Attainment of Universal Primary Education has been a long-term objective for the Government of Kenya (GoK) since independence. But declining gross enrolment rates and completion rates of less than 50 per cent over the past 10 years present a considerable challenge to policy-makers. Why are children dropping out of school? Is poverty solely to blame?

Kenya's opposition accused the government on Wednesday of trying to buy votes and loot public funds after it made a flurry of large payments to businessmen ahead of general elections on December 27.

A recent court ruling ordering the removal of powerful cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott's name from a list of those implicated in ethnic clashes which rocked the country between 1992 and 1997 has raised questions regarding the independence of Kenya's judicial system, according to local analysts.

His detractors call Uhuru Kenyatta a political novice, untried, untested and inexperienced. He has never held elected office and his one stab at being elected backfired. Kenyatta’s critics also accuse him of being a puppet of the outgoing president. But his supporters say he will bring new blood to KANU and is precisely the fresh start Kenya needs.

Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi has again denied planning to rule Kenya from behind the scenes after he retires. In the last major official function of his presidency, Moi told a large independence day rally in Nairobi that he planned to use his time trying to end wars in Africa.

With environmentalists warning about Kenya's dwindling energy sources, the use of fireless cookers in poor households is becoming the answer - a small step that could save the countryside fuel sources in the east African nation of 32 million people.

Scanning the savanna with a pair of binoculars and a global positioning unit, biologist Robin Reid counts the number of zebra, giraffe and cows that graze in one of the world's most famous wildlife reserves. Reid is the lead scientist in Mara Count 2002, one of the most ambitious attempts ever to inventory an ecosystem. Nineteen teams and two planes counted 23 species and classified the vegetation in an equally divided 965 square mile area.

The United Nations food agency said Tuesday it could be forced to cut aid to thousands of hungry refugees in Kenya unless it receives help from donors in coming weeks.

Analytical Kenyans are about to give up on the coming elections. Rather than tackle specific policy questions, the campaign has centred around posturing, spin doctoring and procrastination. The sad reality is that, as ever, the campaign is really being fought on the power of personalities and the ethnic allegiances they command.

The National Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) programme manager, Mrs Anne Nzomo, has said more than 88 per cent of people in the South Rift region are still practising female genital mutilation.

The Anti Corruption Police Unit should be given more powers to deal with election corruption, the Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner, Mr Peter Raburu, says.

The Mombasa attacks have served two purposes. One is specifically to draw the Israelis further into a regional war on terror. The other is to demonstrate, by attempting to shoot down an airliner, that the reach of al Qaeda and its associates is potentially worldwide. Meanwhile, the view from Washington remains that this is an unconventional war that can be fought and won on American terms. There is still little interest in understanding where al Qaeda is coming from or why support for it may be increasing. The tragedy is that it may take more atrocities and much more loss of life before a deeper understanding begins to dawn, says an analysis by Foreign Policy in Focus.

The hotly-contested upcoming December 27 election has highlighted serious human rights shortcomings in Kenya, Human Rights Watch says. As the election approaches and Kenya's draft constitution awaits enactment, Human Rights Watch has released a new report urging all candidates to adhere to a clear human rights agenda, which would address the iniquities and abuses that persist in the East African country.

An animal conservationist with experience in both government and nonprofit sectors has been selected to fill the post of Director for the Kenya Wildlife Service vacated by retirement. Michael Wamithi worked for 14 years in the Service, before he took his present position as East Africa regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Kenyan police appear to be using the November 28 attacks on Israeli tourists in Mombassa to justify a crackdown on refugees living in Nairobi, Human Rights Watch says. Since November 29, the police have conducted three large raids and dozens of arbitrary arrests against refugees from Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo in several neighborhoods of Nairobi.
Related Link: Police deny refugee harassment
http://irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=31300

The curtain has now closed on the 2002 electoral nominations. There are those who have fairly won or lost and others who have clearly been rigged out. Many accuse major political party players of lack of democracy, manifested through the flouting of democratic rules and fair play. Women candidates, as expected, given their marginality in the top decision-making party hierarchy combined with the traditional socio-economic hurdles and highly patriarchal political theatres of electoral engagement, fared more poorly than their male counterparts, with only about 30 survivors.

The Healthy Futures project aimed to reduce the drop out rate among Kenyan girls in primary school (equivalent to US grades one through eight) in 31 communities in five districts. The project guided community members to address barriers young girls face in completing primary education and devise solutions to those barriers. This report describes the Healthy Futures activities and lessons learned from April 1998 to June 2000.

In the run up to the Kenyan election, The Nation newspaper takes a look at and analyses what policies and actions are being promised by the main election contenders. Many Kenyans are deeply disappointed by the way some leaders have conducted themselves over the past couple of weeks.

Protection of the natural resource base will form an important basis of our people's socio-economic development. Although due regard has been given to environmental conservation and preservation, it has not been sufficient to contain deforestation, desertification, soil degradation, wildlife resource depletion, diminishing biodiversity and accelerated pollution of water, land and air.

Police say at least 11 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Israeli-owned hotel near the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. The attack coincided with a failed rocket attack on an Israeli airliner taking off from Mombasa airport.