By JULIUS MBALUTO 

King Charles 111 will visit Kenya between 31^st October and 03^rd November 2023.  Kenya will be the first Commonwealth country the King visits after his coronation and the visit has been seen as part of his efforts to strengthen ties with all Commonwealth countries from around the world. 

The King’s visit coincides with Kenya’s 60^th celebration of independence. The King has previously visited Kenya five times and this will be his first visit after he was crowned the King. 

King Charles 111 and Queen Camilla will visit Nairobi and Mombasa and his programme will reflect on how Kenya and the UK have been working together. The King will meet President Ruto and the first Lady Rachael Ruto, attend an event to celebrate the work of the late Prof Wangari Maathai, later tour a new Museum dedicated to Kenya’s history and lay a wreath at the tomb of an unknown warrior at Uhuru gardens.

He will also visit the site of Kenya’s declaration of independence in 1963. King Charles was three years old when his mother Queen Elizabeth 11 became the Queen while she was in Kenya in 1952, staying at the Tree Top Hotel in Aberdare National Park.

A medical worker assaulted by two police officers during Covid-19 curfew restrictions has been awarded Sh1.5 million.

Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions have been fined the sum for breaching the dignity of the medical worker, James Atogo Ogero on March 28, 2020.

Justice William Musyoka ruled that the action of the officers sued alongside their immediate boss, then Nambale Police Station Chief Inspector Rolex Nyoka for beating Ogero senseless during arrest deserved a deterrent punishment.  

“When Article 28 of the Constitution is applied to a situation where the police have to effect an arrest or enforce administrative regulations, like a curfew, the dignity of the person to be arrested has to be respected and protected. The Article is specific that human dignity is inherent. Inherent in all human beings, and any action contemplated against any human being, must be carried out with the background that he or she has inherent dignity,” he said. 

“There was a violation of rights of Ogero, as enshrined in Articles 28 and 29, and he is entitled to reliefs under Article 22 of the Constitution, specifically that related to compensation. Taking everything into account, I order payment of compensation by the respondents, in the sum of Sh1.5 million. Cost of litigation to be paid by respondents," he ruled.                

Other police officers, he said, set upon him and hit him repeatedly with batons accusing him of flouting curfew lockdown. 

“Members of the public intervened to save me from the wrath of the police but were dispersed. When they (police) stopped the assault, I was assisted by wananchi to move to Nambale Health Centre, where I was examined and received first aid before being transferred to Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu,” said the medical worker in his testimony. BY Daniel Chege, The Standard  

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has condemned the escalation of tension, killings, and displacements in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Kenyatta, who is the facilitator of the East African Community (EAC)-led Nairobi peace talks in the restoration of peace and stability in eastern DRC has called for the immediate cessation of hostilities in the troubled region.

"The facilitator appeals to all parties engaged in such acts to immediately cease their armed offensives and hostilities, to allow continued unhindered and sustained humanitarian access and to give a chance to a return to peace and the pursuit of a non-military solution to the crisis in the region," Kenyatta said in a statement.

In May this year, the former President attended the 11th high-level summit for peace and security for the DRC and the entire East Africa region as well. The meeting was held in Bujumbura, Burundi.

During the summit, EAC Heads of State, government officials, and representatives of guarantor institutions urged armed groups in eastern DRC, Sudan, and other parts of the region to cease hostilities without conditions. 

The leaders told the M23 rebels in DRC, warring forces in Sudan and other parts of the region to end the violence and engage in voluntary disarmament.

In August 2022, Kenyatta was appointed to the position of the facilitator of the peace talks during an announcement made at the 22nd Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State in Arusha, Tanzania.

At the time, he had just handed over the chairmanship of the EAC to Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye, whose role is to oversee the implementation of the Nairobi process aimed at restoring peace. By Mate Tongola, The Standard