Category Archives: Dickens Wasonga

KENYA: SEARCH FOR A MALARIA VACCINE BRINGS GOOD TIDDING TO A SLEEPY KENYAN VILLAGE

By, Dickens Wasonga – Kisumu,Kenya.

Only a few years ago,the now upgraded Kombewa district hospital was just a dispensary.

The capacity of the hospital which sits right next to the Kombewa clinical research center,one of the three study sites in Kenya where the clinical trials of the malaria vaccine candidate RTS,S is under way, was indeed wanting.

Typical of such facilities in most rural settings in Africa,the hospital which is situated in Nyanza province of western Kenya could only handle very minor medical complications from its patients most of whom are poor.

Patients seeking treatment at the facility would go without essential drugs while the staff was always skeleton and basic medical equipment like syringes lacking.

They soon abandoned the facility as it became increasingly too obvious that they would merely be referred to other facilities for management.

But quietly in Bagamoyo research training center in Tanzania, a journey of hope had just began unbeknown to the locals.

The third phase trial of the world’s most clinically advanced malaria vaccine candidate,RTS,S had finally taken off and soon it would be rolled out in Kenya,being one of the seven participating African nations on the trials..

Little did the residents of this sleepy village in western Kenya realize that the journey which began several miles away in Tanzania would soon improve health care provision in their community and bring with it huge gains both directly and indirectly.

In their own testimonies,residents of this remote village today confess that things have since improved for the better not only for the once deplorable district hospital but also in the other health facilities within Kisumu west district which is covered by the Kombewa clinical research center where the clinical trials for the malaria vaccine is ongoing.

According to Dr. Walter Otieno, a principal investigator at the center which launched its malaria vaccine trials in July last year,there was need for research scientists working in the district to have a working partnership with the existing health facilities within the study area.

But one fundamental thing needed to be addressed urgently. The deplorable conditions of most of these facilities had to be fixed first to create a favorable ground ahead of the study.

The researchers had identified the Kombewa facility and another 21 health centers and dispensaries spread across the district as their potential collaborators in the study.

Today,thanks for the ongoing trials at the center,Kombewa district hospital and the outlying health facilities within the district have had their capacities strenthened in terms of provision of medical care and are now well prepared to cope with the increasing demands for health care by their patients.

The much needed improvements which was made possible largelly due to the financial assistance provided to the facility by the Malaria Clinical Trial Alliance [MCTA] through the Kombewa clinical research center has seen a renewed hope amongst the many patients who now stream back into the hospital for treatment.

Only last year the district hospital got a major face lift which saw the old roofs replaced.

The wards were also renovated and additional 60 bed capacity ward for adult males built with funds provided by Kombewa clinical research center which is operating under Walter Reed-an affiliate of the America’s CDC alongside Kenya’s Medical Research Institute,KEMRI.

The facility also received a modern X-Ray machine worth millions of shillings and oxygen concentrator machine both donated by the MCTA ,an African- led institution established to build capacity in the fight against malaria.

The Alliance which is made up of scientists within and outside Africa also provides training and technical assistance to research centers in nine African countries.

These countries includes Mozambique, Senegal,Ghana,Nigeria,Tanzania,the Gambia, Gabon,Kenya and Malawi.

It also helps to leverage the capabilities of the INDEPTH Network to strengthen global research and development activities targeting malaria.

Even though malaria still remains the main public health challenge to residents of this district with almost 60 percent of all children admissions at the district hospital being due to malaria attacks, the people of Kombewa village now have a reason to smile.

In Kenya for example,the digital X-Ray machines are only available in the three study sites,one at the Siaya district hospital – another study site in western Kenya and at the Kilifi site found along the coastal strip of the east African country.

The Kombewa district hospital’s medical superintendent,Dr.Joel Ogutu can nolonger hide his joy.

According to him,the situation at the district hospital before they received the equipment from MCTA was pathetic.

He watched helplessly as many patients were turned away from the hospital because of lack of essential instruments. His prayer was that one day things might improve for the better.

”All our patients,especially the TB cases where X-ray services were critical would be referred to the new Nyanza provincial general hospital,the only refferral facility in this region which is situated almost 20 kilometers away in Kisumu.The patients would meet the cost of transport to and fro and a lot of time would be wasted as a result.”said Dr.Ogutu.

Now the district hospital offers all the X-ray services to all its patients and earns thousands of shillings in revenue from the charges it levies.

According to him,the digital machine has greatly enhanced efficiency at the facility. Pictures produced by the machine can be sent electronically anywhere in the world and results obtained as soon as possible.

In this small village also sits a modern lab right in the middle of a rural setting.Each day,mothers and their young ones below two years enrolled in the study stream into the Kombewa trial site to take part in perhaps the biggest study ever at the 11 sites in the seven African countries.

The Kombewa clinical research center do not lock out other needy patients from communities it works with from accessing help at its facilities.

That was the case late last year when the 7 year old Sabastian Onyango from one of the villages covered in the study was down with what later turned out to be Menengitis.

Even though the young boy was not in the study, his younger brother Philip was.Their mother,Millicent Onyango could not raise money for his medication but approached the center for help and that request was granted on humanitarian grounds.

”He was airlifted to Nairobi, and eventually to Uganda where he was later operated on and treated.Today he is doing very well and I plan to have him enroll in class one next year.The cost for his treatment ran into millions of shillings which I could not afford but the center helped me.” she said.

Even vehicles used by the researchers at the center have on many occassions helped to rush accident victims to various hospitals in the district and particularly to Kisumu where the provincial general hospital is located.

The move has not only enhanced the working reletions between the center and the community within which it operates but has also greatly benefitted the district hospital which operates just one ambulance to handle all the emergency cases brought to its door step.

The principal investigator said because of the trials at the center, modern machines have also been availed which currently is shared between the center and the other hospitals in the area and helps to diagnose a number of childhood diseases.

Some of them includes the blood culture machine,culture for meningitis,urine culture and stool culture which were not there before the study began.

The machines most of which were provided by the MCTA have increased diagnostic accuracy and helps to determine the drugs sensitivity.

The investigator said before, most of these diseases were treated based on clinical signs and symptoms.

Apart from the provision of the modern equipment,the research center has also seconded at least one of its staff in all the health facilities within the area where the trials are being carried out to boost the strength of the facilities in terms of personnel.

At the district hospital for example,there is always a pediatrician on call.The center has four pediatricians who besides taking part in the trials also see patients who seek help at the facility with different complications.

”This center has four pediatricians and because of this,the community here benefits in a big way since they not only see ailling participants on the trial but also assist in any complication which might arise at the nearby district hospital and as a result standards of health care is greatly enhanced.”said Dr.Otieno.

The many job opportunities provided by the center is yet another positive aspect that has come for the residents of this district,thanks to the ongoing research work.

Currently about 80 people are earning their income directly from the project while even a bigger percentage of the locals,mainly farmers supply their produce to the research center.

Kombewa trading center has also sprung up in the process and today is a vibrant economy within the district with several housing projects coming up.

The home stretch trials which has now opened up Kombewa village and its environs completely began following the success of phase 2 studies in Kenya and Mozambique,where RTS,S was shown to have reduced clinical reports of malaria by 53 percent.

The vaccine candidate which many scientists have billed as a possible magic bullet, also had a promising safety and tolerability profile when used alongside standard infant vaccines.

The Kombewa study site is located in an area where malaria is endemic. The area provincial director of public health Dr. Jackson Kioko said 40 percent of children below five,here have malaria parasite in their blood.

Besides causing acute illness,malaria infections have resulted in missed school and work days.The disease has also lowered productivity among the farming groups in the region leading to food insufficiency.

RTS,S which is being tried in the area was developed and manufactured by GSK Biological of Belgium and PATH Malaria vaccine initiative which also sponsers KEMRI/CDC,KEMR/Wellcome Trust IN Kilifi and KEMRI/Walter Reed programmes in Kombewa and KEMRI/CDC in Siaya.

In Kenya, KEMRI/CDC is targetting to enroll about 1,800 children at its Siaya site while the Kombewa center KEMRI/Walter Reed progammes will enroll 1,600. The entire study will enroll a total of 16,000 children in the 11 sites inthe seven participating African countries.

Researchers hope that if licenced and subsequently approved the vaccine would be an important addition to the current tools available to fight malaria such as insecticide treated nets,intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy and indoor residual spraying to prevent malaria.

ENDS.

Kenya: JOBS SCAM AT AHERO TOWN COUNCIL

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Story By Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu.

It has now emerged that the 32 people who got jobs at Ahero town council recieved letters of appointments even before the interviews were conducted by the council s finance committee.

32 letters of appointment, copies of which are currently under the custody of the provincial local government officer Nyanza Mr. Isaac Kirui were signed and dispatched to the job applicants by the town clerk Mr Richard Kimanga on the 10th of February this year while the interviews to fill the vacant positons were held on the 25th of February,almost one week after the letters had been posted and those appointed asked to start working immediately.

So irregular was the process that three councillors opposed to the idea chose to write a protest letter to the public service commission,copies of which were copied to the PS ministry of local government and the PLGO,among other relevant government offices in a bid to have the entire process nullified.

According to the PLGO, even after they sat to conduct the interviews,civic leaders sitting in the finance committee at the local authority failed to agree on the matter and the committee could not therefore conclude the process of hiring the said new staff.

Even though the council which is currently reeling under debts amounting to millions of shillings had been allowed to hire only 8 new staff by the ministry, it went ahead to recruit 35 people through a process that was bogged down by irregularities.

The council has not paid salaries to its staff for nine months now but the clerk went ahead to hire additional 35 staff to add on to the existing 60 employees.how will the council manage to pay the huge wage bill that will come as a result of the recruitment? asked the PLGO.

He said the ministry was considering taking disciplinary action against the town clerk because he not only defied the ministry’s directive to hire only 8 new staff but also presided over a process which was openly irregular.

He said already the clerk has recieved a letter from the PS nullifying the recruitment awaiting further disciplinary actions by the ministry.

He disclosed that some of the applicants who recieved the appointment letters were claiming that money also exchanged hands.

Kirui said the clerk also promoted some of the staffs at the council with some claiming they parted with bribes to be considered.

These are issues that we are investigating and soon you will see heads rolling, he added.

The provincial boss said as far as he was concerned all the appointment letters given to the applicants were fake because they were issued even before any interviews were carried out.

Efforts to reach the embattled clerk remained futile as his mobile phone remained switched off.

The council chairman councillor Joel Oron however tried to defend the Clerk claiming that they did not hire more than the number of people they were allowed to recruit by the ministry apart from giving consideration to casuals.

“We did employ only casuals since we needed cleaners and enforcement officers who were lacking.those claiming that we have exceeded the number by the ministry are being malicious. They are my rivals whom I ousted during the elections of chairmen last year. They are not happy with what we have done at the council since we took over”, said cllr.Oron.

But the chairman did not know that this writer had not only seen all the copies of appointment letters issued to those who had been considered for the jobs but also had the very copies in his possession.

According to the PLGO the council had sought to fill the position of a town engineer, Social Development officer, a computor programmer, a physical planner and the administrative officer among other vacancies, all totalling 8 positions and they got the ministry’s green light.

ENDS.

Email wasongadickens@yahoo.com

Cell phone: 0714 62 79 81

KENYA: ENVELOPE JOURNALISTS COMB KISUMU CITY

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BY Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu Kenya.

To many reporters, having a story published complete with a by line is such a rewarding gesture, but to a few journalists in Kisumu, a story must be paid for.

This habit which is consistently taking root here in Kisumu is now worrying both the locals and journalists who still hold the ethics of the trade close to their hearts.

The new breed of journalists, drawn mainly from the local vernacular FM radio stations, and another from one of the newly launched print dailies, are now soiling the image of the once noble profession in the manner in which they practice the art of gathering and filing news stories in the lakeside city.

The ‘cash for story journalists’, who calls themselves the ”pentagon” team are known to move each day from one hotel to the other within the town, purportedly in search of stories from seminars and workshops, and woe unto any event organizer unwilling to pay them for the coverage.

According to those who have fallen victims of this group, which first sprung up in the run-up to the last general elections, the five reporters do not care much about being invited to attend such functions, and gate crushing into the events now appears like their area of specialization.

In the very words of a top official of a civil society group working in the area, these scribes storm into functions, register as participants and leave very fast to yet another hotel hosting another workshop, only to resurface much later to pick cash meant for participants.

The news source who asked not to be named accused these young reporters of collecting as little as ksh.100 from leaders when the going gets too tough for them.

”You will see them move in, register and sit briefly. They do not even follow proceedings or take notes during the workshops. If they choose to sit throughout the sessions, they do so from outside the conference rooms, where they engage on petty talk and totally ignore what ordinarily would capture the attention of a serious writer ,” said the activist.

Investigations by this journalist revealed that a member of the same group duped his friends and fellow reporters in the town last year with his school fees harrambee that never was.

The reporter, who once worked in Homa Bay, but was forced out of the town by colleagues over his unethical behaviors, shocked both friends and colleagues when he organized a fund raiser mid last year, with claims that he was going for further studies in one of the university colleges in South Africa, only to use the collections from the harambee to open a bar at Kisumu’s Sifa estate.

Those who contributed money for the young man’s bid to further his education abroad could not believe they were conned when the dates he earlier indicated for his departure came to pass.

Most journalists in the town felt it was good intention to help one of their own realise his ambition to pursue further education and joined in by raising sh200 each besides the contribution they handed in on the day of the harambee.

An a aspirant who lost his bid for Ugenya parliamentary seat narrated his ordeal in the hands of this crooked group to this writer on how they would pay him daily visits with promises of doing positive stories for him while hitting the opponents,all as a means to solicit bribes.

Their team leader was sacked 2 years ago by his radio station after he forged a receipt meant for a client and took sh20,000 in the process.Even though he was shown the door,he seems to have failed to learn from the past and has continued to extort from unsuspecting news sources at his present station.

”They would shamelessly come back even without doing the said stories, until one day I was forced to dismiss them and threatened to report their unethical activities to their bosses”, he said.

The local leaders and civil society groups now want those who own these upcoming FM stations to weed out journalists working for them, to redeem the image of the affected media houses.

Many of the civil society groups are increasingly shying away from asking reporters to cover events they organize because of the unbecoming conduct of these breed of journalists springing up all over in Kisumu as the FM stations continue to grow.

KENYA: CHIEF ARRESTED BY ANTI GRAFT POLICE IN MALABA WHILE RECEIVING BRIBE.

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By Dickens Wasonga in Malaba.

A Malaba chief was yesterday arrested by anti corruption police officers while allegedly receiving a bribe to help arbitrate over a land row involving a mother and her two sons.

33 year old Lawrence Ingura, who is the Kamolo location chief In Amagoro division of Teso district was in his home waiting to receive the money from one of the parties locked in the family land feud, but little did he realise that his client had tipped off the anti graft officers, who laid in wait outside his compound.

Earlier the administrator met one of the sons, who wanted to get a share of the two acre piece of land left behind by their late father, and struck a deal to offer ksh.2000 to the chief to favour his demands.

Simon Maswa fell out of favour with their mother, Teresa Opili, over who between the two brothers should inherit the land left to the widow 3 years ago.

While Maswa showed keen interest to inherit the land, his mother disowned him, saying he was not the biological son of her late husband Opili Maswa, and therefore had no right whatsoever over the family property.

Attempts by her son to get the local elders to help advance his case failed, and at this point, he chose to seek the help of the area chief, but with something up his sleeves.

While the chief was waiting for the bribe, the young man was planning behind the scenes, how to fix the poor administrator, who is paid to serve the public diligently.

The chief, who is being held by the police at Malaba police station, will tomorrow appear before a Bungoma court to face corruption charges. He has since been interdicted.

Meanwhile, the police arrested two Pakistani nationals who were found to have come into the country illegally.

The duo, who are being investigated by the police in Malaba were nubbed at Adongosi, near Kenya- Uganda border on Sunday, when they were found without entry visas.

The police identified one of the foreigners as Marjan Nek and the other one only as Madamin.

The Malaba district criminal investigations officer, Mr Teben Amos, today told the press in his office that they were yet to find anything linking the two to any terrorist group, but hastened to add that no chance could be taken, given the increased incidences of suspected terrorist gaining entrance into the country through the Busia border.

During the arrest, the two foreigners claimed they strayed into the country to pray, adding that they were not aware they had crossed over to Kenya.

Only recently, a suspected terrorist who had been nubbed by the Kenyan police, slipped away in Busia, where he was being held under unclear circumstances.

Its believed that criminals linked to terrorism activities were using the porous Kenyan borders to sneak into the country to cool their heels or possibly plot attacks without being noticed by the country’s law enforcement agencies.

ENDS

KENYA: KISUMU COUNTY CLERK TRANSFERRED OVER CONTROVERSIAL RECRUITMENT.

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The controversy over irregular recruitment of 13 employees at the Kisumu county council has seen the clerk who was at the center of it moved and the hiring nullified by the PS, ministry of local government.

The immediate former clerk to the county council, Mr. Zablon Chana, who was accused by a section of councilors of hiring his daughter and a brother to the council’s chairman councilor, Issac Ojuok, has been tranfered to Luanda town council, according to the Nyanza provincial local government officer, Issac Kirui.

The hiring, which was protested vehemently by the civic leaders, led by the establishment committee chairman, cllr. Mary Atieno, saw the clerk recruit Ghati Getari, his daughter and CalebOjuok, the chairman’s brother, as market attendants three, in salary scale 19, even though the duo failed to attain the required marks during the interview.

Earlier, when contacted, the clerk and the chairman did not deny that the two were indeed their relatives, but argued that as Kenyans there was nothing stopping them from being considered for the jobs, just because of being their kinsmen.

But the PLGO disagreed with the two, and said it was clear they contravened the laid down procedures by manipulating the recruitment process and altering the score sheets to favour their relatives, at the expense of the other potential and eligible applicants.

He confirmed that the clerk, who has been at the council for the last six years, was moved because of how he handled the recruitment, adding that Mr. Benson Opiyo from Busia county council has since replaced him.

The government has at the same time nullified the hiring of 35 new staff at Ahero town council after its town clerk, Mr. Richard Kimanga, allegedly ignored the ministry’s directive to the local authority to hire only nine new employees.

According the PLGO, the ministry had given the council the go ahead to recruit 9 staffs into the positions of a computer programmer, assistant physical planner, public health technician, supplies officer, social development officer, revenue officer, enforcement officer and town engineer, as earlier requested by the civic body.

”The ministry can not allow the chief officers to hire people nonprocedurally and in total disregard to the financial position of the institution. How are they going to pay the huge wage bill that will come as a result of this high number of staff?” asked the PLGO.

He said the council was in poor financial status and has not paid salaries for nine months, which translates to millions of shillings in form of arrears.

Three councilors from the council, namely Fredrick Oriwa,Thomas Anditi and John Okoth had on 4th of March this year wrote a letter to the public Service Commission, seeking to have the hiring of the 35 employees stopped on grounds that the council had not resolved to do so.

They accused the clerk of ignoring the directives of the commission and challenged him to produce minutes of the full council meeting which resolved that the said staff be hired.

”This council is riddled by outstanding debts, including statutory ones. Staff salaries have not been paid for nine months and currently we have only 60 employees. What will happen when the additional staff come in?”,asked cllr Anditi.

ENDS

Kenya: Jubilation as Water Project is completed and handed over to the locals

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JUBILATION AS KEN GEN HANDS OVER KSH.143M PROJECT TO LOCALS.

By Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu.

Syprose Jump, 77 could not hold back her joy. For several years now, Juma and her neighbours in the remote village of Ongoro in Rachuonyo district have had to trek many kilometers in search of water.

Yesterday the drought stricken village broke into song and dance as the Kenya Electricity generating company(KEN GEN) Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Eddy Njoroge, flanked by the company chairman, Mr. Titus Mbathi, handed over two water projects worth ksh.143 million to communities around Sondu as part of its corporate social responsibility.

The water projects, targeting to benefit 14,000 residents of Nyakach,Kasipul Kabondo and Karachuonyo constituencies are part of KEN GEN’s corporate social responsibility activities associated with the multi million Sondu Hydropower project.

The first project in Nyakach area, on the right bank of river Sondu, comprises of a water regulating pond and a treatment plant, with a capacity to supply 30,000 liters of water per hour.

It has a 1.5 meter high prefabricated steel tank, with a storage capacity of 60,000 liters of water and a distribution network of 13 water kiosks, each with a capacity of 5000 liters.

The second project on the left bank of the River will serve residents of Kabondo and Karachuonyo, and comprises six boreholes, feeding three, ten meter high prefabricated steel tanks, complete with two storage tanks with a total of 90,000 liters capacity.

The second water project has 18 water kiosks for distribution, with a capacity of 5000 liters each.

According to the MD, the Ksh.143 million included the cost of drilling boreholes, civil works and power connections, out of which Kengen contributed ksh.128.3 million, while the community contributed ksh.14.8 million in kind, including donating land, way levies and masonry works for the kiosks.

The successful implementation of the project that is bound to change the lives of many of the villagers was undertaken by the Wells construction Limited, which is reputed for completing many successful government funded water projects, mainly at the Coast province, where the contractor,Daniel Muli is based.

Members of parliament in whose constituencies the projects are situated praised the contractor, whom they commended for implementing the project within the contract period, and asked the government institutions to consider local contractors like Muli, who have demonstrated that they have the capacity to deliver the projects timely.

Speaking at the ceremony, Kasipul kabondo Mp, Oyugi Magwanga, said that in the past, Asian contractors have been favoured by the government institutions to do the projects and many times with disappointing results.

“Today we have witnessed a satisfying job of one of our own constructors. What now needs to be done by the government is to continue to award tenders to these contractors who have shown exemplary performance, as a way of empowering them economically, since they also help us create jobs to our people”, said Magwanga.

He also asked the committees that will now run the water projects to manage them well for sustainability.

Also present at the handing over ceremony was Karachunyo MP, engineer James Rege, who is also the chairman of the parliamentary committee on energy, and his Nyakach counterpart, Mr.Pollyns Ochieng as well as the Nyanza deputy Pc, Mrs Susan Waweru, among other dignitaries.

ENDS

KENYA: LOW VOTER TURN OUT MARS DAY ONE OF THE REGISTRATION EXERCISE

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By: Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu.

Kenyans countrywide yesterday ignored calls by the government to register as voters ahead of the planned national referendum on the proposed constitution.

Even as president Mwai Kibaki headed to his Othaya constituency to register as voter number one, many voter registration centers remained empty in most parts of the country the better part of yesterday.

The exercise, which kicked off in a low key, is the first to be carried out by the Interim Independent Electrol Commission (IIEC) and is set to take 45 days, during which a new voter register will be developed.

According to the commission’s chairman, Mr. Ammed Hassan Isaac, about 10 million Kenyans are targetted to register in the one and a half months exercise, which will see voters who registered previously surrender back their voters cards to the commission.

The exercise is also expected to help the electoral body to clean up the voters register which was used in the past elections, where it was alleged dead voters took part in polls.

The commission however will have to intensify its campaigns to convince the people, who are reluctant to register, if they wish to realise its targetted figure.

Many Kenyans interviwed were categorical that they have little faith in the country’s electoral process, given how the now disbanded ECK bungled the country’s last general election, whose presidential results were disputed vehemently.

Most Kenyans are still agitating for comprehensive reforms, which they believe would eliminate a repeat of the violence which rocked the nation after the 2007 polls, which left over 1000 people dead and another 300,000 internally displaced.

“Why do I need to register as a voter while those in leadership do not honour the verdict of the voters”, said a Kisumu resident.

Most political leaders, particularly members of parliament, skipped the day one of the exercise, as they were locked up in horse trading amongst their political parties at the Nairobi’s Kenya Institute of Administration, where they are trying to build consensus over the proposed constitution.

ENDS.

KENYA TARGETS TO CIRCUMCISE 1 MILLION MEN IN FOUR YEARS TIME

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KENYA TARGETS TO CIRCUMCISE 1 MILLION MEN IN FOUR YEARS TIME

By Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu

Kenya’s ministry of health is targetting to circumcise an estimated one million men in the next four years during the ongoing male circumcision for HIV prevention program.

The program, which aims to reduce the number of new HIV infections in the country by improving and expanding the provision of safe and voluntary male circumcision services, was lauched 3 years ago, and has since seen 90,000 men go for the cut in Nyanza province, where the project began.

In a speech read on his behalf by the member of parliament for Kisumu town west, Hon Olago Aluoch, during the third stakeholder’s meeting on voluntary medical male circumcision, at Kisumu’s Tom Mboya labour college, the medical services minister, prof Anyan’g Nyon’go said public health experts have advised on the need to carry out safe, medical circumcision as a new intervention, to prevent HIV alongside the other practised methods, which includes abstinence, being faithful, and correct and consistent condom use.

The minister observed that the strategy was embraced after three clinical trials conducted among uncircumcised men showed that being circumcised drastically reduced the men’s chances of becoming infected with HIV.

The studies conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa showed that male circumcision lowered the risk of HIV infection by about 60 percent.

Out of the total number of men expected to undergo the cut in the country, Nyanza will account for 430,000 men who fall between the ages of 15 to 49 years.

The government chose to first roll out the program in the province where culturally men are not circumcised. The region is also leading on HIV prevalence, which stand at 16 percent, higher than even the national average, according to statistics from the ministry.

The circumcision services are provided free in government health facilities and in various identified outreach centers.

Family Health International(FHI), the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Engender Health are partners of the consortium which carry out the project in close collaboration with the ministry of public health and medical services, and the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society, in support of a national effort led by the government of Kenya.

Its funded by a grant to FHI from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2008 to 2013.

Even though the program has recieved huge support from the local elites, particularly amongst the area’s political class, who include the prime minister Raila Odinga, the community’s elders have given it a lukewarm welcome.

Led by its council chairman, ker Riaga Ogalo, the elders still appear to want to cling to the community’s old ways and constantly encourage the locals to stick to cultural preservation so as not to lose their identity.

However, going by the swelling numbers of males rushing to undergo the cut, especially by the young men from the area, it’s clear many people would do anything to beat the scourge.

Speaking at the same function, the Kisumu east district commissioner, Mr Mabeya Mogaka warned those who deliberately infect others with the virus in the town to watch ou,t because the long arm of the law will soon catch up with them.

ENDS.

KENYA’S TOP SECURITY OFFICERS RUSH TO THE PRESS TO ALLEY FEARS OVER PC S ALLEGED DISAPPEARENCE.

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By Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu.

In what appeared like a push by the Kenya government to shield its dented image over media reports indicating that a senior deputy provincial commissioner based in Nyanza was missing,top security chiefs hurriedly convened press briefings in three different towns, several miles apart, to set the record straight and stop what it described as confusion spread by the press to mislead the public.

However, one fact could not be wished away by the good old government, and that fact was that Mr Oku Kaunya, who is understood to be a potential and key witness against the sponsors of the country’s worst post-poll violence had indeed gone into hidding after he recieved death threatening text messages on his cell phone a few weeks ago.

While Nairobi woke up to the shocking news of the pc’s disapearence, Nyanza province and Kisumu in particular was already awash with speculations about who could have possibly wanted to eliminate Mr. Oku Kaunya, who was serving in the area as a regional commisioner in charge of central part of the province.

In a bid to alley fears and stop more confusion, as they described the media reports, the Ps in the ministry of internal security and provincial administration adressed a well attended morning press conference in Nairobi, where he declared the officer was on annual leave and was not missing.

The same chorus was being echoed miles away in Kisumu, Nyanza’s provincial headquaters, by the local Pc, Mr Francis Mutie, who seemed to have been taken aback by the reports of the alleged disappearence of his principal assistant.

What they however failed to tell the media was why they appeared only too keen to dismiss the media reports, instead of taking a keen interest in investigating the matter that touched on the very life of one of their own dear senior colleague.

Even more interesting is the fact that the reports about the disappearence of the officer was made to a section of Kenyan media by his wife, who dusclosed that the man had not been home for three days, and could not be reached even by the worried family members since the phone was swiched off.

Focussing its entire efforts only on damage control, the government was holding yet another press conference at the western provincial headquaters in Kakamega, this time strangely adressed by both the area PC Mr Simon Kelele and the very officer whose life is at stake.

Although the officer also denied earlier press reports that said he was missing, the senior administrator confirmed that he had recieved death threats and proceeded to report the matter to the police in Bungoma.

He also told the press that the same report was made to the police in Nyanza, adding that the PCIO, Mr Sabastian Ndaru was fully briefed.

It is however not clear why the senior civil servant chose to report and record statements over a threat on his life to the police several kilometers in another province, instead of doing so Kisumu where he is based.

The Pc, under whose command the officer worked, found himself hard pressed to explain to journalists gathered at his office why Kaunya’s wife told the media in Kisumu that her husband was missing, and even went ahead to record a statement with the CID officers in Kisumu, if she indeed was well aware that the man was on leave as put by his bosses.

Observers will be keen to follow the baffling story of the deputy PC unfold, given that he is said to be one of the potential and key witnesses of the post-poll chaos that rocked the country in early 2008.

Kaunya was, until his posting in January as deputy Pc for Nyanza central, the administration police deputy commandant based at the formation’s training school in Embakasi, Nairobi.

The Aps were variously mentioned as having taken a partisan role during and after the elections whose results were disputed, and a section of the media in Kenya carried reports that alleged that some of the officers were killed by voters on suspicion that they were agents of a certain political party that had fielded its candidate on the presidential race.

Before media reports of his alleged disappearence, security men at his Kisumu’s official residence and his driver are said to have also recieved death threats allegedly from a senior administration police officer in the rapid deployment unit (RDU), a special squad with no definite mandate.

Mrs. Milicent Kaunya, the administrator s wife, his guard and the driver have since recorded statements at the Nyanza provincial police headquaters.

Yesterday Mrs Kaunya told journalists in Kisumu that a call was made to her husband by some sources that an offer of ksh. 3m had been placed on his head.

His lawyer, Mr Aja Alubayi, when contacted said Kaunya has lately resorted to putting up with friends because he was constantly being trailed by people he suspected were on a mission to kill him.

He said he met his client on march 4 in Nairobi before he left for Kisumu the following day, and the pc recorded a stament about the threats on his life and family with PPO western province on march 8.

Potential witnesses in the post election violence have alleged increased torment and threats by potential suspects, forcing many of them into hiding for lack of state protection.

Kaunya was also the commandant of the Ap training school, where it is alleged the disputed results of the presidential poll were manipulated.

Its widely believed the planners and financiers of post election chaos fear the deputy PC is a vital source of information International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo requires to build up a firm case against the post election violence suspects.

Its interesting also to know that Kaunya was sent to Thailand when the Waki Commission was going round the country collecting information on post election violence.

Upon return he was sent on study leave at the national defence college (NDC) in Karen, Nairobi before he was redeployed in Kisumu as deputy Pc, even before graduating at the NDC.

But yesterday, the goverment appeared caught off guard, and even though its senior officers were dispatched to adress the media, it was clear that something unusual was going on that has indeed compromised the security of one of its senior officers.

END.

KENYA: THE FUTURE OF LAKE KANYABOLI NATIONAL RESERVE IS AT STAKE AS COUNCILORS LOCK HORNS OVER MANAGEMENT

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By Dickens Wasonga,

The fate of the just gazetted Lake Kanyaboli national reserve in the expansive Yala swamp now hangs in the balance- thanks to a bitter row which has emerged, pitting two groups of councilors at the Siaya county council, over its proposed management.

One camp, led by cllr. Leonard Oriaro, in whose ward the lake exists, has vehemently opposed the conservation efforts being fronted by the council chairman, cllr. Aggrey Onyango, whom they claim was undermining the local leadership, who feel they were never consulted before the project was mooted.

Those opposing the conservation of the lake argue that the plight of the over 200,000 people, who will be displaced by the project, was not being addressed adequately, and want the entire process carried out afresh.

They allege the proponents of the project are rushing it to serve their own vested interests, and in total disregard to the alternative views and opinions of the local communities who live around the lake.

Speaking on behalf of the people of Lake Kanyaboli , the Boro west ward councilor said they were not opposed to efforts to save the lake, but want the council to follow the due process, before it eventually takes over the management of the reserve.

“Can the chairman of Siaya county council show us and the community the minutes of a full or a special council meeting that approved this project? As far as I know, the council has never sat and resolved anything about this project even though it could be a noble one”, he said.

The community, according to the leader, now demand that the whole process be nullified, before they can sign a memorandum of understanding between them and the council, on how the entire project will be managed.

The civic leaders said, as it is , there is no agreement that spells out roles to be played by either of the two parties and how, for example, the revenue generated from the reserve-if fully conserved, will be shared out to benefit both the local authority and the community.

“Whoever came up with such an idea, to have the lake conserved and managed by the county council of Siaya, contravened the ideals to the realization of Vision 2030 in the region. This is because the locals are not in the picture, thereby making the social Pillar aspect not being visible at all”, he said.

But those for the project have dismissed as false assertions by the opposing camp that they were pushing their own agenda through the project.

“These people are only seeking cheap publicity at the expense of a noble project. They must stop playing politics with a project that will create jobs and empower the locals economically”, said the chairman.

According to the chairman, the project will not only give jobs to several youths from the area, but will also earn revenue to the council, part of which will be ploughed back into the community.

Soon after it was gazetted to the status of a national reserve, a section of the community, who included 26 councilors from Siaya county council, were taken on a three day exposure and educational tour, which saw the participants visit Masai Mara national park, and got the opportunity to learn how communities around the Mara have benefited from the reserve.

However, if the bickering, that almost derailed the Mara trip, and current bitter fall out between the civic leadership at the council is anything to go by, then the over sh.500,000 which the Kenya Wildlife Service put onto the tour may be as good as a wasted cash.

Even as they continue fighting, what is at stake is the existence of the lake, whose water levels is understood to be receding very fast due to uncontrolled human activities, which include farming. Various fish species that once provided a lifeline to the area residents have become almost extinct.

ENDS:

KENYA: TWO ORPHANED BROTHERS PERISH IN KISUMU WHILE HARVESTING SAND

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By Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu.

Two brothers died today in Kisumu when a pit they were digging caved in, burrying them alive.

Another brother to the two cheated death by a whisker, but was left with two broken legs in the 2pm tragic accident, which occurred at the Osiepe area of Kisumu east district.

According the local police boss, Mr John Mwinzi,the three orphaned brothers have been engaging in sand harvesting in the area for some time now, as their only source of income

The two who were burried in the sand died on the spot during the incident and were identified by the police as Boniface Okoth, 20, and Arthur Ajwang, 18.

The one who survived was still fighting for dear life at the new Nyanza general hospital, where he was rushed to by the police.

The bodies of the deceased were also taken to the provincial hospital’s mortuary,to awaiting postmortem.

Speaking soon after visiting the scene of the incident, the OCPD asked the area chief and his assistants to stop people from sand harvesting, particularly near river banks, to avoid more tragedies in future.

ENDS

KENYA: PC NYANZA WANTS THE MEDIA TO HELP REDEAM IMAGE OF THE PROVINCE

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By Dickens Wasonga.

The Nyanza provincial commissioner, Mr. Francis Mutie has appealed to the media to assist in rebuilding the badly tattered image of the region, as the government scales up efforts to woe investors into the region.

The pc observed that the region has huge resources which only needed to be fully exploited to empower the local residents to grow economically, and added that “positive publicity would really help to redeem Nyanza’s worn out image”.

The pc asked the media in the area to take a leading role to market the region agressively by highliting the potential the province has in terms of economic growth and help attract investors.

The senior administrator pointed out that alot of development activities was going on in a number of sectors of the economy, but the activities were not getting the focus of the media, like other issues that only potray the province negatively.

“The trend now is where all that we read and watch in the media is only violence related. Other negative happenings need to be discouraged. I am not trying to gag the press, but all I am asking them is to also appreciate the good things that our province has to offer”, said the pc.

Mutie also appealed to the journalists in the area to realise that they were part of the communities within which they work, adding that they needed to practice responsible journalism that promotes development, and discard sensational reporting of issues.

The pc said with the expansion works at the ksh.3b Kisumu international airport is nearing its completion, and through aggresive marketing of the western Kenya tourism circuit, the region will soon be turned into the economic hub of the entire east African region, and alot of ground work must therefore begin ahead of the expected growth.

Nyanza, which has been associated for along time with opposition politics since the times of the late doyen of opposition politics in Kenya, Jaromogi Oginga Odinga, remains one of the regions in the country which are least developed, with poverty reaching worrying levels.

The region has also been associated with high prevalence rates of various diseases, the most talked about one being HIV/AIDS.

Acts of violence have also dominated news from the region in the past, thereby potraying residents of the province as intolerant and arrogant.

These issues have turned away many would be investors from the region, making it lag behind in terms of development, for several years.

Cash crops, such as cotton, sugarcane and even maize were known to do well in the area some years ago. Things have since changed for the worst, but agricultural experts still believe that with a renewed government involvement, and farmers emporwerment, the crops can still offer a solution to the current food insufficiency facing the locals.

ENDS.

KENYA: KISUMU TOWN CLERK RISKS ARREST OVER A DUMPSITE

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By Dickens Wasonga in Kisumu city.

The town clerk of Kisumu municipal council risks being arrested and taken to court if the council fails to identify official dumping ground at the expiry of a 21 day notice issued against it by the area district public health officer.

Addressing a stakeholders meeting held at a Kisumu hotel yesterday, a tough talking Kisumu east district commissioner, Mr Mabeya Mogaka, said it was time action was taken against the officers at the council who have failed tax payers by not providing quality service to the city’s residents.

The visible disapointed Dc said it was a shame that Kisumu, whose population is over 500,000 people, and the country’s third lagest city, did not have a designated area to dispose of waste, adding that an organised council would ensure it has in its system a morden waste management procedure, which is acceptable to the national environment management authority.

He observed that currently it’s not unusual to spot garbage strewn all over in the estates, with areas such as Kisumu’s mega city, choking with filth.

At times filth flows even at the town center, with burst sewers not fixed for several days. “This kind of neglect can not be allowed to go on in this city”, he said.

The meeting, which brought together several stakeholders in the tourism industry from Western and Nyanza province, turned into a bashing podium for the municipal council, which only a few years ago was made a millenium city, and was dubbed one of the cleanest city’s within the east African region.

Many participants called for a proper planning of the town and asked the council to pull down the mushrooming kiosks and clear the sreets of hawkers and the menacing urchins.

They also asked the city fathers to create parking areas for the cyclists, commonly known here as “bodaboda”, away from the town center, in order to ease the unnecessary delays of traffic jams and accidents, which are the order of the day currently.

The Nyanza provincial commissioner, Mr. Francis Mutie, who was the chief guest at the brain storming meeting, assured the investors and the city residents that security would be beefed up.

The PC disclosed that they have rescued over 50 street boys in a mop up exercise to create a city free of street families, adding that those removed from the streets have been taken to remand homes for rehabilitation.

Mutie also asked the local authority to improve the road network within the town and its environs, especially the road from the Kisumu airport to the CBD which is currently delapidated.

He noted that there was need for the political class in the area to support the civil servants working in the province to bring development to the locals.

ENDS.

Kenya: Man clobbered to death by his jealous two wives when he tried to marry a third woman

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From : Dickens Wasonga in Bondo.

A middle aged man was on friday clobbered to death in a Bondo village by his two wives, after he decided to marry a third wife.

The deceased, according to family sources, met his death when he tried to officially introduce the new comer as his wife to the first two, who did not take the matter lightly.

Unconfirmed reports however indicate that the man had been living together with his would- be third wife in Bondo town, where worked as a bar manager, but kept the whole issue a top secret to the other two wives.

The deceased’s mother, who came to the aid of her son, was seriously injured in the all out war, and had to be hospitalised.

The 3pm beastly act occurred at Kapiyo village within Maranda division, and left the rest of the villagers still reeling in shock.

The police in the area have since launched investigations into the killing, and have already arrested the two women at the center of the attack.

ENDS.

Kenya: School girls at a bar with a woman’s husband during school hours assaulted by the enraged wife

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Subject: PATRONS TREATED TO DRAMA AS SCHOOL GIRLS ARE ASSUALTED IN A KISUMU BAR.

By Dickens Wasonga.

Patrons in a Kisumu bar were yesterday treated to a drama, when two secondary school girls were accosted by a woman who found them enjoying drinks with a man believed to be her husband, while other students were in class.

According to eye witness account, the enraged woman had trailed the students and her unfaithful husband for several hours, after she was tipped by her friends that one of the girls was having a love affair with the man, a Swizz citizen, and that they had been spotted having a nice time in a pub near Brilliant area of Kibuye.

The woman, who was later arrested by the police and locked up at Kondele police station, is reported to have pounced on one of the girls with kicks and blows, leaving her with serious injuries.

The injured student was later taken to Kisumu east district hospital by the whiteman, who told the nurses at the facility that he was a good samaritan who only tried to rescue the girl from a mob.

The parents and teachers of the two form four girls of Lliberty secondary school said the students sneaked out of school without seeking permission, before the mid-day incident.

Speaking to the press shortly after the incident, the school s head teacher said the two girls had been in school in the morning, but could not clarify how they sneaked without the management’s knowledge.

Waiters and management of the bar where the incident occurred said they have spotted the whiteman on several occassions with the teenage girls at the joint, but did not realise they were students.

One of the girls who took off during the incident was still being sought by her parents, who reside at Kisumu’s Kaloleni estate. But the woman at the center of the brawl had been released by the police on shs. 10,000 cash bail.

Confirming the incident, the area ocpd, Henry Mwinzi, assurred journalists that the woman will be arraigned before court to answer assault charges.

ENDS.

MUHORONI SUGAR FACTORY TO COMMISSION A SH 80M POWER PROJECT, PROMISES TO CLEAR OUT-STANDING FARMERS’ ARREARS

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MUHORONI SUGAR FACTORY TO COMMISSION A SH 80M POWER PROJECT, PROMISES TO CLEAR OUT-STANDING ARREARS.
By Dickens Wasonga.

The over 40,000 sugar cane farmers within the Muhoroni sugar belt now have a reason to smile, thanks to the just concluded three months maintenance at the Muhoroni sugar factory.

Although the farmers had to remain patient for three months to be paid for cane delivered to the factory from September last year, soon they will have the last laugh, as the company makes arrangements to the pay the outstanding arrears, now standing at ksh.160m.

According to the factory’s Agricultural manager, Mr. Joel Wangendo, efficiency at the sugar milling plant was at its lowest last year, and continued use of the machines only led to further losses.

”The mills extraction was 83 per cent before we stopped, but after the maintenance now we are doing 90 per cent”, said Wangendo.

Kenya sugar board, the industry’s regulator, gave a lease of life to the factory when it injected ksh.120m towards the maintenance work, which saw major rehabilitation of the mills, and steam production going up significantly, thereby improving efficiency at the plant.

The company’s general manager, Mr. Joshua Korir said the works which cost the firm over Kshs. 300m concentrated mainly in two critical areas, the mills and the boilers, which he described as the key areas in the factory’s running.

The firm had to source for additional funding from itself, and the well wishers, who included the suppliers.

” Work at boiler 1 and 2, which produces 25 tonnes of steam per hour, is now complete. We started off with boiler 4, which gives about 40 tonnes of steam per hour, and work is still ongoing at boiler 3, with a capacity to produce 40 tonnes of steam per hour, to run our turbines”, said Mr. Korir.

Before the repairs, the mills were misaligned and could not extract efficiently, according to the GM, who said after the maintenance the mills were re-set and new rollers fitted.

The works, according to the senior manager, also saw a re-done of both the mills foundation, and hydraulic systems.

With a more improved system, Muhoroni is now expected to use only 11 tonnes of sugarcane to produce one tone of sugar.

According to industry players, the ideal conversion rate should be 10 tonnes of cane to produce 1 tone of sugar, and profit making milling factory like Mumias is already operating within this margin. The ideal situation, however, is also determined by cane varieties, among other factors.

During the 2008-2009 financial year ,Muhoroni, under the Joint Receivers and Managers Engineer, Martin Owiti and Kipn’getich Bett, the Factory milled 429,000 tonnes of sugar, and paid over Ksh.1b to farmers and transporters.

The current high production costs is anticipated to go down tremendously, now that the mills and the boilers at the factory are efficiently running, which will also lead to increased profitability to the firm, whose management is still under receivership.

Farmers will also sigh with relief when the Ksh 80m KSB road grant the sugar company received towards the end of last year, to purchase road equipmen,t becomes fully operational sometime this year.

Currently, most roads within the Nyando sugar belt are in sorry states, and sometimes make cane deliveries a nightmare to both the farmers and transporters. However, the grant is expected to greatly enhance the capacity of the sugar factory to upgrade the road network within its zone.

According to Mr. Wang’endo, the company has already received a motor grader, and a compactor roller, which are already in use, and three -15 tonnes tipper lorries are expected anytime this week.

He said the company has also ordered for the supply of a Front-end-loader, a Back-hoe loader, Low loader and other equipments, which will soon be supplied.

”We expect that by the end of this month, 90 per cent of the equipment will have been deleivered”, h added.

Another key Milestone achieved is a power generation project, which has since been launched at the sugar milling company, which is targeting to boost its power production by 3 megawatts.

The TA[4] Turbo- Alternator project, fully funded by the plant, and projected to cost of Kshs. 80m, kicks off officially next month, and will see electricity bills at the company drop by up to 80 per cent.

Currently, Muhoroni spends between Ksh.8m to Kshs. 10m per month on electricity bills alone.

The Company has also embarked on an intensive cane harvesting at the factory’s 1400 hectors Nucleus estate, as a strategy to raise funds, to off-set the farmer’s arrears.

30 per cent of the arrears have been paid out as advances to farmers who had pressing issues like hospital bills and school fees, upon request.

”We have a few teething problems here and there, given we only resumed operations a few weeks ago, but the arrears will be cleared soon”, said the General Manager.