State agencies at the Coast Province say they have deployed enough security and issued shoot to kill orders for separatists trying to disrupt national examinations.

There is growing concern over administrations of exams in Kwale and Kilifi where the separatist group, Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), is very strong.

In Kwale, examiners and invigilators are reluctant to administer examinations without security guarantees in a region where an assistant chief was murdered in broad daylight by anti-government militants.

The local education office disclosed on Sunday that fewer teachers have asked to be invigilators in Kwale compared to last year.

Independent reports show no less than 1,000 security officers will be deployed in Kwale and Kilifi for the examination process.

Violent attacks, including murder of chiefs and policemen in Kilifi and Kwale, have been blamed on the MRC and this week the State intends to open fresh criminal charges against separatist leaders in custody and those at large.

Coast PPO Aggrey Adoli told The Standard that security has been beefed up in all parts of the province, but added that parents and leaders should take a leading role to ensure examinations are not disrupted because it is their children who are doing the examination.

According to Adoli, the number of police officers deployed in the province including war torn Tana Delta ‘is adequate’ and it is ‘now upon education officers to utilise them.’

In Kilifi where suspected MRC militants killed a police officer early this month and injured another on Saturday before snatching his gun, security men manning examination centres have received orders to shoot and kill any saboteurs.

Source: Standard Media

Though the deliberations are closely guarded just like that going on between them on a pre-election agreement, sources within their political camps reveal they are keen on making sure they have a ‘friendly’ President should they not be able to run.

Both sides appreciate the danger of the court case challenging their eligibility to run because of crimes against humanity charges facing them at The Hague, but also believe they should be on the ballot since they have not been convicted.

Officially, the two sides do not want it known they are working on a ‘Plan B’ because of the jolt it could give their supporters.

A senior politician close to the two told The Standard the issue of the International Criminal Court case is now at the centre of any pre-election pacts they may choose to sign with other aspirants.

When Uhuru went to Ruto’s home last week, this was one of the issues discussed, and a committee was constituted to refine discussions on this weighty and potentially career-breaking matter. They met ahead of today’s expected arrival of ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda who, among other things, will visit the post-election violence hotspots, like Rift Valley.

Bensouda who replaced Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo in June is on her first trip to Kenya since her appointment and will address a media conference at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi this morning.

Last week the thorny ICC issue was also discussed when Ruto hosted Rift Valley MPs at his house. “We have decided the issue of ICC must be dealt with before we get to the elections and that is an issue we are taking very seriously,” Cherangany MP Joshua Kuttuny told The Standard.

However, when pressed to say how they intended to go about it, Kuttuny explained the matter was being addressed and he could not divulge the details, but added: “Watch this space.”

Sources reveal Uhuru and Ruto resolved they should play key roles in putting together the next government if they were to stay relevant.

“If our two leaders are not part of the next government it means they will be forgotten and that is a sure way of having them left at the mercy of ICC by whoever will be in power,” another source that attended the meeting disclosed.

Sources: Standard Media

The incident raised concern about possible cooperation between the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al Shabaab, which formally merged with al Qaeda this year and has come under pressure from African Union forces.

“The boat was from Yemen. It was laden with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), anti-tank mines and other weapons,” Abdisamad Mohamed, the mayor of Bosasso, told reporters. The boat’s occupants had fled by the time security tracked down the vessel after a tip-off by locals, he added.

Al Shabaab, which counts foreign al Qaeda-trained fighters among its ranks, is seen as one of the biggest threats to stability in the Horn of Africa. It has received advice from al Qaeda’s leadership, counter-terrorism experts say.

Three weeks ago al Shabaab withdrew from Kismayu, once their nerve centre for operations and recruitment in a five-year conflict with African Union and Somali government troops in a country wracked by anarchy and insurgency for two decades.

While the retreat was a major setback for al Shabaab, weakening morale and depriving it of revenue from local taxes, the rebels have signalled their intention to fight back.

They claimed a bomb blast in Kismayu just days after leaving the city, showing they have the ability to hit back with covert and guerrilla-style attacks.

Puntland’s marine forces commander linked the weapons to al Shabaab. “We are investigating but we believe the weapons were heading to al Shabaab. They are mostly explosives,” Colonel Abdirizak Diriye told reporters.

Yemen’s interior ministry said earlier this year that al Shabaab had sent 300 armed men to join ranks with Islamist fighters in Yemen.

Puntland, spanning the relatively calm north of Somalia, has largely escaped the worst of the country’s upheaval and has been showcased by foreign powers advocating a loose federal political system in Somalia as a solution to its troubles.

The area is also rich in energy sources and being sized up by oil explorers. However, Puntland’s authorities have said there is increasing insecurity and blamed it on al Shabaab.

Source: Reuters

The Deputy Prime Minister flew to Tanzania to enlist Kikwete’s support for his presidential bid and asked the international community to allow Kenyans elect their leaders without interference. Uhuru, who alongside Eldoret North MP William Ruto, is fighting to succeed President Kibaki while saddled with serious crimes against humanity charges, led a delegation that visited Kikwete that included Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa, who is variously talked about as his likely running mate.

It is believed the Kenyan delegation, buoyed by the fact that Kikwete enjoys good relations with top Western capitals, and having played a key role in the stabilisation of Kenya following the 2008 post-election violence, chose Kikwete to send a message to ICC on the importance of having them run for the sake of Kenya’s long-term stability and peaceful elections.

It is significant that Uhuru flew out a fortnight after former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who brokered Kenya’s peace deal alongside Kikwete, was in Kenya with the message that an Uhuru or Ruto presidency would not augur well for Kenya in the eyes of the global community. Former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa, who worked on the peace agreement with Annan, was also in Kenya around that time, and it is believed his discussions with President Kibaki could have dwelt on the implication of ICC cases on the March 4, 2013 elections.

Specifically, Uhuru’s delegation took issue with Annan’s remarks that electing one of the ICC accused President, would not sit well with other nations.

A statement from Uhuru’s Director of Communications Mr Munyori Buku entitled “Kenyans are masters of their own destiny” read in part: “President Kikwete called for the respect of the “decision of the people of Kenya”. He added Kenyans were the masters of their own destiny and must be allowed to elect their leaders without undue interference.

Buku went on: “The President pointed out that Africa would respect the decision Kenyans would make in the General Election in March next year.”

Kikwete hosted the delegation from Uhuru’s The National Alliance, Wamalwa’s New Ford Kenya and Ruto’s United Republican Party for a three-hour discussion at State House in Dar-es-Salaam. “Mr Kenyatta said his goal and that of like-minded leaders was to move the country forward in unity. To this end, he said, they were reaching out to leaders of other political parties,” reported Buku.

Uhuru was also accompanied by Medical Services Assistant minister Kazungu Kambi (representing URP) and MPs Rachael Shebesh and Moses ole Sakuda and former MP Abdullahi Ibrahim Ali. Kenya’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Mutinda Mutiso was also present.

“Mr Uhuru was adamant and reiterated his public comments on Annan while Kikwete said people should be left to elect their leaders without interference,” said Wamalwa’s spokesman Mr Tony Gachoka.

At the meeting, Wamalwa is said to have promised to ask the Attorney General Githu Muigai to seek an interpretation of the Supreme Court of Chapter Six of the Constitution regarding integrity.

His argument is that elective positions are different from appointive ones and that precedents like the one that knocked off Mr Mumo Matemu as chairman of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission as well as Ms Nancy Baraza, who resigned as Deputy Chief Justice, should not be used when the court finally handles the case involving Uhuru and Ruto.

Civil Society groups have moved to court to challenge the eligibility of the two to vie for the presidency while the CJ has said the two cases set a good precedent on integrity and were a trailblazer.

“Mr Wamalwa made it clear that he will be asking the AG to ask the Supreme Court to interpret Chapter Six of the Constitution because he feels there is a difference between appointive and elective positions,” Mr Gachoka told The Standard in Nairobi.

The two camps are anxious that the Judiciary may use Matemu’s and Baraza’s cases as precedents to block the two from getting their names on the ballot paper.

Gachoka claimed Wamalwa accused Annan of treating Kenyans as if he were a “prefect” yet it was Kikwete who got the two sides to agree to a deal.

Source: Standard

“I have this 18th day of October 2012 tendered my resignation as the Deputy Chief Justice and Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Kenya to the Judicial Service Commission,” Baraza said in a statement.

She said her worries stem from a recent TV interview by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga who endorsed findings of a tribunal against her since he chairs the Supreme Court.

“The Chief Justice in a recent television interview endorsed the tribunal recommendations against me which are the subject of my appeal. This has compound my fears that I will not get a fair trial before a bench in which he will participate,” Baraza said.

She added: “Although I have preferred an appeal in the supreme court challenging the recommendations of the tribunal set up to probe my conduct, I do not see myself getting a fair and impartial hearing before the court as currently constituted.”

She said she does not have confidence in the Supreme Court hearing her appeal of the tribunal findings due its composition.

“Two of the judges sat at the Judicial Service Commission which petitioned the president to appoint the tribunal that probed my conduct. They cannot therefore, logically and legally sit on my appeal,” Baraza argues.

Baraza maintains she is innocent and terms findings of the tribunal as most injudicious and not founded on known legal principles.

“I still reject the tribunal findings which I found most injudicious and not founded in known principles of law. However, our country is bigger and greater than any one of us,” she said.

Baraza was suspended by President Mwai Kibaki on January 25th when he formed a tribunal to investigate her conduct, following allegations that she pinched a security guard’s nose and threatened to shoot at her.

The incident is alleged to have occurred at the Village Market shopping mall here in Nairobi at the end of last year.

The names and boundaries of 290 constituencies and 1,450 county wards were published in local dailies on Wednesday.

Voters can now know where they will vote and where to register. The publication contained the names of the counties, names of the constituencies (their populations and sizes in kilometres), county assembly ward names (their sizes in kilometres and description).

The constituency with the highest population is Kanduyi in Bungoma County with 229,701 people.

In Nairobi County, Roysambu, Kasarani and Kamkunji have the highest populations with 202,284, 200,984, and 211,991 people, respectively.

At the Coast, Kisauni constituency has 194,065 people, Kinango 209,560 while Kilifi North has 207,587 people.

In Meru County, Igembe Central has the highest population with 193,392 people while Machakos Town Constituency has the highest population in Machakos County with 199,211 people. In Nyandarua County, Kinangop Constituency leads with 192,379 people while in Kiambu County, Ruiru Constituency tops with 201,985 people.

Sigh of relief

In Trans Nzoia County, Cherengany tops with 195,175 people followed by Kiminini with 190,912 people.

Turbo Constituency in Uasin Gishu County has a population of 203,948 people. Laikipia West in Laikipia County has a population of 203,459 people. Lamu East Constituency in Lamu County has the least population with 18,841 people.

Galole Constituency in Tana River County has 60,866 people while Wundanyi in Taita Taveta County has 56,021 people.

In July, the High Court offered a sigh of relief to the IEBC after it retained 80 new constituency boundaries following a legal challenge by various groups.

Source: Standard Media

Schools are just now settling to normal teaching after three weeks of a work boycott, which only ended after teachers were given higher perks.

The talks are expected to be completed within the next two months, ahead of the Salary and Remuneration Commission’s December 31 deadline of the first cycle of negotiation for public servants.

Thereafter, the negotiations will happen every four years. The recent allowance package was backdated to July 1, meaning that their salaries this month will include the arrears.

Under the new terms, the lowest paid teacher will take home a basic salary of Sh19,323 up from Sh13,750 while the highest paid will earn Sh144,928, up from Sh120,270.

The teachers will also get hardship and special schools allowances at 30 per cent and 10 per cent of their basic salaries, respectively.

The government immediately passed on the burden to the taxpayer by imposing widely unpopular taxes. (READ: New taxes as government seeks money to pay teachers, doctors)

The teachers’ union has now proposed a new increment that could treble salaries.

TSC secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni, in a letter sent out to targeted Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) officials, said a consultative committee had been formed to look into the terms and conditions of service for the teachers.

National chairman Wilson Sossion, acting secretary-general Xavier Nyamu, treasurer Albanus Mutisya and assistant national treasurer Richard Kibagendi have been invited to the meeting with the TSC.

Mr Sossion on Wednesday evening confirmed receiving the invitation letter. According to the union’s new proposals, the lowest paid teacher in the P1 job group would see the basic salary go up from Sh16,692 a month to Sh58,863.

The highest earning teacher in that category would earn Sh68,355 up from Sh21,304.

The lowest paid graduate teacher I, who started earning Sh35,910 this month, would jump to Sh106,652 from July next year if the government approves the new proposals.

According to the proposals, the highest paid teacher currently, a chief principal would earn between Sh282,705 and Sh321,705.

Tobiko told commissioner of police Mathew Iteere in a letter dated October 17 that the investigations into the incident be carried out by officers of such senior rank and experience as warranted by the current circumstances.

“This is to direct you pursuant to Article 157(4) of the constitution to cause a speedy and thorough investigation to be carried into the said incident and have your report thereon submitted to me within seven days for appropriate action,” read part of the letter.

Speaker of National Assembly Keneth Marende had asked the DPP, police and House Privileges Committee to probe the alleged assault which occurred on October 11.

The parliamentary officer alleged to have been assaulted by Mr Mbuvi is a Senior Sergeant-at-Arms in Parliament and he recorded a statement at the Parliament Police Station on the same day. He has also obtained a Medical Examination Report (P3) from the Kenya Police Surgeon.

Marende said the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges Act) that protects MPs should not be abused.

“My Office takes seriously any breach or abuse of parliamentary powers or privileges,” said Marende.

The incident happened when the MP confronted Attorney General Githu Muigai over a piece of land in Muthangari area that the legislator claims is public property. It was as the altercation went on that the parliamentary staff intervened that he was assaulted.

“My attention has been drawn to concerns raised regarding allegations of assault made against the Gideon Kioko Mbuvi, Member of Parliament for Makadara Constituency,” Marende said in a statement.

“I have directed all parliamentary officers who may have witnessed the alleged assault to record statements at the Parliament Police Station forthwith. I further appeal to all Honourable Members of Parliament who may have witnessed the alleged assault to record their statements at the Parliament Police Station within the next three days.”

Marende has summoned an urgent meeting of the potent Powers and Privileges Committee on October 25 to discuss the allegations of assault leveled against Mbuv when police are expected to be through with their probe.

Source: Standard Media

Curiously, sources within the electoral body and Justice ministry claim even these sets are dummies, as they were delivered as samples for trials.

“The BVR kits are not available on demand, they have to be prepared once an order is made and procurement conditions are met. As of now, IEBC has not delivered the documents that would assure the French manufacturers that the deal is irreversible and it can start preparing the kits,’’ explained the sources familiar with the acquisition procedure.

“Even the contract has not been signed, it has to go through the Attorney General…what we have are 190 sample kits. There is a lot of anxiety at IEBC as to whether it is ready for the national exercise. We just know that 2,000 kits are ready in France,’’ added another source familiar with the process.

It also turned out Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa got his facts wrong when he told the Press on Tuesday all the 15, 000 kits required for the March 4 exercise had arrived. On Wednesday, the minister clarified so far only 1,700 kits had arrived and that the rest were expected by the end of this month.

He had earlier indicated all the kits had been delivered, but revised the figure to 5,000 on Wednesday. After consulting IEBC chairman Ahmed Isaack Hassan, the minister later told The Standard as a matter of fact only 1,700 kits were delivered.

But the confusion rose when IEBC officials further clarified that out of the 1,700 Wamalwa talked about, only 200 were BVR kits while the other 1,500 were fingerprint readers.

This set off the question whether IEBC will start voter registration on November 1, given the procurement is still at its infancy, and the Letter of Credit – issued by a bank – which assures the supplier of irrevocable payment deal and guarantees the time of payment and the amount in question is not ready.

Furthermore, there is still the challenge of freighting the kits sources estimate to weigh 400,000kg, and distribution locally and training of staff on its use.

On Wednesday, speaking to The Standard from Gaberone, Botswana, Hassan explained IEBC could not begin the registration with only 200 kits. “We will only begin the training after receiving 5,000 kits, which we expect at the end of the month. But I have asked the Chief Executive Officer James Oswago to allow journalists to see what we have in the warehouse,” explained Hassan.

Source: Standard Media

Dor was arrested in Nairobi on Wednesday by officers from the Criminal Investigations Department and is currently being questioned at the CID headquarters.

The MP was recently quoted saying that he was ready and willing to fund the MRC.

His remarks came a day after the CID boss Ndegwa Muhoro announced that they were following leads that indicated a number of MPs and businessmen were financing the group, with the aim of having them arrested and prosecuted.

The MP was picked by detectives along Wabera Street in Nairobi and taken for questioning.

Police say more leaders will be arrested for financing the secessionist group.

Police recently launched a crackdown of MRC at the Coast and arrested several leaders who have been arraigned in court.

One of the arrests turned bloody after MRC leader Omar Hamisi Mwamnwadzi and youth fired at police officers.

Police however overpowered the group and arrested Mwamnwadzi. Recently, MRC Secretary General Hamza Randu was arrested and charged in court.

Source: Standard