The Nation (Kenya) articles from August 2008

The Nation (Kenya) archives from August 2008

Ministers Deny Fuelling Post-Polls Violence.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Bernard Namunane Cabinet ministers accused by the official human rights watchdog of organising or funding the post-election violence have come out angrily protesting their innocence. In a series of interviews with the Daily...

Candidates to Present Nomination Papers.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Geoffrey Rono Presentation of nomination papers to the Electoral Commission of Kenya by candidates for Bomet parliamentary seat by-election kicks off on Tuesday. The UDP candidate, Mr Samuel Maina, will present his papers at...

Mock Exams Banned.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Henry Nyarora The Ministry of Education has banned mock examinations in all schools. Education permanent secretary Prof Karega Mutahi said they will be replaced by continuous assessment tests (CATs). In an interim...

Glorious Quins Now Target Zain.
August 31, 2008... Byline: The Punter Kenya Harlequin FC, the new Kenya Cup rugby league champions, have switched their attention to the knock-out Zain Enterprise Cup which kicks off on Saturday. Edward Kinyany, the Quins coach, is taking it one match...

Bank Gets Waivers Ahead of IPO.
August 31, 2008... Co-operative Bank has received some exemptions from Treasury ahead of its Initial Public Offering on October 17 subject to statutory approvals. Treasury last week exempted the bank from disclosure rules to avoid paperwork involved in...

Govt to Do Away With Roadblocks.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Gitonga Marete The government will soon abolish all roadblocks and introduce highway patrols as part of reforms in the transport sector in order to facilitate fast movement of local and transit cargo. This is part of the...

Pyrethrum Production On A Decline.
August 31, 2008... Pyrethrum Board of Kenya will not achieve its target of planting 30 million seedlings of the crop this season due to financial constrains and displacement of some farmers. The PBK North Rift regional crop manager Joel Kosgei said that the...

Health Scheme Ready for Cabinet Approval.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Mike Mwaniki A revised draft of the proposed National Social Health Insurance is now ready and will soon be presented to the Cabinet for approval, the Medical Services minister has said. Prof Anyang' Nyong'o said contributors...

Apologise, Moi Tells Rift Valley Residents.
August 31, 2008... Retired president Daniel arap Moi is asking the Rift Valley Province residents who attacked their neighbours and destroyed properties to apologise for a national healing and reconciliation process to take course. Mr Moi said on Saturday...

Kibaki Being Misled On IDPs, Says Uhuru.
August 31, 2008... Byline: George Omonso and Peter Mwai The provincial administration in the Rift Valley has been accused of misleading President Kibaki on the status of internal refugees' resettlement programme. Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on...

Sudanese Raiders Kill Six in Turkana Attack.
August 31, 2008... At least six people were killed on Saturday in Turkana by suspected Toposa raiders from southern Sudan. The raiders armed with AK-47 rifles were reported to have struck Mogila area in Lokichogio division and stole 732 animals. The...

Candidates Present Papers to ECK Today.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Geoffrey Rono Candidates for the Bomet parliamentary seat by-election will start presenting nomination papers to the Electoral Commission of Kenya on Monday. The UDP candidate Samuel Maina will be the first to present his...

Apologise, Moi Urges Residents.
August 31, 2008... Retired President Daniel arap Moi on Sunday asked Rift Valley residents who attacked and killed thousands of their neighbours at the height of post-election violence to apologise to them. Mr Moi said in a moving speech that the action,...

Punish Those Behind Chaos, Says Marende.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Philip Muyanga Perpetrators of the post-election violence must be prosecuted in accordance with the law, National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende said on Sunday. Speaking at the close of the International Commission of...

Brilliant Indiza Claims Top Prize At Nyali Course.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Larry Ngala Long hitting Dismas Indiza bogeyed the last hole in the final round during the weekend's Mumias Sugar sponsored tournament but still managed an impressive three under par 68 to claim the top prize, his second at Nyali...

Fees in Public Schools to Go Up.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Peter Ngare Parents with children in public secondary schools will pay higher fees for the third term that starts today. School heads said the increase of between Sh1,000 and Sh5,000 has been occasioned by the rise in prices...

The Cutting Edge.
August 31, 2008... Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph has noted Willis Aguko's appeal for the introduction of an automatic credit balance service immediately after one makes a phone call, or has a text message delivered. Says he: "We wish to thank him for raising...

How Missing Court Records Saved Death Row Convict From the Gallows.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Benjamin Mbatia John Ooko Otieno v The Republic Court of Appeal at Kisumu[2008] eKLR [www.kenyalaw.org] Tunoi, Githinji & Otieno (JJA)June 20, 2008 The courts must try to hold the scales of justice and in doing so, must...

Banned Drugs Hinder War On Malaria.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Gatonye Gathura The success of the national malaria policy is being undermined by drug shortages, untrained health personnel and less effective medicines. A survey of 211 public health facilities and 712 care providers in...

Country Asked to Back World Peace Forum.
August 31, 2008... Byline: John Ngirachu The Government was Sunday asked to support a proposal to set up an international body of religious leaders that will pursue peace and conflict-prevention. Dr Hyun Hin Moon, the head of the Unification Church and...

Revised Draft of Health Insurance Scheme Ready.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Mike Mwaniki A revised draft of the proposed National Social Health Insurance is now ready and will soon be presented to the Cabinet for approval, the Medical Services minister has said. Prof Anyang' Nyong'o said contributors...

LRA Shot Itself in the Foot During Peace Negotiations.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Zachary Ochieng THE LONG-AWAITED SIGNING of the final peace agreement between the Uganda Government and the Lord's Resistance Army will not be taking place in the foreseeable future. This is the chilling message delivered in...

Invest in Field Events.
August 31, 2008... Our all conquering heroes from Beijing deserve the accolades they have received since their return to the country. Emerging third overall in the world in athletics is no mean feat. However, as we celebrate our athletes' victory, it is...

LSK Should Remove the Log in Its Eye.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Ng'ang'a Mbugua My Lords, allow me to submit that Kenya has entered the age of transparency and accountability. When the same thing happened to Russia several decades ago, the then president Mikhail Gorbachev said his country had...

Hundreds to Miss Exams.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Wanjiru Macharia And Barnabas Bii Hundreds of internally displaced students will not sit the national examinations after they failed to beat the registration deadline. Education officials and relief agencies say the parents of...

High Prices of Goods Push Education Costs Up.
August 31, 2008... Secondary school heads and parents are grappling with the high cost of education occasioned by the expensive prices of goods and services. Prices of most commodities have risen drastically in the recent past, making running of schools an...

Why Kibaki Snubbed Coast MPs.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Abdulsamad Ali And Mwakera Mwajefa President Kibaki failed to meet a group of Coast MPs who wanted to hold a private meeting with him to discuss issues affecting the region. The MP's were kept waiting for hours at State House,...

Ruling Party Set for Sweep in National Poll.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Francis Kokutse If crowd attendance was only what it takes to win an election, Ghana's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) would have been declared winner of this year's polls long before the December 7 voting date. Two rallies...

Ministry Bans Mock Exams.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Henry Nyarora The Ministry of Education has banned mock examinations in all schools. Education permanent secretary Karega Mutahi said they will be replaced by continuous assessment tests (CATs). In an interim guideline...

Make School Unrest Unfashionable.
August 31, 2008... Last term was like no other in Kenya's history. This is the term when students in hundreds of schools throughout the Republic went on a trail of wanton destruction, setting ablaze their dormitories and other school property. Many of...

Hopes And Fears in a Hostile World.
August 31, 2008... Byline: John Makeni Ever wondered what the young generation think about life? If you are over 30, then the hundreds of youth from more than 70 countries who came together at the International Youth Fellowship World camp at the Kenyatta...

It's Time to Wean Ourselves Away From Donor Aid.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Rasna Wareh THIS WEEK, MINISTERS from over 100 countries, heads of donor agencies and representatives of civil society organisations are gathering in Accra, Ghana, for a meeting to discuss ways in which rich nations can help...

Police Shoot Three Dead in City.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Nation Reporters Police shot dead three robbery suspects in separate incidents in Nairobi. One of the suspects, shot on River Road at the Old Nation roundabout at noon Sunday, was described by police as a notorious mugger...

Chinese to Boost Tourism.
August 31, 2008... The Government will tap into the huge Chinese market to revitalise the tourism sector, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka has said. Mr Musyoka said that during his recent tour of Beijing, the Chinese government pledged to mobilise one per...

Help Ease Tension, Ruto Asks MPs.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Mathias Ringa Coast MPs have been urged to educate residents about the benefits to be reaped from multi-billion sugar projects planned for Msambweni and Tana River districts. Tension has been high in the region because of a...

Six Killed in Raid By Rustlers From Sudan.
August 31, 2008... Byline: Peter Ng'etich And Kibiwott Koross At least six people were killed over the weekend in Turkana by suspected Toposa raiders from southern Sudan. The raiders, armed with AK-47 rifles, were reported to have struck Mogila area in...

Parents to Foot Repair Bills At Riot-Hit Schools.
August 31, 2008... Parents of schools that were rocked by strikes last term are expected to shoulder an extra-burden of paying for damages caused by their children. Over 300 schools were affected by the strikes during which students destroyed property...

Don't Politicise Desert March.
August 31, 2008... AS WAS WIDELY EXPECTED, the issue of the Mau forest was bound to be politicised. Already, some legislators from the area have declared they would not co-operate with the task force set up to study the most efficacious way of removing and...

Poaching Stealthily Stealing Our Heritage.
August 30, 2008... For close to a decade now, Kenya has been in the forefront in crusading against the push by a few countries seeking to have a worldwide ban on trade in ivory lifted. As a country, Kenya has had a chilling experience with poaching which...

The Cutting Edge.
August 30, 2008... "How come there are no White or Asian policemen, especially in the traffic department?" asks X. N. Iraki. He has been looking around quite a bit lately and reports that he has never come across a policeman from any of these two communities,...

Tanzanian MPs Vote for Their Own Benefits.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Bernard James Tanzanian Members of Parliament on Saturday endorsed a new law which guarantees them and their spouses health and life insurance, among other benefits. Under the National Assembly Administration Act, the...

Former MPs Kin Clinch ODM Nomination.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Daniel Otieno and Goffrey Rono The Orange Democratic Party has nominated two women to contest the Bomet and Sotik by-elections. The women are kin to the Members of Parliament, who until their deaths represented both...

When People Would Only Talk in Whispers.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Gakiha Weru When former Nyeri Town MP Wanyiri Kihoro was detained, his family decided to go to court to challenge his detention without trial. The problem was getting a lawyer with the courage to take on the government which,...

Lucrative Dealings At Harbour Fuel Row Over Control of Ports.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Patrick Mayoyo The port of Mombasa is at the centre of controversy over which region the next managing director should come from. Over the years the port has turned many two-penny traders into overnight millionaires. Many of...

Muslim Holy Month Could Begin On Monday.
August 30, 2008... The Chief Kadhi on Saturday asked Muslims to await an announcement from his office before beginning the one-month fasting period of Ramadhan. "Muslims are expected to start observing their fasts either on Monday if the moon is sighted on...

Kin of Late MPs Win Nominations.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Daniel Otieno and Geoffrey Rono Beatrice Kones, former Cabinet minister Kipkalya Kones' widow, won the ODM nomination in Bomet, while Dr Joyce Laboso, former assistant minister Lorna Laboso's elder sister, clinched the Sotik...

Preachers Hit Out At Prosperity Gospel.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Michael Njuguna Prophet David Owuor, the man who rose to fame after his predictions that earthquakes would occur in East Africa came to pass, is now creating dissent in the church by preaching against the prosperity gospel, which...

Ten People in Hospital Following Gang Attack.
August 30, 2008... Ten people, including a 62-year-old woman, are admitted at St Mary's Hospital in Mumias after a gang attacked them at Mjini slums on Friday night. A victim, Lucas Odudo, said the attackers robbed them of money and mobile phones and...

Jelimo Stays in Hunt for Sh68 Million.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Chris Musumba Olympic 800m champion Pamela Jelimo powered her way to her fifth victory in the IAAF Golden League series in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday to remain in contention for the lucrative Sh68 million ($1 million) golden...

Three Tricks Raila Should Learn From Kibaki.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Mutahi Ngunyi Prime Minister Raila Odinga should stop behaving like President Kibaki's "house girl". The good president is taking it easy in his typical "kuji-enjoy" style, but this PM guy is too intense about work. He is...

Wako Defends Judges.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Eunice Machuhi Attorney-General Amos Wako has supported judges in their opposition of performance contracts. "The public think that the Judiciary is opposed to the concept of performance contracting. I believe that when the...

Amnesty Rhetoric in Country Is Nothing More Than Empty Talk.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Ken Kamoche It is interesting to see that the global debate on amnesty for corruption has now been taken up in Kenya. Initiatives like the South African Truth and Reconciliation experience are sometimes offered as a rationale...

Sack Statistics Body Managers, MPs Demand.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Oliver Mathenge Members of Parliament on Saturday called for the sacking of the National Bureau of Statistics managers for allegedly doctoring a poverty index report released recently. "The people in-charge of the Kenya...

Disaster in the Wild As Poachers Go for Tusks.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Dan Wesangula Poachers are at it again; killing elephants in national parks and game reserves to feed an ivory demand in China, the world's most populous country. So far this year, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service, 46...

The Deal And Deal Makers in Kibaki's 2002 Victory.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Kamau Ngotho Mwai Kibaki's rise to the presidency is famously attributed to the declaration "Kibaki Tosha" (Kibaki is the one) made by Raila Odinga at Uhuru Park on October 14, 2002, two months before the election that year. ...

Motorists Now Want Road Signs Installed.
August 30, 2008... Motorists want signs placed along the Kabarnet-Iten-Eldoret Road, which is being repaired, to reduce accidents. A driver, David Cherunya, said that in the past week, five accidents have occurred. But the contractor said the road...

Leaders Are Dividing Kenyans, Says Moi.
August 30, 2008... Former President Moi on Friday said that Kenyans were unable to understand the operations of the grand coalition government due to conflicting statements from its leaders. Whereas President Mwai Kibaki was serving Kenyans well, those...

Karaba's Fate Lies in Constituents' Hands.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Douglas Mutua Kirinyaga Central constituents are best placed to help their former MP, Daniel Karaba, recapture his seat legally, a lawyer said on Saturday. Mr Karaba was re-elected last year, but John Ngata Kariuki, the man...

Memorial Park 'Commercialised'.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Lucas Barasa The August 7th Memorial Park was turned into a commercial tourist site on Saturday in remembrance of those who died in the 1998 bomb attack. US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger took the occasion to invite tourists...

Boxing Has to Go Back to Drawing Board.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Richard Mwangi Athletics brought in all the 14 medals that Kenya won in the Beijing Olympic Games that ended last week. The country was represented in five disciplines in the games -- athletics, boxing, rowing, swimming and...

Hippos Smile, Farmers Cry.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Casper Waithaka A herd of more than 20 hippos which live in a sewer in Ruai, about 20 km from Nairobi, has turned the lives of farmers in the area into a nightmare. Residents who spoke to the Sunday Nation on Saturday said...

MPs Want Age Limit for Presidency.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Kitavi Mutua MPs clamouring for the establishment of the grand official opposition on Saturday said they would seek to stop some politicians from contesting the presidency in 2012 on the grounds of age. In what could be...

Chager Triumphs in Nanyuki Rally.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Chris Musumba For the second time in as many years, Triton Petroleum-sponsored Baldev Chager was too good for his rivals during the KCB Easy Pay Loan Rally in Nanyuki on Saturday. A total of 30 cars were in the race -- 25 in...

Kampala Prepares to Host World Cup Sevens Qualifiers.
August 30, 2008... The Africa Zone qualifiers for the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens will feature nine countries. The qualifiers will be held in Kampala on September 20 and 21. This will be the first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens that will have a women's...

PNU in Bid to Gain Broader Membership.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Gitau Warigi President Mwai Kibaki's penchant for holding closed-door PNU meetings - invariably at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre - can lend the party the air of a boardroom outfit. It makes its plans in closed...

Donor Aid Talks Open in Accra.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Njeri Rugene A three-day high level meeting on donor aid starts on Sunday in Accra, Ghana, amid questions by African governments and civil societies on the effectiveness of donor funding. Questions have been raised on whether...

Cement Firms Want EAC to Return Suspended Duty.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Muna Wahome East African governments have phased out suspended duty on cement, wrong-footing new and old investors in the sector. Industry players on Thursday met parliamentarians to gripe about the measures taken by Treasury...

Why Kenyan Fuel Cost Is High Despite Drop in Crude Price.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Kennedy Senelwa Kenyan consumers will have to wait for the retail cost of petroleum products to gown down despite the decline in the price of crude oil on international markets. Industry players say it might take at least a...

Cement Firms Have A Case, Hear Them Out.
August 30, 2008... Transnational companies are increasingly closing plants in Kenya, sacking employees and importing goods they used to manufacture here. South Africa and Egypt are the favourite sources. And it is hard to blame them. For the past five...

Court Gives Torture Victims Historic Award.
August 30, 2008... Byline: Samwel Kumba It's the break of dawn for the Nyayo House torture chamber victims now basking in a High Court judgment that has handed them a historic award to compensate them for their dark days in political detention. And...

Kimunya Wants Cockar to Summon Ministers, AG.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Muchemi Wachira Former Finance minister Amos Kimunya wants two ministers and the Attorney-General to appear before the Cockar Commission to explain their role in the sale of Grand Regency Hotel. The ministers, James Orengo...

More Slide Deeper Into Poverty.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Bernard Namunane Two million more Kenyans have sunk to the level of absolute poverty in the past 10 years, bringing the total number of the poor to 16.5 million, a new report reveals. However, the report appears to paint a...

Obama's Family Celebrates Speech.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Samuel Siringi Presidential nominee Barack Obama extolled his Kenyan connection in a bold 44-minute speech which has raised the stakes in the race to the United States' White House. Accepting the nomination as the Democratic...

Obama Policies Give Hope to the World.
August 29, 2008... Many people in Kenya must have woken up in the early hours of Friday to catch a live broadcast from the United States of Sen Barack Obama's acceptance speech for the Democratic Party nomination to vie for presidency. The whole world...

As a Friend of Kenya, I Am Proud to Support Obama.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Terry Maguire More than a decade ago, I had the good fortune to know Kenya through many trips that I made to Nairobi. At the time, I had been asked to do some consultancy work for the Nation Media Group regarding the...

U.S. Media Praise Obama Speech.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Kevin J Kelley It was to be expected that the 84,000 Democratic partisans would respond with boundless enthusiasm to Barack Obama's speech framing the 67-day campaign against Republican presidential candidate John McCain. ...

Nepad Asks Continent to Raise Food Budgets.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Lucas Barasa An African developmental body wants African countries to raise agricultural productivity by six percent annually to end food shortages. The New Partnership for African Development said the countries should...

Kriegler Team Ends Public Hearings.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Sam Kiplagat The Independent Review Commission has concluded its public hearings. At Friday's session, Justice Johann Kriegler faulted an academic for presenting "inflammatory material" based on incomplete information. ...

PNU Clears Sotik Candidate.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Lucas Barasa A PNU candidate has been cleared to vie for the Sotik parliamentary seat in the September 25 by-elections. Ms Eunice Chebet Kipngény is the only candidate that has expressed interest to be the PNU...

Bank Introduces Hajj Account.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Mwaniki Wahome Gulf African Bank has partnered with Qatar Airways to enhance the benefits of Hajj saving account, meant for Muslims going on pilgrimage to Mecca. Speaking at a Nairobi hotel on Friday during the signing of the...

Mumias Pretax Profits Drop By 17 Percent.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Joseph Bonyo Mumias Sugar Company has reported a 17 per cent decline in its full year profits before tax for the year ended June 30, 2008. The miller registered Sh1.5 billion in profits compared to Sh1.9 billion it reported...

Tourism Sector Targets New Markets.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Gitonga Marete The government will explore potential tourism markets once the Sh1 billion kitty is released. Tourism minister Mr Najib Balala said diversification of the industry by focusing on other potential markets besides...

Medical Drama TV Actor to Launch Hospital.
August 29, 2008... Actor Anthony Edwards who stars in the drama series Emergency Room (ER) will be in Eldoret on Saturdy to commission a Sh1 billion children's hospital. Mr Edwards, an Emmy award winner, is Shoe4Africa member alongside Manchester United's...

Two Die As Bus Veers Off Road.
August 29, 2008... Two passengers died in a road accident on Friday night when the bus they were travelling in landed in a ditch. The Nairobi-bound bus veered off the road 10 kilometres away from Oyugis Town after the brakes failed. Some 45 people were...