One of nine children from a Kenyan village where education was not a priority and girls traditionally did not receive any, Zeinab Musa watched each day as her three brothers departed for school and wished that she, too, could go. So determined was she to get an education, Zeinab would sneak out of the house, sit outside the school building, and learn through the windows. After weeks of this, her older brother brought her inside, where, at mid-year, without any books or a school uniform, she began her formal education.

According to the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Programme (NASCOP), about 270,000 people urgently require ARV treatment. But, at most, only 11,000 Kenyans are receiving the drugs - 6,000 of whom are on government programmes. The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS estimates that more than two million people in the country are HIV-positive, this out of a population of about 30 million.

The UNEP/Division of Global Environment Facility (GEF) Coordination is primarily responsible for coordination of the participation by UNEP in GEF. It provides the secretariat to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP). Under the overall authority of the UNEP/GEF Programme Coordination Committee, it organises the review by UNEP of GEF project proposals, as well as relevant project identification, appraisal, monitoring and evaluation activities.

IRIN is working to move beyond news reporting to include more in-depth analysis of important humanitarian issues. This is being done through the increased production of thematic/global stories, special reports, features and web specials. The Nairobi-based Focal Point for Information Analysis provides IRIN's regional desks in sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia with the guidance, advice and materials needed to boost their output of analytical and feature-type reporting, and also contributes directly in researching and writing his/her own articles.

Kenyan cabinet minister Karisa Maitha is at the centre of a fresh storm involving a questionable payment of Ksh117 million to an insurance company by the Nairobi City Council, and a failed attempt to have the financially-strapped civic authority pay another Ksh28 million to a broker.

Emmanuel Karisa Maitha, the besieged local government minister, leads the pack of at least four cabinet ministers key donors want dismissed before lending to Kenya can resume. The government denies that there are any such conditions from donors, but other sources indicate that Maitha's fate is sealed, and his sacking could come as early as this week - in time for the IMF board meeting scheduled for 22 November.

"The Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance (KSDA) supports the striking lecturers because their struggle is legitimate, timely and long overdue. The lecturers strike comes at a time when many workers have resorted to strike action as a way of fighting for their rights in Kenya after the government failed to give them an audience."

A young girl who was being abused by her father was able to get help after tuning into a talk show hosted by Sandra Ndonye, a participant in an Internews Kenya workshop. The workshop trained students in the production of HIV/AIDS talk show programs, including interviewing, recording and scripting techniques.

Kenyan prosecutors on Wednesday charged a businessman at the centre of Kenya's biggest fraud case with trying to bribe a judge, intensifying a crackdown on high-level graft in the judiciary. Prosecutors said Kamlesh Pattni, a well-connected Kenyan whose fraud trial in the so-called Goldenberg case has dragged on for years without resolution, tried to bribe a judge to induce him to release his passport, which is held by a court.

A banned chemical which depletes the ozone layer is in use in Kenya. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) is widely used in cooling systems in the country, contrary to the Montreal Protocol, a United Nations meeting in Nairobi was told.

For a long time, lecturers of the public universities in Kenya have stagnated at a salary which cannot sustain their livelihoods for even a week. Due to this situation, it has been very difficult since 1989 for most university departments to attract new members of staff. Attrition of the staff members has been on the increase, and most of those who have remained have been forced to moonlight and engage in other activities that leave very little room for serious academic work. This is a very unfortunate situation. The consequence, as in many other universities in Africa, has been the tendency for academic standards to fall. Education, and especially higher education for any nation is an investment in the future.

The Anglican Church of Kenya has barred all its 28 dioceses from having any involvement with Gene Robinson, the new bishop of New Hampshire in the United States - and the first openly gay clergyman. Robinson's consecration on November 2 has threatened to split the global Anglican community.

Kenyan women are challenging a report by a state-appointed taskforce which, they say, has ignored issues that have contributed to their marginalisation. They say the 'Report of the Taskforce on the Establishment of a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission' has failed to point out Affirmative Action (AA) as a solution to the gender inequality in the workplace.

The fight against corruption entered a new phase this week with the promise of an all-out attack on graft among Cabinet ministers, MPs and top civil servants. It follows the first phase of reforms which targeted the Judiciary.

Women were given a raw deal in the appointment of new Judges, the Federation of Kenya Women Lawyers (Fida) has said. Executive Director Ms Jane Kiragu said it was regrettable that only two women were considered for appointment in a list of 12. "The appointment is contrary to the spirit of the Narc manifesto which advocates that at least one third of all government appointments be women," she said.

Cabinet Minister Najib Balala says he will oppose the Terrorism Bill because "it intends to oppress Muslims". The minister said the Terrorism Suppression Bill, which is expected to be debated in Parliament this week, proposed draconian laws that "are inhuman and against logical thinking".

Kenyan scientists have been asked to help resolve the controversy surrounding genetically modified (GM) foods. Egerton University Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ezra Maritim, told the experts to advise the Government on the benefits and dangers of using GM foods. Maritim said Africa had been caught up in a debate that was going on elsewhere, with very little input from local scientists.

For the first time, Kenyan men are admitting that they are at the receiving end of domestic violence. Battered men have now set up a body to protect them from their spouses. The organisation, 'Men for Gender Equality Change Now', was relatively unknown in the country until a dramatic case of a desperate man, seeking assistance, came to the fore.

A new survey carried out by Transparency International-Kenya reveals that 59% of Kenyans consider corruption to be the number one national issue. The survey sought to determine public opinion on the current state of politics in Kenya, corruption in the government and judiciary, the government’s performance and anti-corruption initiatives undertaken by the government. This is according to an article in the latest edition of Adili, TI Kenya's electronic newsletter. The full article and newsletter can be accessed by visiting the URL provided.

Vice-President (V-P) Moody Awori has told a regional New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) Eastern Africa Region Council of Ministers meeting in Nairobi, that African leaders must rise up and provide leadership in development processes on the continent and play a leading role in safeguarding the well-being of their people.