ESTHER Adongo Timberlake, 34, was granted bail in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday after being charged with being an accessory after the fact to the murder of her three-year-old Sinclair Timberlake.

Sinclair’s father Quincy Timberlake, a former Kenyan presidential candidate, has been charged with his murder and remains in custody.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Scott Pearson objected to Esther Timberlake’s bail, saying she’d given police several different accounts about what happened in mid-June, when her son was found dead in the family’s Kallangur home.

She did so to protect her husband, Sgt Pearson alleged.

Initially Timberlake, a former Kenyan TV presenter and lawyer, told police Sinclair had vomited and fell down some stairs.

But Sgt Pearson said she later sent police faxes that claimed her husband was mentally ill and she had seen him attempting to perform CPR on Sinclair by pumping his stomach with his fists.

“The father was stating to her that he was pumping poison from the deceased child and he was being chased by demons, soldiers and the parents of his wife wanting to kill him,” documents Sgt Pearson tendered to Magistrate Michael Quinn read.

Both parents initially told police that a burn mark on their son’s face was from an iron that fell on him after he pulled it off a bench.

They also said scars on the boy were from torture in Kenya and Dubai.

However, the mother later told police the injuries could have been caused by a healing technique called “coining”, which her husband – inexperienced in the technique – used to try to get rid of evil spirits that cause nightmares and disease.

Photographs of Sinclair arriving in Australia and medical evidence suggest the boy didn’t have the injuries before arriving in the country, Sgt Pearson said.

It wasn’t until mid-July – 26 days after Sinclair’s death – that the mother told detectives she saw her husband punch her son in the stomach with enough force that “it would have taken a grown man down” before throwing the child against the wall, leaving dents in it.

“She stated the defendant was speaking as if he was attempting to save the deceased child from alien embryos planted in his stomach,” court documents allege.

Sgt Pearson said Timberlake told police her husband did not understand what was going on, claiming he had: “Saved the boy from aliens.”

Mr Quinn granted bail to Timberlake, who recently changed her name to Chryslertte Provydence Timberlake, to reappear on October 20.

She’s not allowed to contact her husband, apply for a passport or go to a point of international departure.

Outside court, her lawyer Chris Ford said Timberlake was not concerned about how the news was being received in her home country.

“Her reputation in Kenya is neither here nor there,” he said.

“The reality is her son is dead and she’s facing serious charges.”

There are websites where you can go and rate the facilities you visited on holiday, Trip Advisor being a case in point. You can also post your reviews on a purchase you made on Amazon.com.

The idea of ranking products, sharing experiences on the internet so that other consumers don’t make the same mistake you did or benefit from your recommendation is not a novel idea.

But in a new form of “buyer beware,” Kenyan women have taken to social media to out ‘dead beat’ parents. “This is a descriptive term that refers to parents of either gender who have freely choosen (sp) not to be supportive parents or who do not pay Child support,” the administrators of Dead beat Kenya Updates explain.

Either gender, they state, but as fate may have it, only men appear on the page created on Monday.

And not some random men you’ve probably never heard about or will hear about but men in the public eye.

The most notable perhaps being a prominent music personality of whom Daisy Kiplagat wrote:
“I wanted to have this space to let you all know that this guy instead chooses to go around with women and lie to them how rich he is and yet he doesn’t have anything and stays at his mum’s house. So when you all hear how he does and loves his daughter please don’t be fooled.”

Daisy and the other women who posted photos, phone numbers and even employment details of their ‘dead beats’ explain that they had tried dialogue and the courts but remained frustrated.

Also on the list of ‘outed’ men is a Member of the Kiambu County Assembly, a rugby player of whose looks Josephine Githaiga says, “are deceiving,” and even a television personality.

Photographer and friend Anthony Njoroge didn’t take the accusation lying down; proceeding to post receipts of school fees paid and screen shots of M-Pesa transactions.

The question of child support emerging to being one on which the gender lines are clearly drawn and not only on social media, as Capital FM News established with a few interviews on Nairobi streets.

Peter, a shoe shiner, confessed to a child borne out of wedlock but one he did not support.

“I only support those children under my roof,” he said.

And the idea that the other woman would shame him on social media out of frustration was one he couldn’t bear to imagine. “I would hate for my wife of five years to discover I had an affair,” he explained.

Michael, a cab driver, on his part said he would never support a child who resulted from an affair as he would never be entirely certain it was his but he denied understanding why such attitudes might drive women to cause a public spectacle if only to draw a reaction, any reaction.

“It is a form of disrespect,” he said of the posts on Dead beat Kenya Updates.

But respect, Lilian, a waitress, explained has little to do with anything if you cannot feed your child. “What do you do when you have no family to support you and he deliberately ignores a court order?” she posed.

Adhiambo, a student, couldn’t agree more, “embarrass them,” she urged.

“Why should they get to enjoy their lives free of responsibility and guilt-free while you struggle? besides, it’s worth it if you can keep another woman from falling for his lies,” she reasoned.

Waithira, a single mom, told Capital FM News that she had fallen prey to a serial dead beat and might have made better choices had she known. “Some men are such smooth liars. Now I don’t even have an address where I can drop off a court summons,” she testified.

Odhiambo – the self-appointed caretaker of the Tom Mboya monument – opined that Dead beat Kenya updates is a symptom of a breakdown in family values.

“The civil society needs to get involved,” he prescribed, “Kenyan women need to know what alternatives are open to them because it seems court ordered support is not even worth the paper it’s written on.”

-CAPITAL FM

U.S. Army Cadets pride themselves on ‘discipline, dedication, motivation and physical fitness’ – so for many of them, this video will not make easy viewing.

After entering a push-up competition to raise funds for the Active Heroes Foundation, a burly-looking cadet was to put to shame by a small, slender female challenger.

In the one minute clip, the determined girl, wearing a white top and cropped blue leggings, annihilates the favourite, beating his total by a considerable amount.

At several points, the cadet stops to catch his breath and look to his comrades in disbelief as the indefatigable young woman, believed to be Junior Olympics hopeful, Kaylyn Mintz, persists on.

As the crowd cheers the girl to victory, the loser can be heard saying ‘oh my God’.

At the end of the bout, the man can only look on in admiration as his pony-tail sporting opponent attempts to record a final few push-ups.

The score ended with the girl achieving roughly 84 push-ups, with the cadet scoring around 54.

On the U.S. Army Cadet website, it reads: ‘The Army Cadets, Inc. achieves its goals through military discipline, dedication, motivation’.

They may now wish to get some training tips from the formidable female challenger that put one of their own to shame.

The event took place on Saturday at the Independence Mall in Wilmington, North Carolina, at a Stand At Attention charity competition organized by Active Heroes, a charity that raises money for military families.

Ugandan authorities have uncovered a “terrorist cell” run by the Somali militant Islamist group al Shabaab, which they believe was planning an imminent attack, the U.S. Embassy in Uganda said on Saturday.

“At this point we are not aware of specific targets, and the Ugandan authorities have increased security at key sites, including Entebbe International Airport,” the embassy said in a statement on its website.

Uganda, as one of the countries that contribute forces to an African Union peacekeeping mission battling al Shabaab in Somalia, has suffered militant attacks in recent years, and al Shabaab has threatened more.

The U.S. Embassy, shortly before issuing its announcement, told its citizens, in a message posted on Twitter, to stay at home or proceed to a safe location while Ugandan authorities completed operations against a suspected cell in Kampala.

Ugandan police declined comment but were due to hold a press conference shortly.

Al Shabaab, which is aligned with al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya a year ago, in which 67 people died.

This month the group warned of revenge against its enemies after it said its leader Ahmed Godane had been killed in a U.S. air strike on his encampment in Somalia.

In 2010, Al Shabaab bombed sports bars in Uganda where people were watching the soccer World Cup on television.

The U.S. Embassy says Uganda faces a “continued threat” and has issued other alerts during the year about possible attacks.

- THE STAR

The last time a President of Kenya with the surname Kenyatta had a State function interrupted by a hostile section of a crowd in Luo Nyanza the opposition leader had the surname Odinga.

That day was Saturday, October 25, 1969.

Forty-five years later, on Monday, September 8, 2014, another President Kenyatta faced a hostile section of another otherwise peaceable Luo Nyanza crowd chanting slogans associated with another opposition leader surnamed Odinga.

Forty-five years ago, the occasion was the official opening of the New Nyanza Provincial Hospital by President Kenyatta, a pet project of his estranged former VP that was part-financed by the then USSR, hence the references to it as the ‘Russian hospital’.

Jomo was determined to steal Jaramogi’s thunder by being seen to be the leader inaugurating a development project in deepest Luo Nyanza.

All official expectations were that the KPU leader would observe unwritten protocol and not even turn up. However, not only did he appear, there was a gritted-teeth oral confrontation between both leaders on the presidential podium, part of which was relayed live by an open microphone of the Voice of Kenya, the State broadcaster.

A stunned nation heard Jomo Kenyatta tell Jaramogi Odinga live on national radio, “if you were not my friend of such longstanding, I would have ground your hooligans to flour”.

And then the live transmission was unplugged and the chaotic scenes that followed were captured only by still photograph.

When sections of the overwhelmingly pro-Odinga crowd begun throwing rocks and metal folding chairs at the presidential dais, where Jomo and other VIPs were seated, the officers and men of the President’s Escort opened fire, shooting live rounds directly into the surging crowd.

Among the VIPs evacuated from the besieged enclosure with the President was Vice President Daniel Moi, then barely two years in the office.

The President’s Escort shot its way out of Kisumu on that day. To this day, the official death toll stands at between 10 and 14 and unofficial tolls have spoken of up to a maximum of 100 over the years. The report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission contains a memorandum by 11 survivors of the mayhem that makes for rather interesting reading.

Five days ago on Monday, President Kenyatta cut short the launch of a Sh7 billion mosquito net distribution initiative, part of the UN Millennium Development Goals’ programme, after youths shouted ODM slogans and hurled shoes at the VIP enclosure and plastic chairs into an open field, taking care not to strike anyone.

The rowdy youths are diehard supporters of Cord chief principal Raila Odinga, whose father the late Jaramogi had that confrontation with the late Jomo, Uhuru’s father, 45 years ago.

Causing a rumpus in or around a presidential dais is always a dangerous proposition, whatever era or country it might happen in.

In the Cold War’s Big Picture context of 1969, Kenyatta took extremely comprehensive security measures for himself and his entourage.

In the War on Terror context of 2014, Kenyatta Jnr moves around in armoured limousines and salute vehicles and is surrounded by a ring of fire of at least 50 plainclothesmen and -women, to say nothing of uniformed multiagency officers, many of them toting automatic rifles.

Aiming missiles such as shoes and plastic chairs at a VIP dais (or in its vicinity) that has the Head of State, ministers, diplomats, donor aid officials and is surrounded on one side by schoolchildren standing by to sing and dance for invited guests and the crowds, is an extremely high-risk proposition.

These are, after all, the times when grenades are frequently thrown at gatherings, including religious congregations, even in the capital city.

If anything had gone badly wrong at Migori – say, a highly-strung and trigger-happy trooper or agent discharging his or her weapon straight into the rowdy crowd – there would have been hell to pay on all sides.

For the President, who has a crimes-against-humanity case at the ICC that has entered uncharted territory, a shooting incident at which unarmed civilians, including women and children, perished or were injured as he was ringed off by phalanxes of security agents would have wiped off years of crisis PR and image management.

These are the years since December 15, 2010, when the then ICC Chief Prosecutor, Louis Moreno-Ocampo, indicted Uhuru and five other prominent Kenyans, including William Ruto, now Deputy President.

Any wrong move in Migori on Monday and all that crisis PR management would have gone up in a puff of smoke at a time when Ruto is actually away at The Hague, where his crimes-against-humanity case has also reached a pretty pass. Reluctant witnesses are being compelled to testify by video link from Nairobi and the first one (of eight) was promptly declared a hostile witness by the judges.

If the incident at Migori had ended in a hail of bullets, a body count and groaning injured survivors being visited by opposition leaders in hospitals and homes, the accompanying international media coverage would have made the ICC suspects’ Presidency rue the day it had conceived of entering office.

Uhuru must have had a terrible Monday night and all day Tuesday, recovering his equilibrium only around midweek, by which time the Intelligence service and local Migori police and administrators had taken a closer look at the rowdy incident and made their reports.

It is incidents like this that lead to brooding and introspection – and even character sea changes – at the very top. The incident at Migori had eerie parallels with the sabotaging of the Orange Democratic Movement’s National Delegates’ Convention on February 27. Both had terrific prospects for going badly wrong and resulting in massive bloodletting on live TV, and yet within the first five-to-10 seconds of each disruption, it was clear that the rowdy participants had no intention of harming anyone, leave alone a VIP.

Even persons with no security training or situational self-awareness could almost instantly tell that the rowdy Migori youths, like the men-in-black at the Kasarani Auditorium in February, were only out to spoil the party for the sake of spoiling the party.

The plainclothesmen Presidential guards, presumably his last line of defence in such open-air circumstances, knew instinctively that there was no real danger there. They took up positions around the President almost unobtrusively and unthreateningly. This was how President Kenyatta was able to have his say, although hurriedly and in brief.

Uhuru must have weighed and considered his and his handlers’ warm welcoming of Raila to Kiambu County a fortnight ago at Dr Njoroge Mungai’s funeral service and frowned very deeply indeed. At that service, held in the PCEA Church of the Torch at Thogoto, the former Prime Minister was seated between former President Mwai Kibaki and first First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta, Uhuru’s mum.

The President must be absolutely amazed that there exist strategists on the other side of the political aisle who can gamble with such a prospect and get him into such international loss of face all over again.

What’s more, Uhuru no doubt has advice coming to him from all directions, including, almost certainly, from two retired presidents who had major run-ins with the Odinga factor early in their own tenures at State House, as well as later.

Daniel arap Moi (in office 1978-2002), for instance, survived a coup attempt on August 1, 1982, barely four years in office, in which both the Jaramogi and Raila played a role. Twenty years later in his final months of a 24-year incumbency, Moi had to contend with Raila again, entering a marriage of convenience between Kanu and Odinga’s NDP in March 2002, only to see the latter lead an exodus out of the ruling party in October of that year.

Mwai Kibaki (2003-2013) also had to contend with Raila twice – at the November 2005 national referendum, Kenya’s first, and the December 2007 presidential poll. Raila won in 2005, but disputed the 2007 result and took the mass action route, detonating the post-election violence crisis.

The Odinga factor remains a versatile constant in Kenya’s presidential politics – and always dangerous from where the incumbents of any one era since 1964 sit.

- The Star

Armed police raided a village in Olkaria Naivasha and evicted over ten families to pave way for geothermal exploration.

During the Friday night incident, emotions ran high as the families who were caught by surprise watched their personal effects reduced to ashes.

The incident comes barely a week after Kengen relocated 110 families from the geothermal rich area to pave way for exploration of more power.

The families complained that some of their kin had not being factored in the resettlement exercise and refused to be resettled.

According to one of the affected, Johana Amucen Evuan, the security officers accompanied by Kengen officers moved in without notice.

He said that the families were in a list that was to be resettled by Kengen but they did not understand how their names were struck off in the last minute.

“The exercise caught us by surprise as there was no notice and we were waiting for compensation or the way forward over our resettlement,” he said.

Evuan said that during the incident, some of their livestock went missing and efforts to trace them had been fruitless.

He said that they would take the issue with senior government officers over the manner they were evicted from their ancestral land.

“We have lived on this land for over fifty years and we condemn the inhumane manner in which were evicted without notice,” he said.

Contacted on phone, Naivasha sub-county commissioner Abraham Kemboi downplayed the incident.

He said that those manyattas demolished belonged to families that had been resettled by Kengen last week as part of the 280MW project.

“The demolished manyattas houses were left behind by the resettled families to pave way for geothermal exploration and they were been cleared for the works to start,” he said.

Kemboi added that all families in the area had been resettled and given new houses, churches and a school as part of their compensation.

-The Star

Regina Mutoko who was well known as the host of famed Kenyan tv game show Omo pick a box has died.

Ms Mutoko, a sister to KISS FM’s Caroline Mutoko died on Saturday following a bathroom accident at her home where she sustained injuries.

She was the daughter to Rev. & Mrs. Mutoko and younger sister to Caroline. 

Regina was the IT and Multimedia Director and a member of the university management council at United States International University (USIU), Nairobi.

She studied at Loreto Girls High School, Limuru.

RELATED: Caroline Mutoko pays tribute to her late sister Regina Mutoko

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Lucy Wairimu Thorpe which occurred on September 6, 2014 at Fort Belvoir Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia.

In August of 2009, while living in Okinawa, Japan, Lucy wasdiagnosed with advanced Colon Cancer, she was 34 years old. At the time, she made up her mind that she would fight the disease with everything she had and God on her side.

Same year in 2009,Lucy moved to Stafford Virginia to be close to family. For five years, she bravely battled the disease, but on September 6, 2014, the Lord called her home.

Funeral service will be held on Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 11 am. The location will be:
A. L Bennett and Son Funeral Home
200 Butternut Drive
Fredericksburg, VA 22408

For further details,contact Njeri Moore @ 540-429-2265.

A section of CORD governors has said coalition leader Raila Odinga is forcing them to join the Okoa Kenya referendum push at the expense of the Pesa Mashinani initiative spearheaded by the Council of Governors.

The governors, speaking to the Star on condition of anonymity, said they would end up incurring double expenditures if the coalition does allow them to pursue their own parallel plebiscite. The two have some of the same objectives, such as greater allocation of funds to counties.

“We’re in a dilemma because at some point we are forced to spend heavily to facilitate the two separate initiatives during events in our counties. It is important  CORD realises that although we are part of them, we have our own cross to bear,” a Cord governor from the Coast complained.

He said Cord has not set up clear financing mechanisms and depends on governors to mobilise support on the ground for its referendum agenda.

Cord says it has collected 1.4 million signatures from registered voters, and aims for three million or more.

“This doesn’t mean we don’t support our part leader but we need a serious talk to reach agreement on how to foot the bills for raising awareness and collecting signatures,” he said.

Governors who met President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday said later that they were undeterred in their determination to carry on with their own initiative — despite the President’s persuasion and entreaties.

Concerning their complaints about Cord, governors are said to be uncomfortable with the very large and costly delegations that accompany the former prime minister to county events.

“I do not have any problem in funding a lean delegation but in most cases you find hangers on who have nothing to do with the core agenda of the visits,” complained another Cord governor from Western Kenya.

Speaking separately, the two both said there is no clear coordination between the Cord secretariat and the counties regarding Raila’s tours, resulting in financial quandaries.

The issues over funding and dual initiatives emerged as Raila stepped up his petition drive.

Yesterday he was in Meru where he accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of misleading Kenyans by saying that increased county allocations will lead to higher taxes. The push by both Cord and governors calls for an increase in funding to counties from 15-45 percent.

“Mimi bado sijakufa kisiasa, na nina nguvu zaidi na zaidi (I have not died politically and am still powerful),” said Odinga

He also spoke at a petition drive at Kathageri Market in Embu East subcounty. He was accompanied by Senators James Orengo and  Johnstone Muthama, legislators Junes Muhammed and Fred Outa, ODM county official Moses Wamuuru and Embu council of elders chairman Andrew Ireri.

Most governors attended their quarterly meeting in Nairobi yesterday where confirmed their own push for a referendum, despite two days of State House meetings with President Kenyatta who is using charm and persuasion in stead of earlier more combative tactics.

Council of governors chairman Isaac Rutto, who led the State House meeting  Wednesday evening, said they are on track with their referendum agenda.

“We met the President to consult and we shall continue to engage with the executive, but that does not mean that we are being compromised on our agenda to protect devolution,” Rutto said.

Attending the State House meeting, in addition to Bomet Governor Ruto, were Governors Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega), David Nkendienye (Kajiado), Ahmed Abdullahi (Wajir), Ken Lusaka (Bungoma) and Peter Munya (Meru).

Ruto said the Council of Governors has already printed the referendum petition registration books in the drive for a million signatures required for a national pubic votge.

“We are rolling out a massive signature collection drive on September 20 in Kakamega before proceeding to Bomet the next day to make a referendum a reality for Kenyans,” Ruto said.

Oparanya yesterday said the referendum push was unstoppable because are at the heart of devolution.

“We had a fruitful (State House) meeting, but our position has been to let Kenyans decide on their fate if the state is reluctant to address their issues,” he said

- The Star

Far East destinations and is continuing to move its flights to Nairobi’s new Terminal 1A.

After receiving its fourth 787 on Aug. 28, Kenya Airways has deployed the twinjet on its existing Nairobi-Bangkok-Guangzhou and Nairobi-Bangkok-Hong Kong services. These join its initial 787routes, which comprised Paris and Johannesburg.

Kenya Airways has nine 787-8s on order, with five still awaiting delivery. Two of these are slated to arrive in October. The 787s have been brought in to replace Kenya Airways’ 767-300ERs, which have already exited the fleet, leaving it with 37 aircraft: four 787-8s, three 777-300ERs, four 777-200ERs, five 737-800s, four 737-700s, two 737-300 freighters and 15 Embraer E-190s.

“As part of the airline’s long-term fleet and route development strategy, over the next 10 years KQ is implementing a plan geared at growing the fleet size, modernizing the aircraft equipment and simplifying it by reducing the number of aircraft types from seven to four,” the carrier said.

Kenya Airways has also migrated another 11 flights to Terminal 1A at its Jomo Kenyatta International Airport home hub. It now operates 15 flights from the new facility, which is dedicated to Kenya Airways and its SkyTeam partners.

Terminal 1A has capacity for 2.5 million passengers per year, but will only handle departures until its completion in 2015. Dar-es-Salaam, Delhi, Entebbe, Johannesburg and Luanda are already served from the new facility.

Kenya Airways has been affected by the West African Ebola outbreak, causing some cancellations and disruption to its Liberia and Sierra Leone flights.

-ATWOnline

The destruction a drug-laden ship in contravention of a court order has come back to haunt President Uhuru Kenyatta at the International Criminal Court.

Victims‘ lawyer Fergal Gaynor has latched onto the controversial destruction to demonstrate that Uhuru is “better placed to facilitate or to obstruct the provision of evidence to the court”.

Mv Al Noor was destroyed on August 29, off the coast of Mombasa, in an exercise supervised aerially by the President and top security leaders.

Two days earlier, Mombasa Chief Magistrate Maxwell Gicheru had rejected the State’s request to destroy the ship.

On the day the ship was destroyed, the High Court, through Judge Maureen Odero, also issued an order stopping the intended destruction announced by Uhuru.

Later, defence lawyers and the Chief Magistrate criticised the destruction of the ship against court orders as a “big blow to the rule of law.”

And this is what the victims‘ lawyer at the ICC latched on. “The accused ordered and personally supervised the spectacular destruction of evidence in a pending criminal case on August 29, 2014.That destruction was reportedly in violation of an express order of the High Court of Kenya not to destroy the evidence,” Gaynor told the ICC judges while opposing defence calls for termination of the ICC case. He said the President openly violated his duty to respect, uphold and safeguard the Constitution, and to ensure the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law

“If the accused can order the destruction of evidence in Kenya in violation of an order of the High Court of Kenya, he can surely order the delivery of evidence in Kenya to The Hague in compliance with a direction of this court,” Gaynor submitted.

Gaynor’s contention is that the reason the case against Uhuru has stalled is because he has used his position to frustrate the prosecution’s access to crucial evidence, which would dramatically revive it.

The lawyer also cited the President’s renewed interest in pursuing Anglo Leasing architects as evidence that he can facilitate the production of the needed evidence.

Immediate transfer

He informed the judges that the President reportedly ordered the immediate transfer to Swiss prosecutors of potentially inculpatory evidence sought by Switzerland in regard to Anglo Leasing.

He claimed Uhuru had presided over “a practice of non-prosecution in Kenyan courts of post-election violence crimes” resulting in total impunity for those most responsible.

“Since he assumed office, the accused has not expressed any support for any kind of domestic accountability for the savage crimes which tore through Kenya. The existence of a policy of non-prosecution is confirmed by the fact that the International Crimes Division of the High Court remains inexistent and non-operational.”

He said top government officials have consistently adopted positions which are aligned with the interests of Uhuru. He informed the court that the Government is currently pursuing amendments to the Rome Statute in favour of the President.

Gaynor said last year, Kenya’s top official attending the Assembly of State Parties conference supported numerous positions intended to shield Uhuru, but opposed those which appeared to expose him.

“The Accused described the Court in contemptuous terms in an address to the Assembly of the African Union in October 2013, which he attended with his Foreign Minister and the Attorney-General,” Gaynor said.

Other incidents cited include the Kenya Government’s petition to the United Nations Security Council to suspend the Kenya trials, and its opposition to a motion to compel witnesses in Deputy President William Ruto’s case to testify. Gaynor also cited a recent pronouncement by Attorney General Githu Muigai to a parliamentary committee looking into a petition against him. In the petition, Githu informed Parliament that no one apart from the President could sack him. “With such immense formal power and informal influence in Kenya, nobody is better placed than the accused to facilitate, or to obstruct, the prosecution’s investigations in Kenya,” he said.

Gaynor summed his submission by quoting the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report handed to Uhuru last year: “No senior Kenyan politician since independence in 1963 has ever been convicted of a serious crime.”

-The Standard

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), announced that it has hired Kay Madati as Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer. Madati, a Tanzanian citizen who has lived in Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, will lead BET’s teams responsible for all aspects of digital, social and mobile strategy and oversee operations, content creation, technology and product development across the suite of BET Network’s digital platforms

Madati, whose appointment was announced last week, will oversee BET Digital, the interactive arm of BET Networks whose platforms include BET.com, which encompasses entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET Mobile, which provides apps, ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; Centric.tv, the online home for the Centric cable channel; and BET Video On Demand, one of the largest VOD services providing African-American content.

Prior to his appointment at BET, Madati was most recently the Head of Entertainment and Media on the Global Marketing Solutions team at Facebook Inc. His team helped position Facebook Inc. as a key strategic partner for digital and social solutions with film studios, TV networks and entertainment companies.

Prior to joining the social media company in 2011, Madati was the Vice President of Audience Experience at CNN Worldwide, where he helped to integrate social media into CNN’s daily programming across multiple platforms. Madati also held marketing and operations roles at Octagon Worldwide and BMW of North America.

“BET Networks is a global brand, with a trendsetting audience, and an unrivaled leadership position in the digital and social space. I am excited and energized to unlock more ways for our audience to watch, share, stream, download, and fully engage with all of the network’s award-winning content,” said Madati. “We are in the midst of an unprecedented shift in consumer content consumption and media habits, and I am honored to join BET at a time when we are well poised to redefine digital, mobile, and social TV experiences.”

He will report to Debra L. Lee, the Chairman and CEO of BET Networks, and will be based in Los Angeles. “Our audience fully embraces technology and lives on multiple screens,” Lee said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome Kay to the team, and look forward to his expertise and strategic leadership in the fast-paced world of digital and social media, as consumers continue to turn to BET to discover what’s hot and what’s next.”

-FORBES

What can you do with Sh100 in a day? To many, very little, but to members of Kitemoto Housing Co-operative Society, a Sacco formed by 100 boda boda (motorcycle) operators in Kitengela town, the amount can buy a house.

It all started in November 2009 after the boda boda operators got tired of frequent arrests by traffic police and the squalid conditions of the houses they were living in.

“The police were arresting our members even for little traffic offences and this angered us since we were losing motor bikes in the process due to confiscation. We then saw it wise to start a saving plan to help us paying for the fines as well as to improve our living conditions,” says Aloise Mwai, the group’s chairman.

To achieve this, the group came up with three goals: Planting trees in Kitengela town to help reduce dust; building themselves houses; and buying motorcycles for each member, rather than riding hired ones.

They have succeeded in buying themselves motorcycles; tree planting is on-going (although they say they are facing several challenges, including lack of seeds, high maintenance costs that include frequent watering and cultivation). Currently, they are in the process of completing houses for  members.

Advice

Before starting the real estate project, they approached the Isinya District Co-operative Officer, Frank Maina, who advised them to form a group through which they could get loans. That is when they registered Kitengela Motorcycle Owners (Kitemoto) with 200 members.

However, about 100 members quit, saying the group would be like another pyramid scheme.

“Since we had set goals and we were focused on attaining them, we decided to move on,” says group secretary Gathaga Maina.

The group went for training on financial management, bookkeeping and savings.

They then approached the National Co-operative Housing Union (Nachu) nine months after inception. Nachu told them they could save and own houses and pay back at a low interest rate.

“What inspired us more to own houses was the fact that if we channelled the money we were spending on rent every month into repaying the Nachu loan for seven years, we could each own a Sh430,000 house,” says Gathaga.

They each started saving Sh100 per day in 2010. When each member’s savings hit Sh60,000, they bought a 50-acre land in Millennium area in Kisaju, Kajiado County, at Sh15 million.

“It was not an easy task saving Sh100 per day…it was a sacrifice that forced most of us to give up on leisure activities and focus on saving,” says John Ndegwa, a member.

Today, the 100 members are beaming with joy, since they are the proud owners of the Ngasemo estate.

Located 800m from Namanga-Kajiado Road and 13km from Kitengela town on an earth road, the estate comprises 100 bedsitters (starter units) for the members and 24 three-bedroom bungalows, ready for occupation. Each bungalow is going for Sh4.7 million to the public.

The starter units come with extra space for expansion. Since only 50 members have been able to pay the required Sh7,600 per month, the rest of the 50 units are rented to mama mbogas, who pay the Sh7,600 per month.

The bungalows come with tiled floors, two bedrooms and one master ensuite, with modern kitchen consisting of sink, tap, work tops, upper and lower kitchen cabinets and dining area-cum living room.

Present situation

The estate has borehole water. Landscaping is to be done soon; power connection is being worked on. Also in place is chain link fence. A perimeter wall has also been planned. A septic tank has been installed for sewage disposal.

The members are toying with the idea of renting houses belonging to those who will not be willing to stay in the estate to students from the soon-to-be-constructed Tangaza College and existing institutions like KAG University and Kampala International University.

The members are, however, calling upon the Government to help them through youth fund to clear the loans so that they can start planning for phase two of the estate. The membership has since increased to 400.

“If we get funding from the government, we will be able to pay the loan quickly within less than seven years since loan is on reducing balance,” says Aloise.

Aloise is also requesting the Kajiado County government to build roads leading to the estates, including Ngasemo, which gets muddy when it rains.

The group also offers products for members like emergency loans.

According to Timothy Lekake, Eastern Regional Housing Officer with Nachu, the union works closely with various housing co-operatives to ensure decent living for low-income Kenyans.

Any interested group has to pay an affiliation fee of Sh12,500 — Sh2,500 caters for registration while Sh10,000 is for shareholding (a share is Sh10). “We had to conduct a needs assessment first for the members to ascertain the financial and income status and found that they were okay and went ahead to build for them houses,” says Lekake . He added: “The main objective of this project is to eliminate the mushrooming of slums and provide decent houses for the low-income class and those living in

informal settlements.” Lekake said Nachu has already done such projects in Nairobi’s Kawangware slums, Nakuru, Kondele in Kisumu, Mlolongo and now Kitengela.

Frank Maina, the Isinya Sub County Co-operative Officer who registers co-operatives within the sub-county, applauded the boda boda operators.

“I am proud of this project because many people, including myself, used to view boda boda operators as people with no vision. They have come up with a project worth emulating,” he told Home and Away at the project’s site.

He lauded the members for their discipline to save and manage their time well.

Aloise said Kitemoto members are also looking for a biogas investor to install the bio digester, which they hope to produce alternative energy to serve the estate.

Today, the Kitemoto chairman is a busy person, with different groups across the country inviting him for lectures.

“We are willing to share with more groups out there on how we got to where we are today,” he says.

VISIT http://nachu.or.ke/ngasemo-project/ FOR MORE DETAILS

-The Standard

Radio Queen and KISS FM presenter Caroline Mutoko this morning paid tribute to her late sister Regina Mutoko who passed away on Saturday. (Read: Regina Mutoko of the famed Omo pick a box TV game show dies)

The late Regina Mutoko passed away after a bathroom accident at her house. She was Caroline’s younger sister. She was known for the famed TV game show Omo Pick a Box which showed on Sundays.

Caroline paid tribute to her sister on her Facebook post. Here is the post.

My sister & best friend, Regina Kalombe Mutoko got her angel wings yesterday.
A golden heart stopped beating, a brilliant soul is laid to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove, he only takes the best.
His will – be done. 
May her soul rest in eternal peace.
Amen

NAIROBI, KENYA: Research conducted by Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) recently established that most of the chicken sold in butcheries, supermarkets and retail outlets in Nairobi pose a serious health threat to consumers.

The chicken, now popular over health fears of red meat, are highly contaminated with disease causing germs, some which do not respond to common medicines.

A survey covering Nairobi and published on Wednesday, says the meat is not only highly contaminated, but also with hard to kill germs. Led by Dr Samuel Kariuki of Kemri, the researchers are calling on officials in the health sector to ensure hygiene principles in the processing and handling of chicken in retail outlets are immediately enforced for public safety.

The researchers, funded by the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation, collected samples of raw chicken meat in 28 locations in Nairobi.

The poorer the area, the more contaminated the meat was found to be. Of the sample, 97 per cent was found to be contaminated with coliform bacteria while more than three quarters with bacteria E.coli.

Of the germs identified, 75 per cent were resistant to at least one of the 12 common antibiotics. Coliform bacteria and the subtype E.coli are found in the environment and in the feaces of warm blooded animals, including humans.

In this case, about half of the E.coli strains found in the sampled meat are known to cause bloody diarrhoea, kidney failure and even death. The team, including Joyce Arua Odwar of the Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, warns Kenyans who buy raw chicken from retail outlets to cook it well.

The team says chicken meat in the local market is highly contaminated by the way its processed and handled by butchers. “The use of bare hands in handling meat, utensils and money at the same time may have increased chances of contamination,” the report says.

Common trend

Several years back, Kemri collected and analysed coins and paper money circulating in Nairobi, and established that the monies are covered with disease causing agents.

The common trend in which small-scale producers slaughter chicken at home then distribute to retailers was also found to be a cause of contamination. “All samples from supermarkets and a majority of those from high income butcheries were products of government approved private chicken slaughter houses and were less contaminated,” says the study published in the BMC Research Notes.

While transporting most of the slaughtered chicken, the researchers say the carcasses are normally lumped together in a large container or sack allowing transfer of germs from one carcass to the other. While chicken from the small scale producers, in most cases also involving indigenous breeds, may be more contaminated than from large producers, the latter was more likely to carry hard to treat bacteria.

“A common practice for broiler chicken producers in urban areas is to add antibiotics into the commercial feeds or drinking water for the birds, thus unnecessarily exposing them to human medicines,” say the research. This is the third time in as many months that major research institutions in the country are warning that Kenyans are eating highly contaminated foods, including fruits, vegetables, beef and even poisonous maize.

In June, a joint survey by Strathmore and other universities in Nairobi warned that most of the fruits and vegetables consumed in major towns contain a cocktail of harmful pesticides and heavy metals well above the safe levels.

Samples of kales, tomatoes and mangoes collected from markets in Nakuru, Nairobi and Machakos counties were found to contain high levels of pesticides that can cause birth defects, nerve damage and cancer in the long run.

Kenya has until the end of this month to comply with European Union requirements on the allowable pesticide residue levels of exported fresh produce. This follows complains from the EU that an increasing amount of fresh produce exported to the region exceeded the allowable levels.

“We have been given up to September 30, to fully comply with the EU chemical residual levels requirement, otherwise we will be locked out of the market,” says the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei.

In May, Kemri warned Nairobians against goat meat slaughtered at Kiserian and Huruma abattoirs because they had been found to contain E. coli bacteria, even after the meat had been inspected.

An earlier survey by the Ministry of Health and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, had found 65 per cent of maize meal from 20 of the major millers in six provinces to be highly contaminated with aflatoxin.

-The Standard

Dressed in blue overcoat on a bright morning, George Kanyi moves from one hay stack to another counting the bales keenly.

And as he does this, his four workers load the bales to a lorry, which take them to a store on the farm.

Elsewhere in the expansive farm, a tractor rumbles ceaselessly as it compacts more dry Rhodes grass into bales of hay.

Rains have not been consistent in Nanyuki for good hay production this season, but Kanyi is lucky.

He farms Rhodes grass through irrigation on about 30 acres reclaimed from a garbage site at the Nanyuki sewage treatment plant.

“Farming grass is profitable because it does not require a lot of inputs. Once you plant, it can last for even 10 years before replanting.”

Rhodes grass, which is the most popular for making hay, grows well on flat and well-cultivated land.

Some farmers like Kanyi intercrop the grass with wheat.

“Once I harvest wheat, Rhodes grass continues to grow and it is harvested for the first time after a year.”

Once in a while, a farmer can spray chemicals to kill weeds. CAN fertiliser is also applied after every two years to boost the yields.

When the rains are consistent, the grass is harvested after every four months. Kanyi produces between 150 and 200 bales of hay from each of the 30 acres he grows.

The main market for the grass is in Nyeri and Murang’a counties where zero-grazing of dairy cows is highly practised.

He sells the grass at between Sh100 and Sh300 each depending on the season.

There are 12 workers on the farm although the cutting, tedding and baling is mechanised.

The cost of producing a bale is Sh80, which goes to cutting, tedding and baling.

Kanyi has an edge over other farmers since he uses water that has been recycled by Nanyuki Water and Sewage Company.

HIGH DEMAND

About 1,800 cubic metres of raw sewerage is discharged into the system daily. This effluent undergoes a biological recycling process that involves passing it through three ponds.

He uses the recycled water from the last pond to irrigate the grass, thus, getting three harvests in a year.

When demand is high, in particular between December and March, he sells a 25kg bale for Sh300.

He started the farming in 2009 after approaching managers at the water firm and offered to clean the over 70 acres that were then strewn with garbage.

In return, Kanyi asked the firm to give him user rights of the property for 10 years.

The deal was sealed after eight months of negotiations.

For over a year, he engaged street boys to collect the garbage and to direct trucks to dump waste at the designated corner.

Driven by passion to generate income from the land, Kanyi sold his family’s quarter acre at Sh700,000 and added Sh200,000 from his savings to raise the capital to start his agricultural enterprise.

Four years later, he has transformed the garbage dumpsite into one of the most vibrant hay production farms in the county.

He also grows cabbages, lettuce, eggplants and cucumbers on the other section of the land. “This is a sustainable business because there is no time that I will ever lack water to irrigate the land even during the dry season,” he says.

LONG JOURNEY

In 2012, the National Environment Trust Fund recognised Kanyi’s efforts in rehabilitating the dumpsite by declaring him the winner of its Presidential Green Award and gave him Sh3 million.

It has been a long journey for Kanyi. A military commander found the former street boy scavenging for food in Nanyuki town years ago. He asked him to clear grass on the sides of the runway at Laikipia Airbase.

He was to sell the grass to pastoralists during the dry season and retain 70 per cent of the proceeds.

Today, Kanyi, now aged 50 owes his success in hay farming to the Major-Gen (Rtd) Stephen Njung’e, who was then commander of the airbase.

The deal gave him the confidence of venturing into fodder farming even when he didn’t have a square inch of land under his name.

University students and farmers are among people who often visit Kanyi’s farm for lessons.Water from the sewerage system is regularly tested to ensure it is safe for irrigation or before it is released into the river.

According to Nawasco Technical Manager Kennedy Gitonga, about 1,800 cubic metres of raw sewerage is discharged to the firm’s systems every day.

This effluent undergoes a biological recycling process.

“When the water goes through recycling, it is good for agricultural use. That is why we release it back into the rivers.”

 -Daily Nation

Dressed in a white overcoat and gumboots, it is easy to mistake the young bespectacled man for a milk hawker as he criss-crosses Bahati in Nakuru County purchasing raw milk from farmers.

Joseph Waweru makes a stop at one of the farmer’s gates. With his vehicle stationed at the gate, the farmer carries three cans of milk, which are weighed and the details recorded before being loaded onto the vehicle.

“I must capture every detail of the milk delivered because they will be crucial during payment,” says Waweru.

The 26-year-old is slowly making inroads in the lucrative yoghurt industry that is attracting new consumers each day.

He runs Winnas Dairies that is based in Nakuru County. The firm produces various flavours of yoghurt, including strawberry and vanilla, under the Winners brand name.

“I started the processing firm early last year, two years after graduating from Egerton University. It is now worth about Sh800,000.”

He has employed four people, including diploma graduates in dairy, sales and marketing.

Waweru collects the milk from farmers’ groups consisting of five to 10 members.

“They collect their milk and sell as a group. I then pay them at the end of the month or as agreed.”

UNANIMOUSLY ENDORSED

Besides the groups, the businessman also buys milk from his father, who has a dairy farm in Nakuru.

“I credit my business to my father. It was while helping him sell his milk that the idea of making yoghurt came,” he recounts.

“My father has about 60 cows and he gets 400 to 500 litres of milk each day. He was selling a litre for as low as Sh20. I realised I could buy milk from him, add value and sell at a better price.”

He floated the idea in a family gathering and it was unanimously endorsed.

With Sh100,000 seed capital he had saved from his previous employment as an accounts assistant, Waweru bought a refrigerator and a sealer.

However, this money was not enough to get him started as he still needed a pasteuriser, which is critical in yoghurt processing.

“It was tough at the beginning. I would sometimes use firewood for heating, which was expensive.”

He later applied for funding from the Eastern African Agricultural Productivity Programme, which was impressed with his efforts and offered him a pasteuriser worth Sh350,000.

The pasteuriser saw him double his milk purchases from 150 litres a day to 300 litres. The farmers sell to him the milk at between Sh30 and Sh32.

CONDUCTS TESTS

Before he buys milk from farmers, Waweru says they conduct three tests, namely for smell to ascertain freshness as some farmers are cunning and milk their animals at night and deliver the milk in the morning.

The second is acidity test, where the acid levels are checked using a lactometer and third, the density test is carried out before the milk is accepted for processing.

“Our biggest challenge is getting high quality milk from farmers. There are times you cannot get what you need.”

To make yoghurt, the milk goes through several stages. Fresh milk is pre-heated to 50 degrees Celsius to allow the mixing of ingredients such as sugar.

It is then pasteurised to 90 degrees Celsius for between 25 to 30 minutes before it is cooled to 43 degrees Celsius and then starter culture is added.

It is then incubated for six hours as acidity level is monitored. The acceptable concentration of acidity in the milk should be between 0.13 to 0.16 per cent.

“The yoghurt is then cooled further to below 15 degrees Celsius and flavours and colours added before it is sealed and packaged for the market,” says Waweru, adding that his products are certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

He paid Sh32,000 for certification, an amount that he notes is too high for start-ups.

From the 300 litres he collects, Waweru makes up to 600 pieces of 500ml of yoghurt each day, which he sells at Sh60.

“This is better than what I used to earn when I was employed. I would get a salary of Sh40,000 per month but today I can comfortably pay myself a salary of Sh60,000 and still cater for my four employees’ wages,” says Waweru, who notes he started making profit few months ago.

Winnas Dairy located at Hyrax Hills off the busy Nakuru–Nairobi highway supplies its products to shops and supermarkets in the town.

“My goal is to have a footprint in all the major trading centres in Nakuru by 2017 before spreading to other counties.”

The former student of Nakuru Boys High School advises young people wishing to venture into the industry to develop a culture of saving whenever they are employed whether on permanent or temporary basis.

“One of the lessons I have learnt is that saving a shilling is not a bad idea as long one wants to achieve a noble goal,” says Waweru, who is pursuing a Master’s degree in Agriculture and Applied Economics at Egerton University.

His plan is buy a cooler so that he can increase production and shift from his father’s plot to an independent venue.

PROCEDURE

Getting Kebs certification

1. Furnish Kebs with the kind of business you are engaged in and whether you are a large or small-scale entrepreneur.

2. Declare your turn-over and the value of your products per piece in the market so that you can be categorised as small or large-scale manufacturer.

3. State the venue of your operation.

4. Take the Kebs official through the process of making or preparing your products from the moment the raw produce arrives at your processing plant to the time it is ready to go to the market.

5. Take the sample of one or two of your products you prepared as the Kebs official toured your plant for inspection.

6. The sample is returned to you by Kebs with an accompanying note indicating whether they are satisfied or there are some issues you need to improve on.

7. If there are no issues to be addressed, Kebs issues a certificate but if there are issues, take another sample of the improved product for further testing. The procedure is reviewed after every one year.
The process cost Sh32,000 for small businesses.

-DAILY NATION

Rapper Wangeshi has been involved in horror car crash.

The female emcee is reported to be in a critical condition and currently admitted in the ICU.

Details are still emerging on where she has been admitted and the condition of the other occupants who were with her in the vehicle.

The news has shocked the hip-hop and showbiz industry at large with people taking on to social media to send their prayers and condolences.

Our prayers and hearts go to the prolific female rapper and we wish her a speedy recovery.

- The Standard

The government has promised to sponsor a fully-paid holiday for the family of the 15-year old US tourist who was reportedly harassed and branded a terrorist by a police officer along Mombasa Highway at Mlolongo area, Nairobi.

Interior cabinet secretary revealed the officer was searching the family when he later asked the female tourist she had looks like those of wanted terrorist Samantha Lewthwaite popularly known as the White Widow.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku asked police authorities to investigate the matter and take necessary action on the officer.

He also asked the chair of the Task Force on Tourism Recovery Ms Lucu Karume to follow up on the matter with the US Embassy and the tourists’ family. Details on the said harassment were not available.

Lenku was reacting to claims that police have been harassing tourists and brandingthem terrorists. Already some of the victims have reported the matter to authorities. Police are currently conducting operations to tame terror threats.

Lenku also assured stakeholders in the tourism industry the Government has taken adequate and concrete steps to ensure that there is sufficient security for the sector.

He said his ministry had mapped out tourism sites, installations and facilities for purposes of distributing security personnel in such areas.

he minister said the sector was a very sensitive industry and perceptions of insecurity could easily erode international confidence of Kenya as a safe and security tourists’ destination.

“I can assure you that I will do everything in power to ensure that all your security concerns are addressed by the country’s security agencies so that we do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg,” said Lenku.

Lenku was speaking when he met members of the Task Force on Tourism Recovery at his Harambee House office .

The group was led by Ms Karume who also chairs the Kenya Tourism Foundation (KTF).

Other members who accompanied her included Mr Cecil Miller, the chair of Task Force Security Committee, members Roberto Marini, Richard Corcoran and Nicholas Bodo.

Lenku said security had been revamped at all airports, airstrips and ferries across the country.

He said his ministry in conjunction with the ministry of foreign affairs had created a system through which regularupdates and briefs were provided to foreign missions in the country on security issues.

Lenku was accompanied by police boss David Kimaiyo, the Secretary in charge of Internal Security Mr Joseph Irungu and the Officer in Charge of Tourist Police Unit (TPU) Ms Jostine Barmao.

Kimaiyo said the number of police officers exclusively dedicated to tourism will be increased and that TPU will equipped with modern vehicles and technology to enhance the unit’s capacity.

“We are aware of the challenges facing TPU and I can assure tourism stakeholders that we are addressing these challenges to enhance capacity and visibility of TPU in Nairobi, Mombasa and other parts of the country that form the Tourism Circuit,” explained Kimaiyo.

Reacting to concerns that the Tourist Police Unit has been losing trained and dedicated officers to other police units to take action to address their concerns.

-THE STANDARD