Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no source.standard.ke

The Government has ruled out negotiations with the outlawed Mungiki sect even as the gang took its battle to President Kibaki’s Othaya backyard in Nyeri.

The sect members overran the sleepy town at midnight on Tuesday, smashing shop windows and threatening to burn buildings. But police dispersed them.

Another group simultaneously raided Kabati town in Murang’a North where they destroyed more business buildings, houses and set one vehicle ablaze.

The group also terrorised other townships in central Province, bringing business to a standstill. Murang’a, Maragua and Kangema were ghost towns with shops remaining closed for the second day after the sect threatened traders to close business or face unspecified consequences.

Meanwhile, the Internal Security minister, Prof George Saitoti, issued a no-nonsense statement in Parliament, saying the Government would not relent in its efforts to stamp out the gang.

“The Government shall not negotiate with organised criminals or any such groups,” Saitoti told an agitated House, when he gave a ministerial statement demanded by Mutito MP, Mr Kiema Kilonzo.

The minister said extra forces would be deployed to combat the sect’s illegal activities.

“Our security agents are up to the task to ensure that security is maintained,” Saitoti said.

But even as Saitoti spoke tough, Mungiki was unrelenting. By the time of going to press, a group of attackers had blocked the Nairobi-Kikuyu road at Ruthimitu, stoning motorists before police were called in to disperse them

In the last three days, Kenyans have expressed frustration over Government seeming inability to contain the insecurity caused by Mungiki.

This was especially so after a telling admission by Internal Security Permanent Secretary, Mr Cyrus Gituai, that the Government had been wrong-footed by Mungiki on Sunday night.

On Tuesday, Gituai told The Standard that Mungiki’s early Monday morning’s simultaneous raids in several parts of the country caught the security apparatus off-guard.

He disclosed that the gang went on the rampage at 3am, while the security intelligence had prepared for combat at 6am.

Saitoti contradicted his PS, saying the Government security machinery had moved swiftly to contain the raiders and that police had not been caught napping.

Mungiki terror has subjected thousands of Kenyans to untold suffering since Monday. Fear of attack and burning of vehicles have paralysed public transport, especially in Nairobi and parts of Central Province, Nakuru and Eldoret.

On Tuesday night, hundreds of commuters in Nairobi spent many hours in the streets and matatu or bus termini as they waited for transport home. Some walked long distances to their homes, while others were spent the night in the streets.

Two people were injured when a Mungiki gang petrol-bombed a matatu in Nairobi’s Pipeline.

Saitoti confirmed that the sect had killed 12 people in several parts of the country since Monday.

But the gang’s attempt to attack Nyahururu town were thwarted by the police.

In Nairobi, it emerged that the sect had targeted selected PSV vehicles which they set ablaze or forced out of operation through extortion.

The management of the Kenya Bus Service (KBS), whose two buses have been set ablaze in the past two days, complained to the police over selective attacks of its fleet.

KBS Managing Director, Mr Edwin Mukabana, met senior police officers to complain that the company drivers felt threatened.

Other buses like Double M, which have not been targeted, confirmed that they were using police escort in some routes.

Some of the leaflets circulated in Nyeri said Mungiki demanded the immediate release of their leader, Maina Njenga, who himself told The Standard from Naivasha Maximum Prison through an aide, that his wife, Virginia Njoki’s remains would only be buried if the police vacated his Kitengela palatial home.

He said his relatives would not mourn her in peace as long as the police maintained a 24-vigil at the home.

Pressure for the Government to act decisively and with urgency mounted as religious leaders in Nairobi and Mombasa called for tough action to reassure Kenyans of their security.

The Catholic Church, through its head, John Cardinal Njue, said security of Kenyans was a priority.

Njue said the Church was worried over insecurity, adding that it threatened to get out of hand.

_____________________

African Press International – api

Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no

Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no

Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no source.nation.ke

Raila: I promise to serve you and the Kenyan people deligently sir! Thank you for this position.

Kibaki: I will be watching. And Mt. Kenya will also be watching. I have Uhuru’s watchful eyes behind you, do not forget.

Raila: I will do my best. You know I want to use this position to reach your seat. I know I won this time but you ……, This premiership oh oh oh, being the second prime minister in Kenya’s history is something I never dreamt of, but you know, my dad Jaramogi was next to Jomo  so this was meant to happen. We can do as Russia. You take over as PM and I take over the presidency after this term. The constitution bars you from the presidency after two terms but not from the Premiership. Museveni and Mugabe should also do the same. When the constitution bars one, shift to premiership and later get back.

In the Kenya media yesterday, there were speculations on how Raila Odinga, the new Prime Minister was to be sworn in and which words he was to use. Today, it came to pass that Raila swore his allegiance to the presidency and the presidency this period is President Kibaki. This is a show of where the execution of power lies. Raila also swore to counsel and advice the President and that makes sense now when the question of division of power is being discussed.

When you counsel and advice someone, the one doing the counselling and the advice cannot force any ideas on the one receiving the counselling and the advice. The receiver may disregard the counselling and the advice.

One other thing is that the receiver of the counselling and advice who in this case is Kibaki may also have many others to counsel and advice him depending on the issues in question.

There is also the personal assistant to the president , Hon Kalonzo Musyoka, who we call the president in waiting. Should anything happen to the president; Kalonzo the Vice President assumes the presidency for 90 days automatically. We in API, however, wish president Kibaki good health so that he continues to lead Kenyans into prosperity. The free education in Kenya is well appreciated and that is Kibaki’s brain child. Congratulations to him for making it possible for the Kenyans to get education.

Kenya’s Grand Cabinet takes office

Kenya’s Grand Coalition Cabinet has been sworn into office, seeing Raila Odinga take office as the second Prime Minister in the country’s history.

The Cabinet, with a total of 41 ministers in addition to the President and the PM, is also the largest ever in Kenya’s history.
The ceremony at State House, Nairobi, was witnessed by the chief mediator in the peace making process, Mr Kofi Annan and several diplomats. Also at the ceremony was Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, who is the current chairman of the East Africa Cooperation that brings together Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

Kenya’s retired President Daniel arap Moi also attended the ceremony.
Mr Odinga, who was first to take the oath of office, first swore allegiance to the presidency as a member of the Cabinet then took another oath as PM, undertaking to “counsel and advice” the President.

Next on line for the swearing in were Mr Odinga’s two deputies, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Musalia Mudavadi. In addition to being Deputy PMs, the two also have ministerial portfolios, with Mr Kenyatta being responsible for Trade while Mr Mudavadi is responsible for Local Government.

————————————-

Dilemma over Raila’s words in oath

Exactly what words Mr Raila Odinga will utter in his oath of allegiance as Prime Minister remained unclear last night as a fresh controversy appeared to stalk his swearing in and that of his deputies.

Lawyers were last evening trying to figure out which form of the oath the MP for Lang’ata would take when his turn to be sworn in as Prime Minister comes.

The law does not provide for a specific oath for Prime Minister and the two deputies. The Constitution only recognises oaths for the offices of the President, Vice-President, Attorney-General, Ministers and Assistant ministers.

These are provided for in the Promissory Act — an Act of Parliament that

prescribes the oaths or affirmations to be made by officials, and for purposes of an office.

At the core of the fresh controversy is whether it would be one or both of the two oaths tailored for the President that would be amended and handed to the PM to read.

According to former Kabete MP and a leading lawyer, Mr Paul Muite, Raila can only swear to protect the Constitution and uphold it since he derives his authority from the amended constitution.

On Wednesday, Muite, arguing that the PM derives his authority directly from the Constitution, noted: “The wording of his oath must be changed so that he swears allegiance to the Constitution and not to the President like is the case with the Vice-President and other ministers.”

Muite added: “His (Raila’s) executive authority is not delegated. Neither is he an agent of the President. Like the President, the PM should swear allegiance to the Constitution and to the Republic.”

However, the President takes his oath before the Chief Justice, while the Vice-President, Ministers, Assistant ministers and Secretary to the Cabinet take their oaths of office before the President.

The presidential oath of allegiance as spelled out in Constitution reads as follows: “I…do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Republic of Kenya, and that I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of Kenya as by law established. So help me God.”

The Second Oath of the President reads: “I… do swear that I will faithfully and diligently discharge my duties and perform any functions of the high office of President of the Republic of Kenya and that I will do right to all manner of people according to the laws and customs of the Republic without fear or favour, affection or ill will. So help me God.”

Muite, who headed the powerful Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs committee in the last Parliament, said the wording of the oath of office of the PM and the deputies was overlooked although it should have been in some of the statutes amended.

“Exercising executive authority of the Prime Minister is vested in the Constitution directly. This position is more anchored compared to the Vice-President who enjoys delegated authority,” Muite said.

Raila, alongside two deputies, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Musalia Mudavadi, will be required to take oath of office after they were appointed.

In addition to taking the oath of office as deputy PMs, Kenyatta and Mudavadi will also do so for their respective dockets of Trade and Local Government. 

The ceremony, to be conducted at State House, Nairobi, will be attended by regional leaders, members of the diplomatic corps, dignitaries and other guests. Former UN Secretary-General, Dr Kofi Annan, who brokered the peace deal that ended Kenya’s most crippling political crisis in its four decades of self-rule, will be present at the occasion. He arrived in the country last night.

Also expected at the fete are Ugandan President, Mr Yoweri Museveni, Burundi Vice-President and Tanzania Prime minister.

But Muite poked holes in the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, saying it is unsatisfactory because Section 2 (A) of the Constitution recognises a multi-party democracy and no MP should be required to swear allegiance to the President.

“The MPs have no business swearing allegiance to the President. Instead, they should check and balance his authority in a multi-party democracy,” asserted Muite.

On January 15, Kenyans witnessed hours of melodrama on live TV as a long-drawn battle of wits unraveled in the House on a night MPs tussled over the oath of allegiance.

Raila and a number of his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MPs-elect, omitted the presidency as they read the oath during a drama-filled contest.

The thrust of the ODM’s argument was that President Kibaki’s election was in doubt, while the Government side, led by equally combative Party of National Unity (PNU) MPs, said it was a matter for the courts to determine.

Mr James Orengo, the Ugenya MP, who will today take his oath as Lands minister, kicked off the storm when he demanded that President Kibaki sits on the ordinary members’ bench on the Government side, arguing that there was ‘contenstation’ over his election.

During the heated session, Budalang’i MP, Mr Ababu Namwamba, and his Mbita counterpart, Mr Otieno Kajwang’, now in charge of the Immigration and Registration of Persons docket, argued that subjecting members to swearing by the name of the Executive was equivalent to compromising their role of checking it.

Raila omitted the presidency in the oath, followed by several MPs allied to him, who were, however, not as lucky as they were forced by House Speaker, Mr Kenneth Marende, to repeat the oath without omitting the presidency.

Stepping in to end the row, Attorney-General, Mr Amos Wako, said there was need to differentiate between the Head of State and the head of Government, adding that the two had been fused together in Kenya.

“The oath does not prejudice anyone because we all belong to the State and the Head of State is the symbol of unity,” Wako argued.

Contributing to debate, Marende said if members felt the oath needed to be changed, it was a matter they could deal with when the House was constituted. But it would appear that the matter hasn’t been dealt with and Raila, who together with ODM has since entered into a power-sharing deal with PNU, will again return to the spotlight with focus on his oath of allegiance.

“The Promissory Oaths Act of 1958 is obsolete and needs to be repealed to include the office of the Prime Minister and that of deputy Prime Ministers,” Mr Otiende Amollo, a lawyer, told The Standard.

__________________

African Press International – api

Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no source.kbc.ke

Ministers take oath of office

___________________

African Press International – api

Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail.no

Publisher: Korir, api africanpress@getmail@getmail.no source.aljazeera

Food prices in India have rocketed due to an surge in the cost of commodities [EPA]

Prices of basic foods have sharply increased amid a rise in costs of commodities.

The crisis has led to riots in poor countries by people who have limited access to food.

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author of many books. She talks to Al Jazeera about the food crisis in India, and what can be done to overcome it.

Al Jazeera: One of the causes of the huge rises in India’s food prices is the soaring rate of inflation. India is experiencing its highest rate of inflation in three years. What is behind this increase?

We need to localise food systems. We have enough farmers to produce enough food in this country [India], if we were not being forced to integrate with a speculative market.

There are now calls for some sort of co-ordinated response to the problem – by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the UN. Is there any short term solution?

There is a very short term solution – give up the industrial agriculture using fossil fuels, high cost imports.

Give up the forced linking with an international commodity market. Allow farmers to grow and give them a just price. We can solve the problem tomorrow.

I work with 400,000 farmers in India growing organic food. We have doubled yields and doubled output on farms. Nobody is dying of starvation in the villages where there is organic farming.

Indian farmers tend to receive lower prices for their produce than those in the US and EU [EPA]

But do you think governments will look at that as a solution? What has the government in India done?

If those solutions are not taken, where do you think this will end? Will there be more food riots in Africa and Asia?

If the governments continue to make interventions on behalf of the rich, they can bail out the banks in their absolute unwinding of the financial crisis – then they can intervene in the market.

But if they refuse to intervene in the market to ensure food prices are regulated, we will see more riots. Either governments will fall because of riots or they can become enlightened and not see the pseudo free trade as a sacred cow that has to be protected.

Food rights of people have to be protected; the rights of the poor have to be protected. That is the only obligation governments have. Any democratic government that fails in that duty will only be part of the problem of creating food wars and food riots.

________________________

African Press International – api