Siasa Duni

Kibaki as gulty as Taylor & Saddam

2009-07-15T16:47:00.002+03:00

How many must Kibaki kill before he can be tried?

Ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor is on trial for ordering the killing of civilians. Saddam Hussein was executed for the trial and execution of 148 Shi'ites. Kibaki Killed thousands. Under Kenyan law, killing one person leads to the gallows.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:24 am ET: Prosecutors say Taylor commanded Sierra Leone rebels responsible for the atrocities from his base in the neighboring West African nation of Liberia, where the former warlord was the elected president. Saddam was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government set up by U.S.-led forces.

On November 5, 2006, Saddam Hussein was convicted of charges related to the 1982 killings of 148 Shi'ites, suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him, and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam was executed on December 30, 2006.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1967 recognizes the right to life. Article 6 declares: 6(1) Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights declares:
Article 4: Human beings are inviolable. Every human being shall be entitled to respect for his life and integrity of his person. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right.’
Kenya has ratified the African Charter, but has not provided through legislation for its effect under her municipal law.

Having ratified ICCPR, Kenya is obligated under its Article 6 to take measures to restrict arbitrary murder of citizens by state agents. The president of Kenya has cannot lawfully give shoot-to-kill orders unless a state of emergency is in effect.

Kenya has ratified the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court. The jurisdiction of the court is limited to war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity – crimes considered to be the most heinous universally. The punishment meted by the court upon conviction for any of these crimes, which also constitute gross human rights violations, is life imprisonment. By ratifying the Rome Statute, one could argue that the state has implicitly acknowledged that it would adhere to its laws.

VIOLATION OF KENYAN LAW
Kibaki committed acts that amount to treason, treachery and promoting warlike undertaking:

ChapterVII - Treason and Allied Offenses
40. (1) Any person who, owing allegiance to the Republic, in Kenya or elsewhere -
(a) compasses, imagines, invents, devises or intends - (iii) the overthrow by unlawful means of the Government; and
(b) expresses, utters or declares any such compassings, imaginations, inventions, devices or intentions by publishing any printing or writing or by any overt act or deed, is guilty of the offense of treason. 2) Any person who, owing allegiance to the Republic -
(a) levies war in Kenya against the Republic; or (3) Any person who is guilty of the offense of treason shall be sentenced to death. 42. Any person who -
(a) becomes an accessory after the fact to treason; or
(b) knowing that any person intends to commit treason, does not give information thereof with all reasonable despatch to the Attorney-General, administrative officer, magistrate, or officer in charge of a police station, or use other reasonable endeavours to prevent the commission of the offense, is guilty of the felony termed misprision of treason and is liable to imprisonment for life.

Kibaki commits Treachery, violating section. 24 of 1967, s.4. 43A, by inviting Museveni to wage war on Kenyans. Any person who, with intent to help the enemy, does any act which is designed or likely to give assistance to the enemy, or to interfere with the maintenance of public order or the government of Kenya, or to impede the operation of the disciplined forces, or to endanger life, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.

Kibaki is liable to be charged for Promoting warlike undertaking. Violating 24 of 1967, s.4.44. Any person who, without lawful authority, carries on, or makes preparation for carrying on, or aids in or advises the carrying on of, or preparation for, any war or warlike undertaking with, for, by or against any person or body or group of persons in Kenya, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life. The Shoot to Kill Order by Kibaki constituted murder under Kenyan Penal code and is a crime against humanity

Jacksons fight over MJ burial

2009-07-13T07:00:00.001+03:00

Michael Jackson’s mum has clashed with his brother Jermaine over whether the late music legend should be buried at Neverland.

Jermaine wants MJ’s former fantasy-style ranch home to be his final resting place. But mum Katherine has put her foot down, saying the ranch is "tainted" because police raided it during child abuse investigations. A source close to Katherine said: "Michael left Neverland for good, never to return. He felt violated by law enforcement after his molestation trial. He felt this place he had built had been tainted. Katherine continues to be her son’s protector even after his death." Friends said heated discussions have taken place at the Jackson’s Encino home over the issue. But despite the debate, the family has still not decided on a burial spot.

Jermaine has already spoken out in public about his hope for a Neverland grave. Speaking from the ranch, he said: "This is his home, he created this. Why wouldn’t he be here? I feel his presence. And I love that." Jermaine hinted at his clash with Katherine, saying: "I want my mother to come back here and feel what I feel. He built this place with love and you can see it and feel it."

The funeral has been put on hold until medical tests on MJ’s brain have been completed. MJ’s coffin was taken to a secret location after Tuesday’s memorial service in Los Angeles. LAPD chief William Bratton refused to reveal the location of the body, adding: "We have to keep some secrets." He did confirm the body would not be returned to the Forest Lawn cemetery, where the family held a private service before the memorial.

If they do decide on Neverland as his final resting place, the Jackson family will have to apply for a permit to bury the body or scatter his ashes there. Obtaining the relevant permission from Santa Barbara County officials could take weeks. But County spokesman William Boyer said they had not been contacted by the Jackson clan. “Local jurisdiction would have to be asked. We have not received any contact,” he said.

Gaetano is off the shelf, ladies.

2009-07-12T07:00:00.001+03:00

Uhuru's budget still has "computer errors"...

2009-07-11T08:00:00.001+03:00

A parliamentary committee will question Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta over ghost allocations in his Budget speech last month.

Agriculture Committee chairman John Mututho said inconsistencies discovered in the allocation of resources to the ministry of Northern Kenya and Arid Lands Development showed a new style of mischief carried out by Treasury officials. “How can funds be allocated in a manner that does not reflect the truth? The minister in his speech gave the ministry Sh10 billion, now it actually received Sh4 billion,” Mr Mututho said.

The Naivasha MP said the minister should not have purported to allocate Sh10 billion to the ministry in his speech while the money is actually given to other ministries. The committee members said since the ministry had overlapping roles specific to Northern Kenya, technical officers should be seconded there for ease of coordination and implementation rather than “keep them in mother ministries just for accruing other ministries funds.” They said similar mistakes must be in many ministries being scrutinised by parliamentary committees and in such events, loopholes of corruption due to the confusion created technically were most likely to take place.

The funding shortage has forced President Kibaki to order the Finance minister to allocate an extra Sh5 billion to the Ministry of Northern Kenya and Arid Lands Development. The President made the decision after being told that the Sh4 billion the ministry got was too little to cater for the vast region. The increase was disclosed by the docket minister, Mr Mohammed Elmi, at a meeting with Mr Mututho’s parliamentary committee on agriculture.

The budget figures read by Mr Kenyatta indicated the ministry had been allocated more than Sh10 billion whereas the vote was a “paltry Sh4 billion”. The committee, which held a post-budget analysis meeting with Mr Elmi and ministry officials, was dismayed that the Sh10 billion turned out to be Sh4 billion. Mr Mututho said since independence, the region had received little attention from successive governments.

End of the road: Are we about to see the resolution of impunity in Kenya?

2009-07-10T14:30:00.009+03:00

Kenya’s attempts to delay punishment of top suspects accused of crimes against humanity on Thursday backfired after chief mediator Kofi Annan abruptly handed over the secret Waki list to the International Criminal Court.

What started as recommendations for the formation of a commission of inquiry into the violence following the presidential election in 2007 is now formally an international judicial matter and Kenya’s options have all but ended. Irritated by the deadlines set by the Panel of Eminent African Personalities, which brokered a deal to end the violence last year, the government sent a delegation to Mr Annan and later to negotiate directly with the prosecutor at the ICC, Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

The reception in Europe was far from warm. Mr Annan thought Kenyan lacked the political will to punish the perpetrators of the violence. His advice was for the leaders to speak to Mr Moreno-Ocampo first and then he would communicate his decision. He summoned the other members of the panel of Eminent African Personalities, Mr Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Ms Graça Machel of South Africa and they decided to hand over the list of suspects to the International Criminal Court.

His “communication” on Thursday caught everyone by surprise and threw the government into a panic.

Both the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement have paid lip service to the need to end impunity without real commitment to punishment for crimes against humanity. ODM, according to a party apparatchik, is “focusing on... the officials who were in charge when innocent people were killed by police.” The feeling in ODM is that more of PNU people stand to be prosecuted than its own. The dossier it sent to the International Criminal Court in January last year consisted of evidence of murder by the State, including postmortem reports showing that victims had been shot.

On the other hand, PNU appears to believe that the bloody crackdown on protesters was a law and order issue, which is necessary to preserve the state, and that the Mungiki slaughter in Naivasha and elsewhere was “spontaneous” retaliation for killings and mass evictions reported in the Rift Valley and elsewhere. In other words, ODM started it. In both parties, those responsible for the slaughter believe that they could threaten new violence to deter prosecutions.

Some have argued that what is needed is “healing” and “reconciliation” rather than prosecution.

This explains the fashionable idea of referring even the worst criminals to the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo is on record as having said that a special tribunal would only be formed if it did not threaten stability, an indication that there has been no single-minded pursuit of justice.

What started as recommendations for the formation of a commission of inquiry into the violence following the presidential election in 2007 is now formally an international judicial matter and Kenya’s options have all but ended.

All these are moot arguments now: According to the agreement entered into with the International Criminal Court, Kenya must establish a court or tribunal to try the suspects, offer proof that it was protecting witnesses and preserving evidence — all by September. The court or tribunal must not only be accepted by Parliament — a near impossibility given MPs’ hostility to a local tribunal — but must also have the broad support of many sectors of the society, according to Mr Annan’s letter. To build consensus and get MPs to pass the necessary laws in three months would require the kind of commitment to ending impunity that Kenya is yet to demonstrate.

On Thursday, Mr Annan separately called President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to inform them of his decision, sparking a flurry of meetings at Harambee House, the President’s office, attended by both the President and the PM. The two, it appears, did not expect Mr Annan to hand over the envelope to Mr Moreno-Ocampo, especially after last week’s visit to Geneva and The Hague by the government delegation. “Mr Kofi Annan today (Thursday) informed President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga that the Panel had transmitted to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court the sealed envelope and supporting materials entrusted to him by the Waki Commission on 17 October 2008,” Mr Annan’s statement said. To underline the importance of his calls, Mr Annan also wrote separately to the President and the PM to inform them of the decision taken by the panel. He said the decision was reached after the government delegation of Cabinet ministers Mutula Kilonzo, James Orengo and Attorney General Amos Wako met Mr Moreno-Ocampo. The prosecutor gave the government until end of September to show proof that it was prosecuting the prominent people behind the violence in which more than 1,133 Kenyans were killed.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s office confirmed receiving the sealed enveloped and materials bearing evidence of the killings from Mr Annan. The ICC chief prosecutor, who is Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on a visit to several Africa countries, has stressed no one will be spared if the government fails to meet its side of the bargain. Sources said the meeting between President Kibaki, Mr Wako, Mr Kilonzo and Mr Orengo did not agree on the kind of judicial mechanism that they would put in place. ODM had expressed fears that a special division of the High Court may not meet international standards. Mr Wako, Mr Kilonzo and Mr Orengo were tasked to quickly work out a judicial mechanism that would be acceptable to MPs, The Hague and the public.

Although Mr Annan had welcomed the government’s efforts to either establish a local tribunal or a judicial mechanism to try the suspects, he declared that it must meet international standards and be agreed on by all Kenyans. However, he hit at the slow pace of putting in place a mechanism and warned that impunity must be tackled for Kenya to embark on a fresh chapter. He reminded the government that the public was becoming restless with the delay in implementing reforms under Agenda Four of the National Accord. “Justice delayed is justice denied. The people of Kenya want to see concrete progress on impunity. Without such progress, the reconciliation between ethnic groups and the long-term stability of Kenya is in jeopardy,” he warned.

A draft Cabinet paper on the establishment of the special court has been submitted to the President and the PM, although it appears that it will meet strong opposition in Parliament. The proposal seeks to set up a special division of the High Court that will be composed of foreign and local judges. The prosecutor and the investigator will be non-Kenyans.

Obama lambasts Kenya

2009-07-10T07:00:00.001+03:00

President Barack Obama has spoken out on his administration’s approach to Africa on the eve of a symbolic visit to Ghana this weekend at which he is expected to make a major speech outlining Washington’s foreign policy goals to the continent.

Mr Obama, whose father was Kenyan, was interviewed by the online news service All Africa.com. In the excerpts released on Wednesday by the US President’s Press Office, Mr Obama singled out Tanzania in the East African region for praise, was critical of Kenya’s democratic path and silent on Uganda. “You’ve seen some very good work by the administration in Tanzania focusing on how to deliver concrete services to the people, and wherever folks want to help themselves, we want to be there as a partner,” he said. “And I think that you’ve got some very strong leadership in Africa that is ready to move forward and we want to be there with them,” Obama added.

Mr Obama repeats what Africa experts have already called the linchpin of current US administration’s African policy; a focus on good governance. The US President makes it clear that his choice of Ghana for his first African visit is because Accra has been characterised as a stable country in Africa having gone through two peaceful transitions of power. “Countries that are governed well, that are stable and where the leadership recognises that they are accountable to the people and that institutions are stronger than any one person have a track record of producing results for the people” Mr Obama said.

Mr Obama said he was concerned about the country of his father’s birth, Kenya, which has also come to symbolise the soft underbelly of democracies in Africa. Once considered an island of stability, Kenya descended into chaos after the disputed December elections of 2007. “I am concerned about how the political parties do not seem to be moving into a permanent reconciliation that would allow the country to move forward” he said. On aid, Mr Obama said a holistic approach was necessary which recognised that Africans were responsible for their destiny. “I think what’s hampered the advancement in Africa is that for many years we’ve made excuses about corruption and poor governance; that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism. I’m not a believer in excuses,” he said.

STOP PRESS: Annan hands over names of poll violence suspects to The Hague

2009-07-09T15:51:00.003+03:00

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has handed over the envelope containing the names of Kenya post-election violence suspects to The Hague.

He said that he has done so after an agreement was reached between a delegation from the Kenya Government and senior officials of the International Criminal Court in Geneva. "In light of that agreement, I wish to inform you that the Panel of Eminent African Personalities has handed over to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the sealed envelope and supporting materials entrusted to me by the Waki Commission on 17th October 2008," said the statement addressed to Prime Minister Raila Odinga and copied to President Kibaki.

Mr Annan head a meeting with the Kenyan delegation comprising the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Mutula Kilonzo, Lands minister James Orengo, Attorney General Amos Wako and Mr William Cheptumo, the Assistant minister for Justice. “We discussed the status of the implementation of the National Accord and progress on Agenda Four items reforms, including the modalities of the establishment of a Special Tribunal, as recommended by the Commission of Inquiry into the Post Election Violence in Kenya,” said Mr Annan. "The next day on the 3rd of July 2009, the delegation of the Government of Kenya met with senior officials of the International Criminal Court including the Prosecutor Mr Luis Moreno Ocampo, and came to an agreement."

The Kenya delegation left for Geneva, Switzerland on June 30 on a mission to convince chief mediator Kofi Annan to give the government more time to form a local tribunal. Said Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo: “This is a trip with a specific mission which we have to accomplish. It has to do with the tribunal, but I cannot reveal the details now. The consultative meeting is also meant to explore ways of tackling impunity once and for all. The post-election violence was just a tip of the iceberg. We also have to deal decisively with impunity that has been prevalent throughout post-independent Kenya.”

Opinion has been sharply divided among Kenya leaders on which way would be best to try the suspects: A local tribunal or the ICC route. Both President Kibaki and PM Odinga favour the local solution, but most MPs are opposed to the idea saying that the trial could be manipulated by politicians.

Attempts to form a local tribunal were thwarted after MPs defeated a motion in Parliament meant to pave way for a Special Tribunal in March this year.

US pays Uganda to arm Somali fighters

2009-07-09T09:58:00.006+03:00

KAMPALA - Ugandan troops in Mogadishu have been secretly selling guns and ammunition to Somalia’s struggling Transitional Federal Government on behalf of the United States government, the Daily Monitor reports.

Explaining American assistance to the TFG during a recent press briefing to US journalists in Washington, D.C., a top US State Department official said Uganda has been supplying arms to Somali troops and picking dollars from Washington. “We have gone to the Ugandans when the TFG (Transitional Federal Government) has run short of weapons and ammunition and told the Ugandans to provide what TFG needs,” the official, who was not named in the partly classified June 26 briefing, said. “When the Ugandans provide those weapons, they give us a bill and an accounting for what they have turned over [to Somali government] and we then give them the money to replace the stores and the arms.”
The official said the Ugandan People Defence Force has mostly supplied small arms and ammunition and had increased its supplies in May when Somali Islamic extremists increased their attacks on the TFG and government forces.

The UPDF, which is in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping force to the country, is said to have been paid up to $10 million for arming and training the TFG fighting force. This is the first time the arms-for-cash deal is being made public and the revelations could mean that the UPDF is violating the neutral terms of its peacekeeping mandate by arming one of the combatants.

Authorities in Kampala were quick to denounce the revelations as “a lie”. Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, the commander of the UPDF Land Forces, who has been overseeing the deployment of Ugandan troops to help stabilise Mogadishu, told Daily Monitor that “it is Washington that is giving the arms to Somalia. “The only thing we have done is to be the link to pass those weapons to TFG because the Americans cannot be on the ground to do this themselves.”

President Museveni told journalists at a press conference earlier this month that it was fine for the US to arm Somalis to fend off a rebel onslaught on the capital. “These people fighting in Somalia are wasting their time,” President Museveni said at the time. “What a democrat should do in Somalia is allow peace and demand elections.” Details of the arms-for-cash deal emerged as the beleaguered Somali President Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Sheriff met Mr Museveni in Kampala.

The revelations could mean that the UPDF is violating the neutral terms of its peacekeeping mandate by arming one of the combatants.

According to a State House statement, the two leaders discussed bilateral issues concerning the two countries and reviewed the situation in Somalia and other regional matters. The US State Department official said that the UPDF had supplied small arms and limited munitions but “not artillery pieces, armoured vehicles or tanks” to the TFG soldiers. “These are weapons that would be used in an urban environment, fighting a counter-guerrilla insurgency,” the official said, “We have provided funds for the purchase of weapons; and have asked the two units that are there [in Mogadishu], particularly the Ugandans, to provide weapons to the TFG, and we have backfilled the Ugandans for what they have provided to the TFG government.”

Shadow Defence Minister Mr Angiro Gutmoi (FDC) said he was not aware of the arms-for-cash deal but said such a transaction is “not authorised by the Ugandan Parliament”. The Defence and Army spokesman, Maj. Felix Kulayigye, said the UPDF is only involved in training the Somali forces and securing vital state installations. “I am not aware of what the Americans are talking about and I don’t believe in telling lies.”

Uganda and Burundi have more than 4,000 troops deployed in Somalia under Amisom. The heavily undermanned and underfunded peacekeeping force is meant to secure the Presidential Palace, air and sea ports and the city’s main roads but has come under increasing attacks from Islamic extremists. The Ugandan government has defended its deployment in Somalia saying instability in that country, which has not had a functioning government in almost two decades, undermines security in the whole region.

In March, an Ilyushin-76 plane, suspected to be ferrying arms for Amisom troops in Mogadishu, crashed shortly after takeoff from Entebbe airport, killing all 11 people on board, three of them top Burundian army officers. The manifest of the cargo aircraft, chartered by Dynacorp, an American company, shows the carrier was ferrying at least 16 tonnes of military supplies. The army said then that the plane was carrying mainly tents and water purifiers although the plane’s owner claimed it had been shot down. The claims have not been verified. Transport Minister John Nasasira has said that an investigative team led by Col. (rtd) Chris Mudoola is yet to complete its work after failing to locate the plane’s flight data recorder.

Obama invites Kenyans' comments on Ghana tour

2009-07-08T07:00:00.000+03:00

United States President Barack Obama has invited Kenyans to send him text messages with advance comments and questions ahead of his visit to Ghana on Friday.

The invite comes less than a week after Mr Obama strongly criticised Kenya’s leadership, expressing concern about the country’s political and economic direction. According to the US embassy in Nairobi, Mr Obama will directly answer selected questions through local radio broadcasts in Africa. Those who respond early will receive SMS highlights from his speech in Accra on Saturday, July 11.

Mr Obama is scheduled to visit Ghana from Friday in what is seen as his reward to Africa’s icon of democracy. The US President was scheduled to leave Russia last evening for Italy for the G8 meeting that starts on Wednesday. In Ghana, Mr Obama is expected to outline his administration’s policy on Africa in a speech on his first visit as president to the continent. The US president skipped Kenya on his Africa tour, the homeland of his father, for what he singled out as the slow pace of reforms.

In his most pointed comments on the country of his father’s birth, the US President tore into Kenya’s leadership saying that “political parties do not seem to be moving into a permanent reconciliation that would allow the country to move forward.”

The service is available in both English and French.

To send a text message to President Obama from Kenya, one should text 'English’ or 'French’ to 5683. Users will receive a confirmation of their enrollment and costs in Kenya will be charged at the normal local SMS rate depending on the service provider.

Financial Crisis!

2009-07-07T16:14:00.002+03:00

The Question of the Day is...Will the Dollar fall or not?

Moral is: Be a tight ass.

Why Africans are world’s fastest... and living to be 100

2009-07-07T12:31:00.003+03:00

By Charles Onyango Obbo

I was watcing athletic on TV last Wednesday night when an age-old question returned to bother me:

Why are Africans, and black people in general, world champions at the sprints, middle distance and long distance races (the marathon), but not pole vault, the high jump, or swimming?

Why are Eastern Africans (Ethiopians and Kenyans) so absolutely dominant in the middle distance races and marathon? There have been many reasons offered for this, from biology, to environment. But what it is about the weather, a community’s embrace of athletics, or genes, would make one a good runner and not a jumper, no one has quite been able to explain.

I suspect that history, especially slavery and colonialism, and economic conditions in Africa today, might also explain why we are great runners but lousy pole vaulters. In the 19th and early 20th century Africa, whether you survived, perished, or were enslaved was down to your legs. If you could run fast enough, you escaped the slave hunters. If it was not slave hunters, but the warrior chief from the next hill launching a surprise attack on your village, your survival often depended on whether you were swift-legged enough to escape.

Even if you were captured by slave traders, you still needed robust lungs to survive. Millions of Africans died on slave ships, or in the squalid conditions they were held in slavery. Only the toughest made it. In America, they continued running. Only the fastest made it to freedom or escaped the racist lynch mobs. Their great great grandchildren, present-day African-Americans, inherited their robust genes and quick legs.

In Africa, things didn’t change. As our wars continued, the people who would find safety were the ones who were able to make it in one piece to a neighbouring country as refugees. During the many famines that have ravaged Africa, and in the refugee camps, again it is those with strong legs to run and get to the food first, who are more likely to survive.

One of the most tragic, but also awesome sights, is watching the UN or Red Cross do food drops in some remote place in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, or Somalia, which are inaccessible to relief supply lorries. It takes remarkable athleticism to get to a sack of food from an air drop, and lug it off to your tent safely without it being pulled off your back by other desperate hands.

Anyone who has had to travel about Nairobi and most other African cities at dawn will know about the large crowds of poor workers from the slums in the outskirts walking into town for labour, and streaming out – again on foot—to return to their shanty homes at dusk.

These men and women do a lot of walking, almost daily, year upon year.

Since over centuries and generations we have survived partly because of our strong legs, you can argue that over this period, the collective blessings as Africans and black people have become resident in our legs. Great runners like like Usain Bolt and Paul Tergat are, because strong African men and women were, some time in the 1750s.

Another age-old problem was about, well, age itself. Why, given exactly the same conditions and health condition, will one man die at 60, yet another live to a ripe old age of 110 years? You wouldn’t have imagined it, but this is even more complicated than why black people are such fine runners.

On June 19, the world’s oldest man died. Tomoji Tanabe, a Japanese retired engineer, died peacefully in his sleep. He was 113 years and 274 days old. The Independent reported that the secret of Tanabe’s long life was that he stayed away from alcohol and cigarettes all his life.

With the death of Tanabe, the title of the world’s oldest man passed to a Briton, Henry Allington. Today, he is 113 years and 26 days old. Allington, the last surviving founder of the Royal Air Force, has seen three centuries, two world wars, and 18 World Cups, The Independent noted importantly. So, if you went by Tanabe, you would say that the man who wants to live to be 100 years should stay away from booze, cigarettes and, according to some centenarians, women.

Yes, until Allington – quite some character he is – was asked about the secret to his longevity. He replied: ‘‘Cigarettes, whisky, and wild, wild women.’’

So there you are. There is no secret.

British chief spy blows cover on Facebook

2009-07-06T12:08:00.004+03:00

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has defended the next head of MI6 after details of his personal life were posted on Facebook. Pictures and private details of Sir John Sawers, who will take on the post in November, were revealed on an easily accessible profile page of his wife, Lady Shelley Sawers.

After a career as a diplomat, culminating in his current post as the UK's permanent representative to the United Nations, Sir John has become accustomed to a relatively public existence. Basic biographical details, including some information on his family, are already available in his Who's Who entry but it is the level of detail on the social networking site and the ease of access which has raised eyebrows.

The publication of information on the location of the family's London flat is likely to complicate security arrangements, at least in the short term. Up-to-date photographs not only of his three children but also their partners and Sir John's elderly parents are also made available on the site, meaning that they can be more easily identified. Patrick Mercer warned that family members could potentially be targeted by abductors or terrorists. The page was taken down after the Mail on Sunday informed the Foreign Office.

Mr Miliband denied that national security had been compromised, saying it was "no state secret" that the MI6 chief wore Speedos on holiday. And shadow business secretary Ken Clarke said the UK's enemies "did not wholly rely on the Mail on Sunday and Facebook for their information".

Disclosures on Lady Sawers' Facebook page have led to concerns that Britain's top spymaster's personal security has been compromised even before he takes up his post...

Lady Sawers disclosed details including the location of the London flat used by the couple and the whereabouts of their three children and of Sir John's parents, the Mail on Sunday reported. Mr Miliband told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "What are you leading the news with that ... The fact that there's a picture that the head of the MI6 goes swimming. Wow that really is exciting. It is not a state secret that he wears Speedo swimming trunks, for goodness sake let's grow up." Mr Clarke dismissed the potential security implications of the information - which he said he was certain Britain's enemies would have already known. "In the old days we used to keep the name secret, all photographs were banned and I never really believed that the Russians didn't know who the head of MI6 and MI5 was," he told Sky News' Sunday Live. "I suspect that the enemies of this country do not wholly rely on the Mail on Sunday and Facebook for their information so I personally would get a little more calm."

The Liberal Democrats insisted that Gordon Brown should call an inquiry. Foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey said: "Normally, I would welcome greater openness in Government for officials or politicians but this type of exposure verges on the reckless."

Although his daughter, Corinne, has chosen a career in the limelight, the fact that she is the daughter of the head of MI6 has now been placed firmly in the public domain by the disclosures. Even an actress in the Archers has been inextricably linked to the spymaster. Lady Sawers's failure to activate the simple privacy settings available on Facebook also raises questions about how the family is adapting to such a sensitive role.

Moaning about Annan won’t bring the justice we crave

2009-07-03T14:17:00.003+03:00

By LUCY ORIANG'

Someone really wise once coined a saying that what goes round comes round. I like to think of it as the Boomerang Effect. Our political corps is now discovering just how disastrous some of the things it does under cover of darkness can be for its ambitions.

Big and small, the presumed suspects are stewing in their own soup over last year’s poll violence — all because of a handful of names in an envelope held by Kofi Annan. There has been little evidence of remorse so far in those quarters, just more bravado and a determined effort to escape justice. Last year’s victims are dead and gone. The walking wounded no longer matter. We can appease our conscience by throwing a couple of billions of shillings or so at them in the Budget, and hope they are too emotionally drained to care for anything but basic survival.

But while money makes the world go round, it cannot guarantee amnesia when it comes to the kind of atrocities that have happened in Kenya all the way from independence. We can postpone the day of reckoning, as we have consistently done with each massacre and assassination, but the past refuses to remain buried and forgotten. Putting off the opening of the Annan envelope just ensures that those who are haunted by their evil deeds will continue to look over their shoulders. Ordinary folk have already launched their campaign for a public show of regret for their role in the unprecedented political violence of last year. It is easy to laugh off the goings-on at rallies such as the one put up by evangelist David Owuor in Eldoret recently. But they say a great deal about the state of the nation. The most unlikely agents of crime turned up with loot ranging from chicken to rolls of iron roofing sheets in an orgy of repentance. They confessed their sins and begged for forgiveness. It is hard to tell whether they were genuine or simply terrified of divine retribution or the long arm of the witchdoctor. But they at least opened the door to reconciliation.

The political class has some distance to go before it can lay down arms, it seems. From them, we get walk-outs and predictions of dire consequences should anyone attempt to bring to book the yet-to-be-made-public prime suspects. We get misguided attempts to hold this nation hostage to their chequered careers. Kenya is not ready for truth and justice, if the top dogs are to be believed. So here we are, having sent all of three distinguished lawyers to plead with Kofi Annan for more time to form a local tribunal to try the violence suspects. The Gitobu Imanyara camp is equally determined to defeat again any move short of taking the bad boys and girls to The Hague. In the early stages of this debate, I was in the Hague camp. I am having second thoughts.

The alarm bells are ringing too loudly to be ignored. When MPs start speaking the same language, the conspiracy theory antenna goes up, as it does when they talk too fast and too often or issue collective threats. ODM ministers have recently been beating the drums of war, saying the special tribunal route will “finish” the party and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. They definitely know something we do not.

But there might be an unexpected gain from this “finishing” business if all this soul-searching leads to ending impunity and guaranteeing that future elections will not be tampered with. We have a backlog of political assassinations and ethnic violence dating back to the immediate post-independence period to come to terms with, after all. Mr Odinga is on the proverbial horns of a dilemma. He can say no to hostage politics and let ODM die. That way he claims a legacy of having taken a stand on something essential to the survival of this nation and gives way graciously to a new way of doing things. There is a challenge there for us too. There is no such thing as collective Kalenjin, Kikuyu or Luo benefit or guilt over the events of years past. Nor is there blood on the hands of every member of any community that has been caught up in ethnic/political disturbances in Kenya’s relatively short history. Criminals have identities. They should carry their own cross. The politicians really ought to stop bleating about Annan’s envelope and trying to pre-empt justice.

We, too, can do ourselves a favour and stop worshipping little gods with feet of clay. If they are having sleepless nights over the imminent collapse of their political careers, it is well deserved insomnia.

Al Sharpton just needs to stop

2009-07-03T12:46:00.001+03:00

On June 30th, fans gathered at the Apollo Theater in New York to celebrate the life of Michael Jackson. The event began at 2pm and a moment of silence was scheduled at 5:26 pm (the East Coast time of Jackson’s death). Once again somebody had to act a fool. There’s always gotta be some fuckery involved in everything. Well, the Rev. Al Sharpton decided to get on stage and grind on some ghetto bunny from the audience. I’m not sure what the exact situation was, but I can’t imagine that this would ever be appropriate. It’s almost as bad as Joe Jackson constantly publicizing his new record label that has “Blue Ray technology” whenever someone asks him about his son’s death...

Silence the village madman

2009-07-02T15:36:00.004+03:00

By MUTUMA MATHIU

I confess I have been writing saucy war headlines. We journalists and our soulmates in certain sections of society, mainly MPs, talking heads and other armchair jockeys, are in the grip of a bloodlust which started with Migingo and followed the Tana westwards.

We probably need to come down a little from our armchair balloons and take a second look at this war proposition. There are two issues. One, is war itself; the second is the so-called enemy, the machinegun-toting, pickup riding, suicide attack-threatening, gentlemen of al-Shabaab.

War. It’s a nasty, expensive business. One soldier told me that armies don’t go to war (they just do the shooting), countries do. When you go to war, you throw everything into it. You open your treasury to the military and you close it to everything else. No CDF, no roads, no digital villages, no undersea cables. Just bullets and MREs.

I was surprised when a Saudi I recently met in London told me his wealthy kingdom is basically broke after Gulf War One. One of the biggest beefs in Saudi Arabia, he told me, is that few Saudis can afford to live in their own houses.

The government has no money to build them houses or give them soft loans because all the money went into paying for that war. So war is expensive even for people who shower in crude. Then of course many, many of your people are killed. In a sense, when a country goes to a serious war, it gambles its very survival. It is not the kind of thing you want to do too often.

And (this is the enemy part of the argument) for what? To teach 2,000 Somali tribesmen a lesson? Would they even get it?

Conventional military reasoning is that al-Shabaab is not an army; it is a group of thugs, a militia which is guided by no ideology, no coherent policy other than a misreading of religion, bravado and the commercial interests of the warlords who pay, train and arm them.

It’s not capable of waging war, not in the conventional sense. It is only capable of committing criminal acts, including serious ones such as terrorism. In that sense, al-Shabaab is a problem to be dealt with by the Rapid Response Unit of the Administration Police, rather than the 78 Tank Battalion.

The Somali state is in an unprecedented condition of collapse. Without a government for 28 years, it is not just law and order which no longer exists. It is a society without organised healthcare, education system or infrastructure. A military victory over al-Shabaab will not solve the problem of state collapse.

Those are the sane, moderate arguments, the kind that you are likely to get from the Kenyan military establishment. My own perspective is different, militant, impatient, and quite likely hotheaded. But, having been born and bred where I was born and bred, can anyone really blame me?

By any rational definition, Somalia operates and functions as an enemy country. It hurts Kenya’s vital interests, including its economy and security. It hurts our pockets through piracy and smuggling (one of the biggest criminal operations in Africa) and the terrorism it breeds.

We spend billions of shillings watching Somalia and protecting ourselves against it, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of illegal guns it pumps into our streets, resulting in murder and mayhem. It’s extremists are radicalising some Kenyans and possibly turning them against their own country. By allying itself with our enemy, al-Qaeda, one can argue that Somalia has chosen its side.

The war in Somalia, many people will agree, is likely to lay the foundation for an even bigger terrorist network in Kenya. Some young people are being indoctrinated in funny institutions, then sneaked across the border where they are trained and used as cannon fodder by warlords. They are told they are going to fight a jihad.

When they come back, scarred by war, their brains addled by al-Qaeda propaganda, they pose a danger to their communities, their mosques and their country. Many are, of course, those who do not return.

The picture is, of course, a lot more complex. By some estimates, 90 per cent of Somalis have no time for al-Shabaab. They may be chaotic and lawless, but they are moderates. This silent and powerless majority is as much of a victim as the man who is shot in the streets of Nairobi with a gun smuggled from Somalia.

But that is the nature of these things. Not every German in 1938 was Nazi. That didn’t stop the German nation from going to war, nor did it stop the allies from banging its head.

The use of an army is to fight and to deter. I fear that the Kenyan forces, because of lying unused for so long, are losing their deterrence factor. Our enemies don’t know what they are capable of and, therefore, don’t fear them.

And, finally, the most controversial of ‘em all: Can our army fight? After decades of abuse by politicians through corrupt procurement, is our military intact, well-supplied and ready? Do we have hard, real men under arms or do we have fat wimps who while away their lives drinking beer, playing darts in the mess and conveniently forgetting that they were hired to fight?

When the village madman stands on your fence and insults your wife, you can do two things. One, you can quite reasonably explain to everyone what they already know, that he is mad. Or you can wait for him at the village path in the dark with your rungu and take out his kneecap. You will be surprised at how, in future, his madness will exclude disrespect to your lady wife.

The thing with village madmen is that they are the world’s greatest escalation experts. They will first insult, then attack your wife. If still nothing happens, they will burn your damn house.

Michael Jackson cut dad out of last will

2009-07-01T15:18:00.004+03:00

Michael Jackson cut his father out of his last will in a move that would deprive him of a share in the singer's fortune, it has been reported.

The Wall Street Journal said the document, which was drafted in 2002, divides the pop star's estate between his mother, three children and a number of charities. It also emerged that Jackson was worth a net 236 million dollars (£143 million) in March 2007. Financial documents showed the singer held 567.6 million dollars (£345 million) in assets and 331 million (£201 million) in debt at that time.

The apparent emergence of a will contradicts earlier statements from the Jackson family which implied the pop star died intestate - without a will in place. In court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, the singer's parents - Joe and Katherine - stated they had not come across a will. But according to the Wall Street Journal, a document does exist, naming lawyer John Branca and a music executive John McClain as executives.

The lack of his father's name as a beneficiary in the will follows earlier allegation that the Jackson patriarch used to hit Michael and his brothers. In his 1988 book Moonwalk, the singer wrote that Joe was strict with his children and would beat them if they missed a step or note during rehearsals.

Government of Kenya to protect Kabuga's assets!

2009-07-01T14:00:00.006+03:00

The frozen assets of Rwandan fugitive Felicien Kabuga will be protected by the Kenya government until a case it has filed has been heard and determined.

In a ruling made on yesterday, the High Court said that Kenya was a voluntary member of the UN and among resolutions passed by the Security Council was for members to fully cooperate. He said that since the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda had asked Kenya for assistance, the latter had to comply.

Through an application, the fugitive’s wife, Josephine Mukazitoni, wanted the properties she co-owns with her husband unfrozen saying Kenya had no legal right to seek a freeze on the family’s assets. Mukazitoni also argued that Kenyan courts have no jurisdiction over the case as it arises from a matter pending before a tribunal under a different jurisdiction.

Her property situated in Nairobi, known as Spanish Villas, were frozen last year following an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko. According to State Law Office, a joint team of investigators from the tribunal and the Kenya police was formed in December 2007 to trace the fugitive. The team later discovered that Kabuga was receiving Sh290,000 after every three months from the property in Nairobi. The Department of Public Prosecutions suspected that the money was assisting the fugitive evade arrest and justice. The money, said the State Law Office, was usually wired by a firm managing the property—Kenya Trust Company Limited—every three months to an account co-owned by Kabuga and his wife in Belgium. The fugitive is also said to have operated an account at Commercial Bank of Africa in Nairobi, but it was closed on September 22, 2006, after which Kenya Trust Company started sending Sh290,000 in French Francs.

Although the physical address of Kenya Trust Company Ltd is not known, the company had been collecting rent and depositing it in an account that was owned by Kabuga at the Commercial Bank of Africa. The account was then closed in 2005 and the Sh3.4 million in it wired to an account in Belgium.

While granting the application, Mr Justice Muga Apondi directed that the money be deposited to the High Court registrar for preservation. This did not go well with Mukazitoni and she filed an application in objection. But on Tuesday, Mr Justice Apondi said that the state has not purported to acquire the assets but only sought a preservation pending the determination of a case against Mr Kabuga before the ICTR. The tribunal at one time accused Kenya of doing too little to assist in the arrest of the fugitive.

In a strongly worded letter, the ICTR told the Government that the steps it has taken in freezing the house belonging to Kabuga, was too little and coming too late. The letter also accuses the Kenyan Government of doing nothing on several assets, companies and bank accounts identified by a joint task force as being associated with the most sought after fugitive. Kabuga had evaded arrest since 1997 when he was indicted over crimes against humanity. The fugitive was wanted by the tribunal for various international crimes, including genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement and complicity in genocide. The crimes were committed in 1994 in Rwanda, where close to one million people were killed.

The fugitive, aged 73, was born in Muniga Secteur, Mukarange Commune in Buyumba in Rwanda.

Before the genocide in 1994, Kabuga was the President of the National Defence Fund. Under President Juvenal Habyarimana, Kabuga had immense political clout and was a powerful financier. Two of his daughters married President Habyarimana’s sons. A reward of US$5 million has been offered by the US for any information leading to capture of the fugitive.

The case will now be heard on September 25.

Government of Kenya hires "prophet" to lead nationwide prayer campaign

2009-07-01T07:00:00.001+03:00

The government on Tuesday officially contracted the services of a self-proclaimed prophet to bring reconciliation after post-election violence.

The Special Programmes ministry will now engage Dr David Owuor in countrywide prayers and fasting to foster healing. The new programme will involve conducting prayers at places that were adversely affected by the violence and culminate in a national prayer day in Nairobi.

Making the declaration, PS Mohammed Ali said the move was meant to restore the hearts of the victims of the 2007 general elections mayhem. He was accompanied by Dr Owuor at his office. “This is the only way we can promote long lasting peace among the people,” said Mr Ali.

Last weekend, the clergy held prayers in Eldoret where several people returned items they had looted from their neighbours during the violence. Dr Owuor said the government had only provided the physical restoration by providing houses to the displaced people. “It is the time for the hearts of the people to be healed.”

The government will not provide any financial assistance to Dr Owuor’s ministry. “But the police and the provincial administration officers will provide security and transport during the rallies,” said Mr Ali.

Natasha M7 to stand for Parliament

2009-06-30T13:01:00.009+03:00

As Nyabushozi MP is asked to cede seat to president's brother...

KAMPALA - With just 17 months to the 2011 Presidential and parliamentary elections, first daughter Natasha Museveni Karugire is seriously considering running for the Gomba County Parliamentary seat.

Some members and friends of the first family, according to impeccable sources, have asked Natasha to take over Gomba County from Rose Najjemba. “Meetings are already going on and Natasha is giving it a serious thought,” the source said. Gomba is in Mpigi district and President Museveni has his second home, Kisozi Ranch, in the area. This constitutionally qualifies Natasha’s candidature.

Natasha, who is currently the Private Secretary to the President for Household Affairs, is backed by Janet’s facion of State House. An insider was heard saying: “We are set for everything! The aspirant (Natasha) is in a good mood and ready to take on the mantle of leadership.” Reports from Gomba indicate that Natasha already has spies on the ground to do Kakuyege (mobilization) for her.

The current MP, Rose Najjemba, is said to be extremely disturbed by the development. She is reported to be slowly falling out with the first family due to Natasha’s imminent candidature. Her impending fallout was witnessed during last week’s NRM NEC meeting at State House, Entebbe. Whereas over 400 delegates voted against the proposal of having the NRM presidential candidate determined through adult suffrage primaries, where all registered NRM members would vote on him, Najjemba showed a lot of resilience and opposed the move.

Together with Bugiri woman MP Christine Lumumba and Lyantonde LCV chairman Kyamuzigita, Najjemba continued differing with the majority even after Museveni had spoken. She narrated how it was crucial to subject Museveni to a rigorous primary. “We need to test the popularity of the candidate by subjecting him to a rigorous process. I feel it’s the only way through which we will get the best candidate,” a source quoted Najjemba as saying. Yet Najjemba is what she is because of Museveni, who gave her her first job when she confronted him as he drove in his Kisozi ranch.

Natasha, born in 1976, is a Fashion Designer and Consultant. She is married to Edwin Karugire, a city lawyer. She is Museveni’s second born child after Lt. Col. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, commander of the Special Forces, who was born in 1973. She is followed by Patience and Diana.

After completing her education in London, Natasha began a career as a fashion designer. Though little is known about her political disposition, Natasha is a down to earth woman, quite like her mum. One of her friends said: “I think she can make a serious politician. She likes kids and has an element of humanitarianism. Since she has the financial muscle, she can make it on humanitarian grounds, although she is shy.” She recently dedicated proceeds from the auction of her clothes (House of Kaine) to the internally displaced people’s camps in northern Uganda.

However, Natasha is not immune from controversies that have in the past surrounded the first family. In 2004, the presidency spent £70,000 (UShs240M) so she could give birth in Europe. She flew in the presidential jet to gave birth to a daughter in Germany, and was flown home a month later. Opposition politicians attacked the “waste”, but Museveni refused to apologise, saying security threats against his family left him no choice. “When it comes to medical care for myself and my family there is no compromise,” he said in a statement. In his defiant statement, Museveni said he was a constant target for assassins, who would not hesitate to use local doctors to breach his security. “I regard myself and my immediate family as principal targets for the criminal forces,” he said.

Meanwhile, all-powerful Amelia Kyambadde, the president’s principal private secretary, has upped the ante for the Mawokota County North seat. The seat is currently occupied by Peter Mutuluza. Amelia is doing serious ground work, and has already distributed thousands of piglets, chicks and fish to the locals. She obtains money from the poverty alleviation fund at State House. The minister for the presidency, Beatrice Wabudeya, recently toured Amelia’s poverty alleviation projects in Mawokota and nodded in appreciation. Yet the big story is not Amelia's cndidature; there is talk of Amelia being tipped to replace Gilbert Bukenya as Vice President in 2011 once she wins the crucial seat. Bukenya, apparently, has been short-listed for a big job at the UN.

The first family is further extending its political tentacles to Nyabushozi, the constituency of the president. The current MP, Mary Mugyenyi (former animal husbandry state minister) told a meeting in Rushere last week that she had come under a lot of pressure and would cede the seat to the president’s brother, Nzeire Kaguta. She told the meeting that she was disgusted with politics. “Due to too much pressure, I have decided to relinquish the throne to Nzeire. I’m tired, let me go and do my own things."

Between a rock and a hard place

2009-06-30T07:30:00.003+03:00

Living in Kirinyaga district is akin to being asked to make an impossible choice. You are either with the Mungiki or against them. There is no in-between.

A preliminary report by the Kenya Human Rights Commission says the outlawed Mungiki sector requires residents to pay monthly protection fees, graduated according to the standard of one’s house – Sh500 for a permanent stone house and Sh400 for a semi-permanent one. Those who run kiosks must pay between Sh50 and Sh100 every month, depending on the size of the business. If you keep dairy cows, you owe Sh20 every day – or Sh600 a month. In short, if you live in a permanent house, keep a dairy cow and have a milk kiosk at your gate, you owe Sh1,200 every month – or Sh14,400 a year.

Should you get into a dispute, the Mungiki usually arbitrate, at a fee. They also collect debts and charge a percentage on the principal sum, levy tolls on matatus and a flat 5 per cent on all dowries. They reportedly work closely with police officers stationed in the area, paying junior and senior officers alike.

Those who join the Mungiki cannot leave and live. Those marked for death are beheaded. As a counter to the Mungiki terror, local vigilante groups have sprung up in the tradition of self-help. These groups reportedly enjoy wide community support. One shows their commitment to the vigilante, who operate openly, through materials. You can give a panga, an axe or a club as you contribution to killing members of the Mungiki.

Those who are in business also fund the vigilante so that they can wipe out the Mungiki. Since the Mungiki are reputed for snorting snuff, the vigilantes have a foolproof test for smoking them out. They stop young people at random and order them to sneeze. Should the mucus turn to be brown or black, one is taken to a place called “The Hague”. It is a kangaroo court in the bush that does not do the International Criminal Court’s reputation any good.

The choices are two – hang yourself or be cut down by machetes. The vigilantes are also becoming sophisticated in their hunt for Mungiki. They could undress you to check if you are wearing a certain type of underwear.

If you wear shorts under your trousers, you are guilty. If you have tobacco stains on your nails or teeth, you are also guilty. If you do not have these signs, then you must join the vigilante – by force. In this district, either you are with the Mungiki or you are with the vigilante. It is a situation the police are reportedly reluctant to arbitrate in.

Both are murderous gangs – so the only real choice is which one is less objectionable. As beneficiaries of the extortion money Mungiki collects, they would not want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg, so to speak. It is suspected that some of the officers are members of the Mungiki.

Yet, to appear neutral, they also receive money from those who fund the vigilantes. Police enjoy such little trust in the local population that they hardly receive reports of what is going on. This has always sounded like a Central Province problem, but there is nothing to stop it playing out in Coast Province, Rift Valley or any other area of Kenya.

So when the Minister for Internal Security and Provincial Administration visited the area last week, my expectation was that he would have some concrete plans to of taking away the impossible options residents have been given. Nothing of the sort was forthcoming.

Jackson's body "bald, full of needle marks"

2009-06-29T17:47:00.002+03:00

A leaked report claiming to be Michael Jackson's autopsy has revealed the state of the popstar's body before his death.

The Sun in the UK reports the singer was a virtual skeleton and only had pills in his stomach when he died.

It claims the autopsy says Jackson's hips, thighs and shoulders were riddled with needle wounds as a result of injections of painkillers.

The music icon was also virtually bald and had scars that were thought to be the result of at least 13 cosmetic operations.

It has also been claimed Jackson had a faint pulse and his body was warm when his doctor found him, according to a lawyer.

Edward Chernoff also said Dr. Conrad Murray never prescribed or gave Jackson the drugs Demerol or OxyContin. He denied reports suggesting Murray gave Jackson drugs that contributed to his death.

Chernoff told the AP that Murray was at the pop icon's rented mansion on Thursday afternoon when he discovered Jackson in bed and not breathing. The doctor immediately began administering CPR, Chernoff said.

"He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn't breathing," the lawyer said. "Mr. Jackson was still warm and had a pulse."

Jackson's family requested a private autopsy in part because of questions about Murray, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday. Murray also told the family an autopsy should be performed, Chernoff said.

Three days after the death of the King of Pop, celebrities descended on Los Angeles for a spectacular celebration of Jackson's life at the annual BET awards show.

Joe Jackson, Michael's father, walked on the red carpet wearing a black hat, sunglasses and a dark suit. He did not appear on stage during the show.

"I just wish he could be here to celebrate himself," he said. "Sadly, he's not here, so I'm here to celebrate for him."

In a statement read at the show, Jackson's parents said they solely had the personal and legal "authority for our son and his children." It was their strongest declaration yet about their son's affairs.

A tearful Janet Jackson appeared on stage in a white dress at the end of the BET awards. After a long pause to gather herself, she spoke haltingly but deliberately to the audience.

"I'd just like to say that to you, Michael is an icon. To us, Michael is family. And he will forever live in all of our hearts," she said.

People close to Michael Jackson have said since his death that they were concerned about his use of painkillers. Los Angeles County medical examiners completed their autopsy Friday and said Jackson had taken unspecified prescription medication.

Chernoff said any drugs the doctor gave Jackson were prescribed in response to a specific complaint from the entertainer.

"Dr. Murray has never prescribed nor administered Demerol to Michael Jackson," Chernoff said. "Not ever. Not that day. Not Oxycontin (either) for that matter."

Paramedics were called to the mansion while the doctor was performing CPR, according to a recording of the 911 call.

Medics spent three-quarters of an hour trying to revive Jackson. He was pronounced dead later at UCLA Medical Center.

MJ's kids cry for Ugandan "mum"

2009-06-29T10:55:00.005+03:00

Ugandan-born Grace Rwaramba finds herself at the centre of a custody battle for the three children of Michael Jackson, currently being looked after by the singer’s 80-year-old mother.

Rwaramba, a 42-year-old Rwandan woman who was born in Uganda, worked for Jackson for 17 years, five years as his secretary and 12 years as a nanny to his children, before she was sacked six months ago.

American and British media houses reported yesterday that Jackson’s mother, Katherine, called up Rwaramba in London saying that the inconsolable children were crying out for her. “She said: ‘Grace, the children are crying. They are asking about you. They can’t believe that their father died,” Rwaramba said over the weekend in her first press interview, published in the Sunday Times.

The former nanny spelled out her fears over the orphaned children. “I’m really distraught for them. Michael had not been eating and the kids had been so scared for him. Now the youngest has been saying, ‘Why daddy? God should have taken me, not him.'” She openly wondered why Katherine could not allow her talk to the children, whom she said regard her as their mother. “I asked to speak to the children. She said they were sleeping. But she had just said they were crying. She never let me speak to them.” A family friend was quoted by News of the World, a UK tabloid, as saying: “Katherine wants the kids. But Michael always said he wanted Grace to have them if something happened to him.”

Sources said Rwaramba had taken an increasingly central role in the lives of the children, who reportedly call her “Mom”. She and Jackson were even rumoured to be considering marriage in 2006. In the Sunday Times, she narrated her difficult life with the pop star, who she said routinely fired her and then begged her to return. “I was getting phone calls that they were being neglected. Nobody was cleaning the rooms because Michael didn’t pay the housekeeper,” she said. “I was getting calls telling me Michael was in such a bad shape. He wasn’t clean. He hadn’t shaved. He wasn’t eating well. I used to do all this for him and they were trying to get me to go back.”

Rwaramba claimed that while she gave the children love and a stable environment, they had a cold and uneasy relationship with their father. “I used to hug and laugh with them. But when Michael was around, they froze.” As for the masks Jackson made the children wear in public, Rwaramba revealed: “They didn’t like them. It was not my idea. I hated it as well. So whenever I had a chance I misplaced the masks or forgot to pack them.”

Her account provided a view of the real world of Michael Jackson behind the masks, the wigs, the make-up and the surgery: his running around the world with the three children – to Bahrain, Ireland, Germany, New Jersey – and his drug addiction. She recalled incidents when she had to pump the singer’s stomach many times after a high dose of drugs. “There was one period that it was so bad I did not let the children see him.”

She said he was furious with her for calling in the help of his mother and sister. It was one of the times he fired her. Rwaramba is the founder and director of World Accountability for Humanity, a charity that aims to improve the lives of the disadvantaged. On her website, she says her parents, Job Rwaramba and Magdalena Kinyogote, had fled the first troubles in Rwanda in the 1960s and settled in Uganda, where Grace was born. At the age of 13, she went to a multi-ethnic boarding school in Connecticut (US) and later received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Atlantic Union College, a Seventh-day Adventist college in South Lancaster, Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, another woman in Jackson’s life, Debbie Rowe, with whom he was married between 1996 and 1999, revealed that she got two of his children through artificial insemination. “Michael was divorced, lonely and wanted children. I was the one who said to him: “I will have your babies,” she said in an interview published over the weekend by London’s News of the World. “I was just the vessel. It wasn’t Michael’s sperm. I got paid for it, and I’ve moved on. I know I will never see my children again.”

Blonde Debbie, now 50, spoke out at the ranch in California where she lives a reclusive life surrounded by more than 30 horses. After a difficult second birth, which left her scarred, she said Jackson dumped her.

The singer’s third child, Prince Michael Jackson II, nicknamed "Blanket", was said to be born from a surrogate European mother the singer never met. Aides say Blanket is the most similar to Jackson in looks, personality and musical talent. Over the years, several women have come forward to claim they are Blanket’s mother. The most recent was a woman calling herself Billie Jean Jackson, who last year filed a law suit in Los Angeles seeking one billion dollars.

Jackson left a debt of $500 million.

It’s true – the whole world came out of Africa!

2009-06-28T08:00:00.001+03:00

By GERRY LOUGHRAN

Driving upcountry from Nairobi a few years ago, I stopped at a village to ask directions. As we stood talking, I felt someone take my hand and looking down saw a small boy scratching my skin with his fingernail. He was looking for the blackness.

We all smiled but maybe the toto knew more than we did. For today, it is widely accepted that the human race originated in Africa – specifically in what today is Kenya or Tanzania – giving rise to a slew of scientific studies and magazine articles with headlines such as, “We’re all out of Africa,” and “We are all African now.”

What the scientists tell us is that small bands of humans sailed across the Red Sea about 50,000 years ago and established Stone Age cultures throughout Europe, Asia and Australia. New DNA research along with archaeological evidence, including an analysis of some 6,000 skulls, laid to rest the idea of multiple origins.

Introducing a study of the skulls held around the world in academic collections, Prof Andrew Manica of Cambridge University wrote in Nature magazine in 2007 that “We have combined our genetic data with new measurements of a large sample of skulls to show definitively that modern humans originated from a single area in sub-Saharan Africa.”

So if we all started out black, doesn’t that make racism not just nasty but plain stupid?

This conclusion raises an obvious question: If humanity originated in Africa, why do white people have a different skin colour, pale eyes and often blond hair?

The answer is Vitamin D. Those who lived in a colder climate with less sunshine needed to process more Vitamin D and their bodies did this by lowering the skin pigment melanin which blocks solar radiation and limits the intake of the vitamin. Blue eyes and blond hair are just by-products of having less melanin in the skin.

So if we all started out black, doesn’t that make racism not just nasty but plain stupid? There are many different cultures but only one race. To widespread horror here, two members of the racist British National Party were elected to the European Parliament in the recent elections.

True, there was no great swing to the fascists and they would not have got in were it not for a very low turnout for the main parties. But if the thought of racists and anti-immigrant thugs representing us in Brussels goes against the grain, let us look at the ironies: the forefathers of both these men were migrants themselves and without a doubt as black as your hat, too.

And now, a note for Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka

2009-06-27T08:00:00.001+03:00

I have taken the time to write this open letter to you, Vice-President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, because of your increasingly important role in Kenya’s future. Unlike some pundits, I do not consider you a political lightweight.

Quite on the contrary, you have impressed me with your cunning and strategic thinking since you entered national politics in 1985. As a native of Tseikuru, a remote part of Mwingi District, your climb to the pinnacle of power in Kenya is a testament to your grit and stubborn determination. That’s why your political opponents ought to be afraid – very afraid – of you. They underestimate you at their own peril.

Sir, I know that you were not born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You are a self-made man. Since your early life at Tseikuru Full Primary School, you have had a knack for attracting godfathers and endearing yourself to the wealthy and powerful. Some may have thought you a teacher’s pet, but you cultivated respect for authority and elders. These attributes are socialised in those who seek power in African post-colonial states. In a stroke of political genius, you endeared yourself to the late Mulu Mutisya, the New Akamba Union leader who was regarded as the kingpin of Ukambani.

This coup was the greatest break that launched your star political career. Do you think President Mwai Kibaki has really agreed to be your godfather? The choice of Mr Mutisya as your godfather showed more commitment to the tribe than the nation. What did it say about your views on corruption, patronage and democracy? Mr Mutisya, who was illiterate, was able to command Ukambani politics because of his closeness to Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and later, President Daniel arap Moi. It is said that the crafty Mutisya refused Mzee Kenyatta’s entreaties to bring the Akamba into GEMA, although the “A” in the acronym was supposedly reserved for them.

You literally sat in the kingmaker’s seat, but mistakenly thought you could be the king.

In Kenya’s tribalised politics, Mr Mutisya thought he would have more leverage if he controlled the Akamba as a separate bloc. It is no secret, sir, that you would like to inherit Mr Mustisya’s mantle. Sir, I think you would agree with me that Kenyans should know your history since you may one day end up in State House.

Until 2002, your role in Kenyan politics could only have been described as disappointing. I will take some of that back. You did play a positive role as Mr Moi’s minister for Foreign Affairs in war-torn Sudan and Somalia. But your role in domestic politics was downright corrosive.

A Kanu hawk, you advocated the repression of human rights and pro-democracy advocates. You were a shameless apologist and rabid defender of the one-party state. You vigorously opposed a democratic constitution, and fought to keep civil society from providing civic education in the constitutional review process. It is true you changed your tune in 2002 when you broke with Kanu to join Mr Raila Odinga in the Rainbow Alliance. But I was not convinced that you decamped from Kanu out of principle. You were piqued that Mr Moi – your political mentor and benefactor – had chosen Mr Uhuru Kenyatta over you as his heir apparent.

However, I was impressed by the way you publicly defied Mr Moi. But you did so to save your political skin. The writing was on the wall that Kanu was the Titanic, and you did not want to go down with it. So you decided to reinvent yourself as a reformer by joining your ardent foes in the political opposition. You knew there was no future in Kanu and, therefore, you acted like an opportunist. I have never known you, sir, to miss opportunities with your future at stake. Your fight with Mr Odinga for the control of ODM proved to Kenyans that you have a large ego and unbounded ambition. Either you were going to be ODM’s presidential nominee, or you would splinter ODM. That’s why you took ODM-K. But you knew you had no real chance at winning because Mr Odinga had outsmarted you and taken virtually the entire opposition leaving you with an empty shell. To your credit, you soldiered on, and put up a gallant fight.

Once again, I was impressed by your resilience and determination. It was your democratic right to go all the way, as you often put it during the campaign. But your campaign may have been detrimental to the country in the long term because ODM-K is largely an ethnic party. It has contributed to the further ethnic polarisation of Kenyan politics.

I also think, sir, that you could have reduced the probability of post-election violence if you had joined either PNU or ODM before the election. The 10-12 per cent of the vote that you controlled would have been large enough to decisively swing the election either to Mr Odinga or Mr Kibaki. You literally sat in the kingmaker’s seat, but mistakenly thought you could be the king. This was either a terrible miscalculation on your part, or the work of hubris and ego. You could have struck a deal for the vice-presidency with either of them before the election instead of taking the tainted office in a disputed vote.

I have never been to Mwingi but I have heard people say that you have done very little for the district. But I want to end on a lighter note. You have the gift of the gab, and can give a pretty good speech. I must confess that your oratorical skills are well honed. You can wear a suit, and I have heard some women speak of your good looks. May I suggest that you match good form with noble substance?

Michael Jackson's sudden and mysterious death

2009-06-26T14:32:00.003+03:00

One day after Michael Jackson's sudden death, speculation is already turning to what killed the 50-year-old "King of Pop" just weeks before his long-awaited series of comeback concerts.

Jackson, a former child star who became one of the best-selling pop artists of all time before a descending into a strange and reclusive lifestyle, died on Thursday afternoon at a Los Angeles hospital, where he had been rushed in full cardiac arrest after collapsing at his nearby rental home.

Few details were known early on Friday about the circumstances surrounding his death, but the entertainer was reportedly unconscious and not breathing by the time he arrived at UCLA Medical Center, and doctors were unable to revive him. His body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner's office late on Thursday.

750 million records sold

Brian Oxman, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told CNN on Thursday that the family had been concerned about his health and had tried in vain to take care of him for months. "Michael appeared at rehearsals a couple of times, he was very seriously trying to be able to do those rehearsals," Oxman said of Jackson's preparations for a series of 50 concerts that were scheduled to begin in London in July. "His use of medications had gotten in the way, his injuries which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebrae and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way," Oxman told CNN.

Authorities have scheduled an autopsy for Friday. But they cautioned that it could take weeks to determine a cause of death, which will likely have to wait for the return of toxicology tests. Those tests will determine if Jackson had any drugs, alcohol or prescription medications in his system. Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson's home in the upscale Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles at the behest of Chief William Bratton. But they called the investigation an "every day" event.

The London concert swing was billed as a comeback for Jackson, who dominated the pop charts during the 1980s with such hits as "Thriller" and "Billie Jean" and was credited with turning music videos into a costly and cinematic art form.