The Star 12/31/2016

Veteran politician John Keen was laid to rest at his Namanga home, Kajiado county, yesterday. Keen, 90, died while undergoing treatment at the Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi. He was buried by his Nyangusi agemates according to his three wishes. Keen was born in Laikipia and was the son of the late Albert Thomas and the late Sarah Tupa from Rumuruti. He made a will that he be buried not later than three days after passing on. Keen also wanted no politics at his burial and directed that he be buried by his agemates. His agemates conducted traditional prayers, braving a heavy downpour not seen in many years in Namanga, before he was finally laid to rest at 2pm. The rain began soon after his body was offloaded from a hearse,…

CS EUGENE WAMALWA State to revive irrigation projects Irrigation CS Eugene Wamalwa has said the government will spend more than Sh5 billion to revive key stalled irrigation projects along River Galana and in Kibwezi from March next year. He said on Thursday the funds will be allocated to two key irrigation projects in Madunguni and Kibwezi to boost irrigation and reduce food shortage. See page 20 EZEKIEL MUTUA Rejects lowering age of consent Muslim clerics in Mombasa and the Kenya Film Classification Board have rejected a proposal to lower the age of consent from 18 to 16. The Federation of Women Lawyers says the amendment to the Sexual Offences Act under The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment Bill) 2016, is meant to protect boys from being victimised by their girlfriends’ parents.…

Former Family Bank CEO Peter Munyiri, who has been accused in relation to the Sh1.6 billion National Youth Service scandal, was charged in court yesterday with nine counts. Munyiri and other five former senior employees were charged at the Milimani law courts, Nairobi, before senior principal magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot. He was charged as the first suspect. Robert Nyagah (senior branch manager), Charles Thiongo (platinum manager), Raphael Ndunda (head of risk and compliance), Nancy Njambi (large deposits manager), Meldon Onyango (relations manager) and Josephine Wairi (branch customer service supervisor) were the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth suspects. Family was charged as the seventh suspect. They denied the charges and were each released on a Sh300,000 cash bail or Sh1 million bond. The charge sheet read that between December 22, 2014…

HE shocked the country when he made a surprising move and announced his intention to vie for President next year. Well, presidential hopeful and Nyamira Senator Kennedy Mong’are (pictured) is taking no chances as he pursues his dream, dismissed by some as a pipe dream. The Ford Kenya senator says he has assembled a well-oiled presidential campaign machine that would rival other contenders’. “I am a man of means with enough resources to feed my family and with yet more to mount not-so-cheap a presidential campaign,” says Mong’are. The lawyer-journalist-turned-politician says his campaigns will also be funded by Kenyans of goodwill who “have pushed me to actualise the Third Liberation of this country.” DOUBLE standards you may call them, but that is the most vivid description of our political outfits…

MATIANG’I, WHO HAS BEEN WIDELY PRAISED FOR REFORMS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR, TOPS THE LIST OF PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR WITH 24 PER CENT AND IS BEST PERFORMING CABINET SECRETARY AT 90 PER CENT. KENYANS have expressed mixed feelings about opposition leader Raila Odinga in a poll conducted by the Star that ranks Education CS Fred Matiang’i as Person of the Year. Raila was ranked most controversial personality, most trusted person and the person with the most negative impact on respondents’ lives. The poll shows that Raila is Most Trusted Person at 23 per cent, followed by President Uhuru Kenyatta at 18 per cent and Matiang’i at 14 per cent. Interestingly, when respondents are asked about Least Trusted Person, they rank Raila at second place ( 21 per cent) behind…

IT is the Kikuyu leaders and other elite beneficiaries of corrupt deals who feel most threatened by opposition chief Raila Odinga. Why would miraa farmers in Meru come to Raila for help if he hates Gema? Why would ordinary Murang’a people seek Raila’s assistance when the government in power is led by the Kikuyu and is stripping them of their most vital resource – water? When thousands of young Kikuyu were being extra-judicially killed under a Kikuyu regime, it is Raila who spoke out. Let us get real: It is the corrupt, the thieves, moneygrubbers and land-grabbers that make perpetual claims Raila is an existential threat. Raila has strongly supported business: There is no room for extralegal means of self-enrichment. He supports creating a transparent, fair and competitive environment for…