombe Adar received his MA and PhD in International Studies at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA. Prior to joining Rhodes University in 1997, he taught at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
His articles have appeared in numerous internationally peer refereed journals. He has also widely published text books and contributed numerous chapters in edited works. He was one of the recipients of the 1992 Fulbright Research Grant for Senior African Scholars.
He fled to South Africa where took his first job at the Rhodes University then moved to Cape town where he lived most of his life in exile until he returned to Kenya under the Kibaki regime. He is married to a Nyakach lady, Jane Adar and they have three children.
He is always very grateful for his wife’s support during their hard time in exile. She worked hard to raise the family and supported me in any way a mother should do. He also thanks many in Kenya, his former students who prayed for him and those people who worked so hard to see the second liberation.
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
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Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
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Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org
World: NEW POLL SUGGESTS PUBLIC HAVE NEGATIVE VIEW OF THE CHURCH
From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011
This week’s edition of The Tablet published overwhelming revelation of the new poll suggesting that the public have a negative view of the Church and are indifferent over the impact of the papal visit. According to the poll, commissioned by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales to mark the anniversary of the papal visit, 70 per cent of the 2,000 British adults questioned said they felt the Church was out of touch with modern society.
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Even though for the Catholics questioned - 9 per cent of the total surveyed - that figure dropped to 59 per cent, the Catholic Church is collapsing in the developed countries. This is because they are not following the Teachings of Jesus Christ. Instead, it has become a sort of Corporation, with accumulation of wealth and power as its goal.
Other than wealth and power however, child abuse, especially in USA where around 19,000 people have so far come forward as being child abuse victims by priests is cited as the reason why.
The individual dioceses ended up paying out $2 billion in damages to some of them. It was the same in Ireland where 15,000 came forward as abuse victims and were paid over $1 million in damages. Many of the Bishops have resigned to prevent investigation of their activities.
During his recent visit to Germany, Pope Benedict XVI was strict with his followers, more and more of whom are leaving the Church - a point the pope even addressed during his four days in his native country where the scandal has cast a shadow on the Vatican, with allegations touching his former archdiocese including his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, director of the choir there from 1964 to 1994.
Benedict's native Germany has been rocked by a series of clergy-abuse allegations since January, when former students at Berlin's élite Jesuit high school, Canisius College, went public with accusations against two former priests at the institution. Similar allegations then emerged at other Catholic schools and institutions in German, including a Benedictine monastery and several boarding schools.
German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger condemned the "wall of silence" within the Catholic hierarchy, accusing the church of hiding behind a 2001 Vatican directive that called for cases of abuse to be investigated internally before going to state authorities. "This directive makes clear that even serious abuse allegations fall under papal confidentiality and thus should not be forwarded on outside the church," she said.
Viewing church negatively is not only a Catholic problem alone-Protestant churches are the same, especially losing young adults in "sobering" numbers. Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30 — both evangelical and mainline — who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23, according to the survey by LifeWay Research. And 34 percent of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means about one in four Protestant young people have left the church.
"This is sobering news that the church needs to change the way it does ministry," says Ed Stetzer, director of Nashville-based LifeWay Research, which is affiliated with the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
"It seems the teen years are like a free trial on a product. By 18, when it's their choice whether to buy in to church life, many don't feel engaged and welcome," says associate director Scott McConnell.
The statistics are based on a survey of 1,023 Protestants ages 18 to 30 who said they had attended church at least twice a month for at least one year during high school. LifeWay did the survey in April and May. Margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Asked why in 1500 the Roman Catholic Church was all powerful, especially in Western Europe, the answer is because its power had been built up over the centuries and relied on ignorance and superstition on the part of the populace. It had been indoctrinated into the people that they could only get to heaven via the church.
This gave a priest enormous power at a local level on behalf of the Catholic Church. The local population viewed the local priest as their ‘passport’ to heaven as they knew no different and had been taught this from birth by the local priest. Such a message was constantly being repeated to ignorant people in church service after church service. Hence keeping your priest happy was seen as a prerequisite to going to heaven.
To go by this, you would be expected to give to the church via the collection at the end of each service (as God was omnipresent he would see if anyone cheated on him), you had to pay tithes (a tenth of your annual income had to be paid to the church which could be either in money or in kind such as seed, animals etc.) and you were expected to work on church land for free for a specified number of days per week.
You were told that if you did not go to heaven then the likelihood was that your soul had been condemned to Hell. Basically if you knew that you had sinned you would wait until a pardoner was in your region selling an indulgence and purchase one as the pope, being God’s representative on Earth, would forgive your sins and you would be pardoned.
This industry was later expanded to allow people to buy an indulgence for a dead relative who might be in purgatory or Hell and relieve that relative of his sins. By doing this you would be seen by the Catholic Church of committing a Christian act and this would elevate your status in the eyes of God.
It is argued that it is one of the reasons why Pius XI's first encyclical as Pope was directly related to his aim of Christianising all aspects of increasingly secular societies. Ubi archano, promulgated in December 1922, inaugurated the "Catholic Action" movement.
Similar goals were in evidence in his encyclicals Divini illius magistri (1929), making clear the need for Christian over secular education, and Casti Connubii , (1930), praising Christian marriage and family life as the basis for any good society, condemning artificial means of contraception, but also acknowledging at the same time the unitive aspect of intercourse as licit.
Any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin.
Nor are those considered as acting against nature who in the married state use their right in the proper manner although on account of natural reasons either of time or of certain defects, new life cannot be brought forth.
For in matrimony as well as in the use of the matrimonial rights there are also secondary ends, such as mutual aid, the cultivating of mutual love, and the quieting of concupiscence which husband and wife are not forbidden to consider so long as they are subordinated to the primary end and so long as the intrinsic nature of the act is preserved.
He condemned, in his 1928 encyclical, Mortalium Animos, the idea that Christian unity could be attained by establishing a broad federation of many bodies holding varying doctrines (the widespread view among Protestant ecumenists); rather, the Catholic Church was the one true Church, all her teachings were objectively true, and Christian unity could only be by achieved by non-Catholic denominations rejoining the Catholic Church and accepting the doctrines they had rejected.
People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
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Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org
Kenya: Greed, wastefulness emptying State coffers
from Judy Miriga
Folks,
Greed must be nipped in the bud, there is no two ways about it. The coalition government has failed. These two principles Kibaki and Raila are holding Public Office illicitly and unconstitutionally after defying and not honoring Oath of Allegiance they swore to observe and neglecting the National Reform Agenda requirements and timetable factors. The New Constitution ought to have been implemented as is to provide for effective Devolution Counties settlement and the election time table was never to be changed.
It has also been observed that they are both against Devolution Implementation, which is why, they have segmented the Constitution through apportionment of Bills as delaying tactics with intention to change the constitution to suit their special political interests, which is why the majority of their supporters opposed the Referendum for the New Constitution in the first place and vowed to change it in Parliament. Raila was hiding behind the curtain but inwardly and by action, he is against the Devolution of power.....and that is the reason why he has been seen dodging facts of the case in lukewarm approach with cold feet, he was unable to do straight fight to have the Devolution of Counties finalized.
Like in the case of Miguna Miguna, Raila should equally go without salary while being investigated. Raila should learn through experience too, then he will come to understand and know that, treating human beings like wild dogs is against principles of just rule, it violates human empathy, that it abuses social ethics and is purely criminal.
Yes, it is time to have the Coalition Government dissolved and call for election now.......
which will be overseered by an Interim transitional committee. There is no beating about the bush here......
Thank you all, and may God see us through.........
Cheers .....!!!
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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--- On Mon, 10/24/11, nyongesah john wrote:
Its a pity to see how corrupt a system we have. A leadership that won't give hope to the youth. Probably Kenya needs a merciless dictator for at-most 5 years to root-out corrupt mindset and attitude. On comparative basis, the Hon. PM is a good man 'inside'. I guess what he has witnessed and gone through may make him cruel...
Just like the other funds that have gone missing in the past, we expect to see very little on the current unfolding.
General John
--- On Mon, 10/24/11, Daniel Muguko wrote:
Woooooiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My dear RAO...Thot he had a chance of a lifetime, i was ready to vote for him....
Pole saaaaaaaaaaaana...
Thanking You
Daniel Kamau Muguko - MBA,BA,CPA(K),CPS
--- On Mon, 10/24/11, Jectone Ndunya wrote:
Country MEN, Allow me to add my voice to the damning revelations about the KKV and the PMs office.
Sometimes however much your love your Dad to death, you should be able to tell him any day you find him naked. you cannot come and claim to the world that they should let your father walk naked since you loved him.
Same we should apply here.
The other day the PM was busy suspending Ongeri and Ruto to take political Responsibility for the funds which went missing in their ministries yet we know as we are told accounting officers in the ministries are the PSs, today some one is busy telling us how the PM does not directly handle cash and so he is Mr Clean.
I want to say here that any one subjecting struggling Kenyans to more suffering will not know peace untill they pay ten fold what they took. This i mean that God does wonders for the Weak and suffering he will surely make them have the last laugh when the corrupt are gnashing their teeth.
Leadership is God given, he knows from where the right man and or woman will come from to break the political dynasties and lead Kenya to a Unified Peaceful and Prosperous State. But those who want it by force or manipulation will never enjoy its fruits.
USA: Neal Stephenson – - “Innovation Starvation”
from: octimotor
I, too, judge that Neal Stephenson may be on to something important.
Taras W. circulated to members on an e-mail list the excerpt and web link to N.S. article. His intent was to use the info simply as another point from which to criticize the entitlements programs part of federal budget.
But perhaps the article indicates a rather more worrisome social condition rather than just the usual USA partisan politics slogans exchanges.
During one of his Coast to Coast talk show interviews, Richard Hogland expressed a reaction similar to N.S. regarding the April - July 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It goes to show, said R.H., this is the kind of thing which happens when tech development investments such as NASA research goes neglected for decades. Then when trouble comes, the needed tools to fix your technical problem will be unavailable, as a result of that long neglect.
His observations apply to what is the state of openly acknowledged and published sci/tech. Those who look can come across certain allegations which assert much more tech has been perfected - - at substantial expense - - but for various covert soceo-economic engineering or military rationals remains not publicly available.
Howard Bloom said "A nation that looks up, goes up; a nation that looks down goes down. A nation without a sense of a new frontier begins to cave in upon itself...nations make their own resources by opening up radical new frontiers," He was one of the space round table show guests in May 2010 on Coast to Coast radio show.
In parallel to this, consider comments by attorney William Pepper. He is author of _An act of State_ and _Orders to Kill_ . (These document his investigations of the 1968 Martin Luther King & Robert Kenedy killings.) His opinion was given In an April 2011 interview by Kerry Casity on "Whistle blower radio". The USA, he stated, is becoming a two class society, without a remaining middle class - - a pre-revolution state. The top 1% own 40% of the society's wealth. The conventional avenues for seeking to redress grievances are proving to be ineffective. That leaves open instead prospects for radical upheavals.
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from Taras W.
subject Neal Stephenson: "Innovation Starvation"
"My lifespan encompasses the era when the United States of America was capable of launching human beings into space. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on a braided rug before a hulking black-and-white television, watching the early Gemini missions. This summer, at the age of 51 - not even old - I watched on a flatscreen as the last Space Shuttle lifted off the pad. I have followed the dwindling of the space program with sadness, even bitterness. Where's my donut-shaped space station? Where's my ticket to Mars? ...
"I worry that our inability to match the achievements of the 1960s space program might be symptomatic of a general failure of our society to get big things done.
"The Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 crystallized my feeling that we have lost our ability to get important things done. ..." -- Neal Stephenson --
http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/fall2011/innovation-starvation
(I note that the 1960s were when entitlement programs began to eat up the Federal budget. Gradually, everything else gets squeezed out.
--TW)
Uganda: Museveni’s Oil Secrets Finally Coming Out ……Mmmmh…!!!
from Judy Miriga
He he heeee.....!!!
What became of Kenya's Oil and Gas with Triton saga?
They better not touch Willy Mutunga and Nyachae.........!!!
It is getting juicy.......Cheers ....!!!
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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Uganda: Museveni's Oil Secrets Finally Coming Out
Andrea Bohnstedt
22 October 2011
Stick a hot-pink little umbrella in your drink, lean back and enjoy the show! That's at least what I felt when I followed the discussions in Uganda's parliament about the production-sharing agreements (PSA) with the oil firms.
President Museveni's government has always kept the PSAs carefully guarded. The people can't, mustn't know what's going on with this national resource. Security reasons, of course - 'It's like a war' â-' and really, no need to worry your pretty little heads anyway. It's best left in the hands of the president and his men who will know what to do with all that oil. And the president's son and his men were guarding it, so really, what's the worry?
This threw up a bit of an issue when the Ugandan government got into a fight with Heritage Oil over whether the company was liable to pay capital gains tax on the sale of its assets to Tullow Oil. Heritage said 'Oh no we aren't!', GoU said 'Oh yes you are!' - and for any outsider, it was difficult to assess because, well, the PSAs were secret.
But things got properly interesting when Uganda's MPs - pretty much across party lines - decided to ask their speaker to recall parliament to discuss the oil agreements and the overall oil sector, and then also insisted on seeing the PSAs. Parliament was eventually recalled, the request to see the PSAs was also eventually granted. But the restrictions placed on their access were ridiculous: No copies, no note taking, no taking away the documents, no talking about them. Not exactly conducive to analyzing very technical agreements.
And then it got more interesting - and murky: President Museveni was properly outraged that anyone - as suggested in a Wikileaks cable - should think that he'd take bribes. Yes, I laughed, too. But in this specific case, he might actually have had a point: If ENI indeed did pay him, they didn't get very much in return. So far, at least.
An MP then accused Tullow Oil of bribing various government officials, which Tullow also emphatically denied. The Ugandan Independent just published an interesting back story on Wednesday, describing how they had received documents showing bribes paid by Tullow to Foreign Minister Kutesa and then Energy Minister Hilary Onek. They tried several avenues of investigating the truth of these accusations, but could not find sufficient evidence.
Parliament resolved to investigate Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa and Internal Affairs Minister (and former Energy Minister) Onek. More aggravation for Kutesa -Museveni's son's father in law - who had already been taken to court alongside government chief whip John Nasasira and Minister of State for Labour Mwesigwa Rukutana for their alleged embezzlement of funds for the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
All three have 'stepped aside to clear their name', to use a time-honoured Kenyan phrase. And in contrast to fellow accused, former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya, they were not locked up, but let out on bail. Mbabazi and Onek are still clinging on by the seat of their pants: Onek says that he will resign 'when the parliamentary probe begins', but may well be forced out by a censure motion.
There are many interesting issues in this whole debate: In contrast to e.g. debates over car loans, MPs appeared less motivated by their own interests and, across party lines, actually pushed a sensible agenda that is of interest to all citizens. This is no doubt an encouraging development, and I wonder if they can keep this momentum.
I doubt that Museveni can afford to sacrifice Kutesa, one of his key backers, and in the past, dragging high-ranking government members to court has hardly ever resulted in any credible prosecutions (undoubtedly a bit of a déjà vu for Kenyans). But there is certainly a whole lot of pressure on the president's entourage at the same time that support from his own party appears to be falling: NRM MPs joined opposition MPs in pushing for more transparency in the oil sector, and Museveni must be busy pondering how he can bring those unruly NRM kids back in line.
For Uganda's nascent oil sector, this latest development has been more than overdue: MPs want the legal and regulatory framework for the oil sector completed before any further decisions are made. This is something that Uganda's government had long, long dragged its feet on, despite a great many offers of support.
For Tullow, trailblazers in development of the country's oil sector, the news are not so good: at the very least, they face further delays in concluding the farm in of CNOOC and Total, partners that the exploration company needs to bring in both finances and technical expertise on oil production.
Government needs to authorise this deal, but Museveni refused to agree to the stabilisation clause that would protect them from legal and tax changes - a standard agreement without which it is impossible to borrow against assets and, therefore, invest. And this happened even before parliament got involved. They will certainly hope that Uganda doesn't renege on its contracts with them on a wider scale. And the beginning of oil production will be pushed back yet again.
The writer is an independent country risk analyst and publishes the online business magazine, www.ratio-magazine.com.