HUSTLER: Entrepreneur links moms to the market PAGE15Nema bans new developmentsaround AmboseliPAGE6Counties inherit Sh17 billion debt from councilsPAGE8Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardCONTINUED ON PAGE PAGE 4Banks, telcosduel over mobile cashBanksare up in arms over a platform theysay would allow mobile operators to holdcash deposits instead of simply transferingSTANDARDTHEKenyas Bold NewspaperNo. 29291 www.standardmedia.co.ke KSh50/00 TSh1,000/00 USh1,500/00Tuesday, March 26, 2013Seats in Houses: CORD, Jubilee intensify contest for key elective posts, P.8Also insideSupreme Court orders fresh scrutiny of votesMore Stories and Pictures on Pages 2 & 3Justice Mutunga Oraro for Raila THE LAWYERS THE JUDGESJustice Ndungu Rebelo for IEBC Justice Ibrahim Kigen for RutoJustice Ojwang Ahmednasir for Hassan Justice Wanjala Ngatia for UhuruJustice Tunoi Kilonzo for Africog Judges direct re-examination of returns from all 33,400 polling stations and sets aside two days for actual election petition BY WAHOME THUKUTheSupremeCourtgavetwoordersthatineffectentailpainstaking audit of March 4 Presidential elections through scrutiny of each of the forms receivedfromthe33,400pollingstationsnationally.Thatscrutinyshall aim at establishing the number of registered voters, the votes cast and the votes rejected, the court said in a directive read by Justice Smokin Wanjala. Further the court shall scrutinise all the Forms 36 used by the Independent CONTINUED ON PAGE 2Mutunga team directed scrutiny of each of the forms received from the 33,400 polling stations nationallyThe court also also set ground rules for hearing which will determine ifpresidential elections should be invalidated Court lists 22 polling stations in which re-tallying of presidential votes shall be repeatedScrutiny of all form 36 forms used by IEBC to aggregate tallies from all form 34s to determine accuracy That scrutiny shall aim at establishing the number of registered voters, the votes cast and the votes rejected Justice WanjalaAT A GLANCE...22 pollings stations where votes will be retallied: Lokosoiyan Primary SchoolLomerimeri Primary SchoolKabutio Primary SchoolLontorio Primary SchoolNairibi Primary SchoolMuumoni Primary SchoolNtambiro Primary SchoolMaili Tatu Tea Buying CentreMugomoini Primary SchoolKingatua Primary SchoolKabitoi DairyNtuuma Primary SchoolPililal Trading CentreSango Primary SchoolSt Andrews Primary SchoolBoron Primary SchoolDon Bosco Primary SchoolMagenji Primary SchoolChepkolon Primary SchoolKapkurongo Primary SchoolNCC Social HallKoitabut Primary SchoolKamobon DocksPage 2 / NATIONAL NEWS Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardFromleft,JudgesNjokiNdungu,JacktonOjwang,ChiefJusticeWillyMutunga,PhilipTunoi,MohamedIbrahimand Smokin Wanjala yesterday at Supreme Court.[PHOTOS: EVANS HABIL AND ALI ALALE/STANDARD]audit Supreme Court ordered scru-tiny of Forms 34 from all the 33,400 polling stations begin-ning 8am All Forms 36 used in the tal-lying of the presidential votes will also be scrutinised Justice Smokin Wanjala or-dered the re-tallying would aim to show if the number over votes cast exceeded the regis-tered voters, directing that the results be fled at the Supreme Court by Wednesday 4pm. Scrutiny of all forms 34 used by the IEBC in the tallying of presidential elections including Diaspora Scrutiny with the aim of as-certaining the number of reg-istered voters, votes cast and rejected votes Scrutiny of all forms 36 used by the IEBC to aggregate tallies from all forms 34 Scrutiny of all forms to ascer-tain the accuracy of the total tally of presidential votes to compare the registered voters versus the registered voters in the principal registerElectoralandBoundariesCommis-sion(IEBC)inaggregatingtallies fromForms34.Thiswouldhelpin establishing the accuracy or inaccu-racyoftheprocessandcomparing thenumberofregisteredvoterson Form 34 and those on principal reg-ister.The court read out 22 polling sta-tionsinwhichre-tallyingofpresi-dential votes shall be conducted us-ing the Forms 34 and 36.TheSupremeCourtalsosetthe groundrulesforoneofthefercest battlestodeterminewhetherornot theMarch4presidentialelections should be invalidated or not. Thebenchalsodecidedtheac-tualsittingstodeterminethepeti-tionsthatcouldendorseornullify the election of President-elect Uhuru KenyattawouldbeonWednesday and Thursday. The Judges have until Saturday to deliver the ruling on petitions, which havetoppednationalagendaover the past two weeks.live upThe court, presided over by Chief JusticeDrWillyMutungainhisca-pacity as the President of the Court, set the terms as it began adjudicating what would be the biggest and most contested case in Kenyas history.Mutunga opened by assuring Ke-nyansthebenchwouldbejustand fairtoallsides.We,asJudgesare servants of the law, and not the other wayround. Wehavetakenandsub-scribedtotheoathofoffcethatwe intendtoliveupto,declaredthe CJ. Theauditexerciseshallbecon-ducted using what IEBC has provided as the principal register in form of an externalhard-drive,attachedtoan affdavit by its chairman Isaack Has-san.Thisshallbetoestablishifvotes castexceededthenumberofregis-tered voters in those areas as claimed byPrimeMinisterRailaOdingain the petition at the Supreme Court.Thescrutinyshallbeconducted today from 8 am at place that was to becommunicatedtothepartiesby theSupremeCourtRegistrarlast evening. The results must be fled in the registry by 4pm tomorrow.this morningThepetitionersinthethreecon-solidatedpetitionswilljointlyap-pointtenagentsasobserversinthe scrutinywhileallthefourrespon-dentsshallalsojointlyappointa similarnumber. Theagentsshallall take an oath of secrecy this morning to be administered by the Registrar.The court issued the directives in theafternoononitsownmotion without prompting by any party, af-teramorningofargumentsand sharp disagreements among a dozen high-proflelawyersinthecourt-room. Different parties contested virtu-allyeveryitemintheschedulepre-paredbythecourtwhentheycame up, indicating what the judges would have to deal with before determining the petitions.Thoughthesessionwasonlya pre-trial conference to deal with pre-liminary issues, the public got a taste ofwhatwouldbethemostgrueling battleforthreedaysbeginningto-day.To guide the lawyers through the session,thecourthadprepareda draft of items to deal with according to the petition rules. It had framed 12 issues and asked the lawyers to indi-catewhichonestheyconsidered contestedandwhichwereuncon-tested. It had also asked the lawyers topickthekindofevidencethey would rely on, from a list of 19 items, which included minutes of meetings, electronicevidence,videotran-scripts,electoraldocumentsaswell as reports and press statements.Partieswerealsotoindicate whethertheyhavewitnessestocall and to list them. The document also contained all the declarations sought in each of the petitions.Thefrstissuethatlawyersdif-feredonwaswhetherornottheAt-torney General could be enjoined in the cases as amicus curiae (friend of the court).Attorney General Prof Githu Mui-gaiwenttothecourtinpersonto plead for his enjoinment, arguing he wanted to offer guidance to the court without taking any sides.Theapplicationwasopposedby lawyersGeorgeOraroappearingfor Raila and Kethi Kilonzo representing Nazlin Umar (left) when she attempted to disrupt the court.fled on Saturday.Their lawyers moved the Supreme Courttodecidewhethera900-page affdavitfledbyRailaslegalteam had been taken to court according to therulesandwhethertheissueshe raised in it should be responded to.The lawyers spent the better part oftheafternoondemonstratingto the court how the PM had introduced new matters, which he had not raised in the original petition.ButOrarodismissedthecom-plaintsasmisplaced,sayingthere-spondentswereavoidingtheissues raised in the petition. He argued his client was only responding to issues raised by IEBC in their response and hehadproperlymadehisapplica-tion in court.all partiesThecourtalsoheardanapplica-tion by Raila demanding logs of serv-ers and other electronic gadgets used in the entire election.Thecourtruledthatthethree petitions should be consolidated for purposesofspeedydispensationof the cases. The petition by Raila would howeverbethemaincaseinwhose fle all the proceedings would be re-corded.The IEBC was directed to produce the principle register and even a spe-cialone,whichcontainsnamesof thosewhosebiometricdetailshad not been captured by the BVR kits. Youmustsupplyallthedocu-ments you considered to be principle registerandservethemonallpar-ties,orderedLadyJusticeNjoki Ndungu.The court will sit for seven hours and15minutesadayfortwodays. The petitioners and the respondents will share that time.Respondents would get one hour eachandtheAGwillhave30min-utes. Howyoumanagetheallocated timeisuptoyoutodecideifitsin submissionsoryouwillproduce yourwitnesses,directedJustice Ndungu. petitioner Gladwell Otieno. The court however ruled in favor of the AG and allowedhimtojointhecasesasa friend of the court.Thejudgeshoweverrejecteda similar application by the Law Soci-ety of Kenya after an objection by all the other parties.three-hour breakThelawyersalsodifferedonthe listofissuesframedbythecourtas contestedanduncontestedwithMr AhmednassirAbdulahiarguingthat those raised by his client, Mr Hassan, had not been captured.The same claim was made by law-yers Fred Ngatia, representing Uhuru andlawyerKatwaKigenforDeputy President-elect William Ruto.The court was prompted to allow theadvocatesathree-hourbreakto discuss and agree on the issues they wishedthecourttodealwithinthe actual hearing.Ngatialatertoldthecourtthat they had narrowed down to six issues to be dealt with by the court.Theyhoweveraskedformore timetodecidewhethertheywould gobywhattheyhadagreedonorif each party would fle its own.Lawyers proposed that one of the threepetitionsbeheardalongside theothertwobutnotconsolidated since it raised only one specifc issue whetherrejectedvotesshouldbe included in tallying votes cast.The thrust of the arguments were made later in the day when the com-bined team of the respondents made a scathing criticism against Raila for allegedlychangingthenatureofhis petition along the way.They accused him of making new demandsinafreshapplicationhe Petition: Judges order scrutiny of Forms 34 and 36 Continued from P1PRESIDENTIAL PEtitiONNATIONALNEWS / Page 3Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardCORDs 900-page affdavit raises furore in Supreme CourtIEBC and Uhuruteams counsel oppose the document, saying it was fled after expiry of deadlineBy WAHOME THUKULawyers had a feld day trying to implore the Supreme Court to determinevariouspreliminary issues before it. Asthecasegotunderway, PrimeMinisterRailaOdingas defenceteamwasaccusedof changing the nature of their peti-tion along the way.LawyersrepresentingPresi-dent-electUhuruKenyatta,his deputydesignateWilliamRuto andIndependentElectoraland BoundariesCommission(IEBC) chairman Issack Hassan accused CORD of changing the case mid-stream and making new demands in a fresh application he fled on Saturday.The lawyers in turn asked the Supreme Court to decide wheth-era900-pageaffdavitfledby Raila on Saturday had been taken to court out of time and whether theissuesheraisedinitshould be responded to.They claimed that Railas team hadservedthemwiththedocu-mentraisingissuestouchingon 122electoralareas.Thiswasin additiontowhathefledaweek earliertouchingon33,000poll-ing stations.TUrnHEATThisisametamorphosisof the petitioners case. We respond-edcomprehensivelytohisfrst allegationsandnewissueswere raised, said Uhurus lawyer Fred Ngatia.Iwillseekleaveofcourt toapplyfordeterminationof whetherthenewissuescanbe raised for the court to determine, he added.We are now facing a different casefromwhatwehadatfrst, said Hassans lawyer Ahmednas-sir Abdulahi.Theremarkswereechoedby RutosadvocateKatwaKigen, whosaidhewouldalsoaskfor determination on whether Railas affdavit should be responded to. ButRailaslawyerGeorgeOraro turnedtheheatonthethreere-spondentsandtheIEBC,accus-ingthemoftryingtoavoidthe issues in court.Hesaidtheirfrstcasewas aboutthetallyingofvotes.The IEBC fled a response explaining howtheyhadconductedthe elections effciently. This prompt-ed Raila to fle the latest affdavit onissuesarisingfromthatre-sponse.Therespondentsalsoraised issueswithadraftofcontested and uncontested issues prepared by the court. Lawyers Ngatia and Ahmednassirclaimedsomeis-suesraisedbytheirclientswere not captured in the draft.pOlling ArEAs.Wemustfrstpollingareas. look at the issues that can be le-gitimatelycanvassedattheSu-premeCourtwithinthepetition context,hesaid,ashetriedto guidethecourtonhowtopro-ceed.The court directed all the law-yerstoholdtheirconferenceon thesidelinesoftheproceedings to decide which issues were con-tested and which ones were not.Earlier,anotherlawyerKethi Kilonzorepresentingoffcialsof a local NGO, demanded clarifca-tions on register that was marked duringthevotingandonede-scribedbytheIEBCasSpecial Register,whichcontainedthe names of those whose biometric details had not been captured.IEBClawyerPaulNyamodi explainedtheregisterisin 700,000 parts and was still kept in thepollingareas.Hesaidthe commissionwaswillingtopro-vide it but that would take some time.Thelawyersagreedthatone of the petitions fled by three vot-ersshouldbeheardseparately since it raised only one issue.Itsseekingdetermination whether rejected votes should be used in tallying the votes cast.Lawyers follow proceedings at Supreme Court.Attorney General Githu Muigai. Lawyer Ahmednassir Abdulahi.COURT ORDERS CORDs lawyer George Ora-ro accepted admission of AG to the petition as a friend of the court Judges also consolidated three petitions and allowed the CORD petition to take lead Counsel Kethi Kilonzo for Africog said it was manda-tory for IEBC to transmit the results electronically IEBC said production of logs used in the election process is tiresome exercise Commission said technol-ogy was a safeguardLawyer George Oraro and his colleague Ochieng Oduol at the Supreme Court.PHOTOS: EVAN HABIL AND ALI ALALE]PRESIDENTIAL PETITIONPage 4 / NATIONALsaid the CJ. Justice Mutunga called on KenyanstotrusttheSupremeCourt to do its job.He said the Supreme Court is open toenablethepublicfollowproceed-ings through live TV broadcasts.Thedutyofthiscourtistodo what is right, according to the Consti-tution and the law, added the CJ.Mutunga said justice in an adver-sarial matter like the election dispute beforethecourt,isdoneandmani-festlyseentobedone,whenboth winners and losers are convinced.HeaddedtheSupremeCourtbe-ingafnalarbiterinthedisputeun-derstands that the impact of its deci-sion will extend beyond the parties in thepetitionsandwillshapesociety and affect everyday life.Thisisnotalightobligationbut we are ready to discharge it, said the CJ.HedisclosedthatseniorAfrican juristsfromTanzania,Zimbabwe, BotswanaandUgandaarealsoob-Chief Justice says the court will deliver justice without fear or favour of any personMutunga assures of Supreme Court fairness in election petitions Residents of Eldoret follow the historic presidential election petitions proceedings at the Supreme Court on TV yesterday. [PHOTO: PETER OCHIENG/STANDARD]Supreme Court in session, yesterday. The court is handling three presidential election petitions. [PHOTO: ALI ALALE/STAN-DARD]By DENNIS ONYANGOHundredsofKisumuresidentsthronged variousrestaurantstofollowpre-trialconfer-enceproceedingsonthepresidentialelection petition.Majorclubsandrestaurantsinthelakeside city such as Stan Bradox, Barizi, Deep Breeze and PublicServiceClubwerefullofresidentsanx-ious about the Supreme Courts decision.ThiscameadayafterPrimeMinisterRaila Odingavisitedthearea.Hemaintainedthat without truth, there would be no justice. The petition is very important to us as resi-dentsofKisumuandthecountryingeneral.It marks the beginning of a just and bright future. I must, therefore, take part in this great history bywatchingitsproclamation,saidCharles Oala at Stan Bradox club.At Public Service Club, residents expressed confdence that the Supreme Court will make a fair decision and appealed to bothpartiesinthepetitiontorespectthever-dict. We have confdence in the Judiciary follow-ingthetremendoussurgerytheinstitutionhas undergone. Our leaders should, therefore, abide by the ruling to avoid sparking unnecessary ten-sioninthecountry,saidMaryAtieno,abusi-nesswoman.ResidentssaidthecasebeforetheSupreme Court was sensitive and a great test for justice in Kenyaandappealedforcalmasthepetitionis being prosecuted.ThisisalitmustestfortheJudiciary.We must maintain peace and let justice take its own course, said Okumu Waga at Barizi restaurant. Residents follow court events By PAMELA CHEPKEMEI and FRANCIS ONTOMWAChiefJusticeWillyMutungaas-sured Kenyans the Supreme Court will decide the dispute arising from presi-dentialelectionwithoutfearorfa-vour.Dr Mutunga, who is the President of the Supreme Court, said the judges handlingthedisputeswilltreatthe petitions with objectivity and under-take a fair analysis of the evidence, the Constitution and the law.TheCJgavetheassuranceinhis opening remarks during the pre-trial conferencehearingattheSupreme Court in Nairobi yesterday.Weshallrenderourjudgment withoutfearorfavourofanyoneor anything,devoidofill-willtowards any persons or affection towards any causethatispartisan,unconstitu-tional or illegal, said Justice Mutun-ga.Prime Minister Raila Odingas peti-tionseeksseveraldeclarationsfrom theSupremeCourt,amongthemin-validation of presidential poll results.TheCJaddedtheSupremeCourt desirestobuildaninstitutionthatis aniconicmonumenttothepromo-tionandprotectionoftheConstitu-tion and the rule of law.We, as judges are servants of the law, and not the other way round. We have taken and subscribed to an oath of offce that we intend to live up to, The duty of this court is to do what is right, according to the Constitution and the law. This is not a light obligation but we are ready to discharge itserving the hearing.Those monitoring the cases are CJ ofTanzaniaMohammedOthman, formerCJofZambiaErnestSakala, JusticeMosesChinhengofromZim-babwe,JusticeOagileDingakeofthe High Court of Botswana and the CJ of Uganda Benjamin Odoki.TIgHTEN SECuRITyMeanwhile,aseniorcounselhas askedtheGovernmenttogivemaxi-mumsecuritytoChiefJusticeWilly Mutungaandhiscolleagueshearing the poll petition.Formervice-chairmanofthede-funct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK)GabrielMukelestatedthat deathclaimsdirectedtotheCJfew weeksagoandthehighproflecase beforetheSupremeCourtshouldbe reason enough to tighten his security. Recently,Mutungawhoisalsothe President of the Supreme Court, also accused Head of Public Service Fran-cisKimemiaoffrustratinghisjob. IgnoreJusticeMutungasfearsat your own peril. He is a top public ser-vant and anyone with the temerity to belittlehimhasnorespectforthis country.Theclaimsareweightyand must be revisited and acted upon with speed, he told The Standard.Mukele,whodeputisedthelate ECKchairpersonSamuelKivuitu, connectedthethreatstomysterious deathsoflawyerArgwingsKodhek, the late Chief Justice Kitili Mwendwa and Coastal politician Ronald Ngala.Up to now, we are in the dark re-garding how these illustrious citizens of this country died. This trend must bestoppedandatthisjunctureany-onegoingtodismissDrMutungas fears does not know what he is doing, he observed.MrMukeleaddedthatthetiming ofthedeaththreatsagainstCJand frustrationscomingfromsomeGov-ernment offcials days to the General Electionwasapointerthatthings were not right.Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardBy WAHOME THUKUThe Attorney General has been al-lowed to join three petitions challeng-ingtheoutcomeoftheMarch4 presidential elections.ThecourtobservedtheAGisthe custodian of legal instruments of ex-ecutive and plays main role in opera-tionalising the Constitution.Theseconsiderationshaveled the court to conclude it would be im-proper to exclude him. Admitting him would not be prejudicial to the inter-est of the parties, said Judge Jackton Ojwang in the ruling.Thecourt,however,rejecteda similar application by Law Society of Kenya(LSK)followingclaimsthatit had taken a partisan position.Myappearanceisnottobein-volvedinthecontroversiesbutto guide the court on the legal questions. Itsthenorm,notexceptionwhere seriouscontroversiallegalquestions are raised, the court would like to hear the thinking and research of AG, the AG had earlier submitted.The Government is not a party in petitionsanddoesnotdesiretobe. The AG cannot impose himself in the case. Its with leave of the court. Even the latitude of the friendship is made atthediscretionofthecourt,he added.vALId OR INvALIdButtheapplicationwasopposed bylawyersGeorgeOraroappearing forPrimeMinisterRailaOdingaand KethiKilonzorepresentingpetition-ers Gladwell Otieno and Zahid Rajan. Theyarguedthattheelectionpeti-tionswerenotcivilproceedingsin nature hence not the kind of cases the AG should be enjoined in.Theotherpartiessupportedthe application.Ms Kilonzo said the ultimate ques-tion would be whether the declaration ofwinnerisvalidorinvalid,adding that the petition rules only provide for petitioners and respondents.KilonzosaidtheIndependent ElectoralandBoundariesCommis-sionwasboundtobeneutralinthe proceedingsanditshouldbethe friend of the court.Judges enjoin Githu in presidential poll casesPRESIDENTIAL PETITIONTuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardPage 5Tuesday, March26, 2013 / The StandardPage 6 / NATIONAL NEWSBy PHILIP MWAKIOKenya Maritime Authority (KMA) isplanningtoholdanEasterbeach safety awareness campaign ahead of the festive season.A brief statement issued by KMA said the initiative was aimed at sen-sitising the public on safety precau-tions to take while at the beach dur-ing the upcoming Easter holiday.The campaign, to run from March 29 to April 2, further aims to instill a water safety culture among all vaca-tionerstoreducethenumberof waterrelatedaccidentsinthere-gion.KMA Public Relations Offcer Mi-chelle Wanga said Beach Emergency RescueCentreswouldbesetupat theJomoKenyattaPublicBeach, Mombasa Beach, Mama Ngina Drive and Shelly Beach in Likoni.These will be manned by a team of at least 150 members volunteering fromvariouspartneringorganisa-tions, she said.beach patrolsPartnering organisations include the XFOR Security Solutions, Kenya Police,MaritimePoliceUnit,the Traffc Police, the Tourist Police, Ke-nya Wildlife Service, Kenya Associa-tionofHotelKeepersandCaterers and Mombasa and Coast Tourist As-sociation among others.The Easter Beach Safety Aware-nesscampaignwillinvolveencour-agingbeachgoerstoceasewater activities by 6.30pm, Wanga said.Sheaddedtherewouldbecon-tinuation of beach patrols, patrols on shoreandinwatertoensureboat operators comply with safety regula-tionssuchashavingadequatelife saving equipment.Maritime body to hold beach safety driveIndia, Kenya strike dealon wildlife protectionby phIlIp MWaKIoIndiaandKenyahaveagreedto strengthentheirtiesinwildlifecon-servation and management.IndianHighCommissionerto KenyaSibabrataTripathiandKenya WildlifeService(KWS)Director Wil-liam Kiprono said there was need to share ideas on best practices in wild-life protection.Mr Kiprono said the two countries would also explore training exchange programmesthatcanenhance knowledgeonemergingwildlifeis-sues.The two countries share the same varietyofwildlifespecieshencethe needtoworktogethertoaddress similarchallengestheyfacesuchas wildlife crime, climate change, rising populationsaswellasthespreadof invasive species, Tripathi said when he paid Kiprono a courtesy call. 20,000 tourIstsKenyahasintherecentpastbe-come a favourable tourist destination for Indians, with an estimated20,000 Indiantouristsvisitingthecountry annually. Themostcommonareasvisited byIndiansincludetheMasaiMara Countries to share ideas to enhance knowledge on existing and emerging wildlife conservation issuesConservationNationalReserveandtheAmboseli National Park.Meanwhile, hoteliers at the Coast want KWS to consider re-stocking the ShimbaHillsNationalReservewith additional wildlife.SouthCoasthotelierGomeri Kombosaidthereservethatliesap-proximately33kilometressouthof Mombasacitywasreceivingfewer visitors due to few wildlife that roam its environs.ShimbaHillscoastalecosystem comprises of a heterogeneous habitat that includes forestlands, exotic plan-tation, scrubland and grassland.The reserve hosts the highest den-sity of African elephants in Kenya. It isalsohometotherareSableante-lope,blackandrufouselephant shrew,bushytailedmongooseand othersmallermammalslikefruit bat.Thesefeaturesarevitalandcan supportanykindofwildlife. Webe-lieve KWS with its expertise in wildlife management could consider restock-ingitwithmorewildlifewhichvisi-tors can see on a game drive, Kombo said.By RENSON MNYAMWEZINewlyelectedleadersinTaita-Taveta have resolved to work together to foster development.SpeakinginWundanyitownyes-terday,theleaderssaidtheywould champion the interests of local com-munities regardless of the side of po-litical divide they belonged to.TheleadersincludedGovernor-electJohnMtuttaMrutu,Women RepresentativeJoyceWanjalaLay, MPs-elect Thomas Mwadeghu (Wun-danyi),JonesMlolwa(Voi),Andrew Mwadime(Mwatate)and20county representatives.FormerCabinetministersDan MwazoandNaomiShabandidnot, however,attendthemeeting,which wasalsoattendedbynewlyelected SpeakeroftheCountyAssembly Maghanga Michael Maghanga.Wehavedecidedtoprioritise unityasawaytorealisemeaningful developmentasdisunityhasdone more harm than good to the commu-nity, said Ms Lay.squatter IssueShesaiditisonlyiftheleaders unitethatthethornysquatterissue, poorroadinfrastructure,poverty, high rate of unemployment and poor educationstandardscanbead-dressed.Lay noted that although the region was endowed with enormous natural resourceslikeminerals,wildlifeand waterbodies,theyhavenotbeen fullyexploitedtobeneftthelocal community.Mwadeghusaidhewouldreach outtoformerCabinetministerand outgoingTavetaMPShabantowork with other elected leaders.Elected leaders resolve to unite communitiesIndian High Commissioner to Kenya Sibabrata Tripathi and Kenya Wildlife Ser-vice Director William Kiprono when they met at the KWS headquarters in Nai-robi, yesterday. [PHOTO: OMONDI ONYANGO/STANDARD]Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The Standard NATIONAL NEWS / Page 7Experts seek to downplay gravity of dengue feverThey say though the disease is present and some people have been diagnosed, there is no justifcation for panicBy LINAH BENyAWATheDirectorofPublicHealth ShahnazSharifhasconfrmedpres-ence of dengue fever in parts of Coast Province, but downplayed the impact of the ailment.MedicalauthoritiesinMombasa andNairobiwenttogreatlengthsto downplaythescopeofinfectionsin-sisting dengue fever is not deadly and argued that journalists were trying to spread alarm with falsehoods.ButinMombasa,theProvincial Director of Public Health Anisa Omar promisedtoissueacomprehensive reportonthediseaseoutbreakthis morning.TWO CASESThe fever has been diagnosed but Iamyettogettheresultsbecause some tests are still being carried out. But I know there are no deaths follow-ing the breakout, said Dr Shahnaz in atelephoneconversationwithThe Standard last evening.On Sunday the Provincial Director ofMedicalServicesKhadijaShikely disclosedthattwocasesofthefever had been confrmed by Kemri in Kili-f and fve cases were also being inves-tigated.Unconfrmedreportshadindi-catedearlierthat15caseshadbeen diagnosed.Experts are warning that the onset of heavy rains and consequent water By LINAH BENyAWAThere is a reduction in the number ofTuberculosiscasesinMombasa County, a health expert has revealed.MombasaDistrictHealthOffcer Shem Patta attributed the drop to in-creasingadherencetomedicaltreat-mentregimesandreductionofstig-ma.Studiesshowthatanincreasing numberofpatientsfnishtheiranti-TB doses now more than ever before while civic education in remote areas hascheckedinfectionratesandre-duced the stigma that made commu-nities to shun patients.DrPattadisclosedthattheTB spreadhasreducedinthecounty from6,000casesin2007to4,800 caseslastyearandexpressedopti-mismthattheinfectioncouldbe eradicated.Thoughtherehasbeenareduc-tionintheTBcases,wearestillnot happy with the results because out of the 4800 cases detected last year only 80percentwerecompletelycured and20percentwerenotcuredand thisisbecausesomeofthepatients dont fnish their medication, said Dr PattaspeakingattheTudorgrounds during the Worlds TB Day yesterdayPattasaidmedicalauthoritiesin the province have been sensitising the localpeopleontheimportanceof ensuringthatTBpatientscomplete their medication to stop the spread.He attributed the rise in TB to the increased slums in the town, failure to seek diagnosis for fear of being being associated with the HIV and poverty.Cases of TB on decline in MombasaFalse alarmWHAT THE DENGUE FEVER IS ALL ABOUT AND HOW TO SPOT ITDengue fever is a highly infectious tropical disease whose symptoms in-clude skin rash, fever, headache and joint pains, which can soon develop into a fatal hemorrhagic ailment that kills fast. At its most advanced stage patients bleed uncontrollably to death from all orifces.It isalso known as breakbone fever, an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus.The fever is said to be the most common mosquito-borne virus in the world and causes an estimated 50 to 100 million infections and 25,000 deaths annually.Unlike the mosquito that causes malaria, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, the carrier of the dengue, bites in the morning and usually hides on standing water, adding that rainy seasons always come with mosquito related dis-eases.There is no vaccine available yet against dengue fever and no specifc medication has been identifed so far.Treatment of acute dengue is supportive, using either oral or intravenous rehydration for mild or moderate disease, and intravenous fuids and blood transfusion for more severe cases.It had earlier been reported in The Standard on Sunday that about 15 peo-ple from Mombasa were suffering from the fever and that there could be more cases.Tudor District Hospital community health worker Anne Nyambura examines a patient, Lydia Chamba (right) during World Tuberculosis Day celebrations at Tudor grounds in Mombasa yesterday.[PHOTO: OMONDI ONYANGO/STANDARD]poolswascreatingthenecessary breeding conditions of Aedes Aegypti, the mosquito species that spreads the disease.CoastProvince,includingMom-basa,hasreceivedheavyrainsinre-cent times and now Shikely is urging residentstodiscardemptycansand containers that retain water to control the breeding of the mosquito species. OnSundayShikelyconfrmedthat testsdonebyKemriinKilifCounty returnedpositiveresultsforthe deadlyfeverontwosamplestaken fromtwopatientsattheAgaKhan Hospital in Mombasa.Shesaidtwopatientshadbeen diagnosed with the disease but had so far been treated and discharged.Twocasesofdenguefeverwere confrmed from the Aga Khan Hospi-tal and the specimen were taken two weeksago.Thepatientsweredis-chargedandfvemoresuspectsare being investigated, said Dr Shikely.She however, refuted claims of any outbreakarguingthatothercases were being investigated since the tests wereconductedinprivatelaborato-ries and are yet to be confrmed.There is no outbreak as reported by a section of the media; it is true the mosquito-borne disease is there and this is because of the rainy season, but the cases are few and there is no cause for alarm, said Shikely.There is no danger, all our doctors areonhighalertsincethefeverwas diagnosed a few days ago. Our public hospitals have no reports of the fever but some cases have been reported in privatehospitalsandwearedoing everything we can to ensure no life is lost,shesaidadding:Tomorrow (today)Iwillgototheprivatelabs whereothertestsweredoneandget statistics on the disease and the num-berofpeopleaffectedthoughsofar no deaths have been reported. GGKariuki(left)Laikipiasenator-electandhisManderacounterpartBillow Kerrow chat at KICC before a briefng of operations of the House and swearing in ceremony slated for Thursday. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]Senators briefed on House business By PETER OPIYOSenators-electwereyesterday taken through operations of the new Chamberandwhatisexpectedof themaheadofthefrstsittingofthe House on Thursday.Inaclosed-doorsessionchaired by Clerk of the Senate Jeremiah Nyeg-enye, the legislators were informed of newrulesoftheSenate(Standing Orders) and briefed on how the swear-inginceremonywouldbeconduct-ed.It was basically an inhouse meet-ingandweweretakenthroughhow theSpeakerandthedeputySpeaker wouldbeelected,saidKakamega County Senator-elect Boni Khalwale.Atthemeeting,theincoming senators were also informed that they eachbeallowedtobeaccompanied by four guests during the swearing in ceremony slated for Thursday.Therulesofconductingthefrst businessoftheHousehavechanged and the clerks of both the Senate and theNationalAssemblywouldfrst administertheoathofoffcetoall membersbeforetheelectionofthe Speaker and his deputy.ELECTION OF SPEAKERIn the past, the frst business of the HousewaselectionoftheSpeaker and the deputy, after which the latter swore in MPs.To be elected Speaker or the dep-utySpeaker,onewouldbeexpected togarnertwo-thirdsofthevotes(at least 45 of the 67 members) in the frst round,failuretowhichthetoptwo candidates square it out in the second roundwheretheonewiththemost numberofvoteswouldbedeclared the winner.The new Standing Orders also cre-atethepositionsoftheLeaderof MajorityandtheLeaderofMinority to lead political parties with majority inParliamentandtheonewiththe second highest number of members, respectively.The67-memberSenatewould conductitsfrstsittingatKenyatta InternationalConferenceCentres (KICC)Amphitheatre,whilethesub-sequent sittings would be conducted at Shimba Hills Hall on the frst foor of the same building.KICCwouldtemporarilyhostthe Senate as renovation works continue attheOldChamberinParliament buildings. The renovation is expected to cost Sh1.2 billion and works may be completed by year-end.Page 8 / NATIONAL NEWS Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardBy GEOFFREY MOSOKU and PETER OPIYOJubileeallianceisbankingonits numericalstrengthoverCORDto haveitssayontheSpeakersofthe NationalAssemblyandSenatewhen the offcial sittings of the two are con-vened on Thursday.Thetwocampsareheadedsepa-ratewaystodaytostrategiseonhow theywillhandletheelectionofthe two.AlsotobeelectedaretheDeputy Speakers for the two Houses of Parlia-ment as well as the Chief Whips.Both sides have exuded confdence they will get the numbers to clinch the seats. According to a working document seenbyTheStandard,Jubileeesti-matestohave191membersagainst CORDs143. TheAmaniallianceand other smaller parties have 24 to make it 349. Jubilee, according to insiders plan to have Amani on their side and iden-tifysomeMPswithinCORDwhom they can sway to their camp to bolster theirnumbersto233.However,with the political dealings that go on with a process like this, loyalties are bound to shift since the election will be car-ried out through secret ballot.YET TO DECIDECORD is banking on the candida-tureoftheincumbentKennethMar-endeforSpeakeroftheNationalAs-semblywhileJubileeisyettodecide between former Mandera Central MP AbdikadirMohamedandformer Siakago MP Justin Muturi.A record 15 people are seeking the post even as four others seek the posi-tionofDeputySpeaker.Bylasteve-ning, all had picked their papers from theNationalAssemblyClerksoffce, with another 12 applying to be elected as Senate Speaker. Five Senators-elect arealsoaspiringforthepositionof Deputy Speaker of the Senate.The aspirants are expected to hand in their applications today before the Clerk of the Senate Jeremiah Nyegenye andhisNationalAssemblycounter-partJustinBunditoclearthemfor Thursdays poll.CORD MPs and Senators-elect will convergeinKarentomorrowatthe CooperativeCollegeforaretreatto strategise on how to win the seats.Jubilee Coalitions top brass led by President-electUhuruKenyattaand Jubilee banking on numbers to beat CORDhisDeputy-electWilliamRutohave summoned all their elected leaders to a two-day retreat at the Great Rift Val-leyLodgeinNaivashafromthiseve-ning.At the same time the coalition has alsoembarkedonwooingfringepo-litical parties to their side in the tussle fornumericalsuperiorityinParlia-ment. Keen to win the Speakers and Deputy Speakers posts in the Senate and the National Assembly, the Coali-tioninkedanotherdealwithNew Ford Kenya to enhance its numbers in Parliament.DeputyPresident-electWilliam Ruto said the retreat would come up with a list of preferred candidates for THOSE INTERESTED IN HOUSE POSITIONSNational Assembly SpeakerKenneth Marende, Justin Muturi, Abdikadir Mohamed, Machana Mokua, Migundo Winja, Harrison Mwangi, Cosmas Koech, Jacob Kithinji, Alex Otunga, Amos Otieno, Joseph Mwogela, Felix Kiprono, Stephen Mwanza, Mohamud Sirat, Jane Kitundu, Loise GathirimuNational Assembly Deputy SpeakerJoyce Laboso, Daniel Maanzo, Abdikadir Adan and P Kaluma Senate Speaker Francis ole Kaparo, Ekwe Ethuro, Farah Maalim, Josphat Orangi, Eric De-sailly Omondi, Jane Mwihaki, Cecelia Ngoyoni Kulamo, John Kamau Ka-bui, Waiyaki Hassan Mungai, Philip Murgor and Betty Tett Senate Deputy Speaker Kembi Gitura, Wilfred Machage, George Khaniri, Linet Nyakeriga and Martha Wangare Number of nominees by parliamentary political partiesNumber of speaker who will be an ex-ofcio memberNumber of women representatives elected by registered voters in each of the 47 countiesNumber of members of the National As-sembly elected by registered voters12147290COALITIONS/PARTY STRENGS IN THE HOUSETHE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BALANCE OF POWER CORD COALITION130ODM95WIPER25FORD-K10 AMANI COALITION23UDF11KANU6NEW FORD-K6 JUBILEE COALITION167TNA86URP72APK5NARC4 EAGLE COALITION2KNC2KADU-ASILI1FPK3FORD PEOPLE3MUUNGANO1TIP1MAENDELEO1INDEPENDENT3CCU2OPENING OF PARLIAMENTvarious positions in Parliament.We will be going for a retreat to be able to craft a working team that will spearheadtheleadershipinParlia-ment, said Ruto.NewFordKenyaleaderEugene Wamalwa said talks have been ongo-ingbetweenhispartyandJubilee saying he was happy the partnership was formalised.He said the move is aimed at bring-ingunityinthecountry. Thesigning of the deal was witnessed by six MP-electsfromNewFordKenyaandof-fcials from Jubilee.SEALED DEALURP Chairman Francis ole Kaparo, TNAsJohnsonSakajaandNewFord KenyaSecretaryGeneralBenjamin Muema appended their signatures to thedeal.NewFordKenyaMPs-elect present were David Were (Matungu), Moses Maendeleo (Malava), Boniface Otsiula(Bumula),DanielSitati(We-buyeWest),JanetNangabo(Trans NzoiaWomenRep)andReginalda Wanyonyi (Bungoma Women Rep).Sakajasaidthepartnershipwas aimed at forming an all-inclusive gov-ernmentwhileKaparoassuredthe newpartnerthattheCoalitionwill treat it with respect.The move would see Jubilee Coali-tion have more than 190 members in theNationalAssembly;amoveRuto saidwouldgivetheCoalitionanad-vantage to control Parliament, saying theyarefocusedonforminganall-inclusive government.Wearegoingoutofourwayto create a government that is all-inclu-sivesothattogetherwecanbuilda united nation, said Ruto.Regionalbalanceandpolitical party interests will be a factor as Jubi-lee Alliance heads to Naivasha to plot on how to avoid a second round con-test in the election of Speaker.TWO-THIRDSThewinneroftheSpeakersposi-tion must garner at least two-thirds of the349votesor233tobedeclared winner.If no one gets the votes, then the frst two will square out in round two.Itistruethatwearegoingfora retreat on Tuesday where a number of issues will be discussed. At the end of it we will take a common stand on is-suesrelatingtoSenateandParlia-mentary business, Mr Charles Keter, the Kericho Senator elect said.In the Senate, the document shows thatJubileehas34membersagainst Cords 27, with Amani having 6 seats. Jubilee is seeking Amanis partnership to get the Senate seat.Wewillhavetoagreeonhowto share the available seats. For instance if Justin Muturi gets the Speaker, then Mt.KenyaEastinterestswillbeca-teredandthusKiraituMurungiand Kithiki Kindure will forfeit their quest forSenateMajorityLeader,Maara MP-elect Kareke Mbiuki said.Mbiukisaidthesameformula wouldapplytoNorthEasternwhere GarissaTownshipMP-electofURP AdenDualeisdestinedforHouse Majority leader.IfDualegetsthebackingofthe Alliance for the seat, then others from theregionwhoseekotherseatswill miss out, he added.Uhuru and Ruto aresaidtohaveprevaileduponfor-merMPsDansonMungatanaand SamuelPoghisiotodropoutofthe race in favour of the two respectively. BothMungatanaandPoghisiohave not picked application forms.TheJubileeteamwillarrivein NaivashaonTuesdayeveningand spendtwodaysbeforedepartingon Thursdaymorninginaconvoyof buses straight to Parliament for swear-ing in.Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardNATIONAL NEWS / Page 9By VITALIS KIMUTAIThefghtforcontrolofthe Senatehasstartedinearnest between the Jubilee and CORD coalitionsaheadoftheopen-ing of the House and swearing in of Senators-elect.ProfKindikiKithure,a prominent lawyer and Tharaka NithiSenator-elect,isseenas afrontrunnerforthepostof Senate Majority leader.Kindikiisfghtingforthe positionwithMeruCounty Senator-electKiraituMurungi of APK, a party that has a post-electioncoalitionpactwith TNA.Kindiki,anallyofboth President-electUhuruKe-nyatta and his deputy William Rutowasinstrumentalinthe formation of the Jubilee Coali-tion,havingtakenpartinthe draftingoftheworkingar-Race for Majority leader and Speaker shapes upParty leadership has the prerogative to choose leader among the SenatorsrangementbetweenTNAand URP. Apart from being one of the key architects in the forma-tionoftheJubileeCoalition, Kindiki was also a major player in the campaigns for Uhuru in Mount Kenya West region, Mr KathuriMurungi,theSouth Imenti MP-elect said.KindikiisRutoslawyerat theInternationalCriminal CourtatTheHaguewherehe andUhuruarefacingcrimes againsthumanitychargesre-lated to the 2007 post-election violence. He is also Uhurus lawyer in thepetitionbyCORDover presidentialresultsattheSu-preme Court.SENATE COMMITTEEIamawarethattheposi-tionofSenateMajorityleader is not an elective one and that istheprerogativeoftheparty rankandfletopickaleader amongsttheSenatorsforthat position,KindikitoldThe Standard on telephone.Kindiki added: As such, if I am not picked for the position, I will respect and support who-ever is entrusted with the lead-ership.TheoutgoingEnergymin-ister,however,hastocontend Meru County Senator-elect Kiraitu Murungi TharakaNithiCountySenator-electKindiki Kithurewiththefactthatheisonly bringing on board fve MPs to the coalition.Sources indicated yesterday that Kiraitu might be picked to chair a key Senate Committee by the Jubilee Coalition.Mr Kipchumba Murkomen, theElgeyoMarakwetCounty Senator-electhadbeenmen-tioned as a possible contender for the position of deputy Sen-ate Majority leader, but sources yesterdayindicatedthathe maybepickedasacandidate for the position of chairman of the Devolution Committee.Meanwhile two United Re-publican Party leaders for-merSpeakeroftheNational AssemblyFrancisoleKaparo andformerTurkanaCentral MP Ekwe Ethuro have rolled up their sleeves to fght for the position of Senate Speaker.Kaparo is enjoying the sup-portofelderlySenatorsfrom across the political divide as he hadworkedwiththematthe NationalAssemblywherehe was the Speaker for 15 years.Ethurowhosatinthe SpeakersPanelinthe10th parliament, on the other hand hasthesupportofyouthful Senatorsinhispushforthe position of Senate Speaker.By ERIC WAINAINAKiambuSenator-electKi-mani Wamatangi has said he is contestingforthepositionof Majority Leader in Senate.MrWamatangihadearlier declaredthathewouldbattle for the position of Speaker, but saidhedroppeditsincekey partnersintheJubileeCoali-tionhadagreedonwhich party will nominate the Speak-er. Yesterday,Wamatangisaid heislobbyingforthepost, whichhasattractedseveral contenders in The National Al-lianceandAlliancePartyof Kenya,arguingthatheisthe best among the contenders.Ihavebeencampaigning amongmyfellowSenators, bothelectedandnominated fromtheJubileeCoalitionto supportmycandidaturefor theMajorityLeadersposition in the House, he said.Tharaka Nithi Senator-elect KindikiKithurehasalsobeen lobbyingfortheposition, which has also attracted Meru Senator-elect and Energy Min-ister Kiraitu Murungi and Nyeri Senator-elect Mutahi Kagwe. Mr Kagwe, who was elected on a Narc ticket, is seeking the position,followingfailureby partyleaderand WaterMinis-terCharityNgilutosecure nomination.Senator-elect declares interest in seatKiambu Senator-electKimani WamatangiOPENING OF PARLIAMENTTuesday, March 26, 2013 / The Standard Page 10 / NATIONAL: COURTSQuickReadMOMBASA: Woman accused of selling babyA woman has been charged in court with failing to protect the infant from sale. She is accused of selling her two-week-old baby girl for Sh30,000 to a couple in Mombasa. Francisca Kamene allegedly sold the baby out of desperation as she could not raise a maternity bill of Sh7,000 at the Coast General Hospital. She was jointly charged with the couple and another suspect with conspiracy to commit a felony. The couple, Habiba Hussein and Juma Abdallah, faced a separate charge of stealing a baby. The couple denied yesterday that the jointly received a girl child. NYAMIRA: Man, eight cows killed in accident A man and eight cows were killed in a road accident along the Keroka-Sotik road after a lorry they were travelling in overturned and rolled several times. The 5pm incident occurred at the notorious steep slope of Riensune, some two kilometres to Nyansiongo town on Sunday. Keroka Base Commander Ibrahim Ndegwa told The Standard the driver of speeding lorry lost control while moving downhill and overturned. It appears the vehicle had faulty brakes but we are investigating to determine cause of the accident, he said.SIAYA: Safaricom withdrawn from caseSafaricom Ltd has been withdrawn from a case fled by a politician seeking to challenge the election of the Siaya County governor. The petitioner, William Oduol, said the mobile service providers assistance in the case in which he is seeking documents to enable him fle a petition against the national electoral bodys decision to declare Cornel Rasanga Amoth the Siaya governor was no longer required. Oduol yesterday told the court that Safaricom had surrendered all the requisite documents to IEBC.27. The Raila Odinga-led coalition had further claimed that during a meeting withmembersoftheProvincialAd-ministration two days later, Kimemia appealed to the administrators to as-sist the campaigns of Uhuru, warning thattheywouldbesackedifCORD candidate Raila won the elections.Initsletter,CORDalsoclaimed that a facilitation sum of between Sh5 millionandSh15millionhadbeen promisedtoeachoftheadministra-tors attending the planning meeting. But in a letter dated March 21, Amin said that after thorough investigation, theyhadnotfoundanyevidenceto support the allegations.TheCriminalInvestigationDe-partment consequently forwarded its recommendationsto Tobikowhodi-rectedtheclosureoftheinquiryfle without any further action.Itisourfndingthatthereisno suffcientmaterialorcircumstantial evidence supporting these allegations and as such, they can only be treated as speculative rumours, says Amin in his letter to Tobiko.Aminfurthersaidthateffortsby the investigators to record statements with CORD offcials were futile as the leaders failed to avail themselves. The DPP, in his response to the let-ter,concurredwiththeinvestigation boss.DPP has directed closure of inquest fle without further action by police saying there was no direct evidenceTobiko dismisses CORD allegations against KimemiaHillary Ndungu, OCS at Mwariki police post in a Nakuru court, is charged with stealing and unlawful confnement. He was arraigned before Chief Magistrate SamuelMungai.NdunguischargedthatonMarch20thisyearhestole Sh285,000fromPamelaBundiatPipelineareainNakurutown.Hewasfur-ther accused of wrongful confnement of Ms Bundi and Henry Ndubi Masita at pipelineareainNakurutown,onMarch20thisyear.Hefacesaseparate charge of abduction of Masita at section 58 in Nakuru town on the same date. [PHOTO: BONIFACE THUKU/STANDARD]ByLUCIANNE LIMOTheHighCourthasruledthatit cannot interfere with nominees to the SenateandNationalAssemblysince they have been gazetted.Athree-judgeBenchheadedby Justice Isaac Lenaola, however, direct-edtheIndependentElectoraland BoundariesCommission(IEBC)not to gazette nominees to the County As-sembly in all counties based on polit-ical party lists.We have anxiously considered the positionofmembersoftheSenate and National Assembly. They were ga-zetted on March 20, 2013. Upon such gazettementtheybecamemembers oftherespectivehousesofParlia-ment, said Lenaola.The court ruled that under Article 105 of the Constitution, a question of determinationofmembershipcan only be determined by way of an elec-tionpetition.Inthecircumstances, weareconstrainedtodeclineany conservatory orders affecting the du-lygazettedmembersoftheNational Assembly and Senate, said Lenaola. PARTY LISTSThe judges, however, noted mem-bers of the County Assemblies nomi-natedbasedonpartylistshadnot been gazetted. In view of the fact that the matter is now ready for hearing, it is important that the court preserves the status quo so that it can satisfy it-self of the legality of the process of se-lection and nomination based on the party lists, he said. They added that pending the hear-ing and determination of the petition, theIEBCshallnotgazettethenomi-nation of County Assembly represen-tativesbasedonthepartylistssub-mitted to it by political parties.NationalGenderandEquality Commissionhadmovedtocourtto stoptheelectoralbodyfrommoving toallocatespecialseatstopolitical parties using the party lists. Court says it cant interfere with nomineesMan handed life sentence for defling childBY ONESMUS NZIOKAA middle-aged man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for defling his eight-year-old niece.Jonathan Matheka Musumbi, who appearedbeforeMakueniActingSe-nior Resident Magistrate Rhoda Yator, was found guilty of defling the minor contrary to Section 20(1) of the Sexu-al Offences Act no 3 of 2006.The accused also faced an alterna-tivechargeofindecentlyassaulting the girl by touching her private parts. Theprosecutiontoldthecourtthat theaccusedcommittedtheoffence on June 27, last year at Utaati sub-lo-cation within Makueni County.The victims mother who appeared asawitnesssaidherdaughterhad gone to fetch frewood with her friends 50 metres from their home when the accused pounced on her.By MOSES NJAGIH Police have dismissed as specula-tive rumours claims by a political al-liancethatHeadofPublicService FrancisKimemiawasinvolvedina scheme to rig the March 4 elections in favour of Jubilee coalition.Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin exonerated Kimemia andfveotherseniorStateoffcials, includingIntelligencebossMichael Gichangi,MilitaryChiefGeneralJu-lius Karangi, from sensational accu-sations made by the Coalition for Re-forms and Democracy (CORD).CORDhadallegedaplotbythe PublicServiceHeadtorigthepolls throughtheuseofmembersofthe ProvincialAdministration.Conse-quently,DirectorofPublicProsecu-tions(DPP)KeriakoTobikodirected that the inquiry fle on the allegations beclosedwithoutfurtheractionby police.CORD leadership had claimed that Kimemia, Gichangi, Karangi, Offce of thePresidentPermanentSecretary Mutea Iringo, his Finance counterpart Joseph Kinyua and a senior offcial in theOffceofthePresidentKennedy Kiharahadattendedmeetingstoar-range the manipulation of the polls.AFFILIATE PARTIESTheCORDcomplaintletterwas signedbyMutulaKilonzo,ProfAn-yang Nyongo and Dr Esseli Simiyu all secretary generals of the CORD af-fliatepartiesWiper,Orange DemocraticMovementandFordKe-nya, respectively.IntheircomplaintsenttotheIn-dependent Electoral and Boundaries Commission(IEBC),CORDclaimed KimemiahadmetwithJubileelead-ers,President-electUhuruKenyatta andhisDeputy WilliamRuto,atEle-mentaita Jacaranda Hotel on January Rigging claimsReversed rolesWitnesses in Keino case missingBY PAMELA CHEPKEMEI A prosecutor has complained to a Nairobi court conducting the inquest into the death of a university student over failure by police to trace key wit-nesses.TheseniorStateCounselrepre-sentingDirectorofPublicProsecu-tions told trial magistrate Peter Ndwi-ga that the police had failed to bring witnessestocourtduetosomeis-sues which he did not elaborate.MercyKeinoslifelessbodywas discovered at night by motorists along Waiyaki Wayin2011.Therearekey witnesseswhoarewithinKenyaand have not been bonded to attend court simplybecausethereareotheris-sues,saiddeputyDirectorofPublic Prosecutions Moses Omirera.CANNOT BE TRACEDThe State Counsel said some of the witnesseswhothepolicesaycannot be traced live in Kiambu County.Oneofthedefencelawyerstold the court that it was up to the DPP to produce the witnesses in court. He added that the witnesses could not be forced to testify or arrested but theprosecutionhadtoconductand concludetheircase.MrOmirera complained after the investigating of-fcerinformedthecourthehadonly managedtobringaseniorpoliceof-fcer who investigated the case.He said he was unable to call other witnessesbecausetheStateCounsel had told him he wanted them to tes-tify in a certain sequence.Omirera said he intends to call Mr WilliamKabogo,hisbodyguardand the driver as the last witnesses.Kabogo, his driver and aides have beenadverselymentionedinthe death of Mercy, a former Masters stu-dent. The investigating offcer told the courtthatgettingwitnessestocome andtestifycouldprovediffcult. The hearing was adjourned to May 2.Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardNATIONAL NEWS / Page11By CYRUS OMBATIClose to 200 police offcers, most of them in the traffc de-partment have been moved in changes made by the Inspector GeneralofPolice(IGP)David Kimaiyo.Mostofthosemovedhave beenpostedtovariousweigh bridgesacrossthecountryto replaceotherswhohadbeen removed.Thisfollowedarequestby theKenyaNationalHighways Authorityweighbridgeman-agement, which complained of corruptionandmalpractice amongtheoffcersstationed there.The affected weigh bridges areMariakani,AthiRiver,Gil-gil, Webuye and Busia.But the National Police Ser-vice Commission and some of Kimaiyo transfers 200 traffc offcers but commission contests Most of those moved have been posted to various weigh bridges across the country to replace otherstheaffectedoffcershaveop-posedthechangesterming them illegal.The offcers have moved to court to challenge the changes whilethecommissionhas summonedameetingtodis-cuss them.WeIgh BRIdgeSKimaiyo has moved 191 of-fcerstovariousstationsand posted122ofthemtothe weigh bridges. The offcers in-clude31whoareabovethe rank of Sergeant.He made the changes with-outinvolvingthecommission in accordance with the law. Andaftersomeoftheaf-fectedjuniorsopposedthe changesandmovedtocourt, thepolicebosswrotetothe commission on March 11 seek-ing for its approval.Documentsobtainedfrom the offce of the Inspector Gen-eralshowthecommission wrote back to him seeking that they hold a meeting to discuss the matter.Thecommissionwroteto Kimaiyoseekingtoknowthe criteriaheusedtoselectthe offcersfordeploymenttothe weigh bridge clusters.The assignment of offcers tothisspecifcsectorwould need to take into account gen-der parity, regional and ethnic balance.Aclosescrutinyofthelist doesnotrevealobservanceif thiscardinalconsideration, reads part of a letter to Kimaiyo from the commission.The letter noted that Kenha made its request on January 16 beforeKimaiyotookaction without the involvement of the commission.Thelawrequiresthatfor theIGPtomaketransfers,he has to get a go head in writing fromthecommissionforof-fcesoftherankofSergeant and above.InspectorGeneralDavidKi-maiyo. [PHOTO:FILE/STANDARD]By NICHOLAS WAITATHUThe Government is set to establishfshprocessingin-dustriesacrossthecountry to enhance income of the lo-cals.Themoveismeantto helpthefshfarmingcom-munity,whotoilinfshing yet the money obtained from fshprocessingremainsin Nairobi.However,apartfromthe fshingcommunity,estab-lishmentoffshprocessing plants is also expected to see more than 2,000 Kenyans get jobsastheprocesstakesoff across the country.TImefrAmeThefacilitiesexpectedto beoperationalinthenext fewmonthswillhelpinex-pandingthelocallabour market.The Government has em-barked on an ambitious pro-grammetoconstructfour minifshprocessingplants inMigori,Kakamega,Nyeri and Meru Counties.FisheriesSecretary,Pro-fessorCharlesNgugitold jobcentreyesterdaythat Sh240 million would be com-mitted to set up the facilities whereeachstructurewill create more than 500 jobs. Ngugi explained once the processingplantscom-mence,eachwouldprovide opportunitiesfor20people operateinsidewhileother relatedjobswillbeexpect-ed.The setting up of the fa-cilities over and above boost-ingthefshvaluechainwill be creating job opportunities toKenyansbothskilledand unskilled, Ngugi said. STOrAge fACILITIeSTheseareemployees who must have knowledge in fsh processing and machine operation.Forexample,insidethe factories there will be 20 peo-ple to control the holding ar-ea, cold room, ice room, and storage section,Otherjobstobecreated includecleaners,drivers, loaders,andtraders,casual labourers at farm level, mid-dlemen,fnancemanagers, shopkeepers,extensionoff-Statesbuilding offish ponds to create 2,000 jobs The Government has planned to put up mini fsh processing plants in Migori, Kakamega, Nyeri and Meru CountiesPage 12 / NATIONAL NEWS Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The Standard.By frANkLINe SUNdAyFormanycompanies seeking to fll in a vacant po-sition,thehardestpartof the process is screening the applicantsofteninhun-dreds, many from blue chip companies.However, this tedious sit-uation is about to change for the better as the industry see techfrmsstepouttooffer solutions.Onetechnology startupbelievesthatithas come up with the solution to theproblemthatwillnot only offer recruiters an easy timeinfllinginvacantpo-sitions,butitwillalsoen-sure that the best candidates are short-listed for the job.Uhired.meisthenew web-based recruitment por-talthatpromisestomake this feat possible and the de-velopers of the system insist that it offers something dif-ferent from other online re-cruitment websites. There are numerous on-linejobwebsitesinthe countrytodayandmany companies use one or many ofthesetoflloutjobposi-tions that fall vacant within theirorganisations,ex-plainsMrHassanAbi,the softwareengineerwhoput the portal together.Withourdiscussions withHRpractitionersand recruiting agencies we found out that what happens after acompanyadvertisesajob is that they fnd themselves with a huge pile of resumes. However,recruitersstill have no system of screening theapplicantswhichisthe hardestpartoftherecruit-ment process. Siftingthroughthepool of applicants and coming up with the preferred candidate takestimeandresources and might not always guar-anteethatthepeoples pickedfortheinterview were the best for the job. Uhired.mefocuseson making the recruitment pro-cess more targeted, effcient and less time consuming by usingasocialnetworking modelofengagementbe-tween the employer and the prospectiveemployee,ex-plainsMrHassan.Uhired.me helps the recruiter to fo-cus on the candidates inter-estintheassumptionthat potential employees have an interest in your organisation they are applying for as well as the job opportunity.Atthehomepageofthe platform,oneisprompted tosign-inandcreateafree accountunderthreemain categories according to their designation; employers, tal-ent or recruiters.Oncetheycreateapro-fle on the website, users can network with each other in a networkingsystemthat combinesFacebookand Twitter-likenetworking modelstocreaterelation-ships. Once an employer or re-cruitercreatesaprofleon theplatform,theywillre-ceivenotifcationsonthe talent around their location and they will be able to send themaninvitationtofol-low their organisation, ex-plains Mr Mohamed Gharib, oneofthedirectorsof Uhired.me.Tech firms step up game to reduce staff recruitment timecers, and security guards.Headdedcompaniesin-terestedinfshtradewould open subsidiaries in the par-ticular areas and thus equal-lycreatemorejobstoKe-nyans. What this project aims to do is to improve on the qual-ity of fsh that farmers deliver to the market.As they wait to access markets, farmers from thecountiesneighbouring the facilities can deliver their produceforprocessingand preservation, said Ngugi.prOjeCT expANSIONNgugisaidmaintaining the qualityof fsh after har-vestingwould allowfarmers totransporttheirsurplus produce to areas like, Nairo-bi,MombasaandKisumu wherebiggermarketsexists and also in the region. If you are creating a signifcant number of new jobs, or stuck in fnding the right skill set, cant fll a job, or have a great, new way for Kenyans to fnd work or employment, please email to address at the top of the page.tell us The facilities expected to be operational in the next few months will help in expanding the local labour market. number of fIsh ponds set to have been establIshed In sIx years50,000jobcentre@standardmedia.co.ke He added of great impor-tanceisexpansionoffsh farming in the country espe-cially establishment of more fsh ponds.Inaspanofsixyears about 50,000 fsh ponds have beenestablishedinvarious partsofthecountry,thanks togovernmententhusiasm to promote fsh farming and thuscontributetopoverty eradication.Thiswasagainstatarget of28,000prescribedinthe governmentlong-termde-velopmentblueprintVi-sion 2030. Governmentallocated Sh1.12 billion in the 2009/10 fnancial year under an eco-nomicstimuluspackagefor constructionof28,000fsh pondsinalltheconstituen-cies in the country. prOCeSSINg UNITSNgugipointedoutthat theminiprocessingunits willalsopromptcreationof jobs by those companies that manufacturematerialsused in setting up the fsh ponds dam liners. Nowthatanavenuehas beenprovidedtoprotect massive wastage of fsh in the country,morefarmersare expected to venture into fsh farming in the country.Andinresponsecompa-niesthatmanufactureand supplylinersandotherac-cessories will have their sales increasetremendously,he explained.Hesaidtheservicepro-viderswouldemploymore people to assist in expanding theirbusiness,forexample, insupplyingthenecessary materialsneededinestab-lishing the fshponds.Further new extension of-fcerstoadvicefarmerson fsh farming will be engaged aswellaspeoplewithkno-whow on fxing the materials will equally be employed.Fishing. Kenya is witnessing a surge in investments in fsh plants. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]Tuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardPage 13Page 14 / EDITORIALTuesday, March 26, 2013 / The StandardThe unseemly standoff between sections of the national government and the incoming county adminis-tration does not bode well since it creates unnecessary friction.It also risks plunging the new county gov-ernments into partisan political party wars as it is likely that members of the various county assemblies and administration will take sides based on their political loyalties.in-built resistanceThat having been said, it was expected that there would be some teething problems as the county government begins to take shape.Certainly,thereisin-builtresistanceby some in charge of the national government to cedingsomeoftheirpowerstothecounties. ThisisonlythesecondtimesinceIndepen-dencethatKenyaisattemptingtodevolve power away from the centre. The frst attempt in the frst few years after Independence were sabotagedafterthefoundingPresidentJomo Kenyatta abolished the Senate. Such resistance shouldendimmediately. Therearenowlaws detailingthepowersoftheCountyandNa-tionalgovernmentsandwhicharegrounded intheConstitution. ThePublicServiceCom-mission and the County Service Commission shouldworkwiththe TransitionAuthorityto ensure a smooth division of assets. Where the new Governors will be seated is among the issues raising plenty of heat. This is becausetherewasnoproperfacilitationfor offces for the new county administration due to a number of reasons, among them the de-lay by the Tenth Parliament in passing requi-sitelegislationtoanchorthenewcountyad-ministration.TheConstitutionhasradically altered the way the country is governed by giv-ingmoresayandparticipationtoKenyans. Unfortunately, if not properly managed, it can opennewavenuesforthenationalgovern-ment tocontinue disenfranchising citizens by carving out fresh opportunities for marginal-izationandentrenchinghistoricalregional disparities. wealth redistributionThosewhoframedtheConstitutionwere well aware that such disparities would not dis-appearovernighthencethecreationofthe Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA).The CRA has come up with a credible for-mulafordistributingthenationalrevenue equally among the 47 counties. The Transition Authorityisthemissinglinkbetweenthe county and national governments.Nooneischallengingtheauthorityofthe nationalGovernment,butitiscriticalthatit establishes an amicable working relationship with the Transition Authority by frst recognis-ing and appreciating its constitutional role as thebodyinchargeofcoordinatingthedevo-lution process.This would do much to reduce the tension. As it is, utterances by senior Government off-cialslashingoutattheTransitionAuthority appeartohaveemboldenedsomeStateoff-cers at the county level to adopt an adversari-al stance towards the new governors.Thecountygovernmentsshouldbegiven all the help they need to establish strong insti-tutions. This will have a positive effect on eco-nomic performance of the counties.Weakcountyadministrationswillnotim-plement policies to empower communities or bring development closer to them, and will in-stead result in a devolution of corruption from the national to regional governments. The Standard is printed and published by the proprietors,The sTandard groupNewsdesk: 3222111 | Fax: 2213108Email: editorial@standardmedia.co.keGroup Chief Editor: John BundotichManaging Editor, Daily Editions: Kipkoech TanuiManaging Editor (P&Q): okech Kendo Registered at the the GPO as a newspaper.National and county governments must work togetherWHAT OTHER MEDIA SAY... Lessons for Republicans from Pope Francis: Republicans are hearing a lot today about how they need to abandon their principles on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion if they want to win elections. But the GOPs problem today is not that it is too socially conservative; it is that Republicans are seen as defenders of the rich and powerful instead of the poor and vulnerable.If Republicans want to change that impression, there is a simple solution: Be more like Pope Francis defender of the family, the unborn and the poor.Too many Republicans fall short on that last count, and they are paying for it at the polls. States gone wild: No sooner had Arkansas adopted the countrys most regressive abortion law earlier this month a ban after about 12 weeks of pregnancy than North Dakota lowered its limit to as early as six weeks. Colorado has now decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. Is Colorado really more libertarian than neighboring Wyoming, where possession can still get you a year in prison? It feels as if every news cycle brings another seemingly random example of a state veering off the mainstream, especially on these issues of personal liberty. Whats up with that? Sometimes states catch a changing national tide. If 80 percent of the electorate is sitting on the sidelines, thats a recipe for demagogy and cynicism. A recent study scores Kenya poorest in the region as an investment destination. In the World Bank report, Ease of Doing Business, Kenya has dropped 12 places to position 121st in the worlds global list of economic competitiveness. The position may not make immediate sense, but a look at her East African peers reveals a disturbing trend. Kenyas business competitiveness gets worse every year. Last year, Kenya was placed at position 109 and 106 in 2011.What is more disturbing is the fact Kenya compares so unfa-vourably against Uganda and Rwanda in this index.Thereportraisesseriousissuesonthecountryscontract laws,non-tariffbarriersliketimetakenclearbusinessesin cross-border trade and slow processes of property registration in the country.This has inadvertently added to the costs of do-ing business and sliced the countrys global and regional rank-ing as an investment destination.This trend has over time refected in the countrys falling For-eign Direct Investments (FDIs) in comparison to her neighbours as investors overfy Kenya for more friendly countries. Rwanda particularly has been a benefciary of Kenyas ineffciencies. Un-checked,theseineffcienciesthreatentosendmoreinvestors packing.It thus behoves upon everybody; Government bureau-crats and the private sector alike to deal with some of the chal-lenges that bedevil the economy. The new Government particularly has the immediate chal-lengeofcleaningupthecountryandtospecifcallyeliminate hidden cost centres that serve to hurt investments, growth and development.The setting up of a one-stop centre to tackle issues of invest-ment is a call long overdue. The Governments success at deal-ing with unemployment one of the most critical challenges stunting the economy will hugely hinge on how it treats in-vestors.Fortunately, there exist some mechanisms at regional level to deal with some of the issues raised in the report. For in-stance,afullimplementationoftheCustomsUnion,whichis alreadyonthecards,willhelpfast-tractmovementofgoods, people and capital across borders. JK8E;8I;K?