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The AfricaNews articles of CHANNY
Kenya to get new H1N1 vaccine
Kenya is one of the 100 countries selected by the World Health Organisation as the beneficiaries of the new H1N1 vaccine. The East African country was one of the 100 developing countries put on the WHO list that will receive the first batch of the vaccine; MF59-adjuvanted cell-culture based A (H1N1). - The vaccine has recorded remarkable success in fighting the world’s latest epidemic, which has so far killed over 4,500 people world-wide.
Currently, five drug manufacturing companies including GlaxoSmithkline which has a branch in Kenya are manufacturing the vaccine on patent. Others are AstraZeneca, MedImmune Unit, Novartis AG and Sanofi-Aventis.
Early on Monday, the Kenyan Min…Kenya: Annan returns amid pressure on gov't
The Chief Mediator of Kenya's power-sharing deal Kofi Annan arrived in Kenya. He called on Grand Coalition Government to listen and respond to the people's voices that are calling for reforms. Annan touched on the new constitution deadline, reforms in the Police force and the electoral reforms. - He added that Coalition leaders must listen to the voice of the people, which is pro-reforms, hence Kenya must have a new constitution in 18 months or before the next cycle of elections, and they must unlock the requisite political will to make things move. He insisted that all these should be achieved before the 2012 general election to avoid the repeat of violence like witnessed after the 2007 gen…Kenya: ICC proposes a three-tier approach
The International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Moreno O'campo has proposed a three pronged approach to deal with the perpetrators of the post election violence that rocked Kenya after the announcement of the presidential election results on 30th December 2007. - Speaking at a meeting with Kenya's Lands Minister James Orengo at the IC C headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, O'campo routed for the creation of special courts to try those who committed the atrocities, as the ICC will deal only with those who bore the greatest responsibility of the violence.
He also added that the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission be used as an avenue to deliver justice through creating an enabl…Kenya: 35 killed in dawn raid
Death and destruction visited a sleepy tiny village when armed raiders killed 35 people including 8 children and scores of women. An unknown number of people have also been admitted at various hospitals with serious injuries. The raid occurred in Laikipia district's Kanampiu House area on Tuesday morning. - Witnesses told Africa News that the raiders were armed and well organized. They are believed to be from the Pokot community, a subtribe of the larger Kalenjin tribe. Some are said to have engaged police officers from the nearby Naibor Police camp in a fierce gun battle, as the larger group attacked the village in an attempt to steal heads of cattle.
Over 10,000 heads of cattle were st…Oldest pupil dies in Kenya
The world's oldest pupil who was a symbol of the Kenyan government's success of the free primary education has died at 89. The old scholar, Stephen Kimani Maruge, passed away on Friday at the Cheshire Home for the Old in Nairobi's Kariobangi Estate. - According to medical reports, Maruge was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach early last year.
When AfricaNews visited the home after the his death was announced,, his colleagues atthe Home were shocked by the news of his death.
Donatila Ekuyi, one of the catholic nuns who were caring for him and also the matron of the home, said Maruge was a jovial and co-operative old man. She said he lived well with other members in the home for the o…Kenya: Cabinet divided on tribunal
After Kofi Annan handed over an envelop containing a list of the suspects of last year's post poll violence to the ICC, deep divisions in the Kenyan cabinet have emerged as ministers and parliamentarians take divergent stands on the proposed tribunal that is meant to try the perpetrators of the killings. - As the debate continues to rage, pressure continues to pile on the two principals- President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga - to rally their people so as the special tribunal is formed before the time frame agreed on by between the Kenyan team and the ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
On Tuesday, a cabinet session called to hammer out the modalities of setting up the…Panic grips Kenya leadership
Panic gripped the political class of Kenya when news broke that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan handed over the envelope containing the list of perpetrators of the post election violence to the International Criminal Court. The Prosecutor of the ICC Luis Moreno O'Campo is keeping the list. - President Mwai Kibaki summoned an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister and the Mediation Team at the State House on Thursday. The Lands Minister, James Orengo, who was addressing the press in his office, then had to cut short his speech to rush to the meeting. Orengo was part of the Mediation Team that agreed to the terms contained in the agreement that ended the post election violence.
Dr A…Kenya: President rejects luxury cars
Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki and his controversial First Lady Lucy Kibaki on Tuesday ordered for eight top-of-the-range custom made cars to be returned to the dealers, as a means of austerity measures announced by the Minister of Finance on the purchasing of fuel guzzlers in 2009 budget statement. - The minister had proposed that ministers and other senior government officials should return to the use of cost effective 1800cc vehicles.
According to a statement released by the Presidential Press Service, the president had made the decision to return the cars as a way of tightening the belts with the rest of Kenyans in the current hard economic hardships. "Following the instructions by the…Second H1N1 flu panic grips Kenya
Kenya has detected the H1N1 flu symptoms in another patient reported to have arrived from India. The female patient is said to be a student studying in the Asian country. Panic stricken hospital staff rushed for protective masks as the patient was wheeled into the casualty section of the Kenyatta National Hospital. - Patients and subordinate staff were also provided with the masks. According to the head of Respiratory Disease Department of the hospital Dr Anderson Irimu, the patient was not seriously ill, but her samples had been taken to the Kenya Medical Research Institute for further tests. "The woman came to us following advice from the airport authority. This does not mean she has the H…Kenya: Security rubbish human rights report
The Kenyan military and police forces have been implicated in gross human rights abuses in the North Eastern Province. They are alleged to have tortured, wounded at least 1,200 people and raped women, according to a report from the Geneva-based Human Rights Watch. But the police rubbished it. - Human Rights Watch in its 51-page report said the security forces beat and tortured hundreds of civilians in several communities during an October 2008 disarmament operation in Kenya’s northeastern Mandera districts.
The international human rights body released the report on Monday at Nairobi's Sarova Stanley Hotel. It called on the Kenyan government to establish an independent inquiry withou…Kenya: First H1N1 case confirmed
Kenya has confirmed the first case of swine flu. Confirming the case, the Kenyan Minister of Public Health and Sanitation Beth Mugo, said the case was reported in Kisumu, from a British student who jetted into the country over the weekend for a medical camp in the Western city. - The Minister was addressing the media at the ministry offices in Nairobi.
Also confirming the reports, the Nyanza Provincial Directior of Public Health Dr Jackson Kioko said that the samples taken from the British student tested positive for the lethal virus strain. The student is reported to have traveled by road to the lake side city with his colleagues. Some Kenyans too, were on board.
A strain of the letha…US send arms to Somalia gov’t
The United States of America has sent weapons and ammunition to the beleaguered Somali's Transitional Government to help it fight off the fast advancing Al-Shabaab militia that is threatening to overrun the troubled Horn of African state. The sent ammunition were approved by the United Nations. - This decision by the Obama administration was the first direct intervention by the US since 1993, when several US soldiers were killed in Somalia. This follows a plea by the country's embattled president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed to the world to his government fight the Al-KAeda linked militia.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan military and other security organs have been put on red alert, as Kenya moves to secure…Kenya: Ten die in cholera outbreak
Ten people have died since Wednesday from a cholera outbreak that rocked parts of Kenya's coast province. The Coast Province Director of Health of Health Dr Morris Simiyu said the outbreak is as a result of water shortage, together with poor drainage systems within the Coastal city of Mombasa and Malindi. - He added that due to the poor drainage, clean water has been mixed up with sewage, hence people drinking contaminated water unknowingly.
Dr Simiyu also attributed the spread of the disease to the constant water rationing that has hit many parts of the country. People have resorted to buying water from vendors who water sources are in question.
The worst affected areas in Mombasa in…Kenya: Priest accused of child molestation
A Catholic priest in Kenya, Father Renato Kizito Sesana has been accused of child molestation. His accusers are male minors who were formerly under his care. Many Kenyans are still reeling from the accusations leveled against the Italian Catholic priest. - The reports that were first reported by a Kenyan private TV station-KTN- showed two unidentified boys who claimed that Fr Kizito had at one time molested them. They said that the Catholic priest had used Italian words to hypnotise them before sodomising them.
One of them has since turned to drugs, while the other has since left the Kivuli Children's Home that is run by Fr Kizito.
Initially, when the TV reporters went to Fr Kizito f…Kenya: Acute water shortage hits Nairobi
Acute water shortage described by locals as one of the worst in history has hit Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Most businesses, especially middle and lower hotels and restaurants are the worst affected, AfricaNews reporter said. Most of them have opted not to provide drinking water to their clientele due to the shortage, hence the need to buy bottled water. - According to the Director of the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Mbaruku Vyakweli, the shortage has been caused by the low water levels in the three main dams that supply the city. He added that the fall in the water levels in the dams - Sasumua, Ndakaini and Ondiri - are as a result of wanton destruction of trees around the dam…Kenya: Government denies report on killings
The Kenyan government has reacted sharply against the report by the UN special rapporteur on human rights. The report, which was released to the local media houses by the rapporteur, Prof. Philip Alston, has indicted the Kenyan judicial systems and the police for the extra-judicial killings. - The allegation is said to have been committed before, during and just after the post election violence in the East African country.
The report that is to be presented to the UN committee on human rights in Geneva, accused the Kenya Police for the murder of over 8000 youths in Central Kenya for allegedly belonging to the outlawed sect called Mungiki.
The report has recommended the resignation of…Kenya: Military chopper gunned down
A Kenyan military helicopter crashed on Tuesday and injured three senior army officers as it patrolled the volatile Kenya-Somali border. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the plane was shot down by enemy fire from the Somali side. However, the Kenyan Department of Defense has denied it. - A loud bang suspected to be from a riffle was heard before the plane came down, according to an eye witness report. Two pilots and a senior military officer, identified only as Colonel Muteti, who is in charge of the Northern region, were injured when the Hughes-MD500 chopper, popularly known within the military circles as 'YY' came down. The incident took place at the Hulugho division in Ijara district at …Kenya: 1.5m men suffer domestic abuse
Over 1.5 million men in Kenya suffer marital abuse from their wives, according to a latest report from a lobby group - Maendeleo ya Wanaume (Progress for Men). The chairman of the organization, Ndiritu Njoka, said men are suffering in silence because it is widely held that women are always the victims. - Njoka added that women are also perpetrators of domestic abuse and violence in Kenya. The lobby group released the report on Sunday after an eight-month survey in over 40 Kenyan districts. Progress for Men advocates for men's rights in Kenya.
The report said among those who suffer abuse include lawyers, judges and even top politicians. In fact, former and present members of parliament acc…
