Blaring with music and driven in the usual Kenyan matatu style was what Azimio la Umoja Coalition leader Raila Odinga experienced as he headed to Nairobi city centre yesterday morning

After opting not to use his usual motorcade with sirens signaling an important person on board, Raila interestingly looked as if he was at home, dressed in blue, seated in a blue manyanga plying the Ngong- Nairobi route

In a video that has since gone viral and was posted by Azimio TV captioned ‘Embracing the convenience and camaraderie of public transport heading to work’ the opposition supremo is seen conversing with other passengers on board

The tout sought the audience of Raila, decrying the high cost of fuel. Other passengers told him about the high cost of living, saying the country is not headed in the right direction.  

“Baba tunaumia, hii matatu tulikua tunalipa mia moja, leo tunalipa 150 (Baba we are struggling, we used to pay Sh100 for fare now we have to part with Sh150,” a passenger said as he jokingly pleaded with the opposition chief to cover his fare expenses.

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Others complained of high electricity and water bills and pleaded with Raila to intervene.

When asked by a passenger about his experience in the matatu, Raila said he was “enjoying the ride.” 

When asked by another passenger why he opted to use a matatu, Raila said he needed to share the everyday experience of Kenyans. “I opted for the matatu today so that I can experience what other citizens experience,” said Raila

In what caught many by surprise, Raila alighted at the Ambassador matatu terminus and went ahead to pay homage to Tom Mboya and Dedan Kimathi statues in the city. 

The Azimio boss then had a shoe shine while accompanied by other leaders among them former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.

He then proceeded to a restaurant for a meal.  The former premier completed his tour of the central business district by addressing his supporters along City Hall Way, stating that the push to collect 15 million signatures was on. 

Odinga’s move comes a few days after he urged Kenyans to boycott highly taxed commodities including avoiding using vehicles owing to the high cost of fuel. His appeal included walking to work to send a message to Kenya Kwanza that it had failed to empathise with mwananchi by increasing tax on fuel to 16 per cent. 

“One way to do this is to carpool. Let us arrange to make regular journeys in a single vehicle whenever possible and give each other a ride,” he said. By Ann Veronicah , The Standard

The High court has declared illegal the attempted removal of Usher Wilson Owere as the chairman general of the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) by a section of the organization's leadership. 

In November 2022, a group led by NOTU secretary-general Peter Werike and deputy chairman general Stephen Mugole chaired a general council meeting in Kampala and overwhelmingly voted to dismiss Owere.

They said he was free to appeal to the general council at their next meeting (this) year. They accused him of dictatorship, failure to conduct meetings, and abusing his powers, among others. At the same meeting, Werikhe, also Bubulo West MP stepped down "willingly" following concerns from members including Owere, that it was wrong for one to be secretary general while also a serving MP. 

Owere sought a judicial review of the process in the High court, calling for the declaration that it was illegal and violated the Labour Unions Act and the NOTU Constitution. 

Justice Musa Ssekaana has now declared that Tom Amiti, the acting secretary general had no mandate to call a council meeting and that all the outcomes of the said meeting were null and void. 

He also ruled that the consultative meeting convened by the minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development Betty Amongi on January 9 at which she recognized the new leadership was illegitimate. 

Owere was represented by Okello Peter Jabweli and Emma Opio while Alex Tuhimbise and Henry Kurukayo represented the respondents. While the applicant filed final written submissions that were considered by this court, the respondents "failed or refused to file their submissions as directed" and the court proceeded to determine the matter. 

"A declaration doth issue that the purported removal of the applicant from the office of chairman general of NOTU was unfair, unjust, malicious, irrational and illegal and contravenes the principle of fair hearing and natural justice," he ruled. 

He also directed the six respondents; Werikhe, Mugole, Bigirwa, Mauku, Bandaru, and Amiti to pay Shs 5 million each in damages to Owere, as a punitive measure against them. Court also granted Owere an injunction blocking the respondents from removing him from office in violation of the laws.

"A permanent injunction doth issue restraining the respondents and their agents from suspending and or removing the applicant from the office of chairman general of NOTU or carrying out any activities for and on behalf of the 1st respondent (NOTU)," reads the judgment.

The judge also nullified a consultative meeting on December 22 between Owere's rivals and the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Betty Amongi, which gave them a go-ahead to meet on January 9 where resolutions would be made to dismiss or reinstate the suspended Owere.

According to him, the minister had no mandate, according to the laws, to cause the consultative meeting. 

"The Labour Unions Act did not give the minister such a mandate to cause a consultative meeting that leads to the calling of an organ of NOTU. NOTU meetings are held by their Constitution and not at the whims of a minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development or any other person in the ministry," he said, adding that all outcomes of the meeting were illegal. 

Court was told that that meeting was called to make a memorandum of understanding on how Owere would be removed and what happens later, regarding the sharing of positions. 

"It was indeed irrational since the movers of the illegal meeting were to benefit from the new positions after the successful organization ‘coup d’etat’," he said.

The respondents were also adjudged to have failed to follow the rules of natural justice in their effort of removing the applicant. The body with the power to decide lawfully, like NOTU, cannot unlawfully proceed to remove the applicant without affording him a proper opportunity to state his case.

"Since the meeting was illegally convened by the 2nd (Werikhe) and 7h (Amiti) respondents then any resolutions arising therefrom cannot be of any legal effect and this would make everything void ab initio," ruled Ssekaana.

This also made the election of Stephen Mugole, Richard Bigirwa, Moses Mauku, and Barbara Bandaru illegal, null, and void. 

"A declaration doth issue that the purported election of the 3rd, 4the, 5th and 6th respondents respectively as acting chairman general, acting secretary general, acting treasurer general, and acting treasurer of NOTU at the unlawful meeting of November 15, 2022, was illegal, irrational and null and void." - URN/The Observer

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Five of the future Cardinals - whose names were announced yesterday, Sunday 9 July, by Pope Francis - come from territories entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelization. They are Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba, Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, Archbishop-Coadjutor of Tabora Protase Rugambwa, Bishop Sebastian Francis of Penang and Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-Yan S.J. of Hong Kong.

For each of them, the path so far has been marked by different realities and challenges, but always nourished by a deep faith. The Archbishop of Juba (South Sudan), Stephen Ameyu Mulla, had to wait a long time for his installation: the fact that he is not originally from the capital had given rise to long months of protests, tensions and violence (see Fides, 27/4/2021).

The Archbishop of Cape Town (South Africa), Stephen Brislin, who has always been committed to peace in a conflict-ridden country, had appealed to all South Africans "to show their unconditional respect for human life and their commitment to peace. We will not allow those with sinister motives to pit one faith against another, nor to exacerbate tensions within religious groups", the newly appointed cardinal had declared (see Fides, 19/6/2018). "At the end of my mandate in the Vatican offices, particularly in the Dicastery of Evangelization, God wants me to serve him in a different place and in a different way."

These were the words of Archbishop Protase Rugambwa upon his arrival in Tabora (Tanzania) (see Fides, 4/7/2023). Archbishop Rugambwa is a much loved and well-known figure in the Dicastery for Evangelization, where he offered his service for a long time, as President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and finally as Secretary of the same Dicastery.

An invitation to "have no fear" was extended by Penang Bishop Sebastian Francis to 128 catechumens from 12 parishes and the northern deaneries of the diocese at a multilingual mass for Lent 2023. "You are in the heart of Christ, disciples of Jesus Christ" (see Fides, 18/3/2023).

The Jesuit Stephen Chow Sau-Yan, ordained bishop in the Diocese of Hong Kong in December 2021, after his recent visit to the Diocese of Beijing (see Fides, 17/4/2023) had exhorted to pray to the Holy Spirit to "guide us so that we can learn to love our country and our Church at the same time". "Love for our country is part of the teaching of the Catholic Church", the newly appointed Cardinal had emphasized in this regard. Agenzia Fides