The Anchor, April 2010

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MPs stance in reform agenda leaves them in…

A Big Trap

By Syomilili Kyuma

MPs in the NO campaign are hemmed in a big trap if the YES campaign carries the day, investigations by The Anchor show. The biggest danger is the eventuality that voters may see the NO MPs as opponent of real change, a very popular them that is sweeping right across the country like a bush fire.

Pundits see the NO campaigners as endangered species of leaders who will fall off the precipice in the next election as they will be identified as part and parcel of woes that afflict a new constitutional dispensation. If YES carries the day, NO campaigners will have to look for a way to reinvent themselves. If NO wins, YES campaigners will identify by name the opponents of change and ask citizens to punish them as such. It is this eventuality that is making many leaders waver between YES and NO.

So frightening is the quest for change that Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has sought refuge in the YES side even when utterances and body language are glued to the tenets that bound the NO campaigns.

In Ukambani, master of theatrics Mutito MP Mr Kiema Kilonzo has finally resurfaced, after several months of political limbo after he fell out with the Simama Kenya brigade which has now lost steam.

Now the maverick MP has positioned himself to lead the NO bandwagon in Ukambani where he hosted religious leaders and asked the region to oppose the document. His stand is most confusing and many believe that he is in NO, merely for the sake of it or just for the heck of being in the opposite side with Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.

But if ever there was doubt whether Kiema’s theatrics would trap anyone, the Mutito MP has ended up trapping himself.

For though Kalonzo is officially campaigning for Yes vote to please his master and gain the possibility of being the anointed heir, his lieutenants and body language are actually saying NO to the proposed Constitution.

Mwingi South MP David Musila, Mwala MP Pastor Daniel Muoki, Machakos Town MP Dr. Victor Munyaka, Makueni MP Peter Kiilu, Masinga MP Itwiku Mbai and Kibwezi MP Prof Philip Kaloki, all known as last disciples of the VP, are all singing NO in whatever form. Those in the know are saying that in just a matter of time, the VP will fall off the YES campaign and detour in a manner that will amount to a NO campaign.

So if Kiema Kilonzo ever thought he was a smart operative, he would better prepare himself to resume doing the dirty jobs he did for Kalonzo during his second term as MP.

Intelligence sources say the VP is bitter that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has owned the YES campaign as if to show that it does not matter what position the VP, or even the President takes in the campaigns. The sources blame the VP for allowing the PM the latitude he enjoys in leading the YES campaign. The space was created by the VP himself for showing a wavering stance over whether to support or oppose the Proposed Constitution.

The VP must also be furious that he is in the same side as Water and Irrigation Minister Charity Ngilu, a fiery adversary of the VP and real face of the YES vote in Lower Eastern region. Assistant Minister Wavinya Ndeti, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mutula Kilonzo and Kangundo MP Johnson Muthama are also on the YES side where also John Harun Mwau is perceived to belong, though he has been heard faulting the proposed draft. Kaiti MP Gedion Ndambuki is yet to declare his stand, a trick that NO proponents are using to see where the wind is blowing from before they take a stand.

What the local MPs are unaware of is the fact that the battle line for the next General Election are being drawn now and anyone caught on the wrong side of the campaign ought to begin packing his bags early enough to leave Parliament.

Kiema Kilonzo was forced to take a quiet retreat into the cold political wilderness when he was thrown out of the Simama Kenya outfit for reasons that are yet to be made public, although many believe it has everything to do with money.

Now his guns are traded at the constitutional review debate, an opportunity that has luckily given him a chance for renewal from political hibernation. Those who know Kiema believe that if the draft law debate was to run for long, the MP would soon drop out on his own.

The youthful MP exploited the Simama Kenya bandwagon to raise his political stature beyond Ukambani where he attempted to project himself as the third force after Kalonzo and his arch-rival, Mrs.Ngilu.

To hoodwink his new political suitors in Simama Kenya, Kiema did not hesitate to attack either of the two if occasion arose and even went ahead to christen himself the “Obama of Ukambani”.

He appears to have taken the path to self destruction taken by Professor Kivutha Kibwana, Kalembe Ndile, Joseph Munyao and John Katuku- by posing that they could stand without leaning on either Kalonzo or Ngilu- leading to their disastrous rejection by voters and sinking into oblivion.

An expert political survivor, Kiema has in the past hinged himself at every emerging opportunity to his benefit and sometimes his benefactors.

Described by many of his enemies in Ukambani as a “political gun for hire’’ or, better still, a “mouth for hire” due to his sycophantic, controversial and often abrasive approach, Kiema sometimes shames his foes and other times, himself by shrewdly or crudely overcoming every obstacle in his way.

An expert political hunter, Kiema knows when to attack or retreat only to come back and exploit emerging opportunities in the political landscape. Only this time, Kiema will have to device a strategy to bolt out from the corner he has hemmed himself into.

When he ventured into politics in 1997 on a KANU ticket, many underestimated his power but he managed second position before rebounding back in 2002 after a close association with Mr Musyoka.

When he was rigged out during the NARC nominations, he quickly joined Ford-People party that was not only unknown but unpopular but he managed to beat many contenders for the Mutito seat to emerge the winner.

As soon as he won the seat he abandoned Ford-People to join the Kalonzo Musyoka’s camp in Liberal Democratic Party where he fiercely defended him as to earn the unpalatable tag of “Kalonzo bodyguard”.

After the 2007 elections and as soon as his fortunes in ODM-K proved doomed, he ditched camp and transformed himself from being Kalonzo’s most fearless and ingenious defender to become his acidic critic.

To display his frustrations with Kalonzo, Kiema has baptized Kalonzo as Judas on his mobile phone book. Each time the VP calls him on his mobile, the name JUDAS flashes, in a bid to drive home his contention that the VP betrayed his erstwhile bodyguard.

So why has Kiema chosen the NO campaign? Those close to him know no reason why he is opposed to the draft law. Even as MPs fought to force amendments to the draft, very little was heard of Kiema. But Kiema has come to master when and who to oppose so as to remain relevant.

With Kiema taking the lead of the NO vote in Ukambani, a virgin opportunity will have presented itself to outshine the VP and Mrs. Ngilu, now conjoined in the YES side due to their obligations to President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga respectively.

Kiema who is emerging as a third force in lower Eastern after Kalonzo and Ngilu now. By pushing for NO, Kiema is weighing himself in the league of William Ruto, Daniel arap Moi, John Muchuki, Njeru Githae and Peter Munya, among others in the hope of ever coming face to face with the Lion of the YES campaign- Raila Odinga.

Raila has fiercely taken up the Yes side pushing others, including the President to the periphery. In effect, Raila has eaten up into Kamba territory, looping in former MPs Daudi Mwanzia, Kalembe, Peter Maundu and Francis Nyenze, among others, another reality that is causing sleepless nights to Mr Musyoka in view of the battle ahead for the Presidency.

Yatta MP who is a harsh Kalonzo critic has also been roped into the Raila camp, going by his playing a key role in the recent Raila tour of Machakos District.

Unity calls with Kalonzo are self-serving, Mrs Ngilu declares

W

ATER and Irrigation Min­is­ter Charity Ngilu has ruled out ever co-op­er­ating with sleeping leaders, saying such a move would force her into inactivity.

Responding to calls by church leaders who in­cluded Machakos Catholic Bishop Mar­tin Kivuva and Redeemed Gospel Bishop Jo­seph Mutua, Mrs Ngilu said it was mean­ingless for anyone to urge her to work together with leaders who have zero pro­duc­tivity. “What would be the motive of uniting with leaders who have no agenda to advance the lives of our poor citi­zens?’, she asked.

“ How about a leader who is asleep; Why tell me to unite and speak with one voice with such a leader?’’, asked the Water and Irrigation minister to deaf­ening applause.

The same theme of unity was picked by Machakos Town MP Dr.Victor Munyaka, who called for an end to the power wrangles between the Vice President Ka­lonzo Musyoka and Water minister Charity Ngilu.

He said there is urgent need for the two to unite and guide the community to­wards social,economic and political prosperity.

But Mrs.Ngilu differed with the Mp over the unity call, saying she saw no point of uniting with “lazy” leaders.

She said every leaders has his or her own programs which may not nec­essarily be the priority of others.”How do you expect to tell me to work with Munyaka for ex­ample when by that time he is en­joying his sleep?;Do you want me to join him in his sleep when my agenda is delivering service to wananchi?”,posed Ngilu with the crowd responding with a resounding “NO”.

She said she has been wondering why people are asking her to speak with one voice with other leaders whenever she toured Ukambani yet some of them have nothing to show despite their long stint in government- a veiled attack on the VP who recently celebrated 25years as MP, a bash that cost Sh 8m to organize.

Mrs Ngilu dismisses Kalonzo as selfish leader whose agenda is driven by ‘Me, Myself and I’, culminating in long a long service as MP but with little or no achievement to show.

“I have only been in government for eight years since I joined politics in 1997 but I am happy I have something to show as a thumbprint “ in Kitui Central, Ukambani in particular and other parts of the county, said the Kitui Central MP.

They were speaking at Maruba dam in Machakos town during prayers to bless the water project rehabilitated at a cost of Kshs.350m.Bishop Kivuva dedicated the dam which has since filled to ca­pacity following heavy rains pounding the area.

Machakos Town MP, supported by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka claim credit for the project while public opinion holds that the dam is as a result of the firm and resolute leadership exhibited by Mrs. Ngilu. To date a row rages as to who be­tween the Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Presi­dent Mwai Kibaki ought to in­au­gu­rate the dam, with the VP sticking out his neck to have Mr Kibaki perform the official opening.

Mrs Ngilu said she has forgiven people who vandalized a plague she had un­veiled to commemorate the re­ha­bili­tation of Maruba dam in Macha­kos.

The minister also forgave those he said had talked ill about her and the kshs.350m water project in the recent past.

“I hereby forgive those who removed the plague and those who insulted me over this ambitious project for they did not know what they were doing”, declared Mrs.Ngilu.

The minister dismissed the removal of the plague as inconsequential, adding plans were being made to replace it. Mrs.Ngilu ruled out the possibility of uniting and working together with the Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka unless it is a unity of purpose. She said she did not support President Kibaki in 2007 “because there are issues he had promised to fulfill after the 2002 general election but he failed to do so”. On constitution, Mrs.Ngilu said the new law will change the face of the country and the wellbeing of her people.

Makueni DC draws new list of elders for census payment

By DANIEL KITUKU

M

akueni District Commissioner Mr. Ochilo Oyugi is compiling a parallel list of village el­ders to be paid for the 2009 census.

This means that about 263 village elders from Makueni and Kathonzweni districts, who were deployed during the census, might not be paid after all.

This follows Mr. Ochilo Oyugi’s blatant re­fusal to authorise for their payment for reasons yet to be given.

According to Makueni district statistics officer, Mr. Julius Nduu, the payment of the village elders amounting to Sh. 420,800 was received last month but the district commissioner who is a signatory to the bank account declined to sign their payment.

Shamelessly, the DC recently told a group of village elders at a meeting that their payment had not been sent to the dis­trict, urging them to be patient. That position is untrue and many are won­dering why the DC was mis­rep­re­senting the facts.

Ochilo, who was addressing a Rapid Re­sult Initiative meeting at Makueni county coun­cil hall, also claimed that payment for security officers involved during the census was also not paid, another untrue position.

However the statistics officer differed with the district commissioner saying that no other pending payments apart from those of the village elders whom the DC was withholding.

However Mr. Nduu said: “Only village el­ders who participated during the census will be paid even if one has since been dismissed.” It means that the list the DC is manufacturing will be useless afterall.

Mr.Oyugi’s decision is being viewed as ille­gal and he must present an ex­pla­nation why he is manufacturing a new list of el­ders while the 2009 census list of el­ders exists. This de­cision means that the DC is headed for a conflict not just with the officers concerned but the hundreds of elders, most of them the age mates of his father, who served a na­tional calling in good faith.

Mr Mutune Kiinga, 67, and hailing from Kitise says the village elders may be con­tem­plating cursing the DC. “Why is our son doing this to us?”, he asked.

Observers are wondering what reason the DC might be having for his new list and fear that corruption might be taking its toll on the payment process. The statistics officer ex­pressed fear that the money might be taken back to treasury if it will not have been paid by end of this month. Each village elder is supposed to be paid Ksh 1,600.

“I will not be compromised to divert the money elsewhere and in will ensure that the 263 village elders whom their names are appearing in the payroll receive their payments.” Said Mr. Nduu.

The village elders are appealing for per­ma­nent secretary in the provincial ad­min­is­tration to intervene to have the DC authorize to their payment.Meanwhile, Mr Oyugi faced em­barrassment after heads gov­ernment departments in Makueni dis­trict boy­cotted a meeting to launch the 3^rd wave of Rapid Result Initiative for the dis­trict.

Mr Oyugi had created an impression that the Departmental Heads would account to him what they do, while the RRI makes each of the officers an­swerable to their superiors in the Pro­vin­cial level

Only three out of twenty heads of de­partment attended the meeting in which they were in­vited to present their written progress re­port on the achievements and challenges they met to achieve their RRI.

During the meeting, mostly attended by all chiefs and their assistants in the area, the few heads of department present were rep­ri­manded by the furious DC.

Several heads of department who boy­cotted the meeting and spoke on strict condition of anonymity complained of a short period of two days given to prepare for their pre­sen­tations and frosty re­la­tionships with the District Commissioner .

The rasping DC, who is only last four months old at Wote, seems set to run roughshod over other government offi­cials.

“Mr. Ochilo should understand that we are officers and not his recruits in a se­cu­rity training college waiting for pass out and he should change his approach.” Said a de­partment officer, who spoke on con­dition of anonymity and who recently brushed shoul­ders with the DC.

Ochilo directed chiefs to send their daily re­ports over amount of illicit brew seized in the respective areas to his office warning them that whoever fails to eradi­cate illicit brew will loss his job.

“Some of you frustrate efforts to prevent crime even to stub out the illicit brew, taking bribes from brewers to protect them” noted the DC.Efforts to obtain a comment from the DC were fruitless.

Turmoil now hits AIC Athi River

By Anchor Reporters

A STORM is raging in Athi River AIC for quite some time now, creating a huge rift in the church.

Tension is high and all fingers are pointing at threet Pastors who are frus­trating el­ders efforts to stem the crisis. Nine Church elders have send a pe­tition to Area Bishop Boniface Nguyo de­manding the removal of the pastors- but as usual, the petition has landed on deaf ears.

We therefore strongly recommend the immediate transfer of the three Pastors from AIC Athi River,aid the elders. They are: Mr. Benjamin Kitolo, Mr. Philip Manga ,Mr. Michael Mutune Mr. Isaac Malonza Mr. Justus Kyavi, Mr. Wilson Mutunga, Mr. David Kavoi, Mr. James Waita, and Mr. Peter Mutiso.

“ So as to save the escalating state of affairs getting out of hand in the church, it would help much if the transfers are effected latest by end of April 2009.May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be suffi­cient to us all as we reason together on this matter to the glory and honour of God whom we all serve.

They say they realized that there were problems in the church brought by 3 pastors.

“ We approached the elders we elected so that action can be taken. The elders discussed the problems with the three pastors but the 3 pastors were adamant and uncooperative.

The elders met and wrote a letter to the DCC for the 3 pastors to be transferred. The matter is complicated by the fact that the pastors are influential members of the DCC and once a complaint is made, they arm themselves and fight back like tigers to remove elected elders who raise the red flag.

After the letter to the DCC, one of the pastors- Pastor Joseph Muthama who is the vice-chairman of the DCC swore that he will make sure he suspends the elders since he claims to be most powerful per­son in the DCC being supported by two DCC officials the Secretary and the Treasurer.

True to his word Muthama solely sus­pended six elders after un­successfully coercing two elders to withdraw. “We church members are annoyed by the action of pastor Muthama because he or the DCC has no authority to suspend elected el­ders of the church.”, they said

The letter so enraged the 3 pastors that soon, abusive messages targeting mem­bers and elders began flying arround. “The first one was by Pastor Stephen Maweu who abused the elders in the midst of the members whom we elected these elders followed by Pastor Lady Priscillar Mwendwa and by Pastor Joseph Muthama”, says the letter that The An­chor has seen.

The letter says: “We understand the DCC summoned the elders to explain the prob­lem. When Muthama was requested to go(out), he declined.”

In the end, no action was taken,most likely because Muthama is member of the executive committee and the secretary of the DCC, who is an also an elder of in the LCC is an ally of Pastor Maweu.

“ When the DCC failed to take action we decided to see the Regional Church Chairman and the Area Bishop- Rt Rev Nguyo.. We were given assurance that the DCC was instructed to transfer the 3 pastors and report back to chairman RCC and the area Bishop. After waiting in vain for action,we members returned to the Area Bishop. He met us and in our presence instructed the chairman of the DCC and his council members to transfer the 3 pastors.”, the letter adds.

The full council of the DCC met and re­solved the three pastors to be trans­ferred but since the executive committee is composed of Muthama and two members who are supporters of the three pastors, the secretary of the DCC Peter Mutiso and Benson Kimuyu the trea­surer, nothing happened and resi­dents are now seeing this as part of the growing rebellion within the church where a ren­egade Bishop David Mbuvi is wrestling church leadership from Presiding Bishop Silas Yego.

There are many management problems in the Machakos Area with virtually every DCC having its own share of trouble that range from sex scandals, mis­man­agement of Church funds or outright dereliction of duty, bringing into question the capacity of the church to manage its own affairs and resolve disputes amicably while at the same time upholding high moral stan­dards churches ought to keep if they are to re­main respectable in the community of congregations.

Matters have not been helped by the fact that Bishop Mbuvi seems to control a rea­sonable chunk of church following and seems set to take war to unbelievable heights to oust Bishop Yego.

Observers are now seeing a clear link be­tween the inefficiency in the church with the growing rebellion, with many faithful identifying the current church leadership with ineffective leadership and seeing Bishop Mbuvi as a possible savior, even when that may not be so.

One such case is in Kangundo DCC where action has not been taken to key leader of the DCC who is also a pastor was found in a lodging house in Nairobi, a matter that is threatening to tear up the DCC.

So confusing are the scenarios that Mbuvi allies are in some instances so em­bedded in the DCCs and fraught with sin that the Yego follower, even as they claim le­giti­macy in office have trouble in running AIC offices.

In the Kangundo saga, it remains con­fusing whether the accused Pastor Rev Makau can not be send home due to his wayward ways as a solution is being sought. ‘’ It seems that the AIC can not resolve disputes due to these linkages of friendships and loyalties and we are ready to take the bull by the horns in Kangundo and wherever to rid our church of sin, said Paramount Chief Savano Maveke.

The Kangundo case has seem close to 100 letters sent helter-skelter as wor­shippers seek solutions to ending the rows that the church leadership is seemingly afraid of tackling. ‘’They seem to fear that any action may open the pandora’s box and expose church lead­ership. So the church leaders ignore such calls for action in the hope that the protests will end. But they are cheating themselves as each of the regions has its hot issues which will erupt into a big fire soon’’, said a Senior Pastor in Machakos DCC who declined to be named.

In the Athi River case, the pastors have resisted the transfers and have hand­picked their own people to run the church without the mandate of the church members, sparking a new wave of pro­tests.

One telling incident was witnessed when a delegate sent from the region saw goons invade AIC Athi River to prevent him from presenting a message evicting the pastors from the church. ‘’Before the CED chairman could give the report, a gang of people had been organized and beat CED Chairman and took him to the police station, where police declined to take action because they said it was a church matter.’’ Adds the letter.

The letter concludes ‘’We are waiting for the RCC to effect the transfers with imme­diate effect. If no action the mem­bers will take upon themselves to make sure the three pastors are out of AIC Athi River.’’

EDITORIAL

Draft Laws: It's time for

citizens to play their role

KENYA is undergoing a crucial moment in its history- that of Constitution Making. The Campaign begun in early 1990s, with the first real fruit coming in 1992 when the then ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) succumbed to pressure and amended Section 2A of the Constitution that allowed for the return of Multi Party politics.

Ever since, a spirited campaign was put into place to enhance constitutional changes after the document was identified as the biggest hindrance to the execution of Good governance in Kenya.

Thus, the road since has been long and winding. It has been marked by loss of lives, spilling of innocent blood, maiming of citizens by Police, street riots, violence, and loss of property, protests and all sorts of petitions. There has also been political deceit, dishonesty and other unacceptable forms of actions- all spanning over 20 years.

In the Kanu days, Kenyans were given to believe that the quest for a new constitution was purely driven by a desire to enhance good governance. Thus in the campaigns for the 2002 elections, Mwai Kibaki’s National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) promised a new constitution in 100 days if elected to office. Believing him, Kenyans elected him and it soon became clear that the 100 days story was a lie. The 100 days have grown into months and years. Indeed it was admitted that the drive at the time was purely aimed at removing from power the then President Daniel arap Moi.

In 2005, after much intrigue and politics, Kenyans were presented with a skewed Draft Constitution which they rejected in a referendum. Come 2007 General Election, Kenya sunk into Post Election Violence and the unresolved issue of a new Constitution was identified in Agenda Four as one of the unresolved issues that may have contributed to the fighting. In effect the agenda for a new constitution was fixed within the realm of the National Accord signed by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, which was also enacted as part of the country’s Constitution.

Parliament then crafted an amendment- The Constitution Review of Kenya Act- bearing in mind the pitfalls that have frustrated past efforts to enact a new constitution, over­lapped them and created a law that allowed only an unstoppable process, complete with time-lines, based on the mechanism of conveyor belt- allowing stakeholders to play their roles and let it roll on to the next stop. Stra­te­gically, it is shepherded by The Committee of Experts (CoE)- a group of experts at Law, both local and foreign.

The past two years since the enactment of the National Accord have therefore seen the laying of the framework that begun the quest of a new constitutional dispensation. The CoE has gone a long way in listening to citizens and stake holders. It has read all sorts of draft laws- the Kilifi Draft, the Bomas Draft, and the rejected Wako Draft and produced The Harmonized Draft Constitution. COE went into sessions with the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Constitution, discussed the draft and eventually produced the Proposed Constitution.

Parliament unsuccessfully tried to alter sections of the Draft but could not manage a single alteration due to the high threshold of two thirds majority that the drafters of the review law set and was passed by the very same MPs. In acrimony, Parliament, nevertheless passed the Proposed Constitution, effectively kissing good-bye any other oppor­tu­nity for Parliament to handle the constitution making process.

In a matter of days, Attorney General Amos Wako will publish the Proposed Constitution and hand it over to the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) to present it for a vote of YES or NO to citizens. If the vote is affirmative, the President has a limited time frame to assent it into law, and if he filibusters with it, the Con­sti­tution will be promulgated automatically.

This is to say that time has come for citizens of Kenya to play their part in constitution making. To do this, they will have to register as voters as only registered voters will participate. We wish to urge our readers to take part in this process and play their role as citizens of Kenya.

As a newspaper, we will be failing our readers if we fail to say some important issues on the Proposed Constitution. First, and most importantly, it guarantees the Media the space it needs to do its work. Secondly, it guarantees access to information to all. The Draft contains a compact Bill of Rights for Kenyans. It also has some clauses that are attracting opposition from some leaders and the Church. We must admit that it is never possible to produce a document that can please everyone. Similarly, Kenya can not be in a constitution making mode longer than it has. Clearly, an end to this is due.

Being a publication that seeks to enhance Good Gov­er­nance, The Anchor, respecting your right to choose, finds the Proposed Constitution of Kenya reasonably acceptable.

Residents’ letter of protest over Makueni CDF

The Chief Ex­ecutive Officer,

CDF Board,

P.O BOX 46682-00100,

NAIROBI.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

RE: Makueni Cdf Accountability

This is in regard to a letter written to you by our advocate dated 2^nd July, 2009 and Ref No. AM/09/cdf/Makueni and which you replied on 13^th July, 2009 Ref No. Cdfboard/Makueni/vol ii/16. You had promised to follow this matter into conclusion.

On behalf of the signatories attached who represent the 10 Divisions of Makueni Con­stituency and the people of Makueni Constituency we wish to make complains regarding to Cdf allocations, accountabilty and expenditure. It is important to note the following;

(i) Since the Year 2008 no information on Cdf has ever been made public, where as the money being spent is tax payers’ money. As citizens we don’t know how projectsare priotized and de­ter­mined for funding because there have never been consultations held according to the act.

(ii) Projects of the Fi­nan­cial Year 2007/08 which had been allocated by the then CDFC and approved by your office were either reallocated without request from the PMCs or approved by your office or they have never been funded altogether. Some of these projects include;

a) Kaiti River Sand dam, Kshs. 2 Million which according to your website it shows it’s an ongoing project.

b) Mwilu Disabled Persons Org Kshs. 500,000

c) Kikumini Water Project Kshs. 1.5 Million

d) Tree Planting Kshs. 750,000

e) Publicity Kshs. 1.3 Million

f) Kasevi Springs Kshs. 300,000.

(iii) The same Financial Year other projects were overpaid without approval. Some of them include,

a) Kwa Muasa Earthdam which had been allocated Kshs.200,000 but the amount spent was Kshs. 1.4 Million

b) Several Sand dams which had been allocated Kshs. 150,000 but the actual amount spent for each was Kshs. 350,000.

(iv) The former CDFC had bought 5 motorcycles and a Toyota Landcruiser for purposes of monitoring. The whereabouts of the motorcycles is not known save for one a KAX 856F which has been given to one Mackenzie Ndolo who is an artist in Wote Town but it operates without the No plate for people not to know. The Landcruiser has always been used for Personal work especilally by the CDFC Secretary and the Constituency Office Manager. A new Mororvehicle, a Toyota Hilux double cabin Reg No. GKA266U has also been spotted several times in the hands of the Constituency Office Manager doing his personal work. He has been using it when going home which is more than 100 Km from Wote almost on daily basis.

(v) Companies which have benefitted from Makueni CDf tenders are either owned by Cdf officials or proxies of the same. Some of them include;

a) Danma Construction which is owned by one Daniel Kivuva Masika, the Constituency Office Manager and also a Cdfc Official AC No. 0670292797325(Equity Bank, Wote). It has benefitted from more than Kshs. 8 Million worth of tenders.

b) Sifra General Merchants owned by two influential Councillors aligned to the MP, has also benefitted from for building sand dams amounting to more than Kshs. 1 Million. Ac No. 0670193166555(Eq­uity Bank, Wote)

c) Other questionable Companies that have immensely benefitted from Makueni Cdf include;

1. Ndaisi General Merchants worth more than Kshs. 6 Million of tenders.

2. Leopat Agencies worth more than Kshs. 2 Million of tenders.

3. Lorris Construction worth more than Kshs. 1 Million of tenders, Ac No. 0320293660949(Eq­uity Bank, Kariobangi)

These companies were crafted to specifically benefit from Cdf tenders. They were not prequalified by the District Tender Committee and therefore it means they don’t remit taxes to the Government yet they benefit from the same taxes. There has been absolute abuse of the procurement procedures. Thorough investigations need to be done to ascertain the owners and whose interest they serve because they seem to be the only beneficiaries.

(vi) Projects of Financial Years 2008/09 and 2009/10 have never been made public todate despite requests from stakeholders. This is against CDF Act and regulations because the public needs to know what is funded, amount allocated and the implementing procedure. WE feel that this has been deliberate due to the unfair distribution of resources done by this committee. In the FY 2008/09, Nguu Ward got an allocation of more than Kshs. 9 Million while the neighbouring Masumba Ward got only Kshs. 960,000 and Mavindini Ward got Kshs. 550,000. It is worthwhile to note that Cdf has been used to reward supporters and punish opposition.

(vii) Bursary disbursement has been another area where suppoters are being rewarded and non supporters being punished. Cdf officials and close confidants of the MP have awarded themselves bursaries at the expense of very poor, bright and needy students and children.

(viii) Legally Cdf ACS have the District Accountant (DA), The District Development Officer (DDO), The CDFC Chair or Secretary or Treasurer as signatories. This is not the Case because theres an illegal signatory in the name of Daniel Kivuva Masika who is neither the Chair, Secretary nor the Treasurer of the CDFC. This implies that massive corruption may be taking place.

AS the people of Makueni we want to state that we strongly support and need development that is participatory, inclusive, accountable, open and transparent but in the prevailing circumstances this is not realisable.

WE therefore pray that your esteemed Office puts on hold all disbursements to Makueni CDF and institute thorough investigations and audit of the fund with regard to the above given grounds. This needs to be done as fast as possible so as to deliver true development to the people of Makueni Constituency.

We hope your esteemed Office will act fast and give us a positive direction.

Yours Faithfully,

,

William Wambua Mulumba,

Chairperson MAPACA BOT.

On behalf of the Attached Signatories.

CC.1. The Permanent Secretary,

Ministry of Finance,

Treasury Building,

Nairobi.

2. The Permanent Secretary,

Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030,

Treasury Building,

Nairobi.

3. The Kenya Anti Corruption Commission,

Integrity Centre,

Valley Road, Nairobi.

What is the issue driving sex scandals in the Catholic Church?

By Archbishop Daniel Kasomo

M

andatory Celibacy is the issue be­hind all the sex scandals faced by the Catholic Church. The bish­ops know this, but they do not have the courage to say it in public. How­ever Some Bishops, Priests and Lay people in Africa, America, Europe and Australia have pointed out the need for res­to­ration of optional celi­bacy and Married Priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. The possibility of married priests and restoration of optional celibacy for the Roman Catholic Church should at least be up for dis­cussion. It’s more important to have good married priests than to have many celibate ho­mo­sexual and child mo­lesters. A shame and scandal to the Church.

Forced celibacy brings with it sexual frustration which then find in­appro­priate outlets. The ob­vious danger of forced celi­bacy is that it forces lust into obscure and terrible channels. The celibacy law obliges the priest to abstain from all forms of sexual activity, though their sexual im­pulses remain virulent, and thus the danger exists that these impulses might be shifted into a ta­boo zone and compensated for in abnormal ways.

Scandalous wrongs cannot be glossed over; we need a change of attitude that makes room for the truth and make celibacy op­tional. As we sympathize with sex abuse vic­tims in the Catholic Church. It has been pointed out in the mass me­dia that a Massive sexual abuse of chil­dren and ado­les­cents and ho­mo­sexu­ality by Catholic cler­gymen has been reported from the United States, from Ireland, from Australia, from Africa, from Kenya, from Ger­many and now from Vatican the home of Roman Catho­lic Church. As similar scan­dals be­gin to explode in Holland, Swit­zer­land, and Austria. . No one disputes the data now; ev­ery­one disputes the nature of the problem. And worse than that, the data simply keeps piling up on all sides. And you know what celi­bacy is the Issue.

This represents an enormous image loss for the Catholic Church and spot­lights the pro­found crisis in which this church is caught. Pope Benedict XVI deserves credit for breaking the wall of silence, and for dem­on­strating that no abuser will be protected on his watch. We en­courage him to go further and declare that celibacy is the issue.

Priestly ‑celibacy is “not a dogma” and its usefulness could be “re­flected on” in the Church. Well, the golden calf of man­datory celi­bacy needs to be struck down. The pope and the curia need to stop hiding behind the fairytale lan­guage that de­scribes the so called perfect celi­bacy to which priests are called. The first priests were married and it was normal for priests to be married. Jesus chose married men who loved their wives and continued to raise their children. This nonsense about the apostles having to give up sexual contact with their wives is totally unsubstantiated, another fairytale from the celibate mindset of the curia in the Vatican. It is better to learn a lesson from Jesus by making celibacy optional than to be taught a lesson by sex scan­dals of the clergy.

There was a married priesthood when the De­posit of Faith was set. It is supported by Scrip­ture. The Church had no right to change what Christ had blessed and allowed. The Church has sinned by in­sti­tuting this false and illicit celi­bacy re­quirement on ev­ery Latin Rite priest. Celi­bacy must be freely chosen and it is not freely chosen when it be­comes a job re­quirement as it is in the Latin Rite. The pope and the curia con­tinue to sin by supporting this illicit man­date. Marriage is a sac­rament, celibacy is not. The relationship of this world-wide sexual abuse of chil­dren by so called perfectly celibate priests needs to be examined. But first, correct the church’s abuse of the priesthood which makes celi­bacy greater than the priesthood.

The bishops’ denial that there is any connection between the celi­bacy rule and the abuse prob­lem can only confirm their criticism. The pre­vailing prac­tice of Episcopal cover-ups, of moving offenders from one parish to an­other rather than ex­pose them either to legal accountabil­ity or to moral cen­sure in the public arena is part of the problem. The question is, “What did they know and when did they know it?” In other words, were they involved in the cover up, or were they just clueless bishops.

The bish­ops have accepted enough re­spon­si­bility. Of course, it is good to hear that wholehearted mea­sures are now being taken to bring cases of abuse to light and to prevent them in the future. Nev­er­theless, one must ask, do not the bishops themselves bear re­spon­si­bility for the decades-long practice of covering up cases of abuse, often taking no more se­rious measures than re­lo­cating the perpetrator under the veil of secrecy? Have the cover-up spe­cialists of the past suddenly be­come credible un-coverers? Must not independent commissions be es­tab­lished to deal with such cases? From the beginning, the “sex scandal and abuse crisis” has ac­tually been an in­ter­locking set of two prob­lems: the abuse committed by some priests, and the ad­min­is­trative fail­ures of some bish­ops who should have known better to deal with the problem by simply rec­ommending for celi­bacy to be made optional.

The Catholic Church is seemingly endless abuse scan­dal because of forced celibacy. Seemingly endless because although the cases of abuse are all relatively re­cent, there’s no way of knowing just how far back this abuse had been part of the Church under-culture but most likely after the imposition of forced celi­bacy. Bish­ops and car­di­nals can be forced to step down as it happened in Central African Re­pub­lic, Ireland and other places but still that is part of the prob­lem. The solution is optional celibacy. This is running away from the prob­lem, let them stay put and call for Vatican III and invite Married Roman Catholic Bish­ops and vote for optional celibacy because celi­bacy is the issue. A semi­nary in Europe was closed down because celibacy was the issue. Ma­jority of the seminarians were ho­mo­sexuals.

Switching off the Bishops who know where the shoe pinches will not help. As long as the perception is that the Catho­lic Church has fixed its priests’ problem but not its bish­ops’ problem, many people will see that as a job half done. So jus­tice in this matter should not be applied se­lec­tively but let us make celibacy op­tional for all the clergy. Sus­pending priests and forcing Bishops to resign will not solve the prob­lem but the solution is to make celibacy op­tional. If all priests who have children in their celibate life were to be sus­pended or defrocked many par­ishes will be closed down here in Kenya. Suspension, ex­commu­ni­cations, defrocking, la­icizing and name calling is part of the problem the problem is man­datory celibacy and the solution is optional celibacy. Let the priests with se­cret Love affairs stand up and be counted and stay put we solve the prob­lem within the Catholic Church not out­side the Catholic Church because where Peter is there is the church. Celibacy is the Issue.

Ngilu's action finally leads to water in Maruba

This is an account of a parliamentary question by Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka on water supply. The Anchor, in its quest of keeping you informed brings the report-verbatim.

''National Assembly Official Report

Tuesday, 7th October, 2008

The House met at 2.30 p.m.

[Mr. Speaker in the Chair]

CHRONIC WATER SHORTAGE

IN MACHA­KOS TOWN

Dr. Munyaka asked the Minister for Water and Irrigation:-

(a) whether she is aware that there is a chronic water shortage in Machakos Town;

(b) what she is doing about the water ven­dors who are now supplying the resi­dents with untreated water at high cost; and,(c) what steps the Gov­ernment will take to end the chronic water shortage.

The Minister for Water and Irri­gation (Mrs. Ngilu): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply.

(a) Yes, I am aware that there is a water shortage in Machakos Town, caused by the demand out-stripping the supply.

(b) However, I would like to in­form the hon. Member that we have re­leased funds to

construct the new Maruba Dam, which will provide adequate wa­ter to the resi­dents of Machakos Town. My Ministry will deal with the vendors to ensure that they are cer­tified. They will then be monitored to ensure that they supply quality wa­ter.

(c) The Ministry has set aside Kshs250 million to complete that dam. This will provide water to the residents of Macha­kos Town at the rate of 10 million litres per day.

Dr. Munyaka: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the Minister for that very good an­swer. I also want to thank the Gov­ernment for considering the plight of the residents of Macha­kos Town. However, I would like the Minister to assure this House that this water will not be diverted to other areas like the Nol Turesh Water Project and find its way to some flower farms.

Mrs. Ngilu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I can assure the hon. Member that the water will be used by the residents of Machakos Town. How­ever, should he find some people stealing the water and di­verting it to flower farms, he should notify me and I will take the appro­priate action.

Mr. C. Kilonzo: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Min­is­ter is quite aware that one of the biggest cen­tres in my constituency is Matuu Town. Over the years, there has been no wa­ter in that town.

Could the Minister consider Matuu Town to be supplied with water from Masinga Dam?

Mrs. Ngilu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the hon. Mem­ber is right. Matuu Town has no wa­ter. We have negotiated with one of our part­ners and we have set aside some money to provide water to the residents of Matuu Town. This work will begin in the next fi­nan­cial year and Matuu Town and its environs will get water.

Mr. Mwaura: Mr. Speaker, Sir, right now, the residents of Macha­kos Town are very thirsty. In the circumstances, could the Minister institute some measures to en­sure that the residents of Machakos Town are supplied with water today or tomorrow? We have facilities and per­sonnel lying idle in our barracks!

Mrs. Ngilu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am aware that Machakos Town resi­dents are very thirsty and as a result— Before the dam is com­pleted by May 2009, we have put aside Kshs6.5 million that is going to en­sure that all the bore­holes within Macha­kos Town are working, and what­ever kiosk that will have water will be opened. Otherwise, there will be no need to use the barracks.

Mr. Mbadi: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wanted the Minister to address the question of the dis­tricts lacking water engineers and only having water inspectors. Why is the Min­is­try still sending money for de­vel­opment to the districts which have no engineers and not con­soli­dating this money [Mr. Mbadi]

to the regional water boards which have engineers? This will ensure that the money is utilised effec­tively, be­cause at the moment.

Mr. Speaker: Madam Minister! Mr. Mbadi, you have asked your question already!

Mrs. Ngilu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Mem­bers are aware that we passed a law in this House, the Water Act 2002, and we are still imple­menting the re­forms according to this Act that we passed. So, in some dis­tricts, we have water engineers while in others we have wa­ter companies. There­fore, we are still trying to harmonise the work of the Min­is­try, the work of the water com­pa­nies and the work of the wa­ter ser­vices boards that are spread out in all the regions. That is the rea­son!

Dr. Munyaka: Mr. Speaker, Sir, could the Min­is­ter give the estimated time of completion of that water project? Could she also assure Machakos resi­dents that they will be the ones offering the labour to the project?

Mrs. Ngilu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, by the way, when I launched this water project, the hon. Mem­ber was not there. I am sure I wrote a letter to him, asking him to come and say everything he wanted to say to his people.

However, I want to say here that I have said that the local labour must come from Macha­kos Town and the work will be com­pleted, indeed, in the next six to eight months. Work has al­ready started.

Mr. Speaker: Very well, Madam

Minister! I would have liked to see the Mem­ber for Machakos Town. Is he in the House?

(Dr. Munyaka stood up in his place) You are not so dusty, yet the Minister has said that the people of Machakos Town are dusty!

(Laughter)

Next Question!

Mrs. Ngilu: Mr. Speaker, Sir, Macha­kos Town people should not think that what you have

said is what I said. I did not say they are “dusty”. Indeed, Machakos Town people are very clean, but they are thirsty and we are going to pro­vide them with water so that we quench their thirst.

Mr. Speaker: Very well, Madam Minister!

Focus shifts to the capacity of Machakos

Water Company to deliver services effectively

S

O where is the water now? That is the inevitable question that Machakos Residents are posing after Maruba dam became overflowing with water.

All eyes are now directed to the Macha­kos Water and Sewerage Com­pany to manage not just the Maruba dam water but also the Nol-Turesh Pipeline water.

Residents say there has not been change in water supply trends since the dam became full and no doubt focus is shifting to the water company’s ca­pacity to manage the available water.

“The crisis in Machakos town now is not the availability of water. It is its man­agement. Now the gov­ernment has done its bit and it is upon the water company to perform”, said Mohammed Ibrahim, a resident of the town.

Pressure is therefore mounting on the water company management to show that it is up to the task. The pressure comes at the company went through a Rapid Results Initiative that targeted mass cut-offs, zoning of the area and the recruitment of a CEO to manage the company.

The company has to address a long list of issues including staff who collect and pocket revenue, unpaid water bills, outright theft of water by among others, key businessmen and residents, com­peting water cartels, leaking pipes and unaccounted for water(UFO) to the tune of 70 percent.

Residents say corruption among staff of the company is the biggest bottle­neck and wonder why they are retained to mismanage water.

The chairman of the Machakos Water and Sewerage Company Mr Leonard Munyao Kamba told The Anchor that the new CEO Mr Steve Nyaa was soon rolling out a management strategy to provide water to Machakos Town.

The strategy is being hampered by dilapidated pipes that have frustrated pumping of water from Maruba to the town and old Iveti reservoir. Another bottleneck has been a blockage at Maruba intake, that has been resolved by the construction of a By-pass to the treatment works.

If the current team is unable to manage the water, Tanathi Water Services Board may have to seek a new Water Service Provider for Machakos or overhaul the current Water Service Provider as it has done in Mwala district and is about to do in Kan­gundo where the WSP have been re-organized to more productivity.

Meanwhile, the rehabilitated Maruba dam in Machakos has suddenly become like a tourists attraction.

Scores of curious residents have been flocking the site, about five kilometers from Machakos town to have a glimpse of the facility.

This followed reports attributed to Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka that the dam’s spill way wall had been washed away following heavy rains pounding the area. Dr.Munyaka was quoted warning those living below the dam to prepare to evacuate as the wall had cracked.The Engineer who supervised the con­struction of the kshs.70million spill way wall Eng.J.Kiptala said the facility has a 50 year quarantee from this year.

He described the alleged “leakage” from the wall as normal and assured there was no cause for alarm.

“The openings are called wipe holes and do not pose any threat to the 8-metres tall spill way wall”, he said.

More people among them, former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile,the chairman of the Macha­kos Water and Sewerage Company Munyao Kamba and his management were at the site.

The dam has since filled to capacity, giving Machakos residents who have been going without water for months during the recent dry season a sigh of relief.

Munyao cautioned leaders against making inflammatory remarks about the project as this would lead to unnec­essary panic and confusion. “This water does not belong to any individual but to Machakos town residents”,he said.

FEATURE

Meet Jane, the Mwingi girl thrust

into rare heroism at only four years

When 29 –year old single mother, Peninah Mwinzi, gave birth to her third born baby, Joseph Munywoki in 2009 she did not imag­ine how she could rise to the challenge of bringing up her family.

Her first born, Jane was 4, the sec­ond born, Muu’wo Mutavanya was 2. Ms Peninah was unemployed but knew the family responsibility lied wholly in her meek hands.

Peninah, from Mui location, Mwingi East was a casual labourer at Mwingi Town but had to leave her job the moment labour pains struck.

The fact that Peninah could not afford to pay for a maid to take care of her children as she resumed the work, gave her sleepless nights.

Seven days after the delivery, she de­cided to leave the baby under the care of the first born Jane-only 4 years.

Faith and went away the whole day searching for available job oppor­tu­nities. She was lucky to find a job at Kitui Millers Limited, at Mwingi Town .

“I had boiled enough milk to take the baby for a day. I had confidence that my four year old daughter would feed the baby.,” she narrates.

When Peninah came back in the evening she was embroiled in a con­flict with her neighbours at the plot she was staying in at Mwingi Town, who came to her as a group pestering her with questions as to why she left the baby with her daughter as young as four.

“They all wanted to beat me up but I ex­plained to them that I had to leave the baby anyhow because I had no option,” she says.

But when she entered her room she found everything in order. The baby was safe in the hands of Jane.”My daugh­ter fed it. When it cried she cheered it up, and when it felt sleepy she laid it on the mat,” ex­plains Peninah.

The following day Peninah had to wake up again at dawn to go for her job af­ter cooking enough food to take them for a day. Jane was given-or even left with the same responsibility to feed her young sib­lings.

Still every one in the plot was opposed with the mother’s idea of leaving the now eight –days old baby under the care of its four –year old sis­ter.

Every day Peninah left home at dawn and came back in the evening around 5:30, apart from few days when she could rush back at home during lunch hours to breastfeed it when her duties were mini­mal.

She was paid according to the amount of work she performed which could earn her between Ksh100 and Ksh250 per day.

She did the same every day until her neighbours gave in.

On the other hand Jane had to sac­ri­fice her time to play with the other kids and ensured safety of her sib­lings.

“When the young baby was about a month old, the same neighbours who used to criticize me were now praising my daugh­ter for her emeging heroic stature,” she re­calls.

Jane did not attempt lo leave the baby alone to join other kids in their play. She demonstrated a rare character, and was equally sensitive as she handled it. “I even doubt whether my daugh­ter re­sponded to calls of nature,” Peninah jokes.

As Jane took care of the baby she also had to make sure that her 2 –year old brother ate to his satisfaction the food that their mother had cooked for them before she left for job every day.

Again the axe fell on Peninah on Feb­ruary this year because there were no available jobs at the millers, where several other workers were also dis­missed.

She also found another job where she worked in shambas for a month.

She is now working as a maid at Kalisasi location, Mwingi district, about three ki­lo­me­ters from Mwingi Town where she lives with her family. She is charged with a responsibility to per­form house­hold chores.

The baby boy is now one year old. Muu’wo is 3. Jane is now five, but tes­tifies that she had been taking care of her brother when he was as younger as 7 days old.

”I have been feeding my young brother Jose (short for Joseph) while my mother was away for job,” says Jane. They are now living in a happy family be­cause her new employer provides them with food and pays her Ksh2, 500 per month.

Voter listing shock hits Mwingi North

By John Musembi

I

NSECURITY in Vice President Ka­lonzo Musyoka’s Mwingi North Constituency is likely to affect the on going reg­is­tration of voters.

Consequently, the Interim In­de­pen­dent Electoral Commission (IIEC) is worried that reaching their target of 80,000 voters may be impossible and will leave many disenfranchised.

The deputy constituency registrar Collins Mutua says the exercise is dogged by insecurity and prevalence of invalid Identity (ID) cards that can not be used to get the electors’ cards.

He said the registration exercise is fur­ther complicated by the blatant re­fusal by members of a local Kavonokya religious sect to not only acquire the electors’ cards but the na­tional ID cards.

Mutua said insecurity in the pe­riph­eral areas where Kyuso and Tseikuru dis­tricts share a common border with Bura district had affected the voter reg­is­tration due to banditry while many eligible adults were ignorant of the importance of getting IDs in areas like Mukong’a in Mumoni district.

Mutua’s remarks support the lam­en­tation by the VP that about 9,000 of his constituents were unlikely to ac­quire voters’ cards as they held old invalided ID cards. Kalonzo’s figure is indeed con­ser­vative.

Mutua says the people in the con­stituency who were unlikely to ac­quire the voters’ cards due to lack of valid ID cards were estimated at over 25,000. He said they included 11,000 who held the old IDs and the rest were eligible youths who were yet to ac­quire ID cards.

Worse still, the officer in-charge of the Mwingi registration bureau Festus Bosire disclosed that that up to 40 per­cent of eligible voters in Mwingi did not have valid ID cards or did not have them altogether. He however pointed out that in order to reach such people his office was carrying out mobile reg­is­tration in far off areas.

But his Kyuso district counterpart Moses Ndambuki said he was in a di­lemma because he did not have a vehicle to carry out mobile reg­is­tration. Saying that his officers only served people who visited the offices, he added that the number of freshers seeking ID cards and those seeking re­placement had shot up recently.

“In recent times an incredible 4000 residents have come to replace old ID cards. It appears that they have re­alized the importance of getting the new gen­erations IDs as a prerequisite to getting the voters’ cards,” said Ndambuki

As he concluded celebrating his 25 years in parliament with a party at his Tseikuru home village, Musyoka asked the ministry of immigration to seek fast and efficient ways of re­placing the old IDs cards in order to enable the holders get voters’ cards and participate in the coming constitutional referendum.

“We are also faced with another prob­lem at around Waita area where members of the Kavonokya sect cannot register as voters as they do not even have national identity cards. We really do not know what to do with the sect whose members are in thousands,” la­mented Mutua.

He however said that his office had sought the indulgence of the National registration bureau in the area so that it could fast track the issuance of IDs to eligible youths and the replacement of the old IDs to enable the owners to acquire the voters’ cards.

Farmers shun NCPB, traders reap big as maize trades cheaply

By Anchor Reporter

A Kilo of maize is trading for a song in many parts of Ukambani. A general sur­vey shows that peasant farmers are selling Maize at Sh 8 per kilo.

This means that a 90kg bag is fetches Sh 720. Traders in many shopping cen­ters are taking advantage of this windfall and are mopping up maize from the farmers and storing it to make a kill at the National Cereals and Pro­duce Board where a bag attracts Sh 2,300.

A survey by the Ministry of Agriculture in Mwala dis­cov­ered that farmers in parts of the district were selling the cereals for as little as Sh. 8 per kilo

District Agriculture Officer Mr. James Kariuki told the Mwala District Executive Committee that the middlemen had flooded Masii, Makutano and Mwala lo­cations in pursuant of the booming business.

He said in Masii, price of the commodity had slightly improved from SH 8 to be­tween SH 13 to 15 per kilo, which was still too low to benefit farmers. moment.

This comes as the government urges farmers in to stop selling their maize at throw away prices to middlemen.

Mwala District commissioner Ms Flo­rence Amoit once again directed those in­tending to dispose off their surplus stocks to do so through National Cerealsand Produce Board where pricing was reasonable.

Much as the NCPB deal sounds attractive, some factors are hindering peasant farmers from taking their maize to the stores.

First, local farmers’ maize has not dried up to the required moisture levels set by the NCPB and as such, their maize has no place at the stores.

Again, NCPB still operates in a very un­attractive mode where farmers deliver maize and go home without cash as opposed to a situation where middle men pay cash that goes straight to the peasant’s pocket.

“ The type of farmers in this locality are not those with huge cash reserves. Their needs need instant cash and they go for it wherever they find it. In fact when the DCs appeal to them not to sell maize to local traders, they think the ad­min­is­trators are insane”, said Lee Ngui, a trader at Matuu.

This development comes as it emerged that local NCPB depots have been using cash set aside for local farmers to buy maize imported from Uganda by local traders.

Standing notoriously in this is the Macha­kos NCPB depot where a Masii based trader brought not less than 10 trailers of maize from Busia and sold it off, purporting to have brought in local maize.

The DC said she had received reports that some of the middlemen were storing the cereals haphazardly on cement floors which was a recipe for aflatoxin and or­dered the department of public health to crack­down on buyers found dis­re­garding health requirements on storage of the cereals.

Else where, District Maendeleo Ya Wanawake organization chairlady Ms Mary Mwikali has petitioned the government to provide the farmers with transport to de­liver their produce to the NCPB depot in Masii town.

She said most farmers were being forced to deal with the middlemen because no public service vehicles plied their ar­eas owing to poor road network.

Makueni Prison team turns odds into realities

By Daniel Kituku

T

urning odds into realities is their dictum. Prison warders in Makueni prison are con­verting idle resources and wasted man power into use, generating revenue for government and food for the inmates at the prison.

The G.K prison situated two kilometers away from Wote town the Makueni dis­trict headquarters; the prison accommo­dates bee hives of agricultural activities in its 50 hectare piece of land at its new site.

The prison established 2003, and then housed at a small piece of land in the town’s suburbs, was turning odds into re­alities after acquiring the 50 hectares of government land.

The officer in charge Mr. Kennedy Locho is spear­heading a number of de­vel­opment projects at the new site from substantial locally mobilized resources to augment lim­ited gov­ernment assistance to the prison.

Despite green thriving farm, the site has a new face from up­coming prison ad­min­is­tration block, prisoners’ cells and staff houses under construction. “We have acquired most of these building materials locally with a help of labor force from 126 inmates at the prison” said Mr.Locho.

The inmates have helped in making bricks used in building 16 rooms staff houses ready to be occupied by war­dens. They also provide manual and technical con­struction work under supervision of a warden, chief officer II Mr. Ngele, who also has technical construction knowledge.

The upcoming building at the site is just a tip of iceberg to numerous income gen­er­ating projects at the site. A 40 hect­are blossoming sorghum plantation at the compound catches eyes of passersby as they pose to witness good work at the prison.

“We are geared for hundreds of tones of sorghum harvest in the next two weeks for ready market at Kenya Brewery lim­ited” noted Mr. Locho as he took reporters around the plantation.

The brewer approached the institution sometimes last year before start of re­cent past October-December rainy season in the region, where they agreed on the sor­ghum farming deal in return for rev­enue. “The company supplied us with seeds and is set to come back for the harvest soon. Thank god we had ad­equate rains” Mr. Locho noted. The Kenya Breweries uses the sorghum to produce beer and a huge demand for the beer ingredient, coupled with its scar­city, leaves the company with no option than lobby for its production, by supporting potential individual farmers and institutions.

“The barley once sold, the cash will go to government as revenue though Appro­priation- In-Aid account” he added.

The KBL helps few other individual farmers in Ukambani region to cultivate the barley for the company. The barley can also be used for food. However the suitability of the local climate notwithstanding, it is not an attractive crop to local farmers due poor attitude and lack of market.

At the Prison, besides the sorghum plan­tation, mature maize crops spreading into six hectares farm is yet another out­standing feature. The grain is used to feed inmates at the prison. Several other crops are also found at the compound. They include sunflower, cassava, grafted mangoes, oranges, lemons, bananas, paw­paw, cowpeas, beans and vegetables among them Sukumawiki.

The crops aside, the institution has three dairy cows and three bulls which help in cultivation, along side the inmate labour force.

“Water supply for farming remains a ma­jor setback especially when prolonged drought hits the region, and we have plans for a bore hole to enable us practice some drip irrigation” Mr. Locho noted.

“We are set to occupy the new building soon, already arrangement for a colorful official opening ceremony are at top gear and I will soon invite you” Mr. Locho told the reporters.

Machakos committees wake up

Newspaper story arouses civil servants from slumber

By Martin Masai

C

IVIL Servants in Machakos have revived crucial instruments of moni­toring de­vel­opment that have been dead for nearly two years.

The revival follows a story in The Anchor. The dead committees in­cluded the Dis­trict Development Committee (DDC), District Investment Committee (DIC), District En­vi­ronment Committee (DEC) and the District Management Unit (DMU) which evaluates and monitors the imple­men­tation of government projects. Citizens suffer and public funds are at a risk of outright theft whenever such committees die, leaving departmental heads to run public funds exclusively.

Members of Parliament, Mayors and Chairmen of County Councils, Church, NGO and other representatives tra­di­tionally attend such meetings to provide a sem­blance of public par­tici­pation in meetings where im­por­tant decisions on how their taxes are to be used are made.

They have remained moribund without an explanation forthcoming to citizens. Even the local Machakos Residents Asso­ciation, for one reason or another has not both­ered to follow up on the state of affairs at the government offices to notice that most civil servants bother no more in informing citi­zens what they are doing in their min­is­tries.

A survey has revealed that the committees have had few or no meetings in the past one year resulting in a dev­as­tating effect on Government de­vel­opment agenda in the area.

For example, the DDC last met on April 9, 2009. The next meeting was sched­uled for September 3, 2009 but it was never held and there was no reason given. This means that the role that the DDC ought to perform has collapsed and no known au­thority in Machakos has been per­forming those responsibilities.

The DIC last met on February 26, 2009 and since then no meetings have been held while the DMU was the first to hi­ber­nate as records show that the last meeting was held early 2008. They did not meet last year and there are no in­di­cations they are meeting this year.

This trend has been hitherto unknown in Machakos District, arguably one of the busiest districts in Eastern Province. Ob­servers say the situation has de­vel­oped under the watch of Machakos District Commissioner Bernard Kinyua.

However the Civil Servants have some­what been meeting under the aus­pices of District Steering Group, which can hardly slumber due to the food situation in the district and the interest it arouses. The DSG met this month.

The District Executive Committee, an arm of the DDC has convened the first meeting of the year during which the District Officer One Mr Mr. David Wanyonyi, representing Machakos District Commissioner Bernard Kinyua told members that the story had served as a wake-up call for Civil Ser­vants in the district.It took place as Scheduled on April 22. The next DEC meetings fall on May 10, June 17, July 22 and August 19 in a bid to ensure each other committee met each month. The Anchor will keep a keen eye on these schedules to ensure that public servants do what they came to do in Macha­kos and the region in general.Failure to hold these meetings means that Departmental Heads carry out programs their own way and in many in­stances, money planned for de­vel­opment is lost in ghost projects. A bigger opportunity for theft of public funds has been presented by the CDF whose key official is the Dis­trict De­vel­opment Officer- the DDC sec­re­tary. Such opportunity can well be boosted by the death of THE DDC or any of its other arms.

Research on theft of public resources shows that when public officials work in secrecy, citizens stand to lose as they re­main unaware of the resources that the State has availed for use to reverse the advances of poverty among them.This finding has led to formulation of strat­egies like the Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan( LASDAP) in the case of Local Authorities. LASDAP is a public participatory process that involves residents in a Local Au­thority that requires full disclosure of the re­sources available and how they are to be used to fulfill the needs of citizens.

Forester in trouble over 'secret' KKV projects in Mwala District

By Anchor Reporter

M

wala district commissioner Ms Florence Amoit has criti­cized the forestry de­partment for implementing Kazi Kwa Vijana [KKV] projects without involving the district management committee.

The DC wondered why the head of Kenya Forest Serve zone for the larger Macha­kos re­gion had cho­sen to side­line the committee, yet it was overall in de­ciding how the projects are to be imple­mented.

‘’As per the guide­lines from the Prime Minister’s office, it is the re­spon­si­bility of the committee to agree on how and where the projects are to be un­der­taken but the Macha­kos Kenya Forest Service office which is in-charge of Mwala district had chosen to go it alone,’’ she queried when chairing dis­trict executive committee meeting in her office.

She was reacting after she learned from the KFS assistant zone manager, Mr. Mburu, who had attended the meeting for the first time presented a list of 7 ongoing projects under the youth ini­tiative for which she was unaware.

These include afforestation campaign at the 16 and 5 hectares of public land in Kibauni and Yathui divisions, where planting of 100,000 and 20,000tree seedlings is underway respectively.

Mr. Mburu said an­other 18,000 tree seed­lings are to be planted at a 5 hect­are piece of land within Kimatu dam and an­other 5,000 seed­lings at Kiteta area cov­ering 5 hectares also. The dc said all this was being done with­out the committee’s knowl­edge.

Ms Amoit accused the head of the zonal office of ignoring invitation letters to attend the dis­trict KKV man­agement meetings to de­lib­erate on planned ac­tivities.

She warned the officer in charge that he will be held per­sonally accountable should things go wrong with re­gard to man­agement of the KKV cash and siting of the projects.. Mr. Mburu said the dis­trict had a forest cover of 3 per cent which is going to go up as result of the KKV tree planting cam­paign. He blamed per­sis­tent drought for the low forest cover, saying trees found it diffi­cult to survive due to lack of wa­ter.

He said after becoming parastal, KFS had un­der­gone re­struc­turing which cul­mi­nated in new forest management units, namely con­ser­vancy representing province and zone rep­re­senting regions of combined dis­tricts. Conservancies are headed by head of conservancy and zone by head of zone contrary to forest officer which was in place in the past, he con­cluded.

Kitui County begins work on model Market

By Boniface Mulu

The Kitui County Coun­cil is de­vel­oping Kabati market to be a modern market.

Kitui County Council Chairman Nzyoni Manguye and County Clerk George Wambua have commissioned work for the market, billed as first of its kind in the County.

Mr Wambua said that the modern Kabati market is the first of its kind in the larger Kitui Dis­trict. He said that their vision is to make the Kitui County Council the best council in Kenya by 2016.

The County Clerk said that the council had undertaken various projects within its ju­ris­diction in the last two years. “Currently, the coun­cil has entered its third wave of the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI),” Wambua added. Mr Mang’uye said that the Kabati market is going to be con­structed within a period of one and a half years.

But the contractor, Mr. Kamawe Nugi, assured the public that the con­struction work is going to take be­tween eight months to one year. Mang’uye assured the contractor of the Kitui County Council’s total support. The chairman warned that the council is ready to deal with anyone who is trying to undermine it. All the 39 Kitui County Councillors and the council trea­surer Alfred Kitoo were present.

The contractor was accompanied by among others the director of the Thika based Ngarena Investment Limited, Mr. Michael Kimani. The Ngarena In­vestment Limited are the civil and building contractors. The Ki­tui West MP Charles Nyamai was represented to the function by the local CDF project manager Benjamin Mutisya Mwanzia.Meanwhile, the Council is in the processing of mapping areas in its jurisdiction with mineral potential so that the resource could be tapped, according to Mr Wambua.

He said Kitui district was rich in minerals whose potential has not been tapped hence need for the council to pump in money to exploit the resource in addition to improving its revenue base.

Speaking to reporters in his office, Wambua said huge deposits of lime­stone found in five locations in Mutomo district will greatly benefit from the resource.

The clerk added that gypsium , granite stones and iron ore were being been explored while geologists con­firmed to have hit huge deposits of coal in the Mui coal basin that straddles between Kitui and Mwingi districts.

He however said it was unfortunate for two giant cement manufacturers Bamburi and Athi River Mining to result to court for monopoly of lime­stone in Mutomo asserting that the move has delayed ex­ploi­tation of the mineral.

He said once the project takes off, the council revenue base will be im­proved while the land owners will be the major beneficiary as they will be direct share­holders.

Main stream media houses under fire

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MEDIA consultant, Mr. Frank Wanyama, has blasted media houses in Kenya for mistreating and frustrating correspondents.

He regretted that the media houses are only out to enrich themselves through the sweat of the correspondents.

He asked the government to protect them (the correspondents) against exploitations by their employers. Wanyama hit out at the media houses for not appreciating and recognizing the work done for them by corre­spon­dents. “The correspondents contribute 95 per cent of the stories that are read in the national media. But they are paid less than one per cent of the money made by the media com­pa­nies through their (the corre­spon­dents) work,” the media consultant complained.

He said that the correspondents are a very vital ingredient in the media industry and that they must be recognised and valued by their em­ployers. Wanyama was lecturing hundreds of participants during a two-day training workshops organised for journalists from across the country by the Media Diversity Centre in part­nership with the Kenya Corre­spon­dents Asso­ciation at the Silver Springs Hotel in Nairobi .

The workshops were opened on Monday by the African Women and Child Fea­tures Services Executive Director, Mrs. Rosemary Okello Orlale. Wanyama said that the media houses are able to pay correspondents but they do not pay them.

He said that the media houses ad­min­is­trators among them the editors are very rich. “The rich people are greedy,” he added. Wanyama re­gretted that there are some corre­spon­dents who have worked for about 20 years in the country but they have never been recognised by their media houses.

He said that a media houses should employ a correspondent permanently after he/she has served for it for at least five years. Other lecturers included Dr. Joyce Nyairo, Kwamchetsi Makokha, Jane Godia and Dr. Mzalendo Kibunja. Wilson Ugangu, Atsango Chesoni, Alex Kitua and Aggrey Mutali among others also lectured. The Kenya Corre­spon­dents Association chairman, Mr. William Oloo Janak, was among the participants.

Matungulu witch doctor faces wrath of residents

By Gastone Valusi

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witch doctor was arrested in connection with death of a local pastor in Matungulu District.

The witch doctor was rescued from the members of the public in Nguluni town by administration police from nguluni chief’s camp who moved fast and saved the man from the public. The irate members of the public had started stoning and beating him for allegedly poisoning George Nandwa.

Mr Nandwa, the pastor in charge of United International Life Ministry of Churches[UILM]at Nguluni, is said to have fallen sick on Monday night and went to the witch doctor, who is a neighbour where he was given herbal concoction believed to have been toxic but died on his way to Kangundo General Hospital. His body is lying at Kangundo District Hospital mor­tuary.

Following the pastor’s death members of the public hunted down the witch doctor accusing him of the death of their pastor.

The Kangundo OCPD Isaiah Odhiambo confirmed the death and said that the police are interrogating the witch doctor. Mr Odhiambo, also warned the public not to take the law in their on hands but to report such incidents to the police.

He hailed the Kitui County Council and the Local Government Ministry for choosing the Kabati market to be a modern mar­ket. “If it was not for the Kitui County Council and the Local Government Ministry, this project could not have been here,” Nyenze said.

He asked the local people not to in­ter­fere with the project politically. He called upon them to give the con­tractor good co­op­eration. Nyenze also asked the con­tractor not to be biased while working with his workers at the con­struction site (the Kabati market). Nyenze at the same time said that they did not want political in­ter­ference with the Kitui County Coun­cil. “We hear that the Kitui County Council Clerk George Wambua is being removed from Kitui politically,” he said. Nyenze highly lauded Wambua for his exemplary ser­vice as the Kitui County Council Clerk.

EX-Minister Nyenze to sue MP over Kitui West CDF

By Roslyne Zawadi

FORMER cabinet minister Francis Mwanzia Nyenze has complained over alleged mis­man­agement of the Kitui West CDF money.

He pointed accusing fingers at the area Member of Parliament Charles Mutisya Nyamai and threatened to take him to court.

He complained that the MP is biased in the distribution of the CDF money in the constituency. “The MP is favouring his Yatta home division. We are bitter over the un­fair dis­tri­bution of the funds by the MP. We want fair dis­tri­bution of resources because that is your money,” an enraged Nyenze told the Kitui West constituents.

He called for an audit of the area’s CDF. He was speaking at a public rally at Kabati market within the Kitui West constituency during the cer­emony of the official handing-over to the con­tractor the Kabati market site. The contractor is a Nairobi based Ar­chi­tect. The mar­ket is being con­structed to be a modern one by the government at a cost of 70 million shillings through the Kitui County Council.

Nyenze, who is the former Kitui West MP, complained that Nyamai is maginalising the constituency’s two other divisions namely Matinyani and Mutonguni.

The former minister is a director with the Water and Irrigation Ministry. He announced that the government is to construct a borehole at the Kabati mar­ket so as to tackle water prob­lems there. “I talked with the Water Min­is­ter Charity Kaluki Ngilu today and she told me that the government has already set aside a total of 2.2 billion shillings for water at the Kabati market,” Nyenze said.

He thanked Ngilu for having appointed him a director with the ministry. Nyenze assured the people of the entire larger Kitui District that the government is going to supply them with sufficient water.

He asked Nyamai to be attending Kitui West constituency’s leaders’ meetings for the good of the area. He said: “Honourable Nyamai is the sitting MP and I am the standing MP.” The former minister further supported Kenya ’s draft constitution saying it is good for Kenyans.

He hailed the Kitui County Council and the Local Government Ministry for choosing the Kabati mar­ket to be a modern market. “If it was not for the Kitui County Council and the Local Government Ministry, this project could not have been here,” Nyenze said.

He asked the local people not to interfere with the project politically. He called upon them to give the con­tractor good cooperation. Nyenze also asked the contractor not to be biased while working with his workers at the construction site (the Kabati market). Nyenze at the same time said that they did not want political in­ter­ference with the Kitui County Council. “We hear that the Kitui County Council Clerk George Wambua is being removed from Kitui politically,” he said. Nyenze highly lauded Wambua for his exemplary service as the Kitui County Council Clerk.

Defiler,65, jailed for 30 years in Makueni

By Daniel Kituku in Wote

A 65 year old man who was caught defiling a 15 year old mentally challenged girl was sentenced 30 years im­pris­onment by a Makueni court.

The accused, Gideon Ndisya Ngumbi had denied defiling the girl on July 2 2009 at Ngele village, Ukia location in Makueni district.

The court heard that the accused met the complainant in company of other two girls at Mukuyuni trading centre in the location. He then ensnared the two girls with money sending them to buy sweets, leaving behind the mentally handi­capped girl, he then lured her to a nearby maize plan­tation.

A witness told the court that she saw the girl being led sus­pi­ciously to the shamba by the old man and imme­di­ately alerted her mother, who re­sponded imme­di­ately.

By the time she rushed to the shamba, the assailant was at it. She could hear her screaming daughter as she paced up to begin rescue plans. She told the court that she found the accused in the act of defiling her daughter and raised the alarm by screaming to attract neighbours.

However the accused ran away leaving the girl sprawled on the ground, un­dressed. The mother, with help from res­cuers, dressed up the girl and re­ported the matter to Mukuyuni police post. The matter was later reported to Mukuyuni police post and the minor taken to Makueni District Hospital.

in the same court, a man appeared before Makueni principal magistrate Fredrick Nyakundi charged with defiling a 11 year old girl.

DC worried as 78 percent of

Kitui women give birth at home

By Boniface Mulu in Kitui

ONLY 12 per cent of women in Kitui deliver their children in hospital. District Commissioner, Joshua Chepchieng, quoting official figures, said the rest never reach hospitals for delivery.

He said the figure is worrying. “If 88 per cent of the pregnant women are staying at home without going to deliver at the hospital, we are sitting at a time bomb. Going to the hospital as the last result is not helpful to the expectant woman,” he added.

No explanations were forthcoming. But Chepchieng urged locals to use health facilities they fund with their taxes for their own benefit.

The official was speaking to hundreds of people who attended this year’s In­ter­na­tional Midwives Day cel­ebrations held at the Kitui High School. National Nurses Association of Kenya’s second vice chairman, Julius Muema, said that some 414 out of every 1,000 women in Kenya die from pregnancy-related problems. He said that figure is the national average. Muema said as an association, they are not supporting abortion in the country.

But he said that the clergy are not sincere when they are against the country’s draft constitution regarding the abortion issue. “An abortion can be done by medical specialists when the mother’s life is in danger just to save her life. Let the health officials be given the opportunity to do abortion when the mother’s life is in danger,” he said.

Muema said that the clergy are taking the abortion window in the draft con­sti­tution out of context.

During the event, midwives earned a rare accolade for overseeing the birth of generations in Kenya.

A senior official with the Public Health Ministry Mrs. Tabitha Mwangi lauded the midwives for their devotion in rendering services to mothers and the community.

She said that the good health system in the country has reduced child and maternal mortality. “The good health care services have greatly improved the health of children and that of mothers in Kenya ,” Mwangi added.

She urged the midwives to practice to work together for the benefits of the community. The Kitui High School was the national venue for the celebrations in the country. Addressing the function, the Kenya Midwives Association chair­per­son, Mrs. Loice Muteti explained the line between a nurse and a midwife. She said the two are different. Muteti said nurses are trained differently from midwives. “We as midwives are working out to bring these services to the community at the villages,” the health official said.

She said thousands of babies are lost at birth in Kenya because the mothers are brought to them (the midwives) when it is late for them to be attended to professionally. She said: “Today we are having midwives who have certificates to Ph.D,”. Muteti impressed upon the importance of breast-feeding the baby soon after the delivery.

She said that the traditional birth attendants have no skills to stop bleeding in mothers after delivery. And she asked the midwives to link up with the traditional birth attendants to save the lives of mothers. “The International Midwives Week was started 1991. In Kenya , we celebrated the International Midwives Week in Nyeri District and we are today celebrating the second one in Kitui District,” she said.

Why State is unable to deal with illegal breweries

By Jonathan Mutiso in Machakos

RESIDENTS of Machakos district are roundly condemning the Provincial Ad­min­is­tration over laxity following the thriving of deadly breweries.

Speaking in Machakos town during the launch of Rapid Re­sponse Initiative (RRI) ,Macha­kos chamber of commerce chair­per­son Paul Mbole laid all blame on the ad­min­is­tration.

”The administration has failed Macha­kos residents by allowing the sale of the illicit brew”, said Mbole. He further accused them of collecting protection fees from the brewers and failing to protect residents.

Willy Kimilu who has been known for quite a long time in the in­dus­try, his home­stead is known as a den of attacks to those who try expose the brewery.

In 2007 January a group of commu­nity po­licing officials and area chief were attacked leaving some unable to walk or per­form their duties to date.No one was arrested and justice was not ad­min­is­tered.

The same place 2010 journalists were attacked and nothing seemsis being done by police since he have been seen freely visiting his police informers during the day at the police quar­ters.

Speaking at the function, Machakos dis­trict commissioner Bernand Kinyua said recently the AP police re­cov­ered 3,940 litres of kangara and 150 of chang’aa where 15 sus­pects were arraigned in court and charged with the same.

Those figures are laughable as the lo­cation produces approxi­mately over 10,000 litres of illicit brew for sale in Machakos Town and beyond daily.

Kinyua admits the behaviour has become very prevalent in this location as the youth con­tinue to suffer after taking these drugs including bhang, chewing miraa and drinking changaa.

“The liquor is cheaper than legal drinks and has very high alcohol content — brewers of­ten add ethanol to give the drink an extra kick. The alcoholic drink is common among Kenyans living in the country’s low-income urban and rural ar­eas, who are too poor to afford half liter of conventional legal beer but we are ready to arrest these brewers” he said.

Residents of Mukuni village complained that one of the famous brewers Willy Kimilu is believed to engage in the illegal business for more than 20 years and has been colluding with provincial ad­min­is­tration.

Investigations shows that the drink has com­pletely affected Mung’ala, Kasinga, Mutituni,Kisooni,Tumba and Mjini estate in Machakos town. Last week 17 people died after drinking chang’aa at Shauri Moyo Es­tate in Nairobi while others were also reported to have lost sight from the effects of the lethal drink whereas the brewers in Machakos were still holding tight into the business.

In August 1998 more than 100 people died south of Nairobi after drinking chang’aa laced with methanol. In November 2000, at least 140 Kenyans died, many went blind and hun­dreds others were hos­pi­talized after con­suming chang’aa in the poor neigh­borhoods of Mukuru Kwa Njenga and Mukuru Kaiyaba, both lo­cated on the out­skirts of Nairobi ‘s Industrial area.

And the Mukuru deaths were not an iso­lated case. In 1999, about 100 villagers in Mai Mahiu, 60 kilometers west of Nairobi , died as a result of drinking adul­terated alcohol.

In 2005 , 21 people died after con­suming illicit home-brew in Kyumbi village of Macha­kos district . Several others were ad­mitted at the Machakos district hos­pi­tal in critical condition after drinking the li­quor while others turned blind,

Barely three years ago two people died when the distilling drums exploded at one of the distillers but residents continue to complain that nothing has been done to stop the brewing of liquor despite en­dan­gering life of students from neighbouring schools.

“It remains interesting how the matter will be handled this time round con­sid­ering the fact that local ad­min­is­tration has been com­pro­mised and the war seems far from ending”, said a resident who sought ano­nymity.

Religious leaders from Machakos district said the dangers that changaa pose to people lies on the methanol it contains, saying during distillation, non-toxic al­co­hol producers, ex­tract distillate from certain temperature ranges only to ensure pro­duction of ethanol, the main in­gre­dient of all “safe” alcohol.

“Whatever the initial influence or cause, when the youth persistently engage in substance use, they evolve a culture of abuse since they start treating it as part of their lifestyle, and are not conscious of the dangerous situations they are falling into”said Joseph Mutisya, a religious leader.

Tanathi dissolves tired, debt ridden water companies

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ana and Athi river water ser­vices board [TANATHI] has disbanded the four water service providers in Mwala district following allegations of rampant corruption and mismanagement.

Instead, a new water outfit, Mwala water and Sewerage Company has been formed to take over the management of water and sewerage services in the district.

The board’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Joseph Nzesya said the board had re­solved to wind up the four water projects, namely Wamunyu, Kiaka, Mbiuni, and Mwasa due to inefficiency in manning resources and graft by mem­bers of management committees which had severely affected their operations. He said their roles have been merged and the responsibility passed to the new company.

Citing the case of Wamunyu, the CEO said the project had been incurring a loss of over SH 800,000 per month allegedly owing to corrupt practices and in­effi­ciency by the committee in charge which had also placed high water tariffs for the con­sumers but which the board was working to have it re­duced by 30 per cent to attain the na­tional average.

‘’The project has in addition, an out­standing elec­tricity bill amounting to over SH 4.1 million owed by Kenya Power and Lighting Com­pany which the man­agement committee was unable to pay,’’ Mr. Nzesya revealed at makutano market during offi­cial launching of the new company pre­sided over by dis­trict commissioner Ms Florence Amoit who said that the gov­ernment is not going to con­done corruption in public in­sti­tutions.

A board of directors comprising 12 mem­bers was installed to run the new water company with Jomo Kenyatta Uni­ver­sity of agriculture and technology university lecturer Dr. Shadrack Muya picked as the chairman.

Mr. Nzesya said Kiaka water project was similarly faced with an outstanding elec­tricity bill totaling over SH 1.4 while Mbiuni was owed SH 600,000 by KPLC which the board had resolved to pay after an audit was commissioned to uncover members of the management committees who have allegedly em­bezzled the funds for prosecution and recovery of the cash.

To curb corruption, he said water con­sumers under the TANATHI ju­ris­diction will soon be required to start paying their bills through selected banks including Kenya commercial and family banks to check stealing by corrupt cashiers.

He said the board will sink 16 boreholes in district to boost water supply whose management will handed over to the new company.

Lower Eastern set for Civic Education

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he Committee of Experts on con­sti­tu­tional review in collaboration with the civil society in Ukambani has em­barked on vigorous civic education ahead of the referendum.

The committee has partnered with the Lower Eastern NGOs Network (LENGO), the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, Interim In­de­pen­dent Boundary Review Commission and URAIA to conduct the exercise.

The CoE civic education coordinator Ms Caroline Kasina rooted for the passing of the proposed constitution..

She defended the Draft law which she said captures the interests of Kenyans, ar­guing that there is no perfect con­sti­tution in the world.

“The proposed new law may not be 100 per cent perfect but it is a big stride to­wards the right direction”,she added.

Ms Kasina was speaking at a Macha­kos hotel during a workshop for Civic Edu­cation Coordinators from the sev­en­teen con­stitu­encies.

She told the educators to be vigilant and attack what she termed as “mis­in­for­mation” by certain people opposed to the draft.

“We don’t want a repeat of the 2005 affair where politicians hijacked the process and poisoned the minds of Kenyans to rejects the document for their own selfish interests”,said Kasina. She appealed to the civic educator and others players in the exercise to ensure they stuck to the contents of the pro­posed constitution to avoid possible confusion.

Kasina said the CoE will provide the right training materials to ensure wananchi got the right information for them to make informed decisions during the voting.

She encouraged residents in Lower East­ern province to come out in large numbers and registers as voters.

While supporting the Draft the LENGO co­or­di­nator Ms Brigit Kiteng”e urged the civic educators to use the content in the proposed constitution as it is published.

“This is the best document we can give to Kenyans, It is life and death and we must exhibit responsibility by passing it at the referendum “,said Kiteng’e who is also the CEO of The Inter-Agency Rural De­vel­opment Programme.

She asked the civic educators to make the people understand the contents of the proposed law by not adding or subtracting them.

Ms Kiteng’e praised the media for the role it is playing in educating Kenyans on the new document and asked them to carry the burner to the end of the process.

ANCHOR MARCH

 

MAIN STORY

 

A new Battleground

 

 

 By Martin Masai

 

Prime Minister waded into Ukambani Turf of Vice President Kalonzo Musoka, effectively making the region a new battleground.

His message? ''Those with eyes should see and those with ears should hear'', he told the cheering crowd adding that his agenda for the region's development was being implemented through the Minister for Water and Irrigation Mrs Charity Ngilu. '' We as a government will give her all the financial support that you require to have water for all our needs'', Raila said.

Raila's visit is the first official visit as Prime Minister to Lower Eastern Province. His visit blended a political pursuit of his Orange Democratic Movement and his work as the republic's Prime Minister.

It means that Mr Musyoka must go back to the drawing board quickly and reinvent a trick to glue together was looked like a solid vote block for him only two years ago.

His trip won a quick result as Machakos Town MP Dr Kioko Munyaka came face to face with emerging realities in Kamba politics, with the crowd shouting him into silence.

Most Ukambani MPs kept off the meeting where only Yatta MP Charles Kilonzo and Mrs Ngilu played an open row. Others in this side but did not attend are Kathiani MP Wavinya Ndeti and Kilome MP John Harun Mwau.

It was clear however that Raila may be engaging his strategy of going directly to the citizens where the MPs prove un-co-operative.

There was no attempt to conceal the political agenda of the trip as the lined-up speakers; mostly former close confidants of the VP did little or nothing to indicate that the community ought to seek alternative leadership to that of Mr Musyoka.

Raila's tour took him through two districts of Kathiiani and Machakos, addressing crowds in Mlolongo, Athi River, Makutano (Kyumbi) and Machakos Town. He officially opened the Machakos-Nairobi Road. He also toured Maruba Dam where the government is spending over Sh 300m to rehabilitate.

Even though it is as good as complete, Raila could not open the facility due to a running row between Water and Irrigation Minister and Mr Musyoka over the latter's proposal that President Mwai Kibaki opens it. So intricate is the row that it was as Dr Munyaka tried to claim credit on the project at the rally, a line of thought that the VP also shares, that the Machakos rally turned rowdy and forced him to sit down.

Sources told the Anchor that Munyaka later explain that the Vice-President had told him to explain the Maruba story in that way.

The PM toured Machakos General Hospital which Medical Services Minister Prof Anyang Nyon'go pledged to upgrade to a Teaching and Referral Hospital.

Raila took time to open two ODM offices in Machakos, one at Kathome where ODM-K operatives have time and again defaced to resist attempts by ODM to make inroads to Ukambani.

While ODM-K has been resisting ODM expansion in Ukambani, a new phenomenon is emerging that Mrs Ngilu, and not ODM may be their real headache.

That fact became clear as Mrs Ngilu stood at the dais at Mulu Mutisya gardens and asserted her position in local politics, not just by words but b the fact that she could help galvanize an assembly that clearly dwarfs ODM-K in its own turf.

 

 

Malili theft case: CID

bump into big set back

 

Details are emerging that the Criminal Inves_ti_gations Department (CID) may have been used to frame a theft charge and overthrow directors of Malili Ranching Company.

Even then the visit to Machakos by Prime Minister Raila Odinga has triggered new reactions, with Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka identifying kamba professionals in Mutui Museo as being behind Gateway Logistics, a firm paid Sh 40m of the Sh 1b set aside  for Malili. In another twist Mr Muthama says he knows a Cabinet Minister with a hand in Gateway Logistics. So who are the thieves in Malili?

Investigations by The Anchor show that the probe against Peter Kanyi and  Julius Kilonzo is being suffocated for lack of evidence of theft, a development that has led the prosecution to seek adjournment of the case as CID grope for facts to sustain a prosecution.

Our writers have obtained a letter that has been written to the Director of CID Mr  G Gatiba, explaining that the money allegedly stolen by Mr Kanyi and Mr Kilonzo may be far much less that the amount due to the two from Malili Ranch.

Mr Odinga told a huge all in Machakos that the government will catch up with thieves in Malili. He did not hide that local leaders are involved in stealing from peasants. He said those who stole were trying to deflect attention from themselves by pointing accusing fingers at others.  But we will catch them anyway'',said Mr Odinga.

Raila was also firm that the ICT city would be built according to the original plan, allaying fears that it would be moved to Thika.

Within days of the PM's remarks, City Lawyer Kamotho Waiganjo announced he was returning to Malili farmers some cash he was holding. He did not disclose the amount but our investigations show that it is over Sh 210m that was wired to him in unclear circumstances.(See letter published on this page)

Waiganjo, a commentator of governance concerns on KTN is also a lawyer to a Member of Parliament from Ukambani. With the return of the cash, farmers may now have hope of getting their full entitlement of Sh 1.4m and not the Sh 1.1 they are being paid now.

The letter to CID says  `' The Board of Directors is in the process of verifying allotment letters surrendered by the accused to confirm whether they total the amount received by them from the Company lawyer. Preliminary results show the possibility that they had purchased more plots than the amount they took from our lawyer. Please take another date for hearing since we shall not be ready with the verification∫ It is signed by new chairman Mr David Ndolo Ngilai, with a copy to Mr E.K Mutua, Malili's advocates.

Police allege that the two stole over Sh 143m from View Park Towers, which houses the offices of Mr Mutua. Malili Ranching had no known offices office prior to the case and Mr Ngilai has since opened offices in Machakos town where he has been paying out Sh 1.1 to shareholders instead of Sh 1.4.

The new Malili leaders have been alleging that they can not pay the Sh 1.4 because of the alleged theft of cash by Mr Kanyi and Mr Kilonzo. The two have received millions of cash for carrying out insider trading at Malili. They, along with former chairman, the late Josiah Munuka bought tens of 7.8 acre plots at prices as low as Sh 400,000 from desperate farmers and sold them to the Government at Sh 1.4.

Matters got off hand after Munuka's death when Mr Muthama summoned Mr Kanyi to push for the payment demanded by Gateway Logistics as commission for the sale of the land. Munuka  had paid out Sh 40m to the firm and it was as it pushed to get a balance of Sh 60m, that new players got involved and tried to push a new contract down the throat of Kanyi, that would have led to the payment of Sh 210m.

Kanyi said at the time that the cash was required to help fund Vice President's campaign in 2012. Muthama has since distanced himself from the allegations and the VP, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka has warned that his name should not be dragged into the Malili fiasco.

The Anchor has information that an MP, a Personal Assistant of a top politician met directors of Malili and shared not less that Sh 60m that they obtained by the sale of the 300 acres that had been set aside for roads and public amenities that no individual can claim ownership. Raila's pledge for action is premised on his decision to order a probe into the saga by the Kenya National Audit Office (KENAO)

After Kanyi rejected the demands, he was subsequently arrested along with Mr Kilonzo who was the treasurer and charged with stealing from Malili Ranch. Did Mr Kanyi and Kilonzo steal from Malili Ranch? That is the riddle that the Courts must resolve.

Even then, Kanyi insisted then in newspaper notices that all Malili members would be paid Sh 1,4 for their land. Why then did it change to Sh 1.1 after Mr Muthama intervened; Was the intervention for better or for worse? Well, farmers have now been deducted Sh 300 each and there seems to be no justifiable ex_pla_nation. Who is stealing this money?

Even then, Muthama, speaking in the company of Mr Musyoka recently said the ICT city was a great idea in the region but warned that a corruption scandal involving the sale of land to the Government for the creation of the ICT city in the area had left a sour taste among residents.

Mr Muthama said that although the Government agreed to pay sh 1 billion for the 5000 acre land, shareholders in the Malili ranch were swindled a whooping Sh 115 million by a company that allegedly fraudu_lently brokered the deal.

Mr Muthama said he reported the scandal to the CID that resulted to the arrest and prosecution of the Malili ranching company directors.  He said that the matter was turned political and his name was dragged in to malign his name for crusading against the fraudulent deal.  Mr Muthama said the lawyer who handled the sale of the land had received death threats after he refused to pay the money to the brokerage firm.

He challenged the Government to investigate the Malili scandal along_side other corruption scandals in the country.

 

Farmers ignore state

to trade at a loss

 

 

Cereals middlemen in Mutitu district are doing a booming business after farmers in the area defied Government advice not to sell their produce at throw away prices.

A survey in the area re­vealed that farmers were selling a kilo of maize at between Sh15 and Sh 20 while brown sorghum was sold at between Sh8 and Sh10 per kilo.

In January a kilo of maize retailed at Sh35. Before the rains, a kilo of maize sold at Sh 30-35 but now, a kilo was selling be­tween Sh 23-Sh26. It means that farmers bought maize at a high rate and are now selling it at a loss.

Last year at the onset of the rains in Oc­to­ber, sor­ghum seeds retailed at Sh100 per kilo.

The survey that was carried in Zombe, Kyamatu, Endau and Mutitu markets which are the major markets in the area also showed that a kilo of bulrush millet that was retailing at sh100 last year was re­tailing at between sh18 and 20.

Farmers who have just harvested their produce were also selling cow peas at sh 20 per kilo which last year was sold at sh 150 per kilo.

The farmers say that due to pressure for school fees and medical expenses among other pressing needs had forced them to sell away the food stuff al­though there was enough to last them a whole year.

''Our livestock that we depend on for our livelihood died last year leaving us im­pov­er­ished. Who can watch as chil­dren drop out of secondary school while keeping foodstuff in the granary'', said Mr John Mutiso.However, livestock prices have soared whereby a young bullock was sold at be­tween Sh13, 000 to 15,000 up­ward from Sh8,000 in January, 2010.

A fully grown bull was selling at between Sh25, 000 and Sh 50,000 upward from between Sh 15,000 to Sh 30,000 upto January 2010.

A well sized he-goat sold at between Sh5000 to Sh6000 while a fully grown cas­trate sold at Sh6000.

A fully grown she-goat sold at between Sh3000 and Sh4500 while the price of young she-goats ranged between Sh1, 600 to Sh3000.

The survey also showed a high demand for indigenous chicken with a low supply that was attributed to the drought last year which forced residents to sell all chicken to buy food.

''There are no chicken in the villages any more. It is rare to hear a cockcrow in any boma these days'', said Mr Phillip Ndunda a businessman in Kyamatu location.

A chicken trader in Zombe and Kyamatu markets Mr Mung'ola Syanda said the low supply of chicken had pushed prices from between Sh100 and Sh300 last year to no less that Sh350.

''Chicken farmers are now doing booming business because a tiny chicken that was valueless last year now fetches Sh250'', said Mr Syanda.

 

Machakos sinks

deeper in KCSE

 

 

Machakos district which in yester years boasted of being an academic power house continued to post dismal per­for­mance in national examinations with the best school, Machakos girl's high school attaining a mean score of 7.97 which translates to B- in last years K.C.S.E. 

However an upbeat area D.E.O Mr. Abdikadir Ali averred  that this was an improvement of 0.0269 compared to the previous year's performance adding that for the first time in as many years no exam irregu­larities were de­tected. 

A former academic giant Machakos Boys was placed second in the District ranking with a mean score of 7.642 while Pope Paul Seminary, which used to shine na­tionally managed a mean score of 6.237. The D.E.O said 5,851 candidates com­prising 3011 boys and 2840 girls from 54 secondary schools sat for the ex­ami­nation out of which 32 improved in their performance while 17 dropped. Mr. Ali however  conceded an alarming de­te­rio­ration of academic standards in the area noting that there was only one A in the dis­trict from Machakos Boys  18 A-  77 B+  119B an d 228 C+ while the rest of the can­di­dates had less scores. Last Month the D.E.O held an edu­cation stakeholders's forum where poor aca­demic performance was top on the agenda and made a raft of pro­posals that  many fear may have been Public Re­lations gestures to show that some­thing was being done.

Observers believe that a radical sur­gery is overdue in the education sector in Macha­kos, right from the appointment of Education Officers to promotion of school heads in Primary and Sec­ondary Schools.

A quick au­dit of the Education offi­cials, es­pe­cially at the Divisional and Zonal lev­els shows that those in office went beyond their sale-by dates close to 10 years ago. One of the officials in for ever in a drunken stupor and de­mands bribes form teachers in ex­change for rec­ommen­dations for pro­motion. Most of these officer are serving on un­clear arrangements as they can not possibly pass any test, face a con­fi­dence crisis as they can hardly face their jun­iors who are better qualified. 

It however transpired that in­dis­ci­pline in most secondary schools which has seen many of them frequently closed was a major cause of the deteriorating stan­dards of education. 

Schools management committees were also blamed for prioritising costly physical facilities including glam­orous school buses at the expense of aca­demic performance enhancement projects.

 

 

Crucial District

Committees are dead

 

Most district development forums in Macha­kos have died over the last two years with scores of committees that co-ordinate de­vel­opment going dor­mant in the past two years.

As a result development agenda in the area has slowed down leaving de­vel­opment agencies with little moni­toring and evaluation mechanisms. If anything, this de­vel­opment now means that individual civil servants now operate single handedly and in secrecy, making it possible for them to steal public re­sources since citizens do not know the amounts available to provide them with services

The committees which include the Dis­trict De­vel­opment Committee (DDC), District Investment Committee (DIC), District En­vi­ronment Committee (DEC) and the District Man­agement Unit (DMU) which evaluates and monitors the imple­men­tation of gov­ernment projects have become moribund and no ex­pla­nation is forthcoming.

A survey has revealed that the committees have had few or no meetings in the past one year resulting in a dev­as­tating effect on Gov­ernment de­vel­opment agenda in the area.

For example, the DDC last met on April 9, 2009. The next meeting was sched­uled for September 3, 2009 but it was never held and there was no rea­son given. This means that the role that the DDC ought to perform has collapsed.

The DIC met on February 26, 2009 and since then no meetings have been held while the DMU was the first to hibernate as record show that the last meeting was held early 2008. They did not meet last year and there are no indications they are meeting this year.

This trend has been hitherto unknown in Machakos Dis­trict, arguably one of the busiest districts in Eastern Province. Ob­servers say the situation has de­vel­oped under the watch of Macha­kos District Commissioner  Bernard Kinyua.

So pathetic is the situation that in one in­stance, minutes of the District Edu­cation Board had apparently been falsified to read as if they had man­dated Machakos Girls School to levy extra fees to parents even as the government was funding the school within the Free Secondary Education. The levy was however rejected when the school board chairman Retired Justice Kasanga Mulwa raised issue with the Macha­kos District Education officer Mr Abdulkadir Ali. 

Residents said there was more interest in devolved funds like Constituency De­vel­opment Fund (CDF) and Local Au­thority Transfer Fund (LATF) leading to little interest in activities of line ministries which get colossal allocations from the government each year. 

However, the Acting Machakos District Commissioner Mr. David Wanyonyi con­ceded that there has been a lapse in the frequency of the committees.  

Mr Wanyonyi, seeing that the DC usually chairs these committees ex­plained passion­ately that the lapse cannot be blamed on the District Commissioner but the entire fraternity mandated to carry out the meetings. 

He said steps have been taken to revive the forums and issued a list of scheduled meetings to be held this year. 

According to the schedule, the DDC meetings are scheduled for March 8, June 7 and September 6 this year. The March 8 meeting was held under Wanyonyi's chair­manship and it remains to be seen if the next schedules will be real of mere smoke screen. The DDC secretary is usually the District De­vel­opment Officer  (DDO) and most of them now concentrate their efforts on CDF due to the easy money that comes for officers and officials. 

The DEC meetings are scheduled for March 18, April 22, May 20, June 17, July 22 and August 19 in a bid to ensure each committee met each month. The Anchor will keep a keen eye on these schedules to ensure that public servants do what they came to do in Machakos and the region in general. 

Mr. Wanyonyi  claimed that government projects were in progress despite the in­ac­tiveness of the committees. He gave an example of projects which included the Administration Police (AP) houses and a water tank.    

He also said construction of Jua Kali sheds under the economic stimulus plan was under way despite controversies and urged interested parties to stop politicizing de­vel­opment issues.  He said the construction of a Sh30 million model secondary school at Katheka Kai was well in progress.

Mr. Wanyonyi added that the DEC co­or­di­nated Kazi kwa Vijana initiative was running well despite poor turn-out by the youths on claims of poor wages.

While majority of the committees are nearly dead, the District Steering Group that co-ordinates famine relief food, the District Education Board and the Area Advisory Council on child rights have re­mained generally active.  Mr Wanyonyi said he was keen to revive the committees adding that meeting sched­ules have been released. Stay An-chored

 

 COMMENTARY

 

Use of dialogue holds key to

resolving Kadhi Courts' saga

 

 

Freedom of worship essen­tially includes the right to determine personal matters between two people of the same faith using their religious teachings. Mus­lims will therefore continue to apply the Islamic teaching in Marriage, divorce and succession with or without entrenching Kadhi's Court in the new constitution.

The letters signed by Jomo Kenyatta and M. Shamte on 5^th October 1963 only refers to the application of the Islamic per­sonal law for Muslims along the 10 miles Coastal strip, not throughout the country and fur­ther­more, the letter never stated that Kadhi's Courts will be entrenched in the con­sti­tution.

Their in­clusion is historical; oth­er­wise Muslims can live their faith without secular con­sti­tution reinforcement.The fact that it was en­trenched in the con­sti­tution doesn't close the door for its re­vision.

As a matter of fact Mus­lims them­selves were the first to seek revision of the current status of the Kadhi's Courts in the current con­sti­tution when they pro­posed further en­hancement of the same courts. Whatever happened in the past, Kenyans need to expedite the resolution of this potential conflict about the Kadhi's Courts in the new constitution.

Rather than just focus on whether or not to entrench Kadhi's Courts in the new constitution, it's in­cum­bent on Muslims to reach out to the Christian leadership in the spirit of dialogue to resolve whatever issues both parties feel need to be addressed. Certainly Chris­tians have other issues where they feel the Government either ignored or simple overruled them in conceding to Muslims de­mands without careful con­sid­er­ation of the rami­fi­cations of these con­cessions to national har­mony.

Christian leaders in Kenya are today better informed about the many strategies used by Muslim groups to undermine other re­li­gions. Given a forum, Chris­tians can demonstrate to both the Government and un­sus­pecting Muslims the true colors of some Muslim sect mem­bers in Kenya who want to use the constitution to advance their sectarian agendas in the name of Islam. To the extent that Kenya political leadership doesn't understand the under currents behind the present Christian oppo­sition to en­trenchment of the Kadhi'S Courts in the new con­sti­tution, it will be failing to address the really bond of con­tention.

Christian leadership in Kenya should at the same time talk in one voice over the Kadhi's Court agenda. It's certainly confusing to Muslims when they speak as divided Chris­tians on issues that touch on their shared core val­ues and require national consensus. Christian ecu­menical forums should become the supreme channels of engaging the gov­ernment and people of other religions over issues of common interest to all Chris­tians.

Muslims leaders in Kenya need also to safeguard the true Is­lamic faith from being hi­jacked by some Saudi Arabia sponsored pu­ri­tanical Muslims who appear to be ad­vancing sectarian agen­das in the name of Islam in Kenya. Some Mosques in Kenya today like in many parts of the world have become channels for per­petu­ating hatred against the so called ™en­emies of Islam∫, which includes all people out­side a specific Islamic sectarian group, Muslims and Chris­tians alike.

Just as the African Traditional married couple feel bound by their African faith in living out their marriage or handling di­vorce and inheritance, Mus­lims should equally feel bound by their faith in matters of personal law. Kadhi's Court in the con­sti­tutions is dan­gerous for the nation that is just beginning to heal from wounds which to a large extent resulted from some con­sti­tu­tional oversights.

Muslims have yet to dem­on­strate to Kenyans how exclusion of the Kadhi's Courts from the new con­sti­tution will affect their faith? Their ar­gument is his­torical and we all can learn from history what best works for Kenyans as we summon our na­tional values to secure our common future.

 

Fr. Wilybard K. Lagho is Ad-junct Catholic Chaplain, Archdiocese of Seattle, USA-He graduated with MA in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Pontifical Institute of Ara-bic and Islamic Studies, (PISAI), in Rome. He seats in the Pontifical Council for In-terre-li-gious Dialogue as consoltor and in the Kenya Epis-co-pal Con-ference Ecu-menical Commission, Nairobi. Email:wilybard@yahoo.com

 

 OBITUARY

 

Celebrating the life of

a veteran journalist

 

The media fraternity in Kenya and Africa has lost one of the finest journalists in the sudden death of Noel Okoth.  Noel was friendly and generous. He was always ready and willing to share his great wealth of media experience with younger media people.

On behalf of the Kenya Corre­spon­dents Asso­ciation and its membership, I wish to convey our most heartfelt con­do­lences to the late Noel's family and friends.

During the African Media Ba­rom­eter (AMB) Panel Dis­cussions on Kenya, Noel gave in­put with his usual mirth and vigour and I remember asking him to start writing his mem­oirs to ben­efit the new crop of jour­nalists. 

In his death we in the media industry have lost great knowl­edge and ex­pe­rience.

Colleagues in the Af­ri­can Media Ba­rom­eter Panel were shocked to learn of his sudden death when he had just spoken and emailed some of them.

"It saddens me profoundly that we have lost Noel Okoth. I pray that God gives his family the strength to face this sudden end of the life of a man I held in high regard, who was ev­ery­thing to them", said Mr. Martin Masai, Editor and Pub­lisher of The Anchor and mem­ber of the  panel. Joseph Nyanoti, a media trainer and pan­elist said "Truly sad, shocked! May his Soul Rest in Eternal Peace"

Hudson Liyai, another member of AMB-Kenya said " It's a sad moment for us all, and especially for his family and loved ones. At ABM-K an issue is never com­fortably concluded until the deep voice adds something. Yes, what an erudite mind and in­valuable stock of knowldge,...and the friendship. I am touched by your messages."

Christine Nguku, a Media Consultant and Chair of Alternative Media Network (AMNET) said " This is un­ex­pected. I hold on to a lovely memory of a portrait we took at the pool side during the ba­rom­eter and he kept teasing me about it. How short our lives can be! I thank God that he gave me a chance to share pro­fessional discourse with Noel".

Mr. Rolf Paasch of FES, Namibia said "  We at fesmedia are also deeply saddened to hear that Noel Okoth has suddenly passed away at the week­end. We would like to convey our heartfelt con­do­lences to his family".Ms Maria Okongo of FES, Kenya said "Am still shell shocked by the news, es­pe­cially as he and I had agreed to meet in a week. Life is indeed short. I will miss his pro­fessional con­tri­bution and his won­derful spirit".

Susan Kariuki, another panelist added "This is very sad, un­be­lievable".

Noel Okoth died at a time when the Me­dia Ba­rom­eter Report for Kenya was just about to go to print and it was stop press for a dedi­cation sen­tence to be in­cluded in honour of Noel.

™The dedication sentence just went to the printers,∫ announced Rolf Paasch of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in a commu­ni­cation from Namibia to the AMB colleagues. He added in the email commu­ni­cation:  ™Let me just say that this is a very sad turn to the AMB but ± not knowing the Ken­yan ways ± I am ab­so­lutely im­pressed by your ex­pression of heart­felt con­do­lences and your offers of practical help. Best wishes to all of you.∫

And this was the line of dedi­cation to Noel as will be in the 2009 Africa Me­dia Ba­rom­eter. It was penned by Grace Githaiga, who led the panel dis­cussions last No­vem­ber, and all panelists agreed it was be­fitting: ™This report is dedi­cated Noel Okoth, who has been an im­por­tant part of the Af­ri­can Media Ba­rom­eter in Kenya since its in­ception in 2005. His life was suddenly cut short on Feb­ruary 28, 2010. We will greatly miss his hearty laugh­ter, in­valuable stock of knowledge and friendship. We shall en­deav­our to keep his memory alive.∫ 

I attended the burial of the late Noel Okoth at Put Village, in Ndere Area of Gem district about 8 km off the Kisumu-Busia Road. I conveyed the con­do­lences of the Africa Media Ba­rom­eter (AMB) team and the sister Nelly Okendo expressed her appre­ciation.

The family had a heavy burden to bear. With Noel's parents dead and only a younger brother at home, it has not been and will not be easy for them. Noel is survived by a son-Leon Okendo. There are issues on Noel's domestic front that they have been struggling with. They are the usual challenges we all face within our families, the difference being the degree. Noel's broad smile masked and managed a lot of challenges.

Briefly, Noel fell sick on the morning of February 28, 2010 and according to the eulogy, he ™ex­pe­ri­enced a swelling on his right cheek and lower lip. Due to this, he decided to see a medical prac­ti­tio­ner at a nearby health centre in Ngong where he lived, accom­pa­nied by a friend. He de­vel­oped breathing prob­lems on the way and was pro­nounced dead on arrival at Ngong Health Cen­tre.∫

A journalist friend, Byrroenne Omondi who was waiting for Noel to join him for a lunch date in the city centre that day waited in vain. He called his num­ber twice as he grew weary of waiting when the friend who had taken Noel to hos­pi­tal picked the call to announce the sad news to him. Omondi rushed to the Chiromo Mortuary and joined the friends and family members as they took the body there on the back of a pick-up, as rain pounded them. 

At his Ndere family home during the burial, Noel lay in the coffin  very serene, yet looking very healthy. Looking at his body and face, you could not know Noel was dead, you would think his mouth sketched his usual smile, perhaps a smile to say good bye to friends and relatives.  

I saw a tearful Mitch Odero, one of his enduring media friends and con­tem­po­raries with whom they moved from the Standard to the All Africa News Agency and later to the Sudan Mirror where he was lately working as chief Sub-Editor, lay a wreath at the grave and I knew we had lost a gem, an in­valuable library of in­for­mation on Kenyan and African media. 

The saddest thing is that the Media ignored Noel, not a small mention despite attempts by Mitch Odero and family members to interest his former colleagues and con­tem­po­raries. It was only in the paid-up obituary of market leaders- Nation and Standard.  

Mitch has carried a special tribute to Noel in the Sudan Mirror. 

May God rest Noel’s Soul

in Eternal Peace.

 

William Oloo Janak,

Chairman

Kenya Correspondents Association.

 

 

 

Sorghum: The crop local

farmers could  fully exploit

 

It has always been regarded as the staple food for the poor and the less privileged in the society but it has now gained enormous significance in the country.

Sorghum, ranked the fifth most im­por­tant grain in the world after wheat, barley, rice and maize has suddenly found its way to promi­nence with leading brewer East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) separately seeking to buy the crop.

And due to a combination of unfavourable circumstances in­cluding the global food crisis and the adverse effects of climate change, sorghum has now become one of the most sought after grain in East Africa.

The unprecedented scramble for sorghum, which has seen its prices go up, is expected to substantially im­prove the economic well being of thou­sands of poor farmers in dry areas where erratic weather patterns make growing of other crops difficult.

Though the two markets are not competing, the record demand for sorghum ignited a quite price which took the intervention of Ministry of Agriculture to harmonize and set a Sh 17 per kilo for all varieties.

For instance, the beer industry is turning to sorghum as a key sub­sti­tute in making malt beers, in an effort to reduce its longstanding reliance on the more expensive barley.  

EABL is buying gaddam sorghum - the white sorghum variety ideal for brewing and logistics have been put in place to ensure that farmers are paid instantly for their deliveries.  

On the other hand, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding WFP to buy sor­ghum from local farmers for re­dis­tri­bution in drought hit areas, both within the country and in Southern Sudan.  

According to Mr Lee Anthony Brudvig, the deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Nairobi, the USAID/WFP initiative dubbed `buying for progress' would see the sourced grains donated to the World Food Programme supported school feeding programme and the Food for Work projects. 

Mr Brudvig said besides promoting sorghum as a cash crop, buying locally produced crops by WFP is intended to give farmers access to a guaranteed market and therefore enhance food security.

™Instead of importing white maize and split peas being currently supplied for school feeding programme, WFP will now supply locally grown sorghum and other crops through the buying for progress∫  he said.

A high powered delegation of US Embassy and WFP officials led by US Envoy to the Rome based agency Mike Michener recently toured sor­ghum farms in the lower Eastern districts to assess the viability of the project. 

WFP Spokesperson Ms Gabrielle Menezes told The Anchor that the UN relief agency had set aside funds to buy 700 metric tons of sorghum from farmers in Eastern Province.

™The initiative to buy drought re­sis­tance crops in Kenya seeks to promote market oriented farming and help farmers move away from the non-focused subsistence farming∫ said Ms Gabrielle.

Ms Gabrielle said that the UN body which fights hunger worldwide has been importing food for relief pur­poses for the last 30 years but this was the first time it was buying grain from local farmers for redistribution.  

She adds: ™WFP is buying locally to cut down on transport costs but more importantly offer small scale farmers a market for their produce hence boost their economic well being∫.  

WFP is negotiating with selected agro dealers in the region and the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) to contract them to ensure farmers are not exploited by un­scru­pu­lous middlemen.

On the brewing scene, a consortium of several organizations have joined hands to promote sorghum growing for beer making and create thou­sands of direct and indirect jobs in a value chain where farmers reap benefits of commercializing the crop.

East African Malting Ltd (EAML), a wholly owned subsidiary of East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) has partnered with Africa Harvest, a non Governmental Organization, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and Equity Bank to promote the growing of sorghum grain and en­hance its value chain in the coun­try. 

Under the arrangement, Equity Bank is offering low interest loans to farmers to buy seeds and farm inputs while Africa Harvest and KARI are pro­viding the technical support to ensure the best quality grains are produced for consumption by EAML.

Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi last year announced the establishment of a Sh10 million revolving fund for local farmers to facilitate the en­ter­prise.

Gadam Sorghum is a research prod­uct from KARI who have the technical mandate to breed, test and reproduce seeds to ensure quality standards for the crop.

Mr David Miano, the Director of Kenya Arid and Semi Arid lands Research Program (KASAL), a unit under KARI confirmed to The An-chor that the government had set aside Sh 20 million for bulking gaddam sorghum seeds for distribution to farmers before the next planting season. 

Mr Miano, a senior researcher with KARI says gaddam propagation is a major breakthrough and a research output that addresses poverty directly in farmers' pockets propa­gation.

™Due to climate change, it is be­coming more difficult to grow maize in arid areas hence the need to adopt drought resistant crops like sorghum∫ Mr Miano said.  

For many years, brewing firms have been reluctant to use sorghum ± the hardy grain that yields considerably well in minimal rainfall and poor soils because they were not sure whether farmers could guarantee consistent supply.

Barley, the grain used to brew most beer grows best in countries with cooler climates but its rocketing price due to a strong global demand and the high shipping costs have made beer making more expensive than ever. 

Due to worldwide increases in the cost of sourcing barley, EAML is now investing in sorghum as a malting substitute.  

The project has been implemented in the lower zones of Eastern Prov­ince; Kitui, Mutomo, Mbeere, Masinga, Tharaka, Embu, Maara, Meru South , Imenti North and Imenti South.

These areas are characterized by high levels of poverty due to the dry climate, frequent crop failure occa­sioned by long periods of drought.

EABL requires more than 60,000 tons of barley every year for making different beer brands, out of this the firm intends to substitute in excess of three quarters with local sorghum.

According to Ms Rose Mutuku of Smart Logistics, the firm hired to source the grain from local farmers by EAML, there is a production deficit of more than 25,000 tons.

Ms Mutuku says EAML will still be forced to import gaddam sorghum this year from Tanzania because farmers will not be able to satisfy demand but reckons that the situation will improve in the next seasons.

Dr Rose Njeru, Technology De­ployment Director at Africa Harvest says: ™We anticipate that the 13 tons of sorghum seeds planted by No­vem­ber last year will be harvested and bulked by our farmers bringing much needed income into their pock­ets∫.

Africa Harvest CEO Dr Florence Wambugu expects better per­for­mance in the next growing season as the project picks up momentum.

She says: ™It is anticipated that with the good spirit of cooperation and teamwork between the various stake­holders, the region can satisfy the growing demand for sorghum grain∫  

Local leaders have welcomed the initiative saying there was an urgent need to revise the country's ag­ri­cul­tural policies to tackle the present challenges in line with the prevailing economic realities.

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka says farmers would effectively cultivate enough sorghum as long as the market for their produce was guar­an­teed and that this will translate to enormous benefits to them and the country's economy.

However, they have voiced concern over the initial prices of Sh 17 per kilo offered by the brewing firm saying it should be revised upwards to cushion farmers against high cost of pro­duction.

Local residents are very enthusiastic with the new developments as they are being sought by multinationals and international aid agencies.

Mrs Mary Mutemi from Kang'utheni village in Mwingi district gambled with the EAML idea and dedicated eight acres of her farm to the new crop. Without applying any fertilizer, she now expects to harvest at least 50 bags of sorghum.

™This is unbelievable and we are very happy. At last we've got our own cash crop with a guaranteed market like coffee and tea∫ Mrs Mutemi said adding farmers will redouble their efforts in the next season.

MPs Isaac Muoki (Kitui south) and Kiema Kilonzo (Mutito) whose areas are among the leading sorghum pro­ducers suggested that the Gov­ernment im­pose heavy taxes on bar­ley im­por­tation in or­der to en­courage the grain pro­duction in the coun­try.

™This coun­try is living a big irony. We im­port bar­ley from Canada at very ex­or­bi­tant prices to make beer yet cheap sor­ghum can be grown locally for the same pur­pose at ob­vious great eco­nomic ben­efits to poor farmers∫ he said.

 

Key events, players and

evolution of the Malili Fiasco

 

How did the Malili Ranch issue be­come a fiasco?

 

The Government entered an agreement with Malili Ranch to buy 5,000 acres of land for build what will be known as Milili Technolpolis. The land com­prised of 609 parcels of  land mea­suring 7.8 acres.

Each acre would be bought at Sh 200,000. The State paid Sh 1.560 for each parcel. Malili Directors would pay Sh 1.4 to each farmer, leaving Sh 160,000 from each parcel (Sh97m in all) to cater for the ad­min­is­trative costs and com­pen­sation for developments of the land.

Leaders of the ranch- the late Mr Josiah Munuka, Mr Kanyi and Mr Kilonzo, with assis­tance of some Machakos lawyers begun buying plots from farmers at throw away prices- as low as Sh 400,000 per parcel and selling the same land to the government at Sh 1.4m. By November 2009, 112 par­cels had been paid for. Sh 40m had been paid to Gate­way Logistics as commission and another Sh28m to Eric Mutua as legal fees. Between Munuka, Kanyi and Mr Kilonzo, they had been paid nearly Sh 150m from the land trans­actions.

The dispute came to the fore late last year  after the death of Mr Munuka when two Malili Ranch directors, Mr Peter Kanyi and Mr Julius Kilonzo, were charged with stealing Sh143 million from EK Mutua Ad­vo­cates in Nairobi.

When the dispute first arose, Mr Kanyi and Mr Kilonzo alleged that they were taken to court after they rejected a plea by Kan­gundo MP Johnson Muthama that they sign an agreement for Gate­way Logistics to be paid a fee for alleged commission for sale of them land. They sought refuge in the hands of Water and Irrigation Min­is­ter Charity Ngilu, who helped them meet Prime Minister Raila Odinga, saying that they would never allow gateway to rip off peasants of Malili Ranch. Mr Kanyi says Mr Muthama told him the proceeds of the commissions would go towards the Presidential campaigns of ODM-K leader Kalonzo Musyoka.

Mr Muthama reported the matter to the police after Kanyi refused to sign, leading to the arrest of Mr Kanyi and Mr Kilonzo. He has since told The Anchor that it is true that he reported the matter to the police leading to the arrests and pros­ecution but he has, nevertheless de­nied allegations that he was fronting for the payment of the illegal commission to Gateway. Now he is alleging that a Cabi­net Minister approached him in his private office pleading for the payments to Gate­way. Muthama has threat­ened to name him pub­licly and the sooner he does it the better. Knowing that Muthama is an ordinary mem­ber of Malili, the fact that a minister would approach him for help tells the story that the Kan­gundo MP has a crippling influence on Malili Directors. So how much does Muthama know about the Malili debacle?

™ My motive was not to push for any commissions for anyone. I have no other interest in Malili other than to ensure that the right thing is done,∫ Muthama told The An-chor. But Mr Muthama, much as he in­sists that he was seeking justice for Ma­lili farmers has  flatly rejected efforts by The Anchor to have him re­spond to specific issues relating to the fiasco. We have in­for­mation about a meeting be­tween Mr Muthama and Gate­way Di­rectors to discuss how they would paid their alleged balance of Sh 60m.

But since the two were charged and sub­se­quently removed from office, The Anchor has seen new signatures on an agreement backdated to February 24,2009, indicating that Gateway would be paid Sh 21,000 commission for the sale of the 5,000 acres, meaning that they would receive a total of Sh 105m from the deal, even when Gateway did nothing to enable the sale of the land to Malili. It is believed that one of the objectives of re­moving Mr Kanyi from office was to fa­cili­tate the new regime of theft of Malili Millions.

Nevertheless, Mr Muthama has remained mum even as it emerged that Malili leaders will pay Sh 300,000 less than the agreed rate with the Gov­ernment. It is claimed that farmers were being paid less be­cause of the Sh 143 million allegedly `sto­len' by Kanyi and Kilonzo. So what has happened with his drive to have the right thing done at Malili? Why will he not report the current directors to the police now that they are paying less to farmers than what the gov­ernment paid for? That is the question, besides many others.

Now we have a document that showing how the Sh 300,000 would be shared to the disadvantage of Members.

The two are out on bond and their case has been postponed in the typical way the State handles cases that they are not ready or willing to prosecute due to reasons usually not disclosed to the trial court. The case was to be heard on January 29 but the State sought an ad­journment to March 23. It is unlikely that it will take off.

When farmers dis­cov­ered that no one would come to their rescue, they rushed to court to stop payment of Sh 1.1m Law­yer Alponce Mutinda, for the seven share­holders, successfully urged Lady Justice Nambuye to block officials of Ma­lili Ranch, Lawyer Mutua and gov­ernment agents from releasing the money or tres­passing, dis­posing, trans­ferring or in­ter­fering with the dis­puted land, pending the determination of the case.

The judge ordered that the suit documents be served on the re­spon­dents. The share­holders fear losing out on both the money and their parcels of land. New leaders of Malili are Mr David Ndolo Ngilai (Chairman), James Munguti (Secretary) Julius Mbau Nzyuko (Vice Chairman) and Leonard Kitua( Treasurer). Kanyi and Kilonzo are now ordinary directors.

Nevertheless, the order was still born and Malili directors went on to pay members as if nothing had taken place, evidence that some powerful figures are indeed behind the fiasco.

Other key players in the Malili saga are Minister for  Information and Commu­ni­cation and ODM-K Chairman Mr Samuel Poghisio, his PS Mr Bitange Ndemo, Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua. We have accounts of how the Minister once sat with a senior citizen of Kenya as the ministry sought to buy land for ICT. Ndemo has rightly placed the fiasco at the door­steps of the Kamba leadership be­cause he knows that local politicians have soiled their fingers in Malili. His assertion that the ICT City may be moved to Thika underlines the fact that since some MPs are implicated, they may lack the energy required to face him over the matter. The truth of the matter is that Kamba peasants were fleeced by the poli­ticians they elected in 2007. Period.

On his part, the VP in response to Ndemo accused the architects of Mutui Museo ,local professional who went around seeking food for hungry villagers when the VP was mum, and accused them of being the forces behind Gateway. His remarks that action would be taken are welcome, although those who know the events and actors know nothing will come from his assurances, however nice they sound. Citizens want action on the thieves.

 

Theft of guns

causes a nightmare

 

By John Musembi

 

GANGSTERS in Mwingi now have greater fire power thanks to the carelessness of Administration Police Officers.

As a consequence, police  in Mwingi are in a dilemma after three  Revolvers dis­appeared without trace..

They are apprehensive that the three le­thal Ceska pistols that were stolen alongside nearly 45 rounds of ammu­nitions are in the hands of local criminals and who were likely to cause havoc should they use the firearms within Mwingi.

Mwingi Officer Commanding Police Di­vision Mr. Kenneth Kimani sent an appeal to local residents to come forward and volunteer any information that can lead to the re­cov­ery of the guns before the worse happens.

The OCPD said so far all efforts to get any useful information that could lead to the recovery of the pistols had hit a  dead end and throwing in­ves­ti­gations into dis­array.

™Mem­bers of the pub­lic here in Mwingi have be­come very cagey with in­for­mation and dealing with them is tan­ta­mount to trying to use a bull dozer to move a stubborn huge rock,∫ la­mented the OCPD.

He said that the problem with the resi­dents of Mwingi was that  they had an unexplained phobia to testify in a court of law as prosecution witness while other were known to believe that the culprits would cast a bad spell on them should they incriminate them.

™The common but unfounded believe is that prosecution witnesses are normally committed to jail and the believe that crimi­nals and other way­ward characters have powers to bewitch

People who give evidence against them frustrate police investigations,∫  said the OCPD.

Two of the pistols were stolen from two prisons warders attached to the Mwingi GK Prison who were guarding a sick prisoner at the Mwingi district hospital when robbers struck at the facility in mid January. They were loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition.

The other  pistol was stolen in early Feb­ruary when an administration police officer  who was on night duty went drinking and ended losing the firearm that was loaded with 15 round of ammunition.

The AP constable Hezron Otieno has al­ready been charged before the Mwingi senior resident magistrate Mr. Hezron Nyaberi with the loss of the gun. He is out on a Sh. 50,000 bond.

 

 

Machakos Water Company

fights to end  theft

 

The Machakos Water and Sewerage Com­pany loses sh4.2 million every month through illegal water connections that are mas­ter­minded by un­scru­pu­lous water users in con­junction with corrupt com­pany staff.The illegal connections have left thou­sands of resi­dents with­out water for domestic use after triggering a man made water shortage in the town. 

Led by the company chairman Mr. Leonard Ka­mba and the Managing Di­rector Mr Stephen Kiteme, the com­pany has launched a crackdown on illegal connections where four large scale ille­gal connections including a Gov­ernment in­sti­tution were confronted.Mr Kamba dis­closed that while the com­pany could collect over sh6 million monthly from sale of wa­ter, only Sh1.6 was collected.He said the com­pany was in a financial crisis be­cause it could not pay its op­era­tional costs in­cluding staff sala­ries and elec­tricity costs.Mr Kamba said 70 per cent of the wa­ter gen­erated by the com­pany was lost through ille­gal connections leaving resi­dents at the mercy of the cartels that run wa­ter vending outfits in the town. 

He said while the com­pany kiosks sold fifty 20-litre jerry cans at only Sh33.30, the wa­ter vendors were raking in sh20 per single 20-litre jerry can. 

∫We want to put an end to this theft of wa­ter in the town and to start we have sacked several officers who are linked to these car­tels. We will also pros­ecute all the people involved in the rip off', said an an­gry Mr Kamba. 

He warned that there might be a com­plete overhaul of the staff in the com­pany in a bid to end corruption in the water trade.The cam­paign is part of the company's Rapid Results Ini­tiative that will come to a close later in March.Among the key bench­marks of the RRI was the em­ployment of a Managing Director, Zoning of Dis­tri­bution Areas, Mass Dis­connections of water and es­tab­lishment of Per­for­mance Con­tracts for Staff.The Com­pany had to undertake the RRI push to prepare itself  for the man­agement of emerging water sources in the town that have been rehabilitated by Water and Irri­gation Minister Mrs Charity Ngilu, in con­junction with Tanathi Water Ser­vices Board.

 

 

Mounting tension in Kangundo DCC

after pastor is caught red handed

 

By JOHN MUISYO 

 

 

A raw is raging over the leadership of the Sengani District Church Council (DCC) in Kangundo over the integrity of the leadership of a Reverend whose name we withhold.

He is facing accusations from members of A.I. C Sengani, with one accusing him of leading an adulterous life. They are demanding that he quits leadership of the DCC for failing to offer good leadership and involving himself in activities that are opposed to Christian virtues.

In a meeting that was held on June 13 2009 at A.I.C Sengani the District Church Council barred him from pre_siding over any function concerning the council until a letter send to the AIC Bishop of Machakos Region- Rev Benard Nguyo is answered.

The letter highlighted some of the alleged acts of misconduct that saw the DCC lose confidence in him.

Among the allegations is the embezzlement church Funds, involving himself in immoral behavior, and failure to host the annual DCC congregation.

He is facing a specific accusation that one of the members of his flock bumped in to him together with a young lady  in Nairobi where he was allegedly seen boarding a lodging in what is said to be a form of prostitution, a sin that is highly fought by Christian doctrines.

Letters availed to The Anchor, that have been circulated widely within the Church cite the alleged the eye witness a Mr. Maingi Ndolo who claims to have seen the two board a room to_gether, adding that he accosted the church elder after the incident. The documents show that there have been hearings by the Regional leadership during which a verdict of not guilty was returned against the pastor.

But his accusers have insisted that the hearings have favoured the pastor be_cause those in the panel are known friends and benefactors of the pastor.

The accusers, who include Paramount Chief Savano Maveke and Football Kenya Limited leader Mr Bernard Musyoka Mwanza among others have vowed to mobilize church members in the DCC to eject the pastor from congregations to underline their determination to deal with the matter.  `'I want to use the energy remaining in me to ensure that our church leaders do the things they preach to their congregations, said the 90-year plus Paramount Chief.

Inquiries by The Anchor show that the residents believe the matter would have been resolved with the intervention of Kangundo MP Johnson Muthama.

Muthama summoned the accuser and urged him to drop the charges and help foster peace. Mr Maveke also told The Anchor that Mr Muthama summoned him, together with another elder- Fred Nduti Muthiani and urged them not to push forward with the fight to deal with the pastor.

`' Much as we respect our MP, we will not renege. We want him out of the DCC leadership. We have not held our usual meetings because of his way of life,'', said the Paramount Chief, the only one of his kind in Ukambani.

The whole matter is underlined by attempts to bribe the accusers into silence. One of the letters The Anchor has seen speaks of a bribe that was handed to the AIC Bishop as evidence.

 

 

Turmoil hits Machakos Municipality

amid  graft, intrigue and politics

 

By Anchor Reporter

 

IN a daring vote, the Municipal Council of Machakos has resolved to invite the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC)carry out thorough investigations into the alleged graft at the local authority.

The council resolution is a response to widespread alle­gations of graft that target top council leadership.

The vote came after an anony­mous people wrote to KACC, accusing the council top brass of engaging in corrupt deals. The letter prompted KACC to forward the matter to the Ministry of Local Government for action.

Such action from the ministry would be an Inspection of Accounts and it appears that the feeling that a probe is over­due at the council was also shared by the top decision making organ of the local authority- the Full Council.

By inviting KACC, council leaders intend to have all doors flung open so that all aspects of governance at the council are subjected to due diligence audit.

With the resolution, KACC will come to the municipality and sift through many issues. In brief, it will rope in quite a basket full of the accused and the accusers.

At hand will be a tanker that is in dispute between the local CDF office that was allegedly constructed for the council at a cost of Sh 1.6m and was later rejected for failing to follow stipulated requirements. It is alleged that money changed hands at the Council and CDF offices, leading to the construction of an unacceptable, sub-standard tank that is mounted on wheels.

Also at hand will be an emerging fraud that may have led to the loss over Sh 8m as a result of under stating revenue collected. The scandal has already claimed Mrs J Muasa. Allegations have been made that she may have been working with other senior officials to defraud the council and it is hoped that KACC will unearth the players and have them face justice. What matters in the coming days is facts, facts and facts.

The row at the council came to  the open after The Anchor exposed the tanker fiasco where Machakos Town MP and the man who built the tanker have been arm twisting the council to accept the tanker even when it did not meet the specifications required for it to be towed by the new fire engine.

The MP and the contractor have been openly pushing for the removal of Town Clerk Mr Stephen Mbondo after he rejected the tanker. Efforts to have the tanker adjusted to specifications have been hampered by CDF's unwillingness to write a letter requesting that it be released to them for repair.

There has been pressure for the council officials on a number of issues ever since.

Mr Munyaka purported to re-open public toilets closed by Public Health officials at the Bus Park, an act that the council is opposed to, citing the fact that a new pay toilet has been erected on the park for residents to use. Besides, Munyaka operates with full hands- ranging from personal financial woes to dwindling political fortunes, underperforming CDF and general absenteeism from the constituency, making him a laughable first time MP trying to bite more than he can chew.

Munyaka claims that the toilets were closed after civic leaders allegedly voted to transform them to kiosks and allo­cate the kiosks to themselves, a claim denied by Mayor Fidelis Kimuyu.

Accusations and counter accusations are many and petty, underlining that local political leadership is pathetically wanting.

Featuring in the rows are claims of assault, leading to the arrest of Nomi­nated Councillor James Keli for allegedly assaulting the council's Environment Officer Nicholas Nzioka.

Keli is accused also of interfering with running of the council, an accusation that is emerging time and again against him since he was nominated.

Keli was a year ago in trouble over criticizing the awarding to Kitanga Contractors a tender to re-carpet town streets, accusing the Town Fathers of awarding the tender to an undeserving contractor. Kitanga Contractors also built the rejected Tanker.What has exactly changed remains unknown.

Nevertheless, envy, greed, pettiness and misplaced jealousies are the rule, rather than the exception at the municipality, with an impression emerging that the fight is all about whose turn it is to eat?

Governance activists are campaigning that Tenders in the municipality and other public institutions be awarded right across the board to avoid a situation where particular contractors raise hell whenever they miss out on tenders because they are used to getting them at will.

Machakos Residents Association, which has been sucked up by CDF and hardly scrutinizes the use of the kitty has hailed the decision to invite the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission (KACC) to carry out investigations at the council.  

The mayor who was flanked by  Mr Mbondo, Deputy Mayor Timothy Wambua, Town Treasurer Mr Wachiuri and Town Engineer Mr Morris Aluanga and several councillors said the council was keen to rout out all corrupt officials in the council. 

He said the two cashiers defrauded the council by under-receipting the money they received from members of the public.  Councillor Kimuyu asked all the council employees to shun corruption and other from malpractices that have spoiled the council's image.

So who is corrupt at Town Hall? Only time will tell.

 

 

Queries as Muoki

dishes out cash

 

Mwala MP Mr. Daniel Muoki has distributed CDF cheques worth Sh 1.7 million to 5 learning institutions in the constituency.  

The proposed Embui Secondary school in Masii division received Sh 500,000 for laying the foundation while Makutano DEB Primary School in the same division was given Sh 300,000 for improvement of the physical facilities. Kwa Kisau Primary whose two classrooms were recently blown off by heavy wind was awarded Sh 400,000 for reconstruction.  

Another Sh 250,000 was given to Kivulusa Early Childhood Development Center [ECD] in Mango location for completion of a classroom while Kavunya Primary School in Mwala division got Sh 300,000 for expansion of the administration block.  

The MP, who attended a zonal education day at Kavunya Primary after presentation of the cheques, showered local teachers with praise, saying their commitment to hard work had seen the school rise from the last position during the 2009 KCPE results in the zone to position one this year. He said the school would receive an additional funding from the CDF kitty for construction of an Early Childhood Development Centre and additional toilet facilities.  

Mr. Muoki said he was generally impressed by the improved performance of Mwala district in last year's KCPE examination which saw the district emerge tops in the larger Machakos region beating 7 other districts and fourth overall in Eastern province with a mean score of 258.5  He challenged educational stakeholders in the district to play their respective roles effectively to enhance the standards of education in the region. He told parents to focus on day schools since they were cheaper than boarding ones in view of the hard economic times  

He further urged the parents to regard education of their children as a viable investment that would assist to address poverty in their families.  

Mr. Muoki announced availability of government bursary for bright and needy students through the CDF kitty and the ministry of education. He said the government had in the past 5 years spent over SH 54 billion on free primary education.

Muoki's donations came as questions arise about the contractors that carry out work on CDF projects in Mwala.

Informed sources say a clique of wheeler dealers and a CDF official have ensured that tenders to construct CDF projects could not be won by any other person other than themselves.

™It is possible that the money that the MP has dished out today will land in their very hands∫, said a teacher in Mango Location who is privy to the goings on at the CDF office.