CAIRO, Monday

Israel has softened its terms for a prisoner swap with Hamas and the two enemies are nearing a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian inmates for an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip, officials said today.

A delegation from Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, planned to meet Egyptian security officials in Cairo later in the day to discuss the deal that Egypt and Germany have been mediating.

Officials close to the talks said Israel had agreed to include in the exchange for the soldier, Gilad Shalit, some 160 prisoners whose release it had vetoed previously.

Shalit, now a Staff Sergeant was captured by Palestinian militants who tunnelled into Israel from the Gaza Strip in 2006. Israel has linked any major easing of its blockade on the territory on the soldier’s return home.

“The Shalit episode is about to be closed,” one of the officials said.

Sources on both sides told Reuters there were hopes that a deal might be struck by the end of the week, when the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha begins.

In Jerusalem, Israeli government officials declined to comment on prospects for a deal with Hamas, a group that has rejected Western demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

Sources close to the negotiations have said Hamas, in the first part of a deal, would hand over Shalit to Egypt and Israel would release some 350 to 450 prisoners.

In a sign of flexibility from Hamas, the sources said, the group had agreed that some would go into exile rather than return to the West Bank or Gaza Strip.

More prisoners would be released when Shalit was transferred from Egypt to Israel, while other prisoner releases could take several more weeks to complete.

In Summary

The new constitution makes it illegal to exempt any State officer from paying taxes.

MPs, who only pay taxes on their salaries — which stand at Sh200,000 — have fought off attempts to tax their allowances, which push their monthly earnings to at least Sh850,000.

Protected by Act

They are protected by the National Assembly Remuneration Act while the Constitutional Office Holders Remuneration Act gives judges and other holders of such positions a tax-free existence.

However, the harmonised draft constitution overrides the two laws and requires everyone to pay taxes.

“No law may exclude or authorise the exclusion of a State officer from payment of tax by the reason of the office held by the State officer; or the nature of the work of the State officer,” the draft says.

To clear doubts over its intentions, the draft goes ahead to define a State officer to include the president, VP, prime minister, ministers, assistant ministers and MPs.

The list of constitutional office holders include the Attorney General, judges, the deputy director of prosecutions and members of constitutional commissions.

The Committee of Experts who crafted the draft have proposed to cast wider the tax nets by bringing on board representatives of the devolved governments — at the regional and county levels. This means that regional governors, heads of counties and members of their assemblies will be required to pay taxes.

The Chief of General Staff and commanders of the Army, Air Force and the Navy and senior military officers will also pay taxes.

Currently, a wide array of top public officials is exempt from taxes, even though the holders earn good salaries. The holders are also allowed to import luxury cars duty-free.

MPs in particular have made public their disgust at attempts to tax their allowances and they shot down proposals by the then Finance minister Amos Kimunya in the 2008/2009 budget.

The motion was defeated with MPs accusing Mr Kimunya of introducing populist ideas to create conflict between the electorate and lawmakers.

Due to public pressure, the Parliamentary Service Commission appointed a tribunal to collect public views on MPs’ taxes and pay.

During the hearings, Kenya Revenue Authority strongly recommended taxation of the entire pay of MPs, saying taxation was a “nuisance and painful to everyone” but paying taxes was not optional.

The tribunal, headed by retired judge Akilano Akiwumi, handed its report to National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende two weeks ago even though its contents are yet to be made public.

Mr Marende said the report would be tabled in the House once he has read it. However, those who have seen the report said it proposed taxation of MPs’ salaries and allowances in addition to setting clear pay and allowances for the vice-president and the prime minister.

If the draft constitution becomes law, the president, PM, ministers and MPs will start paying taxes after the 2012 elections.

source.nation.ke

In apparent reference to Prime Minister Raila Odinga who has been pushing for the rehabilitation of the Mau, Mr Ruto said leaders who failed to recognise the suffering of the settlers were unfit to hold public office.

Speaking in Isiolo, Mr Ruto said it was unfair to refer to the Mau settlers as criminals who should be herded out of the “only place the call home.”

“People who evict others from the Mau, dump them by the roadside with their children and without food and shelter and even term their crying as crocodile tears are unfit to be leaders,” Mr Ruto said.

The minister, who has in the past opposed the evictions from the country’s largest source of water, said the success of a government was measured by the way it treated the poor and vulnerable.

“We have no moral authority to lead if we treat the vulnerable the way we have treated those evicted from the Mau,” Mr Ruto said in what could lead to the worsening of ties between him and the Prime Minister.

At the weekend, Mr Odinga launched a scathing criticism against some Rift Valley leaders whom he accused of having benefited from illegal allocation of land in the Mau.

“Those who are inciting them (settlers) and shedding crocodile tears were beneficiaries of thousands of acres of land, and if they are honest, let them settle the squatters in their lands,” the PM said.

Party leader

And on Monday, Mr Odinga was at it again when he criticised some leaders for being “selfish” by opposing the evictions.

The opposing views taken by the two leaders are likely to widen the rift within ODM where the PM is the party leader and Mr Ruto one of the two deputy party leaders.

While addressing a “Green and Competitive Electricity Conference” in Nairobi, Mr Odinga told politicians to keep politics out of the evictions.

He also defended the government against claims that the eviction was ruthless. “The government is trying to do it as humanely as possible.”

He also said the eviction was not only focused on Mau but would also target all the water towers in the country.

Meanwhile, political rallies in Maasai Mau have been banned. Narok South district commissioner Chimwaga Mongo said the move was to ensure that politicians do not inflame passions over the evictions.

Narok South MP Nkoidila ole Lankas and Narok County councillors Salanket ole Nchoe and Jackson ole Kamue welcomed the ban. Evictions in the Maasai Mau are set to begin next month.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church yesterday said that the evictions were not being conducted in a humane way.

John Cardinal Njue, who chairs the church’s Episcopal Conference, its highest decision-making body in Kenya, said subjecting the settlers to suffering was inhumane and the government should intervene to save the settlers from further suffering.

He also said the eviction policy should not only target the poor but it should be extended to the individuals occupying chunks of forest land within Mau. He was speaking at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Molo during a Peace and Reconciliation Mass on Sunday.

Expressed outrage

Bishop Cornelius Korir of Eldoret diocese of the Catholic Church also expressed outrage over the evictions.

Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey, Emgwen MP Elijah Lagat, former nominated MP Mark Too and former Army Geneneral Augustine Cheruiyot said the eviction plan should be halted until the government showed respect to humanity.