IGIHE

Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Kenya Biometric Gadgets Passwords Fail to Work

    {{Kenya’s only Female candidate in the ongoing Presidential elections has condemned the country’s Electoral body Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for resorting to manual methods at poll centers in clearing voters.}}

    Martha Karua (Narc Kenya Political Party), said she didnt not understand how the IEBC would claim that Passwords to access Biometric data was not functional on the polling day.

    While casting her vote today at 9:00 AM Kenya local time, Ms. Karua was manually checked in yet the IEBC was under obligation to use Electronic gadgets.

    Speaking to Reporters after casting her vote, Karua urged for peace and that despite the technical failures of the electronic system she urged kenyans to keep calm and accept the outcomes of the elections.

    Her campaign centered on integrity values and the fight against impunity and corruption. She is opposed to people with pending cases at ICC vying for the top office.

    Elsewhere in Mombasa, heavily armed Gun men attacked a Police Post killing at least 10 people, including two police officers.

    Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga blamed the attack on the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a separatist group that wants Mombasa, the second-largest city in Kenya, and its surrounding coastal area to secede.

  • EAC Urged to Cut Energy, Transport Costs

    {{The East African Community (EAC) bloc should reduce energy and transport costs in order to compete effectively in the global market; it was announced here on Thursday.}}

    EAC secretary general, Dr Richard Sezibera, said goods from China and other countries subjected those produced locally to stiff competition due to the fact that production costs in the Asian country were relatively cheaper.

    Dr Sezibera, who was speaking during a luncheon organised by the Uganda Manufacturing Association (Uma), said although manufacturing offered a wide range of opportunities in the bloc, production costs made locally made goods expensive.

    “The EAC Heads of State have always expressed commitment to the development of the sector through micro, small and medium sized enterprises, but nothing tangible has been done to attain that goal,” he pointed out.

    According to the EAC Facts and Figures 2012, the share of the manufacturing sector to GDP registered marginal changes in 2011.

    Burundi registered the highest share of 13.4 % up from 12.8% the previous year followed by Tanzania 9.3% up from 9.0% in the previous year.

    The EAC boss added that Uganda registered 8.5% up from 7.6% in 2010, and Rwanda 6.6 % down from 7.0% in 2010 while Kenya registered 9.4%, down from 9.9% in 2010.

    “For manufacturing sector to prosper, there is need for stakeholders, including the government and private sector, to work together in an effort to give domestic industries a new lease of life,” he said.

    Dr Sezibera called upon local manufacturers to take advantage of several opportunities popping up as EAC integrates deeper, especially in areas that include pharmaceuticals, beverage production, vehicle spare-parts production and assembling.

    ‘’I am happy to report that several projects aimed at building a reliable transport and power supply capacity across the region are underway.

    I am also glad to inform you that the EAC has a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan of Action, 2012-2016 which guides Partner States towards evolving an efficient and effective pharmaceutical manufacturing industry,” he said.

    He acknowledged the challenges pertaining to the manufacturing sector and called for more efforts to overcome them.

    The EAC chief noted that bloc’s Partner States were expected to come up with strategies for formalising the inter-agency approach at the regional level in order to establish a legal and regulatory framework for protection of intellectual property rights and elimination of counterfeit products.

  • Odinga Denies Claims he Would not Accept Polls Defeat

    {{Prime Minister Raila Odinga has denied reports appearing in an international daily on Saturday claiming he would not concede defeat if he lost Monday’s election.}}

    The Premier said at no time did he speak of this during interviews last Friday with the Financial Time, BBC Radio and TV.

    In a statement sent to newsrooms through his Communication Secretary Dennis Onyango, Raila considered the article works of a writer and organisation with fixed idea of Kenya as the country goes to elections.

    At a mammoth rally convened by the Pastor Dr Edward Owuor of Repentance and Holiness Church at Uhuru Park last week, Raila joined other presidential candidates in assuring Kenyans that he would accept defeat and work with the winner in free and fair elections.

    During the presidential debates he has repeated the same sentiments, ”I will accept defeat and I will raise any grievances so arising in the courts of law.”

    In the statement from Office of the Prime Minister dated March 2, Raila recalls the questions put to him during the interview on Friday.

    Asked what if he would be at the end of his political career if he loses the elections, the PM’s answer was: “I strongly believe I am going to win this election, and in round one.

    However, in the unlikely event that I lose, I believe there will be a role for me in Kenya. I can write my memoirs, I have a family to take care of, and, most importantly, I have a party that I will continue to guide so we can deepen democracy in Kenya.

    I believe the democratisation of Kenya has been my biggest contribution to the country and I want to push it to the end whether I am in or out of elective politics.”

  • S.Sudan To Export Crude Oil Through Ethiopia

    {{South Sudan will commence constructing a road to Ethiopia that would transport the new nation’s crude oil to the international market through Djibouti port.}}

    South Sudan has approved a plan to urgently construct a road to Ethiopia, an official has said.

    Information and Broadcasting minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the Cabinet resolved on Friday to urgently construct the road from the oil fields at Paloug in Upper Nile State to the Ethiopian border.

    “The council has given the go ahead for the construction of Falluj-Pagak-Ethiopia road. This is to make it possible for the construction of this road to link the oil fields to Ethiopia so that we can transport our crude oil by land through Ethiopia to Djibouti,” Dr Marial said.

    “The two ministers (of Roads and Petroleum) have been given a go ahead in order to finish the process together in coordination with the Ethiopian government so that this road is quickly constructed,” he said.

    At secession in July 2011, Juba took with it more than 75 per cent of the crude oil Khartoum used to export, but the pipelines run through the north to Port Sudan terminal.

    South Sudan halted oil flow in January 2012 accusing Sudan of stealing and diverting her oil, which accounted for 98 per cent of the country’s budget.

    Although the two countries reached agreement last September to resume oil flow through Sudan, the implementation of the deals has been a mystery.

    Exporting the oil by roads could ease the pressure on South Sudan local currency by providing hard currency that the Africa’s new nation badly needs to import basic commodities.

    ST

  • Uganda’s EAC Minister Dies

    {{Uganda’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs died saturday shocking most Ugandans.}}

    Eriya Kategaya was a Ugandan lawyer and politician.

    He was also an ex officio Member of the Ugandan Parliament, on account of being a cabinet minister.

    He was born on 4 July 1945 in Kyamate, Ntungamo District district, in western Uganda. Eriya Tukahirwa Kategaya was a longtime associate of President Yoweri Museveni, starting from their school days in Ntare School in the early 1960s.

    Kategaya held a Bachelor of Law (LLB), degree from the University of Dar-es-Salaam. At the time of his graduation the university was part of the University of East Africa.

  • Congo’s Army Takes Control of M23 Town

    {{Residents say that the Congolese army has taken control of a town that was run by M23 rebels for more than six months.}}

    Jacques Kambale said early Saturday that lines of military entered the town of Kiwanja Friday afternoon.

    Doctors Without Borders said late Friday that more than 55 civilians have been killed in fighting in another town in Congo’s east, Kitchanga, where 135 people have been wounded.

    Thousands have fled the renewed violence.

    Fighting began again in eastern Congo after the M23 divided into two groups on Wednesday.

    The new splinter group attacked positions held by M23 near the border with Uganda Thursday into Friday.

    The M23 took Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in November but withdrew under international pressure.

    Congo’s government promised negotiations with the group.

    AP

  • Kenya Bans Uganda’s Sugar Imports

    {{Ugandan sugar traders are the hardest hit following Kenya’s ban imposed on the commodity’s imports}}.

    The ban imposed last December, has seen the commodity’s movement slow down, resulting into stock piles, forcing the traders to sell sugar at a ‘give-away’ price.

    The manufacturers have attributed the slump in sugar trade to an artificial shortage that Kenya has created within its market to raise prices during the elections; thereby, denying Uganda the market.

    Uganda National Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice chairman Sudeep Mohanty, says Kenya is setting a bad precedent for the East African Common market where goods and services are supposed to move freely.

    By starting with the ban on sugar, it implies that the same act could move to other commodities and Uganda may be forced to act like Zambia did when Kenya stopped sugar imports from there.

    “Manufacturers export mainly because the local demand exceeds the supply and maybe farmers and manufacturers have expanded their farms and production plants. So, denying them the market is killing their businesses,” he said yesterday.

    Last December, sugar manufacturers from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania were forced to convene a crisis meeting at the Kenya Sugar Board offices in Nairobi when Kenya blocked sugar imports from Uganda and Tanzania from her market accusing them of dumping cheap sugar suspected to have been imported in excess when the two countries were allowed to import tax free sugar the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) arrangement to stabilise domestic needs in 2011.

    Following the meeting that relaxed the ban, the traders are now accusing Kenya Revenue Authority of impounding 20 trucks of sugar loaded with close to 250,000 metric tonnes of sugar at Busia border.

    “We have sugar in the factories and traders are complaining about slow movement of stocks. We have been forced to cut our factory prices from Shs150,000 previously to Shs135,000,” said Mr Jim Kabeho, the chairman Uganda Sugar technologies association in an interview.

    Following the outcry, the sugar manufacturers are calling upon government to take action because soon other commodities could be affected.

    “ Kenya has a domestic sugar shortage of 350,000 metric tonnes which we would have met. Why don’t they allow us access this market?” Mr Mohanty wondered.

    NV

  • Nairobi Court Sentences 2 Ugandans to Life in Jail

    A Nairobi Court in Kenya Friday Sentenced 2 Ugandans to Life in jail over unlawful trafficking of Cocaine worth Approx-US$1Million.

    They have been held in Kenya since June 5, 2010.

    John Mugisha and Ann Bisaso broke into tears when the charges were read to them by Kibera Principal Magistrate Laetisha Wachira.

    Bisaso, pictured right, pleaded for mercy saying she is a single mother while Mugisha said he needs to spend time with his young family.

    the Magistrate dismissed their pleas, saying the law on drug trafficking was severe and that the sentence handed to them was justified.

    However, they were given two weeks to appeal.

    Mugisha had claimed the police framed up charges on him after he was found with no drugs but the prosecution was categorical that he processed Bisaso’s travel documents and that the keys to the boxes that were impounded by police were found on him.

    In sentencing them, Wachira said the prosecution had established that the two had indeed trafficked drugs.

    Prosecutor Chief Inspector Justus Imaana had asked that Bisaso be treated as a first-time offender as she has no previous such records in Kenya or in Uganda.

    Mugisha had a previous conviction in Kenya for trying to escape from Kamiti Prison and is serving a two-year sentence.

    The duo was arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with cocaine which they tried to conceal.

    {Ann Bisaso}

    NV

  • AU Says will Accept Kenya Poll Results

    {{The Africa Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has said that the AU will respect the choice of Kenyans during Monday’s General Election.}}

    She has expressed confidence at the level of election preparedness going into the polls.

    The AU chairperson encouraged politicians to accept the will of the electorate and manage the election outcome to ensure national unity and a more cohesive society.

    Dr Zuma, who was flanked by head of AU election observer mission to Kenya, former Mozambique president Joaquim Chissano said Kenyans should be supported to conduct a free, fair and credible election.

    She commended the presidential aspirants for conducting peaceful campaigns and urged them to accept the election outcome and if dissatisfied to challenge the results through the courts.

    During the meeting, Chissano told the President Mwai Kibaki that his mission had also met all election stakeholders and was satisfied with the mechanisms in place to deliver credible elections.

    President Kibaki briefed the AU chairperson and the AU head of observer mission on the measures the government has put in place to ensure smooth and peaceful elections.

    NMG

  • The Cash Muscle in Kenya Presidential Campaigns

    {{The campaign season enters its last leg this weekend as Kenyans go to the polls on Monday to vote for their leaders.}}

    In the past few months, Kenyans have watched candidates use all their financial might, with no expense spared, to woo voters in what has been the biggest and flashiest campaigns yet.

    The 2013 election season will be remembered as the most expensive in history as it came with more elective posts on the ballot papers and candidates investing much more to win voters to their side.

    The money spent during the campaigns did not only stay at the top, but trickled down to local traders who got the chance to sell their wares to thousands of buyers whenever the candidates held a rally with thousands in attendance. The bulk of the money went into travel, operations, events, media adverts and merchandise.

    From helicopters to fixed wing aeroplanes, hundreds of branded vehicles, campaign materials and media campaigns, presidential candidates and their parties have gone all out.

    It is estimated that the four main coalitions – Amani, Cord, Eagle and Jubilee – are spending as much as Sh10 million every day to hire helicopters for their campaigns, according to figures obtained from players in the aviation industry.

    Jubilee Alliance, led by Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto, has six helicopters and four fixed wing aeroplanes on its campaign trail. The Raila Odinga-led Cord Coalition has four helicopters and two fixed wing aeroplanes.

    The Musalia Mudavadi-led Amani Coalition also has five helicopters and one fixed-wing aircraft, while the Eagle Coalition, whose presidential candidate is Peter Kenneth, has one helicopter.

    The cost of hiring a chopper ranges from $1,500 (Sh130,500) to $2,000 (Sh174,000) per hour, depending on the organisation.

    ALS Limited, based at Wilson Airport with a fleet of 23 both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, charges about $1,700 (Sh147,900) per hour for its helicopters, with the minimum time one can pay for being two hours.

    The local company has reaped big from the political season with three of its choppers, being hired out to the Jubilee Coalition. The choppers, which are branded by the coalition, have been hired from January 5th until next week.

    It costs about $2,200 (Sh191,400) to hire a five seater aircraft per hour, excluding Value Added Tax, according to Phoenix Aviation Ltd Chief Pilot Helicopter Operations Christopher Stewart as quoted in our sister publication the Daily Nation.

    The chief executive of Kenya Association of Air Operators, Mr Eutychus Waithaka, says some of the helicopters being used are personally owned by the politicians while others have been leased from operators and branded for the during of hire.

    He added that the cost depends on the agreement reached with the company that owns the aircraft as there are no fixed rates in the market.

    The parties have also invested heavily on road transport. The two big coalitions Cord and Jubilee have dispatched hundreds of branded four-wheel vehicles to the counties including Land Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers and Pick-ups.

    Cord has over 100 branded vehicles while Jubilee has 1,000.

    The money on transport is only one component of their expenditure with parties and individual candidates investing heavily, in other areas including media.

    Staring from the beginning of the year, there has been an explosion of advertising, especially in mainstream media.

    Considering that a one minute advert on Prime time TV slot costs Sh318,600 for a one-minute slot, while a radio advert goes for Sh45,000 for a 45 second spot, all excluding tax, you can imagine how much the parties have paid for presidential candidates’ adverts which became more frequent in this last week.

    According to research by Ipsos Synovate Kenya, the Jubilee Coalition has been the highest media spender followed by the Cord Coalition during this election period.

    By the end of last year, the Jubilee Coalition had spent Sh40.66 million compared to Cord’s Sh23.29 million. Eagle had spent Sh4.58 million, Amani Sh1.47 million with other parties combined having spent about Sh10 million.

    It costs up to Sh615,000 to put a full page political advert in the local newspapers. Presidential candidates and their running mates as well as governors have in the past couple of weeks taken up strategic billboards across the country.

    It costs an average of Sh140,000 for each billboard, per month, according to industry sources.

    The money has mainly been sourced from personal wealth, donations from supporters, party nomination fees and levies, party membership fees as well as party and presidential candidates’ fundraisers.

    Candidates have been holding fundraisers the past two months to build their campaign kitty. Local restaurants and hotels have been the beneficiaries of these fundraisers, both in the city and country level.

    Peter Waweru, Sarova Group’s marketing manager, said Panafric’s food and beverage department has gained from the fundraising events, rooms being hired for strategic and general meetings.

    “Every day in the past few weeks, we have had an event or two,” he said. Most of the fundraisers were in the form of dinners whose cost ranges from Sh2,500 to Sh3,500 per person.

    Kenyatta International Conference Centre has also been a beneficiary of the high spending with political parties hiring out rooms to launch their parties or unveil manifestos.

    The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) have also used the venue during this period.

    It costs Sh300,000 per day, excluding tax, to hire out the biggest hall, Tsavo, with a capacity of 4,000 people and Sh168,900 for the amphitheater which seats 800 people.

    Candidates seeking different elective positions have reached out to their supporters through social network, the media and door-to-door campaigns for donations paid through mobile money and other forms of payment.

    The parties also raised funds during nomination with the various parties bagging millions of shillings from candidates who vied for different positions on their tickets.

    Even little-known parties reaped big when those who failed to get nomination from the bigger parties turned to them for help.

    A monitoring report on campaign finance in the 2007 general elections by the Coalition for Accountable Political Financing (CAPF) estimated that close to $75 million (Sh6.5 billion) was spent by the main presidential contenders, Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki.

    Political parties raised nearly $56 million (Sh4.8 billion) for the campaigns from nomination fees among other sources.

    Spending has, however, not been limited to political parties only, non-profit organizations and corporates were the driving forces behind the record-setting figures.

    Media houses forked out Sh100 million to run the two presidential debates in a bid to give the candidates a platform to articulate their policies. Several government departments, non profit organisations and corporates put their resources in promoting peace campaigns ahead of the elections on Monday.

    The drive, which has seen millions being spent on this campaign is aimed at countering electoral violence-related losses that left businesses with a bill of Sh10 billion countrywide a loss of over 4,000 jobs following the last elections which were followed by violence never before seen in the country.

    “Our aim is to foster harmony among Kenyans,” said Crown Paints Kenya chief executive Rakesh Rao, in an earlier interview.

    Businessdaily Analysis