The Nation (Kenya) articles from February 2011, page 4

The Nation (Kenya) archives from February 2011

Ugandan Tycoon Blames Pattni for Woes.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Richard Munguti A Ugandan investor facing criminal charges in Kenya has accused a businessman of being behind his woes. Mr Michael Ezra Mulyoowa, who faced fresh charges, alleged in court that businessman Kamlesh Pattni has...

Farmers Plan to Dig Into Pockets to Rescue Union.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Paul Juma Coffee farmers plan to contribute money to lift the Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) out of receivership. The farmers, represented by four cooperative societies and two individuals, have also applied to be enjoined...

Drought Relief is Only a Telephone Call Away.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Aggrey Mutambo A toll-free number for drought-related distress calls has been launched. Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo said on Monday that the number, 109, would be activated on Tuesday at noon and...

Fishing Vessels Used in Hi-Tech Piracy.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Gitonga Marete And Githua Kihara New tactics being employed by Somali pirates to involve captured seafarers in aiding further attacks have compounded the problem and sent security agents back to the drawing board, maritime experts...

Water Firm's Bosses Divided Over Probe.
February 21, 2011... An audit report implicating a senior officer in a Sh3.1 million scandal has divided the leadership of a water company in Taita Taveta County. The Tavevo Water and Sewerage Company audit report seen by the Nation said the officer authorised...

MP Accused of Stripping Father Naked.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Richard Munguti A politician beat his father and stripped him during the last General Election, a judge was told on Monday. Election Court judge Fred Ochieng heard how Gatundu North MP Clement Waibara allegedly beat his father and...

Raila Allays Fears Over Privatisation of Mombasa Port.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Mark Agutu and Mazera Ndurya The privatisation of the port of Mombasa has not been finalised, Prime Minister Raila Odinga has told Coast residents. Mr Odinga said the privatisation would require the approval of both the Cabinet and...

MP Turns to Elders Over Party Feuding.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Erick Ngobilo Sirisia MP Moses Wetang'ula has urged Luhya elders to reconcile warring Ford Kenya factions. The former Foreign minister announced that a national delegates conference would be convened on March 20 to elect office...

Focus Now On Spain Assignment.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Chris Musumba After the small matter of making the national team, athletes will now focus on the bigger task that is winning medals at the World cross country championships on March 20. The team will have a three week intensive...

Meeting With an Enigmatic Pakistan Awaits Cricket Team.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Firdose Moonda Whatever Kenya do next at this World Cup, it's likely to be better than the 69 they got bowled out for against New Zealand. They've had just two days to recover but that could prove to be a good thing in this case....

Envoys Urge Leaders to End Stalemate On Nominations.
February 21, 2011... Ten foreign missions have urged President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to strike a compromise to pave the way for the implementation of the new Constitution. A joint statement by the envoys issued on Monday expressed concern over...

Gicheru Exit Won't Lead to Crisis.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Bernand Namunane There will be no vacuum if a Chief Justice is not appointed by Sunday to replace Mr Justice Evan Gicheru. Presiding judges of the Court of Appeal and the High Court could be asked by the Judicial Service Commission...

Public Servants to Pay More to Pension Fund.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Samuel Siringi Employees in key government agencies will have to dig deeper into their pockets to fund their retirement benefits. In a new programme to be fully implemented by July, an estimated 300,000 workers in state...

Attorney General Disowns Kibaki List in Court Hearing.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Richard Munguti and Maureen Ngesa The Attorney General has told a court that nominations by President Kibaki to key constitutional offices were improper. A senior state counsel, Ms Wanjiku Mbiyu, said the Judicial Service...

'Smoke' Snake That Left Lawyer Speechless.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Benson Nyagesiba Police have dismissed claims by a lawyer that he was attacked by a snake and rendered speechless before the snake turned into smoke. A second police investigation report dismissed the attack claims by a lawyer in...

Shabaab Hit Mogadishu Police.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Abdulkadir Khalif A huge blast, presumed to be a suicide mission, has Monday morning hit a police compound in Mogadishu's Hamar Jab-jab district. The area, widely known as Serandi in Mogadishu, was hit at around 9am (local time)....

Mugo Denies CDF Theft Allegations.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Mike Mwaniki Cabinet minister Beth Mugo on Monday defended the Dagoretti constituency development committee against claims of embezzling funds from the CDF. Speaking during a whistle-stop tour of various projects funded through the...

Foreign Envoys Call for Compromise Over Judicial Jobs.
February 21, 2011... Ten foreign missions have urged President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to strike a compromise to pave the way for the implementation of the new Constitution. A joint statement by the envoys issued on Monday expressed concern over...

Militants Attack Mogadishu Police.
February 21, 2011... Byline: Abdulkadir Khalif A huge blast, presumed to be a suicide mission, has Monday morning hit a police compound in Mogadishu's Hamar Jab-jab district. The area, widely known as Serandi in Mogadishu, was hit at around 9am (local time)....

ODM Rebels Promise Battle Over Marende's Ruling.
February 20, 2011... ODM rebel MPs allied to Eldoret North MP William Ruto have promised to stage a vicious battle to overturn House Speaker Kenneth Marende's ruling on the nominations made by President Kibaki on top constitutional jobs. Speaking separately...

Shell Makes Cautious Retreat From Africa.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Justus Ondari Shell is cautiously exiting the African continent by retaining shareholding in two joint ventures created after its Sh80 billion ($1 billion) deal with Vitol and Helios Investment Partners. This follows an...

The Ticking Time-Bomb of Jobless Youth.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Esmond Shahonya During the launch of the Kenya Youth Empowerment and Employment Initiative in March last year, the President noted that the main challenge facing the country is how to engage its jobless citizens productively. The...

In Order to Fight Drugs Effectively, We Need to Have All Information About Narcotics.
February 20, 2011... Byline: John B. Osoro Having a conversation with the former boss of the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada), Mr Joseph Kaguthi, on the drug abuse problem in Kenya is extremely enlightening. Mr Kaguthi asserts that...

Cities Are Meant to Be Open Spaces for Interaction, But Gates Want Separation.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Rasna Warah The current edition of Concierge Kenya, a luxury lifestyle magazine, has an article on an ambitious project known as Tatu City, described by its creators as "the first holistic lifestyle city planned in Africa". The...

National Team Denies Rifts, Lose to New Zealand.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Firdrose Monda Kenya's media manager, Arjun Vidyarthi, has vehemently denied a rift in the team camp following their 10-wicket defeat to New Zealand in their opening match of the World Cup in Chennai. "There are no issues in the...

Ndonga Splashes Makini to Glory.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Ayumba Ayodi Emmanuel Ndonga, 11, from Makini School powered his team to the overall title when he splashed to victory in four events during the two-day Kenya YMCA Development Gala in Nairobi last weekend. Makini had 514 points,...

Sofapaka Run Away With Super Cup Victory.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Sammy Kitula Sofapaka inflicted their second defeat on Ulinzi Stars since 2009 to win the DStv-SuperSport Super Cup 1-0 as all divisions but the top-flight Kenyan Premier League kicked off the season on Sunday. The Super Cup may...

MPs Approve Trillion Shilling ICT Centre.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Aggrey Mutambo The Parliamentary Accounts Committee has endorsed the proposal to set up a technology park at Konza, Eastern Province. This means that the centre, known as Konza Technology City, and intended to be one of the key ICT...

Golf Union Feud With City Club Captains Simmers On.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Larry Ngala The decision taken late last year by Nairobi Golf Club captains changing the Golfer of The Year (GOTY) tournaments from 54 to 36 holes still stands. A meeting between the captains and the Kenya Golf Union(KGU) held...

Seek Sponsors for Football.
February 20, 2011... The Kenya Premier League resumes on Saturday after a three-month recess with focus on improved live broadcasts by Supersport across Africa. Unlike in previous seasons, there is increased interest in the league as fans have started...

How Ready Are We for the Impending Rains?
February 20, 2011... Sometimes nature makes a dry run to prepare us for impending occurrences. That seems to be what happened last week when the heavens unleashed a downpour weeks before the main rainy season. The unexpected downpour can give an indication of...

Farmers to Benefit From Sh10 Million Milk Cooling Plants.
February 20, 2011... The government is set to put up two milk coolers at Sugoi and Moi's Bridge areas in Eldoret West District at a cost of Sh10 million. District livestock production officer Simon Langat said the two facilities will act as business hubs in a...

Communications Commission Seeks More Signal Supply Firms.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Jevans Nyabiage The government is searching for two more digital television signal distributors in its renewed effort to speed up migration from analogue to digital broadcast ahead of Kenya's 2012 switchover deadline. Industry...

Authority Bans Ship From Local Waters.
February 20, 2011... Kenya Maritime Authority has banned Fv Golden Wave, a ship which docked with the 39 fishermen last week from fishing within the Kenyan waters until it meets the required standards. The authority's head of safety Wilfred Kagembe said the...

Censure Motion Against Speaker Has Precedence.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Alphonce Shiundu When James Orengo sought to censure the then National Assembly Speaker Francis ole Kaparo fifteen years ago, he had the support of nearly all the big shots in the current coalition government. Mwai Kibaki, Raila...

Karua Invites Uhuru to Join Narc Kenya.
February 20, 2011... Byline: George Munene Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua has invited Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta to join the flower party. In her proposal, the Gichugu MP said Narc Kenya would act as neutral ground on which the she would contest with...

Guard Peace Gains, VP Tells Sudan Leaders.
February 20, 2011... Kenya wants South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mardit and his Northern counterpart Omar al Bashir to work closely to consolidate gains made towards peace in the region. Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka asked the two leaders to agree on resource...

Students in Drought-Hit Areas Given Fee Waiver.
February 20, 2011... The government has waived school fees for secondary students in all areas affected by drought. Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday said the biting drought had caused much suffering for thousands of students in the drought-hit areas. The...

Resolve Dispute, Urges Envoy.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Abiud Ochieng German ambassador Margit Hellwig-Boette on Sunday called on President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to find an amicable solution to the political stalemate over four top State jobs. Ms Hellwig-Boette said...

Brace for a Tough Fight, Speaker Told.
February 20, 2011... A group of Rift Valley MPs has vowed to take on House Speaker Kenneth Marende over his ruling on the Kibaki list. The MPs allied to Eldoret North lawmaker William Ruto claimed that rather than playing his role as an unbiased arbiter, the...

Marende's Ruling On List Receives Backing.
February 20, 2011... A section of politicians and the civil society have supported Speaker Kenneth Marende's ruling on the presidential nominations. Gichugu MP Martha Karua dismissed President Kibaki's criticism of the ruling that termed his nominations to four...

PNU-Allied Leaders Accuse ODM of Blocking Reforms.
February 20, 2011... Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday led a group of 15 MPs allied to PNU in branding ODM as anti-reformist. The MPs, mostly drawn from the Rift Valley and Mount Kenya regions, maintained that the Orange party was behind the...

New Commission Set Up to Monitor Running of Saccos.
February 20, 2011... Byline: George Munene Members of cooperative societies can now breathe a sigh of relief after the government established a commission to protect their investments. The Governance and Ethics Commission would ensure that members'...

Contractors Risk Job Loss Over Quality.
February 20, 2011... Contractors doing shoddy work on constituency development and economic stimulus projects have been warned that their contracts could be terminated. Public Works permanent secretary John Lonyangapuo accused most of the contractors of doing...

Civil Groups Protest Over Power Dam in Ethiopia.
February 20, 2011... Members of civil society have petitioned the Chinese government against being involved in the building of a controversial mega-dam on the Kenya-Ethiopia border. The Gilgel Gibe hydropower dam is being built in Ethiopia and is aimed at...

Law Renders Education System Obsolete.
February 20, 2011... Byline: David Aduda When Education minister Sam Ongeri launched a task force on education reform recently, he confirmed that the new Constitution had rendered the current education system obsolete. The first issue to address is the content...

ODM Dares Rivals to Censure Speaker.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Mark Agutu The Orange Democratic Movement on Sunday dared those seeking to censure the House Speaker to make good their threat. The party top brass also challenged their rivals during a charged rally at Tononoka Grounds in Mombasa...

Pro-Kibaki MPs Take the Battle to Marende.
February 20, 2011... Parliament could be set for a showdown on Tuesday as politicians allied to President Kibaki's PNU continued to take hard-line positions over House Speaker Kenneth Marende's ruling against nominations to four constitutional offices. PNU MPs...

Another SMS Lottery Launched.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Dominic Wabala A new SMS-based lottery has begun operations barely 10 days after the Betting Control and Licensing Board suspended licensing for the lucrative new form of gambling. Amaya Gaming Group (K) Ltd launched its new SMS...

Fresh Wave of Somali Refugees Flee.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Kevin J Kelley and Eric Mutai Drought and instability are forcing thousands more Somalis to flee to Kenya, the United Nations top humanitarian affairs official has said. The new waves of refugees from urban areas in central and...

Motion to Censure Speaker Has Precedence.
February 20, 2011... When Lands Minister James Orengo sought to censure the then National Assembly Speaker Francis ole Kaparo 15 years ago, he had the support of nearly all the big shots in the current coalition government. President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila...

The Future is Tourism - Kilifi Bets Big On Leisure Industry.
February 20, 2011... Byline: Emman Omari Tourism, big-time golf and a wealth of historical sites help to shape the identity of Kilifi County, north of Mombasa. Here, visitors will quickly learn that Kilifi is the land of firsts, as well as contradictions. It...

The Government is Taking People for a Ride.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Lukoye Atwoli Lately, the Kenya Government has been taking us all for a ride. Despite having some of the best legal minds in its service, the government has engaged in a diplomatic blitz aimed at convincing or compelling the United...

Unplugging Internet Service Spells Doom for Economic Development.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Sam Wambugu Internet and communications infrastructure is a key platform for conducting business, connecting people and providing government services and is a crucial weapon for 21st century democracy. This has been evident most...

What If the Court Rules Kibaki Broke the Law?
February 19, 2011... Byline: Sara Bakata It's the season for national drama festival. Not the type by budding thespians in school, but politicians seeking to upstage each other. Unfortunately, most of them are over(re)acting or just throwing tantrums. Of...

President and Premier Must Place Nation First.
February 19, 2011... President Kibaki was both right and wrong in his assessment of Speaker Kenneth Marende's ruling on the first set of nominations made to fulfil the requirements of the new Constitution. The President was right to assert that a simple reading...

People Should See Through Leaders' Hypocrisy.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Makau Mutua The velvet revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt were not advertised. But they were televised. No one saw Tunisia coming. Egypt caught everyone, including the vaunted American CIA and Israeli Mossad, napping and flat-footed. ...

Choice of Ugandan Voters Will Be Critical to the Nation.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Mukhisa Kituyi The just concluded presidential elections in Uganda mark an important watershed in the geo-politics of Eastern Africa and particularly the medium term choices and challenges that will have to be met by neighbours like...

A Watershed Moment At the Port.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Githua Kihara Growing opposition to privatisation is blocking urgently needed expansion of the port of Mombasa which this year has exceeded its cargo handling capacity. Last year the port handled over 20 million tonnes of goods, or...

Marende Flouted Law, Claims Chief Whip.
February 19, 2011... The government coalition chief whip Johnstone Muthama has accused House Speaker Kenneth Marende of breaking the law when declaring President Kibaki's nominations unconstitutional. He said Mr Marende was "biased" in his ruling and that he...

I Cry for This Once Great Giant of Rugby.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Charles Nyende I vividly recall when I started playing club rugby in the 1990s, first with my university side, Cougars RFC, then Stanchart RFC, Mwamba RFC and KCB RFC. One thing I remember dreading -- and the feeling was deeply...

Resolve Outstanding Issues, Sudan Leaders Told.
February 19, 2011... Kenya wants the leaders of North and South Sudan to work closely to consolidate peace, sort out resource sharing and agree on border issues in the post-referendum period. Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka was speaking in Juba when he led a...

Will the Next U.S. Envoy Bring Nation 'Cookies'?
February 19, 2011... Byline: Kevin J Kelley Nairobi's relations with Washington may become warmer -- at least in public -- when Scott Gration, a retired US Air Force general, takes over as US ambassador to Kenya later this year. President Barack Obama...

Ebuya, Chebet Find Going Tough.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Chris Musumba As expected, the national cross country championships claimed the scalps of some bigwigs as both senior men and women champions Joseph Ebuya and Emily Chebet failed to sustain the onslaught and dropped out of the race at...

No Miedler Can Stop a Completo Birthday Party.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Sammy Kitula Unseeded Artur Completo won his second consecutive Third Kenya International Junior Tennis Championship title on Saturday by beating Austrian Lucas Miedler 7-5, 6-4. The victory capped a good week for the Portuguese...

Ulinzi, Sofapaka in Super Clash.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Charles Nyende The official title of Sunday's match between champions Ulinzi Stars and Sofapaka at Nyayo Stadium from 3 pm is a mouthful, Dstv-SuperSport Super Cup, but neither side will mind considering the stakes. And it is not...

Fans Still Remember Tikolo's Showing.
February 19, 2011... Everybody loves an underdog - just ask the millions of neutral fans around the world who cheered on Bangladesh during the World Cup opener against India, irrespective of the result. By the time you read this, another minnow, Kenya, will be on...

Why MPs Have Plotted to Censure Speaker.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Njeri Rugene The plot to censure House Speaker Kenneth Marende over his contested ruling was hatched on Thursday night after an emotional news conference addressed by PNU big-wigs and Eldoret North MP William Ruto's allies, the Sunday...

Kibaki Walking a Tightrope Over Nominations to Key State Posts.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Macharia Gaitho President Kibaki is the proverbial sphinx; forever unmoved, untouched and immobile even when everything around him is crumbling and everyone is running helter-skelter. Hence the import of his coming out of his shell...

PNU And Allies Now Appear to Have Lost Battle to Raila's ODM.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Murithi Mutiga The stalemate between ODM and PNU over the contested nominations to constitutional offices can be traced back to three critical months last year when the constitution drafting process came to an end. Some of the most...

12 Killed in Road Accident.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Jonathan Komen Twelve people died on Satuday in a collision between a lorry and a matatu on the Iten-Eldoret Road. Eleven people died on the spot while the twelfth died while being taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in...

Are Suspects Appointing Own Judges?
February 19, 2011... Byline: Emeka-Mayaka Gekara The aggressive support of President Kibaki's nominees by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura has raised eyebrows among political...

Distant Dutch City Looms Large in Our Political And Electoral Future.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Emeka Mayaka-Gekara The Hague is two different places to citizens of The Netherlands and to some villagers in Kenya. To the Dutch, it is the seat of their government, parliament and their third-largest city after Amsterdam and...

Why Doctors' Union Portends Better Healthcare.
February 19, 2011... Here is a simple fact that illustrates the parlous state of Kenya's health sector. Every year, about 400 doctors graduate from Kenya's medical schools. Nearly the same numbers of doctors resign from public service into the private sector or ship...

U.S. Issues Alert On Green Card Fraud.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Dominic Wabala The United States Embassy in Kenya is warning online applicants for the DiversityVisa lottery that fraudsters are targeting them via phony emails. The embassy's Fraud Prevention and Diversity Visa sections have...

Museveni Headed for Comfortable Win.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Emmanuel Gyezaho And Sheila Naturinda Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was on Saturday night headed for a comfortable win and an unprecedented fourth elective term in office. Results from Uganda's electoral commission indicated...

Drive for ICC Deferral Suffers Heavy Blow.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Mugumo Munene The rejection by House Speaker Kenneth Marende of the list of nominees to key constitutional offices has dealt a heavy blow to the diplomatic offensive by President Kibaki designed to show the world that Kenya can try...

Power Politics Behind Kibaki-Raila Standoff.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Mugumo Munene The latest standoff in the grand coalition government is part of an orchestrated campaign to stave off the ICC intervention in Kenya's post-election crisis, the Sunday Nation can report. Interviews with an array of...

ICC Suspects Engage Top Foreign Lawyers.
February 19, 2011... Byline: Emeka-Mayaka Gekara Even as the government fights to have the Kenya case at The Hague deferred, the six individuals named in connection with post-election violence are busy assembling teams of high-profile international lawyers to...

Can Nation Survive New World Economy?
February 18, 2011... Byline: Randall Smith When I was in China last summer, I was told about a new technology that will rock the world of manufacturing. The Chinese are already remaking plants in seaport cities to handle the new and cleaner machines that will...

UN Tells Nation to Abolish Polygamy Within Two Years And Change Other Laws.
February 18, 2011... Byline: Peter Mwaura Shape up. That's the simple message, on the way we treat women, from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. It's contained in its "concluding observations and recommendations"...

Live Together As Brothers Or Perish As Fools.
February 18, 2011... Byline: Gabriel Dolan A wise old man advised me years ago never to heed an anonymous letter, regardless of the contents. If the author lacked the gumption to stand by his claims, he said, then best he be ignored. After watching Kenya on...

Support Film Industry.
February 18, 2011... Kenya's film industry has begun the year in a jolly mood. According to figures released on Friday, it contributes Sh1.8 billion to the national wealth. While this is small change compared to bellwether sectors like tourism and agriculture, it...

Row Should Not Derail Provisions of New Law.
February 18, 2011... Political temperatures are understandably running high following the Speaker's ruling declaring four contested nominations unconstitutional. This furore must not deflect attention from the considerable amount of work that lies ahead in the...