Elephants, buffaloes and other wild animals drink water on one side of a swamp. On the other, Maasai warriors watch hundreds of cattle graze as the tropical sun sears the parched land of this wildlife sanctuary. Balancing the needs of both sides is becoming more complex, and environmentalists fear the wildlife are gradually losing out. Kenyan officials recently bent stringent conservation regulations to allow cattle into the Amboseli National Park -- the only permanent source of water in the region -- to help the Maasai save their precious livestock from a punishing drought.

The Coordinator heads a small secretariat and works under the guidance of the Management Board. He or she works in close consultation with regional representatives and members in planning and implementing programmes that further the aims of COPA. These programmes include training, capacity building, networking, information sharing, lobbying and advocacy. She or he may from time to time be directly involved in conflict transformation. The Continental Coordinator will oversee the management of COPA continental secretariat and Programmes and ensure that the organisation works towards its vision and mission. Being the point person for COPA in the continent he/she will ensure that there is synergy created in all the regional offices-Southern, Central, Horn, Eastern and ensure that COPA is linked and influencing other continental bodies to realise the vision and mission.

Ministers Kiraitu Murungi and George Saitoti are finally out of the Kenyan Cabinet following unrelenting pressure on President Kibaki to sack ministers implicated in corruption. Kibaki announced in a live television address to the nation that he had accepted the resignations of the two to pave way for investigations into the 16-year-old Goldenberg scandal and the Anglo Leasing affair whose details are still emerging.
* Related Link:
Kenya: Report on graft scandal made public
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51666

With the general elections in sight at the end of 2007, the feeling of de ja vu is difficult to shake off, considering that the country has been in political campaigns mode for nearly two years. “Women are not well represented at all levels of leadership positions and their representation especially at the local authorities' level is wanting,” explains Deborah Okumu, a Senior Programmes Officer at the Kenya Women's Political Caucus (KWPC). She notes that the absence of formal mechanisms of both accountability and participation within the political systems restricts access for women.

The mace, the symbol of the Kenyan Parliament's authority, has been flown to London to be polished at a cost of about Ksh. 2 million (about $28,500), a local daily in Kenya has learnt. And the Criminal Investigations Department is now investigating the manner in which the mace left Parliament. An official who did not want to be named, said polishing the mace in London would cost the National Assembly Ksh. 2 million yet the same work could be done by a local goldsmith for about Ksh. 20,000 (about $285). The Parliamentary Service Commission, which authorises expenditure of more than Ksh. 1million was not aware of the development.

Kenya's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has warned of a severe water shortage in the region unless the existing sources are protected. In a report entitled "The Draft National Water Resources Management Strategy, 2005-2007," the ministry gives a damning indictment of the management of Kenya's natural environment and its accompanying water resources over the past 30 years.

Free Primary Education was introduced in Kenya in 2003, enabling 1.3 million poor children to obtain schooling for the first time. However, a UNESCO/OECD Early Childhood Policy Review Mission noted that the policy had a negative impact on early childhood development centres serving poor children. The main reason for this phenomenon is that poor parents are now keeping their children at home until they reach the age of primary school. They refuse to pay for early childhood education on the grounds that this, like primary education, should also be free.

The drought in northern Kenya is increasing conflict between the area's nomadic groups, as they travel further to find scarce pasture, according to a development organization. "It's not just the food crisis that is claiming lives," said Oxfam Kenya head Gezahegn Kebede, warning of further deadly clashes unless more aid arrives. The nomadic groups of northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, parts of Sudan and Somalia have a history of fighting over livestock and pasture but Oxfam says the drought is increasing tensions.

The Law Society of Kenya plans to sue those adversely mentioned in the Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg scandals. The Society's chairman said the organisation would start private proceedings against suspects in the two scandals once it has gathered enough evidence. In 1994, LSK sued individuals it believed had participated in the Goldenberg scandal.

Excerpts from Migritude have aired on BBC radio, NPR, the National Radio Project, and Pacifica Radio, generating responses worldwide. Migritude was recently selected for the International Women Art Festival in Vienna in 2006. “Migritude explores global themes - heritage, war, freedom - by making intimate family treasures public. Similarly, it expresses universal experiences of colonised peoples through the journeys of my own diasporic Indian family. The sequence maps my personal transitions as a migrant: from survival to self-expression, invisibility to activism, model minority to radical artist," says Shailja. The show will be held at Carnivore's Simba Saloon on February 2 at 8pm. Shailja will also host Kenya's first ever Poetry Slam on Tuesday February 7 at Club Soundd, venue for Kwani? magazine popular Open Mic sessions.

Kenyan Finance Minister David Mwiraria resigned on Wednesday, saying he had been wrongly linked to a multi-million dollar corruption scandal that has rocked President Mwai Kibaki's government. "In order that my name be cleared and to protect the integrity of the president, the government and our country Kenya, I hereby voluntarily step aside," Mwiraria said in a letter to Kibaki that he read to media, as reported by Reuters.

As the chances of finding more survivors in the building that collapsed earlier this week in Nairobi moved from slim to remote, poor oversight and corruption were being blamed for the disaster. "It is not just a problem of a collapsed building. It is a much wider problem of a lack of capacity to handle the huge construction industry," said Abonyo Erastus, vice chairman of the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), adding that the Nairobi City Council (NCC) had too few architects on staff to maintain building standards in the Kenyan capital.

A New Zealander's offer of dog food to starving Kenyans is an insult, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. "It is an insult for somebody to think Kenya can accept food meant for animals," said Mr John Munyes, minister in charge of relief operations in the President's Office. "Such people should desist because we will be very careful in vetting the donations." Members of a local women's organization, Maendeleo ya Wanawake, said they were shocked by the report, describing it as the height of abuse to the Kenyan women and children.

Kenya's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has warned of a severe water shortage in the region unless the existing sources are protected. In a report entitled "The Draft National Water Resources Management Strategy, 2005-2007," the ministry gives a damning indictment of the management of Kenya's natural environment and its accompanying water resources over the past 30 years. The document has for the first time mapped the country's surface and ground water, its quantity, quality and availability for human and animal use.

Decentralisation and devolution have become dominant themes in the management of natural resources in the less developed countries. The process of decentralisation in the Kenyan forestry sector has been going on since the 1930s, and has primarily focused on administrative decentralisation whose main objective was to ensure effective management of forests by the forest department.

Several advertising organizations are conducting social marketing campaigns in Kenya that address the country's health and social issues - including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and domestic abuse - Kenya's Nation reports. Kenya's advertising industry has developed many successful social marketing campaigns - including condom-promotion campaigns aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS - that are used throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the anti corruption watchdog Transparency International- Kenya, have released a research report on wasteful government expenditure. It points out that between January 2003 and September 2004, the new NARC government in Kenya spent at least Kshs 878million in the purchase of luxury cars that were largely for the personal use of senior government officials such as ministers, assistant ministers and permanent secretaries. The report argues that "until all necessities are accessible to all members of our community, no one should live in luxury using public resources”.

Kenya is unlikely get to debt relief, a confidential report by the World Bank says. This follows the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) rejection of the Government's appeal, last month, to benefit from multi-lateral debt relief even if Kenya does not qualify for the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC).The report says while anti-debt activists continue to press Kenya's case, the failure to secure debt relief is politically damaging for the Government.

Sir Edward Clay, the outspoken former British envoy to Kenya, let rip at the World Bank for lending $120 million (£68 million) to President Kibaki's Government when it was embroiled in a massive corruption scandal. In a letter to Paul Wolfowitz, the President of the World Bank, Sir Edward accused the organisation of "toadying to a thoroughly corrupt administration" and said that last week's loan made a mockery of efforts to stamp out high-level looting.

As Kenya's worst drought since 2000 intensifies, the international development agency ActionAid is warning that disputes are on the increase, with nomadic peoples starting to fight over scarce fertile land in the north east region. In a press release from London, the agency also reports that people in other regions are now beginning to succumb to the effects of drought and hunger.