Wednesday 25 September 2013

Foreign forensic experts help Kenyan team comb mall

Secretary to Cabinet Mr Francis Kimemia. He said forensic experts from Israel, USA and UK have joined the Kenyan team in carrying out analysis at Westgate mall. PHOT/FILE

 Secretary to Cabinet Mr Francis Kimemia. He said forensic experts from Israel, USA and UK have joined the Kenyan team in carrying out analysis at Westgate mall.

 orensic experts from Israel, the United States and United Kingdom have joined the Kenyan team in carrying out analysis at Westgate mall.
Secretary to the Cabinet Mr Francis Kimemia said the experts will assist the local team comb the mall and insisted that Kenya will lead the exercise.
He said Westgate has been handed over to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for analysis.
“Priority will focus on debris clearance to facilitate immediate recovery of bodies,” he said in a post on Twitter.
The Westgate mall was retaken on Tuesday after a gunfight with the attackers.
At least 61 civilians were killed by the terrorists as well as six members of the security forces.
Five of the terrorists were killed in the firefight inside Westgate, while 11 suspected accomplices were arrested elsewhere
Mr Kimemia said President Uhuru Kenyatta has summoned a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday over the attack.
The meeting is set to take stock of the incident and formulate the way forward, he said.

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Museveni accuses ICC of mishandling Kenya cases

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at a past event. He has accused the International Criminal Court of mishandling complex African matters. PHOTO/AFP
 Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at a past event. He has accused the International Criminal Court of mishandling complex African matters.

In Summary

  • Museveni says many African countries had supported creation of the ICC because they abhor impunity
  • The court has ignored African Union positions on on African matters
  • President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and former radio journalist Joshua Sang are facing crimes against humanity charges

NEW YORK
The International Criminal Court is guilty of "arrogance" in its prosecution of Kenya's elected leaders, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni declared in a speech to the United Nations in New York on Tuesday.
"The ICC, in a shallow, biased way, has continued to mishandle complex African issues," Mr Museveni said. "This is not acceptable. The ICC should stop."
"Kenya is recovering," he asserted. "Let her recover."
The Ugandan Head of State noted that many African countries had supported creation of the ICC "because we abhor impunity."
Museveni said the court has ignored African Union positions on on African matters.
He associated the ICC with "the old mistake makers" who failed to heed the anticolonial slogan of "Africa for the Africans."
"The latest manifestation of arrogance is from the ICC in relation to the elected leaders of Kenya," Mr Museveni said.
"We know the origin of the past mistakes," he assured his listeners in the UN General Assembly hall. "The ICC way is not the right one to handle those mistakes."
President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and former radio journalist Joshua Sang are facing crimes against humanity charges before the ICC.

Thursday 19 September 2013

MAYUGE: Man Defiles Daughter, Charged with Incest

Ayub Mayiliyana 45, has been arrested and charged with defilement and incest.



Very many children in Uganda have fallen victims of defilement and incest
 Very many children in Uganda have fallen victims of defilement and incest


Ayub Mayiliyana a peasant in Walujjo village Malongo sub county in Mayuge district, allegedly committed the offence today morning September 19, when he turned on his 13 – year – old daughter and started enjoying her forbidden fruit.
The residents of the village came to the girl’s rescue after she cried out for help.
The Private parts of the 13 year old girl were gushing out blood uncontrollably since the dad had shuttered the private parts into pieces.
She was quickly taken to Buluuba hospital for medical examination.
It is believed that Ayub Mayiliyana committed the crime under the influence of alcohol since he had spent the whole night on a drinking spree at Walujjo trading center.
The suspect has two wives with six children and all living together.

Wednesday 4 September 2013

TZ, Rwanda need to talk, urges EAC

Arusha. Tanzania and Rwanda have been urged to meet urgently and resolve the matter of the expulsion of illegal immigrants from the former.
The expulsion which followed a 14-day ultimatum issued by President Jakaya Kikwete during his visit to the region in July, has elicited a war of words between the two neighbouring countries. The East African Community (EAC) Council of ministers directed at the weekend that the matter should be sorted out by the two partner states in the regional bloc before it degenerates into further crisis. “The Council directed the United Republic of Tanzania and Republic of Rwanda to urgently meet and resolve this issue,” the EAC said in a press statement on Monday.
For its part, the regional organisation directed its Sectorial Council on Peace and Inter-State Security to consider developing regional mechanisms “to address future challenges of the above nature”.
The EAC’s official position on the crisis comes as thousands of Rwandese nationals continue to cross border from Tanzania.
Tanzania has reiterated its position over the recent exercise on illegal immigrants saying that it didn’t target any specific nationals but the operation was a normal routine.
But when reached for comment on the matter, the minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, said there was no way Tanzania can reverse its position over the illegal immigrants instead he noted that procedures for living in any country should be observed and respected.
Minister Membe said, “Those who think that Tanzania had an agenda on expelling the illegal immigrants are wrong….it was the internal exercise and off-course those who have no documents supporting their stay have left already,” EAC secretary general Dr Richard Sezibera told journalists in Arusha last week that although Tanzania acted “within its rights” to kick out the illegal aliens the decision was not in the interests of the EA cooperation spirit.
The East African Law Society, a legal body with an observer status within EAC, has condemned the expulsion terming it “inhuman and degrading’. Over 22,000 undocumented aliens from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, DRC, Zambia and other countries have already left since the late July ultimatum.

IGP’s guard loses pistol

In Summary

Police in Kumi District are holding Mr John Omaido, the LC3 chairperson of Ngora Urban Council, to help with investigations into the theft of a pistol from the Inspector General of Police’s bodyguard. The gun was stolen from the bodyguard at the weekend

Kumi
Police in Kumi District are holding Mr John Omaido, the LC3 chairperson of Ngora Urban Council, to help with investigations into the theft of a pistol from the Inspector General of Police’s bodyguard.
Mr Omaido was arrested and detained on Sunday. Police sources said the pistol was stolen from Gen Kale Kayihura’s bodyguard when he had gone to attend a wedding in Ngora at the weekend and the fire arm was suspected to be in Mr Omaido’s possession.
Kumi District police commander Obingu Onzi confirmed the arrest, but he declined to divulge the details, saying they were so sensitive. “I cannot comment. It is beyond me,” Mr Onzi said.
A source said Mr Omaido was arrested in a bar in Kumi where he was having social evening. The police spokesperson of East Kyoga, Mr Juma Hassan Nyene, said he was yet to receive details of the matter from the Kumi and Ngora district police commanders. “I am trying to call the DPC Ngora but he isn’t answering calls. I am also trying to get to the other respective officers in Kumi but all their known numbers are off,” Mr Nyene said.
Details of the fire arm could not be established, but it has since emerged that no bullet from the pistol had been fired. Cases of police officers losing guns are on the increase. In a related incident, thugs recently attacked Mpala Police Post on Entebbe Road and made off with a rifle.
In another case, a police officer manning a Ngobe police post in Kajjansi at night was recently attacked by people armed with a machete and cut him several times and made off his gun. The gun was recovered in foiled robbery in Kabarole District.
The foiled robbery occurred on June 20, 2012 when armed men attacked Martin Ekome of Bunamwaya Parish and robbed him of Shs1.7m. They also robbed his neighbours of Shs6.9m. Similar cases were registered in Lubowa, Nalumunye and Ndejje-Lubugumu on Entebbe Road.

African queens to discuss rural women’s future

Ms Victoria Nakafero (R), a Buganda Kingdom official, and UN’s Elijah Wachiru (L) welcome queen mothers;
 Ms Victoria Nakafero (R), a Buganda Kingdom official, and UN’s Elijah Wachiru (L) welcome queen mothers; Dramedo 1 Aflao of Ghana (2nd L), Jannet Kem (C) from Cameroon and Nanahemaa Awindor (2nd R) of Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana at Speke Resort, Kampala yesterday. The royals in Uganda to attend the African Queens and Women Cultural Leaders’ Network conference expected to be opened by President Museveni today.


Kampala
President Museveni is this morning expected to officially launch the first African Queens and Women Cultural Leaders’ Network (AQWCLN) at the Commonwealth Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala. According to organisers of the event, which will be held from today to Saturday, more than 70 queens, princesses and women cultural leaders will attend the function.
The AQWCLN conference will be held under the theme: “African queens and women cultural leaders: A vehicle for social and economic empowerment of rural women and youth in Africa – looking beyond 2015, ‘the future we want.’
In an interview with the Daily Monitor about the objective of the conference, Ms Solome Nakaweesi Kimbugwe, the chief executive officer of the Nnabagereka Foundation, said: “This is another key innovation that AQWCLN comes with to the development table. Tapping into a social group that has hitherto been left out yet they yield leverage, power and legitimacy bestowed upon them by their people either by birth, marriage, or traditional authority is strategic.”
“In the new world we live in where legitimacy of many leaders is being challenged, safeguarding gains made in women rights is harder than before and there is scarce resources for development work amidst mass burn-out amongst activists, networks like AQWCLN are timely.”
“AQWCLN will leverage the cultural influence at policy level and grassroots level of its membership to achieve results in a number of areas that include: eradication of harmful traditional practices and enhancing efforts to secure peace across the continent,” Ms Kimbugwe added. She said the network is also expected to ensure that women cultural leaders expand access to quality healthcare and improve health outcomes for women and girls, promote women’s economic empowerment and leadership.
All these will be geared towards poverty eradication and providing solutions to promote food security. The Buganda Queen (Nnabagereka) Sylvia Nagginda and Tooro Queen Mother Best Kemigisa are co-hosting the AQWCLN conference.
AQWCLN was established as a response to the “Harare Call to Action” adopted in May 2012 at the Global Power Women Network Africa high- level meeting, which called for the creation of a women’s cultural leaders union network, a forum to improve the lives of women and children in Africa, in partnership with the African Union and regional economic communities with support from the United Nations and other partners.
This meeting recognised that harmful traditional practices continued to suppress women and prevent their full enjoyment of human, economic and social rights.
Evidently, women continued to be the poorest, least engaged in leadership and decision making and more vulnerable to HIV/Aids and its complex impacts. Because of this, the meeting called for traditional African culture to be deployed in an effort to improve development outcomes.
The female leaders pledged to undertake an audit of the traditional practices that discriminate against women, to identify best practices for change and to work with religious, cultural and traditional leaders on the continent to implement programmes to protect and promote the rights of

Dr Onzivua cries in court

Dr Onzivua (R) breaks down at Buganda Road Court yesterday after he was cleared of abuse of office and conspiracy to unlawfully obtain body parts of former Butaleja Woman MP Cerinah Nebanda
 Dr Onzivua (R) breaks down at Buganda Road Court yesterday after he was cleared of abuse of office and conspiracy to unlawfully obtain body parts of former Butaleja Woman MP Cerinah Nebanda.


KAMPALA
Mulago pathologist, Sylvester Onzivua yesterday broke down in tears of joy after Buganda Road Court acquitted and discharged him over charges of abuse of office and conspiracy to unlawfully obtain body parts of former Butaleja Woman MP Cerinah Nebanda.
Dr Onzivua was jointly charged with Kinkizi East legislator Chris Baryomunsi. Speaking to the Daily Monitor after the acquittal, Dr Baryomunsi said the public still demands a convincing explanation from the State on the cause of the untimely death of the youthful former MP (Nebanda).
He said they have instructed their lawyers to file a suit against the State, resulting from what they referred to as the nine months malicious prosecution they faced. It is through this suit that they will seek to be compensated.
No evidence
While giving her ruling in a court fully parked with friends and relatives of the freed suspects, the presiding Chief Magistrate, Ms Olive Kazaarwe, said no reasonable tribunal would convict the duo basing on irresolute prosecution evidence on record.
“There is no evidence indicating that the pre-postmortem meetings stopped Dr Onzivua from taking samples for further examination. So his actions do not constitute a criminal offence, he did everything in broad day light and it was documented,” Ms Kazaarwe said. She said the conspiracy charges are worthless since Dr Baryomunsi was acting on behalf of the Parliamentary Commission.
“This court concurred with the defense lawyers’ submissions that prosecution had failed to adduce evidence to back up the allegations levied against their clients. It is the finding of this court that a prima facie case has not been made against the accused persons on the available evidence to require them to defend themselves,” she said.
Prosecution alleged that on December 15 at Mulago hospital mortuary, Dr Onzivua, Dr Baryomunsi and others obtained Nebanda’s body samples and attempted to take them to South Africa without permission.
The cause of death
An official autopsy report that the government says was done in the United Kingdom revealed traces of alcohol and narcotics in the 24-year-old MP’s body. However, her fellow MPs claim her death was suspicious, attributing it to possible poisoning. The deceased (Nebanda) allegedly collapsed at a friend’s house on December 14, at 7pm, and was taken to Mukwaya General Hospital at Nsambya, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

20% Of Workers Earn 'Below Living Wage'

20% Of Workers Earn 'Below Living Wage'
20% Of Workers Earn 'Below Living Wage'

One in five British workers now earns below the so-called living wage, it has been claimed.
According to the Resolution Foundation 25% of women and 15% of men were paid below the living wage in April last year, when the wage benchmark was calculated as £7.20 an hour outside London and £8.30 in the capital.
The think tank said it meant that a total of 4.8 million Britons, 20% of employees, were paid at a level below the rate deemed necessary for a basic standard of living, an increase from 3.4 million in 2009.
Unlike the minimum wage, it is up to employers to decide whether their staff are paid the living wage, which is currently £7.45 an hour or £8.55 in London.
The report found 77% of employees aged under 20 earned less than the living wage, with 67% of restaurant and hotel workers paid below the benchmark.
The report's author Matthew Whittaker, who is senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: "For most of the working population real wages have been flat or declining for many years and as a result more and more people have dipped below the level of the living wage.
"This means an increasing struggle to keep up with the cost of living.
"Britain has a sorry story to tell on low pay. Only a handful of our close competitors do worse and the large majority have much lower rates of low pay - sometimes half as much.
"The challenge for all parties is to find ways of boosting rates of pay, especially for those who earn less, without putting economic growth at risk."
A Government spokesman responded: "We encourage employers to pay above the national minimum wage when they are profitable and when it's not at the expense of jobs, which is what the Low Pay Commission takes into consideration when it sets the national minimum wage.
"Despite being in tough times, this Government is doing absolutely everything it can to help people on low pay with the cost of living.
"That's why we're taking two million people out of tax altogether, cutting income tax for those on low incomes and freezing council tax."

Kenya Dairy Board, farmers want price of milk lowered

Small Scale Dairy Farmers Association chairperson Lydia Kagema during a news conference at the Public Service Club, Nairobi September 3, 2013. The Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) and dairy farmers asked the government to review the VAT Act to lower the cost of milk.  PHOEBE OKALL
 Small Scale Dairy Farmers Association chairperson Lydia Kagema during a news conference at the Public Service Club, Nairobi September 3, 2013. The Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) and dairy farmers asked the government to review the VAT Act to lower the cost of milk.

A statutory body and farmers want the government to review the VAT Act to lower the cost of milk.
The Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) and dairy farmers took issue with the imposition of the 16 per cent VAT on processed milk.
"We are going to talk to the parliamentary committee on agriculture and that of budget to amend the Act otherwise milk is going to be too expensive compared to our neighbouring countries and other countries in the world," KDB managing director Macharia Gichohi said Tuesday.
Addressing journalists after a meeting with dairy farmers at the Public Service Club in Nairobi, Mr Gichohi said the new law would make consumers ignore processed milk and increase the hawking of raw milk.
Mr Gichohi, Small Scale Dairy Farmers Association chairperson Lydia Kagema, Muhika Mutahi of the Kenya National Dairy Producers Organisation and Philip Kibusie of the Kenya Dairy Farmers Federation said a litre of milk which traded at Sh90 would now increase by 16 per cent due to VAT.
"The high cost of processed milk make it unaffordable to certain classes of consumers. This may worsen with the introduction of VAT 2013," Ms Kagema who read a statement on behalf of the farmers, said.
Although the government says "unprocessed" milk is exempted from VAT, Mr Gichohi said: "There’s no word like unprocessed milk."
ROLL BACK GAINS
The farmers said the new law will affect formalisation of the dairy industry roll back gains made so far.
The dairy industry supports 1.8 million smallholder farmers, employs 750,000 people and provides another 500,00 direct employment along the dairy value chain.
The sector contributes 4.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
Kenya produces about 5 billion litres of milk annually while deliveries to processors stood at 500 million kilograms last year.
On Tuesday, the farmers said they were committed to the establishment of an organised and developed dairy industry that is efficient and delivers quality to the consumers.
"The dairy farmers require support to enhance milk production by addressing the pricing of milk, managing the high cost of feeds and other inputs and providing quality extension services," Ms Kagema said.
She said dairy farmers are disappointed with the huge fluctuations in milk prices that has "acted as disincentive to milk production in Kenya and also encouraged diversion of milk to the informal sector".
The farmers also decried low milk producer prices offered by processors compared to informal traders.
HEALTH HAZARD
Other things affecting dairy farmers are delayed payments by processors, rationing by creameries during flush periods and low commitment by the firms to honour contracts on supplies.
They warned that hawking of raw milk is a public health hazard due to the poor and unhygienic handling practices "that may predispose the milk to contamination and disease causing micro-organisms".
"Hawking of milk is associated with adulteration of milk with water and use of hazardous chemicals that pose a health hazard to consumers. Hawking leads to disorganisation in the dairy industry especially by encroaching on the catchments of the dairy cooperatives and other farmer groups. This weakens the dairy groups reducing their value and service to members," Ms Kagema said.
The farmers resolved to unite and promote establishment of a national umbrella body to represent and advance their interests.
They also called on the government to develop a policy on streamlining of milk marketing for implementation at national and county governments.

Rapist Discovers His Victim Had HIV

Rapist Discovers His Victim Had HIV
Rapist Discovers His Victim Had HIV

A jailed rapist will discover this week whether he contracted HIV from his victim.
Richard Thomas, 27, collapsed when police informed him about his victim's medical status, and is now waiting to hear if he has contracted the virus.
Thomas knew the woman and was aware that she has another illness, but had not known about the HIV.
He was shocked when he was told and asked to be taken to hospital, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
He had let himself into her home in Leigh, Greater Manchester, uninvited in the middle of the night and she awoke to find him raping her from behind.
"She froze and no words were exchanged. He pulled up his shorts and left," said prosecutor Harry Pepper.
"He was arrested and interviewed and said he had been drinking heavily, taken cocaine and ecstasy and could not recall the incident," he added.
Thomas' barrister, Virginia Hayton, said he could not recall the attack, but said of his victim: "(She) would not lie, she tells the truth. If she says I have done it, I have done it."
Jailing Thomas for five years and four months, Judge Mark Brown said he had committed "this dreadful offence" while she lay asleep, having taken a sleeping tablet, and left her distressed and anxious.
He ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Thomas, of Sandringham Drive, Leigh, pleaded guilty to raping the woman on July 20 this year.
Miss Hayton said Thomas, who has previous convictions but none for sexual offences, "is remorseful and cannot understand why he did it and it is troubling him".
She said he would not find out the result of his HIV test until Friday, and has had the worry of the outcome hanging over him.
"It is his own fault, if he had not committed this offence he would not have placed himself in this position."
She said that he started using cannabis at the age of nine and was drinking heavily at the age of 11. He became addicted to ecstasy and cocaine at 13 and was put in care the following year.
He has been trying to contact his family but they want nothing to do with him, she said, and he will now be away from his partner and their young daughter, as well as his two other older daughters from previous relationships.

Ariel Castro Found Dead In Prison Cell

Ariel Castro Found Dead In Prison Cell
Ariel Castro Found Dead In Prison Cell

Ariel Castro, who held three women captive for a decade, has been found dead inside his prison cell, according to US officials.
The 53-year-old was found hanging in his cell at the Correctional Reception Centre in Orient, Ohio.
Prison medical staff performed CPR on him before he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead 90 minutes later.
JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Castro was being held in protective custody because of the notoriety of the case.
This meant he was checked every 30 minutes, but was not on suicide watch.
His three victims - Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight - disappeared between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20-years-old.
Castro chained them by their ankles at his home in Seymour Avenue in east Cleveland.
He fed them only one meal a day and provided plastic toilets in their bedrooms that were rarely emptied.
They escaped on May 6, when one of the women broke open a door and alerted neighbours.
The former school bus driver was arrested that evening.
He was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to 937 counts including kidnap and rape.

Court orders closure of Al-Jazeera Egypt, Brotherhood TV

Four television channels, including Al-Jazeera Egypt have been closed down by a Cairo court. PHOTO/AFP
 Four television channels, including Al-Jazeera Egypt have been closed down by a Cairo court.


CAIRO
A Cairo court Tuesday ordered the closure of four television channels, including Al-Jazeera Egypt and Ahrar 25, a network belonging to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
The other two channels to be closed are the Islamist broadcasters Al-Yarmuk and Al-Quds, according to the court order.
The closure comes a day after Islamist broadcaster Al-Hafez was ordered shut following accusations that it was "inciting hatred" against Coptic Christians and "undermining national unity".
Ahrar 25 was among several other Islamist networks that went off air soon after the July 3 ouster by the military of president Mohamed Morsi.
Tuesday's order against Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr comes two days after Egyptian authorities expelled three foreign journalists working as freelancers for the Doha-based network's English-language channel.
Egypt's authorities have accused Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr of bias in its reporting of the coup that ousted Morsi.
The channel has previously complained that the security forces raided its Cairo offices and seized equipment.