The Star 12/24/2016

The Cabinet on Thursday evening froze the renewal of land leases in Nairobi and other urban centres across the country. The directive was issued after a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta. The Lands ministry has been ordered to streamline its systems to ensure current lessees are given first priority during renewal. “In the event that the occupier does not wish to renew the lease, the land will revert to the government,” the resolutions reads. The Cabinet’s announcement comes two weeks after a businessman evicted a family from their houses in Westlands, Nairobi. Francis Njeru of Frank Logistics has been charged with the malicious damage to property belonging to the Kurji family. The elderly couple was forcibly evicted from their home by a men armed with machetes and clubs.…

WILLIAM KABOGO KRA to help Kiambu collect tax The Kiambu government has signed an MoU with the Kenya Revenue Authority to help the county collect property taxes and single business permits fees. The partnership will enable the county government to leverage on KRA’s iTax platform to collect revenue through any of their 37 banks, as well as through mobile money transfers. See Page 17 MILLIE ODHIAMBO Applies for anticipatory bail Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo yesterday moved to court seeking anticipatory bail over what she called her imminent arrest for her remarks against President Uhuru Kenyatta. Her lawyer Antony Olouch appeared before High Court judge George Odunga but he refused the file, sending it to the criminal division for action. Odhiambo called Uhuru a fake. See Page 10 FERDINAND WAITITU Accused…

A businessman alleged to have demolished a Sh55 million house owned by an elderly couple in Parklands, Nairobi, has obtained court orders restraining the NLC from handling the ownership dispute. The High Court has also barred the commission from conducting investigations. Businessman Francis Njeru was charged with ordering the demolition. He appeared in court on December 7 and was released on Sh300,000 bail. The NLC had began investigations into the demolition of Kassam Kurji`s house on December 4. The barring orders were issued by Justice George Odunga after Frank Logistics Ltd, a company owned by businessman Njeru, objected to a public hearing to determine the owner of the plot. The NLC said that it received complaints from different parties regarding the land on Jalaram Road in Par-lands on December 6…

ELDERS in Mumias want Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali (pictured), MP aspirants Rashid Mohamed and Stanley Livondo to stop stirring up political intolerance. Elders have accused the three of being behind the wave of violence in the region and asked why police are not keen on even investigating them. They said the three are giving the area a bad name by taking advantage of jobless youths whom they pay with liquor and cash to cause havoc. They accused the three of using local journalists as their mouthpiece and using a news blackout to silence anyone challenging them. The elders have warned that if police fail to act, they will take the law into their own hands and teach the divisive MPs a lesson. They also said they will vote out…

IEBC RECORDS SHOWED 10 MILLION PEOPLE VOTED FOR ALL OTHER CANDIDATES, INCLUDING GOVERNORS, MPS AND MCAS, YET THE SAME RECORDS SHOW 12 MILLION PEOPLE VOTED FOR THE PRESIDENT CANDIDATES ALONE IEBC HELPED BY KEEPING SOME POLLING STATIONS OPEN WELL AFTER OFFICIAL CLOSING TIME OF 5PM A MANUAL RESULT WOULD ALLOW DIFFERENT RESULTS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT CONSTITUENCY, COUNTY AND AT BOMAS. ALL THESE ELECTRONIC GADGETS AND EQUIPMENT WERE MEANT TO PULL THE WOOL OVER OUR EYES Cord leader Raila Odinga has for the first time provided a detailed account of how he says Jubilee rigged and stole the 2013 election. The establishment jammed the electronic results transmission system and stuffed ballot boxes with two million extra votes to give Uhuru Kenyatta a first-round win, he told the Star yesterday. The…

An example why the opposition is justifiably uneasy over likely use of manual electoral systems next year is vividly illustrated by events in Uganda in 2011. On February 24, the Ugandan Daily Monitor headline said “Chaos in the City: Details on how Sematimba’s rigging plan was hatched”. The text makes abundantly clear how ballot-stuffing and ‘pre-ticked ballots’ — the very things Cord is convinced will feature in 2017 under electoral laws passed on Thursday — are used to rig polls. “Kampala mayoral candidates, observers and legal minds have demanded disqualification of ruling party candidate Peter Sematimba from the contest after leaked ballot papers pre-ticked in his favour were intercepted in parts of Kampala. Large-scale ballot stuffing and other malpractices yesterday forced the Electoral Commission to suspend voting in Kampala and…