A federal appeals court signaled Friday that it is unlikely to allow President Barack Obama’s request to go ahead with a new round of relief for illegal immigrants, making it likely that the White House will have to take its legal case to the Supreme Court within days.

The oral arguments before the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans were being closely watched by both sides in the heated immigration debate as a sign of whether the administration will be able to move forward with its plan to grant quasi-legal status and work permits to about 4 million illegal immigrants. Notably, one Republican-appointed judge used the president’s own comments to put the Justice Department on the defensive.

By the time the court session wrapped up, it appeared likely the appeals judges will rule, 2-1, against the administration’s request for a stay of a district court injunction, which would most likely leave the Supreme Court to decide whether the program can move ahead while lawsuits play out in the states. If the administration can’t get its new moves underway sometime this year it may have difficulty getting them done before Obama leaves office.

Obama’s plan — a legacy agenda item for him — would expand of a program offering quasi-legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and include a new program that offers the same benefits to illegal immigrant parents of U.S. citizens.

The Obama administration contends that the programs announced last November — officially known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) — are lawful exercises of prosecutorial discretion. Texas and other states that have filed lawsuits challenging the moves. arguing that only Congress can authorize these kinds of sweeping actions.

Implementation of the program was stalled when U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen issued an order blocking the actions. A Justice Department appeal brought the matter before the 5th Circuit.

The two-hour hearing took on some of the same partisan tension that has surrounded the issue in the political arena.

Judge Jennifer Elrod. a Republican appointee, suggested that Obama’s own statements about the program undermined the federal government’s claims that immigration officials retain case-by-case discretion. She referenced a televised town hall meeting in Miami in February when Obama said that there would be consequences for government employees who ignored his directives to grant deferred action to those who are eligible.

“When he says if you file this you will get relief, when he gives affirmative statements that you are entitled to the relief … are those just general, what we would say in other contexts, puffery?” Elrod asked, adding, “I mean no disrespect to the president by saying that.”

Justice Department lawyer Ben Mizer said Obama’s comments “have to be taken in context” and insisted they were not at odds with the federal government’s arguments that immigration officers have the right to deny deferred action status in any case.

“All the president said in that statement taken in context is … that subordinates are bound by what their superiors tell them. But the president in no way countermanded the guidance that is actually being challenged in this case,” Mizer said.

However, Judge Stephen Higginson, an Obama appointee, cautioned that the courts could create chaos in the government if they conclude that any time agency officials closely follow an internal directive it has to be made into a formal regulation that’s subject to notice-and-public-comment.

“If what we’re saying here is ‘we’ve looked at the data and the government officers are largely adhering to their own criteria, therefore the guidelines are invalid, really, it’s a secret rule,’ that’s a very perverse legal incentive,” Higginson warned. “That’s a dangerous rule for us to try to write.”

Most of the support for the the administration’s stance came from Higginson, an Obama appointee, who repeatedly questioned Hanen’s rationale.

Hanen’s ruling turned not on Obama’s statutory or constitutional power to make his immigration moves, but on the administration’s failure to put them through a formal notice-and-comment period required when the government sets rules that impact individuals or businesses.

Higginson suggested that Hanen wrongly concluded that evidence of how the administration carried out its initial relief for so-called Dreamers offered in 2012 dictated the manner in which the new round of actions would be administered.

“The pool is different and the program is different,” Higginson said, adding that the differences “call, in my mind, in doubt the extrapolation going on.”

But on about a half dozen occasions Higginson also suggested that one reason to view the program as a form of prosecutorial discretion was because it enticed illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows and left open the possibility they could be tracked down and deported later.

“The first step toward removing them is getting them into the database,” Higginson said. “It is scary for them. It is precarious to identify … They’re even telling us where they are. We’re finding the fugitives.”

The argument is an awkward one for the administration. At least until Hanen’s injunction, administration officials and their allies had encouraged illegal immigrants eligible for the programs to come forward. However, the judge noted that there’s no legal reason why a future administration could not cancel the programs or use the data from them to pursue deportations new enforcement priorities.

Higginson also raised another point that may not sit well with some immigrant-rights activists. He noted that the record number of deportations the Department of Homeland Security has carried out in recent years undermined contentions that the administration is shirking its duty to get illegal immigrants out of the country.

“Why wouldn’t that same fact this agency is removing more [people] than ever before be relevant to the district court’s conclusion that the agency was acting pretextually?” the judge asked.

Judge Jerry Smith, who has drawn headlines for clashing with Justice Department lawyers in other cases, did no bombthrowing Friday. In fact, he took a back seat at the argument, leaving Elrod and Higginson to do most of the verbal sparring with lawyers for both sides.

In his few comments, Smith did seem inclined against the administration, however. He pointed repeatedly to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling in which the justices held, 5-4, that states had standing to sue the EPA over its decision not to regulate greenhouse gases. That decision “may be key” to the outcome of the immigration litigation, the Reagan appointee said.

The states challenging Obama’s immigration actions say they have standing because they will incur costs from the millions of deferred action grants the administration is planning, including the costs of issuing drivers licenses to the immigrants accorded “legal presence” under the new policies.

However, Mizer said the states’ claims would mean they could sue over virtually any immigration policy change or even over the handling of specific cases.

“That can’t possibly be right,” the Justice Department lawyer said. “If Texas is right, then they could challenge an individual decision to grant asylum status to an individual who resides in Texas if that individual goes and seeks a drivers’ license.”

Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller insisted there was no way states would litigate such disputes.

“This parade of horribles is not going to happen,” he declared.

Keller focused his arguments largely on the fact that this appeals court panel is supposed to focus on whether to stay Hanen’s order. The administration’s appeal of the judge’s order is to be decided later, likely by another 5th Circuit panel.

“DAPA would be one of the largest changes in immigration policy in our nation’s history,” Keller said. “Any injury that the executive could show would not outweigh the irreversible harm of changing the status quo by allowing DAPA to go into effect.”

Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee, seemed persuaded that maintaining the status quo meant keeping the executive actions on hold while the litigation plays out.

“We’re big about the status quo,” Elrod said. “It appears the Supreme Court may be big about [preserving] the status quo in the middle of cases.”

The judge also asked how work permits and tax benefits could be retrieved if the programs go forward and the courts ultimately rule them illegal. Immigrants approved for the programs “could end up with a big check and you’d need to knock on their door and ask for it back,” she said.

Mizer called that prospect “attenuated” and said it was doubtful that individuals could collect tax credits before the courts have ruled on the legality of Hanen’s injunction.” There are a lot of hoops that an individual had to jump through,” he said.

The arguments at the 5th Circuit’s headquarters drew a crowd of demonstrators who back Obama’s executive actions. At times, their chants and shouts could be heard in the courtroom where the arguments took place, a recording of the session shows.

Smith, the Houston-based judge who presided over the session, chalked up the noise to the Big Easy’s reputation for street parties.

“It’s rowdy folks outside,” he said. “It’s cruel and unusual punishment to have to argue on Friday afternoon in New Orleans.”

-politico.com

Kenya has started building the wall to separate the country from the porous sections of the border with neighbouring Somalia. The groundbreaking ceremony was at Kiunga in Lamu. The Kenyan government said that it will spare no expense until the wall is built.

“Whatever it is going to cost us and whatever it takes, we are going to make sure our country is safe” said Deputy President William Ruto.

WHAT ARE THE MERITS OR DEMERITS OF THE WALL

A Kenyan television documentary purportedly showing a man being offered an injection of the blood booster EPO in a shop for $100 (£67) “corroborates” previous doping allegations in the country, the World Anti-Doping Agency said on Thursday.

Poisoned Spikes, a documentary aired by Citizen Television, was concerning and “adds to” many of the findings of a 2012 German TV programme that initially uncovered doping problems in Kenya, the Wada director general David Howman said in a statement.

Wada officials had viewed the Kenyan documentary, Howman said, and the allegations it made were “of concern to Wada and the broader anti-doping community”.

“Where evidence from the documentary leads to breaches of the World Anti-Doping Code, Wada would expect the appropriate bodies to fully investigate and take action,” Howman said.

He said his organisation would discuss the Citizen TV documentary with authorities on a visit to Kenya next week.

The Kenyan documentary was aired in a series of episodes in February and March, and appears to support the ARD channel’s allegations that EPO and other banned substances are easily available in Kenya. The east African country has had its reputation as a distance running power eroded by doping claims. More than 30 Kenyan athletes have failed doping tests in the past five years, according to the national federation.

In one of the sequences in the latest documentary, a man posing as an athlete negotiates to buy an EPO injection from a man claiming to be a doctor for around $100. With a hidden camera recording in a back room of a drug store, the athlete – who does not receive an injection – expresses concern over the health implications of EPO.

“Why? There is no harm,” the doctor says, according to the documentaries’ subtitles. “This is what we do almost every day.”

The doctor freely explains the process of administering EPO, saying he needs 40 minutes to prepare the substance before injecting it.

The incident took place in the town of Kapsabet in western Kenya, according to the documentary, near to the famous high-altitude running town of Eldoret where many top athletes train.

In another exchange, a telephone call is made to a man identified as a pharmacist, who is selling EPO for 30,000 Kenyan shillings, or $320 (£214). After negotiations, he settles for $215 (£144). The man posing as the athlete and buyer says his sister wants to know what the drug is and if it’s harmful.

“Just tell her it is EPO. EPO,” the pharmacist says, rejecting any health concerns. “How many have died and how many have we killed? You know what, if she doesn’t want you to be assisted, let her say … tell her if any mistake happens it is between you and the doctor.”

In the documentary, the Kenyan athletics federation president Isaiah Kiplagat says it has been alleged that doctors and pharmacists offering EPO and other banned substances are also operating in Iten and Eldoret – favourite training towns for athletes – and the capital, Nairobi.

Poisoned Spikes also touches on the cases of the banned athletes Rita Jeptoo and Mathew Kisorio. The marathon champion Jeptoo was banned for two years in January for testing positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test in Kenya late last year. In an interview, her former partner blames her foreign agents for her doping, saying they gave her unidentified tablets and “special water” to take.

Kisorio is interviewed and says he tested positive for steroids in 2012 after being injected with an unknown substance by a doctor, who told him “it would make my muscles stronger”.

-theguardian.com

Top female Kenyan singer Avril has hit out at her haters for calling her ugly.

Avril took to Instagram to post a message directed to those who had ridiculed her in December 2014 after she shared her photos without any make-up.

“They laughed at me about 4 months ago. Ridiculed me to a point I didn’t even understand what for. Made memes and called me ugly. But guess what, my acne scars are slowly fading away!” reads her post in part.

A section of her followers ridiculed her face condition after she posted the photos which were evidently taken in her natural state. The Hello Baby hit maker now smiles before the mirror each morning since, as she says “acne scars are slowly fading away”.

In her post she reveals her excitement: “My forehead doesn’t have even one pimple yet that was the heaviest affected bit on my face. No condition is permanent. Always remember that.”

Avril’s followers echoed her courage with some admiring her strong will:

Winfredmutanu: You are an inspiration. Beautiful as always.

Alicekabue: So courageous sweet girl. You are beautiful in and out. Keep moving, no matter what.

Pinchez40: A woman who appreciates herself can conquer everything.

Rosentongondu: You are beautiful Avril. I love you because you are so real. You are gorgeous inside and out.

Steve_njogu: Do I have to tell you how pretty you are?

-sde.co.ke

When she stood up to give her acceptance speech soon after being declared the winner of the inaugural Face of Kenya USA Pageant, Trina Wambui Njoroge, 19, of Bakersfield, California, was clear about her source of inspiration: The election of Barack Obama as the first black President of America in 2008 and last year’s Oscars triumph for Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o.

“If there is anything most black American children born of black immigrant parents have learned from the election of President Obama, it is the mere fact that everything is possible,” she told the Sunday Nation in an interview.

Ms Njoroge said the successes of Lupita Nyong’o in Hollywood for her role in the movie 12 Years a Slave had also affirmed that “you can be black in America and still emerge from the receding cloud of racism and discrimination to achieve your dreams and aspirations”.

TOUGH BATTLE

She beat 10 othercontestants to win the first-ever Face of Kenya pageant in the US held in Los Angeles on April 4.

The contest is founded by UK-based Janet Wainaina and attracted an audience of about 300 people.

“We had planned for 250 people. So you can imagine our excitement when close to 300 showed up. This was a clear indication by Kenyans living in Los Angeles that they support our efforts to raise funds to help charities in Kenya,” said Wacu Ndirangu, the manager of Face of Kenya USA.

“Being born in America to Kenyan parents means you occupy two worlds and two identities. That is why they are sometimes referred to as the ‘lost generation’ because they are lost in between two worlds, complete with contrasting cultures and identities,” said Jack Ambuka of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ms Njoroge was born and raised in Bakersfield, California. She is a first-year student at Cypress College in Santa Ana pursuing a degree in Biology. Ms Njoroge says her roots as a Kenyan American, and having studied in Kenya for one year at Mt Kenya Academy, helped shape her worldview and made her understand that her confidence was key to success.

- By Chris Wamalwa- nation.co.ke

Kenyans in the Dc, Maryland and Virginia area welcomed the new US ambassador to Kenya Mr Robinsin Githae as he takes his new post. The Kenyans converged in Silver Springs Maryland.

Ambassador Githae replaced former envoy Jean Kamau who went on to take a similar role as High Commissioner Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary in South Africa.

Video Courtesy: Border Media TV

It is now illegal for public schools to ask parents to pay higher fees than that I pay higher fees than that approved by the Cabinet Secretary for Education.

The newly-gazetted rules have also taken away the powers of boards of management in public schools to alter fees without written authority from the Cabinet Secretary.

The regulations were gazetted last week and give powers to the government to sue any boards of management who defy the ministry.

Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, gazetted the new fees structure for secondary schools in March despite opposition from teachers’ unions which termed them unrealistic. Parents support the guidelines.

The government will now provide Sh12,870 a year per student in regular schools and Sh32,600 for those in special schools.

The maximum a parent is required to pay per year is Sh9,374 for a student in a day school, Sh53,553 in boarding schools and Sh37,210 for special needs schools.

Schools also have to spread the fees in the ratio of 50:30:20 for the three terms in a year.

The regulations also state that the minimum age of admission into primary school will be six years and no child will be denied admission in school for lack of proof of age.

“A learner progressing from pre-primary school to a public primary school shall not be subjected to entry examination, any interview or admission fee,” say the regulations.” The regulations also say teachers must have been trained in a course approved or recognised by the CS and registered by the Teachers’ Service Commission.

Schools are now required to have a first-aid kit for each class and adequate, safe and clean water. They will also be required to have disability-friendly learning environment. Boarding schools must have a qualified nurse, a watchman and other suitable adult supervision.

The regulations also put a stop to forced repetition of classes unless on the recommendation of a doctor or due to non-attendance for one academic year.

“All learners who have undertaken a full course of primary education shall be eligible for admission to a secondary school regardless of their scores,” say the regulations.

It will also be unlawful for a school to compel a parent to transfer a learner to a different school without the written approval of the county director of education.

A student progressing from primary school to a public secondary school or his or her choice will not be subjected to any interview, pre-qualification examination or required to make any payment before admission.

Education officials at the county level will be required to institute affirmative action to enable learners from minority or marginalised groups or those with special needs to be admitted to secondary schools.

-Daily Nation

A man on Sunday lost his bride-to-be at Kahawa Wendani in Kiambu after he gambled part of the money meant to fund their wedding.

KNA witnessed the incident at the bus terminus where the bride-to-be angrily boarded a matatu with her luggage as the groom-to-be beseeched her to come back for a talk.

The lady, who gave her name as Brigitte Wanjira, hurled insults at her husband-to-be, identified as Fredrick Savwa, saying that he was “foolish” for daring to bet with their wedding money.

Their wedding was slated for May 23, 2015.

She said that she could not marry a man who would not consult her before gambling with a whole Sh50,000 in a mere game, which he had no surety of winning.

He bet the money on the popular betting site, Sportpesa.

NOT FIRST TIME

Ms Wanjira added that this was not the first time that he had wasted money in gambling.

The previous month, she said, he gambled their rent money making them to dig deep into their pockets again to pay the rent.

In defence, Mr Savwa said he gambled the wedding money as the odds of him winning the game were very high and he intended to return the money and top up the remaining wedding fund.

Some people at the bus terminus tried to help the man by convincing the lady not to leave but she had made up her mind to leave and a confused and devastated Savwa was left standing in the rain.

Triza Nyambura, an eyewitness, told KNA Ms Wanjira had every reason to leave him as this was an issue affecting many women in the country where men gamble even with school fees and the kitchen budget.

She added that many men had become addicted to betting to make quick money and after one made the first win, he kept gambling regularly forgetting other obligations at hand.

-nairobinews.co.ke

Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko has said he will storm the EACC to clear his name if he is not summoned over corruption allegations this week.

Saying he had “missed serving Nairobi residents”, Sonko asked the commission to expedite investigations.

“Colleagues I was accused with have appeared before the EACC detectives. I wonder why they are playing delay tactics,” he told the Star on phone on Monday.

Sonko ‘stepped aside’ over allegedly influencing the award of a Kenya Pipeline Company tender for a share of a Sh1.35 billion kickback.

The EACC corruption report claimed he was to share the bribe with suspended Energy CS Davis Chirchir.

The commission has summoned several among 175 public officials implicated in graft.

They include Chirchir, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, Siaya Senator James Orengo and cabinet secretaries Charity Ngilu (Lands), Kazungu Kambu (Labour) and Michael Kamau (Transport).

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho is set for grilling on Tuesday, for allegedly facilitating the irregular sale of Mwembe Tayari market.

“I am looking forward to putting these malicious allegations and slander to rest so that we can continue improving the livelihoods of the people of Mombasa and all Kenyans,” he said in a statement to newsrooms.

-the-star.co.ke

Enhanced security screening at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has caused traffic from the entrance of the gate to the turn-off on Mombasa Road.

Motorists have reported delays occasioned by the screening saying the traffic could cause missed flights and delays in picking arriving passengers.

The traffic situation at the airport has been compounded by the recently opened Terminal 2 that will handle both domestic and international flights.

Below is a plotted Google map showing how to access the new terminal that will handle 2.5 million passengers for arrivals and departures on both domestic and international flights.

Motorists are advised to familiarise themselves with the new routes and the screening procedure to avoid inconveniences at the airport.

-the-star.co.ke

The Boston Marathon is back for the 119th time with an American going for back-to-back wins. Kenyans and Ethiopians are however seeking to reclaim lost glory. More than US$800,000 in prize money will be awarded to the top finishers in this year’s event.

Caroline Rotich has won the women’s race at the Boston Marathon in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 24 minutes, 55 seconds.

It’s the first Boston victory for the 30-year-old Kenyan. She finished fourth here in 2011.

Rotich outsprinted Ethiopians Mare Dibaba and Buzunesh Deba down Boylston Street to win by four seconds. American Desiree Linden finished third.

Two years after a pair of bombs tore through crowds at the finish line, killing three and wounding 260 more, the world’s most prestigious marathon took a tentative step back toward normal.

PARMA, MO (KFVS) – Voters in Parma, Missouri voted in their first African-American female mayor.

Tyrus Byrd will be sworn in as mayor on Tuesday evening, April 14, at the Parma Community Building.

According to Mayor Randall Ramsey, five out of six police officers resigned this week, effectively immediately.

Mayor Ramsey said the city’s attorney, the clerk and the waste water treatment plant supervisor also turned in resignation letters citing “safety concerns.”

Mayor Elect, Tyrus Byrd, said she was unaware of the situation and plans to ask questions about the “safety concerns” during Tuesday night’s ceremony.

Mayor Randall Ramsey served the city of Parma for 37 years during two different terms.

He lost the election by 37 votes.

Byrd served as city clerk in the past. She was born and raised in Parma and also does missionary work.

She said her first order of business will be to help clean up the city.

KFVS12 News

-kfvs12.com

A 19-year-old form 2 drop-out in a remote part of Turkana county has taken up the role of a doctor inthe local dispensary that serves at least 5000 people, where he even performs simple surgical operations.

However, Etabo Loyalan has no formal training in the field of medicine and was only forced to step in after all doctors and nurses posted to the facility declined to take up the jobs, citing insecurity.

The Muslim Student Association of Roxbury Community College is planning to host a remembrance event for the 147 students that were killed, the 79 injured and the more than 700 Kenyan students directly traumatized by the militant kidnapping April 2.

The event will be held on the campus, 1234 Columbus Ave Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120 on Tuesday April 21st at 2 pm.

We know it’s late but if you can let your network of local students and families know about the effort that would be much appreciated.

For more information call: 857-212-8010. Latifa Ziyad, RCC MSA President

While Kenya has its doors open to tourists, businessmen, donors and charity workers, not all visitors have good intentions.

Some of them are sex pests whose aim is to sexuallyexploit and rob young boys and girls of their innocence.

Reports of children being exposed to appalling sexual, physical and psychological assault has been a growing trend in Kenya.

End Child Prostitution in Kenya (ECPIK) report shows that Kenyan children are highly vulnerable to abuse by foreigners.

The report further documents that there are more than 50,000 children involved in child sex tourism.

Besides child prostitution, there are children abused in the least expected places – in the children’s homes.

So rife is sexual abuse against vulnerable children that international activists have petitioned Kenyan and British governments to review their commitment to address trans-national child abuse.

They want the two governments to ‘implement international obligations and set upnational and international law enforcement teams to protect children.’

In Kenya, children mostly salvaged from abject poverty of street life and others orphaned at tender age bear the heaviest brunt of sexual violence.

They suffer in the hands of paedophiles and rapists cocooned in the guise of charity workers and tourists.

Behind the commendable images of generosity and humility painted on the walls and gates of most orphanages, are depressing social evils that degrade and leave ineffaceable harm on thousands of children in Kenya.

They suffer lifelong injuries in the hands of those entrusted to care for them.

But the puzzle is that most foreign sex offenders are investigated and prosecuted outside Kenya’s jurisdiction yet the committed the offences in Kenya.

Most times, they don’t face justice locally or internationally – they walk free.

In an international petition, activists are concerned that there are increasing cases of foreigners from the West abusing Kenyan children.

The activists say; “British nationals – some convicted sex offenders – have travelled to Kenya where they sexually abused children and avoided prosecution in both Kenya and UK.”

There are instances where foreign offenders are extradited upon requests of their governments or the countries where the offences took place.

Capital FM News reviewed several files in which foreigners are accused of abusing Kenyan children sexually.

On December 16, 2014, a British court found 55 year old Simon Harris, a charity volunteer and a teacher guilty of seven counts of sexual and indecent assaultagainst Kenyan street children.

Harris who was the coordinator of a charity organisation in Gilgil, a small town in Kenya’s Rift Valley is now serving a 17 year sentence in a UK prison for crimes he committed between 2001 and 2013.

He was found guilty of using food, money and promises of education to lure 11 street children some as young as six into sex.

The British national was also found guilty of being in possession of indecent images of children.

Currently, Kenya is waiting for him to serve his sentence so that he can face separate charges locally.

Perusal of his file indicates that there is a follow up for victim compensation and reparation by Kenya.

In another case, a Kenyan court sentenced 59 year old Terry Ray Krieger an American to 50 years in jail after he pleaded guilty of sexually abusing Kenyan children and distributing pornographic images on the internet.

Krieger was one of the few foreigners successfully investigated, prosecuted and convicted for sex crimes in Kenya.

In Juja, a disturbing case is before a court in Oklahoma, in the United States.

Twenty year old Matthew Lane Durham, an American is charged with 24 federal crimes connected to sexual offences committed between April 30 and June 17, 2014.

Durham is accused of defiling both boys and girls aged between five and 15 at Upendo Children’s home in Juja.

Durham who is at the Logan County Jail in the US is said to have sexually abused the orphans during his volunteer work in Kenya.

Capital FM News spoke to Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko on sexual offences committed by non-Kenyans.

He was concerned that foreigners commit serious sex crimes but are not being investigated and prosecuted locally.

“These culprits are prosecuted in their own home jurisdictions for offences committed in Kenya against Kenyan victims,” he explained as he attributed this to a number of factors including capacity challenges.

Of concern was that even after an extradition, foreign law enforcement agencies work with Kenyan agencies to investigate and gather evidence used in the prosecution of the offenders in their country.

Despite having solid evidence to secure convictions locally, Kenya hardly investigates and prosecutes them on its own.

“The investigations are done jointly between the investigators of the foreign countries and Kenya,” Tobiko explained as he admitted that most sex crimes committed in Kenya by foreigners are handled outside the jurisdiction.

This raises questions why foreigners come to Kenya commit offences and exit the country, yet Kenya has law enforcement agencies to handle such crimes.

They instead assist the foreign law enforcement agencies to investigate and even provide them with witnesses.

Capacity to detect sexual offences

During the cause of investigation by Capital FM News, it was evident that sex crimes involving foreigners were usually discovered by non-Kenyans.

In the case of US citizen Kreiger who was sentenced locally, Kenya took up the matter on a tip off by German and the US investigators.

FBI and Interpol discovered that Kreiger used a name ‘Babytoddler123′ on the Internet to distribute pornographic content for international users in the US and Germany.

“Kreiger came over brutalised children, took horrific photographs and was sharing with accomplices in Germany and the US. It was the German and US intelligence that knew about it and alerted Kenyan law enforcement authorities. And we moved in full swing to arrest him. Incidentally we had sort for his extradition,” Tobiko said.

On the other hand, Harris was busted by sheer luck.

It was in 2013 when Wael Dabbous, a film producer informed the UK authorities of his acts in Kenya following a visit in Gilgil.

His suspicion stemmed from observations that boys in Gilgil area were unusually scared of ‘white’ people.

Out of curiosity he made a comeback trip to Kenya to find out why the boys were afraid.

With the help of police, Harris’ home in Gilgil was raided and evidence was gathered which ended up revealing that the boys were scared of the ‘white’ men because Harris had sexually abused them.

“They (film makers) stumbled on the boys who were terrified about a white man. They wanted to know why the boys were scared of them. The Kenyan authorities had no idea until the UK started investigations. That’s how the whole story broke,” Tobiko recalled.

On further investigations, UK’s Channel 4 news reported that Harris was accused of being in possession of indecent images of children way back in the 1980s and even jailed for 15 months in a British prison.

He was also banned from exiting the British jurisdiction and also working with children.

However, he appealed and the ban was lifted.

Sneaked Travel Documents

Questions of how sex offenders sneak out of the jurisdiction is a can of worms still tightly closed.

Once their criminal activities are brought to the attention of investigators, where there is evidence, their travel documents are withheld to ensure they don’t leave the jurisdiction.

But on many occasions, suspects have managed to get their documents back as discovered by Capital FM News.

Neither the police nor the prosecution could explain how persons facing such grievous crimes get back their travel documents even when their investigations are active.

Capital FM News learnt that Durham an American citizen managed to get his passport back from the police when investigations into his conduct at the children’s home had commenced.

The circumstances under which he got his passport back raised questions over who was responsible for letting him get away with such serious allegations.

On February 16, 2015, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in a letter addressed to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Department (DCI) asked the office to establish “circumstances and the persons responsible for releasing the passport back to the fugitive thereby enabling him to flee the country.”

The DCI was also asked “to clarify the circumstances and the persons responsible for allowing the fugitive to have access to the girls’ dormitory thereby enabling him to commit the heinous crimes.”

Durham’s trial is scheduled to commence on June 9, 2015 in the US.

Capital FM News was informed by the government that 10 witnesses including six children, two doctors and a police investigator are set to travel from Kenya to the US to testify against Durham.

In the other case, Harris sneaked out of Gilgil and Kenya’s jurisdiction on fears that he was being investigated. It was by luck that UK took it upon itself to investigate him, otherwise, he had already left Kenya’s jurisdiction making it hard for Kenya to prosecute him.

In a different case, Calgary Singelton, a British is facing murder charges over allegations that he led to the death of his 22 year old Kenyan girlfriend.

According to the charge sheet seen by Capital FM News, he rained blows on her head and flushed her diabetes medicine in a toilet despite knowing that she had chronic diabetes.

Though Singelton is now facing charges in Kenya he was also arrested on his way out of the country.

From the documents on his file, he had booked a ticket out of the country and it is the same point used by the prosecution to block his application for a bail.

While Kenya is falling into sex traps laid by some foreigners on children, failure to investigate and prosecute the crimes locally is a matter that requires urgent attention.

The likelihood of them being prosecuted in their own jurisdictions after escaping the country where crimes were committed cannot always be guaranteed.

“Consequently, victims went unnoticed without the vital protection and support they needed. The case of Harris, a former British teacher, is just one case reported out of thousands that go unnoticed,” international activists claimed in a petition to Kenya and Britain.

It even becomes more confusing when Kenyan authorities admit that it is a serious hiccup in the Kenyan justice system.

The question here is; is it complexity of the law enforcement agencies, is it corruption, is it incompetence? Or is it that our own victims have no confidence in reporting. Like the Gilgil boys… why did they not report at all?

These are the questions that kept on lingering in my mind as I dug deep into the files and charge sheets.

It was disturbing that Kenyan authorities lack the capacity to notice sex crimes committed on children yet some of them are easily detectable.

Capacity to detect cyber crimes like the one linked to Krieger raises concerns over how Kenya is addressing new and emerging crimes taking place as a result of global technological development.

How was it not possible for our local agencies to detect the offences being committed in our own jurisdiction? Is it complicity? Is it capacity?

Like Kenya, many other African countries are not exempted from the sex pests preying on vulnerable children under the guise of charity and tourism.

They commit crimes, sometimes walk free and still move from country to country committing the same atrocities on children with the hope of escaping justice.

- capitalfm.co.ke