AFRICAN LEADERS TO DISCUSS THEIR MASS WITHDRAWAL FROM ICC:

PHOTO: African Leaders during the past AU summit in Ethiopia. African leaders are planning to endorse a motion to withdraw from the ICC.

MASS WITHDRAWAL FROM ICC, MAIN AGENDA IN THIS YEARS’ AU SUMMIT

By Maritim Kipngetich

In this year’s summit, the African Union leaders are planning to endorse the Malabo protocol that was adopted during the last AU summit in Equatorial Guinea.
The protocol seeks to withdraw Africa states from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as give exemption to all ruling leaders from attending charges while they are still in power.

The move to withdraw Africans States from ICC was triggered by Kenyan cases.

African leaders believe that ICC is targeting African leaders because since it came into existence in 2002, only African leaders have been the one being tried in the court.

At stake is the future of a court whose creation was touted as a major breakthrough in ensuring that those who commit crimes against humanity do not escape justice — a dream that African nations, more than any other region in the world , signed up for. Now, however, the African Union is campaigning against the court, with some leaders voicing disillusionment and saying that justice does not seem to be equally applied around the globe.
Major crimes in Syria, Columbia and Afghanistan have gone unpunished. African leaders are complaining that similar cases in other parts of the world are being ignored and it seems race is a factor in court’s decision-making.

PHOTO: ICC headquarters at The Hague, The Netherlands.

Any mayhem in African soil attracts the attention of the court with Libyan incident, where the late President Moammar Gaddafi was forcefully ousted out of power, being a major example. The UN Security Council was quick to authorise the ICC to investigate what was happening and to arrest the president and his son.

Although mass withdrawal of the African States from ICC may seem necessary to African leaders, it casts doubts whether a criminal court they intend to establish will be able to handle crimes against humanity committed by African leaders. The outcome of the Summit will tell the future relationship of ICC and African States.

SUDENTS ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THE RELEASED HELB LOAN

STUDENTS COMPLAIN OVER LATEST RELEASED HELB LOAN

By Maritim Kipngetich

There are numerous complaints from students over the latest released educational funds by Higher Education Loans Board (Helb).

The students are not satisfied with the amount given to them by the board saying that they have many needs and the paltry loans allocated to them are not enough to cater for their daily expenses.

Many students were expecting to be given sh60, 000 as the highest amount and sh37, 000 as the lowest amount as it normally happens, but this was never the case since the board gave sh50, 000 to the highest beneficiary and sh35, 000 to the lowest beneficiary.

Despite low allocation of funds, first time applicants, who are mainly first years who joined various universities in September last year, had to survive without loan for a whole semester.

Helb CEO Charles Ringera (second left)

Many students also are currently queuing at the Helb headquarter to present complaints.  Some are complaining that they have never received any communication from Helb officials and they fear that they may not be given the funds.

Diana Chepkemoi is a first year student at the Co-oporative University College of Kenya and she said she was called to Helb headquarter, Nairobi, to correct her application form in November last year, but even after doing so she is not among the beneficiaries.

Chepkemoi said she has taken complaint to Helb offices in order to be given the funds.

“I have gone for inquiry and they said they are yet to process my application. But the problem is, students we applied together have been given funds so I wonder what happened to mine,” she says.

Chepkemoi’s story is all too familiar among many students emanating from different universities across the country.

Some students said they were told since they applied loan when the system (Helb application website) was on trial, their forms have to wait a little longer so that they can be processed.

Many inquiries were posted by students in the Helb Facebook page and some students were told their applications were not successful and they have to write an appeal or review to Helb as soon as it is available in the website.

Helb says the near-doubling of first-time applications to 110,000 has seen the agency reduce the maximum loan amount to Sh50, 000 from Sh60, 000 per academic year.
“The unprecedented number of applicants caught us off-guard; we had to allocate funds to a larger number of students than we had anticipated,” says Charles Ringera, the Helb chief executive officer.
Mr Ringera says last year’s re-basing of the economy, which showed that Kenya is now a middle-income country with a per capita income of Sh113,386 ($1,246), also indicates that students generally require less support from the State to finance their university education than they did previously.
“The system we use to calculate and allocate loans factors in the income of a beneficiary’s parents or guardians. Since the economy was rebased, their improved earnings have been captured by the system.” He says.

KENNY ROGERS:

KENNY ROGERS, HOT COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST

By Maritim Kipngetich

Kenny Rogers in 2004

I may not be a fan of music, but this American Artist who sings Country music, Kenny Rogers, has over the past two years made me like country music.

His beats and voice are overwhelming. They make me crazy and feel like I am part of his songs. His famous song “coward of the county” is the first song of this artist I ever listened to. Perhaps I can give credit to my Culture and Performance Studies lecturer, Dr Kimingichi Wapende, who once tuned the song for us to consolidate the topic of the day.

Some people may be wondering who Kenny Rogers is. Kenny is an American artist, song writer, photographer and actor. Born in 1938 in Texas US, Kenny began doing music when he was twenty. He recorded his first song “that crazy feeling” in 1958.

In 1985 Rogers was one of the 45 artists who recorded the worldwide charity song “we are the world” to support hunger victims in Africa. The following year he played at Giants Stadium. Michael Jackson was one of the artists who participated in coming with the song that united the world to support the hunger victims.

He was most active in his career between 1958 and 1990. Most songs he produced within this period are being played even now and people love listening to them. Although Rogers did not record new albums for a couple of years, he continued to have success in many countries with greatest hits packages.

Rogers performing at the University of Houston in 1981

Music industry may be a hard industry to survive in since it requires talent and capital to start performing songs. This was never a challenge to the son of an assistant nurse (mother) and carpenter (father). He has triumphant in the music industry. He has charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone and has sold over 165 million records worldwide, making him one of the highest-selling artist of all time.

Kenny Rogers, concert, Chumash Casino Resort hall, Santa Ynez, California, September 27, 2006.

His career in music is seen as significant since it has opened other precious doors in his life. He may not be a genius in every field he found himself in like photography and acting, but since he became famous in his music, film industry decided to pick him to act since he is loved by audience.

An anecdote in Rogers’ life is that he has married five wives and divorced four with each being divorced while she has got one child. He is currently living with a woman he married in 1997.

“Reuben James” is his other song I love the most. Reuben James was a boatswain’s mate of the United States Navy, famous for his heroism in the First Barbary War. Kenny Rogers praises Reuben James in his song with certain stanza saying “Reuben James, for you still walk over fields of my mind
Faded shirt, weathered brow, caloused hands upon the plow
Loved you then and I love you now, Reuben James”.

Rogers has won various awards and he has gained respect in his country music across the world.

MEDIA HOUSES UNDER "SIEGE":

 INTERFERENCE OF THE MEDIA IN KENYA

By Maritim Kipngetich

Media houses in Kenya may not enjoy their constitutional rights since their actions are being interfered with by the government by introducing draconian laws and infringing their copyrights by allowing foreign digital signal entities to broadcast their content.

Article 34 of the 2010 constitution of Kenya gives freedom of the media. This article has been interfered with by several Bills that include Media Bill of 2013 and Security Bill of 2014 which have been passed in parliament to become laws. Passing of these Bills is a violation of the constitution since the constitution itself states that no Bill shall be passed in parliament if it is in contravention of any article provided for in the constitution.

The Bills introduced a heavy penalty on media houses and individual journalists who may publish or broadcast information regarded as inciting, sensitive or obscene. This has interfered with the freedom of the media.

Media regulator, Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK), has been in the forefront in criticizing actions being undertaken by the media houses. Although the regulator is meant to control the media houses, it should, at some point, protect media houses from those who would want to interfere with their daily activities.

The CAK poured salt in a raw wound on Tuesday this week when it bar the three gigantic media houses in Kenya from broadcasting an advert that was meant to warn the members of the public from purchasing a GOTv and Startime Paid Set-Top-Boxes. The three media houses, the Nation Media Group, the Standard Media Group and the Royal Media, said in the advert that the two foreign signal distributors (GOTv and Startimes) were broadcasting their content without permission. They promised their viewers that they would import free-to-air Set-Top-Boxes and soon they will be able to watch their content without any pay.

Following a court injunction on Tuesday that bar the three media houses from airing the advert, the media houses have condemned the court’s move saying they have a right to warn their viewers from purchasing set-top-boxes that may not assist them to watch their programmes.

The media houses argued that the CAK never gave them a first priority and it only preferred giving licence to foreign firms to air their content. They said that they were given two weeks (from December 15 to December 31 2014) to install their digital infrastructure that was not possible. The media houses said it was another way of denying them to develop their infrastructure.

The three media houses control about 80 per cent of the total viewership in Kenya.

They have, therefore, vowed to defend their rights even if it means tabling complaint in Paris Commercial Court in France.