Kenya News

Turkana Friends Mission in need of regular support - Fri 7/25/2008

2008-07-25T15:13:00.001-04:00

TURKANA FRIENDS MISSION, NORTHERN KENYA, EAST AFRICA
> > > ORGANIZE A "Christmas in July" FUNDRAISING EVENT

Turkana Friends Mission extends vital outreach for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in East Africa. With an independent board of governors, the mission sponsors Friends churches, water projects, primary and nursery schools and scholarships for female high school students.

Could Monthly Meetings in your area band together to create a partnership with these special Quakers?

In this semi-arid region of north-western Kenya beset by poverty and drought conditions, Friends' witnesses provide hope, and Friends' worship expresses joy that many people in Turkana have discovered by following Jesus Christ.

> Click here to find out about Kenya and Turkana through links.

Learn more about Turkana Friends Mission - Kenya, on the web page of Friends United Meeting: www.fum.org

Turkana is one of the poorest regions of Kenya, often troubled by armed fighting with neighboring ethnic groups, such as the Pokot and the Samburu. Characterized mostly by nomadic pastoralist communities, Friends in Turkana live simply and lack material resources, but they are rich in Christ's love and joy.

You can help needy Friends in Turkana by contributing funds through Friends United Meeting.

Monthly, quarterly or annual pledges help the mission staff and volunteers to plan their activities.

Your gift will:

Sponsor a secondary school student
Promote education for girls, who often marry young
Help bring water to thirsty communities
Educate new pastors
Provide transportation for pastors to reach members in rough terrain
Promote peacebuilding and conflict resolution
Plant churches in remote areas

> Click here and specify that your gift is for "Turkana Friends Mission - Kenya" when you make your online gift, or write it on the memo line, if you send a check to:

Friends United Meeting Global Ministries
ATTN: Turkana Friends Mission contribution
101 Quaker Hill Drive
Richmond IN 47374-1980 USA.

Update from John Muhanji, FUM African Ministries Office Director:

The Turkana issue is a big challenge now, since finances and support have drastically gone down.

Last month they received $ 186.00 instead of $ 2000.00.

These were the only funds that had come in. The more funds dwindle, the more problems increase in the area. It is a challenge and half.

But the mission is very faithful and they use the little they get very efficiently. I love those people but I lack what to do for them....

Each of our FUM Project Partners got a grant from the FUM Relief Fund (for the post-election crisis), and Turkana Friends Mission used it to support the IDPs (internally displaced people) in Lodwar.

These are Turkanans who had been living in the central Rift Valley for decades. They have been trucked to Lodwar and dumped there [by government officials] with no assistance from anyone. There isn't even a pit toilet in the camp!

Our pastors and church members [some of whom have been trained in the Alternatives to Violence Project] reached out to them, providing food and other humanitarian aid.

For more information, contact Terri Johns at Friends United Meeting:
email: terrij - at - fum.org
tel: (765) 962-7573.

Taize gathers youth in Nairobi, Kenya - Nov 26-30

2008-07-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

From Dar-es-Salaam to Nairobi

I am a Tanzanian aged 25 years old. I am from Dar es Salaam, and I am a laboratory technician by profession. I was in Taizé, France during the summer months of 2006. Currently I am on my annual leave so I decided to spend some days as a volunteer, to help with the preparation of the meeting in Nairobi....

The way I see the preparation for the November meeting is that things are moving at quite a good pace. It seems to be well organised.

This meeting will be a golden opportunity for the youth to discover themselves and spend quality time for their spiritual life and growth in the Church and stop, listen and reflect to what our rapid changing societies are offering us today.

On a very personal note, I thank God for giving us this opportunity to be part of this pilgrimage of trust in East Africa and Africa as a Continent. It will be a time for us to discover and learn something from other youth coming from several African countries.

And for the youth coming from outside Africa it will be a memorable time to know more about our peoples, lives, culture and give Africa a new face. ...

Keep the spirit high up

"Kwa pamoja tutafuta njia ya matumaini"
Together seeking paths of Hope.

Karibuni Sana!!
Kwenye mkutano wa vijana tarehe 26-30 Novemba 2008.

Asante!
Makolo Christopher Ludosha.

http://www.taize.fr/en_article7168.html

The meeting in Nairobi will take place from 26 to 30 November 2008: http://www.taize.fr/en_article6670.html

Practical information and registration: http://www.taize.fr/en_article6671.html

To Nairobi from South Africa: http://www.taize.fr/en_article7114.html

Prayer
God of peace, your presence is often a mystery for us; to welcome you we need a heart that is simple, and filled with trust.

---

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IDPs continue to suffer - IRIN Wed 7/23/2008

2008-07-23T09:12:00.000-04:00

KENYA: Hundreds still displaced in Nairobi

NAIROBI, 22 July (IRIN) - Hundreds of Kenyans displaced during post-election violence in early 2008 in the capital, Nairobi, are still in camps more than two months after the government launched a countrywide resettlement programme.

"Many of the displaced were tenants whose houses were destroyed or have since been occupied by other people; dozens were landlords, mostly in the Mathare slums, and these are the ones whose resettlement is difficult," Abdi Galgalo, the chief of Mathare, told IRIN on 21 July.

Anthony Mwangi, the public relations manager for the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), knew of 778 IDPs in the city.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA-Kenya) said in an update covering 3-9 July that some 59,666 IDPs remained in 89 IDP camps, while 98,289 others had been registered in 134 transit sites across the country. Government figures indicated that 212,590 IDPs had returned to areas where they had been displaced. [NB: accuracy of government figures??]

The government, through the ministry of special programmes, launched "Operation Rudi Nyumbani" (Return Home) on 5 May, targeting at least 158,000 IDPs in camps across the country, most of them in Rift Valley Province, which bore the brunt of the violence.

With more than 85,000 of the displaced having left the camps since then, the government began the "reconstruction" phase of the programme on 20 July, to help the returnees build their homes and restart subsistence activities. Special Programmes Minister Naomi Shaban launched the programme in Uasin Gishu district in the Rift Valley.

Displaced in the city
Galgalo said the IDP camp near his office had been emptying gradually since May, with 213 IDPs in July.

The problem with IDPs in urban areas, he said, was that the majority were from slum areas where land disputes were common, hence their reluctance to move out of the camps.

"Food and availability of medicine are key problems for those still in the camp as they depend on well-wishers and they remain here as efforts are being made to resettle them," Galgalo said.

He said disputes over land in the slums, especially for those who owned houses, had complicated and slowed the IDPs' return to their homes. He added that the government had set up peace-building committees to help reconcile the slum dwellers and encourage the displaced to return home.

Godfrey Ngugi, the chairman of the IDP camp in Mathare, said the recent cold weather had made conditions even more difficult.

"The major problem for us is when one of the IDPs falls ill; the cold season has not helped matters and we have had cases of cold-related ailments increasing," Ngugi said. "Although we have the Kenya Red Cross assisting us, we need medical attention."

He said there were dozens of children under five who need medical attention due to the cold.

On 12 May, the government raised Ksh1.46 billion (US$22.4 million) of the Ksh30 billion ($462 million) it said it needed to resettle at least 350,000 IDPs.

"The magnitude of the destruction caused by the violence was enormous; we will therefore require about 30 billion shillings to meet the full costs of resettlement, including reconstruction of basic housing, replacement of household effects, as well as rehabilitation of community utilities and institutions destroyed during the violence," President Mwai Kibaki said on 12 May during a funding drive in Nairobi.

js/am/mw[ENDS]

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.irinnews.org

IRIN on Global Inflation and Kenya girls at risk - Thurs 7/10/2008

2008-07-10T11:28:00.000-04:00

GLOBAL: Why everything costs more

JOHANNESBURG, 8 July (IRIN) - A rough guide to why food prices keep going up

What is the crisis?
For the first time since 1973, the world has been hit by a combination of record high food and fuel prices. The price of oilseeds and grains, such as wheat and maize, has doubled since January 2006, with over 60 percent of the hike taking place since January 2008, according to the World Bank. Rice more than tripled between January and May 2008.

Prices have begun to fall as the 2008 crop is being harvested, but recent floods in US states producing maize and soya-beans, and poor weather conditions in Australia have slowed the decline.

Since 2001, oil has rocketed from US$20 a barrel to an unprecedented $140. The World Bank says oil prices are now higher than any time in the last century, not only pushing up the price of food in poor countries importing staple grains and fuel, but also eroding their capacity to buy food.

Why have prices shot up suddenly?
The short answer is that global cereal stocks have not kept pace with growing demand, and neither has the oil supply. Stocks of cereals have been declining worldwide since 2000, while demand has been increasing at two to three percent per year.

In the last two years, cereal stocks have fallen to levels last seen in the 1970s for two main reasons: firstly, major wheat-producing countries such as Australia suffered droughts in 2006 and 2007; secondly, the hike in fuel prices saw the US and many European countries offer subsidies to their farmers to grow grain for biofuel. The switch from growing food to growing fuel pushed up prices by 30 to 70 percent, depending on which study you read.

Some analysts have blamed high food prices on the burgeoning economies of China, India and some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where more people can now afford to include meat and other animal products in their diet, which in turn has driven up the demand for grains used as feed.

However, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says recent high commodity prices do not seem to have originated in these emerging markets: neither China nor India are big cereal importers in the 2007/08 season. In fact, China is exporting maize and India's wheat imports are relatively small.

Various food analysts say the production of grains has dropped because of rising chemical fertiliser prices, which have doubled and even tripled in some parts of the world, making it unaffordable to most farmers in developing countries.

Other analysts have attributed low cereal stocks to the cumulative effect of changes in the agricultural policies of developed countries, particularly in Europe, where farm subsidies have been shrinking, and a drop in investment in agricultural research to develop high-yield varieties since the 1990s.

But the price spikes recorded in 2008, particularly in rice, have been linked to export restrictions imposed by rice-producing countries, including India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Egypt, which together supplied around 40 percent of global rice exports in 2007, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Didn't anyone see the crisis coming?
Since 2006 the FAO has warned of a possible food price crisis in its periodic updates on global cereal stocks.What has been the fallout of the crisis?The impact of increasingly expensive food has been wide-ranging, deepening poverty levels and pushing even more people into poverty. According to a recent World Bank study, at least another 105 million across the world will become poor.

Simulations in this study suggest that in Africa alone nearly another 30 million people will fall into poverty: in Sierra Leone the food crisis has raised poverty by three percentage points, to 69 percent; in Djibouti, rising food prices over the past three years are estimated to have increased extreme poverty from 40 percent to 54 percent.Various UN agencies have warned that unaffordable food could drive up the number of undernourished people in the world - already at 800 million - while poor people have begun skipping meals or switching to cheaper and lower quality cereals, affecting their health.

A recent FAO assessment in Somalia found that 2.6 million people - approximately 35 percent of the population, of which more than half are children - had been affected by a nutrition crisis caused by drought and prolonged conflict. The number of people needing humanitarian assistance in Somalia could reach an estimated 3.5 million - half the total population - by the end of 2008.

According to the World Bank, even stable, high-growth countries are not immune to the damaging effects of escalating food prices on child nutrition. In India, for instance, 47 percent of children are stunted - double the rate in sub-Saharan Africa, where 24 percent experience delayed development - and nearly five times that of China, where just over nine percent of children are stunted.The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) says 1.5 to 1.8 million more children in India are at risk of malnourishment as households cut back on meals or switch to less nutritious foods to cope with rising prices.

Expensive food and fuel have also had political fallout: since 2007, high prices have sparked violent protests in at least 17 countries, mostly in Africa; earlier in 2008, the government of Haiti fell after week-long protests.The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is committed to promoting democracy and assisting developing countries, noted that each 10 percent increase in the prices of cereals adds nearly $4.5 billion to the import bills of poorer countries.

An FAO study recently noted that at least seven countries - Gambia, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Zimbabwe, Jordan and Moldova - which have all chalked up high levels of debt - could be forced to spend as much as two percent of their gross domestic product on importing food. Most of these countries are already struggling with chronic hunger, so soaring food costs hold the threat of political instability.

Surely higher food prices benefit small-scale farmers?
Yes, logically they should. But very few subsistence farmers in Africa produce surplus food, and are mostly net buyers. Simulated studies by FAO found that rural households in countries where land was not equitably distributed - which is the case in most developing countries - would be worst affected.

The World Bank has also found that although farmers who produce surplus food might be better protected, even they might not benefit from the food price surge because the cost of inputs like fuel, fertiliser and transportation often rose faster than world market prices for food.

Agriculture experts say that unless governments subsidise inputs, poverty levels in rural households could deepen, and the prospects for beefing up global cereal stocks look bleak. The World Bank has called for subsidies aimed at poor and small-scale farmers for a limited period to boost yields, as part of a package that should include investment in extension, research and rural infrastructure.

When will food prices come down?
High prices may boost production in 2008, which in turn may push down prices, provided there are no natural disasters. But any major expansion of agricultural land in the short term is unlikely, says FAO, and any increase in plantings of one crop would need to occur at the expense of another. So, while the price of a certain food commodity might fall, the prices of others might increase.

Short-term price forecasts for food commodities are difficult because they are linked to other markets, such as energy. A recent FAO/OECD medium-term outlook for major agricultural commodities said prices were likely to remain high for the next decade.

Can the situation be turned around?
Many agriculture experts are pushing for a new "Green Revolution", which doubled cereal production between 1970 and 1995 in South Asia. Money and investment in developing high-yielding varieties of maize, wheat and rice, combined with access to pesticides, irrigation and fertiliser, could have a dramatic impact.But this would require huge amounts of money: between $15 and $20 billion a year, according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Aid agencies and other non-governmental organisations are lobbying the G8 and other leaders meeting in Japan this week to beef up investment in agriculture in developing countries.

jk/he

[ENDS]

KENYA: Post-violence sex work boom

MOMBASA, 9 July (IRIN) - Like thousands of other Kenyans, Susan Wairimu, 17, was displaced from her home in the Rift Valley Province's Molo district during the violence that followed a disputed presidential election in December 2007 and sought shelter in the nearby town of Nakuru.

A cousin living in the coastal town of Mombasa offered to accommodate her until the violence ended, offering an escape from the single tent she shared with her parents at the displaced persons camp in Nakuru.

"I had no idea of the kind of work my cousin used to do in the beginning; I came to know some few days after my arrival, when she told me she operates as a call girl from the beaches."

Kenya's coast is one of its most popular tourist destinations: an estimated two million tourists visited Kenya in 2007, many of them heading for the Indian Ocean towns of Mombasa, Malindi and Lamu, where commercial sex work is one of the main ways many women earn money.

Before long Wairimu was introduced to the business of selling sex. "We now have the skills and have learnt that the amount of money a man parts with will determine the kind of pleasure we will offer him. For example, making love without a condom will cost a client more money than using one," she said.

"The killing in my village taught me a lesson and prepared me for a tough life, and now I do not fear death any more," she added. "I do not fear HIV and I believe that you will die when your day arrives, and the disease will not determine, but only God."

Wairimu accepts as little as 300 Kenya shillings (US$4.50) for an entire night, sometimes with two men.

Locals at the coast say sex workers in the region traditionally used to target wealthy foreign tourists, usually from Europe. Today, a fall in tourist numbers after the post-election violence and an increased number of sex workers means every man, old or young, black or white, is seen as a potential customer.

Wairimu is one of an estimated two hundred girls between 15 and 18 years of age who are now engaged in full-time sex work along Kenya's coast, according to Solidarity with Women in Distress (SOLWODI), a local non-governmental organisation that sensitises sex workers to the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

Increase in child sex trade

Child sex work is not uncommon along the coast; a 2006 study [http://www.aids2006.org/Web/WEAD0201.ppt] by the government and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) found that up to 30 percent of teenagers in some coastal areas were involved in casual sex for cash.Agnetta Mirikau, a child protection specialist with UNICEF Kenya, told IRIN/PlusNews that the organisation had received reports of an increase in the child sex trade since the election.SOLWODI's field coordinator in Mombasa, Grace Odembo, told IRIN/PlusNews that most of the girls who resorted to sex work were high school drop-outs, which would make it difficult for them to find formal employment.

"The girls have opted to sell their bodies in order to get money for survival," Odembo said. "We try as much as we can ... to convince them out of [sex work]."

The 2006 study also found that 35.5 percent of all sex acts involving children and tourists took place without condoms, putting the girls at risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The HIV prevalence in Kenya's Coast Province is 5.9 percent, higher than the national average of 5.1 percent.

SOLWODI runs counselling, return-to-school programmes and vocational skills training for girls who wish to get out of the trade. Since its formation in 1997, the organisation has managed to get 5,000 girls and women to leave the sex industry.

Hoteliers often turn a blind eye to residents bringing underage girls into their rooms, but some have a more strict policy regarding commercial sex on their premises.

"We never accommodate any visitors who try to check into our hotels with young-looking girls until we get some required details about the girl," Mohammed Hersi, general manager of the Mombasa's Sarova White Sands Beach Hotel, told IRIN/PlusNews.

"[We usually] establish who the girls are, what they are up to and, most important, their ages."

SOLWODI also trains hotels to implement an existing code of conduct to prevent sexual exploitation in the travel and tourism sector, but by late 2007, only 20 hotels had signed the code of conduct.

The deputy mayor of Mombasa, John Mcharo, said keeping the girls off the streets was difficult. "Yes, we can arrest the girls but only charge them with loitering, just like we've done before, but this can't stop the girls from finding their way back to the streets and beaches as soon as they come out of our custody."

Girls at the beach generally wear bathing suits, so it is difficult to distinguish between sex workers trawling the beach for customers and girls who are simply enjoying a day at the beach.

Local law enforcement officers and religious leaders have called on the government to do more to stop underage girls selling sex in the area. "The government has to come up with a special programme that can get the girls not only off the beaches but off the streets," said Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa, organising secretary of the council of Imams and preachers of Kenya.

He added that his organisation frequently held workshops to urge underage girls to quit the trade, and provided them with spiritual guidance.

The government has a children's department in every district, which is responsible for the protection of children from exploitation and abuse. According to Patrick Wafula, of the Mombasa police department, much of the work of the department's special tourism unit consists of arresting the perpetrators of child sex abuse and exploitation.

"We usually carry out raids in areas we suspect to be meeting points for the girls and their potential clients," he said.

The government also recently expanded the child protection units at police stations, adding children's officers and improving judicial services, so that they are now better prepared to handle children's issues.

jk/kr/he

[ENDS]

Update from FUM Field Staff in Kaimosi - Ben and Jody Richmond

2008-07-08T10:29:00.000-04:00

Update from FUM Field Staff in Kaimosi
Ben and Jody Richmond
Friends Theological College Co-Principals

At West Richmond Friends Meeting on Sunday, July 6, 2008, Ben and Jody Richmond reported on the Friends Church Peace Team efforts to address the needs of IDPs in Kenya, through listening workshops, facilitating return, and providing material relief aid.

The articles in the previous post explain some of the complexities facing IDPs, particularly the crushing financial situation.

Ben and Jody have produced an excellent DVD about their ministry and the college, including footage of the ways that Friends have been responding to the post-election crisis.

Contact Friends United Meeting Global Ministries at www.fum.org, tel (765) 962-7573:

to contribute to the Richmonds' ministry and/or the work of Friends Theological College
to request a copy of the DVD
to request regular news about Quaker missions in Kenya

Recent headlines - Tues 7/8/2008

2008-07-08T09:34:00.003-04:00

The following Kenya articles are from:

IRIN reports
Reuters
BBC

KENYA ELECTION CRISIS
KEY STORIES - BBC
Refugees staying in Uganda
Homeless face grim return
Kenyan leaders in call for peace
Huge financial cost of new cabinet
Kenyan voices
State 'sanctioned' clashes
Healing hands? Can new prime minister solve Kenya's many problems?

From BBC page: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/africa/2008/kenya/default.stm

KENYA: IDPs hold out for better compensation - IRIN

NAKURU, 7 July (IRIN) - Jane Wanjiru Maina, a mother of seven, is tired of living in an internally displaced people's (IDP) camp in the show grounds of Nakuru, in the Rift Valley.

"The tents are now starting to leak and I can see a possibility of spending the [Christmas] holidays here," said Maina, who also has three grandchildren under her care in the camp. She lost property worth 485,000 shillings (US$8,000) during a wave of violence that followed December's presidential election.

"Although I would really like to leave so that I can take care of my family like I used to before, I have to stay on until the government comes up with a better compensation package," she said.Each resettled IDP household is receiving 10,000 shillings ($166) in family assistance funds. The IDPs also take home a one-month food ration along with a kitchen kit.

"If I leave this place with 10,000 shillings, will my grandchildren ever learn to read and write?" she asked. "We are not landowners so why should we have to go back to receive compensation?" The resettlement funds are paid out in areas of return.Most of the former IDPs who have returned to their places of origin are landowning farmers, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Many of those still living in camps are agricultural workers, who do not own land, or business people.

At least 68,519 IDPs were still in 101 camps as of 1 July, according to the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS).Another IDP among the 14,000 living in the Nakuru show grounds said he preferred to stay there to be in a better position to lobby for more support.

"Why should I get the same amount of money as someone who is going back to his farm?" Samuel Mbote asked. "Even if you are moved [from the camp] with the tent, where will you pitch it?"

More time
The IDPs in the showground camp and the Afraha stadium camp, also in Nakuru, had been expected to start returning home on 1 July.

However, they asked for more time to allow them to bury an IDP killed during a demonstration.

According to the director of resettlements at the Ministry of Special Programmes, Wilfred Ndolo, discussions were ongoing to find a long-term solution for such IDPs. "They will probably get interest-free loans," he said.

He added that there were plans to provide an extra 25,000 shillings ($416) for shelter support. "We have the money but we still do not have the data of those who lost their houses."

At least 36 million shillings ($600,000) has been paid out in shelter support to 3,600 households, he said.Meanwhile, the IDPs who remained in the camps were still receiving assistance. "They have food, water and electricity," Anthony Mwangi, the KRCS public relations manager, said.

"Nobody is being forced to leave the camp. They don't want to go back with no [shelter] structures," he said. The KRCS has built 10 houses for returnees in the Matharu area of the Rift Valley with plans for the construction of another 1,000 units depending on funding.

Transport problems had also delayed IDP returns at the Kedong camp in Naivasha, he said.

The Red Cross official said there was a need for further efforts to foster reconciliation. IDPs who had been resettled in Surgow, in Eldoret North District, from a camp in Eldoret had to be returned to the camp after receiving a hostile reception.

According to OCHA, about 100,000 people have left IDP camps for 134 "transit sites" near their home areas. The OCHA report said sanitation facilities in some sites was below standard, with residents defecating in the open, leading to a risk of disease.

Cases of malnutrition have also been detected among IDPs in "host" communities not targeted by food aid, according to OCHA.

The resettlement of IDPs began on 5 May in Kenya's Rift Valley Province under a government campaign, Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Go Back Home). So far, at least 210,000 IDPs have left the camps, including those in transit sites, Ndolo said.

aw/am/mw[ENDS]

Kenyan govt says Kimunya departure only temporary - Reuters

Tue 8 Jul 2008, 9:49 GMT

NAIROBI, July 8 (Reuters) - Kenya's president has accepted an offer by Finance Minister Amos Kimunya to step aside for a probe into the controversial sale of a luxury hotel, but the move is only temporary, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

"The finance minister has been in discussions already with the president over this," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said. "But he will not be replaced, it's only a temporary move."

Kenyan finance minister steps aside for hotel probe - Reuters
Tue 8 Jul 2008, 10:58 GMT

(Adds details, analyst, currency)
By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI, July 8 (Reuters) - Kenya's finance minister stepped aside on Tuesday to allow an investigation into the sale of a luxury hotel that critics have called the latest example of high-level corruption in east Africa's largest economy.

The Grand Regency controversy has put the biggest strain yet on Kenya's fragile coalition government, set up in April to end a bloody crisis over disputed presidential elections.

"I have requested the president to allow me to step aside to facilitate this inquiry," Kimunya told reporters after a no-confidence vote in parliament and a bombardment of resignation calls in recent days.

A government spokesman said President Mwai Kibaki had accepted the decision by his close ally. "But he will not be replaced, it's only a temporary move," Alfred Mutua said.

Kimunya -- a 46-year-old accountant from Kibaki's Kikuyu ethnic group -- said his conscience remained "very clear" on the role played by the treasury in this month's sale.

He said he was open to an independent inquiry to prove his innocence. Critics say the hotel was secretly sold to Libyan buyers at a cheap price of 2.9 billion shillings ($45 million).

But Kimunya allies say he has been subjected to a witch hunt in the media by ill-informed foes.

The local shilling currency reacted slightly to Kimunya's announcement, briefly weakening to 65.85/95 versus the dollar, before returning to a roughly similar level to that before the news of 65.73/93.

"It was more or less priced in," said one dealer, Peter Njuguna, of Commercial Bank of Africa.

CABINET FAULT-LINES
At the weekend, Kimunya had said he would only step down over the matter if three other top government officials, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga, did the same.

Odinga and both of the others -- Lands Minister James Orengo and Attorney General Amos Wako -- have denied any wrongdoing.

Orengo has threatened to sue Kimunya, and Odinga was due to give a statement to parliament on the case later on Tuesday.

Anti-graft groups and some ministers have sharply criticised the no-bid sale of the Regency, saying it should have been public and that the hotel was worth nearer 6 billion shillings.

In its no-confidence vote last week, Kenya's parliament accused Kimunya of ignoring public procurement laws in the sale and of contempt for parliament.

The dispute has widened fault-lines between pro-Kibaki and pro-Odinga ministers in the coalition cabinet, which was formed in April to keep the peace after a deadly post-election crisis.

Odinga's supporters say Kibaki stole the December presidential vote by fraud.

Kibaki's side says then-opposition leader Odinga deliberately stirred violence that killed 1,500 in arguably the most traumatic period of Kenya's post-independence history.

Analysts said that should Kimunya's departure be made permanent, Kibaki would almost certainly keep the portfolio for an ally from his Party of National Unity (PNU).

Political and business commentator Robert Shaw said Kimunya had "no choice" but to step aside.

And "if the choice of the finance minister is by the president under the current power sharing agreement, then it is likely to be someone from PNU", he said.

In 2006, two ministers stepped aside after being linked to a corruption scandal known as "Anglo-Leasing", but were later reinstated by Kibaki.

KENYA: Lack of facilities hampering bid to halt black fever outbreak

ISIOLO, 7 July (IRIN) - A lack of laboratory facilities, transport and skilled medical workers is hampering efforts to tackle an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease also known as kala azar or black fever, in northern Kenya's Isiolo and Wajir districts, officials said.

"We have a serious shortage of personnel to cover the affected area. We are also faced with the problem of mobility as we have only one vehicle for the work," said Ali Wario, a public health officer in Isiolo, told IRIN.

He added that there was a lack of personnel trained in the prevention and management of the disease.The outbreak has killed five people since it was first recorded in April 2008. Ten more cases were confirmed in July by a special surveillance team. In early June, the total number of confirmed cases was 66.

"We must now move to prevent as we treat the cases at Merti [health centre in Isiolo], but lack of medicines and transport must be addressed urgently," he added.

A local councillor, Ibrahim Halake, appealed to the government and aid agencies to provide vehicles to help affected families travel to health centres.

"Families are selling their animals. We have been asked on several occasions to help raise funds for those who are sick. Many families are poor and cannot afford to travel to the health centre - it is far," he told IRIN.

Once it enters the body, the leishmaniasis parasite, which is carried by sand flies, migrates to internal organs and bone marrow. If an infection progresses and is left untreated, it almost always results in death.

Sand flies thrive in the cracks of mud-covered dwellings, in cow dung, rat burrows, ant-hills, dry river beds and vegetation. In Wajir, the flies often bite people as they dig for water in the bed of the Ewaso Nyiro River or graze their livestock.

Kala azar is endemic in northern Kenya and outbreaks are common in times of drought.

na/am/mw[ENDS]

Testimony from Eldoret - Thurs 6/19/2008

2008-06-19T08:59:00.000-04:00

On 6/19/08, Eden Grace wrote:

Dear Friends,
I thought you might like to read this account from John Muhanji about this week's peace work, and the evidence of what an impact our Friends Church Peace Team is having!
Blessings,
Eden

=================================

We went to the camp and met with the people, and when I talked and prayed for them, they willingly went and started pulling down their tents, ready to leave to their new station, closer to their houses which were destroyed....
I felt encouraged and energised to see that we could offer a new life of hope to people who have been feeling hopeless.

--John Muhanji, Director of FUM's African Ministries Office in Kenya

Dear Friends,

It is always wise to go by God's direction all the time we do our ministry. The months of March, April, May and June have been busy with so many activities that were to be done at the beginning of the year but were interrupted by the clashes. Besides our normal programs we were added more responsibilities of dealing with the Internally displaces people after the post election violence that rocked the country from end of 2007 after the election.

Many people were displaced as a result of being chased from other communities for not supporting a certain candidate in presidential election. During this time many people were looking where to go in search of security and shelter and food. Many people's houses were destroyed and many of their properties also stolen and others destroyed during the violence period. It will take a good longer time to heal from this evil acts from their neighbours.

After have a very successful mission to Uganda where I had a workshop with the finance chairmen and treasurers of the various monthly and Quarterly meetings of the yearly meeting. I received a telephone call from the District Commissioner at mid-night on Sunday asking me to join them get the IDPs from the Eldoret show ground to their homes.

The DC told me that he had been to the camp and the IDPs were hostile to him because he has not been with them at all. The IDPs told the DC the only people they know who have been very helpful in ensuring that they resettle to their homes are the District Officer (DO) and the Friends Church. He was given my number by the DO and the IDPs would like to meet myself from the Friends church and the DO on Monday morning.

I was very tired and I needed a rest after a long week full of activities. I tried to give excuses not to go or sent someone else, but the DC told that, "you have done a lot to this people and I believe you are the only person who could make this day a success." I accepted reluctantly but at the same time I asked God to give me energy and wisdom on how to deal with situation.

I left very early in the morning on Monday 16th to Eldoret show grounds. I met the DO and DC waiting for me. We went to the camp and met with the people and when I talked and prayed for them, they willingly went and started pulling down their tents ready to leave to their new station closer to their houses which were destroyed. Lorries were provided which carried them to the place.

As they were pulling down their tents, we went to see the place where they were relocating, we found that there were no rest rooms and water nearby for the people as they move there. At this time the DC had left us with the DO. We called the DC and asked him to provide funds for the toilets and water, but he never came to us again. Time was moving and nothing was taking place, I felt frustrated and I called Eden and asked her to send me Kshs.40,000 (about $620 USD) to use for the process.

Eden responded very fast, and I started rolling things in action. The toilets were put in place, water was also connected after buying pipes that pulled water which was 200 meters from the location. I also provided food to those people who worked on it. I also enable the connection of electricity from a nearby hospital which provided light for security. I got a wire that was also 200 metres and its accessories. It was as if I had calculated the exact amount that was required for the work available. I left the camp at 8.45pm when the camp was having water, rest rooms and lights in a very short time.

The IDPs and the DO felt encouraged and supported and the people felt that indeed the Friends church is a true peace church that cares for the people. They commended that we have been very helpful in the process and they have seen that we are the only church that has not taken the process for granted but as a duty. They saw integrity in us and wished this church could stay with them all the time. I even used also the same money to buy fuel for a government vehicle the DO was using when it ran out of fuel and were using it to carry longs and other things. They could not get the money from the DC to do anything. I felt encouraged and energised to see that we could offer a new life of hope to people who have been feeling hopeless.

I slept in Eldoret unexpected, because I came knowing that I will be going back to kisumu. The following day, we went to the show ground to see those IDPs from the same place who had remained. As I arrived in the camp and went round the makeshifts of tents, All those who had remained came out and started pulling down their tents in readiness to join their counterparts who left the previous day. Since everything was already in place I blessed them and asked them to move in peace to the new place.

At this time i was needed for another meeting in Kisumu at 2.00pm. I left Eldoret at 11.45am and I was in Kisumu for the other meeting that was to plan for the education secretaries meeting to be held on 18th June at 2.30pm. We met and made the agenda and what to discuss.

The program which the Friends Church Peace team has been doing has caused a big impact to both the communities of the Kalenjin and Kikuyus. These communities had no clue before that the Friends church had such values in peace and reconciliation. The DO continued to say that if it was not the Friends Church which I have hidden in their wings, I would not have penetrated or made any progress in resettlement of the IDPs.

Friends Your prayers and support has been seen and heard and we encourage that we continue with the same spirit of support. There is a lot of responsibilities remaining to ensure that we continue with bonding relationship activities between the communities. The resettlement continues this week and next week.

I greatly appreciate the call I received from Sylvia at 8.30pm when I was taking the electrician to his house after fixing the lights for the camp. I was driving and had to pull a side to talk to Sylvia with surprise. She called the right time I needed such an encouragement and it was as if she had been monitoring me and had to call when we were retiring to encourage me. Sylvia! thank you for that call it gave me strength and I felt I was not a lone. God Used you to call me at that particular time when I was very exhausted but I found myself energised.

God bless you friends.

-- John Muhanji
Director, Africa Ministries Office
P. O. Box 478, Kisumu.

Listening to Christ: A simple faith that transforms lives.

Today's stories - Wed 6/18/2008

2008-06-18T09:51:00.001-04:00

Forgotten Kenyan conflict exposed
BBC
6/18/2008

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has exposed torture and appalling levels of sexual violence in a conflict in western Kenya.

It says people there are caught up in fighting which it claims is being ignored by the international community.

A major military operation to neutralise a militia group called the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) has left thousands of civilians trapped.

The militia took up arms over a land allocation scheme it considers unfair.

MSF says there are victims of "indiscriminate violence" on both sides.

But Western Provincial Commissioner Abdul Mwasera told the BBC's Focus on Africa that accusations that the security forces had used excessive force were unfounded.

I saw men beaten on their genitals, and their testicles pulled out
Male witness

The SLDF says it is fighting for ancestral land in the fertile Mount Elgon region belonging to the Sabaot community, but has been accused of killing members of rival ethnic groups.

Correspondents say much of the chaos witnessed in Kenya after the country's presidential election in December was sparked by long-running disputes over land.

Torture
The MSF report paints a picture of a civilian population caught between a heavy-handed military - accused of extra judicial killings - and a vicious militia, the SLDF, the BBC's Karen Allen reports from Nairobi.

One woman cited in the report described how the militia took five people a day to the mountains and killed them.
"If they targeted a home, they took every member of that family, irrespective of age and sex," she said.

The militia extorted fines from people who were drunk, chopping their ears off if they had no money and killing them if they resisted, she added.

"One of my brothers-in-law tried to resist one day and his head was chopped off and his body was thrown into a pit latrine," she was quoted as saying.

The report also sets out testimonies of men, suspected to have been militia members, being subjected to torture and appalling levels of sexual violence at the hands of the police and the military.

"I saw men beaten on their genitals, and their testicles pulled out," said one man who had been taken to a screening centre Kapkota.

"The military told us to confess we had guns, otherwise the torture would continue," he said.

MSF has also condemned the cramped conditions in which suspects are held during pre-trial detention, and warned that the violent response of the military is simply making things worse for an already traumatised civilian population.

Mr Mwasera said his own interviews had found that people in Mount Elgon supported what the military was doing.

He also said that it was the government's responsibility to care for those civilians displaced by the violence and that they had been offered food and ongoing assistance.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7458239.stm
Published: 2008/06/17 16:05:21 GMT© BBC MMVIII

NEWS
MPs seek Sh650m for new expenses
Story by ERIC SHIMOLI
Publication Date: 6/18/2008

MPs are asking for Sh656.7 million more than they received last year to cater for live coverage of parliamentary proceedings and a new redesigned debating chamber, among others.

It is part of a Sh7.2 billion Budget for Parliament, in which MPs are also asking for money for a new four-wheel-drive vehicle and chase car for the Speaker, foreign and local travel allowances, a pension scheme for former MPs and an official house for the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr Patrick Gichohi.

Since 2001, MPs have presented their own Budget, separate from the national one read by the Finance Minister.

Speaker’s car
The House has traditionally and speedily approved the budget without amendment.

According to estimates, Sh35 million has been set aside to buy new cars, including a new Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) for the Speaker, Mr Kenneth Marende.

The money will also be used to buy a chase car for the Speaker, a new addition to Parliament’s budget.

Mr Marende will be the latest among top Government officers to enjoy the services of a chase car, after President Kibaki, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Others who have such privileges include Deputy PMs Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta, Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, Chief of General Staff Gen Jeremiah Kianga and Chief Justice Evan Gicheru.

Mr Marende’s SUV will be in addition to his official Mercedes limousine.

Parliament’s debating chamber is scheduled for redesign and refurbishment at Sh360 million. The job had been budgeted to cost Sh800 million, but former Speaker Francis ole Kaparo overruled it, arguing that the figure was exaggerated.

The chamber is supposed to be redesigned to a horse-shoe shape, similar to the US congress debating chambers.

The House has also budgeted for Sh185 million to buy broadcast equipment to allow live coverage of proceedings.
Radio broadcasts will be introduced first, followed by TV transmissions.

MPs’ stand
Mr Kimunya said live broadcasts would have been introduced by the time MPs debate the proposed law that will make them pay taxes on their allowances “for people to know the stand taken by their MPs”.

The Clerk will get a new official residence to be bought at Sh50 million. A similar house was bought for the Speaker several years ago.

MPs have also budgeted for Sh256 million for their foreign travels between now and end of June next year. They have also set aside Sh95 million as membership fees, dues and subscription for international organisations.

The Speaker will also benefit from an additional Sh8 million to buy furniture for his official residence and some equipment for the catering department.

Parliament has also budgeted Sh2.5 million to add to the allocation given by the National Aids Control Council for HIV/Aids awareness and purchase of ARVs for “the critically ill in parliament”.

The House has also set aside Sh200 million to pay duty for MPs’ duty free cars. Previously no tax was paid for the cars but the system was changed to provide for an allocation from the Treasury to pay the Kenya Revenue Authority.

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=125597

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Oliver Kisaka featured online - Mon 6/16/2008

2008-06-16T08:43:00.001-04:00

WEB EXCLUSIVE:
Religion's Role in Kenya

June 13, 2008
Episode no. 1141

RELIGION AND ETHICS NEWS WEEKLY this week highlights the growing ties between church communities in western Kenya and Indiana. Those ties endured, indeed strengthened, following the deadly post-election violence in Kenya late last year. The ethnic clashes killed more than a thousand and displaced 600,000, and the upheaval continues to scare away tourists who are critical to the economy of what had been one of Africa's most stable nations. Kenya received its independence from Britain in 1963, inheriting a similar parliamentary system and a strong legacy of Christianity. Neither proved an adequate bulwark against the inter-tribal tensions that have festered in the decades since self-rule began.

When Kenya's disputed election erupted in bloodshed last December, church leaders failed to lead, admits Oliver Kisaka, a Quaker minister and vice president of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, in an interview in Nairobi with Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro.

According to the American Friends Service Committee, there are more Quakers in Kenya -- 135,000 -- than any other country in the world.

Read excerpts from Kisaka's comments:
OLIVER KISAKA (National Council of Churches of Kenya NCCK): Forty-five years for Kenya is a short period of time for 45 tribes to have come together and meshed into one and perfected the art of democracy and common sharing of space. I think in that sense people should not be overly judgmental against any African country. They are trying to shift from systems they were used to, to a totally new approach when you are dealing with more than one culture.

Democracy is not an African system. It's a good system but it is not inherently African.

Most Kenyans are religious. The country would be about 95 percent to 97 percent religious, 70 to 80 percent of that being from one of the Christian traditions. Another sizable percentage, about 15 to 20, being from the Islamic community, and maybe 2 to 3 percent being Hindu and others. So Kenya is generally a religious community.

But how this religion works out in economics, how it works out in politics, how it works out in ethnicity, how it works out in aesthetics, how it works out in defining ethical values, how it works as a true worship, as a religion itself -- those are the critical questions which we are now being called upon to engage.

We have assumed we are a peaceful country. We have assumed that our religion is deep enough. The truth is that it is not deep enough.

Oliver Kisaka: When push came to shove, there were ministers who sided with their ethnic communities. In other words, they were not prophetic to their ethnic communities.

The right thing would have been to tell the community "You can not do this. You can't burn other peoples' property, even if you are aggrieved." But they were silent.

When we entered the crisis we decided, analyzed it in three parts. We said it was a spiritual crisis, a political crisis, and a humanitarian crisis, because of the internally displaced people, and we then set up committees to respond to these: a humanitarian committee, a spiritual committee, and a political mediation committee.

Each of these have been working since that time. We told the people we regret that we were divided and that divisions were along ethnic lines. So we committed ourselves to starting fresh and to do things differently for the sake of the country.

Nobody in Kenya was not divided, doesn't matter who -- the teachers, the law society, the civil society organizations. Everybody was divided.

It was a very difficult situation for the country, and we felt if someone was going to bring healing into the country someone was needed to take responsibility for their part. So we decided to go ahead and do so. We still hope the rest can actually come to that point, because anything else is really denial. We are in denial. We have treated one another as if we were not Kenyans, and there is no way we can heal one another if we are still pointing fingers across the table. We need everybody to say "I had a part to play in what this became."

There has been a lot of call for healing, for renewal, and in a sense we are saying renewal for all of us. Without sounding careless, the Christian tradition is a tradition of renewal, is a tradition of redemption, is a tradition of forgiveness. The most difficult things for Christians to attempt to do is not to own up to what you are wrong about. If you are able to own up sincerely and turn around, there is forgiveness, and there is a new opportunity. So most of the ministers have dealt with this and are preaching healing, reconciliation. They are using our experience as a lesson. They are saying we didn't know it would get this bad. We cannot point fingers anymore. We must work on a new way of how we will live together.

So the message is a message of reconciliation, is a message of "Let's begin again," a message of "We can't pretend we were holier than others. Let's own up, lets face it, lets address it."

One of the sad things of the missionary experience, it outlawed African-ness. If African culture is seen to be anti-Christian and yet I cannot be a white, then what does it leave for me? It leaves me a big vacuum. I have forsaken my African values, I cannot live the Western values I lived, so where does that leave me?

I think that the minister today, I as a minister must wrestle with that and help Kenyans develop new values that can allow them to be African and be Christian without feeling a sense of contradiction.

Our preaching ministry cannot be business as usual for us to be able to address ethnicity. Somebody must stand up and tell the people that although where we are today it seems that we can't live together as tribes, that is something we can work out.

I think we have the God-given capacity to address any human problems anywhere. Human beings are known for that. The first and second world wars were very bad wars, but Europe still lives together. Europe works together. They have just raised their stakes a little higher, determined how to live together. I think what it's calling for is for Kenyans to develop a way of living together, and religion has a great path, because it can give the right theology under God for this kind of living together.

Religion in Kenya is not zero. It held at some point. It was pushed from the ideal, but it did not go beyond a certain point, meaning there is a deposit of it. We can easily be so negative about this situation that we paint Kenya as a country of hopeless people who don't know where they are going.

I think Kenyans are very hopeful people. I think that the problem we faced is that people were trying to say something, and nobody was hearing them.

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