Tag: GreatLakesNews

{The door was on Thursday slammed shut on politicians rushing to acquire quick degrees before next year’s General Election.}

A directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday said university students must meet the minimum admission requirements and lecturer times.

The Education ministry was ordered to fully implement the directives.

“Universities that do not heed these requirements should be dealt with according to the law,” President Kenyatta said at Bungoma County’s Kibabii University during its first graduation ceremony.

The President, who is the chancellor, said the government would give the university Sh300 million to improve it.

He was accompanied by Bungoma Governor Ken Lusaka, Cabinet secretaries Fred Matiang’i (Education), Adan Mohammed (Industrialisation), Eugene Wamalwa (Water) and Judi Wakhungu (Environment).

“The ministry should stop these malpractices. These vices are diluting the quality of education in the country,” said the President.

SHORTEST TIME

He explained that his decision was designed to stop politicians from rushing to obtain degrees in the shortest possible time in order to qualify to run for office.

The President maintained that a freeze on the establishment of new public universities was still in force. “All universities should heed this directive. No one must be left behind,” he went on.

He called on institutions of higher learning to maintain the quality and integrity of their examinations.

“The era of missing marks, students progressing to the next year without knowing how they performed the previous year must stop. Appointment of staff should be on merit, qualification and experience,” he went on.

He later toured Pan Paper Mills in Webuye where he announced that the first production line would be revived by December 15. The others, he said, would come to life once the first one is running.

“By the time this happens, 500 people will have been employed. By June next year, the factory will have doubled its capacity, as well as employees,” he said.

“This factory will be the lifeline of the people of Webuye town. The town will come alive once again. We promised as Jubilee to do this when we took over government,” said the President.

ATTACKED OPPOSITION

At the same time, President Kenyatta attacked the opposition for persistently criticising government projects and told it to give the Jubilee administration time to work.

“They were once in leadership positions, what did they do for Kenyans? We are reviving Pan Paper and have constructed several roads in the country … these people should let us work,” he said.

“There are people who don’t see anything good in this country. We will develop this country equally without discrimination,” he declared.

The President also called on Kenyans to shun tribal politics.

“We cannot develop our country through confrontation. This can only be achieved through unity and cooperation,” he said.

The opposition, led by Mr Raila Odinga, has accused President Kenyatta of presiding over massive looting of public resources through projects such as the standard gauge railway and the National Youth Service.

The government has also been accused of losing billions of shillings in the Health ministry and from the Eurobond, claims it denies.

{Tanzania freefall in Fifa ranking continued after the nation slumped 16 places further down the log to rest in a lowly 160th position.}

The national football team, Taifa Stars, which is under the tutelage of Charles Boniface Mkwasa, are now at 48th spot in the continent having tallied a paltry 146 points.

Alarmingly, the Stars now sit below the likes of Sao Tome, Comoros, Chad, Lesotho and Mauritius and are in fact the lowly ranked team in the CECAFA region. The latest ranking is just twelve places above the historical low of 172nd which Tanzania achieved in June 2004.

The slump in rankings came as no surprise after Taifa Stars lost 3-0 away to Zimbabwe in an international friendly match this month, extending the team’s winless run since a 1-0 win over Chad in March.

There has been plenty of movement in the latest edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking thanks largely to the 63 FIFA World Cup Russia qualification matches played, but also to 71 other qualifiers and international friendlies that took place over the past few weeks.

After a good run of form in FIFA World Cup qualifying, Brazil have surpassed Germany (3, down 1) and closed the distance to their South American neighbours, as the year-end approaches. Chile, meanwhile, climbed into fourth place.

Republic of Ireland (23, up 10) jumped ten places to break into the Top 25 this month after winning three successive World Cup qualifiers. Egypt saw off Ghana in one of Africa’s headline World Cup qualifiers to move up ten places themselves into 36th position.

Further down the table, Burkina Faso (50, up 17), Nigeria (50, up ten) and Slovenia (50, up 2) all managed to squeeze into joint 50th place after impressive results on the road to Russia.

Outside the Top 50, five teams made the strongest impact.

Israel (54, up 25) secured the biggest moved by points (145), as they continue their push for a World Cup qualification seat in a group that includes Spain and Italy. Armenia’s 3-2 win against Montenegro helped them jump the largest number of places this month (87, up 38), while Namibia (98, up 20), Cyprus (116, up 23), and Tahiti (149, up 23) also made significant strides up the standings.

In addition, three sides reached their highest ever FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking this month: Guinea- Bissau (68, up 1), Curaçao (75, up 2), and Comoros (139, up 4).

The December ranking will be the final ranking for 2016 and will reveal the winners for the Team of the Year (awarded to the team in first place by year’s end) and Mover of the Year (awarded to the team that has won the most points over the course of the year).

{Goma, 23 November 2016 – UN-Habitat, in close collaboration with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has launched a USD 12 million land programme that seeks to promote peace and stability.}

The unveiling ceremony of the Community Participatory Land Use Planning programme in September was well attended by participants of different institutions including partners and the media. Stakeholders from Kinshasa, North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri attended the ceremony which was presided over by Julien Paluku, Governor North Kivu Province. Mr Paluku expressed commitment from the National Government to support the program and to carry over the ongoing land reform to the provincial level.

The two-day workshop that gathered various representatives – including national and provincial authorities, civil society organizations, women and youth groups, community leaders, UN bodies – provided substantial information on how to engage different bodies with clear roles and responsibilities in the process of land use planning. It was also a platform for interactive exchange on how to ensure a successful programme planning and implementation at different spatial and administrative levels.

This DFID-funded programme implemented by the UN-Habitat country office in DRC seeks to promote the concept of integrated land use planning at community scale to mitigate the risk of land disputes while unlocking the potential for increased socioeconomic development in the three provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.

Land as a root cause of conflict

The relevance of land use planning was highlighted within an international stabilization framework for peace building among communities. The main expected outcome is to reduce and address the root causes of land conflict. The proposed strategy is to ensure a people-centered approach with a focus on ownership, inclusiveness, participation and empowerment of community members while taking in to consideration the cross-cutting issues of gender and youth.

Within the frameworks of the Voluntary Guidelines (VGGT) and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the concept of land use planning will bring together various actors that are decision-makers on land issues, including customary authorities, conventional land administration and civil society organizations, with the aim of increasing transparency and inclusiveness to prevent land conflict in the context of state building.

The lessons drawn from the process of implementing land use planning will not only inform the national land and territorial planning reforms processes when testing tools but also provide options for securing community land rights and a development framework in line with the SDGs. GLTN will be supporting the implementation of this new programme through the various tools and capacity development at the country level.

{Kenyans living in the US without proper legal procedures should prepare for the worst, leading immigration lawyers based in the US have warned.}

Although there are strong indications that President-elect Donald Trump may not follow through his campaign promise to mass-deport millions of immigrants currently living in the US illegally because of the complexity of immigration laws.

Speaking exclusively to the Nation.co.ke in Delaware at the weekend, attorneys Naima Said of Baltimore, Maryland and Japheth Matemu of Washington, DC, said preparing for the worst while hoping for the best meant among other things, staying out of situations that would attract law enforcement such as domestic violence and driving under the influence of alcohol.

“Kenyans living here without proper legal status should first and foremost, avoid what we call “triggers”. Triggers are those actions that would bring one in contact with the police such as traffic violations/ accidents, driving under the influence (DUI) and domestic violence. Most Kenyans who are deported from the US usually fall under either one or all of these categories,” said Naima Said, a Kenyan immigration lawyer based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Since the election of Mr Trump, thousands of Kenyans living in the US with mostly expired visas have been living in fear because the president-elect anchored his whole campaign on the promise to deport an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the US.

Even though there currently exist no documentary memory or credible census of how many Kenyans live in the US illegally, estimates put the number in tens of thousands.

Most Kenyans who find themselves in the US without proper legal status fall in the category of visa overstays.

“Majority of them came here as international students who let their student visas elapse. There is also a significant number that came here on a visitor’s visa who overstayed their visa and now find themselves under the threat of deportation,” Paul Kiilu, a bishop of Newark, Delaware.

“Lately all my consultations have been about passing the tissue box back and forth with my clients. There is a lot of panic out there, there is a lot of uncertainty. A lot of people are concerned about what would happen to them, what would happen to their children as you know we have thousands of mixed immigration families where the parents are undocumented and while the children are born here,” said Ms Naima.

Kenyan-born US based immigration attorneys: Japheth Matemu and Naima Said during the interview in Newark, Delaware. The two lawyers cautioned Kenyans living in the US illegally to avoid situations where their immigration status might come under scrutiny. PHOTO | CHRIS WAMALWA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
She said that those who are likely to be affected most are those children of illegal immigrant parents who currently enjoy some immunity to deportation under the Differed Action for Childhood Arrival commonly known as DACA.

Ms Naima says because this programme was created by President Barack Obama through an executive order, it is easy for Mr Trump to terminate it because it does not need Congress to do away with it.

“With a stroke of the pen, President Trump could easily terminate it or he could just refuse to renew it since the programme is supposed to be renewed every after two years,” said Mr Matemu.

NOT LAW

The lawyers said that as it is currently, there was no way of knowing what Mr Trump will and will not do because contrary to what he had said in his campaign rhetoric, there are indications that he would find it hard to deport millions of immigrant from the US.

They argued that campaign pronouncements did not amount to policy positions and since President Trump’s promises have not been translated into laws, people should stop panicking and instead look for ways of regularizing and legalising their stay in the US.

“Instead deporting all illegal immigrants, Trump now says he will deport only those who have criminal records a clear indication that he is now realising how hard it would be to carry through some of his campaign promises,” said Mr Matemu, the first Kenyan lawyer to be admitted to the US Supreme Court.

But, Ms Naima quickly added that the way Mr Trump was constituting his Cabinet, putting in place people who are perceived to be anti-immigrants is an indication that he was serious in following through his campaign promise to deport illegal immigrants.

Mr Trump has announced his intention to make Alabama Senator, Jeff Session, his Attorney General while making a retired Army General, Michael T. Flynn as his National Security advisor both believed to harbour extreme views on immigrants and Muslims.

“We in the immigration community and immigration advocates are alarmed as a matter of fact because many of the President-elect’s advisors have very strong anti-immigrant views,” added Ms Naima.

The outcome of the November 8, Presidential elections that saw the election of the billionaire reality TV star on the Republican ticket did not just sent shock waves around the world but it also alarmed many progressive Americans especially minority groups because of his hard line stand on issues around bilateral relations, justice reforms and immigration.

{22 November 2016 – Following a decision of the United Nations Human Rights Council, in which it setup a commission of inquiry to investigate human rights violations and abuses in Burundi, including whether they may constitute international crimes, the President of the body has appointed the Commission’s Chair and members.}

According to a news release, the Commissioners will “provide the support and expertise for the immediate improvement of the situation of human rights and the fight against in impunity.”

Established for a period of a year at the Human Rights Council’s 33rd session (September 2016), the Commission has also been mandated to identify the alleged perpetrators of violations and abuses, since April 2015, with a view to ensuring full accountability.

The Commissioners appointed today include Fatsah Ouguergouz (Algeria), Reina Alapini Gansu (Benin) and Francoise Hampson (United Kingdom). Mr. Ouguergouz will serve as the Chair of the three-member Commission.

In discharging its duties, the Commission has been authorized by the Human Rights Council to engage with national authorities, UN agencies, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) field presence in the country, as well as other stakeholders, including the civil society, refugees, authorities of the African Union (AU) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The Commission will be present an oral briefing to the Human Rights Council at its 34th and 35th sessions, in March and June 2017, respectively, and a final report at an interactive dialogue at the Council’s 36th session in September 2017.

Burundi was thrown into fresh crisis more than a year ago when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term that he went on to win. To date, it has been reported that hundreds of people have been killed, more than 250,000 have fled the nation, and thousands more have been arrested and possibly subjected to human rights violations.

{A source at Nalufenya who preferred anonymity said CT and FSU had been feuding over operations budget and specialised assignments since they all have almost similar skills.}

Ten police officers have been arrested in connection with the murder of two Counter Terrorism police officers Nalufenya Police Station in Jinja on Monday night.

The shooting claimed the lives of constables Godfrey Wafula and Simon Niwamanya who were transferred from police headquarters in Kampala to Nalufenya about two weeks ago.

Police on Tuesday dismissed claims of bad blood between Flying Squad Unit (FSU) and Counter Terrorism (CT) to have caused the Monday night shooting.

Mr Herbert Muhangi, FSU commander that was early this month merged with Special Operation Unit (SOU) and relocated from Kampala to Nalufenya said there is no hostility between the two units adding that the shooting was an inevitable accident.

“What happened was an accident that resulted from violation of barracks guidelines. The victims were shot by their colleague after trying to use unauthorised entry into the barracks,” Mr Muhangi said.

A source at Nalufenya who preferred anonymity said CT and FSU had been feuding over operations budget and specialised assignments since they all have almost similar skills.

Mr Simon Lubega, Kiira Regional Police spokesperson, described the situation as unfortunate adding that the two police officers were gunned down by their colleague who was guarding of the facility that also acts as a detention centre for high profile criminals.

He concurred with Mr Muhangi that deceased cops tried to force their way into the barracks after being barred from entering through the main gate on account that they were trying to gain entry beyond the recommended check-in time.

He said: “About eight Counter Terrorism Police officers went out and returned late and denied access to the facility. Unfortunately, the two officers decided to force their way through another route and in doing so, they were shot.”

Mr Godfrey Asiimwe, said his brother Niwamanya joined police in 2014 and was passed out in March 2015. At the time he joined police, Niwamanya had completed Senior Six at St Paul Bukinda in Kabale District.

“I can’t believe that my young brother is dead. Police hasn’t told us the circumstances under which our brother was killed. He was a reserved person,” Mr Asiimwe said at the City Mortuary on Tuesday.

{More than 1,000 skulls and bones belonging to east Africans and brought to Germany for racial “scientific” research during the colonial era are still in storage in Berlin, a media report said Tuesday.}

Public broadcaster ARD said it had obtained lists of the human remains that are still held by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which administers the capital’s state museums.

Most of the skulls and bones are marked as stemming from Germany’s former East African colonies, including 1,003 items from Rwanda and 60 from Tanzania. Among them are 10 skulls of children.

Some of the human remains, kept at the Foundation’s main storage facility, came from insurgents who had been decapitated by German troops. Their skulls were then sent to Berlin for “scientific” experiments.

Asked about the items, the foundation’s chief, Hermann Parzinger, told ARD that his organisation “has no problem with returning these things”.

Germany has in recent years handed back 20 skulls belonging to indigenous Namibians.

The skulls are among an estimated 300 taken to Germany after a slaughter of indigenous Namibians during an anti-colonial uprising in what was then called South West Africa, which Berlin ruled from 1884 to 1915.

The skulls gathered dust in the German archives until 2008, when ARD reported that they were still kept at the Medical History Museum of the Charite hospital in Berlin, and at Freiburg University in the southwest.

The publicity prompted Namibia to seek the restitution of the remains.