By Oscar Pilipili

The East African Games held at Fort Portal in Uganda were the anti-climax of the schools championships this year.

The championships were deemed a great success for Kenya because the country won the overall trophy for the ninth time in a row.

There was encouraging news from the Championships like Southern Sudan being admitted as a full member of Federation of East African Secondary Schools Sports Association.

Southern Sudan was admitted after it met all conditions for member countries. The first requirement was to have a structure for school games and at least three teams at the Championships. Sudan made its first appearance as guests during the previous edition in Kigali, Rwanda.

Increased membership

The entry of Sudan in the regional games increased the membership to seven. The full membership has: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zanzibar and Southern Sudan.

Another highlight of the season was the news of Nakuru town hosting the next games.

This will be the fourth time that the games will be coming to Kenya after they were staged in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

On the pitch, Kenya�s reign as the regions powerhouse came under severe threat with opponents taking the country�s teams by their horns.

The major disappointment came in boys� football trophy that Kenya won for the last time in 2002.

Lang�ata High was the best performer with a fourth position. Kenya also lost girls� trophy that was won by Arch Bishop Njenga in Kigali last year.

Kenya reigned supreme in basketball with Shimba Hills and Laiser Hills winning girls and boys� diadem but faced acid test in volleyball where Rwanda�s Indangaburezi won the boys� category. Lugulu struggled to win girls� trophy after defeating compatriots Cheptil 3-2 in the final.

Kenya recorded a 1-2-3 in both boys and girls� hockey in what was clearly a Kenyan affair.

The country�s dominance in the sport is attributed to the fact that but the show was attributed to the fact that the sport is yet to mature in other countries.

St Cecilia Misikhu girls and Kamusinga boys were the winners.

source.standard.ke

By Cyrus Ombati

Controversial Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal was deported to Tanzania by road after international airlines declined to fly him.

Faisal was driven to the Kenya-Tanzania border and handed over to the authorities in Tanzania on Monday evening.

Immigration and anti-terrorism officials said they deported him to Tanzania because that was where he came from on December 24.

However, last evening sources said Faisal was at Namanga border after immigration officials in Tanzania refused to take him in.

Kenyan immigration officials had on Monday evening handed him to Tanzania since that was where he originated. But the Tanzanians changed their minds hours later and tried to chase him out.

“There is a standoff here over this man because the Tanzanians have refused to take him. We do not know what to do with him,” a source said.

Kenyan officials also rushed to Nairobi for consultation on the matter. Expectations were the Tanzanian authorities would also deport him to Malawi from where he entered their country.

Too hot to ferry

“He arrived in the country through Tanzania and you know all airlines declined to ferry him. He is on an international watch-list of terrorists, which makes it difficult for him to travel on any airline,” said a senior Government source.

Before his arrival in Kenya, he had travelled to Nigeria, Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, and Tanzania. He was arrested minutes after attending evening prayers at a mosque in Nyali.

Sources said he chose to travel by road because he could not pass international airports or any other entry point linked to the e-border control system.

Faisal was brought from Mombasa to Nairobi on Sunday where immigration officials prepared his deportation papers.

Our sources said his laptop contained “controversial literature” that could poison his congregation. Faisal�s deportation came even as Muslim human rights activists protested his arrest terming it discriminatory.

But Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang� dismissed allegations by the Muslim Human Rights Forum that Muslim clerics were being targeted.

“The information we have is that he was arrested in Britain and jailed five years ago on terrorism-related charges. We are not deporting him because he is a Muslim,” Mr Kajwang� said.

Police said the cleric�s passport shows he has tried entering Kenya previously but was denied entry. Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 where he had lived for 20 years for allegedly preaching “hatred against Jews, Hindus and Westerners”.

source.standard.ke