Story by Dickens Wasonga.

Patrons in a kisumu bar were yesterday treated to a drama when two secondary school girls were accosted by a woman who found them enjoying drinks with a man believed to be her husband while other learners were in class.

According to eye witness account,the enraged woman had trailed the students and her unfaithful husband for several hours after she was  tipped by her friends that one of the girls  was having a love with the  man,a swizz citizen and that they had been spotted having nice time in a pub near Brilliant area of kibuye.

The woman who was later arrested by the police and locked up at kondele police station is reported to have pounced on one of the girls with kicks and blows,leaving her with serious injuries..

She was later taken to kisumu east district hospital by the whiteman who told the nurses at the facility that he was a good samaritan who only tried to rescue the girl from a mob.

The parents and teachers of the two form four girls of liberty secondary school said the students sneaked out of school without seeking permission before the mid-day incident.

Speaking to the press shortly after the incident the school s head teacher said the two girls had been in school in the morning but could not clarify how they sneaked without the management s knowledge.

Waiters and management of the bar where the incident occurred said they have spotted the whiteman on several occassions with the teenage girls at the joint but did not realise they were students..

One of the girls who took off during the incident was still being sought by her parents who resides at kisumu s kaloleni estate but the woman at the center of the brawl had been released by the police on shs. 10,000 cash bail.

Confirming the incident the area ocpd Henry Mwinzi assurred journalists that the woman will be arraigned before court to answer assault charges.

ENDS.

There is a lot of positive energy around the production or review of the Kenyan constitution currently. But at the same time all indications are that negative forces are also very busy working round the clock to forestall or achieve their own selfish agenda. Yet this is one document that has costed  or maimed many lives in the country since the clamour began. In the period especially 1990’s many suffered severe consequences trying to change the direction in governance and in sorting the dictatorial provisions in the constitution.

The problem with making or the remaking of the constitution of Kenya is the greed for  power and property entanglement thereto. In Kenya there is a great correlation between riches acquisition hence prosperity, and political power. Political power or power generally  as has been defined by past and present leaders is not for the service to their  subject but rather for self enrichment and  by extension to the side kicks and cronies. To be fair this  behavior is not limited to the political class alone. It is like a national psyche and no wonder the level of graft or corruption is so high and so difficult to tame.

That there is indications of the new constitution being deliberately sabotaged, should not be a surprise. After all there are indication the various factions in the polity are concerned with this or that power provision in the draft , there are those who feel disadvantaged, there are those who feel their plans are getting the hurdles etc. That is why conveniently there is that and that caucus of politicians meeting in the disguise of addressing weaknesses in the proposed draft. There is no sincerity at all.

This not to mean that the draft by Committee of experts and tabled by the Parliamentary Select Committee is perfect. On the contrary it can do with some improvements. But don’t trust politicians or some busy bodies with their proposed improvements. It is very selfish and short sighted.

The civil society, the media and the youth should be on the look out. The youth meant here is not the scions of elites or others who already have past and  special selfish interests to take care of. It is the body of the mass of the  youth whose opportunities for self development are either very scarce or have been made scarce for them.  Dare you not trust the politicians and the elites in positions of influence, they look at the country resources and future in a very selfish  hollow way. And the easiest way to make sure their selfish interests are sanitized and taken care of is through the constitution. Kenya simply has a long way to go.

Harrison  Mwirigi  Ikunda, Nairobi, Kenya

Photo: David Gough/IRIN

HIV prevalence among Nyanza’s fishing communities is estimated to be as high as 30 percent

KISUMU,  – If you were a fishmonger in Kisumu, a city on Lake Victoria in western Kenya, you would have to sleep with the fishermen to get stock to sell so you could make a living. A year ago Lucy Agoya got fed up with the practice and rallied a few women to take a stand against it.

So far the group has only attracted 28 members. “Many tell me my work is like rain in a lake – it has no value … Selling fish here makes money, and I know many women say they would rather have sex and have the money than not do it and remain poor,” Agoya told IRIN/PlusNews.

“Many women selling fish have died of HIV and many are sick; we have been living at the mercy of fishermen who demand sex before they can give you fish. We have resolved to only buy fish with money and not with our bodies.”

The widespread practise of exchanging sexual favours for fish, known as ‘jaboya’, has been associated with the high HIV prevalence in Nyanza Province, where the fish in Lake Victoria are the main source of income for more than 286,000 fishermen, fish traders and processors, boat builders and net manufacturers, and a host of other people in fish-related activities.

A 2008 Modes of (HIV) Transmission Study, put prevalence in the fishing communities at between 25 and 30 percent, nearly double Nyanza’s average infection rate of 15.3, which was twice the national average.

The study also found that fishing communities were not being adequately covered by national HIV programmes, but those implemented so far seem to have had little impact.

“We have in place programmes … that educate the fishing community on the benefits of condom use, having one partner, and the male circumcision programme,” said Dr Charles Okal, provincial control officer for AIDS and sexually transmitted infections.

“We also support the approach of offering alternative means of earning income for women; I know the programmes in place addressing the problem will succeed, but it needs time.”

Grinding poverty

Okal acknowledged that poverty was the biggest obstacle to ending jaboya; more than half of Nyanza’s people live on less than a dollar a day.

“I have children to feed and take to school, and I also have rent to pay; selling fish is the only business I know … if having sex with a fisherman will make it easier, let it be,” said Mary Owenga, a single mother whose four children were fathered by different fishermen. “I know when I am old they will not want me; because I still look like a girl, let me use the opportunity.”

Read more:

Ooko* and Pamela* – Snapshot of a jaboya relationship

Young girls the new bait for fishermen

Catching more than fish

Deadly Catch: Lake Victoria’s AIDS crisis

Eliud Mboya, who started working as a fisherman when he finished high school four years ago, said there was little chance that jaboya would be eradicated any time soon.

“We do not force these women into having sex with us – it is a willing seller, willing buyer kind of thing. A man gives you fish, which is hard to come by these days, and further treats you to a dance in the evening with his money, just for having sex with him,” he told IRIN/PlusNews. “Now tell me, what could be more attractive than that? Tell people to use condoms, but don’t tell them, ‘don’t sleep with these people’.”

Jennifer Kere, director of Women in Fishing Industry Project Trust, a local NGO, commented: “Many of the women fishmongers are single mothers and some are widows providing for their families – at times they take fish on credit, putting them at the mercy of the fishermen who use this opportunity to demand sexual favours.”

She said female fishmongers often had little choice. “I believe that educating them to start other businesses alongside selling fish can help, because selling fish really doesn’t have to be a matter of life and death. It is not easy for them to resist the appeal of easy money, but with time it might succeed.”

ko/kr/he source.irinnews

Photo: Tomas de Mul/IRIN

River communities throughout central Mozambique are affected by flooding almost every

JOHANNESBURG,  – Mozambique’s National Disaster Management Institute (INGC) has raised the flood alert level to “red” and some 130,000 people living along three main rivers in central Mozambique are at risk of possible floods and need to be moved.

“Teams are already evacuating people,” Casimo Sande, Acting UN Emergency Coordination Support Officer, told IRIN. Weeks of torrential rains have swollen the Zambezi, Pungue and Buzi rivers in the central provinces of Tete, Manica, Sofala and Zambezia.

Sande said government agencies, NGOs, the Mozambican Red Cross, UN agencies and the local Civil Protection Unit, UNAPROC, were assisting affected communities, and assessments of the damage were underway. The National Water Board (DNA) warned of floods in central Mozambique on 2 March.

Mozambique is flood-prone: in 2000 and 2001 over 800 people were killed and hundreds of thousands left homeless. Up to 300,000 people in river communities throughout central Mozambique were affected by flooding in early 2008, when 29 people died.

The government resettled entire communities when the recurring floods caused hundreds of deaths and the displacement of many thousands almost every year, particularly at the onset of the rainy season. This year a drought in the resettlement areas lured thousands back to the fertile flood plains and river banks.

More sluice gates on Mozambique’s biggest dam, the Cahora Bassa, were opened to ease pressure on the structure, and rains in the region eased off during the past week. According to Sande, “In terms of water level trend, the situation has improved.”

tdm/he source.irinnews

Photo: Caterina Pino/IRIN

Children share beds in the pediatric ward due to overcrowding

KYAKA II REFUGEE CAMP,  – Inadequate healthcare is just one of many challenges facing the 16,200 refugees in this sprawling camp in western Uganda, which is served by a single doctor.

Among those waiting in one of the camp’s two health centres when IRIN visited was Mirian, 30, whose child was shivering with fever, most likely caused by malaria. “I walked two hours to reach the clinic this morning and have been sitting here for three. I hope the doctor can help my child – he is getting worse and worse every minute,” she said.

“We are very stretched in terms of resources to meet all our needs,” Juliet Muhumunza, project manager with the German development agency (GTZ), the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) implementing health partner, told IRIN. “Lack of medical staff is only the tip of the iceberg of our humanitarian assistance gaps.”

Kevin Tsatsiyo, UNHCR’s public health officer, told IRIN that conditions in the camp deterred many health professionals from working there.

Only basic services are available at the two health centres inside the camp.

For emergency services such as caesarean sections, minor surgery and blood transfusions, patients must go to Kyegegwa Health Centre 15km away. Patients requiring major surgery are referred to Fort Portal, a government hospital about 140km from the settlement.

Because Kyaka II sprawls over 209sqkm, some residents end up walking for hours to reach the facilities. Moreover, there is only one ambulance serving the whole settlement, complicating and delaying emergency services.

“By the end of 2010, we may have some bicycle ambulances and some stretchers but, so far, all the referral services are limited to the use of the one ambulance,” Tsatsiyo said.

Medical gaps

At the nine-bed paediatric ward in Kyaka II, senior nursing officer Prisca Asiimwe told IRIN that on 6 March, 27 children had been admitted – three patients to a bed.

“The facility also lacks an isolation ward, and in case of epidemics or infectious diseases like TB, patients are accommodated in beds in the corners of the ward,” Asiimwe added. “This is not an ideal solution but though a proper isolation ward is among our priorities, we do not have funds yet to build one.”

Asiimwe said the needs to be addressed included a proper storage room for drugs, another generator for a third refrigerator storing medicines, vaccines and another laboratory.

Tsatsiyo said: “There is a new, bigger laboratory being constructed at the HIV clinic, where there will be two laboratory staff. It will not only be used for HIV/AIDS, but many kinds of blood tests.”

Photo: Caterina Pino/IRIN

A patient undergoes a monthly physical exam

According to GTZ officials, available medication was sufficient, although procurement was, at times, slower than expected.

Food shortages

Asiimwe said: “Though we have enough anti-retroviral [drugs] in stock to supply the demand, we often receive complaints from our patients who say they find the medicine hard to swallow without having eaten anything.”

Food security inside the refugee settlements is very fragile, especially among Rwandan refugees, and this is likely to affect their health, Asiimwe said.

According to an agreement between the Ugandan and Rwandan governments, after July 2009 Rwandans were prohibited from farming in a bid to ensure their voluntary repatriation. The situation is dire, especially for those Rwandans who have been in Uganda longer than two years, as they no longer receive food rations from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Other challenges

Asiimwe said about 50 percent of the diseases common among patients in Kyaka II were malaria and waterborne diseases such as dysentery.

Another issue of concern is the prevalence of sexual gender-based violence (SGBV), especially among the Congolese refugees.

Muhumunza said one or two cases of SGBV were reported every month in the settlements. However, she expressed concern that many more cases may be going unreported for fear of shame and stigmatization.

“Last week, a 14-year-old Congolese girl was raped in one of the villages,” she said. “Her neighbours informed the community workers and we went to her family to investigate. However, we couldn’t find the girl and her parents denied that the incident took place. We were later told by the family’s neighbours that the case was solved between the two families with an exchange of money.”

Since 2009, GTZ has increased sensitization of the refugee communities towards reporting of rape and SGBV.

Muhumunza said: “We recorded an increase in reported cases in 2009, but we cannot tell whether it is the number of crimes committed that has increased or the number of reported cases.”

According to a sentinel surveillance conducted by the Uganda Virus Research Institute in 2008, the HIV incidence in Kyaka II was 7.6 percent – compared with a nationwide average of 5.4 percent in 2009.

Muhumunza told IRIN that among the refugees, who comprise nine nationalities, most HIV cases had been recorded among Congolese. More than 45,000 Congolese refugees live in Nakivale and Kyaka II settlements.

Counselling needs

Both health facilities at Kyaka II offer counselling services for patients with HIV/AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder and psycho-trauma.

According to GTZ, there is one counsellor for the whole settlement, but another was to be employed by the end of 2010.

“The problem is the lack of staff; we have only one counsellor in the camp, and the demand for psycho-social support is very high,” a Congolese refugee, who requested anonymity, told IRIN. “Our traumatic experiences [in DRC] are not taken into due consideration. We need more doctors, not more Panadol [pain killer].”

UNHCR’s Tsatsiyo said the lack of staff with skills in mental health and psycho-social support was among the gaps identified during the agency’s public health annual workshop.

“We are trying to respond to our challenges with the means we have,” she said. “But again, because of funding issues, we can only afford visiting specialists who come to Kyaka II once a month and refer people to facilities where they would provide follow-up and the appropriate treatment and support.”

cp/am/mw source.irinnews

Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico has knocked Bill Gates out of the top spot on the latest Forbes list of the World’s Richest People. Helu has a net worth of $53.5 billion. Photo/REUTERS

“The global boom that we experienced from the early 80s … which was temporarily derailed in 2007, now looks like it is beginning to get back on track. But Asia and a handful of others are surging, relatively the United States and Western Europe are lagging.”

(Additional reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Mark Egan and Eric Walsh)

source.nation.ke