Sunday 9 October 2011

UN report blamed killings on the culture of impunity in Kenya

In 2008, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report which suggested that greater accountability and an end to impunity would be key to preventing future violence and reinforcing the ongoing reconciliation. The 20-page report by an OHCHR factfinding team that visited Kenya from February 6-28 concludes that, while irregularities in the election process were the primary trigger of the violence, a number of underlying causes – including discrimination, poverty and disenfranchisement – fuelled the crisis. The team visited 15 of the worst affected locations, and interviewed 188 victims and witnesses of the post-election violence, as well as members of the government and opposition parties, law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations, UN agencies, diplomats and other interested parties.

Migori county’s governship contest list shaping up

It might be about a year left to the 2012 General Elections, but Nyanza Weekly can authoritatively report that already the political battle lines are fast being drawn across the six Nyanza counties. The prospective candidates, salivating at the bounties of elective positions created by the new County Government structures, are at work… meticulously plotting their political game plans ahead of the forthcoming scramble for leadership positions under the new constitutional dispensation. Article 176(1) of the Constitution provides that there shall be a county government for each of the country’s 47 counties. Such a devolved government, the constitution stipulates, shall consists of a county assembly and a county executive. With the Speaker as an ex officio member, the county assembly shall comprise of members elected by the registered voters of the wards, each ward constituting a single member constituency. Other than a provision for special seats to ensure that no more than two-thirds of membership of the assembly is of the same gender, additional seats would be set aside for the marginalized groups including persons with disabilities and the youth. The executive authority of the county is vested in, and exercised by, a county executive committee consisting of the county governor and the deputy county governor alongside members appointed by the county governor –with the approval of the assembly- from among persons who are not members of the assembly.

Maseno University making new strides

Secondary School graduates from Nyanza who aspire to do degree-level medicine-oriented courses now have to look no further than Maseno University. The institution has spent over Sh50 million in setting up a new medicine degree training programme whose first batch of student intake reported late September. Also introduced are new courses in Nursing, Pharmacy, Law, Architecture, Agriculture, Food Security ,Fisheries and Marine Engineering that would see an increase in the student population from the current 5500 to 15,000 at the end of the 2010-2017 strategic period. The new Vice Chancellor Prof Dominic Makawiti announced that at a later stage they would seek for funds to set up a teaching and referral hospital to compliment the newly introduce medicine course. “For this we need over Sh10 billion, but before we get the more we would use the New Nyanza Provincial General Hospital for our training purposes,” he said. He spoke during his installation ceremony as the institution’s head, taking over from Prof Frederick Onyango who has retired after being at the hem for 10 years.

Sony’s sweet news for consumers of its sugar

Sony Sugar Company has adjusted its factory prices downwards in a move that is expected to make its brand more affordable to local consumers. The Awendo-based sugar miller has also asked distributors of the Sony Sugar brand not to charge unauthorised prices. Mr Zakayo Irungu, the company’s public relations officer, told Nyanza Weekly that they were supplying distributors a 50kg bag of sugar at a factory price of Sh6,500. This should translate to a retail price of Sh130 for a one kg of sugar instead of the Sh200 being charged by retailers, including supermarkets. “ Our small buyers get the same quantity at between Sh6,550 and Sh6,580 which brings the cost of 1kg of sugar to Sh131.60 while the distributors get the branded sugar at Sh3,000 per 24 kg bale translating to Sh125 per 1kg,” he said. Previously distributors bought a 50kg bag at Sh5,000, which translated to a retail price of Sh100 per 1kg. The company’s decision came amid a public outcry over escalating prices and shortage of sugar. But a cross-section of traders in South Nyanza blamed greedy brokers for the sharp increase in sugar prices.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

My contract with teachers

There couldn’t have been a worse time to be elected the boss of Kenya’s strongest trade union. The 260,000-member Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has seen its clout diminish since the death of its long-serving charismatic secretary general, Mr Ambrose Adongo Adeya. The giant union may also find itself revising its rules of engagement with the Teachers’ Service Commission – the teachers’ employer – which has been handed more powers under the new Constitution. In addition, there are some long-standing issues to address like the acute shortage of teachers in primary schools and the unfulfilled aspects of an agreement with the government dating back to 1997. David Okuta Osiany, the new KNUT secretary general, says he is alive to the challenges of his job but that he is unbowed. Mr Osiany, who until the last union elections was deputy secretary general, has hit the ground running. A few weeks ago, he scored his first major victory when a teachers’ strike called by the union paralysed learning in schools countrywide and forced the government to undertake to hire 18,000 teachers on permanent terms. The teachers had been working on contract terms Mr Osiany says that during his term he wants to see to it that the government honours all past promises it made to the teachers. “The 1997 agreement between the government and the union required the government to offer teachers an increment of 50 per cent for house allowance, 20 per cent for medical allowance, 10 per cent for commuter allowance and 30 per cent hardship allowance,” says Mr Osiany, 56.