HUSTLER: Entrepreneur links moms to the market PAGE15Nema bans
new developmentsaround AmboseliPAGE6Counties inherit Sh17 billion
debt from councilsPAGE8Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The
StandardCONTINUED ON PAGE PAGE 4Banks, telcosduel over mobile
cashBanksare up in arms over a platform theysay would allow mobile
operators to holdcash deposits instead of simply
transferingSTANDARDTHEKenyas Bold NewspaperNo. 29291
www.standardmedia.co.ke KSh50/00 TSh1,000/00 USh1,500/00Tuesday,
March 26, 2013Seats in Houses: CORD, Jubilee intensify contest for
key elective posts, P.8Also insideSupreme Court orders fresh
scrutiny of votesMore Stories and Pictures on Pages 2 &
3Justice Mutunga Oraro for Raila THE LAWYERS THE JUDGESJustice
Ndungu Rebelo for IEBC Justice Ibrahim Kigen for RutoJustice Ojwang
Ahmednasir for Hassan Justice Wanjala Ngatia for UhuruJustice Tunoi
Kilonzo for Africog Judges direct re-examination of returns from
all 33,400 polling stations and sets aside two days for actual
election petition BY WAHOME
THUKUTheSupremeCourtgavetwoordersthatineffectentailpainstaking
audit of March 4 Presidential elections through scrutiny of each of
the forms
receivedfromthe33,400pollingstationsnationally.Thatscrutinyshall
aim at establishing the number of registered voters, the votes cast
and the votes rejected, the court said in a directive read by
Justice Smokin Wanjala. Further the court shall scrutinise all the
Forms 36 used by the Independent CONTINUED ON PAGE 2Mutunga team
directed scrutiny of each of the forms received from the 33,400
polling stations nationallyThe court also also set ground rules for
hearing which will determine ifpresidential elections should be
invalidated Court lists 22 polling stations in which re-tallying of
presidential votes shall be repeatedScrutiny of all form 36 forms
used by IEBC to aggregate tallies from all form 34s to determine
accuracy That scrutiny shall aim at establishing the number of
registered voters, the votes cast and the votes rejected Justice
WanjalaAT A GLANCE...22 pollings stations where votes will be
retallied: Lokosoiyan Primary SchoolLomerimeri Primary
SchoolKabutio Primary SchoolLontorio Primary SchoolNairibi Primary
SchoolMuumoni Primary SchoolNtambiro Primary SchoolMaili Tatu Tea
Buying CentreMugomoini Primary SchoolKingatua Primary SchoolKabitoi
DairyNtuuma Primary SchoolPililal Trading CentreSango Primary
SchoolSt Andrews Primary SchoolBoron Primary SchoolDon Bosco
Primary SchoolMagenji Primary SchoolChepkolon Primary
SchoolKapkurongo Primary SchoolNCC Social HallKoitabut Primary
SchoolKamobon DocksPage 2 / NATIONAL NEWS Tuesday, March 26, 2013 /
The
StandardFromleft,JudgesNjokiNdungu,JacktonOjwang,ChiefJusticeWillyMutunga,PhilipTunoi,MohamedIbrahimand
Smokin Wanjala yesterday at Supreme Court.[PHOTOS: EVANS HABIL AND
ALI ALALE/STANDARD]audit Supreme Court ordered scru-tiny of Forms
34 from all the 33,400 polling stations begin-ning 8am All Forms 36
used in the tal-lying of the presidential votes will also be
scrutinised Justice Smokin Wanjala or-dered the re-tallying would
aim to show if the number over votes cast exceeded the regis-tered
voters, directing that the results be fled at the Supreme Court by
Wednesday 4pm. Scrutiny of all forms 34 used by the IEBC in the
tallying of presidential elections including Diaspora Scrutiny with
the aim of as-certaining the number of reg-istered voters, votes
cast and rejected votes Scrutiny of all forms 36 used by the IEBC
to aggregate tallies from all forms 34 Scrutiny of all forms to
ascer-tain the accuracy of the total tally of presidential votes to
compare the registered voters versus the registered voters in the
principal
registerElectoralandBoundariesCommis-sion(IEBC)inaggregatingtallies
fromForms34.Thiswouldhelpin establishing the accuracy or
inaccu-racyoftheprocessandcomparing thenumberofregisteredvoterson
Form 34 and those on principal reg-ister.The court read out 22
polling sta-tionsinwhichre-tallyingofpresi-dential votes shall be
conducted us-ing the Forms 34 and 36.TheSupremeCourtalsosetthe
groundrulesforoneofthefercest battlestodeterminewhetherornot
theMarch4presidentialelections should be invalidated or not.
Thebenchalsodecidedtheac-tualsittingstodeterminethepeti-tionsthatcouldendorseornullify
the election of President-elect Uhuru KenyattawouldbeonWednesday
and Thursday. The Judges have until Saturday to deliver the ruling
on petitions, which havetoppednationalagendaover the past two
weeks.live upThe court, presided over by Chief
JusticeDrWillyMutungainhisca-pacity as the President of the Court,
set the terms as it began adjudicating what would be the biggest
and most contested case in Kenyas history.Mutunga opened by
assuring Ke-nyansthebenchwouldbejustand
fairtoallsides.We,asJudgesare servants of the law, and not the
other wayround. Wehavetakenandsub-scribedtotheoathofoffcethatwe
intendtoliveupto,declaredthe CJ. Theauditexerciseshallbecon-ducted
using what IEBC has provided as the principal register in form of
an externalhard-drive,attachedtoan affdavit by its chairman Isaack
Has-san.Thisshallbetoestablishifvotes
castexceededthenumberofregis-tered voters in those areas as claimed
byPrimeMinisterRailaOdingain the petition at the Supreme
Court.Thescrutinyshallbeconducted today from 8 am at place that was
to becommunicatedtothepartiesby theSupremeCourtRegistrarlast
evening. The results must be fled in the registry by 4pm
tomorrow.this
morningThepetitionersinthethreecon-solidatedpetitionswilljointlyap-pointtenagentsasobserversinthe
scrutinywhileallthefourrespon-dentsshallalsojointlyappointa
similarnumber. Theagentsshallall take an oath of secrecy this
morning to be administered by the Registrar.The court issued the
directives in theafternoononitsownmotion without prompting by any
party, af-teramorningofargumentsand sharp disagreements among a
dozen high-proflelawyersinthecourt-room. Different parties
contested
virtu-allyeveryitemintheschedulepre-paredbythecourtwhentheycame up,
indicating what the judges would have to deal with before
determining the petitions.Thoughthesessionwasonlya pre-trial
conference to deal with pre-liminary issues, the public got a taste
ofwhatwouldbethemostgrueling battleforthreedaysbeginningto-day.To
guide the lawyers through the session,thecourthadprepareda draft of
items to deal with according to the petition rules. It had framed
12 issues and asked the lawyers to indi-catewhichonestheyconsidered
contestedandwhichwereuncon-tested. It had also asked the lawyers
topickthekindofevidencethey would rely on, from a list of 19 items,
which included minutes of meetings,
electronicevidence,videotran-scripts,electoraldocumentsaswell as
reports and press statements.Partieswerealsotoindicate
whethertheyhavewitnessestocall and to list them. The document also
contained all the declarations sought in each of the
petitions.Thefrstissuethatlawyersdif-feredonwaswhetherornottheAt-torney
General could be enjoined in the cases as amicus curiae (friend of
the court).Attorney General Prof Githu
Mui-gaiwenttothecourtinpersonto plead for his enjoinment, arguing
he wanted to offer guidance to the court without taking any
sides.Theapplicationwasopposedby lawyersGeorgeOraroappearingfor
Raila and Kethi Kilonzo representing Nazlin Umar (left) when she
attempted to disrupt the court.fled on Saturday.Their lawyers moved
the Supreme Courttodecidewhethera900-page
affdavitfledbyRailaslegalteam had been taken to court according to
therulesandwhethertheissueshe raised in it should be responded
to.The lawyers spent the better part oftheafternoondemonstratingto
the court how the PM had introduced new matters, which he had not
raised in the original
petition.ButOrarodismissedthecom-plaintsasmisplaced,sayingthere-spondentswereavoidingtheissues
raised in the petition. He argued his client was only responding to
issues raised by IEBC in their response and
hehadproperlymadehisapplica-tion in court.all
partiesThecourtalsoheardanapplica-tion by Raila demanding logs of
serv-ers and other electronic gadgets used in the entire
election.Thecourtruledthatthethree petitions should be consolidated
for purposesofspeedydispensationof the cases. The petition by Raila
would howeverbethemaincaseinwhose fle all the proceedings would be
re-corded.The IEBC was directed to produce the principle register
and even a spe-cialone,whichcontainsnamesof
thosewhosebiometricdetailshad not been captured by the BVR kits.
Youmustsupplyallthedocu-ments you considered to be principle
registerandservethemonallpar-ties,orderedLadyJusticeNjoki
Ndungu.The court will sit for seven hours
and15minutesadayfortwodays. The petitioners and the respondents
will share that time.Respondents would get one hour
eachandtheAGwillhave30min-utes. Howyoumanagetheallocated
timeisuptoyoutodecideifitsin submissionsoryouwillproduce
yourwitnesses,directedJustice Ndungu. petitioner Gladwell Otieno.
The court however ruled in favor of the AG and
allowedhimtojointhecasesasa friend of the
court.Thejudgeshoweverrejecteda similar application by the Law
Soci-ety of Kenya after an objection by all the other
parties.three-hour breakThelawyersalsodifferedonthe
listofissuesframedbythecourtas contestedanduncontestedwithMr
AhmednassirAbdulahiarguingthat those raised by his client, Mr
Hassan, had not been captured.The same claim was made by law-yers
Fred Ngatia, representing Uhuru andlawyerKatwaKigenforDeputy
President-elect William Ruto.The court was prompted to allow
theadvocatesathree-hourbreakto discuss and agree on the issues they
wishedthecourttodealwithinthe actual
hearing.Ngatialatertoldthecourtthat they had narrowed down to six
issues to be dealt with by the court.Theyhoweveraskedformore
timetodecidewhethertheywould gobywhattheyhadagreedonorif each party
would fle its own.Lawyers proposed that one of the
threepetitionsbeheardalongside theothertwobutnotconsolidated since
it raised only one specifc issue whetherrejectedvotesshouldbe
included in tallying votes cast.The thrust of the arguments were
made later in the day when the com-bined team of the respondents
made a scathing criticism against Raila for
allegedlychangingthenatureofhis petition along the way.They accused
him of making new demandsinafreshapplicationhe Petition: Judges
order scrutiny of Forms 34 and 36 Continued from P1PRESIDENTIAL
PEtitiONNATIONALNEWS / Page 3Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The
StandardCORDs 900-page affdavit raises furore in Supreme CourtIEBC
and Uhuruteams counsel oppose the document, saying it was fled
after expiry of deadlineBy WAHOME THUKULawyers had a feld day
trying to implore the Supreme Court to determinevariouspreliminary
issues before it. Asthecasegotunderway, PrimeMinisterRailaOdingas
defenceteamwasaccusedof changing the nature of their peti-tion
along the way.LawyersrepresentingPresi-dent-electUhuruKenyatta,his
deputydesignateWilliamRuto andIndependentElectoraland
BoundariesCommission(IEBC) chairman Issack Hassan accused CORD of
changing the case mid-stream and making new demands in a fresh
application he fled on Saturday.The lawyers in turn asked the
Supreme Court to decide wheth-era900-pageaffdavitfledby Raila on
Saturday had been taken to court out of time and whether
theissuesheraisedinitshould be responded to.They claimed that
Railas team hadservedthemwiththedocu-mentraisingissuestouchingon
122electoralareas.Thiswasin additiontowhathefledaweek
earliertouchingon33,000poll-ing
stations.TUrnHEATThisisametamorphosisof the petitioners case. We
respond-edcomprehensivelytohisfrst allegationsandnewissueswere
raised, said Uhurus lawyer Fred Ngatia.Iwillseekleaveofcourt
toapplyfordeterminationof whetherthenewissuescanbe raised for the
court to determine, he added.We are now facing a different
casefromwhatwehadatfrst, said Hassans lawyer Ahmednas-sir
Abdulahi.Theremarkswereechoedby RutosadvocateKatwaKigen,
whosaidhewouldalsoaskfor determination on whether Railas affdavit
should be responded to. ButRailaslawyerGeorgeOraro
turnedtheheatonthethreere-spondentsandtheIEBC,accus-ingthemoftryingtoavoidthe
issues in court.Hesaidtheirfrstcasewas aboutthetallyingofvotes.The
IEBC fled a response explaining howtheyhadconductedthe elections
effciently. This prompt-ed Raila to fle the latest affdavit
onissuesarisingfromthatre-sponse.Therespondentsalsoraised
issueswithadraftofcontested and uncontested issues prepared by the
court. Lawyers Ngatia and
Ahmednassirclaimedsomeis-suesraisedbytheirclientswere not captured
in the draft.pOlling ArEAs.Wemustfrstpollingareas. look at the
issues that can be
le-gitimatelycanvassedattheSu-premeCourtwithinthepetition
context,hesaid,ashetriedto guidethecourtonhowtopro-ceed.The court
directed all the law-yerstoholdtheirconferenceon
thesidelinesoftheproceedings to decide which issues were con-tested
and which ones were not.Earlier,anotherlawyerKethi
Kilonzorepresentingoffcialsof a local NGO, demanded clarifca-tions
on register that was marked
duringthevotingandonede-scribedbytheIEBCasSpecial
Register,whichcontainedthe names of those whose biometric details
had not been captured.IEBClawyerPaulNyamodi
explainedtheregisterisin 700,000 parts and was still kept in
thepollingareas.Hesaidthe commissionwaswillingtopro-vide it but
that would take some time.Thelawyersagreedthatone of the petitions
fled by three vot-ersshouldbeheardseparately since it raised only
one issue.Itsseekingdetermination whether rejected votes should be
used in tallying the votes cast.Lawyers follow proceedings at
Supreme Court.Attorney General Githu Muigai. Lawyer Ahmednassir
Abdulahi.COURT ORDERS CORDs lawyer George Ora-ro accepted admission
of AG to the petition as a friend of the court Judges also
consolidated three petitions and allowed the CORD petition to take
lead Counsel Kethi Kilonzo for Africog said it was manda-tory for
IEBC to transmit the results electronically IEBC said production of
logs used in the election process is tiresome exercise Commission
said technol-ogy was a safeguardLawyer George Oraro and his
colleague Ochieng Oduol at the Supreme Court.PHOTOS: EVAN HABIL AND
ALI ALALE]PRESIDENTIAL PETITIONPage 4 / NATIONALsaid the CJ.
Justice Mutunga called on KenyanstotrusttheSupremeCourt to do its
job.He said the Supreme Court is open
toenablethepublicfollowproceed-ings through live TV
broadcasts.Thedutyofthiscourtistodo what is right, according to the
Consti-tution and the law, added the CJ.Mutunga said justice in an
adver-sarial matter like the election dispute
beforethecourt,isdoneandmani-festlyseentobedone,whenboth winners
and losers are
convinced.HeaddedtheSupremeCourtbe-ingafnalarbiterinthedisputeun-derstands
that the impact of its deci-sion will extend beyond the parties in
thepetitionsandwillshapesociety and affect everyday
life.Thisisnotalightobligationbut we are ready to discharge it,
said the CJ.HedisclosedthatseniorAfrican
juristsfromTanzania,Zimbabwe, BotswanaandUgandaarealsoob-Chief
Justice says the court will deliver justice without fear or favour
of any personMutunga assures of Supreme Court fairness in election
petitions Residents of Eldoret follow the historic presidential
election petitions proceedings at the Supreme Court on TV
yesterday. [PHOTO: PETER OCHIENG/STANDARD]Supreme Court in session,
yesterday. The court is handling three presidential election
petitions. [PHOTO: ALI ALALE/STAN-DARD]By DENNIS
ONYANGOHundredsofKisumuresidentsthronged
variousrestaurantstofollowpre-trialconfer-enceproceedingsonthepresidentialelection
petition.Majorclubsandrestaurantsinthelakeside city such as Stan
Bradox, Barizi, Deep Breeze and
PublicServiceClubwerefullofresidentsanx-ious about the Supreme
Courts decision.ThiscameadayafterPrimeMinisterRaila
Odingavisitedthearea.Hemaintainedthat without truth, there would be
no justice. The petition is very important to us as
resi-dentsofKisumuandthecountryingeneral.It marks the beginning of
a just and bright future. I must, therefore, take part in this
great history bywatchingitsproclamation,saidCharles Oala at Stan
Bradox club.At Public Service Club, residents expressed confdence
that the Supreme Court will make a fair decision and appealed to
bothpartiesinthepetitiontorespectthever-dict. We have confdence in
the Judiciary follow-ingthetremendoussurgerytheinstitutionhas
undergone. Our leaders should, therefore, abide by the ruling to
avoid sparking unnecessary
ten-sioninthecountry,saidMaryAtieno,abusi-nesswoman.ResidentssaidthecasebeforetheSupreme
Court was sensitive and a great test for justice in
Kenyaandappealedforcalmasthepetitionis being
prosecuted.ThisisalitmustestfortheJudiciary.We must maintain peace
and let justice take its own course, said Okumu Waga at Barizi
restaurant. Residents follow court events By PAMELA CHEPKEMEI and
FRANCIS ONTOMWAChiefJusticeWillyMutungaas-sured Kenyans the Supreme
Court will decide the dispute arising from
presi-dentialelectionwithoutfearorfa-vour.Dr Mutunga, who is the
President of the Supreme Court, said the judges
handlingthedisputeswilltreatthe petitions with objectivity and
under-take a fair analysis of the evidence, the Constitution and
the law.TheCJgavetheassuranceinhis opening remarks during the
pre-trial conferencehearingattheSupreme Court in Nairobi
yesterday.Weshallrenderourjudgment withoutfearorfavourofanyoneor
anything,devoidofill-willtowards any persons or affection towards
any causethatispartisan,unconstitu-tional or illegal, said Justice
Mutun-ga.Prime Minister Raila Odingas
peti-tionseeksseveraldeclarationsfrom
theSupremeCourt,amongthemin-validation of presidential poll
results.TheCJaddedtheSupremeCourt desirestobuildaninstitutionthatis
aniconicmonumenttothepromo-tionandprotectionoftheConstitu-tion and
the rule of law.We, as judges are servants of the law, and not the
other way round. We have taken and subscribed to an oath of offce
that we intend to live up to, The duty of this court is to do what
is right, according to the Constitution and the law. This is not a
light obligation but we are ready to discharge itserving the
hearing.Those monitoring the cases are CJ ofTanzaniaMohammedOthman,
formerCJofZambiaErnestSakala,
JusticeMosesChinhengofromZim-babwe,JusticeOagileDingakeofthe High
Court of Botswana and the CJ of Uganda Benjamin Odoki.TIgHTEN
SECuRITyMeanwhile,aseniorcounselhas
askedtheGovernmenttogivemaxi-mumsecuritytoChiefJusticeWilly
Mutungaandhiscolleagueshearing the poll
petition.Formervice-chairmanofthede-funct Electoral Commission of
Kenya (ECK)GabrielMukelestatedthat deathclaimsdirectedtotheCJfew
weeksagoandthehighproflecase beforetheSupremeCourtshouldbe reason
enough to tighten his security. Recently,Mutungawhoisalsothe
President of the Supreme Court, also accused Head of Public Service
Fran-cisKimemiaoffrustratinghisjob. IgnoreJusticeMutungasfearsat
your own peril. He is a top public ser-vant and anyone with the
temerity to belittlehimhasnorespectforthis
country.Theclaimsareweightyand must be revisited and acted upon
with speed, he told The Standard.Mukele,whodeputisedthelate
ECKchairpersonSamuelKivuitu, connectedthethreatstomysterious
deathsoflawyerArgwingsKodhek, the late Chief Justice Kitili Mwendwa
and Coastal politician Ronald Ngala.Up to now, we are in the dark
re-garding how these illustrious citizens of this country died.
This trend must
bestoppedandatthisjunctureany-onegoingtodismissDrMutungas fears
does not know what he is doing, he
observed.MrMukeleaddedthatthetiming ofthedeaththreatsagainstCJand
frustrationscomingfromsomeGov-ernment offcials days to the General
Electionwasapointerthatthings were not right.Tuesday, March 26,
2013 / The StandardBy WAHOME THUKUThe Attorney General has been
al-lowed to join three petitions challeng-ingtheoutcomeoftheMarch4
presidential elections.ThecourtobservedtheAGisthe custodian of
legal instruments of ex-ecutive and plays main role in
opera-tionalising the Constitution.Theseconsiderationshaveled the
court to conclude it would be im-proper to exclude him. Admitting
him would not be prejudicial to the inter-est of the parties, said
Judge Jackton Ojwang in the ruling.Thecourt,however,rejecteda
similar application by Law Society of
Kenya(LSK)followingclaimsthatit had taken a partisan
position.Myappearanceisnottobein-volvedinthecontroversiesbutto
guide the court on the legal questions.
Itsthenorm,notexceptionwhere seriouscontroversiallegalquestions are
raised, the court would like to hear the thinking and research of
AG, the AG had earlier submitted.The Government is not a party in
petitionsanddoesnotdesiretobe. The AG cannot impose himself in the
case. Its with leave of the court. Even the latitude of the
friendship is made atthediscretionofthecourt,he added.vALId OR
INvALIdButtheapplicationwasopposed bylawyersGeorgeOraroappearing
forPrimeMinisterRailaOdingaand KethiKilonzorepresentingpetition-ers
Gladwell Otieno and Zahid Rajan.
Theyarguedthattheelectionpeti-tionswerenotcivilproceedingsin nature
hence not the kind of cases the AG should be enjoined
in.Theotherpartiessupportedthe application.Ms Kilonzo said the
ultimate ques-tion would be whether the declaration
ofwinnerisvalidorinvalid,adding that the petition rules only
provide for petitioners and respondents.KilonzosaidtheIndependent
ElectoralandBoundariesCommis-sionwasboundtobeneutralinthe
proceedingsanditshouldbethe friend of the court.Judges enjoin Githu
in presidential poll casesPRESIDENTIAL PETITIONTuesday, March 26,
2013 / The StandardPage 5Tuesday, March26, 2013 / The StandardPage
6 / NATIONAL NEWSBy PHILIP MWAKIOKenya Maritime Authority (KMA)
isplanningtoholdanEasterbeach safety awareness campaign ahead of
the festive season.A brief statement issued by KMA said the
initiative was aimed at sen-sitising the public on safety
precau-tions to take while at the beach dur-ing the upcoming Easter
holiday.The campaign, to run from March 29 to April 2, further aims
to instill a water safety culture among all
vaca-tionerstoreducethenumberof
waterrelatedaccidentsinthere-gion.KMA Public Relations Offcer
Mi-chelle Wanga said Beach Emergency RescueCentreswouldbesetupat
theJomoKenyattaPublicBeach, Mombasa Beach, Mama Ngina Drive and
Shelly Beach in Likoni.These will be manned by a team of at least
150 members volunteering fromvariouspartneringorganisa-tions, she
said.beach patrolsPartnering organisations include the XFOR
Security Solutions, Kenya Police,MaritimePoliceUnit,the Traffc
Police, the Tourist Police, Ke-nya Wildlife Service, Kenya
Associa-tionofHotelKeepersandCaterers and Mombasa and Coast Tourist
As-sociation among others.The Easter Beach Safety
Aware-nesscampaignwillinvolveencour-agingbeachgoerstoceasewater
activities by 6.30pm, Wanga said.Sheaddedtherewouldbecon-tinuation
of beach patrols, patrols on shoreandinwatertoensureboat operators
comply with safety regula-tionssuchashavingadequatelife saving
equipment.Maritime body to hold beach safety driveIndia, Kenya
strike dealon wildlife protectionby phIlIp
MWaKIoIndiaandKenyahaveagreedto
strengthentheirtiesinwildlifecon-servation and
management.IndianHighCommissionerto KenyaSibabrataTripathiandKenya
WildlifeService(KWS)Director Wil-liam Kiprono said there was need
to share ideas on best practices in wild-life protection.Mr Kiprono
said the two countries would also explore training exchange
programmesthatcanenhance knowledgeonemergingwildlifeis-sues.The two
countries share the same varietyofwildlifespecieshencethe
needtoworktogethertoaddress similarchallengestheyfacesuchas
wildlife crime, climate change, rising
populationsaswellasthespreadof invasive species, Tripathi said when
he paid Kiprono a courtesy call. 20,000
tourIstsKenyahasintherecentpastbe-come a favourable tourist
destination for Indians, with an estimated20,000
Indiantouristsvisitingthecountry annually.
Themostcommonareasvisited byIndiansincludetheMasaiMara Countries to
share ideas to enhance knowledge on existing and emerging wildlife
conservation issuesConservationNationalReserveandtheAmboseli
National Park.Meanwhile, hoteliers at the Coast want KWS to
consider re-stocking the ShimbaHillsNationalReservewith additional
wildlife.SouthCoasthotelierGomeri
Kombosaidthereservethatliesap-proximately33kilometressouthof
Mombasacitywasreceivingfewer visitors due to few wildlife that roam
its environs.ShimbaHillscoastalecosystem comprises of a
heterogeneous habitat that includes forestlands, exotic
plan-tation, scrubland and grassland.The reserve hosts the highest
den-sity of African elephants in Kenya. It
isalsohometotherareSableante-lope,blackandrufouselephant
shrew,bushytailedmongooseand othersmallermammalslikefruit
bat.Thesefeaturesarevitalandcan supportanykindofwildlife.
Webe-lieve KWS with its expertise in wildlife management could
consider restock-ingitwithmorewildlifewhichvisi-tors can see on a
game drive, Kombo said.By RENSON
MNYAMWEZINewlyelectedleadersinTaita-Taveta have resolved to work
together to foster
development.SpeakinginWundanyitownyes-terday,theleaderssaidtheywould
champion the interests of local com-munities regardless of the side
of po-litical divide they belonged
to.TheleadersincludedGovernor-electJohnMtuttaMrutu,Women
RepresentativeJoyceWanjalaLay, MPs-elect Thomas Mwadeghu
(Wun-danyi),JonesMlolwa(Voi),Andrew Mwadime(Mwatate)and20county
representatives.FormerCabinetministersDan
MwazoandNaomiShabandidnot, however,attendthemeeting,which
wasalsoattendedbynewlyelected SpeakeroftheCountyAssembly Maghanga
Michael Maghanga.Wehavedecidedtoprioritise
unityasawaytorealisemeaningful developmentasdisunityhasdone more
harm than good to the commu-nity, said Ms Lay.squatter
IssueShesaiditisonlyiftheleaders unitethatthethornysquatterissue,
poorroadinfrastructure,poverty, high rate of unemployment and poor
educationstandardscanbead-dressed.Lay noted that although the
region was endowed with enormous natural
resourceslikeminerals,wildlifeand waterbodies,theyhavenotbeen
fullyexploitedtobeneftthelocal community.Mwadeghusaidhewouldreach
outtoformerCabinetministerand outgoingTavetaMPShabantowork with
other elected leaders.Elected leaders resolve to unite
communitiesIndian High Commissioner to Kenya Sibabrata Tripathi and
Kenya Wildlife Ser-vice Director William Kiprono when they met at
the KWS headquarters in Nai-robi, yesterday. [PHOTO: OMONDI
ONYANGO/STANDARD]Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The Standard NATIONAL
NEWS / Page 7Experts seek to downplay gravity of dengue feverThey
say though the disease is present and some people have been
diagnosed, there is no justifcation for panicBy LINAH
BENyAWATheDirectorofPublicHealth ShahnazSharifhasconfrmedpres-ence
of dengue fever in parts of Coast Province, but downplayed the
impact of the ailment.MedicalauthoritiesinMombasa
andNairobiwenttogreatlengthsto
downplaythescopeofinfectionsin-sisting dengue fever is not deadly
and argued that journalists were trying to spread alarm with
falsehoods.ButinMombasa,theProvincial Director of Public Health
Anisa Omar promisedtoissueacomprehensive
reportonthediseaseoutbreakthis morning.TWO CASESThe fever has been
diagnosed but Iamyettogettheresultsbecause some tests are still
being carried out. But I know there are no deaths follow-ing the
breakout, said Dr Shahnaz in atelephoneconversationwithThe Standard
last evening.On Sunday the Provincial Director
ofMedicalServicesKhadijaShikely disclosedthattwocasesofthefever had
been confrmed by Kemri in Kili-f and fve cases were also being
inves-tigated.Unconfrmedreportshadindi-catedearlierthat15caseshadbeen
diagnosed.Experts are warning that the onset of heavy rains and
consequent water By LINAH BENyAWAThere is a reduction in the number
ofTuberculosiscasesinMombasa County, a health expert has
revealed.MombasaDistrictHealthOffcer Shem Patta attributed the drop
to
in-creasingadherencetomedicaltreat-mentregimesandreductionofstig-ma.Studiesshowthatanincreasing
numberofpatientsfnishtheiranti-TB doses now more than ever before
while civic education in remote areas
hascheckedinfectionratesandre-duced the stigma that made
commu-nities to shun patients.DrPattadisclosedthattheTB
spreadhasreducedinthecounty from6,000casesin2007to4,800
caseslastyearandexpressedopti-mismthattheinfectioncouldbe
eradicated.Thoughtherehasbeenareduc-tionintheTBcases,wearestillnot
happy with the results because out of the 4800 cases detected last
year only 80percentwerecompletelycured and20percentwerenotcuredand
thisisbecausesomeofthepatients dont fnish their medication, said Dr
PattaspeakingattheTudorgrounds during the Worlds TB Day
yesterdayPattasaidmedicalauthoritiesin the province have been
sensitising the localpeopleontheimportanceof
ensuringthatTBpatientscomplete their medication to stop the
spread.He attributed the rise in TB to the increased slums in the
town, failure to seek diagnosis for fear of being being associated
with the HIV and poverty.Cases of TB on decline in MombasaFalse
alarmWHAT THE DENGUE FEVER IS ALL ABOUT AND HOW TO SPOT ITDengue
fever is a highly infectious tropical disease whose symptoms
in-clude skin rash, fever, headache and joint pains, which can soon
develop into a fatal hemorrhagic ailment that kills fast. At its
most advanced stage patients bleed uncontrollably to death from all
orifces.It isalso known as breakbone fever, an infectious tropical
disease caused by the dengue virus.The fever is said to be the most
common mosquito-borne virus in the world and causes an estimated 50
to 100 million infections and 25,000 deaths annually.Unlike the
mosquito that causes malaria, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the
carrier of the dengue, bites in the morning and usually hides on
standing water, adding that rainy seasons always come with mosquito
related dis-eases.There is no vaccine available yet against dengue
fever and no specifc medication has been identifed so far.Treatment
of acute dengue is supportive, using either oral or intravenous
rehydration for mild or moderate disease, and intravenous fuids and
blood transfusion for more severe cases.It had earlier been
reported in The Standard on Sunday that about 15 peo-ple from
Mombasa were suffering from the fever and that there could be more
cases.Tudor District Hospital community health worker Anne Nyambura
examines a patient, Lydia Chamba (right) during World Tuberculosis
Day celebrations at Tudor grounds in Mombasa yesterday.[PHOTO:
OMONDI ONYANGO/STANDARD]poolswascreatingthenecessary breeding
conditions of Aedes Aegypti, the mosquito species that spreads the
disease.CoastProvince,includingMom-basa,hasreceivedheavyrainsinre-cent
times and now Shikely is urging residentstodiscardemptycansand
containers that retain water to control the breeding of the
mosquito species. OnSundayShikelyconfrmedthat
testsdonebyKemriinKilifCounty returnedpositiveresultsforthe
deadlyfeverontwosamplestaken fromtwopatientsattheAgaKhan Hospital
in Mombasa.Shesaidtwopatientshadbeen diagnosed with the disease but
had so far been treated and discharged.Twocasesofdenguefeverwere
confrmed from the Aga Khan Hospi-tal and the specimen were taken
two weeksago.Thepatientsweredis-chargedandfvemoresuspectsare being
investigated, said Dr Shikely.She however, refuted claims of any
outbreakarguingthatothercases were being investigated since the
tests wereconductedinprivatelaborato-ries and are yet to be
confrmed.There is no outbreak as reported by a section of the
media; it is true the mosquito-borne disease is there and this is
because of the rainy season, but the cases are few and there is no
cause for alarm, said Shikely.There is no danger, all our doctors
areonhighalertsincethefeverwas diagnosed a few days ago. Our public
hospitals have no reports of the fever but some cases have been
reported in privatehospitalsandwearedoing everything we can to
ensure no life is lost,shesaidadding:Tomorrow
(today)Iwillgototheprivatelabs whereothertestsweredoneandget
statistics on the disease and the
num-berofpeopleaffectedthoughsofar no deaths have been reported.
GGKariuki(left)Laikipiasenator-electandhisManderacounterpartBillow
Kerrow chat at KICC before a briefng of operations of the House and
swearing in ceremony slated for Thursday. [PHOTO: JONAH
ONYANGO/STANDARD]Senators briefed on House business By PETER
OPIYOSenators-electwereyesterday taken through operations of the
new Chamberandwhatisexpectedof themaheadofthefrstsittingofthe House
on Thursday.Inaclosed-doorsessionchaired by Clerk of the Senate
Jeremiah Nyeg-enye, the legislators were informed of
newrulesoftheSenate(Standing Orders) and briefed on how the
swear-inginceremonywouldbeconduct-ed.It was basically an inhouse
meet-ingandweweretakenthroughhow theSpeakerandthedeputySpeaker
wouldbeelected,saidKakamega County Senator-elect Boni
Khalwale.Atthemeeting,theincoming senators were also informed that
they eachbeallowedtobeaccompanied by four guests during the
swearing in ceremony slated for
Thursday.Therulesofconductingthefrst businessoftheHousehavechanged
and the clerks of both the Senate and theNationalAssemblywouldfrst
administertheoathofoffcetoall membersbeforetheelectionofthe Speaker
and his deputy.ELECTION OF SPEAKERIn the past, the frst business of
the HousewaselectionoftheSpeaker and the deputy, after which the
latter swore in MPs.To be elected Speaker or the
dep-utySpeaker,onewouldbeexpected togarnertwo-thirdsofthevotes(at
least 45 of the 67 members) in the frst
round,failuretowhichthetoptwo candidates square it out in the
second roundwheretheonewiththemost numberofvoteswouldbedeclared the
winner.The new Standing Orders also
cre-atethepositionsoftheLeaderof MajorityandtheLeaderofMinority to
lead political parties with majority inParliamentandtheonewiththe
second highest number of members,
respectively.The67-memberSenatewould
conductitsfrstsittingatKenyatta InternationalConferenceCentres
(KICC)Amphitheatre,whilethesub-sequent sittings would be conducted
at Shimba Hills Hall on the frst foor of the same
building.KICCwouldtemporarilyhostthe Senate as renovation works
continue attheOldChamberinParliament buildings. The renovation is
expected to cost Sh1.2 billion and works may be completed by
year-end.Page 8 / NATIONAL NEWS Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The
StandardBy GEOFFREY MOSOKU and PETER
OPIYOJubileeallianceisbankingonits numericalstrengthoverCORDto
haveitssayontheSpeakersofthe NationalAssemblyandSenatewhen the
offcial sittings of the two are con-vened on
Thursday.Thetwocampsareheadedsepa-ratewaystodaytostrategiseonhow
theywillhandletheelectionofthe two.AlsotobeelectedaretheDeputy
Speakers for the two Houses of Parlia-ment as well as the Chief
Whips.Both sides have exuded confdence they will get the numbers to
clinch the seats. According to a working document
seenbyTheStandard,Jubileeesti-matestohave191membersagainst
CORDs143. TheAmaniallianceand other smaller parties have 24 to make
it 349. Jubilee, according to insiders plan to have Amani on their
side and iden-tifysomeMPswithinCORDwhom they can sway to their camp
to bolster theirnumbersto233.However,with the political dealings
that go on with a process like this, loyalties are bound to shift
since the election will be car-ried out through secret ballot.YET
TO DECIDECORD is banking on the
candida-tureoftheincumbentKennethMar-endeforSpeakeroftheNationalAs-semblywhileJubileeisyettodecide
between former Mandera Central MP AbdikadirMohamedandformer Siakago
MP Justin Muturi.A record 15 people are seeking the post even as
four others seek the posi-tionofDeputySpeaker.Bylasteve-ning, all
had picked their papers from theNationalAssemblyClerksoffce, with
another 12 applying to be elected as Senate Speaker. Five
Senators-elect arealsoaspiringforthepositionof Deputy Speaker of
the Senate.The aspirants are expected to hand in their applications
today before the Clerk of the Senate Jeremiah Nyegenye
andhisNationalAssemblycounter-partJustinBunditoclearthemfor
Thursdays poll.CORD MPs and Senators-elect will
convergeinKarentomorrowatthe CooperativeCollegeforaretreatto
strategise on how to win the seats.Jubilee Coalitions top brass led
by President-electUhuruKenyattaand Jubilee banking on numbers to
beat CORDhisDeputy-electWilliamRutohave summoned all their elected
leaders to a two-day retreat at the Great Rift
Val-leyLodgeinNaivashafromthiseve-ning.At the same time the
coalition has alsoembarkedonwooingfringepo-litical parties to their
side in the tussle fornumericalsuperiorityinParlia-ment. Keen to
win the Speakers and Deputy Speakers posts in the Senate and the
National Assembly, the Coali-tioninkedanotherdealwithNew Ford Kenya
to enhance its numbers in Parliament.DeputyPresident-electWilliam
Ruto said the retreat would come up with a list of preferred
candidates for THOSE INTERESTED IN HOUSE POSITIONSNational Assembly
SpeakerKenneth Marende, Justin Muturi, Abdikadir Mohamed, Machana
Mokua, Migundo Winja, Harrison Mwangi, Cosmas Koech, Jacob
Kithinji, Alex Otunga, Amos Otieno, Joseph Mwogela, Felix Kiprono,
Stephen Mwanza, Mohamud Sirat, Jane Kitundu, Loise
GathirimuNational Assembly Deputy SpeakerJoyce Laboso, Daniel
Maanzo, Abdikadir Adan and P Kaluma Senate Speaker Francis ole
Kaparo, Ekwe Ethuro, Farah Maalim, Josphat Orangi, Eric De-sailly
Omondi, Jane Mwihaki, Cecelia Ngoyoni Kulamo, John Kamau Ka-bui,
Waiyaki Hassan Mungai, Philip Murgor and Betty Tett Senate Deputy
Speaker Kembi Gitura, Wilfred Machage, George Khaniri, Linet
Nyakeriga and Martha Wangare Number of nominees by parliamentary
political partiesNumber of speaker who will be an ex-ofcio
memberNumber of women representatives elected by registered voters
in each of the 47 countiesNumber of members of the National
As-sembly elected by registered voters12147290COALITIONS/PARTY
STRENGS IN THE HOUSETHE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BALANCE OF POWER CORD
COALITION130ODM95WIPER25FORD-K10 AMANI COALITION23UDF11KANU6NEW
FORD-K6 JUBILEE COALITION167TNA86URP72APK5NARC4 EAGLE
COALITION2KNC2KADU-ASILI1FPK3FORD
PEOPLE3MUUNGANO1TIP1MAENDELEO1INDEPENDENT3CCU2OPENING OF
PARLIAMENTvarious positions in Parliament.We will be going for a
retreat to be able to craft a working team that will
spearheadtheleadershipinParlia-ment, said
Ruto.NewFordKenyaleaderEugene Wamalwa said talks have been
ongo-ingbetweenhispartyandJubilee saying he was happy the
partnership was formalised.He said the move is aimed at
bring-ingunityinthecountry. Thesigning of the deal was witnessed by
six MP-electsfromNewFordKenyaandof-fcials from Jubilee.SEALED
DEALURP Chairman Francis ole Kaparo, TNAsJohnsonSakajaandNewFord
KenyaSecretaryGeneralBenjamin Muema appended their signatures to
thedeal.NewFordKenyaMPs-elect present were David Were (Matungu),
Moses Maendeleo (Malava), Boniface
Otsiula(Bumula),DanielSitati(We-buyeWest),JanetNangabo(Trans
NzoiaWomenRep)andReginalda Wanyonyi (Bungoma Women
Rep).Sakajasaidthepartnershipwas aimed at forming an all-inclusive
gov-ernmentwhileKaparoassuredthe newpartnerthattheCoalitionwill
treat it with respect.The move would see Jubilee Coali-tion have
more than 190 members in theNationalAssembly;amoveRuto
saidwouldgivetheCoalitionanad-vantage to control Parliament, saying
theyarefocusedonforminganall-inclusive
government.Wearegoingoutofourwayto create a government that is
all-inclu-sivesothattogetherwecanbuilda united nation, said
Ruto.Regionalbalanceandpolitical party interests will be a factor
as Jubi-lee Alliance heads to Naivasha to plot on how to avoid a
second round con-test in the election of
Speaker.TWO-THIRDSThewinneroftheSpeakersposi-tion must garner at
least two-thirds of the349votesor233tobedeclared winner.If no one
gets the votes, then the frst two will square out in round
two.Itistruethatwearegoingfora retreat on Tuesday where a number of
issues will be discussed. At the end of it we will take a common
stand on is-suesrelatingtoSenateandParlia-mentary business, Mr
Charles Keter, the Kericho Senator elect said.In the Senate, the
document shows thatJubileehas34membersagainst Cords 27, with Amani
having 6 seats. Jubilee is seeking Amanis partnership to get the
Senate seat.Wewillhavetoagreeonhowto share the available seats. For
instance if Justin Muturi gets the Speaker, then
Mt.KenyaEastinterestswillbeca-teredandthusKiraituMurungiand Kithiki
Kindure will forfeit their quest forSenateMajorityLeader,Maara
MP-elect Kareke Mbiuki said.Mbiukisaidthesameformula
wouldapplytoNorthEasternwhere GarissaTownshipMP-electofURP
AdenDualeisdestinedforHouse Majority
leader.IfDualegetsthebackingofthe Alliance for the seat, then
others from theregionwhoseekotherseatswill miss out, he added.Uhuru
and Ruto aresaidtohaveprevaileduponfor-merMPsDansonMungatanaand
SamuelPoghisiotodropoutofthe race in favour of the two
respectively. BothMungatanaandPoghisiohave not picked application
forms.TheJubileeteamwillarrivein NaivashaonTuesdayeveningand
spendtwodaysbeforedepartingon Thursdaymorninginaconvoyof buses
straight to Parliament for swear-ing in.Tuesday, March 26, 2013 /
The StandardNATIONAL NEWS / Page 9By VITALIS
KIMUTAIThefghtforcontrolofthe Senatehasstartedinearnest between the
Jubilee and CORD coalitionsaheadoftheopen-ing of the House and
swearing in of Senators-elect.ProfKindikiKithure,a prominent lawyer
and Tharaka NithiSenator-elect,isseenas afrontrunnerforthepostof
Senate Majority leader.Kindikiisfghtingforthe
positionwithMeruCounty Senator-electKiraituMurungi of APK, a party
that has a post-electioncoalitionpactwith TNA.Kindiki,anallyofboth
President-electUhuruKe-nyatta and his deputy William
Rutowasinstrumentalinthe formation of the Jubilee
Coali-tion,havingtakenpartinthe draftingoftheworkingar-Race for
Majority leader and Speaker shapes upParty leadership has the
prerogative to choose leader among the
SenatorsrangementbetweenTNAand URP. Apart from being one of the key
architects in the forma-tionoftheJubileeCoalition, Kindiki was also
a major player in the campaigns for Uhuru in Mount Kenya West
region, Mr KathuriMurungi,theSouth Imenti MP-elect
said.KindikiisRutoslawyerat theInternationalCriminal
CourtatTheHaguewherehe andUhuruarefacingcrimes
againsthumanitychargesre-lated to the 2007 post-election violence.
He is also Uhurus lawyer in thepetitionbyCORDover
presidentialresultsattheSu-preme Court.SENATE
COMMITTEEIamawarethattheposi-tionofSenateMajorityleader is not an
elective one and that istheprerogativeoftheparty
rankandfletopickaleader amongsttheSenatorsforthat
position,KindikitoldThe Standard on telephone.Kindiki added: As
such, if I am not picked for the position, I will respect and
support who-ever is entrusted with the
lead-ership.TheoutgoingEnergymin-ister,however,hastocontend Meru
County Senator-elect Kiraitu Murungi
TharakaNithiCountySenator-electKindiki
Kithurewiththefactthatheisonly bringing on board fve MPs to the
coalition.Sources indicated yesterday that Kiraitu might be picked
to chair a key Senate Committee by the Jubilee Coalition.Mr
Kipchumba Murkomen, theElgeyoMarakwetCounty
Senator-electhadbeenmen-tioned as a possible contender for the
position of deputy Sen-ate Majority leader, but sources
yesterdayindicatedthathe maybepickedasacandidate for the position
of chairman of the Devolution Committee.Meanwhile two United
Re-publican Party leaders for-merSpeakeroftheNational
AssemblyFrancisoleKaparo andformerTurkanaCentral MP Ekwe Ethuro
have rolled up their sleeves to fght for the position of Senate
Speaker.Kaparo is enjoying the sup-portofelderlySenatorsfrom across
the political divide as he hadworkedwiththematthe
NationalAssemblywherehe was the Speaker for 15
years.Ethurowhosatinthe SpeakersPanelinthe10th parliament, on the
other hand hasthesupportofyouthful Senatorsinhispushforthe position
of Senate Speaker.By ERIC WAINAINAKiambuSenator-electKi-mani
Wamatangi has said he is contestingforthepositionof Majority Leader
in Senate.MrWamatangihadearlier declaredthathewouldbattle for the
position of Speaker, but saidhedroppeditsincekey
partnersintheJubileeCoali-tionhadagreedonwhich party will nominate
the Speak-er. Yesterday,Wamatangisaid heislobbyingforthepost,
whichhasattractedseveral contenders in The National
Al-lianceandAlliancePartyof Kenya,arguingthatheisthe best among the
contenders.Ihavebeencampaigning amongmyfellowSenators,
bothelectedandnominated fromtheJubileeCoalitionto
supportmycandidaturefor theMajorityLeadersposition in the House, he
said.Tharaka Nithi Senator-elect KindikiKithurehasalsobeen
lobbyingfortheposition, which has also attracted Meru Senator-elect
and Energy Min-ister Kiraitu Murungi and Nyeri Senator-elect Mutahi
Kagwe. Mr Kagwe, who was elected on a Narc ticket, is seeking the
position,followingfailureby partyleaderand
WaterMinis-terCharityNgilutosecure nomination.Senator-elect
declares interest in seatKiambu Senator-electKimani
WamatangiOPENING OF PARLIAMENTTuesday, March 26, 2013 / The
Standard Page 10 / NATIONAL: COURTSQuickReadMOMBASA: Woman accused
of selling babyA woman has been charged in court with failing to
protect the infant from sale. She is accused of selling her
two-week-old baby girl for Sh30,000 to a couple in Mombasa.
Francisca Kamene allegedly sold the baby out of desperation as she
could not raise a maternity bill of Sh7,000 at the Coast General
Hospital. She was jointly charged with the couple and another
suspect with conspiracy to commit a felony. The couple, Habiba
Hussein and Juma Abdallah, faced a separate charge of stealing a
baby. The couple denied yesterday that the jointly received a girl
child. NYAMIRA: Man, eight cows killed in accident A man and eight
cows were killed in a road accident along the Keroka-Sotik road
after a lorry they were travelling in overturned and rolled several
times. The 5pm incident occurred at the notorious steep slope of
Riensune, some two kilometres to Nyansiongo town on Sunday. Keroka
Base Commander Ibrahim Ndegwa told The Standard the driver of
speeding lorry lost control while moving downhill and overturned.
It appears the vehicle had faulty brakes but we are investigating
to determine cause of the accident, he said.SIAYA: Safaricom
withdrawn from caseSafaricom Ltd has been withdrawn from a case
fled by a politician seeking to challenge the election of the Siaya
County governor. The petitioner, William Oduol, said the mobile
service providers assistance in the case in which he is seeking
documents to enable him fle a petition against the national
electoral bodys decision to declare Cornel Rasanga Amoth the Siaya
governor was no longer required. Oduol yesterday told the court
that Safaricom had surrendered all the requisite documents to
IEBC.27. The Raila Odinga-led coalition had further claimed that
during a meeting withmembersoftheProvincialAd-ministration two days
later, Kimemia appealed to the administrators to as-sist the
campaigns of Uhuru, warning thattheywouldbesackedifCORD candidate
Raila won the elections.Initsletter,CORDalsoclaimed that a
facilitation sum of between Sh5 millionandSh15millionhadbeen
promisedtoeachoftheadministra-tors attending the planning meeting.
But in a letter dated March 21, Amin said that after thorough
investigation, theyhadnotfoundanyevidenceto support the
allegations.TheCriminalInvestigationDe-partment consequently
forwarded its recommendationsto
Tobikowhodi-rectedtheclosureoftheinquiryfle without any further
action.Itisourfndingthatthereisno suffcientmaterialorcircumstantial
evidence supporting these allegations and as such, they can only be
treated as speculative rumours, says Amin in his letter to
Tobiko.Aminfurthersaidthateffortsby the investigators to record
statements with CORD offcials were futile as the leaders failed to
avail themselves. The DPP, in his response to the
let-ter,concurredwiththeinvestigation boss.DPP has directed closure
of inquest fle without further action by police saying there was no
direct evidenceTobiko dismisses CORD allegations against
KimemiaHillary Ndungu, OCS at Mwariki police post in a Nakuru
court, is charged with stealing and unlawful confnement. He was
arraigned before Chief Magistrate
SamuelMungai.NdunguischargedthatonMarch20thisyearhestole
Sh285,000fromPamelaBundiatPipelineareainNakurutown.Hewasfur-ther
accused of wrongful confnement of Ms Bundi and Henry Ndubi Masita
at pipelineareainNakurutown,onMarch20thisyear.Hefacesaseparate
charge of abduction of Masita at section 58 in Nakuru town on the
same date. [PHOTO: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD]ByLUCIANNE
LIMOTheHighCourthasruledthatit cannot interfere with nominees to
the SenateandNationalAssemblysince they have been
gazetted.Athree-judgeBenchheadedby Justice Isaac Lenaola, however,
direct-edtheIndependentElectoraland BoundariesCommission(IEBC)not
to gazette nominees to the County As-sembly in all counties based
on polit-ical party lists.We have anxiously considered the
positionofmembersoftheSenate and National Assembly. They were
ga-zetted on March 20, 2013. Upon such gazettementtheybecamemembers
oftherespectivehousesofParlia-ment, said Lenaola.The court ruled
that under Article 105 of the Constitution, a question of
determinationofmembershipcan only be determined by way of an
elec-tionpetition.Inthecircumstances, weareconstrainedtodeclineany
conservatory orders affecting the du-lygazettedmembersoftheNational
Assembly and Senate, said Lenaola. PARTY LISTSThe judges, however,
noted mem-bers of the County Assemblies
nomi-natedbasedonpartylistshadnot been gazetted. In view of the
fact that the matter is now ready for hearing, it is important that
the court preserves the status quo so that it can satisfy it-self
of the legality of the process of se-lection and nomination based
on the party lists, he said. They added that pending the hear-ing
and determination of the petition,
theIEBCshallnotgazettethenomi-nation of County Assembly
represen-tativesbasedonthepartylistssub-mitted to it by political
parties.NationalGenderandEquality Commissionhadmovedtocourtto
stoptheelectoralbodyfrommoving toallocatespecialseatstopolitical
parties using the party lists. Court says it cant interfere with
nomineesMan handed life sentence for defling childBY ONESMUS
NZIOKAA middle-aged man will spend the rest of his life behind bars
for defling his eight-year-old niece.Jonathan Matheka Musumbi, who
appearedbeforeMakueniActingSe-nior Resident Magistrate Rhoda Yator,
was found guilty of defling the minor contrary to Section 20(1) of
the Sexu-al Offences Act no 3 of 2006.The accused also faced an
alterna-tivechargeofindecentlyassaulting the girl by touching her
private parts. Theprosecutiontoldthecourtthat
theaccusedcommittedtheoffence on June 27, last year at Utaati
sub-lo-cation within Makueni County.The victims mother who appeared
asawitnesssaidherdaughterhad gone to fetch frewood with her friends
50 metres from their home when the accused pounced on her.By MOSES
NJAGIH Police have dismissed as specula-tive rumours claims by a
political al-liancethatHeadofPublicService
FrancisKimemiawasinvolvedina scheme to rig the March 4 elections in
favour of Jubilee coalition.Director of Criminal Investigations
Mohamed Amin exonerated Kimemia andfveotherseniorStateoffcials,
includingIntelligencebossMichael
Gichangi,MilitaryChiefGeneralJu-lius Karangi, from sensational
accu-sations made by the Coalition for Re-forms and Democracy
(CORD).CORDhadallegedaplotbythe PublicServiceHeadtorigthepolls
throughtheuseofmembersofthe
ProvincialAdministration.Conse-quently,DirectorofPublicProsecu-tions(DPP)KeriakoTobikodirected
that the inquiry fle on the allegations
beclosedwithoutfurtheractionby police.CORD leadership had claimed
that Kimemia, Gichangi, Karangi, Offce of
thePresidentPermanentSecretary Mutea Iringo, his Finance
counterpart Joseph Kinyua and a senior offcial in
theOffceofthePresidentKennedy Kiharahadattendedmeetingstoar-range
the manipulation of the polls.AFFILIATE
PARTIESTheCORDcomplaintletterwas signedbyMutulaKilonzo,ProfAn-yang
Nyongo and Dr Esseli Simiyu all secretary generals of the CORD
af-fliatepartiesWiper,Orange DemocraticMovementandFordKe-nya,
respectively.IntheircomplaintsenttotheIn-dependent Electoral and
Boundaries Commission(IEBC),CORDclaimed
KimemiahadmetwithJubileelead-ers,President-electUhuruKenyatta
andhisDeputy WilliamRuto,atEle-mentaita Jacaranda Hotel on January
Rigging claimsReversed rolesWitnesses in Keino case missingBY
PAMELA CHEPKEMEI A prosecutor has complained to a Nairobi court
conducting the inquest into the death of a university student over
failure by police to trace key
wit-nesses.TheseniorStateCounselrepre-sentingDirectorofPublicProsecu-tions
told trial magistrate Peter Ndwi-ga that the police had failed to
bring witnessestocourtduetosomeis-sues which he did not
elaborate.MercyKeinoslifelessbodywas discovered at night by
motorists along Waiyaki Wayin2011.Therearekey
witnesseswhoarewithinKenyaand have not been bonded to attend court
simplybecausethereareotheris-sues,saiddeputyDirectorofPublic
Prosecutions Moses Omirera.CANNOT BE TRACEDThe State Counsel said
some of the witnesseswhothepolicesaycannot be traced live in Kiambu
County.Oneofthedefencelawyerstold the court that it was up to the
DPP to produce the witnesses in court. He added that the witnesses
could not be forced to testify or arrested but
theprosecutionhadtoconductand concludetheircase.MrOmirera
complained after the investigating of-fcerinformedthecourthehadonly
managedtobringaseniorpoliceof-fcer who investigated the case.He
said he was unable to call other witnessesbecausetheStateCounsel
had told him he wanted them to tes-tify in a certain
sequence.Omirera said he intends to call Mr
WilliamKabogo,hisbodyguardand the driver as the last
witnesses.Kabogo, his driver and aides have
beenadverselymentionedinthe death of Mercy, a former Masters
stu-dent. The investigating offcer told the
courtthatgettingwitnessestocome andtestifycouldprovediffcult. The
hearing was adjourned to May 2.Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The
StandardNATIONAL NEWS / Page11By CYRUS OMBATIClose to 200 police
offcers, most of them in the traffc de-partment have been moved in
changes made by the Inspector GeneralofPolice(IGP)David
Kimaiyo.Mostofthosemovedhave beenpostedtovariousweigh
bridgesacrossthecountryto replaceotherswhohadbeen
removed.Thisfollowedarequestby theKenyaNationalHighways
Authorityweighbridgeman-agement, which complained of
corruptionandmalpractice amongtheoffcersstationed there.The
affected weigh bridges areMariakani,AthiRiver,Gil-gil, Webuye and
Busia.But the National Police Ser-vice Commission and some of
Kimaiyo transfers 200 traffc offcers but commission contests Most
of those moved have been posted to various weigh bridges across the
country to replace
otherstheaffectedoffcershaveop-posedthechangesterming them
illegal.The offcers have moved to court to challenge the changes
whilethecommissionhas summonedameetingtodis-cuss them.WeIgh
BRIdgeSKimaiyo has moved 191 of-fcerstovariousstationsand
posted122ofthemtothe weigh bridges. The offcers
in-clude31whoareabovethe rank of Sergeant.He made the changes
with-outinvolvingthecommission in accordance with the law.
Andaftersomeoftheaf-fectedjuniorsopposedthe changesandmovedtocourt,
thepolicebosswrotetothe commission on March 11 seek-ing for its
approval.Documentsobtainedfrom the offce of the Inspector
Gen-eralshowthecommission wrote back to him seeking that they hold
a meeting to discuss the matter.Thecommissionwroteto
Kimaiyoseekingtoknowthe criteriaheusedtoselectthe
offcersfordeploymenttothe weigh bridge clusters.The assignment of
offcers tothisspecifcsectorwould need to take into account gen-der
parity, regional and ethnic balance.Aclosescrutinyofthelist
doesnotrevealobservanceif thiscardinalconsideration, reads part of
a letter to Kimaiyo from the commission.The letter noted that Kenha
made its request on January 16 beforeKimaiyotookaction without the
involvement of the commission.Thelawrequiresthatfor
theIGPtomaketransfers,he has to get a go head in writing
fromthecommissionforof-fcesoftherankofSergeant and
above.InspectorGeneralDavidKi-maiyo. [PHOTO:FILE/STANDARD]By
NICHOLAS WAITATHUThe Government is set to
establishfshprocessingin-dustriesacrossthecountry to enhance income
of the lo-cals.Themoveismeantto
helpthefshfarmingcom-munity,whotoilinfshing yet the money obtained
from fshprocessingremainsin Nairobi.However,apartfromthe
fshingcommunity,estab-lishmentoffshprocessing plants is also
expected to see more than 2,000 Kenyans get
jobsastheprocesstakesoff across the
country.TImefrAmeThefacilitiesexpectedto beoperationalinthenext
fewmonthswillhelpinex-pandingthelocallabour market.The Government
has em-barked on an ambitious pro-grammetoconstructfour
minifshprocessingplants inMigori,Kakamega,Nyeri and Meru
Counties.FisheriesSecretary,Pro-fessorCharlesNgugitold
jobcentreyesterdaythat Sh240 million would be com-mitted to set up
the facilities whereeachstructurewill create more than 500 jobs.
Ngugi explained once the processingplantscom-mence,eachwouldprovide
opportunitiesfor20people operateinsidewhileother
relatedjobswillbeexpect-ed.The setting up of the fa-cilities over
and above boost-ingthefshvaluechainwill be creating job
opportunities toKenyansbothskilledand unskilled, Ngugi said.
STOrAge fACILITIeSTheseareemployees who must have knowledge in fsh
processing and machine operation.Forexample,insidethe factories
there will be 20 peo-ple to control the holding ar-ea, cold room,
ice room, and storage section,Otherjobstobecreated
includecleaners,drivers, loaders,andtraders,casual labourers at
farm level, mid-dlemen,fnancemanagers,
shopkeepers,extensionoff-Statesbuilding offish ponds to create
2,000 jobs The Government has planned to put up mini fsh processing
plants in Migori, Kakamega, Nyeri and Meru CountiesPage 12 /
NATIONAL NEWS Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The Standard.By frANkLINe
SUNdAyFormanycompanies seeking to fll in a vacant
po-sition,thehardestpartof the process is screening the
applicantsofteninhun-dreds, many from blue chip companies.However,
this tedious sit-uation is about to change for the better as the
industry see techfrmsstepouttooffer solutions.Onetechnology
startupbelievesthatithas come up with the solution to
theproblemthatwillnot only offer recruiters an easy
timeinfllinginvacantpo-sitions,butitwillalsoen-sure that the best
candidates are short-listed for the job.Uhired.meisthenew web-based
recruitment por-talthatpromisestomake this feat possible and the
de-velopers of the system insist that it offers something
dif-ferent from other online re-cruitment websites. There are
numerous on-linejobwebsitesinthe countrytodayandmany companies use
one or many ofthesetoflloutjobposi-tions that fall vacant within
theirorganisations,ex-plainsMrHassanAbi,the softwareengineerwhoput
the portal together.Withourdiscussions withHRpractitionersand
recruiting agencies we found out that what happens after
acompanyadvertisesajob is that they fnd themselves with a huge pile
of resumes. However,recruitersstill have no system of screening
theapplicantswhichisthe hardestpartoftherecruit-ment process.
Siftingthroughthepool of applicants and coming up with the
preferred candidate takestimeandresources and might not always
guar-anteethatthepeoples pickedfortheinterview were the best for
the job. Uhired.mefocuseson making the recruitment pro-cess more
targeted, effcient and less time consuming by
usingasocialnetworking modelofengagementbe-tween the employer and
the prospectiveemployee,ex-plainsMrHassan.Uhired.me helps the
recruiter to fo-cus on the candidates inter-estintheassumptionthat
potential employees have an interest in your organisation they are
applying for as well as the job opportunity.Atthehomepageofthe
platform,oneisprompted tosign-inandcreateafree
accountunderthreemain categories according to their designation;
employers, tal-ent or recruiters.Oncetheycreateapro-fle on the
website, users can network with each other in a
networkingsystemthat combinesFacebookand Twitter-likenetworking
modelstocreaterelation-ships. Once an employer or
re-cruitercreatesaprofleon
theplatform,theywillre-ceivenotifcationsonthe talent around their
location and they will be able to send themaninvitationtofol-low
their organisation, ex-plains Mr Mohamed Gharib,
oneofthedirectorsof Uhired.me.Tech firms step up game to reduce
staff recruitment timecers, and security
guards.Headdedcompaniesin-terestedinfshtradewould open subsidiaries
in the par-ticular areas and thus equal-lycreatemorejobstoKe-nyans.
What this project aims to do is to improve on the qual-ity of fsh
that farmers deliver to the market.As they wait to access markets,
farmers from thecountiesneighbouring the facilities can deliver
their produceforprocessingand preservation, said Ngugi.prOjeCT
expANSIONNgugisaidmaintaining the qualityof fsh after
har-vestingwould allowfarmers totransporttheirsurplus produce to
areas like, Nairo-bi,MombasaandKisumu wherebiggermarketsexists and
also in the region. If you are creating a signifcant number of new
jobs, or stuck in fnding the right skill set, cant fll a job, or
have a great, new way for Kenyans to fnd work or employment, please
email to address at the top of the page.tell us The facilities
expected to be operational in the next few months will help in
expanding the local labour market. number of fIsh ponds set to have
been establIshed In sIx years50,[email protected] He
added of great impor-tanceisexpansionoffsh farming in the country
espe-cially establishment of more fsh ponds.Inaspanofsixyears about
50,000 fsh ponds have beenestablishedinvarious
partsofthecountry,thanks togovernmententhusiasm to promote fsh
farming and thuscontributetopoverty
eradication.Thiswasagainstatarget of28,000prescribedinthe
governmentlong-termde-velopmentblueprintVi-sion 2030.
Governmentallocated Sh1.12 billion in the 2009/10 fnancial year
under an eco-nomicstimuluspackagefor constructionof28,000fsh
pondsinalltheconstituen-cies in the country. prOCeSSINg
UNITSNgugipointedoutthat theminiprocessingunits
willalsopromptcreationof jobs by those companies that
manufacturematerialsused in setting up the fsh ponds dam liners.
Nowthatanavenuehas beenprovidedtoprotect massive wastage of fsh in
the country,morefarmersare expected to venture into fsh farming in
the country.Andinresponsecompa-niesthatmanufactureand
supplylinersandotherac-cessories will have their sales
increasetremendously,he
explained.Hesaidtheservicepro-viderswouldemploymore people to
assist in expanding theirbusiness,forexample,
insupplyingthenecessary materialsneededinestab-lishing the
fshponds.Further new extension of-fcerstoadvicefarmerson fsh
farming will be engaged aswellaspeoplewithkno-whow on fxing the
materials will equally be employed.Fishing. Kenya is witnessing a
surge in investments in fsh plants. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]Tuesday,
March 26, 2013 / The StandardPage 13Page 14 / EDITORIALTuesday,
March 26, 2013 / The StandardThe unseemly standoff between sections
of the national government and the incoming county adminis-tration
does not bode well since it creates unnecessary friction.It also
risks plunging the new county gov-ernments into partisan political
party wars as it is likely that members of the various county
assemblies and administration will take sides based on their
political loyalties.in-built resistanceThat having been said, it
was expected that there would be some teething problems as the
county government begins to take
shape.Certainly,thereisin-builtresistanceby some in charge of the
national government to cedingsomeoftheirpowerstothecounties.
ThisisonlythesecondtimesinceIndepen-dencethatKenyaisattemptingtodevolve
power away from the centre. The frst attempt in the frst few years
after Independence were sabotagedafterthefoundingPresidentJomo
Kenyatta abolished the Senate. Such resistance
shouldendimmediately. Therearenowlaws
detailingthepowersoftheCountyandNa-tionalgovernmentsandwhicharegrounded
intheConstitution. ThePublicServiceCom-mission and the County
Service Commission shouldworkwiththe TransitionAuthorityto ensure a
smooth division of assets. Where the new Governors will be seated
is among the issues raising plenty of heat. This is
becausetherewasnoproperfacilitationfor offces for the new county
administration due to a number of reasons, among them the de-lay by
the Tenth Parliament in passing
requi-sitelegislationtoanchorthenewcountyad-ministration.TheConstitutionhasradically
altered the way the country is governed by
giv-ingmoresayandparticipationtoKenyans. Unfortunately, if not
properly managed, it can opennewavenuesforthenationalgovern-ment
tocontinue disenfranchising citizens by carving out fresh
opportunities for marginal-izationandentrenchinghistoricalregional
disparities. wealth redistributionThosewhoframedtheConstitutionwere
well aware that such disparities would not
dis-appearovernighthencethecreationofthe Commission for Revenue
Allocation (CRA).The CRA has come up with a credible
for-mulafordistributingthenationalrevenue equally among the 47
counties. The Transition Authorityisthemissinglinkbetweenthe county
and national governments.Nooneischallengingtheauthorityofthe
nationalGovernment,butitiscriticalthatit establishes an amicable
working relationship with the Transition Authority by frst
recognis-ing and appreciating its constitutional role as
thebodyinchargeofcoordinatingthedevo-lution process.This would do
much to reduce the tension. As it is, utterances by senior
Government off-cialslashingoutattheTransitionAuthority
appeartohaveemboldenedsomeStateoff-cers at the county level to
adopt an adversari-al stance towards the new
governors.Thecountygovernmentsshouldbegiven all the help they need
to establish strong insti-tutions. This will have a positive effect
on eco-nomic performance of the
counties.Weakcountyadministrationswillnotim-plement policies to
empower communities or bring development closer to them, and will
in-stead result in a devolution of corruption from the national to
regional governments. The Standard is printed and published by the
proprietors,The sTandard groupNewsdesk: 3222111 | Fax:
2213108Email: [email protected] Chief Editor: John
BundotichManaging Editor, Daily Editions: Kipkoech TanuiManaging
Editor (P&Q): okech Kendo Registered at the the GPO as a
newspaper.National and county governments must work togetherWHAT
OTHER MEDIA SAY... Lessons for Republicans from Pope Francis:
Republicans are hearing a lot today about how they need to abandon
their principles on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion
if they want to win elections. But the GOPs problem today is not
that it is too socially conservative; it is that Republicans are
seen as defenders of the rich and powerful instead of the poor and
vulnerable.If Republicans want to change that impression, there is
a simple solution: Be more like Pope Francis defender of the
family, the unborn and the poor.Too many Republicans fall short on
that last count, and they are paying for it at the polls. States
gone wild: No sooner had Arkansas adopted the countrys most
regressive abortion law earlier this month a ban after about 12
weeks of pregnancy than North Dakota lowered its limit to as early
as six weeks. Colorado has now decriminalized possession of small
amounts of marijuana. Is Colorado really more libertarian than
neighboring Wyoming, where possession can still get you a year in
prison? It feels as if every news cycle brings another seemingly
random example of a state veering off the mainstream, especially on
these issues of personal liberty. Whats up with that? Sometimes
states catch a changing national tide. If 80 percent of the
electorate is sitting on the sidelines, thats a recipe for demagogy
and cynicism. A recent study scores Kenya poorest in the region as
an investment destination. In the World Bank report, Ease of Doing
Business, Kenya has dropped 12 places to position 121st in the
worlds global list of economic competitiveness. The position may
not make immediate sense, but a look at her East African peers
reveals a disturbing trend. Kenyas business competitiveness gets
worse every year. Last year, Kenya was placed at position 109 and
106 in 2011.What is more disturbing is the fact Kenya compares so
unfa-vourably against Uganda and Rwanda in this
index.Thereportraisesseriousissuesonthecountryscontract
laws,non-tariffbarriersliketimetakenclearbusinessesin cross-border
trade and slow processes of property registration in the
country.This has inadvertently added to the costs of do-ing
business and sliced the countrys global and regional rank-ing as an
investment destination.This trend has over time refected in the
countrys falling For-eign Direct Investments (FDIs) in comparison
to her neighbours as investors overfy Kenya for more friendly
countries. Rwanda particularly has been a benefciary of Kenyas
ineffciencies.
Un-checked,theseineffcienciesthreatentosendmoreinvestors packing.It
thus behoves upon everybody; Government bureau-crats and the
private sector alike to deal with some of the chal-lenges that
bedevil the economy. The new Government particularly has the
immediate chal-lengeofcleaningupthecountryandtospecifcallyeliminate
hidden cost centres that serve to hurt investments, growth and
development.The setting up of a one-stop centre to tackle issues of
invest-ment is a call long overdue. The Governments success at
deal-ing with unemployment one of the most critical challenges
stunting the economy will hugely hinge on how it treats
in-vestors.Fortunately, there exist some mechanisms at regional
level to deal with some of the issues raised in the report. For
in-stance,afullimplementationoftheCustomsUnion,whichis
alreadyonthecards,willhelpfast-tractmovementofgoods, people and
capital across borders. JK8E;8I;K?