The Star 04/12/2017

GEORGE MURAGE @TheStarKenya The National Transport and Safety Authority yesterday said it will continue arresting drunken drivers using Alco-Blow tests. The authority will, however, use a different section of the law to charge drink-drivers, following last Friday’s court ruling saying AlcoBlow violated traffic laws. NTSA director general Francis Meja told reporters they would instead stop using the breathalyser rules in charging the drink-drivers. He said following the court ruling, NTSA would use section 44 ( 1 ) of the Traffic Act, which outlaws anyone from driving a vehicle without been in full control. “We have not received any court order stopping us from the using the AlcoBlow and the operation will continue, apart from the charges, which will be substituted,” Meja said. He defended the use of the breathalyser, saying…

POSTERS Aspirants to pay poster cleanup Political aspirants will pay a fee to Nema for removing their posters after the August 8 elections. Nema said the deposit bond will be refundable if the aspirants clear their posters and the agency’s officials confirm that. The Environment Management Coordination Act 2013 does not stipulate how much should be paid as deposit bonds. See page 7 SAMUEL TUNAI Says Uhuru’s visit was successful The Narok governor says President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to the county on Friday was a resounding success. He said those downplaying the visit are misleading the people. Some leaders, led by North MP Moitalel ole Kenta, said the visit was just a public relations exercise. They said the Maasai community has nothing to show in terms of development. See page…

The cost of maize remains high, despite the government’s promise the prices would come down in a week. A 90kg bag is selling for Sh5,489 in Nairobi and Sh6,404 in Mombasa. The same quantity of maize is retailing at Sh5,032 in Kisumu and Sh4,574 in Eldoret. According to the Eastern Africa Grain Council — the Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network — a 90kg bag of maize at the Busia-Uganda border yesterday was retailing at Sh4,415. In Kampala, a 90kg bag is selling at Sh4,675, Sh4,415 in Tororo and Sh2,604 in Kasese, daily market data shows. In Arusha, a bag of 90kg is retailing at Sh5,871 and at a high of Sh7,217 in Dar es Salaam. In Iringa and Mbeya, maize is selling at Sh6,368 and Sh5,095, respectively. In Rwanda, a…

HAS Minority leader Francis Nyenze (pictured) jeopardised his chances of being promoted to a senior role should NASA win on August 8? Well, sources say the Kitui West MP is too ashamed to even attend the alliance’s National Coordinating Committee functions. Nyenze had given a seven-day ultimatum for NASA to declare Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka the presidential standard bearer or Wiper would go it alone. It turned out the threat was just hot air. Nyenze has now become a villain in the eyes of some of his colleagues, who claim he behaved like a Jubilee agent. Since Kalonzo was named the NASA second-in-command, the party has remained tight-lipped, maybe satisfied that their clamour was not in vain, after all. WHO actually organised and bankrolled the pro-ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi protests…

WIPER HAS REMAINED SILENT FOLLOWING REVELATIONS KALONZO HAD BEEN SLOTTED FOR NASA’S SECOND-IN-COMMAND The gloves are off. NASA affiliates yesterday traded barbs over the future flagbearer in what could dash hopes for a joint opposition presidential candidate. With 117 days to August 8 polls, the nasty war of words signifies deep suspicion and widening cracks, despite a facade of camaraderie among the four NASA chiefs. However, yesterday NASA principal Raila Odinga downplayed fresh infighting and blamed the National Intelligence Service for Monday’s Kakamega protests by some ANC supporters. “That was the work of NIS. We will not be divided because NASA is 10 million people, much bigger than a few people walking here and there, expressing their democratic right,” the ODM chief told reporters at Orange House. On the flagbearer…

THE THEORY COULD BE THEY ARE NOW BREAKING UP AND THIS CAN BE TRACED BACKTO 1992, WHEN THE ORIGINAL FORD OF JARAMOGI OGINGA ODINGA DISINTEGRATED ONE issue that remains unclear is whether NASA actually has a strategy or completely lacks one. If they have no strategy, then these are disjointed and dysfunctional people who are only waiting to bolt out in all directions – and uselessly. President Uhuru Kenyatta will then be seen to have infiltrated them so completely that he had them talking in tongues. We started hearing the same narrative from Francis Nyenze; we heard the same from ODM; we heard it from ANC demonstrations on Monday and now from Moses Wetang’ula. The theory could be they are now breaking up and this can be traced back to…