Day: May 6, 2023

Residents of Wangu ward in Murang’a County secretly volunteered details of the people they suspect to be behind selling and trafficking illicit brews and bhang in the area.

The residents who gathered at Koimbi grounds wrote names of the suspects and dropped the papers in boxes which were handed to the County Police Commander.

In an exercise organized by Director of Ahadi Kenya Trust, Dr. Stanley Kamau, the residents requested police to investigate those whose names were given, claiming the area has been affected by many cases of trafficking of bhang and brewing of illicit liquor.

They claimed by giving names of the suspects secretly, police should hasten investigation and prosecute those found behind the menace.

Kamau noted that he opted to come up with the method of providing a platform to members of the community to give out the names saying the people behind selling illicit liquor and bhang are locally known.

The named individuals, Kamau said should be investigated by the police those and those found culpable prosecuted.

‘There is a need to change ways of fighting excessive illicit alcohol and bhang in this region. Involving members of the public will effectively eliminate the menace. The locals are conversant with those selling the illicit brews and I know secretly they will name them,’ added Kamau.

He stated that some of the individuals were mentioned more than 20 times urging police to ensure the information was handled in confidence and culprits put to book.

He decried that many young people in Murang’a have indulged themselves in alcoholism making them irresponsible and unproductive. ‘I call on the security agents to join hands with members of the public in the fight against the killer brews.’

Wangu Assistant County Commissioner Beatrice Kibelekenya on her part asked the locals not to be malicious when giving information of the people behind selling of the brews and drugs.

She said security officers are committed to end the problem adding that scores of suspects selling bhang and illicit brews have been arraigned in court.

‘For past three weeks, we have taken to court several individuals who were found with the illicit brews and bhang. Some of them have been convicted,’ she added.

The County Police Commander David Mathiu speaking after receiving the boxes containing the names given assured the residents that they will do thorough investigations and apprehend the culprits.

He lauded the exercise calling members of the public to continue volunteering information that will make the war against the brews and drugs successful.

‘Within a period of two weeks, we will be through with the investigations and apprehend those we will find to be behind the criminal activities. Let this exercise be done in other parts of the county so as to eliminate the killer brews and bhang which have destroyed lives of our people,’ he added.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Government is set to resume the search and exhumation process of more bodies at Shakahola Forest in Kilifi County next week, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has said.

He said the team of pathologists are about to conclude a postmortem of 110 bodies that have so far been retrieved from the scene of crime even as said experts have warned that there could be more bodies in the expansive forest.

Speaking in Embu during an inspection tour of various government projects including the renovation works of Moi Stadium that is set to host this Year’s Madaraka Day Celebrations, Kindiki said the county was yet to come to terms with the gravity of the tragedy.

He termed religious extremism, radicalization and indoctrination as the third threat the country was facing after terrorism and the banditry and cattle rustling in the North Rift and Upper Eastern Region.

Kindiki said the same way they have dealt with terror attack networks in the past is the same way they will deal with threats posed by religious extremism.

‘We have decided, this event, sad as it is, will be the last one, we will do whatever it takes to make sure we do not get this kind of harm ever again in the country, ‘the CS said.

He said some of the measures they have taken so far are administrative including transfer of security and other line government personnel to give confidence to the ongoing operation and assure the country there will be accountability.

Kindiki said they intend to make further arrests in the coming days, noting they had zeroed in on second and third tier collaborators to the main perpetrators of the Shakahola Massacre.

‘We will prosecute and punish them in accordance to the law,’ he said even as he lauded President William Ruto for establishing a multisectoral taskforce with a view of not just looking at the Shakahola issue, but also on ways of regulating religious institutions.

He said they were confident the taskforce will come with a framework of the policy the country will adopt and the regulations including legislative proposals on how to curb religious extremism.

‘We need to know what to do to ensure people waving Bibles and Qurans do not come and commit these kinds of crimes in the name of God,’ said the CS.

He said though the move may be met with resistance, he said there was no turning back in a bid to ensure restoration of religious sanity.

‘I want to assure the people of Kenya as the minister responsible for public safety, we will reign in rogue clergy hiding under the constitutional right of freedom of worship no matter the resistance,’ he said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Ministry of Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary (CS) Soipan Tuya said that the government is in the process of establishing 11 fully fledged seed centres across the country that will be operational by the end of May 2023.

The Cabinet Secretary said the seed centres under the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) will produce both indigenous seeds and fruit tree seeds for propagation across Kenya Forest Service nurseries and Private, and Community Nurseries across the country.

‘We are doing our best to meet the seedling demands of the country. To this extent, we have reached out to other Ministries, Departments and Agencies such as Kenya Prisons Service, Kenya Defense Forces, Kenya Wildlife Service, the Kenya Police Service, the National Youth Service amongst others, to help with seedling propagation so that we can meet this high demand for seedlings,’ said Tuya.

Speaking at Karura forest during a tree planting exercise, Tuya said that they are also working with Members of Parliament through the National Constituency Fund to hire youths within their respective constituencies to raise seedlings in Schools and within their communities, while gaining income from these activities, in line with the Government’s bottom-up agenda, to create green jobs.

‘The 15 billion National Tree Growing Restoration campaign is also a major activity to address the challenges of climate change. An estimated 40% of Kenya’s emissions of greenhouse gases is from deforestation and land use change. Kenya is leading by example and has set pace for Africa in the green growth agenda and green industrialization,’ explained the CS.

She further said, ‘Pursuant to our country providing leadership in the continent of Africa on Climate Change action, President Dr. William Ruto in his capacity as the current Chair of the African Union Committee of Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) will host the first ever African Climate Summit in Nairobi from 4th – 6 th September 2023. The running theme of the summit will be to explore a more ecologically responsible green industrialization in Africa and we look forward to a declaration that will state the African Continent position at COP 28, later this year.’

Tuya highlighted that just before the onset of the rains, the country witnessed unprecedented levels of forest fires across various ecosystems and to counter this, the government has provided money to build fire breaks, buy camping gear and firefighting equipment to prepare us for future fire outbreaks.

‘Apart from the fires that devastated huge parts of our Forests, we now have reports of rampant illegal logging of Forests, encroachment and other related illegal activities. I am directing the Acting Chief Conservator of Forests to, with immediate effect, activate the multiagency crackdown team, to mount an intense, targeted and sustained crackdown across all Forest Ecosystems in the country to end these illegal activities,’ said the CS.

Tuya explained that these activities and reforms are part of the Government’s agenda to raise our Country’s tree cover from the current 12.3% to 30% by the year 2032.

‘Following the President’s directive last year, that we should grow 15 billion trees over the next 10 years, as a Ministry, we have put in place and are rolling out a Comprehensive 15 billion National Tree Growing Restoration Strategy,’ she said.

The CS thanked Kenyans who have so far come out in large numbers, as individuals, corporates and institutions to respond to this campaign, either by adopting ecosystems, blocks in forests or planting in individual spaces and farmlands.

‘We are urging Kenyans to plant trees on their Birthdays, during Holidays, at each and every occasion where it is possible to plant a tree. 15 billion trees sound huge and mind boggling but believe me you, it translates to only 30 trees per Kenyan per year over the next 10 years,’ said Tuya.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Seven mourners who were travelling to a funeral by bus perished following a road accident at the Kendu -Homabay highway.

The accident occurred at around noon as the mourners travelling from Nyakach in Kisumu County were about to reach their destination in West Karachuonyo, Rachuonyo North Sub County.

Eye witnesses said lorry driver transporting sand had caused confusion on the road near Kanyadhiang area a few kilometers from Kendu bay town causing the bus driver to lose control of the vehicle, and then rolled, landing in a ditch.

The bus belonging to ACK Guu Secondary School had 39 passengers on board according to police report

Confirming the incident Rachuonyo North Sub- County Police Commander Lydia Parteiyie said several passengers injured in the accident were taken to various hospitals in the region among them the Kendu Bay Sub- County Hospital, Gendia Mission Hospital and Rachuonyo south Sub County in Oyugis town

The police commanders said all bodies were taken to Gendia Mission Hospital mortuary.

Also injured in the accident were Boda boda riders who were under a shed waiting for customers.

The Police Commander said, ‘Police will carry out investigations to establish the cause of the accident.’

Source: Kenya News Agency

Pathologists completed phase one of the autopsies on bodies of victims of the Shakahola massacre with a total of 112 bodies having been examined since Monday.

Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor said all the 112 bodies had all their internal organs intact, although most had been severely decomposed, thus discounting speculations that there could have been incidents of organ harvesting.

Speaking at the Malindi Sub County Hospital Mortuary during the daily media briefing, Dr. Oduor said the team of pathologists and detectives carried out 12 post-mortems – seven bodies of females and four of men while they could not determine the sex of one due to its level of decomposition.

He said five of the 12 bodies, whose autopsies were done Friday, were fresh and that the pathologists were able to get more fact from them.

‘One person had died in hospital and from the hospital report, the person had gone there with severe dehydration and malnutrition because of not feeding, leading to kidney failure that could have led to their death,’ he said.

Dr. Oduor said four of the victims had died of head injuries although three had chronic illnesses such as anaemia while two had features of starvation. The team was unable to determine the cause of death for two of the victims.

He said one family was able to identify one of the bodies positively but samples of DNA had to be taken from the family because of uniformity as they are taking DNA from each and every person.

He said 13 families turned up for DNA sample taking so the samples can be compared with those of the bodies.

Dr. Oduro said focus will now be directed on phase two of the exhumation exercise in the Shakahola forest and that detectives and pathologists would start identifying more graves Saturday in readiness for the exercise.

‘We intend to commence the process of exhumations. A team will be going there tomorrow to look at the grounds to determine whether it is ready for the second phase of exhumations before more autopsies could be done,’ he said.

Mr. Kinyanjui Thuo from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) said the exercise had been conducted professionally and above board, thus dispelling concerns that the government was carrying out the autopsies in an opaque manner.

‘We have been here for the last five days and we can confirm that the team did a commendable job. In fact, they exceeded expectations,’ Thuo said.

He confirmed that all the internal organs of the bodies whose post-mortems were done were intact.

‘The commission will give its comprehensive statement much later but I think it is important to commend the government agencies that are working under very difficult situation but who have also been able to do everything professionally,’ he said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Principal Secretary Ms Silvia Museiya has called on Environmental stakeholders in Laikipia County to intensify their tree planting efforts in a bid to attaining the 15 Billion trees target.

In a speech read on her behalf by Secretary Administration from State Department of Wildlife John Chelimo, during a tree planting exercise at Laikipia Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (CEDEC) in Nanyuki, she said that the government is committed to environmental conservation.

‘Tree planting is not only a ritual but as a government, we are committed to increase the forest cover in this country as that is the only meaningful gift, we can bequeath the environment and our future generation,’ said the PS.

She pointed out that efforts were on top gear to restore the ecosystems and mitigate the effects of climate change.

She noted that all government institutions, non-governmental and the general public were required to implement President Dr. William Ruto directive of ‘Adapt a tree’ initiative, a move that will see the country achieve 30 percent forest cover by year 2030.

‘Such practices to plant trees should be viewed with seriousness as it remains the cornerstone of preserving our country from environmental degradation,’ said Ms Museiya.

The PS said that increased human activities had led to global warming and unpredictable weather patterns which had severely affected people, thus noting it was important to be good custodians on environmental protection.

‘Rains hardly come in the right time-frame we expect them and the environmental order of things are not happening as expected. These misgivings should serve as a warning that we need to take care of our environment and plant trees,’ she cautioned.

Laikipia East Assistant County Commissioner Ms Monica Muthoni decried that Laikipia County lagged behind on tree cover at 10.2 percent. On Forest cover, the county is at 8.9 percent.

Muthoni called on residents to take advantage of the ongoing rain to plant trees in homesteads and other private places to support the government in attaining the 30 percent target.

Source: Kenya News Agency