Wednesday, 30 March 2016
'WE WILL WALK OUT OF THE PARLIAMENT'.SO WHAT?
CORD saying that it would boycott President's speech on the state of the nation is a non issue. The president will be addressing the whole country after all. Its about time CORD members started to show some maturity prior to 2017 general elections.
STATE OF THE NATION
Deputy president in his speech yesterday was able to address the important steps the government has made in the last three years. The progress are major on infrastructure which entails, transport and electricity.
In his speech in particular on electricity, government has reduced the cost of installation of electricity from 35,000 to 15,000. This has enabled many people including villagers to get connected to electricity.
In his speech in particular on electricity, government has reduced the cost of installation of electricity from 35,000 to 15,000. This has enabled many people including villagers to get connected to electricity.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
Kenyan politics
MPs slap caveat on Sh48m house in probe on youth fund’s stolen cash
Quondarum Ltd Managing Director Mukuria Ngamau when he appeared before
the Public Investments Committee at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi on
March 8, 2016. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
MPs on Wednesday put a caveat on a Sh48 million home in
Lavington, Nairobi, said to have been bought with proceeds stolen from
the Youth Fund.
They ordered that the
house, which is under construction, should not change hands because
they suspect it was bought using part of the Sh180 million paid out
illegally by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
The
house was bought by Mr Mukuria Ngamau, the managing director of
Quorandrum Ltd which was paid Sh180 million by the youth fund for ICT
services which were not delivered. It was bought from Duchess Park, a
real estate developer.
“The Asset Recovery Agency should ensure the property does not change hands to protect public interest.
‘‘The
directors of Duchess Park will also be held liable should the property
change hands from Quorandrum Ltd to a third party,” said Public
Investments Committee chairman Adan Keynan.
Should
investigations confirm that the firm was paid the Sh180 million for
fictitious consultancy services, the residential house could revert to
the State and sold to recover the funds.
Wednesday,
Duchess Park general manager William Onyango told the committee he
advertised for the property on Ethuru Road in Lavington, in the
newspapers and also at a housing exhibition in Nairobi, and that Mr
Ngamau expressed interest and paid Sh48 million in three instalments.
MPs
questioned Mr Onyango on why the payment of such a colossal sum within
such a short period did not raise suspicions about the source of the
funds.
The committee vice chairman,
Mr Kimani Ichung’wa, questioned the legality of the deal which was
concluded without any lawyer representing Quorandrum Ltd.
“You
must be very lucky for a client to pay you Sh48 million, without an
agreement, a lawyer or guarantee. Your relationship with the client
seems to be a special one,” he said.
Mr
Keynan also questioned whether the Real Estate firm was related with
Quorandrum Ltd, but Mr Onyango said Mr Ngamau was not one of the
directors.
The purchase of high-end
properties has emerged as a money laundering trend in some of the mega
scandals that has rocked key State agencies .
A
lawyer representing Duchess Park, Ms Muthoni Kamau said it was allowed
in law for a buyer to involve a lawyer at the point when the property
was registered, a position that Mr Keynan rejected, insisting it was
against provisions laid out by the Law Society of Kenya.
Funyula
MP Paul Otuoma cited a contradiction in the purchase documents drawn by
Quorandrum and what had been advertised by Duchess Park, with the
former stating it was for buying an office block and the latter a
residential unit.
During the
hearings, it emerged Quorandrum Ltd had sub-contracted the construction
of four court blocks for the Judiciary in Bomet, Othaya, Marimanti and
Wang’uru, for Sh18 million to another firm Great Lakes Forwaders Ltd.
US Election 2016
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz split wins in Arizona and Utah
In Democratic race, Hillary Clinton takes Arizona primary, while Bernie Sanders wins caucuses in Utah and Ida
![Trump takes all of the Arizona's 58 delegates to the Republican National Convention [Ross D. Franklin/AP]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uD_b-zBeJvbidxyUExhfldqvDhhK3efvCoVZH9Ru6IsV2daS-LbN_z-7GRhR4YnAbDk6FVXgq62389J87fUGLdrATzLfNJs_pzUAmrPFKTiXVaMuoCozBZcNkultJdqS9Sqd-IUlGJH3zrrvCNWDZvTglvkCM1pI9QUdBQ4AT4jz8jtiVnLtJHn4BdtBuunjChmdq3DES9Azo=s0-d "Donald Trump, Ted Cruz split wins in Arizona and Utah")
Leading Democratic and Republican contenders have split major wins in presidential nominating contests in Arizona and Utah.
Donald Trump rolled to a victory in the Arizona Republican primary, capitalising on his anti-immigration stance - a position that has long been popular with conservative voters in the state. With the win on Tuesday, Trump takes all of the state's 58 delegates to the Republican National Convention.
In the Democratic Arizona primary, Hillary Clinton was projected to easily account for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
But Sanders flipped the script by beating the former secretary of state in the Utah caucuses. He doubled up by also taking the Idaho caucuses on Tuesday.
Trump won more than 45 percent of the vote in Arizona, compared to about 21 percent for his main rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
The billionaire businessman made three trips to Arizona and had the support of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Governor Jan Brewer - a pair of politicians best known for leading immigration crackdowns.
However, Cruz - like Sanders - looks countered his party's frontrunner by winning Tuesday's Utah caucuses.
Early in the vote count, Cruz was leading with nearly 70 percent of the vote. By winning more than 50 percent, he will carry all of the state's 40 delegates.
Clinton padded her delegate lead with her win in Arizona.
With 75 delegates at stake, Arizona is the biggest prize of the night in the Democratic race.
Clinton stands to gain more than half of those delegates - at least 40, compared to at least 16 for rival Bernie Sanders. That means she will add to her delegate lead of more than 300. She now has 1,203 to Sanders' 860.
By winning the Utah and Idaho caucuses with about 75 percent of the vote, however, Sanders will not suffer too much in the overall count.
Cruz won the Republicans' Idaho caucuses earlier this month.
Donald Trump rolled to a victory in the Arizona Republican primary, capitalising on his anti-immigration stance - a position that has long been popular with conservative voters in the state. With the win on Tuesday, Trump takes all of the state's 58 delegates to the Republican National Convention.
In the Democratic Arizona primary, Hillary Clinton was projected to easily account for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
But Sanders flipped the script by beating the former secretary of state in the Utah caucuses. He doubled up by also taking the Idaho caucuses on Tuesday.
|
|
The billionaire businessman made three trips to Arizona and had the support of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Governor Jan Brewer - a pair of politicians best known for leading immigration crackdowns.
However, Cruz - like Sanders - looks countered his party's frontrunner by winning Tuesday's Utah caucuses.
Early in the vote count, Cruz was leading with nearly 70 percent of the vote. By winning more than 50 percent, he will carry all of the state's 40 delegates.
Clinton padded her delegate lead with her win in Arizona.
With 75 delegates at stake, Arizona is the biggest prize of the night in the Democratic race.
Clinton stands to gain more than half of those delegates - at least 40, compared to at least 16 for rival Bernie Sanders. That means she will add to her delegate lead of more than 300. She now has 1,203 to Sanders' 860.
By winning the Utah and Idaho caucuses with about 75 percent of the vote, however, Sanders will not suffer too much in the overall count.
Cruz won the Republicans' Idaho caucuses earlier this month.
 |
| Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders holds a campaign rally in San Diego, California on Tuesday [Mike Blake/Reuters] |
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Monday, 21 March 2016
US ELECTION 2016
Donald Trump and the Muslim hair magnate
Palestinian American Farouk Shami is an associate who says the Republican candidate would make a "great president".
Correction, 19/3: An
earlier version of this story said that Farouk Shami came to the US in
1986 with $75. This was incorrect. He came to the US in 1965 with $71.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump may have angered many Muslims when he said that he would ban Muslim immigration to the United States,
but a close Muslim business associate, Palestinian American Farouk
Shami, says he suspects Trump would moderate his views if he were to
become president.Shami emigrated to the US from a village near Ramallah, Palestine, with only $71 in his pocket in 1965, and went on to build one of the nation's largest manufacturers of haircare products, Farouk Systems. His products have been featured on Trump's television shows and Shami says that he first met the property mogul when he sponsored Miss Teen USA, Miss USA and Miss Universe in 2003.
But, last year, Farouk withdrew sponsorship of Trump's Miss Universe pageants and Celebrity Apprentice over the candidate's comments about Mexican immigrants.
Now, however, he says he hopes to reconnect with Trump.
"As Trump becomes the Republican candidate, I plan to connect with him and donate to his campaign and try to get him Muslim votes," Shami told Al Jazeera.
"If we do that, he will be open for us and soften his talks about immigrants and Muslims."
READ MORE: American Muslims speak out
Shami described Trump's comments about Mexicans and Muslims as "only campaign talk".
 |
| Farouk Shami and Donald Trump [Photo courtesy of Farouk Shami] |
"[The] USA is a country of immigrants and he knows that first-hand.
"Media in [the] USA have been marketing anti-Islam for a long time, and much more since 9/11."
Shami said that he believes Trump has tapped into that sentiment among those who have been "brainwashed" to oppose Islam and immigration, but also believes he has support "from those who are tired of typical politicians".
Despite this, he added: "In my personal opinion, Trump does not believe in what he said."
SABA AHMED: Urging US Muslims to vote Republican
"I am proud of my Muslim religion of love and peace, but at the same time I respect everyone's faith," Shami said, addressing those who have questioned or criticized his Muslim faith.
"In America, we are equal in front of God and the law, regardless of our faith, our color or our origins. Politics is separate and has nothing to do with [religion]. That is how it should be."
Shami said he is also a friend of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, one of Trump's most critical rivals, but that he disagrees with Cruz "all the way", particularly on the issue of Israel and Palestine.
Shami believes that Trump, if elected president, would favor a more balanced US approach to negotiations between the two and said he is encouraged by Trump's claims that he would be "neutral".
"He will be a more honest broker than previous presidents who tried and failed because they need Israeli support in Congress and [the] Senate as well as financial Jewish support and votes.
"Trump can do without that."
Overall, he said, he is optimistic. "Trump can be an honest broker in the Palestinian-Israel peace process. No other candidates have the guts to be as honest as Trump, we hope."
But Shami is opposed to Trump's plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico. "Walls don't work unless you want to take people's land, as Israel did in Palestine. We need to build bridges, not walls. We need to build industries and manufacturing on the border for Americans and Mexicans as well."
"Trump is a businessman, so he is a planner and he planned all his comments to get people's anger out by supporting him," Shami added.
"I am not surprised in the tone of the campaign. It brought out what many people think of their politicians."
Trump seemingly also has faith in Shami, at least as far as his hair is concerned - reportedly using Farouk Systems' CHI Helmet Head hairspray.
Obama visits Cuba, hails 'historic opportunity'
Barack Obama becomes first US president to visit communist state in nine decades as relations with Havana thaw.
The
three-day visit marks the culmination of a thaw in relations between
Washington and the communist island that began in December 2014.
"It's been nearly 90 years since a US president set foot in Cuba. It is wonderful to be here...for the first time ever Air Force One has landed in Cuba," he said during a speech at the US embassy in Havana shortly after his arrival.
"This is a historic visit and it's a historic opportunity to engage directly with the Cuban people and to forge new agreements, commercial deals, to build new ties between our two peoples."
 |
| Air Force One arrives in the Cuban capital Havana [Reuters] |
Excitement in Havana
Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman, reporting from Havana, said the visit had excited Cubans, many hopeful of what the newly re-established ties could bring."Many Cubans were actually saying they needed to pinch themselves, that they could not really believe that an American president was finally coming to their country," she said.
"People want to know what the president is going to say...he will be addressing the Cuban people on Tuesday [and] this message will be broadcast live on Cuban television."
Obama is set to meet Cuban dissidents during his visit, a move our correspondent Newman said would have been considered "intolerable" by the government in the past.
"The Cuban government is clearly not happy about it and to make the point, as the president's plane was coming here, some 50 dissidents were actually arrested."
Cold War rivalry
The two countries have moved towards normalizing relations after a breakdown following the 1959 communist revolution led by former Cuban President Fidel Castro.Successive US government have tried to oust the Cuban leadership, most notably during the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.
Former US President John F Kennedy imposed a trade embargo on Havana in 1962 and in the same year the movement of nuclear missiles from the Soviet Union to Cuba brought the countries close to nuclear war.
Since the restoration of diplomatic relations, the states have signed telecommunication deals and put into place airline services but obstacles remain, including the continuing embargo.
Obama faces opposition to the rapprochement from the opposition Republican party, which controls both Congress and the Senate.
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who is of Cuban descent, criticized Obama in an article posted on Politico.
"I have news, Mr President: No progress has taken place. Cuba is going backward," Cruz wrote
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