From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2013
Alfred from Vihiga, Kenya writes: “Fr Omolo Beste I read your article on South Sudan where you mentioned that the conflict there is between two giant tribes, that is Dinka and Nuer, I hear that South Sudan is categorized in states and one state is almost big like Kenya, I am just wondering how one president can manage to unite all the tribes there”.
Thank you Alfred for the question-yes, you are correct South Sudan is categorized in States and all of them are too big. There are 10 States with Jonglei being the biggest at the size of Rwanda or Burundi.
It is followed by Western Bahr el Ghazal, Western Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Upper Nile, Central Equatoria, Lakes, Warrap and Unity State respectively. With its diversity it is quite a challenge for one president to unite all the tribes. Warrap is the State of President Salva Kiir.
Dennis from Nairobi writes: “Father Beste, I have lived in South Sudan twice, just like what happened in Kenya in the early years of independence, which incidentally they learnt in Kenya is grabbing and letting own tribesmen grab. We are yet to see the worst in SS. It is simply greed”.
Jerome from Nimule, South Sudan writes: “Fr Omolo Beste, may be you can’t remember me-I am from Nimule Parish and one of the youths who attended your course on human rights, Western Deanry, Magwi County. You came with Mr Joseph Ngala of People for Peace in Africa, Sr Joseph Bunde and Kenyan human rights activist, Mr Okiya Omtatah among other teams.
In your article you have mentioned tribalism as a major problem in South Sudan. While it is true, corruption is also one of the biggest problems here. Recently South Sudan and Somalia have been listed among the five most corrupt countries in the world in the 2013 ranking by the global corruption watchdog, Transparency International. Somalia was ranked 177, Sudan 174 and South Sudan was placed 173. What do you say about this?”
When the country became independent in 2011, all South Sudanese had expectations and hopes that after the independence of South Sudan, the issues of corruption, poverty, illiteracy, diseases, tribal conflicts and ignorance would become things of the past.
Dennis from Nairobi, Kenya and Jerome from Nimule, South Sudan have similar view. All is to do with greed. My article of September 21, 2011-“Why Kiir may find it difficult to fight graft in South Sudan” tells it all.
Another problem Kiir’s government is faced with include the land disputes. Madi Land issues for example, are already a big one. Most of their lands had been taken by Dinka soldiers when they went to take refuge in Uganda. Until now the Dinkas have refused to return land to them.
There is also the border conflict between Uganda and Sudan. The Sudanese are claiming customary boundary from the Madi and Aringa people in Uganda. The Sudanese are accusing the Madi of Moyo and Yumbe districts in Uganda of extending their administrative structures inside their land.
There are also the pressing needs arising from armed violence and natural disasters, such as food and water for displaced people. Then there are the tens of thousands of South Sudanese who, recently returned from the north, now need help starting a new life. In addition, public services are lacking, leaving the whole population with limited access to health care, education and even drinking water.
The South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir has accused the country’s forces of corruption, saying it had been squandering resources through dubious activities, citing ghost names on the payroll system.
In February last year, South Sudan Anti-Corruption Commission (SSACC) asked the SPLA top generals to declare their income and assets, in an effort to tackle corruption.
The accounts of the army and other organised forces have not been audited since 2005 and a lot of money is believed to be unaccounted for.
Salva Kiir has accused current and former senior officials of stealing at least $4bn in state funds. In a letter to those he suspects of taking the money, he says: “We fought for freedom, justice and equality. Yet, once we got to power, we forgot what we fought for and began to enrich ourselves at the expense of our people ….”
Last month, World Bank documents warned of possible “state collapse” if South Sudan runs out of foreign exchange reserves, which it said could be depleted by July.
According to a previously released report by the South Sudanese auditor-general, over $1bn from oil revenues was unaccounted for during 2005 and 2006.
The auditor-general’s report also indicated that for two consecutive years there was no financial reporting of what happened to non-oil revenues that were collected in taxes by the national government or states. Billions more were feared missing between 2007 and 2011.
Millions of dollars were also reportedly smuggled out of South Sudan in bags across borders to unknown destinations. This is expected to continue since there is no strong system of check and balances in the government.
Yet, the SPLM officials are still with the hangover from the kind of soldier behavior where they found themselves to be above the law and could use money as they wished.
Apart from corruption there is also violence by security forces against civilians, critics of the government and journalists. All these are happening due to lack of system set to protect civilians.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002
Strengthening transparency and accountability within EU borders is not just about increasing revenue for European treasuries. It has a significant impact on the populations of non-EU countries as well as the credibility and effectiveness of the EU’s own foreign policies. It is not only Europe’s elites who exploit the loopholes and poor enforcement of EU banking regulation. Europe’s banks also serve as a haven for public funds stolen by the political and business leaders of some of the world’s poorest countries. This undermines the EU’s aid and development policies, and conflicts with the principles of good governance that the EU attempts to promote abroad.
In 2000 the Swiss authorities opened an investigation into the debt deal but this was later abandoned. Angolan civil society organizations have recently reopened a criminal case with the Swiss federal prosecutor against Falcone and Gaydamak, Angolan politicians, as well as senior employees from UBS responsible for the Abalone account. The claim includes allegations of bribery, breach of trust, criminal conspiracy and money laundering.
The diversion of public funds is not to be taken lightly in any context, and much less in a country such as Angola. First, funds systematically diverted from the national treasury diminish public spending on education, health, sanitation, electricity, and housing that could (in this case) have benefited both the Angolan and Russian populations. Second, the scandal is fuelling a vicious circle that prevents democratic progress by maintaining a system of corruption among high ranking government officials who have been in power for decades. The list of names included in the allegations is striking. Not only is President Dos Santos himself involved, but so, allegedly, are Elisio De Figueiredo, former ambassador to France, Joaquim David, Minister of Industry and former Director General of Sonangol, José Paiva da Costa Castro, former Director General of Sonangol UK, and José Leitão da Costa, Minister in the Office of the Angolan Presidency.
From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2013
Denis from Nairobi says I did not come out clear on the 2nd question asked by Adede Omondi because right from the onset we saw the parliamentarians ask for increased salaries even threatening to disband the Salaries Commission, at the end of it all the Ksh. 5 m car grants to MPs and Senators cost Kenyans. It would have made sense like in the past when they were given loans. It is all about impunity. Seemingly they are worse off, cutting on the gains already made.
While Denis’ observation is genuine that politicians in Kenya are among the highest paid on earth, despite the fact that many of their constituents are poor, unemployed and undernourished, corruption is one of the country’s most serious problems historically, with both taxes and international aid often lining private pockets instead of filling public coffers.
The never-ending corruption in the land ministry that just last few weeks ago saw Cabinet Secretary of Lands, Housing and Urban Areas, Charity Ngilu, unilaterally create an office without the authority of the Kenya Constitution or that of Kenya Parliament is just one example to demonstrate that corruption is real in Kenya.
Denis is right to argue that all these is to do with impunity and that is why President Uhuru Kenyatta defended Ngilu a day after Parliament pressed for her sacking for violating the Constitution. Ngilu was awarded the ministry by Kenyatta for having tirelessly campaigned for his presidential bid.
Parliament wanted Ngilu to be sacked for disregarding the constitution in making illegal appointments. Defending her therefore, is condoning corruption and impunity of the first class degree.
The creation of the post of Director General for Lands who is a trustee can only be done by the National Lands Commission or through a bill passed by Kenya Parliament.
Adede Omondi raised the issue of 2010 parliament because this is the parliament corruption was real, open and went unchallenged. It was the year Amos Kimunya as Transport Minister was accused as the most corrupt cabinet minister.
Kimunya who was also the Kipipiri MP topped the list due to some mega scandals which put him on the spotlight. Among the scandals involved was Sh 2.8 billion Grand regency Hotel, Sh4.6 billion money printing scandals and the Sh 56 billion airport tender scandal.
It was the same year Prof Anyang Nyong’o was on the headlines over the National Hospital Insurance Fund. It was alleged that he wired Sh 900 million to his personal accounts in Jersey and Gayman islands.
He was followed by Otieno Kajwang’ whose tender deals on passport and identity cards were questionable. It was alleged that the minister was god father of the corruption dogma in immigration ministry. Billions of shillings were alleged to have passed on his hands through issuance of illegal passports and citizenship.
The next was Soita Shitanda who was accused of illegally allocating government houses to then PS Francis Kimemia and Starehe MP Margaret Wanjiru. Shitanda was also accused of giving the government houses to his wife and relatives.
Another cabinet minister who made the headline news was Moses Wetangula. He was involved in Tokyo scandal where the Kenyan taxpayer lost over 1.2 billion. Wetangula by then was Foreign Affairs minister. His firm was also involved in the Turkana oil saga where he was accused to have made over a billion for himself.
He was followed by Kiraitu Muringi in that category. Kiraitu was involved in series of scandals from Aglo Leasing, which raked in billions from illegal tender processes.
The next minister in this category was Prof Sam Ongeri, a key confidante of President Mwai Kibaki, was involved in the massive plunderof billions of shillings meant for free education kitty which jeopardised the free primary education programme.
The year 2010 was also the year that nepotism topped the list. While Prime Minister Raila Odinga was accused of favoring his elder brother Oburu Odinga as Assistant Minister for Finance, cousin Jakoyo Midiwo as Joint Govt. Chief Whip (essentially a full Cabinet position), his sister Akinyi Wenwa for diplomatic post in Los Angeles, Kibaki was being crucified on the same.
Raila was also accused of favoring his sister Beryl Achieng as chairperson of Railways Workers Pension Board, his cousin Carey Orege as PS Ministry of Regional Development, Elkanah Odembo (Midiwo’s brother-in-law) Ambassador to USA, his cousin Paul Gondi as Executive Chairmsan Geothermal Development Company.
Others were distance cousin from Sakwa in South Nyanza, Ochillo Ayacko as Executive Chairman Kenya Nuclear Electricity Project, his cousin from Sakwa in Bondo, Joe Ager as Senior Officer in Kenya Power among others.
At that time Kibaki had been accused of favoring his relatives and tribesmen from Mt Kenya region. They included Muchemi Wanjuki as Solicitor General, Deputy Solicitor General, Muthoni Kimani, Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u, Deputy registrar-general, F M Ng’ang’a, and Registrar General Bernice Gachegu.
Others were Permanent secretary Francis Kimemia, CID Director Ndegwa Muhoro, AP Commandant K. Mbugua, Commissioner of Police Matthew Iteere, GSU boss Munga Nyale, Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe, NSC Peace and Conflict Management Mr. S.K. Maina, Government Printer: Andrew Rukaria, and Senior Director Administration/Internal Security Iringo Mutea among others.
Now Uhuru is being accused on the same by appointing Njee Muturi as the new Solicitor General, because Njee is a son to the late Muturi Njee from Nyeri County, who also served as the private Secretary to the country’s founding President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
While Jomo Kenyatta died in 1978, the older Muturi died much later when Njee was already serving as Uhuru’s Personal assistant. The high level of confidence between Uhuru and Njee saw the lawyer serve as the Jubilee Presidential Chief Agent during the March 4 General Election at the national tallying centre at the Bomas of Kenya.
Njee had also served as the Kanu Executive Director between 2006 and 2009 when Uhuru was the national chairman of the party, further demonstrating their close working relationship. As a Solicitor General, he will be playing the key role of assisting the Attorney General in the performance of his duties as Principal Legal Adviser to the Government.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002
From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013
Adede Omondi writes via email: “I read one of your blogs on corruption and I would wish you share your ideas with me on these questions: one-is parliament now immune from manipulations of transactions like Goldenberg International limited? Two- compare the parliament that existed before the 2010 constitution and the parliament after the 2010 constitution. I would be grateful for your help”.
Yes, you are absolutely right Adede Omondi and the reason why parliament is immune from manipulations of transactions like Goldenberg International Limited is because Goldenberg refers to a series of monumental financial scandal involving chains of very important and influential officials in the government.
The firm, according to testimony during the Goldenberg Commission of Inquiry (2004 – 2005) was co-owned by Pattni, former President Daniel arap Moi and the chief of intelligence at the time, the late James Kanyottu.
When Goldenberg money corrupted the political system during the 1992 General Elections, involving the launch of a new currency note to deal with unprecedented inflation in its aftermath, there was a youthful movement known as Kanu for youth 92 (YK92) to campaign for Moi come back.
One of the members in the movement was William Ruto who is currently the deputy president for the Republic of Kenya. In its wake Goldenberg caused the collapse of dozens of banks precipitating a banking crisis.
The careers of civil servants who helped expose Goldenberg were ruined. Journalists who exposed the story disappeared into oblivion. Chief executives of companies doing business with Goldenberg either fled into exile or died quietly.
During the scandal, former minister for Internal Security, Prof George Saitoti was Finance Minister. Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi was appointed to the Finance Ministry in 1993 while payments to Goldenberg continued.
Kalonzo Musyoka was a minister in the Moi government while this was happening at that time and he knows very well about the scandals. Raila’s father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, confessed in 1993 that his political party received Goldenberg money.
Because it involves untouchables, is why the 2004 Commission of Inquiry into Goldenberg set by Mwai kibaki has since been accused of ignoring evidence in order to protect powerful personalities such as ex-President Moi and his cronies.
According to evidence presented before the Goldenberg Inquiry, Mr Pattni formed Goldenberg International with Moi and Kanyottu for the purpose of making money from gold and diamonds smuggled from the Congo (at the time called Zaire).
When Kibaki came under pressure from the opposition party to form yet another commission in July 2008 to investigate the sale of Grand Regency Hotel, the Commission comprising of five members led by Justice (rtd) Majid Cockar, Charles Kirui and Kathurima M’ Inoti as commissioners while Messrs Anthony Oteng’o Ombwayo and Wilfred Nyamu Mati as the secretary and counsel to the Commission, Kibaki was accused by the opposition party leaders that he formed his team to cover up.
The Commission was mandated to recommend any legal and administrative measures that it may deem necessary with regard to the case and hold the inquiry in public or conduct private hearings where necessary.
The hotel was allegedly sold for about $45 million instead of its recorded valued of $115 million. This took place shortly Kibaki had signed an exclusive trade pact with the Libyan government, which gave its companies a head start over other investors when competing for lucrative government contracts.
The trade pact was signed after a meeting between President Mwai Kibaki and his host Muammar Gadaffi. The Grand Regency was recovered from Kamlesh Pattni, the man behind the Goldenberg scandal, in which the government compensated him millions of dollars in a fake gold export scheme.
Recently The Kenyan Daily Post reported that Laico Regency (originally Grand regency Hotel) was reportedly bought by Mwai Kibaki at a throw away price. The hotel which was initially owned by Kamlesh Paul Pattni, was taken by Central Bank of Kenya after Pattni negotiated immunity from prosecution for his role in Golden berg in exchange for the transfer of the Grand regency to the Central Bank of Kenya.
It is said Amos Kimunya colluded with Central Bank Governor, Njuguna Ndungu, in selling the hotel to alleged “foreign investors” who will be later established to be Kibaki’s proxies.
Goldenberg cost the country over Ksh 158 billion according to a Judicial Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Kibaki in 2003. Although George Saitoti was named as one of the beneficiaries, instead of asking his aside from his ministry pending investigation, in 2008 he was promoted from the Ministry of Education to take over as Minister for Internal Security. He was in the same PNU party with Kibaki.
This can answer your second question whether there is different from 2010 parliament and current one when it comes to corruption and impunity. They are the same people who were there since Moi was removed from power in 2002- So what next?
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002
When private businesses are interested in reducing corruption, they can be mobilized to take concrete steps against it. This article introduces available tools for collective action – a strategic approach to mobilizing the business community in order to fight corruption.
At its core, corruption is an institutional problem, and the institutional framework that sustains corruption must be changed. A key goal of collective action is to reduce the incentives and opportunities for corruption.
Collective action is a coordinated, sustained process of cooperation among private firms and other stakeholders. In the fight against corruption, a coalition of companies united by a set of principles and standards can have a far greater aggregate impact
from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013
Corruption cannot end in Kenya because it takes form of cartel, a formal (explicit) “agreement” among competing politicians. This is a condition where you use certain ethnic communities to help you ascend to power with promise that you will award and protect them.
In economic terminology, a cartel is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production, especially in an oligopolistic industry, where the number of sellers is small (usually because barriers to entry, most notably startup costs, are high) and the products being traded are usually homogenous.
In Mexico for example, Mexican narcos are using Twitter, Facebook and other online tools to run drug business campaigns, post selfies, brag about their wealth and even target rivals.
Like any burgeoning business, Mexico’s drug cartels are using the web to conduct very successful public relations campaigns that put those of their counterparts in Colombia and Myanmar in the 1980s to shame.
They advertise their activities, they conduct public relations initiatives, and they have basically turned themselves into their own media company,” Antoine Nouvet from the SecDev Foundation.
It is very difficult to prevent because cartels are often systematic, deliberate and most importantly, covert. It involves high ranking people in the government. Kenya is ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world because of cartel.
Ministry of Defence tops this year Ethics and Anti-Corruption list of most corrupt state departments because of cartel. The Immigrations Department is on the spot again because of cartel.
For as little as Sh100,000 corrupt officials are promising that anyone, even people of dubious character, can get a birth certificate, a school leaving certificate, an identification card, a driving license and a Kenyan passport.
With this type of business, is why even though Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku sacking of 15 senior and middle-level Immigration officers for issuing IDs to illegal immigrants, this will never end corruption in this department.
That is why terrorists, drug traffickers, bogus traders and despots fleeing from justice in their countries or other jurisdictions can easily find their way in Kenya. That is why Kenya has been a victim of terror attacks on several occasions, often orchestrated by individuals with Kenyan identification documents.
Another example and indeed shameful scenario was the shadowy Artur brothers who spread their version of terror during former President Kibaki’s government. The duo reportedly carried documents identifying them as senior police officers.
Kibaki government knew this but because the deal had a connection with high ranking officials in government he could do nothing but to allow the brothers to operate deadly business in Kenya.
That is also why the Port of Mombasa is operating under the manipulation of vicious cartels which enjoyed levels of high political patronage which has made the Jubilee government’s struggle against corruption a daunting task in vain.
The cartels were honed into shape through years of one party patronage under President Moi where tenders at the port were awarded to businessmen who had contributed to the ruling party’s awesome war chest.
Even though today panic has gripped the cartels which succeeded the Moi networks, President Uhuru cannot crackdown on them because like Moi and Kibaki, he needs ther political support.
Uhuru cannot because many of them metamorphosed into the present ones whose loyalty until the March 4 General Election was to players in Kibaki government. The cartels, which were predominantly Asian, later mutated into indigenous networks that use their proximity to State House.
The cartels do not operate alone but bring on board senior managers at the Kenya Ports Authority who handle their paperwork by influence peddling and paying off any stubborn middle level managers who are at times dismissed from their jobs if they insist on due process.
The elevation of the Managing Director Mr Gichiri Ndua to the helm was a direct result of the power play in Kibaki government to continue the business and also to conceal any dubious deals within the port authority department.
It explains how at one point during the Kanu days, one of the leaders of one of the biggest cartels who operated as President Moi’s point man in the region was appointed Executive Chairman in a shameless strategy to raise funds for the party which was then reeling under the threat of opposition pressure.
Another cartel business is in land ministry. This is where land officers, lawyers, real estate agents and brokers are duping innocent Kenyans into buying non-existent land. It is where the well-organised fraudsters use existing deed plans — documents showing location and divisions on land — to tamper with records at the Lands ministry.
The cartel is behind the runaway cases of people buying land belonging to other people. The best example is that of the Syokimau demolitions that saw Kenyans lose millions of shillings in investments that never existed.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.comFacebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
UN Disarmament
Conference, 2002
The great economic squeeze are brought by the interference of Corporate special interest monopoly and control. The opportunity for small business is the key to reviving economic growth and stabilizes Government capacity regulation to offer efficient and balanced public service delivery.
This is the way to go people……………….
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com/
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Barrick Gold’s Stock Crushed As Miner Keeps Punishing Shareholders
Investors who bet on the world’s biggest gold miner after its stock got decimated in the first half of 2013 have been given the kind of treatment that shareholders of Barrick Gold ABX -6.81% have gotten accustomed to receiving. Barrick has announced that it is going to dilute shareholders in a big way by selling $3.45 billion of shares for $18.35 each.
Shares of Barrick Gold got crushed in Friday morning trading, tumbling by about 6% to $18.22. The stock drop is coming on the heels of a 5% drop on Thursday, when Barrick announced it would suspend its Pascua-Lama mega gold mine located in the high-altitude Andes on the Argentina-Chile border. Shares of Barrick Gold are now down 48% in 2013.
With one of the biggest share offerings in gold mining history, Barrick is trying to raise enough cash to pay down some $2.6 billion of its $15 billion or so in debt that it has accumulated through reckless spending and acquisitions during the huge run up in the price of gold. While suspending work at Pascua-Lama and dealing with its debt-load might seem like a good idea, shareholders probably remember that the last time Barrick pulled off a big share offering in 2009, it raised about $4 billion by selling shares for $36.95.
Barrick has become the poster child for the gold mining sector, which has punished shareholders more than just about any other industry sector in recent years. These companies have managed to underperform gold both when it rises and when it falls—giving investors little upside in the best of environments and handing them massive losses on the way down. Gold miners have spent $45 billion on projects and acquisitions since 2010, but gold output has actually declined. Much of Barrick’s troubles can be traced to its spending on Pascua-Lama and its acquisition of Equinox Minerals.
Move up http://i.forbesimg.com tMove down
How Gold Miners Became A Terrible Investment Nathan VardiForbes Staff
With the price of gold having fallen in the last year, the economics of many projects in the gold mining sector like Pascua-Lama don’t really work. The costs associated with moving forward in Pascua-Lama were soaring while the price of the commodity was declining. Another way shareholders have been abused: the executives of many gold miners have been paid well even as their companies destroyed shareholder value. At Barrick, former CEO Aaron Regent was paid $12 million, mostly from a severance package after he was fired. The man who was hired to potentially replace Peter Munk at the top of Barrick, former president of Goldman Sachs John Thornton, got an $11.9 million signing bonus.
Members of a Kisumu based church are up in arms with their church head in what the term as economic exploitation by the said head who demands unrealistic financial demands from them.
The members of the church which is situated along Kisumu –Nairobi road and is being headed by a one time Kanu operative and former President Daniel Arap Moi blue eyed boy among the clergy from luoland are also calling upon their Bishop to be sincere and tell them exactly how much the blance of the car he forced them to purchase for him.
He ordered all the churches under him to contribute towards the purchase of the his official vehicle and we raised kshs 3.5million upon which he said that was more than enough only for him to start shifting goal posts against the balance saying initially it was kshs 1.3m, then kshs 1.9m and currently kshs 2.3m” the members of the church lamented.
They are accusing their Bishop of being insincere to them as they have discovered that the said vehicle is registered in the Bishop’s personal names and not in the church’s name and wondered what he is upto.
“The vehicle should belong to the office of the Bishop and not his personal car, how comes the log book reads that it’s his personal car?” the lamented.
Our investigations reveal that the said Bishop was recently given kshs 500.000 thousand by Voice of God and Healing Church to offset the balance of the said vehicle after betraying some clergy and supported the wife of the head of the said church.
“At his age we expect him to be sincere with us and not to play that monkey business with us” they lamented.
Contacted the said Bishop said there is nothing wrong for the church to buy and complete paying the price of the said vehicle.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has filed a suit to eject from office Traffic Commandant Mr. Samuel Kimaru over increased tragic road accidents.
LSK has also included the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) as respondents in the suit filed at the High Court, sitting in Mombasa.
The suit seeks a declaration that the Traffic Commandant is unfit to hold office following omissions, actions, abuse of power and gross neglect of Constitutional and Statutory duties.
It further seeks an order directing the NPSC to sack Mr. Samuel Kimaru as an employee of the Service.
According to the plaint (legal papers) drawn and filed by Ndegwa Muthama Katisya & Associates Advocates who are representing LSK, thousands of lives are being lost on roads.
“Neglect of duty by the Traffic Commandant and the NPSC leads to loss of over 3,000 lives on the road annually,” says LSK in the plaint.
LSK told the High Court that over 9,000 people are maimed for life annually, 26,000 vehicles and other property destroyed annually and billions of shillings spent on hospital bills and funeral expenses.
“Over 1,725 people lost their lives on the road between January and July 16, 2013 alone,” LSK said in the plaint.
LSK said that unlawful omissions and actions of the Traffic Commandant and NPSC have significantly contributed to the Police Service becoming the most corrupt institution countrywide.
“The Kenya Police service has consequently been nationally and internationally recognised as the most corrupt institutions,” LSK said.
LSK said that the respondents are in gross violation of the National Police Service Act No. 11 of 2012.
“The Traffic Commandant has failed to maintain law and order on roads, protect life and property, investigate, prevent and detect traffic offences, apprehend offenders, and enforce of all traffic laws and regulations,” LSK said.
In violation of Section 49(3) and (4), of the National Police Service Act , the Commandant has failed to make reports of all daily occurrences and incidents encountered in the discharge of the statutory function and submit the report to superiors.
Under Section 49(10) of the National Police Service Act, the Commandant has failed to respect the law, regulations, Service Standing Orders and to prevent violations thereof.
“The Traffic Commandant is professionally and vicariously liable for the neglects, unlawful omissions, and commissions of the officers working under his command.” LSK said.
LSK has argued that as a result of the Commandant’s failure to remove defective vehicles from the roads, a substantial number of vehicles with visible defects or violations of the Traffic Act pass through Traffic checkpoints.
LSK said that the visible defects or easily discernible defects and or violations include vehicles without both or any head-light being driven for long distances at night without being removed from the road.
Others include public service vehicles with dangerous worn out tyres, overloaded public service vehicles and commercial vehicles.
Some of the vehicles illegally emit heavy obnoxious petrol or diesel fumes, public service vehicles without speed governors, vehicles without identification number plates are habitually used in Kenya roads.
LSK said that many vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers and kerbs have been converted into parking and garages for repairing broken down vehicles.
A Pastor with a Kisumu based church situated along Kisumu-Nairobi road attempt to seduce a fellow man took another dimension when the man he had intended to seduce reported the matter to the police resulting to the Pastor’s arrest and subsequently being charged in court.
The Pastor who is called Erick Osewe alias Dominic Oloo and pastoring in one of the branches of the church whose head is locally branded as a political prayer Bishop who once served as former President Moi errand boy within luoland has since been charged in a Kisumu with improper use of mobile phone.
He appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Samuel Atonga and was charged that on October 28th while at Dalc International Hotel within Kisumu County he sent an sms to Walter Amatta
“Through the republic of Kenya by means of a Safaricom mobile you sent a messege to Walter Amatta saying” hi swity si u be part of mine” read the charge.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a bond of Kshs 60,000.
The case will be mentioned on November 11 .
As a result of his conduct the few church members have since left the church leaving the Bishop with only his wife, few children and relatives in that church
“Oswago and his comrades in crime are said to have swindled the Government millions of shillings by buying substandard BVR and EVID kits to be used in the last general election without proper documentation, which collapsed in the process leading to rigging of election in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy, William Ruto.”
Afwande!
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Simple “Give and Take” Economic Theories and Concepts
In Economics, the commercial balance or net exports of a country varies between the monetary value of exports and imports on the total output of economic GDP report over a certain period, measured in the currency of that economy…….in the relationship between a nation’s imports and exports.
The balance of trade is sometimes divided into both goods and services recorded as factsheet for the GDP (Gross Domestic Product.
Measuring the balance of trade can be problematic where actual supporting information of products are missing and does not reflect true recording of collection of data.
The discipline within the social sciences harmonizes smooth business exchange capacity of cooperation from the public sector to the Political negotiations that facilitates Government Management implementation, which having been undertaken between the international relations according to the constitutional order, the economy is fed positively both sides of the negotiating table, and in the course of times, the economy is provided with a booster to reinforce diversity, innovation, growth and expansion.
For any sustained and progressive business success that commands huge sums of money, there is need for a wider consultative professional input with a good comprehensive organizational development plan for a balanced economic standing. This is when the Government system is able to function and fizzles down to form automation of a revolving supply and demand exchange process of goods and services and these can only be successful under a regulated policy guideline by a Democratic Governing system in the respective Government service departments where Finance department is mostly crucial. Consequently, a Budget cannot be completed without Finance Department following tenets of the constitutional order of public mandate.
Challenges:
A functioning good Democratic Government system produces good Development agenda that provide a balanced opportunity favorable to all and that are balanced and are able to produce good results.The system that works well produces good result that improves social welfare in a short period of time and is able to transform economic progress, social stability with political principle guidelines that are simple, easy to understand and are made available with ease to all without any discrimination.
An imbalances of trade emerges when there are abuses or under-table deals of natural resources, illegal land usage and where local farmers are stolen from their cattles or shortchanged in cash crops sale that are corruptly exported in exchange for money put in politically correct network (money dipped in politicians pockets); who through graft and impunity, facilitate the bilateral business where public interest are under-cut and short-changed without value for their value.
In this case, no clear records are documented in the Government Exchequer ……. In otherwords, exchange of public goods in Trading transaction are supplemented, for example, with Blood Diamond and Gold in Congo, Titanium from Kwale, Pirating, Poaching, offshoring, currency and money laundering, exportation of sand to China, fish and water from Migingo and where human rights are violated and abused etc., the irregularities practices in Port Shipping transactions charcols and wood from the forests with the evasion of paying taxes to the Government are such processes that creates the imbalances and where GDP recorded are not justified nor are they realistic.
It is here where Peoples Government is blocked, short-changed or denied to provide opportunities to benefit the people, and where a network of business community instead shadow the Government function-ability by the engineered political machinery of conflict of interest, becomes a problem and in the long run, business community have power and control over the People Government from rendering services fairly to the people. In other instances, tender processes are made so complex earmarked for Special Interest, and Government structures for public service delivery is made so opaque, with job creation and business inequity-gap growing wider, while corruption and impunity are given lifespan to continue to thrive endlessly.
Politicians without discipline fail to observe the law.They take public subsidy as personal, which then ‘disappears’ into private and personal accounts without trace……..private and individual sector corruption find its way into public amenities, bankrupt public co-operation into private and personal transfer takeover thus, stripping off public assets and this is entirely corruption with impunity.
For private financial equity taking control of such for example, Central Bank Services to benefit itself in the largest source of profit, is to invest in a liquid firm with good public assets, avoid paying taxes, take management service fees at commercial rates, drain it, indebt it and then exit leaving a weaker and unstable Central Bank Institution that must be sustained and stabilized by public taxpayer finances to shoulder the expenses in ways.
Corruption, impunity with failed governance have contributed to extreme poverty, Scramble to Africas’ Land Grabbing, genocide with atrocities and are therefore costing Africa billions that are unaccounted for and are the greatest obstacle to Africas development with foreign direct investment sustained Partnership needed to improve good standing cooperation with meeting challenges at the International Market Place favorably along with the rest of the world.
Accountability and Transparency:
The balance of payment records clearly must show, the international flow of goods and services and other net income received from foreign countries. The import and export of goods and services, income received from investments, payments for debt service and private and public net remittance and transfers must be tabulated on record in the Current Account.
The capital account must record the international transactions of financial asset with liquidation flows. There must be clear statement for direct foreign private investments, foreign loan received from private banks, the grants and loans received from foreign governments, the grants and loans received from international, multilateral institutions like World Bank are included in the capital account.
The value of visible imports must equal to the value of visible exports. This shows the position of balance of trade. Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time. Therefore, GDP per capita is not a measure of personal income …….. say if a few group of people are wealthy, that does not determine the wealth of the Nation. It is as a matter of fact, the size of our debt compared to our income worth from business transaction exchange that form GDP value……… and in the case of corruption taking tall order, the country’s GDP is ripped off by the Special Interest network and the Nations value goes down.
In other words, all goods and services must correspond to the value of the total product and Supply and Demand, must equal to people’s total Income and expenditures in capacity of buying things against things sold to the people. This is what determines the principle of GDP………..
Cash received by the Government must be accounted for and clearly made to balance with items for exchange bilaterally where, it must show the net outflow of foreign reserve. The errors and omissions adjusted and the statistical discrepancies documented. A country receives international cash reserve in the following forms:-
i. Hard currency in the foreign currency received has time and again found its way in the foreign bank account of individual politicians.
ii. Gold, Diamond, Titanium, oil, fish, water, Agricultural produce, and land to include poaching, have fetched billions of dollars to Corporate Special Business Interest network, that are untaxed but instead of bringing value, it brought pain and suffering to Africa with backwardness failing development progressiveness instead.
iii. The deposit with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank foreign exchange on loans failed to capture poverty elimination but instead enriched politically correct network corruptly.
iv. Innovation, Science and Technology
v. Security
Government Run through Proxy of Special Interest:
Special Business Interest fight proxy war for control of the Government against the people.Corrupt politicians engage in conflict of interest whereby public interest is undermined, swopped and are replaced by Special Interest translating public mandate Government service delivery to special interest instead.A proxy server from public service delivery is then made to render Government Services prioritizing Network of Corporate Business Interest, where under conflict of interest; politicians make uncensored deals with the Government employees substitute to exploit people’s vulnerability and security.
Under Proxy politics, public security and mandate are endangered, undermined and are replaced by those of special interest Ally correctness who confederate Government services to network of a small group of selfish greedy special interest. The proxy political arrangement engage in uncensored, unregulated illegal and corrupt business undertaking through evasion of taxes, segregation, marginalization, manipulation, intimidation and threats; engage in illegal occupation of land, illegal mining, illegal fishing, illegal use of the water tower and shipments, illegal agriculture and with secret drug manufacture; free importation, unchecked transportation, illegal possession and use of public wealth, incorrect use and distribution of certain public resources and substances without going through any concrete legislative regulated government measures.
Subsequently, in the event where People’s Government is compromised, it is held hostage anytime Special Interest is challenged in ways and means.Since they have created autonomy of power by proxy, they have made the Government a Special Interest preserve where, when it comes to matters of “The Budget” it is their way or the highway………In other words, the budget is made according the Special Interest prescribed proposal and not according to public mandate.Special Interest will fight tooth and nail to have their way ……..hoarding and taking more than they need from the Government……..(hoarding is a behavior associated with lack of organization and disorder to health risks, that impaired good functioning of a system and load economic burden that ultimately causes adverse effects on the stability of a Nation, the Community, friends, family members and consequently affects the whole world). and thereby deny fundamental basic rights of people to a point people would rather die and extinct than their comfort zone of ho
arding is tampered with or reasonably have Government functionability shared for common good of all.
Special Interest Control of the Government Institution:
A Nation is said to be Sovereign when it honors, values and respect principles of good Democratic Rule of Law and where service to people is the priority placed top on the agenda of governance.
In the same way, God gave man freedom, dominion, Institution of marriage and possession to own and control their bodies and commanded them to love, protect, preserve and multiply to replenish and subdue the earth.
Recognizing that, the people formed our government in democratic process by design to function and serve peoples interest in consultation, exchange and in mutual sharing, and by the people, people own the Government.The three elements thus, dominion, Institution and possession appear outstandingly very clear, the fundamentals that which constitute the very definition of sovereignty.
To undercut it by special interest proxy to serve a small minority of group and taking away survival and livelihood of many is in the same vein committing a serious crime an abomination of violation and abuse of human rights to live a just, peaceful, honorable and dignified life.Something must change or all are destined to lost leaving majority people more vulnerable, Susceptible and skeptical to living a life that are of meaning.
In Conclusion:
We cannot throw our hands up in despair and quit or we keep voicing our disapproval but fight to eliminate Corruption starting at the top where the whole of Africa is rife with corruption.
A sense of awareness demands that people must begin to demand their rights of good governance with concerted pressure from both the UN, World Bank and IMF demanding report; because, if policy are breached a culture of impunity spreads pretty quickly and peace is threatened, a position we have all found ourselves today.
If Africa is to be saved from this infection, the endemic presence of corruption and impunity must be dealt with by all people of the world united and the community supported to work to improve their lives by ways and means to create jobs and improve their Social Welfare Organization through Community Partnership Development Agenda.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioecnomicforum50.blogspot.com
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YAHWEH [ THE MAGIC BAND INTERNATIONAL ]
Published on Sep 20, 2013
PRAISE THE LORD
Voice of America (Washington, DC)
Africa: Survey Lists 55 Billionaires in Africa
By Peter Cox, 10 October 2013
Johannesburg — There are at least 55 billionaires on the African continent. That’s according to the Africa’s Richest survey from Venture Africa, an Africa-based business magazine.
There are 10 countries represented on the list, with Nigeria leading the way with 20 billionaires, South Africa with nine and Egypt with eight.
The combined wealth of Africa’s 55 billionaires is $143.88 billion, and the average wealth is $2.6 billion.
The richest man on the list is Aliko Dangote, whose investments in manufacturing three decades ago have grown into a $20.2 billion net worth. He is followed by South African investor Allan Gray and Nigerian oil and telecom businessman Mike Adenuga.
Of Nigeria’s billionaires, 13 have significant or total investments in the oil business, and mining is a sector tapped by many on the list across the continent.
The Venture Africa survey has more than triple the number of billionaires reported by previous lists. Forbes Magazine noted only 16 billionaires in Africa in late 2012.
Venture Africa’s Publisher Chi Chi Okonjo said his magazine’s Nigerian and South African base help with having more information than some lists – which is why his survey is more comprehensive.
“We know, because we have people on ground, some of these people are actually people we know personally,” Okonjo explained. “So we know their assets… .That’s the difference… .You really need to be on ground to know what’s happening. So we’re able to provide much more detailed information.”
His editorial staff calculated wealth through publicly held shares, privately held companies, investment bankers, financial analysts and other financial barometers.
Okonjo said Africans also tend to be quiet about their wealth.
“Wealth is still somewhat taboo in Africa. People prefer discuss what they are doing for their communities rather than how much money they have. It’s just a cultural thing,” he noted. “So people don’t like to discuss how much money they have or how much they’ve amassed.”
Johannesburg — There are at least 55 billionaires on the African continent. That’s according to the Africa’s Richest survey from Venture Africa, an Africa-based business magazine.
There are 10 countries represented on the list, with Nigeria leading the way with 20 billionaires, South Africa with nine and Egypt with eight.
The combined wealth of Africa’s 55 billionaires is $143.88 billion, and the average wealth is $2.6 billion.
The richest man on the list is Aliko Dangote, whose investments in manufacturing three decades ago have grown into a $20.2 billion net worth. He is followed by South African investor Allan Gray and Nigerian oil and telecom businessman Mike Adenuga.
Of Nigeria’s billionaires, 13 have significant or total investments in the oil business, and mining is a sector tapped by many on the list across the continent.
The Venture Africa survey has more than triple the number of billionaires reported by previous lists. Forbes Magazine noted only 16 billionaires in Africa in late 2012.
Venture Africa’s Publisher Chi Chi Okonjo said his magazine’s Nigerian and South African base help with having more information than some lists – which is why his survey is more comprehensive.
“We know, because we have people on ground, some of these people are actually people we know personally,” Okonjo explained. “So we know their assets… .That’s the difference… .You really need to be on ground to know what’s happening. So we’re able to provide much more detailed information.”
His editorial staff calculated wealth through publicly held shares, privately held companies, investment bankers, financial analysts and other financial barometers.
Okonjo said Africans also tend to be quiet about their wealth.
“Wealth is still somewhat taboo in Africa. People prefer discuss what they are doing for their communities rather than how much money they have. It’s just a cultural thing,” he noted. “So people don’t like to discuss how much money they have or how much they’ve amassed.”
Kenya: Sh300 Billion Govt Expenses Unaccounted in 2011-12
By Simon Ndonga, 9 October 2013
Photo: Anthony Morland/IRIN
Kenyan government unable to account for Sh300 billion in the 2011-2012 financial year (file photo).
Nairobi — A report from the Auditor General’s office shows that Sh338 billion of money spent by the government in the financial year 2011/2012 cannot be accounted for.
According to the document, only Sh55.2 billion of the Sh920 billion the government spent can be accounted for.
Auditor General Edward Ouko said that more than half of the statement errors were due to unsupported expenditure, failure by civil servants to surrender imprests, unauthorised spending and uncleared balances.
“A total of 252 financial statements were audited and only six percent had clean (unqualified) audit reports, 51 percent had qualified opinion reports, 10 percent had disclaimer of opinion reports and 33 percent had disclaimer of opinion reports. A trend that is worrying is that 33 percent of the financial statements or 83 financial statements cannot be regarded as having been properly accounted hence a disclaimer of opinion,” he stated.
In the report, Ouko explained that there were no supporting documents for Sh561 billion which could have resulted in the misuse of the funds.
“Of major concern is the poor maintenance of accounting records. As in the previous years and as also indicated in my report, there is weak and inadequate maintenance of accounting records observed across a number of ministries and departments during the year,” he said.
He said that in the 2011/2012 year, many ministries and departments prepared their statements on cash basis, making it impossible to tell what the government owns and owes.
“In addition, the ministries and departments continued to prepare their respective financial statements on Cash Basis of accounting as instructed by the Treasury. This implies that capital assets are expensed as a result of which Statements of Assets and Liabilities as at the end of each financial year do not show a complete and true and fair view of the ministry’s or department’s assets and liabilities,” he said.
The Auditor General further explained that he was not able to establish whether expenditures reflected in these statements were incurred lawfully and in an effective way as required by Article 229(6) of the Constitution.
“This hence means that were the accounts with disclaimer of opinion be treated as accounts with no proper justification, then by implication 33pc of the total actual expenditure for 2011/2012 of Sh920bn can be regarded as having not been properly accounted for,”
He also indicated a shortfall in development revenue for the year under review.
“The revenue accounts demonstrate a shortfall of development revenue by 49 percent which translated to approximately Sh26 billion. This under collection was due to non-release of funds by development partners and low absorption of funds by projects and programmes,” he said.
He stated that the revenue statements showed substantial balances of revenue amounting to approximately Sh900 million not having been received at the Exchequer Account.
“The discrepancies are due to unexplained and unreconciled differences between the statements balances and the exchequer records maintained at Treasury,” he said.
Ouko said that the exchequer account showed a balance of Sh1.1 billion as at 30 June 2012 and an over issue of Sh6 billion to the Ministry of Education (recurrent vote).
He observed that the over issue arose due to the withdrawal of Sh7 billion from the Consolidated Fund on 21 June 2012, for Free Primary and Free Day Secondary Education.
“However, no evidence has been provided for audit confirmation that Parliamentary approval for the additional expenditure was granted as required under article 223 of the Constitution,” he said.
Kenya: Corruption Killing Job Creation in Kenya, Says New World Bank Report
By Solomon Kirimi, 6 December 2012
Photo: Lauren Everett/AllAfrica
Corruption report box in Kenya.
Corruption accounts for loss of resources enough to create 250,000 jobs in Kenya annually, the World Bank has said.
In its latest economic update titled ‘Kenya at Work’, the report says an enterprise survey found out that firms pay up to 12 per cent of value of government contracts to win them and four per cent value of their sales is directed towards bribe payment.
Total kickbacks paid on government contracts are approximated at Sh36 billion and another Sh69 billion is paid in form other related bribes.
“Kenya stands out for it’s business related corruption than any other country in the world,” the report says.
Currently only about 50,000 out of an estimated 800,000 youths leaving school annually get employment.
“Nepotism, tribalism, sexual harassment and corruption determine who gets these jobs leaving the rest to find their own means of survival,” said World Bank country director Johannes Zutt.
Zutt said in Kenya the main barriers to creation of jobs through investments are corruption, access to electricity, and poor infrastructure. The World Bank downgraded its earlier prediction of a 5 per cent GDP growth for Kenya to 4.3 per cent, one per cent lower that 2011, but maintained its 2013 projection at 5 per cent.
The report shows Kenya’s economy is stable but vulnerable due to the expected general election shocks, transition to a new governance system and the Euro crisis.
“Kenya’s economy is out of balance and the external position has become even more vulnerable as the country’s current account deficit has skyrocketed and could reach 15 per cent of GDP in 2012,” the survey notes “This is among the worst external balances in the world and poses a significant risk to Kenya’s economic stability.”
Kenya’s growth remains below the African average and substantially below that of its East Africa Community partners with an average of 6 per cent annual growth.
Over the last decade, Kenya’s imports have grown faster than its exports since mid-2011, with earnings from top four exports not enough to pay for oil imports.
The survey recommends that Kenya should increase its manufacturing capacity and help the high number of people leaving family farming activities to create agricultural processing for export, in order to increase employment opportunities.
Report: Corruption, weak governance costing Africa billions
10 May 2013 13:07Lynley Donnelly
The African Progress Panel has revealed its assessment of the challenges that still face many countries in developing their oil and mineral wealth.
Kofi Annan. (AFP)
Combating international tax avoidance and evasion, corruption and weak governance are crucial if Africa’s people are to benefit from the continent’s vast natural resource wealth, former United Nations secretary general and chair of the African Progress Panel Kofi Annan said on Friday.
According to the panel’s 2013 African Progress report at the World Economic Forum on Africa taking place in Cape Town, the continent is losing more through illicit financial outflows than it receives in aid and foreign direct investment.
It found that trade mispricing, or losses associated with the misrepresentation of export and import values, alongside other illicit outflows cost the continent $38.4-billion and $25-billion respectively between 2008 and 2010.
Annan called for a rule-based global system on tax transparency to be developed with the G20.
“All foreign-owned companies should be required to disclose the ultimate beneficiaries of their profits,” he said.
Switzerland, the UK and the US – all major conduits – should signal their intent to clamp down on illicit financial flows Annan said.
He also extended this call to players from other developing nations who have become increasingly active in Africa in the oil, gas and minerals realm.
Poor governance of state companies
“Major investors in African extractive sectors such as China and emerging investors such as Brazil must also engage,” he said.
The report raised concerns over the structure of investment activity by foreign companies operating in Africa.
It was characterised by the extensive use of offshore-registered companies and low tax jurisdictions, and in some cases the complex use of shell corporations.
“These arrangements come with weak public disclosure and extensive opportunities for tax evasion,” the report said.
The revenues generated for major companies in many cases dwarfed the gross domestic product (GDP) of the countries they operate in.
In 2012 Shell’s revenues sat at $467.2-billion. This is compared to Nigeria’s GPD of $244-billion, Angola’s GPD of $104.3-billion and Gabon’s GDP of $17.1-billion.
Poor governance of state companies and assets are also associated with extensive revenues losses, the report found.
In 2012 Angola was unable to account for $4.2-billion, according to the report. Nigeria meanwhile was estimated to have lost $6.8-billion between 2010 and 2012.
‘We are not poor’
But nowhere had a country lost out as much from this practise than the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the report found.
It analysed five privatisation deals involving the sale of state-owned assets to foreign investors operating through offshore companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and other jurisdictions. The panel estimated that the losses sustained in these deals, through the under valuation of assets, was $1.3-billion – more than double the DRC’s health and education budget.
This was in a country with the sixth highest child mortality rate, endemic malnutrition and seven-million children, out of a total of 11.2-million, not attending school.
These under-pricing activities however generated returns of around 500% for the offshore companies involved.
African countries needed to pursue greater transparency in the management of their resources according to Annan.
“We are not poor, we need to manage our resources better,” Annan said.
“African governments can do better.”
Transparent access to the details
States had to have “very clear rules” relating to how companies can bid for concession in their country, including using public auctions that gave the public transparent access to the details of the bidders and what they pay he noted.
Fellow member of the African progress panel, Zimbabwean-born businessperson Strive Masiyiwa said the arrival of other developing nations on the continent such as China, Brazil and India had been “a positive game changer”.
“But we also need to call on them to try … help us in creating the equity we are looking for,” he said.
It would be good if these new players introduced legislation in the vein of the US’s Foreign Corrupt Practises Act and Britain’s anti-bribery laws to help achieve this he said.
Guest
5 months ago•20
As an African country, we may not be poor, but our levels of corruption reveal just how poor of heart our leaders are, as they continue to milk the treasury, while keeping the citizens in poverty.
Alisdair Budd
5 months ago•00
Perhaps you’d like to go and talk to the Chinese Diamond Miners about this:
http://www.theindependent.co.z…
And also the Zim Minister of Mines and his possession of large amounts of cash, property, cattle and businesses from untraceable sources:
To single out Chinese companies for entering into shady business in the DRC is to miss a fundamental point: Western firms have been at it for centuries, and still are.
Last January I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to research Sicomines, China’s controversial $6.5 billion megadeal in which Chinese companies will construct roads, schools and hospitals in exchange for mining and untold billions of dollars worth of copper and cobalt with Congo’s state mining agency.
On a sunny morning in the south-eastern mining city of Lubumbashi, I called a Congolese official to pose some hard questions about the deal – particularly, what happened to the $350 million ‘signing bonus’ that was handed over by the Chinese. But I hardly got a word in before his response betrayed his fear as to the more sensitive concern on his mind: “Is this about COMIDE?”
It wasn’t, of course. But perhaps it should have been, because the corruption scandal that burns hottest among Congolese officials today has nothing to do with the Chinese. In 2009, the International Monetary Fund started a $551 million loan to improve the DRC’s business climate through a series of projects. As a condition of the loan, Congo’s government would have to make all its mining contracts and transactions public.
So it must have come as a surprise to the IMF when Bloomberg revealed the DRC had sold its 25% stake in a copper mining venture called COMIDE SPRL – a trade the Congolese government hadn’t disclosed. The IMF responded to the news by refusing to renew the loan, meaning the DRC will essentially forfeit an incredible $225 million because a few Congolese officials didn’t want the world to know what they were up to.
Learning from the masters
When Westerners try to explain China’s rapid rise in Africa, they often assume that it comes through corruption, secret deals and manipulation. But there is nothing Chinese about COMIDE. Its parent company, Straker International Corp., is based offshore in the British Virgin Islands, and it is primarily owned by the multinational Eurasian Natural Resource Company, headquartered in London and traded on the Kazakhstan stock exchange.
Certainly the circumstances surrounding the Chinese Sicomines deal merit concern too. The DRC’s government doesn’t seem to have conducted any study that estimates the potential value of the minerals buried at the Sicomines site, meaning no-one can predict the eventual profits and what’s truly at stake for the Chinese companies, the Congolese mining company and the Congolese government.
What’s more, a 2011 study by the accountability NGO Global Witness reported that $24 million of that signing bonus was mysteriously diverted into an offshore account in the British Virgin Islands by Sicomines’ Congolese partners. Even in the DRC’s multibillion-dollar mining sector, $24 million is a lot of money to go unaccounted.
But does this then set China’s Congolese ambitions apart from the West’s? Is the $6.5 billion Sicomines deal in fact unprecedented in its lack of transparency and its potential to make its CEOs rich while the Congolese people remain poor?
To single out the Chinese companies as uniquely responsible for entering into shady business in the DRC is to miss a fundamental point: If the Chinese have learned how to leverage power over the Congolese government, they owe the lesson to the rogue businessmen from Western countries that preceded them. .
Two centuries ago it was the Belgians who colonised the Congo, first for its ivory, a trade which would eventually die out along with most of the wild elephants that supplied it. After ivory, it was rubber, transported by Belgian-constructed railroads whose tracks remain embedded in the ground, relics of Congo’s resource-driven history. Then, to build the atomic bombs it would drop on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States sourced its uranium from a mine just 100 km southeast of Kolwezi in south-eastern DRC.
Companies from Canada, the UK, South Africa and elsewhere began operating industrial mines. They extracted billions of dollars worth of copper, cobalt, and other minerals. Today, Congo’s mining sector generates 28% of the country’s GDP and is the primary source of income for 16% of the population, according to the World Bank.
In theory, the country should be rich from its vast mineral wealth. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at how most Congolese live. Rural families sleep in huts that flood when it rains. Only 4% have electricity.
Western nations such as the United States tend to claim they have tried to solve the DRC’s problems. But the record shows that for at least the first 30 years following the Congo’s independence they did the opposite, entrenching one of Africa’s most corrupt and violent dictators by supplying him with billons of dollars in aid, weapons and bribes. Mobutu Sese Seko killed his adversaries with impunity and commandeered as much as 40% of Congo’s wealth (between 4 and 8 billion dollars) during his 31-year rule.
In the years since Mobutu’s rein, foreign mining companies have garnered blame for manipulating Congo out of its natural wealth. On at least five occasions in 2009 and 2010, Congo’s state-owned mining companies sold their stakes in mines to offshore companies that immediately re-sold the same stakes for up to five times the price. “Between 2010 and 2012, the DRC lost at least US$1.36 billion in revenues from the underpricing of mining assets that were sold to offshore companies”, claimed a report released earlier this year by an international panel chaired by Kofi Annan.
Looking East
All the while, Congolese eyes are turning toward China in the hopes that the Chinese may usher in prosperity where patrons before it have not. The fact that China succeeded in moving 600 million people out of poverty over the past 35 years is a source of admiration for some Congolese who remain entrenched in it themselves. Many see China as much more welcoming than the US. Twice a week, a line forms outside the Chinese embassy in Kinshasa as Congolese students and businessmen arrive to apply for visas to work or study in China. They say it’s far easier to get a visa there than to the US.
China’s government has consistently reinforced the sentiment that it is eager to help the Congolese people flourish. In his very first trip abroad as China’s leader, Xi Jinping travelled in March 2013 to Tanzania, South Africa and Congo-Brazzaville, where he promised $20 billion in loans for aid to Africa over the next three years. In June, US President Barack Obama followed in the Chinese leader’s footsteps in what was only Obama’s first extended trip to Africa since taking office some four and a half years ago.
The metaphor of America’s lagging commitment to the continent is not lost upon Africans themselves. In a 2009 survey of 250 people in nine African countries, three-quarters said the Chinese way was a ‘very positive’ or ‘somewhat positive’ model of development. When asked which model offers more promise for Africa’s future, the Western or the Chinese one, they overwhelmingly chose the latter.
Chinese investment may not, in fact, radically alter the future of one of the world’s most underdeveloped nations. Unless the DRC’s government collects its fair share from the Sicomines deal and somehow uses that wealth to benefit Congolese society in a way it never has before, China may simply become the latest benefactor in Congo’s long history as a country rich in resources whose neediest citizens will never benefit from them.
But it’s hard to blame the Congolese for hoping China will succeed where the West has failed.
In an office overlooking Kinshasa’s grand Boulevard 30 Jeune, newly repaved and widened by the Chinese under Sicomines, stands Mack Dumba, Congo director of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which works to improve accountability in the global mining sector.
“Why don’t Americans build roads like this anymore?” Dumba asks. “Why don’t the Belgians, that colonised, build roads like this? The Chinese are doing things that no one else will.”
This article was adapted from Jacob Kushner’s new eBook, China’s Congo Plan, now available on iPad, iPhone and Kindle. Kushner’s research was advised by faculty at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Jacob Kushner is a freelance journalist currently based in Nairobi. He reports on international peacekeeping, foreign aid and development, offshore tax havens, and Chinese mining and other investments in Africa. See more on his blog at http://jacobkushner.com and follow him on twitter @JacobKushner.
People must go and demand for the Report Card for Public Service delivery with Responsibility and Integrity where all elected leaders with public servant employee must be in compliant as a requirement. It is time for a re-call to those who have failed to measure with the Reform Accord Agreement Mandate.
Gluttonies’breeds chronic passion for adamant corruption and impunity and unless it is forced to stop, it continues to shift gears like what can be seen by NHIF with Professor Anyang Nyongo…………It is important that people establish the truth about Clinix which now has turned to Merridian. It could be possible that, public money and funds are in a flight to unknown destination; most likely the Chinese who claim ownership of Kenya, could be enjoying and swimming in the public funds.
On Checks and Balances, things might change for better. Demand for Integrity, Transparency and Accountability must be exercised thus:
1) Is someone trying to use public money to pay debts incurred for campaign funds?
2) Kenya people have a right to know what is going on with their public resources, funding, facilities and utilities and they must protest to demand for accountability for the same.
3) They must demand about why and how Migingo is in control by the Uganda Government and why the Uganda flag is hoist on the land of Migingo? People must demand for immediate removal of Uganda Police from Migingo Island
4) People must demand to know full report of the Agenda for meeting in Uganda between President Museveni, Raila and Uhuru so to ascertain they are not short-changed and as well they should be informed why Museveni had central interest for controlling Kenya while public interest is undermined
5) People must demand reason why Museveni asked Uhuru Administration to Annex Kismayu to be shared between Somalia and Uganda interest
6) Taxpayer money is used for travelling to China, people need to know if it is for the interest of Kenyans or for special interest
7) Why teachers and nurses have not been paid to-date
8) Why No action or step-down from elected Members with Government employees who are suspects or were found to have a case, have not been relieved from public service to allow thorough investigations and why cases of NHIF have not been brought to justice
9) Why Syokimau cases have not been formalized and compensations made
10) Why Calvin Burgess on Siaya Dominion is still a breach of public interest and people who were forced out of their homes have not been resettled
11) Why people are homeless and landless from being forced out of their land from Land Grabbing and IDPs have not been resettled
12) Why the budget doesn’t seem to balance with budget speech in real life
13) Why there is no running water in the homes and power is sky-rocketing above public means
14) Why Unga with other basic needs have become unaffordable and too expensive beyond means for survival
15) Why only one Unit of Police from one tribe should head the airport
16) Why employment is done under Tribal discrimination
17) Why there are no creation of jobs but growing number of Rebel Groups and thugs are causing terror with threats in the country
18) Why illegal practices like poaching, Gold, Titanium, Diamond with other rare minerals resources from Kenya with the neighboring countries like Congo and Tanzania for example; to pass through illegality with full knowledge aided by politicians; is allowed to go on, while people are mercilessly killed, slaughtered, massacred and are forced out of their dwelling places to face terror, is unacceptable.
19) Why Government system is falling apart and is completely disfunctioning, yet, Government employees are enriching themselves and money is not going to the public coffers
20) Why Politicians have ganged up and are in a conspiracy to continue to defraud the people People must call for a MASS MOVEMENT to demonstrate country-wide against injustices that continue to befall Kenyans from both the former and the present Government so all must be forced for immediate recall with accountability so to recover stolen public wealth and engage responsible leaders with integrity to lead Kenya.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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MP and governor linked to poaching
PHOTO | GIDEON MAUNDU A KWS ranger arranges some of the 775 pieces of ivory tusks which were netted in a container by KRA officers at a private godown in Jomvu on July 3, 2013. The ivory, worth Sh29 million, was in transit to Malaysia from Uganda. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By PATRICK MAYOYO pmayoyo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, August 13 2013 at 23:30
In Summary
KWS and police say they are investigating the reports linking the three to the illegal ivory trade
Two influential Coast businessmen, a central Kenya MP and a Rift Valley governor have been linked to the runaway poaching and ivory smuggling in the country.
Police officers, Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Revenue Authority officials conversant with ongoing investigations said they were pursuing leads linking the three individuals to the illegal ivory trade. (READ: China reiterates pledge to end ivory smuggling)
The three are reportedly part of an international ivory smuggling ring operating in the country. They have been linked to a container full of ivory intercepted at the port of Mombasa last month.
Detectives also discovered that ivory stolen from Mombasa State House was among that in the intercepted container.
On Tuesday, another container full of ivory was intercepted in Singapore and is being shipped back to Mombasa where it reportedly originated. (READ: Kenya a ‘major route for ivory smugglers’)
Police spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki promised to give a detailed statement on investigations into ivory smuggling after getting a briefing from officers handling the case at Mombasa port.
According to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), international organised crime syndicates are behind the killing of elephants and rhinos in Kenya and other African countries.
Cites says the gangs use the latest technology and have collaborators among local communities and security agencies.
Investigations have revealed that the international ring has devised ingenious ways of transporting their loot to evade detection by security agencies.
Their tricks include declaring containers ferrying the smuggled ivory as carrying either timber, fruits, electronics, tyres or other assorted goods. Most of the ivory intercepted in Asia is being traced to the ports of Dar-es-Salaam and Mombasa.
Wildlife experts and research scientists estimate that two elephants are killed per day — the highest number in recent times.
The statistics have sparked outrage among wildlife conservationists and raised fears the animals could become extinct.
KWS says there has been an upsurge in poaching in the last five years with more than 360 elephants killed last year compared to only 45 in 2007.
A recent census revealed that the country’s 35,000 elephant population had suffered a 14 per cent decline due to poaching and drought.
Clinic named in NHIF scam sues for Sh800m
PHOTO | FILE The National Hospital Insurance Fund building in Nairobi. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By PAUL JUMA pjuma@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, August 13 2013 at 23:30
In Summary
Medical centre says NHIF made it appear as having received money fraudulently
A medical clinic adversely named in the National Hospital Insurance Fund scandal has sued the agency for close to Sh1 billion.
Meridian Medical Centre filed the suit at the High Court in Nairobi, accusing the health insurer of breach of contract and reputation damage.
Meridian, which runs clinics in major towns, was among medical service providers the NHIF contracted to provide services to its members under the social health insurance scheme.
MPs raised questions about the NHIF’s decision to award contracts for treatment of civil servants under the new scheme to companies that lacked facilities in rural areas. They cited Meridian Medical Centre and Clinix.
The fund cancelled the contracts.
The clinic’s chief executive officer, Dr Peter Wambugu, said the decision by NHIF caused the publication of numerous media reports portraying the clinic as having received money from the NHIF fraudulently, that it was involved in unethical practices and that its centres were sub-standard, unregulated and uninspected.
“This façade has damaged our brand and I state herein that none of these allegations are true,” Dr Wambugu has stated in a witness statement filed in court.
The manner in which the NHIF conducted the termination caused the clinic’s reputation to be vilified in the eyes of the public, hence it was entitled to compensation for loss of business reputation and credibility, said the CEO.
The medical company wants the court to order the health insurer to pay it damages totalling to Sh814,830,341 with interest plus an unspecified amount in general damages for loss of reputation.
Court nod for KRA’s Sh127m tax demand
PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | FILE Kenya Revenue Authority headquarters at Times Tower in Nairobi. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By NATION REPORTER
Posted Tuesday, August 13 2013 at 23:30
A judge on Tuesday declined to stop the taxman from demanding Sh127 million from a pharmaceutical company.
Mr Justice David Majanja described as an abuse of the court process a constitutional petition by Beta Healthcare opposing the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) tax demand.
The firm had filed the suit at the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court.
The company, which had lost a case in which it sought similar relief at the court’s Judicial Review Division, claimed in the new suit its rights and freedoms had been violated.
It filed the constitutional petition also at the Court of Appeal to try and overturn the initial High Court ruling, a matter which is still pending.
Justice Majanja said the firm was wrong in asking the High Court to deal with issues pending before the Court of Appeal.
“These proceedings are an abuse of the court process. They are hereby dismissed with costs to the respondents,” he said. He gave Beta Health 14 days to appeal.
Ivory seized in Singapore on way back
PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA Mombasa Port employees arrange some of the 638 pieces of elephant tusks for weighing after they were impounded in January. Conservationists have raised alarm over the surge in poaching. NATION MEDIA GROUP
By NATION CORRESPONDENT
Posted Tuesday, August 13 2013 at 23:30
A container suspected to be loaded with ivory is on its way to Mombasa after being seized in Singapore, the Kenya Wildlife Service has revealed.
The cargo, which was exported through the port of Mombasa last month, was intercepted in the Far East port courtesy of the cooperation between Kenyan security and their international counterparts, Mr Arthur Tuda, a KWS director, said.
“The container was among those seized earlier and returned to Kenya. But somehow, it had disappeared. Through our efforts and our foreign security colleagues, we intercepted it and as I speak, it is expected at Mombasa port any time,” he said.
Unconfirmed information from port sources said the container could arrive tomorrow although it was not clear which ship would bring it. Mr Tuda declined to give more information.
Poachers killed
Late July and this month, two containers of ivory were seized at the port destined for Malaysia. Several other suspected containers are still being sought, according to Kenya Revenue Authority
(KRA), Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and KWS sources.
The KWS director said this month alone, two poachers and two KWS rangers had been gunned down as the war on poaching intensifies.
“Two of our officers including a constable and an inspector were shot dead by poachers within Kipini Conservancy area in Tana Delta as they pursued armed thugs,” he said.
China set to be world’s biggest net oil importer
PHOTO | MARK RALSTON Goods are delivered to a store in Beijing, China. The country is the biggest consumer of energy globally and is set to beat US to the top in oil imports. AFP
By AFP
Tuesday, August 13 2013 at 16:53
In Summary
Graph on EIA website shows Asian country’s net imports steadily rising, with those of the US falling
BEIJING
China is set to overtake the United States as the world’s largest net oil importer from October, according to US figures, due to a combination of rising Chinese demand and increased US production.
Next year, China’s net oil imports will exceed those of the United States on an annual basis and the gap between them will continue to widen, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.
China is already the biggest energy user in the world and the second-largest oil consumer after the United States.
Chinese demand
The shift has been driven by steady growth in Chinese demand, increased oil production in the United States, and stagnant or weakening demand in the United States market, the EIA said in a report.
A graph on the EIA’s website shows China’s net imports steadily rising, with those of the US falling at a faster rate, and says the crossover point comes in two months’ time.
Growing petroleum production in the US has been largely driven by the increasing use of sometimes controversial hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking.
The technique uses huge amounts of pressurised water mixed with chemicals to crack open rock and release oil and natural gas, making the exploitation of vast shale hydrocarbon reserves economically viable.
It is changing the world’s energy market but it has been banned in other countries such as France due to environmental concerns.
US annual oil output is expected to rise 28 percent between 2011 and 2014 to nearly 13 million barrels per day, while Chinese production is forecast to grow by six per cent over the period, and will stand at just a third of US production in 2014, the EIA said.
Meanwhile, China’s liquid fuel use will increase 13 per cent over the period to more than 11 million barrels per day while United States demand hovers close to 18.7 million barrels per day.
That is below the United States’ peak consumption level of 20.8 million barrels per day in 2005, the EIA added.
China imported 26.11 million tonnes (186.5 million barrels) of crude oil last month and its exports were a mere 0.17 million tonnes, according to official Beijing figures.
The Asian country’s ascendence to the top of the world’s net oil import rankings will have profound impact, an article carried by the China Business News said on Monday.
“China and the US will no longer be pure competitors in the energy sector — China is likely to import energy in bulk from the US,” wrote commentator Li Dongchao.
Balala asked Sh80m bribe to buy house, Cortec says
Analysts have warned that Mr Balala’s action to revoke mining licences of the affected firms may cause a stand-off between the government and investors in the industry, thereby derailing activity in the mining sector. Photo/JENNIFER MUIRURI |FILE NATION MEDIA GROUP
By IMMACULATE KARAMBU ikarambu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Friday, August 9 2013 at 20:02
In Summary
Through Mr Jacob Juma, Cortec Mining Kenya country boss, firm claims Secretary demanded the cash in exchange for the firm keeping its licence
A company whose licence was cancelled on Monday has sensationally accused Mining Secretary Najib Balala of demanding Sh80 million bribe in exchange for the firm keeping its permit.
In a letter dated July 29, this year, written by Cortec Mining Kenya to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of Kenya, the firm accuses Mr Balala of demanding the money to aid him buy a house to replace his Karen one which he is said to have sold to raise funds for campaign during the last General Election.
“On July 8, Mr Juma drove into Mr Balala’s house at 7:30pm where he found Mr Balala waiting for him as per the appointment through the commissioner of mines. At the said meeting, Mr Balala confirmed to our Jacob Juma, our Kenyan country director, that he required Sh80 million from Cortec Mining Limited to buy a house for he had sold his house in Karen to raise funds for campaign in the just concluded elections,” read part of the letter signed by Cortec managing director David Anderson.
Cortec Mining Kenya has been exploring minerals in Mrima Hills, Kwale County.
Jacob Juma is the controversial businessman associated with Erad Limited, a company that is currently held in a court battle with the National Cereals and Produce Board over a Sh600 million debt. Mr Juma has a substantive shareholding in Cortec Mining Kenya through the company’s two holding firms.
Cortec Mining Kenya is owned 70 per cent by Pacific Wildcat Resources, a publicly listed company at the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and 30 per cent by Sterling Securities, a firm registered in the United Kingdom.
On Monday, Mr Balala revoked mining licences of 42 companies on grounds that they were irregularly issued, setting the stage for possible court battles with the affected investors.
Cortec Mining Kenya, the company that is licensed to mine the over $100 billion Niobium and rare earth metal deposits at Mrima Hills in Kwale, South Coast was among the companies whose licences were cancelled.
The government, through the spokesperson of the Presidency Manoah Esipisu requested for about three days to investigate the allegations before issuing an official statement.
Meanwhile, an insider of the EACC told the Saturday Nation that the Cortec letter was indeed received at the antigraft body on July 29, and that investigations were underway, although the commission’s spokesperson noted that he could not confirm the issue yesterday being a public holiday.
In its letter, Cortec managing director David Anderson also said that the company officials met with Justin Muturi, the speaker of the National Assembly where they complained of the Sh80 million bribe demands from Mr Balala and requested him to address the matter though the responsible parliamentary committee.
National Assembly
“On the July 16, we had dinner with the speaker of the National Assembly at the Thai restaurant at the New Stanley Hotel and complained of the Sh80 million bribery demand by the mining minister and requested him to intervene in this bribery demand through the house parliamentary committee that deals with mining,” said Mr Anderson in the letter.
While canceling the 42 licences on Monday, Mr Balala also directed mining companies to give a 21-day notice to his ministry before making any public announcement on findings, in a bid to control a situation where such information may cause a rally in their share valuation at the respective bourses they are listed.
On the day Cortec announced its valuation of the rare earth metal resources at the Mrima Hills late last month, Pacific Wildcat Resources’ share which trades at the Toronto Stock Exchange gained 28 per cent.
The Pacific Wildcat Share was suspended from trading on Tuesday at the request of the company and resumed trading on Thursday where it shed 59 per cent of its value following news of licence cancellation.
Besides the bribe allegations, Cortec Mining Kenya has accused Mr Balala of having interest in awarding the mining licence for rare earth metals and niobium to Chinese investors.
In an earlier telephone interview with the Nation, Mr Balala admitted that he indeed travelled to China and met Chinese investors but dismissed the allegation that he was fronting for the investors.
“Yes I was in China recently and the president will be in China next week. Chinese are investors like any other and they have a right to do business in the country,” he said.
Though found in other countries, the market for rare earth metals, that are used in manufacturing electronic gadgets such as smartphones is about 90 per cent controlled by China.
Stand-off
Analysts have warned that Mr Balala’s action to revoke mining licences of the affected firms may cause a stand-off between the government and investors in the industry, thereby derailing activity in the mining sector.
The Kenya Chamber of Mines on Tuesday, through its chairman Adiel Gitari said that Mr Balala’s action went against the spirit of collaboration between the government and industry players.
YouTube videos of
U.S. Congress money laundering hearing
of Saudi Billionaire ” Maan Al sanea”
with bank of America
and The owner of Saad Hospital and Schools
in the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia
and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Awal Bank in Bahrain
FDLR controls 50 percent of the South Kivu Province but they are a mixture of both Hutu, Tutsi and Congo Rebel groups. M23 is predominantly Tutsi of the Kagame tribal group which is why, Kagame gives its full financial support and protection for Kagame’s benefit looting from Congo. Kagame is the aggressor terrorizing and killing innocent Congolese and driving them our of their land for Tutsi to occupy Congolese land, for which he has created a government within another government inside the DRC Congo for his benefit.
Kagame made M23 to be a strong voice demanding what does not belong to them in Congo.
From intelligence observation, M23 is working with FDLR to benefit Kagame. He has made it a smart business to loot from DRC Congo. This is why Kikwete requested him to talk with FDLR and stop Congolese massacre. If they are able to talk when it is business, why should they not talk when Human Rights demands, after-all, both Ribel group were created by Kagame and Museveni. Kagame created this group was fighting the Habyarimana regime, in 1980s and this part cannot be ignored. Killing Congolese children and women is not justifiable matter. Kagame must be forced to eat a humble pie……..
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson &
Executive Director for
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
email: jbatec@yahoo.com
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Rwanda, Zambia agree on refugee repatriation
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Zambia agree on refugee repatriation
Rwandan refugees registering upon arrival
Rwanda and Zambia have agreed on a comprehensive strategy for former Rwandan refugees living in Zambia.
In a joint communiqué signed on Friday night following a bilateral meeting by the two governments held in Lusaka last week, the two countries reiterated the call for the two countries to establish diplomatic missions in their respective capitals for enhanced bilateral cooperation.
The Zambian delegation was led by Minister of Home Affairs Edgar Lungu while the Rwandan team was headed by that country’s Minister of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs Seraphine Mukantabana.
These deliberations come as a follow-up to the regional assessment meeting of the global strategy on the search for durable solutions for former refugees, that was held in April in South Africa.
They also come following the effect of the cessation clause for Rwandan refugees that took effect on June 30.
The two delegations agreed that voluntary repatriation will remain open and efforts to encourage it will continue.
It was also agreed that former Rwandan refugees who wish to stay in Zambia will be facilitated by the Rwandan government in collaboration with the Zambian government.
“This is in order to facilitate processing and issuance of immigration permits in Zambia. The criteria and procedures for the eligibility to local integration will be set and published by the Zambian government,” reads the joint communiqué in part.
The communiqué further states that passport application forms for former Rwandan refugees shall be made available in Zambia through the office of the Commissioner for Refugees (COR) as the focal point for the process in Zambia.
While the focal point in Rwanda will be the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration. Additionally, the two governments also agreed that the said forms shall be available online for downloading and submission to COR.
Since the coming into effect cessation clause, hundreds of Rwandan returnees from regional neighbours have been streaming into the country on a daily basis.
According to MIDIMAR, intense registration program is under way to provide passports for tens of thousands of Rwandans who lost refugee status on June 30 as a result of the UN cessation clause, but prefer to stay in the host countries.
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Stop Paul Kagame From Destroying Rwandan and Congolese Lives
Sign
The Petition
Paul Kagame visits Said Business School at Oxford University on 18/05/13.
We the undersigned hereby affirm that continued support to the Rwandan president Paul Kagame and his country by British institutions and government are irreversibly destroying the lives of millions of Rwandans and Congolese. This sounds contrary to the Western media coverage of the politics of region and for particular reasons.
Since July 4th, 1994, when Paul Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front took power in Kigali after the genocide, they invested heavily and continue to do so in lobbying influential personalities such as Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and American investor Howard B. Buffet to portray his regime as a model of development in Africa.
But it is not rightly weighted how undemocratically his regime operates. On August 9th, 2010 the Rwandan president scored 93.4% of the votes in staged presidential elections. And this happened after assassination of politicians and journalists and imprisoning others. His regime took its criminal activities in foreign countries: United Kingdom, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa.
The reality is that the Rwandan government has put in place policies of killing imprisoning, and oppressing its citizens at levels never experienced in the country’s history. The claimed and drummed about development concerns only Kigali the capital and benefits less than 10% of the population. Instead the Rwandan president criminal activities have not stopped within national boundaries of his country. Since 1996 he waged wars in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the United States Geographic Survey, Rwanda produced more than 25% of the world’s coltan in 2011 more than what their coltan deposits should be able to provide. Rwandan coltan mining relied on mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some of which are in conflict areas and others not.
More than 6 millions of Congolese lives have been lost and five hundreds thousands of women girls and even men raped by militia and military groups he has been funding to help him plunder the country’s enormous mineral resources. The last of these groups is the rebel movement M23 operating in Eastern Congo and whose the ICC indicted General Bosco Ntaganda was part of.
On May 18th, 2013 the Rwandan President Paul Kagame is invited as a guest speaker at the Said Business School – University of Oxford. This might not be his last visit in the United Kingdom if the British members of parliament continue to be blind at the crimes he has been accused of by many UN reports and renowned human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, both in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Being at the side of the victims of the Rwandan dictator is what the undersigned would normally expect from institutions that claim universally to advocate for democracy, human rights, justice and development.
For the UK government and institutions to persist in being blind at the never ending crimes that President Paul Kagame is committing in DRC and indescribable suffering he causes to millions of his citizens would confirm complicity, which would look as criminal too.
Africa will not fold its arms amid terrorism: Kagame
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News in RwandaRwandaRwanda latest newsRwanda politics
Africa will not fold its arms amid terrorism
There are numerous Rwandan troops keeping peace around the World
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame stated in a press conference last month that terrorism is spreading within African continent and it is not advisable to continue folding arms despite such a threat.
Many people across the globe wonder why Rwanda continues to be a model in terms of peace keeping missions in different parts of the planet.
The same question will always be asked as long as the world does not yet understand the way Rwandans treat the security issues, especially with the fact that Rwanda as a nation was hurt by genocide and experienced horrifying human rights violence.
What makes Rwanda an outstanding peace keeper?
Discipline and determination are key qualities that are keeping Rwanda’s image on a high scale, and that goes down in the troops’ minds from the high commanding system. Rwanda is now praised all over the world for the role it plays in securing post-conflict regions and making an impact on the populations welfare in delivering vital services to them.
That goes round with top Rwandan militaries nominations by international organizations to head those missions. The recent nomination was when Maj. Gen Jean Bosco Kazura was appointed by the UN Secretary General to lead MINUSMA (Mali) which is the third largest UN mission with 12,000 soldiers.
Nevertheless, the Rwandans nominations cannot serve if the inside authorities don’t believe in their men and/or if they are not determined to facilitate them. The appointment of Gen. Kazura comes while another Rwandan Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba had finished his term as head of United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
President of Rwanda Paul Kagame is committed to help Rwandan military to be professional and useful not only in the country but also all over the world, one of many remarkable and developmental issues he deals with for Rwandans and their country.
Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, says General Kazura was appointed Force Commander of MINUSMA, “first, because of his personal competence and experience” and secondly “because of the role Rwanda has played in peacekeeping operations for the last nine years, particularly in Darfur.”
If Rwanda would not have done what was done in Darfur, Haiti, and Liberia or if Kazura would have been well facilitated to acquire professionalism and military knowledge, we would have been writing another story.
Can Rwanda send troops in Mali?
The mission led by Gen Kazura will undoubtedly play a key role in Mali’s presidential polls scheduled for July 28. This means the security has to be priority and given the terrorist groups’ experience in the region, the battle might not be easy.
One of the challenge the new Commander would face is the fact Rwanda did not deploy soldiers in Mali and that would be difficult to command the troops you have never been with before. The question repeats: is Rwanda ready to deploy in Mali?
According to the President Kagame’s words it is possible that Rwandan peacekeepers may also be deployed in the near future. In a news conference last month, President Kagame acknowledged that “There is a possibility of sending troops to Mali.” And a request had already been made, he said.
“Africa cannot, and should not, fold its arms when terrorist and criminal groups are occupying over half the territory of a Member State, carrying out the most atrocious crimes against innocent civilians and destroying monuments that are of great significance to Africa’s heritage and civilization.” Kagame stressed
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Rwandan exiles warned of assassination threat by London police
Two dissidents living in London told that Rwandan government poses imminent risk to their lives
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Haroon Siddique
The Guardian, Friday 20 May 2011 06.38 EDT
Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame
Rwandan exiles warned about threats to their lives may have been targeted because of criticisms made of President Paul Kagame (above). Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
The Metropolitan police have warned two Rwandan exiles living in London that they face an “imminent threat” of assassination at the hands of the Rwandan government.
The dissidents received letters within hours of one another which advised them to take extra steps to increase their safety and raised the possibility of them leaving the country, the Times reported.
“Reliable intelligence states that the Rwandan government poses an imminent threat to your life,” the warning letters read. “The threat could come in any form. You should be aware of other high-profile cases where action such as this has been conducted in the past. Conventional and unconventional means have been used.”
One of the men, Rene Mugenzi, 35, stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate for Greenwich council, in south-east London, and now runs a social enterprise which aims to help disadvantaged communities. He may have been targeted because of comments he made about the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, in March when asked on a BBC programme about the prospect of the Arab spring uprisings spreading to his homeland. He replied that criticisms of Kagame suggested that he was “a despot who doesn’t tolerate any form of opposition; that under his leadership, Rwanda has become a dangerous place for those who publicly disagree with him or his ruling party”.
Mugenzi told the Independent: “How can it be that in Britain, a foreign government can be allowed to threaten the life of a person? Every time I go outside, I am looking over my shoulder, wondering if there is an assassin around the corner.”
The other recipient of the warning letter was Jonathan Musonera, a former officer in the army of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front. He is one of several exiled military officers behind the founding of the Rwanda National Congress, a new political party that earlier this month called on the Rwandan president to stand down “if he cannot stop killing, jailing and exiling innocent citizens”. The group recently held a meeting in London. Musonera told the Independent he was “terribly scared. We know what the Rwandan government can do.”
A Rwandan suspected of being part of the assassination threat was stopped at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, Kent, last week, according to the Times. It said the man, a naturalised Belgian aged 43, left after being questioned by police.
Western governments have praised Kagame for his efforts in transforming Rwanda since the 1994 genocide, with Britain committing £83m a year until 2015 to help rebuild the country. But political violence and suppression in Rwanda have shaken faith in Kagame.
Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, another founder member of the Rwanda National Congress and former head of Rwandan intelligence, was the subject of a failed assassination attempt in South Africa in June, last year.
The Independent reported last month that MI5 had warned the Rwandan high commissioner to London, who attended the royal wedding, to halt an alleged campaign of harassment against critics of Kagame living in the UK or face a cut in British aid.
A Rwandan government spokesman said the allegations contained within the warning letters were “without foundation. The government of Rwanda does not threaten the lives of its citizens, wherever they live,” he said. “The Metropolitan police have not approached us with evidence of these allegations but we are ready as always to work with them to ensure that nobody, be they Rwandan or not, is the victim of violence on British soil.”
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Kagame speaks out on Kikwete’s call for negotiations with FDLR rebels
Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Photo/File
Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Photo/File
By EMMANUEL RUTAYISIRE, Special Correspondent
Posted Monday, June 10 2013 at 18:32
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has described calls for the country to negotiate with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) as “utter nonsense.”
(Read: Unease in Kigali over Kikwete’s call for talks with FDLR)
Speaking on Monday at the Rwanda Military Academy (Nyakinama) in the northern part of the country where he was attending a graduation ceremony of 45 officers, President Kagame said:
“I kept quiet about this because of the contempt I have for it. I thought it was utter nonsense. Maybe it was due to ignorance but if this is an ideological problem for anyone to be thinking this way, then it better stay with those who have it.
“We will have another time to deal with this. As Rwandans, being who we are, achieving what we want to achieve for ourselves is not a myth, its real”.
The call to talk to FDLR was made by Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete at a meeting of Heads of State from the Great Lakes Region in Addis Ababa, on the sidelines of last month’s African Union Summit in Ethiopia.
Kikwete’s remarks have soured the already shaky relations between the two neighbouring countries with foreign affairs ministers from both countries issuing statements.
(Read: Dar-Kigali spat a serious matter)
Kikwete had suggested that Rwanda should consider direct talks with the FDLR rebels since the military option didn’t seem to be working.
President Kikwete also urged Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to talk to the Allied Democratic Forces and the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda, as well as asking DR Congo’s President Joseph Kabila to talk to the M23 rebels and other forces operating in eastern Congo.
This is the first time President Kagame is personally responding to President Kikwete’s remarks even though both presidents attended the Addis Ababa meeting.
(Read: Rwanda can’t talk to FDLR; they’re stone cold killers)
Tanzania has said it is not going to apologise to Kigali over the statements.
The remarks have triggered a diplomatic row between the two countries although observers say it is a pointer to the fact that despite the cordial relationships, Presidents Kagame and Kikwete have never been friends.
The FDLR is a sensitive issue in Kigali because of the former’s role in the 1994 genocide as well as its continued security threat to Rwanda. The militia draws most of its members from the genocidaires who participated in the 1994 mass killings.
Kagame publicly threatening to hit President Kikwete.
4 juillet 2013
Amakuru
Kagame publicly threatening to hit President Kikwete. jeannet-300×200
She has reason to be worried
It is remarkable that the Rwandan president’s own wife has already understood the dangers of criminalizing a whole population group. In her own speech in the same event, she emphasized that criminal responsibility was individual and “every knee will have to kneel for itself”.
It has almost become a tradition in his improvised speeches to hear Rwandan president Paul Kagame spit his anger and express his contempt for Western donors and other foreigner s who do not share his peculiar ideas about governance and political freedom. He does not miss any opportunity to slam what he calls their attempts to give him lessons, while he has no lesson to receive from anybody. We have heard many insults and derogatory words, but an outright threat to “hit” the president of a sovereign neighbouring nation, this is something even those who know him for a long period would not easily had predicted. On Sunday June 30, in a speech to the “youth connect” meeting convened by the Ministry of Youth together with his wife’s own Imbuto foundation, Paul Kagame threatened Tanzanian President Kikwete in unmistakable terms that he will wait for him at the right place and hit him, in response to the latter’s suggestion that Kagame initiate talks with the armed Hutu opposition FDLR.
“And those whom you recently heard speaking for the Interahamwe and FDLR, saying that we should negotiate with them. Negotiate with them? As for me, I do not even argue about this issue because I will wait for you at the right place and I will hit you!! I really did not… I didn’t even reply to him, I never arg… uh… it is known, there is a line you can’t cross. There is a line, there is a line that should never be crossed. Not once. It’s impossible!!…”
From these words pronounced partly in his hallmark unstructured Kinyarwanda mixed with English, Kagame made clear that he is still deeply angered by the mere suggestion to engage in talks with political opponents. That is why he vowed to wait for the right opportunity to strike back at Tanzanian President. It is unheard of in world diplomacy, to see a head of state threatening to hit another head of state of a sovereign nation in time of peace.
This threat should be taken seriously. Kagame has already proven in the past that he is able to strike his adversaries and silence them. Whether fellow presidents or his own (former) trusted collaborators, his prowess in murdering those he thinks are his enemies would not shy from a comparison with L. Sulla’s famous bragging. Melchior Ndadaye, Juvénal Habyarimana, Cyprien Ntaryamira, Laurent-Desiré Kabila are all heads of states in whose assassination he has allegedly had a hand. Théoneste Lizinde and Seth Sendashonga, are former collaborators eliminated in covert operations from afar. The last known feat in this series is the failed assassination of his former army chief of staff Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who survived a shooting in Johannesburg, South Africa. The lesser known cases of eliminated military officers who had knowledge of damaging secrets of his cruelty or could become rivals for power in the military, is no less impressive.
The grudge against Kikwete has other sources as well. Kagame’s big ego does not suffer being second to anybody. Being overshadowed by Kikwete as the most visible leader in the region is an additional source of personal resentment towards the charismatic Tanzanian President who, in less than a year, has been honoured by the official visits of the presidents of the two most powerful nations in the world. The recent attempt by Kagame, Museveni and Uhuru Kenyatta to bypass Kikwete and meet in Entebbe without him underscores a rampant feeling of discomfort at the growing strategic importance of Tanzania in the region.
Tanzania’s resolve to play its full role in restoring peace in the region has borne him many enemies among the neighbours who most benefit from the chaos they have helped perpetuate in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uganda and Rwanda will namely be the losers if peace returns in the region because violence has long been their cover and their opportunity to loot Congolese resources. But whether they like it or not, Kagame and Kaguta will have to understand that time for peace has now come.
Kagame doesn’t seem to notice the changing circumstances however. In his self-righteousness, he said in the same speech that he was the paramount example of tolerance because he accepts to live in the same country with an ethnical group of genocidaires. He said that allowing Hutus to stay alive is the biggest political space he could think of, anywhere in the world. He urged the Hutus, even those who were not born at the time of the mass slaughters of 1994 to repent and ask forgiveness on behalf of their ethnical group (Suddenly. There are ethnical groups in Rwanda again!). He made them understand that they owed their lives to him because his soldiers would have slaughtered the entire Hutu population that he characterizes as a genocidaire ethnical group, was it not for his magnanimity that forced him to stop the RPA soldiers. In return for RPF soldiers not slaughtering all Hutus, he urges them to bear the burden of perpetual guilt, because, according to him, crimes were committed on their behalf.
It is remarkable that the Rwandan president’s own wife has already understood the dangers of criminalizing a whole population group. In her own speech in the same event, she emphasized that criminal responsibility was individual and “every knee will have to kneel for itself”. She underlined the importance of liberating the youth from the burden of event in which they did not take part. When Kagame’s own wife starts signaling that she has understood the dangers of his principal political principle (criminalizing all Hutus), the peace in the region can’t continue to be held up by just one individual.
This is what Tanzania has understood much earlier. But Kikwete also knows that those who sow chaos in order to harvest in violence will not easily give up their booty. By accepting to step in, to make his voice for peace heard, Tanzanian President Kikwete knew there was a price. It is now up to the entire population of the region (Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and obviously Tanzania) to step in and stand with President Kikwete, ensure his protection and denounce any attempt to threaten his physical integrity.
Dr Alexis Habiyaremye
http://www.editions-sources-du-nil.com/article-kagame-publicly-threatening-to-hit-president-kikwete-118887725.html
From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2013
Many of our readers have been touched by my article on why Uhuru Kenyatta won’t end impunity in Kenya as yet, with some pleading with him not to allow impunity to creep into his government. He must ensure the law is followed to the letter.
Peres Were from Nairobi was very categorical: “with culture of impunity in Kenya Kethi Diana Kilonzo is simply wasting her time, the court will definitely rule in favour of TNA, for that matter, in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta”.
With impunity court has no say. That is why despite of the High Court decision on the appointments of TSC commissioners the government disrespected.
Those nominated for appointment in the initial list were Kahindi Ziro James, Fredrick Haga Ochieng’ and Adan Sheikh Abdullahi. Cleopas Tirop, who had emerged tops in the interview, was missing in the list.
This list was rejected and the names taken back to the President and a new one presented to the House, this time with Tirop, Ochieng’, Abdullahi and that of the chairperson.
Mr Abdi Sitar Yusuf went to court to block the three commissioners’ names arguing the list was irregularly approved. The court blocked Ochieng’ and Abdullahi but cleared Tirop and he was sworn in.
Impunity–particularly in connection with human rights abuses committed during the 2007 post election violence is pervasive. As of late last year, there had been a total of 24 convictions in cases stemming from the violence following the 2007 elections, in which more than 1,300 Kenyans lost their lives.
No police officers had been prosecuted successfully. This is because Kenya is a republic with an institutionally strong president. That is why, even though the new constitution stipulates the creation of a Supreme Court, which was established in June 2011, president still have power to overrule the judgment.
It explains why widespread impunity at all levels of government continued to be a serious problem, despite implementation of judicial reform and the vetting of all judges and magistrates.
Human rights groups estimated that police were responsible for approximately 1,000 extrajudicial killings between 2008 and 2012; in 200 of those cases, there was credible evidence of police involvement, according to civil society groups.
In 2008 the government formed the Commission of Inquiry into Postelection Violence as part of the internationally mediated political settlement. In 2008 the final commission report recommended that the government establish a special tribunal to investigate individuals suspected of violence; however, no local tribunal was established, and the government did not conduct any investigations.
As a result of government inaction, in 2010 the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation and in March 2011 issued summonses on charges of crimes against humanity for six individuals. At year’s end three of them held official positions and two were former government officials.
The six individuals were: Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, deputy prime minister by then and former minister of finance; William Samoei Ruto, member of parliament and former minister of higher education, science, and technology; Henry Kiprono Kosgey, minister of industrialization; Joshua Arap Sang, former head of operations for KASS FM radio station; Francis Kirimi Muthaura, former head of the public service and secretary to the cabinet; and Mohamed Hussein Ali, police commissioner at the time of the violence.
In August 2011 the ICC dismissed an appeal by the government that challenged the admissibility of the cases against the six, ruling that the government had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that it was conducting its own investigation.
On January 23, the ICC confirmed charges against four of the six suspects, ruling that the prosecutor had not reached the threshold for charges to be confirmed against Kosgey and Ali.
In February the government appointed a task force to investigate local cases of post-election violence in 2007-08. In an August report the task force indicated that it had reviewed 4,408 of the 6,081 files compiled by police and found that most of the files were incomplete.
No suspects were identified in 2,411 of the cases. In approximately 1,000 cases a suspect had been identified but there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. In 2008 human rights groups reported that police turned away victims or refused to take down witness testimony after the post-election violence.
Police reportedly were also responsible for many of the human rights violations during that period. As of year’s end there were 24 convictions in post-election violence cases, including two for murder. No police officers had been prosecuted successfully.
That is also why, even though the law prohibits arrest or detention without a court order unless there are reasonable grounds for believing a suspect has committed or is about to commit a criminal offense, police frequently arrested and detained citizens arbitrarily.
Police often stopped and arrested citizens to extort bribes; those who could not pay were jailed on trumped-up charges and beaten. Police often failed to enter detainees into police custody records, making it difficult to locate them.
Although the president historically had extensive powers over appointments, including for the positions of attorney general, chief justice, and appellate and High Court judges, according to the new constitution, promulgated in 2010, vests responsibility for making recommendations for the appointment of judges in the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), which must publicly vet candidates, president still have the power to determine who is appointed.
The government did not always respect judicial independence. It explains why in June President Kibaki ordered members of the Provincial Administration to disregard the High Court’s ruling after the court declared their appointments unconstitutional.
The government occasionally used the legal system to harass critics, like what happened with KNUT officials recently. The government used the court to declare that their strikes are illegal.
Even with law in place to protect media, government still uses security forces to harass members of the media. Good example is what happened in April when police threatened two journalists, The Standard’s Osinde Obare and Radio Citizen’s David Musindi, for publishing stories on a police raid at a market in Kitale.
According to Obare, Kitale police chief Luca Ogara called him to ask why he published a negative story about the police and threatened repercussions if he returned to Kitale. In some cases their cameras confiscated by police and film destroyed.
Another example is what happened in May when two journalists with The Standard Media Group, Senior Investigative Editor Mohammed Ali and Dennis Onsaringo, filed a complaint with the police commissioner regarding ongoing threats and intimidation by senior police officials.
In 2011 Ali filmed an investigative series for the Kenya Television Network (KTN) on police complicity in drug dealing and the role of state agents in frustrating an investigation into a large cocaine seizure.
Pressure from politicians, including former defense minister Christopher Murangaru, forced KTN to stop broadcasting the series. The police investigation into threats to Ali’s life and the defamation lawsuits sparked by the program were unresolved at year’s end.
In September prison warders at the Machakos Law Courts attacked Jonathan Mutiso, a KBC reporter, for filming an inmate who had attempted to escape by climbing on the roof of the court.
The warders confiscated the camera and ordered two Kenya News Agency interns to erase footage of the incident, threatening the two with violence if they did not comply. The warders were disciplined following a demonstration by journalists.
On September 30, police arrested three Somali journalists who were reporting on a grenade attack on a school in Eastleigh. The journalists were released without charge and deported from the country.
The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a report in February noting that impunity in cases of torture of journalists remained a problem. Ten journalists reported mistreatment at the hands of police in 2011; the government had taken no action in any of the cases as of year’s end.
These are just but few examples to demonstrate how the government of Kenya will not end the culture of impunity any sooner. And because the TNA is determined that Kethi’s name deleted from the register because they did not want her to vie for Makueni senatorial seat, you will not be surprised that the court will still rule in favour of TNA. That is Kenya you call yours.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002
from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2013
Some of you have been asking my opinion on what I say about the call by Kakamega Senator, Dr. Bonny Khalwale that Deputy President William Ruto should resign for flouting Chapter Six of the constitution that talks about leadership and Integrity.
This is after the court found him guilty of grabbing 100-acre piece of land that belonged to Mr. Adrian Muteshi, an IDP at the height of 2008 post election violence in Uasin Gishu. Ruto was ordered to pay Sh5 million as compensation for unlawfully possessing the land.
Khalwale said that the same laws that applied to former Deputy Chief Justice Dr. Nancy Barasa should apply to Ruto, noting that Barasa was shown the door just for pinching a security guard’s nose, but with Ruto it is serious as the court itself found him guilty of land grabbing and therefore unfit to hold any public office let alone being the Deputy President as required by Chapter Six of the constitution.
My opinion why Ruto cannot be shown the door is to do with culture of impunity in Kenya. This is not even the first scandal labelled against Ruto. In October 20, 2010 the High Court ruled Ruto had a case to answer in connection with alleged payment of millions of shillings arising from land deals involving the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPL). He was suspended briefly but later on reinstated.
Ruto was charged with defrauding the KPL of large amounts of money through dubious land deals, notably through the sale of a piece of land in Ngong forest to the company. A key witness in the fraud case, Ms Mary Ng’ethe, was appointed to a government board, allegedly on the instigation of the ODM party, “to discourage her from testifying,” according to former Raila aide Miguna Miguna. This resulted in Ruto’s acquittal for lack of evidence.
This can explain why before the 2010 constitutional referendum, Ruto campaigned against the promulgation of the new Constitution, arguing that some of its clauses were untenable. The ‘No’ campaigners were, however, resoundingly defeated at the referendum. Probably he did not want the constitution to pass because of this Chapter Six on integrity.
Another reason why in my own opinion I don’t think Uhuru will allow this to happen since the two are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), all relating to the violence that broke out in the aftermath of the disputed 2007 presidential election.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002
A Kenyan elected Member of Parliament is to be charged in court to face corruption charges after he was caught red handed taking a bribe of kshs 100,000 after he had demanded kshs 150,000 from a businessman over a Constituency Development Project.
Kasarani MP John Njoroge who is a former Deputy Mayor of Nairobi was arrested at a cty restyaurant as he received kshs 1000,000 part of the bribe he had demanded.
His arrest came about after officials from the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission set a trap on him.
According to Kenya’s anti-Corruption Chief Executive Officer Halakhe Waqo,they received a complaint from a contractor in the constituency that the MP was demanding a bribe of Kshs 150,000 to enable him authorize his payment of kshs 3.3million from the CDF project.
“The payment was for the work the contractor had done on Baba Dogo Road Secondary School” said Waqo.
The MP however denied the allegations asn he was escorted in police car after several questioning at the Commission’s headquarters.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is facing
insurmountable challenges towards recovery of illegally acquired
public assets. EACC Lawyer Ms. Judith Shamallah decried lack of
political goodwill in recovery of illegally and irregularly acquired
public assets including property belonging to the Judiciary. “Some
public institutions play hide and seek when EACC demand to peruse
their original documents during investigations,” Ms. Shamallah said.
Ms. Shamallah was presenting a paper titled Recovery of Illegally
Acquired Public Assets during the Law Society of Kenya (LSK)
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Seminar on Integrity Issues,
Threshold and State Service at Ole Sereni Hotel in Nairobi. She
regretted hurdles in the recovery of investments/assets stashed
overseas following several factors including communication barrier.
”Non-English speaking countries spend weeks or even months before
responding to our communication giving culprits time to transfer
illegally acquired investments to other countries,” Ms. Shamallah
said. She said that other countries dragged their feet while
responding to official demand letters from EACC.
However, she said that the EACC recently repossessed grabbed property
belonging to the Judiciary, public hospital in Uasin Gishu, houses in
Woodley (Nairobi), Mt. Elgon hospital (Kitale), Uhuru Gardens
(Mombasa), several plots excised from Karura forest , over l00 acres
of land in Ngong forest, acres of Government land and houses in
Milimani suburbs (Kakamega) among others. “The EACC is working with
the Judiciary and Executive towards overcoming challenges preventing
it from recovery of illegally acquired public assets,” Ms. Shamallah
said.
She said that most graft cases touch on the big shots in society who
fight to hold on to illegally acquired public property.
Ms. Shamallah said that lengthy court cases are among challenges the
Constitutional body encounters in daily practice. “Lengthy Court cases
challenging investigations and recovery proceedings by EACC is a
nightmare,” Ms. Shamallah said. She said noted that there is also Bank
Secrecy law in a country like Switzerland where accessing information
during investigations is near impossible.
