A company claiming to own the Chakama ranch has denied selling the Shakahola forest land to controversial Pastor Paul Makenzi.

Chakama Ranching Company Limited told Senate Ad hoc Committee investigating the Shakahola deaths yesterday that it has never interacted with Makenzi nor sold any portion of the 100,000-acre of land.

There were allegations that the controversial pastor acquired the land where his church stands for Sh100,000. Chakama Ranch’s lawyer, Philip Kaiungi, said directors of the firm were only aware of squatters within the farm and Makenzi is one of them but they did not follow up their activities. 

“The parcel of land known as LR.NO.13472/1 Kilifi is registered in the name of our client, Chakama Ranching Company Limited. Further it’s our client’s instructions to inform this committee that the shareholders of the company have neither been party to the activities of the Good News International Church led by Paul Makenzi Nthenge nor acquiesced to the said activities or any form of encroachment on their private property whatsoever,” he said. 

The private limited liability company was incorporated on February 11, 1976 with key objectives of carrying out multi-sector agricultural activities, which the lawyer said included dealing in animal produce and livestock breeding.

• Inside Azimio's plan for fresh protests against Kenya Kwanza
• 
  Makenzi to remain in custody for 30 days as wife freed
• 
  Squatters' joy as state promises them 174 hectares of forest land

The firm has 50 shareholders and as at April 18, 2015 the names of the directors were Daniel Kitsayo Baya, Alfred Mukare Mwathethe, Rachael Furaha, Amina Harith, James Mulewa and Dickson Ngowa. In 2007, the government through the settlement fund trustees approached the directors and shareholders with intention of purchasing 50,000 acres of land to settle squatters.

The two sides entered an agreement and the land was subdivided between the ranch and the government leaving 50,000 acres that is now owned by the company.

“By a sale agreement dated May 10, 2007 and signed between the company and the trustees comprising of 34,821 acres and LR. Number 13472/6 comprising of 15,638 acres for a total of Sh108,600,000 which translated to approximately Sh2,172 per acre,” Kiaingi said.

This even as it emerged that the shareholders are no longer in control of the property after the company was put under receivership for non-payment of Sh15 million to a law firm. 

It was because of the huge debts that the company was put under receivership by one Mark Gakuru the receiver who is said to be a government official.

Lawyer Diana Mumo, said Gakuru’s responsibility is to ensure the company pays off the debts owed to two creditors. She further said as of now all assets of the company are vested on Gakuru; “A High Court sitting on February 2016 officially constituted a liquidator,” she said.

On how Makenzi moved into the land, the committee heard that there have been squatters in and out of the land and the company had reported the matter to the police but it was never acted upon. 

“On August 4, 2021, our clients made a report at Lango Baya police station vide OB no 04/04/08/2021 at 12 pm concerning the encroachment on their private land by squatters. Our clients received verbal assurance that the police would investigate the matter and revert however, that never happened,” said the company’s advocate.

However, the Danson Mungatana-led committee failed to understand where the squatters were during their visit to the land.

“Chair we were there and we toured the farm but never saw even a single squatter perhaps they should take us and show us where they are,” said Senator Shakil Abdalla.

The lawyers however did not disclose whether Makenzi’s church is located on the government or company’s land.  By Grace Ng’ang’a, The Standard

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed concerns about the grave implications of the Sudanese war on children as it opens new fronts in Sudan.

In his briefing to the council, the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Omar Abdi, said hundreds of children have already died while approximately 21 million children in Sudan were at risk.

“More than one million children have now been displaced by the fighting, and the UN has received credible reports, under verification, that hundreds of children have been killed and injured,” he said. 

He hailed the UN mandate on Children and Armed Conflict for pushing the armed groups to release about 180,000 boys and girls in the past 23 years.

“As the number of countries on the children and armed conflict agenda grows, so too does the number of children in need of our protection and support,” he said while urging for more international support for UN efforts.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, also appealed for a bold and resolute step to be taken to protect boys and girls who are exposed to the risk of death, recruitment, and rape, among other horrors. 

“Children were killed or injured in airstrikes, by explosive weapons, by live ammunition, in crossfire, or in indirect attacks. In many cases, they fell victim to explosive remnants of war,” she said.

New fronts

The conflict in Sudan has been gory, with numerous ceasefires that have not left a window for the humanitarian corridor or a halt to the conflict.

El Pais reported yesterday that the war had extended numerous atrocities to Darfur, with much concentration on El-Geneina, leading to an aggravated humanitarian crisis and human rights violations. 

Since the war started on April 15, 2023, numerous reports have been released by UNITAMS and other international observers portraying how the implications of the violence had far-reaching negative impacts on Sudanese children and women.

Concerns of possible genocide and other gross human rights violations heightened and are claimed to have been committed in Darfur by the Rapid Support Forces commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The government forces had also been accused of shelling and aerial bombardments in populated areas in Khartoum and its periphery, which have claimed the lives of innocent civilians.

No Closest help

A number of countries have demonstrated their interest in mediating the conflict in Sudan.

On Monday, Sudanese political, civil, and professional leaders approached President Yoweri Museveni in the State House in Uganda to push for the settlement of the conflict once and for all. 

After the meeting, Museveni wrote on his official Twitter handle that he was bound to assist using the AU and IGAD peace and security mechanisms to bring an end to the conflict.

The Jeddah 72-hour ceasefire brokered by the U.S. government and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ended last month, and so far nothing has been heard about its progress.

The IGAD promised to hold a face-to-face meeting with the warring parties to end the deadlock, but the Sudanese government rejected the mediation offer twice on the ground that they did not want Kenyan President William Ruto to be the mediator but President Salva Kiir.

Earlier in the week, the Deputy Chairman of the Sudan Transitional Sovereign Council, Malik Agar, said the Sudanese government had welcomed the mediation process led by the Federal Republic of Russia.

The Russian government pledged support, stressing the need for a Sudanese-owned mediation process.  By Mamer Abraham, The City Review

MANDERA, Kenya, July 6 (Xinhua) -- A suspected al-Shabaab suicide bomber was killed and eight Kenyan police officers were wounded in separate incidents near Kenya's border with Somalia on Wednesday.

In the first incident, the militants ambushed and injured at least eight elite police officers from the Special Operations Group on Wednesday evening in Mandera County in northeastern Kenya, a police officer who declined to be named said over the phone on Thursday.

The police officer said the elite team was pursuing the gang when they were attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade.

The attackers fled the scene after the attack. The police officers were rescued to a local hospital before they were transferred to the national capital of Nairobi, the police officer said.

Earlier in the day, Kenyan troops at a camp in Sirari, Lamu Country in coastal Kenya, killed one suspected suicide bomber who had attempted to stage an attack on the facility. The suspect was found ringed with a suicide vest after he was killed, the police said.

The security team said it brought down a drone belonging to the terrorist group, which was on a surveillance mission at the camp, and minutes later, it detected a stranger trying to access the camp and confronted him with gunfire.

Kenyan security agencies have ramped up their war against al-Shabaab militants operating at the border region with Somalia. The recent attacks have forced the government to suspend plans to reopen the Kenya-Somalia border.

Kithure Kindiki, cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, said on Wednesday that the move follows an increase in terror-related attacks along the border in the past month that have claimed more than 30 lives, most of them being security officers.

"The government will delay the planned reopening of Kenya-Somalia border points until we conclusively deal with the recent spate of terror attacks and cross-border crime," Kindiki said in Garissa County. - Xinhua