The activities of Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), a civil society organization (CSO) based in Mombasa, Kenya, demonstrate the significant role budget transparency plays in improving accountability. MUHURI’s work also shows how public engagement in the budget process can strengthen oversight and lead to improved public service delivery. At the same time, MUHURI’s impact has been restricted by the lack of a Freedom of Information (FOI) law in Kenya, along with other broad transparency challenges in the country.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) would like to comment on the ongoing debate about prosecution of perpetrators and financiers responsible for the post-election violence versus the role of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) in handling the question of justice. To begin with, KHRC wishes to remind Kenyans that the post-election violence as result of the disputed presidential elections in December 2007 led to massive deaths, displacement, injuries and destruction of property.

Lucy Simiyu worries about where Kenya is headed as a nation, as she discovers that it is ‘not just the local mama by the roadside’ that is caught up in the ‘falsehoods and stereotypes’ that feed the enmity between the country’s ethnic groups, ‘but also highly educated professionals’ who should be ‘the voice of reason’. Critical of politicians who increase this polarisation between people for their own ends, Simiyu calls for Kenyans to take a stand against intolerance and recognise that ‘no one ethnic group can take this nation to its great heights without the support of the others’.

Once again the heavy-handedness of the Kenyan police has resulted in the arrest of 27 young members of Bunge La Wananchi this week in Limuru. They were locked up for simply voicing their concern as citizens of Kenya for the accountable use of CDF funds in Kenya. Solidarity Network Kenya calls for their immediate release.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/443/57905_Maumau_poster_tmb.jp… the Talais' history and experiences under British colonialism, Bill Rutto discusses the plight of a Kenyan group still suffering under the weight of a colonial-era expulsion order. The ruling clan of the Kipsigi people, the Talai were the victims of a wholesale round-up once it became apparent to the British authorities that they could not be simply controlled, Rutto writes. Following their expulsion the group came to squat on the outskirts of Kericho town, where they remain over half a century later, the Kenyan and British governments oblivious to their cause. But with their compatriots the Mau Mau bringing legal action against the British government, will the Talai be able to pursue justice themselves, Rutto asks in this week's Pambazuka News.

Poor rains have heightened food insecurity in Kenya's northwestern region of Turkana, where malnutrition rates in children under five have risen above the emergency threshold, according to humanitarian officials."Poor rains in April, May and June worsened food insecurity in the region, where 74 percent of the population [estimated at 550,000] already depends on food aid," Vincent Kahi, the health coordinator for the International Rescue Committee (IRC), said on 15 July at a press briefing in Nairobi.

Kenyan manufacturers have lamented the decline in their export volumes to the US since the introduction of trade rules that do not offer exclusive access to textile products to the American market. The Apparel Sector chairman of the Kenyan Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Jaswinder Bedi, said Kenya's exports to US under the US African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) had continued to decline over the last six years.

After a 50-year wait, thousands of Kenyans in Central Province have received the most coveted asset in the country – a piece of land. The move is not only good news for those allocated the land but for the country as a whole as the move will boost food security when the recipients start farming wheat, beans, maize and livestock on the 6,070ha.

An acute shortage of water resources has hit Kenya pushing the country into a crisis as water sources dry up in what experts say is a looming ecological disaster. The shortage has been complicated by drying up of water sources including rivers, lakes , dams ,wells and springs and worsened by a an ongoing 10 month drought.

The names of key suspects involved in violence after the 2007 Kenyan election have been handed to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Mediator Kofi Annan said he had handed the names in a sealed envelope to the prosecutor in The Hague.

In Kenyan history, the land issue has been an emotive issue. To address this problem, the government embarked on the formation of a national land Policy through a widely consultative process with the aim of producing a policy whose vision was to guide the country towards efficient, sustainable and equitable use of land for prosperity and posterity.

In this book, gender justice activists from Men for Gender Equality Now (MEGEN Kenya) share their personal experiences as individuals and as Changemakers. Besides personal stories told by activists, this publication also includes short briefs on the work of MEGEN Kenya, highlighting the challenges, successes and lessons learned in different program areas.

"You are sick and it is the weekend. You have a fever and you're sweating and vomiting so you fear you have malaria. You need medical attention. All the money you have is what is in your pocket, a total of $3.59. You never went to school so you do not know how to read or write. You live in the Kibera slums."This was one scenario played out on a leafy Washington campus, as students in the summer program at the Washington International School struggled to understand life on the edge for children in Nairobi's notorious slums.

Demand for medical male circumcision has been rising in Kenya's south-western Nyanza Province since it became available as part of a package of HIV prevention services in November 2008. Although local communities do not traditionally practice male circumcision, intensive sensitization programmes by governmental and non-governmental organizations are boosting acceptability.

Concern is mounting in Kenya that the government has leased a big slice of agricultural land to the Qatari foreign investors to produce food for export. Land rights activists are questioning the rationale of such a move, claiming the land could be used for domestic food production. The activists say that they are privy to information that the government has leased 40,000 hectares of land to the Qatari administration for cultivation of fruits and vegetables for export.

Kenyan security forces beat and tortured hundreds of civilians in several communities during an October 2008 disarmament operation in Kenya's northeastern Mandera districts, Human Rights Watch has said in a report. Human Rights Watch called on the Kenyan government to establish an independent inquiry without further delay to investigate and then prosecute those responsible.

A survey by an anti-graft watchdog has found Kenya east Africa's most graft-prone nation with a bribe expected or solicited in nearly half of all transactions, followed by Uganda and Tanzania. The inaugural East Africa Bribery Index, according to Reuters yesterday, showed Kenya's police force was the most corrupt public institution with 66.5 per cent bribery rate.

The International Rescue Committee is launching an emergency measles vaccination campaign targeting thousands of refugee children in Hagadera camp to contain an outbreak of the disease at the massively overcrowded site. The IRC has confirmed six cases of the highly contagious virus and suspects 19 other cases in Hagadera, one of three overflowing camps in Dadaab, eastern Kenya

The 4th edition of the annual Lola Kenya Screen audiovisual media festival for children and youth in eastern Africa will be held at Goethe-Institut, Nairobi, Kenya, August 10-15, 2009. The only festival in Africa exclusively designed for children and youth, Lola Kenya Screen was established in October 2005 to explore, identify and nurture creative talents among children and youth in areas of filmmaking, cultural journalism, events planning and presentation and critical appreciation of creativity.

cc With Kenya's exploitative elites continuing to monopolise the country's resources, Antony Otieno Ong’ayo argues that profound change is needed to halt a debilitating 46-year status quo of marginalisation and impoverishment for much of the Kenyan populace. While change will ultimately need to come from below, Otieno Ong’ayo contends, Kenya's leadership will need to moderate its relentless appetite for wealth if 'business-as-usual' is to be prevented.