Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Man charged with stealing sh. 32 million from Narok County government

A businessman was Tuesday arraigned before a Narok court charged with conspiring to steal 370 671 US Dollars. (31.9 million shillings) from Narok county government.nNicodemus Khayeli Irangi is alleged to have conspired to forge
bank documents belonging to Eco- bank and used them to steal the money belonging to Narok county government suspected to be part of revenue collected at Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

He appeared before the new Narok Chief Magistrate, Ms. Wilbroda Juma charged with committing the offence on May 31st, 2012 at an unknown place in Kenya.
He faced another charge of stealing the said money on diverse dates between January 29th, 2013 and February 20th 2014 at Eco- bank in Nairobi.

Mr. Khayeli also faced an alternative count of handling the said stolen monies in his account at Eco bank in Nairobi. Khayeli is facing similar charges in three different files which are pending before Narok Law Courts where he and others are alleged to have hatched a scheme to siphon revenue collected from Maasai Mara Game Reserve.

In this latest case, he was not required to plead as the prosecution applied to defer the plea and remand the accused at Narok Police Station for seven days in order to help with investigations which are incomplete.

Narok county senior state counsel, Mr. Evans Gitonga told the court that the accused was only arrested on Monday this week when he came to court to attend a mention in one of the several fraud cases facing him and therefore investigations into the case were not complete and the anti- banking fraud investigators from Nairobi were waiting to question him.

The accused, through his lawyer Joseph Lel put up a spirited opposition to this application but the prosecution carried the day after the court ordered that Khayeli be remanded at Narok Police Station for three days. The case will be mentioned on Friday May 15th when the accused can plead to these new charges.

Tuesday, 12 May 2015

MAASAI IN NAROK PROTESTS LINCENCING OF TREES HARVESTING GIVEN TO NON LOCALS BY KFS

More than 500 members of the Maasai and Ogiek communities in Narok and Nakuru counties have given the Kenya Forest Service 14 days to issue
them with logging licences.

They said the “entire Maasai community in Narok county will demonstrate” if the licences are not issued. The residents accused KFS of issuing 100 permits to “outsiders” in Logman, Olengape and Kiptunga forests last month.
“KFS has discriminated against us in tree harvesting, yet this is our ancestral forest. It has allowed sawmillers from as far as Nairobi, Nakuru and Elburgon to enrich themselves using our resources,” said Olpusimoru MCA Wilson ole
Masikonte.

He was speaking in Olengape ward with Ogiek Welfare Council national coordinator Joseph Towett on Saturday. Resident Francis ole Naibo said KFS director Emilio Mugo ignored applications for logging licences made by seven groups. He said the groups sought audience with him more than 24 times.

“He normally dismisses us on grounds that we should form a sawmillers association before we are allowed to harvest trees,” Naibo said. Masinkonte said in Olengape, Logman and Kiptunga, 87 sawmillers “who are non-residents”
were issued with permits last month.mHe said this violates the rights of residents.

No More Of Njoki Chege’s Ranting, This One Has Literally Killed Her Career


MARRY THOSE WHO KNOW THE GAME

In her “DATE A MAN MARRIED TO FOOTBALL? NOT ME!”
which is done in relatively good prose but frail argument,
Njoki Chege complains about a host of things about the
game of football and relationships. She advises ladies thus:
“If your man, my dear girls, screams and claps when the
likes of Sanchez step into the field, then that man is a
closeted homosexual. How else can you explain a man
shrieking in glee at the sight of another man? So, stop being
disagreeable because your favourite player — who is also
your secret crush — has failed the entire team.” I mean the
Njoki who is always running into people’s relationships and
nerves because she has never understood the offside rule in
football? She does not know football is probably more
creative than drama which her coach offers as an alternative
by her coach in secondary school.
You have heard, for you definitely cannot know, those who
have spared their virginity to the outermost rim of life only
to surrender it to the ‘wrong’ persons. Those of us who have
lost our virginity most recently are like the team which
concedes a late goal. It is the most painful. We are the types
who go around blaming everyone of the opposite gender
thinking that: “all (wo)men are the same”. The late goal
awakens us to the mistakes that are mostly made at latter
and ripe stages of life. As such, we should forever be keen
because the final tide may become the figurative straw that
broke the camel’s back.
On the other side are those knocked-out the Tyson style.
Those who pave way very early in life because they believe it
is needless to waste energy shielding what you will
eventually give. Hush! These is not about virginity or lack of
it thereof, it is about life and death. Na hata kama ni about
virginity and sex kwani “tudu nikii?”The Late Bruno Metsu
would always tell Senegalese football players in their world
cup matches that “every match is a match of your life”.
Football, like any other sport is the sure mimicry of life… it
presents lessons which are applied daily in life.
Njoki, football is not a silly game where 22 men kick and run
after an inflated piece of pigskin. Every panting, sweating
and scoring is the jaw-dropping battle of life outside here. It
is an intellectual battle which is a precipitated statement of
patriotic, economic and ideological conquering of the
strategic and privileged. It is a spherical body in the shape
of the world, on a flat play ground representing the equal
chances that life gives us until we mess up. However, there
will be issues beyond our ability and comprehension. They
are the referee who plays God and makes the ultimate
decisions of and over our lives. Once he decides it is a
penalty there is nothing we can do. The 90-minute time limit
teaches us of our frontiers in life and the time within which
we have to conclude our business on this side of the
universe. Then, there are spectators who ‘know’ more than
the players and the coach. These are people who are experts
of everything including nothing. They are ‘experts’ who
advise you about everything in your life. They are outsiders
who “mourn louder than the owners of the corpse.” Achebe.
In life, the very ambitious always find their behind eaten.
This makes more sense to those who have played against
teams like Barcelona which penetrates anything that is
agape. It is for the simple reason in football that you cannot
attack and defend at the same time. If you go for goals, you
leave your defence prone to counter-attacks. The very
serious in life do not follow the madness that football is thus
eventually lack the tactics of this game of life. For this
reason, lovers have had to come home to cheating spouses
because they were busy attacking opportunities.
Whenever Jose Mourinho plays against Barca, he plays
defensive, his players run least and they spare their energy
for a strategic pounce on the formidable enemy. We must
always know when to attack in life for the rules in the
football pitch teach us all. To Chelsea, it is not the flowery,
decorated and classy presentation that matters but strategy
to get the trophy. There comes a time when clinching the
trophy is all that matters. You know what a man who wants
a lady does. It happened to Njoki when her boyfriend who”
was all about football… and clapping very hard and
screaming like a woman in labour when Manchester United
scored a goal…” came seducing you. It may be the reason
some go for those spouses who may not be as beautiful/
handsome but are result oriented when it comes to marriage.
We do not need models to take to coffee dates and orgasmic
orgies at lap-dancing clubs when it comes to marriage. Such
women have been stress to men who have fought to snatch
their babes from more blessed revellers
However, there are those who can manage beautiful and
productive football like Team Barcelona. Arsenal has tried to
imitate them but they never get the results because life
cannot be an exact duplicate. In addition, these games
present solemn social spheres of life. Whenever Barca plays
Real Madrid, the secessionist narrative of groups like Al-
Shabaab, Boko Haram and ISIS are brought to the fore.
Barcelona comes from Catalonia which is pushing for self-
determination from the main Spain. Every match with teams
outside Catalonia is broader than just football. The political
aspirations, fears and hopes of its people are embodied in
every strain or turn that the magical Messi makes for them.
The other thing that we see in football especially by the
whites is an assertion of their superiority to the black race.
Unlike our Kenyan teams where players carelessly hit against
each other as they injure and aimlessly run in the pitch,
Europesan football is a show of class, wit and strategy.
Watch them play and see the ball running constantly as the
players move calculatively move around with ease. Let the
ball roll, labour less and play best. What of the 400 million
US dollar ‘fight of the century’? What lessons are in and
outside the ring? It is not just how the whites can hype what
is theirs to suck all the money in the world but also the
politics of “you cannot win a major war on American soil”
from outside. Do you know that Manny Pacquiao represented
the poor masses of the rest of the world who feel oppressed,
robbed and abused by Mayweather of the rich system?
Ever known what Muhammad Ali’s philosophy of “float like a
butterfly and sting like a bee” has done to all facets of
human life? I have just stung you like a bee only to marvel
at the beautiful floating butterfly should you be lucky to see
me.
If you do not change tactic, football will forever get a men’s
hundred per cents in everything. If you study football and be
counseled of it, you will conquer him and stop whining on
magazeti ya kufungia nyama. By the way, how do patrons of
the pen like Philip Ochieng’, David Ndii, Roy Gachuhi et al
write on the same day and paper with Njoki Chege? Doesn’t
she suffocate from their resultant linguistic and logical
aroma? Is she capable of abstract thought needed to sustain
a column? It may be the all the City Girl does is to
hallucinate on paper.
Life is a game, you can take these lessons to bed and see
the results.

Monday, 11 May 2015

NAROK NORTH MP MAKES LAMENTING HIS MAIN JOB

Narok North MP Moitalel ole Kenta has told Deputy
President William Ruto and his foot soldiers and
MPs to respect political boundaries and stop
endless political tourism in his constituency.

Kenta complained that most of the DP’s tours to his
Narok North constituency were aimed at politically
undermining him because the visits are allegedly
organised without informing him as the host MP.

“The DP has been making visits to my constituency
and I view those visits as a ploy to undermine me
politically because the organisers keep me out of
the planning team as protocol demands,’’ a bitter
complained.

The last visit by the DP attracted countrywide
condemnation after the majority leader in
parliament Aden Duale nearly exchanged blows
with the chairman of the Council of Governors
Isaac Rutto over the ongoing referendum debate on
Pesa Mashinani and Okoa Kenya.

“Although the deputy president has made many
visits in my area, he has brought no development
agenda for the Narok people except taking
advantage of such forums to politically fight his
perceived enemies using his political spanner boys
like Duale,’’ a furious Kenta complained.

The visit last week by the DP was to mark the Mara
Game Reserve and Mau Forest Day where leaders
were to chart strategies put in place to conserve
the two national heritages but the forum turned
into political showdown.

Kenta, the only TNA MP in Narok county, alleged
that the numerous visits by the DP is making in his
constituency amount to undermining President
Uhuru Kenyatta because the area is TNA zone.

The DP should accept that Narok North electorates
made their right choice and have no regret to have
him as their MP.

Kenta who won the seat after humiliating the self
declared Maasai community kingmaker William
Ole Ntimama who vied on an ODM ticket vowed to
resist any attempts by the DP and area governor
Samuel Ole Tunai to turn his constituency into URP
zone.

He urged his TNA supporters to remain firm with
him and resist any attempts to convince them to
change their loyalty so as to attract development
projects which he claimed the national and county
governments have allegedly denied them because
of their political affiliation.

Roads in Narok North are in pathetic condition
despite the area being classified among
agricultural zones in the county.

“Many farmers have downed their tools after
counting heavy losses for failing to deliver their
farm produce to markets in time due deplorable
condition of roads yet county government is
spending huge amounts of money constructing new
roads in uneconomical areas in order to attract
political mileage,” said Ole Kenta.

He told Tunai to serve all people living in the
cosmopolitan county without discrimination in
line with Jubilee government policy.

The MP claimed that despite overwhelming
support, Uhuru and Ruto-led Jubilee coalition
enjoyed in the whole of Narok county, supporters
allied to TNA are allegedly getting raw deal from
the county government and demanded fair
distribution of available resources to all
irrespective of political affiliation.

Kenta claimed that Governor Tunai for
unknown reasons has blacklisted his Narok North
constituency saying that services, resources and
employment opportunities earmarked for the area
are being shifted to the governor’s perceived
political correct areas .

A furious Kenta wondered why Narok town and
the neighbouring estates which are known TNA
strongholds have been denied services as
evidenced by heaps of garbage that have littered
most pathways and pose health hazard to the
residents.

“Narok town is the county headquarters and
gateway to the world famous Masai Mara Game
Reserve but today, it is rated the dirtiest county
headquarters in country. Governor Tunai and his
team have deliberately ignored Narok town
business community despite huge amount of
revenue they pay to the county through business
licence fees. Is it because they supported and
elected a Jubilee MP?’’ posed Ole Kenta as he called
for fair services to all by both the national and
county governments Kenta made history in Narok county after he
brought to an abrupt end the political life of
veteran Maasai community politician Ntimama.

Kenta was the only MP out six in the county elected
on TNA ticket while others including the governor,
senator and women representative are elected on
URP platform.

Kenta told Narok North constituency residents to
stand up and stop shying away from demanding
from the county their rightful share of the county
cake.

“The governor should share available resources
and employment opportunities equitably to all
communities living in the county irrespective of
their party affiliation or ethnic backgrounds. If
they push us to the wall, we shall seek legal redress
if need be to compel the governor to share equally
the available resources to all us a democratic
right,’’ said Kenta.

Kenta said the current disparity in employment
opportunities and distribution of resources in the
county demonstrated unfairness when some
communities worse of all the Purko clan of the
Maasai community are deliberately locked out.
Kenta said that he has no apology to make to
anybody for demanding the rightful share of the
county cake for the Maa community’s Purko clan
whom he claimed have been unfairly left out in
deployment of officers in senior county and
national government.

“Members of the Purko clan who are the majority
among the Maa speaking community have suffered
under the leadership of the governor Tunai.
They have been completely locked out in favour of
relatively small clans courtesy of their political
affiliation,” Kenta claimed.

He said it is the constitutional right of Purko clan
and other communities living in the county to get
employment in the county for as long as they meet
required entry grades.

The MP vowed not to sit and watch his
people languish in poverty and lack of service
when the governor was importing people from
outside the county to work in the area saying the
county has enough skilled manpower to take all
employment positions.

On development, Kenta accused the county
government of claiming ownership of projects they
have not funded in order to attract political
mileage.

He named the ongoing road project at Lemanet
area funded by his CDF which he claimed some
officers from the governor’s office were spotted
taking photographs with intention to claim
ownership and for several classrooms funded
through his CDF kitty.

The legislator warned that some things happening
at the county government were provocative and
asked for sobriety in approach to issues that affect
the lives of the residents before they explode into
unmanageable crisis.

OBAMA VISIT TO KENYA IS EXPENSIVE

PRESIDENT Barack Obama's July trip to Kenya
will cost US taxpayers a staggering Sh5.7 billion,
almost equivalent to the Kenya government's
annual allocation to Nakuru county.

The cost of the trip has been worked out by
influential US commentators who have asked
Obama to call off the safari, because "it is too
costly for nothing".

It is understood that Obama will be in Kenya for
just a day.

Professor Robert Rotberg, a respected US
governance and foreign affairs scholar,
maintained that America will be compelled to
fork out the billions to mount massive security
because of the al Shabaab threat in Kenya.

“Guarding President Obama in today’s Kenya will
cost approximately $60 million,” Rotberg
predicted in a hard-hitting commentary aimed at
dissuading him from visiting Kenya. It was
headlined, “Going to Kenya Is a Dumb Idea, Mr
President”.

When the US President travels, the White House
travels with him, from the cars he rides in, to the
water he drinks, the gasoline he uses and the
food he eats.

Ahead of his visit is a contingent of Secret Service
personnel, some of who are already in the
country weeks before Obama arrives for a day's
visit.

When the President does finally land in Nairobi,
he will do so on Air Force one, plus a massive
entourage and a motorcade of armour-plated
vehicles. These include the president's bulletproof
limo, known simply as The Beast, a military
ambulance and communications vans packed
with state-of-the art high tech devices.

Around 250 heavily armed Secret Service agents,
dozens of advisers and teams of sniffer dogs will
escort Obama to Kenya in addition to White
House cooks.

Obama's movements during foreign trips are
choreographed down to the minutest detail – by
the US Secret Service and other agencies.
Yesterday, George Musamali, a Kenyan security
expert, put the cost of the Obama's visit – thought
to be about eight hours – at approximately Sh10
billion.

"The Americans will take no chances. They will
put their best foot forward to protect their
President," Musamali said.
The advance team comprising for Obama's visit
last week took charge of Secretary of State John
Kerry's security, with Kenyan forces playing only
a peripheral role.
But Rotberg criticised Obama's trip to Kenya as
lowering the dignity of his office and conferring
legitimacy on Kenya's corrupt leadership.
In a an op-ed for Politico, a political journalism
publication with an online presence, Rotberg
sensationally maintained that Obama's visit will
stoke ethnic divisions within the country and
endanger his own life.
Rotberg observed that, despite President Uhuru
Kenyatta's case being dropped at The Hague, the
global court is still pursuing Deputy President
William Ruto.
“Does President Obama really want to be forced,
inevitably, to be the state guest of a country
where the sitting president and vice-president,
his hosts, have been indicted by the International
Criminal Court?” Rotberg wrote in the respected
US magazine, one of whose slogans is, “All Politics
is Local”.
“Does President Obama truly seek to shake their
hands, officially? How could he, and the United
States avoid being compromised diplomatically
and our promotion of human rights globally
sullied?”
The commentary, which is likely to irritate
Jubilee’s presidential and foreign affairs
strategists, argues that Obama should postpone his
historic trip to Kenya until after he leaves the
White House.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Kenya
last week.
But the top US diplomat did not meet Ruto on his
two-day trip, with diplomatic sources hinting that
Obama too may snub the DP over his ICC charges.

Rotberg termed Kenya “wildly corrupt”.
“Conferring the honor of President Obama’s
office on such thoroughly questionable leaders
would do little to strengthen our own role as a
promoter of good governance and the rule of
law,” he said.

Rotberg also argued, “President Obama naturally
and appropriately will want to visit his paternal
homestead in the Luo heartland. But traveling
there will plunge the American president deeply
into ethnic politics in Kenya, and do nothing for
inter-group harmony in that volatile country”.

Source: The Star

Thursday, 7 May 2015

NAROK COUNTY GOVERNMENT, ENSDA PARTNER TO CONTROL NAROK FLOODS AT COST OF SH 1 BILLION

A committee has been set up to spearhead a Sh1 billion project to deal with perennial floods in Narok.

The project will be undertaken by Narok County Government, Ewaso Ng’iro South Development Authority, Water Resource Management Authority, the National Youth Service and the Kenya Red Cross Society.

Making the announcement on Wednesday, Ewaso Ng’iro authority board chairman George Wambugu said they would raise money and compensate developers who have built along the water ways and repair the drainage system.
They will divert rivers and build dykes and drainages. “We will also build multi-purpose dams in the long run,” he said.

Speaking after chairing an executive board meeting at the authority’s headquarters in Narok town, Mr Wambugu said technical maps had been done and was waiting approval.

This will save thousands of people from the floods and make Narok town safe for investors. Mr Wambugu said the authority was not to blame for the construction of a dam that burst its banks, causing the recent floods in Narok town that killed 15 people.

Narok Governor Samuel Tunai said the government projects were within its
developments plan. “The government will not be deterred by negative talk by leaders as such talk is aimed at achieving a personal agenda,” Mr Tunai said.
Some of the building along the waterways would be demolished and owners compensated, Mr Tunai said.

Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Governor Tunai attends Funeral services for Narok floods victims


The funeral service for 11 people killed by floods that hit Narok town a week ago was held yesterday at Maasai Mara University Stadium. Hundreds of people thronged the stadium to witness the service.
Narok Governor Samuel Tunai, his Deputy Evalyn Aruasa, Women's Representative Soipan Tuya and county commissioner Arthur Osiya were present
The service was led by Rev Davis Kisotu of The House of Miracles Church in Narok towm.
MPs opposing Tunai's leadership and Senator Stephen ole Ntutu skipped the event.
Tunai said the county government will give Sh60,000 to each of the bereaved families and pay the hospital and funeral expenses.