I was born and raised in Kenya. At some point I decided to pursue education in America. I enrolled at University of California-Irvine. Immediately after school, I got a good job and decided to stick around.

I lived in California for almost a decade, and never afraid of making a different move, I decided I was ready for a new beginning! I just did not know, where what or when! In 2012 I decided that I was moving back to Kenya. Unfortunately, my mother suddenly died of a stroke a month before I had planned to make the big move. So without full preparation, I packed my life in 8 suitcases and bid the U.S.A goodbye!

Tired and broken hearted, on my layover in Brussels on my way home, I came across the sweetest Brussels Airlines ground personnel while looking for somewhere to charge my phone! He offered to charge it for me. He smiled at me, and I smiled back, and mentioned that his name was Philippe. While waiting for my flight, we chatted away for two hours and in our conversation I learned that Philippe had traveled quite a bit but had never to Africa! Of course I insisted that he was missing out on the most beautiful of all continents! He promised to take up the challenge. I thought I was joking; but he was serious!

By ANTONY KARANJA in DALLAS, TEXAS

Three members of the Kenyan sibling singing group Moipiei Quartet will on Sunday sing the United States national anthem at an NBA playoff game between 2014 NBA Champions San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers.

Three sisters, Mary, Magdalene and Marta will perform in front of an estimated 18,000 fans at One AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas and millions of TV viewers who will be tuned in to watch game 4 of the playoff series. Their youngest sibling  Seraphine will not be present.

San Antonio is about 275 miles (442km) south of the city of Dallas.

The scheduled performance was confirmed by Mr Daniel Casados, the Manager of Game Operations and Special Events Spurs Sports & Entertainment at at One AT&T Center.

Responding to an email from jambonewspot.com, Mr Casado said that he spoke to the girls on phone to break the news of their selection.

He said that he first relayed the news to one of his contacts who partners with the President of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio Tom Mengler where the three girls are currently studying.

Reacting to the news, the Moipei Quartet posted on their Facebook..“On Sunday, one of our biggest dreams will come true. We will be singing the American anthem for the San Antonio Spurs vs LA Clippers 4th playoff game,” they wrote. They added: “Truly, ‘No matter where you come from, your dreams are valid.’ To God be the glory.”

Casados said that the girls will perform at 2:33:30pm CST (10:33:30pm Kenyan time). The game will be live on ABC.

A dismally lit room in Mathare. A stool and the unspread bed she occupies, canopied by a blue mosquito net, make up the limits of Jacqueline Makau’s entire world.

The lumpy, monstrous growth that has swallowed her right leg, from ankle to waist, is the ball and chain that ties her to this room. She is a prisoner.

A month ago, Jacqueline – Jackie to those close to her – could at least sit and run a small shop relatives set up for her at the front of the flat that her single room occupies. But the swelling grew so excruciatingly painful she can barely get up to answer the door.

Fourteen years ago, when the growth was just a noticeable but slight swelling on her ankle, Jackie was a wife, a successful businesswoman at a boutique and a just a few short months of becoming a mother.

Today, she barely sees her son, now thirteen. In her condition, it is impossible to raise him.

Born with a hearing impairment, the boy attends Machakos School for the Deaf and stays with her sister.

He is also traumatised by his mother’s illness and withdraws to cry alone during visits that are few and far between. His father died four years after his birth.

“It began as a small lump on my ankle. I was 22 and pregnant with my son. I went to the clinic where doctors told me that the baby was lying on one side of my stomach and therefore blocking the passage of blood to that part of my leg. He said once I gave birth, the swelling would go away,” she explains.

“But when I delivered, instead of getting better it became worse. I developed pimples all over my leg, like an allergy. The pimples grew into the swelling which kept on growing year after year .”

Jackie says tests at Kenyatta National Hospital did not reveal any blockage associated with elephantiasis. As years went by her leg continued swell.

“It hurts so badly that I can’t do a thing,” she adds.

She further explains that the swelling retain a lot of water. They periodically burst and release some of it lessening some of the pain but the wound seals up and the swelling resumes.

As the illness grew worse, Jackie, now 37, exiled herself to Nairobi from her Ukambani home as the condition got worse. She reasoned that staying away was the best choice for herself, her friends and family.

“Staying at home was stressful. Every visitor, every neighbour who passes through keeps telling you how sorry they are about your condition. So you keep remembering the past and the pain you have been through,” she explains.

“It was also best for my son to stay with my sister. I cannot raise him and every time he sees me like this he cries. I decided it was best to come to Nairobi and try to run a small business.”

She however hasn’t been able to open the shop for more than a month. She says the pain rendered her unable to even take a step since March 17.

She yearns to live the room but the search for a cure has been discouraging.

If it wasn’t for a natural air of faith mixed with a generous dose of spunk, Jackie would have caved in long ago in the face of ignorance, particularly from doctors, who should know better.

“A doctor at a private clinic looked at the scans from KNH and said that my condition may not be elephantiasis. He suggested that that the growth should be drained since it retains a lot of water, then a scan carried out to find out what the condition is,” she says.

“But he told me that the machines for the procedure cannot be found in Kenya and that I will never be cured if I do not go abroad,” Jackie recalls while crying.

She went back to KNH in 2011 but a doctor “visibly recoiled” and left the room when he saw her leg.

“A friend who had accompanied me went to look for him and found him searching the Internet through his phone. When he came back he told me that this is not sickness, that it must have been witchcraft from Ukambani and directed me to go to the reception for a refund saying he could not treat me,” she says.

“I then went to Kemri where a doctor told me that I must be HIV positive that the doctors that I had been seeing must have been very bad for knowing but not telling me. I said ‘fine’, I have no problem with getting the test. It was negative. Afterwards he told me ‘I knew you were not positive’,” she says.

Unable to walk, Jackie is now completely dependent on well wishers for her rent.

Her neighbours who had no idea about her illness while she worked at the shop only discovered when they saw her getting into her flat.

“I can’t do much, it is hard for me to pay the rent because I can’t work. If someone finds something they give me to pay the rent. One of my neighbours who is a salonist does my hair here for free and my food is delivered to my room. I know if I get well I can do something for myself and my family,” she says.

“The doctors say it is impossible but they will see it as possible if they are concerned and willing to help me. I know that this is a hopeless situation but there is still hope inside of me.”

To donate via Safaricom: Go to M-Pesa, select Lipa na M-Pesa, enter paybill 891300, account 3931. NO sending charges.

To donate via Airtel: Go to Airtel Money, Select ‘make payments’, paybill, other business name MC. The number is +254727567529.

-the-star.co.ke

The Diaspora conference in Los Angeles CA is going on though without the Presence of  Uhuru Kenyatta who cancelled his trip to the US at the last minute.

“Although President Uhuru Kenyatta will not be attending the LA Diaspora meeting as had been planned, the Kenyan Embassy in Washington informs Kenyans that the event will still take place at the same time, date and venue,” the statement said.

Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed will deliver the President’s message at the forum.

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

Video: Courtesy Border TV

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner — affectionately known as “nerd prom” — is on, and journalists in attendance are enjoying a night of awards, eats and laughs.

“Saturday Night Live” cast member Cecily Strong serves as the night’s host, playing a very different role than those she’s known for on the comedy show. Strong, maybe best known for her character, “Girl You Wished You Never Started a Conversation With at a Party,” will be introduced by President Barack Obama, who has had some successful zingers of his own during past dinners.

Besides levity and a break from covering all things political and presidential, guests were treated to a menu featuring smoked paprika rubbed filet, and seared Alaskan halibut, served with a 2013 Chardonnay and a 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon.

By ANTONY KARANJA in DALLAS, TEXAS

A Kenyan girl received a resounding standing ovation in New York for her recital of a poem that highlights the plight of slum children in Kibera.

Eunice Akoth,10, who is a student at Kibera school for girls took to the stage on Friday at the sixth annual Women in the World Summit with her poem “My Dream”

The crowd looked on as Akoth walked on to the stage and uttered a familiar line heard during poem recitals at the Kenya Drama Festivals.

“Eunice Akoth presents My Dream. Welcome,” she said with a smile before giving a little bow.

The crowd seemingly appreciative of her humility burst into applause as the composed Akoth smiled back.

It was however not all smiles for little Akoth as seconds into her recital, tears started streaming down her face as she recounted life in the Kibera slums.

“My present situation, not withstanding, it’s a mere passing cloud. Every mighty king was once a crying baby. Every great tree was once a tiny seed! ….And so is my dream.”

To Akoth, the poem seemed to bring back memories of her life in Kibera though she maintained that whatever she was going through was not a permanent situation and she was going to overcome it. She pumped her fists into the air and walked with ease across the stage.

“It’s now where I am, but where I am going that matters. My future has nothing to do with my past or my present. The hard times I have had, have made me stronger and better. The inner courage in me doesn’t roar. It just whispers. So I dream my dream”, she concluded.

As she gave a little bow, the crowd at the Lincoln Center erupted with a standing ovation that almost lasted a full minute. Akoth seemed pleasantly surprised by the reaction from the crowd.

After the performance, she sat down with the Deputy International Editor with the New York Times Lydia Polgreen where she talked about life in Kibera. Ms Polgreen was the moderator of one of the last sessions of the day dubbed “Kenya’s Shining Hope”

When Ms Polgreen asked her what inspired her poem, Akoth said it was the experiences she had in Kibera where many of her age mates being sexually abused and having broken dreams.

“I was inspired by my life in Kibera. Most of the kids in Kibera are raped, some are neglected by their parents, some are homeless,” she told the moderator fighting back tears. “Most of them have dreams, but they don’t know how they can achieve them, so I had to write a poem that tells them that they can achieve their dreams.”

Akoth was accompanied by the founders of Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), Mr. Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner-Odede. SHOFCO provides free education for girls and offers programs that seek to eradicate poverty in the Kibera slums.

-nytimes.com/

Cord on Saturday asked President Kenyatta to call a fresh General Election “to save Kenya from total collapse”.

Its leader Raila Odinga said the crippling of the anti-corruption commission following Mr Kenyatta’s purge of suspected corrupt officials shows that the government has become dysfunctional right from the top.

An overhaul, Mr Odinga said, is the only way of saving Kenya.

“The President needs to seriously consider calling fresh elections to save our country from total collapse,” he said in a statement. “Our national system has collapsed in every sense.”

“We are back to the integrity issues that came up during the campaigns: a leadership demanding of others to observe integrity provisions that the President and his deputy failed to observe from the start,” he said.

“The government is dysfunctional because the top leadership did not believe in the new Constitution and does not believe in the rule of law,” he said.

“The decision to ignore procedures, including the law and institutional arrangements, was meant to cripple the war on corruption rather than support it.”

The former Prime Minister accused the President of hatching a plot to protect corrupt government officials on the pretext of leading the war on corruption.

He said the events that have unfolded since Mr Kenyatta’s March 26 State of the Nation address reveal an all-too-familiar cycle of the country’s leadership abetting corruption while pretending to fight it.

“We can see clearly that the President has embarked on a familiar rhetorical warfare similar to that of the “war on magendo” of the 1980s that only left magendo thriving,” he said.

“The President’s action was similar to Narc’s much hyped zero-tolerance to corruption and “radical surgery of the Judiciary” that ended up with the Anglo-Leasing scandal right at the heart of the administration.”

In his address to Parliament, President Kenyatta ordered government officials who had been linked to corruption to step aside for investigations.

Following the order and the release of names of officials suspected to have engaged in corrupt deals by the anti-graft body, four Cabinet secretaries and Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko were among officials who stepped aside to pave way for investigations.

But the “List of Shame” also hit the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, with its commissioner Jane Onsongo resigning unexpectedly on March 31.

The President recently suspended commission chairman Mumo Matemu and deputy Irene Keino after Parliament asked him to set up a tribunal to investigate them.

Mr Odinga believes the narrative unfolded so because the President had politicised the war on corruption.

- nation.co.ke

Three members of the Kenyan sibling singing group Moipiei Quartet on Sunday sang the United States national anthem at an NBA playoff game between 2014 NBA Champions San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers. (Read: Moipei Triplets to sing the US national anthem during NBA playoff game on Sunday)

Three sisters, Mary, Magdalene and Marta performed in front of an estimated 18,000 fans at One AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas

or watch via Youtube

Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore tweeted a photo with a telling caption on April 19.

“Emma Gichonge was the Project Manager in charge. Not available for poaching! #MPESAImewasili,” wrote Mr Collymore, cheekily alluding to the recent appointment of the company’s Director of Corporate Affairs Nzioka Waita as the Secretary of Delivery in the Office of the President.

It was said to be one of the biggest and most complex projects the company had ever embarked on and the information technology specialist, who led the team of 320 people in the Herculean task of moving M-Pesa servers from Germany to Kenya — a process that lasted between 11 p.m. on Friday April 17 and 11.30 a.m. on April 19 after years of meticulous planning — received special mention from the CEO.

In the picture that accompanied Mr Collymore’s tweet, Ms Emma Nyambura Gichonge, 33, is focusing on something as engineers punch away furiously on their computer keyboards. She is wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words: “S.W.A.T team: We don’t meet standards. We set them.”

Ms Nyambura was having the moment of her life at the time the photo was taken in a room christened “The Cut-Over War Room”.

Despite having been on her feet for about 21 hours alongside senior engineers like head of product and services development Ken Okwero, she was happy that a project she had been co-ordinating since January 2013 had reached a fruitful conclusion.

The migration process had been codenamed “Operation Mwamba”, and it had been planned like a military operation, with an exit plan hatched in case of failure.

During the time when the rest of Kenya could not access M-Pesa services, the “war room” was a hive of activity, and Ms Nyambura was one of those working on overdrive to ensure all went well. The M-Pesa platforms Ms Nyambura and the team were migrating host all the information for the more than 18 million users who transact about Sh3 billion daily.

WAR ROOM

A South African anti-hacking team was on stand-by in case a mischievous person tried to infiltrate the code.

A data back-up had already been created in case someone interfered with the cables formerly linking M-Pesa to its servers in Germany and teams prepared on what to do to revert to the initial system among other checks. To the team, this was war.

By the time the new system was up, Ms Nyambura and her crew had ensured that M-Pesa now had the ability to process 900 transactions per second, up from the previous 320.

The new servers are embodied with the ability to return messages in three seconds compared to the previous 10 and also able to accommodate more mobile money transactions.

Also, M-Pesa will now run on second generation software made in China by Huawei, ditching the first generation one that had been designed by technology giant IBM.

It was in the “War Room” where a moment of silence was held before all M-Pesa services were shut down at 11 p.m. on April 18 and it was there that excited but fatigued employees counted to zero when M-Pesa was finally restored.

Insiders say the switch-back moment was an emotional one for Safaricom’s top brass.

According to Safaricom’s head of corporate and communications department, Marie-Anne Kui Kinyanjui, Mr Collymore almost shed tears of joy when the service was restored as others shouted in joy.

The CEO’s tweet of Ms Nyambura’s photo, posted three hours after services resumed, was coloured with a celebratory tone, same as two other photos of Mr Okwero and others in the team.

“And we’re live again on M-Pesa. One of the biggest IT projects carried out in Africa. Thanks to our customers for your patience,” Mr Collymore tweeted at exactly noon.

For the whole of that afternoon, Ms Nyambura was beside herself with joy.

With her slender frame, one can easily dismiss the company’s senior programmes manager as just another girl next door. But her credentials depict a go-getter aiming at the stars.

LIVE AGAIN ON M-PESA

She sat her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination at Precious Blood, Riruta, in 1999 before joining Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology the following year for a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology.

“While considering the course I would take, I bumped into IT. I never had had it in my dreams but I decided to have a go at it as it was a relatively new field of study in Kenya,” she says.

“I secured internship at the National Council for Law Reporting between September and December 2003, where I worked under Gladys Boss Shollei (who would later be appointed the chief registrar of the Judiciary). She was very pragmatic in her work and was really into IT,” she says.

The council, she says, which is responsible for the Kenya Law Reports, was then still under the Judiciary and did not have sufficient funding.

“As such, there was a lot of focus into using technology to enhance and distribute information, and my IT skills came in handy. After completing the internship, the council assimilated me in January 2004. That is the same year I graduated from JKUAT,” adds Ms Nyambura, the  firstborn in a family of three children.

She worked at the council for four years and, during that period, she took part in digitising legal publications and the building of a new website that would make it easy to access legal information.

“Before a group of five interns was brought in, I was sort of a jack of all trades. I would link up with judges to get copies of their decisions, oversee the operation of the council’s website, among other things,” she says.

During her stay at the law reporting council, she developed an interest in project management.

“I had seen how various sponsors like the United Nations and DFID pumped in money to help the council and the measures they would take to ensure the money was well spent. That ignited a spark in me; a spark that had also been partly activated by a lecturer who taught us a common course in my first year in university,” she says.

She then decided to take a course in project management at a local institute before she took an online examination by America-based Project Management Institute.

She later enrolled for a Master’s degree in IT Management at the University of Sunderland.

“It was a long-distance course on which I concentrated every Saturday. I had no life for 27 months,” she says.

After being certified as a project manager, she landed a job at Safaricom as a project officer in September 2008.

“I was excited. Kenya Law was a small company of about 50 people in total; and here I was in Safaricom with so many people. I took time to integrate into the system,” she says.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Ms Nyambura never knew she would one day be charged with co-ordinating one of the most technical projects that Safaricom has ever undertaken.

The “M-Pesa coming home” initiative, or “Project Mwamba”, was one of at least three major projects that Ms Nyambura had led.

Between 2008 and 2013 when the company management gave a go-ahead for the migration of the M-Pesa infrastructure to Kenya, she had headed a number of projects.

“The first time I was given a leadership role was in 2009 when I was handed the responsibility of co-ordinating the second phase of a project to ensure customer care representatives had a central place from where to access clients’ data,” she says.

Before that, she explains, the representatives wasted a lot of time trying to log in to various systems while serving clients. The project was intense and a good learning opportunity.

“A lot of focus was on transformation because this was new. It took a lot of training, reviewing our processes internally, very many cross-functional teams and getting the right exposure.

“I did that until April 2010 and it was marked by adrenaline rush. There were so many things to do, many people to manage but we made it,” she told Lifestyle.

In July 2010, she earned a promotion to the position of project manager in Safaricom’s technical division.

“I applied for the internally advertised post and I was lucky to be taken in. When I got in, I was told to lead a team that would streamline the billing system; to bring the pre- and post-paid services into one,” she says.

This was implemented in two phases: One from July 2010 to February 2011 and another between February and October 2011.

“It is in the course of this project that I first interacted with the Chinese experts. They are different. They work extremely hard. I was sponsored to go for training in China and I came to appreciate the way they work,” says Ms Nyambura.

Her impression is that while the Chinese are not as vigorous in processes as the Americans or Europeans — and that was a gap she had to fill — they are very quick to turn things around and fix issues.

“And it was because of this project that I made a presentation to (then CEO) Michael Joseph and Bob Collymore for the first time as they were transitioning. I panicked a lot,” she says.

Then came the idea to bring M-Pesa home.

“In January 2013, there was an endorsement at the executive committee that the M-Pesa infrastructure had to be relocated to Kenya,” she says.

The core system of the mobile money transfer service was in Germany, owing to an agreement between UK-based Vodafone and IBM, an American computer manufacturing company.

“IBM has a big server firm in Germany and when Safaricom was rolling our M-Pesa initially in 2007, they didn’t anticipate it would be as big as it got and assumed the servers would be enough,” explains Ms Kinyanjui, the mobile service provider’s communications boss.

“After eight months, it had eight million people, now it has 18 million. The growing numbers were part of the reasons behind bringing it home,” she says.

The initial date for migration was set for August 2014 but this was not achieved due to technicalities in communication.

“The project had three programme managers: myself from Safaricom, someone from Vodafone and someone from Huawei. IBM was being managed by Vodafone. That has been the arrangement,” explains Ms Nyambura.

“We split into three main teams. One was charged with ensuring we had the best data centres that would withstand threats like power outages and would be kept at a safe place,” she says.

THE MAIN TEAMS

Another team was also dealing with business readiness since the platform would move from Germany to Kenya and that would change things.

“The third one was for risk and audit, to ensure the integrity of data during transfer. Forty-six per cent of our GDP passes through M-Pesa and we had to ensure we got the right controls and monitoring,” says Ms Nyambura. “There was also another project around technology operations. Previously, technology support was being done in Egypt, Germany and India. The first line was Egypt, the core support was being done in Germany and the third support in India.”

After a series of meetings, rehearsals and presentations, the moment of truth came on April 12. This was the day when the Safaricom leadership would decide if the company was ready for migration.

Former CEO Michael Joseph, Mr Collymore and other heads asked various questions on the company’s readiness.

“By then, we had done six rehearsals; two of which were service affecting, meaning we brought a service out two times so that we could really practise what it would mean to cut one end,” Ms Nyambura explains.

They gave it a nod.

The preceding week was spent educating users on what would happen during and after the migration.

The week also saw the teams start the transfer of data from the old system to the new. The old data had to be converted to a format that the second generation software had to understand.

Explains Nyambura: “We were terminating services in bits because the data migration was in two bits and that would make it easier to revert to the original system. That is why some services were withdrawn earlier.”

On the night of the main switch-off, the main activity that was done was transferring data from the old system to the new.

“It was a lot easier because we had rehearsed it 14 times before,” Ms Nyambura says.

During the migration, special attention was paid to the 24 services that depend on M-Pesa. The team had a checklist to ensure all other products were considered.

Afterwards, an audit team checked if the new data was similar to the old one. It gave an okay shortly before noon and the transfer was a reality. The Central Bank of Kenya had its representatives as did audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Once the service was restored, the teams went into celebrations in the afternoon as they ushered in the M-Pesa technicians to take over.

At about 3 p.m., Mr Collymore officially released the transfer team and Ms Nyambura, who is single, could not wait to go home to catch some sleep after a 21-hour marathon – bringing M-Pesa home.

-nation.co.ke

Aviation and security experts have said the reasons given by the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit for the cancellation of Presdent Uhuru Kenyatta’s US trip cannot hold.

The Star has established that 15 minutes after the President’s jet was allegedly turned back from Yemeni airspace, a Kenya Airways aircraft flew through the same airspace without any hindrance.

This is after the Arab Coalition gave commercial flights clearance to fly through Yemeni airspace.

On Friday, PSCU boss Manoah Esipisu said the presidential jet turned back following increased military activity in Yemeni airspace.

The fact that the the Fokker 70, which the President uses, is a Kenya Airforce plane dictates that its route is announced well before it enters any country’s airspace.

International travel procedures, especially for a Head of State, demand that the Foreign Affairs ministry contacts its counterpart in the country through which the aircraft will be flying and declare its route and duration before embarking on the journey.

Aviation and diplomacy experts say it is mandatory for the President’s team to inform the host President, the exact coordinates of point of entry into that country and time of entry.

As diplomatic courtesy dictates, the host President engages the flying President in a chat during the time the aircraft is in the host country’s airspace until it exits.

This is repeated each time the presidential jet enters any foreign country.

The Foreign Affairs ministry and the Kenya Airforce should have obtained clearance in advance after presenting a flight plan and logistics, including refueling plans, and obtained diplomatic clearance for the President’s jet.

Security experts say it was a major security lapse for those in charge to have allowed the plane to take off in the first place without such clearance because it put the President’s life in danger.

The plane is said to have not obtained clearance for Ethiopian airspace.

Kitutu Masaba MP Timothy Bosire yesterday said there is more to the cancelled of trip that Kenyans need to know.

He said there are many routes to the US and Dubai and the flight could not have been cancelled because of the closure of the Yemeni route.

- the-star.co.ke

By ANTONY KARANJA in DALLAS, TX

Kenyans in the United States are more likely to report having diabetes or hypertension than other African immigrants, a study has found.

The study conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota and published in the BMC Public Health journal collected data from 996 African immigrants in the U.S. from 18 countries, (37.9 percent Somalis; 26.8 percent Ethiopians; 14 percent Liberians; 8.5 percent Sudanese; 5.1 percent Kenyans and 7.8 percent others group). About 65 percent of the participants were from the East African region specifically from Somalia and Ethiopia.

According to the study, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of deaths in the US

The survey found that Kenyans and Liberians have the highest risks of reporting these diseases as they increasingly integrate into the American society.

16 percent of immigrants from each of the two countries reported having hypertension. Sudanese report the lowest prevalence at 4 percent. The overall prevalence was 8 percent.

57 Percent of the Kenyans surveyed were classified as being obese or overweight,

The study however pointed out that the obesity rates were lower than those found in white indigenous Americans.

Those immigrants who have been in the US for a significant time over five years were at a higher risk of getting heart diseases.

The results showed that 98 percent of Kenyans had health insurance with 84 percent having access to private insurance and 13 percent having public insurance.

The study also showed that though Kenyans immigrants had high rates of obesity, they were still likely to make a conscious effort to exercise and eat a healthy diet. Also on a positive note, Kenyans were less likely to smoke compared to the African counterparts

60.8 percent of Kenyans sampled were female while 39.2 percent were male.

-nation.co.ke

Police are holding a Parliamentary staff after he was named in an intelligence report that he planned to facilitate attacks on the National Assembly.

The suspect, Ali Abdulmajid, is the vice-chairperson of the management committee of the Pumwani Riyadh mosque that has in the past been accused of financing terror activities.

Abdulmajid who has been the vice- chairman of the mosque since 2009 was arrested at midnight on Sunday and booked at Kilimani Police Station.

His family said the officers from CID and Anti-Terror Unit wanted to clarify with him a number of issues.

He was picked up by officers from Central police station and was being grilled on Monday.

Abdulmajid who has worked with Parliament for nearly ten years was previously named in the 2011 UN Monitoring Group on Eritrea and Somalia as being linked to terror activities.

He subsequently wrote to the police chief asking him to investigate the UN Monitoring Report so that his name could be cleared as he denied the allegations.

“We have opened our doors to the police to come and investigate the mosque or any of our members. We have nothing to hide and we don’t support terrorists or terror activities,” an official of the mosque who requested not to be named said.

His arrest came after police revealed Al-Shabaab terrorists’ plan to plant bombs in Parliament Buildings as part of high scale attacks.

“The terror group plans to use an operative (Abdulmajid) who is affiliated to the popular Pumwani Riyadh Mosque who is also a staff member at the Senate to actualise the attack.”

The revelations were made in a letter by Central OCPD Paul Wanjama addressed to Parliament police station OCS Mr Samson Chelugo.
Enhance vigilance

Wanjama mentioned other targeted areas as Muthurwa Market, Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC), Holy Family Basilica, St Andrews PCEA church and University of Nairobi

“There is need to enhance security vigilance in the areas targeted by Al-Shabaab for attacks to neutralise the threat,” said Mr Wanjama in the letter dated April 23.

He told the commander to enhance on pre-emptive measures by collecting intelligence on the Al-Shabaab operatives. He also ordered for enhanced security and thorough checks on the targeted areas and schools.

Chelugo also asked the CID to make an arrest of the said official and interrogate him.

When contacted on Monday for comment, Wanjama said the letter is true but wondered how it leaked.

“We are investigating how the letter leaked to the social media. The contents there are meant to ensure there is safety in the areas in this era of terror threats and you never know,” said Wanjama.

The publication of the letter on the social media caused concern among many who wanted to know its authenticity.

It is not clear who the staff referred to in the letter is and what action had been taken on him but Wanjama insisted the letter was authored out of collected intelligence.

Intelligence reports have in the past shown terrorists plan to attack Parliament Buildings. This has prompted enhanced security in the area with more personnel being deployed.

Wanjama said they took the action in the wake of the Garissa University terror attack in which 148 people, most of them students, were killed by terrorists on April 2.

Four terrorists laid a siege at the college, days after police had been warned of the plan to attack it. Nine police security chiefs have since been suspended following the incident.

-standardmedia.co.ke

In this “tell all” interview with Director Joel Gilbert, Malik Obama, the “half-brother” of President Obama, reveals his pain and confusion over Barack’s shunning of his Kenyan family after becoming President. Malik provides a stunning take on the film, Dreams from My Real Father, stating “Frank Marshall Davis and Barack look alike” and adds that Barack does not look like his father. Malik says he would like a DNA test so the truth can come come out. Malik also states that Barack is “deceptive” and “has not been an honest man.” In the interview, Malik displays an early manuscript he helped edit of Barack’s book Dreams from My Father with a different title. Malik Obama, also known as Abon’go (Roy) Obama, was born in 1958. He is the first child from the marriage of Barack Hussein Obama and Kezia Obama. Malik and Barack first met in 1985 when Barack flew from Chicago to Washington DC to visit Malik. Malik later hosted Barack in Kenya and they served as the best men at each other’s weddings. Barack wrote of his lifelong relationship with Malik (Roy) in Dreams from My Father.

RELATED STORY: Sarah Obama: President Obama may skip K’Ogelo

Immigrant parents leave their country for one reason alone: bragging rights.”

That’s the bane and the blessing of every first generation American’s life—and the point where heads butt in a new family sitcom in development called First Gen. It’s a satirical coming of age story about a first generation Nigerian-American woman loosely based on the life of the show’s writer and star—would-be med student turned comedian, Yvonne Orji—and her very traditional, unintentionally hilarious parents.

Much like real life, Orji’s character Joanna’s dream of becoming a comedian is her parents’ worst nightmare.

“What will we tell our friends? ‘Because you had a dream.’ Who do you think you are? Martin Luther King?” says Joanna’s snarky mom, Agatha, in the pilot’s trailer.

“You’re Nigerian, I’m Japanese. Grey’s Anatomy isour American dream!” says her friend Amy.

In the vein of Black-ish, Fresh off the Boat andJane the Virgin, First Gen is essentially an American story. “Even though on camera you’re seeing a Nigerian family, I think what I really want people to see is these stories are universal. They’re not unique to any one race or culture,” says Orji. Other fans of Orji’s characters often tell her, “That’s my mom up there—just a different accent.”

Orji collaborated with two other first generation Nigerian women (Chika Chukudebelu and Kay Oyegun) on the show, which she hopes to get picked up by a network.

-dailybeast.com

It’s official. Gays and Lesbians can now openly register an umbrella organisation to fight for and defend their human rights.

The High Court on Monday ordered the NGOs Coordination Board to recognise and register a gays’ lobby it had earlier rejected on moral and religious grounds.

The court ruled that the Constitution allows recognition and protection of the rights of  “every person”, including minority groups such as gays and lesbians.

“In Kenya, the Constitution is supreme, and it requires conduct to be justified in terms of laws that meet the constitutional standard. The state has to act within the confines of what the law allows, and cannot rely on religious texts or its views of what the moral and religious convictions of Kenyans are to justify the limitation of a right,” judges Issac Lenaola, Mumbi Ngugi and George Odunga ruled.

UNPOPULAR VIEWS

They said the Attorney-General, the NGO board and other parties who had opposed the registration of the gay association “may or may not be right about the moral and religious views of Kenyans, but our Constitution does not recognise limitation of rights on these grounds.”

“The Constitution is to protect those with unpopular views, minorities and rights that attach to human beings, regardless of a majority’s views,” they said.

The work of a court, especially a court exercising constitutional jurisdiction with regard to the Bill of Rights, the judges added, is to uphold the Constitution, not popular views or the views of a majority.

The judgment follows a petition filed by Mr Eric Gitari who sought to register the non-governmental organisation.

LOBBY WAS REJECTED

The core objectives of the lobby, according to its founders, “is the advancement of human rights” specifically, seeking to address the violence and human rights abuses suffered by gays and lesbians.

Mr Gitari’s application was made to the NGOs Coordination Board but was rejected on the basis that it was seeking to protect gays and lesbians.

He sought redress at the High Court September 2, 2013 where he asked the court to determine whether he is a “person” as protected in Article 36 of the Constitution , and if so, whether his right to freedom of association had been infringed.

In response, the NGos board, through the AG, who was enjoined in the case as a respondent, defended its actions, saying the petitioner’s right to freedom of association has not been infringed and if limited, such limitation can be justified on the basis of the criminalisation of homosexual intercourse in the Penal Code.

FURTHERING EQUALITY

In his petition, Mr Gitari explained that he was not seeking to criminalise conduct but to further the equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and “queer” persons in Kenya.

“It is, in addition, our finding that the board violated the petitioner’s right to non-discrimination by refusing to accept the names proposed on the basis that the proposed NGO sought to advocate for the rights of persons who are not socially accepted,” the judges said.

They said that their “understanding of the objectives of the proposed NGO is the protection of persons whose sexual orientation is gay or lesbian, as well as persons who are transgender or intersex, from discrimination and other violation of their rights.”

SAME SEX

“It is not for the promotion of the sexual acts against the order of nature prohibited by the Penal Code, nor is it to advance paedophilia as submitted by the board, which are criminal offences with respect to which clear penal consequences are provided,” they said.

The judges explained that the words “every person” in Article 36 of the Constitution include all persons living within the Republic of Kenya despite their sexual orientation.

“We hereby declare that the respondents have contravened the provisions of Articles 36 of the Constitution in failing to accord just and fair treatment to gay and lesbian persons living in Kenya seeking registration of an association of their choice,” the judges said.

They said the petitioner is entitled to exercise his constitutionally guaranteed freedom to associate by being able to form an association and directed the Board to strictly comply.

-nation.co.ke