A case in which the Ogiek community have challenged the government over their tribal Mau Forest land will now be heard on July 23. Although the community went to court over a year ago contesting a government decision to excise parts of the expansive Mau forests of Kenya to settle other communities, the case has yet to be heard because the government has yet to file its defense.

A former director of Kenyatta National Hospital and four other senior officials on Monday appeared in a Nairobi court facing corruption charges. The director, Dr. Hosea Waweru, was charged with abusing his office by authorising the payment of 5.3 million shillings as refund of duty and value added tax to High Voltage Communications Limited.

A new study on child mortality in Kenya says that newly-born underweight babies admitted to the country's leading public hospital are at a higher risk of dying within the first month than Nigerian children were more than 25 years ago. According to the study, which is another damning indictment of the poor standards of healthcare at Kenyan public hospitals, low birthweight babies admitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) - the country's biggest and most advanced hospital - are also more likely to die than those admitted to the institution more than a quarter of a century ago.

The United States and Britain have urged Kenya to go to the polls this year on schedule and ignore a ruling party proposal for a delay, a plan widely seen as a ploy to prolong President Daniel arap Moi's rule.

Fraud and corruption cases are on the increase in East Africa, threatening to undo economic gains made by the region, says a new report.

Parts of southeastern Kenya, which received exceptionally poor rainfall during May, are experiencing the stress of drought - even as flooding subsides in western and eastern parts of the country, according to a new vulnerability update for the country.

The Head of the Anti-Corruption Police Unit (ACPU), Swaleh Slim, says legislation is already in progress to ensure that those guilty of corruption not only get the sack but will also not enjoy their ill-gotten wealth after coming out of jail.

The International Federation of Journalists, the world's largest journalist's group, and the Eastern Africa Journalist Association (EAJA), have expressed their strong concern regarding the adoption of a repressive media law in Kenya. "This unequivocal attempt by the government to control the media is appalling", said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary.

Nakuru, the fast growing capital of the Rift Valley Province, Kenya, is a good example of a town which serves as an urban centre for a predominantly rural area. It demonstrates rural-urban linkages and shows the need for ecological protection of its own natural environment. The Localising Agenda 21 programme promotes practical measures to improve urban governance, combining the use of strategic structure plans with urban pacts to create a process of vision, action and communication.

Governments in East Africa have been told to facilitate the inclusion of more women in politics to enhance their participation in governance. An MP in the East Africa Assembly, MP Betty Amongi of Uganda, said her country was ahead of Kenya and Tanzania in that respect. It had embraced a scheme that ensured many women made it to Parliament.

Universities have been told to do research on the low number of girls at all levels of education and recommend remedies to the government. It was not enough to sit back and complain that only a small percentage of female students managed to make it beyond secondary school, says educationist Eddah Gachukia.

LOCAL governments have been urged to ensure integration of gender concerns into their budgeting and planning, for effective utilisation of the Local Government Development Program (LGDP) funds.

The Ministry of Education has allocated over Sh 540 million for the school bursary scheme, with a strong focus on promoting girl-child education. The Permanent Secretary, Mr Japheth Kiptoon, said a policy has been adopted to ensure that all girls attend school. "All Provincial and District Education Officers have strict instructions to have all disadvantaged girls taken to classrooms," said Kiptoon.

Kenya launched a countrywide measles vaccination campaign on Monday in what is considered the first major step towards eradicating the highly contagious childhood disease, which kills an estimated 18,000 children a year in the country.

Corruption has been blamed for the Nairobi City Council's Sh20 billion debt. Mayor Dick Waweru said the worst hit departments were the water and rates sections, where the council was losing millions of shillings monthly due to non-payment of bills by the public, who collude with council staff.

Talks aimed at finding a lasting solution to the 19-year conflict between the Sudan government and rebels opened in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Monday with both parties expressing commitment to a ceasefire agreement. The talks are being held under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body which groups Kenya, Uganda, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.

Kenya's political opposition has reacted furiously to a proposal by the country's ruling party to extend the term of President Daniel arap Moi and the current parliament by up a year. Opposition leaders threatened to call for mass protests if the government party tried to push through the change.

Thousands of Somali refugees will be moved from camps in north eastern Kenya to Kakuma, near the Sudanese border. The movement of 11,860 refugees from Ifo, Dagahley and Hagardera camps on the border with Somalia will be the largest movement of refugees inside Kenya in a decade. The camps are run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

A group of five leading global public health organisations have launched a nationwide anti-measles campaign in Kenya, to be conducted from 17 to 23 June, through vaccinations targeting some 14 million children between the ages of nine months and 14 years, who constitute up to 40 percent of the country's population.

Viewed in contrast to many of its neighbors, Kenya is often seen as a bastion of stability. The country has several strengths that militate against the outbreak of mass violence, but it also exhibits many of the factors that have been markers of civil strife elsewhere in Africa: strong ethnic divisions, polarized political issues, political manipulation, rampant violence, socio-economic disparities and a lack of economic opportunity, and endemic corruption. When combined with the increased availability of firearms, this dangerous mix becomes all the more volatile. The easy availability of such weapons within the country contributes to the growing culture of violence that is taking root inside Kenya. In addition to rising crime and generalized insecurity in recent years, the country has experienced repeated flashes of politically inspired ethnic violence, especially during election periods. Those instigating this deadly violence have not been held to account. This continuing pattern of violence and impunity, together with the spread of small arms, threatens Kenyan society and greatly endangers human rights.