On the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, hundreds of people have surrounded the farm of the country’s former president, Uhuru Kenyatta.
They have taken livestock, burned down the property, and used power saws to fell trees. The reason is still a mystery.
This occurs while President William Ruto’s administration is the target of opposition demonstrations in Kenya.
More soon…
Kenya’s former leader, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame have agreed on the need for a ceasefire in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and for rebels to withdraw.
Mr Kenyatta – who is acting as a mediator to try to stop the conflict – has just returned from North Kivu where the M23 rebel group has launched several offensives this year displacing more than a quarter of a million people.
In public, President Kagame has always denied backing the M23 in eastern Congo.
But according to a statement from Mr Kenyatta’s office, the Rwandan leader has now agreed to use his influence to get the rebels to cease fire and withdraw from recently captured areas.
This week the conflict has escalated with the Congolese military attacking M23 positions using fighter jets and tanks.
This international push for a ceasefire brings some hope.
Much will depend on the outcome of regional peace talks which are due to begin in Kenya on Monday.
Years of fighting in eastern Congo have been fuelled by the thirst for the region’s minerals.
Source: BBC
The announcement came as Congolese troops clashed once more with the M23 in the volatile east, north of Goma.
East African leaders announced peace talks on Sunday in an effort to stabilise the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where M23 rebels clashed with troops just north of Goma over the weekend.
The seven-nation East African Community (EAC) announced a “peace dialogue” on eastern DRC on November 21 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Officials said the announcement came as Congolese troops clashed again with the M23 north of the volatile region’s main city Goma.
Deadly clashes lasted until Sunday night at Kibumba, another settlement about 20km from Goma, according to local residents and security officials.
Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb reporting from the region, said Congolese government forces, repelled M23’s attack on the town of Cuba with more than a day of heavy fighting before pushing them.
“The Congolese army North Congress army, says that they’re fighting soldiers from Rwanda and Uganda. The rebel group is widely understood to be a proxy of Rwanda, although Rwanda denies it. And so, people have fled…to try and get away from the fighting.”
“Meanwhile, community leaders on the other side of the frontline have told us that about 60,000 people are stuck behind the front line in the territory held by the M23 rebel group and that they want a humanitarian corridor to be created so they can leave that area before the fighting gets closer to them,” Webb said.
M23 rebels have recently surged across the DRC’s North Kivu province, winning a string of victories against the army and capturing swaths of territory.
On Saturday, the group accused the Congolese army of retaliating with “barbarian bombings” – killing 15 civilians, including two children. Al Jazeera was unable to independently confirm the death toll.
The latest violence comes one day after Kenyan troops were deployed to eastern DRC, as part of a peacekeeping operation from the EAC bloc.
A mostly Congolese Tutsi group, the M23 first leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before being driven out and going underground.
The group re-emerged in late 2021, taking up arms again on claims that the DRC had failed to honour a promise to integrate them into the army, among other grievances.
The M23’s resurgence has cratered relations between the DRC and its smaller neighbour Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of backing the militia.
Despite official denials from Kigali, an unpublished report for the United Nations seen by AFP in August pointed to Rwandan involvement with the M23.
Kinshasa expelled Rwanda’s ambassador at the end of last month, as the M23 captured more territory, while also recalling its envoy from Kigali.
The ratcheting tensions have spurred a bout of diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco met Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa on Saturday, for example, after visiting Rwanda the previous day.
On Sunday, Kenya’s ex-President Uhuru Kenyatta, the EAC’s mediator for the situation, was also due in Kinshasa for talks.
The EAC on Sunday said it would hold talks aimed at bringing peace to eastern DRC in Nairobi this month. But it did not specify stakeholders in the talks nor how long they were scheduled to last.
The announcement comes just days after Kenyan troops began to arrive in Goma over the weekend as part of a regional peacekeeping force established by the EAC in April.
Kenya’s Parliament approved the deployment of about 900 soldiers for an initial period of six months. While the force will be under Kenyan command, its total size and scope remain unclear.
In August, Burundi also sent troops to join the regional force in DRC.
Earlier this month, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC has withdrawn troops from the eastern military base of Rumangabo, ceding ground in the battle against the M23.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital is hosting talks aimed at resolving a diplomatic row with Rwanda and putting an end to a violent conflict in the country’s east.
Former Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta and Angola’s President Joo Lourenço are mediating between representatives of the two governments.
This follows a meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Friday.
He has denied backing the M23 rebel group that recently re-launched an offensive that has left tens of thousands of people displaced.
The mediators will also speak to victims of the conflict.
DR Congo’s government is due to meet representatives of various armed groups later this month in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
In an effort to reduce energy prices, Kenya is to move forward with the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, to its coastal city of Mombasa and ultimately to the capital Nairobi, according to Kenya’s President William Ruto.
Local reports put the costs of the 600km (372-mile) pipeline at about $1.1bn (£990m).
Mr Ruto spoke to Tanzanian media on Monday, shortly after holding bilateral talks with President Samia Suluhu, on his first visit to the neighbouring country since he took office in September.
Mr Ruto said the project would lower energy tariffs in the industrial sector, as well as for families in their homes.
In May last year, Mr Ruto’s predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Ms Suluhu signed a preliminary agreement covering the transport of gas from Tanzania to Kenya for use in power generation and, potentially, for cooking and heating.
The deal was said to be part of a longer-term plan to expand infrastructure links between the two big economies of East Africa.
You can listen to the full media briefing of the two presidents, in Swahili and English, here:
Tanzania-Kenya media briefing, State House, Dar es Salam, Tanzania https://t.co/1OW2AfthKp
— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) October 10, 2022
Following the election commission chair’s declaration of William Ruto as the winner, protests temporarily erupted in a number of the strongholds of Raila Odinga, the opposition candidate. It’s unclear if there will be any additional demonstrations.
The highest court of Kenya has dismissed a challenge to the official results of the presidential election.
Opposition candidate Raila Odinga had alleged irregularities in the otherwise peaceful election on 9 August, which was won by deputy president William Ruto.
The court found there was little or no evidence for various claims, including accusations of misconduct, and called some of them “nothing more than hot air.”
Protests briefly broke out in several of Mr Odinga’s strongholds after the election commission chair declared Mr Ruto the winner on 15 August, but Mr Odinga urged his supporters to stay peaceful.
It is not clear whether the court’s decision could lead to further protests.
The court overturned the results of the previous presidential election in 2017, a first in Africa, and ordered a fresh vote after Mr Odinga filed a challenge to that year’s result.
He then boycotted the fresh election that was ordered, allowing President Uhuru Kenyatta to take power.
At the time, about 100 people were killed in election-related clashes.
This time, Mr Odinga was backed by Mr Kenyatta, his former opponent, illustrating how political alliances can shift in East Africa’s most stable democracy.
Mr Ruto had been declared the winner even though four of the seven election commissioners had disowned the result announced by the commission chairman, claiming the count had been opaque.
The supreme court criticised the commission, saying it “needs far-reaching reforms” before questioning whether “are we to nullify an election on the basis of a last-minute boardroom rupture?”
Mr Ruto will become Kenya’s fifth president at a time when the east African nation faces several challenges, including billions of dollars in loans and surging prices of basic commodities such as food and fuel.
In the midst of emotional moments, the chairman of the electoral commission has announced that Deputy President William Ruto has won Kenya’s presidential election.
With 50.4% of the vote, he barely defeated Raila Odinga as his opponent.
The announcement was delayed amid scuffles and allegations of vote-rigging by Mr. Odinga‘s campaign.
Due to disputes and claims of vote manipulation by Mr. Odinga’s team, the declaration was postponed.
Four of the seven members of the electoral commission refused to endorse the announcement, saying the results were “opaque”.
“We cannot take ownership of the result that is going to be announced because of the opaque nature of this last phase of the general election,” said Juliana Cherera, the vice-chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
“We are going to give a comprehensive statement… and again we urge Kenyans to keep calm. There is an open door that people can go to court and the rule of law will prevail,” she said.
Mr. Odinga’s party agent earlier alleged that there were “irregularities” and “mismanagement” in the election.
This was the first time Mr. Ruto, 55, had run for president. He has served as deputy president for 10 years but fell out with President Uhuru Kenyatta, who backed Mr. Odinga to succeed him.
Kenya’s outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta wants to transfer the political crown to his adversary-turned-friend Raila Odinga, but his deputy William Ruto is aiming to take it in the election on August 9. This is comparable to Trump-supporting Clinton in a US election.
As a result, there has been a political drama in which Mr. Ruto has portrayed himself as a “hustler,” battling what he sees as an attempt by two of Kenya’s largest dynasties—the Kenyattas and the Odingas—to retain power.
Trying to evoke the sympathy of Kenyans, he has prayed, wept, and made the incendiary claim that President Kenyatta was threatening him.
“As long as you don’t kill my children I shall face you but please let’s respect each other,” Mr. Ruto said, at one of his final campaign rallies as a crowd cheered him on.
Mr. Kenyatta refuted his claim by saying: “For nearly three years, you have made fun of me. Do you feel any touch?”
As Mr. Kenyatta publicly backed Mr. Odinga as his successor, their debate demonstrated how personal and acrimonious Kenya’s election campaign has become.
“The president has diverted the focus of Ruto, to exchange words with him, and to forget about his competitor,” Kenyan political analyst Prof Masibo Lumala told the BBC.
“The president has managed to bring out a side of his deputy that shows his anger, which is not a good thing,” he added.
Another analyst, Prof Macharia Munene said these sharp exchanges made Mr. Odinga “look like the sober one” during the campaign, though he also landed some blows on Mr. Ruto, questioning his hustler claim by labeling him “a man of lands” – a reference to the long-running controversy over how the deputy president became a big landowner in Kenya. He denies acquiring land illegally.
President Kenyatta’s move to back Mr. Odinga has been seen as an attempt by him to secure his legacy by reuniting two families that jointly fought British colonial rule – only to fall out in 1966, three years after independence, and to remain at loggerheads until his second and final term.
It meant ditching Mr. Ruto, with whom he formed an alliance in the 2013 election to fight off charges they faced at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the deadly violence that hit Kenya after the 2007 poll.
“What had united them disappeared,” Prof Munene said, adding: “Now Ruto wants to be elected and Uhuru wants his legacy so their interests have collided.”
“Uhuru had to accommodate Raila because he was able to create instant trouble and hamper his work,” Prof Munene said, adding that the 77-year-old veteran politician accepted Mr. Kenyatta’s olive branch as it bolstered his chances of becoming president after four failed attempts.
“Mr. Odinga is appearing to be more desperate because of age, and this appears to be his last chance,” Prof Munene said.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESThe Kenyatta and Odinga families are extremely rich. What their fortunes are worth is unclear, but the public got a glimpse of the Kenyattas’ wealth when the Pandora Papers linked them to offshore investments, including a company with stocks and bonds worth $30m (£22m).
Mr. Ruto is also wealthy, but he has portrayed himself as someone who – having once sold chickens and groundnuts by the roadside – understands the plight of the poor, and will champion their interests if elected.
“While we are busy planning how the lowest Kenyan will be uplifted, some other operatives are busy in hotels planning how to install a puppet president who they will control, as they want so that their selfish interests continue being served,” Mr. Ruto once said at a rally – lines that he often repeated and which were dismissed as untrue by his opponents.
With women making up nearly half the number of registered voters, Mr. Odinga, unlike Mr. Ruto, has chosen a female running-mate, former Justice Minister Martha Karua.
Prof Lumala described her as a breath of fresh in a male-dominated campaign and said she had given Kenyans their “Kamala Harris” moment on the campaign trail.
“We could see an element of motherhood [in her]. She maintained her sanity and even when hitting, she was measured in her language,” he added, though she too attacked Mr. Ruto in the final days of the campaign by saying he should “stop trying to be Deputy Jesus” by crying at prayer meetings.
Mr. Ruto has focused heavily on winning over the youth – not surprising as the official rate of unemployment among those aged between 18 and 34 years is nearly 40%, and the economy is not creating enough jobs to absorb the 800,000 young people joining the workforce every year.
Mr. Ruto has therefore coined the phrase “Hustler Nation” to refer to the young people struggling to make ends meet, and has promised a “bottom-up approach” to the economy, saying it will benefit the poor.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to leave for Paris tomorrow, where he will take billions of shillings in debt for a road project.
The Head of State is scheduled to sign a public private partnership (PPP) deal worth Sh180 billion for dualling of the 190-kilometer Rironi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Road.
This will be the President’s first trip post Covid-19 pandemic, which saw the Kenyan airspace closed for both domestic and international flights.
The Nation understands that the President will meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris, where they will sign and preside over the inking of several PPP agreements on water, infrastructure and energy. Mr Macron was in Nairobi in March last year on a State visit.
Kenya’s signing of the tolling concession pact with a consortium of French firms under Rift Valley Connect led by Meridiam Infrastructure Africa Fund will unlock the funding of the road, which once complete will be the country’s first toll highway outside Nairobi.
The road, a key segment of the Northern Corridor, is expected to significantly cut the travel time for both people and goods, reducing the cost of doing business. It will also compliment the standard gauge railway (SGR) services between Naivasha and Malaba Border.
Awarded tender
Last year, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) awarded the tender for the road to French firm Meridiam International, with others in the consortium including Vinci Highways SAS and Vinci Concessions SA.
The project is expected to be undertaken on a PPP basis that will see the consortium raise finances for the road, design, construct, maintain and operate the road on pre-agreed standards and specifications.
Sources told the Nation that a tolling fund is expected to be established later this year.
“The modalities of the agreement, or of the establishment of the tolling fund are not known yet,” a source with knowledge of the matter said.
Efforts to get a clarification over the matter from Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia were futile as he was unavailable on phone.
But in an earlier interview, Mr Macharia told the Nation that the Cabinet had decided to prioritise two PPP’s project in order to ease the nightmare for users between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Westlands, and those who use the Nairobi-Naivasha-Nakuru highway.
“We decided to give priority to two Public Private Partnership projects,” he said.
Under the PPP model, investors are expected to raise finances for the two road projects and design, construct, maintain and operate them on pre-agreed standards and specifications. The concession for both roads has been capped at 30 years.
Last year, KeNHA’s Director-General Peter Mundinia said the contractor will be expected to recover their funds from the road through a user fees (tolls), after designing, building, and maintaining it within the agreed time-frame. It is also understood that the contractor will be granted the operation and maintenance of the Southern Bypass, including the Gitaru to Rironi segment within Kiambu County.
As per the contract, the Rironi-Mau Summit project will see the contractor expand the 175 kilometres between Rironi in Limuru to Mau Summit in Nakuru County into a four-lane dual carriageway.
It will also entail the re-carpeting of Rironi-Mai Mahiu- Naivasha road.
Sh59 billion
This will be the second road the country has signed PPP on after it handed over the Sh59 billion JKIA-Westland’s Expressway to China Road and Bridge Corporation.
The road, which is currently under construction, will also entail a toll station to allow for the contractor to recoup their investment. It is expected to be complete by the end of next year.
In October last year, Kenya suspended the construction of the Sh300 billion Nairobi-Mombasa expressway for two years over the country’s debt concerns.
It would have been Kenya’s first expressway and the largest single-contract road project.
The project, modelled to complement the Sh327 billion SGR, was to be undertaken by Bechtel, a US-based private construction conglomerate.
The company won the multibillion-shilling contract in a government-to-government deal that formed part of President Kenyatta’s discussions with President Donald Trump during his US visit in 2018.
Mr Macharia said the Cabinet had decided to suspend the project for at least two years to allow the country’s debt levels to drop, while also prioritising other key projects.
Source:Â nation.africa
Pilots are seeking the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta to save their jobs as struggling Kenya Airways (KQ) pushes on with the resolve to send them home.
Through their union, Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), they wrote an open letter to the President pleading with him to save some 4,000 families who would be directly affected by the downsizing.
“As opposed to issuing letters of redundancy in the midst of a pandemic – a move that will severely impact over 4,000 families who directly depend on KQ and the adverse net effect of the same, industry stakeholders have the opportunity to consultatively reposition the airline to strategically fill the gap left by the closure of Air Mauritius and South Africa Airways,” the letter signed by Kalpa General Secretary, Captain Murithi Nyagah, stated.
Expand network
They opposed any move by the airline to reduce staff, instead urging for measures to expand its network and preserve Nairobi as an economic hub for the East African region.
“We strongly believe expanding Kenya Airways will give our country the opportunity to capitalise on the maturity of her hospitality industry and fully utilise her substantive investment in airport infrastructure,” they said.
The pilots further cautioned over the risk of the country losing its professionals in the aviation sector to competitors in the region, faulting KQ for the move as other airlines are making decisions to strengthen their brands.
Downsize
“The decision to downsize the airline will result in the country losing its highly-trained home-grown talent to foreign carriers, as well as its regional advantage as a hub to Addis Ababa – that is expanding under the support of Ethiopian Airlines, or Kigali – that is also expanding under the support of RwandAir.”
Kenya Airways top management has, however, termed its decision as “right-sizing” the organisation so as to ensure that the airline operates cost-effectively.
Source:Â allafrica.com
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for an “extraordinary meeting” of his national security council at the end of this week over the rise of Covid-19 cases in the country.
State House spokesperson Kanze Dena said the meeting will review how well the containment measures are working.
President Kenyatta announced the reopening of the economy on 7 July after a series of restrictions were brought in to contain the spread of the virus.
Over the past two weeks, more than 7,000 cases and 83 deaths have been reported.
The country’s total number of confirmed cases stands at 13,771 and 238 people have died.
Source:Â bbc.com
President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage to set aside Ksh.100 million ($944,356) to cushion local artistes from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Addressing the Nation on the state of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, Kenyatta said the Ksh.100 million fund will allow artistes, actors and musicians to continue entertaining the public through TV, radio and the internet.
“I direct the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage to avail Ksh.100M from the Sports Fund to our artistes, actors and musicians during the period of the covid-19 pandemic so they may continue to entertain their fellow brothers and sisters through TV, radio and the internet,†said Kenyatta.
At the same time, the Head of State has announced that effective this week, all local artistes will be earning a total of Ksh.200 million per month which translates to an annual payment of over Ksh.2 billion.
“Starting this month, all our local artistes will be earning a total of Ksh.200 million per month that will be paid to musicians through the system and other platforms that we have developed.â€
“This shall translate this year to over Ksh.2 billion going into the pockets of our young artistes and young Kenyans. These payments will begin this week,†Kenyatta said.
He noted that the new payment of Ksh.2 billion is the pledge the government made in January this year to increase monies paid out to artistes after they received an underwhelming annual pay of Ksh.200 million last year.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com