Police in Nairobi have launched a major hunt for 40 mentally ill patients who escaped from Mathari Mental Hospital on Monday morning.
Police and guards are looking for the patients within the city.
The patients escaped after overpowering guards after complaining that the medicine administered to them were ineffective.
Police say the hospital is a lawful custody and termed the escape by the patients as illegal.
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{{Rwanda and other countries in the region could soon be plunged into a fuel shortage. This follows a row between the Mombasa oil refinery and marketers that has pushed the facility into a financial crisis.}}
Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd (KPRL) last week warned that it could soon be unable to refine petroleum products owing to severe financial constraints, a development that could affect Kenya and its landlocked neighbours including Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
Initially, the refinery operated as a contractor. It would process crude oil brought in by marketers.
However, over the years, marketers realised that it was more costly to import crude oil and last year, it turned into a merchant refinery where it would buy the crude oil, process it and sell to marketers.
The financial shortfalls at the refinery were occasioned partly by a dispute between it and the oil marketers over the uplift of refined products.
The refinery said marketers had boycotted its products, hurting operations and stoking a cash flow crisis.
The marketers who argue that inefficiencies at the refinery had made processed oil products more costly than those imported directly have threatened to fully boycott the facility from July, a development that will be watched keenly in Kenya and neighbouring countries that rely on the refinery for petroleum stocks.
Currently, oil companies are lifting only about 65,000 tonnes out of the plant’s monthly refining capacity of 130,000 tonnes of oil products, partly as a result of the inefficiencies and partly of the preference among oil marketers for importing refined oil products.
{{Tanzania government has freed a Saudi national that had been arrested after a deadly attack a week ago that killed three people in a packed church.}}
“Said bin Mohsen al-Mehri, who was arrested with other persons in Tanzania after the criminal attack on a church in Arusha in the north, has been freed,” said Prince Khaled ben Saud Khaled, a deputy to the Saudi foreign minister.
“No charge has been laid against him,” the prince added that Mehri was “on his way home to the kingdom”.
The Saudi and three Emiratis were arrested along with five Tanzanians after last Sunday’s bombing, described by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete as “an act of terrorism”.
It was one of the worst such incidents to hit the east African country in years.
“There are three nationals of the United Arab Emirates and a Saudi… they were arrested while trying to cross the border” into Kenya, Arusha’s governor Magesa Mulongo told media.
In addition to the three people killed in the blast, more than 60 people were injured when attackers hurled a bomb into the compound of the newly built Saint Joseph’s Roman Catholic church.
The church was celebrating its inaugural mass at the time and was filled with worshippers.
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{{Ugandan parents could soon earn quick bucks for keeping their children in school if a project being mooted by the United Nations and government is implemented.}}
Details of the project are still scanty but a statement released following discussions between country’s Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and the UN special envoy on global education, Mr Gordon Brown, says the programme, currently being discussed with the Nigerian government, will be “replicated in Uganda.”
They held discussions in Johannesburg, South Africa. The United Nations Development Programme, the agency charged with achieving universal education in developing countries like Uganda by 2015, referred inquiries about the project to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
Unicef had not responded to email inquiries by press time.
However, according to the statement, parents will receive cash incentives to keep children in school if the project bears fruit.
The project also provides teachers with on-line training and mobile phones to access educational materials digitally, instead of using printed textbooks.
The promise followed an appeal Mr Mbabazi made to the former British prime minister about the “high drop-out rates” that continues to hamper primary education in Uganda.
“We have about 9 million children enrolled in school but there are high drop-out rates and another 10 per cent of school-age going children are not attending school,” Mr Mbabazi is quoted telling the UN special envoy.
Mr Brown responded that the UN “is ready to support Uganda get and keep as many children as possible into school.” “The United States is willing to fund up to one million children, some of whom can be Ugandans,” he said.
According to a World Bank report published last year, out of 100 children of school-going age in Uganda, only 91 are enrolled.
{{A Kenya-based scientist has developed a website tool to track insecticide resistance.}}
The aggressive push for use of insecticide-treated nets and indoor spraying has resulted in considerable reduction in malaria cases, with experts reporting that over 700,000 lives were saved in 34 countries between 2001 and 2010.
Those gains are now at risk due to the rapid spread of insecticide resistance, which threatens to render the life-saving tools ineffective.
In an effort to track the worrying trend, scientists from KEMRI/CDC and Vestergaard Frandsen have developed the world’s first Online mapping tool that will track insecticide resistance in mosquitoes.
{{IR Mapper}}
The interactive website, called IR Mapper, identifies locations in more than 50 malaria-endemic countries where mosquitoes have developed resistance to the insecticides used in bed nets and indoor residual sprays.
“Deployment of the most appropriate insecticide based vector control interventions including nets and IRS needs to be informed by up-to-date data on insecticide resistance in the malaria vector species,” says Dr Nabie Bayoh, an entomologist at KEMRI/CDC in Kisumu, Kenya.
Dr Bayoh says that prior to the development of the tool, insecticide resistance data has been scattered throughout different databases and has come from a variety of sources, making prompt decision-making difficult.
Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation ( WHO) published fresh criteria for reporting insecticide resistance. The criteria, which are incorporated in the IR Mapper, are aimed at detecting resistance earlier.
The tool provides comprehensive and up-to-date information on which vector control tools should be deployed in areas of high resistance.
Resistance among Anopheles malaria vectors has been reported in 64 countries, with Sub-Saharan Africa being of greatest concern.
The aggregated IR Mapper gives data on insecticide susceptibility and resistance mechanisms from as far back as 1959 to 2012. To measure resistance, researchers put mosquitoes in a tube lined with insecticide-treated paper.
If 80 per cent die as a result of absorbing the insecticide, it was considered that they are resistant. The new guidelines by WHO have revised this threshold 90 per cent, meaning that resistance will be reported earlier.
With the new IR Mapper tool, users can examine the resistance status of single or multiple Anopheles species to one or more insecticides within their region of interest.
It means countries can make independent decisions regarding the deployment of a particular insecticide.
Variations in deployment can also be made depending on specified time periods and the existing trends in resistance.
The new tool responds to malaria control policy makers and researchers’ quest for a user-friendly approach to visualising and exploring up-to-date information on insecticide resistance.
In most countries, pyrethroids are the insecticides of choice for malaria vector control. This is because they are less toxic to mammals, have longer residual periods and are also less costly. All approved long-lasting insecticidal nets use pyrethroids.
Their popularity though is also the biggest cause for the increasing problem of resistance to insecticides in malaria vectors. Two months ago, researchers reported that mosquitoes have developed variations that make them resist a compound known as DEET, which is used in most household mosquito repellents.
{{Mosquitoes have developed variants for resistance}}
Two months ago, researchers reported that mosquitoes have developed variations that make them resist a compound known as DEET, which is used in most household mosquito repellents.
They said that it takes only about three hours for the repellents to be rendered useless as the mosquitoes become insensitive to the smell. For years, DEET has been used in sprays, lotions, liquids and wristbands to repel insects.
A slight exposure to DEET was reported to be enough to make some mosquitoes less sensitive to the repellent, meaning that three hours after exposure, the mosquitoes can go back to seeking out human skin to bite.
“We think that the mosquitoes are habituating to the repellent, similar to a phenomenon seen with the human sense of smell also,” adds one of the researchers.
In Africa, recent findings have suggested that the genetic structure of the Anopheles gambiae, which is responsible for most malaria cases in Africa, is evolving, explaining the difficulties in bringing the disease under control.
The genetic changes are thought to be due to inter-mating between the species, resulting in hybrids that may bring about insecticide resistance and malaria parasite infectivity.
The study that was released last month says that the inter-mating and subsequent hybrids were found in four countries in West Africa.
{{A war of words has erupted between the Catholic Bishops in Kenya and a congregation calling itself Catholics for Choice (CFC).}}
When the Catholic Church Kenya Episcopal Conference condemned the message “Good Catholics Use Condoms” propagated by the US-based CFC, a number of Kenyans Catholics and non-Catholics expressed mixed reactions on the issue.
A choirmaster at St Andrews Catholic Church in Bondo, Nichodemus Omondi, argued it was inappropriate to generalise that all Catholics partook of a specific notion that had nothing to do with an individual’s spiritual growth.
“The message from CFC is contextually misleading because when they say ‘Good Catholics Use Condoms’ who are the good Catholics or do they mean there are bad Catholics? What kind of message are they sending to Catholics and non-Catholics who don’t embrace condoms but still lead happy lives?” argued Mr Omondi.
However, in a rejoinder, CFC released a statement challenging the Catholic bishops’ integrity. In a press release titled “Six Questions for the Kenyan Bishops,” the statement reads in part, “Catholics are the most supportive of the use of condoms for contraception and preventing sexually transmitted diseases.
Mombasa Archbishop Boniface Lele said, “With some counseling — and this is something we don’t tell everyone — you can ask couples to use condoms, so that the rate of reinfection goes down.
“Cameroon’s Cardinal Christian Tumi supports the use of condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV between married couples, saying, “If a partner in a marriage is infected with HIV, the use of condoms makes sense.”
The statement further states the Kenyan bishops, and other bishops’ conferences around the world receive millions of dollars to provide care to people living with HIV and Aids.
“The stance by the Kenyan bishops highlights their refusal to provide condoms to the many international development agencies that send money their way to help in the fight against the spread of HIV”, CFC wrote.
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{{The private sector has been challenged to find innovative ways of creating employment for the youth in the country.}}
Speaking at a luncheon in Nairobi organised by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), former President Mwai Kibaki said that this will stabilise the country in the years ahead.
“Let us employ our young generation so as they get busy with the challenge of developing the country,” he said.
Kibaki urged the private sector to maintain dialogue with the public sector to enhance rapid development for the country.
“I urge the private sector to actively engage in law and policy making processes to further accelerate the economic growth of the country.”
The luncheon that was graced by key government officials was organised to appreciate Kibaki for his support and sound leadership in nurturing business growth.
“Thank you for having allowed us to make a long number of strides towards vision 2030. We are proud of you, we have reformed; Kenya will soon be the hub of Africa,” said KEPSA Chairman Vamal Shah.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, in a speech read by Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki, said security is a key priority to his government, warning criminals that they will face full force of the law.
“My government is working on revamping foreign policies that will help market the country worldwide. We will also acknowledge Diaspora investors in a bid to encourage them to invest more,” the president added.
During Kibaki’s leadership many gains were realised in the business community including: increased investments, energy production, increased engagement and participation of the private sector in bilateral and multilateral trade and investment delegations, infrastructure improvement and improved security for businesses.
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{{ The East African Community and the European Union (EU) today at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania signed a Financing Agreement of Euros 16 Million for the construction of a power interconnector between Burundi and Rwanda.}}
The signing of the agreement was preceded by a roundtable discussion, also held at the EAC headquarters, on the theme: “Regional integration as a tool for the promotion of personal freedoms. Perspectives from the EAC and the EU”, organized in commemoration of the EU Day.
Amb. Filiberto Sebregondi, the EU Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania and to the EAC, and Dr. Enos Bukuku–EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Planning and Infrastructure, signed the agreement during a brief ceremony witnessed by Deputy Secretaries General Dr. Julius Rotich (Political Federation) and Hon. Jesca Eriyo (Productive and Social Sectors).
Dr. Bukuku, who signed on behalf of the EAC Secretary General, thanked the EU for its support to the project, which will take approximately three years to complete and will cost 37.7 million euros in total. Of that, the EU is providing €16 million from the 10th EDF (European Development Fund) to finance the Burundian component.
KFW of Germany is providing €19.7 million out of which €16.7 million will finance the Rwandan section and €3 million for the Burundian section. The Governments of Burundi and Rwanda will contribute €1 million each.
The other components of the multinational interconnection project are financed by the African Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Government of Netherlands.
“This is a major milestone in our quest for integration of the energy sector,” Dr. Bukuku remarked, adding the project would pave the way for an EAC energy exchange in future, which would allow Partner States to plug each other’s power deficits by transmitting surplus capacity through an interconnected system.
The Rwanda–Burundi 220kV Interconnector is part of a larger ongoing multinational project to interconnect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The project entails construction of a 143-kilometre 220kV transmission line from Kigoma (Rwanda) to Gitega (Burundi) via Butare (Rwanda) and Ngozi (Burundi). The transmission line will cover 62 kilometres in Rwanda’s territory and 81 kilometres in Burundi’s territory.
According to the EAC’s Senior Energy Officer Mr. Peter Kinuthia various ongoing projects will complement this project to enhance the interconnectivity of the electricity system in region.
Earlier at the EAC headquarters today representatives of civil society organizations and the private sector joined EAC and EU staff in a roundtable discussion on how regional integration can be used as a tool for the promotion of personal freedoms.
The roundtable held on the theme: “Regional integration as a tool for the promotion of personal freedoms. Perspectives from the EAC and the EU”, featured the EU’s Amb. Sebregondi; Deputy Secretaries General Dr. Bukuku and Hon. Eriyo; the Principal Judge of the East African Court of Justice Hon. Mr. Justice Johnston Busingye; as well as the East African Business Council Executive Director Mr. Andrew Luzze as the main discussants. The roundtable dialogue was moderated by the Chief Executive Officer of the East African Civil Society Forum Dr. Martin Mwondha.
Amb. Sebregondi shared perspectives from the European Union, while discussant after discussant from the EAC highlighted the urgent need to put in place the requisite soft and hard infrastructure that would make it possible for East Africans to enjoy the freedoms that are enshrined in the EAC Treaty, the Customs Union Protocol, and particularly, the Common Market Protocol.
Also in attendance were the EAC’s Director for Productive Sectors Dr. Nyamajeje Weggoro and the Principal Resource Mobilization Officer Dr. James Njagu.
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{{A contingent of about 100 Tanzanian troops arrived in eastern Congo Saturday, a first step in assembling the new United Nations intervention brigade, said a U.N. spokesman.}}
The Tanzanian troops are the first batch to form the U.N. intervention brigade to be deployed in eastern Congo following a Security Council resolution in March, said peacekeeping mission spokesman Lt. Col. Felix Basse.
On March 28th, the U.N. Security Council voted a resolution that renewed the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo for one year, and created a special intervention brigade that has an aggressive mandate that allows it to fight armed groups, rather than merely defend civilians.
The intervention brigade commander arrived in Goma on the 23rd April, but troops meant to arrive by the end of April have only just started arriving in eastern Congo.
The rest of the troops will arrive in stages, but no clear deadline has been given so far.
Malawi and South Africa have pledged to contribute troops to the U.N. force.
The need for an intervention force became clear in November, when the U.N.
peacekeepers merely stood by as Congo’s M23 rebels took the provincial capital of Goma.
The rebels eventually withdrew from the city two weeks later, but the fall of Goma convinced the international community to create a brigade with a more assertive mandate to try to put an end to the turmoil in which has plagued eastern Congo for years.
But with just over 3,000 special troops to battle more than 25 armed groups in the Kivu region alone, the new U.N. brigade risks being spread too thin, say military experts.
Already eastern Congo’s M23 rebels are training fighters in guerrilla tactics to fight the U.N. troops.
{Agencies}
{{Ten countries are expected to field their athlets in the forthcoming East and Central Africa Junior Athletics Championship scheduled for Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar.}}
In an interview with The Citizen, the Athletics Tanzania (AT) secretary general, Suleiman Nyambui, said the championship would be exclusive for Under-20 athletes.
The two-day meet, which will involve athletics from powerhouses Kenya and Ethiopia, will commence on June 8.
This will be the first time the regional championship is held at the Amaan Stadium and Zanzibar (considered as a country) will be represented by a sizable number of athletes.
Other countries whose runners will be battling it out for pride and the jackpots at stake are Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania Mainland.
“This is a perfect platform for us to gauge our youngsters ahead of bigger international tournaments.
“The championship will feature over 200 runners from 10 countries, for sure, this is a good opportunity and we will seize it,” said the legendary athlete.
Nyambui disclosed that the championship is recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
“The IAAF sanctioned this event to take place in the Isles after Zanzibar fixed a tartan track, thus making it one of the best tracks in the region,” he said.
The Olympic silver medal winner said Tanzania Mainland will field a total of 25 up-and-coming athletes who have impressed in recent tournaments.
“Twenty five runners will represent the Mainland, most of them have done very well in local events, but we want to identify the best ones and groom them,” he said. He named the race categories as 100m, 200m, 400m, 1,500m, 3000m and 5000m for both boys and girls.
There will be also the 110m hurdles for boys and 100m hurdles for girls. Other sports include; shot put, discus, javelin throwing, long jump, high jump and triple jump.
NMG