Author: John Bosco

The airlines, as revealed by Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala on Sunday, are Qatar Airways, Emirates, British Airways, KLM and Air France.

Emirates will be the first to resume operations by offering a repatriation flight on Tuesday July 28, 2020 from Nairobi to Dubai departing at around 4:15pm.

British Airways will then follow suit on August 1, 2020 operating four flights weekly on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Qatar Airways and KLM will both resume international travel into and out of Nairobi on August 3, 2020 with the latter also offering four weekly flights on the same days as the British Airways.

Qatar Airways, on the other hand, however said it will offer 14 weekly flights “subject to regulatory approval,” further advising passengers to “check the information published by the government of their destination country before traveling.”

The fifth airline, Air France, will resume operations on August 6, 2020 with just one flight to Paris every Friday.

At 10pm Thursday, Agricultural Training Centre in Busia was a beehive of pornhub live event as of one of the prison warders manning the facility, identified as Police Constable Emmanuel Ng’etich, began engaging a COVID-19 patient in a conversation. Another prison warder, Police Constable Jeff Obondo, who was puzzled by Ng’etich’s actions, went to the guardroom, where he informed his colleagues about what Ng’etich was doing.

“All the officers [thereafter] went to check what was happening. However, they did not find Ng’etich and the COVID-19 patient. [As a result], they became suspicious and started looking around. Several minutes past 10pm, they heard noise and commotion emanating from the women’s ward,” says a police report filed at the Busia Police Station at 00:30am Friday, July 17.

“The police officers rushed there and found all the female patients outside, complaining that Police Constable Ng’etich was raping the lady [she had earlier struck a conversation with].”

Authorities say when they went into the woman’s room, they found her and Ng’etich naked in bed.

One of the women quarantined at the facility, however, told police that the said-COVID-19 patient had consented to sexual intercourse with Police Constable Ng’etich, but only changed her narrative when she learnt that the other female COVID-19 patients in the ward had known what she and the cop were doing.

Police Constable Ng’etich has since been arrested and quarantined at the same facility. His firearm was confiscated by senior officers from the Busia GK Prison.

The cop’s samples have also been taken for coronavirus testing.

Last week, a Parliament committee wanted the former KPC managing director Joe Sang to be held responsible for the loss of Sh30.5 million paid to a contractor for an obsolete electronic budgeting system.

The Public Investments Committee recommended that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the EACC investigate the whole tendering process and arraign individuals who may have been negligent.

Meanwhile, two previous attempts by the EACC to charge ex-KPC bosses Mr Tanui, Elias Maina Karumi and Josphat Kipkoech Sirma in 2015 and 2017 failed after a technical hitch on the anti-graft watchdog’s board constitution and a Director of Public Prosecutions order to conduct further investigations.

KPC at the time needed three auto-transformers and the state corporation hired France’s Agecelec to bring the equipment to Kenya, install and commission them.

Investigators would later find that Redline Limited received Sh30 million for the transformers, before being paid another Sh973,912 in installation and commissioning fees.

Documents provided to KPC and approved by the three bureaucrats, indicated that Redline had done sourced, imported, installed and commissioned the equipment.

But Redline was not mentioned anywhere in the tendering process, which means that there was a procurement anomaly.

Under procurement law, a contracted company must seek permission before subcontracting or altering operation terms of the deal.

EACC eavedroppers believe that Mr Tanui, Mr Karumi and Mr Sirma colluded to ensure that Redline got paid despite not having done any works.

The gumshoe argue that the three helped in forging documents to show that Redline Limited had done a good job and ensured that they got a cheque.

The three were initially charged in 2015 and released on bond.

At the same time, former Transport minister Michael Kamau was also facing prosecution over malpractices involving collapsed Moi-era contractor Kundan Singh International.

Mr Kamau sued to annihilate the EACC investigations, arguing that the anti-graft watchdog did not have the minimum three Commissioners required to make decisions at the time he was charged.

The Court of Appeal concured with Mr Kamau in 2017 and tossed the EACC investigations and prosecution plans. The palpitate effect was that 127 graft cases, involving Sh17 billion in embezzled public funds, all collapsed.

The KPC trio were among beneficiaries of the Court of Appeal decision as then DPP Keriako Tobiko was forced to withdraw all 127 cases.

After five years and two failed attempts, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has now gotten the green-light to have former Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) CEO Charles Tanui and two ex-managers prosecuted over a procurement irregularity that benefited a local firm, Redline Limited.

Mr Karumi and Mr Sirma were arrested shortly afterwards, but Mr Tanui could not be immediately traced.

EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak has now directed Mr Tanui to surrender himself to officers at the Integrity Centre.

Born in Abidjan in 1978, 42-year-old Drogba left the West African country for France when he was about five years of age.

Didier Drogba’s quest to head Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) has hit dead end and fell on deaf ears after Association of Ivorian Footballers (AIF) endorsed his rival Idriss Diallo.

The association, whose secretary general is former Drogba’s national teammate Aruna Dindane, tremendously picked Diallo over Drogba.

Their federation law states that for an aspirant to be eligible to contest for the top job, he/she must be endorsed by five football groupings in the country, including top tier league, division two and three clubs and player associations.

So far Drogba has not been endorsed by any of them ahead of July 20 when aspirants will be filing their nomination papers.

Seems Cartels in the current government of President Alassane Ouattara may be against his candidacy as he was a close ally of former president and Ouattara’s former bitter rival Laurent Gbagbo.

His close relationship with Gbagbo is alleged to have given him an upper hand hence preferential treatment and was almost guaranteed a place in the national team even when he was off form.

This may have earned his enemies amongst his former colleagues. According to celebrated African football expert Mamdou Gaye, Drogba’s achilles heel has been his poor approach.

“Drogba has had a poor approach to the elections. You don’t just come from nowhere to claim the top seat just because you are Drogba. You have to gradually rise through the ranks,” Mamadou said.

“Apart from playing and captaining the Elephants, he did nothing to give back to football community back at home. He is a total stranger in local football,” Mamadou added.

On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced International students who are pursuing degrees in the United States will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only courses.

This decision reckons as Universities nationwide are beginning to make the decision to transition to online courses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

At Harvard, for example, all course instruction will be delivered online, including for students living on campus.

For international students, that opens the door to them having to leave the US.

The move may affect thousands of foreign students who come to the United States to attend universities or participate in training programs, as well as non-academic or vocational studies.

ICE said that students who fall under certain visas “may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States,” adding, “The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S.

Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States.” The agency suggested that students currently enrolled in the US consider other measures, like transferring to schools with in-person instruction.

There’s an exception for universities using a hybrid model, such as a mix of online and in-person classes.

Monday’s announcement, like the changes that preceded it, could similarly result in many foreign students who often pay high tuition to have to return to their home country. 

According to the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank based in Washington, DC, about 1.2 million students who fall under the affected visas were enrolled and registered at more than 8,700 schools nationwide as of March 2018.

On Friday June 26th, it was a double-edged sword D-day for Kakamega Senator Malala as this was the day he presented the 11-member special committee report on impeachment of Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru who survived – and this was the very day he got expelled from his parent party ANC.

The party accused Malala of sidelining it even after helping him clinch the Senator’s seat in the 2017 General Election.

“The party has decided to expel Senator Malala after deliberations with the National Governing Council.

The senator has been prejudicing the activities of the party and has been disloyal” read the statement in part.

ANC secretary-general Barack Muluka said the decision had been communicated to the Registrar of Political Parties for a firm decision against Malala.

“Malala has also not shown up for the committee to answer to the charges against him. He has blatantly disobeyed the orders given by the disciplinary committee,” said Muluka.

Malala and ANC leadership has been on warpath following the senator’s stand especially on the Building Bridges Initiative which has seen him publicly differing with ANC fraternity including party leader Musalia Mudavadi.

The lawmaker abandoned the party last year when he declared support for a rival candidate in the Kibra by-elections where the ODM party won mercilessly.

Fortunately for Malala and unfortunately for Mudavadi — Registrar of Political Parties refused to endorse the party’s intention to expel Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala.

RPP Anne Nderitu on Monday wrote to Mudavadi saying ANC’s move to expel Malala did not follow due process. “The disciplinary proceedings were not concluded within the stipulated timelines under Article 49 of the ANC Party Constitution,” Nderitu said.

“The National Governing Council did not approve the disciplinary committee as reconstituted by the NEC in line with Article 46 (1) (d)(ii) of the ANC party Constitution.”

When ANC through a special meeting of National Governing Council last month kicked out Malala out of the political outfit for alleged insubordination of the party and the party leader. The party said it had followed the due process including inviting the Senator to appear before the disciplinary committee of the party which he declined.

“The special meeting of the NGC hereby adopts and ratifies the resolution for internal disciplinary of the party and NEC expelling Hon Cleophas Malala from the party membership,” read part of the party’s resolution.

The disciplinary committee had recommended expulsion of Malala from the party. The NGC unanimously adopted the disciplinary committee’s resolutions.

A new Potential viral infection strain with glue like symptoms that could possibly become a pandemic worse that 2009 swine flu pandemic—-called G4 EA H1N1 as referred to as by Scientists is being investigated after few cases found in China.‬

‪They found evidence of recent infection starting in people who worked in abattoirs and the swine industry in China.‬

The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak.

While it is not an immediate problem, they say, it has “all the hallmarks” of being highly adapted to infect humans and needs close monitoring.

As it’s new, people could have little or no immunity to the virus.

The scientists write in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that measures to control the virus in pigs, and the close monitoring of swine industry workers, should be swiftly implemented.

The new flu strain that has been identified in China is similar to 2009 swine flu, but with some new changes.

So far, it hasn’t posed a big threat, but Prof Kin-Chow Chang and colleagues who have been studying it, say it is one to keep an eye on. The virus can grow and multiply in the cells that line the human airways.

Current flu vaccines do not appear to protect against it, although they could be adapted to do so if needed.

Prof Kin-Chow Chang, who works at Nottingham University in the UK, told the BBC: “Right now we are distracted with coronavirus and rightly so. But we must not lose sight of potentially dangerous new viruses.”

While this new virus is not an immediate problem, he says: “We should not ignore it.”

Prof James Wood, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, said the work “comes as a salutary reminder” that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of pathogens, and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses.

May God Save Us All!

The study into the UN mission in the disaster-hit Caribbean country said girls as young as 11 were left pregnant after being sexually abused.

Some of the girls were traded for ‘a few coins’ in order to get food and would have sex with the peacekeepers so they could survive, the British academic-led study found. After their children were born, the young mothers were left to a life of poverty, according to the Times.

After the emergence of the sex tape footage. The United Nations says it is “shocked and deeply disturbed” by footage of an apparent sex act in one of its official cars in Israel.

https://twitter.com/matteamerta/status/1275979766039031809?s=21

The clip shows a woman in a red dress straddling a man in the back seat of a white 4×4 with UN markings.

The video, shared widely on social media, was apparently filmed on a main street by Tel Aviv’s seafront. The UN said it was investigating the incident and was close to identifying the individuals seen in the video.

Those involved are believed to be staff members of a peacekeeping organisation in Israel, the UN said.

Another passenger can be seen slumped in the front, but the driver can’t be seen as the car moves away.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN’s Secretary General, António Guterres, described the behaviour seen in the 18-second video as “abhorrent”. That kind of behaviour “goes against everything we stand for and having been working to achieve in terms of fighting misconduct by UN staff”, Mr Dujarric told the BBC on Friday.

When asked if the apparent sex act was consensual or involved payment, Mr Dujarric said those questions were part of the ongoing investigation.

The UN has strict policies against sexual misconduct by its staff members. “We are shocked and deeply disturbed by what is seen on this video,” Mr Dujarric said. He said an investigation led by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services was “moving very quickly”.

Mr Dujarric said the location of the incident was known and identification of the individuals seen in the video was “close to being completed”.

Based on buildings visible in the video, the footage appears to have been captured on HaYarkon Street, a usually busy area parallel to the promenade. “We expect the process to be concluded very quickly and intend to promptly take the appropriate action,” Mr Dujarric said.

Mr Dujarric said the individuals involved were probably assigned to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), which has served in the region since 1948.

UN envoys track record

Soldiers from as many as 12 different countries, including Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Canada and France, were found to have impregnated local women, the report stated.

The UN also knew of charity workers offering refugees food in exchange for sexual favours for more than a decade, it has been revealed.

An 84-page report on ‘food-for-sex’ practices in West African refugee camps was compiled and handed over to the UN in 2002, but was never published.

It claimed that workers at more than 40 aid organisations, of which 15 are major international charities including Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières, sexually exploited young refugees.

It marked yet another aid worker sex scandal in the spotlight. Last June a charities watchdog found Oxfam failed to investigate the sexual abuse of children as young as 12 and ‘lost sight of the values it stands for’, following an 18-month investigation.

The 142-page report investigated Oxfam’s conduct since 2012. It found there were ‘systematic weaknesses’ in its attitude to safeguarding, and there was no up-to-date safeguarding strategy in place as recently as 2018.

This included weaknesses in human resources practices, including on vetting, referencing, recruitment and induction. There was also a failure to consistently hold people to account for poor behaviour and to ensure robust and consistent action was taken, resulting in a culture of tolerance of poor behaviour, the regulator’s investigation concluded.

This was likely to have resulted in putting victims off speaking up. The report found the risk to and impact on victims ‘appeared to take second place at times’ and was not taken seriously enough, and that victims, whistleblowers and staff who tried to raise concerns were let down.

Oxfam was plunged into crisis in February 2018 when it emerged that some of its workers engaged in ‘sex parties’ with prostitutes after the humanitarian disaster in the Caribbean country of Haiti in 2010.

The commission launched its inquiry amid concerns Oxfam may not have fully and frankly disclosed material details about the allegations at the time in 2011, its handling of the incidents since, and the impact these have had on public trust and confidence.

The report said the incidents in Haiti identified in 2011 were not ‘one-offs’, with evidence of behavioural issues as early as June 2010.

It also found serious allegations of wrongdoing including sexual abuse of children were not fully disclosed. The Charity Commission for England and Wales said there was a ‘culture of poor behaviour’ among Oxfam staff sent to help victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Oxfam sent a team of 230 to help the homeless and starving. Within months, allegations surfaced of senior staff using prostitutes – some of whom may have been under 18.

Roland van Hauwermeiren, head of the charity’s Haiti mission, was accused of paying teenage girls between £70 and £140 a time for sex at his hilltop villa known as the Eagle’s Nest.

Former staff told the Mail earlier this year that Mr van Hauwermeiren, a 68-year-old Belgian, ‘loved young girls’. Instead of being dismissed, he was offered a deal to resign if he co-operated with the investigation. Mr van Hauwermeiren was allowed ‘a phased and dignified exit’ by then Oxfam chief executive, Dame Barbara Stocking. The charity released a statement in August 2011 saying he had voluntarily stepped down because of staff misconduct. Mr van Hauwermeiren became head of mission for Action Against Hunger in Bangladesh from 2012 to 2014.

Despite employment checks, the charity said Oxfam ‘did not share any warning regarding unethical conduct’.