Wednesday, July 31, 2013
State House Defends Dennis Itumbi; Invites Obdurate Raila Odinga For “Re-Education”
BY JACKAL NEWS TEAM
President Uhuru Kenyatta has defended the appointment of Dennis Itumbi as the head of the directorate of Digital, New Media and Diaspora in his revamped communication unit, the first high-level response to ex-prime minister Raila Odinga’s blistering attack on the appointment. In a brief statement, the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit (PSCU), invited Odinga to study Kenyatta’s new strategy aimed at empowering Kenyans who live in the Diaspora.
In an interview with the Daily Nation in the United States, Odinga rubbished Itumbi’s appointment as saying it is “a clear indication that the government was not treating the diaspora with the seriousness it deserved.”
On Monday, Jackal News threw its weight behind Itumbi, a self-made man who defined his personality as a defender of the hapless in a nation blighted by pretenders and a wide range of small-time crooks, some of whom are yet to recover from the devastating blow President Kenyatta dealt on Odinga, the doyenne of opposition politics who lost his second attempt to settle in the house on the hill, popularly known as State House, one of the most coveted address in Kenya, whose magnetic power touched off incendiary blood-letting after the 2007, when Odinga rejected the out of the poll that retained retired president Mwai Kibaki, in office for the second and final term.
Although Odinga survived the near-fatal blow, he has never fully accepted the outcome, transforming him into a a globe-trotter whose agenda is proclaim is phantom victory, while rubbishing the impartiality of the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission, a body he helped create while sharing power with Kibaki, the brilliant but often sleepy economist, who handed over power to Kenyatta at a ceremony Odinga and his CORD acolytes boycotted.
Analysts have noted, rather ruefully, that Odinga’s shoddy campaign planning and disillusions that he had a God-given right to succeed Kibaki, conspired to frustrate his life-long ambitions. It’s not clear whether he will throw his hat into the race in 2017/18 polls, when Kenyatta will be seeking his second and final term.
Below is the PSCU Statement:
Our attention has been drawn to a statement appearing on Page 9 of the July 29 Daily Nation where former Prime Minister Raila Odinga accused the Jubilee government of not being serious about the Diaspora and its challenges. We refute that claim. We assert that Government is fully committed to involving the Diaspora in nation-building. As testimony of that commitment, there is not only a stand-alone Ministry of Foreign Affairs but Kenya also has embassies in 53 countries across the world catering for Kenyans abroad in addition to global affairs.
The Government has mainstreamed issues of the Diaspora across all the 18 ministries in its new structure, the same way it has with issues of the youth, women and children. The Diaspora interests are not addressed by a single directorate as the former Prime Minister would want to mislead Kenyans. It is worth noting that as a result of Government’s policy of involving the Diaspora in its affairs, many Kenyans are returning home to take up positions in Government and elsewhere after staying abroad for many years. This reverse of brain-drain is an indicator that issues of the Diaspora are accorded the importance they deserve by Government.
We would like to inform the former Prime Minister that the Digital, New Media and Diaspora directorate within the Presidential Strategic Communication Unity (PSCU) headed by Dennis Itumbi is an important cog in maintaining communication with Kenyans abroad and engaging with the issues that affect them. That said, that directorate is a small part of the Government’s bigger structure that is involved in matters related to the Diaspora. The former Prime Minister is invited to better understand the Jubilee Government agenda, including on Diaspora matters, so that he does not speak out of tune.
Although Odinga reserves the right to criticize Kenyatta’s appointments, training this merciless “youth-scaring” radar on Itumbi, who has made his maiden entry into the civil service, did not bore well among the youth who have been edged to the periphery by the previous governments.
And by dismissing him a “character” highlighted the ex-prime minister disdain for the trained journalist, who on several occasions defended Odinga’s right to propagate his views. Instead, many social media users, suggested Odinga would have used his granary of knowledge to guide the young man as he navigates the treacherous and often insidious waters in the civil service sea.
While Itumbi is unlikely to hold any grudge against Odinga, the attack was an apparently red flag on how politics throttles the civil service, a stoical band of state employees who burn calories to keep the government afloat, amid a cacophony of poor pay and lack of career development.
This is the area that Itumbi and other young men and women aspired to join as they campaigned for Kenyatta in a foul-tempered face-off that trained the biased eyes of the West in Kenya, a country whose strategic importance to international geopolitics and economics is stuff for fertile Phd brains.
While Odinga will remain a remarkable juggernaut in politics, his end-game inevitably borders on ignominy as the man who described himself as the political enigma increasingly descends into a cesspool of tasteless tantrums and puerile antics in an annoyingly anger-driven rage to remain relevant, while his restless enemies pull the carpet under his fit and the media shifts more fascinating benefactors.
Alternatively, elders have suggested the his friendly pals in the Westen capitals to mollify him with a figure head UN appointment, thereby paving the way for his unnoticed exit from a political climate that neither rewards hard-work nor recognizes seniority.
KTN Ajabu : How Kenyans behave when matatus go on strike
Sometimes Kenyans behave and act as if they don’t fear death.The driving,crossing the road and now,the dangerous train ride.This is shocking!!!
Kenyan man in US kills mother-in-law, self
A Kenyan man shot dead his mother-in-law on Monday night before turning the gun on himself in Barrow County in the state of Georgia, USA.
According to the police, Jennifer Muriu – who was the wife to the deceased – called the police shortly before 8 pm to report that her husband, Ian Muriu, 33, had fired a gun inside the couple’s home. “We immediately dispatched several police officers and Sheriff’s deputies to the scene but when they arrived at the Bethlehem subdivision, the two were already dead”, said Barrow County Sheriff Lt. Matt Guthas.
“At first, Mrs. Muriu did not know if anyone had been hurt by the shooting,” Guthas said Tuesday in a statement to the Nation.
Inside the home, investigators found 66 year old Diana Freeman, who had been living with the couple, dead from gunshot wounds. A few meters from her was Muriu’s body with a gushing gunshot wound in the head. “Mr Muriu and Ms Freeman’s bodies just lay there on the carpet,” Guthas said.
Authorities said the investigation are ongoing to establish the motive. “However, the indications at this point are that Ian Muriu shot and killed Diana Freeman, his mother-in-law, before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.”
The Murius were co-owners of The Spitfire Restaurant at the Barrow County Airport, according to the restaurant’s Facebook page. The restaurant opened in May 2011 and is featured in this month’s edition of Georgia Magazine.
“The Murius moved to Barrow County after a decade working at restaurants and five-star resorts around the world,” the Magazine article states.
A local Newspaper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC), reported on Tuesday that the deaths remain under investigation.
By BMJ Muriithi in Atlanta
Enough with the propaganda already, Jubilee!
I think parents should do more than just pay for their teenagers school fees; they should go out of their way to forge a sound relationship with them, one that is not based on arrogance and violence but on mutual respect and love. Teach your kids how to be honest and clear minded adults, because the result of just ignoring your teenage miscreants is one Muthui Kariuki.
Talk about a juvenile delinquent; Muthui Kariuki is the epitome of a childish deviant. As government spokesman for the backside of the Jubilee government, Muthui is really good at his job. In between issuing threats while claiming to be accommodative, this character has the audacity to claim that Raila Odinga’s politics are “chest thumping, hateful, arrogant and toxic.”
The pot calls the kettle black. For someone who has a record ZERO accomplishments as a civic leader this hot head sure brings a mouthful of trash to the table. By the way, he is a perfect representative for the Jubilee government which, despite having several stalwarts with over 20 years experience in government, have also a record of ZERO accomplishments.
Or as one colleague expressed recently, within the first 100 days of the Kibaki administration 1 million children went to school under the free primary education program; within the first 100 days under the Jubilee administration all children were out of school.
Of course, when you are busy doing nothing and yet being paid 76 times the average GDP, you need a mouthy person to sidetrack the people by saying all sorts of ridiculous things about perceived enemies.
We are now to believe that despite Jubilee forming the government, and despite Jubilee dominating Parliament, the Senate and the County administrations, Raila Odinga is still the bane of Kenya and is somehow behind the many problems Jubilee is actually not dealing with.
The propaganda machinery in this government needs to improve by the way. Couldn’t they try something more intelligent than filling the daily news with stories of men shagging livestock? Or repeatedly insulting a man you claim is insignificant. When it comes to stupid utterances, none can out do Muthui Kariuki.
I don’t know what’s worse, some wannabe loud mouth or a president who is busy posting his latest status update in a rugby shirt. Each time I see his photos of how he was where laughing with who I feel so nauseated. Meanwhile his deputy is busy reinventing reality by calling himself a hustler. Is it the pain of the lie that makes him cry so much or what?
A man who made a fortune through corrupt means turns around and calls it hustling, another one who spends his time goofing off turns around and complains to teachers about the high wage bill meanwhile he does nothing for the economy and in fact sanctions ridiculous expenditure.
Now look here – why were our children out of school while you decreed that 250 million kshs will be spent on giving a retired 80 plus year old an office? Then you say the wage bill is high. It looks like it’s only high when you have to do the right thing and pay the service providers their dues.
Meanwhile, I expect that the next thing the government will say out its backside AKA Muthui Kariuki is that there is no money to pay for the free maternity despite it being a Jubilee campaign promise. That won’t surprise me at all, because there is money for luxury planes to Congo Brazzaville and money for retired old fogeys to have an office but no money to pay teachers and of course no money for hospitals.
I don’t even know how Uhuru Kenyatta finds the temerity to attend social functions. Wait. I get it now. He isn’t president, he is a celebrity! That’s why if he wears a rugby t-shirt, automatically he supports the rugby team with funds right? Where is that money coming from, if there is no money to pay the teachers?
This government is beyond redemption really. Rather than attempt to be functional we are going to be submitted to 5 whole years of propaganda and hogwash. Pictures of matching ties and laughing buffoons coupled with lurid tales of political bogeymen meanwhile the entire system is incapable of any form of decent service delivery. All of this will be conducted via the dumbest outlets no less.
http://www.kenya-today.com/
Kenneth tells state to keep Kenyans safe
FORMER assistant minister Peter Kenneth yesterday challenged the Jubilee government to ensure all Kenyans are safe.
Kenneth, who was a presidential candidate in the March 4 elections, said the security situation in the country is wanting hence the need for the government to be firm.
He called on leaders to preach peace and harmony instead of divisions. He said security for all cannot be guaranteed if leaders do not speak of reconciliation.
The former planning assistant minister was speaking at ACK Thika Memorial Parish when he attended a service and consecration of the church.
Senators want Duale and Muturi removed
Senators yesterday said National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi is “constantly” undermining the Senate's role in law making.
Senators said Majority Leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale is usurping the role of the two speakers and is determining which Bills are to be debated.
Migori Senator Wilfred Machage said called for the removal of Muturi and Duale.
Mombasa Senator Omar Hassan said Muturi has reduced the process of legislation to making a “charade”. He said senators will start reacting to “this petulance” to send a firm message that they have had enough of him.
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba said the country is facing a constitutional crisis due to failure by Muturi to “consult, act in good faith and common sense”.
“If the process of debating is ignored as we have seen and Muturi keeps acting in bad faith, there is no need to wait until December to hold the referendum,” he said.
“Let’s have the referendum today and solve this problem".
Senators and governors have been pushing for a referendum to enhance the role of the senate in law making.
Nyeri Senator Mutahi Kagwe said Muturi has thrown decency out of the window and adopted a fighting spirit.
He said this has only divided Parliament and the country.
“These individuals are too narrow-minded to think their names and the constitution are one and the same thing”.
The sentiments started when Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro announced that Muturi had rejected the proposed amendment to the National Flag, Emblem and Names Act by senators.
Ekwee had ruled that the Act concerns the counties as provided under Article 110 (3) of the constitution, Muturi said it does not and ruled that the Senate has no business debating it.
The National Assembly also amended two Police Acts and the Marriage Bill without involving senators who who argue that they concern counties.
In the momerandum to the two Bills, Duale declares that they do not affect the counties.
Yesterday, Ethuro appointed four senators to constitute a mediation committee to resolve issues on whether the National flag and Emblems Act concerns the county governments.
The committee will also determine whether the National Police Service Act and National Police Service Commision Act concern the counties.
The senate committee comprises Kembi Gitura (Deputy Speaker), James Orengo (Siaya), Bonny Khalwale (Kakamega) and Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo Marakwet).
Ekwee asked Muturi to immediately appoint members from the National Assembly to sit on the committee.
ICC threatens to drop cases for lack of funds
THE ICC has put its members on notice that it may have to close down some of its cases if they slash a proposed Sh14.4 billion budget for next year.
The court announced that it will have to close “two or three” of its “situations” if the budget is reduced. A situation refers to the place or country where the court is conducting investigations and where cases have been opened.
Currently the court has opened 18 cases out of 8 situations. The 8 situations are Uganda, Congo DRC, Darfur, Central Africa Republic, Kenya, Libya, Ivory Cost and Mali. Of the 8 situations, Congo has the highest number of cases- 6. In Darfur they are 5, Libya 2 and Kenya 2.
“Without increased resources, the Court cannot achieve the success it hopes for, and that the international community, victims and affected communities expect.
As a result, the impact for the Court of bringing the 2014 proposed programme budget down to the 2013 approved level would be the equivalent of having to stop all of its operations in two or three of the situations actively under the jurisdiction of the Court,” the court said yesterday.
Already, the budget committee has slashed the budget from Sh15 billion through cost cutting measures. It is now warning the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) against further slashing during an upcoming November meeting.
The current budget for the court is Sh13.2 billion. The committee says if the budget is slashed, the ASP would in effect deprive the court of the ability to “ensure the level of quality and efficiency required for investigative, prosecutorial and judicial activities.”
The committee estimates that the two Kenyan cases will gobble approximately Sh1 billion. The Sh1 billion includes Sh546 million on field operations and Sh386 million in court spending when the trials start.
“Bringing the 2014 proposed programme budget down to the 2013 approved level or any further substantive reductions to the 2014 proposed programme budget is not possible without seriously impacting on the number of preliminary examinations, investigations and judicial proceedings carried by the Court,” the committee said.
The registry will take the most of the budget at Sh7.8 billion, up from Sh7.4 billion this year. The prosecution is second taking up Sh4.1 billion up from Sh3.2 billion. Judiciary has however suffered a slash from Sh1.2 billion this year to Sh1.1 billion next year.
The same case applies with the secretariat of the ASP whose budget this year is Sh339 million but which has been reduced to Sh326 million.
Corridors of Power
A multinational company has employed a daughter to a senior official at KRA in its attempt to secure a contract from the parastatal. The company which has been conducting its business in the country for several years is desperately seeking to make inroads with the political and business establishment in the hopes of securing plum deals. A senior official in charge of the parastatal tender was overheard bragging he already bagged the deal. But he might soon regret his actions as some of the senior officials at the parastatal who were not involved might just scuttle the deal.
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Two suspects who assaulted a man who later died from his injuries are running free because of the protection they enjoy from a senior police officer in Moyale. A day after the man died at Moyale hospital, the suspects and their parents met the senior police officer to persuade him not to act on the complaint. Our moles tell us that even though the incident was reported as an assault, the senior cop has prevailed on his subordinates not to report that the assault resulted in a murder as stipulated by law. The top cop has now gone on leave until the matter 'cools down.'
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A vocal member of Kiambu county assembly has found it difficult to show his face om public after his ex-girlfriend who was also his employer started demanding that he return a Sh1.5 million car which she bought for him for use during his election campaigns. The vehicle is registered in her name and not his. When he failed to return the vehicle, the woman set some plainclothes policemen on the MCA whom they cornered in a nightclub. Told that he would be arrested for refusing with the car, the man pleaded with the cops to let him go and promised to return the vehicle. He is yet to do so.
10 Things You Did Not Know About Mike Sonko
1.Sonko has refused to shave his signature Mohawk even with protests from bigwigs.
2.The Mohawk which is dyed with the word ‘Peace’ written is said to be his stand in the nation
3. He President he is the man to reach. He is also said to be untouchable due to his connection with the power circle
4. He is a workaholic, arrives to work very early in the morning and leaves late at night attending to his constituents, per day he serves almost hundreds of people
5. His office at K.I.C.C. is very liberal…nothing official about it
6. He stopped dishing money to everyone, however he only gives money to development oriental groups and gives cheques instead of cash
7. He gives every needy visitor who visits his office Sh. 1,000 for fare
8. Every month he spends Sh. 5 million on harambees, development projects, handouts
9. He has never received his salary, neither as an MP nor as a Senator
10.All his Government earnings are injected in financing projects in Nairobi and his philanthropic projects
Tsvangirai confident of ‘resounding’ victory
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PM and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, at a campaign rally in Harare, July 29, 2013/AFP
HARARE, July 31 – Casting his ballot Wednesday, Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai expressed confidence he will win an historic and overwhelming victory against his veteran rival President Robert Mugabe.
Voting in Harare’s middle class suburb of Mt. Pleasant Tsvangirai predicted his party would win “quite resoundingly, I must say”.
“This is a very historic moment for all of us,” he added.
Tsvangirai is up against the 89 year old Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader, who is running for election for the seventh and perhaps final time after a series of violent crackdowns, economic crises and suspect elections.
So far the election has seen little of the violence that plagued previous polls and forced Tsvangirai out of the race in 2008.
But the election has been overshadowed by suspicions of vote rigging, particularly double registration of some voters on the long delayed voter roll.
Tsvangirai described casting his ballot as an emotional moment “after all the conflict, the stalemate, the suspicion, the hostility.”
There is a sense that “finally Zimbabwe will be able to move on again”.
Fresh teachers’ strike set for Tuesday
| July 31, 2013
Acting KNUT Secretary General Mudzo Nzili says the seven day notice will expire on Tuesday midnight if the government will not have paid them/XINHUA FILE
The union’s Secretary General Mudzo Nzili said that teachers will boycott classes again if their employer continues with the punitive action.
Nzili told a press conference on Wednesday that teachers’ salaries amounting to Sh13 billion were being held by the Teachers Service Commission and that this violated the return-to-work formula agreed upon.
“Owing to the commission’s flagrant disregard of the return-to-work formula and outright provocative trade practice by the employer, KNUT hereby declares a trade dispute and subsequently issues the commission with a seven-day notice of the intended industrial action,” he said.
He declared that should no action be taken during the seven-day period, teachers will have no option but to down their tools.
“Please take note that the notice commences today and if at the expiry of the seven-day notice no solution shall have been found to this dispute, all members of the union shall commence industrial action as shall have been directed by the National Executive Council without further reference to the commission,” he said.
KNUT chairman Wilson Sossion on the other hand accused the TSC of playing with the psychology of teachers by recovering money to help it pay the outstanding balance in allowances owed to them thus minimising any losses made.
Sossion also revealed that he has information that the government is planning to spend the withheld funds to hire 11,000 additional teachers.
“We are all seeing everything. If they want to take Sh13 billion and use that money to pay us Sh5.7 billion, how much is that profit. Is this a government bent at making profit or is it taking care of the interests of its citizens?” he posed.
Sossion further stated that the disregard shown to the return-to-work formula signed with the government when the strike was called off is a show of bad faith by the TSC.
He stated that this time round, should they go on strike, the teachers will remain out of class until they are paid in full.
“A strike for even one hour is a strike so whatever we plan to do, those are our own secret cards, we will shuffle them. Come and witness this on Monday. We have invited the National Advisory Council and we have declared a dispute. That is the preliminary step. On Monday, we shall be advised on the next step to take,” he said.
He pointed out that such action is a constitutional right and is protected under law.
“The Industrial Relations Act gives us options to proceed with a seven-day notice or seek redress through the courts. For now, we will go through the one that we know best and we can deal with it with ease. It is also the one that the government is asking for,” he said.
Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has insisted that teachers who boycotted classes will not be paid.
According to the union however, the return-to-work formula signed on August 18 with TSC stipulated that there would be no victimization of any teacher on account of the concluded strike.
The SG said that the withholding of salaries was an act of victimization which the teachers will not take lying down.
He stated that the commission’s actions amounted to an invitation to teachers to also renege on their part of the bargain.
He also described it as a breach of court orders, the Employment Act and the Constitution.