Tag: GreatLakesNews

{President Uhuru Kenyatta used an anti-corruption conference at State House, Nairobi, to speak out on the controversial Eurobond saga, dismissing opposition politicians and the Auditor-General and accusing them of pursuing a matter that had long been closed by the relevant financial institutions.}

At Tuesday’s meeting, both the President and Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich insisted that all the Sh280 billion raised from the Eurobond had been put to the intended use.

The President spoke two days after Raila Odinga, the leader of the opposition coalition Cord, said Kenya should not be allowed to borrow money through a second Eurobond before accounting for the money it borrowed in 2014.

In a statement to the Nation on Sunday, Mr Odinga had said: “The government and the National Treasury have persistently failed to accurately and completely account for the net proceeds of the Eurobond.

“The failures in respect of the first Eurobond constitute material and significant breaches of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Public Finance Management Act 2012.”

Auditor-General Edward Ouko had indicated that he wanted to travel to New York to interview Federal Reserve Bank officials, following claims that they could have taken part in falsifying Kenya’s records.

Related Content
Kenyans displeased with progress on graft war
A frustrated Uhuru lashes out at anti-graft agencies – VIDEO
KISERO: What part of Kenya’s economy is generating revenues to repay massive debt?
Mr Ouko said that his work was to simply determine the authenticity of statements already presented by the government concerning the transactions so he can file a final report on the matter.

Criticising Mr Ouko, President Kenyatta said: “Na huyu amesema anataka kuenda kuinterrogate (And this man here says he wants to interrogate) Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Ngai! (My God!) Anyway, you know, you sit back and you ask yourself, are we being serious in what we are doing?”

The accountability summit was meant as an occasion for the government to demonstrate how it is fighting corruption.

However, it was punctuated by accusations and counter-accusations by government officials more keen to defend their respective turfs against allegations of incompetence, and blaming others for the failure to tackle corruption.

President Kenyatta said he had done his part and blamed various agencies for failing to do theirs.

“When we sit down, and I challenge all the agencies here, they say we don’t have the resources, we don’t have this and that. I challenge them here to stand up and say we have been denied the resources we need,” he said.

(READ: Raila warns against plan to float second Eurobond)

Attorney-General Githu Muigai, Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko, Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chief executive Halakhe Waqo and Asset Recovery Agency Director Muthoni Kimani all argued that they have done a wonderful job of presenting 823 people and 22 firms to court.

However, they said efforts to prosecute the accused were being frustrated by judges.

Justice Paul Kihara, the president of the Court of Appeal, disagreed, saying judges or magistrates are not to blame if suspects walk free.

BIGGEST BACKLOG

“Yes, we have the biggest backlog but part of the reason these cases take long is because we have problems when these cases come to us. The investigations in many cases [are] appalling,” he said.

Mr Rotich lambasted his critics, especially former anti-corruption czar John Githongo and economist David Ndii, for continuing to argue that the government has not accounted for all the Eurobond proceeds.

Dr Ndii, in his Saturday Nation columns, has insisted that the government had failed to clarify how some of the money was wired from New York to Nairobi and what it was used for.

“No single cent was lost. On this transaction, he (David Ndii) had a frame of mind from what he has written. They wanted to use this transaction to their own gain,” Mr Rotich claimed without elaborating.

“But the facts are there… Are you saying the Feds of the US are doing money-laundering? Are you saying that JP Morgan can do money laundering?”

However, President Kenyatta was not amused by accusations that officials in his administration diverted part of the Eurobond money, arguing that the claims amounted to a political witch-hunt.

“When you go out there and you say Eurobond money was stolen and is stashed in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, are you telling me that the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States have colluded? Mjinga ni nani? (Who is fooling who?)” he asked.

“Corruption should not be used for politics. If you have a thing against me, campaign properly.”

{Sixteen-year old boy Isack Ernest, who was presumed dead after a cruel mob beating, woke up at Temeke Referral Hospital’s mortuary in Dar es Salaam yesterday.}

The teenage boy was almost lynched by members of the public, who accused him of taking part in robbery incidents with his ‘Panya Road’ accomplices.

As the lucky Isack ‘resurrected’ at the mortuary, his 14-year counterpart, Kelvin Nyambocha, was beaten to death and his body set on fire over accusations of stealing from various people at the ‘Singeli’ music concert at Mbagala Zakhem Grounds in Dar es Salaam, over the weekend.

Temeke Regional Police Commander (RPC) Gilles Muroto told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that Isack and Kelvin were among group of youth who attended the ‘Singeli’ music show.

“The boy was presumed dead due to the heavy beating and loss of consciousness until he regained cognizant at the mortuary. We received information by phone that there were three lynched youth and when we arrived on the scene, we found them seriously injured and rushed them to Temeke Hospital for medical treatment,” he explained.

According to the RPC, after the concert closure, the group of youth started attacking and robbing people who were returning home from the concert of their properties. Members of the public reportedly organised themselves and arrested three boys whom they gave thorough beatings. He said Isack fainted after the beating, with doctors at Temeke Hospital declaring him dead and directing his body to be preserved at the mortuary.

But, when the body was placed in the refrigerator, he started breathing, resulting to his transfer to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for further medical care.

Mr Muroto said after the boy had recovered, the police interrogated him in connection with the incident and mentioned his 10 other accomplices in their crime group, ‘Panya road’. The names are withheld for investigation purposes.

Another boy who was also beaten at the event, identified as Faraji, remains in critical condition, undergoing medical treatment at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH).

{A prospective UPDF recruit in Kamuli District yesterday collapsed and died after rigorous drills dazed him, casting a gloom on the first of a nine-day nationwide enlistment.}

A prospective UPDF recruit in Kamuli District yesterday collapsed and died after rigorous drills dazed him, casting a gloom on the first of a nine-day nationwide enlistment.

The 22-year-old Twaha Tondwa had travelled for the recruitment from the neighbouring Pallisa District, but he wobbled and fell to the ground after an 8-kilometre run, dying later at Kamuli Hospital.
“It is unfortunate we have lost one of the candidates to physical training examination,” Col Stephen Mugerwa, head of recruitment’s Team 5 said.

Cardiac arrest
Tondwa died of cardiac arrest, Col Mugerwa said, but we could not independently verify this claim.

Mr Awere Kaligo, the deceased’ father, said his son was upbeat about joining the armed forces inspite of the premature tragic end.
“It is God’s plan. My son has died pursuing his dream and, luckily, I witnessed it all.” he said, holding back tears.

The army in advertisement of the slots flagged physical fitness as a key requirement for prospective recruits. Following the death, recruiters abandoned plans of subjecting the candidates to push-ups, and instead gave them written interviews.

In Kampala, Col Jeff Kuppae Mukasa, the team leader for recruitment in central region, said they are giving priority to doctors and engineers in the ongoing enlistment.

The plan, he said, is to take up 200 medical workers, 200 engineers, 50 teachers and 40 information and communication experts over the next eight days.

Why Professionals
Asked why they were targeting health workers and engineers this time round, Defence and Military Spokesman, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, said it is part of professionalising the army.

“If you have to fill manpower gaps, then you have to plan for it,” he said, adding that they had slots for wide array of servicemen and women.

This year, the army intends to draft about 3,000 recruits.

Requirements
All recruits are required to undergo mandatory HIV/Aids and cancer screening, although it remained unclear if having either or both of the diseases would lead to automatic disqualification.

In a related development, police yesterday arrested a 29-year-old UPDF deserter from a lodge in Soroti Town over allegations he fleeced six unsuspecting youth eager to join the military on the pretext that he will get them the jobs.

{One person was killed on Monday night as police guarding Governor Ali Roba’s residence clashed with Al-Shabaab gunmen in Mandera Town.
}

The man, a watchman at a local primary school, was hit by a stray bullet as the police exchanged fire with the militants planning an attack.

Gunshots, explosions were heard in town throughout the night, police confirmed.

{They have fled their homes and lost loved ones to conflict, but for 46 Congolese couples there is a reason to celebrate.}

Kavumu, Burundi – Inside a wooden, tin-roofed structure in the Kavumu refugee camp in eastern Burundi, 46 couples are waiting to get married. They have all fled their homes in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some of them are already married but, having lost their wedding certificates when they left their homes, are going through the process again. Others, like Bonnet Mfaume and Zubeda Karinga, are marrying each other for the first time. Zubeda is pregnant with their fifth child and describes her “unusual happiness” about the occasion. It is a cause for celebration at a time when they have had little to feel positive about.

But marriage can mean more than that for the refugees. Abel Mbilinyi, the Burundi representative for the UNHCR, explains that marriage offers “protection for women”.

“In a refugee camp, depending on which religion you are having, depending on culture, the protection of a husband is so important,” he continues. “Women who are single are vulnerable. They are vulnerable to being attacked by single men.”

Deo Kasereka and Antoinette Etamboseka are among those waiting to get married. They have been a couple for many years and have five children together.

They fled their home in Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. or DRC, after Deo was accused of giving the M23 rebels medical supplies from the pharmacy he owned. He says men in military uniforms came to his house while he was in hiding.

“Not finding me there, they abused my wife,” he says. “I had a little brother at home to whom they also asked my whereabouts. He replied that he was not aware of where I was and they shot him dead on the spot.”

The couple’s oldest son is 14 years old. He went missing during their flight, and they haven’t seen or heard from him since.

{In its report released late last month, the UN Independent Investigation on Burundi paints a bleak portrait of a country that has been in political turmoil since May 2015. It describes a regime that is increasingly repressive, intolerant of dissent, and closed to the outside world. The investigators suggest that human rights violations committed by the government and its associates could amount to crimes against humanity.}

In the capital Bujumbura, protesters were quick to denounce the report, claiming it to be biased. “I will continue to protest because the international community wants to invade Burundi”, one activist told Iwacu news.

However, the reality of the international community’s role in Burundi is far more complex. In fact, international attention has shifted away from the country, even as it slides further towards a humanitarian emergency. So far, 300,000 people have fled the country, a further 108,000 are estimated to be internally displaced, and 4.6 million – out of a population of 11 million – are in need of food aid.

The current crisis was sparked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision in May 2015 to seek a third term in office. This move was widely considered to be unconstitutional, and the following months saw mass protests, an attempted coup, armed uprisings and a brutal crackdown.

Since the violence reached its peak around December, the confrontation has settled into low-intensity warfare characterised by targeted assassinations, disappearances and torture, and the increasing use of ethnically-charged rhetoric.

African Disunion

Among others, the International Crisis Group has called for urgent measures to prevent the situation from becoming an ethnic conflict and wider emergency. But the international community has signally failed to halt the crisis, though not for the want of trying.

The African Union (AU) intervened early and took a strong position from the outset, with AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma setting the tone and direction. The AU Peace and Security Commission (PSC) met on an almost monthly basis, issuing communiqués and statements that gradually ratcheted up the pressure on the government.

The AU refused to send an election observation mission to Burundi in July 2015, saying the conditions for free and fair polls did not exist. And, as violence spiked following armed opposition attacks on military installations on December 11, 2015, the PSC authorised a 5,000-strong protection force (MAPROBU).

In doing this, the Commission took the unprecedented step of invoking Article 4(h) of the Constitutive Act, which allows the AU to intervene in a member state in cases of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Nkurunziza was given 96 hours to accept the force.

The PSC had hoped this bold move would freeze the crisis and force the government to negotiate. And its actions arguably did focus international attention, help curb the worst security forces excesses, and spur efforts to revive the stalled regional mediation led by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. However, it failed to force Nkurunziza into a more inclusive, externally-mediated dialogue. Burundi’s government dismissed MAPROBU as an “invasion and occupation force”.

At the same time, African leaders declined to endorse the mission. This revealed a wide rift between the more interventionist AU Commission and member states who, for the most part, favoured a less confrontational approach to the crisis. The reference to Article 4(h) touched a raw nerve amongst governments with questionable democratic credentials and human rights records themselves. The AUC and PSC were seen to have over-stepped their bounds. As one senior official told Crisis Group, “we have embarrassed the continent”.

This debacle seriously damaged the AU’s credibility and showed that its ambition to prevent and resolve conflict does not match its capabilities, in part due to uncertainty about the extent of the AUC and PSC’s authority to act.

It also exposed procedural flaws in the PSC’s decision making process, which, unlike the UN Security Council, is driven by the Commission rather than member states themselves. The AU lost any authority it may have had in Bujumbura and has largely been marginalised in further attempts to resolve the crisis. Embarrassed by the failure of MAPROBU and faced with member-state indifference, the AUC and PSC appear to have lost impetus, silencing a much-needed voice of warning.

On The Same Page

The AU’s response has thus been disappointing, but neither the sub-region nor the UN have fared any better.

The international community’s inability to resolve the crisis in Burundi is partly due to divisions within and between the principal actors – the African Union, the East African Community (EAC) and the UN. Domestic considerations, power politics and historical allegiances and antagonisms, have shaped the hesitant response of Burundi’s neighbours. Meanwhile at the UN, disunity within the Security Council has thwarted its efforts.

Institutional rivalries and the lack of a shared analysis of the conflict’s nature and the situation on the ground have also prevented a coordinated approach, allowing Nkurunziza’s administration to play one side off against each other. As a result, the Burundian government has managed to rebuff the EAC’s lacklustre attempts to bring it to negotiations and stalled the deployment of both the AU-authorised human rights and military observers and the UN Security Council-sanctioned police force.

At its heart, Burundi’s crisis is political and only a negotiated settlement between the government and opposition can end it. But positions are entrenched and both sides are playing for time as the crisis deepens and the death toll steadily rises.

Little will change unless key members of the international community act in concert. As an immediate practical step, the AU, EAC and UN should form a contact group to align positions and inject new life into the EAC-led mediation process. Regional leaders, especially the designated EAC mediator President Museveni, should become more personally engaged, as requested by former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, the dialogue facilitator. Having agreed to mediate, Museveni must accept the responsibilities and, as a minimum, set out his vision for the way forward.

Now is the time for the AU and its international and regional partners to push harder for a settlement. Postponing firmer, more unified action would leave the country at best in a permanent state of low-intensity conflict, and at worst in danger of igniting a regional crisis. DM