Hotly contested elections soon coming to an end in Kenya

Kenyan’s 2007 general election has gotten to the home stretch.  Forget the hotly contested  ‘non three piece suit’ parliamentary election, the most interesting and crucial to watch is the presidential one which is getting hotter, dirtier and uglier by the day.

Propaganda, smear campaigns, dirty tricks and all manner of trickery and dirty scheming is getting enhanced daily. The stakes are just too high to let it go especially considering that we have two leading candidates almost tying up, or rather the probability of any of them winning is quite good.

Indeed Messrs Raila Odinga and incumbent President Kibaki may each only need a blunder by the other to win. Also it may need a poor turnout of the supporters of the other for one to win. It can also mean some dirty tricks or foul play employed by the other such as rigging, violence, manipulation of the electoral process and so on for the other to win. In essence this poll tie which is going to wire is also very perilous!

Between now and the election date the country will be inundated with a lot garbage type of messages in all forms of the media and so much trickery and dirty campaigns that the country will be in a ‘ words war war’ scenes though there is no war and there wont be any real war itself. It is just that the nonsense of the messages getting emanated will become more nonsensical, intimidating, dirty, uncouth, uncivilized and so on, all in the name of discrediting opponents.

At this point in time issues will start slowly taking the back seat
and character assignation becoming king. This will of course be spiced with digging the past evils and imagined evils of the opponent all to show the opponent in bad light. It is politics after all. It is a win by all means!

Hopefully all the hopefuls are aware that after the election the
challenges are still enormous. All the promises they have made  such as high economic growth, free secondary education, better
infrastructure, low inflation rates, better salaries and employment of teachers, improved security, a new constitution et all, will come to haunt the winner. Kenyans are very expectant!

By Harrison  Mwirigi  Ikunda,
API/APN in Nairobi – Kenya.

Published by API/APN africanpress@chello.no

PANIC AS PNU ASPIRANT TAKES MIGORI BY STORM.

 

 

BY SHEM KOSSE, API/APN in Kenya

 

Business almost became to a standstill in Migori town when a renowned international business magnate who is a PNUparliamentary aspirant for Migori constituency embarked on a road show cum his vision launching, to drum up support for incumbent president’s re election, in this years general election to be held later this month.

 

Fred Otieno Rangili whose sterling track record of development, spanning to a decade speaks for itself, kicked off his clourful campaign showbiz at Bandera tatu, the party’s office, where tens and thousands of PNU party fanatical supporters gathered to witness the take off of Kibaki’s second term bid campaign and Rangili’s long term overdue quest for Migori seat.

 

The procession snaked to the town with Rangili acknowledging cheers from enthusiastic wanainchi who stood by the roadside, with first sojourn at Mikuro shopping center where he was joined by hundreds of supporters boda boda cyclists who adorned capes, shirts emblazoned with kibaki’s portrait chanting PNU popular slogans Kibaki tena! Kazi iendelee! escorting him to Masara shopping center for a well-attended rally where he ultimately addressed a mammoth crowd, that accorded him a massive reception.

 

Rangili decried the perennial poor infrastructure in the area and alleged misuse of the CDF funds by the immediate former MP saying that if elected he will renew the constituency’s lost glory.

He appealed to the electorates to re elect President Mwai Kibaki for a second term to complete his development agenda “Kibaki has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he can deliver services to Kenyans” he gloated.

                                                               

Speaker after speaker showered praises to the generous Rangili as the only person with outstanding leadership qualities who can catapult the vast Migori constituency to greater heights of development.

 

In attendance were the area PNU civic aspirants and the party’s coordinator Paul Odhiambo Waga who appealed to the president Kibaki and the minister for foreign affairs, Hon Raphael Tuju, who is PNU point man in Nyanza, to move with the necessary speed and oil their campaign kitty to overcome logistical hitches they are undergoing currently “our main rival sister political parties have met their respective flag bearers and facilitated their respective campaign committees” they moaned.

 

Further saying that Migori’ PNU support is gaining grounds and this year’s general election is going to be a replica of 2005 plebiscite, referendum, that only saw Migori delivering the highest number of YES votes to the government’s backed draft (read the ill fated Wako draft) in Luo Nyanza.

 Rangili will battle it out with ODM nominee John Pesa among other low-keyed aspirants.

Published by API/APN africanpresss@chello.no

Norway fends off calls for more soldiers in Afghanistan

Norway still doesn’t want to send any of its soldiers into the dangerous areas of southern Afghanistan, and resisted pressure from NATO on Friday to do so.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (right) speaking with his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice in Brussels on Friday. PHOTO: THIERRY ROGE/REUTERS

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has joined other foreign ministers from NATO countries for a meeting in Brussels. Fellow NATO members Denmark, the Netherlands and Canada all used the meeting to ask for more support for their own troops in southern Afghanistan.

Støre wouldn’t promise any. Norway has troops in Kabul and in the northern areas of Afghanistan, and thinks that’s sufficient.

Friday’s meeting focused on NATO’s operations in Afghanistan and Kosovo. In Afghanistan, the countries with troops in the south have suffered the most casualties and therefore want some relief.

A NATO spokesman, however, noted that the meeting wasn’t aimed at troop deployment, but rather at the larger political issues. That included better coordination of the Afghans’ own contribution to the anti-Taliban effort.

“That doesn’t only mean that more Afghans shall have more responsibility for their own security, but that there also will be more Afghans who can speak of progress in their country,” said Støre.

Lifted and published by Korir, API/APN africanpress@getmail.no source.aftenposteneng

Controversy hits British PM’s boycott of Lisbon summit over Mugabe presence

London (United Kingdom) The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s decision to boycott the EU-Africa summit over the presence of the Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, seems to have created more headache for him (Brown) as a huge race row broke out Friday night against his government, APA has learnt.

The Prime Minister is under pressure to explain why he decided to send Baroness Amos, the former leader of the House of Lords, to represent Britain at Sartuday’s EU-Africa summit in Lisbon.

Clare Short, a former key Labour minister, who resigned a couple of years ago after criticising the British involvement in the “unnecessary invasion of Iraq”, is now leading other official critics, mostly an opposition group, who are accusing Brown of sending a “pseudo-minister chosen for the colour of her skin to the Lisbon event.

Ms Short, UK’s former International Development Secretary, further condemned the government, claiming that Lady Amos was sent to Lisbon only because she is Black. “After Brown has vowed that neither he nor any of his government ministers would attend the summit if Mugabe attended”.

However, a government spokesman clarified that “Baroness Amos is a former leader of the House of Lords and she has got a lot of knowledge about Africa as a whole, not Zimbabwe”.

The UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, also came in defence of PM Brown’s decision to stay away in the face of criticism from the European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, saying “it would have been ’absurd’ to appear alongside Mugabe for a summit on governance and human rights “.

Britain maintains “there is a meltdown in Zimbabwe, where the economy has collapsed, mortality rates are soaring as human rights are widely abused by the regime”.

Some government officials are proposing that the UK representative Lady Amos should use her presence there to condemn Mugabe in public by laying his crimes bare before all those attending the summit.

Previous attempts to hold the summit failed over Mugabe’s attendance. But this time, the EU, mindful of growing Chinese influence in Africa, decided to hold the summit and invite the Zimbabwean leader.

“Whatever crimes the west holds against him, Mugabe is still seen by African leaders as an independence hero”, one African diplomatic commented.

However, in an attempts to defend the decision for the invitation of president Mugabe, amidst growing criticism from London, the European Commission has sent a tough message to the authorities in London.

In the message, the European Commission’s Jose Manuel Barroso, charged that “world leaders must be prepared to deal with dictators ’your mother would not like you to meet’.

“If everyone had that attitude, then ’we would not be attending many conferences at all”.

Published by Korir, API/APN africanpress@getmail.no source.apa

Do not put pressure on African countries, the EU has been told

Lisbon (Portugal) The African Union (AU) chairperson, Alpha Oumar Konare, Saturday urged the European Union to end “piling up the pressure” on African countries during the negotiations for the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and instead advocated for “fair” agreements.

“It is important, especially in the current negotiations for the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), to avoid using diagrams of another era contrary to the legitimate African choices, to start isolated negotiations which bring into conflict African regions or countries within the same region,” Konare said at the first session of the 2nd Africa-EU Summit held in Lisbon.

“It is also important to listen to African civil society, African private sector, the African Diaspora, which are part of Africa. If not, at the end of this pressure, it will be a victory certainly, but “a pyrrhic victory” based on divisions, with the tragic costs on the African rural population and the African industrialists,” he added.

While the European Union insists on a “dialogue between equals” with the African countries, the president of the African Commission averred that the success of the negotiations between the two continents “depends on confidence and solidarity and asks for the necessary time to conclude fair and reassuring agreements “.

He asserted that the Lisbon Summit was possible thanks to “the compromise and spirit of determination” of the leaders of both continents.

This spirit and determination, he stressed, are “founded on recognised principles: mutual respect, acceptance of our differences, shared democratic standards based on pluralism and the respect of opposition and minorities, and also shared great values of tolerance, peace, good governance, respect of the state of law, non-indifference to disasters, however a non-indifference to be assumed with humility and solidarity.”

On the EU’s call for a dialogue “between equals” Konare said: “It is time for Africa to bury definitively the colonial pact, to leave behind the reasoning of the trade and trading post economy: to no longer simply export more raw natural resources, to no longer agree to be simply a selling market of finished imported products.

“Believe me that Africa could be neither a private hunting ground, nor a new territory to be conquered. Such a plural and strategic partnership can do without intermediary and tutor because it will be direct and voluntary,” he insisted.

After the inaugural speeches, the works of the summit continued behind closed doors with five panels: peace and security, democracy and human rights, trade and development, climate change/energy, and migrations and employment.

Seventy African and European heads of state and governments are attending the summit which ends on Sunday.

Published by Korir, API/APN africanpress@getmail.no source.apa

Rwandan, Kenyans win Nigeria’ GLO marathon

Lagos (Nigeria) Disi Dieudonne of Rwanda Saturday emerged winner of the GLO Lagos International Half Marathon, APA has learnt.

Dieudonne led the male pack to post a time of 1hr 3mins and five seconds, to cart home the prize-money of US$50,000.

Kenya’s Wilson Chebet was placed second having returned in 1.03.18 seconds settled for US$25,000.

His compatriots Festus Langat, Wilson Kebenen, and Duncan Kibet were placed third, fourth, and fifth respectively, with Langat returning in 1:04.34 sec, Kebenen 1:04.34 sec, Kibet 1:05.10 sec.

In the women’s event, Lineth Chepkirui of Kenya posted a time of 1hr. 12.06 seconds to claim the top prize-money of US$50,000. She was followed in the second by her compatriot, Mary Keitany, who returned in 1hr 15.10 seconds to claim US$25,000 while third placed Kenyan, Irene Kipchumba posted 1hr 15.21 seconds to settle for US$15,000.

Meanwhile, Chepkirui, the winner of the women’s Glo Lagos International Half Marathon has dedicated her prize-money to her boyfriend, Ben Mayo, and her mother, Lilian Kirinyet.

The 19-year-old said shortly after finishing the race in Lagos that she would use the money in financing the education her brother and sister at Baraton University in Kenya.

The Kenyan, who was winner of the 2006 New Delhi Marathon and the 2006 Philadelphia half marathon, said that she was pleasantly surprised to have won because of the tough opposition.

“I didn’t imagine myself being the best in the female category because the opposition was very tough. It was God’s grace,’’ she said, adding that the victory was dedicated to her boyfriend, Ben Mayo and mother Lilian Kirinyet.

The winners and their prize-money are as follows: Male === Disi Dieudonne (Rwanda) 1:03.05 secs — $50,000 Wilson Chebet (Kenya) 1:03.18 ’’ — $25,000 Festus Langart (Kenya) 1:03.28 ’’ — $15,000 Wilson Kebenen (Kenya) 1:04.34 ’’ — $10,000 Duncan Kibet (Kenya) 1:05.10 ’’ — $5,000

Female =====

Lineth Chepkirui (Kenya) 1:12.06 secs — $50,000 Mary Keitany (Kenya) 1:15.10 ’’ — $25,000 Irene Kipchumba (kenya) 1:15.21 ’’ — $15,000 Pauline Wangui (Kenya) 1:22.34 ’’ — $10,000 Berhane Adere (Ethiopia) 1:25.38 ’’ — $5,000

More than 3,000 athletes took part in the race.

Published by Korir, API/APN africanpress@getmail.no source.apa