December 5, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

Major changes in laws to fight terrorism

PARLIAMENT | Among radical proposals are clauses allowing prolonged detention and removing security of tenure for police boss

Terrorism suspects may be held by police for longer periods before being taken to court, held incommunicado and denied bail once charged if tough new security laws are passed to aid the war against terrorism. The proposals have been made by a team appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in the wake of two successive terrorist raids that killed 64 people in Mandera County.

The changes will, among other things, allow the police to take far-reaching measures to combat terrorism, including giving them more powers to search premises. If adopted, they will also pave the way for the removal of security of tenure for top security officers such as the Inspector-General of Police, his two deputies and the intelligence boss. A team of MPs and another comprising security chiefs have been working on Bills that will lead to the changes to be presented to Parliament for approval. President Kenyatta last evening received a report on the amendments agreed on by the two teams. “The President has received the report and will apply his mind before submitting his recommendations to Parliament through the laid down procedures,” said State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu.

The President had on Tuesday asked MPs to delay their Christmas break to debate and pass the laws. They will also vet his nominee for Cabinet Secretary for the Interior and Coordination of the National Government , retired Maj-Gen Joseph Nkaissery, who is Kajiado Central MP. The ODM legislator was on Tuesday nominated to replace Mr Joseph ole Lenku. Parliament has the next 14 days to consider his nomination. Mr Lenku’s fate still hangs in the balance because the President did not outrightly say that he had sacked the Cabinet Secretary who, like Inspector- General of Police David Kimaiyo, had been under public pressure to resign or be sacked over security failures.

Although Mr Esipisu’s press release did not provide details, the Nation learnt from an MP familiar with the discussions that Mr Kenyatta would ask Parliament to approve changes to the National Intelligence Service Act, the National Police Service Act, the National Police Service Commission Act and the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Crack the whip Removing security of tenure for security chiefs is expected to give the President a freer hand to crack the whip on those who fail to do their job. Changes to the Prevention of Terrorism Act are expected to set new rules on the handling of suspected terrorists, including allowing the police to hold them for longer than the current 24 hours before taking them to court. Police could also be allowed to hold terror suspects incommunicado. It will also be harder for suspected terrorists to get bail, which the police argue sets dangerous suspects free to commit other acts of terror or evade court or even flee the country.

The House has passed the Persons Deprived of Liberty Bill but it was not clear whether it, too, will be taken back to the House for further amendments. Ordinarily, Bills on publication have to wait for 14 days to mature and then be scrutinised by committees before they can be debated in Parliament. However, the President’s wish that the Bills be fast-tracked might not be easy, especially if some of the tough proposals flout constitutional guarantees on civil rights. “They might have to wait until February. All these stages take time,” an MP said. Members of the Administration and National Security Committee have suggested changing the National Police Service Act to provide for clarity on who would become a commander in cases where the regular and Administration Police bosses in a county are of equal rank. This year, the National Assembly changed the National Police Service Act to give the President a free hand in the appointment of the Inspector- General.

He is now expected to name a panel to select Mr Kimaiyo’s replacement. The panel will pick three finalists and submit their names to the President, who will then nominate one for vetting by Parliament. On Wednesday, the Head of State officially presented his nomination of Maj-Gen Nkaissery to Parliament for MPs to start the vetting process. The vetting starts when the Committee on Appointments invites public submissions on the nominee.

The team then meets the nominees for interview and scrutiny of their documents before compiling a report on their suitability for the position. The report is then submitted to the National Assembly where MPs take a decision. Mr Justin Muturi, the Speaker of the National Assembly, referred the President’s message to the Committee on Appointments yesterday. Although smooth-sailing was expected for Maj-Gen Nkaiserry, the red flag has been raised over adverse mentions in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission hearings, where he was accused of human rights violations while leading military operations against cattle rustlers and bandits in West Pokot and other parts of northern Kenya.

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December 4, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

Worker feared dying far from home

FINAL MOMENTS | They had gone to work in Mandera as the pay was better

Brothers Wellington Katimu, 27, and David Ingwana, 54, had called their family with the good news that they would be travelling home on December 21, to celebrate Christmas. David’s eldest son, Joseph Maanjai, 24, would accompany them on the journey to Turbo in western Kenya.

It was the day their employer at a quarry in Koromey in Mandera had promised to release them for the Christmas holiday. “We spoke on Friday evening and he told me that they were already planning to book transport, as there were very few buses to Nairobi from Mandera and he did not want to miss it,” said David’s wife, Tabitha Mutonyi. On Monday evening, David called his younger brother, Daniel Katimu, and told him that he was not feeling well. He had tried to reach his wife, but her phone was off. Chest complications “He told me that he had been having some chest complications and wanted to inform his wife that he might be travelling earlier than planned.

He said he needed medical attention and asked me to pray for him because he feared dying in such a far-flung area,” he said. Unknown to him, David would face death in a way he so dreaded only four hours later — from a bullet fired by the Al-Shabaab. He would also be killed together with his youngest brother Wellington and his son, Joseph. The quarry workers were ambushed as they slept early Tuesday morning by the militia and asked to line up on the ground with their faces to the ground. They were then sprayed with bullets and their bodies left on the spot.

Their family was part of a grieving crowd that turned up yesterday to identify the bodies of their loved one at City Mortuary in Nairobi. The bodies had been flown to Nairobi on Tuesday evening by the military. The Katimu family positively identified the bodies of their three relatives. “My two brothers had constantly been telling us that they were planning to move away from Mandera, and Wellington had told us that he would not go back next year,” Daniel said, adding that after the hijacking of a bus in Mandera two weeks ago, the family became worried about their safety. “We kept asking them to return home, but they told us that they stayed in a safer place.

They also told us that it was safer to stay in Koromey than to travel, as it was riskier on the road,” said Daniel. David, Wellington and Joseph worked for one contractor at the quarry. David has been working at the quarry for the past four years. He recruited his brother, who was working at a different quarry in Rongai, in January this year, since the pay was higher in Mandera. “After every three months, the three would come home together and spend time with us for about two weeks and go back to work. They were last at home in August,” said Daniel. Mrs Katimu said her husband was very concerned about his family’s welfare and worked hard to ensure that his wife and their three children were comfortable. “He kept sending money home and always asked us to use it well.

He was very hard working” she said. Apart from Joseph, David and his wife have three other children aged 20, 16 and 14. “I have seen their bodies. My husband, my bother-in-law and my son have bullets in the rib, neck and chest respectively. Their bodies are in a very bad state,” said Mrs Katimu. “I have always been hearing about the Al-Shabaab on radio and reading about them in newspapers, but I never knew that one day, they would kill my family. My family has not interacted with the Al-Shabaab. ‘‘We have not denied them anything. We have not crossed their path.

We have not done anything wrong and we are sad that they had to talk to the government by killing our innocent loved ones,” Mrs Katimu said in tears. The family will conduct one burial at their home next week. The postmortem exam on the bodies of the 36 people killed that fateful night is expected to begin today and will go on for three days.

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December 3, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

President shakes up security machinery after quarry workers are killed in night of terror in second Mandera massacre

TERRORISM | President shakes up security machinery after quarry workers are killed in night of terror in second Mandera massacre

Thirty-six quarry workers were yesterday killed in cold blood after Al-Shabaab terrorists attacked their camp in Koromey area of Mandera County in the dead of the night on Monday. The massacre, the second in as many weeks, sparked public outrage and prompted President Uhuru Kenyatta to reorganise the country’s security machinery when he accepted the retirement of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr David Kimaiyo. He also nominated Rtd Major General Joseph Nkaissery — the ODM Member of Parliament for Kajiado Central — for the powerful post of Cabinet Secretary for the Interior and Co-ordination of the National Government. Mr Nkaissery will replace Mr Joseph ole Lenku, whose tenure as the man in charge of national security has been marked by a weak response to the challenges posed by terrorism.

The public and the Opposition has been demanding the sacking of both Mr Kimaiyo and Mr ole Lenku, accusing them of failing to crack down on crime and of inability to stop terrorists before they strike. Mr Nkaissery’s appointment awaits vetting by Parliament. Yesterday, President Uhuru Kenyatta, while announcing the nomination at State House, Nairobi, asked Parliament to prolong its current session so that it can approve legislation to ramp up the war against terrorism.

In Mandera, the Deputy County Commissioner, Mr Elvis Korir, said that the terrorists crossed the Kenya- Somalia border on foot before killing the quarry workers whose camp was about 10 kilometres from Mandera town. All the victims were non-Muslims. Sixteen of them were from Kieni area in Nyeri County. Last week, terrorists attacked a bus travelling from Mandera to Nairobi, killing 28 people, most of them teachers. Others were doctors, while one was a policeman who was killed together with his pregnant wife. In both attacks, the victims were made to lie face down on the ground after which they were shot in the head. In the Monday attack, two of the victims were beheaded.

Three survived after hiding in a ditch. All the victims in both attacks were non-Muslims. Some survivors told the police that Muslims who were at the site of the Monday night attack were spared. Yesterday, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack. President Uhuru Kenyatta said the recent wave of attacks targeting northern Kenya and parts of the Coast were aimed at securing a Muslim caliphate in the region. “A time has come for each and everyone of us to decide and choose. Are you on the side of an open, free, democratic Kenya ,which respects the rule of law, sanctity of life and freedom of worship, or do you stand with repressive, intolerant and murderous extremists?” Mr Kenyatta said in his address (full speech on Page 13).

He also said that security agencies had foiled a potentially devastating attack in Wajir where suspected terrorists hurled grenades inside a club frequented by civil servants before opening fire on patrons. One person was killed in the attack while several others were injured. “We shall continue to inflict painful casualties on these terrorists until we secure our country and region. Our stability and prosperity depends on a secure neighbourhood,” he said. Back in Mandera, a survivor of the Monday attack, Mr Peter Nderitu, said the close to 50 attackers moved from one tent to another as they ordered the occupants out at about 1am.

They were then paraded in one queue but were later separated into two. “The victims were later asked to lie on their bellies before being shot in the head one by one,” said Mr Nderitu, who escaped by hiding in a trench near his tent. “I came out of my hideout at around 6am when my colleagues were reporting to work,” he said. Two other survivors of the attack were too shocked to speak. Police said they were interrogating the three survivors. “We are interrogating the survivors so that we can be able to get more details about the incident and the perpetrators. We believe they crossed over from Somalia on foot and after the heinous act, they escaped back to their country,” he said.

Unconfirmed reports indicated that some workers could have been kidnapped but police were yet to verify the reports. The quarry where they worked is owned by a Mandera resident. It is near a forest on the Kenya-Somalia border and was not guarded. Mr Korir said that after last week’s attacks, security was beefed up around Mandera town and its environs. “We did boost security around Mandera town. That is why it has been difficult for them to penetrate the town and probably went for a softer target outside the town,” he said. The Red Cross took the bodies of the victims to the Mandera military camp, from where they will be airlifted to Nairobi.

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December 2, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

Heartache for family hit by mystery deaths as girl’s body found in Field

TRAGEDY | Police intensify search for two boys as mystery surrounding lawyer’s family deepens

The body of one of the three missing children whose parents died in mysterious circumstances last week was last evening found dumped near Tatu City in Kiambu County. The discovery diminished hopes of finding the other two children alive. The children have been missing since their father and mother were found dead in what is suspected to be a homicide and suicide case. Police spokesperson Zipporah Mboroki yesterday said the decomposing body of five-year-old Tiffany Muthoni was found on Ngenda Road in Tatu City.

“The deceased was dressed in a pyjama and we suspect the body was burnt using a chemical,” said Ms Mboroki. She further said the search for Tiffany’s brothers, nine-year-old Allen Magu and eight-year-old Ryan Muhiu was still on. Tiffany’s uncle, Mr Andrew Muhiu, said her body was found in an open field and had decomposed. It had a deep cut on the neck and hands. Mr Muhiu positively identified the body at Thika mortuary. The children went missing a week ago, before their father, Mr Paul Magu, was found dead near the Ngoliba Junction on the Thika–Garissa highway.

The mutilated body of the children’s mother, Lydia Wangui, 30, was found near Paradise Lost on Kiambu Road last Monday. She had gone missing on Sunday, last week. “We are also analysing his (Mr Magu’s) call records which we believe may provide crucial leads,” Ms Mboroki said. When the Nation team visited the scene where Lydia’s body was found last week after she was brutally murdered in her matrimonial home in Muthaiga Pipeline Estate, one of the two gunny bags in which the body had been stuffed was still there.

Two witnesses who saw the car dropping the body near Garden Paradise are yet to record statements with the police. Mr Jeremiah Kilemi, a guard at Garden Paradise, yesterday said two men drove into the court in a white Toyota G-Touring but did not talk to him. “I assumed that they were coming to book a venue for a wedding,” he said. After about 10 minutes, they drove out. According to roundsman George Wanjala, the two drove down to the dam and turned the vehicle to face the direction from which they had come. As they were reversing to the dam, they saw Mr Wanjala and got out of the car. They walked to where he was, about 70 metres away. “One of them asked me the cost of hiring the field for a wedding and I told them it was Sh80,000.

He introduced the other man,” said Mr Wanjala. They then drove towards the gate before they joined a path through a coffee plantation. “The car stopped briefly and they got out but I could not see what they were doing as the area is surrounded by coffee bushes. Moments later, we found the body of a woman stuffed in two gunny bags,” he said. It was badly mutilated and burned. At the back of her head was a deep cut.Magu, who was an advocate in Nairobi, had left his matrimonial home in Muthaiga Pipeline Estate in Kiambu with the three children early on Tuesday and told the househelp that he was taking them to their rural home in Thika. According to the househelp, Ms Margaret Njoki, Magu had told her to prepare the children at around 8am. “They then went away together but two hours later, Mr Magu returned without them and told me that he wanted to pick something from the house,” Ms Njoki said. That day, according to Mr Muhiu, his brother spent the night at their father’s rural house in Thika.

 “He looked disturbed and only answered the questions he was asked. He then left early Wednesday morning,” he said. Magu was hit by a bus that was heading to Nairobi from Garissa. The driver of the bus said that the man tried to cross the road when the bus was already too near. At the time of the accident, police said, he had left his car at the side of the road with the engine running. The man had a white jerrican in his hands when he was knocked down. Inside the car detectives found the jackets of the three children, lunch boxes and a key. When they visited Magu’s house on Thursday, they found a lot of blood on the couple’s bed.

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December 1, 2014 - Today's News In Gazetikenya

UK firm boss tells court why he paid high commissions

‘CHICKEN’ CASE | Former wife of one of the accused breaks down in court, prompting judge to order a five-minute recess

A British printer paid a Kenyan agent huge amounts of money in commission because the agent was an important man in the country, he has claimed in court. Mr Nicholas Smith, while conceding that the commission he claimed to have paid his agent was way too high, argued that it was proportionate because one of the local agents was “highly-regarded, chauffeur-driven, sometimes with police outriders, and commonly on the evening news”. However, he denied that the money was meant as a bribe.Ouzman which, prosecutors say, paid bribes to officials of the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) and the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) to get lucrative printing tenders. The company’s agent was Trevy James Oyombra, a 35-year-old former procurement clerk at the disbanded Electoral Commission of Kenya. On Friday, Mr Smith’s former wife burst out in tears at the Southwark Crown court soon after the accused was put in the dock. Proceedings were put on hold for five minutes as a result of the incident. When the presiding judge, Mr Justice Higgins, returned to the chambers after the short recess, he said the incident had been “disruptive to the jury”. Indeed, one of the four women jurors looked upset. The case has 11 jurors, seven men and four women. The jury will decide whether the accused have a case to answer. Earlier, a retired school teacher, Ms Margaret Greenwood, had given a supporting character witness in which she described Mr Smith as an honest, respected and trustworthy family man, who was active in his church, hospital and local community. The prosecution has alleged that Mr Christopher Smith, his son Mr Nicholas Smith and their company, Smith & Ouzman Limited, together with a Kenyan identified as Trevy James Oyombra, corruptly agreed to make payments to officials employed at the IIEC as an inducement or reward for the award of contracts to print election materials. The offence was committed between October 1 and December 31, 2010, In the second count, they are accused of corruptly making payments to officials employed at the Kenya National Examinations Council as an inducement or reward for the award of contracts to print national examination certificates. They have all denied the charges. In his defence, Mr Smith said that he introduced formal contracts for agents with whom his firm worked in various countries. Before 2008, he said, agents worked on the basis of “handshakes”. He said there had been no protocol within the company on how to appoint agents, carry out due diligence or a policy on restrictions about which bank accounts money could be deposited. Mr Smith told the court that family businesses — like Smith & Ouzman — were popular in Africa. He claimed that culturally, Africans preferred family businesses because they could be trusted and for this reason, Smith & Ouzman had an edge over its competitors. African States, he further claimed, “liked shopping” for services in the UK because they were not keen on local businesses. He also said the company and its officials were respected because they had the expertise and were unlikely to be connected to a government or a faction. He also said that because of the new and young democracies in Africa with election cycles of four or five years, there was pressure on agents to seek higher commissions. To him, agents had local knowledge, spoke the language, reduced cost, had

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