Critics of free primary education should try their business elsewhere, Education minister Prof George Saitoti has said. "This is an era of free primary education; it is here to stay since our commitment is firm. No one should allude that Government will turn back on this policy," Prof Saitoti said.

Billy Okello, a Kenyan Rapper known by his artist name of “Billy Boy” has been jailed for eight months by a Swedish court after being found guilty of five separate charges namely: mishandling a Swedish woman, threatening the woman, damage to property, driving without a license and driving while under the influence of alcohol. Billy will also pay the woman a total of 28,700 Swedish crowns in compensation for damages to the woman’s property, causing her pain, violating her integrity and causing her physical and psychological trauma.

Is the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) administration walking the talk or simply talking the talk? To its credit, the government has done a great deal in its attempt to lay the foundation for a successful war against graft.But the indicators on the ground are such that there is no blood flowing as a result of old corruption and new corruption seems to be bustling and sizzling within the very heart of the Narc administration, notes this opinion piece from the East African Standard.

This report from the Consortium for Street Children looks at the situation of Kenyan street children in general and those in conflict with the law in particular. It examines the status of the Kenyan juvenile justice system and the reasons behind children ending up in the street as well as the offences they commonly commit/are accused of committing. Whilst the study explores the socio-cultural factors behind the commission of crimes, it also features children's resilience.

"As the first African woman to receive this prize, I accept it on behalf of the people of Kenya and Africa, and indeed the world." With these words, Wangari Muta Maathai accepted the Nobel Peace Prize Friday in Oslo. Maathai used her lecture to warn that environmental destruction must be reversed so that "humanity stops threatening its life-support system." Saying that as a mother she hopes her selection for this award will inspire young people, Maathai acknowledged the work of "countless individuals and groups across the globe" who "work quietly and often without recognition to protect the environment, promote democracy, defend human rights and ensure equality between women and men."

Kenyan authorities have begun to repossess millions of hectares of public land acquired illegally since independence in 1963, officials say. Lands and Housing Minister Amos Kimunya said land seized by at least 60 people, including former President Daniel arap Moi, had already been taken back.

For the last six months, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been Sanjai Shah’s second home. Unlike other passengers on transit, he is known to many of the airport staff and they know him as "the man in limbo", for he can neither enter nor leave the country. He has no travel documents.The Kitale-born man of Asian descent is at the airport courtesy of what he calls "racist and dehumanising" treatment from British immigration officials.

"Last Wednesday, twenty women with disabilities converged at United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK) offices along Waiyaki way at Kabete Orthopaedic workshop to share and exchange views on violence against women with disabilities. The stories and experiences shared were just indescribable. Women with disabilities are the most violated in the society, and yet the violations are so secret that nobody seems to know except the victims themselves. Women with disabilities are an integral part of the society. In many, respects too, we have been disadvantaged by the reality of their impairments as well as owing to unwarranted discrimination by the rest of the society. We have been excluded from the mainstream socio-economic activities, no wonder a high proportion of women with disabilities are amongst the poorest."

Thousands of young Kenyans “rocked” against AIDS in Nairobi in sweltering temperatures in recognition of World AIDS Day. The concert, held on December 5, was the first of its kind in Kenya. For a week prior to the concert, seven disc jockeys who helped host the event attended an HIV/AIDS reporting workshop provided by Internews’ Local Voices project. At the training, DJ trainer Georges Collinet coached them in how to talk about HIV/AIDS in an accurate, yet “cool” and accessible way so that their messages could be understood and absorbed by the mostly youthful concertgoers.

Kenya's government has missed its best chance to stamp out rampant corruption and faces a tough task to regain credibility, Transparency International (TI) said last Thursday, International Anti-Corruption Day. More than half of Kenyans do not think graft is decreasing, TI Kenya executive director Gladwell Otieno said. "The political class's dismal performance over the past two years has resulted in a highly negative perception by Kenyans," Otieno said at a news conference launching TI's Global Corruption Barometer survey.

A motion calling for a ban on genetically modified food was brought before the House last week. Saboti MP Davies Nakitare (Narc) said this should be done in view of the fact that the government had no policy on such foods. He said most developed countries have banned genetically modified foods because of the danger they posed to humans.

AfricanColours is an independent online organization since 2000 that works for the promotion of African artists through the hosting of a virtual Africa- information infrastructure for African art. We are looking to recruit dynamic, self motivated, innovative team members for our new head office to be situated in Nairobi who will be expected to complement the execution of the AfricanColours programmes which include PR, art projects and campaigns, the purchase and dissemination of editorials, news, new media productions.

There is one village in Kenya, a place the people call Umoja, that manages to stand out from the rest. There are almost no men living here. Women run the show in Umoja, which was founded about a decade ago, and that is very odd in such a patriarchal part of the world. "We are always under men," said Rebecca Lolosoli, who is the leader of the three dozen or so women who live in Umoja, which means Unity in Swahili. "The men treat us like nothing. You are there to give them children. We're like property, and we're mistreated." Umoja traces its origins not so much to political protest, however, as to acts of sexual violence against the women, reportedly by British soldiers.

A new mobile phone text message service is joining the battle against HIV/Aids in Kenya. People will be able to text questions on the subject to a special number and receive a prompt answer for free. Subscribers will also get daily tips on how to prevent the infection and to deal with the pandemic.

The national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Kenya has dropped from 14 percent four years ago to about seven percent and the level of public awareness of the disease has risen to an estimated 90 percent across the country, the government said on Wednesday. "HIV/AIDS is now an established epidemic in Kenya," a statement issued by the Ministry of Health to mark World AIDS Day 2004, said. "It is a declared national disaster and all efforts are being directed to evoking the necessary response to containing it."

Wangari Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, says African governments should do more about climate change. Professor Maathai, also Kenya's deputy environment minister, was speaking to African journalists at the United Nations Environment Programme HQ in Nairobi. She said climate change mattered, and the Kyoto Protocol on how to limit its effects must be taken seriously by all.

When the KANU government was voted out in December 2002 after almost 40 years in power, around 350,000 remaining internally displaced people (IDPs) regained hopes of returning to the land they had been forced to flee during the 1990s. However, the new government has not lived up to expectations that it would resolve the causes of displacement and resettle or compensate the IDPs.

Procedural bureaucracy is delaying Kenya's dream of establishing a free trade agreement with its neighbours, Uganda and Tanzania. Regional Co-operation Minister John Koech told members of the East Africa Business Council (EABC): "Kenya will ratify the treaty as soon as possible. There is no foot dragging on the part of the government. It is just a procedural issue. The parliamentary procedures are to blame." Kenya remains the only EAC member that has not yet ratified the Customs Union Protocol.

Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement trains women to set up their own tree nurseries. "We make them independent people who can take care of their environment by themselves," says Maathai. As well as tree planting, Maathai is African Co-President of Jubilee 2000 and is campaigning for the cancellation of Third World Debt.

The African Commission is due to hear a legal case brought by the Endorois, a Kenyan pastoralist community, at an admissibility hearing scheduled to take place in Dakar in early December. In a significant development in the struggle for rights of the Endorois pastoralists, in June 2004, the Commission accepted a call by rights groups to enact 'Provisional Measures' to prevent irreparable harm to the community and their lands as a result of mining activities. The Commission made an urgent appeal to President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, urging him to ensure 'no further issuance of the alleged mining concessions'. The case is likely to coincide with Kenyan 'pastoralist week' during which communities will raise rights issues and threats to their future cultural survival.