At least 10 local swimming teams have confirmed their participation in the forthcoming Swimming Genocide Memorial tournament slated for Saturday, April 15, the Swimming governing body (RSF) has announced.
The tournament, which will take place at Green Hills Academy’s pool, was organized to honor athletes killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Many sports personalities, including players and administrators, were killed during the Genocide, a culmination of decades of systematic division and hate propagated by the pre-1994 regimes.
For that reason, Swimming federation Secretary-General, James Bazatsinda told Times Sport that they will use the occasion to pay tribute to victims who lost their lives during the Genocide.
Participants will compete in three various categories namely elite men, elite women and juniors.
Mako sharks Swim club, a Kigali-based club which trains from Green Hills Academy, is among the 10 teams that confirmed their participation as they look to defend the title they won in 2022.
Other teams that will take part include Les Dauphins, Cercle Sportif de Karongi, Cercle Sportif de Karongi, Rubavu Sporting Club, Rwamagana Canoe and Aquatic club, Vision Jeunesse Nouvelle, Gisenyi Beach Swimming club, Aquawave Swim Club and Rwesero Swimming Club. By Damas Sikubwabo, The New Times
TURKANA, Kenya, Apr 12 – Thirty-two Kenyans face a 20-year jail term in Ugandan prisons for allegedly being in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.
They were sentenced by the 3rd Division Military Court Martial based in Moroto District in the Northern region.
The 32 Kenyans, all residents of Orum, Loima Sub County, were convicted on their own plea of guilty and sentenced by the court presided over by the 3rd Division Court Martial Chairman, Col Benard Arinaitwe Tuhame.
According to the Monitor, on April 8, the UPDF together with police conducted a successful cordon and search operation in the areas of Lokiriaut, Nadunget sub-county where 31 guns and 752 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Turkana pastoralists in Moroto District.
“It was a well-executed operation after intelligence leads indicated that the kraal in the village owned by the Turkana pastoralists was a hideout for guns,” Brig Balikuddembe said.
Brig Balikuddembe said one warrior was killed during the operation while others were injured.
“Joint security forces minimized as much as possible the number of casualties despite the heavy crossfire that injured five warriors, one UPDF soldier, while one warrior was put out of action as he tried to flee the scene with a gun,” he said.
Brig Balikuddembe said that about 129 suspects were arrested in the operation, but the criminal files for the 32 suspects are the ones which were ready by Tuesday for prosecution. By KNA/Capital News
Thabo Bester, his girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana, and a third person believed to be a Mozambican national, were arrested on Friday night in Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border.
JOHANNESBURG - Tanzanian police remain tight-lipped regarding the details of where they managed to nab convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester and his partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana.
The duo were arrested in Tanzania at the weekend together with a Mozambican national, believed to be an accomplice.
They are currently being detained at a prison in Arusha - a popular tourist destination and home to Africa’s highest peak Mount Kilimanjaro.
Local media in Tanzania were nowhere closer to getting information about the arrests of Bester and Magudumana.
On Saturday, it was reported that the pair along with another accomplice were arrested while trying to flee the country into Kenya.
A journalist for the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation, Gloria Michael, said Tanzanian authorities refused to divulge further information.
“The police in Tanzania work hand in hand with international police, Interpol, and according to their jurisdiction when they arrest somebody the international police take over.”
Bester and Magudumana were flagged on Interpol’s international red list of most wanted criminals soon after news broke that they could have possibly fled the country.
Police said they were working around the clock to ensure Bester and Magudumana are deported back to South Africa this week,. Eye Witness News
A photo collage of President William Ruto (Left) and a group of jobseekers (Right). KENYANS.CO.KE
The Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) on Wednesday, April 12, gave demands to President William Ruto in a bid to end an ongoing stalemate in the sector.
The Edible Oil sub-sector, under the KAM Food, asked the Kenya Kwanza administration to protect them from cheap imports.
While making reference to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) 2022 Report, the manufacturers stated that KAM Food contributed an estimated 2.1 per cent revenue to Kenya’s overall share of manufacturing Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
As such, the manufacturers urged Ruto's government to put in place measures that will cushion them from cheap imports of edible oil.
"With duty-free importation there is a risk of industry closure due to the uncompetitiveness of local manufacturers.
In a meeting with the Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Dr Juma Mukhwana, KAM noted that government's directive that allowed duty-free importation of edible oil was hurting local manufacturers.
The manufacturers also claimed that the directive was going to negatively hit the country's economy since the biggest beneficiaries were foreign nations.
"Kenya has a vibrant Edible Oil Processing industry made up of 13 manufacturers with a combined installed production and processing capacity of approximately 2 million Metric Tons per year," KAM stated.
The conglomeration told PS Mukhwana that Kenyan manufacturers refine edible oils from a crude form into finished form, including palm oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil and soybean oil.
Some of the challenges facing the edible oil sector were supply chain disruptions, trade issues, quality and environmental concerns.
KAM also presented raised concerns on the decision allow importation of finished edible oils.
"This will have far-reaching implications to the economy, with minimal to no impact on price stability as intended," KAM warned the government.
In his response, Dr Mukhwana assured the traders of setting up systems that will not relent to ensure the supply chain disruption is addressed.
"A system that will serve the interests of everyone," PS Mukhwana assured KAM.
On February 22, Treasury announced plans to Import 125K MT of duty-free edible oils.
Through the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC), the government noted that the importation would cushion consumers from skyrocketing basic commodity prices.
The Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition has vehemently opposed the move by the government to retrench public servants as a mechanism to reduce the huge wage bill.
The Raila Odinga-led coalition has expressed that public servants cannot be laid off yet the government was busy hiring Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS).
Currently, the government requires Sh50 billion budget to cater for the salaries of public servants without including the perks of the newly recruited CASs.
“We repeat.No civil servants is going to be retrenched while Ruto is busy hiring CASs and other personell the country doesn’t need.Not under our watch,” Wandayi stated.
Taxpayers are poised to bear the burden of Sh460 million annually in salaries for the 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries.
CAS are entitled to the same gross pay as Permanent secretaries whose pay was reviewed by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to ShSh765,188 from Sh874.500.
This comes even as the Chair of the Council of Economic advisors David Ndii stated that the government is mulling retrenching public servants due to the balloning wage bill.
Azimio has however blamed the financial situation to huge non priority spending by the Ruto led administration.
“Ruto must cut or completely abolish money being spent on political operations that are disguised as relief food distribution or fundraisers,”Wandayi asserted.
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Azimio castigated the government for apportioning blame on the previous regimes over the current economic crisis urging them to offer solutions or exit from office.
Wandayi questioned why the economic situation has continued to deteriorate despite the removal of subsidies and increase in taxes.
“Where is the money saved from subsidies and those raised from taxes going?How can we save and raise taxes,only to get poorer?”Wandayi posed.
The Minority Leader raised an alarm that the situation could worsen in the coming days as the Kenya Revenue Authority has failed in meeting their revenue collection targets which is relied upon to finance several sectors.
In the financial year ending in June this year the taxman had a revenue target of Sh 2.1 trillion but according to the opposition they have managed to collect Sh 1.2 trillion facing a deficit of Sh 900 Billion.
“If you say you have met your revenue targets, then where is the money? Why haven’t you paid salaries to the workers?”Wandayi questioned.
He dismissed the declaration by the revenue collector body that they have met their targets and they anticipate a surplus in revenue collection by June,this year.
“And if it’s true that KRA has collected the money and remitted, then treasury must tell us where the money is? Why is it that just a few months after the regime of Kenya Kwanza, things are going south,”Wandayi said.
Ndii had blamed the current cash crunch on matured Chinese loans explaining that the government prioritized debt repayment first.
The Opposition Coalition has however rubbished the explanation saying it’s a mere excuse calling on the government to offer Kenyans solutions instead of offering conflicting statements.
“Ndii has blamed the problem on matured Chinese loans.How Chinese loans stopped KRA from meeting its revenue targets,only Ndii knows,”Wandayi stated.
On his Twitter account, Ndii alluded that multiple loans are maturing in their billions, yet revenue is not growing in tandem.
He attributed the tax target misses to businesses not reporting profit growth, thus shrinking tax growth.
“Debt service is consuming 60 per cent plus of revenue. Liquidity crunches come with territory,” he tweeted.
This comes even as the government admitted to be broke as the state had yet to pay public servants their March salaries.
The devolved units are yet to receive their equitable share for the months of January, February and March due to the cash crunch.
As of March 2023,the National Treasury had released a partly Sh 141B out of Sh 370B for the financial year 2022-2023. By Irene Mwangi, Capital News
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