An outbreak of measles at a remote locality where people and animals are dying of thirst and famine has worsened the suffering of residents. At least two people have died of the disease in the past two weeks in El Wak on the Kenya-Somalia border, a Catholic sister told CISA. Sr Robbireo of the Contemplative Missionaries of Fr De Foucauld said the situation could get out of hand because of high levels of famine-induced malnutrition among children.

The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission has completed investigations on Central Bank governor Andrew Mullei over corruption allegations and asked the Attorney-General to take action against him. It means Dr Mullei could face court charges arising from allegations concerning his management, which had caused a major split between the Treasury and the Central Bank Board.

Thousands of Kenyans took to the streets of Nairobi and four major towns Wednesday in an emotive defence of Press freedom following the shocking raid of Standard Group's premises by hooded police commandos. Led by Orange Democratic Movement leaders, they spilled into the streets of Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu and Nakuru, to demand the resignation of Security minister John Michuki and his Information and Communications counterpart, Mutahi Kagwe.
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'Standard' takes complaint to human rights commission

Sudan is Africa's largest country but more than 70% of its population live in its small towns and scattered across rural areas. The country sits strategically between Arabic-speaking North Africa and the Gulf and several sub-Saharan African countries: it is bordered by no less than 12 countries. Its oil revenues have created a building boom in the capital and attracted telecoms investment from the UAE (Canartel) and Kuwait (Celtel).

Half of Kenya's Sh55million Commonwealth games budget will be spent on allowances for officials, The Standard has revealed. The country is sending one of the largest delegations to the 'Club' Games in Melbourne, Australia, with officials making up a third of the 160-strong team. The full list of the travelling party to the Games obtained by The Standard on Sunday paints a picture of extravagance and contradictions. All but two of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) officials are travelling.

A fresh attempt by Kenyan investigators to question managers of a French firm mentioned in the KSh 2.7 billion passports scandal hit a brick wall when the executives flatly refused to meet them in Paris. Two senior Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission investigators, who had travelled to France after securing an appointment to interview Francois-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire (FCOF) managers, got a rude shock when they were turned away.

The National Housing Corporation will spend Sh33.6 billion to build 20,000 houses in 90 towns, according to it's chairman. The "90 towns housing programme" was allocated Sh1.2 billion in the current financial year. The programme is scheduled to end in 2009.

Teachers will go on strike to press for the speedy implementation of their salary increment. Kenya National Union of Teachers secretary general Francis Ng'ang'a asked the Government to conclude the payment this year or brace for a countrywide strike. While marking the start of elections of officials to serve for another five-year-term, Mr Ng'ang'a told Education minister Noah Wekesa to begin talks with the union on how the payment could be speeded up.

For as long as a decade, some suspects at Meru Prison have waited for justice. With their cases far from being finalised, they are not sure whether their tribulations will ever end and fear they may not leave the prison alive. Prisoners live in appalling conditions due to congestion. This is as a result of a lethargic court system, inefficiency by the police and a slow pace of prison reforms.

An early morning raid on media institutions in Nairobi has shocked Kenyans accustomed to media freedom and a vibrant local press, as well as sparking alarm amongst human rights groups, donors and opposition politicians. Ochieng Rapuro gives an account of the situation.

Hooded and heavily armed policemen on Thursday morning raided the offices of the Standard Media Group, shutting down KTN television station and burning copies of the edition of the Standard newspaper. The raid came three days after three journalists working with the media house were arrested by the police and kept in custody beyond the 48 hour limited provided for in law.

The journalists were arrested over publication last Saturday of a story claiming that President Mwai Kibaki held a secret meeting with Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, an opposition MP and a former member of the Kibaki Cabinet who was sacked after he campaigned against a Government supported draft constitution last November.

The Government suffered a devastating defeat in the referendum vote that divided the Kibaki Cabinet. Last Saturday’s story had claimed that Mr Musyoka had met the President at State House, Nairobi where they held discussions on a wide range of political matters including the appointment of Mr Musyoka as the Vice President.
Though Mr Musyoka himself has denied ever holding such a meeting with the president, he has since issued a statement disassociating himself with the latest events and maintained that there were legal channels to seek redress.

Yesterday, the Minister of State in charge of Internal Security, John Michuki, said the raiders were police officers acting on official orders. A statement issued by police late afternoon said the raid had been conducted in the interest of national security. The statement said intelligence gathered by the police had indicated the Standard Group had the intention of orchestrating ethnic hatred in the country.

Human Rights groups condemned the police action as unlawful use of state security machinery to curtail press freedom. The groups said it was the latest in a series of actions that the Kibaki administration had undertaken to curtail press freedom since coming to power in January 2003.

The police operation was led by the Nairobi Area Criminal Investigations boss Sammy Githui and his operations counterpart Jim Njiru. In the shadows of darkness the police squad first attacked the media house’s head offices in Central Nairobi before moving to its press located in the city’s industrial area. It was the night that the autocratic hand of the Kenyan government came down hard on the media as it moved in to immobilize the printing press.

Despite initial denials, it was clear that this was a police raid. Workers at the Standard’s printing press offices said the leader of the raiders was heard communicating with a senior police officer at the Buruburu Police Division (OCPD) informing him that the operation was underway. Mr Justus Nyawaya, the night supervisor, says he saw a group of heavily built men armed with AK47 rifles and wearing red reflective jackets ordering the workers to lie down.

The invaders rounded up all the guards and their dogs and held them hostage for the entire three hours that the operation was underway, taking away mobile phones and personal effects from the workers and snatching the company’s car keys from the drivers.

* Ochieng Rapuro is an Editor with the Standard Newspapers

* Please send comments to [email protected]

* See the Reuters report 'Raid on media group shocks Kenyans' (http://tinyurl.com/kwefv) for more information.

This UNESCO study sheds light on underlying reasons for persistent gender gaps in education in Kenya. The analysis offers an understanding of how far we have to go in achieving the Education For All (EFA) goal of eliminating gender disparities and achieving gender equality in education. From gender and historical perspectives, Fatuma Chege and Daniel N. Sifuna systematically examine all levels of education - early childhood, primary education, secondary education, adult literacy, higher education, technical and vocational education and informal sector training and employment.

It is now official. The Government will sell 34 per cent of Telkom Kenya to the public through the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Another 26 per cent of the Government's shares in Telkom will be sold to a strategic investor. The President made the announcement while opening the national information and communications technology (ICT) workshop in Nairobi. The State will also sell nine per cent of its shareholding in mobile phone operator Safaricom, to Vodafone Airtouch of the UK.

The Criminal Investigations Department has taken over investigations into the scandalous acquisition of huge tracts of public land by powerful personalities as documented in the Ndung'u Report. The news broke on the second day of a week that Justice minister Martha Karua declared would be characterised by the arrests of Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg suspects, who have all been asked to surrender their guns and passports.

They come as tourists and we urge them to feel at home in our land and to travel as far and wide in it as they can. Others come as associates of a clique of "conservationists" who have maintained a traditional hold on Africa's conservation policy and practice. Some come openly as researchers or students eager to dig as much information out of the countryside as possible. Yet others live with us, either as "visiting scientists" working in our national research institutions and universities or as "expert" expatriates.

The Media Council of Kenya has summoned the Standard Weekend Editions Managing Editor, to appear before it over a story the paper published. Kenya's Minister for Information and Communication had described the story as a "fabrication published with ill motive." A government spokesman said the story was meant to injure the integrity of the Presidency and mislead Kenyans. He also demanded, in a statement, that the writer of the story and editors who participated in the story be punished.

Plans by the Kenya government to engage private-sector lawyers to prosecute cases arising from the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing financial scandals have turned the spotlight on the Attorney-General's procurement procedures, after it turned out six lawyers were paid Ksh72 million ($1 million) to handle a five-day case arising from the constitutional review crisis. The advance payment of Ksh72 million by the Office of the Attorney General last year to a group of six private lawyers has sparked a controversy within the legal fraternity, with questions raised about the manner in which the lucrative contract was shared out and how it was procured.

Persistent increases in the cost of food coupled with high world oil prices pose the biggest challenge to keeping inflation in check. The Central Bank of Kenya says that the expected long rains in March could help mitigate the problem, but there is still need to allay fears of persistent inflation. Releasing the 17th Monetary Policy Statement, CBK governor said the CBK continues to seek the five per cent inflation target, despite the challenges.

The Attorney-General's office will reintroduce the extraction of confessions by police through the amended Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2005. An official from the National Counter Terrorism Centre, said this would be reintroduced albeit with regulatory mechanisms to bar its abuse. The centre falls under the A-G's office. He said it was difficult to get a conviction against suspects accused of engaging in acts of terror if the law stops the police from extracting confessions. Kenya has ratified international human rights treaties and is due to give its initial report on torture to the UN committee.

Only candidates who scored a B+ of 67 points will make it to Kenya's public universities. This is heartbreaking news for thousands of parents whose children sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination in 2004. The Joint Admissions Board (JAB) broke the news as it announced that more than 47,000 candidates who sat the KCSE examination in 2004 would not join the six public universities although they had met the minimum qualifications. JAB, the team of public university administrators that picks students, said yesterday the institutions would admit 10,632 of the 58,239 who qualified.

In a dimly lit ward at Nairobi's Kenyatta Hospital, Florence explains why she has lost heart in what was once a revered profession. Shutting the door on fretting relatives who wander the corridor with steaming pots of porridge for the sick, she says it was all so different when she qualified 20 years ago.