The debate on abortion came to the fore early this year when a section of women parliamentarians openly called for its legalisation. Health minister, Charity Ngilu, has asked the government to spearhead public debate on abortion. She said it was unfair that women did not have a free hand in their reproductive health. "I personally feel the continued denial of women to make free choice on their reproductive health life is wrong and the policy should be reformed to allow that freedom," she was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

Forty-nine years after the death of his wife, General Kibira Gatu is still a bitter man, thanks to the atrocities committed during the British colonial era. Now aged 68, Gatu, a former guerrilla in Kenya's Mau Mau movement, was fighting to free his country from the yoke of colonialism when British soldiers abducted his wife in 1954. "They took my wife away and killed her, separating her from our one-year-old son," he told IPS this week. Rights activists have accused previous governments of neglecting the war veterans, most of who have been living in desperate conditions. Many have died in absolute poverty.

A Norwegian government delegation arrives in Kenya next month to lay the foundation for the re-establishment of a development aid agency. The team, to be led by former prime minister, Torbjorn Fagband, will be in the country from 22 October to re-launch the Norwegian Development Agency. Norwegian parliament vice-president Inge Lonning said Norway was happy about the Kenya government's commitment to fight corruption.

Hardly nine months into the new government no one really expected that the Republic of Kenya would be corruption-free territory. But given the commendable anti-corruption laws enacted by the government and the rhetoric of its top leadership on corruption, reasonable people must have expected lesser impunity. Yet the new face of NARC corruption is as ugly and shameless as ever, says this editorial in the East African Standard.

In many rural towns and villages in the Commonwealth technology is unknown and not accessible. In an attempt to bridge the digital divide, more than sixty women entrepreneurs in Kenya's Eastern and North Eastern Provinces are getting a chance to join in the technological revolution through exposure to computers.

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has rejected the accusation that one of his books is pornographic. A Roman Catholic group, the Kenya Parents Caucus, has demanded that Achebe's book, A Man of the People, and two other texts in Kiswahili be removed from the school syllabus on the basis that they are pornographic.

As part of the Kenyan government's efforts to regain vast wealth stolen by corrupt officials and politicians, it is encouraging "whistle blowers" to come forward with information, Assistant Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Robinson Githae, told a conference on Friday. He said people giving evidence would receive "protection" and that they should approach either the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General or the Anti-Corruption police directly.

Peter Makori knows the smell of a Kenyan prison which has been his home for the past two months. He is being detained in Nyanza province in Western Kenya for alleged implications in the murder of two tribal chiefs. But, Kang'ethe Mungai, a human rights activist and founder of Release Political Prisoners, says Makori has been detained for highlighting human rights abuses. He is an investigative journalist. Makori's case epitomises the extent of human rights abuses in Kenya and the urgent need of a body to monitor such excesses.

About 750 Kenyans die of Aids daily. And 830 contract the virus daily and need anti-retroviral drugs, Kenya's Principal Public Health Specialist, Dr Wilfred M. Kisungu said on Monday evening at Hotel Africana. Kisungu works at the Kenya Medical Research Institute. He said more than one million children in Kenya have been orphaned by Aids.

One of the pledges that the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government made when it came to power at the end of 2002 was to fight corruption in every way possible. It was with this in mind that President Mwai Kibaki appointed the Goldenberg Commission of Inquiry on Feb. 24 this year. The commission was charged with fully investigating the Goldenberg export compensation scandal, which cost Kenya billions of shillings in the early 1990s when billions in Kenyan shillings was looted from the country’s Central Bank through billionaire Kamlesh Pattni’s Exchange Bank in 1991. As the inquiry has progressed, former president Danial arap Moi, his two sons and a daughter, as well as a host of high-ranking Kenyans, have been implicated.

The Civil Society Forum says two Cabinet ministers allegedly implicated in corrupt deals should be suspended pending investigations. Executive Director of Transparency International Gladwell Otieno asked President Kibaki to immediately suspend Ministers Karisa Maitha and Ali Mwakwere.

Adili means integrity in Kiswahili and is a fortnightly news service containing news and views on corruption in Kenya. All interviews in Adili are exclusives to TI-Kenya. Subscribe online at http://www.tikenya.org/newsletter.asp or by sending an email to [email protected]

Kenya's political theatre has been thrown into disarray, following the death of Vice President Michael Kijana Wamalwa on August 23. It has come at a time when the ruling party, National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), is grappling with a contentious issue of the establishment of a prime ministerial position, as suggested in a draft constitution, which is currently being debated in Nairobi by 629 delegates. It is indeed a head scratching moment for Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki, as he ponders over a tough choice of who will take over Wamalwa's shoes. Already, debate is raging across the country over the possible candidates he is likely to consider. Interestingly, things have taken a tribal dimension, the very aspect that NARC vowed not to subscribe to.

Key players in the fight against Aids met recently, ostensibly to develop a strategy against the disease. However, sources said the suspension of Dr Margaret Gachara as the director of the National Aids Control Council, took the centre stage. Against the backdrop of massive corruption in the council, critics claim Kenya is facing defeat in the anti-Aids battle. Public outrage is only complementing widespread disquiet among donors over the council.

A lobby group operating under the wing of the Catholic Church in Kenya wants three books withdrawn from the school syllabus, saying they are "morally objectionable." The lobby group, Parent's Caucus, claims that sections of Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe's "A Man of the People" and S. A Mohammed's "Kiu" and "Kitumbua Kimeingia Mchanga" - all set-books for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations (KCSE) - are sexually explicit and contain pornographic material.

Kenya's recent introduction of free primary education helps girls forced out of school by poverty to regain lost ground. The girls, however, still face many challenges, from the humiliation of worn-out uniforms to views favouring boys' education.

Political expediency and the search for a suitable personality from Western Kenya could force President Mwai Kibaki to withhold the immediate replacement of late vice-president Michael Wamalwa. Should that happen, it will be the second time for Kenya to operate without a vice-president for a sustained period on the basis of political difficulties. Former president Daniel arap Moi left the seat vacant for over 14 months – from January 1998 to February 1999 – while planning his succession.

Kenya's AIDS NGOs are hoping that recent allegations of corruption and misappropriation in Kenya's National AIDS Control Council (NACC) will not affect the country's AIDS programmes and funding. The council's director, Dr Margaret Gachara, was suspended after she obtained an inflated salary by "improper" means, NACC spokesman Kassim Mambo, told PlusNews. The country's HIV/AIDS coordinating body is also under investigation after being accused of mishandling money.

Amnesty International has recently launched a public appeal for Kenya to ratify the Rome Statute. The action includes a model letter to send to key government authorities.

Asha Mwanachawa, a young wife and mother in Kwale, Kenya, wanted desperately to talk to her husband about purchasing an insecticide-treated net (ITN) to protect their growing family from the dangers of malaria. Asha had learned about ITNs from an educational session at her clinic while pregnant with her first child. But her pleas to her husband to purchase one went unanswered. But when a water sports festival in her village was held, her husband was enticed by the fishing contest and prizes. In the course of information sessions given during the festival, he learned about malaria and the benefits of ITNs. This is one example of how social marketing can be used to popularize healthy behaviour in poor countries.