Friday 7 July 2017

Nkaissery’s last public function before he died on Saturday morning


NAIROBI, Kenya July 8- Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery, who died on Saturday morning, attended his last public function at Uhuru Park, Nairobi during the National Prayer Service, where he accompanied President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Here are photos from that function provided by the Presidential Strategic Communication Unit (PSCU).
Before going to Uhuru Park, the CS had chaired a series of security meetings at his Harambee House office, according to officials in the ministry.
His Twitter account @GenNkaisserry was last updated on June 25 with a message to muslims during Eid Ul Fitr celebrations “Eid Mubarak message to Muslims as they mark the end of the Holy month of Ramadhan. #happyeidmubarak”
The CS, aged 68, died at Karen Hospital on Saturday morning after being admitted for check up, according to State House.
“It is with deep sorrow and shock that we announce the sudden passing on of Interior CS Retired General Joseph Nkaissery,” said Joseph Kinyua, the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service who issued a statement.

Wednesday 12 April 2017

Rex Tillerson faces tough task in Moscow as Syria tension rises

The US secretary rises
ate’s visit to Russia promised a push for closer ties. But air strikes mean ‘no one is acting like anyone owes anything.
A huge red carpet was rolled out on the tarmac of the Moscow airport where Rex Tillerson’s plane touched down, but it was unlikely Russia would similarly welcome his calls for it to stop backing Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
While the US secretary of state’s
decision to skip a Nato summit and visit Moscow initially seemed to highlight the White House’s desire for better relations with Russia, expectations shifted after Donald Trump launched cruise missile strikes on a Syrian airbase last week, a move condemned by the Kremlin.
The days when Russian politicians talked about better relations and state television trumpeted Trump as a “ real man ” were clearly over.
As Tillerson began his meetings in Moscow on Wednesday, the question was not so much whether he could reach an agreement on Syria, but whether he could start any sort of dialogue at all. His first meeting with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, at February’s G20 summit in Germany began with an apparent
disagreement over the presence of journalists. Their interaction seemed cold compared to the fellow feeling between Lavrov and the former US secretary of state John Kerry.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that a meeting with Tillerson was not on Vladimir Putin’s schedule “for now”, and the US embassy said it had no information about a potential meeting.
Putin would probably meet with Tillerson only if the sit-down with Lavrov were relatively cordial and productive, Russian analysts said.
“If they remain totally opposed and are only talking about America putting forward an ultimatum, and
Russia refuses, then a meeting [with Putin] is meaningless,” said Alexei Makarkin, a political analyst.
The mood music before the visit was not promising. In light of the chemical attack that killed more than 70 people in Syria last week, Tillerson said on Tuesday Russia had “ failed to uphold ” its 2013 promise to destroy Assad’s chemical weapons, adding that Washington saw “no further role” for Assad as the country’s leader, a
harsher line on him than it had taken before.
In response, Putin doubled down on his support for Assad, comparing western accusations that the regime was responsible for the chemical attack to the false assertions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the US invasion in 2003. He called for a United Nations investigation into the attack, while claiming that nefarious forces were “planning to again plant some substance and accuse the Syrian authorities of using [chemical weapons]”.
The toughest talk came from the Russian defence ministry, which vowed to boost Syrian anti-aircraft capabilities. A programme on its nationwide television channel Zvezda on Tuesday night declared that “only a demonstration of force” could stop Trump in Syria .
In another move likely to grate on Russia, Trump signed a treaty on Tuesday in support of Montenegro joining Nato, an alliance that Moscow sees as a top threat.
But with all the rancor comes a possibility for new dialogue, pundits said, especially since the United States had warned Russia before launching last Thursday’s missile strikes, and the airbase was reportedly already functioning again the next day.
Fyodor Lukyanov, an analyst, said the strikes had given the United States a stronger bargaining position on Syria and created the preconditions for a conversation that “won’t be one-sided”. Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Moscow Center added that “realistic expectations” had replaced “exaggerations of privileged good relations” before the meeting.
“The sides had been conducting themselves as if they owed each other,” he said. “Now no one is acting like anyone owes anything.”
In a hint that Moscow might still be willing to negotiate, the foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tillerson’s statement was not an ultimatum but rather just “muscle-flexing before talks”. While the vice-speaker of parliament, Pyotr Tolstoy, told Interfax news agency that no breakthrough could be expected at the negotiations, he said the fact they were going ahead was a good sign, “because there could have been none at all”.
He warned that any attempts to adopt further sanctions against Russia “won’t result in anything”. But such a threat was quashed on Tuesday when the G7 summit in Italy refused to back a British call for new sanctions, a small victory for Moscow.
Any agreement about Assad’s future was clearly off the table on Wednesday, as was an east-west partnership against the Islamic State, about which both Trump and Putin have spoken in the past. Moscow’s major bargaining chip – the help of Russian and Syrian forces in fighting Isis – was no longer good now that the “Syrian army has become a military adversary” of the United States, Baunov said.
But a more narrow agreement about how to avoid an accident that could escalate into direct conflict between Russia and the United States remained a possibility, if not a necessity. After the missile strikes, Russia announced it would cancel a deconfliction agreement established with the United States in 2015. However, US officials said on Friday the hotline between the two countries’ militaries, which is designed to avoid midair collisions between Russian jets and those of the US-led coalition, was still working. The Russian defence ministry later said this line of communications would be cut at midnight on Saturday.
Besides its air campaign, Russia has a large number of military advisers on the ground in Syria, including two soldiers who were reportedly killed in a mortar attack on Tuesday. If the United States continues missile strikes against Syrian government positions, Russian troops would be at risk.
“There’s a chance to agree on technical issues about how to separate [forces], to not clash,” Makarkin said. “On the more global issues, the issue of Assad, their positions are diametrically opposed.”
Trump’s future strategy in Syria remains unclear, which could further complicate the conversation with Russia, but Baunov and Makarkin expected Tillerson to nonetheless take a hard line on Moscow’s involvement in the country. If the new secretary of state failed to display Kerry’s patience to continue talking and “look for the smallest chance for agreement” with Russia, however, his harsh rhetoric could backfire, Makarkin said.
“These ultimatums won’t work,” he said, “except to bring Russia and Assad closer together.”

Tuesday 11 April 2017

Janet Mbugua Says Byee to RMS
- Janet Mbugua left Citizen TV on Monday, April 10 amid rumuors she was unimpressed by the arrival of Jeff Koinange who now earns top dollar
- However, reports indicate Janet has landed another mega job and could be the reason she is quitting
- Janet has been at Citizen TV since 2011 where she was brought in from South Africa where she was an anchor with E-TV
- Kenyans took to social media to express their love for the sassy screen siren and how much they will miss her
Celebrated Citizen TV anchor Janet Mbugua left the station after close to six years as a prime time news anchor alongside Hussein Mohammed.
One of a few I'll be posting soon. It's been real. Asanteni sana
8:47 PM - 10 Apr 2017
24 150
Janet Mbugua Ndichu
@OfficialJMbugua
READ ALSO: Janet Mbugua lands MEGA job after tendering resignation at Citizen TV
Janet anchored her last news on Monday, April 10 before announcing she was leaving for another challenge.
As reported by TUKO.co.ke, Janet has landed a mega job with the Red Cross which is more paying but less popular.
@OfficialJMbugua You were always cherished ,and watched passionately ,,, all the best in all your endeavours
9:39 AM - 11 Apr 2017
20h Janet Mbugua Ndichu
@OfficialJMbugua
One of a few I'll be posting soon. It's been real. Asanteni sana
pic.twitter.com/2KqsX5M3Jg
GÎTHEE UNDERSTANDING
@petermwasss
READ ALSO: Janet Mbugua reveals her replacement as she quits Citizen TV
She will assume the role of communications and advocacy director at the Red Cross Kenya office based in South C, Nairobi.
Now Kenyans took to social media to express their undying love for one of Kenya's most decorated TV girls.
Mike Sonko SCORES big against Peter Kenneth with this move



-Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko has gone on overdrive in his campaigns
-Sonko, who is seeking to be the next Nairobi governor on a Jubilee ticket, decided to engage with his potential supporters on a door to door basis
-The Senator decided to literally visit households in the middle of the night, to woo them for votes
Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko has taken his campaigns a notch higher after undertaking door to door campaigns in the middle of the night.
Sonko, on Monday, April 10, decided to appeal to residents on a more personal level, by knocking on the common mwananchi’s door in a bid to appeal to potential voters for support come the August elections.
In a video seen by EricWambuaKE.co.ke , the flamboyant senator is engaging with residents of an unconfirmed neighborhood in Nairobi, where they vent their various  they encounter.
At some point, excited residents who have heard of the senator’s presence flock a house as they attempt to affirm that indeed Mike Sonko is in their presence.
This is the latest move by the Senator in his quest to garner more numbers on his side in the build up to the highly anticipated Jubilee nominations.
Sonko, who has his own dedicated online channel (Sonko TV) to highlight his achievements, recently unleashed a fleet of water canters branded “Sonko Rescue Team” to supply water to slum-dwellers within Nairobi.
His latest stint of night vote-hunting has seen him become a sensation online on Tuesday, April 1, with Kenyans pouring praise on the senator at the expense of his Jubilee rival Peter Kenneth.
Wetangula slams Mudavadi as NASA wrangles continue


- Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula has asked for calm among his supporters following reports that the NASA's presidential line up is out
- Wetangula also condemned supporters of Musalia Mudavadi for creating unnecessary tension in the coalition
The wrangles within NASA continue unabated with the latest reaction coming from Ford Kenya, one of the affiliate parties.
The sharp division has seen the various leaders and their parties make strong pronouncements against each other creating a notion that the coalition is on the brink of collapsing.
Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula have been pushing and shoving over who among them will be the NASA flag bearer.
Wetangula.
READ ALSO: Jubilee's tales are not adding up-Raila
ODM has confirmed that a leaked line up showing Raila as the presidential candidate, Kalonzo as his running mate, Mudavadi as the Chief Minister and Wetangula the National Assembly speaker was real.
"Some members of ODM have gone ahead to qualify these reports in recent days as ‘true’ and perhaps ‘final’. As Ford Kenya, we would to make it clear that the decision on who flies the Coalition’s flag has not been made just yet," said Wetangula through his party's Director of Communications Tim Machi.
In a statement seen by TUKO.co.ke, Wetangula said that the decision on who flies the NASA flag is still work in progress and one over which the four principals will be holding a critical retreat very soon.
READ ALSO: Epic photo of Obama's granny and First Lady Margret Kenyatta that has lit the internet
NASA leaders.
READ ALSO: Confirmed! ODM is the stumbling block to NASA unity- Mudavadi speaks
Until that is done, what has been leaked out are just scenarios and suggestions of different names on the Coalition’s Presidential ticket, said the Bungoma Senator on Tuesday April 11.
He also slammed Mudavadi supporters who have insisted that the ANC leader must be given the NASA ticket.
" We particularly take issue with supporters of Hon Musalia Mudavadi who over the weekend issued demands that it is either him flying the NASA flag or none. We caution such supporters that they are unwittingly lurching onto sinister narratives hatched by enemies of the Coalition," added the Ford Kenya leader.
READ ALSO: Aspirants with criminal records to be cleared by CID but on condition
Mudavadi.
Wetangula added that as a team under NASA, the partners are all bound by the responsibility and civic duty to free the country from the stranglehold of Jubilee.
'Blood contamination tore my family apart'


Thousands of people with haemophilia were infected with HIV and hepatitis as a result of NHS treatments in the 1970s and 80s. But their families are still seeking a public inquiry into the scandal.
Tony Farrugia was just 14-years-old when his father Barry died of Aids.
Over the next 20 years, two of his four uncles would also die in what was perhaps the worst treatment scandal in the NHS's history.
In the 1970s and 80s, thousands of haemophiliacs - like members of Tony's family - were treated with contaminated blood products.
Some 4,670 of them were later diagnosed with hepatitis C, while around 1,200 also contracted HIV.
Many did not live long enough to be treated with modern drugs.
Thirty years later, the survivors and their relatives have told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme they are still fighting for answers.
Some are worried that a new support scheme planned by the government could leave them struggling to pay mortgages and bills.
Contamination
Tony's father Barry was diagnosed with haemophilia - a genetic condition that prevents blood from clotting - as a baby.
It took Tony almost 25 years to get hold of his father's medical records after his death.
They show that Barry was a mild haemophiliac, whose symptoms could have been managed.
He might not have needed to be treated with the blood clotting agent Factor VIII - the cause of the contamination - but it was prescribed anyway.
The result was that he was infected with hepatitis B in the late 70s and then with HIV as early as 1980.
Entries in the records show that doctors were aware he might have had the virus two years before he was finally told.
By 1985, Barry's health had declined rapidly.
Tony, then a teenager, was sent away to live with other family members but the new living arrangements did not work out and he was eventually placed in care.
In the summer of 1986, he visited his father in hospital for the final time.
"He started to lose weight by then," Tony recalls, "a lot of weight - so he was really, really skinny."
"I remember my dad asking me for some of my ice cream. I handed it to him, at which point one of the nurses intervened and said 'you can't give him that'.
"He had blisters in his mouth which were bleeding. I couldn't share an ice cream with my dad because they had given him Aids," he says.
Barry's death in September 1986 split the family apart.
Tony went back into care in Luton while his twin brother David went to a separate care home in North London.
His older teenage brothers were left to fend for themselves.
Family 'haunted'
It was not until 2010 that he was reunited with other members of his family.
"That was the first time since dad died that we were together again," Tony says.
"That's what the [health service] did, they destroyed my dad with these viruses then they watched his family crumble."
In the years after Barry's death the family continued to struggle.
One of Barry's brothers, Vincent, was killed by Aids passed on through contaminated blood.
In 2012, another brother, David, died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage linked to the hepatitis C he had contracted through Factor VIII.
Madeline, David's widow, says the contaminated blood scandal has caused "devastation" to her family.
"I can put my hand on my heart and tell you I am not the same person [since David's death]. I will never be the same person," she said.
"It comes back to haunt you in so many ways."
Madeline says the doctors who prescribed Factor VIII "never, ever" told them there was a risk of blood contamination.
Angie, Barry's sister, adds: "Treatment shouldn't kill you, should it? Medical treatment shouldn't kill you."
The family say they also had to live with the stigma that surrounded Aids in the 1980s.
On one occasion, Vincent had "Aids scum" scratched into his car.
'Face up'
When he walked into his local cafe one day, everyone else got up and walked out.
"It was awful - awful - to see this happen to a person," Angie said.

The family are still looking for answers as to 
African migrants sold in Libya 'slave markets', IOM says 
                   Migration time 

Africans trying to reach Europe are being sold by their captors in "slave markets" in Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.
Victims told IOM that after being detained by people smugglers or militia groups, they were taken to town squares or car parks to be sold.
Migrants with skills like painting or tiling would fetch higher prices, the head of the IOM in Libya told the BBC.
Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 Nato-backed ousting of Muammar Gaddafi.
More on this and other African stories
Libya exposed as child migrant abuse hub
Why is Libya lawless?
Hundreds of young sub-Saharan African men have been caught up in the so-called slave markets, according to the IOM report .
A Senegalese migrant, who was not named to protect his identity, said that he had been sold at one such market in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, before being taken to a makeshift prison where more than 100 migrants were being held hostage.
Women, too, were bought by private Libyan clients and brought to homes where they were forced to be sex slaves, the witness said.
The IOM's chief of mission for Libya, Othman Belbeisi, told the BBC that those sold into slavery found themselves priced according to their abilities.
"Apparently they don't have money and their families cannot pay the ransom, so they are being sold to get at least a minimum benefit from that," he said.
"The price is definitely different depending on your qualifications, for example if you can do painting or tiles or some specialised work then the price gets higher."
An IOM staff member in Niger said they confirmed the reports of auctions in Libya with several other migrants who had escaped:
"They all confirmed the risks of been sold as slaves in squares or garages in Sabha, either by their drivers or by locals who recruit the migrants for daily jobs in town, often in construction.
"Later, instead of paying them, [they] sell their victims to new buyers."
Some migrants, mainly Nigerians, Ghanaians and Gambians are forced to work "as guards in the ransom houses or in the 'market' itself", the IOM employee added.
The organisation has called the emergence of these markets "a disturbing new trend in the already dire situation for migrants in Libya".