The two friends sit nursing their cold beers and cursing their luck. They are both victims of corruption, a curse that is no longer part of the system but has become the system in Kenya. Bus owner Emmanuel Wenani has just paid £65 to retrieve one of his vehicles from the police yard. It was impounded after he failed to pay the daily ‘tax’ of £3 to police officers on the route. His friend Tony Nakosi is still smarting after handing over £8 for a copy of his own birth certificate - a service that is supposed to be free.

The private sector, largely perceived as ethical in its business dealings, is as corrupt as the public sector, a new report says. The report by the Centre for Law and Research, accuses the sector of devising cunning strategies to evade the payment of tax.

The High Court this week ordered President Moi to immediately release the judicial report into ethnic violence in which hundreds of people died, thousands were displaced and property worth millions of shillings destroyed in the runup to the 1992 and 1997 General Elections.

American actress Miss Angelina Jolie over the weekend made a personal donation of Sh15.6 million (US$200,000) to refugees in Kenya.Of this sum, Sh3.9 million is to go to training for refugee girls. The Hollywood star could not hold back her tears when she described her encounter with refugee girls and women at Kakuma refugee camp where she spent her Sunday.

Teachers have boycotted meetings called to brief invigilators, casting a cloud over national examinations scheduled to begin on Tuesday. They walked out of meetings called by education officials or tried to disrupt them during the fourth week of their strike. Others avoided the sessions altogether.

Almost a quarter century of dominance by Kenya's President, Daniel arap Moi, ended this week as his ruling party split in two and a powerful opposition coalition to unseat him was announced at a massive rally.

Uhuru Kenyatta's name is on everyone's lips now that he has been nominated as the ruling party's presidential candidate to succeed Daniel arap Moi. He is, of course, known as the son of Kenya's founding president, the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, but he is only just beginning to emerge from his father's shadow.
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A group of MPS have condemned violence that left one person dead when President Moi and his preferred heir Uhuru Kenyatta visited Kakamega to address a public rally.

The Kenyan government will deploy about 52,000 personnel from the Ministry of Education, retired teachers and other government officials to administer national examinations following the two-week national strike by teachers pressing for the implementation of a pay award.

As the stalemate between striking teachers and the government threatens to enter into the third week with no solution in sight, The East African Standard speaks to Professor Okoth Okombo of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nairobi and the Secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), Nairobi branch, Mr Kamau Mureu, on the implication of the strike and the possible ways out of it.

The Kenya Wildlife Service and conservation organisations have expressed urgent concern about elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade following the seizure in Shanghai, China of a 3.6 ton shipment of ivory from Kenya. ECOTERRA NEWS interviewed Dr. Paula Kahumbu, CITES co-ordinator, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

In Kenya, many students are starting a second week without lessons, as the country's state teachers continue to strike. The teachers are demanding that the government implement a 1997 salary deal, but the Education Ministry has refused and declared the strike illegal.

A coalition of organisations involved in the fight for access to essential medicines in Kenya, has urged the Kenyan government to clarify its "contradictory" position on a new law aimed at expanding use of HIV/AIDS treatment in the country.

Lake Naivasha faces extinction due to the diversion of water for irrigation, the government has warned. Nakuru District Commissioner Aggrey Mudinyu has ordered flower growers to install meters to enable the government to monitor their water consumption.

Ministry of Roads and Public Works officials are being investigated for corruption.
Anti-Corruption Police Unit officers, led by Dr John Orora, are expected to scrutinize the ministry's headquarters for a month.

Some 240 000 teachers around Kenya went on indefinite strike on Monday over a long-standing pay dispute with the government, which they reproach for not paying a 200 percent hike promised in 1997, their union officials said.

The Kenyan cyber-cafe market is overcrowded. Too many cyber-cafes are chasing customers by offering unsustainable access rates. Last month five cafes closed, one of which operated a major facility. Cafe operators who want to survive are now having to look to providing something other than low price internet access. Russell Southwood spoke to Irene Mkwenda of Nairobi Business Cyber.com about the problems operators face in a tight market.

The Kenyan Community Abroad (KCA) has expressed its "concern and distress" over the disturbing political events taking place in the country. "Officially sanctioned violence seems to have become a standard prelude to our general and presidential elections," the organization said in a statement.

A dissenting group within Kenya's ruling party Kanu has threatened to form its own party if open elections are not held to choose the presidential candidate.

As parties prepare for Kenya's crucial presidential, parliamentary and civil elections, due later this year, where do women - one of Kenya's largest constituencies - feature in the political landscape? This time around, unlike previous elections, the stakes are much higher, and the political game is different.