from Papa Likondi
With the agreement by the cabinet for a local tribunal, to look into the PEV, Ocampos’ quest has been delivered a major devastating blow. This means no Kenyan will ever step in the Hague to answer charges related to the PEV
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Have a very good Likondi day Jirani Kuno
Dear Kenyans,
I am sitting in my sturdy as I eat a late 47th Jamhuri Day supper. I am analyzing the news and how our politicians have been reacting to events in and about Kenya.
At this very minute, a thunderbolt has struck in my head and I remembered a note a wrote a while back. http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=361764064461
In my analysis, I have a new dynamic to consider. What has Wikileaks done to our political equation? The equation as we know it is, ICC minus the 6 suspects = Kenya’s 4th President.
Consider this: Stalwart politicians have been quite erratic lately.
1. Ruto’s is completely unable to sit still, what with his daily cry-wolf to us about ICC and Ocampo intention knowing very well that we cannot change anything, and that the right place for him to defend his case if he is indeed indicted is at the ICC.
2. Kibaki is overreacting regarding the alleged US envoy’s secret but diplomatic opinion in the leaked cables, by alleging that the US is out to overthrow him via community activism. Please tell me how by giving Heb Mosomi a couple of thousand dollars for civic education was the US installing Heb as the new head of state?
3. Uhuru has been officially declared ‘King’ of GEMA. Being the son of Jomo Kenyatta and believing he is actually king, his demeanor indicates he would pass a lie detector test for innocence on any ICC charges. As a matter of fact, he is telling Ocampo, “Up Yours!” by his well articulated silence
4. Michuki has finally been tamed in parliament regarding his role with the Mamlukis (Arthur Brothers & Standard Raid) and he is actually quiet about it.
5. Raila, commented about incarcerating gays then recanted on it. He also flip flopped his position by urging ICC to consider the root cause of PEV. Why is the PM suddenly wobbling?
6. Amos Wako is suffering from many political diseases. Notice that during his tenure, he failed to prosecute many obvious cases which where in fact crimes against humanity. These were the Ouko murder suspects, Standard raid executors, and the Goldenberg thieves. His worst crime of omission and hence commission was failure to advise the president and direct the CJ to form a local tribunal for PEV suspects. Now parliament has rebuked him by adopting the reports on Ouko killers and Standard raid. ICC has succeeded in identifying the PEV suspects and Wako is saying PEV case at ICC is ‘Nole Presequi’ because Ocampo has only circumstantial evidence.
Kenyans, I hope you can see that these men are acting very different. I hope you can see that their integrity is wavering. I do not know if they are in the Ocampo list.
However, My 10th great grandfather Ragem says thus: Do not be fooled by the smoke screen being peddled about Ranneberger attempting a Coup de Tat through Kenyans For Change or Action Aid organizations. Rather keep your eyes on the future of Kenya. These six folks we love or hate so much could be the Ocampo six. If they are, it doesn’t matter, your tribe or mine, or whether you like them or not. It doesn’t matter that Ranneburger, Anan, Ocampo, Kriegler, Waki, Githongo, or Omar tell us that there is a fly in our Kenyan cup of tea.
What I say matters is a question of motive. Who stands to benefit if the above six are indicted by Ocampo? I know for a fact that it is not Heb Mosomi though it should be! It is the Mister In-Between Kalonzo Musyoka. Oh Please Ocampo, go easy on our six sons lest you bequeath us with such a curse.
Luis Moreno Ocampo
— Joram Ragem
wuod Ndinya, wuod Onam, wuod Amolo, wuod Owuoth, wuod Oganyo, wuod Mumbe, wuod Odongo, wuod Olwande, wuod Adhaya, wuod Ojuodhi, wuod Ragem (You may be my relative, but it matters less now. This is New Kenya!)
By Dickens Wasonga.
Nyanza province is still leading in the country over matters relating to gender based violence. According to studies carried out in the recent past by civil society groups working to stop violence against women in the province, the region came first as the worst hit on such issues.
According to the deputy executive director of Kenya Female Advisory Organization [KEFEADO], Ms Easter Achien’g, Nyanza continues to record worrying trends of violence meted against women which in most cases have led to the death of the victims.
Speaking to the press in her Kisumu office yesterday the director said her organization which spearheads gender activism for prevention of violence against women has now embarked on aggressive awareness creation and social education campaigns that will boost the capacity of women to report such cases when it happens and ensure justice is delivered.
Easter Achieng, the deputy director flanked by Hellen Otieno of Gender Development project during the press briefing.
The director at the same time chided a move by the Kenyan police to create reporting desks manned by female police officers arguing that the move was cosmetic and has failed to encourage women violated to report such incidents because harassment is still practiced.
”Most women who report cases of violence which includes rape are treated rudely and humiliated at the police stations and having desks manned by police women does not help much. We need to see the police getting fully interested in prosecuting the culprits.” She said.
Ms Achien’g disclosed that in just one month, over four cases of violence relating to gender were reported in Kisumu’s Nyalenda slums where victims were murdered in cold blood.
In one of the cases a man reportedly killed his wife and proceeded to hack to death their three children in what the police in the area described as a worrying trend now taking root in most sprawling slums of the lake side city.
The activist said it was sad that up to 90 per cent of such cases go unreported because the society’s socio-cultural beliefs view wife beating and battering as normal practices.They only realize it was wrong when the victims are killed.
”We live in a society where the community still believe wife beating is normal. Most of our women also were brought up to be submissive to an extent that even when they are abused, they do not wish to reported the abusers to the authorities. This is wrong and we have began educating them to realize they have rights which nobody should violate including their spouse” said Achien’g.
During the post election violence which rocked the East African nation in 2008 after the general elections
whose results,several women were killed,scores raped by different gangs and a brutal force who took advantage of the skirmishes to mete out violence against the weaker sex.
Many of the cases were reported to the police but non has been prosecuted, at least in Kisumu, which was amongst the worst hit spots by the skirmishes.
Towards elimination of further violation of the women rights,her organization together with other partners has launched a 16 days of gender activism to stop violence against women in the province dubbed ”WE CAN CAMPAIGN”.
According to the crusader, the ‘We can campaign’ which for their group stands for ”We Can End All Forms of Violence Against Women” is a campaign which is meant to help individual men and women to carry out self analysis,reflect and discard attitudes which promote violence against women with a view of making the other members of the society aware of the short term and long term impacts of such acts of violence on those on the receiving end.
She said the campaign and the 16 days of gender activism is a very important period for ending all forms of violence against women and is piloted in five re4gions in the country namely Nairobi,Rift Valley, Central,Western and Nyanza with KEFEADO being the focal point in the region.
In the worst hit Nyanza, KEFEADO has undertaken activities as from last week and will hold a learning platform for 60 different partners representing different regions in Kenya on December 9th at the Kisumu Museum grounds.
She asked members of parliament to allocate money from the devolved funds to help build safe centers which will accommodate victims of gender based violence in all the major urban centers in the country.
ENDS.
Reports Leo Odera Omolo
SOME cried. Some were confused. Others still traumatised, while many were left speechless.They looked on in disbelief as a local female surgeon tried in vain thrice, probably using a very blunt knife, to cut off a girl’s clitoris.
Sabiny girls during the Wednesday night circumcision ritual in Bukwo district.
She then asked for another, similarly blunt knife and to make it work, applied extra force, going back and forth, the way a saw cuts into timber. The girl struggled not to show fear and to contain her trembling, which is culturally unacceptable and would have attracted scorn and ridicule from the attentive crowd.
As blood gushed from her private parts, the crowd urged the girls: “Be strong! You are almost done! Remain calm!”,the semi official newspaper, the NEWVISION has reported this morning.
People stood on hills; others climbed trees and some pitched camp on roof tops of huts to catch a glimpse of the ritual.
A white lady in the crowd was so shaken, she said later that she wished she could have saved the girl from the severe pain and embarrassment.
Once cut, the girl was pushed aside, like a slaughtered chicken, her legs put together as if to stifle the pain and another descended upon.
Yet, when Saturday Vision interviewed her, she said she was happy and excited. But her facial muscles reflected the pain buried inside her, away from society. “I am happy I have become a woman by being circumcised. I will be able to do what other cut women do. I will now be able to climb into the granary or milk cows, which I was not allowed to do till now,” Alice Chemutai said.
She had a blanket wrapped around her waist.
Eight girls cut with two knives
Then seven other girls – one by one, wrapped in dirty blankets and strewn all over a compound hosting two huts, were circumcised. The circumciser would first throw fine millet flour into their private parts to reduce friction and wetness.
She used the same knife to cut each of them. The knife was not sterilized, exposing all of them to the risk of the deadly HIV.
The cuts lasted close to 50 seconds. As the mutilated girls lay helpless, an old woman, threw millet flour over them to appease the spirits and ordered them to kneel so that the blood could pour out.
Most of the girls were barely in their early twenties but someone in the crowd said they were all married. “Girls here marry by their 15th birthdays,” he said.
A few minutes later, the girls were told to march into a hut where they would spend the next three weeks healing from the mutilation. But they did not march; they staggered.
The eight are part of over 120 girls who have been mutilated in Sebei region since the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) season kicked off in Sebei in eastern Uganda.
According to information compiled by local authorities, the girls hail from the districts of Bukwo and Kween. Kapchorwa district has not registered any case.
According to Alfred Ayebwa, the LC1 chairman for Kapkorosia village, over 50 girls were mutilated in Kabei and Kortuk sub-counties, 20 in Chesower sub-county, and 34 in Chekwasta sub-county. Another 16 were mutilated in Suam sub-county.
Bukwo vice-chairman John Chelangat said the mutilation was done between midnight and two in the morning, behind closed doors.
“This is due to fear of the new law that calls for the ban on FGM and gives harsh penalties to anybody participating in FGM or withholds any information about it,” he said
No sensitisation about the new law
The Government passed a law prohibiting FGM in December 2009 but nobody in the FGM areas seems to care.
According to Chelangat, no sensitisation has been done to educate the people about the new law because there are no funds to do it.
The United Nations allocated about $300,000 (about sh600m) for FGM activities but, to-date, people on the ground report no sensitisation activities.
The national gender officer for the UN Fund for Population Activities, Brenda Malinga, said some of the money has been used at the national level to get the law working and the rest was supposed to be disbursed to the districts in November for sensitisation about the law.
She says last year, focus was mainly on enactment and enforcement of legislation against FGM.
“We have been supporting training on community dialogue for FGM abandonment in Amudat, Bukwo and Kapchorwa. We also simplified the new law for them.”
But when Saturday Vision visited FGM districts, no impact was seen. And the FGM season started in July 2010.
Women who usually do the cutting are complaining that FGM activists promised them compensation for income lost but up to now, nothing has been done.
“We shall continue cutting girls because this is where we get our income. They have also not sensitized us and we do not know what is in the law,” said Sunday Kokop, the surgeon in Suam-sub-county. According to the law, aggravated FGM gets life imprisonment.
This is when death occurs or where the victim is disabled or is infected with HIV. It is also aggravated FGM where the offender is a parent, guardian or person with control over the victim, or where the act is done by a health worker.
Others who engage in FGM shall be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 10 years.
The problem
The lack of sensitisation about the law can be blamed on factors like lack of a radio especially in Bukwo district to carry the message, low levels of education and high levels of poverty.
Alex Cherop, 34, of Chesimat village in Kortek sub-county, said nobody has ever told them to abandon FGM. They hear about a campaign in Kapchorwa but do not know how it fits in their culture and customs.
According to the Sabiny, a girl is circumcised to initiate her into adulthood. The clitoris is cut out to interfere with a woman’s arousal process.
Saturday Vision established that over 220 girls were mutilated in Amudat district between July and September this year. According to the LC5 chief of Amudat, Pauline Isura, the girls were mutilated in the remote sub-counties of Loro and Karitek, on the Uganda-Kenya border, which is difficult to reach.
“We do not have logistics to facilitate us to reach there. There were also some girls who crossed to their kin in Pokot north in Kenya to get mutilated,” Isura adds.
Why is there no action taken against perpetrators?
Local leaders are reluctant to swing into action because, according to Chelangat, they may lose votes.
The police are also unable to arrest the culprits because, according to the Bukwo district Police chief, James Wamwenyerere, they do not have transport.
“We lack transport and most of the places are vast and hilly for us to reach.”
The Police chief said he had the names and location of the girls who were to be mutilated on December 2, but they did nothing due to lack of transport.
The DPC, however, says they have managed to arrest about four girls who were mutilated in Chesower sub-county and five of their parents. They are in custody.
But recently, when they arrested three girls in Binyinya, Kween district over FGM, court acquitted them because the girls refused to name the people who mutilated them. They told the magistrate that they mutilated themselves.
When the local surgeon, who had been arrested by police was paraded in court for identification, the girls said they did not know her. The case was dismissed.
However, Beatrice Chelangat, the executive director of the Reproductive Educative and Community Health Project, says investigations are going on.
Ends
By Zhang Lei
He remembers like it was yesterday the night he was forced to flee the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as officers raided his apartment-turned-office and closed down his non-governmental organization on October 18, 2006.
“I never felt ashamed,” said 27-year-old Chang Kun. “In fact, I’m still proud of what I did.”
For seven years, Chang hasn’t quit despite constant setbacks and frustrations.
As founder of the China Youth HIV/AIDS Assembly, Chang believes in what he’s doing: He has devoted his life to AIDS prevention work.
“When I fight AIDS, I never feel tired, though it’s very challenging work,” he said.
He has chosen a very different path to most of his peers from his rural hometown of Chengguan in Linquan county, Anhui Province.
As they struggle to buy apartments and make a traditional success of their lives in the bigger cities, Chang has instead returned home to Chengguan to open up a humble community youth center.
It was in early 2006 that he realized his life’s mission: to fight AIDS.
“I suddenly found this inner strength because I’d discovered what my calling was,” Chang said.
He was studying law at Xinjiang Normal University in Urumqi and already devoting most of his spare time to helping the disadvantaged.
He had started a volunteer league organizing environmental protection and disabled groups when he realized AIDS was a taboo problem neglected by most students.
A large AIDS prevention forum was launched by 20 colleges in Xinjiang in 2004, attracting attention from public and local authorities.
The forum was a hit, but Chang said he was blamed by university teachers and leaders for not sharing the limelight, for example hogging television interviews.
“I was too young to handle the complicated relationships back then,” he said. Mostly as a result of this inexperience, Chang’s league was disbanded nine months after it had been formed.
Chang began looking deeper into AIDS, as “it’s a very interesting topic, connected to many perspectives of society including politics, economy, humanity, environment and religion.”
Xinjiang was China’s fourth-most severely affected area at that time, he said. Since he had lost teacher support, he expanded his AIDS support group outside college and founded his non-governmental organization (NGO) the Snow Lotus HIV/AIDS Education Institute on March 16, 2005. He also kept a close eye on Hepatitis B issues.
The Chinese mainland has more than 500 unregistered AIDS NGOs, mostly funded by government health departments, he explained.
“Most AIDS NGOs are not registered, but tolerated and funded by government as the potential patients, such as sex workers and homosexuals, are hidden from society,” Chang said.
Chang Kun’s home in Linquan county, Anhui Province is now converted into a community center with free books and Internet access for youth. Photo: Courtesy of Chang Kun
Exit to applause
The first grass-roots NGO aimed at preventing AIDS among homosexuals was officially registered on March 22 as private non-enterprise at the district Civil Affairs Bureau in Shanghai.
“I can only say I’m a very lucky man,” Bo Jiaqing of the Shanghai Jing’an District Youth Service Center of AIDS Prevention organization told the China Philanthropy Times.
“Bo is modest in mind. Some NGOs are self-assuming and widen the distance with government,” said Gu Weimin, director of the Shanghai Jing’an District Social Organization Association.
Despite sparking an invaluable national debate over student rights, Snow Lotus was shut down on October 18, 2006 by the Xinjiang provincial government.
Ironically, the Xinjiang Economic Daily ran a front-page profile of Chang a month later, headlined “Strive for AIDS prevention for a lifetime.”
“I chose to stay in Xinjiang because I couldn’t sleep at night thinking of the problem and feel bad for people living under the threat of AIDS here,” he told the paper.
“I was unsure about what to do in the future when my friends and teachers told me I should focus more on myself and my own life,” he said.
“But after I initiated Snow Lotus, my eyes were opened. Now I’m more determined to devote myself to AIDS prevention work.”
Five days later, Chang was expelled from Xinjiang Normal University for “leaving school without permission and cutting classes.” He was forced to leave Urumqi by authorities.
Chang came to the capital city and co-founded the Beijing Yirenping Center with lawyer friends to fight discrimination against HIV/ AIDS patients and Hepatitis B carriers.
In support of the rights of 19 junior high school students with Hepatitis B to return to school on December 28, Chang’s organization launched an Internet-based signature campaign that drew 2,000 supporters including Hong Kong movie star Andy Lau.
Chang was invited to participate as a civil society representative at a UN meeting in New York on June 10 and 11 2008 to review global progress toward realizing the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/ AIDS and the Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS.
Soon after that meeting, he was invited to study in San Diego as a visiting scholar, where Chang found inspiration in California’s community centers.
“The Americans care about their own communities and are very willing to contribute,” he said.
Arriving back home January this year, Chang struggled in vain to explain to his parents how “civil rights education begins at home.”
His parents told him they would have preferred he get “a decent job,” he said. After countless arguments, the fact that his parents have finally come around to respect his choice of work comforts and inspires Chang today.
“I hope my own happiness from changing my family’s attitude can also benefit my hometown,” he said. “If I can change my parents, giving them new ideas, why can’t I change my relatives, neighbors and fellow villagers? It’s a big world, I must tell them.”
Source: Global Times
[08:36 December 01 2010]
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Big city, small town
NGO workers often receive recognition and acclaim in big cities, he said.
For example, an AIDS prevention NGO from Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province, Yunnan Parallel, is launching a dinner party calling for volunteers to dine with HIV/AIDS patients ahead of World AIDS Day today. About 100 people have applied for the 20 seats. Lots had to be drawn.
In smaller towns like his, it can be quite a different story.
Many locals regard Chang as “silly”, he admitted. His parents have come under great pressure for their son’s nonconformity, he explained. Chang is not about to back down just to please the neighbors.
“The situation won’t change overnight, or ever, if nobody challenges it,” Chang said.
The Internet is popular in Chengguan and Chang introduced e-mail and search engines to local people, who previously only used the Internet to play games, chat or watch movies.
His center also provides free legal advice and assistance in fields such as public health, anti-discrimination and other public areas. Chang hopes that health education will prevent dissemination of HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis and other infectious diseases in AIDS-stricken Linquan.
He had not known that AIDS was rampant in his hometown until he left Xinjiang. So far no one has come to Chang with an HIV/AIDS problem or seeking legal assistance. “The group is often invisible,” he said. “We still need time.
“I’m not going to do something just to look good. My aim is to change people’s mind through civil education. There’s a long way to go.”
Home library
To achieve his goal, Chang’s dilapidated two-story building was renovated into the Chang Kun House, a youth center available to a county of 2.13 million people, the largest in China.
Most visitors are nearby high school students who have communicated well with lecturers Chang has invited from Japan and Hong Kong. The youngsters’ appetite for academic books is gaining each day, he said. With a collection of 2,000 books, the library attracts not only students but workers too.
The need is great: Linquan county suffers from pervasive drug use and unplanned births. A number of county officials have ended up in prison for corruption. There are no railways, highways or waterways, said Zhu Aimin, the county party secretary appointed last year.
Some officials aren’t happy with Chang’s innovations and have told him to shut up shop. Chengguan Party Secretary Ge Jinhai, for example, told the Voice of America on November 9 that illegal public libraries run by individuals would be banned.
“Thanks to a thorough interview by [Guangzhou-based newspaper] Southern Metropolis, now they left us alone,” Chang said.
Rumor has it that Chang received money from abroad and that the government wanted him to do-nate a chunk to government coffers. Chang denies this but admitted a week after opening, two officials from the county press and publication bureau inspection team went to the center to check for pirated books.
“One official was apparently drunk,” he said. “Actually they wanted me to bribe them and treat them to dinner.”
Familiar with the sight of local leaders being treated like emperors, Chang chose to take the path of most resistance, refusing to cooperate with their demands.
“It’s important local people understand the community leaders are not rulers, but voted to serve the people, and their scope of power is limited,” he said.
“They want us to close down because their interests are infringed.”
“Come what may, I’ll hang on for at least three years, during which time I believe things will get better,” he said.
He has spent 30,000 yuan on the center, mostly money from his family. Seven thousand yuan came from friends’ and strangers’ donations.
“I am motivated by the progress we’re making on a major problem that is generally ignored and marginalized,” Chang said.
“I guess it must have something to do with my rebellious nature.”
http://special.globaltimes.cn/2010-12/597940.html
Chang Kun
General Coordinator of China Youth HIV/AIDS Assembly
Board Member and Co-founder of Beijing Yirenping Center
Arrows and shields
BY FWAMBA NC FWAMBA
In the Prof J.R.R Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy; The Lord of the Rings, the role of one character Gandalf the grey, who later becomes Gandalf the white is very conspicuous. Gandalf belongs to the group of wizards, the wisest and most knowledgeable creatures in the middle earth.
Unlike Saruman; another wizard who attempts to get the ring of power for himself, Gandalf sticks to his mission of helping the middle earth rid itself of the ring of power by helping in assembling and leading the team to destroy the ring of power in the same chasm inside the crack of Mount Doom where the ring was forged. The ring of power has a history of bringing down great leaders and kings including Isildur; whose heir is Aragorn camouflaged as Strider carries the duty of reinstating Isildur’s lost glory. Gandalf’s efforts to inform Saruman about The whereabouts of the ring turns out to be a calamity for its later discovered that Saruman has defected and joined Sauron; the dark lord to claim the ring.
The ring is in the shire, the land of the Hobbits. Gandalf is faced with the challenge of ensuring that the ring is destroyed before his former ally Saruman or the main antagonist Sauron land their hands on it.
Kenya is a county at the crossroads now. The political challenges that face us to day are akin to the conflicts that bedeviled the middle earth. Kenyans have attempted for long to bring about change. All efforts have been futile because of the greed of the leaders that have hypocritically come together in the name of destroying the establishment of impunity and corruption have ended up being corrupt and unreliable. They have always instead just like Saruman been converted and become allies of impunity and subjects of the same ills they purported to oppose.
Kenya has gone through turbulent waters since the days of colonialism. Every political step in Kenya has been a make believe to the Kenyan masses that time for national redemption has finally come. The chronology of the Kenyan leadership starting from colonialism has always been a disappointment. In Kenya’s war for independence, the freedom fighters fought to return the land that had been taken away by the British colonialists. When freedom was finally granted, the country was optimistic that with an African leader all Kenyans were going to have better lives with equal opportunity to access education and resources compared to the previous regime which had been oppressive, racist and discriminatory against Africans.
It emerged that their celebrations were in vain for the new African establishment became no different from the practices of the British colonialists. Fertile lands that had previously been taken by the colonialist were then taken over and shared among the African leaders that had taken over the reigns of power.
The ordinary Kenyan who had fought so hard for independence became a disappointed person. It emerged that those who were landless during the colonial period remained landless; those who were lucky got small portions of land where they stayed as squatters. It was not forgotten that those who had taken power led by Jommo Kenyatta had claimed that they wanted change for an ordinary Kenyan African who was lacked opportunities because of racism and other forms of discrimination. It was evident that the African government substituted terms but continued with the oppressive ways of the colonialist.
It was not lost to Kenyans that terms like racism were replaced with tribalism. Settlers were replaced by African land grabbers. It’s known to Kenyans that it was under the African regime that those who spoke out their mind like Pio Gama Pinto, Tom Mboya, Argwings Kodhek and JM Kariuki had their lives cut short because of having alternative views on governance.
In 1978, Moi became president and people who had witnessed Kenyatta’s misuse of power and practices of tribalism thought that with change in the leadership, things were going to be different. It however turned out to be more disappointing that Moi declared that he was going to ‘fuata nyayo’(follow Kenyatta’s footsteps).Under the nyayo era, Moi perfected the art of tribalism, corruption and impunity. Under Moi’s leadership, democracy was crushed and detention without trial; a law that had been put in place under Kenyatta’s regime became more effective than ever.
It’s during the Moi era that many pro democracy activists and university student leaders like Tito Adungosi and Wafula Buke were jailed over trumped up charges. Many activists disappeared without trace. It’s during this same regime that saw Kenya’s first Vice President and doyen of opposition Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was put under house arrest. Under the same regime more political assassinations and mysterious deaths occurred. It was during this regime that Bishop Alexander Muge, Dr.Robert Ouko and many others died under suspect circumstances.
The atrocities committed under the Nyayo regime saw progressive politicians like Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Ahmed Salim Bahmariz, George Nthenge, Masinde Muliro, Philip Gachoka and Martin Shikuku to team up and form the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD).It was a new dawn for Kenya when after pressure from the international community Mr.Moi repealed section 2(a) of the then constitution of Kenya which ushered in multiparty politics.
Greed engulfed the country, for every politician saw an opportunity to ascend to power since Moi was very unpopular. Many opposition parties were formed. After the mysterious death of Masinde Muliro at the Jommo Kenyatta International Airport three months to the general election,
Ford split into two factions Ford Kenya which was led by Jaramogi with headquarters at Agip House and Ford Asili that was led by Kenneth Matiba that moved their headquarters to Muthithi House (now Occidental plaza), the Democratic Party (DP) and the Social Democratic Party were formed and registered. Young people like Ruto and Jirongo saw an opportunity to become politically relevant. They formed Youth for Kanu 92’ thereby saving Moi’s regime from extinction by mobilizing the youth vote.
The divided opposition driven by greed for power lost to Moi. The same situation was repeated in 1997.The opposition fielded many presidential candidates who included Mwai Kibaki of the Democratic Party, Michael Kijana Wamalwa of Ford Kenya,Raila Odinga of National Development Party and Charity Ngilu of the Social Democratic party. The opposition lost again and the country continued wallowing in the culture of impunity.
With new wisdom acquired from lessons in the past election losses, in 2002,the opposition united to defeat Moi and his ‘project Uhuru’.The optimism of Kenyans was renewed.Most Kenyans believed that with the exit of Moi, the country had been saved from all the ills that we had fought against.
That was never to be for after one year, the government was grappling with corruption allegations. A mega scandal akin to the Goldenberg that had occurred during kanu’s dark days happened; the Anglo Leasing. It dawned to Kenyans that the greed for power and wish to occupy Moi’s shoes was the driving force for the opposition unity. Kenyans discovered that it was greed for power and money and not good governance that had caused the opposition to unite to defeat Moi and ‘project Uhuru.
In 2007, it emerged that both the incumbent led by Mwai Kibaki and the opposition led by Raila Odinga had been in government. It was declared to be the mother of all battles. The tight race between the two presidential candidates led to a disputed result.
I contend that Kenyans didn’t know what the post election violence was all about. It was about greed for power. 2012 is beckoning and we face the same challenges that Kenyans don’t have a leader who wants to create a respectable state. Kenya needs a Gandalf like figure who will not get entangled into power struggles. Kenya needs someone with an opportunity to be president but because of being selfless will choose not to seek presidency, but will assemble a new generation of leaders who will ensure the country has a new beginning. Kenya needs someone to sacrifice, someone who is above temptations for power, someone with the interest of the nation at heart.
If Moi and old Kanu establishments represent Sauron and Kibaki is Saruman, is Raila going to sacrifice his presidential ambitions and be our Gandalf?
Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Migori Town.
Reports emerging from Kuria West district, which is located along the Kenyan-Tanzanian borders says that police are actively investigating a case of a man who vanished after making an abortive attempt to sell his two year old daughter with albinism to witchdoctors in neighboring country.
The news about the incident was revealed to newsmen by the district children’s officer John Lang’at. He said his office had received the report that the man who has since vanished in the thin air was contemplating to either kill or sell the two year old daughter he considers to be a “curse” to his family.
Kuria East district which is bordering Tanzania is within the County of Migori in what used to the defunct Nyanza Province.
“The man was trying to sell his child to a certain individual in the neighboring country. But we are not going to give him a chance,” Lang’at said while briefing newsmen.
At least 59 Albinos have reportedly been killed since 2007 in Tanzania. There are around 170,000 living Albinos in that country.
The Albino community in Tanzania had one of their own Hon Salim Khalitan Burway elected to Parliament on October 21,2010. Burway represented Lindi Urban constituency. But already he had expressed the fears that his life was in danger in a country, where Albino hunters kill victim and use blood and their body parts tissues with other concoctions which they believe have medicinal value.
The newly elected MP with albinism blood claimed that he had noticed some gang were tracking his movement ever since he won the election, and it could be that they are out for mischievous pourp9oses against him and sought for protection.
In August this year, police in the Northwester Tanzanian lakeside town of Mwanza had arrested a Kenyan who had rented a room in guest house in with a young fellow Kenyan albino whom he was attempting to sell.
Nathan Muwizi was arrested when he tried to sell Robinson Mkuwana 20 year old jobless school leaver for Kshs 22 million.
In the latest case, the children officer reported that the man’s wife a mother of three whom he constantly quarreled with over the baby since she was born was the one who had reported the matter to the authority two weeks ago prompting the officer to launch investigation to ensure that the child was not harmed.
Lang’at said the man had allegedly evicted the mother of three with the other two daughters for refusing to accept his plan to sell the two year old daughter for money.
“The man kicked his wife out of his homestead when she objected to her husband heinous plan to have the baby either killed or be sold alive to other people. The man had allegedly organized with the “potential buyer” who would travel to Kuria East district and pick up the young girlk.
The suspect father who has since went underground was reported to have made a tentative arrangement to travel with the little daughter to Tarime Town in Tanzania where it was not yet clear as to what he wanted to do with her there. This is what raised the mother’s suspicion.
Witchdoctors from Tanzania believe that body of people with albinism can cure several ailments. They are said to mix the body tissues with other concoction, which they believe have medicinal value.
Albino people have since become endangered member of the society all over East and part of Central African states of Rwanda and Burundi.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
from odhiambo okecth
A Presentation by Odhiambo T Oketch to the International Young Leaders Summit 2010 at KICC Nairobi on 18th November 2010 at about 5.00pm
Ladies and Gentlemen from all across the world, it is my pleasure to share with you my thinkings on the role of young leaders in promoting Ethics, Integrity and Good Governance in the world today.
I will start from a very simple premise; the universal age limit to voting rights. It is all agreed in many countries that the limit to voting rights is pegged at age 18. This means that all who are 18 and above have that ineliable right to voting for people of their choice. This means also that they can choose to vote for old men and women or vote for young men and women.
By pegging the voting rights to start at 18 means that all young persons have been given all the rights that they have been yearning for. We have a plethora of many youth movements making all sorts of noise begging that they should be given this and that; that they are marginalized and they are not sitting at the right decision making bodies.
This can never be true. What else do the young people need apart from voting for people of their choices. Once you vote for people of your choice, it means that you have the kind of fair representation you have been yearning for. But what do the young people do with their votes? They vote in the same old and tired leadership that we have been saddled with all across the world. The only exception was in the United States of America where both young and old voters came together to vote in a young leader in the name of Barrack Obama.
If I zero in on Kenya, the voting population in the current voters register of persons between the ages of 18 and 35 constitute a massive 65% of all the registered voters. This reflects to 11.6 million young voters in the register. With this power, should you mourn and whine and beg? No. You must only troop to the voting booths and cast your ballot to that person of your choice and live with the consequences of your action.
But what do young people do with their votes in Kenya? They vote for known thieves who have raped Kenya repeatedly; They vote for known thieves who have stolen and ran down our State Corporations; They vote for pimps and charlatans whose stock in trade are of dubious standing; They vote for men and women who can never express themselves in public forums; They vote for men and women who are too tired to lead; They vote for men and women whose background we all do not admire, and they vote for the highest bidder.
It does not matter what the character of the said leader is. What matters to the young voters is the money he gives them for now. This is the sad reality that we have obtaining in Kenya now. And yet, we have a plethora of forums that pretend to be talking on behalf of the youth!
In Kenya, youth leadership is in a crisis. Just like adult leadership has led us nowhere in the last 47 years. We have men and women who are perpetually youth. They have been youth leaders for ever. They have been youth leaders for the last 47 years, and they still pretend to talk for the youth.
Now, with the benefit of age limit at 18, with the benefit of history and with the benefit of exposure, we can all rally together to interrogate the quality of people we propel to national leadership, be it in the political sphere, economic sphere, social and religious. They are all leaders in their own rights. We are given an opportunity every 5 years to put into political office men and women who can drive our national agenda, but we fail miserably in all those 5 years.
I will take you down memory lane. Those who fought for our Independence besides Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga were men and women of youthful ages. Many were in their 20s and 30s. They had the youthful drive that was meant to rid Kenya of Poverty, Ignorance and Disease. But with the benefit of hindsight, we have not rid Kenya of these vices, and these men are still firmly in office, 50 years since they first happened on the scene. And we are the ones who vote them back into political office every 5 years. And we daily talk of ethical leadership, leaders of integrity and the catch phrase good governance is in town!
These leaders never impose themselves on us. We elect them.
Just to start winding up. What do we have to show for the past leadership in Africa in the last 50 years? I get mad when our leaders who are supposed to have inspired us to greater heights are the ones who keep asking us about what happened to Africa. They keep comparing us to the Asian Tigers, saying that at Independence we were at par with most of those Asian Countries. And they ask as if we are fools. And we vote them back to ofcie for asking us what we should be asking them!
Who should ask who what? Is it us who should be asking them where they have led us to, of is it them who should be asking us what happened? They are leaders that led Africa to be the proverbial Dark Continent.
We have the chance and the time is now for young leaders to start emerging. It is time we started interrogating the ethical values of all those whom we elect into positions of leadership. It is time we elected leaders of known moral values; people of integrity; people who can move Africa to catch up with the world. Not leaders who will keep mourning about what happened.
Let us unite and put into office leaders who will promote peace as captured in this Global Peace Convention 2010. Let us put into office leaders who will have respect for human life, not leaders who assassinate competition. Many bright sons of Africa have been such eliminated by people we vote for every 5 years.
Let us interrogate the backgrounds of leaders we put into office. We have the numbers and we have the voters cards. Let us stop whining and complaining. Let us stop removing the youth from the mainstream, the law is so clear; all who are above 18 have voting rights.
Let us role our sleeves and stop advancing theories. Theories are taught in institutions of higher learning just to equip you with what you need in your future. Let us live that future now. No More Theories. Let us Move From Talking to Tasking as we Stay with the Issues in the full knowledge that we are One Family Under God.
God bless us, God bless Africa and God bless the world.
Story By Dickens Wasonga
It is now official.The International Criminal Court investigating Kenya’s post poll chaos that rocked the East African country in early 2008 will not use the Waki nor the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reports to prosecute the key perpetrators violence.
This means that the ICC will not depend entirely on the Waki list or the KNCHR list of suspects to prosecute those said to have influenced the violence which led to the loss of 1,300 lives and displacement of about 350,000 others.
Even the witnesses who testified before the two commissions (Waki and KNCHR) may not be called upon to testify at the ICC when the prosecutions begin.
Speaking in Kisumu on Wednesday during a forum with civil society organizations drawn from Nyanza and Western provinces led by Nyanza CSO leader Betty Okero, two ICC investigators termed as misconceived ideas belief by majority of Kenyans that ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will use the Waki and KNCHR lists of suspects in his prosecution.
The duo, Clause Molitor and Mohammed Kheir cited that the two reports were only relevant during the initial stages of ICC investigations in the country.
“They simply helped us build a foundation for our investigations,” said Kheir adding that currently they are carrying out their own independent investigations to ascertain the truth about the violence that rocked the country soon after the last general elections.
They said ICC had identified their witnesses whom were accurately vetted to ascertain their integrity adding that the two witnesses Ken Wekesa and Kipkemboi Rono whom recently confessed to having given false information at KNCHR commission after receiving bribes are not among their selected witnesses.
They also maintained that the ICC will not shield any individual because of their status in the country.
“Once we conclude gathering our evidences, we shall present them to Ocampo who sent us here to use them to prosecute the suspects regardless of their status,” they said.
If this is anything to go by, even the two principals if found to have participated in the violence that hit the country soon after President Kibaki was declared the election winner will not be spared either.
They dismissed as empty talk that ICC targets leaders from certain communities citing that the court stands to gain nothing from the prosecutions but only aims at doing justice to the victims of the violence and to ensure that a repeat of such is not witnessed again in the country.
“We do not target any community and you should rest assured that ICC has no political deal in Kenya’s 2012 elections,” said Clause adding that the recent visit to the ICC headquarters at the Hague by some Kenyan politicians was genuine as anybody is free to visit the court to present information.
The two detectives sounded a warning to those making attempts to bribe the ICC investigators citing that they too risk arrest and prosecution at The Hague.
And on a gesture which is likely to make other leaders breath with a sigh of relief, the officials hinted that ICC will not prosecute individuals who acted on self defense during the violence.
“Those who acted on self defense and on defense of their property will be spared since they had no intention of causing harm to anybody,” said Kheir.
He however maintained that the court will only release them once it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that they were actually acting on self and property defense.
They criticized those holding the opinion that the Kenyan government is not committed in ensuring that the ICC prosecutes prime suspects of the violence adding that they have received ample time from the government during their investigations.
“I think if the government was not committed towards this process it would send us away like the Sudanese administration did,” said Kheir.
They assured the victims of the post election violence that it is only a matter of time for them to get justice.
Ends
Mr. Streiber has posted some thoughts for those of us who care about modernistic society which recognizes individual rights, and its status.
– pwbmspac –
– – – – – – – – – – –
Western civilization is in the doghouse. Its popularity among intellectuals has dropped to an all-time low. To the far left, it’s invalidated by its historical prejudices. To the far right, it’s annoyingly insistent on freedom for all–even the far left.
Politicians give lip-service to freedom, but the enormous government bureaucracies that are characteristic of the developed world would prefer to replace choices with rules, which is actually a decivilizing process.
. . .
Read more of author Whitley Streiber’s essay at the web address below.
http://www.unknowncountry.com/journal/wonder-western-civilization
From: Denis Burke
A wonderful idea to commemorate Human Rights Day from our friends at CIVICUS…
Go Barefoot for Human Rights
Lose your shoes this Human Rights Day, December 10th
Background
Every Human Has Rights, launched by the Elders and now hosted by CIVICUS, exists to raise awareness and engage the general public on human rights, bringing to life the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human Rights Day on the 10th December every year celebrates the anniversary of the founding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the day is well known within human rights circles and those interested in this issue, it is not well known (or known at all) amongst the general public. Many human rights organisations will mark the day with their own events and actions and media work, but there is not yet a unifying global event with mass appeal, such as say for World Aids Day or International Women’s Day. Starting with Human Rights Day this year we want to begin to build awareness and engage people in taking action for human rights across the year. What we need is a simple idea that will help the day stand out and that, even for a few moments, ask people to think about other people whose rights have been violated.
Our belief: The world would be a better place if every person walked a mile in another person’s shoes
By creating empathy we might begin to build an understanding and begin to make the fight for human rights part of their lives. In particular this year we will be focusing on people living in poverty – people who don’t have food to put on their table, let alone shoes to put on their feet.
The Idea
On 10 December, at 12 noon local time, take off your shoes, step out onto the street and walk around the block to declare your solidarity.
“A march for human rights can reach some hearts now, but we know we have a long way to go in this generational struggle. But the march begins with the first steps – within us. If we end such hate and such disrespect for human rights within ourselves, then we have begun the march as a barefoot warrior for human rights.”
Barefoot in the War of Ideas for Human Rights by Jeffrey Imm, June 2010
How it will work:
1. Raising profile through new media
People across the world lose their shoes and walk around their office, church, school barefoot. They take pictures and videos to upload onto the Lose Your Shoes website. We hope to persuade one or two high profile figures / celebrities to go barefoot to help promote this action through digital and traditional media – imagine Richard Branson walking barefoot for human rights catching headlines?
2. Raise awareness of human rights issues
Stories and case studies online and used in digital promotions will help us demonstrate that violations of human rights are one of the biggest obstacles to eradicating poverty and how people are taking action to uphold Universal rights.
3. Steps for human rights
By drawing people to the Lose Your Shoes website, we will ask them to pledge to take STEPS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS by starting with actions on the day and then throughout the year, 12 steps – one each month. We’ll send them the steps they can take each month by email, feature them on the website and eventually by SMS. The steps can be a range of actions from signing a petition, to going to an event or watching a video and sharing with 10 friends.
Will you have the courage to go Barefoot? How you can get involved:
1. We’re asking organizations globally, big and small, to mobilize their constituents to go barefoot and spread the word about Human Rights Day this year. We’ll design the promotional tools: posters, digital banners, widgets etc. You can go barefoot for women’s rights, free education for all, people living with HIV/AIDs etc.
2. Supply Every Human Has Rights with actions for people to take – on Human Rights Day itself and throughout the next year that we can feature as a step for human rights. We can promote individual organizations actions, particularly from the south.
3. We’ll also be looking for some simple case studies and stories to help tell the story of human rights & poverty, let us know if you can help.
Talk to me about how we can go barefoot together or to find out more: Rashmi Mistry, Every Human Has Rights coordinator at CIVICUS: rashmi.mistry@civicus.org
By Agwanda Jowi -in Arusha Tanzania.
As the October 31 national elections draw near, Tanzania’s media is in a frenzy trying to cover the close race between the two leading presidential candidates. But government threats and draconian media laws may be getting in the way of objective coverage.
All eyes are on the contest between incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), or “Party for Change,” and a surprisingly successful challenger, Dr. Wilbroad Slaa from the Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), or “Progressive Democratic Party.”
Kikwete, who won the 2005 elections with a landslide 80 percent of the vote, has seen his popularity plunge this month to 38 percent, according to Tanzanian polls. “Slaa has emerged as an unexpected presidential candidate and his message of change is resonating with voters anxious for a new direction,” political commentator Azaveli Lwaitama told Reuters. Whether the Tanzanian press feel at liberty to cover this tight race is another matter. Critical reporting on the government during this sensitive time appeared risky after Ministry of Information Permanent Secretary Sethi Kamuhanda toured print media offices earlier this month, threatening to shutter any media house that “put the government in a bad light,” state television reported. More than 50 human rights and media organizations issued a joint statement last week, claiming the government has threatened the press in advance of the forthcoming elections. Since polling began, the Registrar of Newspapers, a government-run licensing agency, has been busy issuing letters to newspapers, warning against any negative coverage of the government, local journalists told CPJ. Three private weeklies, Mwanahalisi, Raia Mwena, and Tanzania Daima have all been warned by the Registrar to avoid coverage deemed “insightful” by the government or face suspension. “Such kinds of threats have been common from the Registrar of Newspapers, whom the minister [of information] uses as a means to enforce self-censorship,” the chairman of the Tanzania Editors’ Forum, Absalom Kibanda, told me. The country’s leading Kiswahili daily, Mwananchi, received two letters from the Registrar recently threatening to suspend the paper for negative government coverage, Managing Editor Theophil Makunga told me. “For quite a long time now and during this election campaign period, in particular, your newspaper has been writing negative stories about the government,” one of the Registrar’s letters claimed. “Should you continue publishing the articles, the government will not hesitate to suspend or deregister your newspaper as per the laws of the land.” The letter was signed by the Registrar’s deputy director, Raphael Hokororo. Mwananchi is considered the most balanced and professional newspaper in the country and commands the highest readership, which makes this threat particularly troubling, the former Tanzania Editors’ Forum chairperson, Sakina Datoo, told me. The Registrar’s letters to Mwananchi alleged that the paper had denigrated the government but provided no examples of material the authorities deemed offensive, Makunga said. “The Registrar has no argument at all,” he told me. “That’s why they use sweeping, generalized statements in their allegations.” Since the presidential campaigns started on August 20, Makunga said, his paper has not received a single complaint from any of the political parties participating in the race. Makunga fears the ruling party may shut down his paper using the vague allegations put forth in the Registrar’s letter. “It’s a sign of desperation on the side of the CCM. They believe if Mwananchi continues to report objectively, CCM candidates will lose votes,” he said. The paper has filed a complaint with the independent press ombudsman, the Media Council of Tanzania. But Hokororo, the Registrar’s deputy director, told me that the Mwananchi staff has exaggerated the issue. “The letter was supposed to be a private letter but they published it to get media attention. It was a warning, not a threat as they have portrayed it,” he said. Recent warnings aside, the Tanzanian government has reams of anti-press legislation it can dangle above the media’s heads to ensure self-censorship. The Newspaper Act of 1976, for instance, allows the information minister wide discretionary powers to ban newspapers. “It gives the minister powers to close down any newspaper for ‘inciting’. Since the term is not defined, it’s up to the minister to interpret it as he or she wants,” Datoo said. Investigative reporting on any area the government considers classified is a punishable offense under the National Security Act. Later laws, such as the Civil Service Act and Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act, block access to information for journalists. The media laws in Tanzania “force all media to practice public relations and avoid investigative journalism,” media analyst and Saut FM Producer Dotto Bulendu told me. Saut FM, a private station attached to St. Augustine’s University, has faced its own challenges trying to cover the elections. Bulendu told me that he and Edwin Soko, a Saut FM reporter, received anonymous threats last month via text message accusing them of negative reporting on the ruling party. “The messages threatened to kill us if we continued to work at the station,” he added. But the threats were somewhat misplaced; the Tanzanian Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) had already taken the station off the air in August. The Authority’s public relations manager, Innocent Mungy, told me Saut FM had been closed on purely technical grounds because the radio signals interfered with aircraft communications. Bulendu is skeptical of the TCRA’s findings. The station, he noted, has operated since 1997. “Why would we have signal interference problems now and not before?” he demanded. “Why just before the elections?” And he has little recourse: the 1993 Broadcasting Act empowers the TCRA to shut down any station at any time, he added. He hopes Saut FM will be back on the air this week, just days before the poll results. Over the years, press freedom monitors, including CPJ, have not identified many cases of Tanzanian authorities attacking the press, which makes the country appear to have a better media freedom record than many East African nations. But what happens in Tanzania is something more insidious: Thanks to the country’s sweeping anti-press laws, the threat of closure by authorities is enough to curtail any wayward critics. For a ruling party facing a tight presidential race, that’s a formidable advantage.
Forwarded by: Robert Alai
Forwarded by: Shailja Patel
From: ANICJ
Dear Colleagues,
You may be aware of reports of a possible return visit to Kenya by Sudanese President Omar al Bashir for an upcoming Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting likely to be held in Nairobi. A group of concerned civil society organizations have put together a letter to the Government of Kenya, with regard to this possible second visit.
Attached, please find the letters for your information and possible dissemination to other networks and Kenyan High Commissions in your capitals. A press release will follow shortly, and the French version as well.
Sincerely,
Jemima Njeri Kariri
Senior Researcher/ Chercheur Principal
International Crime in Africa Programme (ICAP)/ Programme de crime international en Afrique
Institute for Security Studies / Institut d’Études de Sécurité
PO Box 1787, Brooklyn Square, 0075
Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa / Afrique du Sud
Tel: +27 (0)12 346 9500
Fax: +27 (0)12 3464569
Cell:083 234 6566
www.issafrica.org
jnjeri@issafrica.org
October 21, 2010
His Excellency Hon. Mwai Kibaki
President of the Republic of Kenya
Harambee House, Harambee Avenue
P.O. Box 30510
Nairobi, Kenya
Via Fax: 254-020-243620/254-20-313600
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned organizations, are seriously concerned over reports of a possible return visit to Kenya by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir—sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of international crimes committed in Darfur—for a meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) that will discuss the January 2011 referendum on Southern Sudan in late October or November.
Kenya and other neighboring states may understandably have serious concerns about stability in the region, particularly in the lead-up to the referendum. However, even under these circumstances, it remains incumbent that states that are dedicated to justice for serious crimes in violation of international law manage security challenges in ways that do not undermine the fight against impunity and the upholding of the rule of law.
A visit by President al-Bashir would run counter to Kenya’s declared commitments to the International Criminal Court. It would also send damaging signals to victims of mass atrocity in Darfur and globally, and undermine Kenya’s credibility on issues of justice.
Following the visit of President al-Bashir to Kenya in August 2010, Kenyan officials cited the African Union (AU) July summit decision calling for non-cooperation in the arrest of President al-Bashir as grounds for welcoming him in Kenyan territory without arrest in August. This decision is contrary to Kenya’s obligations as a state party to the ICC. Moreover, Kenya’s own domestic law—the International Crimes Act and the Kenyan Constitution (under section 2(6))—require that the Kenyan government uphold its commitment to cooperate with the ICC.
For all of these reasons, we urge the Kenyan government to clearly affirm its commitment to cooperate with the ICC, as states such as South Africa and Botswana have done, and clarify that President al-Bashir will be arrested should he enter Kenya. This will be an important way to show respect for victims in Darfur, along with Kenya’s commitment to accountability for crimes committed during electoral violence in Kenya.
Sincerely,
Action of Christian Activists of Human Rights in Shabunda, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
Amnesty International, Cotonou, Benin
Association for Human Rights and the Penitentiary World, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
Burkinabe Coalition for the ICC, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Cameroonian Coalition for the ICC, Douala, Camerooon
The Center for Research on Environment, Democracy and Human Rights, Goma, DRC
Central African Republic Coalition for the ICC, Central African Republic
Children Education Society, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Civil Resource Development and Documentation Center, Enugu, Nigeria
Coalition Congolaise pour la Justice Transitionnelle, Bukavu, DRC
Coalition for the ICC, Cotonou, Benin
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Kampala, Uganda
Human Rights Network-Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
Human Rights Watch, Johannesburg, South Africa
International Center for Transitional Justice, Nairobi, Kenya
International Crime in Africa Programme, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa
Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists, Nairobi, Kenya
Nigerian Coalition for the ICC, Abuja, Nigeria
Southern Africa Litigation Center, Johannesburg, South Africa
Uganda Coalition for the International Criminal Court, Kampala, Uganda
Uganda Victims Foundation, Lira, Uganda
West African Human Rights Defenders Network, Lomé, Togo
(List of signatories updated October 21, 2010.)
The signatories are among the most active members of an informal network of African civil society organizations and international organizations with a presence in Africa who have been working on Africa and the International Criminal Court.
cc: Hon. Raila Amollo Odinga, Prime Minister
Hon. Moses Wetangula, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon. Amos Wako, Attorney General
October 21, 2010
The Right Honorable Raila Odinga
Office of the Prime Minister
Harambee Avenue
Nairobi, Kenya
Via Fax
Dear Prime Minister,
We, the undersigned organizations, are seriously concerned over reports of a possible return visit to Kenya by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir—sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of international crimes committed in Darfur—for a meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) that will discuss the January 2011 referendum on Southern Sudan in late October or November.
Kenya and other neighboring states may understandably have serious concerns about stability in the region, particularly in the lead-up to the referendum. However, even under these circumstances, it remains incumbent that states that are dedicated to justice for serious crimes in violation of international law manage security challenges in ways that do not undermine the fight against impunity and the upholding of the rule of law.
A visit by President al-Bashir would run counter to Kenya’s declared commitments to the International Criminal Court. It would also send damaging signals to victims of mass atrocity in Darfur and globally, and undermine Kenya’s credibility on issues of justice.
Following the visit of President al-Bashir to Kenya in August 2010, Kenyan officials cited the African Union (AU) July summit decision calling for non-cooperation in the arrest of President al-Bashir as grounds for welcoming him in Kenyan territory without arrest in August. This decision is contrary to Kenya’s obligations as a state party to the ICC. Moreover, Kenya’s own domestic law—the International Crimes Act and the Kenyan Constitution (under section 2(6))—require that the Kenyan government uphold its commitment to cooperate with the ICC.
For all of these reasons, we urge the Kenyan government to clearly affirm its commitment to cooperate with the ICC, as states such as South Africa and Botswana have done, and clarify that President al-Bashir will be arrested should he enter Kenya. This will be an important way to show respect for victims in Darfur, along with Kenya’s commitment to accountability for crimes committed during electoral violence in Kenya.
Sincerely,
Action of Christian Activists of Human Rights in Shabunda, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
Amnesty International, Cotonou, Benin
Association for Human Rights and the Penitentiary World, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
Burkinabe Coalition for the ICC, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Cameroonian Coalition for the ICC, Douala, Camerooon
The Center for Research on Environment, Democracy and Human Rights, Goma, DRC
Central African Republic Coalition for the ICC, Central African Republic
Children Education Society, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Civil Resource Development and Documentation Center, Enugu, Nigeria
Coalition Congolaise pour la Justice Transitionnelle, Bukavu, DRC
Coalition for the ICC, Cotonou, Benin
East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, Kampala, Uganda
Human Rights Network-Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
Human Rights Watch, Johannesburg, South Africa
International Center for Transitional Justice, Nairobi, Kenya
International Crime in Africa Programme, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa
Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists, Nairobi, Kenya
Nigerian Coalition for the ICC, Abuja, Nigeria
Southern Africa Litigation Center, Johannesburg, South Africa
Uganda Coalition for the International Criminal Court, Kampala, Uganda
Uganda Victims Foundation, Lira, Uganda
West African Human Rights Defenders Network, Lomé, Togo
The signatories are among the most active members of an informal network of African civil society organizations and international organizations with a presence in Africa who have been working on Africa and the International Criminal Court.
cc: Hon. Amos Wako, Attorney General
Hon. Moses Wetangula, Minister of Foreign Affairs
From: Kun Chang
From: “Lauren Nussbaum”
For this special issue, Feminist Economics encourages scholars from economics and related disciplines to submit papers that reveal gender impacts of the leases and acquisitions, including effects on women’s access to land, intrahousehold allocation, on-farm agricultural productivity, household food security, and investments in children’s well-being. Consideration of gender differences related to class, ethnicity, and location are encouraged. Feminist Economics especially welcomes submissions from the Global South and transition economies. Deadline for abstract submissions: January 15, 2011.
In reaction to the global food price crisis in 2007–8 as well as concerns over population pressures and water shortages, wealthier developing countries and newly industrialized ones have begun a surge of leasing and acquisition of millions of hectares of farmland in many poorer developing countries. The expanding global demand for biofuels and other non-food agricultural commodities, along with rising agricultural commodity prices, represent an additional impetus for these acquisitions by wealthier developing countries. Experts are concerned that these large-scale land deals will increase food insecurity and inequalities within the countries that lease or sell land. Such transactions may also widen income gaps between the wealthier and poorer developing countries engaged in them.
To date, analyses of land acquisitions have not addressed gender implications of these processes. Given women’s important roles as producers and consumers of agricultural products in affected countries and the implications of gender equality for long-run growth, this is a critical lacuna in research. For this special issue, Feminist Economics encourages scholars from economics and related disciplines to submit papers that reveal gender impacts of the leases and acquisitions, including effects on women’s access to land, intrahousehold allocation, on-farm agricultural productivity, household food security, and investments in children’s well-being. Consideration of gender differences related to class, ethnicity, and location are encouraged. Feminist Economics especially welcomes submissions from the Global South and transition economies.
Contributions may cover diverse topics, including but not limited to:
* Distributional, including gender, effects on access to and control over land and livelihoods
* Gender employment effects and broader socioeconomic impacts of land leasing and land acquisition
* Impacts of the leasing arrangements on urban and rural producers and consumers
* Land rights, human rights, and socioeconomic justice
* Responses by civil society and government to land acquisitions
Deadline for abstracts: Please direct queries and abstracts (500 words maximum) to the Guest Editors, Stephanie Seguino (sseguino@uvm.edu), Gale Summerfield (summrfld@illinois.edu), and Dzodzi Tsikata (dzodzit@yahoo.co.uk or dtsikata@ug.edu.gh), no later than 15 January 2011.
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Reports Leo Oderab Omolo
The International Criminal Court is reported to have rejected more than 150 witnesses who had been lined up to testify against suspects of the post-election violence of 2007-08 in Kenya.
There revelation came amid reports that ICC team of Situation Analysts and Security are visiting Eldoret town in the North Rift region in their final leg of country wide tours.
The team travelled to Eldoret from Kisumu and is led by Senior Analyst in ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo’s office, Emeric Rogier.The team arrived in Eldoret last Monday evening before Rogier reportedly flew to Nairobi.
A fellow analyst, Mohammed Kheir, was left to steward the team that first held private talks with security chiefs on Tuesday morning.. The ICC team reportedly met two human right groups and some victims of the post-election violence before touring some of the hotspots, including the Kiambaa Kenya Assembly of God Church where more than 30 people, according to the government records were burnt to death.
The team also visited Langas and Huruma suburbs of Eldoret Town where people were allegedly abducted, killed and bodies buried in trenches. And were later taken to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in the outskirt of the town where most victims of the violence. Dead and injured were taken at the height of the skirmishes.
The ICC team has so far visited Naivasha, Nakuru, Molo, Kericho and Kisumu ending up in Eldoret
And by Tuesday evening news had emerged that the ICC had vetted about 400 witnesses so far, but 150 did not meet the threshold for credibility set by the ICC for their evidence to be accepted.
Some of the witnesses were due to be flown out of Kenya, but have now been dropped. They have been informed that they do not qualify for protection in or outside Kenya. Some of the dropped witnesses had appeared before the Waki Commission which probed the violence in 2008.
“The ICC is very strict on the evidence it wants so the cases at the Hague sail through when hearing begins. That is why some witnesses could not meet the standards, “says a report appearing in the latest edition of the NAIROBISTAR quoting a source within the investigators.
Credible evidence includes recordings but most of those rejected had only verbal hearsay evidence which could not be corroborated elsewhere.
Eleven witnesses have so far been confirmed as having credible evidence and been flown out to an African country but will soon be relocated to Europe in readiness for The Hague trials.
Six are from one parliamentary constituency in Rift Valley and include a next door neighbor of a powerful cabinet minister.
The ICC investigators are still vetting evidence from another 19 witnesses.
Luis Moreno Ocampo was last week quoted saying, that all the possible witnesses needed in the trials at The Hague had been flown out of Kenya. One such rejected witness was suspected of making contracts with a key suspect to cut a deal and gain financially. The man wanted to lure other potential witnesses to accept financial offers instead of going to testify at The Hague.
The intriguing aspect of it is that the key suspect had allegedly made a deal with the rejected witness, a former politician, for him to go out of Kenya and then sweet-talk other witnesses to withdraw their evidence.
The plan was discovered by detectives working for a leading donor agency which is financing the witness protection program before it is fully taken over by the ICC.
TWO weeks ago the same STAR exclusively revealed that one witness who is already under the protection by the ICC outside Kenya had been offered Kshs 50 million through his family in the Rift Valley by a powerful minister to withdraw his evidence, The witness, however, rejected the offer.
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leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
Report By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City
A TEAM of investigators from the International Criminal Court {ICC} were last night being expected to arrive in Kisumu City.
While the lakeside City the team is expected to piece together information abut the 2007-2008 post-election that hit the town like Tsunami.
The four officials started their tour of the violence hotspots last week with visit to Naivasha and Nakuru as they rush to beat the October 20th deadline set by the ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
While in- Kisumu, the officials are expected to meet with the victims the violence with the help of human rights groups.
The officials re said to be from the Analysis and Scene of Crime section of the ICC. In addition to analyzing the security and political situation in the country, the ICC investigators are also said to be seeking to establish the damage caused to the lives and property of the victims by the post-election violence
Kisumu suffered the brunt of the violence that engulfed the country, the losses incurred by the businessmen and traders are moderately being estimated at close to Kshs 6 billions. Many properties burnt down, especially business premises are yet to be repaired to-date.
Meanwhile the week that ended today {Sunday}was an eventful period which experienced the shocking revelation that a cabinet Minister in the Kenya’s coalition government had offered a colossal amount of money in an attempt to bribe one of the potential witnesses so that he could withdraw his evidence.
The unnamed Minister is one of the top government officials said to have received the letter from the ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
The Kenyan daily the NAIROBISTAR had on Tuesday last week came out with a banner headline front page story that a potential witness who is already living in a safe hideout in a neighboring country under the protection of the ICC was offered colossal money to the tune of Kshs 50 million.
The report claimed that a powerful cabinet Minister had offered more than KJshs 50 million to a key witness to withdraw his evidence against him {Minister}that had already been presented to the ICC at the Hague. But the witness said, to brother of the eight witnesses’ who were recently flown out of Kenya and now living under the protection in another African country has declined the offer.
And to give credence to the claim, the ICC Prosecutor Ocampo immediately responded by writing a terse letter to Kenya’ Internal Security Minister Prof. George Saitoti asking fir more information reports that some suspect ayetry8ng to bribe witnesses.
The letter was signed on behalf of Moreno Ocampo by the head of the International Corporation Amady Bar says in part,” we intend to investigate the report.
“We should also raise concern over reports we have received that our witnesses have been offered bribes by persons wh0 feel threatened by the ICC. We intend also to investigate these allegations and kindly any information you may be in possession of, including persons offering bribes to shield individual from criminal responsibility,” states the letter.
“Given the confidential nature of our witnesses, we are this stage to provide further details regarding these reports,” adds the letter
According to the STAR report, the witness is crucial because he had recorded the minister on video attending the meeting where the 2007-2008 post election violence was planned.
The witness is reported to have told the interviewer by phone from his hideout that he had told his relative wh9 had acted as the minister’s emissaries that he cannot accept the bribe –payment because that could be a trap to kill him.” I left Kenya because of threat to my life. There is no way I can put my life in grave danger by associating with the suspect.”
The witness is said to have declined, though his relatives had pleaded with him that he would be safe in South Africa with such huge sums of money.
“In my case my interest has not been money, but to tell the truth because UI cannot trade with the lives of people.”
The report further stated that the ICC investigators have so carried out interviews with the eight witness said t have been relocated to an African country outside Kenya. These witnesses are likely to meet with the ICC Chief Prosecutor Ocampo who is due to visit Kenya later this month.
The ICC is also reportedly as planning to relocate these potential witnesses to Europe where they will remain under the protection when they will be asked to give evidence against the suspect expected to be named by the ICC at the end of this year.
The credibility of these reports appearing in the STAR a conservative and up-coming daily, which of late has captured the imagination and became hot-stuff for Kenyan readers. The paper is an independent minded daily is unquestionable and Kenya believes on these reports as representing the true picture of the subject matter.
These reports have caused a lot of panicking and shockwaves among the politicians in the violence hotspots, especially in the North Rift where the worse violence occurred around Eldoret Town and the burn Forest areas, and in the sprawling tourist destination town 0of Naivasha.
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By Agwanda Jowi in Cape Town South Africa.
Citizens of Equatorial Guinea and prominent African figures including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, and author Chinua Achebe wrote to UNESCO’s Executive Board today urging them to cancel definitively the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Prize for Research in the Life Sciences whose aim is to promote human rights and good governance in the continent.
The letter, signed by 127 African laureates, scholars, human rights defenders, and citizens of Equatorial Guinea , cited the record of serious abuses and mismanagement of the country’s wealth by the eponymous funder of the prize, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea .
“The continued existence of this prize is inimical to UNESCO’s mission and an affront to Africans everywhere who work for the betterment of our countries,” the letter said.
Equatorial Guinea has the highest GDP per capita on the continent, yet 3 out of 4 Equatoguineans live in poverty. There are no research centers in Equatorial Guinea that would enable a citizen of the country to qualify for the UNESCO-Obiang award, and even basic education and health care remain unattainable for the vast majority. Civil liberties are heavily curtailed: in August, four Equatoguinean refugees were abducted from neighboring Benin , tortured for months and then summarily tried and executed.
“While Equatorial Guinea’s government has tried to characterize opposition to this prize as racist and colonialist, in fact many Africans have been vocal opponents of the prize,” said Tutu Alicante, an Equatoguinean and Executive Director of the human rights organization EG Justice. “Not all Africans believe that a dictator should be able to purchase legitimacy in Paris . Many recognize that this prize harms Africans.”
“UNESCO’s Executive Board has a responsibility to protect the organization’s integrity, which this prize places in jeopardy.
“[T]he diversion of wealth that should benefit Equatoguineans to finance a prize honoring President Obiang runs counter to the objective of improving human dignity that underpins the mission of UNESCO,” the letter said.
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From: Ochieng kh
I reiterate the special role and position of the women in society especially given the fact women carry life and as well nurture life especially given their proximate value to children and to society. As a consequence, women nurture society hence are best placed to safeguard life by articulating and internalizing reverence for values that support life namely truth, justice, integrity, love, responsibility and goodness. Let the ongoing conference affirm a responsive paradigm based on value for human life and especially the development of the grassroot’ woman. It is indeed time to reclaim in honor and happiness that which was taken away, looted and even destroyed in shame, pain and grief. Let us continue to clasp our hands together in all the things that are essential for our collective advancement. Best wishes always,
Ochieng M.K
Phone Number (Office) +254-20-2223939
Cell Phone Number:+254-723-745-817
Email:ochykheyr@yahoo.com
“We can nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth” Abraham Lincoln
Reports Leo Odera Omolo
THE Constitutional Court has stopped the treason and terrorism cases against Col. Kizza Besigye in the High Court and in the General Court Martial. he government owned NEWVISION has reportd in its online this morning.
Besigye addresses journalists at the Constitutional Court in Kampala yesterday
In its unanimous ruling yesterday, the court also ordered that the Bushenyi and Arua murder cases against Besigye’s co-accused in the magistrates’ courts be stopped too.
This follows a petition filed in the Constitutional Court by Besigye, Frank Atukunda and Patrick Okiring to challenge their treason trial in the High Court and the terrorism trial in the Court Martial.
Initially, there were 23 treason suspects, including Besigye, but 12 applied for amnesty and the charges were dropped. Those who still faced trial were Besigye, Atukunda, Robert Tweyambe and Joseph Musasizi Kifeefe, Besigye’s brother, who has since died.
The others were Okiring, Yahaya Amir Asega, Idd Ahmed Yunus, John Arike, Bruhan Driatre Iwago, Samson Agupio and James Kabaka Tabuga.
The charges were in connection with a rebel group, the People’s Redemption Army (PRA), that operated from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The five judges said the State could not continue with the cases because its agents violated the rights of the accused by laying siege of the High Court and re-arresting the suspects to block their release on bail.
The rights of the accused, judges said, were also abused when their bail was blocked after the court had granted it and when the Prisons authorities refused to produce them in court..
“This court cannot sanction any continued prosecution of the petitioners, where during the proceedings, the human rights of the petitioners have been violated to the extent described. No matter how strong the evidence against them may be, no fair trial can be achieved and any subsequent trials would be a waste of time and an abuse of court process,” the judges said.
They were Alice Mpagi Bahigeine, Stephen Engwau, Amos Twinomujuni, Constance Byamugisha and Augustine Sebuturo Nshimye.
After the court registrar, Asaph Ntengye Ruhinda, delivered the ruling, Besigye, speaking outside the court, criticised the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for allowing the cases to go to court.
“If we had a DPP, these cases would not have come to the court at all,” Besigye told journalists.
Besigye and his co-accused petitioned the Constitutional Court in 2007. The cases had been on since 2005 when they were arrested over treason allegedly committed between 2001 and 2004.
In the same year (2005), they were charged with terrorism in the General Court Martial. Later, some of them were charged with murder in Bushenyi and Arua.
The petitioners argued that all the cases in the different courts were based on the same facts to ensure they are not released on bail.
They said the cases were based on the accusations that they committed the offences as members of PRA.
They complained that they were tortured in the process of their arrest and re-arrest at the High Court.
The argued that their trial would not be fair given the circumstances. They also complained that Government officials were making statements implying that they were guilty of treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and murder.
They wanted the court to pronounce itself on whether the siege at the High Court and the murder charges in Bushenyi and Arua contravened the Constitution.
The other issue was whether the simultaneous trials in the High Court and Court Martial contravened the Constitution.
The fourth issue was whether the effect of the conduct of the State towards the Judiciary and the petitioners contravened the Constitution.
The judges said the State did not challenge the evidence brought by the petitioners. They said in her affidavit, the State Attorney, Robinah Rwakoojo, only stated that there was no evidence of armed siege at the court.
The judges noted that Rwakoojo also only stated that the petitioners were duly re-arrested and charged before the Court Martial and that the re-arrest was not in defiance of the High Court order.
Rwakoojo also stated that nobody pronounced the petitioners guilty because the cases were still going on and that the Arua and Bushenyi murder charges were proper.
“We have found that what the security and other State agencies did at the premises of and headquarters of the third organ of State (Judiciary) was an outrageous affront to the Constitution, constitutionalism and the rule of law in Uganda,” the judges ruled and added that the actions of the State agents violated the constitutional rights of the petitioners.
The judges said the suspects had a right to be tried in an independent tribunal, be presumed innocent until proven guilty or plead guilty and had right to bail. The judges also said the suspects had the right to be protected from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and also had the right to a fair hearing.
“We cannot stand by and watch prosecutions mounted and conducted in the midst of such flagrant egregious and mala fide violations of the Constitution and must act to protect the constitutional rights of the petitioners and the citizens of Uganda in general and the rule of law in Uganda buy ordering all the tainted proceedings against the petitioners to stop forthwith and direct the respective courts to discharge the petitioners,” the judges stated.
The judges said the Court Martial proceedings had been nullified by the Supreme Court and the proceedings of the treason trial, and the Arua and Bushenyi murder charges were equally null and void.
Asked for comment, Yusuf Nsibambi, Besigye’s lawyer in the High Court case, said the ruling was a relief to both Besigye and the State because the case was going to be very costly.
The Principal State Attorney, Henry Oluka, declined to comment. “I have no comment on that,” he said.
It was not immediately established whether the DPP would appeal.
By Agwanda Jowi
ODM chairman Henry Kosgey has exonerated the party from blame that it had a role in the post election violence that rocked the country during the last general elections.
Kosgey who is the Minister for Industrial said the party did not hold meetings at all where mass killings and destruction of property was discussed.
The Minister said that the Pentagon members within the party rank and file had even not time to discuss such issues since they were chased away by anti riot police during the turbulent times.
Kosgey said those who organized the post poll chaos should carry their own crosses at the end of the day.
He was speaking at Sega Girsl High School in Ugenya during funds drive that netted over 2 million shillings.
Kosgey said that ODM was intact adding that party differences were sign of democracy within the party.
He said leaders in the rift valley have resolved to bring leaders in the party together.
Also present was Ugenya Mp James Orengo who is the lands minister and assistant minister for education professor Ayiecho Olweny and Magerer Langat together with Fred Outa.
Kosgey defended the appointment of the new managing director of the Kenya Bureau of standards saying he was qualified.
He said the issue had taken a tribal dimension for no apparent reason.
Kosgey said 15 candidates were applied for the job with 11 being short listed.
He said the chairman of the board later came up with a list of three.
Kosgey said the final list had 8 qualifiers which ended up with five where the final man was picked.
Meanwhile Kisumu Town West Member of Parliament John Olago Aluoch has called on the ODM top command to crack the whip and discipline its members who have openly rebelled against the party.
Aluoch said remarks made by some Mps in the recent past tended to show that they are no longer ODM members.
The Mp said time has now come for ODM to put into motion its disciplinary machinery under its constitutional interpretation that the speaker may declare vacant seat of any Mp who by conduct demonstrates that he or she by intent and purposes has left the party that sponsored the said Mp to parliament.
He said drastic and decisive action must be taken now against such errant Mps.
The Mp said the rebel Mps have now made their intentions known are keen on wrecking the party from within.
He told The People Daily on phone that the speaker of the National Assembly to
Aluoch said the latest episode is the current allegations the Mps are making to the International Criminal Court over the post election violence.
He said the remarks will not tilt the operations of the ICC in the country.
Aluoch said remarks by some Mps were a clear sign that they are panicky over activities of the ICC in the country.
“It should be clearly understood that mass action was not a rallying call to kill or main or destroy property for that matter” he said.
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