The Dispute on Green Tea Leafs prices from Rwanda (Assopthe) between 1987-1992 and they’re sale to a American Company (Interesting REFTEL)

Green Tea P1Green Tea P2Green Tea P3

Bank collapses to trigger mergers in the industry in Kenya (Youtube-Clip)

Stakeholders in Kenya’s banking industry say the sector may see a wave of mergers and acquisitions soon, after the liquidation of 1 bank, and the entry into receivership of 2 others, Chase Bank and Imperial Bank. For months now, some local depositors have been seeking safety in bigger institutions. The Central Bank Governor, Patrick Njoroge told journalists on Friday morning that the sector is now entering a new era, where governance and transparency will get a lot more attention. He also said the regulator will establish an unlimited liquidity facility to support distressed local banks, as Uche Okoronkwo, now reports” (CCTV Africa, 2016).

Standard Group Ltd Journalist David Odongo arrested in Nairobi

Odongo Puff Piece

Well, there been rumored that orders from up-high that Standard Group Limited David Odongo got arrested and detained at Nyayo Embaksi Police Station in Nairobi over a story published in the Nairobian. He is now detained, but the orders from above is not yet approved or claimed by anybody, but if; I see it like this: The IGP Joseph Boinett must have gotten the ‘orders’ and used the local police chief to detain him; Sure that is the Nairobi Police Commander Japhet Koome have to follow the orders of Boinett, as Boinett followed orders from above.

Nkaissey 2016

My theory as the reason is that Interior Cabinet Secretary Hon. Joseph Nkaissery, who we’re in charge of detaining John Ngirachu of the Daily Nation, James Mbaka of the Daily Star and Alphonce Skiundu of the Standard Group Limited. That he got detained and questioned for writing about questionable use of government funds in December 2015. Certainly I believe he was in-charge and he is the one from ABOVE. I would not be surprised or shocked. But he has already a track-record for this kind of rash actions; so why not now?

Not that it is shocking that the David Ondongo the writer and Journalist who wrote this piece recently in the Nairobian: “Meet Kimani Rugendo, the billionaire businessman” that got published on the 9th April 2016. That was a puff piece on a business-man who has made business with bottle-water, drinks and some army contracts. So if that is worrying for the nation of Kenya, then what is?

Odongo Standard Group Ltd

He wrote this on his own facebook yesterday where he was critical about the Kenyan Government Spokesperson writing a Statement that was criticizing PBS for their “Kenya Corruption Documentary Series”. Where he was writing: “Eric Kiraithe, being a spokesman doesn’t mean you have to speak even when you have nothing to say. Are you mad? Do you live in Kenya? Get off your ivory tower and come back to reality. If I posted your number here so that Kenyans can call you every time a cop demands a bribe from them, you will run mad. Your phone won’t stop ringing. Do you know how much Kenyans are suffering? So now, Mr Kiraithe you want to blame the civil society for the mess, you and your fellow cops put us into? Stop taking Kenyans for fools. You must have worked hard to be in the position you are right now, stop cheapening yourself by making statements, that you, deep in your heart know isn’t true. Can you look at your children, straight in their eyes, and tell them the video by PBS is fiction? I also don’t like my country being portrayed negatively by foreign media, but the truth can’t be hidden. You have some good officers in the force, but majority are rotten to the core. ‪#‎EndOfRant” (Odongo, 14.04.2016).

So do I believe that he was detained for a puff piece in the Nairobian on the 8th of April? No not really, because his own will and his own words on Social Media as a writer and journalist will be recognized just as the words of Charles Onyango-Obbo (COO) quotes on Twitter will create views and questions on Policy. The same reach does not David Ondongo have, but he still have his space and his followers. So I believe that, that statement on Social Media is more worthy of creating some fuzz, then the piece on the business-man who trades bottled water and also investing in Sterling Craft Kenya Limited that they are starting to make ‘Water Tanks’ not tanks for the Kenya Defense Force (KDF). So the puff-piece must be used for deflection for the statement on the Facebook yesterday. As the Government got the whiff of his ideas and attack on the Kenyan government, that should be the case; not the puff-piece. Peace.

Press Statement – Burundi : Repression of a genocidal character, the UN’s response must be strong (15.04.2016)

burundi-protests

PARIS, France, April 15, 2016 Back from a fact-finding mission in Burundi, conducted in March 2016, FIDH and ITEKA condemn serious human rights violations in Burundi, mainly perpetrated by defence and security forces, against a background of ethnic and genocidal ideology. The ongoing crimes could already be qualified as crimes against humanity and there are now signs that the crisis could lead to acts of genocide. This crisis demands a strong response from the UN, notably through the deployment of a UN police and an international commission of inquiry to prevent mass atrocities.

Since April 2015, 700 people have allegedly been killed, 4,300 have been arbitrarily detained, and several hundred people (800 according to some sources) have been forcily disappeared.  Hundreds of other people have been tortured and dozens of women have been sexually assaulted. As a result of the conflict in Burundi, more than 250,000 Burundians have already fled the country. While the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is set to submit options for the deployment of UN elements by 15 April, FIDH and ITEKA, call upon the international community, including the UN Security Council, to deploy an international police task force of at least 500 police officers with the objective of protecting civilians, stopping ongoing lethal violence, and preventing further armed clashes. FIDH and Iteka believe that if these trends continue, the  African Union or the United Nations  must send a peacekeeping force  to end the violence and the repression of an increasingly genocidal nature.
During its mission, and in a forthcoming report, the FIDH delegation has documented and established the continuation of targeted and extra-judicial killings; of daily arbitrary arrests and detention; of the intensification of enforced disappearances and illegal detention facilities as well as torture. FIDH also witnessed the high level of surveillance and control on Burundian society by security forces, including by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and by the ruling party’s youth militias, the Imbunerakure.

“The situation is particularly worrying with the NIS – the main actor of the repression – that has infiltrated every layer of society and systematically tortures detainees. Parallel chains of command have been established within the security forces to orchestrate the repression. Part of the Imbunerakure1 militia is trained, armed, and deployed throughout the country and acts as the defacto security forces. Tensions within the army are extremely vivid. The international community must do everything in its power to protect civilians and prevent the situation from getting out of control,” said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President. “The nature of the crimes witnessed by the FIDH delegation could very well fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Prosecutor, Ms Fatou Bensouda, should immediately open a preliminary examination of the situation in Burundi, which is state party to the ICC” he added.

policiers-burundi

The evidence gathered by FIDH and ITEKA establishes that the Tustis are particularly targeted by the violence and due to  their ethnicity. They are more targeted during arrests, are subject to ethnic insults from security forces and systematically tortured during detention. The public and private messages of members of the ruling party CNDD-FDD or regime supporters are referring to Tutsis more and more openly as “enemies, “terrorists” and “genocidal insurrection”.2 Since the assassination on 22 March 2016, of Lieutenant-colonel Darius Ikurakure3, pillar of Burundi’s repressive system, targeted killings of soldiers belonging to the former Burundian Armed Forces – FAB (mainly composed of Tutsis) – have also increased.

According to information gathered by FIDH and ITEKA, more than 10 former Burundian army soldiers have been killed by unidentified men since the beginning of March. These elements are part of a larger context marked by an increasingly ethnic discourse by Burundian authorities and their supporters. The day before the funeral of the Lieutenant-Colonel Darius Ikurakure, messages were circulated on social media, including the following: “Dear HUTUS, wake up! Tomorrow we will bury another hero of the anti-Tutsi struggle, his excellency Lieutenant General Darius Ikurakure. Hutu officers and civilians will attend to thank him for his work. Come in number, and be careful and remember that he hero must not die alone, za mujeri sindumja muzincunge bibaye ngombwa mukore. Delende is Mike [watch those emaciated dogs, I am not a slave, if you must: work]. A word to the wise is enough! KORA [work]” circulated on social media. The term to “work” ,was used in Rwanda by the Hutu genocidal government to call upon the elimination of Tutsis. It was also used on 1 November 2015, by Burundian Senate President, Révérien Ndikuriyo, in front of his supporters and several Imbunerakure: “if you hear the signal with an order that it must end, emotions and tears will have no place !” and added “you must spray, you must exterminate those people (…) Wait for the day when we will say “work.”, you will see the difference!”. The conversation was not supposed to be recorded.

Burundian security forces involved in the repression are themselves made up of men who know how to execute orders and can “get things done,”  according to a source close to the security services. “They are over 95% Hutus” adds the source. About ten units, among which the NIS, the Riot Squad (BAE), the Special Battalion for Institution Protection (BSPI), the Institution Protection Agency (API), the Combat Engineering Battalion (BGC), the Mobile Group for Rapid Intervention (GMIR) and Special Research Police(PSR), are led by those loyal to the regime directly linked through parallel command chains, to the presidency, including the civilian cabinet. Those persons, responsible for the repression, could be incriminated for the crimes perpetrated directly by them or under their authority and should be subjected to criminal prosecution and individual sanctions by international institutions and influential diplomatic bodies.

Burundi-Museveni-Nkurunziza
“FIDH and ITEKA are very concerned about the ethnic nature of the repression in recent months, the authoritarian rhetoric and the use of preventive violence by authorities and their supporters. This reminds of the anti-Hutu genocidal massacres of the last  40 years. The authorities consider that they are the only representatives of the people and refer any kind of political, ethnic and social pluralism to a “them” against “us”, deadly for the country. We solemnly call upon Burundian authorities to uphold the Arusha Agreement by ending the repression, freeing the thousands of political detainees, and take part in an honest dialogue with the opposition and the independent civil society,” urged Anschaire Nikoyagiza, ITEKA President.

In response to the abuses of the regime, many men are joining the ranks of rebel armed groups (Red Tabara and FOREBU). These groups have carried out targeted attacks and killings against representatives of CNDD-FDD, members of law enforcement and Imbonerakure in Bujumbura and in the provinces, which have resulted in civilian casualties.. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians may amount to war crimes and   perpetrators must face justice.

Moreover, the documentation of these violations has become extremely dangerous. Human rights defenders, opponents and independent journalists still in Burundi are living mostly underground. They are followed and receive death threats. Almost every civil society leader, journalists and opposition member have   been forced to flee the country and those who remain, leaders or activists, continue to be subjected to threats or even attacks by men suspected of acting on the behalf of the regime, especially the Imbonerakure.

The disappearance of Marie-Claudette Kwizera, ITEKA treasurer, since her arrest by NIS elements on 10 December 2015 illustrates a worrying phenomenon that would concern hundreds of cases. Some sources report at least 800 people have been foricbly disappeared. The documentation of these disappearances is more and more difficult because of the increase of illegal detention facilities. The Burundian authorities and the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (CNIDH), seized by FIDH on the case of Marie-Claudette Kwizera and other cases of enforced disappearances, were unable to provide explanations or information on the fate of these people who are neither refugees nor officially detained.

“Given the risk of a new civil war and the perpetration of mass crimes, our organisations urge the international community to deploy an international police force in the country (of at least 500 officers) to ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate the holding of an inclusive political dialogue as soon as possible. Furthermore, we call on the Security Council to mandate an independent international commission to investigate the crimes perpetrated since April 2015, ” said Dismas Kitenge, FIDH Vice President.

On 1 April 2016, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2279 urging all parties to the crisis to agree on a timetable for negotiations. It also calls on the UN Secretary-General, to present by 15 April  to the Security Council “options” for the deployment of an international police force. In view of the security and human rights situation prevailing in the country, FIDH and ITEKA urge the UN to ensure that this task force has the mandate and the means to play a stabilizing, deterrent and monitoring role and to intervene in the event of the commission serious human rights violations.

Steady Regress of Health Care in Uganda; 400 Cancer Patients to Nairobi and working the Cancer machine without license at Mulago!

Cobalt-Machine

Today yet more is covering up as the story of failings of Mulago Hospital Complex, former Kings Hospital of Mulago, where the Uganda Cancer Instute or the Cancer Ward is supposed to be. There the only Cobalt-60 Machine for Chemotherapy have been down for over a month. The one they have was bought in 1995. Dr. Jackson Orem have given two statements that counter each other and the reality of the matter, is that this is just sad, and not funny; though it is systemic default as the government are busy with creating Anti-Porn Bill Committee, instead of healing fellow citizens.

UCI Vote

The Ministry of Health Hon. Dr. Chris Baryomunsi has said in the Plenary Session in the Parliament that Aga Khan Hospital of Nairobi has offered for treatment of 400 cancer patients. So there will not be any patients who need treatment taken care of at Mulago, since the Uganda Cancer Institute has to wait for a new machine. Therefore the country does not a have the machinery for the treatment. That is sad enough to know at this point.

Then this comes up as well: “Mulago is operating the cancer machine illegally. The licence expired. Its Ugx 800,000 per year,” Parliament Watch quoted one of the council officials. “We could not give Mulago a new licence without addressing the safety measures we raised.” The official noted that Radiation workers in Mulago are not being monitored yet they are being exposed.“We visited Mulago in 2013 and we found out that the cancer machine was not in good conditions…We found out that the cancer machine in Mulago used to get stack. It had to be operated manually,” the official added” (Red Pepper, 2016).

Chris Baryomunsi Quote Daily Monitor

So the story of the Cancer Machine at Mulago does not stop up or silently goes away as this is the neglect of the government, ministry and the economic regress that the NRM Regime have put in place. This is happening in the time-span that they have been ordering more Anti-Riot Police Cars, tear-gas, bullets, ammunition and bribes for fellow NRM Elite, than fixing and procuring a new machine for the Cancer Treatment at the Mulaga Hospial Complex. It saddens me, and the more we know, the bleaker the state of affairs in the matter it seems. The end-game is that certain 400 lucky patients get treatment in Nairobi. But that is not how is supposed to be in Steady Progress mantra, this here is Steady Regress. Peace.

Reference:

Red Pepper – ‘Mulago is operating the cancer machine illegally — Atomic Agency Council’ (14.04.2016).

Burundi: “115 grenades had been thrown since January” (Youtube-Clip)

The Minister of Public Security Alain Guillaume BUNYONI has given a record about the situation of the security that prevailed the country for over the past three months. This record was delivered during the press conference held on this Tuesday 12th April 2016″ (Iwacu WEB TV, 2016).

Burundi: Killings, Abductions, Political Violence Plague Capital (Youtube-Clip)

“Edited Video by Human Rights Watch, 2016”.

Press Release – Burundi: Government Investigations Ignore State Abuses (13.04.2016)

policiers-burundi

Independent International Inquiry Needed

NEW YORK, United States of America, April 13, 2016 –  The findings of a Burundian commission of inquiry into allegations of extrajudicial executions by members of the security forces on December 11, 2015, in the capital, Bujumbura, are misleading and biased, Human Rights Watch said today. This is one of several official inquiries that have failed to properly investigate security force abuses or hold those responsible to account.
The inquiry focused on reports of abuses during the most deadly operation by the Burundian security forces since the country’s crisis began in April. Human Rights Watch found that police and military shot dead scores of people in Nyakabiga and Musaga neighborhoods, apparently in retaliation for opposition attacks on four military installations, and for heavy shooting at security forces by gunmen in these neighborhoods.

“This is the latest in a series of commissions of inquiry in Burundi that has ignored widespread abuses by the security forces,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These inquiries have covered up state abuses and have not led to justice.”

The Prosecutor General, Valentin Bagorikunda, set up an inquiry into the December 11 events on December 17, 2015. Summarizing the inquiry’s main conclusions on March 10, 2016, he did not mention killings or abuses of Bujumbura residents by the security forces. He claimed that those killed on December 11 were armed “combatants” wearing police or military uniforms.

Since 2010, there have been at least seven commissions of inquiry into allegations of killings and other abuses. Most of them have denied or downplayed serious abuses by state agents.

Human Rights Watch documented the killings of December 11 in detail and found no indications that the victims had participated in the attacks on the military installations. Some victims were found lying side by side, face down, and appeared to have been shot in the back or the head. Others survived with serious injuries. The security forces also carried out large-scale arbitrary arrests in both neighborhoods.

In March, two United Nations special rapporteurs and one from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights visited Burundi to investigate human rights abuses at the request of the UN Human Rights Council. They plan to return in June and send a small team of human rights monitors to be based in the country.

Presenting their interim report to the Human Rights Council on March 22, Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, said: “The overt violence of last year seems to have subsided. At the same time covert violence, for example, in the form of disappearances, seems to have increased… There are some in [the Burundian] government who seem to be open to change. Others, however, are in denial anything is wrong.”

Given the Burundian justice system’s inability or unwillingness to conduct credible and thorough investigations, an independent, international commission of inquiry is needed to establish the truth about the grave abuses in Burundi in the past year and support the efforts of the special rapporteurs, Human Rights Watch said.

An international commission with expertise in criminal and forensic investigations would conduct in-depth inquiries with a view to establishing individual responsibility for the most serious crimes. It would probe deeper into these crimes, complementing the work of UN and African Union human rights observers in Burundi as well as the Human Rights Council’s initiatives.

Burundian government officials have repeatedly claimed there is peace and security throughout the country, despite the fact that several hundred people have been killed over the past year and many others arbitrarily arrested, tortured or disappeared. The minister of human rights, social affairs and gender, Martin Nivyabandi, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 22 that, “the situation is normalizing” and that, “Burundi today couldn’t be a land where impunity reigns.”

“Contrary to the minister’s statement, impunity has been at the heart of Burundi’s political system for years and is one of the principal causes of the current human rights crisis,” Bekele said.

Serious new abuses were reported throughout March and early April. Scores of people have been arrested and others taken away to unknown destinations by the police or intelligence services. Ruling party officials, police, and members of the ruling party youth league known as Imbonerakure arrested at least 16 members of the opposition party National Liberation Forces (FNL) at a bar in Kirundo province on March 12. The police spokesman, Pierre Nkurikiye, claimed they were conducting a political meeting without authorization.

Armed opposition groups have also been responsible for abuses. Unidentified men killed two ruling party officials in Bururi and Makamba provinces on March 15.

Since early 2016, the intelligence services have intensified surveillance of human rights activists, journalists, and other perceived critics, making it even more difficult to document and expose abuses and putting the few activists who remain at even greater risk.

Tensions were heightened on March 22, after an unidentified gunman shot dead Lt. Col. Darius Ikurakure, a military commander reportedly involved in many abuses, at the army headquarters in Bujumbura. Later that day, residents of Bujumbura reported that security forces arrested several people. That night, another military officer, Major Didier Muhimpundu, was killed in Bujumbura. An opposition group, the Republican Forces of Burundi (Forces républicaines du Burundi, FOREBU), later claimed responsibility for Ikurakure’s death.

“The government’s claims that Burundi is calm and that security is improving aren’t true,” Bekele said. “The recent killing of the military officials has heightened tensions, and many people are being arrested or simply go missing.”

Shocking revelations emerge as public hearing on judge Philip Tunoi bribery saga resumes (Youtube-Clip)

“The tribunal formed to investigate a 200 million shillings bribery claims against suspended supreme court judge Philip Tunoi resumed its public hearings this morning after it adjourned last week. Geoffrey Kiplagat who filed an affidavit claiming that he facilitated payment of the bribe to the judge has been undergoing cross examination by Tunoi’s lawyer, Fred Ngatia. Kiplagat claims both Tunoi and Kidero were present at the petrol station where the one was exchanged. During the cross examination, Kiplagat admitted that Tunoi is not attend initial meetings prior to the bribe. Tunoi had initially denied knowing Kiplagat but NSIS records later showed that the two had exchanged several text messages. Justice Tunoi also said he had gathered new evidence from “sources” that could help bolster his defense on bribery allegations leveled against him” (KTN News Kenya, 2016).