Tag: GreatLakesNews

{President Uhuru Kenyatta’s announcement that a supplementary budget will be presented to Parliament as it resumes today to address the cost of living has been received mixed reactions from leaders.}

On Sunday, State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said the President was concerned about the rising cost of essential commodities.

“The President has settled on fresh measures through a supplementary budget to address the situation,” Mr Esipisu said.

Mr Esipisu, who was addressing the media at State House, Nairobi, said Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich was finalising the details of the supplementary budget before it is taken to Parliament.

Yesterday, Kiharu MP Irungu Kang’ata said the decision to introduce the supplementary budget is good but a long-term solution needed to be devised.

“Long term measures are needed such as completion of irrigation projects,” Mr Kang’ata said.

He went on: “It is true there is inflation partly due to demand and supply issues. On demand side, during campaigns there is usually heightened money circulation which creates huge demand hence increase in prices. So one ought not to blame Jubilee for it.” Mr Kang’ata added.

He also blamed drought for reduced supply in key commodities. “The answer should be as per proposal contained in the supplementary budget cushioning the poor against inflation,” he said.

Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi said the introduction of the supplementary budget had come too late and could just be a scheme by the government to hoodwink Kenyans that it is doing something.

“The President is talking about the high cost of living as if he has been living outside this country, this only means that he is not in touch with the reality Kenyans are facing,” Mr Wandayi told Nation.

He went on: “The introduction of the supplementary budget cannot work because the revenue base of the country is too weak to support it.”

Uriri MP John K’Obado also faulted the decision, saying it could be another scam by the Jubilee administration in the offing.

“We know it is campaign time and anything is possible at this time. Money can be allocated to cushion Kenyans then later it ends up in other people’s pocket,” Mr K’Obado said.

Source:Daily Nation

{The coldness of Arusha, with which the residents of this city have been long accustomed at this time of year, was deepened yesterday, as its residents, grief-stricken sympathisers from elsewhere in Tanzania and beyond the borders, coalesced into one huge family of mourners to bid farewell to 32 pupils who perished in a week-end bus accident in Karatu.}

Also snatched by death were the lives of two teachers and the driver of the ill-fated bus that plunged into a ravine at Karatu.

Four major roads were closed to normal traffic to pave the way for the caskets bearing the bodies of the deceased to be ferried from Mount Meru Hospital morgue to Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium where an open farewell mass was conducted.

The venue had been jam-packed by 7.00 am and three hours later, there was hardly spare room onto which a late-comer could squeeze oneself, prompting hundreds of people to become outside-venue participants.

Many women along the route wailed wildly and some of them fainted and others plunged themselves onto muddy pools of water along the route.

The last time that Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium served as a mass funeral venue was in January 2009, for gospel music singer Fanuel Sedekia, who died in Jerusalem in December 2008. He had gone there on a pilgrimage, in the company of a local preacher, Mr Christopher Mwakasege.

In yesterday’s funeral, medical personnel had a hard time coping with scores of people – which some estimates put at over 150 – who collapsed and fainted and crowd control taxed police officers and army personnel. Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Bohra religious leaders graced the open air funeral mass which was attended, by among others, several Cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament.

Three of the 32 casualties were buried in Arusha yesterday. The Vice President, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan, visited and consoled the families of two of them – Adai Lucas Mollel (at Olasiti) and Sabrina Said at Kwa-Mrombo, where the ill-fated Lucky Vincent School is located.

Kwa-Mrombo was one of the most affected parts of the city, as most of the children who died in the accident hailed from there.

Meanwhile, authorities dispelled rumours that, one of the three injured pupils admitted at Mount Meru Hospital, Doreen Mshana aged 13, from Olasiti, had died.

Doreen, and another girl, Sadia Ismail Awadh (11) from Kwa-Mrombo and a boy, Wilson Geoffrey Tarimo (11) also from Kwa-Mrombo are the three survivors. The Doctor in-charge, Dr Timothy Wonanji, said the girl, now under the Intensive Care Unit, was improving.

Vice President, Mama Samia Suluhu Hassan together with the Minister of Education, Science Technology and Vocational Training, Prof Joyce Ndalichako visited the three pupils at the hospital on Monday shortly before the stadium mass.

Source:Daily News

{New York – Former Burkina Faso president, Michel Kafando, has been appointed the new UN envoy for Burundi, where efforts to end a political crisis over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s rule have stalled.}

Kafando, 74, has “more than three decades of extensive experience in high-level international diplomacy and politics”, the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Friday in announcing the appointment.

A former foreign minister and UN ambassador, Kafando was president from November 2014 to December 2015 during Burkina Faso’s transition to civilian rule following a military takeover and the resignation of long-serving leader Blaise Compaore.

Kafando will replace Jamal Benomar, who held the post since November 2015 and who had come under heavy criticism and calls to resign from the Bujumbura government.

Relations between Burundi and the United Nations nosedived after a report by UN rights experts in September blamed state police and security forces for the violence tearing the country apart since April 2015.

Hundreds died, hundreds more have disappeared and 390 000 people fled after Nkurunziza announced plans to run for a third term, which he went on to win.

The Security Council last month threw its weight behind a proposal by mediator Benjamin Mkapa, the former president of Tanzania, to hold a regional summit to press the government and the opposition to start negotiations.

But east African leaders appear divided on the way forward and there has been no progress towards holding talks.

Kafando will be based in Ouagadougou and travel to Burundi for his peace mission.

Source:AFP

{The United Nations is raising the alarm over the rising number of DR Congo refugees in Angola.}

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the number of new arrivals had risen to at least 16,000.

It attributed the influx to the rising violence in the DR Congo central Kasai region.

The UN agency put the daily arrivals at between 300 and 400 people.

{{A tribal chief}}

The Kasai violence erupted when government forces killed a tribal chief and militia leader Kamwina Nsapu.

Nsapu was leading a rebellion against President Joseph Kabila, whose stay in power beyond the mandatory two-five year term limit has been contested by other parties.

According to the UNHCR, out of the above figure, 4,000 were children, many reaching the refugee camps with fever, malaria and diarrhoea.

“The situation in refugee camps is of extreme poverty, tents are not enough to accommodate the refugees and many of them have to stay in the open,” Mr Markkus Aikomus, the UNHCR spokesperson for Africa told VOA Radio.

{{Persistent exit}}

“As the conflict is worsening in the DRC particularly in Kasai region, the UNHCR is asking for $5.5 million to help the refugees,” Mr Aikomus was quoted saying.

“Angola has to be ready to receive around 20,000 and 30,000 DRC refugees in the next few months as there is a persistent exit of people from Kasai.”

VOA also quoted the UN official saying that the conflict in Kasai had already rendered some 1 million people displaced.

The people fleeing into Angola arrived mainly at Dundo, the capital of north-eastern Luanda Norte Province.

Luanda Norte Province is located 656km north of Luanda, and shares borders with both DRC and Congo-Brazzaville.

DR Congo’s eastern side has also been wracked by conflict since 1994, when Hutu militias fled across the border from Rwanda after carrying out a genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

{{Asylum-seekers}}

A plane carrying UNHCR staff and core relief items arrived in Luanda last week, to assist over 11,000 people who fled a recent surge of violence in DRC.

The aircraft’s consignment included 3,500 plastic sheets, 100 plastic rolls to provide shelter during the rainy season, 17,000 sleeping mats, 16,902 thermal fleece blankets, 8,000 mosquito nets, 3,640 kitchen sets, 8,000 jerry cans and 4,000 plastic buckets.

Angola is currently hosting some 56,700 refugees and asylum-seekers, of who close to 25,000 were from the DRC.

Source:The East African

{Select Influential people in the country will take 8 hours each to experience the lives of local vulnerable mothers in different settings outside the comfort of their offices.}

This will be in preparation for the 1st annual mother’s summit and red carpet dinner, organised by Gals Forum International (GAFI) in conjunction with the ministry of gender, labour and Social development.

“The summit is advancing the cause of mothers in promoting sustainable development in the country. It will be a platform of motherhood knowledge generation, experience sharing and networking aimed at galvanising support around the critical role mothers play in nurturing individuals into responsible citizens,” a statement by GAFI reads in part.

“For many career people, we have relegated our mothers to the back office or archives. We are preoccupied with our jobs amidst our own families to care for. We tend to forget the women who made us….we have this one event to make our mothers feel special and loved by treating them to a red carpet dinner on May 14 at Silver springs hotel Bugolobi,” the statement continues.

Meanwhile a pre-summit activity that will involve influential people experience the life and work of local vulnerable mothers for 8 hours outside the comfort of their offices has been launched as well.

The selected person will get involved in doing tasks and roles that vulnerable mothers do each day in a particular workplace or family and vice versa.

To kick start the campaign, National Social Security Fund (NSSF) deputy md, Geraldine Ssali was Monday morning deployed as guard at Lugogo Shopping mall.

Source:Daily Monitor

{Lucky Vincent School has suspended classes amid reports that the driver of the ill-fated school bus was speeding to compensate for the time lost with the traffic police.}

Traffic Police at Makuyuni junction, suspecting the bus to have been overloaded, reportedly stopped the school vehicle that was later involved in the grisly accident, killing 32 Standard seven pupils, two teachers and the driver on Saturday morning.

The newly bought minibus was not yet marked with the school name or logo, compelling the driver to present lengthy explanations to convince the police that the van belonged to the school and was taking pupils for examinations in Karatu.

Having been delayed, the bus was left behind by other school buses, prompting the driver to speed up to reach Karatu on time despite the lost time. The students were on their way to write the Inter- School mock examinations at Tumaini Junior Primary School in Karatu.

A day before the tragedy, the school owner is reported to have spent some good time with the pupils. Speaking for the first time since the catastrophe, Lucky Vincent Nursery and Primary School owner and director Innocent Mushi, spoke of how he had coached the pupils on the exams.

“I spent the evening with the pupils as they were preparing for the inter-school mock examinations at Tumaini Junior Primary School in Karatu on Saturday,” said Mr Mushi, adding that even before Saturday exams, he had the tradition of coaching the children every evening.

“I cannot speak further…my heart is heavy, this is the worst thing to have ever happened to my life, those children were the candidates in the forthcoming National Examinations in September,” he lamented. The school management has suspended academic activities at the school, following the tragedy.

The ill-fated bus reportedly departed from Arusha City at around 12.30 am heading to Karatu where the pupils were to participate in the inter-school mock examinations with their Tumaini Primary School counterparts of Karatu District.

After the mock tests, the pupils, all candidates for the 2017 National Examinations for Primary Schools were penciled to have an excursion into the Ngorongoro Crater.Rescuers and eyewitnesses, who arrived first at the scene of the horrendous Saturday morning accident, found all pupils and teachers who died in the crash stacked together in the front section of the bus. Speculations were viral yesterday from people gathered at the Regional Mount Meru Hospital here that the death toll had reached 36.

It however turned out that, the victim suspected to have died had simply fainted. But, two school pupils, Sadiel Ismail and Wilson Tarimo, who survived the crash are meanwhile under Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Mount Meru hospital.

As preparations for the deceased’s communal mass continued here yesterday, wananchi and government institutions retrieved the ill-fated Mitsubishi Rosa Minibus, with registration number T-871 BYS, out of the deep River Malera Ravine, in Rhotia area, some 150 kilometres from Arusha City.

Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan is already in Arusha to lead the communal mass at Sheikh Amri Abeid where she will be accompanied by Minister of State in the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government, George Simbachawene and Education, Science, Technology and Vocational Training Minister Professor Joyce Ndalichako. Arusha District Commissioner Fabian Daqarro said the mass, which was initially scheduled for Sunday, will now take place today at the stadium.

He said the government is funding the mass, transportation and burial costs for all the victims. The names of deceased as displayed on the notice board are Mteage Amos, Justine Alex, Irene Kishari, Praise Ronald, Shadrack Biketh, Junior Mwashuya, Aisha Saidi, Heri Rashid, Gema Gerald, Rebecca Daudi, Hagai Lucas, Sada Ally, Lucy Ndemna, Mussa Kasim and Neema Martin.

Others are Witness Mosses, Rukia Khalfani, Naomi Hosea, Hevenight Hosea, Eliapanda Eliudi, Anorld Alex, Marion Mrema, Rehema Msuya, Sabrina Said, Prisca Charles, Grayson Robson Massawe, Witness Mosses, Lara Tarimo and Neema Eliwahi.

Source:Daily News

{The 26th Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) opens in Nairobi Monday.}

A statement from the Office of the President in Kenya said the meeting will run till Friday.

It will be the first since the UN-Habitat III council gathering in Quito, Ecuador in October, 2016.

{{Political tone}}

President Uhuru Kenyatta will attend the meeting.

The theme of the conference is; “Opportunities for the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda”.

The conference is expected to set the political tone and shape the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

The Governing Council serves as the decision-making body for the UN-Habitat and approves the agency’s biennial work programme and budget.

{{Human settlements}}

GC is also responsible for setting UN-Habitat’s policies by developing and promoting policy objectives, priorities and guidelines on existing and planned programmes of work on human settlements

The council meets biennially and reports to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) through the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Source:The East African

{All government aided secondary schools across Uganda will soon receive a donation of over 3,301 copies of President Yoweri Museveni’s book entitled ‘Sowing the Mustard Seed.’}

According to a letter from the education ministry the book will help enlighten the students about Uganda’s checkered history to foster peace and national cohesion for development. But opposition politicians have argued that the book distribution initiative is an indoctrination project by president Museveni and an attempt to brainwash students to perceive history in the lenses of the President.

Source:Daily Monitor

{The Jubilee Party will on Saturday officially unveil Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto as its candidates for the presidency and deputy presidency, respectively, for this year’s General Election.}

The two are expected to use the delegates convention at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi to rally their troops behind them after the just concluded primaries that were characterised by acrimony in many counties.

Sources told the Nation that the party will be seeking to project President Kenyatta as a man of the people and a “feel-good” candidate.

One of the strategies President Kenyatta is employing, the Nation has learned, is encouraging competition from within in what strategists have advised will drive up numbers during the General Election.

As a follow-through of this commitment, the President will be endorsed on Saturday by the various affiliate parties that did not dissolve to form the Jubilee Party. The parties will hold similar delegates meetings in the city.

Kanu will be at the Kasarani Gymnasium, where ODM endorsed its candidate, Mr Raila Odinga, on Friday. Maendeleo Chap Chap will be in Lavington while Narc-Kenya which will be at St Andrews Hall.

The Economic Freedom Party will be at Nyayo Basketball Court while Kenya Patriotic Party will hold its forum at Boma Hotel.

Already, the Frontier Alliance Party, associated with Marsabit governor Ukur Yattani, on Thursday officially endorsed President Kenyatta’s candidature.

Jubilee Party Secretary-General Raphael Tuju said there will be 4,000 delegates attending the convention. “We also expect MPs, senators and governors who lost in the nominations to come. They are still members of NDC (National Delegates Conference) by virtue of them being elected,” he said.

On Friday, President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto spent the better part of the day meeting leaders from 14 counties to map out their campaign strategy ahead of August 8 elections.

They were leaders from Western, Nyanza, Lower Eastern, and Coast regions who will fly the Jubilee flag when decision time comes.

“Last time we had difficulties going to Western. In fact, we only campaigned in Bungoma because we had no one to talk to about the agenda of Jubilee. Now we not only have people but serious candidates,” President Kenyatta said.

At the meeting, attended by governors Ken Lusaka (Bungoma), Hussein Dado (Tana River), Salim Mvurya (Kwale), National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and Taveta MP Naomi Shaban, Mr Ruto dismissed the perception that the areas which the leaders came from were still Opposition strongholds.

{{‘WAS DIFFICULT’}}

“During the 2013 General Election, it was difficult to talk about Jubilee in Kisii, Coast and Western regions. But this time round we are doing well as our development track record speaks for itself,” said Mr Ruto.

Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki said the NDC will provide a platform for the party members to bond after what he termed as “fiercely competitive” nominations.

“The party leadership will be asking all those who lost not to lose focus on the ultimate prize of re-electing President Kenyatta,” he said, adding that the NDC would kick-start the final leg of campaigns in which they hope to bag 200 MPs in the August election.

“We are also aiming to have 30 senators, 30 governors and a majority in the over 30 county assemblies so that we can safely pass the Jubilee agenda of transforming Kenya,” said Prof Kindiki.

Insiders told the Nation that the convention will not only dwell on policy issues, but will also sell their candidate as a humane, down to earth and people-centred leader.

The party is keen to project its candidate as a unifying figure at home and abroad.

After the forum, the President and his deputy will proceed to Ngong, Kajiado, for a rally.

Source:Daily Nation