EMULATE ADVOCATE DAVID OTIENO NJER,KISUMU JUDGE TELLS OTHER ADVOCATES.By Agwanda Jowi.A HIGH Court Judge in
Kisumu has advised lawyers in the region to emulate one of their own whom he
noted that has worked tirelessly in representing the less privileged in society
without much financial attachments.

Justice Josephat Karanja
advised others lawyers to emulate David Otieno by giving what they have
acquired back to the community irrespective of financial gains.

The judge made the
observations in a murder case where Charity Mbiti is charged with the murder of
two children.

Karanja praised Otieno for
taking pawper briefs with glee.

She vehemently denied in
her defense under the lead of Otieno that she committed the offence in Kisumu
five years ago.

Mbiti told the court in her
defense that on the material she left where she was employed after differences
with her employer Charles Owino.

She said had been promised
that by Owino that she would be the third wife only to end up being a house
help.

Mbiti said she left the day
the offence is said to have been committed and went to stay with a friend.

She was arrested one week
later while in the company of police officers at the Police Dog unit Bar� and charged later with murder..

Mbiti denied that she
murdered the two children out of anger.

She said hand writing
specimens produced in court were not hers.

Mbiti tabled evidence to
the effect that Owino was once convicted for manslaughter via case number
9/1997.

She disowned statements she
is purported to have recorded with the police.

Mbiti said that the statements produced by a
state counsel Mary Oundo were not recorded by herself

She also said that a note
talking of revenge against her former employer as a house help did not also
belong to her.

Mbiti is charged with the
murder of two children at the Millimani area in Kisumu Town on April 9 2005.

She has denied committing
the offense before Justice t Karanja who is hearing the case.

Mbiti said in her defense
that Mrs Owino had all along like her work as a house help while Mr Owino her a
problem with her.

ENDS

A seminar that draws in the participation of Florence Odora Adong, a Guest Researcher, at the Nordic Africa Institute and Morten B., Head of Research, Fafo Guest Lecture, taking place in Oslo Norway at Fafo Borggata 2B on the 26th October 2010, 14.15-16.00 will focus on Museveni’s rule.

According to Afrika.no, “Museveni’s Uganda is often presented as a successful case of post conflict reconstruction, however this assessment only represents part of the reality as the north as been mired in poverty and armed conflict for over 20 years. Although efforts to end the two decades long war yielded the signing of the five points agreement, the final peace agreement has not been signed and implemented. The legitimate grievances and feeling of marginalisation and victimisation by Northern Uganda communities are therefore not genuinely addressed: a process of reconciliation for both the LRA and the UPDF is not clearly set out. Access to land for returning iDPs is uncertain, and this problem is exacerbated by powerful interests seeking to obtain land for large scale agricultural farming, such as the controversial Madhvani sugar plantation project in the North. Oil has been discovered in the North and also increases the fears of economic alienation and disempowerment of the Acholi and leads to distrust of government intentions. Taken together these factors presents a dilemma for the building of a sustainable peace economy in Northern Uganda that must be addressed.”

Source.afrika.no

BY.Thomas Ochieng

The launching of a A KSH.150 billion electricity investment in Kenya
In a bid to address the effect of climate change, Kenya decides to go green energy

Coming on the backdrop of perennial electricity shortages and wide-spread black outs, the Kenyan government in conjunction with a consortium of bilateral donors led by the world bank yesterday embarked on a massive green energy project totaling K sh.150 billion. Where the donors will provide K sh.23 billion while Kenya’s government provides the balance.

The renewable energy initiative was launched by the Kenyan minister for Energy Mr.Kiraitu Murungi who emphasized the importance of the project to the realization of the country’s vision 2030 national blue print�?T�?T For this nation
to achieve its� target of growth and development, which hinges on its ability to alleviate poverty, by generating of wealth, reliable and affordable energy is paramount ”said Mr.Kiraitu.He also added that the idea to turn to green energy will be the commitment of the government of Kenya towards addressing the issue of climate change.

Speaking on behalf of the donor the world bank country director Mr.Johannes Zutt emphasized the importance of investing on renewable energy as a substitute to the conventional fossil based energy that studies have proved to be dwindling
fast.”Kenya is endowed with vast renewable energy opportunities such as wind power, coal and solar which if tapped can turn around the energy fortunes in this country”, said the� country director.

”With a penetration of electricity in Kenya standing at only 23% the projected output of this ambitious project to reach 50% coverage in five years is welcoming for our economy and the region at large ”said the Energy minister. He also said that the emphasis of the project will focus on wind energy, coal and nuclear energy.

End.

KENYA: Male clinics boost men’s participation in PMTCT

Photo: Obinna Anyadike/IRIN

VIHIGA, 22 October 2010 (PlusNews) – An initiative that encourages men to visit exclusively male clinics is gaining popularity in western Kenya and increasing male participation in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programmes.

Most clinics are dominated by female staff and patients, which can be off-putting for men. At the male health centres HIV-positive men form support groups and both positive and negative men are counselled on the importance of accompanying their partners for antenatal visits. The men also receive education on issues that are usually taboo for men such as the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for HIV-positive mothers.

The aim of the initiative, part of Zingatia Maisha – Swahili for �carefully consider life� – a programme of the Elizabeth Glaser Paediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), is to get men more involved in PMTCT.

A 2008 study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and South Africa’s University of KwaZulu Natal, found that male involvement in PMTCT was linked to greater uptake of HIV testing, antiretroviral treatment, condom use, and support for infant feeding choices.

There are men out there who will still tell you, ‘A female nurse cannot attend to me.’� Others fear they will be stigmatized and some are in denial

As well as referring men to the male clinics, the Zingatia Maisha programme has attempted to make clinics more male-friendly by giving priority to women who attend with their male partners and to men who bring their children.

“When you are working in a patriarchal society such as this, it is important to take the route of least resistance, and that is to make antenatal and post-natal clinics male friendly and thus increase the demand for the services,” said Faith Owiro, a field officer with EGPAF.

Since its 2006 launch, the programme has enrolled 15,000 men in western and eastern Kenya.

One of them is Wilson Odinga, 33, who refused to believe it when his wife, Christine, came home from the antenatal clinic and told him she had tested positive for HIV. Appeals by his wife to accompany her to the clinic for HIV testing and counselling at first fell on deaf ears, but following counselling by his pastor, Odinga finally agreed.

At the clinic they received PMTCT services and their baby, now 10 months old, was born HIV-free. The antenatal clinic also referred Odinga to the male clinic in Vihiga (near Kakamega in western Kenya) which he now regularly attends to get tips on how to ensure his baby stays healthy.

“I am taught about breastfeeding and nutrition for me, my wife and our child,” he told IRIN/PlusNews. “When my wife isn’t well, I just take the child to the clinic� I never thought I would go to the clinic like a woman.”

The clinics are valuable to both HIV-positive and HIV-negative men. “Some of them are negative, but they are in discordant relationships and they get the necessary information to stay negative and also to support their positive spouses,” said Martha Opisa, nursing officer in charge of the Vihiga clinic.

She added that the support groups had improved drug adherence both for the children and their parents and reduced the stigma surrounding HIV.

“When you combine all these, you have greater success and better outcomes both for paediatric HIV prevention and for adults too.”

Reaching out

But not all men are keen to make use of the clinics. “There are men out there who will still tell you, ‘A female nurse cannot attend to me.’ Others fear they will be stigmatized and some are in denial,” Opisa noted.

In an effort to broaden acceptance of the clinics, the programme uses local men to spread the word about them.

“We not only escort [treatment] defaulters to the clinic, but we also try to reach out to the others who are missing out and we tell them: ‘We are men as you are and we are in this and our spouses and children are benefiting.’ We explain to them the benefits and we have seen converts,” said Pastor Joseph Muhemberi, the leader of one support group.

ko/ks/cb source.irinnews

FUNDING: Unravelling the conundrum of US aid to Haiti

Photo: sskennel/Flickr

Hillary Clinton – still working on the issue

NEW YORK, 21 October 2010 (IRIN) – In reporting that �not a cent� of the US$1.15 billion the US promised for Haiti reconstruction at the UN donors� conference in March had reached the stricken nation, the Associated Press largely cast the blame on a single senator – Tom Coburn, a conservative Republican from Oklahoma who had objected to a minor provision in the legislation that authorized the spending.

Coburn had �anonymously pulled� the legislation until his concerns could be addressed, the wire service reported on 28 September, and the senator was swiftly vilified by prominent liberals for sacrificing the poor of Haiti on the altar of his ongoing campaign for fiscal prudence. Comedian Jon Stewart called him an �international a**hole of mystery�, for placing a �secret hold� on the bill. MSNBC broadcaster Keith Olbermann said Coburn was �committing an atrocity against the people of Haiti and doing so in the name of �We the People� of the United States.�

It is true that Coburn has placed a hold on much-needed funds for Haiti – $500 million in fact – but he is not holding up the $1.15 billion that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised to a round of applause at the UN donors� conference.

That money was included in a supplemental spending bill that passed both houses of congress, after months of bureaucratic back and forth, and was signed by President Barack Obama on 29 July 2010. The Obama administration had asked congress for a total of $2.8 billion for Haiti assistance, but the final version of the legislation (H.R. 4899, P.L. 111-212) included a total of $2.93 billion for Haiti. The money was divided into three categories: $1.642 billion was earmarked for relief; $1.140 billion for recovery and reconstruction (the money Clinton promised); and $147 million for diplomatic operations, according to a Congressional Research Service report on 6 August 2010.

As of September, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that more than $1.1 billion of the $1.642 billion for Haiti relief had been spent since the earthquake. But the $1.140 billion for recovery and reconstruction has remained in the US treasury because the vast proportion of this assistance cannot be disbursed until the secretary of state reports to various congressional committees on exactly how the money will be spent and how its oversight will be managed. Senator Coburn has nothing to do with the obstruction of this money.

According to a state department spokesman, Clinton has just begun the process of meeting the requirements set by the legislation. The administration �is still working with the appropriate committees on these issues,� he said. �We have been conducting numerous briefings on the Hill to ensure coordination and consultation.� In the meantime, the US government has reprogrammed �approximately $300 million for Haiti�s initial recovery phase� to lay the foundation for long-term sustainable development.�

He added: �We expect to start obligating our reconstruction assistance soon.�

In responding to the outcry that his hold generated, Coburn pointed out that it was the Obama administration that was responsible for the delay in reconstruction funds, pointing to the tangle of �executive branch bureaucracy� for the hold-up. �Despite the fact that more than 10 weeks have passed since this bill was passed into law, the secretary of state appears to have fulfilled that condition only this week,� he wrote on 7 October.

Two objections

But this does not change the fact that Coburn is holding up $500 million intended for Haiti, part of a different piece of legislation, the Haiti Empowerment, Assistance, and Rebuilding Act, which passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 25 May. The Oklahoma senator had two objections to the bill. He believes that the creation of a senior policy coordinator to advise and coordinate US policy would duplicate tasks already undertaken by the US ambassador to Haiti. He also says the $500 million in the legislation �must be paid for with cuts to lower priority programmes elsewhere within the federal government�s bloated $3.7 trillion annual budget.�

�It is irresponsible to authorize any new spending that is not paid for because the end result will be a lower standard of living for the United States and an inability for our nation to assist others when disasters and other crises occur in the future,� he wrote.

A staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told IRIN that negotiations were under way with Coburn to achieve a resolution. �We have confidence that we will be able to find a way forward,� he said.

In the meantime, Haiti continues to struggle. Other countries have also delayed sending reconstruction assistance. Less than 15 percent of the money promised at the donors� conference for 2010-11 has been received. �US procrastination in delivering assistance� sets a negative precedent,� said Dan Beeton of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington D.C. �It could discourage other countries – some of which certainly have far less money available, but which might otherwise be inclined to share more anyway – from supporting Haiti in its hour of greatest need.�

pd/cb source.irinnews

GENDER: Sexual violence used to “break the will” of civilians

Photo: Derk Segaar/IRIN

Women and war

JOHANNESBURG, 22 October 2010 (IRIN) – Modern war is often not about soldier against soldier, but a struggle to “break the will of civilians � women, girls, men and boys” by whatever means possible – including rape – the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population 2010 report published on 20 October states.

The term gender-based violence is often used to refer to violence against women, but, as the UN Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings state, “it is important to note… men and boys may also be victims of gender-based violence, especially sexual violence”.

More than a third of Liberian men were thought to have been abused during the civil war between 1999 and 2003 and the report cites an interaction between a Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugee and a Uganda-based aid worker as an illustration of how gender-based violence manifested itself among men.

“He [the refugee] could no longer bear to watch helplessly as others around him were brutally abused. He had learned how powerless men could be in the face of utter lawlessness and unchecked violence. He [the refugee] had also suffered sexual abuse, unable to save even himself from gender-based violence. ‘We are cowards; we feel bad,’ [the refugee] said, ‘That�s why we all left.’�

In another example, the report quoted research by Uganda’s Makerere University Refugee Law Project, which documented abuse suffered by people from the Great Lakes region, particularly the DRC, and recounted an ordeal by a male refugee being sexually abused by numerous soldiers.

“We were worth nothing. They were putting us in the place of women. [They said:] ‘We are going to show you that you are all women. You are not men like us,’ the refugee said.�

Apart from sexual abuse, the report said, men were often forced to witness or participate in violence against women, such as “a wife and mother being raped by armed assailants”, or, as one woman quoted in the report said, “how her brother was killed because he refused at gunpoint to rape her”.

Her brother was killed because he refused at gunpoint to rape her

There were concerns among “many women and… women�s advocacy organizations… that long, hard battles for recognition, justice and compensation for women must not be allowed to wane as more attention turns to men”, the UNFPA report stated.

The report notes, however, that “many, if not most, actors in the global battle against gender-based violence, women as well as men, welcome a greater focus on men and boys as an important development because men are seen as part of a lasting solution, even when male behaviour is considered the problem.�

Hurt by humiliation

“The hurt borne by men is not always directly physical. There is also, often hidden, psychological trauma inflicted, often for the purposes of intimidation and humiliation,” Chris Dolan, director of the Refugee Law Project, said in the UNFPA report.

“Humiliation is a key issue. How do you humiliate? … How do you establish your supremacy, your right to control? A lot of that seems to be achieved through particular forms of violence,” Dolan said.

The report, From Conflict and Crisis to Renewal: Generations of Change, marks the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (30 October 2000) that called on parties engaged in conflicts to protect women and girls from violence and engage them in peace-building efforts.

The conflicts of the 1990s became the genesis for Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which addresses the equal participation of women in all peace and security issues within conflict and post-conflict states. The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s was one of the catalysts for the resolution, where “the use of rape in war… led to the inclusion of sexual abuses of all kinds as internationally recognized war crimes”.

In Resolution 1820, adopted on 19 June 2008, the Security Council demanded “the immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians with immediate effect”, and called for sex crimes to be exempt from any amnesty provisions within peace agreements.

Five-point agenda

Margot Wallstr�m, since early 2010 the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, has set down a five-point agenda to reduce or eradicate gender-based violence.

It calls for an end to impunity for sexual crimes; the protection and empowerment of women and girls to enable them to contribute to peace initiatives; the strengthening of political commitments to ensure violence against women was “not pigeon-holed as ‘just a women�s issue’”; and the realization that “rape is the frontline … Peace negotiations must address sexual violence early and fully to prevent war-time rape from becoming peacetime reality.”

Finally, among Wallstr�m’s agenda was that women would not enjoy peace if rape persisted. The “law will not deliver justice for women if no reparations are made … Change must ultimately be felt in the lives of women walking to market in Eastern Congo, collecting firewood outside a camp in Darfur, or lining up to vote in a village of Afghanistan. Their security is the true measure of success.”

go/bp/mw source.irinnews

SOUTH AFRICA: Business to boost funding, monitoring of national VCT campaign

Photo: Keishamaza Rukikaire/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG, 19 October 2010 (PlusNews) – South African business leaders have banded together to introduce new ways to finance and monitor the world’s most ambitious national HIV testing campaign.

Since the April 2010 launch of the campaign, which aims to test 15 million people over 12 months, about 2.8 million people have answered the call to be tested for HIV, according to South African National AIDS Council deputy chairperson Mark Heywood. However, in an August 2010 meeting of the Rural Doctors Association of Southern Africa in Swaziland, Heywood noted that data surrounding the campaign remained problematic and often failed to reflect the results of testing drives organized by the business sector.

In response to the call for better monitoring and evaluation (M&E), the South African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (SABCOHA) has launched an online reporting tool, Bizwell, geared at private sector providers of voluntary HIV testing and counselling (VCT) services.

A small number of companies and their medical service providers, including mining giant AngloAmerican, car maker BMW and SABMiller breweries, have already begun to input VCT data onto the site, said SABCOHA strategic partnership executive Liesel Heynike.

The website collects statistics according to categories such as sub-district, gender and industry that are aligned with government data needs, and asks business to record levels of risk perception among individuals tested for HIV, and where those that test positive are referred for care.

The tool may not only fill in the gaps on private sector contributions to the campaign noted by Heywood, but could also be used to strengthen reporting and services within the public sector.

“We hope to be able to see where there is a high demand [for testing], especially within the public health sector,” SABOCHA’s Heynike told IRIN/PlusNews. “[We want to know] how many of these employees are being referred to public sector health facilities and if we can provide useful information to government, and partner with government in linking supply and demand more effectively.”

According to preliminary results from a survey conducted among about 30 of SABCOHA’s member companies, 65 percent had conducted VCT activities within the last six months. Natalie Mayet, SABCOHA chairperson and general manager of occupational health for BMW South Africa, said the 159 workplace clinics and almost 1,200 nurses reported by this small sample of the consortium’s more than 100 members could be utilized to help South Africa reach its national testing goal.

SABCOHA is compiling the data into a national VCT report that will be presented to government in November, said Heynike.

New funding mechanism introduced

The business consortium has also introduced a new community fund to help corporate South Africa foot the bill for its planned contribution to the national campaign within a climate of decreased international funding for HIV/AIDS.

Barend Peterson, chairperson of De Beers Consolidated Mines, said government is banking on the private sector to test at least two million people as part of the national campaign at an estimated cost of US$727,000.

We’re embarking on a campaign that grows by the minute, by the day, by the person, but the funding pool is shrinking

According to SABCOHA CEO Brad Mears, the funding mechanism will allow companies wanting to contribute, the opportunity to provide short-term funding better tailored to the rapidly changing realities of HIV in South Africa. Recipients of the funding would be accountable to both SABCOHA and national HIV structures, he said.

“At some point, South Africa needs to move away from the ‘bail out’ method of funding our response, towards more long-term sustainable ways of developing infrastructure and human capacity,” said Mears, adding that SABCOHA plans to channel some of its Round 11 funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria into the new resource.

SABCOHA is currently finalizing initial contributions to the fund of R5.3 million (US$761,236) from several companies, including mobile telephone service provider MTN.

Challenges remain

Heywood praised the accomplishments of South Africa’s national HIV testing campaign which has newly diagnosed about 490,000 people (17 percent of those who have tested) as HIV-positive and helped place about 170,000 people on treatment in its first five months.

“We’re in a position to say that this VCT campaign wasn’t just an empty promise, it wasn’t just a political ploy by an overly enthusiastic new minister of health,” Heywood told IRIN/PlusNews.

But he added that challenges for the campaign remained, including the quality and monitoring of pre- and post-test counselling services; weak public-private sector coordination; and a lack of involvement by the country’s powerful trade unions.

“There’s a large gap between me, who went for HIV testing two weeks ago and was given two minutes worth of counseling, and the director-general [of the health department] who went for testing and was kept for 40 minutes,” he said.

Speaking at the SABCOHA Community Fund’s unveiling in Johannesburg on 18 October, he cautioned that perhaps the greatest challenge to the VCT campaign remained funding.

“We’re embarking on a campaign that grows by the minute, by the day, by the person, but the funding pool is shrinking,” he said. “Funds now have to go to evidence[-based interventions]. In this epidemic, we fund people and organizations out of charity and we can’t do that because funding the wrong people and wrong organizations – whether because they’re not accountable or they’re inefficient – shrinks the pie for everyone.”

llg/ks/cb source.irinnews