Day: June 26, 2023

A man running the length of Africa has told how he was robbed at gunpoint.

Russell Cook, from Worthing, West Sussex, is attempting to run 31 miles (50km) every day.

The 26-year-old said he and his team had cameras, phones, cash and passports stolen in the incident in Angola on Saturday.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to run the length of Africa is because no one has ever done it before, and now we are finding out why,” he said.

The extreme challenge began at South Africa’s most southerly point on 22 April and will finish at Tunisia’s most northerly point.

Mr Cook, nicknamed “Hardest Geezer”, aims to cover 9,320 miles (14,500km) during the eight-month challenge, crossing 16 borders through cities, rainforests and a three-month stretch in the Sahara Desert.

On day 64 of the challenge, the team was approached by two men with guns who “demanded everything”, Mr Cook said.

“First things first, we’re grateful to make it out alive,” he said.

“We lost a few thousand quids worth of stuff which is a big problem for us, but we will endeavour to soldier on and get things sorted.”

He said he was determined not to let the robbery ruin the challenge or the reputation of the country.

“Almost everyone we’ve met in Angola has been really friendly and welcoming, so it’s a shame this happened, but c’est la vie,” he added.

“It is a stressful and intense reality right now, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

“The police are doing what they can to help us and make sure this doesn’t happen again. We will make it.”

Before the challenge, Mr Cook said following struggles with his mental health, gambling and drinking, he hoped to look back at his life and say, “boy, we had a tear up”.

The challenge is in aid of The Running Charity and Water Aid.

Source: BBC

Womankind Kenya, a Non-governmental organisation, has initiated a resilience, peace, and Stability Programme aimed at reducing violent extremism, political conflicts, and resource-based disputes in Garissa County.

The launch of the programme comes at a time when there have been frequent terrorist attacks in the North eastern region and parts of Lamu County, leaving dozens of security officers and civilians dead.

According to the WomenKind Kenya project manager, Osman Yahye, the project seeks to address the negative impacts of violent extremism on essential services such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, and business operations.

During a two-day workshop at a Garissa hotel, Yahye emphasized the need to strengthen and enhance the capacity of community peace committees and the Nyumba Kumi system in identifying early warning signs of radicalization and combating violent extremism in Garissa Township and Fafi Sub counties.

‘The goal of the program is to enhance the resilience of the local community to prevent and mitigate violent extremism and resource-based conflicts,’ Yahye said.

He emphasized that the project’s strategies will strengthen the resilience and capabilities of community members, government entities, and non-state actors, creating sustainable mechanisms for peace and security initiatives.

The program will also actively involve women, youth, vulnerable groups, the county government, the National Counter Terrorism Center, and community members.

‘We are targeting the communities of Fafi and Garissa, including parents, women, and youth, as well as security apparatus in Garissa Township and Fafi, human rights defenders, persons living with disabilities, and county government officials,’ Yahye explained.

Garissa Deputy County Commissioner Solomon Chesut, speaking at the workshop, highlighted the collective responsibility of community members in combating violent extremism. He stressed the urgency of addressing the issue while noting that a united front could effectively counter the growing threat.

Ambia Abdi, a resident of Fafi Sub-County, emphasized the pivotal role of mothers in nurturing children and preventing their involvement in criminal activities. She called on parents to remain vigilant and actively engage with their children to ensure they do not fall prey to extremist ideologies.

By addressing the root causes of violent extremism and strengthening community resilience, the programme aims to foster a peaceful and stable environment in the targeted areas.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi has launched a free sanitary pad programme for vulnerable girls in the county, to be distributed at the beginning of every academic term.

The programme aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, which provides 17 development goals, including SDG 5, which is about ‘Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

According to Wamatangi, the programme aims to benefit vulnerable girls and women in schools and in slum areas who are not able to buy sanitary pads every month.

‘This is not a one-day affair; we will be distributing sanitary pads in slums and all public schools in every ward, three times a year in the beginning of every school term,’ said Wamatangi,

The county boss further added that the County Government has put in place sustainable empowerment programmes to ensure the most needy and vulnerable in society are empowered.

‘Plans are also underway to make sure that we have free sanitary pads in all public toilets present in Kiambu County,’ said Wamatangi.

On her part, Kiambu Deputy Governor Rosemary Kirika, who was also present during the launch, lauded the governor’s initiative, saying a lot of women experience period poverty due to a lack of access to feminine essential products such as sanitary pads.

‘According to a report by UNICEF, in Kenya, 65 percent of women are unable to afford sanitary pads, and about 1 million girls miss four school-days per month due to lack of sanitary pads,’ stated Kirika.

She noted that the programme will help the girls remain in school during their menses, enabling them to raise academic performance and restore dignity and self-esteem, which will ensure a better future and economic empowerment for the girl child in the long run.

‘We are aware that because of poverty, many girls are forced to use pieces of dirty rugs, cotton wool, leaves, and even paper, while some even wash and recycle, thus exposing them to diseases and discomfort,’ added the Deputy Governor.

According to the UNICEF 2007 report, a girl in primary school between grades 6 and 8 (3 years) loses approximately 18 weeks out of 108 school weeks. A girl in high school (4 years) loses 156 learning days, which is equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of school.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation is encouraging counties to use Water Magnetic Flow Meters in the management of water.

State Department for Water and Sanitation Principal Secretary Dr. Paul Ronoh says this form of technology is very effective in monitoring the flow of water from the source to the areas of use.

According to him, the use of the Magnetic Meter technology would aid in detecting leakages in the pipes since every leakage is a loss of taxpayer money.

‘This week we held a conference to discuss utilisation of technology for effective and efficient delivery of water services to Mwananchi,’ said the PS.

‘We want to manage water from the source to the end, which includes knowing every household’s consumption,’ he added.

According to the PS, the government has been investing billions of shillings in the construction of dams and other forms of water infrastructure to increase the water supply in the country, but poor water management has always negated the government’s efforts.

‘Water management is a very critical component in the whole ecosystem of water deployment, and we are saying that going forward, we need to utilise technology in the management of water,’ PS Ronoh stated.

Dr. Ronoh stated that the ministry will forgo all its plans and embrace technology whenever a better form of technology that will ease service delivery to Wananchi emerges.

‘When we are designing the water infrastructure, if we realise that there is a technology for a better dam, a better pipe, or even a better system of management, we will embrace it,’ he said as he told Nandi County leaders on ways to solve the water shortage in the county.

The PS stated that the use of technology will not stop at water management alone but will also include the construction of sewerage systems.

According to him, the ministry will embrace what he termed as compartmental sewerage systems, where containers are used as opposed to the conventional sewerage systems that are constructed.

‘The containerised systems are very effective since if there is a population increase in a certain town, we just add another container instead of constructing a new system,’ stated the PS before adding that the containerised system is neat, fast in deployment, and reduces the cost of land.

The PS said that the need to embrace technology was inevitable as the world is currently staring at a water crisis as the International per capita for water (which is the individual consumption of water in a year) was reducing.

He stated that the recommended per capita amount of water per person is 1000 cubic meters.

‘Ten years ago, the per capita stood at 647 cubic meters, last year, the per capita stood at 452 cubic meters, this year, it stands at 446; and next year, it will drop to a scary 206 cubic meters,’ said the PS.

According to him, numbers showed that the water bodies were drying, and if nothing was done, a worldwide crisis would be inevitable.

Source: Kenya News Agency

For 32 years, Leonard Mbogo wore a police uniform with high dignity as he discharged his duties and dedicated his service to his mother country, which he swore to protect.

Mbogo, now 71 years old, served in many stations across the country, from the North Rift region in the Eastern Province to the Central Province, where in all of them, the plastic waste pollution stood out.

When he eventually hung up his boots in 2007 at Kongoni police station in Naivasha, Mbogo said a noble idea of venturing into the plastic waste management business was birthed.

In 2011, Mbogo registered Wiper Sanitary Disposer Company, withdrew part of his savings, and immersed himself fully in the clog of turning plastic waste into usable valuables.

For over a decade now, his company, which has been contracted by the Nakuru County Government to undertake waste management, has collected thousands of tons of plastic waste, a win for the environment.

Through his well-thought-out initiative, Mbogo has invested in four garbage collection trucks and a sorting and crashing machine and created employment for over 30 youthful workers.

Mbogo said his company is licensed by the County to collect garbage from town households in Zone 4 areas of the Industrial Area, Hopewell, and Central Landing Beach, besides area flower farms.

It is from this collected garbage that his employees sort it out into various wastes, including plastics, cartons, soft drinks, and beer bottle cans, along with food waste.

His main interest is plastic waste, which is sorted according to its distinct colors, crushed into small pellets, and aggregated to ease their transportation to his business associates.

Although Mbogo earns a living from the plastic management business, he is limited in financial resources to venture into the full cycle of the recycling process and often relies on Nairobi Light Industries to buy off his sorted plastic loads.

‘The government should support my initiative and help me finance a recycling machine to convert the waste into valuables and create extra job opportunities for deserving youths’, Said Mbogo.

During World Environment Day, which was marked in Nakuru City, Mbogo joined the Naivasha team for a tree planting exercise, where he also voiced his concerns over the increased reckless littering of plastics by locals.

Mbogo has now become a champion of a plastic-free environment and often picks up plastics from the streets during his daily tours around the lakeside town or elsewhere.

Mbogo, born in Muranga County in a family of eight but raised in Sabatia in Baringo County, says he is not dropping the ball yet until the war on plastic’s menace in the environment is won.

The ex-uniform officer rallied locals and Kenyans to join the battalion for a plastic-free environment and called on relevant government agencies to strictly enforce plastic waste management laws to achieve these goals.

He said uncollected plastic waste has often found its way into the town drainage systems, causing blockages during the rainy season as well as snaking its way through to Lake Naivasha, posing a health and environmental risk to its marine life.

According to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development data, plastics constitute an estimated 12 percent of solid waste in Kenya, amounting to 966,000 tons every year.

The data shows that plastic beverage bottles accounted for the largest share at 13 percent of all items collected from beaches in 2019, followed by plastic bottle caps at 11 percent.

In addition, a United Nations study shows that 400 million tons of plastic waste are produced annually worldwide, out of which only 10 percent is recycled, with the figure estimated to double by 2040 if no action is taken.

‘Plastic pollution could be reduced by eight percent [8%] by 2040 if countries and companies make deep policy and market shifts using existing technology,’ the United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] says.

It is from these growing concerns that, in 2017, Kenya led its African peers after it placed a ban on single-use plastic bags, which saw a huge percentage reduction of plastic waste in the environment.

In 2020, the government prohibited visitors to national parks, beaches, forests, and other conservation areas from entering with plastic bottles, cups, disposable plates, cutlery, or straws as a mitigation measure.

However, Soipan Tuya, the Cabinet Secretary [CS] for Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change, raised concerns over clipping back and the use of single-use plastics in local markets.

The CS, who was addressing delegates and environmentalists during World Environment Day in Nakuru, tasked the National Environment Management Authority [NEMA] and County Environment Committees to sustain the war on plastic bag use.

The 2017 ban places a fine of up to Sh 2 million or a jail term of one to two years if one is found in possession, manufacturing, importing, or distributing single-use plastic bags.

Tuya, however, said there was a need for more public awareness and education on the ban on plastic bags and on the best practices out there to address and tackle plastic pollution in the country.

Speaking during the event, Nakuru County Governor Susan Kihika said the city generates about 700 tons of solid waste annually.

Through the budget estimates to the National Assembly by Treasury CS Prof Njuguna Ndungu, the government has allocated Sh 150 million to the Environment Ministry for plastic waste management and pollution control in the 2023-24 financial year.

The government has also been receiving non-state actors and international donor support to initiate programmes geared toward plastic eradication and management.

According to the Draft National Green Fiscal Incentives Policy Framework [2022] prepared by the National Treasury, the government proposes several fiscal actions to win the war on plastics in the country.

Key among these are the development of Material Recovery facilities, where the government will give incentives for waste recovery facilities and encourage the private sector through tax incentives, access to finance, and removing investment barriers to waste management.

The policy also seeks to encourage a circular economy in the plastic waste management business model that promotes recycling, offers preferences for the use of recovered materials over virgin ones, and supports innovative waste-to-energy technologies.

The policy framework also seeks to invoke the ‘Polluter Pays Principle’ for pollution prevention.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has sworn in the panel committee set to appoint the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), as gazetted in the Kenyan Gazette.

Speaking at PSC headquarters during the swearing-in, PSC Chairperson Antony Muchiri said that the president had exercised the power conferred to him by Section 81 of the Office of the DPP Act 2013 through the Gazette Notice No. 8221 to constitute the panel.

Muchiri explained that members of the selection panel are tasked with appointing the next Director of Public Prosecution, among them Mary W. Kimonye, Shadrack J. Mose, Mary Adhiambo, Roselyn Odede, Francis Atwoli, Richard Onsongo Bush Obwocha, and Twalib Abdalla Mubarak.

‘On behalf of the Public Service Commission, I congratulate each and every one of you for being identified for this most critical and noble constitutional duty. I am confident that you are all equal to the task set before you,’ said Muchiri.

The Chairperson added that the DPP is an independent office that carries immense powers and responsibilities; consequently, the holder of such a position needs to be selected meticulously.

He urged the members of the selection panel to undertake their assignment with dedication, zeal, integrity, and fairness while observing all applicable legal requirements as per the laws and the constitution of Kenya.

Muchiri noted that Kenyans expect nothing short of a process that is open, transparent, accountable, lawful, and fair, which will provide a director of public prosecution who has a high degree of integrity and independence, upholds and preserves the public trust, acts fairly in discharge of his or her constitutional mandate, and deserves the confidence bestowed.

‘You are all fully aware of how crucial the role of the DPP is in our justice system; there’s a need for you to be very diligent in carrying out this assignment,’ said Muchiri, urging the members to carry out their duties with fidelity to the constitution, emphasizing on the values and principles prescribed in articles 10 and 232 of Chapter 6.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Chief Justice (CJ) Martha Koome today launched a Convicted Sexual Offenders Electronic Register in fulfillment of the Sexual Offences Act of 2006 at Kibera Law Courts.

The CJ said the register will hold a crucial database of all convicted offenders and will ensure easy access to information on convicted sex offenders for relevant authorities.

‘We are sending a clear message that our society will not tolerate those who prey upon the vulnerable. We will hold them accountable, and their actions shall not go unnoticed or unpunished,’ CJ Koome said.

The Chief Justice noted that the automated Register will serve as a tool for deterrence, prevention, and rehabilitation of sexual offenders.

‘The register will enable the actors in the justice chain to monitor and supervise sexual offenders after their release from prison. It will also enable the public to access information on sexual offenders in their neighbourhoods and take precautionary measures to protect themselves and their children,’ she said.

The State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action Principal Secretary, Veronica Nduva, noted that the Convicted Sexual Offenders Register is a national register that captures the details of all convicted sexual offenders in Kenya. It will be accessible at all times to players in the criminal justice system and also to stakeholders.

‘We look forward to interacting with and utilising the Register, which provides a convenient platform for stakeholders to make requests to access the Register for purposes of protecting citizens, especially the vulnerable in society,’ PS Nduva said.

The CJ also launched the Sexual Gender Based Violence Strategy, the Child Justice Strategy, and the specialised SGBV Courts in Kibera and Makadara Court Stations.

CJ Koome directed Presiding Judges and Heads of Stations in Meru, Nakuru, Kiambu, Machakos, Kisii, Kitale, and Kakamega Law Courts to designate special SGBV Registries and put in place progressive Case Management Strategies to expedite the cases.

Speaking at the same event, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu expressed concern that cases of sexual and gender-based violence, including sexual offenses, have reached pandemic levels across the country, leaving young boys, girls, and women scarred and the communities fractured and bleak.

‘The policies and interventions we launch here today will go a long way to improving access to justice for these vulnerable groups,’ DCJ Mwilu said.

In regards to the Child Justice Strategy, the Chief Justice said the strategy echoes the ethos of the Constitution and the Children’s Act, 2022, and envisions a child-friendly judiciary where the best interest of every child is the guiding principle.

‘We recognise the unique challenges faced by children in conflict with the law, children in contact with the law, child victims of abuse, and children who accompany their mothers to prison. The Child Justice Strategy seeks to address these challenges by embracing a comprehensive, compassionate, and child-sensitive approach in dealing with cases involving children,’ the CJ said.

The launch of the policies reaffirms the Judiciary’s commitment to the protection of the vulnerable and marginalised in society.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Nyeri residents have been urged to embrace proper disposal of electrical and electronic waste, also popularly known as e-waste.

In an interview with KNA, James Kimani, the Technical Coordinator for the Department of Solid Waste in Nyeri County, noted the emergence of e-waste as one of the fastest-growing waste components and expressed concern over the poor disposal of electrical waste in the county.

According to Mr. Kimani, many Nyeri residents were still not conversant with proper waste segregation and were warned of health and environmental hazards resulting from improper disposal of the e-waste.

‘We are working on starving our dumpsites of e-waste by enlightening the public on where to dump the electronic waste since we recognized that our informal workers may pick up toxic elements when they burn the e-waste at dump sites,’ he said.

According to the global e-waste monitor report of 2020, more than 53.6 million metric tonnes of e-waste from old phones, fridges, chargers, batteries, laptop and desktop computers, printers, televisions, and other household items that use electricity are produced globally. The report noted that if left unchecked, the numbers could double to 120 million tonnes by 2050.

Further, Kenya’s annual electronic waste generation grew from 3,000 metric tonnes in 2012 to 51,000 metric tonnes in 2021.

Globally, the report said, only 17.4 per cent of e-waste is managed appropriately. Mr Kimani said that as a mitigation measure, the department had partnered with Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), an e-waste collection centre, to sensitize the public on e-waste collection, safe disposal, and metal recovery to commercialize the waste.

‘Through the WEEE centre we want to ensure that companies, including those who make electronic products, follow a producer-based principle where they also keep track of where their trash goes,’ he stated.

On his part, WEEE centre Nyeri coordinator Davis Oburi, said that they are encouraging residents and institutions to participate in e-waste management as a way of promoting what he termed as a circular economy. Mr Oburi said that, just like scrap metal, most of the e-waste generated could be repurposed to ensure that nothing goes to waste. The county coordinator noted that the approach will ensure that every part of a gadget is accounted for to avoid it ending up on a regular dumpsite or in illegal trade.

‘We have set out to work with existing waste handlers and collectors to create job opportunities in the same way as those who collect scrap metals, plastics, and tetrapack papers and cartons to sell to recycling companies. We noted that individuals, entrepreneurs, and institutions rarely know what to do with electronic waste, which is very hazardous, so we have also brought them on board in a bid to bring about change,’ Oburi explained.

Source: Kenya News Agency