USA: President Obama’s Swift Effectiveness to Duty Calling is commendable
From: Judy Miriga
Folks,
Romney has just begun to wake up to realization that FEMA truely is useful under strong, steadfast, reliable and dependable focused Government leadership. It is a leadership with visionary forseable future that, which is capable to hold a promise and is able to plan in advance for its people's security and progressive agenda for development. This has now been proved beyond reasonable doubt against an angry mother natures' disaster is real and cannot be denied. The environment pollution is also real and it needs protection and preservation........Business activities have real effects (advantages and disadvantages) on the environment and both must be preserved and protected to provide a good balance instead of leaning on profit and destroying fundamental basics of nature. It is the Government which can do all these in combination fairly.........President Obama understands this........Which is why he was able to save the country from Economic Collapse.
Romney did not display the Unity of Purpose in pulling together when a Country faces such danger, threat or problem. He is stuck in his 47% idiology......Which is why Romney Rejected FEMA...he preferres all money going to Corporate Business. Where is the Corporate when it comes to dissaster, danger or problem.....Corporate is a profit making institution NEVER can they engage effectively in such situations. Government is the Mother of all facilitating utility supply central to all; and where all people run to in the first instinct for needs and demands. It is where public mandate is planned, restructured, organized and executed. With this case-scenario the test posed has an answer, Mitt Romney as usual is wrong and President Obama is as always been right..........
Lets Pray for all those who have lost and faced the monster of dissaster in the eye. May they gather courage, pick up the pieces and get on their feet again. It is utter dissastrous and divastating. We felt a glimpse trail bit of it in our area but others were worse off. It was not a joke. It is mother nature no words can explain it but that it was beyond human comprehension.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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Christie, Obama form pre-election bond in Sandy's wake - Daily Trail
Published on Oct 30, 2012 by ReutersTV
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a staunch Romney supporter, heaped praise on President Barack Obama's quick response to Sandy in the aftermath of the massive storm that devastated the state's shoreline. Reuters correspondent John Whitesides says Christie's comments, while sincere, may also enhance his own standing as a leader in crisis. GOP challenger Mitt Romney held a Sandy relief event at an Ohio arena as he prepared to resume campaigning in key swing states on Wednesday. (October 30, 2012)
Chris Christie on Hurricane Sandy response: The president deserves great credit
Published on Oct 30, 2012 by dkostv
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on President Obama
New Jersey Chris Christie Praises Obama, Doesn't 'Give a Damn' about Election Day'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzcpbc20C2I
Published on Oct 30, 2012
The presidential candidates have canceled all campaign events on Tuesday, but Republican New Jersey Chris Christie seemed to be stumping for President Barack Obama by appearing on several networks to praise the federal response to Hurricane Sandy.
In an interview on NBC, Christie called Obama "outstanding" for expediting relief efforts. He also told MSNBC that Obama "deserves great credit."
"He gave me his number at the White House and told me to call him if I needed anything," Christie said.
The New Jersey governor even took his message to Fox News, saying that Obama had helped "tremendously."
"I spoke to the president three times yesterday," he explained. "He called me for the last time at midnight last night asking what he could do. I said, if you can expedite designating New Jersey as a major disaster area that that would help us to get federal money and resources in here as quickly as possible to help clean up the damage here."
ripcitiboi 9 hours ago
Chris Christie: Romney who?! All I know is that President Obama is doing a great job at being Commander and Chief!
Fox: *speechless*
Governor Christie Praises Obama's Hurricane Response
Published on Oct 30, 2012 by David Buco
While I'm no fan of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's politics, his non-partisan praise of President Obama's Handling of Hurricane Sandy and it's aftermath deserves recognition. And the first part of this video shows he can really keep politics out of the discussion on this disaster. Kudos to Governor Christie!
From "Fox And Friends," Fox News: 10-30-2012
Romney on FEMA Government Spending
Uploaded by terumuer on Sep 21, 2011
CNN/New Hampshire GOP Debate, June 13, 2011
Except what you said is complete BS, and you know it. Taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor? You mean how the wealthy have seen their net worth SKYROCKET under Obama? How the wealthy have taken in 93% of all income gains in 2010 while the rest of us get to fight over the remaining table scraps? The stagnation is from poor policy given to us by the Bush Administration, increasing our deficits heavily with wars and tax cuts (which Obama is TRYING to undo). So try again please.
rolexx14in reply to e75149938(Show the comment) 8 hours ago 12
Some people are afraid of a change... It doesn't mean your drinking water and air will get unsafe or that you won't get support for Parenthood or no help in case of a disaster.. furthermore, no one denies climate change, I'm not sure either what denial of evolution could affect your future and the state policies and Romney is a strong supporter of stem cell research, just against cloning. Get your facts right instead of looking for no-brainers...
e75149938in reply to rolexx14(Show the comment) 6 hours ago
Pretty easy to see who here has actually looked at the federal budget figures from the CBO/GAO/DoD, etc and other credible sources vs those who got their info from rightwing propaganda websites and lying chain emails.
I guess Obama signed 900 executive orders too because some chain email said so? Nope. The fact is he only signed 138. President Bush Jr signed 171 his 1st term. Reagan signed 211 his 1st term. Check the government's National Archive website yourself.
presto1202 6 hours ago
Harry Barr replied yesterday
Romney again flip-flops on FEMA!!! He says we need FEMA only because Sandy is an "equal opportunity " disaster. Even the super-rich are affected by this disaster and getting federal money means the super-rich benefit like Romney's "epersonally irresponsible 47%." However, if Romney were president he'd only help the super-rich and the rest of Americans would be on their own!!! Romney CANNOT BE TRUSTED!!!!
margiep replied yesterday
Romney wanted to get rid of FEMA until Hurricane Sandy. He had said that the States should take care of these kinds of emergencies. What kind of president would he make. He just flip-flops all over the place....can not make up his mind. We need a President like Obama he knows what has to be done, and does it. !! He cares about 100% of our people. Do not be tricked by Romney......He just has a big problem making up his mind, and we need a President who is decisive especially in emergencies.
j.d. in Iowa replied yesterday
Just tell me where will the states, some of whom are already fiscally in bad shape, going to get the money to battle disasters. What if a state has two or more disasters in a year? How will they cope? What if Mississippi had an oil spill disaster and a hurricane? Tell me Mr.Romney how do you deal with that? How will the states pay the private companies for the work they need to do to clean up after a disaster? The only way Republicans see problem solving is through "privatizing" everything. Are we going to take bids on disaster relief? Will we show favoritism to our big doners. Is this like a no bid deal such as Haliburton?
TheDixieDove commented 2 days ago
Will Sandy Make Romney Talk FEMA?
Romney has been the Invisible Man when it comes to taking tough questions on his Tax Policies and his past personal life; while Obama has been forced to expound on his financial plan, relig ion, parentage and race. Extensively.
Does it take a storm named Sandy to do what the US press can't? Romney has spoken in favor of eliminating The Federal Emergency Management Agency and he has never countered that view.
By the hand of God Mitt Romney may finally be held accountable. And God knows a woman can do a man's job. TheDixieDove
margiep replied yesterday
Why does Romney always get his way? Has told 538 liess in 30 weeks, was against FEMA, wanted the states to get themselves out of natural disasters, and now owns the electronic voting machines with his son, Tagg, that are being used in Ohio!Why are the Democrats allowing this? Can't someting be done to stop this. The company has a rating of 0 out of 12 for security, is known to let unauthorized to gain access to the voting cards, which of course can change who wins the election in this very important swing state, and may be used in all the swing states!!! We need to stop this VOTER MACHINE BEING USED NOW. NO WONDER ROMNEY IS SO SURE HE WILL WIN THIS ELECTION!!! And God help all of us if he does!
Obama visits storm victims while Romney campaigns
By CHARLES BABINGTON | Associated Press –
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama, locked in a fierce re-election bid, is emphasizing his incumbent's role for a third straight day, skipping battleground states to visit victims of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey, a state he's confident of winning. The president's actions have forced his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, to walk a careful line and make tough choices.
The former Massachusetts governor must show respect for the superstorm's casualties all along the Eastern Seaboard. But Romney can ill afford to waste a minute of campaign time, with the contest virtually deadlocked in several key states and the election six days away.
After tamping down his partisan tone Tuesday at an Ohio event that chiefly emphasized victims' relief, Romney planned three full-blown campaign events Wednesday in Florida, the largest competitive state. Sandy largely spared Florida, so Romney calculates he can campaign there without appearing callous.
Obama's revised schedule is a political gamble, too. Rather than use the campaign's final Wednesday to woo voters in tossup states, he will go before cameras with New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie. Christie is one of Romney's most prominent supporters, and a frequent Obama critic. But Christie praised Obama's handling of superstorm Sandy, a political twist the president's visit is sure to underscore.
Obama also took full advantage of incumbency Tuesday. He visited the Red Cross national headquarters — a short walk from the White House — to commiserate with victims and encourage aid workers.
"This is a tough time for millions of people," the president said. "But America is tougher."
While Obama and Romney moved cautiously Tuesday, their campaigns exchanged sharp words in Ohio and expanded their operations into three Democratic-leaning states, a move that will reshape the contest's final six days.
Romney's campaign is running ads in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, and a pro-Romney group is doing the same in Michigan. The three states were considered fairly safe for Obama, but his campaign is taking the threat seriously. It sent former President Bill Clinton to Minnesota on Tuesday and it is buying airtime in all three states.
Republican strategists differ on the Romney campaign's thinking. Some think Romney's aides fear losing all-important Ohio, and they hope for a stunning last-minute breakthrough elsewhere to compensate. Others say the GOP camp has so much money — and so few chances to buy useful airtime in saturated states — that it can spend millions of dollars on a long shot without scrimping in a battleground.
"If they didn't have so much money, they wouldn't be able to do something with so little chance of success," said Democratic strategist Tad Devine.
Some Republicans played down the significance of the expand-the-map strategy.
"This always happens this time of year" in a big campaign, said Republican consultant Mike McKenna of Richmond, Va. "They see a poll or two" that suggests a sudden tightening of the race in a place like Minnesota "and they get all excited."
"They tend to chase shiny objects," McKenna said. Ohio, he said, remains by far the most important state for Romney to win.
Another sign that Ohio looms large for the Romney campaign: a guest-filled rally in suburban Cincinnati on Friday to kick off the campaign's final four days. Set to join the GOP ticket are golf legend Jack Nicklaus, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Meanwhile, Democratic groups bitterly complained about a TV ad the Romney camp is running in the Toledo and Youngstown areas of Ohio. The ad suggests that Jeep will move its Toledo car-making facility to China, a claim Jeep executives deny.
Democrats called the ad a brazen lie and a sign of desperation. Even some Republicans worried that Romney has gone too far in a state where voters follow the auto industry closely.
"It's the kind of thing that happens late in the campaign, when everybody's tired and you're not quite yourself," McKenna said. "It didn't help. But I don't think it's a big thing. At this point, everybody has made up their mind."
Vice President Joe Biden planned to campaign Wednesday in Florida. Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, was scheduled to campaign in his home state, Wisconsin.
___
Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
Obama gets Sandy update, scraps more campaign plans
By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News
White House Correspondent The Ticket –
On Tuesday, Obama got an update on Hurricane Sandy via teleconference in the White House's Situation Room.
"The president expressed his concern for those impacted by the storm, as well as the heroic first responders who are selflessly putting themselves in harm's way to protect members of their communities," read a statement from the White House. "He also noted his sadness over the loss of life associated with the storm so far."
Obama got an update on the storm's path and the resources deployed to respond, and he heard from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "on conditions in financial markets and the operations of the financial system."
Overnight, Obama approved major disaster declarations for New Jersey and New York at the request of those states' governors. That freed up additional federal aid for state and local governments.
"The president told his team that their top priority is to make sure all available resources are being provided to state and local responders as quickly as possible and directed them to identify and resolve any potential bottlenecks or shortfalls should they arise," the White House also said.
Obama also directed the Department of Defense and Department of Energy to help restore power.
"The president urges Americans to continue to follow the direction and advice of local officials, governors and mayors, many of whom the president will speak with later today," the statement continued.
The teleconference included many senior advisers. In the photo above, from left: John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; Tony Blinken, national security adviser to the vice president; David Agnew, director for intergovernmental affairs; Alyssa Mastromonaco, deputy chief of staff for operations; and chief of staff Jack Lew.
Joining the briefing by phone were Vice President Joe Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff James Winnefeld, USNORTHCOM Commander Gen. Charles Jacoby, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb and Geithner. Other officials also took part.
Oct 30, 2012 8:45am
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Praises President Obama for Sandy Response
One of Mitt Romney’s biggest supporters, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, had nothing but praise for President Barack Obama today, as his state prepares to rebuild from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
“I have to say, the administration, the president, himself and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate have been outstanding with us so far,” Christie said on Good Morning America. “We have a great partnership with them.”
Full Coverage: Hurricane Sandy
Christie told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that Obama called him on Monday night around midnight to ask if there was anything else the federal government could do to help. Christie added that they worked together to move forward with a Major Disaster Declaration for New Jersey.
The Major Disaster Declaration provides funding for recovery efforts, including infrastructure projects, temporary housing, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property loss and assistance to individuals and businesses.
(PHOTOS: East Coast Hit by Hurricane Sandy)
“He worked on that last night with me…offered any other assets that we needed to help,” Christie said. “I want to thank the president personally for his personal attention to this.”
Appearing on Fox News, Christie said the storm is bigger than the election.
“I have a job in New Jersey that is much bigger than presidential politics,” Gov. Chris Christie said on the show Fox & Friends. “I couldn’t care less about that.”
Watch Gov. Christie’s appearance on GMA:
One of Mitt Romney's biggest supporters, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, had nothing but praise for President Barack Obama today, as his state prepares to rebuild from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
"I have to say, the administration, the president, himself and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate have been outstanding with us so far," Christie said on Good Morning America. "We have a great partnership with them."
Christie told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that Obama called him on Monday night around midnight to ask if there was anything else the federal government could do to help. Christie added that they worked together to move forward with a Major Disaster Declaration for New Jersey.
The Major Disaster Declaration provides funding for recovery efforts, including infrastructure projects, temporary housing, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property loss and assistance to individuals and businesses.
"He worked on that last night with me…offered any other assets that we needed to help," Christie said. "I want to thank the president personally for his personal attention to this."
Appearing on Fox News, Christie said the storm is bigger than the election.
"I have a job in New Jersey that is much bigger than presidential politics," Gov. Chris Christie said on the show Fox & Friends. "I couldn't care less about that."
Sandy’s Punishing Waves Detected by Earthquake Monitor
By Becky Oskin, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer | LiveScience.com – 12 hrs ago
As heavy surf hammered the Northeast Monday afternoon before Hurricane Sandy's landfall, the weather was peaceful in northern Pennsylvania.
At Keystone College, in the small town of La Plume, a seismometer scratched out a warning. Even more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) inland, the instrument picked up the power of waves churned by Sandy's winds.
While seismometers are meant to measure earthquakes, the instruments, which detect very subtle movements in the Earth's crust, also commonly record explosions, trucks on the highway and ocean waves crashing on the beach, said Ian Saginor, a professor and volcanologist at Keystone College who monitors the seismometer.
The instrument recordings show storm activity starting to ramp up around noon on Monday, Oct. 29, while Hurricane Sandy was still offshore of New Jersey. The back-and-forth swing of the needle broadens widely about six hours later, not long before the storm's landfall.
"That ramp-up is when the waves, the storm surge was coming in," Saginor told OurAmazingPlanet. "The ramp-up in Pennsylvania is happening long before any winds are getting there," Saginor said. "In Pennsylvania, there was no storm."
Saginor said he first noticed the instrument picking up storm waves during the Christmas blizzard in 2010 — but only after the storm passed through.
"When I first noticed it, I didn't understand why our seismometer was so noisy," he said. Then he realized, "If a storm is traveling from west to east, the noise is going to ramp up after the storm passes over us and hits the coast. That's when the storm starts sending energy back," Saginor said.
Reach Becky Oskin at boskin@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @beckyoskin. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook and Google+.
Kenya: Top Clergy told to stop meddling in Schools affairs.
By Shem Kosse
FOR more than two decades now, the Catholic fraternity in Kisumu Archdiocese has been led by a clergy whom many had regarded as a true reformer when he was enthroned as the Bishop and now Arch Bishop of the Arch diocese of Kisumu.
But somewhere along the way, those Principals and Head Teachers who have been managing the Secondary Schools which are sponsored by the Catholic Church under the said Archdiocese have not been a happy lot as they claim that there has been constant interference by Arch Bishop Zachaeus Okoth of the said Arch Diocese ranging from threats of transfers if not sacking when interdiction can not do.
Some of the head teachers and the Principals who are in these catholic sponsored but government institutions who seems to be not towing to the Arch Bishop’s line are either transferred under unclear circumstances or get demotion to some lesser schools within or outside the region.
A Principal in one of the schools within the region who spoke to the legion of journalists on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal claimed that he was transferred to another school simply because he was not a ‘catholic adherent’ and could not head a high school which the church sponsors at what ever cost.
He claims the Arch Bishop literally told him to his face that he would not allow him to head such a school unless “he is one of them”.
A similar scenario was also witnessed in the year 2005, when the then Kisumu Boys High School Principal John Awiti was abruptly transferred to ST. Mary’s Yala high School under the alleged influence of the archbishop Okoth simply because Awiti is a staunch Catholic and no one could head the institution unless a catholic fellow.
Efforts by the then students at Kisumu Boys High Schools who vehemently protested the move to transfer their beloved Principal fell on deaf ears as nothing changed despite their protests.
Previously, in the year 2004, Kisumu Boys under the watchdog of Principal Awiti managed to produce a top Student in Nyanza region when the KCSE Results were announced with the boy being number 12 nationally and this was seen as his major achievement hence making the students to protest at his abrupt transfer the year that followed, 2005.
And recently, the Arch Bishop alleged and constant interference in the running of the Government instituitions which are sponsored by his Catholic Church eminently came to the fore when he insisted that the now interdicted Principal of Bolo Girls Secondary School Rose Mbati Olela stayed put in school despite being transferred to another school within the same region.
Bolo Secondary school is a government institution which is situated in Arch Bishop’s village of Bolo in Nyakach District but sponsored by the Catholic Church.
The immediate former Principal Rose Mbati is said to be a sister in law of the Arch Bishop Okoth having been married to his Younger brother,r Ambrose Olela Awuor.
Before the Principal was interdicted, a team led by the Kisumu County Education Staffing Officer Gladys Toywa made two unsuccessful attempts on diverse dates of September 7 and 12 this year respectively to take over the school with an aim of handing it over to the new Principal Joyce Omondi who was moved from Bishop Okoth Girls Miranga where she was a Deputy Principal.
The Staffing officer, only managed after her third attempt on September 24 where the Deputy Principal Madam Rebecca Omany oversaw the handling over of the school on behalf of the then Principal who was claiming to be sick and could not do the official handing over having given the same reasons on both the first and the second visits, by the Staffing Officer.
But what followed after the handing over at the school was very perturbing as a new turn of events emerged where a section of the locals who are related to the Principal Rose Mbati got agitated and threatened the Deputy Principal for allegedly handing over the school without what they termed as proper procedures.
One such person who has been identified as John Onyango Awuor who is a brother in- law of the Rose Olela and a brother to Arch Bishop Okoth who allegedly issued threats to the Deputy Principal after the handing over ceremony.
There are now claims that the new Principal has been served with a letter from Arch Bishop Okoth instructing her not to set foot in the school and only wants her Sister in- law back at the school as the Principal.
Sources further unmasked that the out going Principal Rose Mbati was last week brought back to the school under unclear circumstances despite the handing over.
Kisumu County Director of Education in charge of Teachers Management has since interdicted the Principal for her alleged failure to honour the transfer.
Among other accusation revolves around the immediate former Principal Rose Mbati being investigated by the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission {EACC} on allegations of misappropriation of school funds.
In a letter dated June 4, 2012 which we have obtained a copy read in part: “The Ethic and Anti- Corruption Commission {EACC} is carrying out investigations into allegation of misappropriation/embezzlement of school funds,”
The letter continues “To facilitate our investigation we request that you provide us with the following original documents relating to the purchase of maize and beans by Our Lady of Lourdes- Bolo Girls Secondary School for the year 2012 and 2012"
Board of Governors Minutes authorizing the procurement, Advertisement to tenders, Letters of appointment for tender opening, evaluation and award committees are some of the documents the EACC requires from the interdicted principal.
The area County Director of Education in charge of Teachers Management Beatrice Agala confirmed that the Principal has duly been interdicted pending investigations on her alleged refusal to go on a transfer.
Meanwhile, Panic has gripped Bolo Girls Secondary School in Nyakach District of Kisumu County after the school’s Deputy Principal has raised an alarm fearing for her life.
The Deputy Principal Rebecca Omany of Our Lady of Lourdes Bolo Girls Secondary School said unknown suspected criminals got their way into the school on the night of September 24 and tried to attack her while asleep with her two children at their house within the school.
Speaking to the press in Kisumu after she managed to escape the ordeal last week, Madam Omany said what is puzzling is the manner in which the attackers behaved during the incident and how the police have tried to handle the matter.
She claimed that her predicament begun earlier in that material day when a new Principal came over to take up the management of the school with the help of the new Kisumu County Staffing Officer Gladys Toywa after the Principal Rose Mbati Olela had been transferred to another school.
Omany claimed that the new Principal came to take over the school within the help of the County Staffing officer after three attempts to do so failed, adding that her boss was adamant to hand over while claiming that she needed more time to prepare for the process.
“ I was just instructed by the Kisumu County Staffing Officer to oversee the process of handing over the school to the new Principal who came over for the third time of September 24, this year after my boss did not comply with them on the issue and I feel nothing wrong I did concerning the matter,” she said.
Reports indicated that , the outgoing Principal was present at the school at the time of the handing over ceremony but did not show up for the process while claiming that she was too sick to hand over the school to her successor.
Immediately after the process on the same day, a brother in-law of the now interdicted Principal reportedly issued some threats to the store keeper who is also the school’s messengers while asking him why the Deputy Principal agreed to hand over the school without the knowledge of its Board of Governors and the Archbishop of the Church which has sponsored the school.
Sources told the battery of scribes that the Brother in-law even threatened that he would see where the new Principal and her Deputy would spend a night while at the school.
Reports have it that after the handing over process the new Principal went back to Kisumu for some good preparations before settling fully but the deputy remained in the school.
According to Omany, It was at around 10:00 pm when the suspected thugs threw stones at her house followed by a big one which almost hit them had it been that they were all asleep.
“ I just escaped death by a whisker after the suspected thugs threw a huge stone which fell on my bed after the first two they also threw made me awake with my two children who I was with at the time of the frightening incident,’’ she added.
She immediately informed her new boss by calling her cell phone who in turn informed the nearby Parish Priest of the incident before sending a villager whom she also telephoned to report the incident to Sondu/Miriu Police station.
Omany stated that things were not all that easy as the police were too reluctant to help her on the matter while adding that an officer retorted that they could not handle such matter because of those who have vested interest in the school.
ENDS:
N/B-To be continued next week on how the immediate former Principal of Bolo Girls irregularly interdicted a teacher at the school, More details on the alleged maize and beans scandal perpetuated by the said Principal as well as how she allegedly collected more than 6 million for a multi- purpose hall that never was.
African leaders urged to invest in jobs, infrastructure and protecting development gains
From: News Release - African Press Organization (APO)
PRESS RELEASE
African leaders urged to invest in jobs, infrastructure and protecting development gains
The title for this year’s African Economic Conference will be “Inclusive and Sustainable Development in an Age of Economic Uncertainty”
KIGALI, Rwanda, October 31, 2012/ -- Opening an unprecedented gathering of experts here, present and former African Heads of State urged business, community and political leaders to help turn the continent’s impressive growth into economic opportunities for ordinary citizens.
Logo AEC: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/aec-logo.jpg
Photo Donald Kaberuka: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/donald-kaberuka---afdb-president.jpg
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, inaugurating the country’s first African Economic Conference (http://www.africaneconomicconference.org), said, “In Rwanda, we understand that politics and economics go hand in hand and we have made a conscious and deliberate choice of inclusive development based on our political reality. By and large, they have produced positive results. Growth has been consistent and poverty levels considerably reduced by 12 per cent from 56.9 per cent to 44 per cent in five years.”
Organized each year by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) (http://www.afdb.org) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the title for this year’s African Economic Conference will be “Inclusive and Sustainable Development in an Age of Economic Uncertainty”.
Africa has weathered the economic crisis and achieved considerable advances in the area of poverty reduction and human development. However, the region is still home to high levels of poverty, hunger, unemployment and inequality in political voice and access to resources.
“Over the first decade of this century, with the exception of 2008, Africa experienced exceptional economic performance and growth in GDP per capita,” said Helen Clark, the UNDP Administrator. “But there is a way to go in many countries to translate that growth into higher human development. Deliberate policy measures and targeted investments are needed to make growth not just fast, but also inclusive and sustainable.”
Participants on the opening day said that the key issue for the continent was to shift from commodity-based to innovative, diversified economies at a time when foreign direct investment, aid and remittances were drying up.
Donald Kaberuka, the President of the African Development Bank, underscored the need for long-term solutions. He suggested that Africa’s growth should include doing research on solutions on how African countries could internally finance their development, and learning from what has gone wrong globally to redesign their policies.
Africa must invest in quality education in order to stop children from inheriting poverty from generation to generation, said Kaberuka.
“This is how you stop children from inheriting living conditions of debt, and once you do that you have stopped the transmission of poverty,” he told an opening session.
“Inclusive development must include equity, equality, popular participation not only in politics but also in the economy itself and then of course there must be transparency, and all those things that make the governed believe and have confidence in those who govern them,” added the Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Participants at the conference also said that protecting communities from food and fuel price volatility, climate change and political instability required putting in place bold measures for social protection, including insurance, credit and employment schemes.
The African Economic Conference is organized as a series of open thematic debates, combined with sessions that review policy research from across the continent. The conference provides a uniquely open forum for political leaders, academics and emerging talent from the continent to discuss solutions to Africa’s pressing development issues.
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank.
The full event programme is available at: http:// www.africaneconomicconference.org.
About the African Economic Conference (http://www.africaneconomicconference.org): The main objective of the Conference is to provide a platform for experts on Africa, both within and outside the continent, to reflect and discussnew directions for growth policy on the continent in order to determine the best approaches to attain the Millennium Development Goals, achieve the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), and accelerate Africa’s sustainable development. For more information: http://www.africaneconomicconference.org.
Media contacts:
United Nations Development Programme: Nausicaa Habimana Kantengwa: nausicaa.kantengwa@undp.org Cell: +250 (0) 783 010 571
African Development Bank: Magatte Wade, m.wade@afdb.org +216.98.343.734
Economic Commission for Africa: Yinka Adeyemi, yadeyemi@uneca.org +251 911 201798
SOURCE
African Development Bank (AfDB)
KENYA: KISUMU ROCKED BY VIOLENT PROTESTS OVER KILLING OF ODM POLITICIAN.
By Dickens Wasonga,
Relative calm has returned to Kisumu City after two days of violent riots by angry protesters who trooped to the streets demonstrating against the killing of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party chairman Shem Onyango Kwega by armed assailants on Monday.
But even as uneasy calm was restored, Raila Odinga's ODM party which still enjoys huge following in the country was calling on the government to conclusively investigate the motive of the killings and immediately bring to book those who are suspected to have gunned down Kwega, who was a prominent businessman and an influential Nyanza politician.
The party's Secretary General Prof Peter Anyang' Nyongo' while addressing a press conference in Nairobi after the Monday incident described the slain politician as a hard working official whose invaluable contributions as the ODM chairman for Kisumu Town West constituency will be greatly missed.
The Monday morning shooting sparked off violent protests throughout the town paralyzing business and transport activities as his supporters and angry residents stormed Kisumu Central police division demanding immediate transfer of police chiefs in the City accusing them of laxity.
However the two day protests ended tragically with three people amongst them two women being burnt to death. The deceased persons reportedly sheltered at the shop to escape the wrath of anti riot policemen who descended on the demonstrators with batons and lobbying teargas canisters to quell the violent riots.
The fire at the shop which left the three dead was said to have been started by the police teargas but the authorities were quick to dismiss this assertion claiming it could have been as a result of an electrical fault.
Several people believed to have been shot by the police during the riots were said to be receiving treatment in various hospitals within the town where they were admitted.
The slain politician and his wife Rose Onyango were accosted by two gun men in their youths who blocked their car just moments after a breakfast meeting at a Kisumu hotel along Nyerere road at around 10 am.
The daring gangsters used a motorbike to lay the ambush but later took off in an escape car which they hijacked from a nearby car wash after the attack.
According to the police, Kwega was fatally shot twice on the head from close range and another bullet fired by his attackers pierced through his chest. His wife was also shot in the chest while trying to shield her husband and is currently fighting for her life at Aga khan hospital in Kisumu.
While those protesting the killing termed it an assassination, the police has dismissed the theory claiming it was purely a criminal attack.
Nyanza police boss Joseph Oletito yesterday dispelled the rumors of a possible assassination attack saying the two gangsters made away with sh 1.2 million from the victims.
He said the police were pursuing the assailants and promised that soon they would be arrested . But new wave of attacks and violent crime has left every Kisumu resident worried stiff.
In a span of less than a month, over five people have reportedly been killed by armed criminals who appears to have taken over control of the city literally with most people wondering whether the police are overwhelmed.
A security guard was found dead at the Kisumu's SDA Victory church last week. The police said an estimated sh 200,000 offertory and other church valuables was stolen.
The same day , a pupil was found murdered and a headless body dumped at one of the estates in the City a few meters away from the church where the guard was killed in cold blood.
Reports of yet another chilling attack was made in the City when a top HIV and AIDS researcher at Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) was hacked to death as he tried to gain access to his Tom Mboya residence.
And Kisumu continued to record deaths occasioned by criminals when a director of a security firm was reportedly waylaid and killed last night near Uzima University College.
It is shocking that despite the increased attacks by armed criminals, the police who appears to have been caught napping are yet to nab any of the suspects reigning terror on the lives of innocent tax payers of the beautiful lake side City.
END.
Kisumu Town West MP Olago Aluoch, left and former area MP Rev Ken Nyagudi address the protesters outside ODM party office in Kisumu yesterday.
DIASPORA VOTING: IEBC SURVEY ON POLLING CENTERS FOR DIASPORA KENYANS
From: Kenya Diaspora Development Forum of MN.
To All Kenyans,
Following the constitutional provision allowing Kenyans in the Diaspora to vote for the first time in the upcoming, presidential and general elections in March 2013, Kenyans living in various cities in North America and elsewhere have been filled with expectation about this historic development. However, there have been mixed signals originating from leaders about how this measure would be implemented.
Our anxiety was heightened following the announcement that Diaspora Kenyans would be required to cast their votes at embassies in their respective countries of residence. If enacted, this measure will impose the most poignant act disenfranchising Kenyans living in the Diaspora. This is not acceptable. The Diaspora community must do everything possible to ensure their franchise, as provided by the constitution, is not retracted.
The constitution clearly enfranchises a large number of Diaspora voters. The IEBC and relevant institutions should ensure they create administrative efficiencies and cost effective logistics for Diaspora voters. With the addition of polling stations close to Diaspora Kenyans, most of whom are eligible voters, will be able to exercise their full voting rights by being able to reach a polling station to cast their vote without incurring a prohibitive cost.
Issues of access are problematic for Diaspora voters. They face limitations in their ability to vote due to the remoteness of their location from the embassies that are preferred by IEBC as polling centers. Kenyans living in the U.S. reside far away from the Kenya embassy. The types of limitations and obstacles which may affect Diaspora voters are endless.
In a positive response to our concerns, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is offering an opportunity for Diaspora Kenyans’ voices to be heard about their preference for the establishment of polling centers.
This is our chance to advocate and agitate for a polling station to be established in each city with a strong concentration of Diaspora Kenyans. The key is for all Kenyans to respond to the survey being administered by the IEBC. With all our voices heard, the decision will likely be made to establish a polling station in a city nearest to you. Stand up and be counted. Below is a link to the survey. Your prompt action in responding to the survey will reinforce our collective petition for accessible polling stations.
The IEBC Survey
http://www.iebc.or.ke/diaspora-survey/
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B. Metho I Secretary I 612.399.6163 I kddfmn@gmail.com I http://www.kddfgroup.org/
Sometimes there are things in life that aren't meant to stay. Sometimes change may not be what we want. Sometimes change is what we need.
WHY NEW EVANGELIZATION MUST ADDRESS THE REALITY OF SEX ABUSE BY CLERGY
From: People For Peace
Voices of Justice for Peace
Regional News
BY CHRISPIN ONYANGO
NAIROBI-KENYA
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2012
When a Canadian bishop whose diocese was rocked by clerical sex abuse crises told the Synod of Bishops that the new evangelization must address the reality of distrust and disappointment the scandal left in its wake, his pleas were not taken seriously yet this is the emerging problem that must be addressed urgently.
[image]Bishop Brian J. Dunn of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, leaves a meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization Tuesday at the Vatican. Dunn told the synod Friday the new evangelization must address the reality of distrust and disappointment caused by the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church-photo courtesy (CNS/Paul Haring)
With the sex abuse crisis, Catholics have experienced "a great disorientation that leads to forms of distrust of teachings and values that are essential for the followers of Christ," Bishop Brian J. Dunn of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, told the synod Oct. 12, adding that the Catholic Church cannot ignore the need to find a way to "evangelize those who have been deeply hurt by clergy who have been involved in sexual abuse.
At the same time, the church needs to investigate the causes of the sexual abuse crisis and ensure measures are in place to protect children and vulnerable adults.
A perusal of recent books, articles and information from websites, reveal strong and generalized damaging assumptions about priestly celibacy in connection with sexual scandals. The focus is no longer in the West but also in Africa and the rest of the continents.
Sexual abuse in whichever dimension, is a symptom of dangerous sexual perversity and should be strongly condemned. That is why problems of ever sexual abuse by the celibates of the Roman Catholic Church should not be treated in isolation as they might be a sign of deeper problems the church or an individual is unwilling to face.
Generally, sexual abuse is a wide social moral problem not confined to a particular culture or class of people only. Sexual abuses have a long history with diverse global dimensions.
The assumptions about celibacy of the clergy are inexhaustible. Among the assumptions being saturated worldwide are that; Catholic priests, especially in Europe and America are sexual abusers of children and youth. One gets the impression that other Christian churches do not have sexual predators among their clergy or leaders.
The second assumption is that the celibate Roman Catholic Priesthood is non-biblical. However, it is openly debated that the abolition of celibacy or, if it is made optional by the Roman Catholic Church, sexual abuse of children, youth and women would become a thing of the past, both, within the church and society.
However, it is not mentioned anywhere, that priests also can be victims of lustful women and seductive girls. One gets the impression that all young girls and women are innocent, holy and angelic, incapable of sexually molesting and terrorizing priests.
In this case, it is purported that only men are sexual predators. Unfortunately, the mass media and other communication networks give sensational and exaggerated information with sometimes an outright bias; as long as such information is in public demand and interest, instead of being fair, objective and truthful.
I have to admit that there is something odd about the current interest of the mass media with respect to ecclesiastical weaknesses. It is definitely bordering in the frenzy, sensational and alarmist side. The impression is that journalists reporting on clerical abuses are the moral and ethical gurus of the society, its conscience, and prophets of righteousness.
Is it possible that some of these people have a hidden agenda? Are they for example, instigating a laity uprising; a revolution against the clergy? Fortunately, other journalists, information sources, etc. have begun to publish alternative insights on the situation of the church and its ministers since it is not true that all clergy sexually molest children or are involved in sexual abuses of any nature and that also some parents, relatives, doctors, teachers lure unsuspecting children and youth into anti-social immoral practices.
However, sexual scandals that have besieged the Roman Catholic clergy in the West have in one way or the other affected the Catholic Church in Africa. As St. Paul reiterates, “If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain and vise versa (1 Cor 12:26).
Whoever responds to the call of Christ to serve a Roman Catholic priest, in essence accepts the conditions of living a celibate life from the onset. Osale, E. rightly observes that, “… the success of consecrated celibacy clearly depends on initial conviction and commitment by those who undertake it”.
But, to single out the 1 percent or 2 percent of such cases and publish websites, books describing all Roman Catholic priests, men and women religious as sexual perverts, defiles logic and human decency. This is an outright exaggerated with an open agenda of demoralization. I am not trying to condone sexual abuses of any type.
I admit that even a single priest or man and woman religious who is unfaithful to his/her commitment to God, in the vocation he/she has freely embraced, is quite damaging to the Church’s credibility. But it should be noted that from the bible and two centuries of church history, it is evident that the church is composed of both wheat and destructive weeds.
It is a church of saints and sinners, both living within the very core and bosom of the church. As St. John writes: “I f we say we have no sin we deceive and the truth is not in us….” (1 Jn 1:8-9). This is neither a justification nor a cover up of sin but the point is that the present unfortunate sexual scandals in the Church do not diminish the grace of God in rehabilitating and powerfully using these human earthen vessels in announcing God’s merciful love and forgiveness. And again, Jesus did not love Simon because he was perfect, but because he was so human.
Jesus did not choose Simon Peter to be the one to strengthen others because he was strong on his own, but because through Peter’s weakness, God’s grace could be visible. When we read about the life of Jesus with women, it is no surprise that Jesus loved and respected women.
They were His wonderful friends. He never viewed women as real and present dangers to His celibate state, in spite of the grumbling of the Pharisees and religious leaders of His time (Lk 7:37-43). The Gospel of St. John records an incident of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well near the town of Sychar as follows; “At that moment Jesus’ disciples returned, and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman.
But none of them said to her, what do you want or asked him, why are you talking with her (Jn 4: 27-34). Common sense and my African culture background lead me to think that in both incidents the disciples and other people in the company of Jesus suspected Him and the women to have been sexually attracted to each other.
Their suspicions were totally unfounded. But, modern journalists would have, without thorough investigations, blown the whistle out of proportions, calling them scandalous and within no time, Jesus would have been branded a “womanizer.” Celibate priests as ministers therefore should learn to love and respect women as their special companions in the church’s mission.
In conclusion, the issue of sexual abuse should not be approached in isolation. It is part of a complex or multidimensional social and moral malaise. All social groups mare involved in it in one way or the other.
It is thus wrong to put blanket blame on a particular class: Roman Catholic Priests, for this sexual sickness. At the same time those celibates those celibates who are involved in sexual scandals should know that they are gravely hurting the Body of Christ, the Church and not only violating other people’s dignity but are betraying the trust the Church and the entire society has bestowed on them.
Chrispin Onyango is a theologian seminarian in Langata-he writes on religious, social and moral issues.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
People for Peace in Africa
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Peaceful world is the greatest heritage That this generation can give to the generations To come- All of us have a role.
ICC a Threat to Kenya’s National Security
From: Judy Miriga
Good People,
What I am reading and detecting here is the worst-ever illogical reasoning argument lacking fundamental substantances of facts in giving reasons why ICC Hague should not go on as scheduled and why they think ICC Hague is interfering and are lacking evidence to pin suspects.
All suspects need to do is cooperate and give facts of the matter. They should say what they know or knew, with whom they engaged to do and explain giving satisfactory reasons why they should not be suspects........It is a fact though that some of the big fish are out there still loose, and here is where justice will dig to explore and unearth facts of the whole truth.........No one can fool Kenyans anymore, Kenyans know the truth and Kenyans want Justice done......So ICC is on the track to bring justice.....Let us not beat about the bush....Facts are Facts and the Truth shall set us free indeed. It is about time, we are not going to run away from justice.......
What I see here is a non-intelligent weak conspiracy theory meant to evade justice which is lacking the collective bargain from public concern and safety; which in essense is geared to fail the stability and weaken security of Kenya but which its main purpose is to promote thuggery and terrorism meant to intimidate and manipulate favors for the special interest against public interests.
This statement therefore cannot see sunshine, it must be condemned by all the good people and be ignored like the passing of hot-air blowing towards the sea, which the acceptable justification norm is cool sea air blowing on to the land.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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--- On Mon, 10/29/12, maina ndiritu wrote:
From: maina ndiritu
Subject: ICC a Threat to Kenya’s National Security
Date: Monday, October 29, 2012, 12:34 PM
Intelligence gathered by Strategic Intelligence and a critical analysis on events related to Kenyan politics and ICC representatives actions and responses to Kenyan politics confirm ICC is becoming a threat to Kenya’s national security.
Intelligence analysts have been keenly watching ICC moves and warnings to Kenyan politicians besides critically analyzing ramifications of political efforts of primary suspects ICC wants to prosecute for crimes against humanity.
Critical analysis of these core indicators of collation between Kenya politics and ICC efforts verify a unique connection between the 2013 elections and its outcome.
Intelligence gathered from executives who worked for specific parties in 2007 and throughout 2008 verify a nexus/trail of fixations, Western diplomats hands, and Kenyan politicians involvement.
Intelligence shows ICC attempts to stymie political gains of Messrs Kenyatta and Ruto every time opinion polls show strategic gains with a bias on acquiring a role of the overall judge of the candidates future.
Intelligence analysis based on strategic intelligence analysis studies and procedure point out the element of culpability of specific manipulators calling shots hence providing directives intent on creating a public/general policy on the issue.
A recent opinion poll placing Messrs Kenyatta political gains at good stead besides the rapid surge in his party ‘TNA’ popularity only projects Kenyatta as a most likely winner of the 2013 election.
Analysts confirm drastic measures to counter this surge by ICC which is a pointer of meddling which Strategic Intelligence analysts trace back to Kenya.
Such political meddling is a panacea for fanning political disunity which plays the central role in fanning ethnic problems such as violence.
The presence of chief ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda besides a previous visit by Koffi Annan in Nairobi shortly after the manifesting of TNA and URP political gains further confirms the nexus between a Kenyan handler and a mole in ICC.
The objective of their visits are indicators of their identity as the handlers and proxies that are used to deploy and guide a weapon that creates a public policy about the ramifications of Kenyatta and Ruto leadership.
In theory, every citizen makes up his mind on public questions and matters of private conduct. In practice, if all men had to study for themselves the abstruse economic, political, and ethical data involved in every question, they would find it impossible to come to a conclusion without anything. We have voluntarily agreed to let an invisible government sift the data and high-spot the outstanding issue so that our field of choice shall be narrowed to practical proportions. From our leaders and the media they use to reach the public, we accept the evidence and the demarcation of issues bearing upon public question; from some ethical teacher, be it a minister, a favorite essayist, or merely prevailing opinion, we accept a standardized code of social conduct to which we conform most of the time. Edward Bernays
While majority of Kenyan’s have been taking up everything the ICC and the media has prepared, (as ICC and the West wanted) their current mindset will be their greatest undoing since they hardly have an idea of what the West is doing to stop Kenya’s economic-military growth and the East and Central African economic union.
This geopolitical muscle and geo-strategic significance of Kenya to the East and Central Africa since President Kibaki took power has done more harm to Western military-economic objectives and programs.
Another factor is President Kibaki’s tough stance against Western diplomatic largesse, poor economic incentives, and extremely parasitic nature of bilateral trade incentives.
Military and economic independence of Kenya besides its critical role in shaping the geopolitics of the east and central Africa factors the foreign meddling of Nairobi’s political future.
Uhuru Kenyatta has confirmed the existence of these proxy-war elements against the Kibaki system and post-era by launching a diplomatic onslaught that hopes to rally the regional players under Kibaki’s brainchild LAPSET to support his presidency.
The West handlers at ICC may have also panicked after Kenya army single handed defeated Al-Shabaab militants by routing them out of the Somali port city of Kismayu after Americans, Britons, and Ethiopians failed.
A stronger Kenya with a Kibaki student in the helm will make Nairobi very powerful and extremely military-economic independent that the West will become insignificant to East and Central Africa; these fears are what drives the ICC process and containing any Kibaki student from ascending to power is in-order.
The ICC enjoys the relatively warm and near fanatical support in Kenya which indeed is the public policy that the handlers have all along wanted.
Sociology based analysis of third world politics and societal discord confirm how intelligence organizations like CIA manipulate the social order through creating a public policy that is hard to break.
Kenya played to the ICC hands based on a weak government policy on security and an extremely ethnic national political policy weakening the societal perception on nationalism.
Kenyans bought the media creation of ethnic-politics and a weak government policy on security hence procured the bias of a Western process promising to bring a sense of rationale on social order, security, and politics; the ICC was the proxy server that delivered this desired result.
World: placing the Internet under U.N.
From: Judy Miriga
People,
Here we go now.......Africans must be fully prepared and be represented in the G20 to make sure, Africans with those of African descent are fully represented. The way things are, African Wealth and Resources are in the hands and are being controlled by the unscrupulous International Corporate Special Business Interest.........This is unacceptable.......Africa must wake up to have their interests fully protected at the Emerging Global MarketPlace.........
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
--
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com
Blogu ya Habari na Picha www.patahabari.blogspot.com
For your information, please
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Russia, China and other countries back a move to place the Internet under the authority of the International Telecommunications Union, a UNagency that sets technical standards for global phone calls. U.S. officials say placing the Internet under U.N.
Read more here:
http://read.bi/TPKO1M
“We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
? Franklin D. Roosevelt
KENYA: MILLIE ODHIAMBO QUEST TO BECOME THE NEXT MBITA MP NOW HANGS IN BALANCE AS MORE CREDIBLE ASPIRANTS ENTERS THE RACE F0R THE SAME SEAT.
Write Arrum-Tidi Ogonglo at Mbita Point
The outspoken ODM nominated MP’s quest to become the next Mbita MP now hangs in balance following the new dimension and political development which has seen more influential political personalities plunging into the race for the same seat.
The seat has now attracted four more aspirants bringing the total number of the contestant to five. Among them is Mss Odhiambo close cousin Phares Ogweno Ratego, whose home is just next to Waware Secondary School in Rusinga East Location and almost sharing the same fence with the rural home of Ms Odhiambo’s parents .The two homesteads are only separated by a distance of less than 50 yards.
But the man whose candidature has sent the shock-waves to the spinal code of other aspirants is the computer genius Dr Mark Matunga who works with the Microsoft Computer international as an educationist responsible for East, Central and Southern African regions based in Nairobi.
Dr.Matunga who has been on the campaign trail for the last two years, was previously slated to contest for the powerful and lucrative position of Homa-Bay County governor and was considered as the leading contenders. Because it is widely believed that he was doing extremely well in that race.
The new entrant into the race is a man who is equally dynamic and eloquent and a master politician. However, he shocked everyone when he just made an abrupt about turn at the weekend following what is viewed by political pundits as the result of heavy pressure on him mounted by the elders an electorate in his native home turf of Mfangano Island.
A large number of elders who gathered at his rural Mfangano home last Friday and urged him to contest the Mbita seat, saying the islanders have been marginalized for many years ever since the 8inception of the constituency in the late 1960s. Nobody from Mfangano has ever been elected to represent Mbita constituency, while several MPs have always come from the neighboring Rusinga Island.
The seat was created in 1966 following the abolition of the tri-cameral parliamentary system, which was negotiated by the Kenyan leaders and the British government at the 1962 Lancaster House constitutional conference on Kenya.
After the Senate was abolished it was decided that all the 42 Senators representing 42 district be absorbed and that new constit8encies be created in the national Assembly. The Senators were given the choice and option to decide as to on particular areas where they would like to represent in the August House.
It was during this tie when the late Senator Sellemiah Mbeo –Onyango a native of Mfangano Island who had won the Senate seat for South Nyanza during the 1963 general elections that ushered in the country political independence in June 1963hade made his cho9ice and chosen Mbita as his soft landing place. Mbeo Onyango became the first MP for the area. But he did not stay longer as he was trounced by the firebrand George Osingo Migure in 1969.
Although Senator Mbeo-Onyango was born on Mfangano Island, he had moved out and settled on the mainland at a place called Manyatta in Sakwa East Location, Migori County, near Awendo Town in the newly created Awendo district therefore the residents of this particular island therefore consider themselves as having not been allowed the opportunity to elect one of their own to represent them in parliament ever since the constituency was created.
Osingo Migure himself was later dethroned by another man from Rusinga, the late Alphonce Okuku- Ndiege, the younger brother of the late Tom Mboya, who in turn surrendered the seat to Peter C Otieno Nyakiamo from the mainland Kakisingiri in what is now Gwassi constituency. And thereafter several men from the mainland side have won the seat before it was sub-divided into two Mbita and Gwassi constituencies a couple of years ago.
There has been discontent by the residents of Mfangano whose voting strength is reported to be superior in numbers than those registe5ed on the neighboring Rusinga Island.
Also interested in the same seat are two men from the mainland Gembe and Lambwe East Location one Omondi Odalo and Caleb Orwa, though the two are considered to be most insignificant and greenhorns in Mbita politics, clan rivalries could help them garner enough votes to upset the two luminaries Matunga and Odhiambo.
Matunga, however, has a head-start due to his track record of development activities in both Mfangano and Rusinga Islands. Phares Ratego is equally has a colorful credibility duet0o his role as the leader of the Mbita Professional Caucus who have been working closely with the outgoing M Otieno Kajwang’ on matters and issue related to the development of the constituency.
Obviously Odhiambo and Ratego candidature would cause a lot of confusion, especially in Rusinga island due to their maternal relations. The two hails from a small clan called Jo-Kolo, which is a sub-clan of the larger Waware clan.
Millie Odhiambo is a member of the ODM re-loaded goup that has la8nched a formidable campaign for Raila Odinga, and she is considered close to the Odinga family and a personal friend of Mrs Ida Odinga, while Dr Matunga has been one of the think-a-tank group in ODM ever since 2007.
Ends
POPE CALLS ON MODERN EVANGELIZATION AS CHRISTIANITY LOSES STRENGTH
From: Ouko joachim omolo
Voices of Justice for Peace
Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2012
When Pope Benedict XVI officially marked the end of the Synod on the New Evangelization yesterday with mass at St Peter’s Basilica with hundreds of bishops and cardinals gathered there, while reiterating that the Church has a responsibility to evangelize to the modern world, he was concerned in countries where Christianity is losing strength.
The Pope was also concerned in countries where Christians do not go to Mass or celebrating the Sacraments, and not passing on the faith to younger generations. He also stressed the importance of Confession, the sacrament of God’s mercy, emphasizing that there are still many regions in Africa, Asia and Oceania whose inhabitants await with lively expectation, sometimes without being fully aware of it, the first proclamation of the Gospel.
These people he said have lost a precious treasure, they have “fallen” from a lofty dignity – not financially or in terms of earthly power, but in a Christian sense – their lives have lost a secure and sound direction and they have become, often unconsciously, beggars for the meaning of existence.
Although the Pope did not mention specific countries where Christianity is losing strength, Britain is one of the countries in Europe where secularism has become a threat to faith. There is fear that Britain may no longer be a Christian country in just 20 years according to the new report.
If trends continue, the number of non-believers is set to overtake the number of Christians by 2030. Christianity is losing more than half a million believers every year, while the count of atheists and agnostics is going up by almost 750,000 annually.
Research by the House of Commons Library found that while Christianity has declined, other religions have seen sharp increases. In the last six years, the number of Muslims has surged by 37 per cent to 2.6million; Hindus by 43 per cent and Buddhists by 74 per cent. But the number of Sikhs and Jewish believers fell slightly.
The study, Religion in Great Britain, concludes: ‘Between the fourth quarter of 2004 and the fourth quarter of 2010, the Christian population fell from 78.0 per cent of the population to 69.4 per cent, while the group of people with no religion grew from 15.7 per cent to 22.4 per cent.
‘If these populations continue to shrink and grow by the same number of people each year, the number of people with no religion will overtake the number of Christians in Great Britain in 20 years, on this measure of religious affiliation.’
The researchers say this could be because ‘as children grow into young adults and form a religious identity independent of their parents, an increasing proportion are coming to regard themselves as having no religion’. They point out that the decline of Christianity would have been far deeper had there not been such high levels of migration.
Another factor that has contributed to decline of Christianity in Britain and entire Europe is the individualism and relativism that have profoundly changed the culture of our day. In today's world, "the processes of secularization and a widespread nihilistic mentality, where everything is relative, have a crucial impact on the general mentality.
This is where life is often lived lightly, without clear ideals or sound hopes, in transient and provisional social and family ties. It is the life where younger generations are not educated in the search for truth or the deeper meaning of existence that goes beyond the contingent, to a stability of affection and trust.
This has also contributed to the piling up of more than a million abortions per year in America. On top of this, the number of divorces and illegitimate births continues to rise, as fewer “couples” bother to get married and the number of people addicted to pornography skyrockets, according to Fr. C. John McCloskey III, a Church Historian and Research Fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington, DC.
According to a new Pew poll, the number of Americans who profess a belief in no religion at all has tripled since the 1990s, now accounting for one in five. This according to Fr John is because many of the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church astonish them.
Like America, today in Britain more abortions are carried than any other country in Europe. It has overtaken France - which has a larger population - to become the abortion capital of the continent.
The rising rate has been pushed up by abortions among teenage girls, which increased by nearly a third over the past decade where half of all pregnancies among girls under 18 in Britain end in abortion.
The figures, collated by a European pressure group, showed that the 219,336 abortions carried out in England, Wales and Scotland in 2007 topped the 209,699 in France to put Britain at the top of the abortion count for the first time.
Britain was the country where most teenage girls have abortions - 48,150 abortions among girls under 20 in 2007 against 31,779 in France. In 2007 pregnancies among girls under 18 in England and Wales went up, not down.
Even in Spain where Roman Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity, most Catholics do not go to mass regularly on Sundays according to an October 2011 study by the Spanish Center of Sociological Research.
This same study shows that of the Spaniards who identify themselves as religious, 56 percent goes to mass few times a year, 15 percent go to mass many times a year, 9 percent some time per month and 16 percent every Sunday or multiple times per week.
A majority of Spaniards Catholic younger generation ignore the Church's conservative moral doctrines on issues such as pre-marital sex, sexual orientation or contraception. The total number of parish priests has shrunk from 24,300 in 1975 to 19,307 in 2005. Nuns also dropped 6.9 percent to 54,160 in the period 2000-2005 in a country where there are over 37 million baptized, covering about 79 percent of the total population.
Today Spain provides one of the highest degrees of liberty in the world for its lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered (LGBT). Today, Spain is one of the eleven countries around the world that allows same- sex marriage and has the most progressive laws, since they also permit adoption by same-sex couples.
Another challenge to the new evangelization is the threats of Islam. Just when the synod bishops were preparing for the conference on the new evangelization, in Sudan Muslim extremists were sending text messages to at least 10 church leaders in Khartoum saying they are planning to target Christian leaders, buildings and institutions according to Christian sources in Khartoum.
“We want this country to be purely an Islamic state, so we must kill the infidels and destroy their churches all over Sudan,” said one text message circulating in Khartoum last month. The text messages were sent in July and August.
Church leaders in Sudan say they fear more persecution as they and their flocks become targets of local Islamists. In addition, Muslim extremists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh arrive in Sudan every two weeks to undergo training in secret camps in Khartoum before they are sent to various parts of Sudan to preach Islam and demolish church buildings, according to a Christian source in Khartoum.
Muslims believe that Allah has demanded that the evil and sinful Christians be sent to the fires of hell and if Islamics are convinced that all Christians are evil, the followers of Mohammed can kill with a clear conscience. The Quran states that "all Christians will be burned in the fire.
This can easily explain why Muslim Boko haramu in Nigeria continue to burn Christians in churches during prayers, the Al Shabaab and MRC in Kenya, burning of Christian churches in Tanzania and in Indonesia where a hardline Muslim mob clashed with police and burned two churches early this year.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
People for Peace in Africa
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Peaceful world is the greatest heritage That this generation can give to the generations To come- All of us have a role.
Africa’s Natural Resources: Forum wraps Up with Suggestions for Sustainable Use of Africa’s Natural Resources
From: News Release - African Press Organization (APO)
PRESS RELEASE
Forum wraps Up with Suggestions for Sustainable Use of Africa’s Natural Resources
Africa accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s uncultivated arable land that need to be protected against rapacious speculation
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, October 29, 2012/ -- The eighth African Development Forum (ADF VIII) wound up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday with the adoption of a Consensus Statement suggesting better ways in which African countries can use their natural resources to promote people-centered sustainable development.
The 11-page document is the tangible result of the October 23-25 forum on the theme “Governing and Harnessing Natural Resources for Africa’s Development.”
It focused on how to generate maximum benefits from the exploitation of Africa’s lands, minerals, fisheries and forests for the benefits of the people.
On land, which has come under intense speculative pressure from local and foreign investors, the document calls for scientific and methodical approaches to land issues that would guarantee transparency, equity and sustainability.
These include strengthening policy, access, property rights, and investment in large scale agriculture in line with the existing Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
Africa accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s uncultivated arable land that need to be protected against rapacious speculation.
In an open letter to Forum participants, OXFAM said some 50 million hectares had been acquired in 700 transactions in recent years.
However, the mining sector incarnates the paradox of Africa’s natural wealth, where bounty breeds penury. According to the Consensus Statement, Africa ranks first or second in known world reserves of bauxite, chromite, cobalt, industrial diamond, manganese, phosphate rock, platinum-group metals, soda ash, vermiculite and zirconium. The continent is home to one-fifth of global gold and uranium supplies, while over 30 countries produce oil and gas in commercial quantity.
To resolve this dilemma, the Forum, among other measures, called for the implementation of the African Mining Vision adopted by African leaders in 2009. The vision sets out how mining can be used to drive the development of their countries.
According to the document, “transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development is the major challenge for African countries today.”
On fisheries and aquatic resources, the Forum called for the strengthening of policies, legislation, strategies, investment and collaboration among states in various areas to develop the sector. Greater attention also needed to be paid to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) action plan on inland, coastal and marine fisheries and aquaculture at the national and regional levels. Africa loses a million tons of fishery resources estimated at over US $600 million annually to illegal and unreported fishing.
The forum dwelt at length on the need for the sustainable exploitation and preservation of Africa’s forests estimated at 675 million hectares or 17 per cent of global forests. The need for sustainable exploitation of the Congo Basin, the second largest forest in the world, was a recurrent theme at the gathering.
The Statement cited policy, legal, regulatory, economic, governance, equity, knowledge, institutional and environmental constraints as critical to the sustainable management of Africa’s forest resources with a developmental vision.
“Overcoming these constraints is key for attaining inter-sectoral linkages between agriculture, forest, industries and human settlement in Africa,” the document added.
The ADF, a United Nations Economic Commission for Africa biennial event is convened in collaboration with the African Union Commission, African Development Bank, and other partners to establish an African-driven development agenda that reflects consensus and leads to specific programmes for implementation. It is usually attended by some 1,000 participants including Heads of State and Government, African Member State policy-makers, development partners, other United Nations agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (IGOs/NGOs), academia, practitioners, civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector, eminent policy and opinion leaders, and the media.
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank.
Contact: Felix Njoku – n.njoku@afdb.org - +216 71 10 2612
SOURCE
African Development Bank (AfDB)
KENYA’S ELECTION 2013
From: Mary Gakere
our sovereignty is shaken if our sitting president is publically humiliated --
Kenya electioneering 2013.
UN Secretary general Kofi Annan jetted into the country two weeks ago and warned against Uhuru and Ruto running for Kenya's top post. Hot on his heels was International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda with her threats; Uhuru and Ruto will face International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings whether they become president of Kenya or not.
Kenya First.
With dark cloud of ICC hanging over our electioneering, we need to think hard as to what is the best way forward. We can ignore both Kofi Annan and ICC Chief Prosecutor and proceed to elect either William Ruto or Uhuru Kenyatta or both as Kenya's next president and Vice-president at our peril, however, it seems prudent to think about our country first before taking that leap.
Rome Statute has no immunity for anyone, not even a sitting president and non will be available for Ruto and Uhuru. As a relatively new court, ICC will assert all its power to flex its muscle in order not to appear weak or ambivalent in the international scene. Kenya's is, without a doubt,the most complex case for ICC yet and an opportunity for the court to gain much needed credibility as a major player in the world justice arena.
Kenya case at ICC is not going away and will be fully and completely prosecuted. The court views this as a caution against impunity in Kenya and the region. It could take years before its all over (since its inception ten years ago, the court has just concluded the first case; - Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of Demcratic Republic of Congo, senctenced , 14 years by ICC), and would be unfair for Uhuru and Ruto to take Kenyans down that road.
Uhuru/Ruto to stand down
Our people will be demoralized and our sovereignty shaken if our sitting president is humiliated publicly in a criminal trial with the whole world watching. It will appear as if Kenya and not the individual is on trial. Such a trauma will not augur well with our national psychic and we ought to avoid it.
Uhuru and Ruto must put country before their own personal ambitions. It would be a great embarrassment if we were to have a sitting President of Kenya in a witness box in Hague or locked up in jail.
It is unfortunate that these two Kenyans with huge potential for leadership in Kenya may have to stand down this time around. But wananchi and country could benefit tremediously if the two were to refocus their energy, vision and resources to another suitable, credible and honest person with integrity and good sound policies that can positively guide our country and people for the next five years.
By Njau Njembura Njoroge.
KENYA: KISUMU COUNTY COUNCIL CHAIR TOLD TO RESIGN
By Cahk Rachar
THE embattled Kisumu County council chairman Fredrick Onyango has been told to step aside from office so that he can clear his name from defilement claims first.
Civic leaders there say he should follow the law and vacate office after they threw him out of office He has meanwhile blamed a cabinet minister from Kisumu County for his political woes.
Onyango said that the minister has vowed to have him removed from office using all means at his disposal.
Rebel civic leaders have resolved to have Onyango removed from office over a number of allegations among them sexual harassment of a minor at Holo.
The clerk Ben Opiyo said that investigations have been carried out by the OCS Holo who has forwarded the same to the Kisumu police chief Musa Kongoli. He said it was the police chief who was yet to act on the same.
But the Ministry of Local Government has scoffed at the purported outer of Onyango from office.
Nyanza provincial local government officer Mr Peter Okello said that the removal of Onyango from office by some civic leaders was unprocedural.
Okello said that the grounds which the civic leaders used in removing the chairman from office were hollow.
He said you can not purport to remove the chairman based on criminal issues which the police have also dismissed.
Okello said that the county can not act as a court and decide on a criminal matter to remove the chairman from office.
“He can only step aside is he has a court case to that effect which is not the case” Okello said.
Police in Kisumu have dismissed claims that Onyango allegedly defiled a minor.
Kongoli said that the defilement claims against Kisumu County the chairman are baseless and based on malice.
“We have investigated the claims against Onyango and came to a conclusion that they are not true” he said.
The civic leaders led by Margaret Odhiambo accused Onyango of not upholding public integrity required of a public officer.
Councilors at the civic body recently convened a special council meeting ostensibly to discuss their chairman.
The civic leaders unanimously resolved that their embattled chairman steps aside in order to pave way for investigations leveled against him.
The civic leaders endorsed Councilor Stephen Otiato the current vice chairman to assume office in an acting capacity as the chairman Fredrick Onyango steps aside in order to facilitate a probe against him.
The drastic action taken against Onyango yesterday during a special meeting that was convened to discuss his conduct is as a result of numerous petitions which 11 councilors wrote to the clerk Ben Opiyo to convene a meeting in order to discuss the chairman.
In the petition seen by Citizen Onyango is accused of failing to ratify resolutions of the council to the county clerk.
He is also accused of disclosing the county affairs to outsiders without express authority of the council.
Onyango is also accused of giving false information to the Kisumu Rural Member of Parliament on the status of the council.
He is also accused of engaging in other conducts that are deemed not to in the interest of the civic body.
Onyango is also accused of non adherence to chapter six of the Kenyan constitution on ethics and integrity.
The petition is signed by councilors Christopher Oriyo, John Okore, Stephen Otiato, Margaret Odhiambo, Isaac Ojuok, Martin Onogo, Monica Otieno, Peter Okoth and John Abonyo.
During the stormy meeting at the county hall Onyango was ordered to leave his chair and sit with other civic leaders as his conduct is discussed.
Cllr Odhiambo exchanged bitter words with the beleaguered chairman whom she told to adhere to the local government act.
She openly accused the clerk inside the county hall of siding with the embattled chairman.
She tabled a petition earlier written on April 25 this year asking the clerk to convene a meeting but all in vain.
The civic leader also tabled another petition dated August 2 this year requiring the same to be convened for the same purpose.
She said that the constitution is very clear on issues of integrity and called on Onyango to follow the law.
Onyango on his part said the woes bedeviling him are political.
He swore never to his back at his detractors since he has a future to protect.
Earlier the civic leaders held elections for various standing committees which were however peaceful.
ENDS
KENYA: KISUMU COUNTY CHIEFS DEMONSTRATE OVER THEIR FATE OF WORK
BY MAURICE ALAL,
Over 200 Chiefs and Assistant chiefs of Kisumu County took to the street of Kisumu City protesting to petition the government on their fate of work under the new Constitution.
“We want to know our job security from President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga who were the team leaders during the referendum campaigns”, said the chiefs.
Lead by the Chairman of Kisumu County Chiefs ,Senior chief Mr. Peter Akeyo Nyambok claimed that the fate of provincial administration is yet to be restructured but the government have not declare whether the local chiefs will retain their jobs or not.
According to the new constitution, the law indicate that the “Provincial Administration system will be restructured”. This, however have not been clearly explained in the constitution whether the local administration system will be abolished or not.
“We were convinced and cheated by politicians during the referendum to mobilize the public to vote for the new constitution promising that our work will be safe,” said Nyambok.
The chiefs threatened to join national strike if the government fails to assure them of their work under the new constitution. “We demand the National Administration and Coordination Bill of 2012 be amended in parliament within 14 days,” they argued.
Nyambok said the provincial administration system should remain in the National Government to facilitate and coordinate effective work in the 47 counties.
“It is the chiefs who enable service delivery to reach residents up to the village level,” they argued adding that if the system is abolished then ordinary people especially the physically challenged persons will be marginalized.
The chiefs challenged politicians to desist from discussing provincial administration issues in public rallies and funeral gatherings to gain mileage but urged them to amend the issues in parliament.
“We are aware that the public overwhelmingly supported the retention of the local administration for effective service delivery,” said the chiefs.
Nyambok further accused some members of committee of experts who have fixed negative opinion on the roles of provincial administration terming it bad taste on the line of their duty and department.
“Our detractors should know that we are also voters and have direct link with the Kenyan votes,” he said, adding that members of the public should be left to decide on their fate than few individuals with vested interest.
However, the Secretary General of Kenya Civil Servant Union, Kisumu County Mr. David Osodo said the union is fully behind the chiefs in demand to know their fate of work in the new dispensation.
Osodo said the government should come out clearly and address the plight of the Provincial Administration instead of giving conflicting statements over the matter.
“Let the government prepare for nationwide strike if the provincial administration issue is not well addressed before the end of strike notice issued,” Osodo reiterated.
END
Gender Violence in Conflict: Democratic Republic of Congo must protect Dr. Denis Mukwege after violent attack
From: News Release - African Press Organization (APO)
PRESS RELEASE
Gender Violence in Conflict: Democratic Republic of Congo must protect Dr. Denis Mukwege after violent attack
Dr. Mukwege is a founding member of the Advisory Committee of the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict
KINSHASA, Dem. Rep. of Congo (DRC) October 27, 2012/ -- The International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict (http://www.stoprapeinconflict.org) urgently calls on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect Doctor Denis Mukwege after a violent attack and assassination attempt at his home in Bukavu.
[image]Photo Doctor Denis Mukwege: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/photos/denis-mukwege.jpg ; Logo: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/plog-content/images/apo/logos/verticallogo_english.jpg
Dr. Mukwege is a world-renowned surgeon and director of Panzi Hospital in Eastern Congo’s South Kivu province. The clinic has treated over 30,000 survivors of sexual violence.
Campaign member Physicians for Human Rights, reported that earlier today four armed men entered Dr. Mukwege’s home in his absence and held several family members at gunpoint. Upon his arrival, they forced him out of his car, shooting and killing a security guard who tried to intervene. Dr. Mukwege ducked when the armed men fired shots towards him, before driving off in his car, which was found abandoned soon after.
Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee said, “Dr. Mukwege embodies the strength of Congolese women who never relent in the face of such senseless violence. I join the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, and others, in calling for the Democratic Republic of Congo to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.”
The Campaign sends its condolences to the family of Joseph Bizmana, the guard killed in the attack. We fear for the safety and well being of Dr. Denis Mukwege and his family. Moreover, we are alarmed that the attempt on his life has a possible link to activities that Dr. Mukwege undertook in support of advocacy for the Campaign in September at the United Nations, spotlighting the increasing rape and gender violence in Eastern Congo.
At an event co-hosted by the Campaign and attended by government and UN officials as well as Nobel Peace Laureates Leymah Gbowee and Jody Williams, Dr. Mukwege stated, “This year I am once again operating on women whose genitals were destroyed by rape and other atrocities. There are many women who are barely getting by, and rape is continuing. The rainy season is coming soon in North Kivu and the vulnerability of women is increasing.” He ended by calling for “urgent action to arrest those responsible for these crimes against humanity and to bring them to justice.”
Jody Williams noted, “Instead of heeding his call, the response was a violent act of cowardice by those who fear his truths.”
Dr. Mukwege is a founding member of the Advisory Committee of the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, which launched earlier this year to coordinate action to highlight the widespread rates of gender violence around the world.
Susannah Sirkin, Deputy Director at Physicians for Human Rights said, “Thousands of Congolese women and girls put at risk following incidents of sexual violence have depended on Dr. Mukwege for their lives and well-being.” Physicians for Human Rights has recently conducted a training workshop at Panzi Hospital, where it has an office.
“The attempted assassination of Dr. Mukwege and the murdering of his security guard once again highlights how deadly serious the situation is in Eastern Congo. One of the great men of the world was almost murdered tonight. We cannot let this continue,” stated V-Day Founder/playwright and Campaign member Eve Ensler.
The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict calls on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to take immediate steps to protect Dr. Mukwege and his family, and on the international community to speak out in solidarity of our extraordinary ally.
Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict.
Media contact:
Zuzia Danielski
Communications Consultant,
The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict
zdanielski@stoprapeinconflict.org
+1-613-263-0661
Liz Bernstein
Executive Director
Nobel Women’s Initiative (Campaign member)
lbernstein@nobelwomensinitiative.org
+1-613-262-1969
http://www.stoprapeinconflict.org
The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict is led by the Nobel Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative and an Advisory Committee comprised of 25 organizations working at the international, regional and community levels to stop rape.
Since its launch in May 2012, more than 600 organizations from around the world have joined. The Campaign demands urgent and bold political leadership to prevent rape in conflict, to protect civilians and rape survivors, and calls for justice for all—including effective prosecution of those responsible. http://www.stoprapeinconflict.org
THE BIG DEBATE WHETHER WOMEN COULD BE INSTALLED LECTORS
From: Ouko joachim omolo
Voices of Justice for Peace
Regional News
BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012
The Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization is ending tomorrow with no clear solution to the role of women in the church. The proposal to allow women to be officially installed in the ministry of lector became a hot debate when the issue was raised in Proposition 17 on “The ministry of the word and women.
When it came for the time to vote it passed with 191 votes in favor, 45 opposed and three abstentions. Those in favor wanted the ministry of lector be opened also to women, so that their role as proclaimers of the word may be recognized in the Christian community.
Given that the Vatican has always been reluctant to act whenever the issue of women is raised, what Pope Benedict XVI will do with that proposal is unclear since his hands are tied. In 2008 when the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God voted to recommend allowing women to be officially installed as lectors, to date the idea is still under consideration.
The issue here is not whether women can act as lectors or Scripture readers in Catholic liturgies. They already do so all over the world, including at papal Masses. The question is whether women can be officially installed in such a ministry.
Even though canon law states clearly that only qualified lay men can be “installed on a stable basis in the ministries of lector and acolyte, at the same time, canon law does allow for “temporary deputation” as lector to both men and women, which is why women routinely appear as lectors.
These challenges call for a process of discernment, which can also serve as a way of responding to the current situation with greater courage and responsibility. Some of these challenges include liturgy, catechesis and works of charity and how, in the process of transmission, the faith needs to be professed, celebrated, lived and prayed.
This is because the Christian faith is not simply teachings, wise sayings, a code of morality or a tradition. The Christian faith is a true encounter and relationship with Jesus Christ. Transmitting the faith means to create in every place and time the conditions which lead to this encounter between the person and Jesus Christ.
The goal of all evangelization therefore, is to create the possibility for this encounter, which is, at one and the same time, intimate, personal, public and communal. In such an encounter, we feel an attraction which leads to our transformation, causing us to see new dimensions to who we are and making us partakers of divine life.
The new evangelization must focus on the way Jesus treated people. He was able to welcome everyone, without distinction, and never exclude anyone: first, the poor, then the rich like Zacchaeus and Joseph of Arimathea; outsiders like the centurion and the Syro-Phoenician woman; the righteous, like Nathanael; and prostitutes and public sinners with whom he also sat at table.
To emphasize this fact, Jesus drew especially near to those on the margins of society, giving them special favour, when he proclaimed the Gospel. At the beginning of his ministry, he proclaimed that he was sent to preach the good news to the poor (cf. Lk 4:18).
To those despised and dejected, Jesus declares: "Blessed are you poor" (Lk 6:20) and, by standing with them, enables these individuals already to experience a sense of freedom (cf. Lk 5:30; 15:2). He eats with them, treats them as brothers and sisters and as friends (cf. Lk 7:34) and helps them to feel loved by God, thus revealing his great compassion for sinners and those in need.
According to many responses, the new evangelization can devote work in this area to leading Christian communities to be less concentrated on themselves inwardly in the midst of the changes already taking place and more engaged in proclaiming the faith to others. Open to everyone in every place on the globe, to the Christian faith and an experience of the Church, especially in liturgical celebrations, the dispensation of the sacraments, catechesis and the catechumenate.
This is very important given that the structure of the catechumenate, with reference Ordo Initiationis Christianae Adultorum, is an apt means for renewing the manner in which children are initiated into the faith. This calls for the new approach on catechesis and the sacrament of reconciliation.
Bishop Shlemon Warduni, Chaldean auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, Iraq, in his reflection to the reading at their morning prayer posed challenges to this endeavors. He pointed out that there are many who know the faith but are not participating in the life of the church. They are at best Sunday observers.
New evangelization he said seeks to bring Sunday Catholics to be disciples, a new gesture carried out by a humble church, a church that needs to ask forgiveness for ways the church has harmed people, a church that needs to seek forgiveness.
These challenges call for new ardor, new methods, new expressions, preaching the Word in a new culture. We need to look at three moments in the process of conversion: that of proclamation, of catechesis, and of ongoing formation.
Need to take into consideration the diverse circumstances of nations around the world as we strive to realize a new evangelization. Varied cultures require varied approaches. Evangelization should lead to an encounter with Jesus Christ. We need to contemplate the face of Christ.
The possibility of having a stable office of catechist and admitting women to the ministry of reader, although some felt this would not be a good direction. We need to work to overcome our divisions.
Need to give attention and vigilance to the growth of Islam. It is possible to give Christian witness even in Islamic communities. The new evangelization is not only a program but a commitment to live our faith more fully.
Evangelization has to be understood in a broad and profound theological/doctrinal framework reminding us that the new evangelization is not just a bunch of programs but needs to be grounded in the faith, the activity of word and sacrament emphasizing the primacy of God’s grace.
There is a need for all Catholics to awaken their faith and to be inspired to witness that faith and share it with others. Each culture and society needs to find ways for this to happen in the circumstances of their society.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
People for Peace in Africa
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Peaceful world is the greatest heritage
That this generation can give to the generations To come- All of us have a role.
Kenya: One aspirant for Homa-Bay county governor is under pressure from the voters to switch his candidature and contest Mbita parliamentary seat
Writes Arrum Tidi Ogonglo in Homa_Bay Town.
Pressure is building up around one of the leading aspirant for the Homa-bay County governor position to abandon his ambition and instead to switch and contest Mbita parliamentary.
Mbita is currently represented in parliament by the Immigration and Registration of Persons Minister Gerald Otieno Kajwang’a. The MP, however, had declared his interest in the Homa-Bay County Senate seat and publicly declared that he would not defend hi seat come the March 4, 2013 polls.
The outspoken nominated M Millie Odhiambo has shown interest in contesting the seat . Both Millie Odhiambo and Dr Mark Matunga were in Kajwang’’s camp during the 2007, and it widely believed that it was Dr. Matunga who played the role of a political mentor and godfather to Millie of Odhiambo.
The latest development, particular the pressure being mounted by the elders in Suba region an Mbita constituency that Dr Matunga should abandon his ambition or the governorship and switch instead to Mbita parliamentary contest has placed the computer expert in catch 22becauuse he will be pitted against someone with whom they have had a good rapport and warm working relationship for a long time.
Dr.Matunga, however, could not be reached or his immediate comment. He is said to have been summoned back to home turf of Mfangano Island be the elders and opinion shapers on Friday.
The two Matunga and Odhiambo hails from the twin islands of Mfangano and Rusinga. The inhabitants of the two islands are people of pure Suba origins an have a lot in common including family relationship, though geographically separated.
The Islanders played bigger role in Mbita constituency matters. There has been, however, some murmuring and complaints that the residents of Rusiga have had a chance of being represented by two former MPs, namely George Osingo Migure and the late Alphonce Okuku, the younger brother of Tom Mboya and have therefore shared the fruits of independence with the mainlanders from Gembe,Lambwe East and Lambwe whereas nobody from Mfangano has ever been elected to parliament ever sine the inception and creation of Mbita as a parliamentary electoral Constituency late 1960s.
The creation came about in 1966 when parliament vote unanimously to dissolve tri-cameral parliamentary system in the old Lancaster House constitution o 1962 which created a Senate and have the 42 districts. Under this new arrangement the late Senator Sellemiah Mbeo-Onyango was elected Senator for the entire South Nyanza district. When the Senate was abolished Senator Mbeo-Onyango ho had his roots in Mfangano Island, but a resident of Sakwa East Location in newly created Awendo district was absorbed in Mbita a new constituency which was then curved out of the original Lambwe constituency. The other parts of this constituency were converted into Ndhiwa constituency.
The current agitation and clamor for an islander from Mfangano to be elected the next MPs has some credence, taking into account that the population and voting strength of the residents of the two twin-islands of Rusinga and Mfangano is almost equal in numbers.
It would an equal opportunity in terms of political representation and leadership at the constituency level, and thereafter creates a precedent in which the future representation of this particular constituency will permanently be on rotation between the residents of the twin-island and the mainlanders.
The two political personalities in the name of Dr. Matunga and Millie Odhiambo are fairly educated with the latter being an advocate of the high out. Matunga, however, has a very colorful track record in terms of active participation in the development of economic infrastructure in Mbita constituency in general and in the two twins-islands in particular.
Both personalities stands a better chance of landing plum ministerial jobs in the event of ODM winning next year’s general elections, something which could of high value and beneficial to the electorate in the region. The same cod happen if Dr.Matunga could emerge the winner in the contest of the Homa-Bay County Senate seat.
As things stand, the residents of Mbita wanted to hit the bird with to stones, taking it into account that the two are all close to the Prime Minister Raila Odinga therefore their chances of sailing through the election would be of a great value to the electorate.
It is hope that this issue will be resolved amicably in time before the ODM primary nomination.
Ends
Video : What Can Economists Know?
From: Yona Maro
This YouTube video from an economic conference has Nancy Cartwright, (Professor of Philosophy, London School of Economics and Political Science) discussing randomized trials in development economics, She is concerned with the generality of results from such trials.
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