IEBC DEMANDED 'CHICKEN' FROM UK PRINTING FIRM

A BRITISH printing firm paid kickbacks of up to Sh40 million to secure contracts for the printing of Kenya's ballot papers and examination certificates, a UK court has been told.

Southwark Crown Court heard that the company, Smith & Ouzman Ltd., targeted senior officials to win the tenders in a number of African countries.

In Kenya, the company won a tender to print ballot papers used in the 2013 General Election and Kenya National Examinations Council certificates.

Evidence tendered in court showed that the directors of the company and conduits for the money used the coded word “chicken” for the bribes they paid out.

Among the emails presented in court is one saying that “we will definitely give them the chicken”.

In an email from Trevy James Oyombra to Christopher Smith on December 29, 2008, Trevy details a meeting and confirms he has promised a public official some chicken, it was said.

“Hello Smith, I was successful in the mission - two hours of his time, we spoke at length, he was also surprised I knew a lot of procurement regulations and loopholes...”,' wrote Trevy.

“Well, he has given me a lot of back information that would be helpful to you.

“First he asked me if you were a nice guy and if you gave chicken and yes, I told him that is why I was there.

“He is very comfortable working with me because I told him we have to work with you and you will make that change in his life.”

There was also a suggestion to “increase costs in a reasonable manner” and emails confirming “we will definitely give them the chicken”, jurors heard.

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Issack Hassan said that he was aware of the UK court case, but added that the commission does not know its specifics.

He also said that the tendering process was done aboveboard and a company that challenged the award lost the case in court.

"We are not aware of any person who has received a bribe over the tender. The commission is also made up of nine commissioners, including myself, nine directors, and over 40 managers. We are not aware that any of them have received the bribes as alleged," Hassan said.

Knec CEO Joseph Kivilu maintained that he has only read about the allegations in the media and that none of his staff has been linked to the sleaze directly.

"None of the staff here has been accused directly," he told the Star on the phone. “The case is still in court, let it conclude and then we shall see what comes out."

Appearing in court are Christopher Smith, 71, the chairman of Smith & Ouzman Ltd., and his son, sales and marketing director, Nicholas Smith, 42. They have been accused of bribing senior government officials in Africa to secure the lucrative tenders.

Also charged is Tim Forrester, described as the company's international sales manager. Evidence also shows that 47-year-old Forrester and company agent Abdirahman Omar, 38, were involved in the alleged plot, between November 2006 and December 2010.

Source: the star

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Tambuwal: Only God Can Control My Fate

The troubled speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has today, November 8, revealed that his fate as the Speaker of the House is now in the hands of the God.

He also declared that his compatriots, who have elected him as the Speaker, should choose if he should continue leading them or not.

Aminu Waziri Tambuwal

Since moving from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) on October 28, the PDP and security officials have been trying to get him out of his honorable position as ‘number 4 person in the country’.



The PDP have allegedly tried to reconvene the House from its current adjournment without Mr. Tambuwal’s consent, while the police had taken away his security officials, saying that since he deflected to APC he should also cease to be Speaker.

My fate in the National Assembly is in the hands of God and my members of the House of Representative insha Allah,” the speaker told reporters shortly after the North-West zonal meeting of the APC on Saturday in Kaduna.

He also declined answering further questions, when asked if knows his chances against other aspirants in the APC vying for the position of the governor in his native Sokoto State.

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Even at funeral, PF in media circus – Only 10 local journalists to cover Sata’s burial

Only 8 local journalists shall be allowed to enter state house for the state funeral while ten will be allowed to cover President Sata’s burial at Embassy Park on Tuesday.

Information and broadcasting permanent secretary Bert Mushala, made the announcement and added that only one journalist from each foreign media organization will be allowed, whatever that statement meant. On the other hand only 2,200 people shall be allowed into Embassy Park.

Digesting Mushala’s statement, it means that only three and five slots are kept for local journalists at state house and Embassy Park respectively because the state alone controls five media institutions, ZNBC radio and ZANBC TV, ZANIS, Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail. Lusaka alone has over 20 media houses while there are over 73 radio stations in the country.

This is the second major event that Zambian journalists have been looked down at, in September all private media except the Post newspaper were barred from covering the live opening of the National Assembly by Sata, while state house remained a no go area during Sata’s reign.

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Uganda drafts new anti-gay laws

Ugandan men hold a rainbow flag at the annual gay pride festival in Entebbe, Uganda. Photograph: Isaac Kasamani/AFP/Getty Images

The Ugandan government could introduce new wide-reaching anti-gay laws before the end of the year, which could see people jailed for up to seven years for “promoting homosexuality”, activists warned on Saturday.

The move comes nearly a year after Ugandan politicians passed legislation that could have imposed life sentences on gays. The bill was struck down by the constitutional court on a technicality.
According to a leaked copy of the new draft law, MPs have instead focused on outlawing the “promotion” of homosexuality – a potentially far more repressive and wide-reaching measure.

Frank Mugisha, a gay-rights activist, said: “People don’t realise that the ‘promotion’ part of it will affect everybody. If newspapers report about homosexuality it could be seen as promotion. My Twitter account could be seen as promotion. All human rights groups that include LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] rights defence in their activities could be accused of promotion.”

According to the draft, anyone convicted of “promoting” homosexuality would be liable to seven years in prison. “We have confirmed that the draft comes from the cabinet. Their plan is to present it to parliament as soon as possible, before the end of the year,” Mugisha said.

“They have just twisted the language but it is the same thing. It’s actually worse because the ‘promotion’ part is harsher and it will punish the funding of LGBT and human rights groups.”
The new draft also outlaws “funding for purposes of promoting unnatural sexual practices” and “exhibiting unnatural sexual practices”, and deems consent invalid as a defence.

Mugisha said the legislation would result in violence against gay people. He believed upcoming elections were the motivation for politicians to make a renewed assault on homosexuality and that activists would seek to have the draft law abandoned.

The government has not commented on the draft, although Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has been under pressure for several months from his own party to ensure that anti-gay legislation is passed.

Homophobia is rife in the socially conservative country, but activists held a gay pride rally in August that was granted permission by the police.

However, Museveni said last month that the country needed to consider the impact on trade and economic growth that such a crackdown could have.

Critics said the president signed the previous law to win support ahead of a presidential election scheduled for 2016, which will mark his 30th year in power.

Although very popular domestically, the previous law was branded draconian and “abominable” by rights groups and condemned by allies and donors including the EU and the US.

Barack Obama had described the legislation as “a step backward for all Ugandans”.

Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda under a 1950s penal code that remains in force and prescribes jail for those found guilty of homosexual acts.

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Too early to tell if Cosatu made the right decision-SACP

Cosatu delegates expelled Numsa with a vote of 33 versus 24. Picture: AFP.

JOHANNESBURG – The South African Communist Party (SACP) says it’s still too early to determine if Cosatu’s Central Executive Committee made the right decision by expelling its largest affiliate Numsa from the federation.

Numsa was expelled in the early hours of this morning after a marathon meeting that saw the union table a lengthy presentation on why it should remain in Cosatu.

In the end delegates expelled Numsa with a vote of 33 versus 24.

The SACP’s Alex Mashilo says the expulsion will be discussed at the party’s political bureau meeting on Monday.

“Whether or not it is the right decision to expel Numsa, those are matters that we will, once we have been informed officially by Cosatu of the position and how they arrived at it, make up our minds on it.”
NUMSA EXCLUSION AN ‘ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE WORKING CLASS’
The Democratic Left Front (DLF) has described the expulsion of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) as an attempt to divide the organised working class in the midst of more taxes and job cuts and says the repercussions will be terrible.

Numsa was expelled from Africa’s largest trade union federation in the early hours of the morning by a vote of 33 to 24 after months of infighting and a widening rift between the union and Cosatu bosses.

Numsa was Cosatu’s largest affiliate with nearly three hundred and fifty thousand members and was also backed by eight other unions in the Cosatu Central Executive Committee.

The DLF’s Brian Ashley says, “What we’ve seen is the division of the organised working class at a time when government’s just announced bigger tax on workers. This is a time when you would want organised workers to be united and to resist these attacks.”

Ashley claims Numsa was chucked out of the federation because its ally Zwelinzima Vavi refused to protect allegedly corrupt leaders.

“They’ve done it because they have been attacked by Zwelenzima Vavi who hasn’t protected them from being investigated for corruption so we have comrades with serious allegations of corruption levelled against them.”

NUMSA TO CONSULT WITH OTHER COSATU AFFILIATES
Numsa’s Irvin Jim says the union will now consult with the eight Cosatu affiliates that supported its call for a special national congress.

Numsa was expelled from the trade union federation by 33 votes to 24 in a special Cosatu Central Executive Committee meeting overnight.

A briefing by the metalworkers union officials is due to take place tomorrow.

Jim says while worker unity has been dealt a blow it should mark the start of a new revolution.

“It’s a dark day for the unity of workers but it should activate a revolution to move forward.”

The meeting started at 10am yesterday but a decision was only taken shortly after 1am this morning.

Jim says despite a lengthy presentation based on logic and facts, the metalworkers union’s rival faction in Cosatu has succeeded in booting out Numsa.

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BENSOUDA to prosecute witnesses who lied in UHURU/ RUTO’s ICC case – 5 years in jail!

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has threatened take legal action against all witnesses who admitted that they lied to her team during the prosecution’s investigation into the 2007/8 post-election violence in Kenya.


A number of witnesses particularly in the case facing Deputy President, William Ruto, and his co- accused, Joshua Sang, have admitted that they lied to the ICC investigators out of sheer hatred for Ruto.

Citing Article 70 (3) of the Rome Statute, Bensouda said she will institute charges to all witnesses who lied in the cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ruto and Sang.
According to the article, perjury at the ICC can be punished by a jail term of up to 5 years, a fine, or both.

Bensouda, who is a Gambian national, said she is reviewing more than 20 witnesses in the two Kenyans cases, and they will soon be arrested and prosecuted by the ICC.
Many witness admitted to the ICC that they lied to officials and investigators after they were promised ‘goodies.’

Source: 9robi

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Africans in New York complain of Ebola stigma

NEW YORK

Members of the west African community in New York complained Wednesday that their children were being bullied at school and their businesses were losing money because of hysteria over Ebola.

Panic has gripped many Americans since a Liberian citizen brought the killer virus into the country and died on October 8 of the disease in a Texas hospital.

Two nurses who treated him subsequently became infected, though they recovered, and a US doctor who returned to New York from treating Ebola patients in Guinea was diagnosed with the virus last week.

Various US states and the Pentagon have imposed quarantine rules for people returning from Ebola-afflicted countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Health-care workers listen while US President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, October 29, 2014. AFP PHOTO | BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI

The African Advisory Council (AAC), a community group in New York, called a news conference in the Bronx, home to one of the largest African communities in the United States, to demand better education to end unnecessary fear.

"I need my community to be safe but also to be protected," said the congressman for the Bronx, Jose Serrano.

Last week, two Senegalese boys were called Ebola and assaulted at a school in the Bronx so badly they had to go to hospital, community leaders said.

The boys had three weeks previously moved to New York to join their father, a cab driver who has lived in the United States for nearly 20 years.

Their father, Ousman Drame, blamed the assault on "kids who know nothing", and said the incident stemmed from ignorance.

Serrano called the bullying of the Senegalese boys "unacceptable".

BATTLING EBOLA

US President Barack Obama and officials in New York have repeatedly sought to sow calm, hailing medical workers battling Ebola as heroic and stressing that Ebola cannot be contracted through casual contact.

But community members say pervasive ignorance and scaremongering in sections of the media are putting their children at risk and jeopardizing their livelihoods.

Moussa Kourouma, a taxi driver originally from Guinea, said children from the community face a "serious problem". Bullying and parents out at work made it easy for them to drop out of school and drift onto the streets, he said.

As president of a Guinea community association, he said the family of a five-year-old boy, who tested negative for Ebola in New York on Monday, are too frightened to return to their home in the Bronx.

He said immigrants from the three afflicted countries were scared to go to hospital with simple health complaints or admit their origin to customers.

Kourouma said one customer demanded to get out of his cab when he discovered he was from Guinea.

"If you say you're from Guinea or Sierra Leone or Liberia, nobody's got time for you," he told the news conference.

"We have a serious problem, and we cannot hide it," he added.

Stephanie Arthur, chairwoman of the civil engagement committee of the AAC, told AFP that she had no precise number of incidents but said Ebola was exacerbating harassment many children already face because of their African origin.

"We must all stand up as Africans, we must all stand up as New Yorkers, we must all stand up as Americans," said Charles Cooper, Bronx president of the AAC.

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Scientist wins Sh8.5 million Canadian research grant

Kenyan scientist, Dr Evelyn Gitau was honoured with the sizeable ‘Stars in Global Health’ grant award, which aims to aid disease treatment in the country.

The Standard reports the post-doctoral Kemri-Wellcome Trust Research Programme scientist received the Sh8.5 million ($ 100,000) grant, which seeks to bring about great reforms in the health sector.
Gitau’s chief focus was that of malnourished children and preventing deaths linked to often-untreated infections among the impoverished youth.

The Standard quotes a section from her mission statement, “Efforts have to be made to effectively reduce mortality in severely malnourished children who die despite successful nutritional rehabilitation and treatment in hospital. A diagnostic method that can quickly identify these children as well as identify mechanisms that could inform alternative clinical management is urgently needed”.

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Fear as extremists take over Mombasa mosque

The muslim community now live in distress after the Sakina Jamia Mosque was attacked on Friday.

Fears are mounting after radical Islamists forcibly seized the place of worship, causing anxiety in anticipation of more attacks throughout Mombasa.

Imams and Muslim leaders have reportedly met in secret to discuss a way forward and attempt to put an end to the violence.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar revealed in a statement on Monday, “Political and religious leaders should take responsibility and hold talks with the youth who have defied the Imams”, via The Standard.

The unruly youths were allegedly under the leadership of a radical Islamist. The attackers are believed to be sympathisers of the late radical Islamist, Sheikh Aboud Rogo.

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EAC set to adopt single customs deal in January

Partner states in the East African Community have set next month as the deadline for the adoption of a single customs system in a bid to increase efficiency in trade logistics within the bloc.

Presidents from the five-member nations on Saturday directed that the Single Customs Territory be adopted in January 2014. Under the single customs regime, revenue authorities would coordinate their business at points of entry into the region.

This would mean that duty for goods in transit to Uganda and Rwanda for instance would be collected at the Port of Mombasa as opposed to the current practice of taxing goods at border crossings.

“The summit directed that the single customs territory commences on January 1, 2014 and that all operational requirements be finalised by June 2014,” read part of a communiqué signed by presidents from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi.

Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda had already entered a tri-lateral agreement to fast-track the single customs plan under the “coalition of the willing”. However, the fresh directive from the summit of the heads of state brings Burundi and Tanzania into the fold.

Initially, 2010 was the deadline for the establishment of the single customs territory. However, this has been delayed by failure of the coalition partners to commit to the process.

With the region moving towards a monetary union, experts point out that it is imperative for the bloc to implement all outstanding economic integration measures set out in the Customs Union and Common Market Protocol.

The heads of states also moved to tackle member non-compliance with decisions made collectively by EAC countries. The statement directs the EAC secretary-general, Dr Richard Sezibera (left, below), assumes a policing role with partner nations that are yet to put outstanding directives into effect. Reports on non-compliance will be submitted to the presidents when they meet next in 2014.

“The summit directed the secretary-general in consultation with the relevant heads of state to report regularly on the implementation of decisions including non-compliance,” read a communiqué signed by presidents from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi.

Alternative funding

Community organs that have traditionally been underfunded are also expected to be strengthened with the region considering alternative funding plans.

East African affairs ministers were directed to study on various proposals for increasing each country’s financial contribution to the EAC budget.

One such plan would see one per cent of the value of all imports coming into the community reserved for the EAC’s budget. This would greatly increase the funds the bloc has planned to spend.

Based on the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) 2012 data, calculations indicate that one per cent of the value of Kenya’s imports from countries outside the EAC could easily cover the region’s $130 million 2013/2014 budget.

The presidents also endorsed a proposal to empower the East African Court of Justice to mediate in matters of trade and disputes arising from the monetary union protocol.

Applications for membership in the bloc from South Sudan and Somalia, the presidents said, will be considered next year.

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