Category Archives: Human Rights

KENYA & RWANDA: AKR TO COMMEMORATE THE 1994 GENOCIDE AGAINST THE TUTSI

From: AKR|Association of Kenyans Living in Rwanda

Dear Fellow Kenyan,

AKR has partnered with the other associations of nationals of the EAC Member states of Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi to visit Gisozi Memorial Center this coming Saturday, the 14th of April 2012 in commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

Members of the four associations will congregate at the petrol station next to the Library in Kacyiru (opposite the American Embassy) at 9.15 am.

The procession to Gisozi will start off at 9.45 am and commemoration events will include laying of wreaths at the Memorial Center between 11 am – 12 noon.

Kindly turn out in large numbers to mourn with our Rwandan brothers and sisters.and learn the moral lessons of genocide.

Please circulate this message widely.

UPRISING COUPS IN AFRICA

From: Ouko joachim omolo
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY JOSEPH ADERO NGALA
NAIROBI-KENYA
MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2012

West Africa has seen a wave of military coups in recent years that some citizens welcomed as jump-starters for faltering constitutional democracies. Professor Adar Korwa, a leading African Scholar in International Relations and who teaches at the United States International University of Africa based in Nairobi says coups in Africa hurt more than they help.

In one of his scholar writings he points out that in 1990 saw a wave of democratization sweep over Africa. In Many places, multiparty politics became the norm, free and fair elections became a reality, not just a dream .People talked of a “new breed” of African leaders.

Fast forward to 2012, a generation of autocratic” president for life” is nearing extinction. The military dictatorships that dominated the I960s, 70s and 80s are a thing of the past. Professor Adar ascertains that the strong constitutional democracy remains a work in progress.

In the interim, West Africa has seen the rise of hybrid species: the transitional military junta, democratization by coup de’tat. Coups are being billed as the restart button for constitutional democracies that hit a rough patch when in fact, experts say, they almost always do more damage than good.

Apollo Munde a Mombasa based lawyer and Master student in international Relation wrote in his thesis about World Trade Organisation (WTO) “very rarely is a coup the best or only option”. He says there are exceptions like Guinea, which in 2009 was emerging from decades of military authoritarian rule, but on the whole coups are dangerous too long term stability.

Mauritania in 2008, Guinea in 2009, Niger in 2010. Mali in 2012 in what some call” coup belt” soldiers are jumping in to full leadership vacuums or uproot elected presidents who illegally try to stay in power.

Munide says each case is unique but the playbook is usually the same. Step one, seizes the media houses, and then attack the presidential palace before crowding in front of a TV camera to declare you are in charge. They promise a “new and improved” democracy rewrite the constitution and ultimately hold election.

That was Mali on March 22 where disgruntled soldiers ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure just weeks before the election that would have marked his retirement. Chaos and intonations condemnations, yet thousands of Malians took to the streets to support the coup.

Ampoulo Beucoun said there was no democracy in Mali and did not care what the international communities say. Now he has signed the agreement to return the power to civilians but has not said when.

On Monday the ominous black flag of an Islamist rebel faction is now flying over Mali’s fabled city of Timbuktu, which over the weekend became the last major government stronghold in the country’s north to fall to the rebel advance.

The news is a worrying development for Mali, where Tuareg rebels took advantage of chaos sparked by a coup in the distant capital of Bamako late last month to claim the three largest northern towns, including Timbuktu.

Latest report coming out from Bamako through some missionaries – a soldier wears a button bearing the image of coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo with the words ‘President, CNRDRE,’ the French acronym by which the ruling junta is known, as he stands guard at junta headquarters in Kati, outside Bamako, Mali Sunday, April 1, 2012.

The leader of Mali’s recent coup says he is reinstating the nation’s previous constitution amid international pressure to restore constitutional order. Early Monday, a member of the military who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said that he saw a 10-car convoy carrying the rebel Ansar Dine enter the ancient city, located over 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Bamako.

They drove to the Cheikh Fort Sidi Elbakaye military camp in Timbuktu, where they planted their black flag. The rebellion includes an amalgam of Tuareg groups, including a secular faction and an Islamist wing.

In Kidal and Gao, the Islamist faction took the lead early on, and shopkeepers reported that the rebels went from business to business telling merchants to take down pictures deemed un-Islamic. A hairdresser said he was made to take down the photographs he had put up showing different hairstyles because the images showed uncovered women.

On Sunday when the rebels first entered the fabled city of Timbuktu, they were led by the secular National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, which is fighting for an independent homeland for the traditionally nomadic Tuareg people. Their convoy carrying the NMLA flag was seen speeding into town.

The arrival of Ansar Dine, the Tuareg Islamist faction, is deeply disturbing to the residents of this city that was once a Lonely Planet hotspot and where much of the economy was based on tourism.

In Gao, the largest city in the north which fell to the amalgam of rebel groups on Saturday, residents said that they no longer know who is in charge.

“We don’t even know who controls the city, and who is doing what,” said Muslim preacher. “We see Ansar Dine with their flag. We see the MNLA. We are seeing other Tuareg and Arab groups which deserted from the Malian army.

There are people in military uniforms who have stolen all the cars, even the private cars of civilians. We can’t leave the city. One liter of gasoline is now 1,000 francs ($2) whereas it was 650 francs ($1.3) yesterday.”

The rebellion began in January, after Tuareg fighters who had been on the payroll of ex-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi returned to Mali, bristling with arms. For the first two months, the insurgency advanced into the remote north, taking a dozen small towns, but failing to capture any of the major population centers.

The rebels have been able to take advantage of the power vacuum that was created on March 21, when a military coup in Bamako toppled the country’s democratically elected leader.

As the military junta controlling the south of the country negotiates with regional powers, who are threatening sanctions, the rebels pushed forward, encircling Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu — cities that had never fallen in previous rebellions.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

Kenya: torture and killing of a youth in kamukunji constituency

From: Tom Makisa

In deed it sounds like a story narrated not in kenya, but we wonder how many more young souls shall be lost in such a brutal manner. Where is justice? The innocent blood shed is crying 4 help & God is watchin, may the Almighty God rest that soul in eternal peace, Every life is precious

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On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 09:41 PDT george omondi wrote:

Yesterday night at about 8:00pm-8:30pm a youth man lost his life at the hands of 3 diplomatic police officers at eastleigh south ward/madiwa next to suncity cinema.

According to eye witnesses the 3 policemen who were said to be drunk at the time took the wallet of the young man at the suncity stage where the youth used to work as matatu route 4 operator, and entered the pub then the youth decided to follow the officers at the pub to demand for his wallet, what happened next was a thorough beating by the officers who closed the doors of the bars according to the eye witnesses and what they could hear was the loud voice of the youth crying for help and bottles and glasses being broken inside, after about 8 minutes the officers opened the door of the pub and dragged the young man outside the pub by pulling his legs since the young man could not stand due to pain and was sleeping at the floor the young man then walked up and struggled his way home but was
overwhelmed by his pain and decided to rest at a nearby plot the officers then decided to follow the young man and woke him up and dragged his to a nearby police post so that he can be booked and detained but the officer incharge of the station refused to book the young man and asked the officers to take the young man first to hospital, the officers then left with the young man to later abandon him outside the station the station commander then followed the officers to the pub they were drinking and the officers from diplomatic police unit and the regular police officers starded quarreling since the diplomatic police officers refused to take the young man to hospital, the young man was then rescued by another youth who knew him and took him to a clinic where he received first aid treatment and took him to his house.

the young man could not sleep due to the pain he was undergoing and was rushed to kenyatta national hospital the following morning and he
was urinating blood and vomiting blood as well the young man succumed to the pains as he was being taken to hospital by his pregnant wife and other volunteers, the young man is no more with us he is dead leaving behind a pregnant wife and some small kids, the incidence has been recorded at shaurimoyo police station and eastleigh south police post. The postmortem result will be out next week tuesday we will keep you informed, may his soul rest in peace.

Surveillance and security: securing whom?

From: Yona Maro

It is common knowledge that surveillance technologies keep us safe. But this common knowledge is based, at best, on shaky evidence. In the face of dangerous situations, emotions tend to trump logical decision making; reasoning goes that if even a single attack is prevented, the technology is worth having. Such reasoning is quite ill founded. Not only does surveillance technology not necessarily keep us safe, in many instances, surveillance technologies decrease our security.

Building surveillance tools into communications networks enables simpler forms of “insider” attack. In Italy, 6,000 judges, politicians and celebrities were illegally wiretapped between 1996 and 2006. During this period, one in every 10,00 Italians was wiretapped; no major political or business deal was ever private. For ten months in 2004-2005, 100 senior members of the Greek government, including the Prime Minister, were spied upon when the wiretapping capabilities of a Greek Vodafone switch were turned on by unknown parties.

The technologies revealed today by Privacy International – the hacking tools that allow an investigator to download spyware onto a target’s computer, the interception tools that allow instant automatic search for “communications of interest” the data mining tools that allow profiling of a user – build a picture of a surveillance industry gone wild – an industry that seeks to provide tools without understanding the huge potential for harm.

https://www.privacyinternational.org/opinion-pieces/surveillance-and-security-securing-whom-and-at-what-cost


Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

World: Workers’ rights and corporate accountability

From: Yona Maro

Women workers across Asia and throughout the world continue to face long hours, low wages and discrimination when they try to organise into unions within garment and footwear factories. Millions of young women are making products for companies Nike and Adidas. Over the past decade, under considerable public pressure, these companies have developed standards on workers conditions for their supplier factories. Despite this, there is still a considerable gap between sportswear companies’ policies and the actual conditions inside factories. This article explores a process in Indonesia from 2009 to 2011 which brought together Indonesian factories, international sportswear brands and Indonesian unions to develop a protocol in an attempt ensure that workers’ human rights are upheld inside factories. Women union leaders were instrumental in the development of this protocol and will be integral to the implementation of these new guidelines.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13552074.2012.663623


Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

World: Heroes & Character; Civilization and Rights Struggles

From Octimotor

A Web Head Celebrity

The 3rd of the spider man film depicts a number of action packed conflicts. It also evokes maters of emotion and personsons’ character.

In it we see Black Suit vs. Red Suit spider guys duel. The Goblin Junior, and Spider Man clash. A Sandman turns out to be the killer of Peter Parker’s beloved uncle – – although that man motivated is now shown to have been motivated to grab bank money to buy his daughter’s survival of a serious medical condition.

Success and public acclaim can go to a celebrity’s head.

Never the less, any person will always have choices – – about whether to do wrong, or instead to do the right thing.

The subtitle to Spider man III states, “Every hero has a choice.”

Secondarily, as a science and engineering side note, effects shown in this movie also makes me think about nanotech, as also did the remake of “the day the earth stood still” film, and “Starman” film.

(You might refer to book by Eric Drexler, _Engines of Creation_, as a source for nanotech ideas, eespecially if that term is a new one to you.)

Chris. Hedges speaks on rebels vs. civilization crisis

Link TV, midnight thru 1 edt mon19mr2012 EDT showed a presentation by Christopher Hedges. He is author of _Death of the liberal class_ .

Readers should Look up the poem by Shelly, “Osimandius”. He quoted it during his description of how we too are now resembling the possible passing away of a mighty civilization.

‘The only Place left is “On The Street”,’ he said.

You decide which of several meanings apply: a., being economically destitute, even homeless; b. being an active participant in a civil disobedience movement.

He tells us that acts of rebellion are done, not because they are likely to succeed, or have utilitarian value. Rather, they are done because they are RIGHT[ious].

Acts of Resistance are confirmations of Life. A key to striving to be an ethical, free individual, is open rebellion against injustice and oppression.

‘Hope has 2 siblings – – anger and courage’.

Chris Hedges speaks of resources depletion and eco-ruination.

Well, that may bite us HARD! That is, I would say it might, unless counteracted by our assuring that sufficient investments would be made, aimed toward developing better future ways for how we operate agriculture, energy supply, transportation, and manufacturing activities.

-om-

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Chris Hedges: ‘Death of the Liberal Class’ – Book Excerpt – Truthdig
www.truthdig.com/arts…/the_death_of_the_liberal_class_20101029/
Oct 29, 2010 – In a traditional democracy, the liberal class functions as a safety valve. It makes piecemeal and incremental reform possible. It offers hope for …
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_death_of_the_liberal_class_20101029/

In a traditional democracy, the liberal class functions as a safety valve. It makes piecemeal and incremental reform possible. It offers hope for change and proposes gradual steps toward greater equality. It endows the state and the mechanisms of power with virtue. It also serves as an attack dog that discredits radical social movements, making the liberal class a useful component within the power elite.

But the assault by the corporate state on the democratic state has claimed the liberal class as one of its victims. Corporate power forgot that the liberal class, when it functions, gives legitimacy to the power elite. And reducing the liberal class to courtiers or mandarins, who have nothing to offer but empty rhetoric, shuts off this safety valve and forces discontent to find other outlets that often end in violence. The inability of the liberal class to acknowledge that corporations have wrested power from the hands of citizens, that the Constitution and its guarantees of personal liberty have become irrelevant, and that the phrase consent of the governed is meaningless, has left it speaking and acting in ways that no longer correspond to reality. It has lent its voice to hollow acts of political theater, and the pretense that democratic debate and choice continue to exist.

Kenya: Hon. Ruto-Key Beneficiary of Post Election Violence

From: john vorster

Folks, the screams of the dying from breast-feeding mothers, men and all ages were put in “oven” being fried alive just because of fertile land. The Kiambaa Church was set on fire! Why burn them in Church? Folks it was in the church of God! I bet even the Muslims too mourned to see Christians torched a live in a holy and secluded house on earth-the CHURCH. The atheist to must had the similar feelings. Well, let’s get to the matter at hand, the ICC known and one dangerous only prosecutor and outgoing man Mr. Louise Moreno-Ocampo has set the pace rolling. The curtains are unfolding as to whose motive was all these and why? History has it that Kenya is a nation divided by land grabbers and indeed that’s the root cause for the division of tribes in a country that was considered peaceful in Africa. Kenya didn’t mess up her house for fear or fight that Hon. Raila presidency was denied by Hon. Kibaki during the said elections of 2007/2008. However, some individuals had schemed in advance on how to demand what was perceived inherited land. One and only vocal politician Hon. Ruto has come in the open to actually accept that he did grab a 100ha parcel of land just after the election in the pretence that it was sold to him irregularly. Ruto has been organizing prayer rallies aimed at confusing the general public of how he is a target of the ICC. According to him, he verbally says that Raila was the main beneficiary of post election violence! For many a times this young chap has used the simple arithmetic to engage the idle prayer rally listeners that he is an innocent man and would be ready to prove himself above and beyond the ICC courts. He pleaded with the Kenyan rotten judiciary to accept the case to be settled out of court to avoid public embarrassment on his political carrier. Hon. Ruto, why did you actually grab the land that belonged to the poor man who at the moment has no proper housing to be happy about? You Ruto intentionally displaced this man out of his land and you still purport and claim that you are very innocent? Our archive has it that you used your old theatrics methods to displace Kenyans in Rift Valley of their lands. How many more lands sagas will you spill out so that the coalition government of Kibaki and Raila settle them back once and for all? Indeed you will be a free and electable man as long as you return all the lands that you intentionally grabbed creating a huge margin of internal refugees that Kenya still cannot settle. You are one man who had his case with other co-accused of selling out the KPL land in Nairobi and our judges left you still preaching at top of your voices in public rallies. Ruto, for me, I am never scared of your worth, return all that which belongs to rightful owners otherwise, ICC will spare you nothing but arrange a special accommodation for you very soon. If you had it that Raila was the architect of 2007/08 election fiasco that has given you (Ruto) a soft landing in Hague, why did it take you those years to speak your voice? Unless you want to admit that you were on the reserve bench along the ODM ministers and assistant ministers? Unless you want to admit that you were on the reserve bench along the ODM ministers and assistant ministers? You were given a full ministry and became a Deputy party leader of whom you accuse now. Did Raila and Kibaki silence you with a portfolio ministry and you swallowed without knowing that it would choke you soon? In your own mind, did Raila send you grab the lands? You are the most funny MP Rift Valley has ever produced. I bet this chunk of land must have had its spirits living and so the only remedy was to throw-up before it completely choked your political carrier. Give us some more Ruto, you can do it buddy. ICC on the other hand will give you a lesser charge. I advise you to keep consulting with the Kenyan minds and all is not lost on you as long as you spill more land back to the owners…. Did I miss a point, the far the displaced people from Rift Valley, then comes in man Ruto…..grab, grab, coz he knows the taste of such a land following his past record……

Regards

John Vorster

World: ?AIDS Rights? China Daily: Privacy becomes core healthcare issue

From: Kun Chang

– – – –

Privacy becomes core healthcare issue
Updated: 2012-03-15 08:03

By Shi Yingying (China Daily)http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-03/15/content_14837664.htm

Request for ID prior to blood tests causes concern over data protection, reports Shi Yingying.

Meng Fei was confirmed HIV-positive in August, but decided to hold off telling his parents for fear of upsetting them. This month, that choice was taken out of his hands by the local center for disease control and prevention.

“My father received a phone call on March 1 by someone asking for my contact information. When he asked who it was, they told him and then revealed that I’d contracted HIV,” said the 20-year-old, who spoke on condition of using an alias.

Meng was diagnosed after taking a blood test in Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, where he has worked as a trader for about a year. His family still lives in his native Fujian province.

“I didn’t give anyone permission to tell my parents,” he said. “None of my family knew I’m gay, nor did they have any clue I’m HIV-positive. I only gave my real name before the test (in Kunming) because they promised details about my condition would be kept confidential.”

Concerns over the leaking of private health information is widespread in China so much so that when Xinhua News Agency reported in January that people in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will be required to provide ID cards prior to HIV screening, there was public outcry.

Authorities in Guangxi later said the request will not be compulsory. However, after the news, more than 90 percent of 7,728 Chinese web users polled by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition said they would refuse preliminary screening if they were required by law to give their real names.

More than 94 percent also disagreed with an article in the draft regulation that would allow medical centers to inform the sexual partners of patients about a positive HIV diagnosis after 30 days.

“I don’t know about any other community, but adopting a real-name policy for voluntary (HIV) screening will definitely scare off (male homosexuals), who are considered a high-risk group,” said Wang Jinye, 28, a master’s student who volunteers at a gay rights NGO in Kunming.

“Generally speaking, there are two stages of a HIV test: Preliminary screening and confirmation,” he said. “The majority of us (gay men) are against a real-name policy for preliminary screening, while about half would agree to giving out personal details if they are confirmed HIV-positive. Our priority leans toward privacy more than safety before confirmation, but it’s the other way around after.

“You have to understand that we’re facing double exposure: Being gay and possibly a carrier of HIV,” Wang added.

Registering support

Many experts in the fields of medicine and law, however, have been advocating the introduction of a real-name system for HIV screening for some time.

Among them is Wang Yu, director of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who has hailed it as a way to effectively prevent the spread of a fatal disease and help provide the infected with lifelong treatment.

“HIV carriers might spread the virus to others through unprotected sex or other channels. Should we protect their privacy or control the epidemic?” he said at a Ministry of Health news conference on Feb 8.

He added that ensuring authorities have access to the contact information of those infected will “solve the problem in a positive way, not hide it”.

Yang Shaogang, a Shanghai attorney with experience in court cases related to HIV and AIDS, also agreed that requiring people to hand over their ID cards before getting screened would do more good than harm.

Last year, he represented a woman who sued her ex-boyfriend for infecting her with HIV. During the trial, the defendant admitted he had withheld news of his diagnosis during the couple’s relationship.

“Although many people are worried about the risks of their personal data being leaked, this (Guangxi’s real-name proposal) is necessary for maintaining the safety of society,” he said. “In the drafted legislation, people infected with HIV should tell their sexual partners. There is no such specific article in Criminal Law about intentional transmission of HIV.”

People are already required to present identification at centers that offer blood-screening services in Kunming and Beijing.

Statistics from the Beijing CDC show that since the regulation was introduced at the capital’s 40 or so government-run clinics in July last year, the daily number of people going for preliminary screening has dropped from 12 per clinic to as few as three.

Meanwhile, in Yunnan, where the policy has been in place since 2007, more clinics are abandoning the practice of requesting ID cards.

“Just two out of every 12 CDCs or authorized clinics in the province follow the rule of requesting a client’s name. The rest skip the ID check,” said Chang Kun, director of He’erbutong, an NGO in Henan province that offers legal assistance to HIV carriers.

“I don’t see any point of bringing in a regulation that medical center workers are forced to violate,” he said, referring to Guangxi’s upcoming legislation. “Protecting someone’s privacy doesn’t conflict with the State’s desire to control the source of infection. The problem lies in people’s lack of trust.”

Keeping a secret

In remote rural areas, keeping anything confidential is a challenge, even something as personal as an HIV infection.

Du Guanghui tested positive for the virus in 2002 after being infected at a blood plasma collection point in his native Xinyang village, Henan.

“The local CDC confirmed the diagnosis, but they required another (higher level) clinic to confirm my identity by sending someone to my home,” said the 43-year-old. “These people came into my neighborhood and asked for me. That was when my neighbors worked it out.

“Villagers believe doctors only come out when someone has a communicable disease and once one person in your community knows you’ve got AIDS, everybody knows.”

Protecting people’s privacy in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai is not much easier, especially when it comes to applying for government benefits.

To qualify for a basic living allowance, residents must submit personal data to their local civil affairs bureau. However, Beijing lawyer Liu Yige said that in 2010 he handled the case of a man whose information including his HIV diagnosis was posted on a neighborhood bulletin board.

“It was a devastating blow for him,” he said. “He’s been changing his phone number ever since. Even we’ve lost contact with him.”

Although the AIDS Prevention Act of 2009 states that medical centers should keep all information related to HIV confidential, Liu said there are no specific penalties for people who leak data.

Guy Taylor, program associate on advocacy and information management for UNAIDS, added that countries such as the United States and Britain have established comprehensive legal systems that protect the privacy of people who receive HIV tests.

“It’s very important to make sure the staff are trained property so that they can offer quality counseling before and after the test,” Taylor added.

Ethical reasons

Lu Hongzhou argued that cases such as Du’s and the one described by Liu are rare, and that, a doctor, professional ethics prevent him from leaking personal information about patients.

“It’s true there’s no established punishment to prevent doctors from disclosing private data, just like there’s no policy about giving compensation to doctors who accidentally contract HIV at the operating table,” said the executive director of Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center.

“I’m for the real-name policy, even for preliminary screening,” he said, explaining: “The reason is simple from the doctor’s viewpoint: Some patients may get cold feet when facing confirmation and, if they provide false details, we would have problems contacting them. We couldn’t offer them treatment or counseling.”

According to the Communicable Disease Prevention Act, local CDCs are required to provide the personal data of patients who test positive for any of the 39 infectious illnesses listed. This includes HIV.

“By data, it means name, address, ID number and work place,” Lu said. “Why do we record this? Well, because the situation will get out of control if we lose track of the source of infection. Then, it will no longer be about someone’s privacy, it will be a problem for society.”

An average of 48,000 new HIV and AIDS cases are discovered every year in China, he said, while the number of people who died last year of AIDS-related illnesses was about 28,000. (The last data published online by the Ministry of Health put the second figure at just over 9,000.)

“These people died because we just didn’t find them early enough,” Lu added.

Wang Hongyi in Shanghai contributed to this story.

Open Letter to President Obama and his visitor Prime Minister David Cameron

From: Judy Miriga

Dear President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron,

Kibaki and Raila Coalition Government leadership are master-minders of Self Greed and Exploitation of underprivileged and poor. They both must be held responsible and accountable for the sins against humanity under their watch. Raila cannot escape nor would he be privy to being allergic.

They both agreed before Kofi Annan with eminent leaders that they both are guilty of stealing the election of 2007/8, for which both are liable and must be held responsible as current indications are that, they have just begun fuelling sentiments of provocation of instigating conflicts as election temperature fever begins to take shape. They jointly know their political propaganda game cards to avoid and water down ICC Hague legal process from taking place effectively. They are on stage-show playing theatrical political game cards, but instead are watching each other’s back. They both do not want the change of Devolution of Counties to take effect, they both do not want the Tribunal court set up to charge offenders of 2007/8 election as they are both deeply involved, and so, they do not have the stomach to allow that to take effect, they both are engaged in Capital flight with illegal and corrupted funds stashed in foreign banks, and are jointly colluding in a conspiracy to defraud public wealth resources through corruption, graft and impunity using their political positions and connections.

The two Principles (Kibaki and Raila) must be held fully accountable and responsible in commission and omission of Extra Judicial Offenses that require desperate urgency fix.

1) They both are without due regard to the burdening of National “Debt Crisis Shock of imbalances they put in the shoulder of the general public in their hasty Economic Crime Against Humanity and must be held before the Judicial Court accountable and must face justice for the same.

2) They both must be held accountable to Social Crimes and injustices Against Humanity

3) They both must equally face charges of Political Crime against Humanity where both used their political office to stage-manage political thuggery and the delay of implementation of the Devolution of counties to benefit their greedy and selfish corrupt economic gains.

Crime against humanity is unacceptable. All humanity must play by the same rules of fairness, respect to human dignity is a universal rights of all people without oppression, discrimination, favor or manipulation of race, tribe or because of disability of any form or kind.

In Kenya under Kibaki and Raila’s coalition government, good governance practices and the rule of law which they took taken under signed agreement and oath has not been respected.

The general public cries in lamentations hold both the two principles (Kibaki and Raila) for colluding in a conspiracy with other political agents cartels, to completely destroy the middle-class society and the poor in an organized scheme to swindle, drain and squeeze off all available meaningful descent livelihood from the people, and where public will have been left with no options or hope for survival or plan for their future destiny.

Public wealth resources have been plundered recklessly without proper planning arrangements where stakeholders have a right to be involved and or legalized professionals to confirm and certify authenticity of such programs. A show-case of “The Vision 2030 Development Agenda” is a tell it all, which eventually turned to be a public economic wealth resource theft and a rip off.

They both with their party members, failed to govern the country Responsibly with integrity according to their oath taking, and have failed to go by their signed Agreement of National Reform Agenda Accord to provide services to public offering good affordable health, security, education or protect and preserve public wealth resources diligently. Instead, they both engage in “Blame Game Theatre” to buy time and to divert attention and display pity for forgiveness.

Without Mercy, they traded in hooliganism, organized land-clashes conflicts, threats and insecurity unconstitutional, illegally and equally unjustified transfers, migration and relocation of people from their permanent dwellings, the community habitation cultural settlements, to pave way for supposedly, “Government Development Agenda”. This left many wondering with panic attacks, who this said Government is, who have potential rights to overrides public mandates and interest. Such as these incidents have become a common serious pandemic of mental torture and a thorn in the flesh, with many worrying about their future with those of their children and grand children, causing early death of many.

Both (Kibaki and Raila with their Party faithful and Commission Agent cartels of Special Interest, those of Chinese and Indians) systematically engage with the unscrupulous International Corporate trade business special interest cartels’ network, illegally and unconstitutionally to play corruption and impunity in fleecing huge sums of public finance taxpayer, the reason the shilling got a shock and cost of living suddenly without warning shot up, pushing the country into unsolicited and unbalanced Heavy Consolidated National Debt Crisis deficit in foreign exchange, beyond National ability, which could have been otherwise avoided with cushions of a well planned and balanced sustainable agenda. This Economic Crime of subsequent careless heavy Government borrowing is the result of explosive external debt rise, where an increase in debt burden shock is placed on the shoulder of general ordinary public without notice. On the other hand, the conspiracy which involved these external foreign exchange borrowing, suddenly made the two principles (Kibaki and Raila with their agents, own big fat accounts in foreign banks). The question remains, why has huge Capital flight as cash instead is stashed in foreign banks (by birds of the same feathers) and no red flag or action or complaint has been lodged for investigations or serious action for accountability made from the Government side?

These are reasons why:

a) Vision 2030 has not been successful after huge sumes of money was invested on it.

Question remain,

(i) What went wrong? Why was the implementation not done according to public

Mandate – The Constitutional Policy requirement in a balanced plan of action, involving and engaging the stakeholders? Why was there a hurry? Who benefited from the conspiracy? Who will fall prey to pay for the Debt Crisis Deficit? Was the mission feasible according to public mandate? Is it fair to the public to burden them with illegal debts?

(ii) Was this another white elephant meant to squeeze public wealth resources

from public interest to special interest?

(iii) Is Raila free from blame. Should Raila not be held accountable for failure of

vision 2030? Should Raila step aside for investigation of the same? Does this not amount to Gross Economic Crime Against Humanity?

b) The Coalition Government developed Cold feet to charge anybody, it is the reason why the Government will not try offenders of 2007/8 in Local Tribunal, and it is why the Local Tribunal has not been set up to try the same. ICC Hague is our best bet and hope.

c) Both Kibaki and Raila, are engaged in oppressive Regime rule where tact has been applied to block public opportunity to access progressive sustainable development agenda to engage in a fair, favorable, conducive and sustainable distributive Cooperative Global Partnership arrangement for prosperity and growth. The politically correct are in control of the show and no one else have a right to question or complain.

d) What became of Lamu Port? Why is the Government against public outcry? Why did the Government refuse to engage stakeholders interest according to public mandate and demand? The politically correct are the government and the stakeholders of Public Wealth resources no one else. This is what the Coalition Government of Kibaki and Raila stand for.

e) What happened to Turkana, Isiolo and Mandera people, they are being wiped out slowly and systematically…….. their lands are a target by the Special Interest Cartel network…….it is why there is serious draught yet funds have been made available to the Government since 2000…..where did these funds go to?

f) What is going on at Makalda mine in the surrounding of Rongo, Nyatike & Oyugis in South Nyanza in Kisumu. How was the plan muted to displace 2,000 people from their villages to be relocated from their Heritage community cultural traditional homes without engaging in feasible sustenance for growth of their public resource wealth?

g) What because of the Molasses in Kisumu a public donated project? It is understood that Moi gave raila the Molasses and Raila transferred it to his sister to manage it. Calvin Burgess is understood to be having a share in the business. What happened to Muhoroni and Kibos sugar factory?…….Who is meddling to collapse Muhoroni sugar and why? These are questions we want the court to investigate and answer. What became of Siaya Dominion Saga with Calvin Burgess who illegally and unscrupulously hijacked the local community land and homes of the local people and turned it to his private business – where, initially it started as a Faith Based Evangelical Religious Association for the Gospel of Jesus, what went wrong? Is Raila a benefactor or the stakeholder??? This too the court will help unravel.

(i) Is Raila prone to corruption, impunity and graft? Shouldn’t Raila go through the required Ethics and Reform legal threshold and scrutiny of why, ifs and hows, before he can be allowed to stand as the Presidential candidate? Kenyans are not ready to recycle “Birds of the Same Feathers” in our next election. It will defeat the purpose and meaning of REFORM.

h) What will became of Wamboi & daughter conspiracy of the Narc Activists who is Kibaki’s concubine where her name flauted in the Standard Newspaper raid by the Artur Brothers and her relationship with the Artur Borthers per-se….?

i) What became of the University student who had to die a miserable death in the hands of the Drug Network and the story by “the untouchables Jicho Pevu”, why the Killing of GSU (General Service Unity) Officer Erastus Chemorei has gone completely silent even with such publicity ????

j) What happened to the Police Reform and why has the extra judicial killings still on the rise with no serious action by the Government to curtail it……

k) Are we on the same old way of governance by the corrupt cartel network, business as usual???

With these pending serious questions left hanging in the minds of many, election fever is here, and politicians will not hesitate to apply the same old tactics of destroying lives to have their way…….It is the same old same story theatric drama which is now taking the best part of Parliament instead of doing substantive urgent basic things, the reason the coalition government was mandated, why the the two Principles signed an Agreement for the National Reform Agenda Accord……..But, sad to say, public are in deep sorrow, pain and sufferings when they thought, the New Constitution was going to lessen their pain and sufferings…..

It is suspected that, both Kibaki and Raila have organized gangs and thuggery, conspiring with Moi, Museveni, Zenawi, Al-Bashir and Kagame they plan to terrorize people and to deny public human rights to live honorably with dignity and as well, steal public wealth and resources, which as things stands, have been sold to unscrupulous International corporate special interest business community through Chinese and Indian commission agency, the most basic fundamental rights to Food, Water and Air, without which there is no life, will has became too expensive and unaffordable. The polluted air/water and the decaying environmental degradation is causing health hazard, pain and sufferings is tall order. If Kenyans and Africans have a right to live a honorable and dignified life and treated with love, the Kenyan and African Resource Wealth should be Mutually shared in a fair give and take program agenda. The way things stand, the target victimized poor of Kenyan and the disadvantaged have been lined up to slaughter house and to perish so the unscrupulous enterprises of the International Corporate Special Interest Cartel should flourish and prosper…….Is this a fair game to Human Rights value, virtue and dignity we all must cherish?

We appeal to Leaders of the World, the United Nations Security Council urgently that, now that Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama are meeting, may I steal their quite moment of peace to ask them to consider the dark continent of Africa, most specific Kenya and help resolve and fix Kenya’s Problem which is more crucial and urgent, as it is hanging in the balance to collapse.

President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron should understand Kenya’s immediate problem is to chart a New Way Forward a fresh through a Transitional Caretaker Committee with Kibaki and Raila to be sent to ICC Hague in a hurry to face charges of Grave Crime of Humanity where they both have pushed the poor to extreme Poverty situation death-bed. Their activities are equally part of the reason why world’s Citizens taxpayer is corrupted and saved in foreign bank accounts. It is the reason why the Global Economic crisis for lack of balances has become toll order. The world must unite to do the right thing for peace in the world.

Raila is equally not clean but part and parcel of corruption, graft and impunity. Kenya will never Reform if Raila has to be left behind. To be fair to all, Raila is equally an inter-party benefitial of corruption in Kenya. They are contributors to reasons why Africa is poor, why Africa has remained poor, why Africans are killing themselves and why Africa is backwards in Economic Development while African Resource Wealth is the backbone of the Global Economic Development…..This is not right and it is eqully not fair…… The poor victims and disadvantaged Africans in Kenya/Africa too have rights to humanity…..

African people with their public wealth resource too need to be treated fairly with mutual trust in love and care at the Global Region marketplace. We are demanding for an opportunity to be heard and resource wealth recognized as valuable trading resource for Africa’s survival and livelihood to exist decently in a shared sacrifice by all players in the “Give and Take” Mutual exchange business undertaking. Africans are not enemies of the world, our public wealth resources are the economic backbone of Global stability for progressive development, the success story. We are a darling full of love and friends of the world. We are demanding for our dignity and rights. We are stakeholders in Mutual Global progressive development Agenda, but are shut out because of Special Interest cartel’s network. We should be accepted and treated the same with the rest of the world so we all can enjoy human dignity, peace and tranquility we all cherish and love. We are the people of the world, we are one………

Let us all unite at peace in Love for a better world, sharing in mutual agreement fair to all.

With due respect, as voice of reason for voiceless, victims and the underprivilledged, I arnestly beg you most honorably, [President Obama with Prime Minister David Cameron] to be considerate in this urgent request and to act favourably, to help speed up matters, so Kenya can move forward to the right direction with honor, virtue and dignity on a fresh start footing, so justice will have faily been seen to have been done.

Thanking you in advance.

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

Attachment References to confirm the above:

– – – – – – – – – – –

CJ warns violators of law barred from office
Tuesday, 13 March 2012 00:04 BY WALTER MENYA

VIOLATORS of the constitution should be barred from public office, Chief

Justice Willy Mutunga has said. The CJ raised the red flag over the turning of public discourses into ethnic issues and warned that justice will catch up with violators. He was speaking during the conference on national diversity, race and ethnicity which was organised by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission yesterday. “We must ensure those who attempt to trample on the rights of citizens do not find comfort in public office,” Mutunga said.

“Being Kenyan is a full-time commitment. This country needs citizens who are Kenyans all the time; not those who are vernacular Kenyans most of the time. Just in case you forgot, chapter six is partly intended to eliminate this breed,” the CJ said. Every Kenyan, he said, has a duty to obey the law and to uphold the constitution. In return, the state has a duty to protect life and property as well as to offer services, Mutunga said.

Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo warned politicians who thrive on breaking the law through ethnic-based politics and said their time was up. Mutula, who is on record calling on Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto to drop their presidential ambitions until they are cleared by the ICC, said those still living in denial shall be swept aside by the new constitution. Mutula said the post-election violence was a wake-up call for all to abandon the old ways of living and choose to abide by the law.

He also put on notice political parties that will not comply with the Political Parties Act and the electoral laws that they risk being deregistered. Nominated MP Mohammed Affey, who chairs the Parliamentary Committee on Equal Opportunities decried the unequal distribution of resources in the country.

Affey asked the government to fully fund the NCIC which he praised for bringing to the fore the existing inequalities exemplified by ethnic representation in the civil service. “Overall, the constitution presents the best opportunity to overcome the existing inequalities but we have continued to violate the laws,” Affey said, adding that universities and civil service are incubators of ethnicity in reference to recent NCIC audit reports on the same.

Addressing the conference, former executive director of the Committee of Experts Dr Ekuru Aukot said the neglect of minorities was pushing some communities to believe they are not Kenyans. “The North Rift is the crucible of human rights violations and the people there have become peripheral communities,” Aukot said.

Meanwhile, UNDP resident representative Aeneas Chuma said Kenya’s development partners are concerned by the pace of implementation of the constitution. In particular, Chuma said the lack of a specific election date and the increasing “ethno-political conflicts” in parts of the country are worrying.

Diplomatic tactics must be beyond reproach

Published on 09/03/2012

The row over the motives of foreign governments piling on pressure to drive the war on impunity in Kenya is hardly surprising. This makes determining what is true and what isn’t an important undertaking.

Past pronouncements on the Government’s co-operation with the International Criminal Court, on the enactment of anti-terrorism laws or institutional and electoral reform rhyme with the general idea of various means being used to pressure for change.

This has largely been a welcome thing given that in many instances, the ends being sought are those desired by the majority of Kenyans.

However, Western diplomacy was recently stripped naked with the publication of about 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables by the Wikileaks whistleblower website.

The revelations unearthed from those documents confirmed what was already common knowledge: Western nations are not above meddling in the affairs of other countries where it suits their strategic or economic interests.

The United States’ use of ‘force projection’, visa bans and other economic and diplomatic sanctions to secure its own agendas is legendary. The United Kingdom and the European Union have also deployed various ‘sticks’ to press for reforms or stop certain activities.

The fact these nations have not always acted in concert, even in clear-cut cases, proves that a degree of political discretion is applied.

Double standards are clear in, say, the way the UK and US react to grand corruption in Saudi Arabia or human rights atrocities in Syria and the way they do to the same vices in Africa.

This sometimes makes the application of pressure through these levers suspect, even where it may, for all intents and purposes, be welcome and needed.

Kenyans need to know and believe that there are no ulterior motives for the support they receive to pressure their governments into embracing change; that the cause of change is not being suborned by some foreign interest to meet some secret strategic, political or commercial interests.

Should such niggling fears persist, they can be exploited in the same way the push for greater ICC co-operation has been used in recent months.

In the weeks since the confirmation of charges at the ICC against four Kenyan suspects, a powerful narrative of foreign meddling has arisen. The lawyer for one of the suspects made the sensational claim in a public address when he claimed: “The fix is on.”

On Thursday, MPs put out the message that the matter is related to regime change issues with the help of documents the United Kingdom has dismissed as “not genuine”.

These manoeuvres threaten the pursuit of justice for crimes against humanity committed after the 2007 General Election. They also endanger the fragile stability cobbled together in the five years since the ethnic-related violence that followed that disputed election.

While many Kenyans will see through these as smear tactics and other efforts to drum up jingoistic sentiments in defence of the ICC accused, there is no denying that they are effective. Or that this is in part because the complexities of foreign interests confuse the message.

Recent efforts to drum up a consistent message on this matter by concerned parties are commendable, and this should be kept up through the election year.

The desire for co-operation on, say, counterterrorism or the war on Somalia casts a shadow on how loud the West can be on issues that matter on the domestic front, like the war on impunity or corruption.

This window of opportunity for anti-reform point-scoring and other disruptive petty tactics must be firmly shut by not allowing temporary needs to change the tone of diplomatic messages.

Finally, a word on the right to speak freely in Parliament: While it is essential to ensuring proceedings serve to inform the decision-making and lawmaking that goes on in the August House, it is certainly open to abuse.

It serves no purpose to muddy the waters with unauthenticated papers when a little due diligence can help move the debate from petty point-scoring to serious discourse.

Top Government officials caught in web of blood gold

Published on 05/03/2011

By Cyrus Ombati and Juma Kwayera

Top Government officials are said to be among members of an international smuggling ring involving gold and other high-value minerals from a neighboring country.

Investigations revealed that the smuggling network is well connected and is said to have a firm foothold in several key ministries, including Internal Security, Finance, Immigration, Environment, and Foreign Affairs. According to Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, some of the kingpins of the illicit trade are influential politicians in Government.

On Friday, Saitoti — while remaining guarded on the details — revealed that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had interrogated some influential politicians in connection with the ring.

Among those helping with investigations is a Congolese citizen, who was arrested in Nairobi, Friday.

The suspects are believed to be behind the disappearance of 2.5 tonnes of the mineral stolen from eastern Congo and valued at Sh8 billion.

On Thursday, DRC President Joseph Kabila met President Kibaki, and their talks centred on smuggled gold and other minerals from the war-torn country.

The talks came within days of the murder of a Kenya Revenue Authority investigator, Joseph Cheptarus, who was on the trail of the smuggling ring that also, include a PNU activist, and the family of a minister allied to ODM.

CID boss Ndegwa Muhoro spent the better part of on Friday and Thursday night at Harambee House, briefing Saitoti and Kabila’s delegation on the status of the investigations.

The CID has been conducting the investigations together with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), and the Immigration Department.

Porous borders

Cheptarus, the slain KRA senior assistant commissioner, had been seconded to the investigations team. He was shot dead at around 1.15am last Saturday, as he entered his home in Nairobi’s South C Estate. The team had established that Nairobi had become a popular transit point for gold merchants from the DRC, serving genuine and illegal trade for overseas markets, because of lax security.

With porous borders and highly corruptible Immigration officials, Kenya is often used as a transit route for minerals, hardwood timber, and artefacts from DRC destined for markets in the Middle East, China, Belgium, Switzerland, India and the United States, according to multiple United Nations Security Council reports.

Gold and diamonds smuggled from Congo have featured prominently in Kenya, and during the Goldenberg Inquiry, Kamlesh Pattni — believed to have been the architect, gave detailed accounts of how he and his associates in the Kanu regime smuggled diamonds and gold from the DRC.

On the mysterious disappearance of the 2.5 tonnes of gold, investigators are focusing on how it was smuggled into the country before being trans-shipped to Dubai. It is also suspected that some of the gold found its way to South Africa, where investigators plan to visit as part of their probe.

A preliminary report handed over to Kibaki and Kabila details how smugglers use Nairobi as a transit hub.

The report prompted the two presidents to form a joint team to intensify the search for the multi- billion-shilling illegal gold consignment.

“They instructed police authorities in both countries to share information on suspected persons as well as registered dealers in minerals in the two countries,” said Saitoti.

The two presidents acknowledged that illegal exploitation of minerals has been a source of conflict in eastern DRC, and welcomed the Lusaka Protocol that commits member states of the Great Lakes Region to end the trade, according to the Internal Security minister.

“They underscored the need to uphold the Lusaka and Nairobi protocols on management of minerals and agreed that Kenyan authorities vigorously pursue the ongoing investigations,” added Saitoti.

He was speaking in his office when he received two ministers from the DRC — Regional and International Co-operation minister Raymond Tshibanda and his Mining counterpart, Martin Kabwelulu — minutes, before Kabila flew out.

Saitoti said the two presidents undertook to share information and intelligence on illegal trafficking of minerals.

The meeting came after weeks of a fruitless search for the 2.5 tonnes of gold worth Sh8 billion that disappeared from the DRC in January. The gold was destined for export to the United Arab Emirates.

Investigations began after the mineral-rich DRC requested the Interpol regional bureau in Nairobi to track suspected smugglers and seize any consignments on transit in Kenya. The illegal trade raises security concerns because of the huge amount of money the minerals attract in the black market. It is feared unscrupulous dealers could use the wealth to buy weapons and fuel fighting in an already volatile region.

The revelations emerged after more than 475 ingots of the commodity valued at Sh1.6 billion went missing at a warehouse in the Nairobi, and later found its way back to Goma, in the DRC, last December.

Custom warehouse

Lawyers in the Sh1.6 billion gold revealed that the commodity was headed to the US, for purchase by one Mukaila Aderemi ‘Mickey’ Lawal. Lawyer Punit Vadgama, acting for the US national, said his client denied that he was involved in the Sh8 billion disappearance.

Lawal, 50, had in January visited Nairobi and inspected the commodity in a warehouse said to have been at “a Customs warehouse” at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after overseeing its smelting.

Lawal, who was detained along with fellow Houstonian Carlos St Mary and two other businessmen on February 3 in Goma, had arrived on a jet ready to fly with the commodity when Congolese intelligence police intercepted them, impounded the plane, and seized almost $7 million and the gold bars.

It was then that Vadgama wrote to Kabila explaining the genesis of the issue. He said one Axiom contacted him in December to set up a Kenyan company to obtain licenses and permits for a legal gold transaction that supposedly began when “a person named David” approached St Mary in the US.

Vadgama said ‘David’ had agreed to sell Axiom 475kg of gold at a competitive price. The deal was to take place in Kenya and to be legally documented.

When a delegation of the American group arrived in Kenya, St Mary and his partners began to suspect they might be getting duped when they made partial payment and suddenly could no longer contact the Kenyan ‘owner’ of the gold who was brokering the deal identified as E. Michelle Malonga.

After notifying Kenyan police of the possible swindle in January, Malonga contacted Axiom that the gold had been taken to Uganda, and that the deal would have to be sealed there.

Further, Malonga is alleged to have said that the gold was in Congo and that the deal had to go down in Goma. They agreed, went to Goma, paid Malonga and his associates and the gold was loaded on a Nairobi-bound flight.

It was reported in Congo that the commodity was in the possession of men taking it to the residence of Gen Bosco Ntaganda, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Ntaganda has denied involvement in gold smuggling. But official reports said the army general was involved in stopping an attempt to smuggle out Congolese gold.

A Global Redesign? Shaping the Circular Economy

From: Yona Maro

– A fundamentally new model of industrial organization is needed to de-link rising prosperity from resource consumption growth – one that goes beyond incremental efficiency gains to deliver transformative change.

– A ‘circular economy’ (CE) is an approach that would transform the function of resources in the economy. Waste from factories would become a valuable input to another process – and products could be repaired, reused or upgraded instead of thrown away.

– In a world of high and volatile resource prices, a CE offers huge business opportunities. Pioneering companies are leading the way on a CE, but to drive broader change it is critical to collect and share data, spread best practice, invest in innovation and encourage business-to-business collaboration.

http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Energy,%20Environment%20and%20Development/bp0312_preston.pdf


Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

Uhuru-Ruto prayer meeting ends in Hague

The prayer meeting ends in Hague
From: john vorster

That long “prayer warrior” just begun the journey to meet the master of International Criminal Courts bench! Since the confirmation of charges against the two of the Ocampo four, Kenya has witnessed that indeed we have political prayer warriors’ who would wish to turn-table for the sake of protecting themselves in public though they have been branded fourth name-the victims of “Crimes against humanity”. These guys have spent enormous energy to avert the voices of the international Criminal Court but to their disappointment, Ocampo stands with his word-setting Kenyan case an example to the world. Can you just imagine Hon. Ruto making it very clear in a bright sunny day that the ICC cases will take 100 years to begin? Surely, Ruto might have been misguided by his friends to speak a top his voice. On the other hand, Hon. Uhuru too played a stage managed video to appease the African Union and the world that he was a leader-cum a preacher. What else did the video achieve? Kenya has highly talented lawyers whose demand to the International Criminal cases would be needed today and the day after. What then happened to these lawyers at the time they were supposed to have advised our “government” on the possible implications and die consequences of ICC? Then there’s the very lawyer- Hon. Kalanzo Musyoka who ought to avoid wasting tax payer’s money going around the globe in search of nothing but his own simple ambition of stomach development while meeting high African and World leaders for photography. Did he bring any tangible or arguable matter upon his many tours? The answer is best known to his master Hon. Kibaki whom he claimed consented to his missions. Well, should Kenya blame anybody for all these? I guess not! What then happened to the well speculated motion and letters sent to Security Council from the Members of the August house to have Kenya withdraw her signature from ICC? Who then placed the initial pen that made Kenya join a court that spares nobody irrespective of your ethnical popularity and political base?

Fellow Kenyans, ICC is in serious business and we should be ready to pay for the very price of those individual who succumbed to death in the name of politics during 2007/2008. That contract was sealed then and those who died mercilessly will surely witness the curtain falls behind the doors of ICC when Ruto and his dear friend Uhuru will be stepping in at the door steps of the chambers. Could it be true to point out that the spirit of the dead is touching the volumes of files in ICC? I bet that those who dearly lost their lives are having the morning and evening prayers daily at The Hague just to meet these fellows who have been indicted. Will the group of friendly MPs again accompany them to sing “Kenya ni nchi yetu tunaipenda sena…?” How about Ruto himself, I remember seeing him running west to have a dialogue with Ocampo but to his dismay, Ocampo never discuss crimes against humanity with senior suspect whose names had featured in the Waki envelop, the court does. This gentleman was part of the very team that helped the Waki Commission but little did he know that he set himself in that burning dish. The ICC is a court and there are leaders with divergent portfolios, I bet somebody will be a duty leader of wing “A” while the other will represent the integrity of upcoming criminal lawyers and prosecutors by virtue that he held the ministry of higher education prior to his wake up call. On the other side, we will be ready to see that every department avail their personal request to the secretary Muthaura. All these will be tuned with live coverage coz Mr. Sang is the head of communication department. NOTE: For every one of the 1,300 people whom we believe to have been murdered, they will be given time to ask the simplest question-Mr. Ruto and Uhuru, did I deserve to die like an animal? While for the entire Internally Displaced Persons, will be keen on watching and expecting compensation in the same manner Ruto has started giving back the lands he grabbed from the poor. To the ICC judges, please we are only requesting that your governance should consider better praying grounds for these folks for they have shown that yes they can. Allow them the room and chambers to preach beyond their wealth in Hague. Now lets go to Hague and the journey began with a good sermon at meet the people prayers…..we need the calendar updates for routes in The Hague where such prayers will be held.

Regards

John Vorster

Kenya: Ruto’s handlers should advice him to changes tactics and stop blame games if he serious about the presidency of this country

Commentary By Leo Odera Omolo

The repeated claims by the Eldoret North MP William Samoei Ruto that the impending trials By the International Criminal Court of Justice at The Hague {ICC} against him and three other prominent Kenyans are just simple part of the conspiracy hatched by his political enemies to lock him out of the presidential race.

These claims have not so far been received well in many quarters and as such have become monotonous carrying shallow and hollow argument, which makes no sense nor any meaningful appeal in the minds of level minded Kenyan electorate. It is therefore prudent that the sooner Ruto changes his campaign tactics the better.

Kenyans knew pretty well who inserted Ruto’s name in a sealed envelope, and handed it to the ICC .This issue has been in the public domain for close to four years. The local media houses have done a wonderful job by serializing all the fact which led to he ICC impending trials,

I am particularly concerned with Ruto’s widely reported address to the students from the Maa communities during which the MP rubbished the ICC trials claiming they are just simplely part of the conspiracy hatched by his political enemies to ensure he was locked out of the forthcoming presidential race.

It is also worth mentioning that the Eldoret North Mp has been around the courts here in Kenya from time and again facing various allegations of illegal sell of land, land grabbing. He has, however, come out clean on some of the accusations.

It is therefore worth to note that it is only a couple of days after Ruto had made a pledge to return the IDP land, which he ha grabbed to its rightful owners. On top of these there are more pending cases against him in our local courts.

Surely, does he want to Kenyans to cast their presidential votes to a man who is facing one of the most heinous crimes against humanity? It makes no sense for someone who is a suspect in such serious crimes like murder, rape and other related offences against human rights to come forward seeking presidential votes before he I cleared of all the alleged crimes.

Ruto’s handlers should advice adequately telling him not to be in hurry. He is still a young man and Kenya is not just about to disappear from the map of the universe. The Republic of Kenya will still be around in 2017 and thereafter therefore he should be advised to get cleared by the ICC court first before laying a claim to the presidency.

The kind of chest thumping speeches delivered by Ruto during the so-called prayers meetings, which at times have become the political platform for the blame games gimmicks, I suspect could be the recipe for the recent bloody tribal flare ups along the Nyanza Rift Valley borders. These uncalled for tribal skirmishes have claimed the lives of six young Kenyans. And if the kind of speeches we are reading in the columns of newspapers and hearing on radio stations, and even at time viewing in TV news footage are not stopped, the Kenyans must be prepared to expect the worse come the next general elections.

In this context, I must take my hat off and heap a lot of praise to the two presidential aspirants, namely Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth and his counterpart Gichugu MP Madame Martha Karua.

I have been following the public utterance of the two legislators and I have detected a lot of political maturity and magnanimity in the way the two are canvassing for the presidential votes. Their approaches are devoid of malice and to me the two are truly the serious contenders for the job. Other presidential hopefuls should emulate Kenneth and Karua.

Karua recently toured the entire Nyanza Province during which her public pronouncements landed perfectly in the ears and the hearts of the electorate. She was dignified and talked to the electorate in a very mature manner that makes her one of the most highly respected in this region as a serious contender to the job. Despite having ventured into a territory which is the considered as the ODM stronghold, the residents gave hr a good hearing.

Peter Kenneth was recently in Kisii region the other day campaigning vigorously for his KNSC party candidate in the just concluded by elections in the Kitutu East constituency and left a mark on the ground as being one of the best and eloquent public speakers whose utterances carries no malice.

The two are the shinning example of the kind of modern political leadership the Kenyans want, and not the bunch of political demagogues thriving on hatred speeches, which might no contribute meaningful to the peaceful coexistence and development. We need those who can transform Kenya into a vibrant state in this region, which could be he envious of the neighboring countries.

Kenya is not a tribal fiefdom, but a country which is guided by the rule of law, which must remain paramount all the time. Any leader who is invoking tribal emotion as short cut to the presidency must be rejected by Kenyan voters in totality.

Ends

USA: The Senate in your bedroom?

from octimotor

There are some number of people who refuse to take privacy rights seriously. These refuse to heed calls to ‘keep statures and regulations off of people’s bodies’. See below discussion of USA Senate discussions relative to this point.

-om-

– – – – – – – – – – –

From: Elena Perez, MoveOn.org Political Action
Date: Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 4:48 PM
Subject: The Senate in your bedroom?
To: octimotor @ . . .

Dear reader,

Republicans in Congress want to put your boss right in your bedroom, deciding whether you have access to contraception and even what kind you can use—and the Senate’s voting on it tomorrow. It’s Senator Roy Blunt’s radical response to President Obama’s balanced approach to ensuring that women have access to birth control coverage.1

Senator Blunt wants to let any employer deny coverage for any health care treatment to which they claim a religious or moral objection. That means your employer could claim an objection to almost any kind of medical treatment: contraception, HIV treatment, vaccination, substance-abuse counseling, blood transfusions, prenatal care for unmarried women, or mental health care, just to name a few.2

We can stop the Blunt amendment and future attacks on health care access if we insist that our Senators leave medical decisions where they belong: in the hands of doctors and patients. But we have to act before tomorrow’s crucial vote.

;
The Blunt amendment was proposed to get around the new health care rule that ensures all women have access to contraception coverage, no matter who they work for.3 Under the guise of “religious freedom” the Republicans are attacking the very idea of comprehensive health insurance.4

Having someone else’s beliefs dictate your ability to get care isn’t religious freedom—and it isn’t good for workers, families, or public health and safety.

And this is just the latest in a long-running series of attacks on health care reform, women’s health care, and reproductive choice.5 We have to stop these attacks once and for all by bringing attention to the real issue. It comes down to one simple thing: Your employer’s religion shouldn’t decide what medical treatment you’re able to get.

;
Thanks for all you do.

–Elena, Joan, Carrie, Marika, and the rest of the team

visit here to sign and tell the Senate that you don’t want your boss to decide if you get the health care you need.
http://pol.moveon.org/healthcoverage/?id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=2

Sources:

1. “GOP Tries to Add Contraception Repeal Language to Transportation Bill,” ABC News, February 9, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271213&id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=4

2. “GOP Ups The Ante, Introduces Legislation To Allow Any Employer To Deny Any Preventive Health Service,” ThinkProgress, February 10, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271211&id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=5

3. “Obama to Announce Contraception Rule ‘Accommodation’ for Religious Organizations,” ABC News, February 10, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271214&id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=6

4. “The Blunt Amendment Takes Away Access to Critical Health Insurance Coverage for Millions of Americans,” National Women’s Law Center, February 10, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271212&id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=7

“GOP Backs ‘Moral Conviction’ Waiver for All Insurance Coverage,” The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271215&id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=8

5. “House Republicans Launch New Attacks On Health Law Regulations,” Kaiser Health News, September 16, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271224&id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=9

“The GOP’s 10 Most Extreme Attacks On A Woman’s Right To Choose An Abortion,” ThinkProgress, December 27, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=271220&id=35767-21095459-azviUqx&t=10

KENYA: THE POOR AFRICANS

From: odhiambo okecth

Cornelius,

I want to take the flip side and address the issues you are raising and complaining about in a nutshell.

At Independence, all across Africa, we had a few issues that drove the need for Independence. First, we wanted to rule ourselves and help achieve certain key issues we thought were dear to us.

In Kenya, we zeroed on 3 cardinal issues; Poverty, disease and illiteracy. We had some other issues we thought were dear to us.

But immediately we attained Independence, some of our leaders changed the goal posts. Many states in Africa went dictatorial; where the big man became the Mister Know it all. Democracy was defecated upon and what we had in reality were sham elections. And then they invented tribalism as a buffer for their leadership, and we promptly swallowed that.

In those sham elections, the people were used to rubber stamp the pre-determined electoral choices of the ruling elite. This led to the fight and agitation for the Second Liberation wave across all Africa.

Again, in Kenya, the people decided that we had seen enough of this electoral malaise and with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, George Moseti Anyona, Masinde Muliro, Kenneth Matiba, Raila Odinga and others in the front line, the journey to the Second Liberation had started.

The people won in the fight for the Second Liberation, but lost in electing people, men and women of repute to electoral offices. Instead of electing leaders, we elected fleecers; men and women whose main preoccupation once in office was to fleece the common man.

Food prices went up. Housing units went up. Fuel went up. School Fees went up. Taxation went up. MPs salaries went up and the common man’s salary was gravely eaten into. Then, we were given another chance to elect new leaders and promptly, we elected and returned to office the same known thieves who had messed us up.

The end result is that we are in the mess we are in, courtesy of ourselves. We are constantly given a chance to correct the mess, but we vote tribe. We vote for money. And we vote for ineptness. Then we blame the leaders we have voted for.

Have you ever heard of garbage in garbage out?

That is our malady and untill we will make up our mind to stop voting for tribe, money and ineptness, we will keep blaming the garbage we keep piling in.

My take is simple; change will not come from somewhere else. We are the change we have been waiting for. Let us join hands and help Clean Kenya.

Oto


Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

— On Sun, 3/4/12, Cornelius Ambale wrote:

Dear Presidents/Prime Ministers, of Africa

On behalf of the poor people of Africa, I send you this protest letter.

We are angry. Yes, we the people are very angry. We have endured your ill conceived, harsh and austere economic and social policies for quite too long. We have watched silently to see you and your cronies enjoy while we the masses continue to suffer. We have no jobs, no income, no savings and no place to lay our heads while you and your selected few live in mansions at the expense of the very poor you are refusing to take care of. You have consistently ignored all our cry for help even though you know our plights very well.

Are you not appalled by the scale of poverty and the living condition of the people? Are you not appalled to see children selling on the street instead of being in the classroom? Are you not appalled to see children scavenging for food while you and you cronies frequent five star hotels? Don’t you care about the dignity of the people you claim to be serving?

For years, you have asked us to sacrifice and even today we are still sacrificing. How many more years should we continue to sacrifice and tighten our belts while you and your cronies enjoy from our sweat? We cannot continue any longer. No we cannot.

We are tired of all of you who call yourself leaders of the people. We are tired of dictatorship, media censorship, torture, imprisonment without trial, war and political instability. We are tired of being refugees. We are tired of seeing our children die of preventable diseases. We are tired of sharing water from the same source with animals; water infested with bacteria and viruses. We are tired of lack of access to education, health, energy, food, medicine, shelter and clothing. We are tired of having to work with cutlasses and hoes in this 21st century. We are tired of having to rely on nature to plant our crops. We are tired of having to plant without fertilizers. We are tired of having to use 18th century seeds that yield next to nothing. We are tired of having to endure poverty, starvation, diseases, humiliation, torture, oppression, in your hands.

Above all, we are tired of your excesses. We are tired of your corrupt practices and the looting of the treasuries. Your foreign bank accounts are swollen with hundreds of millions of dollars, pounds and Euros while hundreds of millions of people live on one dollar a day.

We are tired of you using our money to procure arms for your own protection while children go to school barefooted and on empty stomach; while hospitals are without essential medicines; while factories are folding up for lack of electricity; and while harvested crops remain in the bush for lack of good roads. We are tired of all your inactions, the wait- see – and – do – nothing approaches to problem solving.

There are many of you that we have not chosen or asked to lead us yet are carrying themselves as our leaders. Such people we demand should retire and allow elections to take place. We demand an end to torture in Egypt and starvation in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. We demand an end to the dictatorial rule in Libya, Egypt, Cameroon, Gabon, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Uganda and the Gambia. We demand an end to the instabilities in DR. Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Northern Uganda, Chad and Madagascar. We demand an end to the genocide in Darfur and the killing of innocent children, women and civilians.

We demand an end to the official corruption and graft in Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Angola, DR. Congo, Chad, South Africa, Kenya and Guinea. We demand an end to the eroding of democratic values in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and Gabon. We demand an end to the injection of tribalism in our politics. We demand an end to the use of the continent as a hub for cocaine shipment to Europe.

USA, Oh.; Caring Citizens Celebrate International Peace and Friendship

From octimotor

The All-Partisan Group, Caring Citizens, in Ohio USA, takes note of March Celebration as indicated in chapters’ model constitution.

– – – –

Celebrating International Peace and Friendship in March.

The first week of each March, the anniversary of the Peace Corps, an independent U.S. government agency that provides volunteers for countries requesting assistance around the world is celebrated. Established by Executive Order March 1, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps continues to promote peace and friendship by remaining true to its mission: (1) To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. (2) To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. (3) To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Text is from: Section 2 of Article 12, Annual Community Human Rights Celebrations, Model Caring Citizens Chapter Constitution;
www.empathysurplus.com
visit link under Resources

POPE BENEDICT DEDICATES MONTH OF MARCH TO PRAY FOR WOMEN

From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012

Pope Benedict’s general intention for March is that the whole world may recognize the contribution of women to the development of society. March is a time to remember and appreciate the important historical contributions of women, as well as recognize their continued influence in our society today.

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The contribution of women nuns to the development of society cannot also be ignored. They have contributes a lot on health, education among various development sectors. Even though women are not ordained to priesthood, during Pope John Paul’s pontificate, women took over pastoral and administrative duties in priestless parishes, they were appointed chancellors of dioceses around the world, and they began swelling the ranks of “experts” at Vatican synods and symposiums.

In 2004, for the first time, the pope appointed two women theologians to the prestigious International Theological Commission and named a Harvard University law professor, Mary Ann Glendon, to be president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

In his 1994 apostolic letter on ordination, Pope John Paul said the church’s ban on women priests is definitive and not open to debate among Catholics.

The all-male priesthood, he wrote, does not represent discrimination against women, but fidelity to Christ’s actions and his plan for the church.

The pope’s document reaffirmed the basis for ordaining only men: Christ chose only men to be his Apostles, it has been the constant practice of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and the magisterium’s teaching on the matter has been consistent.

While insisting women cannot be ordained priests, Pope Benedict XVI says it is right to discuss how women can be more involved in church decision-making. This is because women not only have exercised a charismatic function in the church, being prompted by the Holy Spirit to found religious orders, expand charitable projects and develop new forms of piety.

Nuns like any other women have had “a real and profound participation in the governance of the church. The contribution of women, “always has been a determining factor without which the church could not live.”

For decades women have been excluded from decision making and development is society, even in the Church. This is because women have been considered weaker gender. Even philosopher Aristotle thought that women were not important in the society that is why he declared that they were equal to infertile male.

According to Aristotle, woman’s role is to be compassionate, more easily moved to tears, while at the same time being more jealous, more querulous, and more apt to scold and to strike. She is more prone to despondency and less hopeful than the man, more void of shame or self-respect, more false of speech, more deceptive, and of more retentive.

Women have been considered people whose role is to belong in the home. They are physically inferior to men. That is why Aristotle claimed that their proper place is in the home, controlled by their husbands, because this corresponds to Greek constitutional law and as such he thought that women should not be educated with or like men, but should receive training in gymnastics and domestic arts to enable them to manage households, to bear and raise children, and to please and be obedient to their husbands.

He wrote that a virtuous wife is best honored when she sees that her husband is faithful to her, and has no preference for another woman; but before all others loves and trusts her and holds her as his own. And so much the more will the woman seek to be what he accounts her.

Emanuel Kant on the other hand thinks women should not have “civil personality”. Women he thinks have a “purely inherent existence” as servants who should always obey her husband.

Like Kant, Plato also thinks that women are physically inferior, bear instead of beget children, and are generally weaker than men. Their role was to be a significant part of society, different from men, but still play a part.

The only thing he differed with Kant is that Plato believed that women were necessary for society to run smoothly. This of course did not mean that women were equals of men. Men are the head of families and as such he is the one to dictate the rules that governed the house.

Women he thought are naturally maternal and these maternal skills made them better care takers for children, this womanly instinct is one of the many skills women possess that men just don’t possess enough of.

Even though Plato was of the idea that women need to have jobs but cant always have the same jobs as men because they don’t have the same abilities as men.

David Hume also thought that women were weaker gender and pious sex. In other words, their being in the society was to satisfy men sexually as if they did not need sex except men.

Commentary

By Joy Babu
Via-email

I have read your peace on the untold story of Michuki. My only comment is that some of the claims or allegations (especially the last two paragraphs) cannot be substantiated and are in fact generating unnecessary tribal animosities. I am afraid this is dangerous, coming from a peace organization. Please restrain from anything akin to propaganda and propagate message of peace.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

Corporate Crime and Punishment

From: Yona Maro

Should corporations have immunity for human rights abuses? On February 28, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will decide whether corporations will be exempted from a crucial law that allows foreign victims of serious human rights abuses to sue them in US courts for civil damages. Any decision that lets corporations off the hook would be a major blow to justice and contrary to the global move toward more corporate accountability.

The case currently before the Supreme Court, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, concerns allegations by 12 Nigerian plaintiffs that Royal Dutch Petroleum, also known as Shell, collaborated closely with Nigeria’s then-military government as it carried out a campaign of intimidation and violence against the Ogoni people, a local community opposed to oil development on their land. The plaintiffs accuse the company of aiding and abetting abuses by the Nigerian government, including arbitrary arrest, torture, rape, and the hanging of Dr. Barinem Kiobel, an Ogoni leader who was executed in 1995 alongside the author and activist Ken Saro Wiwa. Saro Wiwa’s family filed a separate lawsuit against Shell, which they settled in 2009 for $15.5 million.

The Alien Tort Statute of 1789 under which the Nigerians are bringing their case was designed to ensure that foreigners could seek justice on US soil for crimes against “the law of nations.” The First Congress had in mind crimes such as piracy, but a Supreme Court ruling in 2004 found that acts such as genocide, torture or crimes against humanity are regarded everywhere as serious violations of international law and could be a reason for suing under the law.

In 1996 Burmese villagers filed a suit against Unocal under the Alien Tort Statute, which produced a human rights landmark. The plaintiffs alleged that Unocal (now Chevron) was complicit in killings, torture, rape, forced labor and forced relocations by the Burmese military, who carried out these abuses when clearing land and providing security for the construction of a natural gas pipeline partly owned by the company. The case was ultimately settled for an undisclosed sum believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

In the years since that case, the concept that companies should not violate human rights wherever they operate has become mainstream. While it is easy for companies to make social responsibility pledges when there are no strings attached, increasingly they are being held to basic standards through independent monitoring of their actual practices. For example, private security companies that want to join a new industry code of conduct have to agree to allow an independent oversight body to assess their compliance.

The core principle that companies should respect human rights was formally endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2008. But companies still need to be held legally accountable if they are implicated in human rights violations.

National criminal, civil and administrative laws in virtually every country allow corporations to be held liable in some way for their involvement in serious abuses. The universal recognition across all legal systems that corporations are liable for their wrongful conduct is so compelling that it in fact is the basis for a rule under international law. Under this “general principle of law,” governments can and should use domestic means to hold corporations responsible for egregious conduct that violates international human rights norms.

It is still extraordinarily difficult to bring corporate perpetrators of human rights abuses to justice, though. Multinational corporations argue that cases should proceed in courts where the abuses took place, rather than where they are headquartered. But local victims cannot always afford or obtain representation and local judiciaries frequently lack the independence to adjudicate these cases credibly against powerful investors. The local law may not reach to corporate headquarters where the real decisions and profits are located. Local legal processes can drag on for years, draining the meager resources of victims and their advocates. Or they can end abruptly with a decision that fails to deliver justice.

The Alien Tort Statute provides a vital avenue for human rights cases against companies to be heard. Victims and surviving family members can hold multinational companies responsible for complicity in abuses, and the corporations can’t hide from the U.S. legal system or from international law. The victims and their families deserve a day in court.

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Kiobel case could be a watershed moment for corporate accountability. If it blocks the plaintiffs’ suit, it will send a disturbing message that multinational corporations do not have to pay a price for their involvement in torture, unlawful killings and other violations of the law of nations. Corporations, like pirates of old, should not be able to flout firmly established and universal legal norms with no real prospect of facing justice.

Arvind Ganesan is director of the Human Rights Watch business and human rights program. Along with other international human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the Kiobel case.


Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com

KENYA: PROF WANGARI MAATHAI REMEMBERED

From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Today is February 28. It is exactly 20 years ago when the late Prof Wanagari Maathai joined mothers of political prisoners to demand their release in 1992 at Uhuru Park. The women who were kicked out of Uhuru Park moved to All Saints Cathedral where they stayed in the church’s compound for over seven months before their sons were eventually released.

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These are the mothers who fought for the release of their sons. They set up camp in the Uhuru (Freedom) Park where they staged a hunger strike and waited for the release of their sons. The mothers included Leah Wanjiru Mungai, 77, Elizabeth Wanjiru Matenjwa, 74, Milka Wanjiku, 84, Veronica Wambui Nduthu, 71, and Monica Wangu Wamwere, 81.

Led by Maathai, these mothers held a publicized meeting on February 28, 1992 with Attorney General Amos Wako to whom they handed a letter of support for their sons. They demanded that the Kenyan government uphold democratic principles and allow freedom of speech, but Wako met their demands only with a promise that he would look into the matter.

On March 3, the Moi government decided to forcibly disperse the demonstrators. Government police forces beat protesters with batons, fired gunshots into the air, and hurled tear-gas into the tent where protesters were gathered.

To ward off the police, three of the protesting mothers stripped their clothing, shook their breasts, and shouted, “What kind of government is this that beats women! Kill us! Kill us now! We shall die with our children!” The police forces responded by turning away and leaving the scene.

Although it could look as if there were no other political prisoners from other ethnic communities, other women like Marcella Ojuka (mother to Paddy Onyango), Margaret Opiata (mother to Odindo Opiata), Joyce Wafula (mother to Wafula Buke), Beldina Adhiambo (mother to Apiny Adhiambo), and Anne Kitur (wife to Tirop Kitur) may not have been at Uhuru Park but they, too, identified with the other womens’ struggles.

These were the days that the political atmosphere in Kenya was characterized by brutal government repression and terror. They were the days many students, journalists, lawyers, and human rights advocates were among those imprisoned for perceived anti-government statements, ideas, and actions.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

KENYA: UNTOLD STORY OF MICHUKI SHOOT TO KILL ORDER

From: People For Peace
Colleagues Home & Abroad Regional News

BY FR JOACHIM OMOLO OUKO, AJ
NAIROBI-KENYA
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012

John Njoroge Michuki is dead, but no one has ever asked why he was removed by President Mwai Kibaki from Internal Security to Minister for Roads and Public Works shortly he had issued a ‘Shoot-to- Kill Order’ against the out-lawed Mungiki sect in 2008. He directed the police while he served as the Minister for Internal Security.

Inset- from left to right- late Michuki-Mungiki leader Maina Njenga- School children caught in the centre of 2008 post election violence/ File

Although it could be argued that he was moved to another ministry after Human Rights groups condemned the order citing that it contravened both the Police Act and general Human Rights guaranteed by the constitution, report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, or arbitrary executions by Mr. Philip Alston can tell a lot.

Faces of sorrow and sympathy as these people including the child on your right look at the dead during the post election violence/ File

The Special Rapporteur visited Kenya from 16-25 February 2009 in order: to ascertain the types and causes of unlawful killings; to investigate whether those responsible for such killings are held to account; and to propose constructive measures to reduce the incidence of killings and impunity.

Although the main focus was on killings by the police, violence in the Mt Elgon District, and killings in the post-election period, there were many such criminal groups, but the Mungiki became particularly prominent. It suggests that Mungiki were used to play a special role in post election violence.

It would mean that the Michuki shoot to kill order was going to interfere with that special role. That is why, even though in many slums in and around Nairobi, there have historically been high levels of insecurity caused by Mungiki they were not comprehended.

Police using excessive force on innocent people during the post election violence/ File

Probably because in the early 1990s when the Mungiki, initially a cultural-religious movement, began providing security and basic services in slums, today, the Mungiki are responsible for a large number of crimes, including murder.

According to the report, even though the Government has a clear obligation to protect citizens from Mungiki and other criminal violence, during Philip’s mission, he received compelling evidence that death squads – including one called Kwekwe – exist within the police force in Kenya, and that these squads were set-up to eliminate the Mungiki and other high-profile suspected criminals, upon the orders of senior police officials.

Detailed evidence was provided by civil society investigations, 13 witnesses to the squad’s activities, survivors of attempted killings, family members of deceased or disappeared victims, and victim autopsy reports indicating shots at close range and back entry wounds.

A further key component of this evidence is the now public testimony of a police whistleblower, who recorded his statement in July 2008, before he was murdered while in hiding in October 2008.

His account according to the report provides, in precise and often excruciating, detail the composition and operations of the death squad in which he was a part, and the circumstances of the murder of 67 persons between February 2007 and July 2008.

Together, this evidence implicates the Commissioner of Police, and senior police officials from the Criminal Investigation Division, Special homes of suspected Mungiki members. Two matatu drivers were subsequently murdered.

The police carrying out the operations (those driving the vehicles and committing the murders) are generally ordered by senior police to pick up a specified individual at a particular location (often his home, workplace, or a road on which he is believed to be traveling).

Interviews were conducted with Government officials, representatives of civil society, and victims and witnesses, in five of the eight administrative provinces or areas in Kenya, as well as with officials of United Nations agencies and members of the diplomatic community. Over 100 lengthy witness interviews were conducted.

The Special Rapporteur concluded that police in Kenya frequently execute individuals and that a climate of impunity prevails. Most troubling is the existence of police death squads operating on the orders of senior police officials and charged with eliminating suspected leaders and members of criminal organizations.

Since then mysterious killings took place. On March 9, 2009 lawyer Oscar King’ara, the founder and director of an NGO known as Oscar Foundation, and Programme Coordinator John Paul Oulo were shot dead by unknown assailants.

Although they were killed only hours after Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua had told a news conference that the Foundation was Mungiki’s fundraising wing, an alleged Mungiki spokesman David Gitau Njuguna said he wanted to reveal the activities of the organisation to the media.

On 13 April 2008, Mungiki leader Maina Njenga’s wife and a driver were killed mysteriously. This was after Michuki had been removed from Internal Security ministry. Mungiki has been presented as a militia that enjoyed State goodwill to commit murder and other bloody crimes in January 2008.

When Mr Njuguna Gitau Njuguna of Mungiki’s political wing was killed after he was confronted by three unknown assailants in Nairobi’s Luthuli Avenue, their leader, Maina Njenga, was by then serving a jail term of five years at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison for being in possession of an illegal firearm.

Mr. Njuguna Gitau Njuguna was the brain behind the idea of turning Mungiki into a political party and he had a nice name for it (KENYA) which stands for Kenya Youth Alliance. He was a university graduate and a close friend of Paul Muite and Maina Kiai and other anti status-quo fellows.

Njuguga had previously organized a conference at the Limuru Conference Center that was well attended. The theme of the conference was to examine ways to effect a generational change in leadership arguing that the same old guard had been in charge of Kenya since independence.

Maina Njenga recently complained that Mungiki was bitter because they had from time to time been used and dumped by Central province leaders. Njenga had complained to police about suspicious cars that have been trailing him on the road and to his Nairobi and Kitengela residences, with some of the occupants leaving messages they wanted to talk to him.

Meanwhile, Michuki’s fear for Raila to become the president was not because he hated him, but because Odinga would feel compelled to avenge the murders of slain Luos Tom Mboya, an independence-era leader believed to have been killed by a Kikuyu, and Robert Ouko, a Moi-era foreign minister believed to have been murdered by Kalenjin.

According to Michuki Odinga would be pressured to avenge these deaths not only against the individual perpetrators, but against entire communities. So his fear was to protect his community from being avenged.

People for Peace in Africa (PPA)
P O Box 14877
Nairobi
00800, Westlands
Kenya

Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail- ppa@africaonline.co.ke
omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Website: www.peopleforpeaceafrica.org

USA, Ohio: Compassionate Press

from Chuck Watts

Here’s the blog I posted.


http://empathysurplus.com/2012/02/17/buy-local-human-rights-needs-a-compassionate-press/
Buy Local Human Rights Needs A Compassionate Press

by Chuck Watts

The idea is simple: Ethical businesses and a moral market are tools to enhance the common good defined as expanded human rights and individual liberties.
. . .
Last night’s Candidate’s Forum, hosted and sponsored by the Wilmington News Journal at the Murphy Theatre, violated that trust.
. . .
There are more contested races in the both Democratic and Republican primaries:
. . .

Caring citizens communicating American values are the solution to expanding liberty and justice for all,

Chuck Watts, Co-Founder
Empathy Surplus Project – 2012 Theme: Occupy Compassion

Empathy Surplus Project Twitter Page
Empathy Surplus Project Facebook Page
Empathy Surplus Project Google+ Page
Empathy Surplus Project Compassionate Action Network Page
937-725-4317