News Roundup 16 January
Alarming reports of gangs preventing people attending rallies - KPTJ
Kenyans for Peace, Truth, Justice have received alarming reports from human rights monitors in Nairobi’s low-income areas, who have reported that local political leaders are mobilising gangs of youth to deter attendance to the rallies called by the Orange Democratic Movement on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
see http://www.pambazuka.org/actionalerts/comments/753/
Some protests start in Kenya, U.S. doubts poll
Source: Reuters (Adds Mombasa, Kisumu unrest, government advert) By Andrew Cawthorne and Tim Cocks NAIROBI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Kenyan police used teargas on Wednesday to disperse youths in the coastal city of Mombasa who were heeding a call for nationwide protests against President Mwai Kibaki’s disputed re-election, witness said. ... Fuelling doubt over Kibaki’s win—officially by 230,000 of 10 million votes cast—a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday it was impossible to know who won the presidency. “We have done our own analysis. What it shows is that the result was extremely close and that whoever won probably won with no more than 100,000 votes at the most,” Washington’s ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, told the Daily Nation. “It is really not possible to say with certainty who won because the process was not transparent.” But he called for power-sharing rather than a fresh vote or re-count.
http://www.alertnet.org/
UN Continues Providing Assistance in Wake of Post-Election Violence
As the death toll from deadly wave of post-election violence in Kenya continues to climb, the United Nations is continuing its relief efforts ahead of three days of nationwide rallies next week called for by the opposition.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
MPs debate over oath but the Speaker rules to obey the law
Ugenyas James Orengo stood first to oppose the wording of the oath, arguing that it undermined the constitution. He said the sovereignty of the Republic of Kenya was in the people but not the president.
http://www.nationmedia.com/
Kenya braces for nationwide opposition protests
Youths erected roadblocks, shopkeepers nailed up windows and Kenyan riot police guarded streets before opposition protests planned for Wednesday against President Mwai Kibaki’s re-election. Police have banned the rallies, scheduled for midday (9am GMT), and many Kenyans were staying at home for fear of trouble.
http://www.mg.co.za/
Food Aid Reaches Slums Hit Hardest By Violence
Tens of thousands of people in the Nairobi slums - some of the largest in Africa - most affected by last week’s post-election violence in Kenya began receiving assistance from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
As Death Toll Rises, Ban Ki-Moon Calls for Urgent Solution to Crisis
With the death toll from Kenya’s post-election violence now at 500, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the country’s leaders to quickly resolve the political crisis.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
UN Dispatches More Aid as Crisis Continues
United Nations agencies are bolstering their assistance to Kenyans in the aftermath of the deadly wave of violence which erupted after last month’s disputed elections, claiming more than 500 lives and displacing hundreds of thousands.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
New Speaker Pledges Review of House Rules
New Speaker Kenneth Marende has promised to introduce major reforms in Parliament which will include review of the rules and provision for live coverage.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Wrangles Over Secret Ballot Delay Voting
The hotly contested election of the Speaker of the National Assembly was delayed by one hour Tuesday due to disagreement among the 207 MPs on the issue of secret ballot.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Party Tells Off Ministers Over Mediators
ODM Tuesday reacted sharply to claims by two Cabinet ministers that the Government had not invited anyone to mediate in the current political impasse.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Anxiety Hits Region Over Claims of Foreign Troops’ Presence
Anxiety is sweeping across parts of Nyanza and Western provinces over claims that Ugandan troops had been seen entering the country.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Kisumu Braces for Mass Protests
A contigent of para-military police was in Kisumu and neighbouring towns ahead of countrywide protests called by ODM starting Wednesday.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Kenya: French FM backs Annan’s mediation
French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner has assured former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan of his support in his (Annan’s) mediation to end the political crisis in Kenya, sparked by the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Kenya,: To benefit from ADF loans.
African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, is to give loans and grants totaling 167.8 million Units of Account (UA), about US$263.76 million, to Kenya, Madagascar and the Gambia.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Kenya braced for wave of protests
Kenya’s opposition is due to begin three days of mass rallies against the disputed election result.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/default.stm
News:Confirmed: President Mwai Kibaki visited Uganda
Last updated : 15 Jan 2008, Kampala
Radio Katwe has done its cross checking and can now confirm to its readers that President Mwai Kibaki the Kenyan head of state (a title in hot dispute) paid a surprise visit to Uganda last Thursday.
Rumours have been in Kampala that Kibaki visited his fellow dictator Yoweri Museveni but [...]
http://www.publiceyesite.org/blog
News:Ugandan security forces were in Kenya after the rigged election
Last updated : 15 Jan 2008, Kampala
We are able to confirm to you after checking the facts on the ground in Kisumu that Museveni and President Kibaki were in cahoots in the chaos that engulfed our neighbours after the rigged Kenyan election. We cannot yet tell when or from which source in Kenya the initiative [...]
http://www.publiceyesite.org/blog
EU Warns Over Donor Support
The European Union (EU) has threatened to reduce aid to Kenya if a solution is not found over the disputed presidential elections.
Harrowing Tales of Kenyan Refugees
THE classrooms at St. Jude Primary School in Malaba are filled with Kenyan refugees who only three weeks ago were mostly successful businessmen, across the border from Uganda.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Change of Law, the Answer, Say Lawyers
Kenya faces a constitutional crisis and an overhaul of the Constitution was the only way out, lawyers have said.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Weak Shilling Good News for Neighbours
The shilling’s retreat against major currencies in recent weeks should be a respite for Kenyan exporters who have borne the wrath of a strong currency over the past two years, analysts said.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
House Should Obey Rules If It Expects Kenyans to Follow Suit
Yesterday’s events in Parliament notwithstanding; it is time that the House goes back to traditions and conducts its business in an orderly manner that befits its August House status.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Party tells off ministers over mediators
ODM Tuesday reacted sharply to claims by two Cabinet ministers that the Government had not invited anyone to mediate in the current political impasse.
http://www.nationmedia.com/
Parties hit by wrangles over lists of nominees for Parliament slots
Electoral Commission of Kenya and political parties are locked in wrangles over the nomination of 12 MPs to parliament.
http://www.nationmedia.com/
Wrangles over secret ballot delay voting
The hotly contested election of the Speaker of the National Assembly was delayed by one hour Tuesday due to disagreement among the 207 MPs on the issue of secret ballot.
http://www.nationmedia.com/
Catholic Peace Movement Urges Negotiated End to Crisis
The global Catholic peace movement, Pax Christi International, and its partner organisations in the Horn of Africa have expressed deep concern about the violence that has shaken Kenya following the country’s 27 December elections.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Angela - ‘My Children Need to Start School But We’re Stuck in the Camp’
Angela, in her thirties, who did not wish to be identified, was born in the vast slum of Kibera in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and has lived there all her life. Today, however, she is one of an estimated 2,400 people living in the city’s Jamhuri Park, where she fled during violence in Kibera after the 27 December elections.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
MPs Debate Oath of Allegiance to Kibaki
Parliamentary extra-ordinary session is continuing into the night after the election of the Speaker and deputy speaker.
http://allafrica.com/kenya/
Kenyan opposition wins narrow vote for new speaker
Decision by parliament on new speaker spells legislative trouble for the president, Mwai Kibaki
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/0,,362455,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
Kenya at the crossroads
As the Kenyan parliament prepares to meet for the first time since disputed elections last month, young people are pressing the older generation to make way.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/default.stm